Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Th1/Th2 cytokine patterns and the arthritogenic response in collagen‐induced arthritis

It is hypothesized that the balance of cytokines produced by Th1/Th2 subsets of T helper cells plays an important role in the development of autoimmune diseases. Murine collagen‐induced arthritis (CIA) is an example of an autoimmune disease in which immunization with cartilage‐derived type II collagen induces, firstly, a T cell response to type II collagen and, secondly, the manifestation of a destructive inflammatory response in affected joints. We have investigated the role of Th1/Th2 responses in the development of CIA by monitoring levels of interferon (IFN)‐γ (a Th1 cytokine) and interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐10 (Th2 cytokines), and IL‐1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (pro‐inflammatory cytokines) produced by cultured draining lymph node cells (LNC) from collagen‐immunized DBA/1 mice during the induction phase of arthritis and throughout the time of clinical manifestation and subsequent remission of the disease. Although a transient increase in IL‐10 was detected 3 days after immunization, Th2 cytokine production was found to be almost completely suppressed 6 days after immunization. In contrast, IFN‐γ was detected in LNC cultures as early as 6 days after immunization and the addition of type II collagen to the culture medium resulted in an approximately 10‐fold increase in IFN‐γ production, indicating that a predominantly Th1 response had become established by this time. IFN‐γ production by LNC was found to be further increased at the time of clinical manifestation of arthritis and could be up‐regulated by co‐culture with type II collagen. IL‐10 was not detected in LNC cultures at the onset of arthritis and IL‐4, although present, was found to be markedly suppressed in LNC cultures containing type II collagen. These findings indicate that Th1 responses are predominant at the time of onset of arthritis and that the activation of collagen‐specific Th1 cells may result in suppression of Th2 activity. IFN‐γ production declined progressively during the progression and subsequent remission of arthritis whereas levels of IL‐10 increased and low, though persistent, levels of IL‐4 were detected throughout this period. High levels of IL‐1β and TNF‐α production were detected at the onset of the disease. The role of Th1 responses in the development of CIA was further emphasized by the observation that immunization of mice with type II collagen in incomplete Freund's adjuvant, which normally fails to induce arthritis, resulted in a predominantly Th2 cytokine profile.
Design of Decoupling Networks for Circulant Symmetric Antenna Arrays

Small element spacing in compact arrays results in strong mutual coupling between array elements. Performance degradation associated with the strong coupling can be avoided through the introduction of a decoupling network consisting of interconnected reactive elements. We present a systematic design procedure for decoupling networks of symmetrical arrays with more than three elements and characterized by circulant scattering parameter matrices. The elements of the decoupling network are obtained through repeated decoupling of the characteristic eigenmodes of the array, which allows the calculation of element values using closed-form expressions.
Protein Folding in the Absence of Chemical Denaturants

Small monomeric proteins are the best models for studying protein folding, but they are often too stable for denaturation using pressure as the sole perturbant. In the present work we subject [CI-2(1–40)·(41–64)], a noncovalent complex formed by the association of two complementary fragments of the chymotrypsin inhibitor-2, to high pressure to investigate the folding mechanism of a model protein. Pressures up to 3.5 kilobar do not affect the intact protein, but it can be unfolded reversibly by pressure in the presence of subdenaturing concentrations of guanidine chloride, with free energy and molar volume changes of 2.5 kcal mol−1 and 42.5 ml mol−1, respectively. In contrast, the complex can be reversibly denatured by high pressure without the addition of chemical denaturants. However, the process is clearly independent of the protein concentration, indicating lack of dissociation. We determined a change in the free energy of 1.4 kcal mol−1 and a molar volume change of 35 ml mol−1 for the pressure denaturation of the complex. A persistent quenching of the tryptophan adds further evidence for the presence of residual structure in the high pressure-denatured state. This state also appears to be compact as the small volume change indicates, compared with pressure denaturation of naturally occurring dimers. Based on observations of a number of pressure-denatured states and on characteristics of large CI-2 fragments with a solvent accessible core but maintaining tertiary interactions, the structure of the pressure-denatured state of the CI-2 complex could be explained by an ordered molten globule-like conformation.
ESA-based in-fiber nanocavity for hydrogen-peroxide detection

A fiber-optic sensor sensitive to hydrogen peroxide has been designed based on the electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly method. Prussian blue has been deposited in a polymeric structure formed by Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) and poly(acrylic acid). The concentration that can be detected range between 10/sup -6/-10/sup -3/ M, and recovery of the sensor after immersion into a reductive agent was demonstrated. The response of the sensor is independent of the pH for values that range between 4-7.4. Some rules for estimation of the refractive index of the material deposited and the thickness of the bilayers are also presented.
Crystal structure of an ORFan protein (TM1622) from Thermotoga maritima at 1.75 Å resolution reveals a fold similar to the Ran‐binding protein Mog1p

