Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasmidial maintenance in rodent fibroblasts of a BPV1‐pBR322 shuttle vector without immediately apparent oncogenic transformation of the recipient cells.

A recombinant plasmid was constructed (pV69) which comprises a subgenomic fragment of bovine papilloma virus type 1 (BPV1) DNA, part of plasmid pBR322 DNA and a drug resistance gene expressed in both mammalian fibroblasts and Escherichia coli. This gene (vv2) is a modified form of the bacterial neomycin resistance gene (neo) linked to the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) promoter (plasmid pAG60), to which the original bacterial neo promoter from transposon Tn5 was added back, upstream of the eukaryotic promoter. It induced kanamycin resistance in E. coli, as well as resistance to the drug G418 in rat and mouse fibroblasts. Its expression in FR3T3 rat cells was enhanced as compared with the original tk‐neo construction. After transfer of plasmid pV69 into C127 mouse cells or FR3T3 rat cells, the number of resistant colonies selected in medium containing G418 was one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of transformed foci in normal medium. In eight independent cell lines selected by drug resistance, pV69 DNA was found to be maintained in a plasmidial state, without any detectable rearrangement or deletion and could be transferred back in E. coli. In contrast, cell lines selected by focus formation in normal medium maintained deleted forms of the original plasmid DNA, and only part of them were resistant to G418. Most of the drug‐resistant clones had kept the morphology and growth control of the normal fibroblasts. However, with further passages in culture, these cells spontaneously produced transformed foci with increasing frequencies.
Monoterpene Synthases from Common Sage (Salvia officinalis)*

Common sage (Salvia officinalis) produces an extremely broad range of cyclic monoterpenes bearing diverse carbon skeletons, including members of thep-menthane (1,8-cineole), pinane (α- and β-pinene), thujane (isothujone), camphane (camphene), and bornane (camphor) families. An homology-based polymerase chain reaction cloning strategy was developed and used to isolate the cDNAs encoding three multiproduct monoterpene synthases from this species that were functionally expressed in Escherichia coli. The heterologously expressed synthases produce (+)-bornyl diphosphate, 1,8-cineole, and (+)-sabinene, respectively, as their major products from geranyl diphosphate. The bornyl diphosphate synthase also produces significant amounts of (+)-α-pinene, (+)-camphene, and (±)-limonene. The 1,8-cineole synthase produces significant amounts of (+)- and (−)-α-pinene, (+)- and (−)-β-pinene, myrcene and (+)-sabinene, and the (+)-sabinene synthase produces significant quantities of γ-terpinene and terpinolene. All three enzymes appear to be translated as preproteins bearing an amino-terminal plastid targeting sequence, consistent with the plastidial origin of monoterpenes in plants. Deduced sequence analysis and size exclusion chromatography indicate that the recombinant bornyl diphosphate synthase is a homodimer, whereas the other two recombinant enzymes are monomeric, consistent with the size and subunit architecture of their native enzyme counterparts. The distribution and stereochemistry of the products generated by the recombinant (+)-bornyl diphosphate synthase suggest that this enzyme might represent both (+)-bornyl diphosphate synthase and (+)-pinene synthase which were previously assumed to be distinct enzymes.
Gestaction 3D: vers un périphérique 3D intuitif et ergonomique

In this video, we present a hand-based device coupled with a 3D motion recovery engine and 3D visualization. This platform aims at studying 3D interactions in order to build an ergonomic 3D device for 3D scenes construction and 3D objects modeling. Possible applications are Computer Graphics and Medical Imaging.
Regularity of BPP is PSPACE-complete

Jančar has in 2003 shown that bisimilarity on Basic Parallel Processes (BPP) can be decided in polynomial space. But bisimilarity is studied also on various subclasses of BPP. We present summary of known complexity bounds of some such bisimilarity problems. Moreover is here shown that deciding regularity of a BPP is PSPACE-complete. This result was presented at winter school Movep’04 in PhD students section.
Optimal user selection algorithm for opportunistic space division multiple access systems

