Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Letters to Nature: Phasic alerting of neglect patients overcomes their spatial deficit in visual awareness

Patients with extensive damage to the right hemisphere of their brain often exhibit unilateral neglect of the left side of space. The spatial attention of these patients is strongly biased towards the right1, so their awareness of visual events on the left is impaired2. Extensive right-hemisphere lesions also impair tonic alertness (the ability to maintain arousal)3, 4, 5. This nonspatial deficit in alertness is often considered to be a different problem from spatial neglect5,6, but the two impairments may be linked7,8. If so, then phasically increasing the patients' alertness should temporarily ameliorate their spatial bias in awareness. Here we provide evidence to support this theory. Right-hemisphere-neglect patients judged whether a visual event on the left preceded or followed a comparable event on the right. They became aware of left events half a second later than right events on average. This spatial imbalance in the time course of visual awareness was corrected when a warning sound alerted the patients phasically. Even a warning sound on the right accelerated the perception of left visual events in this way. Nonspatial phasic alerting can thus overcome disabling spatial biases in perceptual awareness after brain injury.
Sounding the Alarm: Protein Kinase Cascades Activated by Stress and Inflammation*

Eukaryotic cells respond to extracellular stimuli by recruiting signal transduction pathways, many of which employ protein Ser/ Thr kinases of the ERK 1 family. The ubiquity of ERKs and their upstream activators, the MEKs, in signal transduction was first appreciated from studies of yeast (1, 2). Although a 54-kDa rat liver c-Jun kinase (SAPK-p54 (cid:97) 1) with properties similar to the Ras-regulated MAPKs had been characterized (3–5), the physiologic roles and regulation of this and related mammalian enzymes have emerged only recently. Molecular cloning of the SAPKs and p38s, together with the paradigms derived from the “classical” MAPKs and work in lower eukaryotes has enabled rapid elucidation of the regulation and cellular functions of these newer mammalian ERK pathways. Although architecturally homologous to the Ras/MAPK pathway, the SAPK and p38 pathways are not activated primarily by mitogens but by cellular stresses and inflammatory cytokines, which stimuli result in growth arrest, apoptosis, or activation of immune and reticuloendothelial cells. homologues yeast-osmosensing Tyr-phosphorylated Lipopolysaccharide lipopo-lysaccharide-stimulated the MEKKs SPS1-like Pyk2 couple UV osmotic shock
The impact of pre-menarcheal training on menstrual practices and hygiene of Nigerian school girls

Background: The menstrual practices of adolescents derive largely from health issues associated with their adjustment to reproductive life. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of pre-menarcheal training on the menstrual and hygiene practices of Nigerian school girls. Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of randomly selected post-menarcheal school girls using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was done. Results: The mean age of the school girls was 14.9 ± 1.7 years. Pre-menarcheal training was given to 273 (55.2%) of them. Mothers (74.7%) were the more common source of information. Inappropriate experience of menarche, adverse effect of menstruation on schooling and social life and the use of unhygienic menstrual absorbents were common in girls who had no pre-menarcheal training than those who did. Conclusion: Lack of timely information results in inappropriate menstrual experiences and poor menstrual hygiene practices. Ways to promote menstrual education and hygiene practices are suggested.
Downregulated long non-coding RNA DREH promotes cell proliferation in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

The hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein has been characterized as an oncogene involved in epigenetic modifications during hepatocarcinogenesis; however, the underlying mechanisms are not entirely clear. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of epigenetic regulator molecules, have also been demonstrated to serve crucial roles in carcinogenesis, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present study, a human lncRNA DREH was identified, which inhibits cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, and acts as a tumor suppressor in HBx-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis. The study revealed that the expression of DREH was frequently downregulated in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated HCC tissues in comparison with adjacent non-cancerous hepatic tissues, and was inversely correlated with HBx mRNA expression in HBV-associated HCC. In addition, the levels of DREH were inversely correlated with hepatitis B surface antigen and tumor size in HCC tissues. The forced expression of HBx in liver cell lines resulted in a significant decrease in the expression of DREH. Furthermore, suppression of DREH expression promotes the proliferation of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, the present findings support the role of HBx-downregulated lncRNA DREH in tumor suppression in HBV-associated HCC patients. This contributes to a better understanding of epigenetic aberration of deregulated lncRNAs by HBx and the potential development of lncRNA-based targeted approaches for the treatment of HBV-associated HCC.
High potassium diets markedly protect against stroke deaths and kidney disease in hypertensive rats, a possible legacy from prehistoric times.

