Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zirconium Ions Up-Regulate the BMP/SMAD Signaling Pathway and Promote the Proliferation and Differentiation of Human Osteoblasts

Zirconium (Zr) is an element commonly used in dental and orthopedic implants either as zirconia (ZrO2) or in metal alloys. It can also be incorporated into calcium silicate-based ceramics. However, the effects of in vitro culture of human osteoblasts (HOBs) with soluble ionic forms of Zr have not been determined. In this study, primary culture of human osteoblasts was conducted in the presence of medium containing either ZrCl4 or Zirconium (IV) oxynitrate (ZrO(NO3)2) at concentrations of 0, 5, 50 and 500 µM, and osteoblast proliferation, differentiation and calcium deposition were assessed. Incubation of human osteoblast cultures with Zr ions increased the proliferation of human osteoblasts and also gene expression of genetic markers of osteoblast differentiation. In 21 and 28 day cultures, Zr ions at concentrations of 50 and 500 µM increased the deposition of calcium phosphate. In addition, the gene expression of BMP2 and BMP receptors was increased in response to culture with Zr ions and this was associated with increased phosphorylation of SMAD1/5. Moreover, Noggin suppressed osteogenic gene expression in HOBs co-treated with Zr ions. In conclusion, Zr ions appear able to induce both the proliferation and the differentiation of primary human osteoblasts. This is associated with up-regulation of BMP2 expression and activation of BMP signaling suggesting this action is, at least in part, mediated by BMP signaling.
A fast bipolar H2 outflow from IRAS 16342-3814 : An old star reliving its youth

Some evolved stars in the pre-planetary nebula phase produce highly-collimated molecular outflows that resemble the accretion-driven jets and outflows from pre-main sequence stars. We show that IRAS 16342-3814 (the Water Fountain Nebula) is such an object and present K-band integral field spectroscopy revealing a fast (> 150 km s −1 ) bipolar H2 outflow. The H2 emission is shock excited and may arise in fast-moving clumps, accelerated by the previously observed precessing jet. The total luminosity in H2 is 0.37 L⊙ which is comparable with that of accretion-powered outflows from Class 0 protostars. We also detect CO overtone bandhead emission in the scattered continuum, indicating hot molecular gas close to the centre, a feature also observed in a number of protostars with active jets. It seems likely that the jet and outflow in IRAS 16342-3814 are powered by accretion onto a binary companion.
The Effects of Abiotic Factors on Production of Livestock and Agricultural Plants in the Wa East District of Upper West Region-Ghanay

The Wa East district is one of the 11 districts of Upper West region where livestock production and cultivation of food crops are practiced on commercial and subsistence bases. The effects of edaphic and climatic factors on livestock production and cultivation of food crops are underscored in the study. Programmes and projects have been implemented in the Wa East district in an attempt to promote agriculture. Some of the projects and programmes have been successful in achieving their objectives, whereas other projects and programmes have been futile in achieving their objectives. Recommendations have been forwarded for policy considerations.
To copy or not to copy: A compile-time technique for assessing when data copying should be used to eliminate cache conflicts

To reduce conflict misses, this technique, the data layout in a cache is adjusted by copying array files into temporary arrays that exhibit better cache behavior. This approach incurs a cost proportional to the amount of data being copied. To date, there has been no discussion regarding either this tradeoff or the problem of determining what and when to copy. The authors present a compile-time technique for making this determination and present a selective copying strategy based on this methodology. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate that, because of the sensitivity of cache conflicts to small changes in problem size and base addresses, selective copying can lead to better overall performance than either no copying, complete copying, or copying based on manually applied heuristics.
Evidence for bimodal hybrid zones between two species of char (Pisces: Salvelinus) in northwestern North America

Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma, Pisces: Salmonidae) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) have widely overlapping, but largely parapatric ranges in watersheds in northwestern North America from Washington State to northern British Columbia. Genetic analysis of natural populations using diagnostic molecular markers revealed widespread local sympatry and hybridization with hybrids comprising 0–25% of the local samples. In a detailed analysis of hybridization using four nuclear DNA markers and mitochondrial DNA within the Thutade Lake watershed, northcentral British Columbia, hybrid genotypes constituted up to 9% of the population of juvenile char. There were significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg, gametic, and cytonuclear equilibria, and local samples showed bimodal frequency distributions of genotypes. Pure parental and inferred backcross genotypes were most common, and F1 and Fn hybrids were comparatively rare. Interspecific hybridization was asymmetrical, with most F1 hybrids (five of six) bearing S. confluentus mtDNA. The introgression of nuclear and mitochondrial alleles was asymmetrical, with S. confluentus mtDNA and Growth Hormone 2 introgressing into S. malma significantly more than either introgression of the three other nuclear loci, or introgression of S. malma alleles into S. confluentus. Substantial prezygotic isolation between the species likely depends on the large body size difference between them in sympatry: S. malma have small bodies and a stream resident life history (12–21 cm adult fork length at maturity), while S. confluentus are larger and adfluvial, i.e., they migrate to Thutade Lake where they grow to maturity before returning to tributary streams to spawn (40–90 cm at maturity). These traits may limit interspecific pairings because of size assortative pairing and size‐dependent reproductive habitat use.
Crustal structure and rheology of the Longmenshan and Wenchuan Mw 7.9 earthquake epicentral area from magnetotelluric data

