Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induced resistance to streptomycin.

Some chromogenic bacteria and a group of salmonella strains were “trained” to high streptomycin resistance in vitro. A few equally resistant strains were recovered from streptomycin treated patients. Acquired resistance is accompanied by marked alteration of metabolic activities of the bacteria. Decreased rate of growth and of reducing intensity, changed fermentation of carbohydrates and protein derivatives (H2S production), loss of pigment formation of B. pyocyaneus, loss of animal pathogenicity in salmonellae are the main indications of a damaged enzymatic system. No streptomycin destroying qualities develop in resistant strains. It is suggested that induced resistance to streptomycin is not so much the result of a selective process but rather the physiological response of the bacterial cell against the damaging drug. The mode of drug action and clinical implications are discussed.
Contribution of the MexX-MexY-OprM Efflux System to Intrinsic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT To test the possibility that MexX-MexY, a new set of efflux system components, is associated with OprM and contributes to intrinsic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we constructed a series of isogenic mutants lacking mexXY and/ormexAB and/or oprM from a laboratory strain PAO1, and examined their susceptibilities to ofloxacin, tetracycline, erythromycin, gentamicin, and streptomycin. Loss of either MexXY or OprM from the MexAB-deficient mutant increased susceptibility to all agents tested, whereas loss of MexXY from the MexAB-OprM-deficient mutant caused no change in susceptibility. Introduction of an OprM expression plasmid decreased the susceptibility of themexAB-oprM-deficient-/mexXY-maintaining mutant, yet caused no change in the susceptibility of amexAB-oprM- and mexXY-deficient double mutant. Immunoblot analysis using anti-MexX polyclonal rabbit serum generated against synthetic oligopeptides detected expression of MexX in the PAO1 cells grown in medium containing tetracycline, erythromycin, or gentamicin, although expression of MexX was undetectable in the cells incubated in medium without any agent. These results suggest that MexXY induced by these agents is functionally associated with spontaneously expressed OprM and contributes to the intrinsic resistance to these agents.
Southern Hemisphere orbital forcing and its effects on CO 2 and tropical Pacific climate

Abstract. The western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) is an important heat source for the atmospheric circulation and influences climate conditions worldwide. Understanding its sensitivity to past radiative perturbations may help better contextualize the magnitudes and patterns of current and projected tropical climate change. Here we present a new Mg/Ca-based sea surface temperature (SST) reconstruction over the past 400 kyr from the Bismarck Sea, off Papua New Guinea, along with results from a transient earth system model simulation. Our results document the primary influence of CO2 forcing on glacial/interglacial WPWP SSTs and secondary effects due to changes in wind-driven tropical boundary currents. In addition to the SST, deep ocean temperature reconstructions from this core are linked with Southern Ocean temperature and sea-ice variations on timescales of ~ 23 kyr. It is proposed that Southern Hemisphere insolation changes serve as pacemaker for sea-ice variations in the Southern Ocean, which in turn modulate windstress curl-driven upwelling of carbon-rich waters, hence controlling atmospheric CO2 and tropical WPWP temperatures.
Keratoma hereditaria mutilans (Vohwinkel). Differentiating features of conditions with constriction of digits.

A patient with keratoma hereditaria multilans (KHM), a young white girl, presented the following classic features of this rare disease: familial palmar and plantar hyperkeratosis beginning early in life, starfish-like keratoses of the dorsa of hands and feet, linear keratoses of elbows and knees, and constriction of digits beginning in the teens. A classification of the hereditary and nonhereditary diseases which exhibit digital constriction is briefly presented. The majority of the hereditary diseases with digital constriction have palmar and plantar hyperkeratosis, whereas the nonhereditary conditions are usually not keratotic. In addition to the usual KHM findings our patient presents a high-frequency hearing loss; an unusual, pseudopelade-type alopecia; and transient, plantar bullae. The disease is probably a variant of mal de Meleda.
IL-12p70 Production by Leishmania major-Harboring Human Dendritic Cells Is a CD40/CD40 Ligand-Dependent Process

Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne parasitic disease, is transmitted during a sandfly blood meal as the parasite is delivered into the dermis. The parasite displays a unique immune evasion mechanism: prevention of IL-12 production within its host cell, the macrophage (i.e., where it differentiates and multiplies). Given the close proximity of skin dendritic cells (DC) to the site of parasite delivery, their critical role in initiating immune responses and the self-healing nature of Leishmania major (Lm) infection, we examined the interaction between myeloid-derived human DC and Lm metacyclic promastigotes (infectious-stage parasites) to model the early “natural” events of infection. We found that DC can take up Lm and, after this internalization, undergo changes in surface phenotype suggesting “maturation”. Despite the intracellular location of the parasite and resultant up-regulation of costimulatory and class II molecules, there was no detectable cytokine release by these Lm-harboring DC. However, using intracellular staining and flow cytometry to analyze cytokine production at the single-cell level, we found that Lm-harboring DC, but not monocytes, produce large amounts of IL-12p70 in a CD40 ligand (CD40L)-dependent manner. Finally, DC generated from mononuclear cells from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (Lm), once loaded with live metacyclic promastigotes, were found to reactivate autologous primed T lymphocytes and induce a CD40L-dependent IFN-γ response. Our results link the required CD40/CD40L interactions for healing with DC-derived IL-12p70 production and provide a mechanism to explain the genesis of a protective T cell-mediated response in the face of local immune evasion within the macrophage at the site of Leishmania delivery.
Algebraic point set surfaces

In this paper we present a new Point Set Surface (PSS) definition based on moving least squares (MLS) fitting of algebraic spheres. Our surface representation can be expressed by either a projection procedure or in implicit form. The central advantages of our approach compared to existing planar MLS include significantly improved stability of the projection under low sampling rates and in the presence of high curvature. The method can approximate or interpolate the input point set and naturally handles planar point clouds. In addition, our approach provides a reliable estimate of the mean curvature of the surface at no additional cost and allows for the robust handling of sharp features and boundaries. It processes a simple point set as input, but can also take significant advantage of surface normals to improve robustness, quality and performance. We also present an novel normal estimation procedure which exploits the properties of the spherical fit for both direction estimation and orientation propagation. Very efficient computational procedures enable us to compute the algebraic sphere fitting with up to 40 million points per second on latest generation GPUs.
Dynamic I/O power management for hard real-time systems

Power consumption is an important design parameter for embedded and portable systems. Software-controlled (or dynamic) power management (DPM) has recently emerged as an attractive alternative to inflexible hardware solutions. DPM for hard real-time systems has received relatively little attention. In particular energy-driven I/O device scheduling for real-time systems has not been considered before. We present the first online DPM algorithm, which we call Low Energy Device Scheduler (LEDES), for hard real-time systems. LEDES takes as inputs a predetermined task schedule and a device-usage list for each task and it generates a sequence of sleep/working states for each device. It guarantees that real-time constraints are not violated and it also minimizes the energy consumed by the I/O devices used by the task set. LEDES is energy-optimal under the constraint that the start times of the tasks are fixed. We present a case study to show that LEDES can reduce energy consumption by almost 50%.
Influence: Science and Practice

Part 1 Weapons of influence: click, whirr betting the short-cut odds the profiteers Jujitsu. Part 2 Reciprocations - the old give and take . and take: how the rule works reciprocal concessions rejection-then-retreat. Part 3 Commitment and consistency - hobgoblins of the mind: whirring along commitment is the key. Part 4 Social proof - truths are us: the principle of social proof causes of death - uncertainty monkey me, monkey do. Part 5 Liking - the friendly thief: making friends to influence people why do I like you? - let me list the reasons conditioning and association. Part 6 Authority - directed defence: the power of authority pressure the allures and dangers of blind obedience connotations not content. Part 7 Scarcity - the rule of the few: less is best and loss is worst psychological reactance optimal conditions. Part 8 Instant influence - primitive consent for an automatic age - primitive automaticity modern automaticity short-cuts shall be sacred reader's report.
Linear Regression Models for Solvent Accessibility Prediction in Proteins

