Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TLR4 and MD-2 Expression Is Regulated by Immune-mediated Signals in Human Intestinal Epithelial Cells*

The normal intestinal epithelium is not inflamed despite contact with a high density of commensal bacteria. Intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) express low levels of TLR4 and MD-2 and are lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-unresponsive. We hypothesized that immune-mediated signals regulate the expression of TLR4 and MD-2 in IEC. Expression of TLR4 and MD-2 was examined in normal colonic epithelial cells or intestinal epithelial cell lines. The effect of the cytokines interferon (IFN)-γ, IFN-α, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on TLR4 and MD-2 expression was examined by reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot. NF-κB transcriptional activation and interleukin-8 secretion were used as measures of LPS responsiveness. Native colonic epithelial cells and IEC lines express a low level of TLR4 and MD-2 mRNA. IFN-γ regulates MD-2 expression in both IEC lines, whereas IFN-γ and TNF-α regulate TLR4 mRNA expression in IEC lines. Pre-incubation with IFN-γ and/or TNF-α sensitizes IEC to LPS-dependent interleukin-8 secretion. To examine MD-2 transcriptional regulation, we cloned a 1-kb sequence proximal to the MD-2 gene translational start site. This promoter directed expression of a reporter gene in endothelial cells and IEC. IFN-γ positively regulated MD-2 promoter activity in IEC. Co-expression of a STAT inhibitor, SOCS3, blocked IFN-γ-mediated MD-2 promoter activation. T cell-derived cytokines lead to increased expression of TLR4 and MD-2 and LPS-dependent pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in IEC. IFN-γ regulates expression of the critical TLR4 co-receptor MD-2 through the Janus tyrosine kinase-STAT pathway. Th1 cytokines may initiate or perpetuate intestinal inflammation by altering toll-like receptor expression and bacterial reactivity.
Mothers adjust egg size to helper number in a cooperatively breeding cichlid

Mothers should adjust the size of propagules to the selective forces to which these offspring will be exposed. Usually, a larger propagule size is favored when young are exposed to high mortality risk or conspecific competition. Here we test 2 predictions on how egg size should vary with these selective agents. When offspring are cared for by parents and/or alloparents, protection may reduce the predation risk to young, which may allow mothers to invest less per single offspring. In the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher, brood care helpers protect group offspring and reduce the latters' mortality rate. Therefore, females are expected to reduce their investment per egg when more helpers are present. In a first experiment, we tested this prediction by manipulating the helper number. In N. pulcher, helpers compete for dispersal opportunities with similar-sized individuals of neighboring groups. If the expected future competition pressure on young is high, females should increase their investment per offspring to give them a head start. In a second experiment, we tested whether females produce larger eggs when perceived neighbor density is high. Females indeed reduced egg size with increasing helper number. However, we did not detect an effect of local density on egg size, although females took longer to produce the next clutch when local density was high. We argue that females can use the energy saved by adjusting egg size to reduced predation risk to enhance future reproductive output. Adaptive adjustment of offspring size to helper number may be an important, as yet unrecognized, strategy of cooperative breeders. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Amino Acid Sequence of the Threonine-Containing Mureins of Coryneform Bacteria

In a study of the mureins of coryneform bacteria (Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Cellulomonas, Corynebacterium, Erysipelothrix), 21 threonine-containing strains were found. In several of the strains the amino acid and amino sugar composition of the murein was muramic acid (Mur), glucosamine (GlcNH2), d-Glu, l-Lys, l-Thr, and Ala in a molar ratio of 1:1:1:1:1:4 or 5, and in several other strains it was Mur, GlcNH2, d-Glu, l-Lys, l-Thr, Ala, and l-Ser in a molar ratio of 1:1:1:1:1:3:1. The amino acid sequence of the mureins was determined by analyzing the oligopeptides derived from partial acid hydrolysates. It was shown that there were five different murein types. The peptide subunits attached to the muramic acid are the same, namely l-Ala-d-GluNH2-l-Lys-d-Ala. In one strain, the α-carboxyl group of d-Glu is substituted by d-alanine amide. The interpeptide bridges of the different types consist of the peptides l-Ala-l-Thr-l-Ala, l-Ala-l-Thr, l-Ala-l-Ala-l-Thr, l-Ala-l-Ala-l-Ala-l-Thr, or l-Ala-l-Thr-l-Ser which are bound through their C-termini (l-Ala, l-Thr, l-Ser) to the ε-amino group of l-Lys of one peptide subunit and by their N-termini (l-Ala) to the C-terminal d-Ala of an adjacent peptide subunit. Determination of the N- and C-terminal groups in the mureins showed that about 15 to 30% of the interpeptide bridges are not cross-linked.
Oncological Features and Outcomes of Curatively Resected Non- Functional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor: Single Institute Experiences

