Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
L-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy in genetically susceptible and resistant sheep: changes in prion strain or phenotypic plasticity of the disease-associated prion protein?

BACKGROUND Sheep with prion protein (PrP) gene polymorphisms QQ171 and RQ171 were shown to be susceptible to the prion causing L-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy (L-BSE), although RQ171 sheep specifically propagated a distinctive prion molecular phenotype in their brains, characterized by a high molecular mass protease-resistant PrP fragment (HMM PrPres), distinct from L-BSE in QQ171 sheep. METHODS The resulting infectious and biological properties of QQ171 and RQ171 ovine L-BSE prions were investigated in transgenic mice expressing either bovine or ovine PrP. RESULTS In both mouse lines, ovine L-BSE transmitted similarly to cattle-derived L-BSE, with respect to survival periods, histopathology, and biochemical features of PrPres in the brain, as well as splenotropism, clearly differing from ovine classic BSE or from scrapie strain CH1641. Nevertheless and unexpectedly, HMM PrPres was found in the spleen of ovine PrP transgenic mice infected with L-BSE from RQ171 sheep at first passage, reminiscent, in lymphoid tissues only, of the distinct PrPres features found in RQ171 sheep brains. CONCLUSIONS The L-BSE agent differs from both ovine classic BSE or CH1641 scrapie maintaining its specific strain properties after passage in sheep, although striking PrPres molecular changes could be found in RQ171 sheep and in the spleen of ovine PrP transgenic mice.
Submillimeter Imaging Polarimetry of the NGC 7538 Region

Imaging polarimetry of the 850 μm continuum emission in the NGC 7538 region, obtained with the SCUBA Polarimeter, is presented. The polarization map is interpreted in terms of thermal radiation by magnetically aligned dust grains. Two prominent cores associated with IRS 1 and IRS 11, IRS 1(SMM), and IRS 11(SMM), are found in the surface brightness map. Although these cores look similar in surface brightness, their polarization shows striking differences. In IRS 11(SMM), the polarization vectors are extremely well-ordered, and the degrees of polarization are quite high with an average of ~3.9%. In IRS 1(SMM), on the other hand, the directions of polarization vectors are locally disturbed, and the degrees of polarization are much lower than those of IRS 11(SMM). These differences suggest that small scale fluctuations of the magnetic field are more prominent in IRS 1(SMM). This can be interpreted in terms of the difference in evolutionary stage of the cores. Inside IRS 1(SMM), which seems to be at a later evolutionary stage than IRS 11(SMM), substructures such as subclumps or a cluster of infrared sources have already formed. Small scale fluctuations in the magnetic field could have developed during the formation of these substructures. The distribution of magnetic field directions derived from our polarization map agrees well with those of molecular outflows associated with IRS 1(SMM) and IRS 11(SMM). Comparisons of energy densities between the magnetic field and the outflows show that the magnetic field probably plays an important role in guiding the directions of the outflows.
The Genetic Architecture of Quantitative Traits Cannot Be Inferred from Variance Component Analysis

Classical quantitative genetic analyses estimate additive and non-additive genetic and environmental components of variance from phenotypes of related individuals. The genetic variance components are defined in terms of genotypic values reflecting underlying genetic architecture (additive, dominance and epistatic genotypic effects) and allele frequencies. However, the dependency of the definition of genetic variance components on the underlying genetic models is not often appreciated. Here, we show how the partitioning of additive and non-additive genetic variation is affected by the genetic models and parameterization of allelic effects. We show that arbitrarily defined variance components often capture a substantial fraction of total genetic variation regardless of the underlying genetic architecture in simulated and real data. Therefore, variance component analysis cannot be used to infer genetic architecture of quantitative traits. The genetic basis of quantitative trait variation in a natural population can only be defined empirically using high resolution mapping methods followed by detailed characterization of QTL effects.
An assessment of scientific and technical aspects of closed investigations of canine forensics DNA – case series from the University of California, Davis, USA

Aim To describe and assess the scientific and technical aspects of animal forensic testing at the University of California, Davis. The findings and recommendations contained in this report are designed to assess the past, evaluate the present, and recommend reforms that will assist the animal forensic science community in providing the best possible services that comply with court standards and bear judicial scrutiny. Methods A batch of 32 closed files of domestic dog DNA cases processed at the University of California, Davis, between August 2003 and July 2005 were reviewed in this study. The case files comprised copies of all original paperwork, copies of the cover letter or final report, laboratory notes, notes on analyses, submission forms, internal chains of custody, printed images and photocopies of evidence, as well as the administrative and technical reviews of those cases. Results While the fundamental aspects of animal DNA testing may be reliable and acceptable, the scientific basis for forensic testing animal DNA needs to be improved substantially. In addition to a lack of standardized and validated genetic testing protocols, improvements are needed in a wide range of topics including quality assurance and quality control measures, sample handling, evidence testing, statistical analysis, and reporting. Conclusion This review implies that although a standardized panel of short tandem repeat and mitochondrial DNA markers and publicly accessible genetic databases for canine forensic DNA analysis are already available, the persistent lack of supporting resources, including standardized quality assurance and quality control programs, still plagues the animal forensic community. This report focuses on closed cases from the period 2003-2005, but extends its scope more widely to include other animal DNA forensic testing services.
ANALISIS PROFIL KETERAMPILAN PROSES SAINS SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR DI KABUPATEN SUMEDANG

