Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Purkinje cells and Bergmann glia are primary targets of the TRα1 thyroid hormone receptor during mouse cerebellum postnatal development

Thyroid hormone is necessary for normal development of the central nervous system, as shown by the severe mental retardation syndrome affecting hypothyroid patients with low levels of active thyroid hormone. The postnatal defects observed in hypothyroid mouse cerebellum are recapitulated in mice heterozygous for a dominant-negative mutation of Thra, the gene encoding the ubiquitous TRα1 receptor. Using CRE/loxP-mediated conditional expression approach, we found that this mutation primarily alters the differentiation of Purkinje cells and Bergmann glia, two cerebellum-specific cell types. These primary defects indirectly affect cerebellum development in a global manner. Notably, the inward migration and terminal differentiation of granule cell precursors is impaired. Therefore, despite the broad distribution of its receptors, thyroid hormone targets few cell types that exert a predominant role in the network of cellular interactions that govern normal cerebellum maturation.
A comparative study of the long term results of root coverage with connective tissue graft or enamel matrix protein: 24-month results.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the 24 month results of coronally advanced flap + enamel matrix derivates (EMD+CAF) and CAF+ connective tissue graft (CTG+CAF) in the treatment of Miller Class I recession defects. METHODS Twelve patients with bilateral gingival recessions were treated with EMD+CAF or CTG+CAF. Vertical recession depth (VRD), keratinized tissue width (KTW), clinical attachment level (CAL), and clinical probing depth (CPD) were measured preoperatively, 1 and 2 years post surgery. A paired t-test and independent t-test were used to compare differences for the measured characters within and between groups, respectively. RESULTS After 24 months, a significant decrease in VRD was observed in CAF + EMD (3.33+/- 0.30 mm) and CAF + CTG (4.5 +/- 0.28 mm) treated sites. There was also a significant increase in KTW (0.83+/- 0.23 mm versus 2.08+/- 0.14 mm in EMD+CAF and CTG+CAF sites, respectively). The gain in CAL was 3.54 +/- 0.38 mm and 4.45+/- 0.30 mm in the EMD+CAF and CTG+CAF groups, respectively. There were significant differences between the treatments for VRD, CAL, and KTW at the end of study. CONCLUSIONS The CTG+CAF procedure seems to provide better long-term results than the EMD+CAF in obtaining root coverage, increasing the KTW and CAL gain.
Interleukin-8, Neutropenia, and Graft Failure in Human Stem Cell Transplantation

We studied the role of interleukin (IL)-8 during engraftment after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In 40 consecutive patients undergoing either allogeneic marrow (n=32) or autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (n=8), IL-8 plasma levels were serially determined. Median IL-8 concentrations peaked during the neutropenic phase and, subsequently, subsided to pretransplant levels in patients achieving engraftment. In all patients, we observed an inverse correlation of IL-8 with leukocytes (P<0.0001) and a direct correlation of IL-8 with the extent of neutropenia (P<0.0001). Four patients who developed graft failure showed sustained median IL-8 concentrations of >300 pg/mL together with persistent neutropenia. This marked elevation of IL-8 was statistically significant as early as day 11 after transplantation, at a time when no other evidence alluded to imminent graft failure. Our data suggest that IL-8 may play an important role during engraftment after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Reexamining the Germination Phenotypes of Several Clostridium difficile Strains Suggests Another Role for the CspC Germinant Receptor

ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile spore germination is essential for colonization and disease. The signals that initiate C. difficile spore germination are a combination of taurocholic acid (a bile acid) and glycine. Interestingly, the chenodeoxycholic acid class (CDCA) bile acids competitively inhibit taurocholic acid-mediated germination, suggesting that compounds that inhibit spore germination could be developed into drugs that prophylactically prevent C. difficile infection or reduce recurring disease. However, a recent report called into question the utility of such a strategy to prevent infection by describing C. difficile strains that germinated in the apparent absence of bile acids or germinated in the presence of the CDCA inhibitor. Because the mechanisms of C. difficile spore germination are beginning to be elucidated, the mechanism of germination in these particular strains could yield important information on how C. difficile spores initiate germination. Therefore, we quantified the interaction of these strains with taurocholic acid and CDCA, the rates of spore germination, the release of DPA from the spore core, and the abundance of the germinant receptor complex (CspC, CspB, and SleC). We found that strains previously observed to germinate in the absence of taurocholic acid correspond to more potent 50% effective concentrations (EC50 values; the concentrations that achieve a half-maximum germination rate) of the germinant and are still inhibited by CDCA, possibly explaining the previous observations. By comparing the germination kinetics and the abundance of proteins in the germinant receptor complex, we revised our original model for CspC-mediated activation of spore germination and propose that CspC may activate spore germination and then inhibit downstream processes. IMPORTANCE Clostridium difficile forms metabolically dormant spores that persist in the health care environment. In susceptible hosts, C. difficile spores germinate in response to certain bile acids and glycine. Blocking germination by C. difficile spores is an attractive strategy to prevent the initiation of disease or to block recurring infection. However, certain C. difficile strains have been identified whose spores germinate in the absence of bile acids or are not blocked by known inhibitors of C. difficile spore germination (calling into question the utility of such strategies). Here, we further investigate these strains and reestablish that bile acid activators and inhibitors of germination affect these strains and use these data to suggest another role for the C. difficile bile acid germinant receptor.
Sexually Transmitted Disease Syndromes in Rural South Africa: Results From Health Facility Surveillance

Background and Objective: Surveillance for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) is important for priority setting, service development, and evaluating interventions. Goal: To conduct health facility‐based surveillance for STDs to inform design of a control program and to provide baseline measures for evaluation of interventions. Study Design: Surveillance system for patients with STD syndromes in public and private sector health facilities in Hlabisa, South Africa. Results: Over a 5‐month period, 4,781 patients with an STD were reported, 3,126 (65%) by clinics and 1,655 (35%) by general practitioners; 2,582 (54%) were in men. Most were diagnosed with a single syndrome. Discharge was most common (49% of both male and female patients), followed by ulcer (36% of men and 14% of women). Mean symptom duration was 18 days for women and 10 days for men (p < 0.0001). A quarter reported having another STD in the previous 3 months. The highest age‐specific incidence was estimated at 16.4% among women 20 to 24 years of age. Conclusions: The burden of STDs is high in rural South Africa. There is considerable scope for improved disease control, and the private sector has an important role to play.
Investigations on the effect of nanoparticles in mineral oil

Power transformers are one of the critical components in power system; traditionally mineral oil is used in transformers for the purpose of dielectrics as well as cooling. In this work, an investigation has been carried out to analyze the performance of Ferrofluids (nano fluids) along with mineral oil for various concentrations. Ferrofluids concentration of 0.1g/liter, 0.2g/liter and 0.5g/liter has been prepared with moisture content less than 5 ppm. Partial Discharge Inception Voltage (PDIV), discharge characteristics of test samples for AC, DC positive and negative voltage is analyzed. Moreover charges produced for each Partial Discharge (PD) have been evaluated. The results illustrate that Ferrofluids with lower concentration shows enhanced PDIV and charge accumulation characteristics than other concentrations as well as mineral oil.
CMV hepatitis after liver transplantation: Incidence, clinical course, and long‐term follow‐up

