Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of immunosuppression minimization and withdrawal early after liver transplantation

The Immune Tolerance Network ITN030ST A‐WISH assessed immunosuppression withdrawal in liver transplant recipients with hepatitis C or nonimmune nonviral liver disease. Of 275 recipients enrolled before transplantation, 95 were randomly assigned 4:1 to withdrawal (n = 77) or maintenance (n = 18) 1‐ to 2‐years posttransplant. Randomization eligibility criteria included stable immunosuppression monotherapy; adequate liver and kidney function; ≤Stage 2 Ishak fibrosis; and absence of rejection on biopsy. Immunosuppression withdrawal followed an 8‐step reduction algorithm with ≥8 weeks per level. Fifty‐two of 77 subjects (67.5%) reduced to ≤50% of baseline dose, and 10 of 77 (13.0%) discontinued all immunosuppression for ≥1 year. Acute rejection and/or abnormal liver tests were treated with increased immunosuppression; 5 of 32 rejection episodes required a methylprednisolone bolus. The composite end point (death or graft loss; grade 4 secondary malignancy or opportunistic infection; Ishak stage ≥3; or >25% decrease in glomerular filtration rate within 24 months of randomization) occurred in 12 of 66 (18%) and 4 of 13 (31%) subjects in the withdrawal and maintenance groups. Early immunosuppression minimization is feasible in selected liver recipients, while complete withdrawal is successful in only a small proportion. The composite end point comparison was inconclusive for noninferiority of the withdrawal to the maintenance group.
Unenhanced MRA in studying arteries of the hand: work in progress

Poster: "ECR 2012 / C-1255 / Unenhanced MRA in studying arteries of the hand: work in progress" by: "V. Zampa, S. Ortori, V. Vallini, M. Marletta, C. Bartolozzi; Pisa/IT"
Chemical Composition and Sources of Marine Aerosol over the Western North Pacific Ocean in Winter

Atmospheric deposition of long-range transported continental substances from natural and anthropogenic sources affects biogeochemical processes in marine systems. Emissions of sea spray contribute aerosol particles to the marine atmosphere. Despite the importance of continental dispersion and atmospheric processes involving aerosol particles within remote marine atmosphere, knowledge of the sources of various water-soluble ions is limited because of insufficient observations. Concentrations of Total suspended particulates (TSPs) and major inorganic ions (Cl−, Na+, SO42−, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NO3−, NH4+), as well as organic nitrogen (ON-N) values, were measured in marine aerosol collected over the western north Pacific (WNP) during a cruise from 3 December 2014 to 13 March 2015. Aerosol samples were analyzed to determine their chemical characteristics and a source apportionment for this region and the continental influence on the open ocean when air masses are from continent in winter. TSP mass concentrations ranged from 14.1 to 136.0 μg/m3 with an average of 44.8 ± 28.1 μg/m3. Concentrations of TSPs and major ions were higher near the coast (close to Qingdao and Xiamen) and lower over the open ocean. The total mass of inorganic ions and organic nitrogen accounted for 51.1% of the total TSP. Cl− had highest concentrations among the major inorganic ions, followed by SO42−, NO3−, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, and NH4+, respectively. However, Cl− showed a deficit relative to Na+ in most samples, likely related to heterogeneous reactions within the marine atmosphere. Most SO42−, Mg2+, Ca2+, and K+ were from sea salt, while other major ions were from continental sources. The non-sea-salt (nss) fractions of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ were derived from continental crust, while nss-SO42− and NO3− were derived from anthropogenic sources. ON had several sources, including reactions of NOx with volatile organic compounds (anthropogenic sources) or NH3 with gaseous hydrocarbons, as well as crustal and marine biogenic sources.
Ectopic Expression of Human Herpesvirus 1 Thymidine Kinase Induces Male Infertility

The herpesvirus family comprises several widespread infectious pathogens. They infect a variety of animal hosts, including humans and cause complex clinical outcomes. Recently, the possible correlation between genital infection by human herpesviruses (HHVs) and male infertility has attracted considerable attention. In this chaper, we investigated the mechanism of HHV‐1‐induced infertility in transgenic (Tg) rats and its possible correlation with infertility in human males. Ectopic expression of HHV‐1 thymidine kinase (TK) in the testis of Tg rats increased male infertility. In addition, truncated TK proteins were found in postmeiotic spermatids of Tg rat testis, leading to progressive degeneration of germ cells and vacuolization of the seminiferous epitheli‐ um. These findings suggest the possibility that a similar process occurs within HHV‐ infected human germ cells.
STRESS DEPENDENT ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURES FOR HIGH RETAINING WALLS

