Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roxithromycin Favorably Modifies the Initial Phase of Resistance against Infection with Macrolide-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in a Murine Pneumonia Model

ABSTRACT Sub-MIC levels of macrolides down-regulate bacterial virulence factors and suppress inflammatory processes. The ability of macrolides to reduce the production of pneumolysin has been shown to explain the discrepancy between in vitro resistance and outcomes with macrolides against macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this study, we determined whether the ability of macrolides to regulate inflammatory processes is beneficial for innate resistance to macrolide-resistant pneumococci in a murine pneumonia model. Among the macrolides tested, only roxithromycin did not affect in vitro pneumococcal virulence factors at sub-MIC levels. Roxithromycin (1.25 to 10 mg/kg of body weight/day) was administered to mice by oral gavage for 3 days before infection with a resistant strain of S. pneumoniae. We evaluated the efficacy of the treatment by determining mouse survival curves and by measuring bacterial burdens and several inflammatory parameters in the airways. Pneumolysin and PspA in infected lungs were examined by Western blot assay. Roxithromycin at doses of ≥5 mg/kg/day increased the median survival time and retarded bacteremia without suppressing the production of pneumolysin and PspA in infected lungs. This treatment reduced matrix metalloproteinase-7 expression and activation and keratinocyte-derived chemokine production in the lungs, while it increased mononuclear cell responses in the lungs, with enhanced bacterial clearance. Concentrations of roxithromycin in plasma and tissues were below the MICs for the inoculated strain during infection. The treatment also reduced inflammatory responses to killed pneumococci in the lungs. These results suggest that the modification by roxithromycin of airway inflammatory responses, including those of matrix metalloproteinase-7 and phagocytes, is beneficial for initial resistance to macrolide-resistant pneumococci.
Review of research progress on aluminium–magnesium dissimilar friction stir welding

The paper critically assesses the research progress towards aluminium–magnesium dissimilar friction stir welding (FSW). First, the theoretical requirements are explored through the understanding of joining mechanism and heat generation in aluminium–magnesium FSW. Next, the observed trends in microstructural characterisation and mechanical properties are analysed. Finally, the effects of welding parameters and how it influences process variables and materials responses are discussed in detail, and several suggestions are made based on these discussions.
Integrating Transcriptomics with Metabolic Modeling Predicts Biomarkers and Drug Targets for Alzheimer's Disease

Accumulating evidence links numerous abnormalities in cerebral metabolism with the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), beginning in its early stages. Here, we integrate transcriptomic data from AD patients with a genome-scale computational human metabolic model to characterize the altered metabolism in AD, and employ state-of-the-art metabolic modelling methods to predict metabolic biomarkers and drug targets in AD. The metabolic descriptions derived are first tested and validated on a large scale versus existing AD proteomics and metabolomics data. Our analysis shows a significant decrease in the activity of several key metabolic pathways, including the carnitine shuttle, folate metabolism and mitochondrial transport. We predict several metabolic biomarkers of AD progression in the blood and the CSF, including succinate and prostaglandin D2. Vitamin D and steroid metabolism pathways are enriched with predicted drug targets that could mitigate the metabolic alterations observed. Taken together, this study provides the first network wide view of the metabolic alterations associated with AD progression. Most importantly, it offers a cohort of new metabolic leads for the diagnosis of AD and its treatment.
Triptolide with Potential Medicinal Value for Diseases of the Central Nervous System

Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f. (TWHF) has a long history as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herb that aids in treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The major bioactive component of TWHF is triptolide, which has been recognized to possess a broad spectrum of biological profiles including antiinflammatory, immunosuppressive, antifertility, and antitumor activities, as well as neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects. Limitation of triptolide, such as poor water solubility and severe systemic toxicity, has postponed clinical development and trials; however, the wide range of medicinal value of triptolide has been drawing intensive worldwide attention. In particular, triptolide has been shown to have significant effects on central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord and brain injury, and multiple sclerosis. This review focuses on the potential therapeutic role of triptolide on CNS diseases, and discusses the structural features, potential modifications, and the other pharmacological activities of triptolide.
Detecting Pairwise Correlations in Spike Trains: An Objective Comparison of Methods and Application to the Study of Retinal Waves

