gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Fully Attenuated meq and pp38 Double Gene Deletion Mutant Virus Confers Superior Immunological Protection against Highly Virulent Marek’s Disease Virus Infection (2022)

Marek's disease virus (MDV) induces immunosuppression and neoplastic disease in chickens. The virus is controllable via an attenuated <i>meq</i> deletion mutant virus, which has the disadvantage of retaining the ability to induce lymphoid organ atrophy. To overcome this deficiency and produce more vaccine candidates, a recombinant MDV was generated from the highly virulent Md5BAC strain, in which both <i>meq</i> and a cytolytic replication-related gene, <i>pp38</i>, were deleted. Replication of the double deletion virus, Md5BAC Δ<i>meq</i>Δ<i>pp38</i>, was comparable with that of the parental virus <i>in vitro</i>. The double deletion virus was shown to be fully attenuated and to reduce lymphoid organ atrophy <i>in vivo</i>. Crucially, Md5BAC Δ<i>meq</i>Δ<i>pp38</i> confers superior protection against highly virulent virus compared with a commercial vaccine strain, CVI988/Rispens. Transcriptomic profiling indicated that Md5BAC Δ<i>meq</i>Δ<i>pp38</i> induced a different host immune response from CVI988/Rispens. In summary, a novel, effective, and safe vaccine candidate for prevention and control of MD caused by highly virulent MDV is reported. <b>IMPORTANCE</b> MDV is a highly contagious immunosuppressive and neoplastic pathogen. The virus can be controlled through vaccination via an attenuated <i>meq</i> deletion mutant virus that retains the ability to induce lymphoid organ atrophy. In this study, we overcame the deficiency by generating <i>meq</i> and <i>pp38</i> double deletion mutant virus. Indeed, the successfully generated <i>meq</i> and <i>pp38</i> double deletion mutant virus had significantly reduced replication capacity <i>in vivo</i> but not <i>in vitro</i>. It was fully attenuated and conferred superior protection efficacy against very virulent MDV challenge. In addition, the possible immunological protective mechanism of the double deletion mutant virus was shown to be different from that of the gold standard MDV vaccine, CVI988/Rispens. Overall, we successfully generated an attenuated <i>meq</i> deletion mutant virus and widened the range of potential vaccine candidates. Importantly, this study provides for the first time the theoretical basis of vaccination induced by fully attenuated gene-deletion mutant virus.
Imaging residual inflammatory cardiovascular risk (2019)

Targeting residual cardiovascular risk in primary and secondary prevention, would allow deployment of novel therapeutic agents, facilitating precision medicine. For example, lowering vascular inflammation is a promising strategy to reduce the residual inflammatory cardiovascular risk in patients already receiving optimal medical therapy, but prescribing novel anti-inflammatory treatments will be problematic due to the lack of specific companion diagnostic tests, to guide their targeted use in clinical practice. Currently available tests for the detection of coronary inflammation are either non-specific for the cardiovascular system (e.g. plasma biomarkers) or expensive and not readily available (e.g. hybrid positron emission tomography imaging). Recent technological advancements in coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) allow non-invasive detection of high-risk plaque features (positive remodelling, spotty calcification, low attenuation plaque, and napkin-ring sign) and help identify the vulnerable patient, but they provide only indirectly information about coronary inflammation. Perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI), a novel method for assessing coronary inflammation by analysing routine CCTA, captures changes in the perivascular adipose tissue composition driven by inflammatory signals coming from the inflamed coronary artery, by analysing the three-dimensional gradients of perivascular attenuation, followed by adjustments for technical, anatomical, and biological factors. By detecting vascular inflammation, perivascular FAI enhances cardiovascular risk discrimination which could aid more cost-effective deployment of novel therapeutic agents. In this article, we present the existing non-invasive modalities for the detection of coronary inflammation and provide a practical guide for their use in clinical practice.
Fabrication of high efficiency and radiation resistant GaAs solar cells (1979)

