Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ternary cubic forms and central simple algebras of degree 3

Fix a ground field F of characteristic neither 2 nor 3 and consider pairs (A,V) consisting of a degree 3 central simple F-algebra A and a 3-dimensional subspace V of the reduced trace zero elements of A which is totally isotropic for the trace quadratic form. Mapping an element of V to its cube defines a cubic form. This thesis is devoted to the classification of such cubic pairs - i.e. the description of a representative of each isomorphism class of cubic pairs - and the study of the associated cubic forms. First we study some geometrical aspects of ternary cubic forms in general; i.e. we study cubic curves in a projective plane. Apart from the well-known flexes of such a curve, we observe the existence of other special points and lines, which we call Hessian points, harmonic points and harmonic polars, and exhibit their remarkable properties. We consider in particular the special cases of semi-diagonal and semi-trace cubic forms, the latter being a new generalization of the former. Geometrical properties are then used to classify non-singular cubic pairs (A,V) over the separable closure of F, where we may suppose that A is a matrix algebra. Then we compute the automorphism group of such cubic pairs (which, in fact, is either the group of order three or the product of two such groups) and by means of its first Galois cohomology set we deduce a complete classification of non-singular cubic pairs over the ground field itself. By more computational methods we also give a complete classification of singular cubic pairs. As an application we deduce in particular that the cubic form associated to a cubic pair (A,V) with A a division algebra is always semi-trace; and it is semi-diagonal if the ground field contains a primitive cube root of unity. Using a result of D. Haile and J.-P. Tignol we prove moreover that such a cubic form determines the algebra up to (anti-)isomorphism.
Kinetic analysis of ternary and binary binding modes of the bispecific antibody emicizumab

ABSTRACT The binding properties of bispecific antibodies (bsAb) are crucial for their function, especially when two antigens are targeted on the same cell surface. Dynamic interactions between each of the antibody’s arms and its cognate target cause the formation and decay of a biologically functional ternary complex. How association and dissociation processes work cooperatively, and how they influence the avidity of the ternary complex, is still poorly understood. Here, we present a biosensor assay for the simultaneous measurement of the binding kinetics of the therapeutic bsAb emicizumab (Hemlibra®) and its two targets, the blood coagulation factors IX and X (FIX, FX). We describe an automated workflow to characterize binary and ternary-binding modes, utilizing a Y-shaped DNA nanostructure to immobilize the antigens on a sensor and to emulate conditions on a cell or platelet surface by presenting the antigens with optimal accessibility for the bsAb flown over the sensor as analyte. We find that emicizumab binds FX much stronger than FIX (Kd = 0.05 µM vs. 5 µM, t1/2 = 20 s vs. 1 s) with profound consequences on the avidity of the ternary complex, which is dominated by FX’s binding properties and a hand-off mechanism from FX to FIX. Moreover, formation and decay of the ternary complex depend on the bsAb concentration during the association phase. Emicizumab’s in-vivo mode of action and the catalytic activation of FX can be rationalized from the analyzed binding kinetics. The assay and workflow are well suited for the screening of bispecific binders in drug discovery and provide valuable new kinetic information. Abbreviations: bsAb: bispecific antibody; FVIII/FIX/FX: coagulation factors VIII/IX/X; SPR: surface plasmon resonance; kon: association rate constant; koff: dissociation rate constant; KD: equilibrium dissociation constant; t1/2: dissociation half-life
The combination of ecological and case–control data

Summary. Ecological studies, in which data are available at the level of the group, rather than at the level of the individual, are susceptible to a range of biases due to their inability to characterize within‐group variability in exposures and confounders. To overcome these biases, we propose a hybrid design in which ecological data are supplemented with a sample of individual level case–control data. We develop the likelihood for this design and illustrate its benefits via simulation, both in bias reduction when compared with an ecological study and in efficiency gains relative to a conventional case–control study. An interesting special case of the design proposed is the situation where ecological data are supplemented with case‐only data. The design is illustrated by using a data set of county‐specific lung cancer mortality rates in the state of Ohio from 1988.
Chalcogenide glass thin-film optics for infrared applications

