Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and Characterization of a 29-Kilodalton Protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis Culture Filtrate Recognized by Mouse Memory Effector Cells

ABSTRACT Culture filtrate proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis induce protective immunity in various animal models of tuberculosis. Two molecular mass regions (6 to 10 kDa and 24 to 36 kDa) of short-term culture filtrate are preferentially recognized by Th1 cells in animal models as well as by patients with minimal disease. In the present study, the 24- to 36-kDa region has been studied, and the T-cell reactivity has been mapped in detail. Monoclonal antibodies were generated, and one monoclonal antibody, HYB 71-2, with reactivity against a 29-kDa antigen located in the highly reactive region below the antigen 85 complex was selected. The 29-kDa antigen (CFP29) was purified from M. tuberculosis short-term culture filtrate by thiophilic adsorption chromatography, anion-exchange chromatography, and gel filtration. In its native form, CFP29 forms a polymer with a high molecular mass. CFP29 was mapped in two-dimensional electrophoresis gels as three distinct spots just below the antigen 85 complex component MPT59. CFP29 is present in both culture filtrate and the membrane fraction from M. tuberculosis, suggesting that this antigen is released from the envelope to culture filtrate during growth. Determination of the N-terminal amino acid sequence allowed cloning and sequencing of the cfp29 gene. The nucleotide sequence showed 62% identity to the bacteriocin Linocin fromBrevibacterium linens. Purified recombinant histidine-tagged CFP29 and native CFP29 had similar T-cell stimulatory properties, and they both elicited the release of high levels of gamma interferon from mouse memory effector cells isolated during the recall of protective immunity to tuberculosis. Interspecies analysis by immunoblotting and PCR demonstrated that CFP29 is widely distributed in mycobacterial species.
Speaker identification through spectral entropy analysis

Identifying a speaker in a noisy environment is still a challenging problem. In spite of the impressive efficacy of deep architectures, the solution obtained is an obscure mapping, a black box. For transparent classifiers, the standard feature are the Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC). In this paper we build entropy vectors out of the first sixteen critical bands according to Bark's scale as features. The classifier consists in finding the closest vector sequences of the query in the database, counting the hits as in a k-nn classifier. In one case we use the MFCC (the state of the art) and in the other case we use the described entropy vectors. For the text-independent, we used gaped vector sequences which are discussed below in the paper. For text-dependent speaker identification we obtained 80% true positives @10% false positives, while the MFCC have about 60% true positives at the same false positive rate. This is also about the same for the text-independent case. In general we obtained more area under the respective ROC curves.
New UPS System Configuration That Will Improve Energy Efficiency

The Communications/Electronics Facilities Project Office of the Chesapeake Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (Code FPO-2), was established as the overall center of technical expertise for the Department of the Navy with respect to engineering, design and construction of Navy communications and electronics facilities. Inherent in these responsibilities is the coordination of technical and contractural matters relating to the procurement and installation of Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems which are required to support these facilities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the evolution of static UPS system configurations as purchased by the Navy in the past two decades. Existing and new UPS configurations which will meet critical load requirements with improved operational efficiencies also are presented for discussion. In particular, a ``cold'' standby redundant system is recommended as an alternative to ``load sharing'' parallel redundant for improved reliability and energy efficiency. Furthermore, an energy saving ``hot'' standby UPS configuration is presented for consideration in filling future UPS requirements.
A Novel Direct Air-Conditioning Load Control Method

Outdoor temperature, thermal comfort level of consumers and payback load effect constrain direct load control (DLC) of air-conditioning loads and limit the DLC schedule. Since the constraints in direct air-conditioning load control are characteristics of air-conditioning loads, this work presents a novel group-DLC program with a least enthalpy estimation (LEE)-based thermal comfort controller for air-conditioning systems to control air-conditioning systems and eliminate DLC problems simultaneously. The g-DLC controller is the threshold for problems between air-conditioning units and the load management program, and arranges the DLC schedule for all air-conditioning units. The LEE-based thermal comfort controller can maintain the thermal comfort level within a reasonable range and prolong off-shift time of the DLC program, thereby increasing shedding load. It can also mitigate the impact of outdoor temperature and prevent payback load effect. Hence, DLC constraints on air-conditioning loads are mitigated.
From Economism to Democratic Commitment: The Role of Worker Participation

