Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased Exopolysaccharide Production in Lactococcus lactis due to Increased Levels of Expression of the NIZO B40 eps Gene Cluster

ABSTRACT Exopolysaccharides (EPS) play an important role in the rheology and texture of fermented food products. This is the first report demonstrating that homologous overexpression of a complete eps gene cluster in Lactococcus lactis leads to increased EPS production levels. A ninefold-elevated EPS plasmid copy number led to an almost threefold increase in the eps expression level, resulting in an almost fourfold increase in the NIZO B40 EPS production level. It was previously reported that increased EPS precursor levels did not influence NIZO B40 EPS production levels. However, the present results indicate that the maximal NIZO B40 EPS production level is limited by the activity level of the expression products of the eps gene cluster rather than by the level of EPS precursors.
Herding and consumer choice under network platform

This paper analyzes how consumers with product price choose between two products of unknown product value on network platform. Before making a decision, the consumer can see an imperfect private signal indicating which product may provide higher product value as well as the historical sales and product prices. We explore the equilibrium choice behavior of arriving consumers and the extent of their learning from the historical sales and price information and how to form herd behavior and equilibrium. Consequently, we characterize inefficient herding .
Dynamic Locked Plating of Distal Femur Fractures

Objectives: Nonunion after locked bridge plating of comminuted distal femur fractures is not uncommon. “Dynamic” locked plating may create an improved mechanical environment, thereby achieving higher union rates than standard locked plating constructs. Setting: Academic Level 1 Trauma Center. Patients/Participants: Twenty-eight patients with comminuted supracondylar femur fractures treated with either dynamic or standard locked plating. Intervention: Dynamic plating was achieved using an overdrilling technique of the near cortex to allow for a 0.5-mm “halo” around the screw shaft at the near cortex. Standard locked plating was done based on manufacturer's suggested technique. The patients treated with dynamic plating were matched 1:1 with those treated with standard locked plating based on OTA classification and working length. Main Outcome Measurements: Three blinded observers made callus measurements on 6-week radiographs using a 4-point ordinal scale. The results were analyzed using a 2-tailed t test and 2-way intraclass correlations. Results: The dynamic plating group had significantly greater callus (2.0; SD, 0.7) compared with the control group (1.3: SD, 0.8, P = 0.048) with substantial agreement amongst observers in both consistency (0.724) and absolute score (0.734). With dynamic plating group, 1 patient failed to unite, versus three in the control group (P = 0.59). The dynamic group had a mean change in coronal plane alignment of 0.5 degrees (SD, 2.6) compared with 0.6 (SD, 3.0) for the control group (P = 0.9) without fixation failure in either group. Conclusions: Overdrilling the near cortex in metaphyseal bridge plating can be adapted to standard implants to create a dynamic construct and increase axial motion. This technique seems to be safe and leads to increased callus formation, which may decrease nonunion rates seen with standard locked plating. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Kinetics of hole nucleation in biomembrane rupture

The core component of a biological membrane is a fluid–lipid bilayer held together by interfacial–hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions, which are balanced for the most part by acyl chain entropy confinement. If biomembranes are subjected to persistent tensions, an unstable (nanoscale) hole will emerge at some time to cause rupture. Because of the large energy required to create a hole, thermal activation appears to be requisite for initiating a hole and the activation energy is expected to depend significantly on mechanical tension. Although models exist for the kinetic process of hole nucleation in tense membranes, studies of membrane survival have failed to cover the ranges of tension and lifetime needed to critically examine nucleation theory. Hence, rupturing giant (∼20 μm) membrane vesicles ultra-slowly to ultra-quickly with slow to fast ramps of tension, we demonstrate a method to directly quantify kinetic rates at which unstable holes form in fluid membranes, at the same time providing a range of kinetic rates from <0.01 to >100 s−1. Measuring lifetimes of many hundreds of vesicles, each tensed by precision control of micropipette suction, we have determined the rates of failure for vesicles made from several synthetic phospholipids plus 1:1 mixtures of phospho- and sphingo-lipids with cholesterol, all of which represent prominent constituents of eukaryotic cell membranes. Plotted on a logarithmic scale, the failure rates for vesicles are found to rise dramatically with an increase in tension. Converting the experimental profiles of kinetic rates into changes of activation energy versus tension, we show that the results closely match expressions for thermal activation derived from a combination of meso-scale theory and molecular-scale simulations of hole formation. Moreover, we demonstrate a generic approach to transform analytical fits of activation energies obtained from rupture experiments into energy landscapes characterizing the process of hole nucleation along the reaction coordinate defined by hole size.
ofthe AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION Editorial The Recognition of Angina Pectoris IN 1772

