Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HCV NS5A abrogates p53 protein function by interfering with p53-DNA binding.

AIM To evaluate the inhibition effect of HCV NS5A on p53 transactivation on p21 promoter and explore its possible mechanism for influencing p53 function. METHODS p53 function of transactivation on p21 promoter was studied with a luciferase reporter system in which the luciferase gene is driven by p21 promoter, and the p53-DNA binding ability was observed with the use of electrophoretic mobility-shift assay (EMSA). Lipofectin mediated p53 or HCV NS5A expression vectors were used to transfect hepatoma cell lines to observe whether HCV NS5A could abrogate the binding ability of p53 to its specific DNA sequence and p53 transactivation on p21 promoter. Western blot experiment was used for detection of HCV NS5A and p53 proteins expression. RESULTS Relative luciferase activity driven by p21 promoter increased significantly in the presence of endogenous p53 protein. Compared to the control group, exogenous p53 protein also stimulated p21 promoter driven luciferase gene expression in a dose-dependent way. HCV NS5A protein gradually inhibited both endogenous and exogenous p53 transactivation on p21 promoter with increase of the dose of HCV NS5A expression plasmid. By the experiment of EMSA, we could find p53 binding to its specific DNA sequence and, when co-transfected with increased dose of HCV NS5A expression vector, the p53 binding affinity to its DNA gradually decreased and finally disappeared. Between the Huh 7 cells transfected with p53 expression vector alone or co-transfected with HCV NS5A expression vector, there was no difference in the p53 protein expression. CONCLUSION HCV NS5A inhibits p53 transactivation on p21 promoter through abrogating p53 binding affinity to its specific DNA sequence. It does not affect p53 protein expression.
In vitro transcriptional activation of the phage Mu mom promoter by C protein

The phage Mu gene C encodes a 16.5-kDa site-specific DNA-binding protein that functions as a trans-activator of the four phage "late" operons, including mom. We have overexpressed and purified C and used it for DNase I footprinting and transcription analyses in vitro. The footprinting results are summarized as follows. (i) As shown previously (V. Balke, V. Nagaraja, T. Gindlesperger, and S. Hattman, Nucleic Acids Res. 12:2777-2784, 1992) in vivo, Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) bound the wild-type (wt) mom promoter at a site slightly upstream from the functionally active site bound on the C-independent tin7 mutant promoter. (ii) In the presence of C, however, RNAP bound the wt promoter at the same site as tin7. (iii) C and RNAP were both bound by the mom promoter at overlapping sites, indicating that they were probably on different faces of the DNA helix. The minicircle system of Choy and Adhya (H. E. Choy and S. Adhya, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:472-476, 1993) was used to compare transcription in vitro from the wt and tin7 promoters. This analysis showed the following. (i) Few full-length transcripts were observed from the wt promoter in the absence of C, but addition of increasing amounts of C greatly stimulated transcription. (ii) RNA was transcribed from the tin7 promoter in the absence of C, but addition of C had a small stimulatory effect. (iii) Transcription from linearized minicircles or restriction fragment templates was greatly reduced (although still stimulated by C) with both the wt and tin7 promoters. These results show that C alone is capable of activating rightward transcription in vitro by promoting RNAP binding at a functionally active site. Additionally, DNA topology plays an important role in transcriptional activation in vitro.
Memoranda A genera ! ization of Norton ' s theorem

