Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNA amplification and restriction endonuclease analysis for differentiation of 12 species and taxa of Nocardia, including recognition of four new taxa within the Nocardia asteroides complex

Nineteen reference and 156 clinical strains of the genus Nocardia belonging to 12 taxonomic groups were studied for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) by using an amplified 439-bp segment of the 65-kDa heat shock protein gene. Of 30 restriction endonucleases, digestion with MspI and then digestion with BsaHI produced RFLP band patterns which separated all 12 groups except N. asteroides type IV from 6 of 12 N. transvalensis isolates and N. carnea from the N. asteroides type VI isolates. Commonly encountered species such as N. nova, N. farcinica, N. brasiliensis sensu stricto, and N. otitidiscaviarum were easily separated. Each taxon resulted in a single RFLP band pattern that included > or = 96% of all biochemically grouped isolates for 9 of 12 taxa with MspI and for 8 of 12 taxa with BsaHI. With the use of both patterns, only 6 of 175 (3.4%) isolates failed to fit the biochemically defined group patterns. These studies provide the first evidence for the separate identities of four antibiogram-defined (but currently unnamed) groups within the N. asteroides complex (types I, II, IV, and VI) and the presence of two subgroups within N. transvalensis. They also provide genotypic evidence for the separate identities of N. nova and N. farcinica. The lack of BstEII recognition sites in amplicons obtained from nocardiae provides a simple and rapid method for the differentiation of nocardiae from mycobacteria. DNA amplification with RFLP analysis is the first rapid method that distinguishes all clinically significant taxa and recognized species within the genus Nocardia.
Unknotting genus one knots

For any knot with genus one and unknotting number one, other than the figure-eight knot, we prove that there is exactly one way to unknot it by means of a crossing change. In the case of the figure-eight knot, we prove that there are precisely two unknotting crossing changes. The proof uses sutured manifold theory and an analysis of the arc complex of the once-punctured torus.
A comparative study of brachial plexus sonography and magnetic resonance imaging in chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy and multifocal motor neuropathy

To compare the performance of neuroimaging techniques, i.e. high‐resolution ultrasound (HRUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), when applied to the brachial plexus, as part of the diagnostic work‐up of chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy (CIDP) and multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN).
Melatonin improves the fertilization capacity and developmental ability of bovine oocytes by regulating cytoplasmic maturation events

Melatonin is a well‐characterized antioxidant that has been successfully used to protect oocytes from reactive oxygen species during in vitro maturation (IVM), resulting in improved fertilization capacity and development ability. However, the mechanism via which melatonin improves oocyte fertilization capacity and development ability remains to be determined. Here, we studied the effects of melatonin on cytoplasmic maturation of bovine oocytes. In the present study, bovine oocytes were cultured in IVM medium supplemented with 0, 10–7, 10–9, and 10−11 mol/L melatonin, and the cytoplasmic maturation parameters of MII oocytes after IVM were investigated, including redistribution of organelles (mitochondria, cortical granules [CGs], and endoplasmic reticulum [ER]), intracellular glutathione (GSH) and ATP levels, expression of endogenous antioxidant genes (Cat, Sod1, and GPx), and fertilization‐related events (IP3R1 distribution and expression of CD9 and Juno). Our results showed that melatonin significantly improved the cytoplasmic maturation of bovine oocytes by improving the normal distribution of organelles, increasing intracellular GSH and ATP levels, enhancing antioxidant gene expression levels, and modulating fertilization‐related events, all of which resulted in increased fertilization capacity and developmental ability. Meanwhile, melatonin also increased the mRNA and protein expression levels of the Tet1 gene and decreased the Dnmt1 gene mRNA and protein levels in bovine oocytes, indicating that melatonin regulates the expression of the detected genes via demethylation. These findings shed insights into the potential mechanisms by which melatonin improves oocyte quality during IVM.
Early Accumulation of Interferon-&ggr; in Grafts Tolerized by Donor-Specific Blood Transfusion: Friend or Enemy?