Systematic improvements in fabrication yield were obtained by appropriate control of the liquid phase epitaxial growth process, contact fabrication and surface preparation. To improve radiation hardness, the junction depth was decreased while overcoming the penalty in decreased solar cell efficiency which tends to go hand-in-hand with the reduction of junction depth in (AlGa) As-GaAs solar cells. Cells were made with an AMO efficiency of 18% and a junction depth of 0.5 micrometers, as compared to junction depths on the order of 1.0 micrometers. With respect to the damage caused by proton irradiation, the nature of the observed damage was correlated to the energy and penetration depth of the damaging protons.
Dual Polymer Conditioning of Water Treatment Residuals (2005)

Conditioning of either wastewater biosolids or water treatment residuals conventionally utilizes a single polymer to improve subsequent dewatering. The sequential addition of two polymers has been reported to enhance biosolids dewaterability, but comparable benefits have not been demonstrated for water treatment residuals. This paper evaluated the use of cationic and nonionic polymers, singly and in combination (dual), to investigate whether dual polymer conditioning of residuals offers any advantages, and to determine whether the results could be accommodated by current mechanistic understandings. For this purpose, lab-scale tests used capillary suction time (CST), supernatant viscosity, zeta potential, streaming current, turbidity, floc size, and rheometric analyses. Comparisons of CST and viscosity results for single and dual polymer additions indicated that dual polymer use gave moderately improved dewaterability, possibly due to the increased mixing utilized for dual polymer addition. Using a cationic polymer produced a less turbid supernatant. Zeta potential and streaming current were not good indicators of conditioning efficacy when a nonionic polymer was used. Rheometric analyses were only meaningful in one selected method for treatment of the data: the area under the rheogram up to a shear rate of 30inverses. Overall, implementation of dual polymer use does not appear warranted.
Propagation of femtosecond filaments in atmospheric conditions (2007)

The initiation and propagation of a filament generated by ultrashort laser pulses in both fog and turbulent air is investigated experimentally. Filaments can propagate through dense fog, supported by the surrounding photon bath, which is transmitted and re-feeds the filament after he diffracts on a water droplet. Filaments can can also be generated and propagated even after the beam has propagated through strongly turbulent regions, with structure parameters C<sub>n</sub><sup>2</sup> up to 5 orders of magnitude larger than encountered in usual atmospheric conditions. Moreover, the filament position within the beam is not affected by the interaction with a turbulent region. This remarkable stability is allowed by the strong Kerr refractive index gradients generated within the filament, which exceed the turbulence-induced refractive index gradients by 2 orders of magnitude.
Social policy in Singapore : a Confucian model ? (2001)

According to this paper, Singapore ’ success in economic and social development in recent decades has been due to pragmatic policies and general public acceptance of a limited government role in such areas as health, social security. Pragmatism has consisted of placing a significant part of the burden of social welfare on families and individuals rather than on the state while, at the same time, using government policies to ensure that citizens do take social welfare objectives seriously. The pre-eminent example of this is Singapore’s social security system which is based on compulsory savings by individuals and firms, and are managed and invested by the Central Provident Fund (CPF). This provides income security for retirees in their post-working years without placing an excessive fiscal burden on the state. Similarly, the health care system is characterized by a pragmatic mix of personal payments, limited national insurance coverage, and employment-based health care benefits. However, in the sphere of education, government spending has been substantial in recognition of the fact that Singapore’s economic prospects were tied to the availability of a highly-skilled workforce. At present, higher education in Singapore remains highly subsidized and private sector involvement_especially in terms of funding and management_remains low.
Characterization of multiple bistratified retinal ganglion cells in a purkinje cell protein 2‐Cre transgenic mouse line (2012)

