Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repeated Mesenchymal Stem Cell Treatment after Neonatal Hypoxia–Ischemia Has Distinct Effects on Formation and Maturation of New Neurons and Oligodendrocytes Leading to Restoration of Damage, Corticospinal Motor Tract Activity, and Sensorimotor Function

Birth asphyxia is a frequent cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality with limited therapeutic options. We show that a single mesenchymal stem cell treatment at 3 d (MSC-3) after neonatal hypoxia–ischemia (HI) in postnatal day 9 mice improved sensorimotor function and reduced lesion size. A second MSC treatment at 10 d after HI (MSC-3+10) further enhanced sensorimotor improvement and recovery of MAP2 and MBP (myelin basic protein) staining. Ipsilateral anterograde corticospinal tract tracing with biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) showed that HI reduced BDA labeling of the contralateral spinal cord. Only MSC-3+10 treatment partially restored contralateral spinal cord BDA staining, indicating enhanced axonal remodeling. MSC-3 enhanced formation of bromodeoxyuridine-positive neurons and oligodendrocytes. Interestingly, the second gift at day 10 did not further increase new cell formation, whereas only MSC-10 did. These findings indicate that increased positive effect of MSC-3+10 compared with MSC-3 alone is mediated via distinct pathways. We hypothesize that MSCs adapt their growth and differentiation factor production to the needs of the environment at the time of intracranial injection. Comparing the response of MSCs to in vitro culture with HI brain extracts obtained at day 10 from MSC-3- or vehicle-treated animals by pathway-focused PCR array analysis revealed that 29 genes encoding secreted factors were indeed differentially regulated. We propose that the function of MSCs is dictated by adaptive specific signals provided by the damaged and regenerating brain.
Guided-Wave Electro-Optic Modulators Using Novel Electrode Structure of Coupled Microstrip Line Resonator

A novel structure of guided-wave electro-optic modulators is proposed and their operation of the optical intensity modulation is successfully confirmed. The modulators use a newly developed modulation electrode consisting of coupled microstrip lines. A high voltage can be induced by the resonance of the odd propagation mode to realize efficient electro-optic modulation in spite of the microstrip-line configuration. The properties of the coupled microstrip lines were analytically evaluated by using the method of conformal transformations and the effectiveness as a modulation electrode was presented. The modulation electrodes of the half-wavelength coupled microstrip line resonator were designed at 10 GHz and 26 GHz, where the electrode lengths were 3 mm and 1.2 mm, respectively. The modulators using these electrodes with the Mach-Zehnder interferometer of LiTaO 3 waveguides were fabricated. The measured modulation coefficient of the 26 GHz modulator normalized at 100 mW signal input was 0.13 rad.
Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein Is a Determinant of Pathogenesis in Swine, a Natural Host

ABSTRACT There are two major serotypes of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), Indiana (VSIV) and New Jersey (VSNJV). We recovered recombinant VSIVs from engineered cDNAs that contained either (i) one copy of the VSIV G gene (VSIV-GI); (ii) two copies of the G gene, one from each serotype (VSIV-GNJGI); or (iii) a single copy of the GNJ gene instead of the GI gene (VSIV-GNJ). The recombinant viruses expressed the appropriate glycoproteins, incorporated them into virions, and were neutralized by antibodies specific for VSIV (VSIV-GI), VSNJV (VSIV-GNJ), or both (VSIV-GNJGI), according to the glycoprotein(s) they expressed. All recombinant viruses grew to similar titers in cell culture. In mice, VSIV-GNJ and VSIV-GNJGI were attenuated. However, in swine, a natural host for VSV, the GNJ glycoprotein-containing viruses caused more severe lesions and replicated to higher titers than the parental virus, VSIV-GI. These observations implicate the glycoprotein as a determinant of VSV virulence in a natural host and emphasize the differences in VSV pathogenesis between mice and swine.
A Prototype System for Many-Core Architecture SMYLEref with FPGA Evaluation Boards