Chalcogenide glasses are increasingly used in infrared-transparent optical systems for space applications due to their relatively low density (compared to Ge or ZnSe), tunable spectral and thermo-mechanical properties, and molding capability. Remaining challenges include their application to thin-film optics and coatings. The high refractive indices of chalcogenide glasses (n ˃ 2.7) suggest the possibility for high reflecting coatings based on few periods of alternating layers with high index contrast. As2Se3 thin film deposited by thermal evaporation is investigated using ellipsometry which show optical properties consistent with bulk material. Also we demonstrate a novel method for fabrication of antireflection coating using porous chalcogenide. Possibility of negligible extinction coefficient and low refractive index of this porous coating promises broadband suppression of undesired Fresnel reflections at the interface from infrared optics.
Glucose-responsive microneedle patch for closed-loop dual-hormone delivery in mice and pigs

Insulin and glucagon secreted from the pancreas with dynamic balance play a vital role in regulating blood glucose levels. Although distinct glucose-responsive insulin delivery systems have been developed, the lack of a self-regulated glucagon release module limits their clinical applications due to the potential risk of hypoglycemia. Here, we describe a transdermal polymeric microneedle patch for glucose-responsive closed-loop insulin and glucagon delivery to achieve glycemic regulation with minimized risk of hypoglycemia. The glucose-responsive phenylboronic acid units can bind to glucose to reversibly shift the net charge (from positive to negative) of the entire polymeric matrix within microneedles. Therefore, the release ratio of the negatively charged insulin and the positively charged glucagon analog from the patch can be dynamically tuned upon the fluctuation of blood glucose levels to realize glycemic homeostasis. In both chemically induced type 1 diabetic mouse and minipig models, this glucose-responsive dual-hormone microneedle patch demonstrated tight long-term regulation in blood glucose levels (>24 hours in minipigs).
Lyapunov characterisations of input-output-to-state stability

This paper explores Lyapunov characterizations of the input-output-to-state stability (IOSS) property for nonlinear systems. The notion of IOSS is a natural generalization of the standard detectability property used in the linear case. The main contribution of this work is to establish a complete equivalence between the input-output-to-state stability property and the existence of a certain type of smooth Lyapunov function.
Protection and Damage Repair Mechanisms Contributed To the Survival of Chroococcidiopsis sp. Exposed To a Mars-Like Near Space Environment

This study reported that the protective and repair mechanisms of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 contributed to its endurance ability in a Mars-like near space environment. ABSTRACT Chroococcidiopsis spp. can withstand extremely harsh environments, including a Mars-like environment. However, studies are lacking on the molecular mechanisms of Chroococcidiopsis sp. surviving in Mars-like environments. In the HH-21-5 mission, the desert cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. was exposed to a Mars-like environment (near space; 35 km altitude) for 4 h, and a single-factor environment of near space was simulated on the ground. We investigated the survival and endurance mechanisms of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 after exposing it to near space by studying its physiological and transcriptional properties. After the exposure, Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 exhibited high cell viability, although photosystem II activity decreased and the levels of reactive oxygen species increased. The single-factor simulation experiments revealed that for the survival of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 in near space, UV radiation was the most important limiting factor, and it was followed by temperature. The near space environment triggered multiple metabolic pathway responses in Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02. The upregulation of extracellular polysaccharides as well as carotenoid and scytonemin biosynthesis genes in response to UV radiation attenuated the extent of radiation reaching the cells. At the same time, genes related to protein synthesis were upregulated in response to the low temperature, overcoming the decrease in metabolic activity that was caused by the low temperature. In near space and after rehydration, the genes involved in various DNA and photosystem II repair pathways were upregulated. This reflected the damage to the DNA and photosystem II protein subunits in cells during the flight and suggested that repair mechanisms play an important role in the recovery of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02. IMPORTANCE This study reported that the protective and repair mechanisms of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 contributed to its endurance ability in a Mars-like near space environment. In Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02, a Mars-like near space environment activated the expression of genes involved in extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), carotenoid, scytonemin, and protein syntheses, which provided additional protection. Additionally, the cell damage repair process enhanced the recovery rate of Chroococcidiopsis sp. ASB-02 after the flight. This study will help to enhance the understanding of the tolerance mechanism of Chroococcidiopsis sp. and to provide important guidance as to the survival requirements for microbial life in a Mars-like environment.
Dielectric Resonator Antennas

