Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MBNL1 Is the Primary Determinant of Focus Formation and Aberrant Insulin Receptor Splicing in DM1*

In myotonic dystrophy 1 (DM1), aggregation of the mutant DMPK RNA into RNA-protein complexes containing MBNL1 and MBNL2 has been linked to aberrant splicing of the insulin receptor (IR) RNA. In a parallel line of investigation, elevated levels of CUG-binding protein (CUG-BP) have been shown to result in altered IR splicing in DM1. The relative importance of MBNL1, MBNL2, and CUG-BP in DM1 pathogenesis is, however, unclear. Here we have demonstrated that either small interfering RNA-mediated down-regulation of MBNL1 and MBNL2 or the overexpression of CUG-BP in normal myoblasts results in abnormal IR splicing. Our results suggest that CUG-BP regulates the equilibrium of splice site selection by antagonizing the facilitatory activity of MBNL1 and MBNL2 on IR exon 11 splicing in a dose-dependent manner. We have shown that CUG-BP levels are elevated in DM1 cells by mechanisms that are independent of MBNL1 and MBNL2 loss. Importantly, rescue experiments in DM1 myoblasts demonstrated that loss of MBNL1 function is the key event, whereas the overexpression of CUG-BP plays a secondary role in the aberrant alternative splicing of IR RNA in DM1. Small interfering RNA-mediated down-regulation of MBNL1, MBNL2, and CUG-BP in DM1 myoblasts demonstrated that MBNL1 plays a critical role in the maintenance of DM1 focus integrity. Thus, these experiments demonstrate that sequestration of MBNL1 by the expanded CUG repeats is the primary determinant of both DM1 focus formation and the abnormal splicing of the IR RNA in DM1 myoblasts. The data therefore support MBNL1-mediated therapy for DM1.
Opinion Expression on Social Networking Sites - Testing an Adapted Spiral of Silence Model for Political Discussion on Facebook

of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Thomas Steinfatt. No. of pages in text. (167) This study used a quasi-experimental approach to test an adapted model of Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann’s (1974) Spiral of Silence theory. NoelleNeumann’s (1974) concept has been widely studied and applied to a variety of communication situations, mostly using hypothetical scenarios (“train tests”) and face-to-face interactions. The present research applied the Spiral of Silence concept to political opinion expression on the social networking site Facebook. Two groups of participants were assigned to either a hypothetical interaction condition using a “train test” or to a real interaction condition. Participants in the real interaction condition were asked to join a Facebook group, where they were able to observe and participate in a discussion about a specific political issue (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, “Obamacare”). Both groups completed a questionnaire. Key variables were the participants’ fear of social isolation, perceived climate of opinion, and willingness to express an opinion. Additional variables in the present study include attitude strength and the sub-constructs attitude certainty, attitude intensity, and attitude extremity. Also included were the variables subjective issue knowledge, issue interest and issue importance, as well as communication apprehension and willingness to self-censor. Results suggested support for Noelle-Neumann’s (1974) concept, indicating that a Spiral of Silence may not only exist in face-to-face, but possibly also in computer-mediated communication on social networking sites. Fear of social isolation and perceived climate of opinion seemed to be significant predictors of opinion expression on social networking sites for at least one of the conditions, indicating that participants reported to be more likely to discuss their opinions if they experiences less fear of being socially isolated and if they perceived their opinion to be in the majority. Data also suggested support for the additional predictor variables attitude strength, subjective issue knowledge, and issue interest. Participants with higher levels on these variables tended to also report higher levels of willingness to express their opinion on Facebook. Communication apprehension was a significant predictor of opinion expression only in the real interaction condition. Overall, both conditions suggested support for an expanded Spiral of Silence model for political discussion on social networking sites. However, participants in the real interaction condition reported higher fear of social isolation, despite reporting to have higher attitude certainty, intensity, and issue interest.
Automatic Object Segmentation from Calibrated Images

