Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of mouse lens fiber cell development and differentiation by the Maf gene.

Maf is a basic domain/leucine zipper domain protein originally identified as a proto-oncogene whose consensus target site in vitro, the T-MARE, is an extended version of an AP-1 site normally recognized by Fos and Jun. Maf and the closely related family members Neural retina leucine zipper (Nrl), L-Maf, and Krml1/MafB have been implicated in a wide variety of developmental and physiologic roles; however, mutations in vivo have been described only for Krml1/MafB, in which a loss-of-function causes abnormalities in hindbrain development due to failure to activate the Hoxa3 and Hoxb3 genes. We have used gene targeting to replace Maf coding sequences with those of lacZ, and have carried out a comprehensive analysis of embryonic expression and the homozygous mutant phenotype in the eye. Maf is expressed in the lens vesicle after invagination, and becomes highly upregulated in the equatorial zone, the site at which self-renewing anterior epithelial cells withdraw from the cell cycle and terminally differentiate into posterior fiber cells. Posterior lens cells in Maf(lacZ) mutant mice exhibit failure of elongation at embryonic day 11.5, do not express (&agr;)A- and all of the (beta)-crystallin genes, and display inappropriately high levels of DNA synthesis. This phenotype partially overlaps with those reported for gene targeting of Prox1 and Sox1; however, expression of these genes is grossly normal, as is expression of Eya1, Eya2, Pax6, and Sox2. Recombinant Maf protein binds to T-MARE sites in the (alpha)A-, (beta)B2-, and (beta)A4-crystallin promoters but fails to bind to a point mutation in the (alpha)A-crystallin promoter that has been shown previously to be required for promoter function. Our results indicate that Maf directly activates many if not all of the (beta)-crystallin genes, and suggest a model for coordinating cell cycle withdrawal with terminal differentiation.
Critical assessment of multistage pseudospark switches

In repetitive pulsed power there is a strong increasing demand for the development of high voltage pulse forming networks (PFN), which can be operated with high repetition rates and simultaneously with extremely long lifetime. Typical applications for such PFN's are modulators for the next generation of accelerators, pulse generators for flue gas cleaning with electrostatic precipitators, high power gas lasers, accelerators for medical radiography and drivers of high power microwaves. For instance, in the next generation linear collider the traditional thyratron/PFN modulators will no longer meet the new requirements. Multistage thyratrons are available for hold-off voltages up to 240 kV, but their handling is complicated, the reliability poor and the costs are high. To equip the 1600 modulators, which are planned for SLAC's next linear collider, with multistage thyratrons is unaffordable. Solid-state devices in combination with step-up transformers are under discussion, but their performance is not yet satisfactory. Especially the size of the switches will hamper their application in the near future. The pseudospark switch belongs, with the thyratron, to the class of high-voltage, high-current low-pressure gas switches. In contrast to the thyratron, the pseudospark switch is much simpler, consumes less stand-by power, has a compact size and better overall switching parameters. First this paper presents an overview about the most critical design criteria for a multistage pseudospark switch in comparison to conventional multigap thyratrons, mainly focussed on the coupling of the conduction path between the single stages. In the second part, several different approaches to achieve fast transient coupling between the gaps will be discussed with respect to minimizing the overall inductance of the switch. In former experiments, with different multistage switch designs, a two-stage device using a floating intermediate electrode on the one hand and a three-stage configuration, developed for the beam-dump system of LHC at CERN, on the other hand, were tested. Based on the experience with these switches, a 100 kV-switch, which is planned to be integrated into the 100 kV-PFN of the injection/extraction unit of the future GSI (Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung at Darmstadt) accelerator complex, will be built.
Plasma lipoprotein pattern during long-term home parenteral nutrition with two lipid emulsions.

