Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ROLE OF ANTIBODIES IN REACTIONS TO GRAM‐NEGATIVE BACTERIAL ENDOTOXINS *

Recently we have given evidence for the presence of two interdependent activities in the endotoxin molecule. ’’2 The intrinsic or primary toxicity is believed to be associated with the lipid portion of the molecule. The secondary toxicity results from the acquisition of hypersensitivity by the host to some portion of the molecule, usually as a result of contact with intestinal flora or clinical and subclinical infections. We have continued to stress the interdependence of the primary and secondary toxic activities and the importance of taking into consideration the immunologic state of the host in any evaluation of the mechanism of endotoxin action. The ubiquity of so-called “natural antibodies”, in nearly all animals, specific for the 0-determinant of Gram-negative bacterial endotoxins, and the similarity of some toxic manifestations of endotoxins with those associated with antigen-antibody reactions have led some investigators to suggest that endotoxins have no intrinsic or primary toxicity. Attempts have been made to explain all of the toxic reactions in terms of classical antigen-antibody reactions. In our study on the ontogeny of the immune response using germ-free neonatal colostrum-deprived piglets4 we have shown that this host has no detectable immunoglobulins. This was an ideal model, therefore, to test the importance of antigen-antibody reactions as mediators of primary toxic reactions by endotoxins. In the present discussion, evidence will be presented using this model to demonstrate a true intrinsic toxic reaction by endotoxins in the absence of detectable antibodies. Also, we have recently reviewed5 the immunological aspects of pyrogenic tolerance to endotoxins and presented evidence2 that this tolerance results from the acquisition of classical immune mechanisms and not as a result of nonspecific increase in the reticuloendothelial system alone or of other nonspecific mechanisms. Immunoglobulins of the 19s class associated with the 0specific antibodies, but distinct from them, can passively immunize animals both to the pyrogenic and lethal activities of endotoxins. We have stressed5 the fact that the sugar determinants of the 0-specific polysaccharide are not functional in the toxophore group of endotoxins, and therefore antibodies directed toward these determinants will not neutralize the 3
Work in Progress: Lessons from Virtual Supervision of Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Students - Case of Addis Ababa University

In this paper, we document the case of a virtual/remote graduate student supervision the author carried out at the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia from the US over a period of two years. The theses of three engineering and two computer science students at the MS level were successfully supervised in this period. At one point, this virtual supervision of students at the computer science department of Addis Ababa University (AAU) by external faculty at the US had accounted to almost one-third of the supervised MS theses in the whole department. Lessons on the adoption of similar collaborations between US universities and overseas universities is also investigated and reported
Stream Processing of a Neural Classifier I

INTRODUCTION An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a computational structure inspired by the study of biological neural processing. Although neurons are considered as very simple computation units, inside the nervous system, an incredible amount of widely interconnected neurons can process huge amounts of data working in a parallel fashion. There are many different types of ANNs, from relatively simple to very complex, just as there are many theories on how biological neural processing works. However, execution of ANNs is always a heavy computational task. Important kinds of ANNs are those devoted to pattern recognition such as Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) or Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) classifiers (Haykin, 2007). Traditional implementations of ANNs used by most of scientists have been developed in high level programming languages, so that they could be executed on common Personal Computers (PCs). The main drawback of these implementations is that though neural networks are intrinsically parallel systems, simulations are executed on a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a processor designed for the execution of sequential programs on a Single Instruction Single Data (SISD) basis. As a result, these heavy programs can take hours or even days to process large input data. For applications that require real-time processing, it is possible to develop small ad-hoc neural networks on specific hardware like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). However, FPGA-based realization of ANNs is somewhat expensive and involves extra design overheads (Zhu & Sutton, 2003). Using dedicated hardware to do machine learning was typically expensive; results could not be shared with other researchers and hardware became obsolete within a few years. This situation has changed recently with the popularization of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) as low-cost and high-level programmable hardware platforms. GPUs are being increasingly used for speeding up computations in many research fields following a Stream Processing Model This article presents a GPU-based parallel implementation of a Fuzzy ART ANN, which can be used both for training and testing processes. Fuzzy ART is an unsupervised neural classifier capable of incremental learning, widely used in a universe of applications as medical sciences, economics and finance, engineering and computer science. CPU-based implementations of Fuzzy ART lack efficiency and cannot be used for testing purposes in real-time applications. The GPU implementation of Fuzzy ART presented in this article speeds up computations more than 30 times with respect to a CPU-based C/C++ development when executed on an NVIDIA 7800 GT GPU.
The Use of Apheresis in Immune Renal Disorders