Objective The number of incidentally detected non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors is increasing; however, the tumor biology is largely unknown. This study aimed to reveal the oncological features and outcomes of curatively resected non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Methods and patients We retrospectively selected 31 patients with curatively resected non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors without distant metastasis from 52 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for neuroendocrine tumors in the hepato-biliary-pancreatic region at a single institute from 2003 to 2016. The impact on oncological outcome of tumor grade as determined by the Ki-67 proliferative index and lymph node metastasis was evaluated. Results Among the study patients, 58.1% were incidentally diagnosed. Seven patients (22.6%) showed lymph node metastasis, and recurrence was detected in 2 patients (9.4%) as liver metastasis. The median length of observation after operation was 46 months; the five-year disease-free survival rate was 89.4%. No deaths were recorded. At least one lymph node was evaluated independent of surgical procedures. Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy with additional lymph node dissection around the celiac trunk showed similar quality of lymph node dissection as open distal pancreatectomy. G2 tumor grade was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis; however, preoperative diagnosis by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration showed limited sensitivity in G2 patients. Lymph node metastasis was significantly associated with recurrence. The patients with lymph node metastasis experienced a significantly lower fiveyear disease-free survival rate than those without lymph node metastasis. Conclusion Lymph node metastasis was associated with oncological outcome of non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Our surgical procedures contributed to obtaining lymph node information. Further studies are warranted for precise prediction of lymph node metastasis in nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Kinetics of duck hepatitis B virus infection following low dose virus inoculation: one virus DNA genome is infectious in neonatal ducks.

Using pooled serum from congenitally duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV)-infected ducks as inoculum, we examined the effect of virus dose on the incubation period of infection and on the patterns of spread of virus infection in the liver. The pooled serum inoculum contained 9.5 x 10(9) DHBV genomes per milliliter and had an infectivity titre (ID50) in newly hatched ducks of 1.5 x 10(10) per milliliter with a 95% confidence interval of 3.0 x 10(9) to 6.3 x 10(10) ID50/ml, indicating the equivalence between one DHBV genome and one infectious unit within the limits of the assays. The incubation period of infection was inversely related to the dose of inoculum and the onset of viraemia ranged from Day 6 with the highest dose to Day 14 or 29 with the lowest dose inoculum. To study the spread of virus infection from a low percentage of initially infected cells we inoculated newly hatched ducks intravenously with sufficient DHBV (1.5 x 10(3) ID50) to infect only approximately 0.0001% of total liver cells. DHBV infection first reached detectable levels on Day 4 postinoculation (p.i.) and was detected in approximately 0.035% of hepatocytes, most of which occurred as single cells or pairs of cells, indicating that a number of rounds of infection had occurred with the spread of virus both to adjoining cells, i.e., by cell-to-cell spread, and to cells located in other parts of the liver lobule. Despite some bird-to-bird variation in timing, the percentage of infected hepatocytes increased exponentially with a mean doubling time of 16 hr from Day 4 to Day 14 p.i. , by which time replication was seen in > 95% of hepatocytes. This rapid dissemination from a small number of infected hepatocytes suggests that, in neonatal ducks, there are no major delays in virus replication within the liver, that any innate and adaptive defence mechanisms operating during the first 10 to 14 days of infection are insufficient to contain virus spread, and that even a small number of infected hepatocytes produce enough progeny to rapidly infect the remaining hepatocytes.
Multimodal video concept classification based on convolutional neural network and audio feature combination

