Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vif is crucial for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 proviral DNA synthesis in infected cells

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vif gene encodes a 23-kDa protein of unknown function, also produced by most other known lentiviruses. Vif was found to be essential for the spread of HIV-1 in peripheral blood lymphocytes and in primary macrophages, as well as in some but not all established T-cell lines. Vif was required at the stage of viral particle formation, for cell-to-cell as well as for cell-free transmission of HIV-1. Accordingly, vif-defective viruses could be complemented by the expression of vif in the producer but not in the target cell. vif-defective virions contained wild-type amounts of Gag and Env proteins, reverse transcriptase, integrase, genomic RNA, and partial reverse transcripts. Most importantly, they could enter cells normally, and the vif defect could not be rescued through the use of HIV(MLV [murine leukemia virus]) pseudotypes. Instead, vif-mutant viruses were severely impaired in their ability to complete the synthesis of proviral DNA, once internalized in the target cell. These results suggest that Vif plays a role which is novel for a retroviral protein, in allowing the processing and/or the transport of the internalized HIV core.
Carotid endarterectomy without angiography

Between 1 January 1990 and 1 September 1994 a total of 109 carotid endarterectomies were performed without preoperative angiography. Only two cases were considered by the surgeon to have a poor correlation between the duplex examination results and intraoperative findings; the outcome was good in both. The perioperative mortality rate was 1.8 per cent, one patient dying from sudden haematoma causing asphyxia and the other from unrelated causes following a myocardial revascularization procedure. Two non‐disabling strokes also occurred. These results suggest that carotid endarterectomy based on carotid duplex scanning alone without preoperative angiography is safe in selected patients.
Anomaly detection using improved background subtraction

Detection of abnormal state (anomaly) is one of the topics that is frequently studied in the field of computer vision. In this study, we aim to investigate the combination of an unsupervised and discriminative anomaly detection method with a background subtraction technique. In this context, when the discriminative anomaly detection technique is used in conjunction with the recommended background subtraction method, it is seen that more efficient and meaningful results can be obtained. With the proposed method, the noisy features that extracted from the background are avoided, and as a result the detection performance is increased. Experimental tests on a dataset demonstrate that, the proposed method effectively increases the anomaly detection performance.
Interactions of FliJ with the Salmonella Type III Flagellar Export Apparatus

ABSTRACT FliJ, a 17-kDa protein, is a soluble component of the Salmonella type III flagellar protein export system that has antiaggregation properties and several other characteristics that suggest it may have a chaperone-like function. We have now examined this protein in detail. Ten-amino-acid scanning deletions covering the entire 147-amino-acid sequence were tested for complementation of a fliJ null strain; only the first and last deletions complemented. A few of the deletions, especially towards the C terminus, exerted a dominant negative effect on wild-type cells, indicating that they were actively interfering with function. Two truncated versions of FliJ, representing its N- and C-terminal halves, failed to complement and were not dominant. We tested for FliJ self-association by several techniques. Size-exclusion chromatography (Superdex 200) indicated an apparent molecular mass of around 50 kDa, which could reflect either multimerization or an elongated shape or both. Multiangle light scattering gave a peak value of 20 kDa, close to the molecular mass of the monomer. Analytical ultracentrifugation gave evidence for weak self-association as a trimer or tetramer. It was known from previous studies that FliJ interacts with the N-terminal region of FliH, a negative regulator of the ATPase FliI. Using both truncation and deletion versions of FliJ, we now show that it is its C-terminal region that is responsible for this interaction. We also show that FliJ interacts with the soluble cytoplasmic domain of the largest membrane component of the export apparatus, FlhA; although small deletions in FliJ did not interfere with the association, both truncated versions failed to associate, indicating that a substantial amount of the central region of the FliJ sequence participates in the association. We present a model summarizing these multiple interactions.
Fracture Properties of Human Enamel and Dentin

Work of fracture measurements and scanning electron microscope fractographs show that both enamel and dentin can best be considered as brittle materials with anisotropic fracture properties. Enamel is highly anisotropic, with the weakest path of fracture parallel to the enamel rods. Dentin is less anisotropic, with easiest fracture perpendicular to the dentinal tubules. A model is proposed to explain the fracture behavior of enamel.
Zungenbrennen