Qingping Xu, S. Sri Krishna, Daniel McMullan, Robert Schwarzenbacher, Mitchell D. Miller, Polat Abdubek, Sanjay Agarwalla, Eileen Ambing, Tamara Astakhova, Herbert L. Axelrod, Jaume M. Canaves, Dennis Carlton, Hsiu-Ju Chiu, Thomas Clayton, Michael DiDonato, Lian Duan, Marc-André Elsliger, Julie Feuerhelm, Slawomir K. Grzechnik, Joanna Hale, Eric Hampton, Gye Won Han, Justin Haugen, Lukasz Jaroszewski, Kevin K. Jin, Heath E. Klock, Mark W. Knuth, Eric Koesema, Andreas Kreusch, Peter Kuhn, Andrew T. Morse, Edward Nigoghossian, Linda Okach, Silvya Oommachen, Jessica Paulsen, Kevin Quijano, Ron Reyes, Christopher L. Rife, Glen Spraggon, Raymond C. Stevens, Henry van den Bedem, Aprilfawn White, Guenter Wolf, Keith O. Hodgson, John Wooley, Ashley M. Deacon, Adam Godzik, Scott A. Lesley, and Ian A. Wilson* Joint Center for Structural Genomics Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, California Center for Research in Biological Systems, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, California Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford University, Menlo Park, California The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California
Feasibility study of Compton cameras for x-ray fluorescence computed tomography with humans

X-ray fluorescence imaging is a promising imaging technique able to depict the spatial distributions of low amounts of molecular agents in vivo. Currently, the translation of the technique to preclinical and clinical applications is hindered by long scanning times as objects are scanned with flux-limited narrow pencil beams. The study presents a novel imaging approach combining x-ray fluorescence imaging with Compton imaging. Compton cameras leverage the imaging performance of XFCT and abolish the need for pencil beam excitation. The study examines the potential of this new imaging approach on the base of Monte-Carlo simulations. In the work, it is first presented that the particular option of slice/fan-beam x-ray excitation has advantages in image reconstruction in regard of processing time and image quality compared to traditional volumetric Compton imaging. In a second experiment, the feasibility of the approach for clinical applications with tracer agents made from gold nano-particles is examined in a simulated lung scan scenario. The high energy of characteristic x-ray photons from gold is advantageous for deep tissue penetration and has lower angular blurring in the Compton camera. It is found that Doppler broadening in the first detector stage of the Compton camera adds the largest contribution on the angular blurring; physically limiting the spatial resolution. Following the analysis of the results from the spatial resolution test, resolutions in the order of one centimeter are achievable with the approach in the center of the lung. The concept of Compton imaging allows one to distinguish to some extent between scattered photons and x-ray fluorescent photons based on their difference in emission position. The results predict that molecular sensitivities down to 240 pM l−1 for 5 mm diameter lesions at 15 mGy for 50 nm diameter gold nano-particles are achievable. A 45-fold speed up time for data acquisition compared to traditional pencil beam XFCT could be achieved for lung imaging at the cost of a small sensitivity decrease.
Sensing strategies for a flexible manipulator

In this paper, we investigate the combination schemes using multisensors for Kalman filtering for modal estimation of a flexible manipulator. In addition to observability, the performance indices regarding the global estimation error covariance, the sensitivity to the initial estimate errors, and the robustness to the round-off errors of the relative noise intensity between process and measurements, are utilized to evaluate the quality of the Kalman filters. The aim is to identify well-conditioned multisensor combinations for which Kalman filters can achieve a specified level of design performance. Case studies for the assessment of the multisensor combination schemes are carried out for Kalman filters with various relative noise intensities. The useful guidelines for achieving the well-conditioned combinations of multisensors are presented.
Origins of children's externalizing behavior problems in low-income families: Toddlers' willing stance toward their mothers as the missing link

Abstract Although children's active role in socialization has been long acknowledged, relevant research has typically focused on children's difficult temperament or negative behaviors that elicit coercive and adversarial processes, largely overlooking their capacity to act as positive, willing, even enthusiastic, active socialization agents. We studied the willing, receptive stance toward their mothers in a low-income sample of 186 children who were 24 to 44 months old. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a latent construct of willing stance, manifested as children's responsiveness to mothers in naturalistic interactions, responsive imitation in teaching contexts, and committed compliance with maternal prohibitions, all observed in the laboratory. Structural equation modeling analyses confirmed that ecological adversity undermined maternal responsiveness, and responsiveness, in turn, was linked to children's willing stance. A compromised willing stance predicted externalizing behavior problems, assessed 10 months later, and fully mediated the links between maternal responsiveness and those outcomes. Ecological adversity had a direct, unmediated effect on internalizing behavior problems. Considering children's active role as willing, receptive agents capable of embracing parental influence can lead to a more complete understanding of detrimental mechanisms that link ecological adversity with antisocial developmental pathways. It can also inform research on the normative socialization process, consistent with the objectives of developmental psychopathology.
The crosstalk between p38 and Akt signaling pathways orchestrates EMT by regulating SATB2 expression in NSCLC cells

