Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting the emergence of human hantavirus disease using a combination of viral dynamics and rodent demographic patterns

The paper proposes a model explaining the spatial variation in incidence of nephropathia epidemica in Europe. We take into account the rodent dynamic features and the replicative dynamics of the virus in animals, high in the acute phase of newly infected animals and low in the subsequent chronic phase. The model revealed that only vole populations with multi-annual fluctuations allow for simultaneously high numbers of infected rodents and high proportions of those rodents in the acute excretion phase during the culminating phase of population build-up. This leads to a brief peak in exceptionally high concentrations of virus in the environment, and thereby, to human exposure. Such a mechanism suggests that a slight ecological disturbance in animal–parasite systems could result in the emergence of human diseases. Thus, the potential risk for public health due to several zoonotic diseases may be greater than previously believed, based solely on the distribution of human cases.
Incipient fault detection of guided missiles based on adaptive and sliding-mode observer

An adaptive and sliding-mode observer (SMO) is designed for the incipient fault of guided missiles with unknown disturbance, which can not only estimate the incipient fault, but also have strong robustness against unknown disturbance. At first, the actuator fault and unknown disturbance are transformed into two subsystems by coordinate transformation; and then, an adaptive observer is designed to estimate the incipient fault for the subsystem which is free from disturbance, a sliding mode observer is designed to eliminate the effect of unknown disturbance for the subsystem which is affected by disturbance and incipient faults. At last, simulation results verify the efficiency of the proposed adaptive and sliding-mode observer based on incipient fault detection algorithm.
High Precision Modeling of Nonlinear Lossy Magnetic Devices

The paper proposes a high efficiency and totally feasible tool that permits a rigorous study of magnetic devices, being intended firstly to the research and design activity. The method uses the most modern tools in circuit analysis, being a result of a long-time experience of authors. It deals with an accurate modeling that permits to find the distribution of magnetic fluxes everywhere in the core, at any time. The modeling is made through an equivalent electric circuit described by the same differential-algebraic equation system as the studied device in transient regime. Therefore, this circuit is analyzed using dedicated software, like SPICE. Such software has special capabilities to prevent convergence problems that usually occur in nonlinear DAE solving, as well as performing optimizations of certain parameters. The method permits not only the rigorous study of the magnetic device, but additionally a high precision analysis of complex equipments that contain magnetic devices
Hypermethylation of BEND5 contributes to cell proliferation and is a prognostic marker of colorectal cancer

Aberrant hypermethylation of CpG islands in tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) contributes to colorectal tumorigenesis. To identify new colorectal cancer (CRC) screening marker, we investigated DNA methylation alterations in novel TSGs. Using HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays, CpG regions in BEND5 were the most highly methylated among all genomic regions in 26 colorectal tumors compared to paired non-neoplastic tissues from a Taiwan cohort. Therefore, BEND5 was selected for further analysis. Quantitative methylation-specific real-time PCR revealed that 86.7% (117/135) of CRC patients exhibited hypermethylated BEND5. Real-time reverse transcription PCR identified that BEND5 mRNA expression was downregulated in 68% (32/47) of the analyzed samples. BEND5 hypermethylation was associated with poor overall survival (OS) in Taiwan patients with early-stage CRC (P = 0.037). In a CRC tissue set from South Korea, OS was higher in patients with high BEND5 protein expression than in those with low BEND5 protein expression (P = 0.037) by using immunohistochemistry assays. Consistently, BEND5 hypermethylation was associated with poor OS in patients with early-stage CRC in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data set (P = 0.003). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis further supported that hypermethylation of BEND5 genes was significantly associated with OS in Taiwan and TCGA CRC patients (P = 0.023 and 0.033, respectively). Finally, the cell model assay with transient transfection of BEND5 or si-BEND5 knockdown indicated that BEND5 inhibited cancer cell proliferation. In conclusion, epigenetic alteration in the candidate TSG BEND5 contributes to colorectal cancer development and is a prognostic marker of CRC.
Odessa: A Local Dimension of Ukraine’s Revolution, Crisis, and Conflict