Correlations in neuronal spike times are thought to be key to processing in many neural systems. Many measures have been proposed to summarize these correlations and of these the correlation index is widely used and is the standard in studies of spontaneous retinal activity. We show that this measure has two undesirable properties: it is unbounded above and confounded by firing rate. We list properties needed for a measure to fairly quantify and compare correlations and we propose a novel measure of correlation—the spike time tiling coefficient. This coefficient, the correlation index, and 33 other measures of correlation of spike times are blindly tested for the required properties on synthetic and experimental data. Based on this, we propose a measure (the spike time tiling coefficient) to replace the correlation index. To demonstrate the benefits of this measure, we reanalyze data from seven key studies, which previously used the correlation index to investigate the nature of spontaneous activity. We reanalyze data from β2(KO) and β2(TG) mutants, mutants lacking connexin isoforms, and also the age-dependent changes in wild-type and β2(KO) correlations. Reanalysis of the data using the proposed measure can significantly change the conclusions. It leads to better quantification of correlations and therefore better inference from the data. We hope that the proposed measure will have wide applications, and will help clarify the role of activity in retinotopic map formation.
Sex‐specific expression of estrogen receptors α and β and Kiss1 in the postnatal rat amygdala

The rodent amygdaloid complex is composed of numerous subnuclei important for the sex‐specific regulation of sociosexual behavior. Although estrogen receptors (ERs) are critical for organizing functional and cytoarchitectural sex differences in these subnuclei, a detailed developmental profile of ER expression in the amygdaloid complex is not available. Moreover, the kisspeptin gene (Kiss1) was recently identified in the adult amygdala, but it remains unknown if it is expressed during development. To fill these data gaps, rat brains (5–7/group) were assessed on postnatal days (PNDs) 0, 2, 4, 7, and 19 for ER alpha (ERα; Esr1), beta (ERβ; Esr2), and Kiss1 expression using in situ hybridization. Expression was quantified in the posterodorsal portion of the medial amygdala posterodorsal (MePD), lateral (PLCo), and medial (PMCo) components of the posterior cortical nucleus, and the amygdalohippocampal area (AHi). ERα expression was high throughout the amygdala at birth, but sexually dimorphic only in the AHi. ERα expression in the MePD and the PLCo showed a U‐shaped expression pattern over time. In the PMCo, ERα expression decreased from PND 2 and remained low through PND 19. Sexually dimorphic expression of ERβ in the MePD was observed on PND 0, with higher levels in females, but reversed by PND 4 due to declining levels in females. No Kiss1 signal was observed in the postnatal amygdala, suggesting that expression arises after puberty. These data reveal that ER expression is region‐specific within the neonatal amygdala. These differences likely contribute to sex differences in sociosexual behavior across the lifespan. J. Comp. Neurol. 521:465–478, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Android based Portable Hand Sign Recognition System

These days mobile devices like phones or tablets are very common among people of all age. They are connected with network and provide seamless communications through internet or cellular services. These devices can be a big help for the people who are not able to communicate properly and even in emergency conditions. A disabled person who is not able to speak or a person who speak a different language, these devices can be a boon for them as understanding, translating and speaking systems for these people. This chapter discusses a portable android based hand sign recognition system which can be used by disabled people. This chapter shows a part of on-going project. Computer Vision based techniques were used for image analysis and PCA was used after image tokenizer for recognition. This method was tested with webcam results to make system more robust.
Noncontact Sensing of Facial Muscle Activity Using Laser Doppler Vibrometry: Time Domain Data Analysis

Movements of the facial muscles offer a promising avenue for assessing stress, fatigue and emotion, and appear useful for a number of applied and clinical purposes. This paper describes a novel application of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) as a noncontact method for assessing facial myographic activity. The principle of the LDV method involves detection of the minute vibrations of contracting muscles, associated with the activation of individual motor units. Data were obtained from 11 participants who received 15-20 min of training before the measurement acquisitions. Participants produced several standardized facial expressions involving activation of the upper face (lowering and raising the eyebrows) and the lower face (raising the upper lip, stretching the lip corners, and clenching the jaw). The associated muscle vibratory activity was assessed using the LDV method, within context of the simultaneous electromyogram (EMG). A separate condition entailed study of the jaw muscle signals during repetitive chewing. The temporal, spatial and measurement sensitivity aspects were studied in separate tests; the present report focuses on the temporal aspects of the response, in comparison to the onsets and offsets of the simultaneous EMG and gross facial surface displacement. The LDV signals were obtained from a site overlying the principal involved muscle for the various movements. Results showed that LDV myographic signals (LDV-MMG) could be recorded from all facial muscles studied, although they were relatively small from the muscles of the upper face. LDV-MMG signals were especially prominent at times of contraction onset and offset, indicating that the method may be particularly useful for the study of dynamic activity as would be associated with brief changes in facial expression. The LDV-MMG signals generally were found to lead the onset of the EMG signal by about 100 ms, and to lag the offset of the EMG signal by about 200 ms. The LDV-MMG response associated with chewing was associated in time with the EMG and displacement signs of chewing, but were generally more polyphasic in form. The findings generally support the potential use of the LDV method as a non-contact and non-obtrusive method for assessing activity of the facial muscles.
Effect of Different Conditions of Growth and Storage on the Cell Counts of Two Lactic Acid Bacteria after Spray Drying in Orange Juice