Background. We previously documented an early (day-2) interferon (IFN)-&ggr; accumulation in cardiac allografts of rats made tolerant by donor-specific blood transfusion (DSBT) but not in rejecting controls. This contrasted with the IFN-&ggr; peak seen later (day 5) in rejecting but not in tolerant rats. Methods. To further examine the role of early intragraft IFN-&ggr; in DSBT-induced tolerance, we studied whether IFN-&ggr; up-regulation correlates with the magnitude of the DSBT effect and how IFN-&ggr; is influenced by interventions abrogating tolerance. Results. The protective effect of DSBT depended upon the timing of administration: day-12 DSBT induced indefinite graft survival; day-6 DSBT gave a moderate, and day-0 DSBT, no graft prolongation. IFN-&ggr; up-regulation correlated with the DSBT effect: it was maximal after day-12 DSBT, intermediate after day-6 DSBT, and absent after day-0 DSBT. Tolerant splenocytes transferred tolerance into naïve rats in a donor-specific manner, indicating that alloantigen-specific regulatory cells operate. Thymectomy prevented regulatory cells development, caused further amplification of intragraft IFN-&ggr;, and led to rejection, although graft survival was still prolonged. Conclusions. Day 2 intragraft IFN-&ggr; correlates with the DSBT protective effect. Thymectomy abrogates DSBT-induced tolerance, prevents regulatory cell development, and paradoxically causes further accumulation of intragraft IFN-&ggr;. These data indicate that DSBT has a stimulatory and a (thymus-dependent) inhibitory effect on early intragraft IFN-&ggr;. Intragraft IFN-&ggr; is beneficial, providing it occurs early and remains moderate. The role of intragraft IFN-&ggr; in tolerance and rejection depends upon the timing and the degree of production and perhaps the type of IFN-&ggr; producing cells (regulatory or effector).
Expression of Interleukin-26 is upregulated in inflammatory bowel disease

AIM To investigate interleukin (IL)-26 expression in the inflamed mucosa of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the function of IL-26. METHODS Human colonic subepithelial myofibroblasts (SEMFs) were isolated from colon tissue surgically resected. The expression of IL-26 protein and its receptor complex was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The gene expression induced by IL-26 was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Intracellular signaling pathways were evaluated by immunoblotting and specific small interfering (si) RNA transfection. RESULTS The mRNA and protein expression of IL-26 were significantly enhanced in the inflamed mucosa of patients with IBD. IL-26 receptor complex was expressed in colonic SEMFs in vivo and in vitro. IL-26 stimulated the mRNA expression of IL-6 and IL-8 in colonic SEMFs. The inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinases and phosphoinositide 3-kinase, and siRNAs for signal transducers and activator of transcription 1/3, nuclear factor-kappa B and activator protein-1 significantly reduced the mRNA expression of IL-6 and IL-8 induced by IL-26. CONCLUSION These results suggest that IL-26 plays a role in the pathophysiology of IBD through induction of inflammatory mediators.
Reconceptualizing subjectivity in critical social psychology: Turning to Foucault

This article focuses on a reading of Foucault which draws on “technologies of the self,” as opposed to “technologies of subjectivity,” and examines the relevance of this work for critical psychology. The article draws on consumerism to highlight the ways in which contemporary individuals understand, and are understood, through a desire to “know oneself. ” Attention then turns to Foucault’s understanding of the precept “care for the self” to explore the ways in which this enables a reconceptualization of contemporary consumers as both positioned and capable of agency. The article argues that psychology could usefully benefit from an understanding of subjectivity that acknowledges existing power knowledge structures, whilst also looking for moments of resistance via individual techniques such as critical self-reflection, reciprocal relationships, and ultimately a “care of the self. ” This article attempts to advance the interpretation of Foucault within critical psychology and suggest an alternative for theorizing subjectivity.
Deep Learning for Population Genetic Inference

