Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oligoclonal expansion of CTLs directed against a restricted number of dominant minor histocompatibility antigens in hemopoietic chimeras.

To understand how T cells respond to allogeneic minor histocompatibility Ags (MiHAs), we studied the fate of Thy-1.1+ lymphocytes, as well as their TCR usage and functional activity, in irradiated LP (Thy-1.2+) recipients transplanted with a mixture of C57BL/6 (Thy-1.2+) hemopoietic progenitors supplemented with either low or high numbers of B6.PL lymphocytes (Thy-1.1+). Mice transplanted with low numbers of T cells experienced a dramatic expansion (> or = 10(5)-fold) of donor Thy-1.1+/CD8+ cells during the first 15 days post-transplant. Flow-cytometric analysis and sequencing of junctional nucleotide sequences showed that the nature of this expansion was oligoclonal and involved primarily one or a few clones using V beta 5.1 or V beta 8.1 TCR elements. Expanded T lymphocyte populations displayed MHC-restricted cytotoxicity for a restricted number of MiHAs, that were found in only two peaks following fractionation of LP MiHAs by reverse-phase HPLC. Expansion of donor T cells was limited to the spleen, and short-lived in these recipients that became healthy long-term chimeras without any signs of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD). In contrast, mice transplanted with high numbers of T cells (GVHD+) showed proliferation of Thy-1.1+ donor cells not only in the spleen, but also in the thymus, and recipients died rapidly of GVHD. These results show that: 1) in the MiHA-incompatible transplantation setting, lack of GVHD cannot be explained simply by the absence of antihost T cell responses, 2) GVHD+ recipients present a massive thymic infiltration by donor mature T lymphocytes, and 3) antihost T cell responses are oligoclonal in nature and targeted to only a few MiHAs. These findings shed new light on the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in GVHD and on the selection of the T cell repertoire involved in response to immunodominant MiHAs.
Diversity and Evolution of the Class A Chromosomal Beta-Lactamase Gene in Klebsiella pneumoniae

ABSTRACT We investigated the diversity of the chromosomal class A beta-lactamase gene in Klebsiella pneumoniae in order to study the evolution of the gene. A 789-bp portion was sequenced in a panel of 28 strains, representative of three phylogenetic groups, KpI, KpII, and KpIII, recently identified in K. pneumoniae and of different chromosomal beta-lactamase variants previously identified. Three groups of sequences were found, two of them corresponding to the families SHV (pI 7.6) and LEN (pI 7.1), respectively, and one, more heterogeneous, corresponding to a new family that we named OKP (for other K. pneumoniae beta-lactamase). Levels of susceptibility to ampicillin, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and aztreonam and inhibition by clavulanic acid were similar in the three groups. One new SHV variant, seven new LEN variants, and four OKP variants were identified. The OKP variants formed two subgroups based on nucleotide sequences, one with pIs of 7.8 and 8.1 and the other with pIs of 6.5 and 7.0. The nucleotide sequences of the housekeeping genes gyrA, coding for subunit A of gyrase, and mdh, coding for malate dehydrogenase, were also determined. Phylogenetic analysis of the three genes studied revealed parallel evolution, with the SHV, OKP, and LEN beta-lactamase families corresponding to the phylogenetic groups KpI, KpII, and KpIII, respectively. This correspondence was fully confirmed for 34 additional strains in PCR assays specific for the three beta-lactamase families. We estimated the time since divergence of the phylogenetic groups KpI and KpIII at between 6 and 28 million years, confirming the ancient presence of the beta-lactamase gene in the genome of K. pneumoniae.
Prospects and limits of common- and differential-mode separation for the filter development process

A common way to describe conducted electromagnetic disturbances is to separate the measured noise voltages into common- and differential-mode. To design an appropriate EMI line filter the noise impedance has to be considered during the development process. The described method uses the practical approach to determine the common- and differential- noise impedances to calculate the filter attenuation up to 108 MHz for automotive applications. This article gives an overview on how to use disturbance decomposition and shows the limits of the mode separation procedure for the filter development process.
Crosstalk Between the EGFR and LIN-12/Notch Pathways in C. elegans Vulval Development

The Caenorhabditis elegans vulva is an important paradigm for cell-cell interactions in animal development. The fates of six vulval precursor cells are patterned through the action of the epidermal growth factor receptor–mitogen-activated protein kinase (EGFR-MAPK) inductive signaling pathway, which specifies the 1° fate, and the LIN-12/Notch lateral signaling pathway, which specifies the 2° fate. Here, we provide evidence that the inductive signal is spatially graded and initially activates the EGFR-MAPK pathway in the prospective 2° cells. Subsequently, this effect is counteracted by the expression of multiple new negative regulators of the EGFR-MAPK pathway, under direct transcriptional control of the LIN-12–mediated lateral signal.
Matrix product state and mean-field solutions for one-dimensional systems can be found efficiently

We consider the problem of approximating ground states of one-dimensional quantum systems within the two most common variational ansatzes, namely, the mean-field ansatz and matrix product states. We show that both for mean field and for matrix product states of fixed bond dimension, the optimal solutions can be found in a way which is provably efficient (i.e., scales polynomially). This implies that the corresponding variational methods can be in principle recast in a way which scales provably polynomially.Moreover, our findings imply that ground states of one-dimensional commuting Hamiltonians can be found efficiently.
Black adolescents: a descriptive study of their self-concepts and academic achievement.

