Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of ITAM- and ITIM-coupled Receptors in Platelet Activation by Collagen

Summary The major activation-inducing collagen receptor glycoprotein VI (GPVI) has been cloned within the last two years. It is a member of the Ig superfamily of proteins and is constitutively associated with the ITAM-bearing Fc receptor γ-chain (FcR γ-chain). GPVI signals through a pathway that involves several of the proteins used by Fc, B- and T-lymphocyte receptors and which takes place in glycolipid-enriched membrane domains in the plasma membrane known as GEMs. Responses to GPVI are regulated by PECAM-1 (CD31) and possibly other ITIM-bearing receptors. Despite a pivotal role for GPVI, there are important differences between signalling events to collagen and GPVI-specific ligands. This may reflect a role for co-receptors in the response to collagen.
Unusual Multiple Recoding Events Leading to Alternative Forms of Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein from Genotype 1b*

In addition to its involvement in the formation of the capsid shell of the virus particles, the core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis and/or establishment of persistent infection. We describe here alternative forms of genotype 1b HCV core protein identified after purification of various products of core protein segment 1-169 expressed in Escherichia coli and their analysis by proteolysis, mass spectrometry, and amino acid sequencing. These proteins all result from a +1 frameshift at codon 42 (a different position than that previously reported in genotype 1a) and, for some of them, from a rephasing in the normal open reading frame at the termination codon 144 in the +1 open reading frame. To test the relevance of these recoding events in a eukaryotic translational context, the nucleotide sequences surrounding the two shift sites were cloned in the three reading frames into expression vectors, allowing the production of a C-terminally fused green fluorescent protein, and expressed both in a reticulocyte lysate transcription/translation assay and in culture cells. Both recoding events were confirmed in these expression systems, strengthening the hypothesis that they might occur in HCV-infected cells. Moreover, sera from HCV-positive patients of genotype 1a or 1b were shown to react differently against synthetic peptides encoded in the +1 open reading frame. Together, these results indicate the occurrence of distinct recoding events in genotypes 1a and 1b, pointing out genotype-dependent specific features for F protein.
The free hormone hypothesis and measurement of free hormones.

CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, Vol. 38, No. 7, 1992 1289 Concentrations of free hormones in serum are generally measured in the belief-enshrined in the “free hormone hypothesis”-that only free hormones are physiologically active and that their concentrations as measured in vitro constitute reliable indicators of in vivo hormonal effects. Concentrations of binding proteins in serum change markedly in pregnancy and may for other reasons, including genetic abnormality (e.g., 1), be grossly disturbed. Physiological feedback mechanisms respond by modifying the concentrations of bound and free hormone, the former changing in line with that of the binding protein, the latter usually rempining within normal limits [although modern methods suggest a decrease in the concentrations of free thyroid hormones (THs) during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy}. 1 These homeostatic adjustments are accompanied by maintenance of apparently normal transport of the hormones to target tissues. Subsequent to the development of simple immunoassay methods, routine measurement of free hormones has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, doubt has centered on the validity of some of these methods, and they have been less widely adopted (particularly in the US) than might otherwise have been anticipated. But before considering this issue, let us exRmine the validity of the free hormone hypothesis itself, this having also emerged as a subject of controversy. Observation of a broad correlation between endocrine status and the free hormone concentrations measured in serum formed the basis of the free hormone hypothesis (other evidence, such as the low permeation rates of binding proteins across capillary membranes, has been adduced in its support). A corollary of the hypothesis is that the protein-bound concentration is physiologically irrelevant, a view supported by substantial experimental evidence. For example, subjects lacking thyroxinebinding globulin (TBG) because of genetic abnormality suffer no obvious physiological disadvantage, despite possessing greatly decreased serum concentrations of TH. Paradoxically, the lack of correlation between hormonal effects and the concentration of protein-bound hormone has been interpreted in contradictory ways by steroidologists and thyroidologists. According to the ‘latter, generally following Robbins and Rail (2), the dissociation rate constants of TH-binding proteins are such that, as blood traverses target organs, the net rate of bound hormone release greatly exceeds the net rate of
The beige mutation in the mouse. II. Selectivity of the natural killer (NK) cell defect.