This paper addresses the problem of automatically obtaining the object/background segmentation of a rigid 3D object observed in a set of images that have been calibrated for camera pose and intrinsics. Such segmentations can be used to obtain a shape representation of a potentially texture-less object by computing a visual hull. We propose an automatic approach where the object to be segmented is identified by the pose of the cameras instead of user input such as 2D bounding rectangles or brush-strokes. The key behind our method is a pairwise MRF framework that combines (a) foreground/background appearance models, (b) epipolar constraints and (c) weak stereo correspondence into a single segmentation cost function that can be efficiently solved by Graph-cuts. The segmentation thus obtained is further improved using silhouette coherency and then used to update the foreground/background appearance models which are fed into the next Graph-cut computation. These two steps are iterated until segmentation convergences. Our method can automatically provide a 3D surface representation even in texture-less scenes where MVS methods might fail. Furthermore, it confers improved performance in images where the object is not readily separable from the background in colour space, an area that previous segmentation approaches have found challenging.
Antimicrobial activity of tigecycline against nosocomial pathogens in Pakistan: a multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE To measure the in-vitro activity of various antibiotics including tigecycline against Gram negative and positive nosocomial aerobic isolates. METHODS A total of 430 clinical isolates of both Gram positive (143) and negative (287) aerobic bacteria were used from 3 centres during the year 2006 and 2007. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using broth micro dilution panels. Antibiotic resistance was interpreted using CLSI guidelines. RESULTS Most of the isolates were resistant to more than one drug. Resistance to tigecycline was not found. Tigecycline (1 microg/ml) had low MIC against organisms tested. CONCLUSION This data indicates that tigecycline, a new drug in its class, has broad-spectrum in-vitro activity against both Gram negative and positive nosocomial isolates. Therefore, it may be a suitable drug to be used for the treatment of highly resistant nosocomial infections.
Discriminative estimation of interpolation parameters for language model classifiers

In this paper we present a new approach for estimating the interpolation parameters of language models (LM) which are used as classifiers. With the classical maximum likelihood (ML) estimation theoretically one needs to have a huge amount of data and the fundamental density assumption has to be correct. Usually one of these conditions is violated, so different optimization techniques like maximum mutual information (MMI) and minimum classification error (MCE) can be used instead, where the interpolation parameters are not optimized on their own but in consideration of all models together. In this paper we present how MCE and MMI techniques can be applied to two different kind of interpolation strategies: the linear interpolation, which is the standard interpolation method and the rational interpolation. We compare ML, MCE and MMI on the German part of the Verbmobil corpus, where we get a reduction of 3% of classification error when discriminating between 18 dialog act classes.
Social biases determine spatiotemporal sparseness of ciliate mating heuristics

Ciliates become highly social, even displaying animal-like qualities, in the joint presence of aroused conspecifics and nonself mating pheromones. Pheromone detection putatively helps trigger instinctual and learned courtship and dominance displays from which social judgments are made about the availability, compatibility, and fitness representativeness or likelihood of prospective mates and rivals. In earlier studies, I demonstrated the heterotrich Spirostomum ambiguum improves mating competence by effecting preconjugal strategies and inferences in mock social trials via behavioral heuristics built from Hebbian-like associative learning. Heuristics embody serial patterns of socially relevant action that evolve into ordered, topologically invariant computational networks supporting intra- and intermate selection. S. ambiguum employs heuristics to acquire, store, plan, compare, modify, select, and execute sets of mating propaganda. One major adaptive constraint over formation and use of heuristics involves a ciliate’s initial subjective bias, responsiveness, or preparedness, as defined by Stevens’ Law of subjective stimulus intensity, for perceiving the meaningfulness of mechanical pressures accompanying cell-cell contacts and additional perimating events. This bias controls durations and valences of nonassociative learning, search rates for appropriate mating strategies, potential net reproductive payoffs, levels of social honesty and deception, successful error diagnosis and correction of mating signals, use of insight or analysis to solve mating dilemmas, bioenergetics expenditures, and governance of mating decisions by classical or quantum statistical mechanics. I now report this same social bias also differentially affects the spatiotemporal sparseness, as measured with metric entropy, of ciliate heuristics. Sparseness plays an important role in neural systems through optimizing the specificity, efficiency, and capacity of memory representations. The present findings indicate sparseness performs a similar function in single aneural cells by tuning the size and density of encoded computational architectures useful for decision making in social contexts.
Fisher Information at the Edge of Chaos in Random Boolean Networks

We study the order-chaos phase transition in random Boolean networks (RBNs), which have been used as models of gene regulatory networks. In particular we seek to characterize the phase diagram in information-theoretic terms, focusing on the effect of the control parameters (activity level and connectivity). Fisher information, which measures how much system dynamics can reveal about the control parameters, offers a natural interpretation of the phase diagram in RBNs. We report that this measure is maximized near the order-chaos phase transitions in RBNs, since this is the region where the system is most sensitive to its parameters. Furthermore, we use this study of RBNs to clarify the relationship between Shannon and Fisher information measures.
Nutritional evaluation of organically grown fodders in lactating Murrah buffaloes ( Bubalus bubalis )