The Ukrainian region and city of Odessa, situated on the Black Sea adjacent to Romania and Moldova (and Transnistria), was a major focal point during the Euromaidan, the annexation of Crimea, and Russia’s further intervention in Ukraine. Locals were forced to take positions on issues of identity and territorial integrity that they had never confronted before. Despite the rise of a local separatist movement and violence, the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2014 ushered in a more peaceful atmosphere for the city and surrounding region. With the appointment of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as the region’s governor in May, Odessa is experiencing another dramatic chapter.
Expression of chemokine receptors CCR3, CCR5 and CXCR3 on CD4(+) T cells in CBA/JxDBA/2 mouse model, selectively induced by IL-4 and IL-10, regulates the embryo resorption rate.

BACKGROUND Chemokines and their receptors have been a research focus in transplantation immunology. Chemokines and their receptors play a role in lymphocyte recruitment and differentiation process. This study aimed to observe whether IL-4 and IL-10 may regulate the expression of chemokine receptors CCR3, CCR5 and CXCR3 on CD4(+) T cells in CBA/JxDBA/2 mouse model and to explore the role of CCR3, CCR5, CXCR3 in immune tolerance in pregnancy. METHODS The mouse model of spontaneous abortion (CBA/JxDBA/2) and the normal pregnant mouse model (CBA/JxBALB/c) were used. CBA/JxDBA/2 mice were injected with IL-4 (CBA/JxDBA/2-IL-4), IL-4 and IL-10 (CBA/JxDBA/2-IL-4+IL-10), or normal saline (CBA/JxDBA/2-NS) as a control. The expression of CCR3, CCR5 and CXCR3 on CD4(+) T cells from mouse peripheral blood was measured by the double-labelled FCM method, and the embryo resorption rate was also examined. RESULTS The embryo resorption rate in the CBA/JxDBA/2 group without any treatment was significantly higher than that in the CBA/JxBALB/c group (17.9% vs 3.7%, P < 0.01). The embryo resorption rate in the CBA/JxDBA/2 group immunized with IL-4 or IL-4 together with IL-10 was significantly decreased, compared with that in the control and NS groups respectively. CCR3 expression on CD4(+) T cells in the CBA/JxDBA/2 group without any treatment was significantly lower than that in the CBA/JxBALB/c group (0.3738 +/- 0.3575 vs 1.2190 +/- 0.2772, P < 0.01); both CCR5 (3.0900 +/- 1.5603 vs 1.2390 +/- 0.6361, P < 0.01) and CXCR3 (2.4715 +/- 0.9074 vs 0.9200 +/- 0.5585, P < 0.01) expressions on CD4(+) T cells of the CBA/JxDBA/2 group without any treatment were significantly higher than those of the CBA/JxBALB/c group. Significant up-regulation of CCR3 and down-regulation of CXCR3 were found in the CBA/JxDBA/2 group treated with IL-4 (CCR3: 2.0360 +/- 0.6944, CXCR3: 1.3510 +/- 0.5263, P < 0.01) or IL-4 and IL-10 (CCR3: 1.8160 +/- 1.0947, CXCR3:1.0940 +/- 0.7168, P < 0.01). Because of the CCR5, IL-4 and IL-10 (1.9400 +/- 0.8504 vs 3.0900 +/- 1.5603, P < 0.05), but IL-4 alone (2.5310 +/- 1.3595 vs 3.0900 +/- 1.5603, P > 0.05) treatment significantly decreased the expression of CCR5 in CBA/JxDBA/2. CONCLUSIONS The abnormal expression of CCR3, CCR5 and CXCR3 on CD4(+) T cells may play an important role in the pathogenesis of spontaneous abortion. The pregnancy immune tolerance may be induced through selective induction of CCR3, CCR5 and CXCR3 expressions by IL-4 together with IL-10.
Study on the Price of Rural Land Transfer Based on Income Present Value Method

