Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of a cellular immune response to a foreign antigen by a recombinant Listeria monocytogenes vaccine.

A recombinant strain of Listeria monocytogenes that stably and constitutively expresses Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase was used as a live vaccine vector. BALB/c mice were immunized orally or parenterally with the recombinant L. monocytogenes, and their cellular and humoral immune responses to beta-galactosidase were measured. Spleen cells taken 1 week after oral inoculation or 5 weeks after oral or parenteral inoculation (with a boost at 4 weeks) showed beta-galactosidase-specific CTL responses. The CTL line derived from mice immunized i.p. was also shown to be class I restricted and Thy-1.2+, CD8+, and TCR alpha beta+. All mice immunized with the recombinant L. monocytogenes had positive delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to heat-killed L. monocytogenes, but only 15% had a positive delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to beta-galactosidase. Individual serum samples from mice immunized i.p. or i.v. were tested for antibody to beta-galactosidase. Approximately 11% had low positive titers for beta-galactosidase antibodies. These results demonstrate that both oral and parenteral immunization with recombinant L. monocytogenes results in a cellular immune response to the foreign protein, which is primarily a specific CD8+ CTL response.
Examining the Technology Acceptance Model of the Computer Assistance Orthopedic surgery system

The orthopedic surgery computer navigation system (Computer Assistance Orthopedic Navigation System, CAOS) is one of the latest applications in orthopedic surgery. In this study, based on the Technology Acceptance Model (Technology Acceptance Model, TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB) of integration, we will study the impact of information technology outside health variables, in order to establish a research model and hypothesis. The study will be based on responses to questionnaires on the introduction of navigation systems in Taiwan medical centers and regional teaching hospitals. This study investigated if the empirical research model can identify the impact of orthopedic surgeons when they accept a computer navigation system orthopedic surgery (CAOS). Among the factors, we looked at cognitive usefulness (perceived usefulness), task (operation) complexity (task complexity), and social subjective cognition (subjective norm). According to an important factor, the performance level of IPA analysis, navigation systems, and a lack of flexibility in mode of operation is not easy to use. As a result, the navigation system provides insufficient instructions, and users are not satisfied with emphasis on present projects. Integration of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is important, although predictable orthopedic physician acceptance of a computer navigation system is subject to change and its dimensions and structure need to be study more. In order to further study issues affecting the future of bone surgeons, we will use the navigation system.
Research on Behavior of Capital Flight based on Evolutionary Game Theory

Through the establishment of the capital flight model of asymmetric evolutionary game, this paper focuses on the study of game relationship among perpetrators, perpetrator assistants and government, and analyzes the evolutionary stable process under different conditions by three-dimensional figures. This paper also analyzes and compares features between the two parties’ model and the three parties’ model, connecting the two kinds of evolutionary games and providing a theoretic basis for a better understanding of the mechanism of capital flight and motivation of all groups. The result shows that by making use of expectation, government can control the ESS of capital flight groups by adjusting relative benefits and punishment in different regulation modes. It can also expand the strategy space that is in favor of capital control through the adjustment. In the end, this paper will propose policy suggestions for the control of capital flight according to the research findings above.
Data Movement Aware Computation Partitioning

Data access costs dominate the execution times of most parallel applications and they are expected to be even more important in the future. To address this, recent research has focused on Near Data Processing (NDP) as a new paradigm that tries to bring computation to data, instead of bringing data to computation (which is the norm in conventional computing). This paper explores the potential of compiler support in exploiting NDP in the context of emerging many core systems. To that end, we propose a novel compiler algorithm that partitions the computations in a given loop nest into sub computations and schedules the resulting sub computations on different cores with the goal of reducing the distance-to-data on the on-chip network. An important characteristic of our approach is that it exploits NDP while taking advantage of data locality. Our experiments with 12 multi-threaded applications running on a state of-the-art commercial many core system indicate that the proposed compiler-based approach significantly reduces data movements on the on-chip network by taking advantage of NDP, and these benefits lead to an average execution time improvement of 18.4%. CCS CONCEPTS •Computer systems organization → Multi-core architectures;
Evaluation of central venous catheters coated with a noble metal alloy—A randomized clinical pilot study of coating durability, performance and tolerability

