Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infection of Polarized Cultures of Human Intestinal Epithelial Cells with Hepatitis A Virus: Vectorial Release of Progeny Virions through Apical Cellular Membranes

ABSTRACT Although hepatitis A virus (HAV) is typically transmitted by the fecal-oral route, little is known of its interactions with cells of the gastrointestinal tract. We studied the replication of HAV in polarized cultures of Caco-2 cells, a human cell line which retains many differentiated functions of small intestinal epithelial cells. Virus uptake was 30- to 40-fold more efficient when the inoculum was placed on the apical rather than the basolateral surface of these cells, suggesting a greater abundance of the cellular receptor for HAV on the apical surface. Infection proceeded without cytopathic effect and did not influence transepithelial resistance or the diffusion of inulin across cell monolayers. Nonetheless, there was extensive release of progeny virus, which occurred almost exclusively into apical supernatant fluids (36.4% ± 12.5% of the total virus yield compared with 0.23% ± 0.13% release into basolateral fluids). Brefeldin A caused a profound inhibition of HAV replication, but also selectively reduced apical release of virus. These results indicate that polarized human epithelial cell cultures undergo vectorial infection with HAV and that virus release is largely restricted to the apical membrane. Virus release occurs in the absence of cytopathic effect and may involve cellular vesicular transport mechanisms.
Quantification of Pregenomic RNA and Covalently Closed Circular DNA in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) is generated from covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and plays important roles in viral genome amplification and replication. Hepatic pgRNA and cccDNA expression levels indicate viral persistence and replication activity. This study was aimed to measure hepatic pgRNA and cccDNA expression levels in various states of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Thirty-eight hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, including 14 positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and 24 negative for HBsAg but positive for anti-hepatitis B core (anti-HBc) antibody, were enrolled in this study. In HBsAg-negative but anti-HBc-positive group, HBV-DNA was detected in 20 of 24 (83%) noncancerous liver tissues for at least two genomic regions based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. pgRNA and cccDNA expression levels in occult HBV-infected patients were significantly lower than those in HBsAg-positive patients (P < 0.001). pgRNA and cccDNA in cancerous tissues were also detected without significant difference from those in noncancerous tissues. In conclusion, cccDNA and pgRNA are detected and represented HBV replication not only in noncancerous but also in cancerous liver tissues. In addition, the replication is shown in not only patients with HBsAg-positive but also occult HBV-infected patients, suggesting the contribution to HCC development.
Centralized Matchmaking for Minimal Agents

In this paper we propose a simple though efficient mechanism to enable distributed processing among nodes to communicate with each other and to dynamically rebalance the workload among them. We discuss a centralized matching mechanism and investigate different matching functions, varying in the amount of information that is taken into account. The main contribution of this paper is that the simplest mechanism, called FirstMatch, results in the fastest matchmaking achieving matching rates of 99%. We also show that this time efficiency does not have a cost in terms of efficient task allocation and resource utilization.
Implementation of 3-Nose Strategy in Odor Plume-Tracking Algorithm

This paper presents the implementation of 2 novel algorithms named Surge-spiralx and Surge-castx on sniffer robot for odor plume tracking in a laminar wind environment. The experimental set up is composed of odor tunnel, Sniffer Robot with 3 odor sensors and one anemometer. Experiments in two environments are carried out in order to study behavior of an algorithm. The algorithms are implemented and they have shown very good performance in terms of success ratio, while Surge-Spiralx algorithm having less distance overhead.
Advances and Future Applications of Augmented Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Peripheral nerve injuries remain a significant source of long lasting morbidity, disability, and economic costs. Much research continues to be performed in areas related to improving the surgical outcomes of peripheral nerve repair. In this review, the physiology of peripheral nerve regeneration and the multitude of efforts to improve surgical outcomes are discussed. Improvements in tissue engineering that have allowed for the use of synthetic conduits seeded with neurotrophic factors are highlighted. Selected pre-clinical and available clinical data using cell based methods such as Schwann cell, undifferentiated, and differentiated stem cell transplantation to guide and enhance peripheral nerve regeneration are presented. The limitations that still exist in the utility of neurotrophic factors and cell-based therapies are outlined. Strategies that are most promising for translation into the clinical arena are suggested.
The predictive utility of social cognitive measures in determining functional outcomes after acquired brain injury