Science Process Skills (SPS) are all scientific skills used to acquire, develop, and apply scientific concepts and theories. SPS mastery is not only useful in science learning but also for the daily life of the students. Therefore very important mastery of the ability of the process of science since elementary school age.This study aims to obtain an overview of the students' science process skill profile. The research method used is survey method with research subject that is as much as 16 elementary school in Sumedang regency. Data collection techniques used are test techniques. The data have been obtained and then analyzed by simple statistical analysis.Based on the results of research that has been done can be seen that the ability of SPS in elementary school students in Sumedang regency as a whole is still low that has an average value of 9.8, as well as for every aspect of SPS it is still low with a percentage of 49.7%. There is no gender effect on the difference of students' SPS capability because both male and female students have the same low ability of SPS which is 48.7% and 49.1% respectively.
A Potential Role for Glucose Transporters in the Evolution of Human Brain Size

Differences in cognitive abilities and the relatively large brain are among the most striking differences between humans and their closest primate relatives. The energy trade-off hypothesis predicts that a major shift in energy allocation among tissues occurred during human origins in order to support the remarkable expansion of a metabolically expensive brain. However, the molecular basis of this adaptive scenario is unknown. Two glucose transporters (SLC2A1 and SLC2A4) are promising candidates and present intriguing mutations in humans, resulting, respectively, in microcephaly and disruptions in whole-body glucose homeostasis. We compared SLC2A1 and SLC2A4 expression between humans, chimpanzees and macaques, and found compensatory and biologically significant expression changes on the human lineage within cerebral cortex and skeletal muscle, consistent with mediating an energy trade-off. We also show that these two genes are likely to have undergone adaptation and participated in the development and maintenance of a larger brain in the human lineage by modulating brain and skeletal muscle energy allocation. We found that these two genes show human-specific signatures of positive selection on known regulatory elements within their 5′-untranslated region, suggesting an adaptation of their regulation during human origins. This study represents the first case where adaptive, functional and genetic lines of evidence implicate specific genes in the evolution of human brain size.
Renal centre characteristics and physician practice patterns associated with home dialysis use.

BACKGROUND There is a wide variation in home dialysis use (peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis) between renal centres. This study identifies which centre characteristics and practice patterns are associated with home dialysis use. METHODS An observational study of all UK patients starting renal replacement therapy (RRT) in 2007-2008 using patient characteristics from the UK Renal Registry (UKRR) and renal centre characteristics ascertained from a national survey. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the association between patient and centre characteristics and home dialysis uptake. RESULTS Twenty-six per cent of 11 913 patients used home dialysis and survey responses were available from every renal centre. After taking into account patient factors, several centre factors were associated with a higher probability of home dialysis: physicians aspiring to a higher 'ideal' peritoneal dialysis rate (odds ratio, OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.06-1.37, P = 0.003 per 10% increase in 'ideal' percentage), early use of peritoneal dialysis (PD, OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.18-1.95, P < 0.001), use of home visits to educate patients pre-dialysis (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.05-1.83, P = 0.02) and to provide trouble-shooting advice for existing home dialysis patients (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.11-2.42, P = 0.01). Using videos/DVDs as part of the pre-dialysis education programme was associated with a lower probability of home dialysis, but this was correlated with lower levels of physician enthusiasm (r = -0.48, P < 0.001). After adjustment for this, the association disappeared (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.55-1.07, P = 0.1). CONCLUSIONS Home dialysis use is associated with modifiable centre factors as well as individual patient characteristics.
A Survey of Predictive Modelling under Imbalanced Distributions

Many real world data mining applications involve obtaining predictive models using data sets with strongly imbalanced distributions of the target variable. Frequently, the least common values of this target variable are associated with events that are highly relevant for end users (e.g. fraud detection, unusual returns on stock markets, anticipation of catastrophes, etc.). Moreover, the events may have dierent costs and benets, which when associated with the rarity of some of them on the available training data creates serious problems to predictive modelling techniques. This paper presents a survey of existing techniques for handling these important applications of predictive analytics. Although most of the existing work addresses classication tasks (nominal target variables), we also describe methods designed to handle similar problems within regression tasks (numeric target variables). In this survey we discuss the main challenges raised by imbalanced distributions, describe the main approaches to these problems, propose a taxonomy of these methods and refer to some related problems within predictive modelling.
The mysterious microcircuitry of the cerebellar nuclei