SUMMARY Nowadays, the trend of developing micro-processor with hundreds of cores brings a promising prospect for embedded systems. Realizing a high performance and low power many-core processor is becoming a primary technical challenge. Generally, three major issues required to be resolved includes: 1) realizing e ﬃ cient massively parallel processing, 2) reducing dynamic power consumption, and 3) improving software productivity. To deal with these issues, we propose a solution to use many low-performance but small and very low-power cores to obtain very high performance, and develop a referential many-core architecture and a program development environment. This paper introduces a many-core architecture named SMYLEref and its prototype system with o ﬀ -the-shelf FPGA evaluation boards. The initial evaluation results of several SPLASH2 benchmark programs conducted on our developed 128-core platform are also presented and discussed in this paper.
FAiR: Framework de Avaliação e Caracterização em Sistemas de Recomendação

Sistemas de Recomendacao (SsR) tornaram-se essenciais em e-commerces. Estrategias de SsR vem sendo propostas para auxiliar usuarios na tomada de decisao. O processo de avaliacao de SsR e hoje um grande ponto de divergencia, uma vez que nao existe um consenso de quais metricas sao necessarias para se consolidar um novo SR. Nesse trabalho, realizamos um amplo estudo dessas metricas organizando-as em tres grupos: Effectiveness-based, Complementary Dimensions of Quality e Domain Profiling. Consolidamos um framework denominado FAiR, capaz de auxiliar pesquisadores na avaliacao de SsR frente a essas metricas, alem de identificar as caracteristicas das colecoes de dados que possam intrinsecamente influenciar no desempenho deles.
Patterns of smoking in Bulgaria

BACKGROUND Although the rate of smoking-related deaths in Bulgaria is still relatively low, in international terms, it has been rising rapidly. This is likely to become worse in the future as Bulgaria faces growing pressure from transnational tobacco companies. There is, however, little information on patterns of smoking, which is necessary for development of effective policies to tackle tobacco consumption. OBJECTIVE To describe the pattern of smoking in Bulgaria and its relationship with sociodemographic factors. DESIGN Multivariate analysis of data on patterns of tobacco consumption from a multi-stage nationwide survey of 1550 adults. SETTING Bulgaria, in 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Prevalence of current cigarette smoking. RESULTS 38.4% of men and 16.7% of women smoke. Smoking rates are strongly associated with age, with 58% of men and 30% of women aged 30–39 smoking whereas only 5% of men aged 70 years and older and almost no women of this age smoke. Smoking is more common in cities, among those who are widowed or divorced, or who do not own their home. There is no clear association with household income or, for men, with education, although there is a suggestion that smoking may be more common among more highly educated women. CONCLUSIONS The observed pattern of smoking indicates the need for a robust policy to tackle smoking in Bulgaria, especially among the young in large cities, informed by a better understanding of why smoking rates vary among different groups.
Acute coronary artery bypass graft failure in a patient with polycythemia vera

Polycythemia vera in patients undergoing cardiac surgery is clinically rare. A 65-year-old man with polycythemia vera was admitted with effort-related chest discomfort. We planned coronary artery bypass grafting for left anterior descending artery and obtuse marginal branch stenosis, using bilateral internal thoracic arteries, with perioperative prophylactic management to avoid thromboembolism. His internal thoracic arterial grafts occluded during and after surgery due to thrombus, and ST-elevation myocardial infarction developed, which needed a percutaneous coronary intervention. This case suggests that optimal management methods should be studied further to contribute to better patient outcomes in this condition.
Analyse de robustesse de systèmes intégrés numériques

Les circuits integres ne sont pas a l'abri d'interferences naturelles ou malveillantes qui peuvent provoquer des fautes transitoires conduisant a des erreurs (Soft errors) et potentiellement a un comportement errone. Ceci doit etre maitrise surtout dans le cas des systemes critiques qui imposent des contraintes de surete et/ou de securite. Pour optimiser les strategies de protection de tels systemes, il est fondamental d'identifier les elements les plus critiques. L'evaluation de la criticite de chaque bloc permet de limiter les protections aux blocs les plus sensibles. Cette these a pour objectif de proposer des approches permettant d'analyser, tot dans le flot de conception, la robustesse d'un systeme numerique. Le critere cle utilise est la duree de vie des donnees stockees dans les registres, pour une application donnee. Dans le cas des systemes a base de microprocesseur, une approche analytique a ete developpee et validee autour d'un microprocesseur SparcV8 (LEON3). Celle-ci repose sur une nouvelle methodologie permettant de raffiner les evaluations de criticite des registres. Ensuite, une approche complementaire et plus generique a ete mise en place pour calculer la criticite des differents points memoires a partir d'une description synthetisable. L'outil mettant en œuvre cette approche a ete eprouve sur des systemes significatifs tels que des accelerateurs materiels de chiffrement et un systeme materiel/logiciel base sur le processeur LEON3. Des campagnes d'injection de fautes ont permis de valider les deux approches proposees dans cette these. En outre, ces approches se caracterisent par leur generalite, leur efficacite en termes de precision et de rapidite, ainsi que leur faible cout de mise en œuvre et leur capacite a re-exploiter les environnements de validation fonctionnelle.
Individual Factors, Occupational Loading, and Physical Exercise as Predictors of Sciatic Pain