IN 1772 William Heberden's classic description of angina pectoris was first published. Heberden, one of England's outstanding physicians, was also a scholar who possessed "the art of clear and accurate description, so that his vivid portrayal of the symptoms of angina pectoris, recorded in remarkable clarity, stand unchallenged today and is without a doubt one of the most cherished and brilliant masterpieces of the past. "1 The following is a verbatim quotation from Heberden's Commentaries on the History and Care of Diseases as published posthumously in London in 1802 by one of his sons.1
Energy efficiency improvement adopting synchronous motors

There is a growing interest in adopting electrical motors exhibiting high efficiency. Therefore, induction machines are often replaced by more efficient electrical drive solutions. Variable-speed drives are often chosen instead of the traditional grid-connected solutions, so as to avoid unefficient regulations at constant speed, when the machine operates at part load. This paper aims to compare different types of electric motor drives for high efficiency applications: an induction motor drive, a synchronous reluctance motor drive, and a permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor drive. The innovative field-oriented analysis technique is applied to estimate the motor drive performance. This method of analysis is particularly advantageous in comparing the induction motor performance to those of synchronous machines. The comparison among the capabilities of the three electric drives is carried out combining both analytical and finite element methods. The analysis strategy adopted has been arranged so as to obtain rapidly the motor drive capability.
IEEE Task Force Report: Brittle Fracture in Nonceramic Insulators

A description of the composite insulator brittle fracture phenomenon suitable to allow correct diagnosis of a failure is provided. The paper reports on the number of brittle fractures that have occurred around the world and contains specific empirical data surrounding composite insulator brittle fractures in the United States. It also includes several case studies of in service failures to inform the reader of the diversity of initiating causes. The current state of knowledge on the brittle fracture mechanism is presented. Based on what was learned during the study, possible actions that can be taken by manufacturers and users to reduce frequency of occurrence are suggested.
Insecticide susceptibility of the leafminer, Chromatomyia horticola (Goureau) (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

To clarify the reason for the recent dramatic outbreak of the leafminer, Chromatomyia horticola (Goureau), on the green pea in Japan, the insecticide susceptibility of two leafminer populations collected from grower's pea fields in Shizuoka and Kagoshima Prefectures was measured in a laboratory assay. Of the five insecticides registered for leafminer control on the pea, cartap was moderately effective, but phenthoate, malathion, permethrin and tralomethrin were less effective on larvae of the leafminer populations at their recommended dilutions. The leafminer population from Shizuoka was slightly less susceptible than the population from Kagoshima to all insecticides tested by LC50 assay. Emamectin-benzoate, fipronil, spinosad, chlorfenapyr, cyromazine and isoxathion were very effective in controlling leafminer populations. The impact of insecticide applications on the leafminer and associated parasitoids in pea fields in Shizuoka Prefecture was also discussed. Of the four samples of pea shoots collected from three fields, two samples collected one month after insecticide application had very few leafminers and many parasitoids. However the sample taken immediately after insecticide application had a very large number of emerged adult leafminers, but few parasitoids. The results suggest that the recent large outbreak of C. horticola might have resulted from a combination of low susceptibility to insecticides in the species and the destruction of the parasitoid complex due to frequent insecticide applications.
HLA-DR4–Associated T and B Cell Responses to Specific Determinants on the IA-2 Autoantigen in Type 1 Diabetes

Autoantibodies to IA-2 in type 1 diabetes are associated with HLA-DR4, suggesting influences of HLA-DR4–restricted T cells on IA-2–specific B cell responses. The aim of this study was to investigate possible T–B cell collaboration by determining whether autoantibodies to IA-2 epitopes are associated with T cell responses to IA-2 peptides presented by DR4. T cells secreting the cytokines IFN-γ and IL-10 in response to seven peptides known to elicit T cell responses in type 1 diabetes were quantified by cytokine ELISPOT in HLA-typed patients characterized for Abs to IA-2 epitopes. T cell responses were detected to all peptides tested, but only IL-10 responses to 841–860 and 853–872 peptides were associated with DR4. Phenotyping by RT-PCR of FACS-sorted CD45ROhi T cells secreting IL-10 in response to these two peptides indicated that these expressed GATA-3 or T-bet, but not FOXP3, consistent with these being Th2 or Th1 memory T cells rather than of regulatory phenotype. T cell responses to the same two peptides were also associated with specific Abs: those to 841–860 peptide with Abs to juxtamembrane epitopes, which appear early in prediabetes, and those to peptide 853–872 with Abs to an epitope located in the 831–862 central region of the IA-2 tyrosine phosphatase domain. Abs to juxtamembrane and central region constructs were both DR4 associated. This study identifies a region of focus for B and T cell responses to IA-2 in HLA-DR4 diabetic patients that may explain HLA associations of IA-2 autoantibodies, and this region may provide a target for future immune intervention to prevent disease.
Person Name Recognition and Linking from Overlay Text in TV Broadcast Shows