Hypertriglyceridemia induced by short-term lipid infusions causes redistribution of neutral lipid components between endogenous lipoproteins and emulsion particles. To determine whether such redistribution occurs over a long-term infusion period and affects lipoprotein pattern, we studied seven patients with inflammatory bowel disease who received cyclic home parenteral nutrition for two consecutive periods of 3 months with two different lipid emulsions. During each period, they received in random order either an emulsion composed exclusively of soy-derived long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) or another emulsion containing an equal weight:weight mixture of long- and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs/LCTs). Both emulsions contained 20 triglycerides (TGs) and 1.2 phospholipids. Lipids provided 50 of nonprotein energy. Blood samples were taken once a week, 1 hour before the end of infusion (during) and again after a 6- to 8-h lipid-free interval (baseline). During infusion, there was a moderate increase of plasma TGs and phospholipids and a slight decrease of plasma esterified cholesterol (CE) and free cholesterol. Most of the plasma TGs increase occurred in the very-low-density lipoprotein fraction (containing both emulsion particles and the endogenous very-low-density lipoprotein), but there was also an increase of TGs content in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) that was more pronounced with MCTs/LCTs. Acquisition by exogenous particles of CE transferred from LDL and HDL was significant for the LCT emulsion only. Although no change was observed in plasma lipid concentration of baseline samples during 3 months of home parenteral nutrition, some modifications were observed in the composition of lipoprotein fractions demonstrating a redistribution of lipid components. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Novel Targeted Therapies in Ovarian Cancer

Background: Traditional management of women with advanced ovarian cancer with surgery and chemotherapy provides limited duration of survival. Targeting specific pathways in angiogenesis or DNA repair may provide therapeutic benefit. Results: In this manuscript, we review the use of various compounds including antibodies that target specific growth factors receptors or ligands for receptors as well as small molecule compounds that inhibit tyrosine kinase activities or regulate the DNA repair mechanism in the management of women with ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancers. Randomized clinical trials have shown a PFS benefit in the use of bevacizumab in the adjuvant setting and at disease recurrence. Randomized clinical trials are currently ongoing with several PARP inhibitors in the maintenance setting post-chemotherapy and in the recurrent disease setting. Conclusion: In particular, bevacizumab an antibody to VEGF-A and the PARP inhibitors show promise in extending overall survival from this disease. Use of these agents especially in a maintenance strategy is promising
Efficient high gain circularly polarized microstrip antenna using asymetrical RIS surface

In this paper an efficient high gain circularly polarized antenna is proposed. A circularly polarized metal plated antenna is designed and an asymmetrical reactive impedance surface (RIS) is fabricated on a FR4 superstrate and placed above the antenna to increase the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth. The antenna provides S11 less than -20 dB and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth over 5.699-5.912 GHz. The antenna offers 9.9 dBi gain, more than 90 % antenna efficiency and more than 20 dB F/B lobe ratio. Side lobe level is <;-20 dB and cross polarization is <; -15 dB. The antenna is fabricated and tested. The measured results agree with simulation results. The overall antenna dimensions are 60 mm × 60 mm × 4.6 mm.
Cricket World Cup: a stress test for the surveillance system in the Caribbean.

OBJECTIVE To describe the development and implementation of and major findings and recommendations from, a regional mass gathering surveillance system (MGSS) in support of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007. METHODS The regional MGSS was developed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and its member countries as an adaptation of the routine communicable disease surveillance system in order to rapidly detect unusual disease events during the tournament. The implementation of the MGSS required the identification of additional human and financial resources, capacity building activities, laboratory strengthening, and improved global epidemic surveillance and communication mechanisms. RESULTS Timeliness and completeness of data reporting in the MGSS were both > 85%. No unusual pathogens were identified in the region during the tournament. Only dengue and influenza, both endemic to the region, were identified. The early alert aetection software used identified a total of 24 aberrations from seven countries, the largest proportions being gastroenteritis, fever and respiratory symptoms and injuries. All aberrations were promptly investigated and most were found to be false alerts. Three unusual disease events were detected, all from one country. They were responded to in a timely manner and did not adversely affect the tournament. CONCLUSIONS The surveillance capacities gained in preparing for and supporting, the tournament assisted in strengthening and testing the already existing national and regional communicable disease surveillance systems. Events such as these should be utilized to strengthen already existing surveillance systems, which should be flexible enough to respond to changing events.
Coordinatisation and canonical bases in simple theories