Study Design. In this prospective study, a cohort of 2077 workers free of sciatic pain and another cohort of 327 workers with severe sciatic pain were followed up for 1 year. Objective. To evaluate the effects of different risk factors on the incidence and persistence of sciatic pain. Summary of Background Data. Sciatic pain seems to differ from other types of low back pain in terms of etiology, occurrence, and prognosis. Yet only a few studies of sciatic pain exist. The role of individual characteristics, occupational loading, and participation in different sports has rarely been assessed in a study with a prospective design among a working population. Methods. The subjects of this study, Finnish forest industry workers, replied to a modified version of the Nordic Questionnaire at the baseline of this study and after 1 year. The effects of the predictors on the 1-year incidence and persistence of sciatic pain were studied with multivariable logistic regression modeling. Results. Greater age, mental stress, smoking of long duration, and work-related twisting of the trunk increased the risk of incidental sciatic pain. Joggers had a lower risk for incidental sciatic pain, but a higher risk for persistent symptoms. Walking was positively associated with the risk of incidental pain. Greater age, mental stress, former smoking, jogging, and poor job satisfaction increased the risk for persistent severe sciatic pain. Conclusions. The findings from this study suggest that mental stress and smoking are independent risk factors for incidental sciatic pain. Overall physical exercise and most of the sports activities, except jogging and walking, had no effect on sciatic pain. Physical workload factors seemed to be more involved in the onset of sciatic pain, whereas psychosocial factors were related to the persistence of symptoms.
Mathematikdidaktik in der Physiklehrerbildung? - Projekte zur fachdidaktisch-verbindenden Lehrerbildung

Der Rolle der Mathematik in der Physik wird in der Physikdidaktik berechtigterweise ein reges Forschungsinteresse gewidmet. Neben rein fachlichen und erkenntnistheoretischen Aspekten sind auch mathematikdidaktische Gesichtspunkte in diesen Diskussionen relevant. Der fachdidaktisch-verbindende Ansatz der Universitat Siegen sieht den gleichberechtigten Austausch uber den Zusammenhang von Mathematik und Physik sowie den Vergleich didaktischer Theorien beider Facher vor. Im Vortrag soll anhand von Projekten vorgestellt werden, warum und wie bereits in der ersten Phase der Lehrerbildung fachdidaktisch-verbindendes Arbeiten umgesetzt werden kann.
Role of Menaquinones in Fe(III) Reduction by Membrane Fractions of Shewanella putrefaciens

ABSTRACT Two Tn5-generated mutants of Shewanella putrefaciens with insertions in menD and menB were isolated and analyzed. Both mutants were deficient in the use of several terminal electron acceptors, including Fe(III). This deficiency was overcome by the addition of menaquinone (vitamin K2). Isolated membrane fractions from both mutants were unable to reduce Fe(III) in the absence of added menaquinone when formate was used as the electron donor. These results indicate that menaquinones are essential components for the reduction of Fe(III) by both whole cells and purified membrane fractions when formate or lactate is used as the electron donor.
From waste treatment to integrated resource management.