Abstract The microcircuitry of cerebellar cortex and, in particular, the physiology of its main element, the Purkinje neuron, has been extensively investigated and described. However, activity in Purkinje neurons, either as single cells or populations, does not directly mediate the cerebellar effects on the motor effector systems. Rather, the result of the entire cerebellar cortical computation is passed to the relatively small cerebellar nuclei that act as the final, integrative processing unit in the cerebellar circuitry. The nuclei ultimately control the temporal and spatial features of the cerebellar output. Given this key role, it is striking that the internal organization and the connectivity with afferent and efferent pathways in the cerebellar nuclei are rather poorly known. In the present review, we discuss some of the many critical shortcomings in the understanding of cerebellar nuclei microcircuitry: the extent of convergence and divergence of the cerebellar cortical pathway to the various cerebellar nuclei neurons and subareas, the possible (lack of) conservation of the finely‐divided topographical organization in the cerebellar cortex at the level of the nuclei, as well as the absence of knowledge of the synaptic circuitry within the cerebellar nuclei. All these issues are important for predicting the pattern‐extraction and encoding capabilities of the cerebellar nuclei and, until resolved, theories and models of cerebellar motor control and learning may err considerably.
Impact of Stressors on Performance of Weaned Calves An Overview of Our Research on Acute Phase Proteins and Beef Cattle Performance

The science of stress is a complex topic. Indeed, many individuals view, define, and address stress differently. Nonetheless, collectively, we can agree that stress is the result of an external or internal pressure which causes an organism to deviate from homeostasis. Professionals engaged in food animal production systems are certainly aware of the range of stressors impacting their animals; however, the repercussions of these events on nutrition and performance considerations are recently becoming better understood. This article discusses research findings directed toward the acute phase protein reaction and performance of beef calves in response to the stressors related to normal production practices such as weaning, vaccination, castration, and transportation.
A Monthly Double-blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International E-journal -included in the International Serial Directories Effect of Population on Economic Development in Nigeria: a Quantitative Assessment Adediran Olanrewaju Adewole* Ijpss a Monthly Double-blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open

This study examines the effect of population on economic development in Nigeria. Thus, Malthusian theory of population is relevant to Nigeria as a developing economy. The study used trend analysis of the study with the scope spanning between 1981 and 2007. The study adopted ordinary least square method of analysis. In examining the time series properties using the Phillips-Perron (PP) non-parametric unit root test. The analysis showed that real gross domestic product, population growth and per capita income are non-stationary at levels, but the null hypothesis of non stationary is rejected at first difference for both test models with intercept and trend. The study revealed that population growth has positive and significant impact on economic sustainability proxied as real gross domestic product (RGDP) and Per Capita Income. The study later proffer various policies options which government can implement for better economic development as a result of continuous population growth.
A theorem about relative entropy of quantum states with an application to privacy in quantum communication

We prove the following theorem about relative entropy of quantum states. "Substate theorem: Let rho and sigma be quantum states in the same Hilbert space with relative entropy S(rho|sigma) = Tr rho (log rho - log sigma) = c. Then for all epsilon > 0, there is a state rho' such that the trace distance ||rho' - rho||_t = Tr sqrt{(rho' - rho)^2} <= epsilon, and rho'/2^{O(c/epsilon^2)} <= sigma. " It states that if the relative entropy of rho and sigma is small, then there is a state rho' close to rho, i.e. with small trace distance ||rho' - rho||_t, that when scaled down by a factor 2^{O(c)} `sits inside', or becomes a `substate' of, sigma. This result has several applications in quantum communication complexity and cryptography. Using the substate theorem, we derive a privacy trade-off for the set membership problem in the two-party quantum communication model. Here Alice is given a subset A of [n], Bob an input i in [n], and they need to determine if i in A. "Privacy trade-off for set membership: In any two-party quantum communication protocol for the set membership problem, if Bob reveals only k bits of information about his input, then Alice must reveal at least n/2^{O(k)} bits of information about her input. " We also discuss relationships between various information theoretic quantities that arise naturally in the context of the substate theorem.
Beliefs about the NCTM Standards of Special Educators of Students with Emotional Disturbance