Linearly and circularly polarized conformal strip-fed dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) are studied in this article. In the latter case, a parasitic patch is used to excite a nearly degenerate mode. The hemispherical DRA, excited in its fundamental broadside TE111 mode, is used for the demonstration. In the analysis, the mode-matching method is used to obtain the Green's functions, whereas the method of moments is used to solve for the unknown strip currents. In order to solve the singularity problem of the Green's functions, a recurrence technique is used to evaluate the impedance integrals. This greatly increases the numerical efficiency. Measurements were carried out to verify the calculations, with good results. Keywords: circularly polarized antenna; dielectric antennas; mode-matching methods; moment methods; parasitic antennas; resonance
Highly efficient reprogrammable mouse lines with integrated reporters to track the route to pluripotency

Significance Due to the heterogeneity and low efficiency of the primary cell reprogramming process, it has been challenging to identify and isolate the reprogramming initiating cells. To address this limitation, we engineered transgenic mice, from which many, if not all, cell types can be efficiently reprogrammed in vitro to produce induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We report the generation of two reprogrammable mouse lines whose cells reach pluripotency at an efficiency that highly exceeds that of previously described reprogramming systems. We incorporated two fluorescent reporters that enable partially and completely reprogrammed cells to be tracked and isolated. These reprogramming systems will facilitate the investigation of molecular events during somatic cell reprogramming and allow the future development of pluripotent cell therapeutic derivatives.
A set theoretic approach to broadcast encryption

Broadcast Encryption allows a centre to send information over a broadcast channel to a dynamically changing group of users. The performance is rated by the bandwidth required for the broadcast and the amount of secret information needed to be stored at the user end. It can also be rated by the computational overhead. In the “Stateless Receiver” model, receivers are incapable of storing any new information, or updating themselves, between broadcasts. We look at two Stateless Receiver schemes by Naor et al., the Complete Subtree Revocation Scheme and the Subset Difference Revocation Scheme. We improve the bound on the bandwidth for the Complete Subtree Revocation Scheme given by Naor from tmax(n, r) ≤ r(k − log2(r)) to tmax(n, r) = r(k − j)− 2(r − 2), where j = blog2(r)c. We prove a similar bound on the maximum bandwidth for the Subset Difference Revocation Scheme. We also derive formula for the average bandwidth for both schemes. The schemes of Naor et al. are each based on a single binary tree. We construct some variations of the Complete Subtree Revocation Scheme, the first has more than one tree, the other is based on an a-ary tree. We calculate the improved performance in bandwidth (traded off against an increase in storage). We make meaningful comparisons between these schemes and existing ones. Finally, we show how to reduce the storage requirement of the Complete Subtree Revocation Scheme from O(log2(n)) to a constant term.
Evolution of prevention of vertical HIV transmission in Uganda: 2008–2017

Uganda adapted its policy for prevention of vertical transmission (VT) of HIV transmission as the World Health Organization released Options A, B and B+. We assessed trends in diagnostic testing, breastfeeding practices, maternal and infant antiretroviral therapy (ART), mortality, VT and HIV‐free survival (HFS) among Ugandan infants born to women living with HIV during this period of successive guideline changes.
Influence of inflammatory processes on thalamocortical activity