Consumers increasingly require innovative food products with health benefits. Thus, a dried orange juice incorporating probiotics could be a novel challenge. In this context, we investigated whether different sugars added to the culture media used for growth of two lactic acid bacteria contributed to their protection during spray drying in orange juice and subsequent storage under different conditions of temperature, light exposure and water activity. Cell viability during passage through simulated gastro-intestinal conditions was also investigated. Cells grown in culture medium containing fructose resulted in the worst survival rates during storage. High survival was observed for cells grown in the presence of lactose, followed by glucose. The survival of dried bacteria was enhanced at 4 °C, water activity of 0.03 and absence of daylight. For cells grown in standard culture medium and after 12 months of storage at 4 °C in orange juice powder (about 109 cfu/mL), there was a reduction of approximately 2 log-units for both lactic acid bacteria after gastro-intestinal tract passage simulation. Using the conditions of growth and storage investigated, it is possible to improve the survival rate of lactic acid bacteria and produce an orange juice powder with probiotic characteristics with shelf life of at least 12 months.
Squib: Effects of Cognitive Effort on the Resolution of Overspecified Descriptions

Studies in referring expression generation (REG) have shown different effects of referential overspecification on the resolution of certain descriptions. To further investigate effects of this kind, this article reports two eye-tracking experiments that measure the time required to recognize target objects based on different kinds of information. Results suggest that referential overspecification may be either helpful or detrimental to identification depending on the kind of information that is actually overspecified, an insight that may be useful for the design of more informed hearer-oriented REG algorithms.
Stochastically weighted average conditional moment tests of functional form

Abstract We develop a new consistent conditional moment test of functional form based on nuisance parameter indexed sample moments first presented in Bierens. We reduce the nuisance parameter space to known countable sets, which leads to a weighted average conditional moment test in the spirit of Bierens and Ploberger’s integrated conditional moment test (ICM). The weights are possibly stochastic in an arbitrary way, integer-indexed and flexible enough to cover a range of tests from average to higher quantile to maximum tests. The limit distribution under the null and local alternative belong to the same class as the ICM statistic, hence our test is admissible if the errors are Gaussian, and a flat weight leads to the greatest weighted average local power.
Surfactant Protein A and D in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyposis and Corticosteroid Response

Background Corticosteroids are a mainstay of treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP). Data related to the effect of systemic methylprednisolone on surfactant protein (SP) expression in CRSwNP is limited. This study aimed to reveal the consequences of systemic methylprednisolone treatment on levels of SP-A and SP-D, which play a role in innate immunity, in patients with CRSwNP. Methods Twenty-one patients with CRSwNP were included in the study, along with 15 control patients scheduled for dacryocystorhinostomy. A polypoid tissue biopsy was taken under local anesthesia, and 15 CRSwNP patients were scheduled for endoscopic sinus surgery after 3 weeks of oral methylprednisolone. Posttreatment biopsies were performed perioperatively. Pre- and posttreatment endoscopic polyp grades were determined, as were symptom scores regarding nasal obstruction, headache, and nasal discharge using a visual analog scale (VAS). SP-A and SP-D levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the results were compared. Results All patients reported relief from clinical symptoms through VAS after methylprednisolone treatment. The posttreatment polyp grade was reduced (p < 0.0001). SP-A and SP-D levels did not yield a significant difference between CRSwNP patients and controls (p = 0.25 and p = 0.13, respectively). Statistically significant up-regulation was detected in SP-A and SP-D levels after oral methylprednisolone (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0004, respectively). Conclusion In this study, significant up-regulation of SP-A and SP-D was revealed in patients with CRSwNP after systemic steroid treatment. The role of SP-A and SP-D up-regulation in CRSwNP pathogenesis and therapeutic outcomes of corticosteroids have potential importance for the introduction of new therapeutic modalities that are more effective and produce fewer adverse effects.
Non-target adjacent stimuli classification improves performance of classical ERP-based brain computer interface

Objective. The classical ERP-based speller, or P300 Speller, is one of the most commonly used paradigms in the field of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI). Several alterations to the visual stimuli presentation system have been developed to avoid unfavorable effects elicited by adjacent stimuli. However, there has been little, if any, regard to useful information contained in responses to adjacent stimuli about spatial location of target symbols. This paper aims to demonstrate that combining the classification of non-target adjacent stimuli with standard classification (target versus non-target) significantly improves classical ERP-based speller efficiency. Approach. Four SWLDA classifiers were trained and combined with the standard classifier: the lower row, upper row, right column and left column classifiers. This new feature extraction procedure and the classification method were carried out on three open databases: the UAM P300 database (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico), BCI competition II (dataset IIb) and BCI competition III (dataset II). Main results. The inclusion of the classification of non-target adjacent stimuli improves target classification in the classical row/column paradigm. A gain in mean single trial classification of 9.6% and an overall improvement of 25% in simulated spelling speed was achieved. Significance. We have provided further evidence that the ERPs produced by adjacent stimuli present discriminable features, which could provide additional information about the spatial location of intended symbols. This work promotes the searching of information on the peripheral stimulation responses to improve the performance of emerging visual ERP-based spellers.
Comparison of cross‐sectional transmission electron microscope studies of thin germanium epilayers grown on differently oriented silicon wafers