Video concept classification is a very important task for several applications such as content based video indexing and searching. In this study, we propose a multi-modal video classification method based on the feature-level fusion of audio-visual signals. In the proposed method, we extract Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) and convolutional neural network (CNN) features from the audio and visual parts of the video signal, respectively and calculate three statistical representations of the MFCC feature vectors. We perform feature level fusion of both modalities using the concatenation operator and train Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers using these multimodal features. We evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method on the TRECVID video performance dataset for both single- and multi-modal cases. Our results show that, fusing standard deviation representation of the audio modality along with the GoogleNet CNN features improves the classification accuracy.
Protection from binary and multi-symbol packet length covert channels

In this paper, we describe binary and multi-symbol packet length covert channels. Then we design a technique to estimate and limit their capacity. The method to choose parameters of counteraction tools is given, it takes into account an allowable value of covert channel capacity and error level. The novelty of the investigation undertaken is that the covert channel capacity is limited preliminary, whereas state of the art methods focus on detecting active IP covert channels.
Personalized estimation of dose to red bone marrow and the associated leukaemia risk attributable to pelvic kilo-voltage cone beam computed tomography scans in image-guided radiotherapy

The aim of this study is to investigate the imaging dose to red bone marrow (RBM) and the associated leukaemia risks attributable to pelvic kilo-voltage cone beam computed tomography (kVCBCT) scans in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). The RBM doses of 42 patients (age 2.7–86.4 years) were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations. The trabecular spongiosa was segmented to substitute RBM rather than the whole bone. Quantitative correlations between anthropometric variables such as age, physical bone density (PBD) and RBM dose were established. Personalized leukaemia risk was evaluated using an improved Boice model which included the age-associated RBM involvement. An incremental leukaemia risk of 29%–82% (mean = 45%) was found to be associated with 40 pelvic kVCBCT scans in the subject group used in a typical external beam radiation therapy course. Higher risks were observed in children. Due to the enhanced photoelectric effect in high atomic number materials, PBD was observed to strongly affect the RBM dose. Considerable overestimations (9%–42%, mean = 28%) were observed if the whole bone doses were used as surrogates of RBM doses. The personalized estimation of RBM dose and associated leukaemia risk caused by pelvic kVCBCT scans is clinically feasible with the proposed empirical models. Higher radiogenic cancer risks are associated with repeated kVCBCT scans in IGRT of cancer patients, especially children.
Effects of genetic impoverishment on plant community diversity

1 Established individuals removed at random from populations of 11 long‐lived herbaceous species coexisting in a local area of ancient limestone pasture at Cressbrookdale in North Derbyshire were subjected to clonal propagation to produce stocks of genetically identical individuals sufficient to create 36 model communities identical in species composition but widely contrasted in genetic diversity. 2 Three levels of genetic diversity were imposed. In one treatment, all individuals of each species were genetically unique. The second contained four randomly selected genotypes of each species. In the third, there was no genetic diversity in any of the species but each community contained a unique combination of genotypes. 3 Over a period of 5 years the communities were allowed to develop in microcosms containing natural rendzina soil and exposed to a standardized regime of simulated grazing and trampling. The treatments were maintained by the removal of flowers, immature seed‐heads and seedlings originating from the seed‐bank and seed rain. Point quadrat surveys were used to monitor changes in species composition and diversity in the three experimental treatments. 4 During the experiment a distinction rapidly developed between five canopy dominants and five subordinates, a process that caused the vegetation structure to closely resemble that occurring at Cressbrookdale. 5 A gradual loss of species diversity occurred in all three treatments but by the end of the fifth growing season species diversity was higher in the most genetically diverse communities. 6 Ordination of the 36 communities at intervals over a 5‐year period revealed a gradual convergence in the species composition of the 4‐genotype and 16‐genotype communities and this effect was more strongly developed in the latter. A comparable process was not observed in the 1‐genotype communities, suggesting that interaction between particular genotypes of different species in local neighbourhoods may be an essential part of the mechanism that determines the predictable composition of a mature pasture community. 7 It is concluded that, under the conditions of this experiment, genetic diversity within component species reduced the rate at which species diversity declined. The relative importance in this effect of factors such as greater disease resistance and moderated competitive interactions remains uncertain.
Training Adaptive Teams