In the preceding paper we showed that the beige mutation in the mouse leads to a complete impairment in NK cell function, which is predetermined at the level of progenitor cells in the bone marrow. The observations in this report suggest that the beige defect is selective for NK cells since killer function in promonocytes, macrophages, and alloimmune or lectin-generated T cells is relatively normal. In addition, spleen cell-mediated ADCC against chicken erythrocytes and promocyte ADCC against tumor cells was also identical in homozygous mutants or their heterozygous littermate controls. However, spleen cell-mediated ADCC against tumor cells was impaired in bg mice as well as antibody-independent NK cytolysis. When combined with the work of others these results suggest that NK and K cells are identical and one effector can kill by an antibody-dependent or independent mechanism. Since the beige defect lies within the lytic machinery of the cell rather than at the level of target recognition, these results also suggest that the NK lytic mechanism as well as the effector cell type is distinct from that in T cells, macrophages, promonocytes, or nonlymphocytic effectors participating in ADCC. These mice should provide a valuable model for studies of in vivo resistance to tumors, grafts, and virus-infected cells in the absence of functional NK cells.
A fourth secreted aspartyl proteinase gene (SAP4) and a CARE2 repetitive element are located upstream of the SAP1 gene in Candida albicans

Candida albicans secreted aspartyl proteinases (Sap), products of the SAP genes, which are presumed to act as virulence factors. In the C. albicans strain WO-1, the ability to secrete Sap1 is regulated with switch phenotype, another putative virulence factor. KpnI restriction fragment length polymorphisms differentiate between several distinct SAP1 alleles in laboratory and clinical strains. Both SAP1 alleles from strain WO-1 along with their 5'- and 3'-flanking regions were cloned and sequenced, as were both alleles from another strain, SS. The 5'-flanking regions were remarkably similar in all four of the sequenced alleles over approximately 1,500 nucleotides. S1 analysis revealed that both alleles of WO-1 are transcribed. Characterization of the one allele from strain WO-1 identified a 284-nucleotide insertion flanked by 8-bp direct repeats that shows homology to the CARE2 repetitive element and that is not present in the other alleles. Characterization of the SAP1 alleles also identified a fourth SAP gene (SAP4) that includes an extended leader sequence. SAP4 is positioned upstream, in tandem to SAP1, in all strains tested and may encode another closely related secreted aspartyl proteinase.
An Experimental Method for Measuring the Clamping Force in Double Lap Simple Bolted and Hybrid (Bolted-Bonded) Joints

In this research, an experimental method for measuring the clamping force as a result of tightening torque in double lap simple bolted and hybrid (bolted-bonded) joints is proposed. Two types of joints, i.e. double lap simple and hybrid (bolted-bonded) joints were prepared for testing. In order to measure the clamping force or pretension resulting from the tightening torque at different applied torques, for both types of joints, a special experimental method was designed using a steel bush that was placed between the nut and the plate. Two strain gauges were stuck to the outer surface of the bush to measure the compressive axial strain and also the stress in the bush using Hooke’s law. Finally, the axial force in the bush and subsequently the clamping force were determined. The test was repeated three times for each case to obtain the mean value of compressive strains and to determine the corresponding clamping forces. The relationship between the applied tightening torques and the mean value of compressive strains for both types of joints are shown in graphs.
Differential Expression of MicroRNAs in Leprosy Skin Lesions

Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is a major public health problem in poor and developing countries of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are small non-coding RNAs (18–24 nucleotides), play an important role in regulating cell and tissue homeostasis through translational downregulation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Deregulation of miRNA expression is important for the pathogenesis of various neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases and has been the focus of many publications; however, studies on the expression of miRNAs in leprosy are rare. Herein, an extensive evaluation of differentially expressed miRNAs was performed on leprosy skin lesions using microarrays. Leprosy patients, classified according to Ridley and Jopling’s classification or reactional states (R1 and R2), and healthy controls (HCs) were included. Punch biopsies were collected from the borders of leprosy lesions (10 tuberculoid, 10 borderline tuberculoid, 10 borderline borderline, 10 borderline lepromatous, 4 lepromatous, 14 R1, and 9 R2) and from 9 HCs. miRNA expression profiles were obtained using the Agilent Microarray platform with miRBase, which consists of 1,368 Homo sapiens (hsa)-miRNA candidates. TaqMan quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to validate differentially expressed miRNAs. Sixty-four differentially expressed miRNAs, including 50 upregulated and 14 downregulated (fold change ≥2.0, p-value ≤ 0.05) were identified after comparing samples from patients to those of controls. Twenty differentially expressed miRNAs were identified exclusively in the reactional samples (14 type 1 and 6 type 2). Eight miRNAs were validated by RT-PCR, including seven upregulated (hsa-miR-142-3p, hsa-miR-142-5p, hsa-miR-146b-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-361-3p, hsa-miR-3653, and hsa-miR-484) and one downregulated (hsa-miR-1290). These miRNAs were differentially expressed in leprosy and several other diseases, especially those related to the immune response. Moreover, the integration of analysis of validated mi/mRNAs obtained from the same samples allowed target pairs opposite expression pattern of hsa-miRNA-142-3p and AKR1B10, hsa-miRNA-342-3p and FAM180b, and hsa-miRNA-484 and FASN. This study identified several miRNAs that might play an important role in the molecular pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover, these deregulated miRNAs and their respective signaling pathways might be useful as therapeutic markers, therapeutic targets, which could help in the development of drugs to treat leprosy.
Hybrid error concealment in image communication using data hiding and spatial redundancy

