Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D and mucosal immune function

Purpose of review Significant advances have been made in the characterization of Vitamin D and the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) in immune function. The studies of signaling pathways involved in the response to infection and inflammation have led to a more detailed understanding of the cellular response to Vitamin D through VDR. This review summarizes recent progress in understanding how Vitamin D contributes to mucosal immune function, particularly in relation to the molecular mechanisms by which Vitamin D and VDR influence mucosal immunity, bacterial infection, and inflammation. Recent findings Recently, it was shown that Vitamin D modulates the T cell antigen receptor, further demonstrating that Vitamin D has a nonclassical role in immunoregulation. The anti-inflammation and anti-infection functions for Vitamin D are newly identified and highly significant activities. Vitamin D/VDR have multiple critical functions in regulating the response to intestinal homeostasis, tight junctions, pathogen invasion, commensal bacterial colonization, antimicrobe peptide secretion, and mucosal defense. Interestingly, microorganisms modulate the VDR signaling pathway. Summary Vitamin D is known as a key player in calcium homeostasis and electrolyte and blood pressure regulation. Recently, important progress has been made in understanding how the noncanonical activities of Vitamin D influence the pathogenesis and prevention of human disease. Vitamin D and VDR are directly involved in T cell antigen receptor signaling. The involvement of Vitamin D/VDR in anti-inflammation and anti-infection represents a newly identified and highly significant activity for VDR. Studies have indicated that the dysregulation of VDR may lead to exaggerated inflammatory responses, raising the possibility that defects in Vitamin D and VDR signaling transduction may be linked to bacterial infection and chronic inflammation. Further characterization of Vitamin D/VDR will help elucidate the pathogenesis of various human diseases and in the design of new approaches for prevention and treatment.
How to set up a severe asthma service

Severe asthma affects 5–20% of the asthma population but is discordantly responsible for the major burden of illness and impairment to quality of life. Patients with severe asthma continue to experience ongoing symptoms despite maximal therapy. A severe asthma service provides a systematic approach to the management of the disease and aids in confirming the correct diagnosis, managing comorbid conditions that may mimic or aggravate asthma, and provides the environment to optimize treatment and asthma self‐management skills and education. A severe asthma service is also the ideal environment for trialling add‐on therapies and hence can improve patient outcomes and clinical practice. Within such a service there are many opportunities for training and research. In this article we describe the purpose of a severe asthma clinic, the necessary components of a service including staffing and facilities and the processes for trialling additional therapies used in the management of severe asthma.
Neuropathological Classification of Huntington's Disease

In postmortem brain specimens from 163 clinically diagnosed cases of Huntington's disease (HD) the striatum exhibited marked variation in the severity of neuropathological involvement. A system for grading this severity was established by macroscopic and microscopic criteria, resulting in five grades (0–4) designated in ascending order of severity. The grade correlates closely with the extent of clinical disability as assessed by a rating scale. In five cases of clinically diagnosed HD there were no discernible neuropathological abnormalities (grade 0), suggesting that the anatomical changes lag behind the development of clinical abnormalities. In eight cases, neuropathological changes could only be recognized microscopically (grade 1). The earliest changes were seen in the medial paraventricular portions of the caudate nucleus (CN), in the tail of the CN, and in the dorsal part of the putamen. Counts of neurons in the CN reveal that 50% are lost in grade 1 and that 95% are lost in grade 4; astrocytes are greatly increased in grades 2–4. These studies indicate that analyses of the CN in grade 4 would reflect mainly its astrocytic composition with a component of remote neurons projecting to the striatum. Because of the relative preservation of the lateral half of the head of the CN in grades 1–2, these regions would reflect early cellular and biochemical changes in HD.
Evaluation of power transfer efficiency with ferrite sheets in WPT system