In this paper we discuss several generalization of theorems from stability theory to simple theories. Cherlin and Hrushovski, in [2] develop a substitute for canonical bases in finite rank, ω-categorical supersimple theories. Motivated by methods there, we prove the existence of canonical bases (in a suitable sense) for types in any simple theory. This is done in Section 2. In general these canonical bases will (as far as we know) exist only as “hyperimaginaries”, namely objects of the form a/E where a is a possibly infinite tuple and E a type-definable equivalence relation. (In the supersimple, ω-categorical case, these reduce to ordinary imaginaries.) So in Section 1 we develop the general theory of hyperimaginaries and show how first order model theory (including the theory of forking) generalises to hyperimaginaries. We go on, in Section 3 to show the existence and ubiquity of regular types in supersimple theories, ω-categorical simple structures and modularity is discussed in Section 4. It is also shown here how the general machinery of simplicity simplifies some of the general theory of smoothly approximable (or Lie-coordinatizable) structures from [2]. Throughout this paper we will work in a large, saturated model M of a complete theory T. All types, sets and sequences will have size smaller than the size of M. We will assume that the reader is familiar with the basics of forking in simple theories as laid out in [4] and [6]. For basic stability-theoretic results concerning regular types, orthogonality etc., see [1] or [9].
A highly integrated heterogeneous micro- and mm-wave platform

A highly integrated platform for micro- and mm-wave frequency applications is introduced. The platform utilizes heterogeneous process modules with integrated passive and tunable devices together with silicon and GaAs MMIC technology to achieve outstanding flexibility. The different process modules are accounted for and their feasibility is proven through a number of application demonstrators from 23GHz telecom backhauling and 77GHz automotive radar indicating excellent performance.
Psychiatry, Moral Worry, and the Moral Emotions

There has been increased philosophical, psychological, and, more recently, psychiatric interest in the moral emotions, most specifically the emotions of guilt, shame, regret, and remorse. Interest in these emotions has not been in their role as symptoms of a particular mental illness, but in their presence in everyday life and in their importance in defining our character and our very humanity. Moral emotions are those emotions that arise in the context of life experiences and daily choices that bear upon our perceptions of the rightness or wrongness of particular actions or inactions. Human beings have a moral scanner that constantly provides both a cognitive judgment and a feeling tone of ease or unease in the moral evaluation of life’s moment-to-moment activities. This paper discusses the intersection of psychiatry and the moral emotions, providing case examples and a review of empirical studies to illustrate the relevance of patients’ concerns about their moral choices to psychiatric evaluation and practice.
Prestigious organizations and heterodox choice in institutionally plural contexts

In unsettled fields with multiple ideal-typical institutional logics, why do organizations tend to weaken or conform to prevalent logic order? The authors argue that prestige, defined as a tribute paid by field members to a select few with valued distinctive traits, plays a determinant role in explaining institutional heterodoxy (i.e., the choice to stop instantiating dominant logics or start instantiating less prevalent logics). In unsettled fields, prestigious organizations adopt institutional heterodoxy to maintain their distinctiveness because they consider logics as means rather than constraining ends and because awarding bodies cannot impose strict obedience rules. Controlling for alternative explanations, a study of 165 French industrial design agencies (1989 to 2003) provides evidence that prestige favors the decision to undertake heterodox choices. This relationship is weakened when organizations diversify their expertise, is marginally reinforced when organizations have high-status clients, and is influenced by peers' heterodox choices. The authors discuss contributions to the neo-institutional theory of organizational choices, the socio-cultural analysis of field's evolution, and the strategic perspective of the firm.
Identificação paramétrica do sistema composto pelo complexo perna-pé com redes neurais artificiais