Previous studies indicate that social cognition is impaired after an acquired brain injury (ABI). Social cognition refers to the ability to interpret and understand emotions, social settings and interpersonal exchanges. The present study examined impairments in social cognitive ability, and the predictive utility of social cognition in determining functional outcomes after an ABI. Thirty participants with an ABI (m= 18, f= 12) were recruited, and 30 healthy controls matched for similar sex, age and premorbid IQ. A series of independent samples t-tests compared the ABI and control participants on social cognitive measures. The relationship between the ABI participant’s social cognitive ability and their functional outcomes were examined using eight hierarchical regressions. t-test results indicated that the ABI group performed significantly worse on the objective and informant measures of social cognition, while no significant differences on the self-reported social cognition measures were observed. Social cognition significantly predicted 43.5% of the variance in living skills on the participants rated outcome measure. The other regression models showed trends where social cognition predicted functional outcomes, however were non-significant. Clinical implications of the current study include facilitating assessments, by identifying individuals and their families who would benefit from more assistance and education.
Is anything ever new?: considering emergence

Is anything ever new? : considering emergence In summary, three notions will be distinguished: 1. The intuitive definition of emergence: âsomething new appearsâ; 2. Pattern formation: an observer identifies âorganizationâ in a dynamical system; and 3. Intrinsic emergence: the system itself capitalizes on patterns that appear.
Two Patients with Dry Eye Disease Followed Up Using an Expression Assay of Ocular Surface Mucin

Purpose: We report 2 patients with dry eye disease followed up using the expression levels of ocular surface mucin. Case Reports: Patient 1: a 57-year-old woman with Sjögren's syndrome-associated dry eyes experienced severe dryness and foreign body sensation in both her eyes, and instilled sodium hyaluronate ophthalmic solution 0.3% about 10-15 times daily. We measured the expression levels of MUC5AC mRNA (MUC5AC) and MUC16 mRNA (MUC16) by using real-time reversed transcription polymerase chain reaction for the specimens of modified impression cytology. Expression levels of MUC5AC and MUC16 on her ocular surface were very low. Subjective symptoms and expression levels of ocular surface mucin improved after combined treatment of rebamipide (4 times daily) and fluorometholone (once daily) ophthalmic suspension. Patient 2: a 62-year-old man with chronic graft-versus-host disease-associated dry eye experienced severe foreign body sensation and developed superficial punctate keratopathy with mucous thread and filamentary keratitis. Expression level of MUC5AC was very high at baseline. Subjective symptoms and expression levels of ocular surface mucin improved by combined treatment of rebamipide (4 times daily) and fluorometholone (once daily) ophthalmic suspension. Conclusion: Clinical test for MUC gene expression on the ocular surface was found to be useful in the follow-up of dry eye treatment.
A Systematic Review Into the Psychological Causes and Correlates of Plagiarism

Interventions that are designed to stem plagiarism do not always override the motivation of individuals to cheat and, therefore, may not diminish misconduct. To inform more effective approaches, we conducted a systematic review to clarify the psychological causes of plagiarism. This review of 83 empirical papers showed that a specific blend of circumstances may foster plagiarism: an emphasis on competition and success rather than development and cooperation coupled with impaired resilience, limited confidence, impulsive tendencies, and biased cognitions. Fortunately, whenever students feel their life and studies align to their future aspirations, many of these circumstances tend to dissipate.
Can Students Evaluate Online Sources? Learning From Assessments of Civic Online Reasoning

Abstract To be an informed citizen in today’s information-rich environment, individuals must be able to evaluate information they encounter on the Internet. However, teachers currently have limited options if they want to assess students’ evaluations of digital content. In response, we created a range of short tasks that assess students’ civic online reasoning—the ability to effectively search for, evaluate, and verify social and political information online. Assessments ranged from paper-and-pencil tasks to open Internet search tasks delivered via Google Forms. We outline a process of assessment development in which middle school, high school, and college students in 12 states completed tasks. We present a series of representative tasks and analyses of trends in student performance. Across tasks and grade levels, students struggled to effectively evaluate online claims, sources, and evidence. These results point to a need for curriculum materials that support students’ development of civic online reasoning competencies.
Characterisation of placental malaria in olive baboons (Papio anubis) infected with Plasmodium knowlesi H strain

Pregnant women have increased susceptibility to malaria infection. In these women, malaria parasites are frequently found sequestered in the placental intervillous spaces, a condition referred to as placental malaria (PM). Placental malaria threatens the health of the mother and the child's life by causing still births and reduction in gestational age. An estimated 24 million pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa are at risk. Mechanisms responsible for increased susceptibility in pregnant women are not fully understood. Pregnancy malaria studies have been limited by the lack of a suitable animal model. This research aimed to develop a baboon (Papio anubis) model for studying PM. The pregnancies of three adult female baboons were synchronized and their gestational levels confirmed by ultrasonography. On the 150th day of gestation the pregnant baboons were infected with Plasmodium knowlesi H strain parasites together with four nulligravid control baboons. Parasitaemia was monitored from two days post inoculation until the 159th day of gestation when caesarean section was done on one baboon in order to obtain the placenta. Two baboons aborted their conceptus. Smears prepared from placental blood demonstrated the presence of Plasmodium knowlesi parasites in all the three sampled placentas. These new findings show that P. knowlesi sequesters in the baboon placenta. In addition, this study has characterized haemoglobin, eosinophil, Immunoglobulin G and Immunoglobulin M profiles in this model. Thus a non human primate (baboon) model for studying PM has been established. The established baboon - P. knowlesi model for studying human placental/pregnancy malaria now offers an opportunity for circumventing the obstacles experienced during human studies like having inadequate tissue for analysis, inaccurate estimation of gestational age, moral, ethical and financial limitations.
Engagement valence duality and spillover effects in online brand communities

