Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple Phosphorylations in the C-terminal Tail of Plant Plasma Membrane Aquaporins

Aquaporins form a family of water and solute channel proteins and are present in most living organisms. In plants, aquaporins play an important role in the regulation of root water transport in response to abiotic stresses. In this work, we investigated the role of phosphorylation of plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) aquaporins in the Arabidopsis thaliana root by a combination of quantitative mass spectrometry and cellular biology approaches. A novel phosphoproteomics procedure that involves plasma membrane purification, phosphopeptide enrichment with TiO2 columns, and systematic mass spectrometry sequencing revealed multiple and adjacent phosphorylation sites in the C-terminal tail of several AtPIPs. Six of these sites had not been described previously. The phosphorylation of AtPIP2;1 at two C-terminal sites (Ser280 and Ser283) was monitored by an absolute quantification method and shown to be altered in response to treatments of plants by salt (NaCl) and hydrogen peroxide. The two treatments are known to strongly decrease the water permeability of Arabidopsis roots. To investigate a putative role of Ser280 and Ser283 phosphorylation in aquaporin subcellular trafficking, AtPIP2;1 forms mutated at either one of the two sites were fused to the green fluorescent protein and expressed in transgenic plants. Confocal microscopy analysis of these plants revealed that, in resting conditions, phosphorylation of Ser283 is necessary to target AtPIP2;1 to the plasma membrane. In addition, an NaCl treatment induced an intracellular accumulation of AtPIP2;1 by exerting specific actions onto AtPIP2;1 forms differing in their phosphorylation at Ser283 to induce their accumulation in distinct intracellular structures. Thus, the present study documents stress-induced quantitative changes in aquaporin phosphorylation and establishes for the first time a link with plant aquaporin subcellular localization.
Presynaptic Prostaglandin E2 EP1-Receptor Facilitation of Cerebral Nitrergic Neurogenic Vasodilation

Background and Purpose— Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) modulates autonomic transmission in the peripheral circulation. We investigated the role of endogenous PGE2 and its presynaptic EP1 receptor subtype in modulating the autonomic neurotransmission in cerebral vasculature. Methods— The standard in vitro tissue-bath technique was used for measuring changes in isolated porcine basilar arterial tone. Calcium imaging and nitric oxide estimation along with immunohistochemical analysis for cyclo-oxygenase-1, cyclo-oxygenase-2, EP1 receptor, PGE synthase, and neuronal nitric oxide synthase were done in cultured sphenopalatine ganglia and basilar artery. Results— Selective EP1 receptor antagonists (SC-19220 and SC-51322) inhibited relaxation of endothelium-denuded basilar arterial rings elicited by transmural nerve stimulation (2 and 8 Hz) without affecting that induced by nicotine or sodium nitroprusside (a nitric oxide donor). The SC-19220 inhibition of transmural nerve stimulation-elicited relaxation was blocked by cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors (salicylic acid and naproxen) but was not affected by guanethidine (a sympathetic neuronal blocker) or atropine. Perivascular cyclo-oxygenase-1- and cyclo-oxygenase-2-immunoreactive fibers were observed in basilar arteries. PGE synthase and EP1 receptor immunoreactivities were coincident with neuronal nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivities in perivascular nerves of the basilar arteries and the sphenopalatine ganglia. &ohgr;-conotoxin (an N-type calcium channel blocker) significantly blocked transmural nerve stimulation-induced relaxation, which was further attenuated by SC-19220. In cultured sphenopalatine ganglia neurons, exogenous PGE2 significantly increased calcium influx and diaminofluorescein fluorescence indicative of nitric oxide synthesis. Both responses were blocked by SC-19220. Conclusions— These results suggest that neuronal PGE2 facilitates nitric oxide release from the cerebral perivascular parasympathetic nitrergic nerve terminals by increasing neuronal calcium influx through activation of presynaptic EP1 receptors. PGE2 may play an important role in regulating the nitrergic neurovascular transmission in the cerebral circulation.
DEVELOPMENT OF A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR ANGLE OF SOIL FAILURE PLANE IN CASE OF 3-DIMENSSIONAL CUTTING