Este trabalho propoe o uso de Redes Neurais de Hopfield na identificacao parametrica do sistema complexo composto da perna e do pe. Esta pesquisa e parte de um projeto multidisciplinar que integra os sistemas de controle e instrumentacao para controlar os movimentos dos membros inferiores de pacientes paraplegicos. O objetivo e o de identificar os parâmetros de planta e realizar simulacoes do sistema, antes da aplicacao das leis de controle no paciente.
Amorphous Growing of 2 and 3 Dimensional Shapes

The Problem: How can biological cells grow to form complicated shapes? In our approach to this question, we model cells as simple immobile computing units with the ability to replicate and pass messages. Motivation: A primary goal of this project is to better understand how biological cells grow into complex structures. This work will also provide insight into a new computing paradigm, namely Amorphous Computing (see in another abstract). The most interesting attributes cell growth that we are trying to model include:
Development and application of LC/HRPS for quantification of adenine nucleotides, creatine phosphate, and creatine in sturgeon spermatozoa.

Fedorov P., Grabic R. , Fedorova G. , Cosson J., Boryshpolets S. , Dzyuba B. (2017): Development and application of LC/HRPS for quantification of adenine nucleotides, creatine phosphate, and creatine in sturgeon spermatozoa. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 62, 67–74. The objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution product scan (LC/HRPS) mass spectrometry for simultaneous quantification of adenine nucleotides, creatine phosphate, and creatine levels after fixation of sturgeon sperm by perchloric acid. This approach has been used for the determination of adenine nucleotides, creatine, and creatine phosphate in biological tissues, but no applications to sperm cells have been reported to date. The results of method validation showed that specific correction factors for the calculation of macroergic phosphate content in sperm cells extracted by perchloric acid should be used to get accurate concentration values. The proposed LC/HRPS method is beneficial for the analysis of adenine nucleotides because it allows simultaneous quantification of all target analytes at low concentrations in a single run. This is an advantage compared to conventional methods based on colorimetric or chemiluminescent assays and even compared to sophisticated methods based on high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance.
Statistical Machine Translation using Ordinal Regression and Beam Search Decoder

In this work, we explore several approaches to improve machine translation, especially focusing on iteratively improving the performance of decoder-reranker system. We train our system using the dev set, and provide experimental results on the test set. We use the dev-test filtered phrase table, and n-gram language model for the extraction of translation model based features, and language model based features respectively. We use the beam search decoder, with eight features, and ordinal regression algorithm for learning the feature weights, and use the BLEU metric for evaluation of translations. We find that this process improves the performance of the system, compared the baseline system which uses PRO algorithm for reranking.
[Standardised designation of commercial troponin immunoassays].

We read with interest the article by Pracon et al. [1], which recently concluded that a newer generation sensitive cardiac troponin I (TnI) assay showed greater diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) when compared to a standard TnI test. Although the results of this study are indeed valuable, they differ from those obtained in a similar investigation, where contemporary (Beckman Coulter AccuTnI) and highly sensitive (Beckman Coulter HS-AccuTnI) immunoassays were used, obtaining nearly equal diagnostic performances [2]. This difference is nothing but ancillary and mainly resides in uncertainty around terms such as “standard”, “contemporary”, “sensitive” and “highly-sensitive” for designating troponin immunoassay, which frequently leads to misleading interpretations of troponin test results within the same study, and sometimes even across different investigations [3]. Besides the traditional classification of troponin immunoassays currently advocated by Apple (i.e. according to the percentage of measurable values below the 99th percentile of the upper reference limit [URL]) [4], it has been recently suggested that the mainstay for designating the diagnostic performance of different troponin tests is the transformation of values from ng/L to pmol/L [5]. This can be easily achieved by multiplying results of TnI for 0.042, and those of troponin T
Information rules - a strategic guide to the network economy