Male spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone (SHRsp) rats were fed 4% NaCl diets containing either 0.75% (normal) K or 2.11% (high) K, starting at 6 weeks of age. After 8 months on these diets, 40 out of 58 SHRsp rats on the 0.75% K diet had died (69% mortality) versus 2 dead out of 95 on the 2.11% K diet (2% mortality), a 97% reduction in mortality, p less than 0.00001. After 20 weeks on the diets, the daytime and nighttime blood pressures of each rat were measured intraarterially under light ether anesthesia. Using these accurate blood pressures, we selected two groups precisely matched for blood pressure. One matched SHRsp group (BP 182) ate the 0.75% K diet and 30 out of 47 rats died (64% mortality). The other matched SHRsp group (BP 182) ate the 2.11% K diet and 2 out of 35 died (6% mortality), a 91% reduction of mortality, p less than 0.0001. Seemingly, this striking reduction in mortality rate with the 2.11% high K diet does not depend on a lowering of blood pressure. High K diets do not change body Na or K. Dry weight of mesenteric arterioles was reduced 29% on the 2.11% K diet versus the 0.75% K diet (5.43 vs. 7.66 mg) (p less than 0.0001), indicating a greatly reduced hypertensive hypertrophy. In nine surviving SHRsp rats on the 0.75% K diet, 13 of 36 brain hemisphere slides (4 slides per rat) showed infarcts (36%). In 11 surviving SHRsp rats on the 2.11% K diet, 1 of 44 brain slides showed infarcts (2%), a 94.5% reduction, p less than 0.0001. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
New developments in photochromic materials showing large change in the refractive index

Organic photochromic materials have been studied as active materials in optical devices since they show a reversible change of color in the visible region and appreciable reversible changes of the refractive index (Δn) in the NIR. The latter peculiar property can be suitably exploited for the realization of holographic optical elements (HOEs) and in particular volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs). Photochromic polyester based on diarylethene alcohol was synthesized and characterized both in solution and in thin film. The optical properties of the films were good enough for making optical devices and the modulation of the refractive index (measured by spectral ellipsometry) was large at 1.5 micron and it became even larger at shorter wavelength where the material is still transparent. Such photochromic material is a good candidate for making rewritable efficient HOEs.
N-opcode analysis for android malware classification and categorization

Malware detection is a growing problem particularly on the Android mobile platform due to its increasing popularity and accessibility to numerous third party app markets. This has also been made worse by the increasingly sophisticated detection avoidance techniques employed by emerging malware families. This calls for more effective techniques for detection and classification of Android malware. Hence, in this paper we present an n-opcode analysis based approach that utilizes machine learning to classify and categorize Android malware. This approach enables automated feature discovery that eliminates the need for applying expert or domain knowledge to define the needed features. Our experiments on 2520 samples that were performed using up to 10-gram opcode features showed that an f-measure of 98% is achievable using this approach.
Tolerance to Gamma Radiation in the Tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini from Embryo to Adult Correlate Inversely with Cellular Proliferation