Abstract: Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) is often associated with the presence of auto‐antibodies. Included in this group are the glomerulonephritides associated with anti‐GBM antibody (Goodpasture's syndrome), IgA mesangial deposition (the renal component of Henoch‐Schönlein purpura), lupus erythematosus, cryoglobulinemia and the antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)‐associated pauci‐immune group. In each of these cases, apheresis may provide a therapeutically useful option. Apheresis has also been found useful in certain types of antibody‐mediated transplant rejection and in lowering the levels of preformed cytotoxic antibodies which may preclude transplantation. Finally, there are renal diseases in which the immune component is less clearly involved with pathogenesis but for which apheresis may offer a clear benefit, such as in the renal failure associated with ‘cast nephropathy’ (multiple myeloma) or the recurrence of FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis) in transplanted kidneys. It is the purpose of this paper to review the evidence supporting the use of apheresis in immune‐related diseases.
Comparison of energy minimization techniques in wireless sensor networks

Spontaneous progress in the field of wireless sensor networks (WSN) have led to development of various protocols for reliable communication and increasing longevity of the network. While designing the protocols for WSNs, designers come across the issues like limited energy per node, limited bandwidth for communication, security, minimum communication and computational cost. This paper focuses on energy conservation as one of the major challenges in WSNs and identifies various factors that affect energy consumption in WSNs. This paper also discusses some of the existing algorithms for minimizing energy consumption and compared.
Nondigestible Fructans Alter Gastrointestinal Barrier Function, Gene Expression, Histomorphology, and the Microbiota Profiles of Diet-Induced Obese C57BL/6J Mice.

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated with compromised intestinal barrier function and shifts in gastrointestinal microbiota that may contribute to inflammation. Fiber provides benefits, but impacts of fiber type are not understood. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the impact of cellulose compared with fructans on the fecal microbiota and gastrointestinal physiology in obese mice. METHODS Eighteen-wk-old male diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice (n = 6/group; 40.5 g) were fed high-fat diets (45% kcal fat) containing 5% cellulose (control), 10% cellulose, 10% short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), or 10% inulin for 4 wk. Cecal and colon tissues were collected to assess barrier function, histomorphology, and gene expression. Fecal DNA extracts were subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon-based Illumina MiSeq sequencing to assess microbiota. RESULTS Body weight gain was greater (P < 0.05) in scFOS-fed than in 10% cellulose-fed mice. Both groups of fructan-fed mice had greater (P < 0.05) cecal crypt depth (scFOS: 141 μm; inulin: 145 μm) than both groups of cellulose-fed mice (5% and 10%: 109 μm). Inulin-fed mice had greater (P < 0.05) cecal transmural resistance (101 Ω × cm(2)) than 5% cellulose-fed controls (45 Ω × cm(2)). Inulin-fed mice had lower (P < 0.05) colonic mRNA abundance of Ocln (0.41) and Mct1 (0.35) than those fed 10% cellulose (Ocln: 1.28; Mct1: 0.90). Fructan and cellulose groups had different UniFrac distances of fecal microbiota (P < 0.05) and α diversity, which demonstrated lower (P < 0.01) species richness in fructan-fed mice. Mice fed scFOS had greater (P < 0.05) Actinobacteria (15.9%) and Verrucomicrobia (Akkermansia) (17.0%) than 5% controls (Actinobacteria: 0.07%; Akkermansia: 0.08%). Relative abundance of Akkermansia was positively correlated (r = 0.56, P < 0.01) with cecal crypt depth. CONCLUSIONS Fructans markedly shifted gut microbiota and improved intestinal physiology in obese mice, but the mechanisms by which they affect gut integrity and inflammation in the obese are still unknown.
Self-Assembly at All Scales

Self-assembly is the autonomous organization of components into patterns or structures without human intervention. Self-assembling processes are common throughout nature and technology. They involve components from the molecular (crystals) to the planetary (weather systems) scale and many different kinds of interactions. The concept of self-assembly is used increasingly in many disciplines, with a different flavor and emphasis in each.
High frame rate ultrasonic imaging of the heart by placing virtual point sources in front of array