The relative solvent accessibility (RSA) of an amino acid residue in a protein structure is a real number that represents the solvent exposed surface area of this residue in relative terms. The problem of predicting the RSA from the primary amino acid sequence can therefore be cast as a regression problem. Nevertheless, RSA prediction has so far typically been cast as a classification problem. Consequently, various machine learning techniques have been used within the classification framework to predict whether a given amino acid exceeds some (arbitrary) RSA threshold and would thus be predicted to be "exposed," as opposed to "buried. " We have recently developed novel methods for RSA prediction using nonlinear regression techniques which provide accurate estimates of the real-valued RSA and outperform classification-based approaches with respect to commonly used two-class projections. However, while their performance seems to provide a significant improvement over previously published approaches, these Neural Network (NN) based methods are computationally expensive to train and involve several thousand parameters. In this work, we develop alternative regression models for RSA prediction which are computationally much less expensive, involve orders-of-magnitude fewer parameters, and are still competitive in terms of prediction quality. In particular, we investigate several regression models for RSA prediction using linear L1-support vector regression (SVR) approaches as well as standard linear least squares (LS) regression. Using rigorously derived validation sets of protein structures and extensive cross-validation analysis, we compare the performance of the SVR with that of LS regression and NN-based methods. In particular, we show that the flexibility of the SVR (as encoded by metaparameters such as the error insensitivity and the error penalization terms) can be very beneficial to optimize the prediction accuracy for buried residues. We conclude that the simple and computationally much more efficient linear SVR performs comparably to nonlinear models and thus can be used in order to facilitate further attempts to design more accurate RSA prediction methods, with applications to fold recognition and de novo protein structure prediction methods.
Dielectric Properties Characterization From 0.5 to 50 GHz of Breast Cancer Tissues

Knowledge of the dielectric properties of human tissues is important for several biomedical applications, including imaging and hyperthermia treatment, as well as for determining safety thresholds in policy making. Breast tissues, both normal and tumorous, are of particular interest because of the medical and social impact of breast cancers. While experimental data is available up to 20 GHz, for higher frequencies, this information is missing, or has been extrapolated from models based on lower-frequency data. Emerging technologies and applications in the millimeter-wave region would benefit from experimental data that bridge this gap. This paper presents the characterization of dielectric properties of breast tissues for the frequency range from 0.5 to 50 GHz. Cole–Cole models are derived for normal and tumorous tissues based on experimental measurements on more than 220 tissue samples obtained at surgery (ex vivo) from a population exceeding 50 patients, covering a wide span of normal and tumorous tissues, from patients ranging in age from 28 to 85 years, with a time from excision to measurements under 3.5 h. This paper also presents a comprehensive analysis of the differences between normal and tumorous breast tissues at different frequencies in terms of sensitivity and specificity.
Helping Eve Overcome ADAM: G-Quadruplexes in the ADAM-15 Promoter as New Molecular Targets for Breast Cancer Therapeutics

ADAM-15, with known zymogen, secretase, and disintegrin activities, is a catalytically active member of the ADAM family normally expressed in early embryonic development and aberrantly expressed in various cancers, including breast, prostate and lung. ADAM-15 promotes extracellular shedding of E-cadherin, a soluble ligand for the HER2/neu receptor, leading to activation, increased motility, and proliferation. Targeted downregulation of both ADAM-15 and HER2/neu function synergistically kills breast cancer cells, but to date there are no therapeutic options for decreasing ADAM-15 function or expression. In this vein, we have examined a unique string of guanine-rich DNA within the critical core promoter of ADAM-15. This region of DNA consists of seven contiguous runs of three or more consecutive guanines, which, under superhelical stress, can relax from duplex DNA to form an intrastrand secondary G-quadruplex (G4) structure. Using biophysical and biological techniques, we have examined the G4 formation within the entire and various truncated regions of the ADAM-15 promoter, and demonstrate strong intrastrand G4 formation serving to function as a biological silencer element. Characterization of the predominant G4 species formed within the ADAM-15 promoter will allow for specific drug targeting and stabilization, and the further development of novel, targeted therapeutics.
Identifying Loci Contributing to Natural Variation in Xenobiotic Resistance in Drosophila