The interaction between tillage tools and soil is of a primary interest to the design and use of these tools for soil manipulation. A new explicit mathematical model to calculate the angle of soil failure plane when soil is cut with narrow tine was developed. Equations of Soil cohesion and soil adhesion cutting factors were partially differentiated with respect to angle of soil external friction, were maximized; Values of angle of soil failure plane were calculated by the model for tine rake angle range from 00 to 900 operated at 0.3 m depth and 0.15 m width in soils with different mechanical properties. It was found that angle of soil failure plane is acute and its values were used for calculating soil frictional cutting factor, soil overburden cutting factor, soil cohesion cutting factor, soil adhesion cutting factor, rupture distance, width of side crescent and soil resistance force. It was found that the force values were realistic. Therefore, the model is valid.
North-African Reference Values of Alveolar Membrane Diffusion Capacity and Pulmonary Capillary Blood Volume

Background: In North-African adults, location-specific reference values for membrane diffusion capacity (D<sub>m</sub>) and pulmonary capillary blood volume (V<sub>c</sub>) were needed. Objectives: To verify the applicability of previously published reference equations for D<sub>m</sub> and V<sub>c</sub> in North-African healthy adults (age >18 years) and to determine specific reference equations for North Africa. Methods: The study was designed as a prospective cross-sectional study. Anthropometric data (age, height, weight and body mass index) and D<sub>m</sub> and V<sub>c</sub> were assessed in 85 healthy Tunisian adults. Univariate and multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine reference equations and to calculate the lower limit of the normal range (LLN). Results: The mean ages ± SD (minimum – maximum) for male and female adults were 53 ± 21 (21–85) and 42 ± 16 (18–72) years, respectively. Previously published reference equations did not reliably predict measured D<sub>m</sub> and V<sub>c</sub>. The reference equation (r<sup>2</sup> = 47%) for D<sub>m</sub> was –36.16 + 45.37 × height – 0.34 × age + 0.39 × weight + 7.41 × gender (0 = female and 1 = male). To calculate the D<sub>m</sub> LLN subtract 24.36 from the reference value. The reference equation (r<sup>2</sup> = 30%) for female V<sub>c</sub> was 94.70 – 0.57 × age, and the reference equation (r<sup>2</sup> = 52%) for male V<sub>c</sub> was 0.82 – 0.48 × age + 52.47 × height + 0.16 × weight. To calculate the V<sub>c</sub> LLN subtract 28.52 and 26.54 from these reference values for females and males, respectively. Conclusion: These V<sub>c</sub> and D<sub>m</sub> reference equations supplement the international World Bank of reference equations.
Common variation in cytochrome P450 epoxygenase genes and the risk of incident nonfatal myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke

Objective The biologically active epoxyeicosatrienoic acids have protective vascular effects. CYP2J2, CYP2C8, and CYP2C9 are known to be a source of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids in cardiac tissues. We conducted a population-based, case–control study at Group Health to determine whether common genetic variation in the CYP2J2, CYP2C8, and CYP2C9 genes was associated with the risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. Methods We used publicly available single nucleotide polymorphism discovery data from a mixed race panel of 90 individuals to select 30 tag-single nucleotide polymorphisms that were genotyped in 856 myocardial infarction cases, 368 stroke cases and 2688 controls. We used logistic regression to estimate additive associations. To account for multiple testing, we report q values alongside findings with P<0.05. Results Variation in CYP2J2 was associated with myocardial infarction risk (P=0.027, q=0.081). Two intronic CYP2J2 tag-single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs10889160 and rs11572325 were associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction (odds ratio: 1.24, 95% confidence interval: 1.07–1.43, P=0.004, q=0.090, and odds ratio: 1.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.08–1.51, P=0.006, q=0.090, respectively). No evidence of an association was found between variation in CYP2J2 and stroke and there was no association between variation in CYP2C8 or CYP2C9 and myocardial infarction or stroke. Conclusion Common variation in CYP2J2 is associated with the risk of myocardial infarction.
Emotion and memory: Event-related potential indices predictive for subsequent successful memory depend on the emotional mood state.