This paper proposes a user selection algorithm in space division multiple access (SDMA) systems. In the proposed algorithm, each user calculates signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) taking angle-of-departure, angle-of-arrival, and channel environment with clustering nature into consideration. The base station selects several users who have the high SINR to increase the system throughput. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves higher throughput compare to the conventional algorithm in SDMA systems.
T‐Cell Immunodeficiency Following Cytotoxic Antineoplastic Therapy: A Review

Although cancer itself is immunosuppressive, cytotoxic antineoplastic therapy is the primary contributor to the clinical immunodeficiency observed in cancer patients. The immunodeficiency induced by cytotoxic antineoplastic therapy is primarily related to T‐cell depletion, with CD4 depletion generally more severe than CD8 depletion. Myeloablative therapy, dose‐intensive alkylating agents, purine nucleoside analogs, and corticosteroids substantially increase the risk of therapy‐induced immunosuppression. Restoration of T‐cell populations following cytotoxic antineoplastic therapy is a complex process. Efficient recovery of CD4+ T cell populations requires thymic‐dependent pathways which undergo an age‐dependent decline resulting in prolonged CD4+ T‐cell depletion in adults following T‐cell‐depleting therapy. Total CD8+ T‐cell numbers recover in both children and adults relatively quickly post‐therapy; however, CD8+ subset disruptions often remain for a prolonged period. The clinical management of patients with therapy‐induced T‐cell depletion involves the maintenance of a high index of suspicion for opportunistic pathogens, irradiation of blood products, prophylaxis for viral infections, and reimmunization in selected clinical circumstances. Future research avenues include efforts to rapidly rebuild immunity following cytotoxic antineoplastic therapy so that immune‐based therapies may be utilized immediately following cytotoxic therapy to target minimal residual neoplastic disease.
Protein kinase E of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a role in the nitric oxide stress response and apoptosis in a human macrophage model of infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an intracellular pathogen, inhibits macrophage apoptosis to support survival and replication inside the host cell. We provide evidence that the functional serine/threonine kinase, PknE, is important for survival of M. tuberculosis that enhances macrophage viability by inhibiting apoptosis. A promoter of PknE identified in this study was shown to respond to nitric oxide stress. Deletion of pknE in virulent M. tuberculosis, H37Rv, resulted in a strain that has increased resistance to nitric oxide donors and increased sensitivity to reducing agents. The deletion mutant created by specialized transduction induced enhanced apoptosis while inhibiting necrosis. The pknE mutant also modifies the innate immune response as shown by the marked decline in the pro‐inflammatory cytokines in a macrophage model of infection. These findings suggest a novel mechanism, by which PknE senses nitric oxide stress and prevents apoptosis by interfering with host signalling pathways.
A review of multivariate longitudinal data analysis

Repeated observation of multiple outcomes is common in biomedical and public health research. Such experiments result in multivariate longitudinal data, which are unique in the sense that they allow the researcher to study the joint evolution of these outcomes over time. Special methods are required to analyse such data because repeated observations on any given response are likely to be correlated over time while multiple responses measured at a given time point will also be correlated. We review three approaches for analysing such data in the light of the associated theory, applications and software. The first method consists of the application of univariate longitudinal tools to a single summary outcome. The second method aims at estimating regression coefficients without explicitly modelling the underlying covariance structure of the data. The third method combines all the outcomes into a single joint multivariate model. We also introduce a multivariate longitudinal dataset and use it to illustrate some of the techniques discussed in the article.
Inflammatory responses and morphological changes of radiofrequency‐induced rat sciatic nerve fibres

Recently, the pulsed radiofrequency (PRF, pulsed fashion) procedure was introduced for neuropathic pain management. Since PRF‐induced lesions do not need high temperature compared with conventional continuous RF (CRF)‐induced lesions, there is no significant loss of sensory fibres after application.
Gapless fermions and quantum order

