Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional inactivation of neutrophils with a Mac‐1 (CD11b/CD18) monoclonal antibody protects against ischemia‐reperfusion injury in rat liver

The role of neutrophil CD11b/CD18 (Mac‐1) adhesion proteins in the pathogenesis of hepatic reperfusion injury was investigated in an experimental model. Male Fischer rats were treated with a CD11b monoclonal antibody or an isotype‐matched IgM control antibody and subjected to 45 min of hepatic ischemia followed by 24 hr of reperfusion. Large numbers of neutrophils were present in postischemic liver lobes (1,241 ± 64 polymorphonuclear cells/50 high‐power fields) compared with numbers in baseline measurements (14 ± 3 polymorphonuclear cells/50 high‐power fields), and severe liver injury was observed after 24 hr of reperfusion (hepatic necrosis: 88% ± 2%). Pretreatment with the CD11b antibody (two doses of 2 mg/kg each) significantly attenuated liver injury and reduced the number of polymorphonuclear cells in the postischemic liver by 59%. Selective treatment with the antibody only during reperfusion was similarly effective. The increased spontaneous superoxide formation of neutrophils isolated from postischemic liver (1.05 ± 0.11 nmol O2−/hr/106 cells) was reduced by 56% in neutrophils from CD11b antibody‐treated animals. Flow cytometric analysis of CD11b/CD18 expression on circulating neutrophils demonstrated significant upregulation at all time points during reperfusion. Clone 17 also effectively inhibited neutrophil extravasation in a glycogen peritonitis model. Our data are consistent with a dual protective effect of the CD11b antibody in hepatic reperfusion injury in vivo (i.e., reduced accumulation of neutrophils and their functional inactivation). (HEPATOLOGY 1993;17:915–923.)
Robust secrecy transmission for two-tier femtocell networks under probability constraint

A secrecy transmission method with robust power control is investigated in this paper for a downlink two-tier femtocell network, where an eavesdropper attempts to wiretap the legitimate macrocell users. Considering the imperfect channel gains, a probability constraint robust optimization problem is formulated to satisfy the quality-of-service (QoS) of users. We aim to maximize the secrecy rate with the constrains of power outage probability and limited power at base stations (BSs). Firstly, the problem of power outage probability is solved by a novel conversion method. Unfortunately, the object function is a non-convex. A simple method based on variable substitution and Taylor expansion is presented to solve this puzzle in this paper. Then, the iterative algorithm is provided to get the practical operation for users. Finally, numerical simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Planar antenna array control with genetic algorithms and adaptive array theory

Planar arrays are successfully employed in radar and communication systems in order to allow three-dimensional-scanning. In the framework of real-time control of antenna arrays, starting from the Applebaum theory, this paper presents an approach based on a customized genetic algorithm aimed at adaptively eliminating interfering signals. Successful applications are presented in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in term of performances and computational complexity.
Prevalence of the hifBC, hmw1A, hmw2A, hmwC, and hia Genes in Haemophilus influenzae Isolates

ABSTRACT Adherence of Haemophilus influenzae to respiratory epithelial cells is the first step in the pathogenesis of H. influenzae infection and is facilitated by the action of several adhesins located on the surface of the bacteria. In this study, prevalences of hifBC, which represent the pilus gene cluster; hmw1A, hmw2A, and hmwC, which represent high-molecular-weight (HMW) adhesin genes; and hia, which represents H. influenzae adhesin (Hia) genes were determined among clinical isolates of encapsulated type b (Hib) and nonencapsulated (NTHi) H. influenzae. hifBC genes were detected in 109 of 170 (64%) Hib strains and in 46 of 162 (28%) NTHi isolates (P = 0.0001) and were more prevalent among the invasive type b strains than invasive NTHi strains (P = 0.00003). Furthermore, hifBC genes were significantly more prevalent (P = 0.0398) among NTHi throat isolates than NTHi middle ear isolates. hmw1A, hmw2A, hmwC, and hia genes were not detected in Hib strains. Among NTHi isolates, the prevalence of hmw1A was 51%, the prevalence of hmw2A was 23%, the prevalence of hmwC was 48%, and the prevalence of hia was 33%. The hmw genes were significantly more prevalent among middle ear than throat isolates, while hia did not segregate with a respiratory tract site. These results show the variability of the presence of adhesin genes among clinical H. influenzae isolates and suggest that hemagglutinating pili may play a larger role in H. influenzae nasopharyngeal colonization than in acute otitis media whereas the HMW adhesins may be virulence factors for acute otitis media.
Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors

C yclooxygenase (COX) catalyzes the initial step of arachidonic acid metabolism and prostaglandin production. COX activity has been found to be associated with two distinct isoenzymes, COX-1 and COX-2. COX-1 was hypothesized to be involved in the maintenance of physiologic functions such as gastric protection and hemostasis, whereas COX-2 was thought to be involved in pathophysiologic processes such as inflammation, pain, and fever. This compelling hypothesis led to the development of the currently available selective COX-2 inhibitors celecoxib, rofecoxib, and valdecoxib. These drugs have analgesic efficacy comparable with that of conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In addition, they have no antiplatelet activity at therapeutic dosages and may be associated with reduced gastrointestinal (GI) side effects compared with conventional NSAIDs such as ibuprofen.
Inositol Catabolism, a Key Pathway in Sinorhizobium meliloti for Competitive Host Nodulation

ABSTRACT The nitrogen-fixing symbiont of alfalfa, Sinorhizobium meliloti, is able to use myo-inositol as the sole carbon source. Putative inositol catabolism genes (iolA and iolRCDEB) have been identified in the S. meliloti genome based on their similarities with the Bacillus subtilis iol genes. In this study, functional mutational analysis revealed that the iolA and iolCDEB genes are required for growth not only with the myo-isomer but also for growth with scyllo- and d-chiro-inositol as the sole carbon source. An additional, hypothetical dehydrogenase of the IdhA/MocA/GFO family encoded by the smc01163 gene was found to be essential for growth with scyllo-inositol, whereas the idhA-encoded myo-inositol dehydrogenase was responsible for the oxidation of d-chiro-inositol. The putative regulatory iolR gene, located upstream of iolCDEB, encodes a repressor of the iol genes, negatively regulating the activity of the myo- and the scyllo-inositol dehydrogenases. Mutants with insertions in the iolA, smc01163, and individual iolRCDE genes could not compete against the wild type in a nodule occupancy assay on alfalfa plants. Thus, a functional inositol catabolic pathway and its proper regulation are important nutritional or signaling factors in the S. meliloti-alfalfa symbiosis.
Measurement of cell membrane stability evaluated by electrolyte leakage as a drought and heat tolerance test in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

To explore possibilities of adaptation of cell membrane stability measurement as a evaluation of drought and heat t,olerance (or injury) in rice (Oi-yzfl sa/irln L.), we have measured electrolyte leakage (EL) from leaf discs exposed to desiccation and temperature stresses. In desiccation test with polyethylene glycol (PEG), EL increased from 10% to 80% with increasing from 20% to 60% of PEG concentration [PEG]. We have used 30% of [PEG] at which 25% of EL was occured. EL was increased with the time of PEG treatment; accordingly, 34 hours as a period of submerged leaf were selected. We have investigated an optimal temperature and treatment period, and around 42°C is likely to be suit,able for testing membrane thermostability. EL was increased almost linearly w&h the time of leaf tissues submerged in test temperature (42°C ) solution; we selected 24 hours for t,he following experiments. EL of PEG test was greater in senescing leaf (the 4th leaf from the youngest fully expanded leaf) t,han leaf in which senescence is less advanced (the youngest, fully expanded leaf). EL of leaf tissue was also increased with water deficit, indicating physiological status of plant itself can be reflect,ed by the technique. Therefore, this t,echnique is considered to be useful to assess injury, presumably at the membrane level, resulting from an environmental stress in rice.
Expression and Characterization of a Soluble, Active Form of the Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus Receptor, Hyal2