The present research investigated the influencesof emotional mood states on cognitive processes and neural circuits during long-term memory encoding using event-related potentials (ERPs). We assessed whether the subsequent memory effect (SME), an electrophysiological index of successful memory encoding, varies as a function of participants’ current mood state. ERPs were recorded while participants in good or bad mood states were presented with words that had to be memorized for subsequent recall. In contrast to participants in bad mood, participants in good mood most frequently applied elaborative encoding styles. At the neurophysiological level, ERP analyses showed that potentials to subsequently recalled words were more positive than to forgotten words at central electrodes in the time interval of 500-650 ms after stimulus onset (SME). At fronto-central electrodes, a polarity-reversed SME was obtained. The strongest modulations of the SME by participants’ mood state were obtained at fronto-temporal electrodes. These differences in the scalp topography of the SME suggest that successful recall relies on partially separable neural circuits for good and bad mood states. The results are consistent with theoretical accounts of the interface between emotion and cognition that propose mood-dependent cognitive styles.
New Insights into the Antibacterial Activity of Hydroxycoumarins against Ralstonia solanacearum

Coumarins are important plant-derived natural products with wide-ranging bioactivities and extensive applications. In this study, we evaluated for the first time the antibacterial activity and mechanisms of action of coumarins against the phytopathogen Ralstonia solanacearum, and investigated the effect of functional group substitution. We first tested the antibacterial activity of 18 plant-derived coumarins with different substitution patterns, and found that daphnetin, esculetin, xanthotol, and umbelliferone significantly inhibited the growth of R. solanacearum. Daphnetin showed the strongest antibacterial activity, followed by esculetin and umbelliferone, with MICs of 64, 192, and 256 mg/L, respectively, better than the archetypal coumarin with 384 mg/L. We further demonstrated that the hydroxylation of coumarins at the C-6, C-7 or C-8 position significantly enhanced the antibacterial activity against R. solanacearum. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and fluorescence microscopy images showed that hydroxycoumarins may interact with the pathogen by mechanically destroying the cell membrane and inhibiting biofilm formation. The antibiofilm effect of hydroxycoumarins may relate to the repression of flagellar genes fliA and flhC. These physiological changes in R. solanacearum caused by hydroxycoumarins can provide information for integral pathogen control. The present findings demonstrated that hydroxycoumarins have superior antibacterial activity against the phytopathogen R. solanacearum, and thus have the potential to be applied for controlling plant bacterial wilt.
Combining Feature Selection and Integration—A Neural Model for MT Motion Selectivity

Background The computation of pattern motion in visual area MT based on motion input from area V1 has been investigated in many experiments and models attempting to replicate the main mechanisms. Two different core conceptual approaches were developed to explain the findings. In integrationist models the key mechanism to achieve pattern selectivity is the nonlinear integration of V1 motion activity. In contrast, selectionist models focus on the motion computation at positions with 2D features. Methodology/Principal Findings Recent experiments revealed that neither of the two concepts alone is sufficient to explain all experimental data and that most of the existing models cannot account for the complex behaviour found. MT pattern selectivity changes over time for stimuli like type II plaids from vector average to the direction computed with an intersection of constraint rule or by feature tracking. Also, the spatial arrangement of the stimulus within the receptive field of a MT cell plays a crucial role. We propose a recurrent neural model showing how feature integration and selection can be combined into one common architecture to explain these findings. The key features of the model are the computation of 1D and 2D motion in model area V1 subpopulations that are integrated in model MT cells using feedforward and feedback processing. Our results are also in line with findings concerning the solution of the aperture problem. Conclusions/Significance We propose a new neural model for MT pattern computation and motion disambiguation that is based on a combination of feature selection and integration. The model can explain a range of recent neurophysiological findings including temporally dynamic behaviour.
A Persona-Based Neural Conversation Model

We present persona-based models for handling the issue of speaker consistency in neural response generation. A speaker model encodes personas in distributed embeddings that capture individual characteristics such as background information and speaking style. A dyadic speaker-addressee model captures properties of interactions between two interlocutors. Our models yield qualitative performance improvements in both perplexity and BLEU scores over baseline sequence-to-sequence models, with similar gains in speaker consistency as measured by human judges.
Response inhibition and reward response bias mediate the predictive relationships between impulsivity and sensation seeking and common and unique variance in conduct disorder and substance misuse.

