Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aspergillus fumigatus MedA governs adherence, host cell interactions and virulence

In medically important fungi, regulatory elements that control development and asexual reproduction often govern the expression of virulence traits. We therefore cloned the Aspergillus fumigatus developmental modifier MedA and characterized its role in conidiation, host cell interactions and virulence. As in the model organism Aspergillus nidulans, disruption of medA in A. fumigatus dramatically reduced conidiation. However, the conidiophore morphology was markedly different between the two species. Further, gene expression analysis suggested that MedA governs conidiation through different pathways in A. fumigatus compared with A. nidulans. The A. fumigatusΔmedA strain was impaired in biofilm production and adherence to plastic, as well as adherence to pulmonary epithelial cells, endothelial cells and fibronectin in vitro. The ΔmedA strain also had reduced capacity to damage pulmonary epithelial cells, and stimulate pro‐inflammatory cytokine mRNA and protein expression. Consistent with these results, the A. fumigatusΔmedA strain also exhibited reduced virulence in both an invertebrate and a mammalian model of invasive aspergillosis. Collectively, these results suggest that the downstream targets of A. fumigatus MedA mediate virulence, and may provide novel therapeutic targets for invasive aspergillosis.
Identifying Points of Interest Using Heterogeneous Features

Deducing trip-related information from web-scale datasets has received large amounts of attention recently. Identifying points of interest (POIs) in geo-tagged photos is one of these problems. The problem can be viewed as a standard clustering problem of partitioning two-dimensional objects. In this work, we study spectral clustering, which is the first attempt for the identification of POIs. However, there is no unified approach to assigning the subjective clustering parameters, and these parameters vary immensely in different metropolitans and locations. To address this issue, we study a self-tuning technique that can properly determine the parameters for the clustering needed. Besides geographical information, web photos inherently store other rich information. Such heterogenous information can be used to enhance the identification accuracy. Thereby, we study a novel refinement framework that is based on the tightness and cohesion degree of the additional information. We thoroughly demonstrate our findings by web-scale datasets collected from Flickr.
Dialectical Tensions in the Classroom: Managing Tensions through Communication

Dialectical tensions have been used principally to study dyadic relationships and, more recently, groups. This study of the classroom setting as a group provided insights into the dialectical tensions in the interactions among students and between students and the instructor. Based on ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviews, three principal areas of dialectical tensions emerged for students: (a) their desire to participate and their desire to remain silent during class discussions, (b) their desire for both predictable and novel classroom activities, and (c) managing their personal time and their class time. These tensions and the strategies students and the instructor used to manage them provide a clearer understanding of the group dynamics of classroom interactions.
Assessment of the Field of Assisted Reproductive Technology: Improvements and the Future of Human In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF), a form of assisted reproductive technology, has expanded since its introduction in the 1970’s to enable patients with prolonged infertility and/or clinical complications to produce biological offspring. This review analyzes the topics of controversy surrounding IVF, weighing evidence concerning contemporary fertility techniques that aim to advance the field of IVF. A comparison of single embryo transfer to double embryo transfer, in the context of economic expenditure and the likelihood of multiple pregnancy, provides support for electing the former. An ethically controversial topic is preimplantation genetic screening, a technology with the potential to reduce the incidence of genetic abnormalities, thereby increasing rates of healthy pregnancies. Lastly, the integration of in vitro maturation (IVM) can allow for a more diverse patient population to benefit from IVF treatment, while simultaneously avoiding several of the associated disadvantages. The future of IVF rests on continued research, and the resulting widespread integration of increasingly effective methods.
DHA-rich oil modulates the cerebral haemodynamic response to cognitive tasks in healthy young adults: a near IR spectroscopy pilot study

The impact of dietary n-3 PUFA on behavioural outcomes has been widely researched; however, very little attention has been given to their impact on brain functioning in physiological terms. A total of twenty-two healthy adults took part in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, wherein the cerebral haemodynamic effects of 12 weeks of daily dietary supplementation with either 1 g DHA-rich or 1 g EPA-rich fish oil (FO) or placebo (1 g olive oil) were assessed. Relative changes in the concentration of oxygenated Hb (oxy-Hb) and deoxygenated Hb were assessed in the prefrontal cortex using near IR spectroscopy (NIRS) during the performance of four computerised cognitive tasks. Supplementation with DHA-rich FO, in comparison with placebo, resulted in a significant increase in the concentrations of oxy-Hb and total levels of Hb, indicative of increased cerebral blood flow (CBF), during the cognitive tasks. In comparison, no effect on CBF was observed following supplementation with EPA-rich FO, where concentration changes in the chromophores followed the same pattern as placebo. These encouraging pilot data warrant further application of NIRS in this area.
The molecular genetics of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