Proper selection of magnetic material is very important to maximize the power transfer efficiency (PTE) in case of the conductor in the receiving coil. The effects of the relative permeability and loss tangent of the magnetic material are investigated. A relatively low complex permeability ensures a high efficiency in wireless power transfer system (WPT) at 6.78 MHz. To maximize the PTE, the properties of the selected ferrite sheet should include a relative permeability higher than 200, a thickness of 600 um, and a loss tangent less than 0.01. Although 2-layer ferrite sheets show lower PTE than those of complex of complex of ferrite sheets, they have relatively high permeabilities and low core losses, which are beneficial in e real environments.
An LMI approach to mixed H1/H∞ robust fault-tolerant control design with uncertainties

This paper studies mixed H1/H∞ robust fault-tolerant control for a class of uncertain systems and its application to flight tracking control. A sufficient condition is derived by introducing some important auxiliary variables, which guarantees that the uncertain closed-loop system is robustly stable and satisfies the mixed H1/H∞ constraint in both normal and fault cases. In the framework of Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) approach, a multi-objective optimization problem is solved with much less conservative via an iterative algorithm. Simulation results obtained with a nonlinear fighter aircraft model show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Conservation and mutation of viral interleukin‐10 gene in gastric carcinomas and nasopharyngeal carcinomas

The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) BamHI‐C fragment rightward reading frame 1 (BCRF1)‐coded viral interleukin‐10 (vIL‐10), exhibits high homology with human interleukin‐10 (hIL‐10) gene. The protein product vIL‐10, which shares some functional properties with hIL‐10, primarily mediates immunosuppressive functions. To characterize the variations of the vIL‐10 gene and to explore the association between vIL‐10 gene variations and EBV associated diseases, the vIL‐10 gene was analyzed (using direct sequencing) in 41 cases of EBV‐associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC), 83 nasopharyngeal carcinoma biopsies, and 40 throat washing samples from healthy donors in Northern China. One silent mutation (c9980a) was observed in the majority of EBVaGC, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and throat washing samples (134/164, 81.7%). Two consensus mutations (V6M and G23S) were identified in the signal peptide region in some nasopharyngeal carcinoma and throat washing isolates. These results indicate that the pattern B95‐8 (identical sequence to B95‐8) is the dominant type among the EBV isolates from Northern China, while the pattern SPM (mutation in the signal peptide present only in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and throat washing isolates) seems more relevant with the EBV‐positive nasopharyngeal and laryngopharyngeal epithelial cells. The conservation of vIL‐10, with a few variations, suggests the critical role of the vIL‐10 gene for EBV in gaining an advantage over the host's immune system. J. Med. Virol. 83:644–650, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cutaneous Application of Ethyl Chloride Spray

To the Editor. The control of pain alter surgery involving harv esting of iliac crest bone gralts can be challenging. Meth ods of successful pain control often require the use of opioids, which have side effects. most commonly sedation. nausea/vomiting. and bowel immotility, These side effeas are discou raging to th e patie nt and surgical team. as discharge can be delayed . Oral surgical patients complain of discom[on [rom the fada l swelling but commonly do not describe it as pain. However. after an oral surgical procedure involving the ha rvesting ol iliac crest bone gralt . the patients do complain of severe hip pain. I have found a simple. cheap. and very effective method of pain control when the pain [rom the harvest site predom ina tes Iollowing surgery. This involves the placement ol an epidural cathe ter percutaneously into the wound above th e periosteu m and inlusing 0.2% bup ivacaine with the assistance of a patient-co ntrolled anal gesia device. I have Infused basal rates 01 12 mUh with a 2-ml bolus dose every 15 minut es. The resul ts have been exce llent. A recent patient had und ergone iliac crest harvesting 5 years prior to this operati on and clearly remembered the severe postoperative hip pain . With the technique described. her pain scores were in the 1-3 range on a scale 01 110 lor the 36 hou rs she had the in fusion , and she stated that she wished this tech nique had been available to her 5 years previousl y. Broil et aL' have described this technique [or use after orthopedic vertebral decompression and fusion wit h autogenous bone. In their report, they instructed patients to request reinjeaion of local anesthetic if and when the don or site (specifically different [rom the venebral surgical site) became painful, It is of interest that in the oral surgical patient th e gralt site is the only painlul site, and thus we as anesthesio logists can significantly improve th e postoperative course 01thes e patien ts. Variations of this technique involve placement ol the cathe ter belo w the periosteum . and the use of an in termittent bolus technique with various combinations of bupivacaine with and without ep inep hrine.t -s This is a simple tech nique invo lving essentially no risk of hypotension. musde weakness. or local anesthetic toxicity. Because ol its success in the ora l surgical patie nt. I will now expand my use of this technique to all patients regard less 01 type 01 surg ery il they undergo iliac crest bone harvesting.
An image sequence segmentation method using gradient orientation information