Identifying people in video broadcast is by nature a multimodal task: persons can be identified thanks to biometric information (face or voice), or thanks to a reference to their identity in the overlaid text or the speech content. In the framework of the French evaluation program Repere, this paper presents a method for identifying speakers in videos without any a-priori models, based only on overlaid text often used to introduce guests or journalists occurring for the first time in a given TV show. We show that Entity Linking improves speaker identification performance by reducing ambiguities in OCR transcriptions and allowing to add biometric constraints in the multimodal fusion process. All the methods presented are evaluated on the Repere video corpus of broadcast shows from 2 French TV channels and 5 different shows (news, talk shows, magazine).
Effects of Instilled Combustion-Derived Particles in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. Part II: Pulmonary Responses

A consistent association between exposure to high concentrations of ambient particulate matter (PM) and excess cardiopulmonary-related morbidity and mortality has been observed in numerous epidemiological studies, across many different geographical locations. To elicit a similar response in a controlled laboratory setting, spontaneously hypertensive rats were exposed to an oil combustion-derived PM (HP-12) and monitored for changes in pulmonary function and indices of pulmonary injury. Rats were implanted with radiotelemeters to monitor electrocardiogram, heart rate, systemic arterial blood pressure, core temperature, and activity. Animals were divided into four groups and exposed via intratracheal instillation (IT) to suspensions of HP-12 (0.0, 0.83, 3.33, and 8.33 mg/kg; control, low, mid, and high dose, respectively) in saline vehicle. Telemetered rats were monitored continuously for 4–7 days post-IT and pulmonary function was examined using a whole-body plethysmograph system for 6 h/day on post-IT days 1–7. At 24, 96, and 192 h post-IT, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was obtained from subsets of nontelemetered animals in order to assess the impact of HP-12 on biochemical indices of pulmonary inflammation and injury. Immediate dose-related changes in pulmonary function were observed after HP-12 exposure, consisting of decreases in tidal volume (↓12–41%) and increases in breathing frequency (↑52–103%), minute ventilation (↑12–25%), and enhanced pause (↑113–187%). These functional effects were resolved by 7 days post-IT, although some average BALF constituents remained elevated through day 7 for mid- and high-dose groups when compared to those of the saline-treated control group. This study demonstrates significant deficits in pulmonary function, along with significant increases in BALF indices of pulmonary inflammation and injury in SH rats after IT exposure to HP-12.
Contribution of hepatic stellate cells and matrix metalloproteinase 9 in acute liver failure

Background/Aims: Fulminant hepatitis or acute liver failure (ALF), initiated by viral infection or hepatic toxin, is a devastating medical complication without effective therapeutic treatment. In this study, we addressed the potential roles of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and their produced matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in development of ALF.
Legionnaires' disease in New York City, August-September 1978.

rJo date, 15 outbreaks of L. pneumophila infection have been recognized 1 in the United States. ' Some clearly represent epidemics of illness. Others may represent seasonal upsurges of disease in areas that apparently are hyperendemic zones of Legionnaires' disease.2'3 The investigation of Legionnaires' disease in the garment district of New York City during September 1978 showed that this outbreak followed the latter pattern, and analysis of an outbreak of illness among workers of a small garment-district business suggested that infection with L. pneumophila may have caused illness with a broad spectrum of severity.
DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS AND TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES IN TRANSSEXUALS

In this first prevalence study of dissociative symptoms and different forms of childhood experiences among transsexuals, 41 transsexuals and 115 psychiatric inpatients were compared by means of the Interview for Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D-R), the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The total score for the dissociative symptoms revealed no significant differences between the transsexuals and the psychiatric inpatients. However, the higher DES score among transsexuals compared with a normal population was found to be due largely to one item. A surprisingly high prevalence of emotional maltreatment was recorded. The results suggest that both the DES and the SCID-D-R have limited validity as instruments for screening and diagnosing dissociative disorders in transsexuals. Psychiatrists should be mindful of the possible existence of dissociative disorders in transsexual patients. Further investigations are needed to clarify the effects of traumatic childhood experiences on sexual identity in transsexuals and to throw more light on the phenomenological correlation between transsexualism and dissociative identity, using taxometric analyses.
The Ontogeny of the Human Connectome