This study was designed to determine the relationships among global self-concept, self-concept of academic ability, and academic achievement of black American adolescents. The subjects were 211 tenth-grade students in five public high schools in the Pacific Northwest school district who volunteered to participate in the study. Global self-concept was measured by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), self-concept of academic ability by the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability (General) Scale, and academic achievement by the California Achievement Test (CAT). The major statistical tools were the Pearson product-moment correlations and Fisher Z statistic. In all of the tests the decision was made to reject the null hypothesis at the . 05 level of significance. No significant relationship was found between global self-concept and academic achievement, although the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement reached significance. The relationship between self-concept of academic ability and academic achievement correlated more strongly than the relationship between global self-concept and academic achievement. These results suggest that the enhancement of global self-concept might not be a potent intervention for academic improvement for black adolescents.
Threadmill: a highly configurable architecture for human communication analysis applications

Computer applications that analyze human communication are shaped by the intrinsic complexity of the task and evolved to employ techniques that that is targeted. Closer examination of applications in this domain reveals opportunities for enhanced performance through concurrent execution. While opportunities for concurrent execution are plenty, and hold a promise of enhanced performance and quality of results, developing software that takes advantage of it can be challenging. Parallelism and distribution introduce complex coordination requirements that must be met by sophisticated architectural mechanisms. This thesis explores dealing with concurrency as an orthogonal aspect. It is argued that applications should be kept neutral to concurrency concerns and that concurrency should be weaved in at an architectural level, rather than at a programming level. The dissertation puts forth a component software architecture—ThreadMill—and associated reflective runtime infrastructure that shows how this architectural level weaving of concurrency can be successfully realized. A corollary of the above ability to weave concurrency into neutral applications is that it becomes possible for developers to tune an application so that it performs efficiently is a wide variety of execution environments, ranging from a single-processor machine to multiple interconnected nodes. ThreadMill and the tools to apply their knowledge about both an application and execution environment to get the most efficient execution configuration by tuning architectural specifications, without requiring changes to application code. ThreadMill is implemented and can be executed in multiple platforms (currently Win32 and Linux). A non-trivial vision-based probabilistic multi-target tracker of hands and face of American Sign Language signers was developed as a proof-of-concept application. Evaluation against a non-parallel (but lightly multi-threaded) version of the application shows an eight-fold performance improvement using a 10-node computational cluster. The same application was deployed unchanged on a variable number of nodes, from one to ten, in a Compaq AlphaServers DS20 cluster used in the reported experiments.
Design metrics: an empirical analysis

The application of design metrics to software development. is considered. An empirical investigation is described, the goal of which is to identify design metrics that allow the software engineer to discriminate between designs and pinpoint design weaknesses, particularly with a view to minimising development effort. A design measure based upon information flows between modules is proposed and empirically validated by analysing 13 software systems. A highly significant correlation is found between this metric and development effort measured as computer connect time. By contrast, size-based design metrics are found to exhibit little association with effort.
BELIEVING ON THE BASIS OF EVIDENCE: ANSWER TO KYBURG'S PAPER

Amazingly, the usual meaning of to believe and croire, its French translation, are different. In the Collins Cobuild, beZief is “a feeling of certainty that something exists,” “an opinion that you feel sure about. ” In contrast, the adjective believable is less categorical; it qualifies a thing that “you think is likely. ” In French, croire is used with the nuance of the believable adjective. In English, “I believe A” usually means that “ A is true”is believed without doubt, whereas, in French, “Je crois A” means that “ A is true” is believed but with a certain degree of doubt. For instance, when you ask somebody “Is this the way to Brussels? ” the answer “I believe so” means that for the speaker, it is indeed the way to Brussels and he has no doubt about it. In French, the answer “Je le crois” means that to the best of the speaker’s knowledge, it is the way to Brussels but he is not sure about it. If he were sure about it, he would have said “Oui. ” In English, when the speaker is not sure, he would say “I think so. ” The difference between the apparently identical words belief and croyance is important because confusion could result from an unclear definition.
Programmable pacing channel with a fully on-chip LDO regulator for cardiac pacemaker