This paper describes a method for segmenting image sequences to moving objects and stationary background. The segmentation is based on gradient orientation information (GOI) that is robust to irregular lighting conditions. The GOI can be easily obtained and processed in the form of unit gradient vectors. Simulation results show that the proposed method works better than a traditional image-intensity based background subtraction approach with temporal Median filtering under a constant lighting condition. More importantly, the results also reveal that, unlike the traditional approach, the proposed method is remarkably robust to a sudden change of image intensities.
Serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in Bulgaria before the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

Abstract The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) was introduced as a mandatory vaccine in Bulgaria in April 2010. We report on the serotype distribution and the antimicrobial resistance of 222 invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates collected from all age groups before the introduction of PCV10. PCV7, PCV10, and PCV13 covered 43·7, 59·9, and 78·8% of all invasive pneumococcal strains, and 64·2, 79·1, and 89·6% of isolates involving children less than 5 years of age. Penicillin resistance was found in 30·1% of the isolates responsible for meningitis and in 5·0% of isolates responsible for other invasive infections. Overall, erythromycin resistance was found in 19·4% of all invasive strains. The erm(B) was the most prevalent pneumococcal macrolide resistance genotype (63·2%) and dual mechanisms of both genes the erm(B) and mef(E) were detected in 15·8% of 19 erythromycin resistant isolates during the period 2006–2010. The prevalence and spread of serotypes 19F, 6B, and 19A during the last period may have contributed to the high predominance of erm(B) genotype in comparison of mef genotype, which was predominant in our country among erythromycin-resistant isolates before 2005. Continuing surveillance is required after the recent introduction of PCV10 in order to observe future developments of any serotype changes in the Bulgarian population, as well as surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility of invasive S. pneumoniae isolates.
Identifying User Identity across Social Network Sites based on Overlapping Relationship and Social Interaction

Most people have identities on multiple social network sites (SNSs) simultaneously to meet their diverse needs for social media use. User identity identification across SNSs has been a significant research focus in recent years as it is important for comprehending users' online behaviors, conducting precise recommendations, detecting cross-site identity attacks, etc. In this paper, we propose a new method for user identity identification across SNSs by utilizing users' overlapping relationships and corresponding social interactions among different SNSs. In our method, the overlapping relationships are leveraged to generate user identity candidates for each identity to be identified, and the user identity matching procedure is performed based on username, user content, social network as well as social interaction. We conduct experiments by setting Weibo as source SNS and Douban as target SNS as well as Douban as source SNS and Weibo as target SNS respectively. The experimental results indicate our method's better performance on precision, recall, F1-score and accuracy.
Análisis comparativo de la gestión del conocimiento en la administración pública española

El presente trabajo se ha realizado dentro del Programa de Doctorado en Formacion en la Sociedad del Conocimiento de la Universidad de Salamanca http://knowledgesociety.usal. es y ha sido financiado por el Instituto Nacional de la Administracion Publica (INAP) y el Observatorio de Empleabilidad y Empleo Universitarios (OEEU). Los autores quieren dar las gracias al Grupo de Investigacion en InterAccion y eLearning (GRIAL) http://grial.usal. es y al Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de la Educacion (IUCE) de la Universidad de Salamanca http://iuce.usal. es por sus contribuciones y soporte.
Understanding the Role of Technical Features and Network Effects in Explaining Microblogging Acceptance