A general framework for aggregation and decomposition of product form queueing networks with state dependent routing and servicing is presented. By analogy with electrical circuit theory, the stations are grouped into clusters or subnetworks such that the process decomposes into a global process and a local process. Moreover, the local process factorizes into the subnetworks. The global process and the local processes can be analyzed separately as if they were independent. The global process describes the behaviour of the queueing network in which each cluster is aggregated into a single station, whereas the local process describes the behaviour of the subnetworks as if they are not part of the queueing network. The decomposition and aggregation method formalized in this paper allows us to first analyze the global behaviour of the queueing network and subsequently analyze the local behaviour of the subnetworks of interest or to aggregate clusters into single stations without affecting the behaviour of the rest of the queueing network. Conditions are provided such that: the global equilibrium distribution for aggregated clusters has a product form; this form can be obtained by merely monitoring the global behaviour; the computation of a detailed distribution, including its normalizing constant, can be decomposed into the computation of a global and a local distribution; the marginal distribution for the number of jobs at the stations of a cluster can be obtained by merely solving local behaviour. As a special application, Norton's theorem for queueing networks is extended to queueing networks with state dependent routing such as due to capacity constraints at stations or at clusters of stations and state dependent servicing such as due to service delays for clusters of stations.
Light stemming approaches for the French, Portuguese, German and Hungarian languages

This paper describes and evaluates various general stemming approaches for the French, Portuguese (Brazilian), German and Hungarian languages. Based on the CLEF test-collections, we demonstrate that light stemmers for the French, Portuguese and Hungarian languages perform well, and reasonably well for the German language. Variations in mean average precision among the different stemming approaches are also evaluated and sometimes they are found statistically significant.
Effect of stride length on symptoms of exercise‐induced muscle damage during a repeated bout of downhill running

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of changes in stride length on the symptoms of exercise‐induced muscle damage (EIMD) during a repeated bout of downhill running in a group of 18 men and women. Muscle tenderness, plasma creatine kinase activity (CK) and maximal voluntary isometric force were measured before and after two downhill runs, with each run separated by 5 weeks. The first downhill run was at the preferred stride frequency (PSF). Participants were then randomly allocated to one of three sex‐balanced groups with equal numbers of men and women: overstride (−8% PSF), understride (+8% PSF) and normal stride frequency for the second downhill run. Stride length had no effect (P>0.05) on muscle tenderness, CK or isometric peak force. Increases in muscle tenderness (P<0.001) and CK were lower (P<0.05) following the second downhill run, although there was no difference in the pattern and extent of the strength decrement between the two runs. There were also no differences (P>0.05) in muscle tenderness, CK or the relative strength loss between the men and the women. Results suggest that the symptoms of EIMD are unaffected by gender and small alterations to the normal stride pattern during constant velocity downhill running. The observation that muscle tenderness and CK were reduced following a repeated bout of similar eccentric exercise is consistent with the phenomenon known as the ‘repeated bout effect’ of muscle damage.
Measuring Autonomy Support in University Students: the Spanish Version of the Learning Climate Questionnaire

The goals of this research were to translate and analyze the psychometric properties of the Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ) and to develop a short form. The LCQ is a 15-item self-report measure that assesses autonomy support in educational settings. A total of 422 students (60 men and 362 women) took part in this study. Results showed evidence of construct validity and adequate reliability for the LCQ. The short form consists of five items that showed sound psychometric properties. Results of Pearson correlation and Gower index showed high agreement between the long and short forms. In conclusion, both forms can be considered as preliminary versions of the original questionnaire to assess autonomy support in educational settings. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron traducir al español, analizar las propiedades psicométricas del Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ) y desarrollar una forma corta. El LCQ es un cuestionario de 15 items que evalúa el apoyo a la autonomía en el contexto educativo. Los participantes fueron 422 estudiantes (60 hombres y 362 mujeres). Los resultados mostraron evidencias de validez de constructo y una fiabilidad adecuada. La forma corta del LCQ que consta de cinco items mostró adecuadas propiedades psicométricas. Los resultados de la correlación de Pearson y del índice Gower mostraron una alta concordancia entre las formas larga y corta. En conclusión, ambas formas pueden ser consideradas como versiones preliminares del cuestionario original para evaluar el apoyo a la autonomía en el contexto educativo.
Decay-accelerating factor expression in the rat kidney is restricted to the apical surface of podocytes.