Wastewater treatment was primarily implemented to enhance urban hygiene. Treatment methods were improved to ensure environmental protection by nutrient removal processes. In this way, energy is consumed and resources like potentially useful minerals and drinking water are disposed of. An integrated management of assets, including drinking water, surface water, energy and nutrients would be required to make wastewater management more sustainable. Exergy analysis provides a good method to quantify different resources, e.g. utilisable energy and nutrients. Dilution is never a solution for pollution. Waste streams should best be managed to prevent dilution of resources. Wastewater and sanitation are not intrinsically linked. Source separation technology seems to be the most promising concept to realise a major breakthrough in wastewater treatment. Research on unit processes, such as struvite recovery and treatment of ammonium rich streams, also shows promising results. In many cases, nutrient removal and recovery can be combined, with possibilities for a gradual change from one system to another.
Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Suppresses Serum Deprivation-induced Death of A549 Cells through Differential Effects on c-Jun and JNK Activities*

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, a pleiotropic cytokine involved in regulating growth and differentiation, can exert both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic effects depending on the cell type or circumstances. We observed that TGF-β1 blocked apoptosis resulting from serum withdrawal in A549 human lung carcinoma cells. This was associated with suppression of JNK activation that occurs concomitant with the onset of apoptosis in the absence of TGF-β1, suggesting that JNK plays an active role in the death process and that TGF-β1 exerts its protective influence by altering JNK activity. Overexpression of a dominant negative mutant form of SEK1, an upstream activator of JNK, likewise suppressed JNK activation and inhibited apoptosis. Investigation of early events following TGF-β1 treatment revealed an early induction and phosphorylation of c-Jun that was absent in cells subjected to serum withdrawal alone. That TGF-β1-induced expression of c-Jun is important for survival was supported by the finding that overexpression of non-phosphosphorylatable dominant negative mutant c-Jun, c-Jun(S73A), attenuated the protective influence of TGF-β1. Our findings suggest that JNK activation is a late but essential event in serum deprivation-induced apoptosis in A549 cells. TGF-β1 prevents apoptosis, in part, through the early induction and phosphorylation of c-Jun, which in turn results in attenuated JNK activation.
Phase I to II study of pleurectomy/decortication and intraoperative intracavitary hyperthermic cisplatin lavage for mesothelioma.

PURPOSE To evaluate morbidity, mortality, maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), and outcome of intraoperative intracavitary hyperthermic cisplatin lavage in patients undergoing pleurectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty-one patients were prospectively registered. Forty-four resectable patients with MPM underwent pleurectomy, followed by a 1-hour lavage of the resection cavity with dose-escalated cisplatin (50, 100, 150, 175, 200, 225, and 250 mg/m2) at 42 degrees C and then intravenous sodium thiosulfate (16 g/m2 over 6 hours). Survival estimates were compared using the log-rank test and proportional hazards regression. RESULTS Median age was 71 years (range, 50 to 82 years). Twenty-four patients had epithelial tumors, and 20 had sarcomatous or mixed histology. Postoperative mortality was 11% (five of 44 patients). Dose-limiting renal toxicity occurred at 250 mg/m2, establishing the MTD at 225 mg/m2. Other morbidity included atrial fibrillation (14 of 44 patients, 32%) and deep venous thrombosis (four of 44 patients, 9%). Median survival time of all registered patients was 9 months, and the median survival time of resected patients was 13 months. Survival estimates differed significantly for resectable patients exposed to low doses (50 to 150 mg/m2; n = 9; median, 6 months) versus high doses (175 to 250 mg/m2; n = 35; median, 18 months) of hyperthermic cisplatin (P = .0019); recurrence-free interval also differed significantly (4 v 9 months, respectively; P < .0001). Low dose level (relative risk = 3.418) and nonepithelial histology (relative risk = 2.336) were independent risk factors for poor survival. Twenty patients with epithelial tumors who underwent high-dose cisplatin lavage had a 26-month median survival time. CONCLUSION Pleurectomy and high-dose intraoperative intracavitary hyperthermic cisplatin lavage is feasible in this patient population with restricted surgical options. An apparent dose-related survival benefit warrants further study.
Caracterização de Canais sem Fio com Correlator Deslizante – Parte II: Extração de Parâmetros