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition is a crucial event for metastasis and could be mediated by several pathways such as phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt, mitogen-activated protein kinases, as well as many epigenetic regulators. Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 is an epigenetic regulator involved in epithelial–mesenchymal transition and osteoblastic differentiation. It has been reported that the crosstalk between several pathways is responsible for the regulation of epithelial–mesenchymal transition in cancer cells. However, crosstalks between p38 and Akt pathways involved in epithelial–mesenchymal transition are still unknown. We recently reported that there is a crosstalk between p38 and Akt pathways in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells, and this crosstalk is associated with E-cadherin and special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 expressions. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether this crosstalk has a mediator role in the regulation of epithelial–mesenchymal transition in non-small-cell lung carcinoma. Our results showed that inhibition of p38 leads to the disruption of this crosstalk via decreased expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and subsequently increased activation of Akt in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells. Then, we found that p38 inhibition upregulated special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 expression and reversed epithelial–mesenchymal transition in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells. Furthermore, special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 knockdown abolished the effect of p38 inhibition on epithelial–mesenchymal transition in non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells. In conclusion, our results strongly indicate that the crosstalk between p38 and Akt pathways can determine special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 expression and epithelial character of non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells, and special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 is a critical epigenetic regulator for epithelial–mesenchymal transition mediated by p38 pathway in non-small-cell lung carcinoma. Our findings will contribute to illuminate the molecular mechanisms of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition process that has a critical significance for lung cancer metastasis.
Posture stress on firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) associated with repetitive reaching, bending, lifting, and pulling tasks.

OBJECTIVE These ergonomic evaluations analyze the threat of musculoskeletal injuries primarily due to awkward and extreme postures across two post-fire tasks and a patient care task. PARTICIPANTS The participants were firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in an urban U.S. fire department. METHODS Ergonomic tools used for the evaluation included the National Institute of Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) lifting equation, Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and anthropometric measurements of equipment and persons. RESULTS High to very high risks were found for lifting the hose above the shoulder to drain it of excess water and for rolling the hoses on the ground. Extreme risk was found for lifting the hose from chest height to above the shoulders during hose drainage. High risk was found for EMT patient care tasks that require reaching for overhead equipment or seated tasks that require horizontal bending and twisting. CONCLUSIONS The risk was high enough for these tasks to warrant modification and changes. The recommendations given included creating new mechanical and technical devices, modifying existing devises, and making workers aware of associated risks to reduce the threat of injury.
Pulmonary complications of congenital heart disease.

Respiratory distress is a very frequent symptom in infants with acyanotic congenital heart disease. Some of the specific physiological and pathological mechanisms involved in this association have been presented in Pediatrics.1 That communication stressed the frequency with which cardiac failure associated with large left-to-right shunts presents with respiratory distress, often misinterpreted as being due to pulmonary disease. It has, however, also been long recognized that there is a high incidence of pulmonary infection in infants with large left-to-right shunt lesions. The cause of these frequent infections in such patients is not yet evident, but a possible explanation now seems to be suggested from recent observations at autopsy.
Determination of in vitro antioxidant activities and phenolic compounds of different extracts of Salvia verticillata ssp. verticillata and spp. amasiaca from Turkey's flora

This study was designed to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activities of hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts of Salvia verticillata ssp. verticillata and spp. amasiaca. The samples were subjected to screening for their possible antioxidant activity by using 2,2diphenyl-1-picriylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene/linoleic acid assays. The methanol extracts particularly found to posses strong antioxidant activities (IC50= 16.0 ± 3.01 and 12.1 ± 3.82 mg ml -1 , respectively) whereas the dichloromethane extracts showed low activities. In the linoleic acid system, oxidation of the linoleic acid was moderately inhibited by the methanol extracts (61.3 ± 5.38 and 68.7 ± 1.82 %, respectively). Also, in methanol extracts of these plants have been determined amount of 9 phenolic compounds in different proportions and identified by the RP-HPLC method. These plants have high level of rosmarinic acid (37.1 and 24.83 mg/g, respectively) when compared with other components. Amounts of caffeic acid were determined as 9.82 and 8.69 mg/g, respectively. Our results showed that the high levels of rosmarinic and caffeic acid are more likely to be responsible for most of the observed antioxidant activities of Salvia species.
Keyword Recognition and Extraction by MultipleLVCSRs MultipleLVCSRs MultipleLVCSRs with 60 , 000 Words in Speechdriven Speechdriven Speechdriven WEB Retrieval Task