Tardigrades are highly tolerant to desiccation and ionizing radiation but the mechanisms of this tolerance are not well understood. In this paper, we report studies on dose responses of adults and eggs of the tardigrade Hypsibius dujardini exposed to gamma radiation. In adults the LD50/48h for survival was estimated at ~ 4200 Gy, and doses higher than 100 Gy reduced both fertility and hatchability of laid eggs drastically. We also evaluated the effect of radiation (doses 50 Gy, 200 Gy, 500 Gy) on eggs in the early and late embryonic stage of development, and observed a reduced hatchability in the early stage, while no effect was found in the late stage of development. Survival of juveniles from irradiated eggs was highly affected by a 500 Gy dose, both in the early and the late stage. Juveniles hatched from eggs irradiated at 50 Gy and 200 Gy developed into adults and produced offspring, but their fertility was reduced compared to the controls. Finally we measured the effect of low temperature during irradiation at 4000 Gy and 4500 Gy on survival in adult tardigrades, and observed a slight delay in the expressed mortality when tardigrades were irradiated on ice. Since H. dujardini is a freshwater tardigrade with lower tolerance to desiccation compared to limno-terrestrial tardigrades, the high radiation tolerance in adults, similar to limno-terrestrial tardigrades, is unexpected and seems to challenge the idea that desiccation and radiation tolerance rely on the same molecular mechanisms. We suggest that the higher radiation tolerance in adults and late stage embryos of H. dujardini (and in other studied tardigrades) compared to early stage embryos may partly be due to limited mitotic activity, since tardigrades have a low degree of somatic cell division (eutely), and dividing cells are known to be more sensitive to radiation.
Phylogenetic analysis of dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing bacteria

Evolutionary relationships among strictly anaerobic dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing bacteria obtained from a diversity of sedimentary environments were examined by phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Members of the genera Geobacter, Desulfuromonas, Pelobacter, and Desulfuromusa formed a monophyletic group within the delta subdivision of the class Proteobacteria. On the basis of their common ancestry and the shared ability to reduce Fe(III) and/or S0, we propose that this group be considered a single family, Geobacteraceae. Bootstrap analysis, characteristic nucleotides, and higher-order secondary structures support the division of Geobacteraceae into two subgroups, designated the Geobacter and Desulfuromonas clusters. The genus Desulfuromusa and Pelobacter acidigallici make up a distinct branch within the Desulfuromonas cluster. Several members of the family Geobacteraceae, none of which reduce sulfate, were found to contain the target sequences of probes that have been previously used to define the distribution of sulfate-reducing bacteria and sulfate-reducing bacterium-like microorganisms. The recent isolations of Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms distributed throughout the domain Bacteria suggest that development of 16S rRNA probes that would specifically target all Fe(III) reducers may not be feasible. However, all of the evidence suggests that if a 16S rRNA sequence falls within the family Geobacteraceae, then the organism has the capacity for Fe(III) reduction. The suggestion, based on geological evidence, that Fe(III) reduction was the first globally significant process for oxidizing organic matter back to carbon dioxide is consistent with the finding that acetate-oxidizing Fe(III) reducers are phylogenetically diverse.
Probabilistic Relations between Words: Evidence from Reduction in Lexical Production

The ideas of frequency and predictability have played a fundamental role in models of human language processing for well over a hundred years (Schuchardt, 1885; Jespersen, 1922; Zipf, 1929; Martinet, 1960; Oldfield & Wingfield, 1965; Fidelholz, 1975; Jescheniak & Levelt, 1994; Bybee, 1996). While most psycholinguistic models have thus long included word frequency as a component, recent models have proposed more generally that probabilistic information about words, phrases, and other linguistic structure is represented in the minds of language users and plays a role in language comprehension (Jurafsky, 1996; MacDonald, 1993; McRae, Spivey-Knowlton, & Tanenhaus, 1998; Narayanan & Jurafsky, 1998; Trueswell & Tanenhaus, 1994) production (Gregory, Raymond, Bell, Fosler-Lussier, & Jurafsky, 1999; Roland & Jurafsky, 2000) and learning (Brent & Cartwright, 1996; Landauer & Dumais, 1997; Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996; Seidenberg & MacDonald, 1999). In recent papers (Bell, Jurafsky, Fosler-Lussier, Girand, & Gildea, 1999; Gregory et al., 1999; Jurafsky, Bell, Fosler-Lussier, Girand, & Raymond, 1998), we have been studying the role of predictability and frequency in lexical production. Our goal is to understand the many factors that affect production variability as reflected in reduction processes such as vowel reduction, durational shortening, or final segmental deletion of words in spontaneous speech. One proposal that has resulted from this work is the Probabilistic Reduction Hypothesis: word forms are reduced when they have a higher probability. The probability of a word is conditioned on many aspects of its context, including neighboring words, syntactic and lexical structure, semantic expectations, and discourse factors. This proposal thus generalizes over earlier models which refer only to word frequency (Zipf, 1929; Fidelholz, 1975; Rhodes, 1992, 1996) or predictability (Fowler & Housum, 1987). In this paper we focus on a particular domain of probabilistic linguistic knowledge in lexical production: the role of local probabilistic relations between words.
Can a Hot-Carrier Solar Cell also be an Efficient Up-converter?