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by oral dysesthesia, xerostomia and dysgeusia without visible alterations of oral mucosa. While secondary BMS results from an underlying general condition such as diabetes or iron deficiency, no causal disorder can be identified in primary BMS. The estimated prevalence is 1 - 2%, postmenopausal women are substantially more frequently affected than men. Current etiologic concepts assume a focal peripheral and central neuropathy. Only few controlled drug trials have yet been conducted. Thioctic acid appears the medical treatment of choice due to its comparatively good evidence for efficacy and low incidence of adverse reaction. Gabapentin and pregabalin are modern GABA-analogue anticonvulsants, which are also efficient in the treatment of peripheral neuropathies. Also conceptually appropriate for BMS treatment, current evidence for efficacy in BMS is insufficient. In two trials, local oral treatment with clonazepam has been beneficial in BMS. The efficacy of antidepressants is equivocal.
A EVOLUÇÃO DO APRENDIZADO EM UMA DISCIPLINA SEMIPRESENCIAL

Davenport (2014), defini que os dados sao extremamente amplos e gerados eletronicamente, e por este motivo necessitam de ferramentas especialmente preparadas para lidar com toda e qualquer informacao que possa ser encontrada, analisada e aproveitada em tempo habil. Obter dados e usa-los adequadamente, possibilita a uma empresa melhorar um produto, criar uma estrategia de marketing mais eficiente, cortar gastos, aumentar sua producao, evitar o desperdicio, superar um concorrente, disponibilizar servicos de formas mais satisfatoria, verificar o desempenho de um aluno, entre outras. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, analisar o aproveitamento de 113 alunos com base em sua nota e a quantidade de acessos em um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem, matriculados em uma disciplina semipresencial no primeiro semestre de 2017. Os dados foram extraidos de um AVA instalado a partir do Moodle e tabulados inicialmente em uma planilha de calculo, com posterior analise e implementacao no software R. Os resultados demonstram uma melhoria nas avaliacoes dos alunos associadas ao numero de acessos. Indicando que com alguns ajustes o aprendizado pode evoluir.
Registering clinical trials

Randomised trials of medical interventions are the foundation of evidence based health care, but most are effectively conducted in secret. Few people—usually an elite network of investigators, funding agencies, and government regulatory bodies—know about a trial from its inception Most trials become public knowledge only when the investigators publish their completed project in a journal—if they ever do.1 In the meantime, others may be duplicating the effort or, worse, ignoring early warning signs that an intervention is dangerous. One trial of the class I antiarrhythmic drug lorcainide, for example, went unreported for over a decade even though the data suggested that the drug increased mortality in patients with myocardial infarction During that time, use of such drugs continued and shortened the lives of up to 70 000 people each year in the United States alone.2 A register of clinical trials is one way of opening up the process and avoiding these problems. The idea was first mentioned 13 years ago3 and has been refined since then by an international group of trialists, academics, and enthusiasts campaigning for a comprehensive, up to date, and searchable archive of ongoing and recently completed randomised trials, including trials done by the pharmaceutical industry. This article reports a recent conference on trial registration hosted in London by the BMJ , the Lancet , and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. The article was prepared from conference presentations and subsequent debate, discussion with selected speakers and delegates, reviews by those speakers who are running their own registers, and a bibliography of studies prepared by Iain Chalmers, director of the UK Cochrane Centre. #### Summary points Clinical trials should be registered so that essential details are made public from a trial's inception, rather than from publication many years later Openness about trials in progress reduces the …
Dioxin‐induced chloracne – reconstructing the cellular and molecular mechanisms of a classic environmental disease

Abstract: 2,3,7,8‐Tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD) is among the most toxic pollutants known to date that serves as a prototype for a group of halogenated hydrocarbon compounds characterized by extraordinary environmental persistence and unique ability to concentrate in animal and human tissues. TCDD can elicit a complex array of pleiotropic adverse effects in humans, although chloracne, a specific type of acne‐like skin disease, is the only consistent manifestation of dioxin intoxication, thus representing a ‘hallmark’ of TCDD exposure. Chloracne is considered to be one of the most specific and sensitive biomarkers of TCDD intoxication that allows clinical and epidemiological evaluation of exposure level at threshold doses. The specific cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of chloracne are still unknown. In this review, we summarize the available clinical data on chloracne and recent progress in understanding the role of the dioxin‐dependent pathway in the control of gene transcription and discuss molecular and cellular events potentially involved in chloracne pathogenesis. We propose that the dioxin‐induced activation of skin stem cells and a shift in differentiation commitment of their progeny may represent a major mechanism of chloracne development.
Evaluation of Enzymes Involved in Proteoglycan Degradation in the Wall of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

The abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) wall represents an extreme example of arterial remodeling with disturbed elastin, collagen and proteoglycan metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate enzymes involved in the degradation of glycosaminoglycan chains and core proteins of proteoglycans in the AAA wall. The study material consisted of wall samples from 10 AAA. Fragments of 5 normal abdominal aortas from organ donors were used as a control. The activity of endoglycosidases, exoglycosidases and sulfatases was measured using colorimetric methods. To assess matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), Western blot and zymography were performed. The activity of endoglycosidase degrading chondroitin-4-sulfate was lower in the AAA wall. Endoglycosidase degrading heparan sulfate and dermatan sulfate, arylosulfatase B, as well as all the exoglycosidases assessed demonstrated higher activities in the AAA wall. Furthermore, increased expression of MMP1, MMP2 and MMP9 was also shown in the AAA wall. Zymography revealed decreased activity of pro-MMP2 and presence of pro-MMP9 in the AAA wall compared to the wall of normal aorta. Extensive changes in the activity of glycosaminoglycan-degrading enzymes and MMPs may influence the organization of the extracellular matrix network and lead to previously demonstrated changes in the proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan content in the AAA wall.
Croisement de langues en recherche d'information: traduction et désambiguisation de requêtes par phrases alignées

Mme. V. Prince Professeur à l’Université de Montpellier II, LRIMM Rapporteur M. N. Mouaddib Professeur à l’Université de Nante, IRIN Rapporteur M. C. Chrisment Professeur à l’Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III Directeur de thèse M. M. Boughanem Professeur à l’Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III Encadrant Mme. G. Pasi Chargée de recherche, ITIM-CNR, Milano, Italie Examinateur M. G. Zurfluh Professeur à l’Université des Sciences Sociales, Toulouse I Examinateur
Surround-Adaptive Local Contrast Enhancement for Preserved Detail Perception in HDR Images

In high dynamic range rendering technology, tone mapping operators cause loss in terms of image quality. In order to compensate the defect, we use the base-detail decomposition before tone mapping and attempt to compensate details in bright area of an image using a surround-adaptive sharpening filter. It is effective to bright surround images which are sensitive to human eyes. It is confirmed that our proposed method adaptively enhance the details reduced during tone mapping.
Association of biofilm production of coagulase-negative staphylococci with expression of a specific polysaccharide intercellular adhesin.

An association between adherent biofilm production on tissue culture plates and expression of a specific polysaccharide intercellular adhesion (PIA), which is functionally involved in cell clustering, was investigated for 179 Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates. Of the S. epidermidis strains, 50.8% were biofilm producers (A570 of > 0.1). There was a significant positive association between biofilm production and PIA expression: 86.8% of biofilm-producing S. epidermidis strains produced PIA as detected with a specific coagglutination assay. In contrast, 88.6% of the biofilm-negative isolates did not express PIA (P < .001). A linear association between the amount of PIA produced as detected by inhibition ELISA and the amount of biofilm produced was established for 49 S. epidermidis strains, representing a continuum from biofilm-negative to strongly biofilm-producing (r = .81, P < .001). Apparently, PIA is important for biofilm accumulation in the majority of clinical S. epidermidis isolates.
Integrated optical ring resonator with micromechanical diaphragms for pressure sensing

An optical pressure sensor has been fabricated which uses an integrated-optical ring resonator to measure the strain induced in a micromachined silicon diaphragm. A silicon substrate is etched from the side opposite the silicon oxynitride optical waveguides to produce a rectangular diaphragm whose long edge lies underneath a straight section in the ring. Pressure-induced changes in the resonant frequency of the ring are measured using a frequency swept laser diode. A linear response to pressure is observed for the TM mode with a sensitivity of 0.0094 rad/kPa. This pressure sensor is rugged, is amenable to batch fabrication, and it provides a link-insensitive readout. <<ETX>>
Design and simulation difference types CMOS phase frequency detector for high speed and low jitter PLL

This paper presents the different design schemes of the phase frequency detector (PFD) and compares the output simulation results. The circuits that have been considered are the standard CMOS (S/spl I.bar/PFD), true single-phase clock PFD (TSPC/spl I.bar/PFD), DCVSL differential cascode voltage switch logic PFD (DCVSL/spl I.bar/PFD) and current mode logic PFD (CML/spl I.bar/PFD). The simulation results are focused on exploring the dead zone, high frequency operation, power dissipation and phase noise of the different PFD. The results reported in this paper based on simulation done using SpectreS extracted layout. The different circuits of PFD are designed using 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS technology with 3.3V supply voltage.
Apprentissage de treillis complets pour une morphologie mathématique multivariée sur variétés