The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) aims to reform mathematics instruction for all students. Mathematics, according to the NCTM, must connect to student interest and real-world situations (Burrill, 1997; Lappan, 1998; Harris, Marcus, McLaren, & Fey, 2001), utilize technology and hands-on manipulatives, and engage students in real-world applications (Lappan, 1998; NCTM 2000). Classrooms that utilize the NCTM standards should foster and focus on student thinking and reasoning with opportunities for invention and practice (Hiebert, 1999; Stein, 2001). As of 2001, 49 states adopted the NCTM Standards as the guide for state standards (Woodward, 2004). As a result, general education classrooms are adopting the NCTM principles and associated practices (Woodward, 2004). Research literature supports the use and efficacy of the NCTM Standards in general education settings. The beliefs of general education teachers toward mathematics reforms have been researched and found related to effective mathematics instruction (Maccini & Gagnon, 2002; Manouchehri, 1998). Research does not, however, address the performance of elementary students with emotional disturbance (ED) in relation to the NCTM standards, nor does it investigate the beliefs of special educators who teach students with ED. This study examined the beliefs of individuals providing the mathematics instruction to elementary students with ED in a self-contained setting as compared to general educators in the same school. The study also attempted to determine the factors that influence beliefs of the NCTM Standards. Through analyzing teachers’ beliefs of the NCTM Standards, mathematics Beliefs about the NCTM Standards of Special Educators of Students with Emotional Disturbance Carlyn Floyd
BEHIND THE MIRRORS: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN COSMETOLOGISTS AND SALONS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVOCACY AND EDUCATION

OF DISSERTATION BEHIND THE MIRRORS: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN COSMETOLOGISTS AND SALONS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVOCACY AND EDUCATION African American beauty salons across the country have historically served as settings for social interaction, political activism, and community organizing in the African American community. These settings often offer opportunities for intimacy between cosmetologists and their clients. Research findings suggest that the unique bonds between women in salons can be a viable option when providing health intervention and education to large numbers of women. Data indicates that salon campaigns and promotions which focused on health issues such as stroke and diabetes education, breast and cervical cancer awareness, healthy living, and smoking cessation, have been efficacious in changing unhealthy habits or increasing knowledge. There are a plethora of social and health issues that could also benefit from this culturally sensitive platform. In particular, abused African American women face multiple barriers when accessing services offered by legal, medical, and social services. These barriers can affect the helpseeking behaviors of victims/survivors. Developing strategic interventions that address the ways in which these women seek help as well as increasing access to services is essential. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how African American cosmetologists and salons might be used in domestic violence advocacy and education. Theories framing this research included intersectionality and the social ecological framework (SEF). The interrelatedness of intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and societal factors within each framework was used to understand how women experience violence and how the social phenomena in African American salons might provide alternative means of intervention to reach and empower marginalized, abused women. Eleven licensed, African American cosmetologists in three separate salons were recruited. Their perceptions (thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and opinions) about domestic violence advocacy and experiences with clients were collected and analyzed. In-depth interviews with each cosmetologist recreated their daily encounters in the salon and provided information about their relationships with clients. These findings were triangulated by salon observations and survey instrumentation. Common patterns and themes from this data were identified and coded. The findings were reported using rich, descriptive narratives provided by the cosmetologists.
Circadian Control of Antibacterial Immunity: Findings from Animal Models

Most of the biological functions, including the immune system, are linked to circadian rhythms in living organisms. Changes occurring to biological parameters as the result of these circadian rhythms can therefore affect the outcome of a disease. For decades, model organisms have proven to be a great tool to understanding biological mechanisms such as circadian cycle and immunity. In this review, we created an inventory of the use of model organisms in order to decipher the relation between circadian rhythms and antibacterial immunity.
The effect of overlaying titanium mesh with collagen membrane for ridge preservation

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine the effect of overlaying titanium mesh (TM) with an adjunctive collagen membrane (CM) for preserving the buccal bone when used in association with immediate implant placement in dogs. Methods Immediate implant placements were performed in the mesial sockets of the third premolars of five dogs. At one site the TM was attached to the fixture with the aid of its own stabilizers and then covered by a CM (CM group), while the contralateral site received only TM (TM group). Biopsy specimens were retrieved for histologic and histomorphometric analyses after 16 weeks. Results All samples exhibited pronounced buccal bone resorption, and a high rate of TM exposure was noted (in three and four cases of the five samples in each of the TM and CM groups, respectively). A dense fibrous tissue with little vascularity or cellularity had infiltrated through the pores of the TM irrespective of the presence of a CM. The distances between the fixture platform and the first bone-implant contact and the bone crest did not differ significantly between the TM and CM groups. Conclusions Our study suggests that the additional use of a CM over TM does not offer added benefit for mucosal healing and buccal bone preservation. Graphical Abstract