Abstract It is known that the thalamus plays an important role in pathological brain conditions involved in demyelinating, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Beside immune cells and cytokines, ion channels were found to be key players in neuroinflammation. MS is a prototypical example of an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that is classified as a channelopathy where abnormal ion channel function leads to symptoms and clinical signs. Here we review the influence of the cytokine-ion channel interaction in the thalamocortical system in demyelination and inflammation.
Obesity in South and Southeast Asia—A new consensus on care and management

Obesity is a chronic disease in which the abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat leads to impaired health and increased risk of mortality and chronic health complications. Prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly in South and Southeast Asia, with potentially serious consequences for local economies, healthcare systems, and quality of life. Our group of obesity specialists from Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam undertook to develop consensus recommendations for management and care of adults and children with obesity in South and Southeast Asia. To this end, we identified and researched 12 clinical questions related to obesity. These questions address the optimal approaches for identifying and staging obesity, treatment (lifestyle, behavioral, pharmacologic, and surgical options) and maintenance of reduced weight, as well as issues related to weight stigma and patient engagement in the clinical setting. We achieved consensus on 42 clinical recommendations that address these questions. An algorithm describing obesity care is presented, keyed to the various consensus recommendations.
Comparative evaluation of outcomes of novel approach of subconjunctival Mitomycin C (MMC) injection at the end of trabeculectomy versus intraTenon injection of MMC prior to the initial conjunctival incision – A pilot study

Purpose: To describe a novel approach of subconjunctival injection of mitomycin C (MMC) at the end of trabeculectomy and compare it with intraTenon MMC injection. Methods: This pilot study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with uncontrolled primary and secondary glaucoma. Patients below18 years and failed trabeculectomy were excluded. Patients were randomly allocated into groups A and B (20 patients each). Group A patients received subconjunctival MMC injection in the superonasal quadrant at the end of standard trabeculectomy. Group B received an intraTenon MMC injection before the initial conjunctival incision. Outcome measures included intra-ocular pressure (IOP) reduction, bleb morphology, and complication rates. The complete success was defined as an IOP of ≤21 mmHg without antiglaucoma drugs. Results: The mean preoperative IOP of 46.00 ± 11.2 mmHg in group A and 43.05 ± 10.3 mmHg in group B reduced to 12.00 ± 2.41 mmHg (P ≤ 0.001) in group A and 13.65 ± 2.76 mmHg in group B (P ≤ 0.001) at last follow-up. Complete success was 95% and 75% in groups A and B, respectively, 19 months after surgery. Avascular microcystic blebs (70% of group A and 45% of group B) were more common than avascular white blebs (15% in group A and 35% in group B). No intraoperative complications were seen. Postoperative wound leak, hypotony, choroidal detachment, or endophthalmitis were not encountered in any group. Conclusion: A novel approach of subconjunctival MMC application during trabeculectomy is reported. Both approaches appear to be highly effective in reducing IOP in primary and secondary glaucoma with similar safety profiles and bleb morphology. Subconjunctival MMC yielded a greater success rate (95%) compared to the intraTenon MMC group (75%).
A long-read and short-read transcriptomics approach provides the first high-quality reference transcriptome and genome annotation for Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir)