BACKGROUND Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) has inhibitory activity toward complement C3 and C5 convertases. DAF is present in human glomeruli and on cultured human glomerular visceral epithelial cells (GEC). We studied the distribution and function of rat DAF. METHODS Function-neutralizing antibodies (Abs) were raised against DAF. The distribution of DAF in vivo was determined by immunoelectron microscopy. Functional studies were performed in cultured GEC and following IV injection of anti-DAF Abs into rats. RESULTS DAF was present exclusively on the apical surfaces of GEC, and was not present on the basal surfaces of GEC, nor other glomerular or kidney cells. DAF was functionally active on cultured GEC, and served to limit complement activation in concert with CD59, an inhibitor of C5b-9 formation. Upon injection into normal rats, anti-DAF F(ab')2 Abs bound to GEC in vivo, yet there was no evidence for complement activation and animals did not develop abnormal albuminuria. Anti-megalin complement-activating IgG Abs were "planted" on GEC, which activated complement as evidenced by the presence of C3d on GEC. Attempts to inhibit DAF function with anti-DAF Abs did not affect the quantity of complement activation by these anti-megalin Abs, nor did it lead to development of abnormal albuminuria. In contrast, in the puromycin aminonucleoside model of GEC injury and proteinuria, anti-DAF Abs slowed the recovery from renal failure that occurs in this model. CONCLUSION In cultured rat GEC, DAF is an effective complement regulator. In vivo, DAF is present on GEC apical surfaces. Yet, it appears that DAF is not essential to prevent complement activation from occurring under normal circumstances and in those cases in which complement-activating Abs are present on the basal surfaces of GEC in vivo. However, in proteinuric conditions, DAF appears to be protective to GEC.
Editorial: evidence-based guidelines for avoiding the most prevalent and serious APA error in journal article submissions - The citation error

In a previous editorial, Onwuegbuzie, Combs, Slate, and Frels (2010) discussed the findings of Combs, Onwuegbuzie, and Frels (2010), who identified the 60 most common American Psychological Association (APA) errors among authors who submitted manuscripts to Research in the Schools over a 6-year period. This editorial led to representatives of APA inviting us to write a blog post (http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/#tp), which also was included on APA's facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#! /APAStyle) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/APA_Style) accounts. According to these APA representatives, our editorial will motivate 60 sets of discussion posts (already several posts have been made; see, for e.g., http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/01/numbersanyone.html)—one for each of the 60 most common APA errors that we found, which will involve at least 135,000 users from 177 countries. Of the 60 APA errors that were identified, the most prevalent error was the incorrect use of numbers, which was committed by 57.3% of the authors. As noted by Onwuegbuzie et al. (2010), this prevalence rate represents an extremely large effect size. However, it should be noted that there was one APA error that Combs et al. did not examine, namely, that pertaining to citing references in text and presenting references in the reference list. This APA error was omitted deliberately by Combs et al. because, as we will demonstrate, this error represents the most serious APA error and thus deserves sole examination.
Murine Model of Chemically Induced Colitis Protective Effect of Tapeworm Infection in a Neutralizing Anti-IL-10 Antibody Blocks the

Derek M. McKayMeaghan M. Hunter, Arthur Wang, Christina L. Hirota andhttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/174/11/7368J Immunol€2005; 174:7368-7375; ;Referenceshttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/174/11/7368.full#ref-list-1This article cites 41 articles, 13 of which you can access for free at: Subscriptionshttp://jimmunol.org/subscriptionsInformation about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online at: Permissionshttp://www.aai. org/ji/copyright.htmlSubmit copyright permission requests at: Email Alertshttp://jimmunol.org/cgi/alerts/etocReceive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at:
The dyskerin ribonucleoprotein complex as an OCT4/SOX2 coactivator in embryonic stem cells