ABSTRACT Retrovirus entry into cells is mediated by specific interactions between virus envelope glycoproteins and cell surface receptors. Many of these receptors contain multiple membrane-spanning regions, making their purification and study difficult. The jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) receptor, hyaluronidase 2 (Hyal2), is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored molecule containing no peptide transmembrane regions, making it an attractive candidate for study of retrovirus entry. Further, the hyaluronidase activity reported for human Hyal2, combined with its broad expression pattern, may point to a critical function of Hyal2 in the turnover of hyaluronan, a major extracellular matrix component. Here we describe the properties of a soluble form of human Hyal2 (sHyal2) purified from a baculoviral expression system. sHyal2 is a 54-kDa monomer with weak hyaluronidase activity compared to that of the known hyaluronidase Spam1. In contrast to a previous report indicating that Hyal2 cleaved hyaluronan to a limit product of 20 kDa and was active only at acidic pH, we find that sHyal2 is capable of further degradation of hyaluronan and is active over a broad pH range, consistent with Hyal2 being active at the cell surface where it is normally localized. Interaction of sHyal2 with the JSRV envelope glycoprotein was analyzed by viral inhibition assays, showing >90% inhibition of transduction at 28 nM sHyal2, and by surface plasmon resonance, revealing a remarkably tight specific interaction with a dissociation constant (KD) of 32 ± 1 pM. In contrast to results obtained with avian retroviruses, purified receptor was not capable of promoting transduction of cells that do not express the virus receptor.
The Relationship Between Inflammatory Markers and Post Stroke Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To determine whether there is a relationship between inflammatory markers (serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokines) and post stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI). Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study. Patients were recruited from 4 sources: (1) the acute stroke unit of a general hospital, (2) an outpatient stroke prevention clinic, (3) a stroke rehabilitation unit in a specialized geriatric hospital, or (4) a stroke rehabilitation unit of a rehabilitation hospital. Patients meeting National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS) and World Health Organization Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease (WHO-MONICA) project criteria for stroke were invited to participate in this study within the first 5 to 31 days post stroke. Patients with subarachnoid or intracranial hemorrhage, decreased level of consciousness, severe aphasia or dysarthria, or a significant acute medical, neurological, or psychiatric illness were excluded. Clinical assessments included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for cognition, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) for stroke severity, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) for depressive symptoms. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure serum concentrations of CRP, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interferon γ (IFN-γ). Results: A total of 48 patients with ischemic stroke (age [mean ± SD] 71.6 ± 13.2 years, 54.2% male, MMSE 26.4 ± 3.8, NIHSS 6.8 ± 4.0) were recruited within their first month post stroke. Backward stepwise elimination linear regression showed that higher concentrations of serum CRP (βCRP = -0.46, p CRP = 0.002) predicted lower post stroke global cognition ([MMSE], F1,44 = 11.31, P = .002), with age (P = .92), level of education (P = .22), infarct side (P = 0.49), IL-6 (P = 0.36), and IFN-γ (P = .57) removed from the final model. Conclusions: A post stroke inflammatory response may be important in subacute, PSCI.
Characterization and performance comparison of digital V2-type constant on-time control for buck converters

This paper characterizes two digital V2 control schemes using for the buck converters with small-ESR capacitors based on the presented small-signal models. Due to the sampling effects of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), the digital V2 control system performances are not as good as the analog ones, even using the inductor current sensing feedback. The major issue is that in order to stabilize and to make the system well-damped, large external ramps or large current sensing gains are required. However, with such large ramp compensations, some benefits of the V2 control architecture, including the fast transients and the easily compensation, will be vanished. In this paper, a hybrid-ramp compensation concept is presented to improve the system performance. Both small-signal modeling analyses and simulation verifications are given. And the load transient experimental results with different ramp compensations are also shown in this paper.
Existential relatedness in light of eudemonic well-being and religious coping among middle-aged and older cardiac patients

