Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhanced production of IL‐18 in butyrate‐treated intestinal epithelium by stimulation of the proximal promoter region

Expression of IL‐18 in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) has been implicated in Th1 cell‐mediated chronic intestinal inflammation and anti‐tumor immunity. However, physiological regulatory factors have not been identified. Besides their effects on proliferation and restitution, immunomodulatory functions have been attributed to short chain fatty acids (SCFA). We investigated the effect of SCFA (butyrate, propionate, acetate) on expression of IL‐18 in IEC in vitro and in vivo. Expression of IL‐18 mRNA and protein in human carcinoma‐derived HT‐29 and Caco‐2 cells was analyzed by reverse transcription‐PCR and Western blot. Transcriptional regulation of IL‐18 gene expression was determined by transient transfection of wild‐type and mutated IL‐18 promoter. Further, in vivo expression of IL‐18 in the intestine from butyrate‐treated and untreated mice was assessed by immunohistochemistry. IL‐18 mRNA and the IL‐18 protein were expressed in IEC, while IL‐18 secretion was not observed. Butyrate and acetate increased intracellular IL‐18 content in a time‐ and dose‐dependent fashion. In contrast to proinflammatory stimuli butyrate potently activated the IL‐18 promoter, indicating that IL‐18 is regulated at the transcriptional level by SCFA. Furthermore, a 108‐bp sequence in the proximal region was identified to be essential for IL‐18 promoter activation by butyrate. As proof of principle butyrate effects were confirmed in vivo by demonstration of increased IL‐18 protein expression in IEC from butyrate‐treated mice. In conclusion, SCFAup‐regulate IL‐18 protein expression in IEC, suggesting a potential regulatory contribution of these luminal constituents to T cell mediated inflammatory and neoplastic intestinal conditions.
Editorial: Triple‐agent TGF‐β

crease membrane order (i.e., to increase fluidity) than DHA is. This latter difference is a result of the different molecular orientations of the two structurally related molecules. The additional double bond in DHA causes it to adopt a “hairpin” structure that is able to interact with cholesterol, sphingolipids, and phospholipids containing saturated fatty acids and thereby, to disrupt their organization. The shorter and less-unsaturated EPA does not adopt this orientation, which may explain why EPA has less affinity for raft domains than does DHA, and indicates that EPA, despite being less unsaturated than DHA, can decrease membrane order. Thus, differences between EPA and DHA in terms of their effect on rafts and consequently on T and B cell function may relate to their chain length and their degree of unsaturation, both of which affect membrane order. Clearly, there is a need to continue work in elucidating the differential actions of fatty acids on raft formation and function in various immune cell types to better understand the impact of these biologically active dietary constituents on immunity and to better use the actions in different settings. In this regard, it is worth noting that there is no work to date on fatty acids and raft structure and function in human immune cells, either in primary culture with exposure to fatty acids or through dietary manipulations. It will be important to begin to explore this area. It is known that fatty acid composition of immune cells is altered in some human diseases. It is intriguing to know whether the altered composition has a causal role in immune dysfunction through effects on lipid rafts and whether modification of the composition, for example, through provision of omega-3 fatty acids, can improve clinical outcome through actions within raft regions of the cells involved.
The combined effects of ionizing radiation and low temperature on the metabolism, longevity, and soft tissues of the white rat. I. Metabolism and longevity.

