Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DICINAL PLANTS CULTIVATED IN BAPEDI TRADITIONAL HEALERS HOMEGARDENS , LIMPOPO PROVINCE , SOUTH AFRICA

Background: Plants used for medicinal purposes are very common feature in Bapedi traditional healer’s home-gardens, but information about their diversity and application is not available. Materials and methods: To investigate medicinal plants found in Bapedi healer’s home-gardens, 51 traditional health practitioners were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire in 17 municipalities of the Limpopo Province of South Africa, during the first half of 2013. Results: A total of 43 plant species (67.4% indigenous and 32.5% exotics) from 32 families, mostly from the Asteraceae and Apocynaceae (9.3% each) were documented. Species cultivated in home-gardens were used to treat three major groups of ailments that include sexually transmitted infections (44.1%), chronic diseases of life style (44.1%) and reproductive ailments (32.5%). The exotics Catharanthus roseus (54.9%) and Carica papaya (15.6%) was the most cultivated. Threatened (11.6%) and protected (6.9%) species are also present in home-gardens, mostly due to their unavailability in natural areas. Conclusion: This study concludes that the practice of cultivating medicinal plant species in home-gardens is a positive development that in the long term will sustain both species and accompanying indigenous knowledge, as well as preserve the cultural identity of the Bapedi.
Streaming: New ways to save time or procrastinate even more?

This study addresses the interactivity of streaming and the changes that have been brought to how people watch television. The main goal of this research is to find out how streaming in general influences procrastination. Using a previous study as a model, relationships between ego depletion, procrastination, guilt, enjoyment, vitality, recovery experience, passion, and intrinsic needs satisfaction were tested using data from an online survey (N = 473). Results suggest that although an individual may procrastinate more after streaming (interactive media use) than after watching traditional television (noninteractive media use), subsequent negative effects typically associated with procrastination such as guilt and obsessive passion are lower in comparison to traditional television. Positive effects, such as recovery experience, harmonious passion, and enjoyment, are also more prevalent in streaming than in traditional television. Furthermore, not only have popular streaming platforms provided thousands of hours of TV content to be watched online at anytime, hit shows like Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards can only be watched online. With streaming giving more control to the viewer than ever before, this thesis will focus on whether this way of watching television will help users save time or procrastinate even more. These findings are an important step in understanding the role of streaming in a world where television is increasingly watched online and the user is in control rather than depending on traditional linear programming.
Transcranial color-coded sonography of the basal cerebral circulation. Reference data from 115 volunteers.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Transcranial color-coded sonography is a new development in noninvasive cerebral vascular imaging. Reference data using this technique are described. METHODS Blood velocities and pulsatility and resistance indices were determined in the anterior cerebral, middle cerebral, posterior cerebral, vertebral, and basilar arteries in 115 volunteers after correction for the angle of insonation. RESULTS Of 1265 basal arterial segments, 1053 were insonated (83%). The vertebral (98%), basilar (92%), middle cerebral (84%), and posterior (P1) cerebral arteries (84%) were the most successfully insonated, with the anterior (73%) and posterior (P2) cerebral arteries (72%) the least successfully insonated. Mean and end-diastolic blood velocities decreased significantly with age in all vessels (middle cerebral artery mean velocity: 20 to 39 years, 74 cm/s [71-76]; > 60 years, 58 cm/s [55-61], P < .0001; mean with 95% confidence intervals), and peak systolic velocity decreased significantly except in the posterior (P2) cerebral artery. Blood velocities were higher in women except in the > 60-year group. Velocities showed the least interhemispheric asymmetry in the middle cerebral artery (r = .85 and r = .83, peak and mean velocities, respectively) and the greatest asymmetry in the posterior (P2) cerebral artery (r = .58 and r = .59, peak and mean velocities, respectively). Pulsatility and resistance indices increased significantly with age in all vessels (middle cerebral artery pulsatility index: 20 to 39 years, 0.84 [0.82-0.87], > 60 years, 0.97 [0.93-1.02], P < .0001; middle cerebral artery resistance index: 20 to 39 years, 0.55 [0.54-0.56], > 60 years, 0.62 [0.60-0.64], P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS Transcranial color-coded sonography can image the basal cerebral arteries and distinguish vertebral from basilar artery flow and enables pulsed Doppler interrogation with correction for the angle of insonation.
Generation and Validation of a Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 Clone Set for Protein Expression and Phage Display