The pathobiology of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is hampered by the lack of scientific tools that define their mechanisms of secretion, proliferation, and metastasis; and, currently, there are no accurate means to assess tumor behavior and disease prognosis. Molecular biologic techniques and genetic analysis may facilitate the delineation of the molecular pathology of NETs and provide novel insights into their cellular mechanisms. The current status and recent advances in assessment of the molecular basis of tumorigenesis of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP‐NETs) were reviewed (1981–2004). The objectives of this retrospective study were to provide a cohesive overview of the current state of knowledge and to develop a molecular understanding of these rare tumor entities to facilitate the establishment of therapeutic targets and rational management strategies. Multiple differences in chromosomal aberration patterns were noted between gastrointestinal (GI) neuroendocrine and pancreatic endocrine tumors (PETs). Divergence in gene expression patterns in the development of GI carcinoids and PETs was identified, whereas examination of the PET and GI carcinoid data demonstrated only few areas of overlap in the accumulation of genetic aberrations. These data suggest that the recent World Health Organization classification of GEP‐NETs may require updating. In addition, previous assumptions of tumor similarity (pancreatic vs. GI) may be unfounded when they are examined at a molecular level. On the basis of the evolution of genetic information, enteric neuroendocrine lesions (carcinoids) and PETs may need to be classified as two distinct entities rather than grouped together as the single entity “GEP‐NETs. ” Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.
Yes‐associated protein/TEA domain family member and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4‐alpha (HNF4α) repress reciprocally to regulate hepatocarcinogenesis in rats and mice

Great progress has been achieved in the study of Hippo signaling in regulating tumorigenesis; however, the downstream molecular events that mediate this process have not been completely defined. Moreover, regulation of Hippo signaling during tumorigenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. In the present study, we systematically investigated the relationship between Yes‐associated protein/TEA domain family member (YAP‐TEAD) and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4‐alpha (HNF4α) in the hepatocarcinogenesis of HCC cells. Our results indicated that HNF4α expression was negatively regulated by YAP1 in HCC cells by a ubiquitin proteasome pathway. By contrast, HNF4α was found to directly associate with TEAD4 to compete with YAP1 for binding to TEAD4, thus inhibiting the transcriptional activity of YAP‐TEAD and expression of their target genes. Moreover, overexpression of HNF4α was found to significantly compromise YAP‐TEAD‐induced HCC cell proliferation and stem cell expansion. Finally, we documented the regulatory mechanism between YAP‐TEAD and HNF4α in rat and mouse tumor models, which confirmed our in vitro results. Conclusion: There is a double‐negative feedback mechanism that controls TEAD‐YAP and HNF4α expression in vitro and in vivo, thereby regulating cellular proliferation and differentiation. Given that YAP acts as a dominant oncogene in HCC and plays a crucial role in stem cell homeostasis and tissue regeneration, manipulating the interaction between YAP, TEADs, and HNF4α may provide a new approach for HCC treatment and regenerative medicine. (Hepatology 2017;65:1206‐1221).
A Comparison of Personal Project Motives in Three Age Groups

The concept of possible selves was used to investigate the impact of parenting on adult self-development. Possible selves are one's hopes and fears for the self in the future and are hypothesized to motivate one's current behavior (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Continuity in parenting possible selves was assessed in a longitudinal follow-up of participants who were parents of either infants or preschool children at Time 1. Phi coefficients indicated continuity in hoped-for and feared parenting possible selves across the total sample. An examination by gender indicated particularly strong continuity in hoped-for parenting possible selves for mothers. Chi-square analyses resulted in no significant group or gender differences in Time 2 hoped-for parenting possible selves. As in the Time 1 study (Hooker, Fiese, Kotary, Morfei, & Schwagler, 1996), mothers had significantly more feared parenting possible selves than did fathers. We discuss the importance of the contribution of this study to a relatively small literature on the effects of parenting on adult self-development.
Moral Judgment, Organizational Incentives and Collective Action: Participation in Abortion Politics