The hot-carrier solar cell is a very ambitious device concept, which has a thermodynamic efficiency limit of around 84% when operated at the maximum power point. However, if the same device is instead operated at open circuit, then it becomes an efficient radiator of blackbody radiation at the temperature of the hot carriers. Such a configuration is similar to a thermal photovoltaic converter, but one in which the thermal gradient is maintained by a hot electron-hole gas rather than by a physically hot lattice. In this scheme (see Fig. 1), a low-bandgap hot-carrier material is placed behind a conventional solar cell and absorbs sub-bandgap photons, generating a hot-carrier distribution which re-radiates this energy, some of which can be collected by the solar cell located above. The additional photons have been thermally up-converted by a “hot-carrier radiator. ” We will discuss the thermodynamic efficiency limit of a hot-carrier radiator placed behind a conventional single-junction solar cell, and present some experimental results toward developing a proof-of-concept device using strain-balanced quantum wells.
Increasing longevity by tuning up metabolism. To maximize human health and lifespan, scientists must abandon outdated models of micronutrients.

S20 Our daily intake of the 40 essential micronutrients—vitamins, minerals and other biochemicals—is commonly thought to be adequate. Indeed, classic deficiency diseases, such as scurvy, beriberi and pernicious anaemia, are now rare among the citizens of developed countries. The optimum amount of vitamins, minerals and essential biochemicals is the amount that maximizes a healthy lifespan, and is likely to be higher than the amount needed to prevent acute deficiency disease. Evidence suggests, however, that much chronic metabolic damage occurs at levels above the level that causes acute micronutrient deficiency disease but below the recommended dietary allowances (RDAs). In addition, current RDAs may not be sufficient to prevent subtle metabolic damage: if one input in the metabolic network is inadequate, repercussions are felt in a large number of other systems. This could result in an increase in DNA damage (and cancer), neuron decay (and cognitive dysfunction) or mitochondrial decay (and accelerated ageing and degenerative diseases). In addition, the optimum amount of micronutrients varies with age and constitution—the requirements of the elderly for vitamins and metabolites are likely to be different from those of the young—and with genetic make-up. A tune-up of micronutrient metabolism should therefore markedly increase health at little cost. It is a distortion of priorities for much of the world’s population to have an inadequate intake of vitamins or minerals—at great cost to health—when a year’s supply of a daily multivitamin/mineral pill costs less than a few packs of cigarettes. The poor, in general, have the worst diets and have the most to gain from improving their multivitamin and mineral supplementation and diet. For most of human evolution, caloric shortage probably limited population growth. As food was mostly calorie-poor and unprocessed, the supply of micronutrients may have been fairly adequate. The advent of agriculture changed that and made diets less varied. The introduction of the potato to Europe from South America in the late sixteenth century caused a major increase in the European population over the next few centuries as the cultivation of potatoes spread and as cultivars were selected that thrived in each climate. “In 1845 close to 40% of the population of Ireland lived chiefly on potatoes. The emergence of the ‘potato people’ occurred against the background of the quadrupling of the population after 1700. ” (Clarkston & Crawford, 2001). Similarly, the cultivation of rice varieties was a major factor enabling high population density in Asia. Although caloric shortage is now a thing of the past for many people in Europe, Asia and North America, the abundance of carbohydrateand fat-rich food causes another problem. Inexpensive, processed foods and drinks are calorie-rich but poor in micronutrients, and as a consequence, the USA and other developed nations are now facing an epidemic of obesity associated with micronutrient malnutrition (Kant, 2000).
Visual Field Magnification and Touch Perception When Exploring Surfaces With the Index Finger and a Rigid Instrument