Given genomic variation data from multiple individuals, computing the likelihood of complex population genetic models is often infeasible. To circumvent this problem, we introduce here a novel likelihood-free inference framework by applying deep learning, a powerful modern technique in machine learning. In contrast to Approximate Bayesian Computation, another likelihood-free approach widely used in population genetics and other fields, deep learning does not require a distance function on summary statistics or a rejection step, and it is robust to the addition of uninformative statistics. To demonstrate that deep learning can be effectively employed to estimate population genetic parameters and learn informative features of data, we focus on the challenging problem of jointly inferring natural selection and demography (in the form of a population size change history). Our method is able to separate the global nature of demography from the local nature of selection, without sequential steps for these two factors. Studying demography and selection jointly is motivated by Drosophila, where pervasive selection confounds demographic analysis. We apply our method to 197 African Drosophila melanogaster genomes from Zambia to infer both their overall demography, and regions of their genome under selection. We find many regions of the genome that have experienced hard sweeps, and fewer under selection on standing variation (soft sweep) or balancing selection. Interestingly, we find that soft sweeps and balancing selection occur more frequently closer to the centromere of each chromosome. In addition, our demographic inference suggests that previously estimated bottlenecks for African Drosophila melanogaster are too extreme, likely due in part to the unaccounted impact of selection.
Tunnel FET RF Rectifier Design for Energy Harvesting Applications

Radio-frequency (RF)-powered energy harvesting systems have offered new perspectives in various scientific and clinical applications such as health monitoring, bio-signal acquisition, and battery-less data-transceivers. In such applications, an RF rectifier with high sensitivity, high power conversion efficiency (PCE) is critical to enable the utilization of the ambient RF signal power. In this paper, we explore the high PCE advantage of the steep-slope III-V heterojunction tunnel field-effect transistor (HTFET) RF rectifiers over the Si FinFET baseline design for RF-powered battery-less systems. We investigate the device characteristics of HTFETs to improve the sensitivity and PCE of the RF rectifiers. Different topologies including the two-transistor (2-T) and four-transistor (4-T) complementary-HTFET designs, and the n-type HTFET-only designs are evaluated with design parameter optimizations to achieve high PCE and high sensitivity. The performance evaluation of the optimized 4-T cross-coupled HTFET rectifier has shown an over 50% PCE with an RF input power ranging from -40 dBm to -25 dBm, which significantly extends the RF input power range compared to the baseline Si FinFET design. A maximum PCE of 84% and 85% has been achieved in the proposed 4-T N-HTFET-only rectifier at -33.7 dBm input power and the 4-T cross-coupled HTFET rectifier at -34.5 dBm input power, respectively. The capability of obtaining a high PCE at a low RF input power range reveals the superiority of the HTFET RF rectifiers for battery-less energy harvesting applications.
Prediction of Hydrogen Flux Through Sulfur-Tolerant Binary Alloy Membranes

Metal membranes play a vital role in hydrogen purification. Defect-free membranes can exhibit effectively infinite selectivity but must also provide high fluxes, resistance to poisoning, long operational lifetimes, and low cost. Alloying offers one route to improve on membranes based on pure metals such as palladium. We show how ab initio calculations and coarse-grained modeling can accurately predict hydrogen fluxes through binary alloy membranes as functions of alloy composition, temperature, and pressure. Our approach, which requires no experimental input apart from knowledge of bulk crystal structures, is demonstrated for palladium-copper alloys, which show nontrivial behavior due to the existence of face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic crystal structures and have the potential to resist sulfur poisoning. The accuracy of our approach is examined by a comparison with extensive experiments using thick foils at elevated temperatures. Our experiments also demonstrate the ability of these membranes to resist poisoning by hydrogen sulfide.
Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging Tractography of the Pyramidal Tracts Correlates with Clinical Motor Function in Children with Congenital Hemiparesis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Children with congenital hemiparesis have greater asymmetry in diffusion parameters of the pyramidal tracts compared with control subjects. We hypothesized that the asymmetry correlates with the severity of hemiparesis and that diffusion metrics would be abnormal in the affected tracts and normal in the unaffected tracts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen patients with congenital hemiparesis and 17 age-matched control subjects were studied with diffusion tensor MR imaging tractography. Hemipareses were scored as mild, moderate, or severe. We measured tract-specific diffusion parameters (fractional anisotropy, mean, and directional diffusion coefficients) of the pyramidal tracts. We compared tract-specific parameters and asymmetry between the right and left tracts of the differing severity groups and control subjects. RESULTS: We observed many different causes of congenital hemiparesis including venous infarction, arterial infarction, and polymicrogyria. Clinical severity of hemiparesis correlated with asymmetry in fractional anisotropy (P < .0001), transverse diffusivity (P < .0001), and mean diffusivity (P < .03). With increasing severity of hemiparesis, fractional anisotropy decreased (P < .0001) and transverse diffusivity (P < .0001) and mean diffusivity (P < .02) increased in the affected pyramidal tract compared with controls. Diffusion metrics in the unaffected tract were similar to those in the control subjects. CONCLUSION: Asymmetry in fractional anisotropy, transverse diffusivity, and mean diffusivity, as well as the degree of abnormality in the actual values of the affected pyramidal tracts themselves, correlates with the severity of motor dysfunction in infants and children with congenital hemiparesis from different causes. This suggests that abnormalities detected by diffusion tensor MR imaging tractography in the affected pyramidal tract are related to the functional ability of the affected pyramidal tract, regardless of the etiology of motor dysfunction.
Theoretical analysis and simulation study of a high-resolution zoom-in PET system