Abstract Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is native to western North America. It grows in a wide range of environmental conditions and is an important timber tree. Although there are several studies on the gene expression responses of Douglas-fir to abiotic cues, the absence of high-quality transcriptome and genome data is a barrier to further investigation. Like for most conifers, the available transcriptome and genome reference dataset for Douglas-fir remains fragmented and requires refinement. We aimed to generate a highly accurate, and complete reference transcriptome and genome annotation. We deep-sequenced the transcriptome of Douglas-fir needles from seedlings that were grown under nonstress control conditions or a combination of heat and drought stress conditions using long-read (LR) and short-read (SR) sequencing platforms. We used 2 computational approaches, namely de novo and genome-guided LR transcriptome assembly. Using the LR de novo assembly, we identified 1.3X more high-quality transcripts, 1.85X more “complete” genes, and 2.7X more functionally annotated genes compared to the genome-guided assembly approach. We predicted 666 long noncoding RNAs and 12,778 unique protein-coding transcripts including 2,016 putative transcription factors. We leveraged the LR de novo assembled transcriptome with paired-end SR and a published single-end SR transcriptome to generate an improved genome annotation. This was conducted with BRAKER2 and refined based on functional annotation, repetitive content, and transcriptome alignment. This high-quality genome annotation has 51,419 unique gene models derived from 322,631 initial predictions. Overall, our informatics approach provides a new reference Douglas-fir transcriptome assembly and genome annotation with considerably improved completeness and functional annotation.
Boundary layer receptivity to freestream turbulence

Freestream turbulence of weak but adjustable intensity incident upon a flat plate test model induced Tollmien-Schichting (TS) waves and wave packets. These were studied using a newly-developed sensor by which the packets could be followed from a station nearly as far forward as the minimum critical Reynolds number to the onset of transition. Conclusions reached from these studies were: (1) weak freestream turbulence induced TS wave packets in a Blasius boundary-layer, (2) packets gained strength during propagation through expansion of lateral and longitudinal scales, and through an increase in peak amplitude, (3) the average wave strength at stations of observation was not related to the freestream velocity fluctuation in a linear manner, and (4) packets typically evolved into turbulent spots.
Long-period variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. III - Evidence of a kinematic spheroidal population

The velocity dispersion of the old LPVs (33 km/s) indicates that they belong to a spheroid population. A rotational analysis of various disk populations of the LMC (H I, CO clouds, PN, CH stars, clusters, and LPVs) indicates that the transverse velocity of the LMC is about 200 km/s in the direction of the Magellanic Stream, that the dynamics of the LMC is dominated by a single rotating disk, and that all populations in the bar have solid-body rotation. The distribution of outer old LPV velocities implies a mass of the LMC of approximately equal to or less than 6.2 + or - 1.5 x 10 to the 9th solar masses. The old LPV population has a mass of 1.1 x 10 to the 8th solar masses, or about 2 percent of the LMC's total mass. 70 refs.
Chemical induction of splice-neoantigens attenuates tumor growth in a preclinical model of colorectal cancer

Neoantigen production is a determinant of cancer immunotherapy. However, the expansion of neoantigen abundance for cancer therapeutics is technically challenging. Here, we report that the synthetic compound RECTAS can induce the production of splice-neoantigens that could be used to boost antitumor immune responses. RECTAS suppressed tumor growth in a CD8+ T cell– and tumor major histocompatibility complex class I–dependent manner and enhanced immune checkpoint blockade efficacy. Subsequent transcriptome analysis and validation for immunogenicity identified six splice-neoantigen candidates whose expression was induced by RECTAS treatment. Vaccination of the identified neoepitopes elicited T cell responses capable of killing cancer cells in vitro, in addition to suppression of tumor growth in vivo upon sensitization with RECTAS. Collectively, these results provide support for the further development of splice variant–inducing treatments for cancer immunotherapy. Description Chemical induction of serine/arginine-rich splicing factor‒dependent splice-neoantigens with a synthetic compound, RECTAS, boosts antitumor immunity. Splice and dice Cancer immunotherapy is most effective when neoantigens are present at high abundance. However, some types of cancer do not have a high tumor mutational burden and thus do not have many neoantigens. Here, Matsushima et al. used an alternative approach to generate neoantigens. The authors chemically induced splice-neoantigens in mice with colorectal cancer using a synthetic compound called RECTAS. RECTAS treatment suppressed tumor growth in a CD8+ T cell–dependent manner and also enhanced immune checkpoint blockade. Together, these results suggest that splicing modulators merit further investigation as part of the cancer immunotherapy toolbox. —CM.