This study examined the prediction of preoperative faith factors for perceived spiritual support, indicating existential relationship as a dimension of eudemonic well-being (EWB), at 30 months after cardiac surgery (N=226). The study capitalized on data from preoperative surveys and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ National Database. Controlling for demographics, cardiac indices, and mental health, hierarchical regression showed that preoperative prayer coping, subjective religiousness, and internal control were positive predictors of spiritual support. Negative religious coping was a negative predictor. Internal control mediated the role of positive religious coping. Certain faith-based experiences may enhance aspects of EWB, but future research should investigate mechanisms.
Compact Broadband Planar Filters

Based on impedance steps and coupled line sections as inverter circuits, novel wide band and very compact filters are presented. Based on alternately high and low impedances presented to the connected transmission line resonators by these inverters, the resonator lengths are reduced to a quarter wavelength only. Both suspended stripline as well as microstrip filters were designed, fabricated, and tested, proving this concept in an excellent way.
Building knowledge base of urban emergency events based on crowdsourcing of social media

An emergency event is an unexceptional event that exceeds the capacity of normal resources and organization to cope and a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment. Crowdsourcing connects unobtrusive and ubiquitous sensing technologies, advanced data management and analytics models, and novel visualization methods, to create solutions that improve urban environment, human life quality, and city operation systems. The crowdsourcing on social media can be used to detect and analyze urban emergency events. In this paper, in order to detect and describe the real‐time urban emergency event, the knowledge base model is proposed. The crowdsourcing‐based knowledge base model is firstly introduced, which uses the information from social media. Secondly, the basic definition of the proposed knowledge base model including keywords, patterns, positive sentences, and knowledge graph is given. Thirdly, the temporal information is added to the proposed knowledge base model. The case study on real data sets shows that the proposed algorithm has good performance and high effectiveness in the analysis and detection of emergency events. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of intake and forage level on ruminal turnover rates, bacterial protein synthesis and duodenal amino acid flows in sheep.

Four Suffolk wethers (avg wt 65 kg) with ruminal and duodenal cannulae were fed diets containing 75% (75F) or 25% (25F) alfalfa hay at two levels of intake, 1,700 (high intake, HI) or 1,100 (low intake, LI) g dry matter (DM)/d, in a 4 • 4 Latin-square design. When fed 75F diets, wethers had higher (P<.05) ruminal pH and molar proportion of acetate in ruminal fluid than when fed 25F. Ruminal fluid dilution rates were not affected by type of diet, but ruminal particulate dilution rates increased (P<.05) when wethers were fed 75F as compared with 25F. When fed 2$F-HI, wethers had higher (P<.O5) molar proportion of propionate and lower (P<.05) molar proportion of butyrate in ruminal fluid than when fed 25F-LI or 75F at either level of intake. A lower (P<.OS) proportion of total apparent organic matter (OM) digestion occurred in the stomach when wether* were fed at HI. When fed 25F, wethers had a greater (P<.05) quantity of OM and a greater (P<.05) percentage of OM intake truly digested in the stomach than when fed 75F. When fed 75F, wethers tended (P<.IO) to have a greater proportion of digestible neutral detergent fiber (NDF) disappearing in the stomach and a lower proportion digested postruminally than when fed 25F. When fed at HI, wethers had increased (P<.05) flows of nonammonia N (NAN) to the small intestine due to increases (P<.05) in flow of both bacterial and nonbacterial NAN. When fed 25F-Hi, wethers had greater (P<.05) quantities of bacterial N reaching the duodenum than when fed 75F-HI or either diet at LI. Efficiency of bacterial protein synthesis was increased (P<.05) when wethers were fed at HI relative to LI. Duodenal flows of total, essential, nonessential and all individual amino acids were increased (P<.05) when wethers were fed at HI, but were not affected (P>.05) by type of diet. Amino acid profiles of duodenal digesta were similar, regardless of diet. It is concluded that effects due to dietary variables such as intake and forage level must be considered in attempts to predict responses in protein utilization by animals fed diets of differing composition at different levels of intake. (
Extraskeletal osteosarcoma. A clinicopathologic review of 26 cases