The major issue in rural economic development is to achieve rural land intensive management and scale efficiency through the transfer of rural land. The key of smooth land transfer is to determine the reasonable transfer price,the income present value method can estimate the value of land contract management right according to the land net objective income,so the income present value method is the effective method and it is suitable for the pricing of land contract management rights. On this basis,the land transfer price fluctuates according to the value of land contract management right,under the influence of supply and demand in the market,the transfer price is formed through in the price game of both sides in the land transfer.
Interaction of Functionalized Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with Brain Structures

Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are under clinical evaluation to enhance detection of neurodegenerative diseases. A major improvement would be to link therapeutic drugs to the SPIONs to achieve targeted drug delivery, either at the cell surface or intracellularly, together with active disease detection, without inducing cell reaction. Our objectives were to define the characteristics of SPIONS able to achieve cell-specific interaction with brain-derived structures. Our system consisted in an iron oxide core (9-10 nm diameter) coated either with dextran (Sinerem and Endorem) or various functionalized polyvinyl alcohols (PVAs) (PVA-SPIONs). We investigated the cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and interaction of these various nanoparticles with brain-derived endothelial cells, microglial cells, and differentiating three-dimensional aggregates. None of the nanoparticles coated with dextran or the various PVAs was cytotoxic or induced the production of the inflammatory mediator NO used as a reporter for cell activation. AminoPVA-SPIONs were taken up by isolated brain-derived endothelial and microglial cells at a much higher level than the other SPIONs, and no inflammatory activation of these cells was observed. AminoPVA-SPIONs did not invade brain cells aggregates lower than the first cell layer and did not induce inflammatory reaction in the aggregates. Fluorescent aminoPVA-SPIONs derivatized with a fluorescent reporter molecule and confocal microscopy demonstrated intracellular uptake by microglial cells. Fluorescent aminoPVA-SPIONs were well tolerated by mice. Therefore, functionalized aminoPVA-SPIONs represent biocompatible potential vector systems for drug delivery to the brain that may be combined with MRI detection of active lesions in neurodegenerative diseases.
Alcohol consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease among hypertensive women

Aim This study investigated the relation between alcohol consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among 10 530-hypertensive women from the EPIC-NL cohort. Methods and results Alcohol consumption was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire and participants were followed for occurrence of CVD. During 9.4 years follow-up, we documented 580 coronary heart disease (CHD) events and 254 strokes, 165 of which were ischemic. An inverse association (P trend = 0.009) between alcohol consumption and risk of CHD was observed with a multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio of 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.52-1.01) for those consuming 70-139.9 g alcohol/week compared to lifetime abstainers. Of different beverages, only red wine consumption was associated with a reduced risk of CHD. A U-shaped relation (P = 0.08) was observed for total stroke with a hazard ratio of 0.65 (0.44-0.95) for consuming 5-69.9 g alcohol/week compared with lifetime abstainers. Similar results were observed for ischemic stroke with a hazard ratio of 0.56 (0.35-0.89) for consuming of 5-69.9 g alcohol/week. Conclusion We conclude that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of CHD among hypertensive women. Light alcohol consumption tended to be related to a lower risk of stroke. Current guidelines for alcohol consumption in the general population also apply to hypertensive women.
Melatonin metabolite excretion among cellular telephone users

Purpose : The relationship between cellular telephone use and excretion of the melatonin metabolite 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate (6-OHMS) was evaluated in two populations of male electric utility workers (Study 1, n =149; Study 2, n =77). Materials and methods : Participants collected urine samples and recorded cellular telephone use over 3 consecutive workdays. Personal 60-Hz magnetic field (MF) and ambient light exposures were characterized on the same days using EMDEX II meters. A repeated measures analysis was used to assess the effects of cellular telephone use, alone and combined with MF exposures, after adjustment for age, participation month and light exposure. Results : No change in 6-OHMS excretion was observed among those with daily cellular telephone use >25 min in Study 1 (5 worker-days). Study 2 workers with >25 min cellular telephone use per day (13 worker-days) had lower creatinine-adjusted mean nocturnal 6-OHMS concentrations (p =0.05) and overnight 6-OHMS excretion (p =0.03) compared with those without cellular telephone use. There was also a linear trend of decreasing mean nocturnal 6-OHMS/creatinine concentrations (p =0.02) and overnight 6-OHMS excretion (p =0.08) across categories of increasing cellular telephone use. A combined effect of cellular telephone use and occupational 60-Hz MF exposure in reducing 6-OHMS excretion was also observed in Study 2. Conclusions : Exposure-related reductions in 6-OHMS excretion were observed in Study 2, where daily cellular telephone use of >25min was more prevalent. Prolonged use of cellular telephones may lead to reduced melatonin production, and elevated 60-Hz MF exposures may potentiate the effect.
Testing Value Relevance of Accounting income with Causality Test: Case of Turkey