Natural populations exhibit a great deal of interindividual genetic variation in the response to toxins, exemplified by the variable clinical efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs in humans, and the evolution of pesticide resistant insects. Such variation can result from several phenomena, including variable metabolic detoxification of the xenobiotic, and differential sensitivity of the molecular target of the toxin. Our goal is to genetically dissect variation in the response to xenobiotics, and characterize naturally-segregating polymorphisms that modulate toxicity. Here, we use the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR), a multiparent advanced intercross panel of recombinant inbred lines, to identify QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) underlying xenobiotic resistance, and employ caffeine as a model toxic compound. Phenotyping over 1,700 genotypes led to the identification of ten QTL, each explaining 4.5–14.4% of the broad-sense heritability for caffeine resistance. Four QTL harbor members of the cytochrome P450 family of detoxification enzymes, which represent strong a priori candidate genes. The case is especially strong for Cyp12d1, with multiple lines of evidence indicating the gene causally impacts caffeine resistance. Cyp12d1 is implicated by QTL mapped in both panels of DSPR RILs, is significantly upregulated in the presence of caffeine, and RNAi knockdown robustly decreases caffeine tolerance. Furthermore, copy number variation at Cyp12d1 is strongly associated with phenotype in the DSPR, with a trend in the same direction observed in the DGRP (Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel). No additional plausible causative polymorphisms were observed in a full genomewide association study in the DGRP, or in analyses restricted to QTL regions mapped in the DSPR. Just as in human populations, replicating modest-effect, naturally-segregating causative variants in an association study framework in flies will likely require very large sample sizes.
Aspects of bilingual aphasia

Frontispiece: Albert Pitres (1848-1928). List of Contributors. Preface. Introduction: The Need for Distinctions (M. Paradis). Theoretical and Practical Issues. Case Studies. Epilogue: Bilingual Aphasia 100 Years Later: Consensus and Controversies (M. Paradis). Author Index. Subject Index.
The Transduction Method-Design of Logic Networks Based on Permissible Functions

Based on the new concept of permissible functions, a heuristic procedure to design logic networks with as few gates as possible, without guaranteeing the minimality of designed networks, is developed. This procedure, which is drastically different from conventional logic-design procedures, is called the transduction method, because an initial network designed by any conventionally known logic-design method is first transformed into a different network configuration and then reduced to a simpler network by calculating permissible functions at the outputs of gates and connections throughout the network. >
Stereotypes and prejudice : essential readings