The Longmenshan forms the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau adjacent to the Sichuan Basin. This range is anomalous because it formed despite low convergence and slip rates and without the development of a foreland basin. The devastating A.D. 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (Mw = 7.9) has renewed debate about the tectonics of the Longmenshan. A magnetotelluric (MT) study was undertaken subsequent to the earthquake to investigate the crustal structure of the Longmenshan, and inversion of the data reveals a low-resistivity (high-conductivity) layer at a depth of ∼20 km beneath the eastern Tibetan Plateau that terminates ∼25 km west of the Wenchuan-Maoxian fault. Its electrical properties are consistent with it being fluid-rich and mechanically weak. Beneath the Longmenshan and Sichuan Basin, a high-resistivity zone extends through the entire crust, but with a zone of low resistivity in the vicinity of the Wenchuan hypocenter. We show that the MT data, combined with other geological and geophysical observations, support geodynamic models for the uplift of eastern Tibet being caused by southeast-directed crustal flow that is blocked by stable lithosphere beneath the Sichuan Basin and Longmenshan, leading to inflation of the Songpan-Ganzi terrane. This rigid high-resistivity backstop not only provided a block to flow, but also may have accumulated stress prior to the earthquake. The MT observations provide new insights into the generation of the Wenchuan earthquake, which occurred in a region with low convergence rates prior to the earthquake.
Early dissociation between neural signatures of endogenous spatial attention and perceptual awareness during visual masking

The relationship between spatial attention and conscious access has often been pictured as a single causal link: spatial attention would provide conscious access to weak stimuli by increasing their effective contrast during early visual processing. To test this hypothesis, we assessed whether the early attentional amplification of visual responses, around 100 ms following stimulus onset, had a decisive impact on conscious detection. We recorded magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals while participants focused their attention toward or away from masked stimuli which were physically identical but consciously detected half of the time. Spatial attention increased the amplitude of early occipital responses identically for both detected and missed stimuli around 100 ms, and therefore, did not control conscious access. Accordingly, spatial attention did not increase the proportion of detected stimuli. The earliest neuromagnetic correlate of conscious detection, around 120 ms over the contralateral temporal cortex, was independent from the locus of attention. This early activation combined objective information about stimulus presence and subjective information about stimulus visibility, and was followed by a late correlate of conscious reportability, from 220 ms over temporal and frontal cortex, which correlated exclusively with stimulus visibility. This widespread activation coincided in time with the reorienting of attention triggered by masks presented at the uncued location. This reorienting was stronger and occurred earlier when the masked stimulus was detected, suggesting that the conscious detection of a masked stimulus at an unexpected location captures spatial attention. Altogether, these results support a double dissociation between the neural signatures of endogenous spatial attention and perceptual awareness.
Synoptic patterns and sounding‐derived parameters associated with summertime heavy rainfall in Beijing

Heavy precipitation in Beijing is modulated by both synoptic forcings and local thermodynamic characteristics of troposphere, which has yet to be well known. This study investigated the large‐scale synoptic patterns and local sounding features associated with the summertime heavy precipitation in Beijing, based on long‐term surface meteorological observations, radiosonde measurements, in combination of reanalysis data from 2008 to 2017. The results show that the heavy rainfall occurs more frequently in late July, which is associated with the movement of subtropical anticyclone. The sounding parameters during the heavy rainfall days are examined as well. It is found that the heavy rainfall is often related to favourable convective conditions characterized by abundant water vapour and high unstable energy. The soundings for around 45% of heavy rainfall days in Beijing exhibit the pattern of “thin tube” (TT), and those for ~25 and ~20% of heavy rainfall days show the patterns of “loaded gun” (LG) and “inverted V” (IV), respectively. On average, the rainfall amount of TT is 55.8 mm/day, which is ~3 mm/day (~15 mm/day) higher than that of LG (IV). The more frequent and heavier rainfall observed for TT pattern is due to the high values of precipitable water and wind shear. On the large scale, three dominant synoptic patterns associated with heavy rainfall in Beijing have been identified using the T‐mode principle component analysis. These synoptic patterns are all characterized by prevailing southerly winds within the lower troposphere, resulting in water vapours being easily transported from southern regions to Beijing, which in turn favours the occurrence of heavy precipitation. These dominant synoptic patterns and thermodynamic characteristics associated with the heavy rainfall in Beijing revealed in this study have important implications for better understanding of heavy rainfall in the North China Plain.
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2, Genital Ulcers and HIV-1 Disease Progression in Postpartum Women