This article reports relationship between work-related satisfaction and some important indicators of democratic commitment among the worker representatives on shop floor joint committees. Six measures—influence and autonomy, amenities at the work place, trust, job satisfaction, supervisory behaviour, and friendship on. work—were identified as measures of work-related satisfaction. Misanthropy, sense of political powerlessness, and sense of political normlessness were identified as indicators of low democratic commitment. The analysis revealed that supervisory behaviour and friendship on work are significant predictors of misanthropy, and influence and autonomy are the predictors of powerlessness and normlessness. The results have been examined in the context of programme of worker participation. The article suggests that participation is likely to produce a dent in misanthropy, powerlessness, and normlessness by increasing worker satisfaction with influence, autonomy, and interpersonal relations.
Does trade openness affect manufacturing growth in EMCCA countries? A panel cointegration analysis

This study uses panel data covering the period from 1984 to 2014, panel cointegration as well as Dynamic Ordinary Least Square method to investigate the effect of trade openness on manufacturing growth in Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (EMCCA) countries. The results reveal two effects. Firstly, there is a positive and significant effect of Foreign Direct Investment and investment on manufacturing growth. Secondly, there is an ambiguous effect of trade openness on manufacturing growth. Indeed, trade openness affects either negatively the manufacturing growth or has no effect on manufacturing growth in EMCCA countries. Whatever the case, EMCCA countries should develop their manufacturing sector before fully trading with foreign countries.
Influence of a multiple emulsion, liposomes and a microemulsion gel on sebum, skin hydration and TEWL

In this study, the influence of three cosmetically relevant, priorly characterized vehicles on skin hydration, sebum content and transepidermal water loss was investigated. The chosen vehicles included a liposomal pre‐formulation, a multiple W/O/W emulsion and a microemulsion gel. The in vivo effects of these vehicles were demonstrated and compared among them.
Associations Between Serum Lipid Levels and Chronic Low Back Pain

Background: Low back pain may be related to abnormal lipid levels because of atherosclerosis in arteries supplying the lumbar region. Methods: In the cross-sectional HUNT 2 study in the Norwegian county of Nord-Trøndelag, lipid levels were measured in 33,962 women and 30,031 men. A total of 8954 women (26%) and 6273 men (21%) reported suffering from low back pain continuously for at least 3 months in the past year. Results: In age-adjusted analyses, the prevalence of low back pain was inversely associated with HDL cholesterol and positively associated with triglycerides, with stronger associations in women than in men. Relatively weak associations remained in women after adjustment for smoking, physical activity, education, work status, blood pressure, and body mass, but no associations remained among men. Total cholesterol levels were unrelated to low back pain in either sex after age adjustment. Conclusions: The results are partly consistent with the atherosclerosis hypothesis.
Surgical outcome of transobturator tape procedure in obese and non-obese women

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on transobturator tape (TOT) success rates, patient acceptability and complications 1 year following surgery. The medical records of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) patients who underwent the TOT operation were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into non-obese (BMI < 25) and obese (BMI ≥ 30) groups. Baseline and 1 year post-surgical outcomes were assessed by including multichannel urodynamics, Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI-6) scores, Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ-7) scores and cure, failure and success rates. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of urodynamic parameters, objective cure rate and subjective success, quality of life scores, or postoperative complications. Both obese and non-obese patients had cure and/or improvement of their symptoms and had better quality-of-life in the postoperative period. As a conclusion, BMI does not affect the clinical effectiveness of TOT operation in the treatment of female SUI or MUI.
Targeting mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease: Part II

Importance of the field: With improvements in life expectancy over the past decades, the incidence of neurodegenerative disease has dramatically increased and new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. One possible approach is to target mitochondrial dysfunction, which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous neurodegenerative disorders. Areas covered in this review: This review examines the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration, drawing examples from common diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and rarer familial disorders such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth. The review is provided in two parts. In part I we discussed the mitochondrial defects which have been most extensively researched (oxidative stress, bioenergetic dysfunction, calcium mishandling). We focus now on those defects which have more recently been implicated in neurodegeneration; in mitochondrial fusion/fission, protein import, protein quality control, kinase signalling and opening of the permeability transition pore. What the reader will gain: An examination of mitochondrial defects observed in neurodegeneration, and existing and possible future therapies to target these defects. Take home message: The mitochondrially-targeted therapeutics that have reached clinical trials so far have produced encouraging but largely inconclusive results. Increasing understanding of mitochondrial dysfunction has, however, led to preclinical work focusing on novel approaches, which has generated exciting preliminary data.
Emerging point-of-care technologies for sickle cell disease screening and monitoring