Acquisition of pluripotency is driven largely at the transcriptional level by activators OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG that must in turn cooperate with diverse coactivators to execute stem cell-specific gene expression programs. Using a biochemically defined in vitro transcription system that mediates OCT4/SOX2 and coactivator-dependent transcription of the Nanog gene, we report the purification and identification of the dyskerin (DKC1) ribonucleoprotein complex as an OCT4/SOX2 coactivator whose activity appears to be modulated by a subset of associated small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). The DKC1 complex occupies enhancers and regulates the expression of key pluripotency genes critical for self-renewal in embryonic stem (ES) cells. Depletion of DKC1 in fibroblasts significantly decreased the efficiency of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell generation. This study thus reveals an unanticipated transcriptional role of the DKC1 complex in stem cell maintenance and somatic cell reprogramming. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.03573. 001
Epithelial rests of Malassez: from latent cells to active participation in orthodontic movement

ABSTRACT Introduction: The epithelial rests of Malassez (ERM) represent a group of cells in the periodontal ligament classically consisting of latent or quiescent structures associated with pathological processes. However, recent evidence shows that these structures cannot be considered only as cellular debris. The ERM is a major tissue structure, with functions in maintaining the homeostasis of periodontal tissue, including the maintenance of orthodontic movement. Objective: The present literature review aims at presenting the potential functions of ERM, with emphasis on orthodontic movement and the functional structure of the periodontium. Conclusion: ERM cells have a functional activity in modulation of orthodontic movement, trough their potential for differentiation, maintenance functions and the capacity of repairing periodontium.
Combining Focus Measure Operators to Predict OCR Accuracy in Mobile-Captured Document Images

Mobile document image acquisition is a new trend raising serious issues in business document processing workflows. Such digitization procedure is unreliable, and integrates many distortions which must be detected as soon as possible, on the mobile, to avoid paying data transmission fees, and losing information due to the inability to re-capture later a document with temporary availability. In this context, out-of-focus blur is major issue: users have no direct control over it, and it seriously degrades OCR recognition. In this paper, we concentrate on the estimation of focus quality, to ensure a sufficient legibility of a document image for OCR processing. We propose two contributions to improve OCR accuracy prediction for mobile-captured document images. First, we present 24 focus measures, never tested on document images, which are fast to compute and require no training. Second, we show that a combination of those measures enables state-of-the art performance regarding the correlation with OCR accuracy. The resulting approach is fast, robust, and easy to implement in a mobile device. Experiments are performed on a public dataset, and precise details about image processing are given.
Getting the Hologenome Concept Right: an Eco-Evolutionary Framework for Hosts and Their Microbiomes

Given the complexity of host-microbiota symbioses, scientists and philosophers are asking questions at new biological levels of hierarchical organization—what is a holobiont and hologenome? When should this vocabulary be applied? Are these concepts a null hypothesis for host-microbe systems or limited to a certain spectrum of symbiotic interactions such as host-microbial coevolution? Critical discourse is necessary in this nascent area, but productive discourse requires that skeptics and proponents use the same lexicon. ABSTRACT Given the complexity of host-microbiota symbioses, scientists and philosophers are asking questions at new biological levels of hierarchical organization—what is a holobiont and hologenome? When should this vocabulary be applied? Are these concepts a null hypothesis for host-microbe systems or limited to a certain spectrum of symbiotic interactions such as host-microbial coevolution? Critical discourse is necessary in this nascent area, but productive discourse requires that skeptics and proponents use the same lexicon. For instance, critiquing the hologenome concept is not synonymous with critiquing coevolution, and arguing that an entity is not a primary unit of selection dismisses the fact that the hologenome concept has always embraced multilevel selection. Holobionts and hologenomes are incontrovertible, multipartite entities that result from ecological, evolutionary, and genetic processes at various levels. They are not restricted to one special process but constitute a wider vocabulary and framework for host biology in light of the microbiome.
Epidemiological study of multiple sclerosis in Israel1