Background Co-infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) has been associated with increased HIV-1 RNA levels and immune activation, two predictors of HIV-1 progression. The impact of HSV-2 on clinical outcomes among HIV-1 infected pregnant women is unclear. Methods HIV-1 infected pregnant women in Nairobi were enrolled antenatally and HSV-2 serology was obtained. HIV-1 RNA and CD4 count were serially measured for 12–24 months postpartum. Survival analysis using endpoints of death, opportunistic infection (OI), and CD4<200 cells µL, and linear mixed models estimating rate of change of HIV-1 RNA and CD4, were used to determine associations between HSV-2 serostatus and HIV-1 progression. Results Among 296 women, 254 (86%) were HSV-2-seropositive. Only 30 (10%) women had prior or current genital ulcer disease (GUD); median baseline CD4 count was 422 cells µL. Adjusting for baseline CD4, women with GUD were significantly more likely to have incident OIs (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 2.79, 95% CI: 1.33–5.85), and there was a trend for association between HSV-2-seropositivity and incident OIs (aHR 3.83, 95% CI: 0.93–15.83). Rate of change in CD4 count and HIV-1 RNA did not differ by HSV-2 status or GUD, despite a trend toward higher baseline HIV-1 RNA in HSV-2-seropositive women (4.73 log10 copies/ml vs. 4.47 log10 copies/ml, P = 0.07). Conclusions HSV-2 was highly prevalent and pregnant HIV-1 infected women with GUD were significantly more likely to have incident OIs than women without GUD, suggesting that clinically evident HSV-2 is a more important predictor of HIV-1 disease progression than asymptomatic HSV-2.
A fast-acting elastase inhibitor in human monocytes

A proteinase inhibitor active against neutrophil and pancreatic elastase was detected in extracts of cultured human monocytes and the human monocyte-like cell line U937. This component forms a covalent complex with the active site of elastase; the complex is stable in boiling sodium dodecyl sulfate solution, and is susceptible to nucleophilic cleavage. The activity of the elastase inhibitor is not detected in extracts of freshly isolated monocytes, but becomes detectable when the monocytes are allowed to mature in culture, with maximum levels occurring at 5-7 d. The monocyte inhibitor is fast- acting; its reaction with 125I-labeled elastase is complete in less than 1 min at 37 degrees C. Analysis by electrophoresis and studies using a heteroantiserum to alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor demonstrated that the elastase inhibitor of monocytes/U937 cells is not identical to alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor, the major elastase inhibitor of blood plasma. The extent of conversion of 125I-elastase to the 125I-elastase- inhibitor complex is proportional to the amount of U937 extract or cultured monocyte extract, indicating that this reaction can serve to quantify the elastase inhibitor. The elastase inhibitor is an abundant component in mature monocytes, with greater than or equal to 1.5 X 10(6) molecules/cell (greater than or equal to 12 micrograms per 10(8) cells, greater than 0.1% of total cell protein). Its mol wt is estimated at 50,000. Thus, the monocyte inhibitor should be classified as a putative regulator of neutrophil (and monocyte) elastase activity at inflammatory sites. This designation is based on the properties of the molecule, including its high concentration in maturing monocytes, its affinity for elastase, and its fast reaction with this enzyme.
Severe diarrhea caused by cholera toxin-producing vibrio cholerae serogroup O75 infections acquired in the southeastern United States.

BACKGROUND From 2003 through 2007, Vibrio cholerae serogroup O75 strains possessing the cholera toxin gene were isolated from 6 patients with severe diarrhea, including 3 in Georgia, 2 in Alabama, and 1 in South Carolina. These reports represent the first identification of V. cholerae O75 as a cause of illness in the United States. V. cholerae O75 was isolated from a water sample collected from a pond in Louisiana in 2004. Subsequently, 3 V. cholerae isolates from Louisiana (2 from patients with diarrhea in 2000 and 1 from a water sample collected in 1978) that had been previously reported as serogroup O141 were also discovered to be serogroup O75. RESULTS All 8 patients who were infected with V. cholerae O75 were adults who became ill after consuming seafood; 2 had eaten raw oysters traced back to the Gulf Coast of the United States. All 10 isolates possessed the cholera toxin gene and were susceptible to 10 antimicrobials. One clinical isolate and 1 environmental (water) isolate had the same pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern; 4 clinical isolates shared a common pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern. CONCLUSIONS The occurrence of these cases over many years and the concurrent identification of V. cholerae O75 in water from a Gulf Coast state suggest that these strains may survive for long periods in this environment. The patients' exposure histories suggest that infection can be acquired from consumption of raw oysters from the Gulf Coast. Clinicians and public health authorities should be vigilant for the occurrence of new toxigenic serogroups of V. cholerae that are capable of causing severe diarrhea.
Income Inequality and Current Account Imbalances