Objective: The aim of this project was to compare texture discrimination when both touch and vision were perturbed. Background: Texture discrimination is important in the workplace. How textures are identified with the finger and with instruments when vision is magnified with lenses or video cameras is unclear. Method: Sandpaper was explored with the index finger or a metal instrument (hemostat), using normal or magnified vision. The forces generated during exploration were measured, and participants rated surface roughness. Results: With the finger, the perception of roughness was unaffected with magnification; with the instrument, magnified surfaces were perceived as rougher (p < .05). Forces during finger exploration were unaffected by magnification; forces with the instrument increased under magnification (p < .05). Conclusion: Visual characteristics of the working field can influence the exploration and perception of materials. With the finger, mechanoreceptors that directly detect textures are activated, and with the instrument, receptors sensitive to vibrations are stimulated. Application: The higher forces produced when using instruments under magnification could lead to material damage. Attenuated perception of texture when exploring with tools may lead to difficulty in accurate touch perception. This could create problems in industrial tasks such as grading wool or identifying surface imperfections on manufactured materials, as well as in clinical settings such as dentistry or surgery in which instruments are used during tissue identification.
THE ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN PLANET SEARCH. XXII. TWO NEW MULTI-PLANET SYSTEMS

We report the detection of two new planets from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. These planets orbit two stars each previously known to host one planet. The new planet orbiting HD 142 has a period of 6005 ± 427 days, and a minimum mass of 5.3 MJup. HD 142c is thus a new Jupiter analog: a gas-giant planet with a long period and low eccentricity (e = 0.21 ± 0.07). The second planet in the HD 159868 system has a period of 352.3 ± 1.3 days and m sin i = 0.73 ± 0.05 MJup. In both of these systems, including the additional planets in the fitting process significantly reduced the eccentricity of the original planet. These systems are thus examples of how multiple-planet systems can masquerade as moderately eccentric single-planet systems.
Identification and analysis of mutations in the katG gene in multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates.

INTRODUCTION A major role in the development of resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to isoniazid (INH) is attributed to mutations in the katG gene coding for the catalase/peroxidase, an enzyme required for obtaining a pharmacologically active form of the drug. Analysis of mutations in the katG gene in M. tuberculosis strains may contribute to the development of reliable and rapid tests for detection of INH resistance. The aim of the study was to identify and characterize mutations in the katG gene in multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis clinical isolates. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 46 strains of M. tuberculosis, recovered from MDR-TB patients in Poland in 2004. Mutations in the katG gene were detected by comparing DNA sequences with the corresponding sequence of a wild-type reference laboratory strain (M. tuberculosis H37Rv). The obtained results were interpreted in the context of MIC values of INH and catalase activity of the strains tested. RESULTS A total of 43 (93%) strains contained mutations in the katG gene. The most frequently observed were mutations at codon 315, found in 34 (74%) strains. Mutations at other codons were rare: 4 strains contained mutations at codon 463, 2 at codon 131 and another 2 at codon 234. Mutations at codons 68, 91, 101, 126, 128 and 194 were found in single strains only. Two strains, for which no mutations at codon 315 of the katG gene were identified, had a unique translation termination mutation, which would invariably result in polypeptide truncation leading to the generation of dysfunctional catalase polypeptides. Both these strains presented the highest MIC values for INH (80 and 100 μg/mL) and showed a complete loss of catalase activity. For the remaining 41 strains with katG mutations, the MICs of INH were within the range 0.2-10 μg/mL. Thirty-six (88%) of those strains retained their catalase activity. CONCLUSIONS Mutations at codon 315 within the katG gene, depending on their type might be useful for the prediction of INH resistance. Whereas the missense mutations do not affect the catalase activity or the level of INH resistance, the nonsense mutations result in high-level resistance to INH and a total loss of catalase activity.