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) hepatitis is described as the most frequent manifestation of CMV tissue invasive disease after liver transplantation. Its correlation with HLA‐matching, hepatic artery thrombosis, and chronic rejection is still controversial. Risk factors, incidence, clinical course, and complications of CMV hepatitis were retrospectively analyzed in a 12‐year series of 1,146 consecutive liver transplantations in 1,054 patients. All patients received only low‐dose acyclovir but no gancyclovir prophylaxis. CMV infection was diagnosed by viral culture, pp65 antigenemia, or by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). CMV hepatitis was proven by liver biopsy. Treatment of CMV disease consisted of intravenous ganciclovir for a minimum of 14 days. Long‐term follow‐up of patients included monthly routine laboratory values and routine liver biopsies 1, 3 and 5 years after transplantation. CMV hepatitis was a rare event after liver transplantation, with a total incidence of 2.1% (24 cases). It was significantly more frequent in CMV seronegative (5.2%) than in seropositive recipients (0.7%). The leading indication in patients with CMV hepatitis was HCV cirrhosis (n = 8). The maximum number of pp65 positive white blood cells was 82 ± 23 per 10,000 cells. Most courses manifested as isolated hepatitis; only 2 patients had disseminated disease. Nine of 24 patients had received OKT3 monoclonal antibodies because of steroid‐resistant rejection before CMV hepatitis. In seronegative patients with CMV hepatitis, 71% revealed 1 or 2 HLA DR matches, in contrast to 32% in patients without CMV hepatitis. One‐, 3‐, and 5‐year graft survival was 78%, 65%, and 59% in patients with CMV hepatitis compared with 88%, 81%, and 79% in patients without. Chronic rejection was observed in one patient, but already before onset of CMV hepatitis. Beneath D+R−constellation and OKT3 treatment as risk factors, HLA DR–matched grafts and HCV seem to favor manifestation of CMV hepatitis after liver transplantation. Long‐term complications of CMV hepatitis were not observed, and especially no correlation with chronic rejection was found.
Rapid Forward Vehicle Detection Based on Deformable Part Model

This paper first introduce the general method of Deformable Part Model(DPM). In order to improve the speed of front vehicle detection, first, this paper propose a method to accelerate the calculation speed of HOG feature. Second,based on a series of important accelerating mechanisms, this paper mainly use Vector Quantization and K-means clustering algorithm to speed up the HOG feature computing speed, it use Vector Quantization to compress the HOG feature, which is convenient for fast scoring operation. Finally, test the method in different road scenes. Experimental results show that the method can improve the detection speed and meet the real-time requirement without sacrificing the detection precision.
The Effect of an Intestinal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury on Renal Nerve Activity Among Rats

An intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IIR) may induce renal tubular dysfunction and a reduction in renal blood flow that may be related to the alteration of renal-nerve activity. A rat model of IIR injury was established. The superior mesenteric artery was clamped for 120 min, constituting the ischemic period, and was then released for 60 min, thus constituting the reperfusion period. Renal-nerve activity, renal function, and hemodynamic changes were recorded during the different periods. The levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in portal-vein blood and intestinal tissue were investigated here. In the reperfusion period, the efferent renal-nerve activity (ERNA) was markedly elevated (94.3% ± 21.6% higher than the baseline value), such an elevation being only partially reversed by fluid expansion (29.3% ± 5.2% higher than the baseline value). The elevation of ERNA contributed to the renal blood-flow reduction from 6.8 ± 0.3 mL/min/g to 2.0 ± 0.4 mL/min/g, and decreased diuretic and natriuretic responses. The afferent renal nerve activity (ARNA) was markedly depressed (45.7% ± 8.1% lower than the baseline value) during the reperfusion period. This depression was not reversed by fluid expansion, suggesting that the baroreflex was not responsible for this effect. The blunted ARNA also contributed to the elevation of ERNA by way of a renorenal reflex. The potent vasodilator neuropeptide in the gut, CGRP, revealed an increased level in the portal-vein blood (92.2 ± 4.4 pg/mL vs. 57.8 ± 0.6 pg/mL) and also in intestinal tissue (655.8 ± 115.9 pg/mL vs. 60.5 ± 9.4 pg/mL) with a time-matched related pattern with the change to renal-nerve activity, suggesting CGRP's role regarding changes in renal-nerve activity. This study indicates that the elevated ERNA level associated with IIR injury is related to a systemic hypotension-induced baroreflex, the contra-lateral inhibition of ARNA, and possibly also gut-released CGRP. In regards to an IIR injury, the depressed ARNA reflects the involvement of a renal sensory-impairment mechanism.
Tunable Diode Laser Spectroscopy for Industrial Process Applications: System Characterization in Conventional and New Approaches