From the Publisher: Information Goods -- from movies and music to software code and stock quotes - have supplanted industrial goods as the key drivers of world markets. Confronted by this New Economy, many instinctively react by searching for a corresponding New Economics to guide their business decisions. Executives charged with rolling out cutting-edge software products or on-line versions of their magazines are tempted to abandon the classic lessons of economics, and rely instead on an ever changing roster of trends, buzzwords, and analogies that promise to guide strategy in the information age. Not so fast, say authors Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian. In Information Rules they warn managers, "Ignore basic economic principles at your own risk. Technology changes. Economic laws do not. " Understanding these laws and their relevance to information goods is critical when fashioning today's successful competitive strategies. Information Rules introduces and explains the economic concepts needed to navigate the evolving network economy. Information Rules will help business leaders and policy makers - from executives in the entertainment, publishing, hardware, and software industries to lawyers, finance professionals, and writers -- make intelligent decisions about their information assets.
Molecular study of 33 families with Fraser syndrome new data and mutation review

Fraser syndrome (FS) is an autosomal recessive malformation disorder characterized by cryptophthalmos, syndactyly, and abnormalities of the respiratory and urogenital tract. FS is considered to be the human equivalent of the murine blebbing mutants: in the mouse mutations at five loci cause a phenotype that is comparable to FS in humans, and thus far mutations in two syntenic human genes, FRAS1 and FREM2, have been identified to cause FS. Here we present the molecular analysis of 48 FS patients from 18 consanguineous and 15 nonconsanguineous families. Linkage analysis in consanguineous families indicated possible linkage to FRAS1 and FREM2 in 60% of the cases. Mutation analysis identified 11 new mutations in FRAS1 and one FREM2 mutation. Manifestations of these patients and previously reported cases with an FRAS1 mutation were compared to cases without detectable FRAS1 mutations to study genotype–phenotype correlations. Although our data suggest that patients with an FRAS1 mutation have more frequently skull ossification defects and low insertion of the umbilical cord, these differences are not statistically significant. Mutations were identified in only 43% of the cases suggesting that other genes syntenic to murine genes causing blebbing may be responsible for FS as well. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Validation of the FACSCount AF system for determination of sperm concentration in boar semen.

A flow cytometric method has been developed for rapid determination of sperm concentration in semen from various mammalian species. * All cells containing DNA are stained with SYBR-14 or propidium iodide (PI) and sperm concentration is determined in relation to an internal standard of fluorescent microspheres (beads). Satisfactory staining can be achieved within 2-3 min and the following flow cytometric analysis on the FACSCount AF System rapidly provides the user with a precise and accurate assessment of the sperm concentration. In this study, the FACSCount AF System and Sperm Counting Reagent (BD Biosciences) was compared with microscopic counting using a Bürker-Türk haemocytometer. In addition, sperm concentration was determined using the Corning 254 spectrophotometer which is used routinely by Danish artificial insemination stations for boars. The results show that the agreement between flow cytometry and microscopic counting is very high. The slope for the regression line was 1.12 (SE = 0.03) with an estimated intercept with the Y-axis of 22 x 10(6) sperm/ml (SE = 10 x 10(6) sperm/ml) and an estimated error of the model of 10 x 10(6) sperm/ml. For the spectrophotometer, the slope of the regression line was 1.09 (SE = 0.07) with an estimated intercept of 137 x 10(6) sperm/ml (SE = 25 x 10(6) sperm/ml). The average error made by the spectrophotometer was 55 x 10(6) sperm/ml. In addition, the results obtained using flow cytometry was highly repeatable (CV = 2.7%) in comparison with the spectrophotometric method (CV = 6.3%). These results indicate that the FACSCount AF System is a valuable tool for precise and accurate assessment of sperm concentration in boar semen and that use of this system may lead to production of more uniform insemination doses containing a specific number of sperm per dose.