A comprehensive gene collection for S. oneidensis was constructed using the lambda recombinase (Gateway) cloning system. A total of 3584 individual ORFs (85%) have been successfully cloned into the entry plasmids. To validate the use of the clone set, three sets of ORFs were examined within three different destination vectors constructed in this study. Success rates for heterologous protein expression of S. oneidensis His- or His/GST- tagged proteins in E. coli were approximately 70%. The ArcA and NarP transcription factor proteins were tested in an in vitro binding assay to demonstrate that functional proteins can be successfully produced using the clone set. Further functional validation of the clone set was obtained from phage display experiments in which a phage encoding thioredoxin was successfully isolated from a pool of 80 different clones after three rounds of biopanning using immobilized anti-thioredoxin antibody as a target. This clone set complements existing genomic (e.g., whole-genome microarray) and other proteomic tools (e.g., mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis), and facilitates a wide variety of integrated studies, including protein expression, purification, and functional analyses of proteins both in vivo and in vitro.
Keeping Appointments: The Politics of Confirming United States Attorneys

ABSTRACT As the gatekeepers of federal law, U.S. Attorneys have a strong influence on legal policy. While U.S. Attorneys are presidential appointees subject to Senate confirmation, the rules governing their appointments differ significantly from those used for executive and judicial nominees. Specifically, U.S. District Courts may name interim appointees if prolonged stalemate occurs. When combined with other recent rules changes favoring presidents, U.S. Attorney nominations provide an opportunity to observe how variations in rules influence the confirmation process. Examining all U.S. Attorney nominations between 1987 and 2010, we find evidence that U.S. Attorneys are generally confirmed faster than other executive or judicial nominations even while familiar predictors of delay remain important. The findings have broad implications for the study of appointments and confirmation politics.
Migrant Children's Resilience and Its Effect on Their Adaptation in Cities

Resilience is a hot issue in the study of positive psychology.This study,by using questionnaires,aims to explore migrant children's resilience and its effect on their adaptation in cities.The results show the following: the children show a significant difference in their resilience due to the result-oriented factor(the type of the school),as well as such procedural factors as the time to relocate to Beijing and the times of being transferred to new schools;those who relocated to Beijing over 6 years ago show a higher level of target focusing and positive cognition than those who relocated to Beijing less than 6 years ago;those who study in public schools,fail to be transferred to new schools,and have a family income of more than 2000 yuan show a higher level of target focusing,emotion control,positive cognition,family support,and interpersonal assistance than those who study in schools for farmer-turned migrant workers' children,get transferred to new schools,and have a family income of less than 2000 yuan,respectively;although unfavorable factors have a bad effect on these migrant children's resilience and their adaptation in cities,their resilience has a positive effect on their adaptation in cities under similar disadvantaged circumstances.
Interaction of Vitamin D Receptor with HLA DRB1*0301 in Type 1 Diabetes Patients from North India