Abstract The use of Central Venous Catheters (CVCs) commonly results in complications. Coatings with silver or metal alloys can reduce the risk associated with the use of CVC. We have evaluated the durability of a noble metal coated CVC (the Bactiguard Infectious Protection, BIP CVC) and compared with an uncoated CVC for clinical tolerability (Adverse Events, AEs) and performance, in order to create a baseline for a large future study. Patients undergoing major surgery, randomised at a 2:1 ratio to BIP CVC (n = 22) or standard CVC (n = 12), were catheterized 9 ‐ 12 days, respectively. Adverse events, microbial colonization and metal release were measured. Findings: There were no AEs in the BIP CVC‐group, but 5 AEs occurred in 4 patients (1 patient had 2 AEs) in the standard CVC‐group, p = 0.011 (whereof 3 were catheter related). The BIP CVC showed an initial release of coating metals in blood (gold, silver and palladium), which rapidly decreased and were far below Permitted Paily Exposure (PDE) for chronical use. The levels of silver concentration were far below those needed to develop microbial resistance. The performance was equal, and there was no difference concerning microbial colonization, for the two CVCs. Conclusion: In this pilot study the BIP CVC had significantly lower AEs and showed a comparable performance to the standard CVC. The coating was durable throughout the study length (up to 16 days) and toxicological evaluation showed good safety margins. Larger studies are needed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 2337–2344, 2018.
Calibration of low-cost triaxial inertial sensors

Accelerometers (ACCs) and gyroscopes (gyros) are commonly known as inertial sensors and their orthogonal triads generally form an inertial measurement unit (IMU) used as a core means of a navigation system. Before the navigation system is to be used, it is necessary to perform its calibration. A typical process of the IMU calibration usually estimates scale-factors, orthogonality or misalignment errors, and offsets of both triads. These parameters compose the so-called sensor error model (SEM). The process of obtaining accurate information that describes the motion performed within the calibration generally requires a costly and specialized means [1], [2]. Therefore, much effort has been put into cost-effective calibration using an optical motion tracking system [3]-[6], or transferring the calibration into a state estimation problem [7]. In the ACC case, most of the current calibration methods utilize the fact that ACCs are affected by gravity when they are under static conditions. Therefore, we proceed with calibration performed under static conditions, which utilizes the knowledge of the gravity magnitude and ACC output measurements collected at predetermined orientations and performs ACC SEM estimation using nonlinear optimization [6], [8]-[10]. In the gyro case, calibration based on the Earth's rate might be inapplicable, for instance due to the fact that Earth's rate is under or around the resolution of the gyro, and thus other means to apply and measure angular rates need to be used. This situation commonly arises in the case of low-cost MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) based gyros. Thus, expensive mechanical platforms are often inevitable [11]-[14].
DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF MYELOID DENDRITIC CELLS RETROVIRALLY TRANSDUCED TO EXPRESS MAMMALIAN OR VIRAL INTERLEUKIN-10 ON CYTOTOXIC T LYMPHOCYTE AND NATURAL KILLER CELL FUNCTIONS AND RESISTANCE TO TUMOR GROWTH1,2

Background. Genetic engineering of dendritic cells (DC) to express immunosuppressive molecule(s) offers potential for therapy of allograft rejection and autoimmune disease. Viral (v) interleukin (IL)-10, encoded by the Epstein-Barr virus, is highly homologous to mammalian (m) IL-10, but lacks certain of its T-cell stimulatory activities. Our aim was to evaluate and compare the influence of vIL-10 and mIL-10 gene transfer on the T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell stimulatory activity of DC, and their impact on the growth of transplantable tumors. Methods. Myeloid DC progenitors, propagated from the bone marrow of C57BL/6J (H2b) mice in granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor + IL-4, were transduced using retroviral supernatant from the BOSC ecotropic packaging cell line. The function of the IL-10 gene-modified DC was assessed by examining their ability to induce naive allogeneic T-cell proliferation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) generation. MCA205 (H2b) sarcoma cells mixed with either vIL-10-, mIL-10-, or Zeo (control gene)-transduced DC were inoculated intradermally into C57BL/6J (syngeneic) or BALB/cJ (H2d) (allogeneic) recipients, which were monitored for tumor growth. The role of specific host effector cell populations in tumor resistance was determined by antibody depletion. Results. Compared with control gene-modified DC, both vIL-10- and mIL-10-transduced DC, which secreted the transgene product, showed reduced surface expression of MHC class II and costimulatory molecules, and impaired ability to induce T-cell proliferation. vIL-10-transduced DC were also inhibited with respect to CTL induction but did not affect the generation of NK cells. By contrast, mIL-10-transduced DC augmented CTL generation and NK cell activity. In the tumor transplant model, vIL-10-transduced DC enhanced tumor growth both in syngeneic and allogeneic hosts, whereas mIL-10-transduced cells inhibited tumor development. Depletion of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells or NK cells in mice given mIL-10-transduced DC reversed this therapeutic effect. Conclusion. mIL-10 gene-modified myeloid DC promote CTL and NK cell-mediated responses and inhibit tumor growth. By contrast, vIL-10-engineered DC, which elicit diminished CTL responses and do not promote NK cell activity, seem to have therapeutic potential for inhibition of T cell-mediated immunity.
Nazr-CNN: Fine-Grained Classification of UAV Imagery for Damage Assessment