Objective: We report an experiment in which three training approaches are compared with the goal of training adaptive teams. Background: Cross-training is an established method in which team members are trained with the goal of building shared knowledge. Perturbation training is a new method in which team interactions are constrained to provide new coordination experiences during task acquisition. These two approaches, and a more traditional procedural approach, are compared. Method: Assigned to three training conditions were 26 teams. Teams flew nine simulated uninhabited air vehicle missions; three were critical tests of the team’s ability to adapt to novel situations. Team performance, response time to novel events, and shared knowledge were measured. Results: Perturbation-trained teams significantly outperformed teams in the other conditions in two out of three critical test missions. Cross-training resulted in significant increases in shared teamwork knowledge and highest mean performance in one critical test. Procedural training led to the least adaptive teams. Conclusion: Perturbation training allows teams to match coordination variability during training to demands for coordination variability during posttraining performance. Although cross-training has adaptive benefits, it is suggested that process-oriented approaches, such as perturbation training, can lead to more adaptive teams. Application: Perturbation training is amenable to simulation-based training, where perturbations provide interaction experiences that teams can transfer to novel, real-world situations.
Efficient baseband modem physical implementation for fixed broadband wireless access networks

This paper presents the physical implementation of the digital part of an OFDM-based baseband modem for point-to-multipoint fixed broadband wireless access (FBWA) solutions. It is compliant with the corresponding IEEE 802.16 standard and compatible to a fixed WiMAX profile. The adopted realization approach is based on an array of processing elements belonging to a case of computing systems characterized by having hundreds of embedded processing elements and memories (massively parallel processor arrays). The approach offers the performance, the computational density and the programmability needed for the implementation of modern wireless communication systems.
Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Distance Learning

Virtual reality technology is a way for teachers and students to create a simulated three-dimensional world,a vivid and lifelike learning evironment for students in terms of vision, hearing and touch, having the students feel as participants of the virtual environment.A multi-user virtual campus system based on virtual reality technology is put forward in this paper, which includes the basic models, system structure and implementation scheme. The system is a simulation of real life in campus where students can take activities such as having class, doing exercises and making friends; and teacher can make lectures, review works of students and conduct examinations; managers can manage the daily teaching activities and students' affairs.
Representations of Dynamical Systems on Banach Spaces

We review recent results concerning dynamical systems and their representations on Banach spaces. As the enveloping (or Ellis) semigroup, which is associated to every dynamical system, plays a crucial role in this investigations we also survey the new developments in the theory of these semigroups, complementing the review article [49]. We then discuss some applications of these dynamical results to topological groups and Banach spaces.
Ligand Specificity of Human Surfactant Protein D

Surfactant protein D is a pattern recognition molecule that plays diverse roles in immune regulation and anti-microbial host defense. Its interactions with known ligands are calcium-dependent and involve binding to the trimeric, C-type carbohydrate recognition domain. Surfactant protein D preferentially binds to glucose and related sugars. However, CL-43, a bovine serum lectin, which evolved through duplication of the surfactant protein D gene in ruminants, prefers mannose and mannose-rich polysaccharides. Surfactant protein D is characterized by two relatively conserved motifs at the binding face, along the edges of the shallow carbohydrate-binding groove. For CL-43, sequence alignments demonstrate a basic insertion, Arg-Ala-Lys (RAK), immediately N-terminal to the first motif. We hypothesized that this insertion contributes to the differences in saccharide selectivity and host defense function and compared the activities of recombinant trimeric neck + carbohydrate recognition domains of human surfactant protein D (NCRD) with CL-43 (RCL-43-NCRD) and selected NCRD mutants. Insertion of the CL-43 RAK sequence or a control Ala-Ala-Ala sequence (AAA) into the corresponding position in NCRD increased the efficiency of binding to mannan and changed the inhibitory potencies of competing saccharides to more closely resemble those of CL-43. In addition, RAK resembled CL-43 in its greater capacity to inhibit the infectivity of influenza A virus and to increase uptake of influenza by neutrophils.
A New PWM Strategy for Grid-Connected Half-Bridge Active NPC Converters With Losses Distribution Balancing Mechanism