Designed to diminish the artifacts caused by application of the state-of-the-art error concealment methods, a hybrid error concealment scheme is introduced. The proposed scheme stands out by using the inherent spatial redundancy of natural images along with a data hiding technique to obtain the information required for reconstruction of the lost parts of the image at the receiver. Furthermore, to maintain the quality of the received image in high packet loss conditions, an alternative scheme is proposed which will be activated in response to a receiverpsilas feedback reporting a high packet loss ratio. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the existing methods in terms of the quality of the received image and computational cost.
ANTIBODY FO 1 RMATION

I t has been shown that passively administered antibody can inhibit the primary 'antibody response to protein antigens in several species of experimental animals (1). For example, injection of diphtheria toxoid-antitoxin precipitates formed in antitoxin excess into guinea pigs results in suppression of antitoxin formation for 3 to 7 weeks, depending in large part on the species origin of the antitoxin. Following this period of antibody suppression, serum antitoxin usually appears, in certain instances at a rate and magnitude indicative of a secondary type of antitoxin response. I t was suggested that this delayed antibody response is due to "free" toxoid which dissociates from specific complexes and then stimulates an immune system already prepared for an anamnestic antitoxin response. Previous studies of guinea pigs sensitized by injection of antigen-antibody complexes have shown that challenge with a sufficient dose of specific antigen transiently abolishes delayed-type skin reactivity and simultaneously induces an accelerated type of antibody response (2). Scharff et al. (3) demonstrated that guinea pigs with delayed-type hypersensitivity to bovine serum albumin show an immune elimination of specific antigen whereas normal guinea pigs do not. Similar results have been obtained by Sell and Weigle (4) and by Salvin (5). In the studies reported here, it has been shown that diphtheria toxin-antitoxin precipitates formed in antitoxin excess can sensitize guinea pigs, rats, and rabbits for a highly efficient secondary antitoxin response. This sensitization may occur without detectable antitoxin formation to the primary antigenlc stimulus.
An effective segmentation algorithm for the hyperspectral cancer images

Cancer is the major reason for mortality worldwide. The chances of recovery can be well improved if it is possible to diagnose the cancer at its early stages. Cancer detection is conventionally done by invasive procedures like biopsy, but it causes lot of discomforts for the patient. Here Hyperspectral Images (HSI) based noninvasive alternative for biopsy is introduced, it is also applicable as a tumor margin assessment during image-guided surgery. HSI is emerged as a promising tool for cancer detection and in tumor margin assessment. The key technique employed here is Marko Random Field (MRF), for depth wise segmentation and it is followed by malignant tissue extraction using Chan-Vese Active Contour method. Here MRF and active contour methods are respectively utilizes local and global features of the subject and the effectiveness of the segmentation at discrete input conditions can be improved by incorporating local optimizations scheme with the segmentation. It helps to make the segmentation more effective and accurate, by compensating the geometrical (ie, containment and exclusion) and distance constraints in the input samples. It is essential because of the spatially-recurring, multi-regional boundary structure of tumor margins. The heterogeneity in the tissue samples can be well defined by the optimization values and it is also be used for tissue classification. Finally feature of the malignant tissue is also extracted for having a clear inference of the subject. The proposed method is compared with Improved watershed transform, Minimum Spanning Forest (MSF) based algorithm and the proposed method is found to be effective than other methods with a high accuracy.
Design and implementation of security system for cloud storage

Cloud storage system provides storage to enterprises and end users, and it helps to reduce the cost of server maintenance. Unfortunately, this new type of data storage service also brings new security challenges as data owners do not have full control of their data. The existing research works cannot completely resolve these security issues efficiently or may cause other security problems. In this paper, a framework with the third party auditor is first proposed. Based on our system model, a key management scheme and an authentication process are proposed which can ensure the security of cloud storage. In addition, two types of key loading methods are proposed to improve the performance of key management. In order to create a system with balanced load, AES encryption algorithm is adopted to reduce the computation load on the user side. Through analyses and simulations, we have shown that the proposed system achieves both security and good overall performance.
RECOVERY OF FOVEAL PHOTORECEPTOR INTEGRITY AFTER VITRECTOMY IN EYES WITH AN IMPENDING MACULAR HOLE WITH VITREOMACULAR TRACTION SYNDROME