We propose Nazr-CNN1, a deep learning pipeline for object detection and fine-grained classification in images acquired from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for damage assessment and monitoring. Nazr-CNN consists of two components. The function of the first component is to localize objects (e.g. houses or infrastructure) in an image by carrying out a pixel-level classification. In the second component, a hidden layer of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used to encode Fisher Vectors (FV) of the segments generated from the first component in order to help discriminate between different levels of damage. To showcase our approach we use data from UAVs that were deployed to assess the level of damage in the aftermath of a devastating cyclone that hit the island of Vanuatu in 2015. The collected images were labeled by a crowdsourcing effort and the labeling categories consisted of fine-grained levels of damage to built structures. Since our data set is relatively small, a pre-trained network for pixel-level classification and FV encoding was used. Nazr-CNN attains promising results both for object detection and damage assessment suggesting that the integrated pipeline is robust in the face of small data sets and labeling errors by annotators. While the focus of Nazr-CNN is on assessment of UAV images in a post-disaster scenario, our solution is general and can be applied in many diverse settings. We show one such case of transfer learning to assess the level of damage in aerial images collected after a typhoon in Philippines.
Lexicón Computacional de Marcadores de Discurso

Este trabajo se ha realizado gracias a una beca pre-doctoral asociada al proyecto X-Tract, PB98-1226 del Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura. Parte de esta investigacion se inscribe en el marco de los proyectos HERMES (TIC2000-0335-C03-02) y PETRA (TIC2000-1735-C02-02).
Biomarkers in post‐reperfusion syndrome after acute lower limb ischaemia

Ischaemia reperfusion (I/R) injury refers to tissue damage caused when blood supply returns to the tissue after a period of ischaemia. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), neutrophil gelatinase‐associated lipocalin (NGAL) and cytokines are biomarkers involved in several vascular complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of MMPs, NGAL and inflammatory cytokines in I/R syndrome. We conducted an open label, multicentric, parallel group study, between January 2010 and December 2013. Patients with acute limb ischaemia were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups: (i) those subjected to fasciotomy and (ii) those not subjected to fasciotomy, according to the onset of compartment syndrome. Plasma and tissue values of MMPs and NGAL as well as plasma cytokines were evaluated. MMPs, NGAL and cytokine levels were higher in patients with compartment syndrome. Biomarkers evaluated in this study may be used in the future as predictors of I/R injury severity and its possible evolution towards post‐reperfusion syndrome.
Toward an optimized value iteration algorithm for average cost Markov decision processes

In this paper we propose a technique to accelerate the convergence rate of the value iteration (VI) algorithm applied to discrete average cost Markov decision processes (MDP). The convergence rate is measured with respect to the total computational effort instead of the iteration counter. Such a rate definition makes it possible to compare different classes of algorithms, which employ distinct and possibly variable updating schemes. A partial information value iteration (PIVI) algorithm is proposed that updates an increasingly accurate approximate version of the original problem with a view toward saving computations at the early stages of the algorithm, when one is typically far from the optimal solution. The PIVI overall computational effort is compared with that of the classical VI algorithm for a broad set of parameters. The results suggest that a suitable choice of parameters can lead to significant computational savings in the process of finding the optimal solution for discrete MDP under the average cost criterion.
The impact of sterile inflammation in acute liver injury

Background: The liver has a number of functions in innate immunity. These functions predispose the liver to innate immune-mediated liver injury when inflammation goes unchecked. Significant progress has been made in the last 25 years on sterile inflammatory liver injury in a number of models; however, a great deal of controversy and many questions about the nature of sterile inflammation still exist. Aim: The goal of this article is to review sterile inflammatory liver injury using both a basic approach to what constitutes the inflammatory injury, and through examination of current models of liver injury and inflammation. This information will be tied to human patient conditions when appropriate. Relevance for patients: Inflammation is one of the most critical factors for managing in-patient liver disease in a number of scenarios. More information is needed for both scientists and clinicians to develop rational treatments.
Degradation of Phthalate and Di-(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate by Indigenous and Inoculated Microorganisms in Sludge-Amended Soil