BACKGROUND Disinhibited traits, assessed both at the self-report and at the cognitive/behavioral levels, have been frequently implicated in externalizing behaviors, such as conduct disorder (CD), binge drinking, and drug use. However, self-report measures of disinhibition, such as impulsivity (IMP) and sensation seeking (SS), and cognitive measures of disinhibition are not often studied together in the same participants. Thus, it is still unclear how cognitive measures such as response inhibition and reward response bias relate to self-report measures of IMP and SS, and whether they can explain some of the association found between these self-report measures and specific facets of externalizing problems. METHODS The aim of this study was to assess whether cognitive measures of disinhibition relate to self-report measures of disinhibition and can mediate the specific relationships between self-report measures of disinhibition and CD symptoms, binge drinking and drug use in adolescence. Seventy-six adolescents were assessed on personality, substance use, and conduct problems every 6 months from 14 to 16 years of age and completed a test battery that included a Stop task, rewarded go/no-go task, digit span, and intelligence quotient tests at 16 years of age. RESULTS Multiple regression analyses showed that self-report IMP at 14 and deficits in response inhibition were associated with a 2-year average CD symptoms score and that deficits in response inhibition partially mediated the association between self-report IMP and CD symptoms (ab = 0.018 CI: 0.00002 to 0.04827). In contrast, SS and reward response bias were significantly associated with the unique variance in binge drinking, and that part of the overlap between SS and binge drinking was mediated by reward response bias (ab = 0.019, CI: 0.00131 to 0.04662). CONCLUSIONS Findings show a dissociation between inhibitory measures associated with CD symptoms and those associated with binge drinking, with "cool" inhibitory and executive functions being associated with CD but "hot," reward-related disinhibition measures being specific mediators between SS and binge drinking. The findings support the theoretical conceptualization for dual cognitive/motivational pathways of disinhibition, in this case IMP and SS, and their unique association with externalizing behavior in adolescence.
Market the Late 1980 s : Who Knew What , and When Did They Knaw It ?

The construction industry in the United States has experienced a remarkable downturn in the past five years. In the mid 1980s, new housing starts averaged nearly 1.8 million per year, slightly below the record pace of 2 million per year in the late 1970s. By 1991, however, the number of new housing starts was just above 1 million. The share of GNP devoted to residential investment fell to 3.3 percent in 1991, the second lowest level in the last three decades. Many factors contributed to the recent decline in new construction, including changes in real and nominal interest rates, a recession, and a sequence of tax reforms. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 is frequently cited as a key contributor to the recent construction decline, particularly the decline in multifamily housing. One of the Act’s objectives was to reduce investment in tax shelters, and rental housing had been one of the most active shelter vehicles in the early 1980s. "Leveling the playing field," the mantra of 1986 tax reformers, required raising the tax burden on rental housing relative to that on corporate capital. The view that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 is the source of the post-1986 real estate malaise underlies the recent political pressure to repeal passive loss restrictions and several other provisions in the Act and to provide new incentives for real estate investment. It is widely agreed that recent tax reforms have affected incentives for housing consumption and for investment in rental properties. Reductions in marginal tax rates have lowered the value of tax-exempt imputed income for homeowners, with particularly large changes for
Phenyl-1-Pyridin-2yl-Ethanone-Based Iron Chelators Increase IκB-α Expression, Modulate CDK2 and CDK9 Activities, and Inhibit HIV-1 Transcription