Photovoltaic systems technological development is driven by the request for higher efficiency and safety. These concerns influence also the choice of the power converter stage. Several topologies have been proposed and many of them are available commercially. Among them, the neutral point clamped (NPC) and derived topologies offers high efficiency, low leakage current, and low EMI. However, one main disadvantage of the NPC inverter is given by an unequal distribution of the losses in the semiconductor devices, which leads to an unequal distribution of temperature that can affect lifetime. By using the active NPC (ANPC) topology, where the clamping diodes are replaced by bidirectional switches, the power losses distribution problem is alleviated. The modulation strategy is a key issue for losses distribution in this topology. In this paper, two known strategies are discussed and a new PWM strategy, namely the adjustable losses distribution is proposed for better losses distribution in the ANPC topology. Simulations and experimental results help in evaluating the modulation strategies.
A fiber-optic link utilizing subcarrier transmission and reception of microwave signals

A novel fiber-optic system utilizing subcarrier transmission and reception of microwave signals is demonstrated. Error free transmission of a 50 Mbit/s amplitude shift keyed signal over 9 and 16 GHz microwave subcarriers is demonstrated for received optical powers /spl ges/-30.5 and -28.5 dBm, respectively. <<ETX>>
W3C Widgets - A Solution for Implementing Platform-independent Mobile Applications

The mobile internet is very heterogeneous at all levels this is true for end devices as well as for operating systems and runtime environments of mobile applications. Therefore all software providers face the challenge of developing platform-independent applications and making them usable on a maximum number of end devices. One possible way of doing this is provided by Widgets small software programs with a limited functional scope that are executed by a Widget-engine. This article looks at the state of development of the most important W3C Widget-standards and analyses their prospects of success.
Residues within the N-terminal Domain of Human Topoisomerase I Play a Direct Role in Relaxation*

All eukaryotic forms of DNA topoisomerase I contain an extensive and highly charged N-terminal domain. This domain contains several nuclear localization sequences and is essential forin vivo function of the enzyme. However, so far no direct function of the N-terminal domain in the in vitrotopoisomerase I reaction has been reported. In this study we have compared the in vitro activities of a truncated form of human topoisomerase I lacking amino acids 1–206 (p67) with the full-length enzyme (p91). Using these enzyme forms, we have identified for the first time a direct role of residues within the N-terminal domain in modulating topoisomerase I catalysis, as revealed by significant differences between p67 and p91 in DNA binding, cleavage, strand rotation, and ligation. A comparison with previously published studies showing no effect of deleting the first 174 or 190 amino acids of topoisomerase I (Stewart, L., Ireton, G. C., and Champoux, J. J. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 32950–32960; Bronstein, I. B. , Wynne-Jones, A. , Sukhanova, A. , Fleury, F. , Ianoul, A. , Holden, J. A. , Alix, A. J., Dodson, G. G. , Jardillier, J. C. , Nabiev, I. , and Wilkinson, A. J. (1999)Anticancer Res. 19, 317–327) suggests a pivotal role of amino acids 191–206 in catalysis. Taken together the presented data indicate that at least part(s) of the N-terminal domain regulate(s) enzyme/DNA dynamics during relaxation most probably by controlling non-covalent DNA binding downstream of the cleavage site either directly or by coordinating DNA contacts by other parts of the enzyme.