ABSTRACT The metabolism of phthalic acid (PA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) in sludge-amended agricultural soil was studied with radiotracer techniques. The initial rates of metabolism of PA and DEHP (4.1 nmol/g [dry weight]) were estimated to be 731.8 and 25.6 pmol/g (dry weight) per day, respectively. Indigenous microorganisms assimilated 28 and 17% of the carbon in [14C]PA and [14C]DEHP, respectively, into microbial biomass. The rates of DEHP metabolism were much greater in sludge assays without soil than in assays with sludge-amended soil. Mineralization of [14C]DEHP to 14CO2 increased fourfold after inoculation of sludge and soil samples with DEHP-degrading strain SDE 2. The elevated mineralization potential was maintained for more than 27 days. Experiments performed with strain SDE 2 suggested that the bioavailability and mineralization of DEHP decreased substantially in the presence of soil and sludge components. The microorganisms metabolizing PA and DEHP in sludge and sludge-amended soil were characterized by substrate-specific radiolabelling, followed by analysis of 14C-labelled phospholipid ester-linked fatty acids (14C-PLFAs). This assay provided a radioactive fingerprint of the organisms actively metabolizing [14C]PA and [14C]DEHP. The14C-PLFA fingerprints showed that organisms with different PLFA compositions metabolized PA and DEHP in sludge-amended soil. In contrast, microorganisms with comparable 14C-PLFA fingerprints were found to dominate DEHP metabolism in sludge and sludge-amended soil. Our results suggested that indigenous sludge microorganisms dominated DEHP degradation in sludge-amended soil. Mineralization of DEHP and PA followed complex kinetics that could not be described by simple first-order equations. The initial mineralization activity was described by an exponential function; this was followed by a second phase that was described best by a fractional power function. In the initial phase, the half times for PA and DEHP in sludge-amended soil were 2 and 58 days, respectively. In the late phase of incubation, the apparent half times for PA and DEHP increased to 15 and 147 days, respectively. In the second phase (after more than 28 days), the half time for DEHP was 2.9 times longer in sludge-amended soil assays than in sludge assays without soil. Experiments with radiolabelled DEHP degraders suggested that a significant fraction of the 14CO2 produced in long-term degradation assays may have originated from turnover of labelled microbial biomass rather than mineralization of [14C]PA or [14C]DEHP. It was estimated that a significant amount of DEHP with poor biodegradability and extractability remains in sludge-amended soil for extended periods of time despite the presence of microorganisms capable of degrading the compound (e.g., more than 40% of the DEHP added is not mineralized after 1 year).
Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor β2 Subunits in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Control Attention

An important molecular mechanism involved in cognition has been unraveled. More than one-third of all people are estimated to experience mild to severe cognitive impairment as they age. Acetylcholine (ACh) levels in the brain diminish with aging, and nicotinic ACh receptor (nAChR) stimulation is known to enhance cognitive performance. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in a range of cognitive functions and is thought to mediate attentional focus. We found that mice carrying nAChR β2-subunit deletions have impaired attention performance. Efficient lentiviral vector–mediated reexpression of functional β2-subunit–containing nAChRs in PFC neurons of the prelimbic area (PrL) completely restored the attentional deficit but did not affect impulsive and motivational behavior. Our findings show that β2-subunit expression in the PrL PFC is sufficient for endogenous nAChR-mediated cholinergic regulation of attentional performance.
Intergenerational continuities of ethnic inequalities in general health in England

Background: Previous research strongly suggests that ethnic minority groups are more likely to suffer a poorer health profile compared with the overall population, although it is not clear whether these inequalities persist over generations. This study aimed to establish the degree to which ethnic inequalities in health are transmitted from the first to the second generation, and to determine the extent to which intergenerational changes in socioeconomic status and health behaviours might explain any variation that exists. Methods: Data from the 1999 and 2004 Health Surveys for England assessed the prevalence of fair/poor general health across first (n = 4492) and second (n = 5729) generations of six ethnic minority populations. A white population was selected as reference (n = 18 407). The risk of fair/poor general health was estimated by applying logistic regression models and stepwise inclusion of demographic, socioeconomic and behavioural variables. Generational movement relative to the white baseline was assessed for all ethnic groups adjusted for age and sex. Results: No significant differences in levels of reported fair/poor general health were observed between generations. After adjusting for improved socioeconomic position, the second generation became more likely to report worse health, whereas adjusting for differences in health behaviours had no effect. The Bangladeshi population showed significant intergenerational improvement in general health relative to the white reference, showing a reduction in the odds ratio (95% CI) from 2.75 (2.14 to 3.56) for the first generation to 1.58 (1.17 to 2.13) in the second generation. Conclusion: Ethnic minorities in England report consistent rates of fair/poor general health across generations, despite the health benefits resulting from upward social mobility. These health inequalities are unaffected by changes in health behaviours. Understanding these intergenerational pathways will have important public health policy implications as the migrant population not only ages, but also reproduces.