L'extension de la Morphologie Mathematique aux varietes multivariees est toujours un theme de recherche tres actif. Dans cet article, nous proposons de construire explicitement des treillis complets par apprentissage en replacant chaque element d'une variete par son rang. Ceci definit une transformee de rang qui correspond a la definition d'un treillis complet. L'apprentissage non-lineaire de varietes et la reduction de donnees sont les ingredients de base de notre methode.
Aprendizado e utilização do estilo de movimento facial na animação de avatares

This work presents a methodology, named Persona, for learning and transfer of facial motion style of an actor in order to provide parameters for avatar facial animation. Through this methodology, we can drive the facial animation of avatars using the motion style of a particular actor, through the performance of any user. Thus, the avatar can express the facial movements that the user is performing, but replicating the particularities of the actor’s facial movements, based on his or her Persona. In order to build the facial motion style model of an actor, we used points tracked on image sequences of the actor performance as input data. We also used a database of threedimensional facial expressions, annotated according to the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Principal components analysis was performed using these data. Afterwards, artificial neural networks were trained to recognize action units both in the actor and user’s performances. Given these classifiers, we can automatically recognize action units in the user’s expression and find the equivalent parameters in the actor’s motion style model. The result of the process is the provision of such parameters to facial animation systems. The prototype developed as proof of concept has been used in case studies, whose results are discussed. Future work are also addressed.
Traitement simultané du « problème de Young » et du « problème de Simon Newcomb »

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Quality of partnership in patients with erectile dysfunction after sildenafil treatment.

OBJECTIVE A comprehensive investigation on the quality of partnership of male patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) after treatment with sildenafil vs. untreated patients, as perceived by both the patients and their female partners. METHODS This report describes an observational, cross-sectional exploratory study comparing ED patients responsive to sildenafil with ED patients prior to therapy. Assessments included the 'International Index of Erectile Function' (IIEF) and the 'Partnerschaftsfragebogen' (PFB), a partnership questionnaire used in German-speaking countries. The comparability of the two study groups was examined using a stepwise logit model. Significant intergroup differences regarding demographics and history were identified and included as confounding variables in the assessment of Quality of Partnership differences using ANCOVA. A regression analysis was performed to determine the association between the mean total IIEF scores and Quality of Partnership measures. RESULTS 105 patients were included in the study. After adjustment for confounding variables, the groups varied significantly with respect to Quality of Partnership as perceived by men (mean score PFB 61.8 +/- 13.9 vs. 54.4 +/- 15.5; p<0.001) and women (mean score PFB 63.1 +/- 13.6 vs. 57.0 +/- 14.7; p = 0.006). In men, all three PFB subscales (quarreling, tenderness, togetherness) differed significantly between the two study groups. In the female partners, the tenderness and togetherness domains varied significantly. Erectile function correlated highly significantly with tenderness and togetherness in both the male patients and their partners. CONCLUSION Our data indicate that the Quality of Partnership reported by both the men and their female partners is significantly better in appropriately treated ED patients than in untreated controls.
EFECTIVIDAD Y EFICIENCIA DE LOS ANTIVIRUS GRATUITOS COMBINADOS FRENTE AL MALWARE

El estudio consistio en evaluar cuatro antivirus gratuitos con el objetivo de observar su rendimiento y carga de trabajo producida, tanto de forma individual como de forma combinada, al momento de proteger un computador contra el malware, para determinar que tan conveniente es utilizar mas de un antivirus a la vez. Para este proceso, se utilizo computadores con S.O. Windows 7 Profesional de 64 bits con varios programas utilitarios de uso comun. Los aspectos considerados en la evaluacion fueron: la carga de trabajo en el sistema, la proteccion ante amenazas y la utilidad en general. Se emplearon utilidades adicionales, como AppTimer o BootRacer para medir los parametros de funcionamiento del software instalado en el computador. Los resultados obtenidos han permitido inferir la eficiencia de los antivirus tanto de forma individual y combinada, con la diferencia que la segunda modalidad requiere mas recursos.
Dielectric constants of silicon quantum dots.

Quantum mechanical pseudopotential calculations of the absorption spectra and static dielectric constant ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{s}$ of Si quantum dots with \ensuremath{\sim}100-1300 atoms are presented. The predicted ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{s}$ is found to be significantly reduced relative to the bulk value, but is considerably larger than the value deduced from currently available model calculations. A convenient parametrization of ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{s}$ vs size $R$ is provided. We find that for quantum dots with $Rl20$ \AA{} the electron-hole pair is confined by the physical dimension of the dot, not by the Coulomb attraction.