We study a novel PET system that integrates a high-resolution zoom-in detector into an existing PET scanner to provide higher resolution and sensitivity in a target region. In contrast to a full-ring PET insert, the proposed system is designed to focus on the target region close to the face of the high-resolution detector. The proposed design is easier to implement than a full-ring insert and provides flexibility for adaptive PET imaging. We developed a maximum a posteriori (MAP) image reconstruction method for the proposed system. Theoretical analysis of the resolution and noise properties of the MAP reconstruction is performed. We show that the proposed PET system offers better performance in terms of resolution-noise tradeoff and lesion detectability. The results are validated using computer simulations.
Bacterial Diversity across Individual Lichens

ABSTRACT Symbioses are unique habitats for bacteria. We surveyed the spatial diversity of bacterial communities across multiple individuals of closely related lichens using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and pyrosequencing. Centers of lichens house richer, more consistent assemblages than species-poor and compositionally disparate lichen edges, suggesting that ecological succession plays a role in structuring these communities.
Opportunities to Improve the Cost‐effectiveness of Treatment for Hypertension

The cost-effectiveness of treatment for hypertension depends on the pretreatment level of blood pressure, age and sex of the patient, presence of other cardiovascular risk factors, long-term control of blood pressure, and the annual costs of treatment Treatment of very mild hypertension (diastolic blood pressure, 90–94 mm Hg), even if the benefits do exceed the risks, does not appear to be particularly cost-effective. Opportunities to improve the cost-effectiveness of hypertension management lie in 1) avoidance of patient mislabeling by careful documentation of blood pressures on multiple occasions in the office and during usual activities outside the office before the diagnosis is made and treatment is begun; 2) efforts to increase adherence to scheduled visits and medication regimens; 3) attempts to step-down dosages or discontinue medications after periods of good blood pressure control; 4) explicit consideration of costs, as well as benefits, in decisions on the needed frequency of office visits, choice of medications, and use of laboratory tests; and 5) efforts to improve practice efficiency. Future practice guidelines for hypertension management should take these factors into account and should make trade-offs between benefits, risks, and costs explicit for specific types of patients.
Multimodal imaging for acute stroke

The performance of MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) sequences in patients with acute ischemic stroke has greatly evolved over the past decade.1 The larger question remains: can these imaging techniques help to identify patients with meaningful amounts of salvageable brain tissue and will performing these imaging tests be worth it, both in terms of financial costs and the delay in institution of revascularization therapies?
Determinante van vereensaming tydens vroeë volwassenheid

