Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic thrombophilic mutations among couples with recurrent miscarriage.

BACKGROUND Some cases of recurrent first trimester miscarriage (RM)-the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies at <12 weeks' gestation-have a thrombotic aetiology. METHODS We determined (i) the prevalence of three thrombophilic mutations [factor V Leiden (FVL), prothrombin G20210A (PTG) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T] amongst 357 Caucasian couples with RM and 68 parous Caucasian couples with no history of miscarriage and (ii) the prospective outcome of untreated pregnancies amongst couples with RM in which either partner carried a thrombophilic mutation. RESULTS The allele frequencies of FVL (2%), PTG (2%) and MTHFR C677T (31%) were similar between cases and controls. The prevalence of multiple thrombophilic mutations (greater than one mutation) was also similar between cases and controls. Amongst couples in whom either partner carried greater than one thrombophilic allele, the relative risk of miscarriage in a future untreated pregnancy was 1.9 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.8) compared with those couples who carried no thrombophilic mutation. CONCLUSION The prevalence of thrombophilic mutations is similar in couples with RM and parous controls. In couples with RM, multiple genetic thrombophilic mutations in either partner significantly increases the risk of miscarriage in a subsequent pregnancy.
Kant’s Critique of the Golden Rule

Examen des objections de Kant a la Regle d'or: qu'elle ne permet pas de penser les devoirs envers soi-meme, que son application repose sur les gouts et desirs personnels, qu'elle ne fixe pas de devoirs faisant strictement obligation.
Impact of obsessive–compulsive symptoms in Tourette's syndrome on neuropsychological performance

Aim: Although inconsistencies in neuropsychological impairments in Tourette's syndrome (TS) have been discussed with respect to comorbid disorders, such as obsessive–compulsive disorder, few studies have focused on the specific dimensions of obsessive–compulsive symptoms (OCS) related to TS, such as aggression and symmetry. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of specific TS‐related OCS on neuropsychological performance.
NF-κB2 Is Required for Optimal CD40-Induced IL-12 Production but Dispensable for Th1 Cell Differentiation1

NF-κB is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor involved in the regulation of innate and adaptive immunity. As part of studies to define the role of various NF-κB family members in Th cell development and maintenance, we infected NF-κB2−/− and control mice with Leishmania major and followed disease progression. NF-κB2−/− mice on a normally resistant background develop chronic nonhealing lesions associated with uncontrolled parasite replication and a failure to develop an IFN-γ response. We show that there are no intrinsic defects in Th cell differentiation in the absence of NF-κB2. Indeed, NF-κB2−/− T cells are able to develop a Th1 phenotype and protect recombination-activating gene−/− mice from progressive cutaneous leishmaniasis. We demonstrate instead that the susceptibility of NF-κB2−/− mice to L. major is the result of an IL-12 deficiency, and we provide evidence for a specific impairment in CD40-induced IL-12 production by macrophages lacking this transcription factor.
Causation as Explanation

Some of the most widely used concepts in the logical framework of science-explanation, causation, and evaluation would seem to be good candidates for that honor-enjoy a curious love-hate relationship with philosophers of science. Though many philosophers have made serious and diverse efforts to analyze them, there have been others, equally eminent, who have completely denied their importance or their legitimacy. It has been argued that the task of science is to describe and not to explain; that reference to causation is a sign of an immature science and not to be found in the more advanced parts of the physical sciences today; and that value-free science should be regarded as the appropriate ideal. I believe that in each case, the arguments for the rejection are fallacious, and not even very subtly fallacious: but I would agree that there is one great attraction about the nihilistic positions, which is that they avoid the exceedingly difficult task of providing a reasonable analysis of the concepts in question. It is even possible that the extraordinary recalcitrance of these concepts has driven or at least assisted philosophers to conclude that they are not respectable. Social respectability is a matter of the directness with which one can be linked to indubitably respectable antecedents, and philosophical respectability is a matter of the directness of the linkage to philosophically respectable components. Given the rather limited group of respectable basic concepts with which positivist and neo-positivist philosophers of science began, there arose a rather snobbish view of a good many concepts in the scientist's working vocabulary. From my point of view, the time for this aprioristic approach has long gone, and I have spent a great many years arguing for a more plebeian
A Stereo Line Sensor System to High Speed Capturing of Surfaces in Color and 3D Shape