The popularity of microblogging has drawn an increasing amount of attention from users keen to expand friendship, facilitate information sharing and seeking. Given the extensive use of microblogging services, there is a pressing need to understand user acceptance behavior in microblogging services. Although there are few studies exploring the factors underlying popular or successful microbloggings, none of research has been reported from both of the technical features and network effects of microblogging services. This study extended motivational model with sense of belonging as a theoretical framework to examine the role of technical features and network effects in explaining microblogging acceptance. We proposed five external variables and divided them into two contexts, the technical feature context and network effect context. These two contexts were modeled to influence the perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, sense of belonging and behavioral intention constructs. The findings of this research provide directions for system administrators and service providers to achieve higher levels of microblogging usage by developing multi-faceted strategies.
Leptospirosis: case reports of an outbreak in Guyana

Abstract Although leptospirosis is a globally important zoonotic disease that affects humans on all continents, in both urban and rural areas, it often goes undiagnosed because its clinical manifestations are frequently non-specific. Even when leptospirosis is suspected, confirmation is made difficult by problems in isolating the causative organism in culture and by the low sensitivity of the available serological tests. Following torrential rains and flooding in January–February 2005, an outbreak of leptospirosis was suspected in Guyana, South America. Overall, 108 suspected cases presented at a medical post in the East Coast area of Guyana, and some of these cases are described in detail here. A better understanding of the clinical and paraclinical characteristics of leptospirosis should improve the recognition and appropriate treatment of the disease. Health education could reduce exposure, and physicians and primary healthcare workers could be made more aware of the signs and symptoms of leptospirosis.
Low power UWB CMOS LNA using resistive feedback and current-reused techniques under forward body bias

A ultra-wideband (UWB) low noise amplifier (LNA) has been realized in 0. 18μm CMOS technology. The current-reused method combined with forward body bias (FBB) in a cascade amplifier can enable an aggressive voltages scaling, such as VDD and VG1 to 1.0V and 0.53V, i.e. 44.5% and 70.6% reduction compared to the typical VDD of 1.8V. The low voltage feature from FBB leads to more than 50% saving of power dissipation to 5.2mW. The on-chip measurement indicates power gain (S21) of 10.55∼12.6dB and noise figure (NF50) of 3.2∼3.95 dB through the UWB (3∼10.5GHz). This UWB LNA with small chip area (0.69mm2) provides a solution for low voltages, low power, and low cost.
The Modeling and Simulation of the Galvanic Coupling Intra-Body Communication via Handshake Channel