Background Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a multifactorial autoimmune disorder where interaction and integration of immune response genes along with environmental factors play a role in autoimmune destruction of the insulin producing Pancreatic Beta cells. Methodology/Principal Findings We have studied four single nucleotide polymorphisms (FokI site in Exon 2, BsmI and ApaI sites in Intron 8 and TaqI site in exon 9) in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene using PCR-RFLP and HLA-DRB1 alleles using PCR and hybridization with sequence specific oligonucleotide probes and studied their interaction using LD based statistics for non-linked loci followed by sequence analysis of the vitamin D response element (VDRE) present in the promoter region of HLA-DRB1*0301. Haplotypes, constructed using SHEsis program for four single nucleotide polymorphisms in the VDR gene, were studied for their interaction with HLA-DRB1 alleles in 233 T1D patients and 191 healthy controls from North India. A significant increase of haplotypes FBAt and fBAT (p<0.02, OR = 1.44 and p<0.002, OR = 3.23 respectively) was observed in the patients. Both the haplotypes FBAt and fBAT were significantly increased in male patients with age at onset less than 18 years; however, fBAT was significantly increased in female patients irrespective of their age at onset. LD based statistics showed significant interaction between the high producer F and T alleles with HLA-DRB1*0301. F and T alleles of VDR have been shown to contribute to VDR mRNA independently. The promoter sequence analysis of HLA-DRB1*0301 showed presence of VDRE involved in higher expression of HLA-DRB1*030, which was confirmed by flow cytometry and real time PCR analysis. Conclusions/Significance These data suggest that the interaction between VDR and HLA alleles is mediated by VDRE present in the promoter region of HLA-DRB1*0301 allele, which may be detrimental for the manifestation of T1D in the absence of 1,25-(OH)2D3 in early childhood due to poor expression of DRB1*0301 in the thymus resulting in autoimmunity.
The effectiveness of end-to-end congestion control mechanisms

TCP’s success is in part due to its ability to deal with congestion, yet congestion control remains an important topic for today’s Internet protocols. Over time, several enhancements have been proposed that improve TCP Reno’s congestion control mechanism, e.g., FACK TCP, Rate-Halving, and TCP Vegas. Most of these enhancements are motivated and evaluated by simulations or small-scale experiments. To assess the effectiveness of these improvements in practice, we performed an Internet experiment during six months using a set of hosts in North America and Europe. We measured protocol dynamics of about 25,000 bulk-data transfers using various congestion control mechanisms. Although this study is limited in that it provides only a snapshot of a small part of the rapidly changing Internet, it allows us to draw the following conclusions when comparing the proposed TCP enhancements to the baseline Reno protocol: Overall, SACK-enhanced protocols are more robust against packet loss (for loss rates smaller than 10 %). As a consequence, they achieve significantly higher bandwidths. Furthermore, these protocols utilize the available network resources more efficiently as they cause fewer unnecessary retransmissions. The global nature of our experiment allows us to see that the benefit of SACK-enhanced protocols varies widely, e.g., it is almost a factor two bigger for intra-continental than for inter-continental connections. Vegas-style congestion window management during the congestion avoidance phase moderately improves on the number of (multiple) packet loss events, but it does so at the expense of lower throughput. These findings are supported by protocol micro-measurements: SACK-enhanced protocols (i) are highly effective in avoiding timeouts due to burst losses and due to non-trigger of recovery and (ii) are able to detect and repair lost (fast) retransmissions. Furthermore, we show that Rate Halving’s congestion control strategy is a win in situations with small congestion windows, because it is able to evoke additional duplicate acknowledgments and thus reduces the number of non-trigger timeouts. Nonetheless, non-trigger timeouts still account for a significant fraction of the timeouts experienced by Rate Halving. Although Rate-Halving’s retransmission strategy is more conservative than FACK’s, overall, Rate-Halving coupled with lost retransmission detection experiences fewer timeouts.
Efficient silencing of gene expression with modular trimeric Pol II expression cassettes comprising microRNA shuttles

Expressed polycistronic microRNA (miR) cassettes have useful properties that can be utilized for RNA interference (RNAi)-based gene silencing. To advance their application we generated modular trimeric anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) Pol II cassettes encoding primary (pri)-miR-31-derived shuttles that target three different viral genome sites. A panel of six expression cassettes, comprising each of the possible ordering combinations of the pri-miR-31 shuttles, was initially tested. Effective silencing of individual target sequences was achieved in transfected cells and transcribed pri-miR trimers generated intended guide strands. There was, however, variation in processing and silencing by each of the shuttles. In some cases the monomers’ position within the trimers influenced processing and this correlated with target silencing. Compromised efficacy could be compensated by substituting the pri-miR-31 backbone with a pri-miR-30a scaffold. Inhibition of HBV replication was achieved in vivo, and in cell culture without disruption of endogenous miR function or induction of the interferon response. A mutant HBV target sequence, with changes in one of the guide cognates, was also silenced by the trimeric cassettes. The modular nature of the cassettes together with compatibility with expression from Pol II promoters should be advantageous for gene silencing applications requiring simultaneous targeting of different sites.
Semaphorin 3F Is Critical for Development of Limbic System Circuitry and Is Required in Neurons for Selective CNS Axon Guidance Events