This paper presents speech-driven Web retrieval models which accepts spoken search topics (queries) in the NTCIR-3 Web retrieval task. We experimentally evaluate the techniques of combining outputs of multiple LVCSR models with a language model(LM) with a 60,000 vocabulary size in recognition of spoken queries. As model combination techniques, we use the SVM learning. We show that the techniques of multiple LVCSR model combination can achieve improvement both in speech recognition and retrieval accuracies in speech-driven text retrieval. Comparing with the retrieval accuracies when a LM with a 20,000/60,000 vocabulary size is used in LVCSRs, the LM that has larger size of the vocabulary improves also retrieval accuracies.
Application of embedding insulation sheet (EBIS) for FOWLP

Fan-out wafer level package (FOWLP), which is effective for thinner, lower-cost package and higher I/O, is attracting attention in accordance with the development and spread of smart phone and tablet PC. FOWLP is molded by liquid molding material using compression molding process. However, the liquid molding material has become difficult to respond to the increasing needs of large panels for cost reduction. Nowadays, the insulation material of sheet form which is capable of large size molding is attracting a lot of attention. Therefore, we have developed embedding insulation sheet (EBIS) which is capable of molding large size FOWLP. EBIS has the advantageous effect to reduce the flow distance for filling the spaces of different height and gap, compared with liquid and granular materials. EBIS is also excellent in terms of workability. In this study, we investigated the applicability of EBIS to the assembling of FOWLP. We have conducted a series of assembly process of temporary Si die bonding, compression molding, formation of photosensitive insulation material, Cu patterning by semi-additive process and solder ball mounting. Then, we have evaluated the package level warpage and reliabilities. We also conducted the adhesion and reliability tests of EBIS in combination with photosensitive insulation material (HD-8940), and found that it has the excellent adhesion and reliability of 500 h pressure cooker test.
Descending Aorta Diastolic Retrograde Flow Assessment for Aortic Regurgitation Quantification

Background: Diastolic retrograde flow in the descending aorta has been associated to the severity of aortic regurgitation; however,most of the parameters related to flow velocity are not validated with a reference imaging technique.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of diastolic retrograde flow in the descending thoracic aorta and theabdominal aorta in the quantification of aortic regurgitation using magnetic resonance imaging as reference.Methods: Forty consecutive patients were included in a prospective echocardiography and magnetic resonance study. The followingparameters were analyzed by pulsed-wave Doppler: a) velocity-time integral of the diastolic retrograde flow and b) peak end-diastolicvelocity of the regurgitant flow, both in the thoracic aorta, and c) holodiastolic flow reversal in the abdominal aorta. The cardiacmagnetic resonance protocol included phase contrast sequences to calculate the regurgitant fraction. Values ≥30% were consideredas severe aortic regurgitation.Results: Eleven patients (30%) presented a regurgitant fraction ≥30%. The velocity-time integral of diastolic retrograde flow demonstratedthe best diagnostic accuracy to detect severe aortic regurgitation: AUC=0.87, p 15cm showed 91% sensitivity and 86% specificity to detect severe aortic regurgitation. Holodiastolicflow reversal in the abdominal aorta demonstrated excellent specificity (100%) but low sensitivity (50%) to detect severeaortic regurgitation.Conclusions: Diastolic retrograde flow assessment in the thoracic aorta allows an accurate diagnosis of severe aortic regurgitation.Holodiastolic flow reversal demonstrated good specificity but low sensitivity.
Preparation and evaluation of a controlled drug release of repaglinide through matrix pellets: in vitro and in vivo studies

Abstract Repaglinide, an oral antidiabetic agent, has a rapid onset of action and short half-life of approximately 1 h. Designing a controlled release dosage form of the drug is required to maintain its therapeutic blood level and to eliminate its adverse effects, particularly the hypoglycaemia. Repaglinide sustained release matrix pellets consisting of Avicel, lactose and different polymers were prepared using extrusion–spheronisation method. The effect of different formulation components on in vitro drug release were evaluated using USP apparatus (paddle) for 12 h in phosphate buffer. The optimised formulation was orally administrated to normal and STZ induced diabetic rats. Most pellet formulations had acceptable physical properties with regard to size distribution, flowability and friability. Repaglinide pellets comprising Avicel 50%, lactose 47% and SLS 1% were released 94% of its drug content after 12 h. The optimised formulation was able to decrease blood glucose level in normal rats and those with diabetes throughout 8–12 h.