ABSTRACT HIV-1 transcription is activated by the Tat protein, which recruits CDK9/cyclin T1 to the HIV-1 promoter. CDK9 is phosphorylated by CDK2, which facilitates formation of the high-molecular-weight positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) complex. We previously showed that chelation of intracellular iron inhibits CDK2 and CDK9 activities and suppresses HIV-1 transcription, but the mechanism of the inhibition was not understood. In the present study, we tested a set of novel iron chelators for the ability to inhibit HIV-1 transcription and elucidated their mechanism of action. Novel phenyl-1-pyridin-2yl-ethanone (PPY)-based iron chelators were synthesized and examined for their effects on cellular iron, HIV-1 inhibition, and cytotoxicity. Activities of CDK2 and CDK9, expression of CDK9-dependent and CDK2-inhibitory mRNAs, NF-κB expression, and HIV-1- and NF-κB-dependent transcription were determined. PPY-based iron chelators significantly inhibited HIV-1, with minimal cytotoxicity, in cultured and primary cells chronically or acutely infected with HIV-1 subtype B, but they had less of an effect on HIV-1 subtype C. Iron chelators upregulated the expression of IκB-α, with increased accumulation of cytoplasmic NF-κB. The iron chelators inhibited CDK2 activity and reduced the amount of CDK9/cyclin T1 in the large P-TEFb complex. Iron chelators reduced HIV-1 Gag and Env mRNA synthesis but had no effect on HIV-1 reverse transcription. In addition, iron chelators moderately inhibited basal HIV-1 transcription, equally affecting HIV-1 and Sp1- or NF-κB-driven transcription. By virtue of their involvement in targeting several key steps in HIV-1 transcription, these novel iron chelators have the potential for the development of new therapeutics for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.
Automatic Metaphor Detection using Large-Scale Lexical Resources and Conventional Metaphor Extraction

The paper presents an experimental algorithm to detect conventionalized metaphors implicit in the lexical data in a resource like WordNet, where metaphors are coded into the senses and so would never be detected by any algorithm based on the violation of preferences, since there would always be a constraint satisfied by such senses. We report an implementation of this algorithm, which was implemented first the preference constraints in VerbNet. We then derived in a systematic way a far more extensive set of constraints based on WordNet glosses, and with this data we reimplemented the detection algorithm and got a substantial improvement in recall. We suggest that this technique could contribute to improve the performance of existing metaphor detection strategies that do not attempt to detect conventionalized metaphors. The new WordNet-derived data is of wider significance because it also contains adjective constraints, unlike any existing lexical resource, and can be applied to any language with a semantic parser (and WN) for it.
A 198.9GHz-to-201.0GHz injection-locked frequency divider in 65nm CMOS

An injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) is realized in 65nm CMOS technology for G-band (140 to 220GHz) applications. Its core area is 0.2×0.16mm2. This ILFD consumes 8.8mW from a 1.1V supply excluding the buffers. Due to the limited output power of the source module (i.e., frequency multiplier), the measured locking range of this ILFD is from 198.9GHz to 201.0GHz.
Do Atopobium vaginae, Megasphaera sp. and Leptotrichia sp. change the local innate immune response and sialidase activity in bacterial vaginosis?

Objectives To investigate if the participation of Atopobium vaginae, Megasphaera sp. and Leptotrichia sp. in the bacterial community of bacterial vaginosis (BV) is associated with distinct patterns of this condition. Methods In this cross-sectional controlled study, 205 women with BV and 205 women with normal flora were included. Vaginal rinsing samples were obtained for measuring the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and bacterial sialidases. Real-time PCR was used to quantify the BV-associated bacteria and to estimate the total bacterial load using the 16S rRNA. Principal component analysis (PCA) using the measured parameters was performed to compare the BV samples with lower and higher loads of the species of interest. Results Higher bacterial load (p<0.001), levels of interleukin 1-β (p<0.001) and sialidase activity (p<0.001) were associated with BV. Women with BV and higher relative loads of A vaginae, Megasphaera sp. and Leptotrichia sp. presented increased sialidase activity, but unchanged cytokine levels. PCA analysis did not indicate a different pattern of BV according to the loads of A vaginae, Megasphaera sp. and Leptotrichia sp. Conclusions Greater participation of A vaginae, Megasphaera sp. and Leptotrichia sp. in vaginal bacterial community did not indicate a less severe form of BV; moreover, it was associated with increased sialidase activity.