The clinical records and histopathologic features in 26 cases of extraskeletal osteosarcoma (ESOS) diagnosed at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) between 1950 and 1987 were reviewed. Presentation was usually that of an enlarging soft tissue mass. The thigh (11 cases), upper extremity/shoulder girdle (three cases), and retroperitoneum (three cases) were the most common anatomic sites. Tumor size ranged from 2.5 to 30 cm. The predominant histologic pattern was osteoblastic in four cases, chondroblastic in two, fibroblastic or pleomorphic malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH)‐like in four, giant cell type MFH‐like in one, and small cell in one. Various mixtures of these patterns were seen in the remaining 14 tumors. The telangiectatic pattern was not seen as the predominant component in any primary tumor but was observed as a minor component. Thirteen tumors recurred locally and 16 metastasized; five patients had distant metastases at presentation. The lungs, bone, and soft tissue were the most frequent metastatic sites. Sixteen patients died of disease at 2 to 54 months, one patient died of unrelated causes at 61 months, seven patients were alive with no evidence of disease (NED) at 30 to 122 months, and two patients were alive with disease at 28 and 54 months, respectively. Tumor size (< 5 cm versus < 5 cm) was the main prognostic factor; all patients alive with NED for whom accurate tumor measurements were available (six of seven) had neoplasms measuring < 5 cm that were amenable to complete surgical excision. Histologic pattern and other clinicopathologic features did not significantly affect outcome.
Dual collaborative topic modeling from implicit feedbacks

The research on implicit feedback collaborative filtering is also called One-Class Collaborative Filtering (OCCF). In this paper, we propose a Dual Collaborative Topic Regression (DCTR) model to integrate an implicit feedback rating matrix (using probabilistic matrix factorization) into the user's/item's content information (using a topic model) to improve OCCF accuracy. The matrix factorization of the implicit feedback rating matrix learns the low-rank user's/item's latent feature space, while the topic modeling provides a content representation of the user/item in the user's/item's latent topic space. Then we use the user's and item's latent topic space to construct their latent feature space. It can be seen that the Collaborative Topic Regression (CTR) model and Probabilistic Matrix Factorization (PMF) model can be derived as special cases from DCTR. We provide a scalable, linearly complexity model fitting procedure through coordinate ascent optimization which can dramatically reduce the computation cost in every iteration. The experimental results on two datasets show that DCTR outperforms the state-of-the-art models. More importantly, our model can solve the new-user and new-item cold-start problems simultaneously.
Electron Energy Losses near Pulsar Polar Caps

We present results of a model for the energetics of electrons accelerated by the large electric fields generated by a rotating highly magnetized neutron star. The energy loss mechanisms we consider in our calculations include magnetic Compton scattering of thermal x-ray photons, triplet pair production, and curvature radiation emission. The electron acceleration mechanism is assumed to operate only to a height above the polar cap approximately equal to the polar cap radius. We find several interesting results. First, magnetic Compton scattering is the dominant energy loss process when the electron Lorentz factors are 10^13 G and T > 3x10^6 K, the Lorentz factors of the electrons can be limited to values < 10^3 assuming values for the size of the neutron star thermal polar cap comparable to the polar cap size determined by the open field lines. Such small Lorentz factors may be capable of explaining the gamma-ray emission from PSR 1509-58 which is observed only at energies <1 MeV. We calculated the fraction of the electron's kinetic energy that is converted to gamma rays for the three gamma-ray pulsars which show thermal x-ray spectra, namely Vela (60%), Geminga (5%), and PSR 1055-52 (20%).
State chart refinement validation from approximately timed to cycle callable models

Most of today's designs use a top-down design flow in which hardware is first implemented at transaction level and, as soon as it's functionality is verified, refined to a register transfer model which is conceptually a cycle true and cycle callable model. Traditionally, both the refinement and its validation are done by hand. We propose a design pattern for both the transaction-level and the cycle callable model that eases both steps: the refinement process is made more intuitive and verifying the cycle callable model is greatly simplified by automatically synchronizing the transaction-level model with the refined model.