A study was undertaken to evaluate the nutritional response of organically grown diets in buffaloes on nutrients utilization and nutrient efficiency for milk production. For this, ten milch Murrah buffaloes of average body weight (490.72±6.65 kg), milk yield (8.13±0.33 kg), and lactation stage (85±5.28 days) were distributed in inorganic (InDg) and organic dietary groups (OrDg) with five animals in each. Buffaloes of InDg and OgDg were fed sorghum hay–berseem fodder-concentrate mixture-based diets grown inorganically and organically, respectively. After 60 days of feeding, a digestion cum metabolism trial was conducted to assess feed intake, nutrient utilization, and N balance, while milk yield and composition were recorded fortnightly. DM, CP, digestible crude protein (DCP), and metabolizable energy (ME) intake (g/Kg w) were similar in animals of InDg and OrDg. NDF, ADF, and hemicellulose digestibility were (P< 0.05) higher in animals on OrDg (59.20, 51.55, and 62.67) than InDg diet (54.57, 43.72, and 56.61 %), respectively. Urinary n loss (g/day) was (P<0.05) lower in OrDg (67.23) than in InDg (83.55); however, milk N was comparable in animals of both dietary groups (47.36 vs 45.82 g/day). Nitrogen balance was higher in animals of OrDg (39.72) than in InDg (28.08). DCP, TDN, and ME values of both diets were similar. No effect of diet was observed on milk yield and its composition; however, increased lactation length decreased milk yield. Buffaloes on both diets had similar efficiency and conversion ratio of nutrients for milk production. Results revealed that diets (organically vs. inorganically grown) have no effect on milk yield and its composition; however, buffaloes on organic diet have higher fiber digestibility and low urinary N loss which did not affect the dietary nutrients efficiency and conversion ratio for milk production.
Dynamic multi-resolution data dissemination in storage-centric wireless sensor networks

Recently, several storage-centric wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been developed to store massive sensor data in the network. A crucial task of these networks is to disseminate useful information to the users at dynamic temporal resolutions. We formulate the problem of dynamic multi-resolution data dissemination in this paper. We propose a novel solution called the Minimum Incremental Dissemination Tree (MIDT) that includes an online tree construction algorithm with analytical performance bound and two lightweight tree adaptation heuristics for handling data requests with dynamic temporal resolutions. Our simulations show that MIDT outperforms several typical data dissemination schemes. The two tree adaptation heuristics can effectively maintain desirable energy efficiency of the dissemination tree while minimizing the tree adaption overhead under representative traffic patterns in WSNs.
Structural and functional characterization of human Iba proteins

Iba2 is a homolog of ionized calcium‐binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1), a 17‐kDa protein that binds and cross‐links filamentous actin (F‐actin) and localizes to membrane ruffles and phagocytic cups. Here, we present the crystal structure of human Iba2 and its homodimerization properties, F‐actin cross‐linking activity, cellular localization and recruitment upon bacterial invasion in comparison with Iba1. The Iba2 structure comprises two central EF‐hand motifs lacking bound Ca2+. Iba2 crystallized as a homodimer stabilized by a disulfide bridge and zinc ions. Analytical ultracentrifugation revealed a different mode of dimerization under reducing conditions that was independent of Ca2+. Furthermore, no binding of Ca2+ up to 0.1 mm was detected by equilibrium dialysis. Correspondingly, Iba EF‐hand motifs lack residues essential for strong Ca2+ coordination. Sedimentation experiments and microscopy detected pronounced, indistinguishable F‐actin binding and cross‐linking activity of Iba1 and Iba2 with induction of F‐actin bundles. Fluorescent Iba fusion proteins were expressed in HeLa cells and co‐localized with F‐actin. Iba1 was recruited into cellular projections to a larger extent than Iba2. Additionally, we studied Iba recruitment in a Shigella invasion model that induces cytoskeletal rearrangements. Both proteins were recruited into the bacterial invasion zone and Iba1 was again concentrated slightly higher in the cellular extensions.
Striate cortex increases contrast gain of macaque LGN neurons

Recurrent projections comprise a universal feature of cerebral organization. Here, we show that the corticofugal projections from the striate cortex (V1) to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) robustly and multiplicatively enhance the responses of parvocellular neurons, stimulated by gratings restricted to the classical receptive field and modulated in luminance, by over two-fold in a contrast-independent manner at all but the lowest contrasts. In the equiluminant plane, wherein stimuli are modulated in chromaticity with luminance held constant, such enhancement is strongly contrast dependent. These projections also robustly enhance the responses of magnocellular neurons but contrast independently only at high contrasts. Thus, these results have broad functional significance at both network and neuronal levels by providing the experimental basis and quantitative constraints for a wide range of models on recurrent projections and the control of contrast gain.
Use of an Interdependent Group Contingency to Improve Homework Completion, Homework Accuracy, and Achievement of High School Students with Disabilities