Purpose Online brand communities (OBCs) are an effective avenue for brands to engage consumers. While engaging with the brand, consumers simultaneously interact with other OBC members; thus engaging with multiple, interrelated engagement objects concurrently. The purpose of this paper is to explore both positively and negatively valenced consumer engagement with multiple engagement objects, the interplay between these, and the spillover effect from consumers’ engagement with the OBC to their engagement with the brand. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on 16 in-depth interviews with OBC members of a luxury accessory brand, a constant comparative method was adopted using axial and selective coding procedures. The objective was to understand the nature of participants’ engagement with the brand, the OBC, and the interplay between individuals’ engagement with these objects. The coding framework and resultant interpretive frameworks address engagement valence, outcomes, and direction. Findings This study illustrates consumer expressions of consumers’ positively and negatively valenced engagement with a focal brand, and with the OBC. Further, it demonstrates the interplay (spillover effect) that occurs between consumers’ engagement with the OBC, to their engagement with the brand. While the existence of positively valenced engagement with the OBC was found to further enhance consumer brand engagement (i.e. reflecting an engagement accumulation effect), negatively valenced engagement with the OBC was found to reduce consumer brand engagement (i.e. reflecting an engagement detraction effect). Originality/value While consumer engagement has been recognized to have both positive and negative manifestations, this study demonstrates that consumers’ engagement valence may differ across interrelated engagement objects (i.e. the brand and the OBC). Further, we demonstrate the existence of engagement spillover effects from the OBC to the brand for both positively and negatively valenced engagement.
On a Conjecture of Carathéodoryr Analyticity Versus Smoothness

TheclassicalCaratheodoryConjecturestatesthateverysmo othconvexemb eddingofa2-sphereinR3musthaveatleasttwoumbilics.Aellknownapproachtotheproblemisbasedona\semi-lo cal"argument.ForanysurfaceinR3,theeigenspacesofthesecondfundamentalformde netwoorthog-onalline elds(principaldirections)whosesingu-laritiesareexactlytheumbilics.Toeachisolatedumbilicwecanattachtheindexofeitheronetwo elds,whichishalfofaninteger,andthesumofthoseindexesistheEulercharacteristicsurface,ifthesurfaceiscompactandallumbilicsareisolated.So,ifanemb eddedspherehasonlyoneumbilic,thismusthaveindextwo.Wjustob-servethat,uptoaninversionR3,wcanalwayssupp osethatthecurvatureatagivenumbilicisp ositive,andthereforetheconvexityhyp othesisisnotrelevantforthisargument.Examplesofumbilicsindexjareknownforallj1.Alo calconjecturestrongerthanCaratheo-dory's,knownastheLo ewnerconjecture,statesthattherearenoumbilicsofindexgreaterthenone.Thisconjecturehasb eenassertedtob etrueforanalyticsurfacesbyseveralauthors[Hamburger1940{1941;Bol1943{1944;Klotz1959;Titus1973],implyingthereforeCaratheodory'sConjectureforcAKPeters,Ltd.1058-6458/96$0.50p erpage
Spatial patterns in long-distance dispersal of Quercus ilex acorns by jays in a heterogeneous landscape

In this paper, 1 analyse the interaction between the holm-oak Quercus ilex, and one of its main dispersers, the European jay Garrulus glandarius, in an heterogeneous Mediterranean landscape. I quantify the spatial dispersal pattern of the seed shadow at two spatial scales, landscape (among patches) and microhabitat (within patches), by directly tracking the movement of seeds. Two main traits of the jay-mediated dispersal of holm-oak acorns across the landscape, the spatial pattern of dissemination and the distance from the source tree, are significantly and directly influenced by jay activity. Jays moved acorns nonrandomly, avoiding one main patch type of the study area to cache acorns, the shrubland-grasslands, and moving most of the acorns to pine stands, whether afforestation or open pinewoods. Within each patch type, jays had also a strong preference for caching acorns in some microhabitats, since > 95% of the acorns dispersed by jays were cached beneath pines. The distance of holm-oak acorn dispersal was long in the study site, over 250 m, with some dispersals occurring up to 1 km from the source oaks. The shape of the dispersal kernel function fitted to the dispersal pattern produced by jays differed from those quantified for many other plant species. Jay-mediated dispersal had two components, one local and another produced by long-distance dispersal. Due to the heterogeneity of these Mediterranean environments. this difference in scale overlaps with a difference in habitat composition, short distances events resulting in dispersals within the same oak stands and long distance events resulting in dispersal outside of oak stands, usually to other vegetation units. Jay activity and movement pattern can have thus dramatic effects on both the local regeneration as well as the potential for regional spread of the holm-oak populations.
Estimating Information Asymmetry in Securities Markets