Chronic, low-level, ionizing radiation above the level of 1 r/day decreases the life span of small mammals (1-6). Below 1 r/day there are indications that life expectancy is prolonged (6), unchanged (7), or decreased (8). In addition to decreased life span, reports indicate that, above 1 r/day, aging increases, fertility decreases (2), and the growth pattern resembles that seen during inanition (9). After a careful study of tissue injury in rats, Metcalf and Inda (10) could demonstrate no specific histologic criteria of chronic X-irradiation injury, although the incidence of leukemia and mammary fibro-adenomata was increased. Changes in total white cell, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts (11) and reduction in red cell production (12) have been reported. The hypothesis that injury from penetrating radiations develops in proportion to the dose rate and that, except for an irreparable portion proportional to the total accumulated dose, it is repaired spontaneously at a rate proportional to its magnitude has been tested by Blair (13-16) by applying solutions to the equation
Coupling a Single-Layer Urban Canopy Model with a Simple Atmospheric Model: Impact on Urban Heat Island Simulation for an Idealized Case

We incorporated a single-layer urban canopy model into a simple two-dimensional atmospheric model in order to describe the fundamental impact of the urban canopy model on an idealized urban heat island simulation. We found that the heat island circulation developed less strongly than when using the atmospheric model with the standard slab urban model. Additionally, the coupling with urban canopy model (i) delays the phase of surface air temperature, (ii) reduces the diurnal range of the temperature, and (iii) produces a nocturnal heat island, which results from the difference in atmospheric stability between city and its surroundings. The features from the atmospheric model coupled with the canopy model agree well with those from observation, although the atmospheric model with the slab model does not. The simulated nocturnal heat island is caused by the larger heat storage of the canopy model which releases sensible heat after sunset.
An energy recovery based low loss resonant gate driver circuit for Silicon Carbide MOSFETs

Silicon Carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are capable of processing high power at high switching frequencies with less switching losses and conduction losses. As the operating switching frequency increases, the gate driver power requirements of MOSFETs also increase. The power taken from the gate supply is dissipated in the gate resistance. Instead of dissipating all the gate drive energy, some energy can be recovered or recycled by utilizing the principle of resonance. This reduces the net power being taken from the gate supply. This paper presents a new resonant gate driver circuit which consumes less power compared to the conventional gate driver circuit at high switching frequencies. The proposed gate driver is designed for SiC MOSFETs. To verify the proposed gate driver, the experimental results are presented in this paper. The proposed circuit has achieved nearly 50% reduction in gate drive power consumption compared to the conventional circuit.
The Recursive Disk Metaphor - A Glyph-based Approach for Software Visualization

In this paper, we present the recursive disk metaphor, a glyph-based visualization for software visualization. The metaphor represents all important structural aspects and relations of software using nested circular glyphs. The result is a shape with an inner structural consistency and a completely defined orientation. We compare the recursive disk metaphor to other state-of-the-art 2D approaches that visualize structural aspects and relations of software. Further, a case study shows the feasibility and scalability of the approach by visualizing an open source software system in a browser.
A parallel packet switch architecture with input-output-queued switches and buffering in the demultiplexors

A packet switch with parallel switching planes is a parallel packet switch (PPS). A PPS can scale-up to larger aggregate capacity and faster line speeds than can a single plane. It is an open problem to design a PPS that is feasible to implement using multiple lower speed packet switches. Many solutions proposed previously are essentially impractical because of high communication complexity. In this paper, we present a high performance PPS architecture by using a small fixed-size buffer in the demultiplexor and by applying the same matching at each of the k parallel CIOQ switches during each cell slot. Our scheme guarantees a way for cells of a flow to be read in order from the output queues of the switches, thus, eliminating the need for cell reordering in multiplexor. Each multiplexor only need to deliver cells from the output queues of the k parallel switch planes in round robin manner, and little state information easily obtained by the scheduler is communicated to the multiplexors. Our work in this paper reduces the communication overhead considerably and makes the PPS more practical to implement compared to other PPS designs.
Over 10W C-Ku band GaN MMIC non-uniform distributed power amplifier with broadband couplers

A 6–18 GHz monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) was successfully developed using a quarter wavelength short stub and a monolithic broadband coupler for a non-uniform distributed power amplifier (NDPA) topology. This topology improved the output power at 18 GHz and attained a flat output power profile over 6–18 GHz. It also achieved filtering characteristics for both lower and higher cut-off frequencies. A fabricated MMIC PA with 0. 25µm GaN HEMTs delivered an output power of more than 10 W with average power added efficiency (PAE) of 18% over 6 to 18 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the best combination of output power and bandwidth for any solid-state MMIC amplifier operating up to the full Ku-band.
Collision Sensing Using Force/Torque Sensor