USE OF AN INTERDEPENDENT GROUP CONTINGENCY TO IMPROVE HOMEWORK COMPLETION, HOMEWORK ACCURACY, AND ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES By Maria C. Kennedy Advisor: Professor Marian C. Fish Homework is a frequently utilized teaching strategy in elementary and secondary classrooms. The completion of homework has been shown to have a strong positive effect on students‟ academic achievement across content and ability levels. Moreover, research suggests a stronger positive relationship between homework and achievement at the upper grade levels. Numerous interventions, both at home and at school, have been employed to increase students‟ level of homework completion and/or accuracy. The present investigation employed a single-subject reversal design to examine the effectiveness of an interdependent group contingency, with randomized components, on the homework completion, homework accuracy, and the academic achievement of a special education class of high school students. Results demonstrated that the intervention improved homework completion performance of these students, but with inconsistent gains in accuracy. However, academic improvements were made for the majority of students when the intervention was employed and there was a significant effect of the treatment from the baseline to the intervention phases. The teacher found the intervention to be acceptable for use in the classroom and valuable in changing homework behavior. Lastly, data from a student satisfaction survey found that students liked the intervention itself and felt it helped them to complete their homework.
Ectoparasites on Reintroduced Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus in Israel

The ectoparasite fauna of reintroduced roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) was surveyed in a Mediterranean forest in Israel. Ectoparasites were collected from four female hand-reared deer during 2004 and 2005. Seasonality, predilection sites of infestation, and the apparent effect of the parasites are presented. This is the first study of roe deer parasites in the East Mediterranean. The ectoparasite fauna included three hippoboscid fly (Lipoptena capreoli, Hippobosca equina, and Hippobosca longipennis), four tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus kohlsi, and Hyalomma marginatum), and one unidentified trombiculid mite species. For most of these ectoparasites, this is the first record on roe deer. All ectoparasite species were documented in Israel prior to the reintroduction program; exotic ectoparasites were not detected.
Trial-to-trial variability of the prefrontal neurons reveals the nature of their engagement in a motion discrimination task

During motion discrimination tasks, many prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons are strongly modulated by the behavioral context, suggesting their involvement in sensory discriminations. Recent studies suggest that trial-to-trial variability of spiking activity characteristic of cortical neurons could be a source of information about the state of neurons and their participation in behavioral tasks. We tested this hypothesis by examining the variability of putative pyramidal PFC neurons, a likely source of top-down influences. The variability of these neurons was calculated as a ratio of spike count variance to its mean (fano factor, FF), while monkeys compared the directions of two moving stimuli, sample and test, separated by a delay. We found that the FF tracked consecutive components of the task, dropping rapidly with the onset of stimuli being discriminated and declining more slowly before each salient event of the trial: The sample, the test, and the response. These time-dependent signals were less consistent in direction selective neurons and were largely absent during passive fixation. Furthermore, neurons with test responses that reflected the remembered sample decreased their FF well before the test, revealing the predictive nature of response variability, an effect present only during the active task. The FF was also sensitive to behavioral performance, exhibiting different temporal dynamics on error trials. These changes did not depend on firing rates and were often the only metric correlated with task demands. Our results demonstrate that trial-to-trial variability provides a sensitive measure of the engagement of putative pyramidal PFC neurons in circuits subserving discrimination tasks.
Doctoral student persistence in counselor education programs: Student-program match and the decision making process

The authors present the findings of a qualitative study (N = 33) of doctoral student persistence in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001). Using in-depth interviews with students representing 17 different doctoral programs, the findings revealed factors that influenced students' decisions to persist or leave their counselor education doctoral programs. A key determinant in attrition or persistence decisions was a match between the students' goals/expectations and the faculty members' expectations and goals for the program. Implications of the findings for program selection, recruiting, and student retention are discussed.
Isolation and characterization of an antimicrobial lipopeptide produced by Paenibacillus ehimensis MA2012

In this study, a novel lipopeptide antibiotic was isolated from the culture supernatant of Paenibacillus ehimensis strain MA2012. After analyses by mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and high resolution mass spectrometry (HR‐MS/MS) the compound was identified to be polypeptin C consisting of 3‐hydroxy‐4‐methyl‐hexanoic acid moiety and nine amino acids as peptide body. It has the same molecular mass (1115 Da) with that of polypeptin A and B but the amino acid positions differ. A relatively low concentration (125 ppm) of polypeptin C lowered the surface tension of water from 72.2 to 36.4 mN/m. It showed antimicrobial activity against several plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi. When the polypeptin C was applied to the ripe pepper fruits previously inoculated with conidia of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, the hyphal growth on the fruit was significantly suppressed. Moreover, the hyphal morphology of C. gloeosporioides was greatly affected by the purified compound. All these data suggest the great potential of P. ehimensis MA2012 to control plant fungal and bacterial diseases.