A novel dual-voltage pacing system for implant pacemaker is presented in this paper. In order to reduce supply voltage ripple and diminish process variation imposed on the divided-resistor, a fully on-chip low-dropout (LDO) regulator is proposed. Meanwhile, the adjustable pacing circuit together with a sense feedback is employed to deliver electrical stimuli of 16-step amplitudes to induce cardiac contraction. The pacing circuit with a LDO regulator was fabricated in TSMC 0.35-mum CMOS technology, consuming total power of 1.29 muW including 185 nA of ground current in 1.2-V LDO and having a power consumption of 30 nW in the 1-V pacing step controller. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed LDO regulator features a power-supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of -30 dB with the output ripple of 570 muVpp under the input sinusoidal wave of 19.6 mVpp. Even with the load current up to 10 muA, LDO yields a line regulation that is less than 3% deviation.
Ankle spasticity and strength in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy

Ankle spasticity and strength in 27 children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) (mean age 9 years, range 3 to 18 years) and a group of 12 children without CP (comparison group) (mean age 9 years, range 5 to 18 years) were observed. To measure spasticity, a KinCom dynamometer dorsiflexed the passive ankle at five different speeds and recorded the resistive plantarflexion torques. Work values for the torque‐angle data were calculated at each speed. Using this data, linear regression was used to measure spasticity. To measure strength, the dynamometer rotated the ankle from maximum dorsiflexion to maximum plantarflexion at a speed of 10°/s while the child performed a maximum plantarflexion concentric contraction. The movement was reversed to record maximum dorsiflexion. Maximum torques and work by the plantarflexors and dorsiflexors were calculated. The group with CP had significantly more spasticity in the plantarflexors and significantly less strength in the plantarflexors and dorsiflexors than the group without CP. Results provide objective information quantifying ankle spasticity and strength in children with CP.
Intrinsic disorder and protein function.

2 The dominant view of protein structure-function is that an amino acid sequence specifies a (mostly) fixed three-dimensional (3-D) structure that is a prerequisite to protein function. In contrast to the dominant view, many proteins display functions requiring the disordered state. Our purpose here is to provide a catalogue of disorder-function relationships. The very important molecular details in each example can be obtained from the references provided or from several excellent reviews and commentaries (1-9). For ordered protein, the ensemble members all have the same time-averaged canonical set of Ramachandran angles along their backbones. For intrinsically disordered protein, the ensemble members have different (and typically dynamic) Ramachandran angles. Such disorder has been characterized by a variety of methods including x-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, CD spectroscopy, and protease sensitivity to name several. Each of these methods has advantages and limitations that are discussed in more detail elsewhere (10). Although a few disordered proteins and regions have been characterized by several methods as noted below, it would be useful to have more examples with multiple methods of characterization. In attempts to discover generalities from the known disorder examples, we recently used bioinformatics coupled with data mining (11-15). The results suggested that thousands of natively disordered proteins exist, representing a very substantial fraction of the proteins in the commonly used sequence databases (13, 16). From these and related database predictions and from a set of functionally important disordered proteins, Wright and Dyson (17) called for a re-assessment of the view that 3-D structure is always a prerequisite to protein function. In this article, we discuss the following topics: 1. how common is intrinsic disorder? ; 2. intrinsic disorder in vivo; 3. functional annotations for 90 proteins having physically characterized regions of disorder; 4. disordered regions without known function 5. a structure-function proposal called " the protein trinity " ; 6. the functional repertoires of ordered and disordered protein, and 7. the need for a Disordered Protein Database (DisProt) to complement the Protein Data Bank (PDB). How Common is Intrinsic Disorder? A series of predictors of natural disordered regions (PONDRs) have been developed using amino acid sequence as inputs and giving intrinsic order or disorder tendencies as outputs (11, 14, 15, 18, 19). The various PONDRs are distinguished by different training sets, by different data representations for their inputs, and by different machine learning models for their development. For PONDR VL-XT 1 , currently the …
Statistical analysis of the performance of information theoretic criteria in the detection of the number of signals in array processing

The performances of the Akaike (1974) information criterion and the minimum descriptive length criterion methods are examined. The events which lead to erroneous decisions are considered, and, on the basis of these events, the probabilities of error for the two criteria are derived. The probabilities of the first two events are derived based on the asymptotic distribution of the sample eigenvalues of an estimated Hermitian matrix. It is further shown that the probabilities of missing and false alarm for these two criteria can be evaluated to a close approximation. Although the derivation of the probabilities of error is based on an asymptotic analysis, the results are confirmed to be in very close agreement with computer simulation results. >
Assessment of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale factor structure among middle‐aged workers in Japan