Little is known about the role of class 3 semaphorins in the development of CNS circuitry. Several class 3 semaphorins, including semaphorin 3F (Sema3F) bind to the receptor neuropilin-2 to confer chemorepulsive responses in vitro. To understand the role of Sema3F in the establishment of neural circuitry in vivo, we have generated sema3F null and sema3F conditional mutant mice. Inspection of the peripheral nervous system in sema3F null mice reveals that Sema3F is essential for the proper organization of specific cranial nerve projections. Analysis of the CNS in sema3F null mice reveals a crucial role for Sema3F in the rostral forebrain, midbrain, and hippocampus in establishing specific Npn-2 (neuropilin-2)-expressing limbic tracts. Furthermore, we identify Sema3F and Npn-2 as the first guidance cue-receptor pair shown to be essential for controlling the development of amygdaloid circuitry. In addition, we provide genetic evidence in vertebrates for a neuronal requirement of a soluble axon guidance cue in CNS axon guidance. Our data reveal a requirement for neuronal Sema3F in the normal development of the anterior commissure in the ventral forebrain and infrapyramidal tract in the hippocampus. Thus, our results show that Sema3F is the principal ligand for Npn-2-mediated axon guidance events in vivo and is a critical determinant of limbic and peripheral nervous system circuitry.
MicroRNA-638 is highly expressed in human vascular smooth muscle cells and inhibits PDGF-BB-induced cell proliferation and migration through targeting orphan nuclear receptor NOR1.

AIMS Aberrant vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration contribute significantly to the development of vascular pathologies, such as atherosclerosis and restenosis. MicroRNAs have recently emerged as critical modulators in cellular processes and the purpose of this study is to identify novel miRNA regulators implicated in human aortic VSMC proliferation and migration. METHODS AND RESULTS To identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed in human VSMCs, we performed miRNA microarray analysis in human aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) at different time points after platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) stimulation. Here, we identified microRNA-638 (miR-638) as a transcript that was one of the most significantly down-regulated in human VSMCs after PDGF stimulation. Furthermore, we confirmed, by Quantitative RT-PCR, that miR-638 is highly expressed in human VSMCs, and its expression is markedly down-regulated in a dose- and time-dependent manner upon PDGF treatment. Consistent with a critical role in SMC proliferation, we found that miR-638 expression was significantly up-regulated in human VSMCs cultured in differentiation medium, a condition that inhibits SMC proliferation. Furthermore, we identified the orphan nuclear receptor NOR1 as a downstream target gene product of miR-638 and down-regulation of NOR1 is critical for miR-638-mediated inhibitory effects on PDGF-induced cyclin D1 expression, cell proliferation, and migration in human aortic SMCs. CONCLUSION These results indicate that miR-638 is a key molecule in regulating human VSMC proliferation and migration by targeting the NOR1/cyclin D pathway and suggest that specific modulation of miR-638 in human VSMCs may represent an attractive approach for the treatment of proliferative vascular diseases.
Hippocampus-dependent learning influences hippocampal neurogenesis