We previously developed a method for high frame rate echocardiography [frame rate (FR) > 300 Hz] using a transmit beam, which was spherically diverging from a virtual point source behind the array. Although such diverging beam illuminates a wider area compared with a focused beam or plane wave, sound pressure starts to decrease just after emission. Another type of a diverging beam, which is diverging from a focal point of a conventional focused beam, has already been proposed for synthetic aperture imaging. This type of beam can increase sound pressure around the focal point, and it would be useful for applications which require higher sound pressure, such as blood flow imaging. In the present study, the feasibility of high frame rate echocardiography using diverging beams from conventional focused beams was examined. In the present study, multiple focused receiving beams were created using diverging beams in front of focal points of conventional focused transmit beams. Smaller focal distance achieves a wider diverging angle and the number of transmissions can be reduced. In the proposed method, wave fronts were assumed to be spherical, and dynamic focusing was used in receive. Since multiple receiving beams were created for each transmission, overlapping receiving beams were averaged after beamforming. The proposed method was evaluated using an ultrasound imaging phantom. Spatial resolutions (width at half maximum) of parallel beamforming with plane wave and diverging beams from virtual point sources at distances of 100 mm behind array and 20 mm in front of array were 1.17, 1.04, and 1.08 mm (at 44 mm depth), respectively. B-mode images could be obtained with good spatial resolutions using transmit beams diverging in front of focal points.
Molecular genetic characterization of the RD-114 gene family of endogenous feline retroviral sequences

RD-114 is a replication-competent, xenotropic retrovirus which is homologous to a family of moderately repetitive DNA sequences present at ca. 20 copies in the normal cellular genome of domestic cats. To examine the extent and character of genomic divergence of the RD-114 gene family as well as to assess their positional association within the cat genome, we have prepared a series of molecular clones of endogenous RD-114 DNA segments from a genomic library of cat cellular DNA. Their restriction endonuclease maps were compared with each other as well as to that of the prototype-inducible RD-114 which was molecularly cloned from a chronically infected human cell line. The endogenous sequences analyzed were similar to each other in that they were colinear with RD-114 proviral DNA, were bounded by long terminal redundancies, and conserved many restriction sites in the gag and pol regions. However, the env regions of many of the sequences examined were substantially deleted. Several of the endogenous RD-114 genomes contained a novel envelope sequence which was unrelated to the env gene of the prototype RD-114 env gene but which, like RD-114 and endogenous feline leukemia virus provirus, was found only in species of the genus Felis, and not in other closely related Felidae genera. The endogenous RD-114 sequences each had a distinct cellular flank which indicates that these sequences are not tandem but dispersed nonspecifically throughout the genome. Southern analysis of cat cellular DNA confirmed the conclusions about conserved restriction sites in endogenous sequences and indicated that a single locus may be responsible for the production of the major inducible form of RD-114.
Evaluation of arrhythmia scoring systems and exercise-induced cardioprotection.

INTRODUCTION Exercise is protective against ventricular arrhythmias induced by ischemia (I), the condition of inadequate blood flow, and reperfusion (R), the reestablishment of blood flow. This protection is observed clinically and scientifically by decreased incidence in ECG abnormalities. Numerous scoring systems exist for the quantification of ventricular arrhythmia severity. On the basis of preventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation frequency, these scoring systems are intended to provide more robust ECG outcome indicators than individual arrhythmia variables. Scoring systems vary primarily on continuous versus discontinuous treatment of the data, which should be considered when matching these arrhythmia metrics to scientific applications. PURPOSE The aim of this investigation was to evaluate seven ECG scoring systems in the assessment of ventricular arrhythmia severity after IR in male Sprague-Dawley rats. METHODS Animals remained sedentary or exercised (3 d of treadmill exercise for 60 min) before surgically induced IR. A subset of sedentary animals served as sham, undergoing surgical procedure without IR. ECGs were evaluated under blinded conditions by three trained individuals. Single arrhythmia data and the parametric score were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, whereas the Kruskal-Wallis was used to compare group means for all nonparametric scoring systems between groups. RESULTS IR produced a significant arrhythmic response in exercised and sedentary rats as determined by all arrhythmia scoring systems. Four arrhythmia metrics resulted in significant differences between exercised and sedentary treatments (P < 0.001), whereas three metrics did not. CONCLUSIONS Continuous versus discontinuous treatment of the data may account for variation in scoring system outcomes. These data confirm that exercise protects against IR-induced arrhythmias, and care must be taken when selecting an arrhythmia scoring system for ECG evaluation.
Constraints to Microbial Food Safety Policy: Opinions from Stakeholder Groups along the Farm to Fork Continuum