Abortion politics affords an opportunity to examine how moral judgments are translated into collective action. Two approaches are examined. Cogni tive developmental theory underscores moral development as a necessary condition of activism while rational choice theory emphasizes the necessity of appropriate incentive structures as a condition of participation in purposive organizations. Each theory is operationalized and the effects of moral development and organizational incentives on political activism are measured. Three significant conclusions emerge contradicting central tenets of each theory. First, moral development has no positive effect on any form of participation. Second, material and solidarity incentives, not normative incentives associated with the provision of a public good, have the strongest effect on abortion activism. Third, moral development signifi cantly affects incentive choice, thereby having an indirect effect on political activism. The theoretical implications suggested by the findings are then discussed.
Dietary intake of minerals and risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: results from the Golestan Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND Dietary factors have been hypothesized to affect the risk of esophageal cancer via different mechanisms, but the intake of minerals is understudied and the evidence is conflicting. OBJECTIVE The objective was to evaluate the associations of dietary intake of minerals with risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). DESIGN We used data from the Golestan Cohort Study, which was launched in a high-risk region for esophageal cancer in Iran. Participants were enrolled in 2004-2008 and were followed to 2014. Intakes of minerals were assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate HRs and 95% CIs of ESCC for dietary intakes of selected minerals. RESULTS We identified 201 ESCC cases among 47,405 subjects. Calcium intake was significantly inversely associated with the risk of ESCC (HR per 100-mg/d increase: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.96; P = 0.005; quartile 4 vs. quartile 1 HR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.82; P-trend = 0.013). Zinc intake was also inversely associated with ESCC, but the quartile association did not reach significance (HR per 1-mg/d increase: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.98; P = 0.027; quartile 4 vs. quartile 1 HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.28, 1.12; P-trend = 0.097). The relations between dietary intakes of selenium, magnesium, and copper and risk of ESCC were nonlinear (P-nonlinear trend = 0.001, 0.016, and 0.029, respectively). There was no relation between dietary intake of manganese and the risk of ESCC. CONCLUSION The results suggest that higher intakes of calcium and zinc are associated with a lower risk of ESCC in a high-risk region of Iran.
Modeling of Node Energy Consumption for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy consumption is the core issue in wireless sensor networks (WSN). To generate a node energy model that can accurately reveal the energy consumption of sensor nodes is an extremely important part of protocol development, system design and performance evaluation in WSNs. In this paper, by studying component energy consumption in different node states and within state transitions, the authors present the energy models of the node core components, including processors, RF modules and sensors. Furthermore, this paper reveals the energy correlations between node components, and then establishes the node energy model based on the event-trigger mechanism. Finally, the authors simulate the energy models of node components and then evaluate the energy consumption of network protocols based on this node energy model. The proposed model can be used to analyze the WSNs energy consumption, to evaluate communication protocols, to deploy nodes and then to construct WSN applications.
Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health Validity and Reliability of the Functioning Assessment Short Test (fast) in Bipolar Disorder

Background: Numerous studies have documented high rates of functional impairment among bipolar disorder (BD) patients, even during phases of remission. However, the majority of the available instruments used to assess functioning have focused on global measures of functional recovery rather than specific domains of psychosocial functioning. In this context, the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) is a brief instrument designed to assess the main functioning problems experienced by psychiatric patients, particularly bipolar patients. It comprises 24 items that assess impairment or disability in six specific areas of functioning: autonomy, occupational functioning, cognitive functioning, financial issues, interpersonal relationships and leisure time.
Entrepreneurial Urbanism and Business Improvement Districts in the State of Wisconsin: A Cosmopolitan Critique

Recent years have seen a growth in work on the notion of cosmopolitanism. In urban geography the term has a number of meanings, and this article focuses on two. The first refers to claims of how the experiences of certain cities have been universalized and the calls that have emerged in recent years to diversify the empirical basis on which theories are constructed. The second refers to claims of the ways in which those charged with governing urban downtowns have mobilized notions of cosmopolitanism as part of their efforts to market themselves and to define particular development trajectories. Using the example of Wisconsin's Business Improvement Districts, this article argues for a greater appreciation of diversity within this model of downtown governance than hitherto has been acknowledged, broadening the geographical referents for studies of entrepreneurial urbanism and thinking through what this knowledge might reveal about how we theorize urban revalorization. Despite some evidence of copy-cat urbanism in the two cases, there remains a need to be alive to diversity and variety.
Effects of Item Context Specificity on the Measurement Equivalence of a Personality Inventory

Personality measures with items that ask respondents to characterize themselves across a range of situations are increasingly used for personnel selection purposes. Research conducted in a laboratory setting has found that personality items may have different psychometric characteristics depending on the degree to which that range is widened or narrowed (i.e., degree of contextualization). This study is an attempt to study the psychometric impact of contextualization in a large field sample (N = 1,078). Respondents were given either a contextualized (at work) or noncontextualized (in general) version of the six facets of the conscientiousness factor of the NEO PI-R. Analyses were conducted at the facet and item levels. Results were mixed but indicated that error variances tended to be slightly lower for the work-specific instrument in comparison to the noncontextualized instrument. Implications for personality inventory development, validation, and use are discussed.
Why mobilize support online? The paradox of party behaviour online