Line scan cameras offer very high spatial resolution, allowing even multispectral color acquisition and are therefore often used for quality control at the conveyor belt. A logical extension is to complement the broad spectrum of the missing channel depth data. For industrial use, the technology combines the advantages of customized cameras with proven 3D evaluation methods which are known from 3D-matrix camera systems. The present system allows the rapid and simultaneous detection of color and 3D depth with small random errors, preferably relatively flat (not fissured) surfaces. Standard deviation of 10 microns could already be realized in practice. Color and 3D data are from the same measurement system and are in exactly the same coordinate system. This can be a significant advantage in quality assurance, such as testing manufactured goods to a good match of form and texture. The use of massively parallel hardware (GPUs) currently allow performance of approximately 100 million disparity values per second.
Critical roles of CD146 in zebrafish vascular development

In this report, we use zebrafish as a model system to understand the importance of CD146 in vascular development. Endothelial‐specific expression of CD146 was verified by whole‐mount in situ hybridization. Suppression of CD146 protein expression by antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MO) resulted in poorly developed intersomitic vessels (ISVs). In CD146 morphants, we observed a lack of blood flow through the ISV region, despite that fluorescence microangiography showed that the ISVs were present. This finding suggests that the lumens of the developing ISVs may be too narrow for proper circulation. Additionally, remodeling of the caudal vein plexus into functional vascular tubes appeared to be affected. Suppression of CD146 protein expression resulted in a circulation shunt that caused the circulation to by‐pass part of the caudal artery/vein system. The same vascular defects were recapitulated by using a second morpholino oligonucleotide. This morphant expressed a truncated CD146 protein with amino acids V32 to T57 at the N terminus deleted in an in‐frame manner. This region, therefore, is likely to contain elements critical for CD146 function. This study provides the first in vivo functional assessment of CD146 in embryonic development by showing that knockdown of CD146 protein expression severely hinders vascular development in zebrafish. Developmental Dynamics 232:232–244, 2005. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Visibilité et rendu procédural

Ce rapport de stage de deuxieme annee de master recherche informatique rend compte du travail effectue sur l'etude du couplage de methodes de generation procedurale et de visibilite afin de generer en temps reel une ville selon le point de vue de l'utilisateur. Le plan des routes de la ville est genere a partir d'un algorithme original base sur une grammaire de forme (shape grammar). Pour produire le moins possible de geometrie inutile, une methode de view frustum culling est couplee avec la generation des routes puis la technique du Z-Buffer hierarchique est appliquee lors de la generation des bâtiments.
Musculoskeletal responses of 2-year-old Thoroughbred horses to early training. 6. Bone parameters in the third metacarpal and third metatarsal bones

Abstract AIM: To determine the effect of a known training regimen on the size and mineral content of the third metacarpal (Mc3) and third metatarsal (Mt3) bones of 2-year-old Thoroughbred horses trained on racetracks. METHODS: Mc3 and Mt3 of seven horses trained on grass and sand tracks were scanned at several sites using conventional quantitative and peripheral computed tomography (CT). Bone dimensions and density in the diaphysis and epiphysis were compared with those from seven untrained horses. Calcein label was injected in two clusters, during Weeks 9 and 12. The extent and rate of diaphyseal modelling was determined by confocal fl uorescent microscopic examination of thin plane parallel sections of the mid-metacarpal region. RESULTS: Volumetric bone mineral density (BMDv) of the epiphysis was markedly higher and of the diaphysis was slightly higher in trained compared with untrained horses, but greater bone size in the trained horses had the greatest effect on an index of bone strength. Active osteons, defined as Haversian systems containing calcein label, were fewer, of smaller diameter at the time of calcein injection, and had a greater bone apposition rate in trained than in untrained horses. CONCLUSIONS: Conventional training of 2-year-old Thoroughbred racehorses over a 13-week period had a significant effect on bone size, density and strength index when compared to untrained horses. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Bone responded rapidly to early training. The data provide reference values and sites for use in longitudinal studies of commercial training regimens.
Bromodomain inhibitors and cancer therapy: From structures to applications

ABSTRACT Aberrations in the epigenetic landscape are a hallmark of cancer. Alterations in enzymes that are “writers,” “erasers,” or “readers” of histone modification marks are common. Bromodomains are “readers” that bind acetylated lysines in histone tails. Their most important function is the regulation of gene transcription by the recruitment of different molecular partners. Moreover, proteins containing bromodomains are also epigenetic regulators, although little is known about the specific function of these domains. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in developing small molecules that can target specific bromodomains. First, this has helped clarify biological functions of bromodomain-containing proteins. Secondly, it opens a new front for combatting cancer. In this review we will describe the structures and mechanisms associated with Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal motif (BET) inhibitors and non-BET inhibitors, their current status of development, and their promising role as anti-cancer agents.
Localized delivery of epidermal growth factor improves the survival of transplanted hepatocytes