Purpose: To identify factors associated with the recovery of foveal photoreceptor disruption in eyes with an impending macular hole (MH) with vitreomacular traction syndrome after surgery. Methods: This study comprised 33 consecutive patients who underwent vitrectomy for Stage 1 impending macular hole with disrupted photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment (IS/OS) layer and were followed up for a minimum of 1 year after surgery. Preoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters were compared between eyes that achieved complete restoration of the IS/OS layer (Group A) and those that did not (Group B). Postoperative serial changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and IS/OS disrupted length were also investigated. Results: Smooth and symmetric foveolar contour was restored in 29 eyes (87.9%). Complete recovery of IS/OS disruption was observed in 11 of 33 cases (33.3%, Group A). Group A exhibited a larger percentage of foveal pseudocysts (54.5% vs. 13.6%, P = 0.033) and a smaller mean aperture size (102.1 ± 182.1 &mgr;m vs. 241.5 ± 163.8 &mgr;m, P = 0.031) than Group B. Postoperatively, Group A revealed a significantly better visual outcome than Group Be, which was the same as Group B, but with the four eyes that developed a full-thickness macular hole excluded. Conclusion: Restoration of the foveal photoreceptor layer was more likely to occur in eyes with a foveal pseudocyst and smaller aperture size.
The regulation of working methods as a function of work-load among air traffic controllers.

Abstract A series of field studies among air traffic controllers is reviewed. It largely concentrated on regulatory aspects of operational behaviour, using a model based on the concept of ‘ economy ’ in the individual's selection of operating procedures. Attention is directed at processes involving reasoning, the receipt and transmission of information, and the division of tasks between controllers at the same station. The basic hypothesis, which is supported by numerous data, is that for a given task and a given controller certain operating procedures are less costly than others; that is, they generate lower levels of load. These procedures will therefore be more and more employed as work demand increases, together with the relaxation of certain, self-imposed, qualitative criteria. This regulatory feedback between work-load and operating methods is used by the controller to avoid the abrupt onset of overload conditions and to delay satiation. For the investigator, these progressive changes in operating p.
Ameliorative Role of Rosiglitazone in Hyperhomocysteinemia-Induced Experimental Cardiac Hypertrophy

The present study has been designed to explore the beneficial effect of rosiglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-γ agonist, in hyperhomocysteinemia-induced cardiac hypertrophy in rats. The hyperhomocysteinemia was induced in rats by feeding L-methionine (1.7 g/kg per day orally) for 8 weeks. The development of cardiac hypertrophy was assessed by measuring ratio of left ventricular weight to body weight, left ventricular wall thickness, cardiomyocyte diameter, and mean arterial blood pressure. The extent of fibrosis was checked by biochemical and histological assessment of collagen deposition. Moreover, the oxidative stress in heart was measured in terms of an increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, superoxide anion generation, and decrease in reduced glutathione levels. The treatment with rosiglitazone (5 and 10 mg/kg per day orally) started from the first day of administration of L-methionine significantly abolished hyperhomocysteinemia-induced increase in left ventricular weight to body weight ratio, left ventricular wall thickness, cardiomyocyte diameter, collagen deposition, and oxidative stress without affecting serum homocysteine levels in rats. At high dose, rosiglitazone markedly reduced mean arterial blood pressure but at low dose, a significant reduction in mean arterial blood pressure was not observed in hyperhomocysteinemic rats. Hence, our results suggest that rosiglitazone provides benefit in hyperhomocysteinemia-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner and its protective action is independent of change in mean arterial blood pressure and serum homocysteine levels in rats.
Towards Visual Analytics of Multilayer Graphs for Digital Cultural Heritage

In this extended abstract we examine the visual analytics requirements of researchers in the field of Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) and we look at the current approaches used by researchers in this field. We suggest that data structures produced during the analysis of a DCH corpus, might better be modeled as a set of inter-related graphs and subgraphs, that together form a “multilayer graph”, a concept recently defined within the field of complex systems. We consider some existing visualization approaches that may be suitable for visualizing and analyzing DCH data within a multilayer graph visual analytics system. We examine how to build a multilayer graph data set from DCH data. We also describe an initial set of tasks, based on interviews and discuss how we will use the expertise of professional researchers in the field of DCH to evaluate and validate our design decisions made as part of our research.