This exploratory qualitative study was conducted to identify constraints to microbial food safety policy in Canada and the USA from the perspective of stakeholder groups along the farm to fork continuum. Thirty‐seven stakeholders participated in interviews or a focus group where semi‐structured questions were used to facilitate discussion about constraints to policy development and implementation. An emergent grounded theory approach was used to determine themes and concepts that arose from the data (versus fitting the data to a hypothesis or a priori classification). Despite the plurality of stakeholders and the range of content expertise, participant perceptions emerged into five common themes, although, there were often disagreements as to the positive or negative attributes of specific concepts. The five themes included challenges related to measurement and objectives of microbial food safety policy goals, challenges arising from lack of knowledge, or problems with communication of knowledge coupled with current practices, beliefs and traditions; the complexity of the food system and the plurality of stakeholders; the economics of producing safe food and the limited resources to address the problem; and, issues related to decision‐making and policy, including ownership of the problem and inappropriate inputs to the decision‐making process. Responsibilities for food safety and for food policy failure were attributed to all stakeholders along the farm to fork continuum. While challenges regarding the biology of food safety were identified as constraints, a broader range of policy inputs encompassing social, economic and political considerations were also highlighted as critical to the development and implementation of effective food safety policy. Strategies to address these other inputs may require new, transdisciplinary approaches as an adjunct to the traditional science‐based risk assessment model.
Anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibodies and their use in adult autoimmune hematological disorders

Autoimmune hematological disorders encompass a broad group of hematological conditions characterized by the loss of self‐tolerance to a variety of antigens. Despite good response to first‐line therapy in the majority of patients, relapses are common, necessitating new and safe therapeutic options. The anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab has led to substantial improvement in the treatment of malignant and immune‐mediated disorders involving B cells. Although experience with rituximab in immune‐mediated hematological disorders is rarely supported by randomized trials, there is now substantial experience with rituximab suggesting that anti‐CD20 therapy is an effective and well‐tolerated alternative to immunosuppressive therapy in these disorders. However, caution is needed based on recent reports describing—sometimes severe—rituximab‐related complications. Am. J. Hematol. 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cosmologies of selection: lessons from the faculty biscuit tin

We conducted an ethnography of the faculty biscuit tin as we were interested in the lived experience of the biscuits contained within it. We used a constructivist epistemology, a social constructionist interpretive framework and a phenomenological methodology that included analysis from the perspectives of deixis and cosmology. The biscuits perceived that they were important to a selecting force and that the characteristics of one particular group had a specific value to the selector. Some enduring benefits may derive from the selection of this group, although its attractions were less immediately obvious than those of others. What is immediately attractive may not be the most fit for purpose; lessons for the selection of medical students may arise from this exploration of the selection experiences of biscuits in a faculty biscuit tin.
WLC01-5: Robust MIMO Channel Equalization with State-Space Channel Models

State-space models are proposed to represent MIMO frequency-selective wireless channels with the motivation of better model approximation performance and consequently more robust channel equalization performance with respect to the mismatch between the order of the channel model and that of the true channel. We develop a simple framework under which the equalizers for state-space channel models can be designed using the existing methods for designing equalizers for FIR models. In particular, a MIMO MMSE-DFE equalizer is developed for state-space models. The performance comparison of a state-space-based receiver and an FIR-based receiver shows that the former provides significantly smaller symbol error rate, and hence is more robust for reduced-order channel models while exhibiting marginally slower but comparable convergence rate. Thus, state-space channel models can be a more robust choice than FIR ones in the presence of model order selection error.
Comparison of differential neuronal responsiveness for different regions of the prefrontal cortex in a conditional visual discrimination task

To investigate neuronal processing during monkeys' performance of a visual conditional discrimination task, recordings were made from four areas of prefrontal cortex (ventromedial, orbitofrontal, dorsolateral and anterior cingulate) where lesions have been shown to produce impairment of such tasks. Of 1911 recorded neurons, 573 (31%) responded to elements of the task. This proportion was less than the 50% previously reported as responsive in temporal cortex under the same conditions, suggesting sparser encoding in prefrontal than temporal cortex. Of the responsive prefrontal neurons, 165 (29%) responded differently on the different types of trial, so signalling various types of information relevant to task performance and cognition. In line with recent lesion findings, in the dorsolateral region the incidence of such differentially responsive neurons was only an eighth that in the other regions. The relatively high incidence of neuronal responses that encoded a potential instruction cue rather than specific individual stimulus arrangements was consistent with the animals solving the task by using such information, though other neuronal responses could have enabled the task to have been solved by rote learning. Compared to temporal neurons, prefrontal responses more frequently coded information relating to the planned behavioural response rather than perceptual aspects of the task. Population differential response latencies were long (> ∼ 225 ms) in prefrontal cortex. A comparison of such differential latencies between temporal and prefrontal cortex indicated that potential information flow was likely to be primarily from temporal to prefrontal cortex rather than vice versa.