Hepatocyte transplantation may provide a new approach for treating a variety of liver diseases if a sufficient number of the transplanted cells survive over an extended time period. In this report, we describe a technique to deliver growth factors to transplanted hepatocytes to improve their engraftment. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was incorporated (0.11%) into microspheres (19 ± 12 μm) fabricated from a copolymer of lactic and glycolic acid using a double emulsion technique. The incorporated EGF was steadily released over 1 month in vitro, and it remained biologically active, as determined by its ability to stimulate DNA synthesis, cell division, and long‐term survival of cultured hepatocytes. EGF‐containing microspheres were mixed with a suspension of hepatocytes, seeded onto porous sponges, and implanted into the mesentery of two groups of Lewis rats. The first group of animals had their portal vein shunted to the inferior vena cava prior to cell transplantation (portal‐caval shunt = PCS), and the second group of animals did not (non‐PCS). This surgical procedure improves the survival of transplanted hepatocytes. The engraftment of transplanted hepatocytes in PCS animals was increased two‐fold by adding EGF microspheres, as compared to adding control microspheres that contained no growth factors. Devices implanted into non‐PCS animals had fewer engrafted hepatocytes than devices implanted into PCS animals, regardless of whether blank or EGF‐containing microspheres were added. These results first indicate that it is possible to design systems which can alter the microenvironment of transplanted hepatocytes to improve their engraftment. They also suggest that hepatocyte engraftment is not improved by providing single growth factors unless the correct environment (PCS) is provided for the transplanted cells. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Multimodal Intelligent Eye-Gaze Tracking System

This article presents a series of user studies to develop a new eye-gaze tracking–based pointing system. We developed a new target prediction model that works for different input modalities and combined the eye-gaze tracking–based pointing with a joystick controller that can reduce pointing and selection times. The system finds important applications in cockpit of combat aircraft and for computer novice users. User studies confirmed that users can perform significantly faster using this new eye-gaze tracking–based system for both military and everyday computing tasks compared to existing input devices. As part of the study it was also found that the amplitude of maximum power component obtained through Fourier Transform of pupil signal significantly correlates with selection times and perceived cognitive load of users in terms of Task Load Index scores.
Regulation of HIV‐1 gene expression by histone acetylation and factor recruitment at the LTR promoter

In HIV‐1 infected cells, the LTR promoter, once organized into chromatin, is transcriptionally inactive in the absence of stimulation. To examine the chromosomal events involved in transcriptional activation, we analyzed histone acetylation and factor recruitment at contiguous LTR regions by a quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. In chronically infected cells treated with a phorbol ester, we found that acetylation of both histones H3 and H4 occurs at discrete nucleosomal regions before the onset of viral mRNA transcription. Concomitantly, we observed the recruitment of known cellular acetyl‐transferases to the promoter, including CBP, P/CAF and GCN5, as well as that of the p65 subunit of NF‐κB. The specific contribution of the viral Tat transactivator was assayed in cells harboring the sole LTR. We again observed nucleosomal acetylation and the recruitment of specific co‐factors to the viral LTR upon activation by either recombinant Tat or a phorbol ester. Strikingly, P/CAF was found associated with the promoter only in response to Tat. Taken together, these results contribute to the elucidation of the molecular events underlying HIV‐1 transcriptional activation.
Reconfigurable broadcast scan compression using relaxation-based test vector decomposition

An effective reconfigurable broadcast scan compression scheme that employs partitioning of test sets and relaxation-based decomposition of test vectors is proposed. Given a constraint on the number of tester channels, the technique classifies test sets into acceptable and bottleneck vectors. The bottleneck vectors are then decomposed into a set of vectors that meets the given constraint. The acceptable and decomposed test vectors are partitioned into the smallest number of partitions while satisfying the tester channels constraint to reduce the decompressor area. Thus, the technique by construction satisfies a given tester channel constraint at the expense of an increased test vector count and number of partitions, offering a tradeoff between test compression, the test application time and the area of test decompression circuitry. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique achieves better compression ratios compared with other techniques of test compression.
In vitro transdermal and biological evaluation of ALA-loaded poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) microgels for photodynamic therapy

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) and Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (P(NIPA-co-AA)) microgels loaded with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) were prepared by the spray-drying method. The amount of drug loaded was 290 µg ALA/mg microgel for PNIPA and 244 µg ALA/mg microgel for P(NIPA-co-AA) microgels. Maximum in vitro drug release took place within 15–30 min for PNIPA and 1–1.5 h for P(NIPA-co-AA) microgels as a function of pH, at 37°C. Transdermal delivery from microgels showed permeation fluxes 10 times higher than the passive diffusion flux. The cytotoxicity of microgels synthesized in HeLa cells after the application of photodynamic therapy (PDT) was superior compared with the administration of ALA in solution alone. Finally, the use of these microgels as a delivery vehicle for ALA constitutes a system capable of enhancing its topical administration and PDT effectiveness.
Enhanced cytolytic activity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) derived from an ICAM-1 transfected tumor in a murine model.