We compare transmission electron microscopical analyses of the onset of islanding in the germanium‐on‐silicon (Ge/Si) system for three different Si substrate orientations: (001), (1 1¯ 0) and (1 1¯ 1)Si. The Ge was deposited by reduced pressure chemical vapour deposition and forms islands on the surface of all Si wafers; however, the morphology (aspect ratio) of the deposited islands is different for each type of wafer. Moreover, the mechanism for strain relaxation is different for each type of wafer owing to the different orientation of the (111) slip planes with the growth surface. Ge grown on (001)Si is initially pseudomorphically strained, yielding small, almost symmetrical islands of high aspect ratio (clusters or domes) on top interdiffused SiGe pedestals, without any evidence of plastic relaxation by dislocations, which would nucleate later‐on when the islands might have coalesced and then the Matthews‐Blakeslee limit is reached. For (1 1¯ 0)Si, islands are flatter and more asymmetric, and this is correlated with plastic relaxation of some islands by dislocations. In the case of growth on (1 1¯ 1)Si wafers, there is evidence of immediate strain relaxation taking place by numerous dislocations and also twinning. In the case of untwined film/substrate interfaces, Burgers circuits drawn around certain (amorphous‐like) regions show a nonclosure with an edge‐type a/4[ 1¯ 12] Burgers vector component visible in projection along [110]. Microtwins of multiples of half unit cells in thickness have been observed which occur at the growth interface between the Si(1 1¯ 1) buffer layer and the overlying Ge material. Models of the growth mechanisms to explain the interfacial configurations of each type of wafer are suggested.
High-Ability Grouping: Benefits for Gifted Students' Achievement Development Without Costs in Academic Self-Concept.

Effects of full-time ability grouping on students' academic self-concept (ASC) and mathematics achievement were investigated in the first 3 years of secondary school (four waves of measurement; students' average age at first wave: 10.5 years). Students were primarily from middle and upper class families living in southern Germany. The study sample comprised 148 (60% male) students from 14 gifted classes and 148 (57% male) students from 25 regular classes (matched by propensity score matching). Data analyses involved multilevel and latent growth curve analyses. Findings revealed no evidence for contrast effects of class-average achievement or assimilation effects of class type on students' ASC. ASC remained stable over time. Students in gifted classes showed higher achievement gains than students in regular classes.
Evaluation of New Dihydrophthalazine-Appended 2,4-Diaminopyrimidines against Bacillus anthracis: Improved Syntheses Using a New Pincer Complex

The synthesis and evaluation of ten new dihydrophthalazine-appended 2,4-diaminopyrimidines as potential drugs to treat Bacillus anthracis is reported. An improved synthesis utilizing a new pincer catalyst, dichlorobis[1-(dicyclohexylphosphanyl)-piperidine]palladium(II), allows the final Heck coupling to be performed at 90 °C using triethylamine as the base. These milder conditions have been used to achieve improved yields for new and previously reported substrates with functional groups that degrade or react at the normal 140 °C reaction temperature. An analytical protocol for separating the S and R enantiomers of two of the most active compounds is also disclosed. Finally, the X-ray structure for the most active enantiomer of the lead compound, (S)-RAB1, is given.
Systems Biology of Gibberellin Induced Plant Cell Growth

By analogy to their animal counterparts, plant hormones were originally recognized as regulators of growth and development (van Overbeek, 1966; Galston and Davies, 1969; Santner and Estelle, 2009). They have subsequently been demonstrated to achieve this by modulating both processes in response to both intrinsic and environmental cues (Wolters and Jurgens, 2009). Accordingly it is currently accepted that hormones not only exert intrinsic growth control but also mediate adaptation of plant development to transiently changing conditions (Wolters and Jurgens, 2009). Equally accepted is the fact that they play key roles in the regulation of immune responses to microbial pathogens, insect herbivores, and beneficial microbes (Pieterse et al., 2012). In brief the classical developmental growth regulators are considered as auxin, brassinosteroid, cytokinin, and gibberellin (GA), whilst abscisic acid, ethylene, jasmonic, and salicylic acid are often implicated in stress responses (Browse, 2009; Vlot et al., 2009; Wolters and Jurgens, 2009). However, the very recent identification of strigolactones as a further developmental growth regulators (Gomez-Roldan et al., 2008; Umehara et al., 2008; Alder et al., 2012) suggests that our current list of phytohormones may not yet be complete.