Retinal ganglion cells are categorized into multiple classes, including multiple types of bistratified ganglion cells (BGCs). The recent use of transgenic mouse lines with specific type(s) of ganglion cells that are labeled by fluorescent markers has facilitated the morphological and physiological studies of BGCs, particularly the directional-selective BGCs. The most important benefit from using transgenic animals is the capability to perform in vivo gene manipulation. In particular, the Cre/LoxP recombination system has become a powerful tool, allowing gene deletion, overexpression, and ectopic expression in a cell type-specific and temporally controlled fashion. The key to this tool is the availability of Cre mouse lines with cell or tissue type-specific expression of Cre recombinase. In this study we characterized the Cre-positive retinal ganglion cells in a PCP2 (Purkinje cell protein 2)-cre mouse line. We found that all of the Cre-positive retinal ganglion cells were BGCs. Based on morphological criteria, we determined that they can be grouped into five types. The On- and Off-dendrites of three of these types stratified outside of the cholinergic bands and differed from directional selective ganglion cells (DSGCs) morphologically. These cells were negative for Brn-3b and positive for both calretinin and CART retina markers. The remaining two types were identified as putative On-Off and On-DSGCs. This Cre mouse line could be useful for further studies of the molecular and functional properties of BGCs in mice.
Study of low noise preamplifier systems for use with room temperature mercuric iodide (HgI/sub 2/) x-ray detectors (1980)

An analysis of different preamplification systems for use with room temperature mercuric iodide x-ray detectors has been performed. Resistor-, drain-, and light-feedback preamplifiers have been studied. Energy resolution of 295 eV (FWHM) for Fe-55 source (5.9 keV) and 225 eV (FWHM) for the pulser have been obtained with both the detector and the input FET at room temperature using the pulsed-light feedback preamplifier. It has been shown that cooling the input FET using a small Peltier element allows the energy resolution to be improved up to 25%.
Cover crop effects on soil water relationships (1998)

ABSTRACT: Cover crops help control erosion, prevent nutrient leaching, fix nitrogen, improve sail conditions, and protect seedlings, but also use water, thus affecting soil water relationships far the next crop. Effects are positive when cover crops are managed to improve infiltration and decrease evaporation, or to remove water from a wet soil to allow timely establishment of the next crop. Effects are negative when they limit water for the next crop or aggravate a wet soil condition. Cover crops are better suited to humid and subhumid regions where precipitation is more reliable than to semiarid regions where precipitation is limited. Where cover crops are not used, use of conservation tillage that involves crop residue retention on the soil surface helps conserve soil water and provides many of the benefits of cover crops, except for nitrogen fixation, soil nutrient (especially nitrate) uptake to prevent leaching, excess water removal, and additional organic matter inputs.
A high fill-factor uncooled infrared detector with thermo-mechanical bimaterial structure (2007)

By adopting new capacitance reading scheme, a capacitive type uncooled infrared detector structure with high fill-factor and effectively controllable thermal conductance is proposed. Instead of conventional MEMS capacitor structure (i.e. an insulating gap between top and bottom electrodes), a capacitor with a floating electrode and two bottom electrodes has been applied to the infrared detector. Infrared absorber which also acts as the floating electrode of the capacitor is connected to the substrate via two bimaterial legs. These legs consist of two materials having large difference in thermal expansion coefficient (Al: 25ppm/K and SiO<sub>2</sub>: 0.35ppm/K), so that the legs are deflected according to the certain temperature change due to the infrared absorption. This leg's movement results in the displacement of the top electrode of the capacitor, and infrared is sensed by measuring the capacitance change. However, the one end tip of the bimaterial leg does not contain Al and consist of SiO<sub>2</sub>, solely. This leg design enables the absorber to be separated from the substrate thermally as well as electrically, because insulators usually have low thermal conductivity than metals more than an order. The capacitance change by the result of infrared absorption is read only through two bottom electrodes which are placed right under the absorber, and also perform as infrared reflectors. The design has advantages of enlarging fill-factor of the infrared detector, effective thermal conductance controlling and high sensitivity to IR. With only small dimensions of SiO<sub>2</sub> (10&#956;m x 2&#956;m x 0.2&#956;m), the device can have low thermal conductance of 1.3x10<sup>-7</sup>W/K, so that the portion of the legs can be reduced in a pixel area. The device has fill-factor of 0.77 and 14%/K of sensitivity to infrared rays concerning 1~2K of temperature difference between the structure and the substrate.
Genetic Analysis of the Assimilation of C 5 -Dicarboxylic Acids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (2014)