Using a two-dimensional quantum spin-1/2 model as a concrete example, we studied the relation between gapless fermionic excitations (spinons) and quantum orders in some spin liquid states. Using a winding number, we find that the projective symmetry group characterizing the quantum order can directly determine the pattern of Fermi points in the Brillouin zone. Thus quantum orders provide an origin for gapless fermionic excitations. Gapless fermions can appear even from a pure boson system as long as the boson ground state has a proper quantum order.
An approach to the design of a skill adaptive interface

Computer users vary greatly in their abilities to use a software interface efficiently. One factor that apparently affects users’ efficiency in using an interface is the changes in their skill levels. In this study, an adaptive interface (of menu and command) is presented that dynamically adjusts to users’ changing skill levels. The mechanism of an adaptive interface is described and discussed. The validity and usability of the adaptive interface is tested with 40 participants in an experiment that used a between‐subject experimental design for interface style. The independent variables were interface style (menu, command, hybrid, and adaptive) and skill level (starting session and ending sessions). The dependent variables were task completion time, number of steps used, ratio (of using menu mode over menu and command modes), perceived memory load, and satisfaction with the interface styles. The task‐completion time and ratio data indicate that the adaptive interface produced significantly better performa.
Power Droop Testing

High-performance digital ICs manufactured in deep-submicron technologies tend to draw considerable amounts of power during operation. Power droop describes the impact of power consumption transients on the logic values of a circuit's signal lines and, ultimately, on the correctness of the circuit's operation. Although power droop could cause an IC to fail, such failures cannot be screened during testing, because conventional fault models do not cover them. In this article, we present a technique for screening such failures. We propose a heuristic method to generate test sequences that create worst-case power drop by accumulating high- and low-frequency effects. We employ a dynamically constrained version of the classical D-algorithm, which generates new constraints on the fly, for test generation. The obtained patterns can be used for manufacturing test and early silicon validation. We have implemented a prototype ATPG to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.
Bayesian analysis of non - native cluster production

Under a variety of natural and experimental conditions, speakers and listeners distinguish among different types of non-native phonetic/phonological structure. For example, when asked to judge the acceptability of nonce words, speakers exhibit gradient preferences for certain non-native sound sequences over others (e.g., Greenberg and Jenkins 1964, Scholes 1966, Coleman and Pierrehumbert 1997, Vitevitch et al. 1997, Frisch et al. 2000, Treiman et al. 2000, Bailey and Hahn 2001, Frisch and Zawaydeh 2001, Hammond 2004, Shademan 2007, Albright 2009). Similarly, while it has long been known that structures absent from the native language of the listener are particularly susceptible to misperception (or ‘perceptual assimilation’; e.g., Massaro and Cohen 1983, Hallé 1998, Pitt 1998, Dupoux et al. 1999), recent research has established that not all non-native structures are misperceived or perceptually assimilated at the same rate (e.g., Moreton 2002, Berent et al. 2007, Haunz 2007, Kabak and Idsardi 2007, Yarmolinskaya 2010).
Efficacy and Safety of Low-Dose Chlorambucil in Nephrotic Patients with Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy

Aim: This observational study aimed to evaluate the results of treatment with low-dose chlorambucil in combination with corticosteroids in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (iMGN) and nephrotic syndrome. Methods: Thirty-two patients with nephrotic syndrome and biopsy-proven iMGN were included in the study. At presentation, 9 patients were found to be in stage 1, 13 patients in stage 2 and 10 patients in stage 3 chronic kidney disease. In all patients, i.v. methylprednisolone pulses (500 mg/day for 3 days) were administered, followed by oral prednisone at an initial dose of 1 mg/kg per day, tapered gradually after 8 weeks to the maintenance dose of 5 mg/day after 6 months, and chlorambucil 2 mg twice daily for 6 months. Results: Complete remission of nephrotic syndrome was obtained in 14 patients (47.3%) and partial remission in 16 patients (50%). Two patients relapsed after 1 year of treatment. We did not record any severe side effects in treated patients, except glucose intolerance in 4 subjects on high corticosteroid doses. Conclusion: Immunosuppressive treatment with corticosteroids and low-dose chlorambucil seems to be effective and well tolerated in nephrotic patients with iMGN.
Energy cost and kinematics of level, uphill and downhill running: fatigue-induced changes after a mountain ultramarathon