C. Stangor, Volume Overview. Part I: Conceptualizing Stereotypes and Prejudice. G. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice. H. Tajfel & J. Forgas, Social Categorization: Cognitions, Values, and Groups. C. Stangor & M. Schaller, Stereotypes as Individual and Collective Representations. Part II: Measuring Stereotypes and Prejudice. P. Devine & A. Elliot, Are Racial Stereotypes Really Fading? A. Eagly & A. Mladinic, Gender Stereotypes and Attitudes toward Women and Men. I. Katz & R. Hass, Racial Ambivalence and American Value Conflict: Correlational and Priming Studies of Dual Cognitive Structures. L. Lepore & R. Brown, Category and Stereotype Activation: Is Prejudice Inevitable. Part III: How do Stereotypes Develop? A. Eagly & V. Steffen, Gender Stereotypes from the Distribution of Women and Men into Social Roles. D. Hamilton & R. Gifford, Illusory Correlation in Interpersonal Perception: A Cognitive Basis of Stereotypic Judgments. S. Fein & S. Spencer, Prejudice as Self-Image Maintenance: Affirming the Self through Derogating Others. A. Maass, D. Salvi, L. Arcuri, & G. Semin, Language Use in Intergroup Contexts: The Linguistic Intergroup Bias. Part IV: Why are Stereotypes Maintained Even When They are Inaccurate? J. Darley & P. Gross, A Hypothesis-Confirming Bias in Labeling Effects. C. Word, M. Zanna, & J. Cooper, The Nonverbal Mediation of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in Interracial Interaction. C. Miller, E. Rothblum, D. Felicio, & P. Brand, Compensating for Stigma: Obese and Nonobese Women's reactions to being Visible. Part V: When do We Use Stereotypes? G. V. Bodenhausen, Stereotypes as Judgemental Heuristics: Evidence of Circadian Variations in Discrimination. F. Pratto, J. Sidanius, L. Stallworth, & B. Malle, Social Dominance Orientation: A Personality Variable Predicting Social and Political Attitudes. S. Gaertner & J. Dovidio, The Aversive Form of Racism. M. Monteith, P. Devine, & J. Zuwerink, Self-Directed versus Other-Directed Affect as a Consequence of Prejudice-Related Discrepancies. Part VI: The Impact of Stereotypes and Prejudice. B. Simon & R. Brown, Perceived Intragroup Homogeneity in Minority-Majority Contexts. S. Fiske, D. Bersoff, E. Borgida, K. Deaux, and M. Heilman, Social Science Research on Trial: The Use of Sex Stereotyping Research in Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins. J. Crocker, K. Voelkl, M. Testa, & B. Major, Social Stigma: The Affective Consequences of Attributional Ambiguity. C. Steele & J. Aronson, Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African-Americans. Part VII: Improving Intergroup Perceptions and Behavior. M. Hewstone, Contact and Categorization: Social Psychological Interventions to Change Intergroup Relations. M. Rothbart & O. John, Social Categorization and Behavioral Episodes: A Cognitive Analysis of the Effects of Intergroup Contact. S. Gaertner, J. Dovidio, A. Murrell, & M. Pomare, How does Cooperation Reduce Intergroup Bias?
Complete mitochondrial genome of blunt-snouted lenok Brachymystax tumensis (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae)

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genomes were sequenced in two individuals of blunt-snouted lenok Brachymystax tumensis. The sizes of the genomes in the two isolates were 16,754 and 16,836; the difference was due to variable number of repeat sequences within the control region. The gene arrangement, base composition, and size of the two sequenced genomes are very similar to the B. lenok and B. lenok tsinlingensis genomes previously published (JQ686730 and JQ686731). However, the level of divergence inferred from 12 protein-coding genes (3.48%) indicated clear species boundaries between the lenok species.
Artificial Embryogeny and Grid Computing

In Artificial Life, the production of new artificial creatures always needs more and more computation power. Whereas artificial morphogenesis methods construct complete creatures using blocks, artificial embryogeny develops smaller creatures starting from a unique cell. To obtain a complete creature, organized in tissues and organs, we propose a developmental model in which cells are coded as threads. This massive parallel architecture allows the simulation of an organism development on multi-core or multi-processor machines. In most cases, evolutionary algorithms and especially genetic algorithms are used to create our creatures. Their algorithms take a lot of computation time to find an environment-adapted creature. In order to reduce the computation time, genetic algorithms have already been parallelized, but, in most cases, using a supercomputer. This solution is very expensive and not easily scalable. In this report, we first present our model of artificial embryogeny, Cell2Organ. Then, we propose an implementation of genetic algorithms for artificial embryogeny using a computational grid and ProActive middleware.
A Modified Closed Cartilage-Preserving Otoplasty Technique for Prominent Ear Correction

Prominent ear is a relatively common deformity of the external ear, with an incidence of approximately 5% in Caucasians [1]. The main anatomical features of prominent ear are protrusion of the upper half of the helix with a wide conchoscaphal angle that results from failure of the antihelix to fold properly, in conjunction with a wide conchomastoid angle, deep conchal bowl, or absence of the helical roll [2]. Prominent ear may cause psychological stress, emotional trauma, and behavioral disorders, particularly in children [3]. The anatomical goal of prominent ear correction is to produce a smooth, round, and well-defined antihelical fold, a conchoscaphal angle of 90°, and conchal reduction or reduction of the conchomastoid angle [4]. A range of techniques have been developed to achieve these goals. Otoplastic techniques are divided into three broad categories: cartilage-cutting techniques, cartilage-sparing techniques, and incisionless techniques. Cartilage-sparing techniques have been Tae Joon Choi, Jin Sik Burm, Yung Ki Lee