Hierdie Studie is uitgevoer om spesifieke determinante van vereensaming tydens vroeë volwassenheid te identifiseer. Die ondersoek is gedoen deur middel van vraelyste wat deur 'n ewekansig geselekteerde steekproef van 294 proefpersone tussen die ouderdomme 20 en 34 jaar voltooi is. Betekenisvolle verbande is gevind ten opsigte van vereensaming tydens vroeë volwassenheid en huwelikstatus, ervaring van huidige huwelik, aantal vriende, bestaan van 'n vertroueling al dan nie, kontak met eie familie, verlange na 'n spesifieke persoon en die verbreking van 'n liefdes- of vriendskapsverhouding. Kontak met bure blyk egter nie 'n belangrike determinant van vereensaming te wees nie. Geen betekenisvolle verbande ten opsigte van Jong volwassenes se geslag, woonomgewing, tipe behuising en lewenswyse en die mate van vereensaming wat hulle ervaar, is gevind nie. Gebrek aan sosiale kontak en interaksie blyk dus belangrike determinante van vereensaming tydens vroeë volwassenheid te wees. Dit is egter duidelik dat vereensaming nie 'n eenvoudige verskynsel is nie. Dit blyk eerder 'n verskynsel met vele dimensies in terme van die determinante en die subjektiewe belewing daarvan te wees.
catena-Poly[bis(4-aminopyridinium) [[tetraaquanickel(II)]-μ-benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylato] dihydrate]

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, {(C5H7N2)2[Ni(C10H2O8)(H2O)4]·2H2O}n, contains an NiII atom, two water molecules of coordination, one half of a benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylate (btec) anionic ligand, one 4-aminopyridinium cation (papy) and an uncoordinated water molecule. The metal center lies on an inversion center and adopts an octahedral geometry with the carboxylate groups tilted out of the mean plane formed by the btec. In the crystal, molecules are linked into one-dimensional coordination polymers running along the ac diagonal. The crystal structure is consolidated by N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.
Long-term retention of a simple motor skill.

Ammons, Douglas, Masters, 1988 Psychology Long-term retention of a simple motor skill Director: Laurence H. Berger Historically in motor skills research, there has been an emphasis on acquisition and limited work on retention. Recent reviews by Adams (1987) and Schendel, Shields, and Katz (1978) summarize the empirical retention research as vague, qualitative ’'principles," which do not integrate retention results with acquisition phenomena. The present study describes pursuit rotor retention over a much longer period than any previous research. Thirteen subjects who had taken part in an earlier rotary pursuit acquisition study were re­ tested an average of 15.5 years after original practice. Matched age control groups were given the same amount of acquisition prac­ tice and retested after a one-week retention interval, so that all subjects had the same amount of total practice but differed in length of retention interval. The results provided data for testing and revising two principles of retention: (i) forgetting increases as a positive function of the retention interval; (ii) relearning is more rapid than the original learning. It was found that subjects retested after a 15.5 year period of no practice perform much like naive subjects, with essentially a slow, linear increase in perfor­ mance during initial continuous practice. After the first rest, performance jumps in one large increment up to the performance pat­ tern and level of the control groups, but shows more rapid decrement in the later parts of the practice period. A reinterpretation of these and other retention phenomena as schedule-induced differences in performance was made, showing that forgetting is simply the decay in reminiscence over long periods of time and not the decay of learn­ ing. Apparent losses in performance upon initial retest measure merely the predictable changes in reminiscence as its reappearance is depressed by the continuous or highly massed retest conditions, and rapid "relearning" to previous acquisition levels is simply the predictable reappearance of reminiscence after the first postrest practice during retesting. Four principles of pursuit rotor perfor­ mance are stated and used to describe retention phenomena in terms of acquisition phenomena. Finally, some preliminary suggestions are made for the extention of Kimble's theory of skill acquisition.
Uroplakin as a marker for typing metastatic transitional cell carcinoma on fine‐needle aspiration specimens

Immunohistological markers specific for a single type of epithelium are rare. Recently, urothelium tissue‐specific genes were cloned. The genes encoded a family of transmembrane proteins, uroplakins, that are expressed only in urothelial mucosa. Using uroplakin antibodies on paraffin‐embedded tissue, a previous study demonstrated positive staining in 66% of metastatic transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cases and negative staining in all other tumors (including breast, ovarian, lung, and gastrointestinal carcinomas) tested. The current study addresses the diagnostic value of uroplakins in conventional fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) material in establishing a diagnosis of metastatic TCC.