Rankine's and Coulomb's earth pressure theories, widely used to estimate the active earth pressure ignore stress-dependency on the mobilized angle of shearing resistance and assume that the frictional resistance is mobilised uniformly along the slip surface and soil-to-soil friction coefficient f is equal to tan I. For high retaining walls, influence of effective confining stress on the mobilized friction angle along the slip surface can be significant due to large variation of mean effective stress with depth. In this paper, active earth pressures against high retaining walls (H= 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, 30 m and 40 m) are evaluated accounting for the stress-dependency of the friction angle on the mean effective stress.
Evaluation of Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Euphorbia terracina L. from Deltaic Mediterranean Coast, Egypt

The importance of medicinal plants and traditional health systems in solving the health care problems of the world is gaining increasing attention. The main aim of this study is to evaluate antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Euphorbia terracina L. (family Euphorbiaceae) is short-lived perennial herb, up to 80 cm tall. It was collected from northern sector of Nile Delta at the period of May 2015. Different extracts of Euphorbia terracina , were screened for their antimicrobial activity against nine pathogenic bacterial and one fungal strain using filter paper disc assay. The antimicrobial activity was significantly variable according to the solvent used. Hexane extract was found to be the most effective against most tested organisms followed by methanol extract showed the inhibitory activities against Proteus vulgaris (inhibition zones = 9.3 mm), Petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts exhibited most antimicrobial against Staphylococcus aureus (inhibition zone = 10 mm, each). Antioxidant activity was screened using DPPH scavenging activity. Ethyl acetate extract was found to be the most effective (IC50 = 1.23 mg/mL). Preliminary phytochemical screening on methanol extract showed variations in active secondary compounds. Saponins were found to be the richest one in this regard (39.17±1.3 mg/g D.W.) and total phenolics were estimated 22.11±0.9 mg/g D.W.
A Comparison among Countries

The aim of the research was to conduct a survey on a large scale, in different Countries (Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Taiwan, USA) to investigate several psychological and pedagogical features like personality traits, motivations, emotions, attitudes and learning processes regarding the museum visit experience. The sample was composed by young adult-university students. Some findings show, among several data, that about the 25% of the whole sample did not visit any museum in the previous year and Modern art museums were the most visited types of museums.
Constructing SAMs for Development Policy Analysis: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

The aim of this paper is to appraise a few of the key innovative features of the early work in compiling SAMs for development policy analysis; to set out and review some recent methodological advances; and to identify those areas where compilation continues to be problematic. It briefly re-visits the features of the SAM as an integrating framework and sets out its relationship to the SNA 1993. The main compilation problems faced in practice arise from assembling the household accounts from household survey data where income data are especially unreliable and are difficult to link to the factor accounts and to income transfers. Experience is drawn from the construction of a Ghana SAM. In the literature relatively more attention has been devoted to balancing and data reconciliation methods, which are briefly reviewed, although these are second order adjustments and much still depends on the quality of the initial estimates
Large scale IRAM 30 m CO-observations in the giant molecular cloud complex W43

We aim to give a full description of the distribution and location of dense molecular clouds in the giant molecular cloud complex W43. It has previously been identified as one of the most massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy. To trace the moderately dense molecular clouds in the W43 region, we initiated an IRAM 30m large program, named W43-HERO, covering a large dynamic range of scales (from 0.3 to 140 pc). We obtained on-the-fly-maps in 13CO (2-1) and C18O (2-1) with a high spectral resolution of 0.1 km/s and a spatial resolution of 12". These maps cover an area of ~1.5 square degrees and include the two main clouds of W43, as well as the lower density gas surrounding them. A comparison with Galactic models and previous distance calculations confirms the location of W43 near the tangential point of the Scutum arm at a distance from the Sun of approximately 6 kpc. The resulting intensity cubes of the observed region are separated into sub-cubes, centered on single clouds which are then analyzed in detail. The optical depth, excitation temperature, and H2 column density maps are derived out of the 13CO and C18O data. These results are then compared with those derived from Herschel dust maps. The mass of a typical cloud is several 10^4 solar masses while the total mass in the dense molecular gas (>100 cm^-3) in W43 is found to be about 1.9e6 solar masses. Probability distribution functions obtained from column density maps derived from molecular line data and Herschel imaging show a log-normal distribution for low column densities and a power-law tail for high densities. A flatter slope for the molecular line data PDF may imply that those selectively show the gravitationally collapsing gas.
Translation dysregulation in neurodegenerative disorders