“Income” is accounting’s summary measure of a firm performance so it occupies a central position in accounting literature. Accounting income is widely used in share valuation and to measure performance in management and debt contracts. The value-relevance of accounting information can be defined as the ability of financial statements to summarize information that affects firm value. Accounting theorists have generally examine the usefulness of accounting practices with a particular analytic models. The main purpose of this study is to examine the usefulness of accounting income with causality test. I use panel causality method to examine value-relevance of accounting income. My sample consists of 37 industrial firms listed on Borsa Istanbul during the period 2008 – 2014. The findings show that using causality test to measure value relevance of accounting amounts is valid.
Differentiation-Induced Cleavage of Cutl1/CDP Generates a Novel Dominant-Negative Isoform That Regulates Mammary Gene Expression

ABSTRACT Cutl1/CCAAT displacement protein (CDP) is a transcriptional repressor of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), a betaretrovirus that is a paradigm for mammary-specific gene regulation. Virgin mammary glands have high levels of full-length CDP (200 kDa) that binds to negative regulatory elements (NREs) to repress MMTV transcription. During late pregnancy, full-length CDP levels decline, and a 150-kDa form of CDP (CDP150) appears concomitantly with a decline in DNA-binding activity for the MMTV NREs and an increase in viral transcripts. Developmental regulation of CDP was recapitulated in the normal mammary epithelial line, SCp2. Western blotting of tissue and SCp2 nuclear extracts confirmed that CDP150 lacks the C terminus. Transfection of tagged full-length and mutant cDNAs into SCp2 cells and use of a cysteine protease inhibitor demonstrated that CDP is proteolytically processed within the homeodomain to remove the C terminus during differentiation. Mixing of virgin and lactating mammary extracts or transfection of mutant CDP cDNAs missing the homeodomain into cells containing full-length CDP also abrogated NRE binding. Loss of DNA binding correlated with increased expression of MMTV and other mammary-specific genes, indicating that CDP150 is a developmentally induced dominant-negative protein. Thus, a novel posttranslational process controls Cutl1/CDP activity and gene expression in the mammary gland.
Naringenin neutralises oxidative stress and nerve growth factor discrepancy in experimental diabetic neuropathy

Abstract Objectives: Present study aims to investigate the ameliorative effects of naringenin (NG) on experimentally induced diabetic neuropathy (DN) in rats. Methods: Diabetes was induced by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg). Naringenin (25 and 50 mg/kg/day) treatment was started 2 weeks after the diabetes induction and continued for five consecutive weeks. Pain threshold behaviour tests were performed at the end of the treatment. Serum levels of glucose, insulin and pro-inflammatory cytokines were assessed. In sciatic tissues, markers oxidative stress, cytokines and neurotrophic factors were measured. Results: NG treatments showed significant decrease in paw-withdrawal (P < 0.01) and tail-flick latency (P < 0.01). The drug attenuated the diabetic-induced changes in serum glucose, insulin and pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). In sciatic nerve, the diabetic-induced alterations in interleukins and oxidative stress biomarkers were significantly attenuated by NG. Decreased sciatic expressions of insulin growth factor (IGF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) in diabetic rats were also ameliorated by NG. Diabetes-induced dysregulated levels of nitric oxide (NO), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), reduced glutathione (GSH), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) were ameliorated by NG. Histological analysis showed that NG corrected the altered sciatic changes in diabetic animals. Discussion: We suggest that neuro-protective effect of NG molecules in sciatic nerve of diabetic rats, through its anti-diabetic as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Serological diagnosis of Chagas' disease: a potential confirmatory assay using preserved protein antigens of Trypanosoma cruzi