Abstract This study aimed to determine whether the fatigue induced by a mountain ultramarathon (MUM) led to changes in energy cost and kinematic during level and graded running. Pre- and post-race, 14 ultratrail runners ran on a level, uphill (5%) and downhill (5%) treadmill at 10 km · h−1. Kinematic data were acquired using a photocell system. Post-race, the downhill energy cost increased by 13.1% (P < 0.001). No change was noted in level and uphill running. Duty factor and stride frequency were increased, whereas swing time, cycle time and stride length were decreased in all conditions (P < 0.05). Contact time was increased and the rate of force generation was decreased only in the uphill and downhill conditions (P < 0.05). Positive correlations were observed between performance time and the pre- to post-changes in the energy cost of level (r = 0.52, P = 0.04) and uphill running (r = 0.50, P = 0.04). MUM-induced fatigue resulted in physiological and spatiotemporal changes, though the response to fatigue varied considerably between running conditions. These changes resulted in a significant increment only in the downhill energy cost. Incorporating downhill locomotion in the training programmes of ultratrailers may help to improve performance-related physiological and biomechanical parameters.
Insulin Therapy for Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Position Statement of the Korean Diabetes Association, 2017

The Korean Diabetes Association (KDA) has regularly updated its Clinical Practice Guidelines. In 2017, the KDA published a position statement on the use of antihyperglycemic agents for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Growing evidence from new multinational clinical trials using novel and traditional insulin analogues has also been accumulated. Following global trends, many results of clinical trials, especially concerning the clinical efficacy and safety of insulin therapy, have been published about Korean patients with T2DM. After a systematic search of recent evidence, the KDA updated and modified its clinical practice recommendations regarding the initiation, choice, and intensification of insulin and created an insulin treatment algorithm for the first time to guide physicians caring for adult Korean patients with T2DM.
Frequency-Adjustable Positive Sequence Detector for Power Conditioning Applications

This paper proposes a novel and simple positive sequence detector (PSD), which is inherently self-adjustable to fundamental frequency deviations by means of a software-based PLL (phase locked loop). Since the proposed positive sequence detector is not based on Fortescue's classical decomposition and no special input filtering is needed, its dynamic response may be as fast as one fundamental cycle. The digital PLL ensures that the positive sequence components can be calculated even under distorted waveform conditions and fundamental frequency deviations. For the purpose of validating the proposed models, the positive sequence detector has been implemented in a PC-based power quality monitor and experimental results illustrate its good performance. The PSD algorithm has also been evaluated in the control loop of a series active filter and simulation results demonstrate its effectiveness in a closed-loop system. Moreover, considering single-phase applications, this paper also proposes a general single-phase PLL and a fundamental wave detector (FWD) immune to frequency variations and waveform distortions
Improving Absolute Distance Estimation in Clear and in Turbid Water

Since the errors made in estimating distance underwater are dependent on the degree of water turbidity, improvement through training in one body of water will not transfer to another body of water if there is a large difference in turbidity. In this experiment, 24 Ss were tested, trained, and re-tested in both clear and turbid water, followed by a final test in each water. Accuracy of distance estimation was initially reduced in one body of water after training in the other body of water. But after training in both clear and turbid water, accuracy was improved in both. Thus, the transfer problem can be overcome by training divers under different turbidity conditions so that they learn to tailor their corrections to the prevailing conditions.
Incentive-Compatible Packet Forwarding in Mobile Social Networks via Evolutionary Game Theory