This paper studies the empirical and theoretical link between increases in income inequality and increases in current account deficits. Cross-sectional econometric evidence shows that higher top income shares, and also financial liberalization, which is a common policy response to increases in income inequality, are associated with substantially larger external deficits. To study this mechanism we develop a DSGE model that features workers whose income share declines at the expense of investors. Loans to workers from domestic and foreign investors support aggregate demand and result in current account deficits. Financial liberalization helps workers smooth consumption, but at the cost of higher household debt and larger current account deficits. In emerging markets, workers cannot borrow from investors, who instead deploy their surplus funds abroad, leading to current account surpluses instead of deficits.
Asymptotics for Provisioning Problems of Peering Wireless LANs with a Large Number of Participants

Abstract. We consider a model in which wireless LANs are to be provided in a number of locations. The owners of these WLANs have decided to peer with one another so that they can roam in locations other than their own. We consider the question of designing a mechanism for determining the quantities of resources that agents should provide so that the qualities of service are achieved in the locations and a measure of expected welfare is maximized, subject to the constraints that this mechanism is incentive compatible, rational and feasible (in senses to be described). We show that as the number of participant becomes large the solution to a limiting problem takes a simple form. Namely, it is near optimal to demand that each participant in the same location makes a predetermined and equal contribution to the system, this being comprised of a contribution of resources (such as coverage area or the number of roaming peers he accepts), plus, possibly, a monetary transfer. A participant is permitted to use the WLANs in other locations when roaming if and only if he is willing to make this contribution. The advantage of this is that the provisioning policy and contribution requirements can be easily communicated to the participants.
Semi-Supervised Fuzzy Clustering with Pairwise-Constrained Competitive Agglomeration

Traditional clustering algorithms usually rely on a pre-defined similarity measure between unlabelled data to attempt to identify natural classes of items. When compared to what a human expert would provide on the same data, the results obtained may be disappointing if the similarity measure employed by the system is too different from the one a human would use. To obtain clusters fitting user expectations better, we can exploit, in addition to the unlabelled data, some limited form of supervision, such as constraints specifying whether two data items belong to a same cluster or not. The resulting approach is called semi-supervised clustering. In this paper, we put forward a new semi-supervised clustering algorithm, pairwise-constrained competitive agglomeration: clustering is performed by minimizing a competitive agglomeration cost function with a fuzzy term corresponding to the violation of constraints. We present comparisons performed on a simple benchmark and on an image database
TgPRELID, a Mitochondrial Protein Linked to Multidrug Resistance in the Parasite Toxoplasma gondii

We report the discovery of TgPRELID, a previously uncharacterized mitochondrial protein linked to multidrug resistance in the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Drug resistance remains a major problem in the battle against parasitic infection, and understanding how TgPRELID mutations augment resistance to multiple, distinct compounds will reveal needed insights into the development of new therapies for toxoplasmosis and other related parasitic diseases. ABSTRACT New drugs to control infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are needed as current treatments exert toxic side effects on patients. Approaches to develop novel compounds for drug development include screening of compound libraries and targeted inhibition of essential cellular pathways. We identified two distinct compounds that display inhibitory activity against the parasite’s replicative stage: F3215-0002, which we previously identified during a compound library screen, and I-BET151, an inhibitor of bromodomains, the “reader” module of acetylated lysines. In independent studies, we sought to determine the targets of these two compounds using forward genetics, generating resistant mutants and identifying the determinants of resistance with comparative genome sequencing. Despite the dissimilarity of the two compounds, we recovered resistant mutants with nonsynonymous mutations in the same domain of the same gene, TGGT1_254250, which we found encodes a protein that localizes to the parasite mitochondrion (designated TgPRELID after the name of said domain). We found that mutants selected with one compound were cross resistant to the other compound, suggesting a common mechanism of resistance. To further support our hypothesis that TgPRELID mutations facilitate resistance to both I-BET151 and F3215-0002, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat)/CAS9-mediated mutation of TgPRELID directly led to increased F3215-0002 resistance. Finally, all resistance mutations clustered in the same subdomain of TgPRELID. These findings suggest that TgPRELID may encode a multidrug resistance factor or that I-BET151 and F3215-0002 have the same target(s) despite their distinct chemical structures. IMPORTANCE We report the discovery of TgPRELID, a previously uncharacterized mitochondrial protein linked to multidrug resistance in the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Drug resistance remains a major problem in the battle against parasitic infection, and understanding how TgPRELID mutations augment resistance to multiple, distinct compounds will reveal needed insights into the development of new therapies for toxoplasmosis and other related parasitic diseases.