Collision sensing including collision position, collision direction, and force size could make robots smoothly interact with environment, so that the robots can strongly adapt to the outside world. Skin sensor imitates principles of human skin using special material and physical structure to obtain collision information, but this method has some disadvantages, such as complex design, low sampling rate, and poor generality. In this paper, a new method using force/torque sensor to calculate collision position, collision direction, and force size is proposed. Detailed algorithm is elaborated based on physical principle and unified modeling method for basic geometric surface. Gravity compensation and dynamic compensation are also introduced for working manipulators/robots in gravity and dynamic environment. In addition, considering algorithm solvability and uniqueness, four constraints are proposed, which are force constraint, geometric constraint, normal vector constraint, and current mutation constraint. In order to solve conflict solution of algorithm in redundant constraints, compatibility solution analysis is proposed. Finally, a simulation experiment shows that the proposed method can achieve collision information efficiently and accurately.
High-Performance Symmetric Block Ciphers on Multicore CPU and GPUs

As the data protection with encryption becomes important day by day, the encryption processing using General Purpose computation on a Graphic Processing Unit (GPGPU) has been noticed as one of the methods to realize high-speed data protection technology. GPUs have evolved in recent years into powerful parallel computing devices, with a high cost-performance ratio. However, many factors affect GPU performance. In earlier work to gain higher AES performance using GPGPU in various ways, we obtained the following two technical viewpoints: (1) 16 Bytes/Thread is the best granularity (2) Extended key and substitution table stored in shared memory and plaintext stored in register are the best memory allocation style. However, AES is not the only cipher algorithm widely used in the real world. For this reason, this study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that these two findings are applicable to implementation of other symmetric block ciphers on two generation of GPU. In this study, we targeted five 128-bit symmetric block ciphers, AES, Camellia, CIPHERUNICORN-A, Hierocrypt-3, and SC2000, from an e-government recommended ciphers list by the CRYPTography Research and Evaluation Committees (CRYPTREC) in Japan. We evaluated the performance of these five symmetric block ciphers on the machine including a 4-core CPU and each GPU using three method: (A) throughput without data transfer, (B) throughput with data transfer and overlapping encryption processing on GPU, (C) throughput with data transfer and non-overlapping encryption processing on GPU. Results demonstrate that the throughput of implementation of SC2000 in method (A) on Tesla C2050 achieved extremely high 73.4 Gbps. Additionally, the throughput obtained using methods (B) and (C) deteriorated to 33.4 Gbps and 18.3 Gbps, respectively. Method (B) showed effective throughput with an approximately 4.7 times higher speed compared to that obtained when using 8 threads on a 4-core CPU.
Finding Link Between Self Concept of College Students and Their Academic Achievements

Self concept is the totality of one’s perceptions about his/her physical, social and academic competence. The present study was proposed with the aim to find out the link between self concept of college students and their academic achievements. A sample of 180 students was gathered through appropriate sampling technique. A simple self administered questionnaire was utilized to as data collection tool. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings of study.
Frequent inactivation of the p73 gene by abnormal methylation or LOH in non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas

p73 is a candidate tumor suppressor and imprinted gene that shares significant homology with the p53 gene. It is located on 1p36, a region frequently deleted in neuroblastoma and other tumors. To investigate the pattern of inactivation of this gene in human lymphomas, we studied 59 tumors to identify abnormal methylation in exon 1 and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at this locus. p73 was methylated in 13/50 (26%) B cell lymphomas. There was no evidence of p73 methylation in the 9 T cell lymphomas analyzed. Burkitt's lymphomas showed the highest proportion of methylated cases (36%), although this alteration also affected other aggressive lymphomas such as diffuse large cell and some marginal zone lymphomas. LOH at the p73 locus was detected in 4/34 (11%) B and 1/9 (11%) T cell lymphomas. The p73 expression analysis showed absence or low level of p73 product in methylated lymphomas, whereas p73 was always detected in unmethylated tumors. We found monoallelic expression in normal peripheral blood samples, consistent with imprinting. None of the tumors showed LOH and methylation of the remaining allele simultaneously, suggesting that alteration of the expressed allele could lead to the total inactivation of the gene. Our results show that deletion or methylation of the p73 gene could be important mechanisms in suppressing p73 expression in B cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
AI-Driven Question-Answer Service Matching

In view of the information redundancy of search results and the differences between user requirements and service matching, this paper presents a service matching technology on the basis of the intelligent question-answer system. Based on the OWL-S, a new service description rule is proposed. This paper tries to achieve question-answer service matching with the service matching algorithm, which combines the matching degree of service input parameters with the node similarity of service mapping ontology to achieve. The experimental results show that this method can significantly improve the accuracy of service matching, which helps to lay a good foundation for the intelligent question-answer system.
Optimal Position-Based Warehouse Ordering in Divergent Two-Echelon Inventory Systems

A continuous-review two-echelon inventory system with one central warehouse and a number of nonidentical retailers is considered. The retailers face independent Poisson demand and apply standard (R, Q) policies. The retailer order quantities are fixed integer multiples of a certain batch size, representing the smallest pallet or container size transported in the system. A warehouse order may consist of one or several such batches. We derive a new policy for warehouse ordering, which is optimal in the broad class of position-based policies relying on complete information about the retailer inventory positions, transportation times, cost structures, and demand distributions at all facilities. The exact analysis of the new policy includes a method for determining the expected total inventory holding and backorder costs for the entire system. The class of position-based policies encompasses both the traditional installation-stock and echelon-stock (R, Q) policies, as well as the more sophisticated policies recently analyzed in the literature. The value of more carefully incorporating a richer information structure into the warehouse ordering policy is illustrated in a numerical study.
Design and fabrication of a TSV interposer for SRAM integration

TSV interposer provides a cost efficient solution way for 3D IC integration. In this paper, a TSV interposer technology is proposed for SRAM stacking. A simple fabrication process is developed for cost-sensitive application. The mushroomlike Cu/Sn bumps by copper overburden can be directly connected with other substrate, which eliminates a CMP planarization to improve the yield and reduce fabrication cost. The electrical and thermal-mechanical behaviors of the 3D system were analyzed. Preliminary fabrication results are demonstrated. The TSV interposer technology is promising for 3D SRAM integration.
Use of recombinant human antithrombin in patients with congenital antithrombin deficiency undergoing surgical procedures

BACKGROUND : Hereditary antithrombin (AT) deficiency is associated with a significant risk of venous thromboembolism. Patients with this disorder frequently require long‐term anticoagulation. Discontinuation of anticoagulation for childbirth or surgery may carry a substantial thrombotic risk. For this reason, replacement with AT concentrate has been used when anticoagulation is interrupted. A new recombinant human AT concentrate, produced using transgenic technology, has recently been developed.
Mechanism of Scavenger Receptor Class B Type I-mediated Selective Uptake of Cholesteryl Esters from High Density Lipoprotein to Adrenal Cells*