Our aim was to assess the internal consistency and structural/construct validity of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale among middle‐aged employees in Japan. We conducted a cross‐sectional study of 7284 workers, aged 49.0 ± 6.3 (mean ± SD) years old. Structural/construct validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis. The 4‐factor structure reported in the general population was replicated, and a second‐order model with an overarching depression factor fitted well. These findings indicate that the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale is a valid and reliable measure of depressive symptoms for middle‐aged workers in Japan.
Etiology and prognosis of fulminant hepatitis in adults

1 Establishing the cause of fulminant hepatitis is an important step in the management of acute liver failure, so that specific therapy can be initiated and any contraindications to liver transplantation can be eliminated. 2 The etiology of fulminant hepatitis varies in different countries and at different times. A viral etiology (in particular hepatitis B virus) is now less frequent, and paracetamol‐induced fulminant hepatic failure is more common. 3 Many patients have miscellaneous causes of fulminant hepatitis. It is important to establish the main clinical and biological characteristics for specific management. 4 Assessment of the prognosis of fulminant hepatitis is important for distinguishing patients requiring liver transplantation from those whose will improve spontaneously. Prognosis depends on several factors, including the gold standard, the King's College Hospital criteria and Clichy's criteria.
Products of hemolysis in the subarachnoid space inducing spreading ischemia in the cortex and focal necrosis in rats: a model for delayed ischemic neurological deficits after subarachnoid hemorrhage?

OBJECT The pathogenesis of delayed ischemic neurological deficits after subarachnoid hemorrhage has been related to products of hemolysis. Topical brain superfusion of artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) containing the hemolysis products K+ and hemoglobin (Hb) was previously shown to induce ischemia in rats. Superimposed on a slow vasospastic reaction, the ischemic events represent spreading depolarizations of the neuronal-glial network that trigger acute vasoconstriction. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether such spreading ischemias in the cortex lead to brain damage. METHODS A cranial window was implanted in 31 rats. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured using laser Doppler flowmetry, and direct current (DC) potentials were recorded. The ACSF was superfused topically over the brain. Rats were assigned to five groups representing different ACSF compositions. Analyses included classic histochemical and immunohistochemical studies (glial fibrillary acidic protein and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule) as well as a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling assay. Superfusion of ACSF containing Hb combined with either a high concentration of K+ (35 mmol/L, 16 animals) or a low concentration of glucose (0.8 mmol/L, four animals) reduced CBF gradually. Spreading ischemia in the cortex appeared when CBF reached 40 to 70% compared with baseline (which was deemed 100%). This spreading ischemia was characterized by a sharp negative shift in DC, which preceded a steep CBF decrease that was followed by a slow recovery (average duration 60 minutes). In 12 of the surviving 14 animals widespread cortical infarction was observed at the site of the cranial window and neighboring areas in contrast to findings in the three control groups (11 animals). CONCLUSIONS The authors conclude that subarachnoid Hb combined with either a high K+ or a low glucose concentration leads to widespread necrosis of the cortex.
Design of a highly efficient CMOS rectifier for passive communication systems

This paper presents the design of a highly efficient CMOS rectifier for passive communication systems. The integrated rectifier is implemented in a 0.13 µm CMOS technology. The measured overall RF-to-DC power conversion efficiency for a DC output power of 10 µW (1V and 10 µA) is about 25%. The maximum efficiency for a DC output voltage of 1V is about 43% at UHF and the efficiency of the rectifier at −15 dBm RF input power is still 20%. This rectifier is using a self threshold cancelation technique to enhance the efficiency significantly.
Qualitative verification of finite and real-time DEVS networks

This paper introduces a qualitative verification methodology for a subclass of RTDEVS(Real-Time Discrete Event System Specification) [4], called Finite RTDEVS(FRTDEVS). Sub-classing FRTDEVS from RTDEVS aims to generate a finite structure of reachability graph for a given network of FRTDEVS. Since the reachability graph is isomorphic to a given FRTDEVS network in terms of their behaviors, it enables us to verify some qualitative properties of the target system. In order to demonstrate a practical usage of the reachability graph, we illustrate how to check safety and liveness monorail systems modeled by FRTDEVS networks.
Separation of ethanol from ethanol-water mixture by reverse osmosis.

Cellulose-acetate-grafted membranes were prepared using . gamma. -irradiation technique. These membranes were successfully tested for alcohol separation within a concentration range of 5-20% (v/v) and pressure range of 800-1400 psig. The study indicated that permeate flux is increased with increase in pressure as is expected from such membranes. Increasing alcohol concentration reduces permeate flux considerably in the range studied. High separation of alcohol (93% maximum) was observed at higher pressure ranges. However, separation efficiency decreases with an increase in alcohol concentration in the feed. There was no effect of alcohol on the membrane performance during the period of operation.