Tunable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS) can only be successfully implemented if a number of system characterization procedures and critical parameter measurements can be made accurately. These include: application of a wavelength/frequency scale to the signals recovered in time; measurement of the frequency dither applied to the laser; measurement of the relative phase between the laser power modulation and frequency modulation; determination of the background amplitude modulation for normalization purposes and measurement of required cross broadening coefficients for the host/target gas mixtures. Easy to implement, accurate and low-cost systems and procedures for achieving these are described and validated below. They were developed for two new approaches to TDLS measurements, viz the residual amplitude modulation (RAM) technique and the phasor decomposition (PD) method, but are equally applicable to all forms of TDLS. Following full system characterization using the new techniques, measurements of the absolute transmission function of the 1650.96 nm absorption line of methane over a wide range of concentration and pressure were made using the RAM technique. The close agreement with theoretical traces derived from HITRAN data validated the entire approach taken, including the system characterization procedures. In addition, measurements of a wide range of gas concentration and pressure were made by curve fitting theoretical traces to the measured transmission functions obtained using a variety of operating conditions. Again, the low errors confirmed the validity of the new methods and the system characterization/measurement procedures described here.
Molecular identification of a major quantitative trait locus, qLTG3–1, controlling low-temperature germinability in rice

Tolerance to abiotic stress is an important agronomic trait in crops and is controlled by many genes, which are called quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Identification of these QTLs will contribute not only to the understanding of plant biology but also for plant breeding, to achieve stable crop production around the world. Previously, we mapped three QTLs controlling low-temperature tolerance at the germination stage (called low-temperature germinability). To understand the molecular basis of one of these QTLs, qLTG3–1 (quantitative trait locus for low-temperature germinability on chromosome 3), map-based cloning was performed, and this QTL was shown to be encoded by a protein of unknown function. The QTL qLTG3–1 is strongly expressed in the embryo during seed germination. Before and during seed germination, specific localization of beta-glucuronidase staining in the tissues covering the embryo, which involved the epiblast covering the coleoptile and the aleurone layer of the seed coat, was observed. Expression of qLTG3–1 was tightly associated with vacuolation of the tissues covering the embryo. This may cause tissue weakening, resulting in reduction of the mechanical resistance to the growth potential of the coleoptile. These phenomena are quite similar to the model system of seed germination presented by dicot plants, suggesting that this model may be conserved in both dicot and monocot plants.
Status and prospects of the dairy goat industry in the United States.

Among the major classes of U.S. livestock, dairy goats have yet to achieve USDA statistical reporting of their numbers, amounts of milk produced and processed, and cheese and other products marketed. However, the USDA has published buck proofs of approximately 16,000 does annually from Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) records of the Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian, Oberhasli, Saanen and Toggenburg breeds, thereby encouraging genetic progress. This represents a 1% participation in DHIA of the estimated 1.5 million U.S. dairy goats. Annual breed registrations are led by Nubians (11,000), and the leading states in descending order are California, Texas, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Breed average milk yields range from 960 kg of milk for Saanen to 726 kg of milk for Oberhasli. Average milk contents range from 4.5% fat and 3.69% protein for Nubian to 3.3% fat and 2.98% protein for Toggenburg. Leading lactation records are 3,023 kg of milk (Toggenburg) and 174 kg of fat (Nubian). Total annual registrations are 45,000+ animals by 16,000+ member breeders. Estimated total U.S. goat milk commercial production is 24,000+ t, with half going into commercial farm goat cheese production of 640+ t. Recent years have seen significantly increased numbers of dairy goat research projects and publications from Oklahoma, Texas, California, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and Massachusetts. Furthermore, annual national and international symposia, annual national goat cheese judging competitions and workshops, an active national goat research foundation, representation on the National Interstate Milk Shippers Committee and Mastitis Council, and formation of a national association and council for the development and promotion of dairy goat products indicate an evolution from former emphasis on purebred breed development to a focus on market development. The conclusion is that dairy goats are emerging as a necessary and recognized U.S. industry.
Short-term liner shipping bunker procurement with swap contracts