A pesquisa e o desenvolvimento de sistemas de comunicacao sem fio sao sempre precedidos pela caracterizacao do canal atraves do qual o sinal e transmitido. Tal caracterizacao abrange os dominios do tempo, frequencia e espaco, podendo ser estocastica, empirica, deterministica ou uma combinacao destas. Ela fornece subsidios para modelagem do canal para que o sistema seja entao dimensionado de forma a viabilizar a comunicacao frente as possiveis adversidades do canal, podendo tambem fornecer dados para a elaboracao de modelos de predicao de cobertura. E comum que os modelos de canal sejam construidos com o auxilio de medidas em campo, as quais sao obtidas por meio de tecnicas de sondagem que processam o sinal recebido a partir da transmissao de um sinal de sondagem conhecido. O correlator deslizante (sliding correlator) e uma das tecnicas mais utilizadas para sondagem, permitindo que se obtenham os parâmetros estocasticos que caracterizam o canal. Este artigo tutorial compoe uma serie em que a sondagem por correlator deslizante e abordada em tres partes: no primeiro artigo da serie sao abordados os fundamentos teoricos necessarios ao entendimento sobre o correlator deslizante; o presente artigo e direcionado a analise das medidas obtidas por simulacao para a caracterizacao do canal; no terceiro artigo sao descritos os detalhes do projeto de um correlator deslizante na plataforma USRP (universal software radio peripheral).
A INTERFERÊNCIA DA EMOÇÃO NA TOMADA DE DECISÃO DE RISCO: UM ESTUDO EXPERIMENTAL COM PROFISSIONAIS DA CONTROLADORIA

This study aimed to investigate the interference of emotion in risk behavior of professionals, graduates and postgraduates in the areas of controllership and related by experimental approach. For this purpose, was applied to the task Risk Task participants, consisting of 100 bets, where in each betting decision maker had the choice to decide for a higher return linked to an increased risk, or a lower return linked to lower risk. The study included 80 subjects, and before running the task had the emotion induced and 11 subjects dropped out. Through inferential statistical analysis was not possible to observe evidence of interference of emotion, and you can not explain the variation in risk behavior between groups, nor difference in execution time of the task. There was also no relationship between the identified risk behavior and gender-makers. Despite the negative results of the survey are in line what happens on other front in the same issue where there is no consensus about the influence of mood or not the decisions It is hoped that the results of this research will stimulate new empirical studies on the interference in the decision of the emotions in these populations to the areas of controlling, and also the interference of various aspects of emotions can have on the decision.
Three generations of selection for high and low donor competences of splenomegaly in chickens.

Synopsis Three generations of two‐way selection were conducted for the donor competence of graft‐versus‐host reaction. Selection was effective in changing the donor competence. The average realised heritability over three generations was determined to be 0.41 by measuring the difference between the high (H) and low (L) lines. Reciprocal crosses gave intermediate values compared with those for their respective line offspring. Changes of gene frequencies at the B blood group locus were examined. In the H line the frequency of B 11 allele increased and of B 9 decreased, as expected, after selection in each generation. In the L line, however, the expected change was observed only in the first two generations. The direction of change reversed in the latter two generations. Relationship between the B locus genotypes and the degree of splenomegaly was different according to the sex of donors. In male donors, the B 9 /B 11 induced larger spleen than the B 9 /B 9 did, but in females the B 9 /B 9 was generally larg.
Memory T Cells (CD45RO) Role and Evaluation in Pathogenesis of Lichen Planus and Lichenoid Mucositis.

INTRODUCTION Memory T cells have the ability to survive in a quiescent state for longer periods and are responsible for the rapid responses on subsequent exposure to antigen. Analyzing memory T cells in Oral Lichen planus (OLP) and Lichenoid Mucositis (LM) suggest that these cells may play a role in the immunopathogenic mechanisms. AIM To identify and evaluate Memory T cells in Lichen Planus (LP), Lichenoid Mucositis (LM) and Normal Mucosa (NM) using CD45RO monoclonal antibody immunohistochemically. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 30 cases (15 cases of OLP and 15 cases of LM) clinically and histopathologically diagnosed, and 10 cases of NM were stained for CD45RO monoclonal antibody, immunohistochemically using Biotin Streptavidin method. Staining intensity of CD45RO expression was statistically analysed using Chi-square Test. RESULTS The present study demonstrated a higher expression of CD45RO in connective tissue layer of OLP (53.3% intense staining) when compared to LM (20% intense staining) and no intense staining in NM. The difference in staining intensity pattern between the study groups was statistically significant (p=0.014). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates a statistically significant rise in memory T cells in LP than in LM, indicating the possible different immunopathogenic mechanisms.