Aberrant translational repression has emerged as a common feature across multiple neurodegenerative disorders. The mechanisms underlying translational repression have not been fully elucidated but, in some cases, involve activation of the integrated stress response (ISR) pathway by disease-associated, aggregation-prone proteins. For example, studies in mouse models of prion and tauopathy disorders demonstrate a link between expression of misfolded forms of prion and tau proteins, respectively, and phosphorylated alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (p-eIF2α)-dependent translational repression. Remarkably, disease-related phenotypes are alleviated in these models by pharmacological and genetic interventions that restore protein translation (1, 2). What do we know about translational repression in the context of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and related disorders such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD)? A new report in PNAS by Kamelgarn et al. (3) addresses this question by contributing mechanistic insight into how the ALS- and FTD-associated protein fused in sarcoma (FUS) modulates translation during disease. Interestingly, these authors found that the effects of mutant FUS on translational repression extend to the nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway. These findings reinforce the notion that translation dysregulation plays a role in neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis and highlight the factors involved in NMD as therapeutic targets for these disorders. FUS is an RNA/DNA-binding protein that shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm and engages in diverse cellular processes that include transcription, splicing, and translation (4). A majority of ALS-linked mutations are located within the nuclear localization sequence and cause the protein to accumulate and ultimately aggregate within the cytoplasm (5, 6). Notably, FUS dysfunction is relevant to other forms … [↵][1]1Email: daryl.bosco{at}umassmed.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Energy Consumption Awareness for Resource-Constrained Devices Conference Paper

Energy Consumption Awareness for Resource-Constrained Devices Edgar M. Silva and Pedro Maló Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). UNINOVA, Centro de Tecnologia e Sistemas (CTS), Portugal Email: {∗ems, †pmm}@uninova.pt Michele Albano CISTER Research Unit,
How open are journalists on Twitter

The many activities of journalists on Twitter should be analyzed. Are they doing a different kind of journalism? With a content analysis of 1125 tweets, this study reveals trends of some Spanish journalists using Twitter. A traditional role like gatekeeping can be highly amplified in terms of transparency and accountability with actions as retweeting or linking. The landscape offered by this platform is framed with the "ambient journalism", which will help to understand the proposal of this study: the end-user journalism. The findings will show the level of opening with the audience in aspects about replies, requests and linking. How to cite this article: NOGUERA VIVO, J.M. , “How open are journalists on Twitter? Trends towards the end-user journalism”, Communication&Society/Comunicación y Sociedad, Vol. 26, n. 1, pp. 93-114. Noguera Vivo, J.M. How open are journalists on Twitter? RESUMEN: Los periodistas establecen relaciones en Twitter de diversas formas que deben estudiarse. Mediante un análisis de contenido de 1125 tweets, el estudio refleja varias tendencias que esbozan el uso de Twitter por algunos periodistas de relevancia. ¿Están practicando un periodismo diferente? Por ejemplo, un rol tradicional como el de gatekeeper puede verse notablemente amplificado al retuitear o enlazar. El panorama ofrecido por esta plataforma se enmarca dentro del llamado ambient journalism, que contextualizará la propuesta de este estudio: un periodismo centrado en el usuario. Los resultados mostrarán la apertura respecto a cómo responden, preguntan o enlazan algunos periodistas en Twitter.
A NOVEL WRAPPING CURVELET TRANSFORMATION BASED ANGULAR TEXTURE PATTERN (WCTATP) EXTRACTION METHOD FOR WEED IDENTIFICATION

Apparently weed is a major menace in crop production as it competes with crop for nutrients, moisture, space and light which resulting in poor growth and development of the crop and finally yield. Yield loss accounts for even more than 70% when crops are frown under unweeded condition with severe weed infestation. Weed management is the most significant process in the agricultural applications to improve the crop productivity rate and reduce the herbicide application cost. Existing weed detection techniques does not yield better performance due to the complex background, illumination variation and crop and weed overlapping in the agricultural field image. Hence, there arises a need for the development of effective weed identification technique. To overcome this drawback, this paper proposes a novel Wrapping Curvelet Transformation Based Angular Texture Pattern Extraction Method (WCTATP) for weed identification. In our proposed work, Global Histogram Equalization (GHE) is used improve the quality of the image and Adaptive Median Filter (AMF) is used for filtering the impulse noise from the image. Plant image identification is performed using green pixel extraction and k-means clustering. Wrapping Curvelet transform is applied to the plant image. Feature extraction is performed to extract the angular texture pattern of the plant image. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based Differential Evolution Feature Selection (DEFS) approach is applied to select the optimal features. Then, the selected features are learned and passed through an RVM based classifier to find out the weed. Edge detection and contouring is performed to identify the weed in the plant image. The Fuzzy rule-based approach is applied to detect the low, medium and high levels of the weed patchiness. From the experimental results, it is clearly observed that the accuracy of the proposed approach is higher than the existing Support Vector Machine (SVM) based approaches. The proposed approach achieves better performance in terms of accuracy.
Cancer survivorship: an integral part of Europe's research agenda