The human brain comprises distributed cortical regions that are structurally and functionally connected into a network that is known as the human connectome. Elaborate developmental processes starting in utero herald connectome genesis, with dynamic changes in its architecture continuing throughout life. Connectome changes during development, maturation, and aging may be governed by a set of biological rules or algorithms, forming and shaping the macroscopic architecture of the brain’s wiring network. To explore the presence of developmental patterns indicative of such rules, this review considers insights from studies on the cellular and the systems level into macroscopic connectome genesis and dynamics across the life span. We observe that in parallel with synaptogenesis, macroscopic connectome formation and transformation is characterized by an initial overgrowth and subsequent elimination of cortico-cortical axonal projections. Furthermore, dynamic changes in connectome organization throughout the life span are suggested to follow an inverted U-shaped pattern, with an increasingly integrated topology during development, a plateau lasting for the majority of adulthood and an increasingly localized topology in late life. Elucidating developmental patterns in brain connectivity is crucial for our understanding of the human connectome and how it may give rise to brain function, including the occurrence of brain network disorders across the life span.
Countergradient variation in body shape between two populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)

Variation in morphological traits is generally thought to be cogradient, with environmental effects on phenotypic expression reinforcing genetic differences between populations. We compared body shape between two populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Striking shape differences occurred between juveniles from the two populations when reared in a common laboratory environment. However, no difference in body shape occurred between wild-reared juveniles from the two populations, suggesting that the genetic differences between populations were obscured by opposing effects of the environmental differences experienced in the wild. We suggest that much of the genetic diversity in body shape of fishes may be cryptic, with stabilizing selection for the same optimal phenotype resulting in genetic divergence between populations subject to contrasting environmental influences.
Injuries in the eighth and ninth years of life

From a sample of 818 children, 211 were involved in 256 separate incidents which resulted in 283 injuries requiring medical attention. The most common injuries were lacerations, abrasions and contusions, fractures, concussion, and sprains. The majority of the injuries were minor. The most common incident resulting in injury was a fall, followed by incidents where the child struck against or was struck by an object or persons and incidents involving sharp objects. The nature and circumstances of the serious injuries is presented in detail. Methods of improving the description and the classification of childhood injuries and some incidents worthy of further investigation are discussed.
Outcomes of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with harmonic scalpel after failure of continuous positive airway pressure in sleep apnea syndrome

Abstract Conclusions: Our data highlight that uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) with harmonic scalpel (HS) is a reliable treatment in selected patients affected by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and users of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Objectives: The aim of this paper was to verify the efficacy and applicability of UPPP with HS in the treatment of patients affected by OSA and users of CPAP. Methods: A total of 21 patients with a retropalatal obstruction and users of CPAP underwent UPPP with HS and were evaluated (before and 6 months after surgery) using the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI); oxygen desaturation index ≥4% (ODI4); Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS); snoring level (SL); subjective assessment of the postoperative pain on postoperative days 1, 3, and 10; and number of days until return to solid food. Results: Six months after surgery: AHI decreased significantly (p < 0.05) from 31.8 ± 2.83 to 9.0 ± 0.68; ODI4 was 2.1 ± 0.4 vs a preoperative value of 24.0 ± 1.9; ESS scores were also significantly decreased (p < 0.05) from 14.0 ± 3.7 to 4.7 ± 2.2; SL was significantly lower (p < 0.05) 1.6 ± 0.3 vs 7.9 ± 0.8. Postoperatively, patients experienced lower levels of pain and the median of time to return to normal diet was 3 days.
Growth‐differentiation factor‐15 improves reclassification for the diagnosis of heart failure with normal ejection fraction in morbid obesity

This study aimed to examine the incremental value of growth‐differentiation factor‐15 (GDF‐15) to N‐terminal pro brain natriuretic hormone (NT‐proBNP) levels for the diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and possible heart failure (HF) in morbidly obese patients.
Particle Image Velocimetry and Thermometry for Two‐Phase Flow Problems

Abstract: Image processing in fluid mechanics has become an important quantitative tool for flow analysis. The feasibility of simultaneous measurements of instantaneous velocity and temperature fields, as well as for tracking interfaces, creates a functional tool to describe thermally driven flows accompanied by phase change. The information thus gathered is essential for the verification and validation of computation models. The paper reviews the image processing methods developed by the author and his coworkers to analyze typical problems of two‐phase flow. Simultaneous measurement of temperature and velocity fields, obtained by using liquid crystal tracers, are applied to elucidate solidification and growing vapor bubble problems.
Innovative Detectors for Ultra-high Sensitivity Laser Scanning Microscopy

We designed novel high-sensitivity arrays of avalanche photodiodes that open the way to improved performance in Laser Scanning Microscopy, in terms of the detecting areas, dynamic range and stray-rays rejection. Such a technique allows the inspection of microelectronic devices and circuits with increased focal depth and spatial resolution. A pioneering detector with onchip electronic pinhole is presented. The experimental results prove the attractiveness of the method, above all when compared to commercial products.
Significance of marrow‐derived nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase in experimental ischemic stroke

Reperfusion after stroke leads to infiltration of inflammatory cells into the ischemic brain. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX2) is a major enzyme system that generates superoxide in immune cells. We studied the effect of NOX2 derived from the immune cells in the brain and in blood cells in experimental stroke.