ABSTRACT Introduction: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) affects 100,000 Americans and more than 14 million people globally, mostly in economically disadvantaged populations, and requires early diagnosis after birth and constant monitoring throughout the life-span of the patient. Areas covered: Early diagnosis of SCD still remains a challenge in preventing childhood mortality in the developing world due to requirements of skilled personnel and high-cost of currently available modalities. On the other hand, SCD monitoring presents insurmountable challenges due to heterogeneities among patient populations, as well as in the same individual longitudinally. Here, we describe emerging point-of-care micro/nano platform technologies for SCD screening and monitoring, and critically discuss current state of the art, potential challenges associated with these technologies, and future directions. Expert commentary: Recently developed microtechnologies offer simple, rapid, and affordable screening of SCD and have the potential to facilitate universal screening in resource-limited settings and developing countries. On the other hand, monitoring of SCD is more complicated compared to diagnosis and requires comprehensive validation of efficacy. Early use of novel microdevices for patient monitoring might come in especially handy in new clinical trial designs of emerging therapies.
Exploring Storage Optimizations to Accelerate Parallel Out-of-Core Matrix Product

The separate development between the storage system and scientific application has hidden most of internal implementation strategies of the storage system from the scientific application designers. This would worsen the existing I/O bottleneck problem of most scientific applications to some extent. To address this problem, this study chooses the matrix and its parallel out-of-core product algorithm to study the interactions between the applications and the parallel storage system. Especially, the data distribution and access interfaces of the matrix are analyzed and optimized firstly. Then, the communication among processes are incorporated into the parallel out-of-core matrix multiplication algorithm to reduce its disk access times. Experiments show that the proposed optimizations can reduce the time spent in accessing data from disk and accelerate the parallel out-of-core matrix product.
Valorization of unauthorized sea disposal dredged sediments as a road foundation material

The main objective of this study is to show the ability of fine dredged material (mainly silty material) to be used in road construction project. This paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, the physical, the mineralogical and the mechanical characteristics of the used fine dredged sediments, as well as their chemical composition and environmental impacts are presented. In the second part, the methodology developed to design the road made from dredged fine sediment is developed. The third part of the paper focuses on the presentation of the road construction and the interpretation of analyses made on cores drilled samples from the road and measurements of the deflection of the road. The environmental assessment, based on leaching tests, is also performed at different issues.
Detection of anionic sites and immunoglobulin a deposits in the glomerular capillary walls from patients with Iga nephropathy

A study of anionic sites in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) from patients with immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is described. The relationship between the deposition of IgA and the detection of glomerular extracellular components, i.e., noncollagenous (NC‐1) domain of Type IV collagen, in the glomerular capillary walls was examined by double immunofluorescence. Renal biopsy specimens from patients with IgA nephropathy were immersed in polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a cationic probe and then examined by electron microscopy. Renal specimens were also incubated with mouse monoclonal anti‐NC‐1 domain of Type IV collagen and then stained with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)‐labelled goat antimouse lg antiserum. After these reactions, sections were stained with rhodamine‐labelled rabbit antihuman IgA antiserum. GBM subepithelial anionic sites marked by PEI were altered by the deposition of electron‐dense deposits (EDD) in patients with IgA nephropathy and there was a significant correlation between the levels of proteinuria and the incidence of EDD in the GBM in such patients. Marked proteinuria was observed in patients who showed loss of anionic sites in the GBM by electron microscopy. By double immunofluorescence, IgA was shown to be focally deposited outside the NC‐1 domain of Type IV collagen‐detected regions in the same patients. The authors concluded that high levels of proteinuria might be due to alterations of the size barrier and/or anionic sites of GBM in the moderate stage of IgA nephropathy.
Endovascular embolization of cervical hemangiopericytoma with Onyx-18: case report and review of the literature

Cervical hemangiopericytoma (HPC) is a rare tumor involving dura and bone. Because HPC shares some imaging features with meningioma, hemangioblastoma, schwannoma and solitary fibrous tumors; histology with appropriate immunohistochemistry is essential for its diagnosis and treatment. HPC is highly vascular and has a high rate of local recurrence following resection. Thus it can pose significant therapeutic challenges. To the best of our knowledge this is the 13th reported case of HPC of the cervical spine and the first case of cervical HPC treated using embolization with Onyx-18. In addition, a systematic review of the literature is presented describing previous experience with HPC of the cervical region. The case of a 61-year-old woman is reported who presented with a 7 month history of dizziness, mild ataxia and left-sided tinnitus when supine. MRI of the cervical spine demonstrated a gadolinium enhancing mass arising from the dorsal cervical dura, extending from the occiput to C2, with internal flow voids and extension into the C2 lamina and spinous process. Digital subtraction angiography demonstrated multiple corkscrew-shaped supplying vessels, marked hypervascularity, rapid arteriovenous shunting and delayed contrast washout. Super selective injection of Onyx-18 yielded approximately 90% embolization of the lesion, followed by subtotal resection and radiotherapy. Histology confirmed the presumptive diagnosis of HPC. Preoperative embolization with Onyx-18 should be considered for large HPC as it may decrease the risk of intraoperative hemorrhage. In this case, embolization with Onyx-18 did not preclude histopathologic diagnosis of HPC.
Implant selection in revision total knee arthroplasty.