Intra-body communication (IBC) is a technology using the conductive properties of the body to transmit signal, and information interaction by handshake is regarded as one of the important applications of IBC. In this paper, a method for modeling the galvanic coupling intra-body communication via handshake channel is proposed, while the corresponding parameters are discussed. Meanwhile, the mathematical model of this kind of IBC is developed. Finally, the validity of the developed model has been verified by measurements. Moreover, its characteristics are discussed and compared with that of the IBC via single body channel. Our results indicate that the proposed method will lay a foundation for the theoretical analysis and application of the IBC via handshake channel.
Changes in cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation in the first 24 hours after birth asphyxia.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether or not postasphyctic cerebral hypoperfusion and decreased cerebral metabolism occur in the perinatally asphyxiated neonate, as has been reported in adults and newborn animals. METHODS Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we monitored changes in oxyhemoglobin (HbO2), deoxyhemoglobin (HbR), total hemoglobin (HbO2 + HbR, which represents changes in cerebral blood volume [CBV]), and cytochrome oxidase (Cytaa3, which indicates changes in oxidation level of this intracerebral mitochondrial enzyme). Thirty-one neonates (gestational age > 34 weeks), divided into three groups, were monitored between 2 and 12 hours or between 12 and 24 hours of life. Group I consisted of healthy newborns: N = 8 (2 to 12 hours) and N = 5 (12 to 24 hours). Patients in group II were moderately asphyxiated newborns but neurologically normal in the first 24 hours of life: N = 6 (2 to 12 hours) and N = 3 (12 to 24 hours). Group III consisted of severely asphyxiated newborns with an abnormal neurologic behavior within 24 hours after birth: N = 5 (2 to 12 hours) and N = 4 (12 to 24 hours). RESULTS From 2 to 12 h, CBV levels in groups I and II were stable. In group III CBV decreased in all infants. This decrease in CBV was associated with a drop in both HbO2 and HbR. Cytaa3 was stable in groups I and II, but showed a marked decrease in two of the five infants of group III. There was a positive relationship between CBV and mean arterial blood pressure in groups II and III. Between 12 and 24 hours, all groups showed stable CBV and Cytaa3 patterns. A positive relation existed now between transcutaneous PCO2 and CBV in groups II and III. CONCLUSIONS CBV, HbO2, HbR, and Cytaa3 decreased in the first 12 hours of life in severely asphyxiated neonates who subsequently developed neurologic abnormalities. We therefore suggest that posthypoxic-ischemic reperfusion injury of the brain during early neonatal life occurs in neonates with severe birth asphyxia.
Comparison of the Roles of Calcineurin in Physiology and Virulence in Serotype D and Serotype A Strains ofCryptococcus neoformans

ABSTRACT The calcineurin gene was cloned and disrupted in serotype D strains of Cryptococcus neoformans. Serotype A and serotype D calcineurin mutants were inviable at 37°C and avirulent in mice, whereas only serotype A mutants were cation stress sensitive. Thus, calcineurin plays conserved and divergent roles in serotype A and serotype D strains.
Performance of Optimal Routing by Pipe, Hose, and Intermediate Models

This paper compares the performances of optimal routing as yielded by the pipe, hose, and intermediate models. The pipe model, which is specified by the exact traffic matrix, provides the best routing performance, but the traffic matrix is difficult to measure and predict accurately. On the other hand, the hose model is specified by just the total outgoing/incoming traffic from/to each node, but it has a problem in that its routing performance is degraded compared to the pipe model, due to insufficient traffic information. The intermediate model, where the upper and lower bounds of traffic demands for source-destination pairs are added as constraints, is a construction that lies between the pipe and hose models. The intermediate model, which lightens the difficulty of the pipe model, but narrows the range of traffic conditions specified by the hose model, offers better routing performance than the hose model. An optimal-routing formulation extended from the pipe model to the intermediate model can not be solved as a regular linear programming (LP) problem. Our solution, the introduction of a duality theorem, turns our problem into an LP formulation that can be easily solved. Numerical results show that the network congestion ratio for the pipe model is much lower than that of hose model. The differences in network congestion ratios between the pipe and hose models lie in the range from 27% to 45% for the various network topologies examined. The intermediate model offers better routing performance than the hose model. The intermediate model reduces the network congestion ratio by 34% compared to the hose model in an experimental network, when the upper-bound and lower-bound margins are set to 25% and 20%, respectively.
Current Laser Resurfacing Technologies: A Review that Delves Beneath the Surface

Abstract Numerous laser platforms exist that rejuvenate the skin by resurfacing its upper layers. In varying degrees, these lasers improve the appearance of lentigines and rhytides, eliminate photoaging, soften scarring due to acne and other causes, and treat dyspigmentation. Five major classes of dermatologic lasers are currently in common use: ablative and nonablative lasers in both fractionated and unfractionated forms as well as radiofrequency technologies. The gentler nonablative lasers allow for quicker healing, whereas harsher ablative lasers tend to be more effective. Fractionating either laser distributes the effect, increasing the number of treatments but minimizing downtime and complications. In this review article, the authors seek to inform surgeons about the current laser platforms available, clarify the differences between them, and thereby facilitate the identification of the most appropriate laser for their practice.