We propose and estimate a model of informed trading that is a hybrid of the PIN and Kyle models. We evaluate the performance of the model vis-a-vis PIN and vis-a-vis reduced form price impact estimates. The relationships between price impacts and the estimated parameters are consistent with theory for our model, but not for PIN. The empirical results suggest that a composite measure of the parameters outperforms PIN in capturing information asymmetry. PIN primarily captures the liquidity trading component of the trading environment, consistent with our model's implication that both prices and order flows are necessary to identify private information.
Sources of self-efficacy of community college students enrolled in developmental mathematics

Abstract The need to improve student success in community colleges has resulted in a growing interest in developmental mathematics. Yet there remains a need to understand the motivations and beliefs of developmental mathematics students in order to cultivate their success. Self-efficacy has been identified to be a predictor of student success. Little is known about the antecedents or sources of self-efficacy of students enrolled in remedial courses at community colleges and how their self-efficacy can be bolstered through such courses. An instrument was developed to measure sources of mathematics self-efficacy and was originally tested with middle school students. Using a sample of 439 students, it was found that a scale which measures sources of self-efficacy is psychometrically acceptable for adults completing mathematics remediation. Our results indicated that the four theorised sources of self-efficacy explained a large percentage of the variance in mathematics skill self-efficacy for our sample. As hypothesised by others, mastery experiences was the best predictor of self-efficacy but all sources influenced mathematics skills self-efficacy.
Rhetorical, Metacognitive, and Cognitive Strategies in Teacher Candidates’ Essay Writing

This paper reports on a study about the rhetoric, metacognitive, and cognitive strategies pre-service teachers use before and after a process-based writing intervention when completing an argumentative essay. The data were collected through two think-aloud protocols while 21 Chilean English as a foreign language pre-service teachers completed an essay task. The findings show that strategies such as summarizing, reaffirming, and selecting ideas were only evidenced during the post intervention essay, without the use of communication and socio-affective strategies in either of the two essays. All in all, a process-based writing intervention does not only influence the number of times a strategy is used, but also the number of students who employs strategies when writing an essay—two key considerations for the devising of any writing program.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids and not plant sterols naturally-occurring in food influence lipid profile in obese women.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the consumption level of plant sterols naturally occurring in diet on the lipid profile in obese women with dyslipidemia. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study population was primarily comprised of 120 obese women aged over 55 from Poland, with twenty seven subjects dropping out of the study due to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Anthropometric appraisal included body height and weight, as well as waist and hip circumferences. Lipid profile was determined by commercially available enzymatic methods. Nutritional data, including plant sterols intake were assessed by 7-day food records. RESULTS The multiple linear regression, adjusted for age, height, Body Mass Index and Waist to Hip Ratio, showed the relation of polyunsaturated fatty acids with LDL-cholesterol concentration (p < 0.05). Natural plant sterols intake was estimated at Median = 146 mg/day. The correlation between LDL-cholesterol concentration and plant sterols intake was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that consumption of naturally-occurring polyunsaturated fatty acids and not plant sterols is connected with lower LDL-cholesterol concentration in obese women.
Optimum efficiency control of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors in drive trains of electric and hybrid vehicles

In automotive traction applications the interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) is preferentially chosen as traction drive due to its high torque and power densities. In drive trains of electrical vehicles (EV) and most hybrid electrical vehicles (HEV) the traction motor is operated in torque controlled mode. In a field-oriented control scheme an operation point selection strategy is required to choose appropriate current setpoints to generate the requested torque with high precision and optimal efficiency. In this paper the potential to improve the efficiency by operating a motor with minimum overall losses instead of minimum current per torque is investigated. The interaction between the motors loss characteristic, the impact of the voltage limit and the relevance of operation points for vehicle operation is explored theoretically and based on loss measurements. It is shown, that the losses can potentially be reduced at medium to high motor speeds with moderate torque requirements. This operation range corresponds to traveling with constant medium to high speed and slight acceleration and deceleration in electric vehicles. As well most operation points of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) are in that operation range due to the moderate accelerations and decelerations in both driving cycles.