There is a wealth of information on the genetic regulation and biochemical properties of bacterial C4-dicarboxylate transport systems. In sharp contrast, there are far fewer studies describing the transport and assimilation of C5-dicarboxylates among bacteria. In an effort to better our understanding on this subject, we identified the structural and regulatory genes necessary for the utilization of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. The PA5530 gene, encoding a putative dicarboxylate transporter, was found to be essential for the growth of P. aeruginosa PAO1 on both α-KG and glutarate (another C5-dicarboxylate). Metabolite analysis confirmed that the PA5530 gene was necessary for the uptake of extracellular α-KG. Like other substrate-inducible transporter genes, expression of the PA5530 gene was induced by extracellular C5-dicarboxylates. It was later found that the expression of the PA5530 gene was driven solely by a -24/-12 promoter recognized by the alternative sigma factor RpoN. Surprisingly, the enhancer binding protein MifR, which is known to have an essential role in biofilm development, was required for the expression of the PA5530 gene. The MifR protein is homologous to other transcriptional regulators involved in dicarboxylate assimilation, suggesting that MifR might interact with RpoN to activate the expression of the PA5530 gene in response to extracellular C5-dicarboxylates, especially α-KG. The results of this study provide a framework for exploring the assimilation of α-KG in other pseudomonads.
Prognostic impacts and dynamic changes of cohesin complex gene mutations in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (2017)

Cohesin complex is a multimeric protein complex, composed of four core subunits, including SMC1A, SMC3, RAD21, and either STAG1 or STAG2 proteins. They form a ring-shaped structure, and mediate sister chromatid cohesion and segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Recently, the cohesin gene mutations have been reported in myeloid neoplasms
Security Issues for Cloud Computing (2010)

In this paper, the authors discuss security issues for cloud computing and present a layered framework for secure clouds and then focus on two of the layers, i.e., the storage layer and the data layer. In particular, the authors discuss a scheme for secure third party publications of documents in a cloud. Next, the paper will converse secure federated query processing with map Reduce and Hadoop, and discuss the use of secure co-processors for cloud computing. Finally, the authors discuss XACML implementation for Hadoop and discuss their beliefs that building trusted applications from untrusted components will be a major aspect of secure cloud computing.Request access from your librarian to read this chapter's full text.
Real-time monitoring on boiler combustion based on acoustic measurement (2006)

The temperature field is one of the most important parameters of combustion safety in boiler. In this paper, acoustic pyrometry, a new diagnosis tool of combustion safety in boiler, is given. The principle of acoustic pyrometry is introduced. The unique benefits of diagnosis on combustion safety are described. Two key techniques of acoustic pyrometry, the measurement of time of flight (TOF) of sound wave and the reconstruction algorithm of two-dimensional temperature field, are solved, based on cross correlation analysis and series expansion reconstruction algorithm respectively. According to a corner tangential temperature field mode, the accuracy and feasibility of acoustic pyrometry is proved by computer simulation
Run-time consistency checking in discrete simulation models (1995)

A new and efficient method is presented to improve the validation capabilities of a discrete event simulator. Discrete event monitors are introduced as a means to analyse event traces during a simulation run. This facilitates the defection and location of erroneous behaviour in a design specification. Furthermore, a specification language for discrete event monitors is described and it is shown how this language facilitates the integration of other specification methods. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed techniques. >
Alkali Metal Complexes of a Bis(diphenylphosphino)methane Functionalized Amidinate Ligand: Synthesis and Luminescence (2021)