ABSTRACT The bunker price fluctuations in recent years have severely threatened the stability of liner shipping companies’ operations. As an efficient countermeasure, the swap contract is widely adopted throughout the liner shipping industry to hedge the procurement risk resulting from the bunker price fluctuation. This paper looks at the short-term liner shipping bunker procurement problem with swap contracts (BPPSC), aiming to optimally plan the amount of bunker purchased from the spot market and the amount hedged by the swap contract for several months ahead. This BPPSC is first formulated as a bunker procurement cost mean-variance minimization (MVM) model, and is subsequently solved using a tangible two-step approach developed in this study. In the first step, the movements of the swap contract price and the spot market price of the bunker are described using a calibrated multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (mGARCH) time series model. In the second step, the MVM model is approximated and solved by a price scenario tree constructed from the mGARCH time series model. A numerical example shows that the risk hedging strategy obtained can simultaneously control the bunker procurement cost as well as the procurement risk from price fluctuations. This article is a revised and expanded version of the abridged eight-page paper entitled ‘Optimal hedging for liner bunker procurement’ presented at ‘2015 International Conference on Logistics and Maritime Systems (LOGMS 2015)’, Hong Kong, 27–29 August 2015.
A Data and Model-Parallel, Distributed and Scalable Framework for Training of Deep Networks in Apache Spark

Training deep networks is expensive and time-consuming with the training period increasing with data size and growth in model parameters. In this paper, we provide a framework for distributed training of deep networks over a cluster of CPUs in Apache Spark. The framework implements both Data Parallelism and Model Parallelism making it suitable to use for deep networks which require huge training data and model parameters which are too big to fit into the memory of a single machine. It can be scaled easily over a cluster of cheap commodity hardware to attain significant speedup and obtain better results making it quite economical as compared to farm of GPUs and supercomputers. We have proposed a new algorithm for training of deep networks for the case when the network is partitioned across the machines (Model Parallelism) along with detailed cost analysis and proof of convergence of the same. We have developed implementations for Fully-Connected Feedforward Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks and Long Short-Term Memory architectures. We present the results of extensive simulations demonstrating the speedup and accuracy obtained by our framework for different sizes of the data and model parameters with variation in the number of worker cores/partitions; thereby showing that our proposed framework can achieve significant speedup (upto 11X for CNN) and is also quite scalable.
Effect of unilateral once or twice daily milking of cows on milk yield and udder characteristics in early and late lactation

Twelve multiparous British Friesian cows in early (40±23 d in milk; n=6) or late (216±17 d in milk; n=6) lactation were used to study the effects of milking frequency on yield, udder volume and milk storage within the udder. After a 2 week control period of twice daily milking, diagonally opposed udder halves within a cow were milked once or twice daily for 3 weeks. Milk yield was 28–38% lower from the halves that were milked once daily than from halves that were milked twice daily. The loss of milk yield, expressed as a decrease in the relative milk yield quotient (an index that accounts for pretreatment differences), was greater for cows in early than in late lactation (0·59 v. 0·68). Empty udder-half volume was not decreased by once daily milking, suggesting that no cell loss occurred. Instead, once daily milking reduced the secretion efficiency (units of milk per unit of empty udder-half volume) by 46 and 27% respectively in early and late lactation; thus, at least part of the loss was due to reduced metabolic activity of the mammary epithelium. There were positive correlations between the relative milk yield quotient and the proportion (r=0·804) or volume (r=0·644) of cisternal milk in the glands that were milked once daily. These results confirm that, during extended milking intervals, milk loss was smallest for cows that stored a larger proportion of milk in the gland cistern.