The structure of the mammalian hippocampus continues to be modified throughout life by continuous addition of neurons in the dentate gyrus. Although the existence of adult neurogenesis is now widely accepted the function that adult generated granule cells play is a topic of intense debate. Many studies have argued that adult generated neurons, due to unique physiological characteristics, play a unique role in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. However, it is not currently clear whether this is the case or what specific capability adult generated neurons may confer that developmentally generated neurons do not. These questions have been addressed in numerous ways, from examining the effects of increasing or decreasing neurogenesis to computational modeling. One particular area of research has examined the effects of hippocampus dependent learning on proliferation, survival, integration and activation of immature neurons in response to memory retrieval. Within this subfield there remains a range of data showing that hippocampus dependent learning may increase, decrease or alternatively may not alter these components of neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Determining how and when hippocampus-dependent learning alters adult neurogenesis will help to further clarify the role of adult generated neurons. There are many variables (such as age of immature neurons, species, strain, sex, stress, task difficulty, and type of learning) as well as numerous methodological differences (such as marker type, quantification techniques, apparatus size etc.) that could all be crucial for a clear understanding of the interaction between learning and neurogenesis. Here, we review these findings and discuss the different conditions under which hippocampus-dependent learning impacts adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus.
Effects of mild calorie restriction on anxiety and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis responses to stress in the male rat

Chronic calorie restriction (CR) is one of the few interventions to improve longevity and quality of life in a variety of species. It also reduces behavioral indices of anxiety and influences some stress hormones under basal conditions. However, it is not known how CR influences hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis function or if those on a CR diet have heightened HPA axis responses to stress. We hypothesized elevated basal glucocorticoid levels induced by CR would lead to exacerbated HPA axis responses to the psychological stress, restraint, in the male rat. We first confirmed rats fed 75% of their normal calorie intake for 3 weeks were less anxious than ad libitum‐fed (AD) rats in the elevated plus maze test for anxiety. The anxiolytic effect was mild, with only grooming significantly attenuated in the open field and no measured behavior affected in the light/dark box. Despite elevated basal glucocorticoids, CR rats had very similar hormonal and central responses to 15‐min restraint to the AD rats. Both CR and AD rats responded to restraint stress with a robust increase in glucocorticoids that was resolved by 60 min. Both groups also showed robust neuronal activation in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and in other stress‐ and feeding‐sensitive brain regions that was not substantially affected by calorie intake. Our findings thus demonstrate chronic mild CR is subtly anxiolytic and is not likely to affect HPA axis responses to psychological stress. These findings support research suggesting a beneficial effect of mild CR.
N=1 Gauge Theory with Flavor from Fluxes

Cachazo and Vafa studied $\mathcal{N}=1$ dynamics of U(N) gauge theory from a viewpoint of type IIB superstring compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold with fluxes. They proved the equivalence between the dynamics and that of $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory deformed by certain superpotential terms. We generalize their results to gauge theories with massive flavors in fundamental representation for classical gauge groups. When the additional tree level superpotential takes the form of the square of an adjoint chiral superfield we derive Affleck-Dine-Seiberg potentials. By turning off the flux, we obtain the Seiberg-Witten curves of $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories.
A Deflation Technique for Linear Systems of Equations

Iterative methods for solving linear systems of equations can be very efficient if the structure of the coefficient matrix can be exploited to accelerate the convergence of the iterative process. However, for classes of problems for which suitable preconditioners cannot be found or for which the iteration scheme does not converge, iterative techniques may be inappropriate. This paper proposes a technique for deflating the eigenvalues and associated eigenvectors of the iteration matrix which either slow down convergence or cause divergence. This process is completely general and works by approximating the eigenspace ${\Bbb P}$ corresponding to the unstable or slowly converging modes and then applying a coupled iteration scheme on ${\Bbb P}$ and its orthogonal complement ${\Bbb Q}$.
A fast algorithm for bidimensional EMD

In this letter, we describe a new method for bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (EMD). This decomposition is based on Delaunay triangulation and on piecewise cubic polynomial interpolation. Particular attention is devoted to boundary conditions that are crucial for the feasibility of the bidimensional EMD. The study of the behavior of the decomposition on a different kind of image shows its efficiency in terms of computational cost, and the decomposition of Gaussian white noises leads to bidimensional selective filter banks.