A novel bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (DPPM) functionalized amidine ligand (DPPM-C(N-Dipp)<sub>2</sub> H) (Dipp=2,6-diisopropylphenyl) was synthesized. Subsequent deprotonation with suitable alkali metal bases resulted in the corresponding complexes [M{DPPM-C(N-Dipp)<sub>2</sub> }(L<sub>n</sub> )] (M=Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs; L=thf, Et<sub>2</sub> O). The alkali metal complexes form monomeric species in the solid state, exhibiting intramolecular metal-π-interactions. In addition, a caesium derivative [Cs{PPh<sub>2</sub> CH<sub>2</sub> -C(N-Dipp)<sub>2</sub> }]<sub>6</sub> was obtained by cleavage of a diphenylphosphino moiety, forming an unusual six-membered ring structure in the solid state. All complexes were fully characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy as well as elemental analysis. Furthermore, the photoluminescent properties of the complexes were thoroughly investigated, revealing differences in emission with regards to the respective alkali metal. Interestingly, the hexanuclear [Cs{PPh<sub>2</sub> CH<sub>2</sub> -C(N-Dipp)<sub>2</sub> }]<sub>6</sub> metallocycle exhibits a blue emission in the solid state, which is significantly red-shifted at low temperatures. The bifunctional design of the ligand, featuring orthogonal donor atoms (N vs. P) and a high steric demand, is highly promising for the construction of advanced metal and main group complexes.
Complications in the treatment of periprosthetic joint infection of the hip: when do they occur? (2021)

Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication after total hip arthroplasty (THA). The common treatment in the USA is a two-stage exchange which can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to analyze complications in the treatment course of patients undergoing two-stage exchange for PJI THA and determine when they occur. <b>Methods:</b> We analyzed all patients that underwent two-stage exchange arthroplasty for treatment of PJI after THA from January 2005 to January 2018 at a single institution. Complications were categorized as medical or surgical and divided into interstage and post-reimplantation. Minimum follow-up was 1 year. Success was based on the MusculoSkeletal Infection Society (MSIS) definition. <b>Results</b>: 205 hips (203 patients) underwent first stage of planned two-stage exchange. The median age was 68 (interquartile range (IQR) 18). There were 97 males and 106 females. Overall, 73/205 (38 %) patients had at least one complication during treatment: 13.5 % (25/185) of patients experienced a medical complication and 28.1 % (52/185) a surgical complication; 2.4 % died within 1 year of surgery, and 4.9 % (15/203) had mortality at a median of 2.5 years (IQR 4.9); 27 % of patients had complications during the interstage period, most commonly being recurrence of infection requiring additional surgery (63 %); and 14 % of patients experienced a complication following reimplantation, most commonly persistence or recurrence of infection (59 %). While 92 % of patients that initiated treatment were ultimately reimplanted, only 69 % were infection free at 1 year and required no additional treatment. <b>Conclusions</b>: While two-stage exchanges for PJI in THA have been reported as successful, there are few reports of the complications during the process. In our series, significant numbers of patients experienced complications, often during the interstage period, highlighting the morbidity of this method of treatment.
Differential expression of FIZZ1 and Ym1 in alternatively versus classically activated macrophages (2002)

Alternatively activated macrophages (aaMphi) display molecular and biological characteristics that differ from those of classically activated macrophages (caMphi). Recently, we described an experimental model of murine trypanosomosis in which the early stage of infection of mice with a Trypanosoma brucei brucei variant is characterized by the development of caMphi, whereas in the late and chronic stages of infection, aaMphi develop. In the present study, we used suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) to identify genes that are expressed differentially in aaMphi versus caMphi elicited during infection with this T. b. brucei variant. We show that FIZZ1 and Ym1 are induced strongly in in vivo- and in vitro-elicited aaMphi as compared with caMphi. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the in vivo induction of FIZZ1 and Ym1 in macrophages depends on IL-4 and that in vitro, IFN-gamma antagonizes the effect of IL-4 on the expression of FIZZ1 and Ym1. Collectively, these results open perspectives for new insights into the functional properties of aaMphi and establish FIZZ1 and Ym1 as markers for aaMphi.