The diagnosis of Chagas' disease relies mostly on data provided by immunologic tests, but inconclusive results often require elucidation, especially in blood banks. When six different types of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote antigens were studied by an immunoblotting assay (IBA), a preserved protein antigen (Ag PP) was found to present the most interesting immunochemical features because of its high reactivity with anti-T. cruzi antibodies. Thus, the IBA with Ag PP (PP IBA) was assessed with panels of coded and noncoded serum samples prepared in different laboratories, including the Brazilian Reference Laboratory for Chagas' Disease. It was found that serum samples from patients proved (clinically, eletrocardiographically, serologically, and epidemiologically) to have Chagas' disease consistently recognized 12 bands (140, 100, 85, 78, 59, 57, 46, 35, 27, 23, 20, and 18 kDa) of Ag PP. In contrast, sera from nonchagasic patients, including patients with mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, were negative or reacted weakly, and one serum sample did not have more than five different bands. These bands were 78, 57, 46, 35, 27, 23, 20, or 18 kDa. A criterion was adopted to interpret the results obtained in the PP IBA. The criterion considered positive a serum sample recognizing all 12 bands and considered negative a serum sample that did not recognize any of the bands except the eight nonspecific bands mentioned above. The PP IBA indicated maximum sensitivity and specificity as well as high positive and negative predictive values. The data demonstrate that the PP IBA discriminates chagasic from nonchagasic infections and seems to be applicable as a confirmatory assay for elucidating inconclusive results obtained by standard serology.
Angiosarcoma of the breast

A case of angiosarcoma of the breast with a fatal outcome is reported, and the world literature on this rare type of breast tumor is reviewed. Familiarity with the clinical and pathologic features of this entity is essential in avoiding underdiagnosis and delay of definitive treatment. The three‐year survival rate of reported cases was 38%. However, the three‐year, disease‐free survival was only 14%. Five cases with five‐year, disease‐free survival have been reported to date. Eighteen patients (21%) showed contralateral breast involvement; in half of these, it occurred before other evidence of tumor dissemination. Simple mastectomy appears to be the optimal treatment of choice, since axillary node involvement is extremely rare. The role of irradiation and chemotherapy as adjuvant therapy remains to be evaluated.
A multi-user interference detection method for MU-MIMO transmission in LTE advanced system

In this paper, multi-user multiple-input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmission in long term evolution (LTE)-Advanced system is presented. To support dynamic scheduling of MIMO transmission, enhanced node B (eNB) does not inform user equipment (UE) of the existence of other co-scheduled UE. In this case, the UE cannot perform any interference mitigation scheme because it does not know whether the interference actually occured or not, so a multi-user interference (MUI)-detection which precedes the interference mitigation is essential. In order to overcome this problem, we propose a novel MUI detection method. The pro-posed method partially estimates interference using simple matrix operations. After that, we decide the existence of MUI by using a threshold-based interference detection method.
Kidney Exchange to Overcome Financial Barriers to Kidney Transplantation

Organ shortage is the major limitation to kidney transplantation in the developed world. Conversely, millions of patients in the developing world with end‐stage renal disease die because they cannot afford renal replacement therapy—even when willing living kidney donors exist. This juxtaposition between countries with funds but no available kidneys and those with available kidneys but no funds prompts us to propose an exchange program using each nation's unique assets. Our proposal leverages the cost savings achieved through earlier transplantation over dialysis to fund the cost of kidney exchange between developed‐world patient–donor pairs with immunological barriers and developing‐world patient–donor pairs with financial barriers. By making developed‐world health care available to impoverished patients in the developing world, we replace unethical transplant tourism with global kidney exchange—a modality equally benefitting rich and poor. We report the 1‐year experience of an initial Filipino pair, whose recipient was transplanted in the United states with an American donor's kidney at no cost to him. The Filipino donor donated to an American in the United States through a kidney exchange chain. Follow‐up care and medications in the Philippines were supported by funds from the United States. We show that the logistical obstacles in this approach, although considerable, are surmountable.