BACKGROUND Tumors transfected with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), a known activator of resting T-cells, show an increased response to adoptive immunotherapy in vivo. This salutary effect may be due to increased sensitivity of the transfected tumor cells to cell-mediated cytotoxicity or an increased activity of the effector cells in the presence of increased amounts of ICAM-1. MATERIALS AND METHODS MCA105 fibrosarcoma cells were transfected with the gene for ICAM-1, and a clone (Cl149) demonstrating significantly increased expression of ICAM-1 by fluorescent-activated cell sorter (FACS) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) compared to parental tumor was selected and cultured. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were cultured in vitro from MCA105 and Cl149 tumors. K562 tumor cells were used as controls. RESULTS TILs derived from MCA105 tumors lysed MCA105 (32% at 40:1) and Cl149 (52% at 40:1) target cells but not K562 (3%) demonstrating TIL specificity. TILs derived from Cl149 showed increased lysis of both target cells tested: MCA105 (62% at 40:1, P < 0.05) and Cl149 (98%) compared to lysis of the same target cells by MCA105 TILs as well as being specific (K562, 1%). CONCLUSIONS These studies demonstrate that increased expression of ICAM-1 by a tumor cell results in increased lysis by TILs derived from either a tumor with enhanced ICAM-1 expression or a parental tumor, compared to the lysis of parental tumor target cells. In addition, TILs derived from a tumor with enhanced expression of ICAM-1 have significantly increased antitumor efficacy compared to TILs from the parental tumor, suggesting a possible mechanism for previously observed in vivo antitumor effects. These results suggest a new strategy for improving the efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy, by using lymphocytes derived from genetically altered tumors. The study of lymphocytes from genetically modified tumor cells may enable the elucidation of properties of various molecules believed important in cellular cytotoxicity.
An Overview of Parameter Control Methods by Self-Adaption in Evolutionary Algorithms

The principle of self-adaptation in evolutionary algorithms is an important mechanism for controlling the strategy parameters of such algorithms by evolving parameter values in analogy with the usual evolution of object variables. To facilitate evolution of strategy parameters, they are incorporated into the representation of individuals and are subject to the evolutionary variation operators in a similar way as the object variables. This survey paper provides an overview of the existing techniques for the self-adaptation of strategy parameters related to mutation and recombination operators, indicating that the principle works under a variety of conditions regarding the search space of the underlying optimization problem and the method used for the variation of strategy parameters. Although a number of open questions remain, self-adaptation is identified as a generally applicable, robust and efficient method for parameter control in evolutionary algorithms.
Diagnosis and management of acute heart failure

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a life threatening clinical syndrome with a progressively increasing incidence in general population. Turkey is a country with a high cardiovascular mortality and recent national statistics show that the population structure has turned to an ‘aged’ population. As a consequence, AHF has become one of the main reasons of admission to cardiology clinics. This consensus report summarizes clinical and prognostic classification of AHF, its worldwide and national epidemiology, diagnostic work-up, principles of approach in emergency department, intensive care unit and ward, treatment in different clinical scenarios and approach in special conditions and how to plan hospital discharge.
The Structure of Cucumber Mosaic Virus and Comparison to Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus

ABSTRACT The structure of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV; strain Fny) has been determined to a 3.2-Å resolution using X-ray crystallography. Despite the fact that CMV has only 19% capsid protein sequence identity (34% similarity) to cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV), the core structures of these two members of the Bromoviridaefamily are highly homologous. As suggested by a previous low-resolution structural study, the 305-Å diameter (maximum) of CMV is ∼12 Å larger than that of CCMV. In CCMV, the structures of the A, B, and C subunits are nearly identical except in their N termini. In contrast, the structures of two loops in subunit A of CMV differ from those in B and C. These loops are 6 and 7 residues longer than the analogous regions in CCMV. Unlike that of CCMV, the capsid of CMV does not undergo swelling at pH 7.0 and is stable at pH 9.0. This may be partly due to the fact that the N termini of the B and C subunits form a unique bundle of six amphipathic helices oriented down into the virion core at the threefold axes. In addition, while CCMV has a cluster of aspartic acid residues at the quasi-threefold axis that are proposed to bind metal in a pH-dependent manner, this cluster is replaced by complementing acids and bases in CMV. Finally, this structure clearly demonstrates that the residues important for aphid transmission lie at the outermost portion of the βH-βI loop and yields details of the portions of the virus that are hypothesized to mediate binding to aphid mouthparts.