Cancer survivorship has traditionally received little prioritisation and attention. For a long time, the treatment of cancer has been the main focus of healthcare providers’ efforts. It is time to increase the amount of attention given to patients’ long‐term well‐being and their ability to return to a productive and good life. This article describes the current state of knowledge and identifies research areas in need of development to enable interventions for improved survivorship for all cancer patients in Europe. The article is summed up with 11 points in need of further focus.
Control Lyapunov functions and stabilization by means of continuous time-varying feedback

For a general time-varying system, we prove that existence of an "Output Robust Con- trol Lyapunov Function" implies existence of continuous time-varying feedback stabilizer, which guar- antees output asymptotic stability with respect to the resulting closed-loop system. The main re- sults of the present work constitute generalizations of a well known result due to Coron and Rosier (J. Math. Syst. Estim. Control 4 (1994) 67-84) concerning stabilization of autonomous systems by means of time-varying periodic feedback.
The Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Combating Economic Crisis. An Analysis Based on the Economic Literature

The objective of this research is to identify, in the economic literature, the main factors which constrain the transmission of the fiscal shocks to the real economy. The interest in finding the most efficient fiscal stimuli in recovery the economies passing through crisis period has got increased as soon as the expansionary monetary policy promoted by most of the central banks has not generated an increase of the confidence in the private economic agents and, as a consequence, an increase of consumption and of the private investments. Even though it represents the Keynesian solution for recovery the economies which have been affected by the crisis, the fiscal expansion promoted during the recession periods does not generate the same expected positive effects any more (increase of consumption, significant decrease of unemployment, increase of revenues in economy), as they are conditioned by the reaction of the private economic agents to the fiscal stimuli. For example, the decision to decrease taxation may not automatically generate the significant increase of consumption (a condition for spreading the multiplier effect in economy), under the terms of pessimism or of the difficulty to access loans. As a result, the fiscal multipliers tend to be rather proper, and their value decreases more during the deep economic recession periods.
Characterization of acetate transport in colorectal cancer cells and potential therapeutic implications

Acetate, together with other short chain fatty acids has been implicated in colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention/therapy. Acetate was shown to induce apoptosis in CRC cells. The precise mechanism underlying acetate transport across CRC cells membrane, that may be implicated in its selectivity towards CRC cells, is not fully understood and was addressed here. We also assessed the effect of acetate in CRC glycolytic metabolism and explored its use in combination with the glycolytic inhibitor 3-bromopyruvate (3BP). We provide evidence that acetate enters CRC cells by the secondary active transporters MCT1 and/or MCT2 and SMCT1 as well as by facilitated diffusion via aquaporins. CRC cell exposure to acetate upregulates the expression of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147, while promoting MCT1 plasma membrane localization. We also observed that acetate increases CRC cell glycolytic phenotype and that acetate-induced apoptosis and anti-proliferative effect was potentiated by 3BP. Our data suggest that acetate selectivity towards CRC cells might be explained by the fact that aquaporins and MCTs are found overexpressed in CRC clinical cases. Our work highlights the importance that acetate transport regulation has in the use of drugs such as 3BP as a new therapeutic strategy for CRC.
Academic Stress and Internet Addiction among Adolescents: SolutionFocused Social Interest Programme as Treatment Option

This study investigated effects of Solution - Focused Social Interest programme (SFSI) on academic stress and internet addiction among older adolescents. 120 (One Hundred and Twenty) Older adolescents from three polytechnic participated in this study. The research design adopted for this study was pre- post experimental design. Four research hypotheses were raised and answered in this study. One screening and two other instruments were used for data collection. Data collected in this study were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results obtained shows that there existed statistical significant main effect of treatment as evident in the post-test score of the participants. Again, the findings indicated that there was a significant interaction effect of gender on participants' academic stress and internet addiction. Moreover, the result revealed that there was a significant interaction effect of treatment of age on independent variables. The results obtained also shows statistical significant interaction effects of socio-economic status on independent variables. The implication of the findings indicated that Solution - Focused Social Interest programme was an effective therapy for the management of academic stress and internet addiction among older adolescents.
A Mathematical Model to Predict the Resolution of Double Stars by Amateurs and Their Telescopes

This paper reports the development of a new statistical model for predicting whether a given double star will be resolved by a particular telescope. The model predicts the effect of the magnitudes of the pair, their separation, the telescope aperture and a quantitative estimate of seeing on the probability of resolving the pair. It is based on a database of observations made by members of the Astronomical Association of Queensland, Australia. The paper reviews the phenomenon of resolution, and summarises the literature on the development of criteria for predicting whether a given pair will be resolved, from the 19th century Dawes' criterion to modern attempts to include factors other than just telescope aperture. The development of the new model is then described, including the collection of the data, a statement of the model equations, an assessment of model quality, and demonstrations of its use to show the effects of magnitude difference and seeing on the resolution limit of a range of telescope apertures. Some future work is suggested. The model has been implemented in an Excel spreadsheet which is available from the author at tgn-m@bigpond.net. au.