Revision total knee arthroplasty implants have evolved from fully constrained (fixed-hinge) to semiconstrained to contemporary constrained designs. The latter category includes nonlinked constrained (total condylar-III) designs ( Fig. 1) and rotating-hinge designs ( Figs. 2-A and 2-B). Fig. 1: Postoperative anteroposterior radiograph illustrating a nonlinked constrained knee design that was used to revise a failed primary total knee arthroplasty in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. Figs. 2-A and 2-B: Preoperative (Fig. 2-A) and postoperative (Fig. 2-B) radiographs of the knee of a low-demand seventy-nine-year-old woman who was managed with a rotating-hinge knee prosthesis because of a comminuted periprosthetic supracondylar fracture of the femur. Additionally, the advent of limb-salvage procedures following tumor resection and other instances in which there is massive segmental bone loss, such as that seen after multiple failed arthroplasties (particularly following failed reimplantation for infection), has stimulated the development of modular or custom segmental replacement "megaprostheses" and the use of allograft-prosthesis composites. Segmental modular megaprostheses are rotating-hinge components with modular stems of varying lengths that are used to replace segmental femoral or tibial diaphyseal bone loss ( Fig. 3). Fig. 3: Lateral radiograph illustrating reconstruction of segmental bone defects of the distal part of the femur and proximal part of the tibia. On the femoral side a custom segmental distal femoral rotating-hinge prosthesis was used, and on the tibial side an allograft-prosthesis composite was used. Use of the proximal tibial allograft facilitated reattachment of the extensor mechanism. An allograft-prosthesis composite consists of a structural allograft, usually the distal part of a donor femur or the proximal part of a donor tibia, into which a stemmed prosthesis is cemented. The composite structure is attached to the remaining host bone with use of matching step-cuts at the junction of the allograft and the host bone. The construct is stabilized with an intramedullary stem ( Figs. 4-A …
Validation of DAB2IP methylation and its relative significance in predicting outcome in renal cell carcinoma

We have recently reported tumor suppressive role of DAB2IP in RCC development. In this study, We identified one CpG methylation biomarker (DAB2IP CpG1) located UTSS of DAB2IP that was associated with poor overall survival in a cohort of 318 ccRCC patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We further validated the prognostic accuracy of DAB2IP CpG methylation by pyrosequencing quantitative methylation assay in 224 ccRCC patients from multiple Chinese centers (MCHC set), and 239 patients from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UTSW set) by using FFPE samples. DAB2IP CpG1 can predict the overall survival of patients in TCGA, MCHC, and UTSW sets independent of patient age, Fuhrman grade and TNM stage (all p<0.05). DAB2IP CpG1 successfully categorized patients into high-risk and low-risk groups with significant differences of clinical outcome in respective clinical subsets, regardless of age, sex, grade, stage, or race (HR: 1.63-7.83; all p<0.05). The detection of DAB2IP CpG1 methylation was minimally affected by ITH in ccRCC. DAB2IP mRNA expression was regulated by DNA methylation in vitro. DAB2IP CpG1 methylation is a practical and repeatable biomarker for ccRCC, which can provide prognostic value that complements the current staging system.
Who Buys Counterfeit Luxury Brands? A Meta-Analytic Synthesis of Consumers in Developing and Developed Markets

Although numerous previous studies have investigated consumer demographics and psychographics as determinants of counterfeit purchases, their findings are diverse and fragmented. In conceptually referring to the brand signals that help consumers build their identities, the present meta-analysis synthesizes the influence of consumer demographics and psychographics on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors with regard to branded counterfeit luxury products. It empirically summarizes 610 effect sizes from 98 independent studies and shows that whereas demographics have little impact, some psychographics greatly influence counterfeit purchases, with these influences differing between developed and developing countries. In the former, risk propensity and reduced integrity are stronger determinants of counterfeit purchases and are related to brand signals that refer to identities that consumers attempt to avoid. In developing countries, consumers are more influenced by psychographics, such as status seeking, which are related to positive brand signals for consumer identities. The findings lead to a profile of consumers of counterfeit luxury items that provides guidance for future research and for improved consumer targeting with regard to international anticounterfeiting measures.