The frequency of multiple sclerosis increases with latitude both in the northern and southern hemisphere (Dean, 1949; Kurland, Mulder, and Westlund, 1955; Acheson, Bachrach, and Wright, 1960; Sutherland, Tyrer, and Eadie, 1962). This peculiar distribution suggests that an environmental factor (or factors) whose distribution is also correlated with latitude plays a role in the aetiology of the disease. The nature of the environmental factor remains obscure, although a wide variety of factors, including climatic variables, e.g., sunlight, temperature, and cultural factors, e.g., diet, have been considered over the years. In view of the apparent difficulty in determining the nature of the aetiological agent in multiple sclerosis, attempts to narrow the range of possibilities have merit. In this regard, the observations of Miller, Ridley, and Schapira (1960) that multiple sclerosis is more common among individuals in the higher socio-economic classes deserves attention. It is generally true that the socio-economic level of populations in temperate zones where multiple sclerosis is common tends to be higher than in tropical regions where the disease is rare. Therefore, a relation between socio-economic level and the distribution of multiple sclerosis seems feasible and the aetiological agent could conceivably be some condition related to socio-economic status. Data collected in Israel afforded an opportunity to evaluate the suggestion of Miller et al. (1960) that there was a relation between socio-economic status and risk of multiple sclerosis, and Israel offers a number of advantages for studies of socio-economic factors in relation to chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis. The country is small and its population is ofa size permitting collection of data from the nation as a whole. Bias introduced by studying one region or another may thus be avoided in Israel. Moreover,
Expression of Anthocyanins and Proanthocyanidins after Transformation of Alfalfa with Maize Lc12

Three anthocyanin regulatory genes of maize (Zea mays; Lc, B-Peru, and C1) were introduced into alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in a strategy designed to stimulate the flavonoid pathway and alter the composition of flavonoids produced in forage. Lc constructs included a full-length gene and a gene with a shortened 5′-untranslated region. Lc RNA was strongly expressed in Lc transgenic alfalfa foliage, but accumulation of red-purple anthocyanin was observed only under conditions of high light intensity or low temperature. These stress conditions induced chalcone synthase and flavanone 3-hydroxylase expression in Lc transgenic alfalfa foliage compared with non-transformed plants. Genotypes containing the Lc transgene construct with a full-length 5′-untranslated region responded more quickly to stress conditions and with a more extreme phenotype. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of field-grown tissue indicated that flavone content was reduced in forage of the Lc transgenic plants. Leucocyanidin reductase, the enzyme that controls entry of metabolites into the proanthocyanidin pathway, was activated both in foliage and in developing seeds of the Lc transgenic alfalfa genotypes. Proanthocyanidin polymer was accumulated in the forage, but (+)-catechin monomers were not detected. B-Peru transgenic and C1 transgenic populations displayed no visible phenotypic changes, although these transgenes were expressed at detectable levels. These results support the emerging picture of Lc transgene-specific patterns of expression in different recipient species. These results demonstrate that proanthocyanidin biosynthesis can be stimulated in alfalfa forage using an myc-like transgene, and they pave the way for the development of high quality, bloat-safe cultivars with ruminal protein bypass.
Engineering perceptions of female and male K-12 students: effects of a multimedia overview on elementary, middle-, and high-school students

Computer-based multimedia presentations employing animated agents (avatars) can positively impact perceptions about engineering; the current research advances our understanding of this effect to pre-college populations, the main target for engineering outreach. The study examines the effectiveness of a brief computer-based intervention with animated agents in improving perceptions about engineering. Five hundred sixty-five elementary, middle-, and high-school students in the southwestern USA viewed a short computer-based multimedia overview of four engineering disciplines (electrical, chemical, biomedical, and environmental) with embedded animated agents. Students completed identical surveys measuring five subscales of engineering perceptions immediately before and after the intervention. Analyses of pre- and post-surveys demonstrated that the computer presentation significantly improved perceptions for each student group, and that effects were stronger for elementary school students, compared to middle- and high-school students.