The internet offers opportunities for political mobilization that parties are under-exploiting. Drawing on the rational choice approach to party behaviour, this paper builds an argument for why this is the case. I argue that if parties are not using new media to mobilize support, it is because the benefits of using it are uncertain while there are very certain costs – communicational and organizational – involved in the decision. I also argue that party characteristics shape incentives to use the internet for political mobilization and hence help to account for observed differences in party behaviour online. Using evidence from parties in Spain and Catalonia, the study finds that parties that are large, in opposition, non-programmatic, and non-bureaucratic tend to have greater incentives to use the internet for political mobilization, both because they expect to get the largest benefits and to pay the minimum costs from online mobilization.
Measurements and characterization of wideband indoor radio channel at 60 GHz

This paper presents the measurements, the statistical results and channel models extracted by impulse response measurements of an indoor 60 GHz radio channel. The measurements were based on the pulse sounding technique. Multipath parameters that characterize the channel have been extracted and analyzed statistically concerning corridors and offices locations. The mean excess delay is in the range of 3.84 to 8.18 ns for hallways and 3.52 to 14.69 ns for offices. Additionally, rms delay spread varies from 12.34 to 15.04 ns in corridors and from 12.56 to 21.09 ns inside the laboratory. The coherence bandwidth varies between 13.88 and 30.49 MHz in corridors with a mean value of 22.48 MHz. Inside offices the mean coherence bandwidth is 22.80 MHz for LoS locations and drops to 7.05 MHz for NLoS. Small-scale models for all the measured locations were developed using tapped delay lines. The maximum Doppler frequency of the modeled channel remains around 1 Hz, whereas the coherence time is calculated 1.04 s, which indicates that the channel remains, almost stationary, exhibiting very slow fading. Finally, from the models it is derived that the channel preserves WSS and US characteristics giving rise to a WSSUS representation.
Expression of multiple cytokines and IL-1RA in the uvea and retina during endotoxin-induced uveitis in the rat.

PURPOSE Ample evidence is available demonstrating that cytokines play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of uveitis. Because little is known concerning the site of cytokine synthesis in the eye, cytokine mRNA expression was analyzed in the uvea, retina, and cornea during endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) in the rat. METHODS RNA was isolated from the iris, ciliary body, choroid-sclera, retina, and cornea at different points in time after foot-pad injection of 200 micrograms lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Lewis rats. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to determine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-6, IL-10, interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2), and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) mRNA expression. RESULTS Maximal mRNA expression of all cytokines examined already was observed in the uvea 4 hours after systemic LPS injection, before the onset of clinical uveitis. Elevated expression of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, IFN-gamma, MCP-1, and MIP-2 was also observed concomitant with maximal uveitis, at 22 to 24 hours. Except for IL-10 and IFN-gamma, all cytokines investigated were induced in the retina, with maximal expression at 22 to 24 hours. Expression of IL-1RA was detected in the uvea and retina at 4 hours and remained elevated up to 48 hours, when the clinical uveitis started to decline. LPS did not induce cytokine expression in the cornea. Strikingly, a considerable expression of IL-1RA was found in normal corneas, suggesting an inherent control mechanism for IL-1-mediated responses. CONCLUSIONS Systemic LPS injection induces elevated mRNA expression of multiple cytokines and IL-1RA in the uvea and retina during various stages of EIU. This suggests that these mediators may contribute to the development and recovery of this intraocular inflammation.
The Effect of Methionine and Threonine Supplementations on Immune Responses of Broiler Chickens Challenged with Infectious Bursal Disease

Problem statement: The aim of this study was conducted to determine the effects of supplementing methionine and threonine higher than the National Research Council (NRC) recommendation in the diets on immune responses of broiler chickens challenged with Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD). Approach: A total of 450 day-old male broiler chicks were assigned to one of the nine dietary treatments. Three levels of methionine (NRC (M1), 2 times NRC (M2) and 3 times NRC (M3)) and 3 levels of threonine (NRC (T1), 2 times NRC (T2) and 3 times NRC (T3)) were fed. On day 28, all birds were challenged with a commercial live-IBDV vaccine. Results: Antibody titer against IBD and ND were influenced by interaction of threonine and methionine. On 7 days after IBD challenge, ND antibody titer of the broilers receiving the highest level of methionine and threonine was significantly higher than that of other treatment groups. Lesion score of the bursa of the broilers receiving control diet was significantly the highest compared with the other treatments. Conclusion/Recommendations: The results obtained on the present study indicated that threonine and methionine requirements of broiler based on recommendation of NRC are not sufficient to meet the requirement of the new commercial poultry and commercial broiler companies under non-hygienic condition.