Despite extensive studies and characterizations of the high density lipoprotein-cholesteryl ester (HDL-CE)-selective uptake pathway, the mechanisms by which the hydrophobic CE molecules are transferred from the HDL particle to the plasma membrane have remained elusive, until the discovery that scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) plays an important role. To elucidate the molecular mechanism, we examined the quantitative relationships between the binding of HDL and the selective uptake of its CE in the murine adrenal Y1-BS1 cell line. A comparison of concentration dependences shows that half-maximal high affinity cell association of HDL occurs at 8.7 ± 4.7 μg/ml and the K m of HDL-CE-selective uptake is 4.5 ± 1.5 μg/ml. These values are similar, and there is a very high correlation between these two processes (r 2 = 0.98), suggesting that they are linked. An examination of lipid uptake from reconstituted HDL particles of defined composition and size shows that there is a non-stoichiometric uptake of HDL lipid components, with CE being preferred over the major HDL phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin. Comparison of the rates of selective uptake of different classes of phospholipid in this system gives the ranking: phosphatidylserine > phosphatidylcholine ≈ phosphatidylinositol > sphingomyelin. The rate of CE-selective uptake from donor particles is proportional to the amount of CE initially present in the particles, suggesting a mechanism in which CE moves down its concentration gradient from HDL particles docked on SR-BI into the cell plasma membrane. The activation energy for CE uptake from either HDL3 or reconstituted HDL is about 9 kcal/mol, indicating that HDL-CE uptake occurs via a non-aqueous pathway. HDL binding to SR-BI allows access of CE molecules to a “channel” formed by the receptor from which water is excluded and along which HDL-CE molecules move down their concentration gradient into the cell plasma membrane.
Two major DNA variants present in serially propagated stocks of the WR strain of vaccinia virus

Two major DNA variants have been isolated from serially propagated stocks of the WR strain of vaccinia virus. Restriction enzyme mapping of the two variants with HindIII, AvaI, XhoI, SstII, and SmaI revealed a 6.3-megadalton deletion in the smaller DNA variant. The deletion was mapped at ca. 6.8 megadaltons in from the left terminus, just beyond the inverted terminal repeat. The additional DNA present in the larger variant was found to represent unique viral sequences that were transcribed both in vitro and in vivo. One-step growth curves in HeLa cells revealed no difference in rat of replication or burst size when progeny was scored on CV-1 monolayers.
Value-deterministic search-based replay for android multithreaded applications

With the advancement of programming technique like multithreading added with highly efficient memory model design, it is becoming very difficult to understand and analyze the execution behavior of a program. Due to non-determinism in execution behavior introduced by concurrency-related events the program may behave differently than expected which may cause the program to crash. To pinpoint the cause of crash, the execution which caused the crash must be reproduced. Our technique solves this problem by recording the concurrency-related events during program execution and reproducing those events during replay. For this purpose, our technique records thread id and value of the shared variables accessed during program execution while during replay it searches thread space to generate the same value of shared variable which it observed while recording.
ASSOCIATION OF DARK-ADAPTED VISUAL FUNCTION WITH RETINAL STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN PATIENTS WITH STARGARDT DISEASE

Purpose: To evaluate dark-adapted retinal sensitivity in patients with Stargardt disease (STGD1) using a modified MP-1 microperimeter and to compare the sensitivity loss with structural changes observed using spectral domain optical coherence tomography and confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope infrared imaging. Methods: Twelve STGD1 patients and 10 normally sighted controls participated. Dark-adapted mean sensitivity (MS) was obtained using a MP-1 microperimeter. Additionally, MS percent difference between the patients and the controls was obtained. Sensitivity results were superimposed on confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope infrared images and compared with corresponding spectral domain optical coherence tomography scans. Results: Dark-adapted MS ± standard deviation was 8.34 ± 1.54 dB for the controls and 3.68 ± 1.74 dB for STGD1 patients (P < 0.001). There was a significant reduction in MS of 24.0% in these patients. Sensitivity reductions were observed in areas that showed changes on confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope infrared images and on spectral domain optical coherence tomography, including disorganizational loss of the retinal pigment epithelium, and abnormal photoreceptor inner segment ellipsoid and external limiting membrane reflectance bands. Conclusion: With topographical accuracy, dark-adapted MS measurements can be made in STGD1 patients and controls using the MP-1 microperimeter. Sensitivity loss is associated with structural changes. This finding can be useful for the determination of optimal areas for potential improvement of retinal function in patients with Stargardt disease.