In the absence of end-to-end paths and without the knowledge of the whole network, packet forwarding, including forwarding decision (i.e., forwarding or dropping the packet) and relaying selection, is crucial to be made by the individual of the node based on the packet-forwarding protocol in autonomous mobile social networks (MSNs). In this paper, we investigate the adaptive packet forwarding in MSNs afflicted with potential selfish nodes. When considering the various selfish behaviors of network nodes in multi-hop MSNs, an incentive compatible multiple-copy packet forwarding (ICMPF) protocol is proposed to maintain a satisfied packet delivery probability while reducing the delivery overhead. Considering the fact that the node’s forwarding decision in the ICMPF protocol is affected by its available resources (i.e., bandwidth and location privacy) and network environment (i.e., other nodes’ actions and social ties), an evolutionary game framework is exploited for modeling the complicated interactions among nodes to guide their forwarding behaviors. Meanwhile, we portray the forwarding behavior dynamics and develop the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) for this game-theoretic framework. Then, we prove that the strategy dynamics converge to the ESS and further develop a distributed learning algorithm for nodes to approach to the ESS. Simulation results show that our system converges to the ESS and also is robust to the learning error induced by the communication noise.
Efficacies of Moxifloxacin, Ciprofloxacin, and Vancomycin against Experimental Endocarditis Due to Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureus Expressing Various Degrees of Ciprofloxacin Resistance

ABSTRACT The new 8-methoxyquinolone moxifloxacin was tested against two ciprofloxacin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus strains (strains P8 and COL) and two ciprofloxacin-resistant derivatives of strain P8 carrying a single grlA mutation (strain P8-4) and double grlA and gyrA mutations (strain P8-128). All strains were resistant to methicillin. The MICs of ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin were 0.5 and 0.125 mg/liter, respectively, for P8; 0.25 and 0.125 mg/liter, respectively, for COL; 8 and 0.25 mg/liter, respectively, for P8-4; and ≥128 and 2 mg/liter, respectively, for P8-128. In vitro, the rate of spontaneous resistance of P8 and COL was 10−7 on agar plates containing ciprofloxacin at two times the MIC, whereas it was ≤10−10on agar plates containing moxifloxacin at two times the MIC. Rats with experimental aortic endocarditis were treated with doses of drugs that simulate the kinetics in humans: moxifloxacin, 400 mg orally once a day; ciprofloxacin, 750 mg orally twice a day; or vancomycin, 1 g intravenously twice a day. Treatment was started either 12 or 24 h after infection and lasted for 3 days. Moxifloxacin treatment resulted in culture-negative vegetations in a total of 20 of 21 (95%) rats infected with P8, 10 of 11 (91%) rats infected with COL, and 19 of 24 (79%) rats infected with P8-4 (P < 0.05 compared to the results for the controls). In contrast, ciprofloxacin treatment sterilized zero of nine (0%) vegetations infected with first-level resistant mutant P8-4. Vancomycin sterilized only 8 of 15 (53%), 6 of 11 (54%), and 12 of 23 (52%) of the vegetations, respectively. No moxifloxacin-resistant derivative emerged among these organisms. However, moxifloxacin treatment of highly ciprofloxacin-resistant mutant P8-128 failed and selected for variants for which the MIC increased two times in 2 of 10 animals. Thus, while oral moxifloxacin might deserve consideration as treatment for staphylococcal infections in humans, caution related to its use against strains for which MICs are borderline is warranted.
Recent advances in cutaneous melanoma: towards a molecular model and targeted treatment

Melanoma is an aggressive disease process, with a heterogeneous aetiology linked to environmental and genetic risk factor profiles. Overall prognosis for advanced disease remains poor, and a lack of effective systemic therapies has prompted investigation into alternative strategies. The identification of novel mutations that instigate and perpetuate melanocyte transformation has offered insight into new treatment approaches, and the subsequent development of targeted treatments appears to be integral to improving melanoma survival. This article reviews the mechanisms of melanoma oncogenesis and classic molecular signalling pathways, targeted treatment approaches based on the molecular model and immunotherapy, and the advent of next‐generation sequencing technologies in understanding the complexity of the melanoma pathogenome. In addition to the known somatic activating mutations BRAF and NRAS, exome sequencing has recently identified RAC1, a novel UV‐signature gain‐of‐function mutation. Germline mutations associated with familial melanoma have added a further dimension to the molecular underpinnings of melanoma, implicating BAP1 and MITF as melanoma predisposition genes. Advances in understanding melanoma and implementing targeted treatment strategies will be of increasing importance in this era of personalised medicine.