Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The principal neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body and NG2+ glial cells receive coordinated excitatory synaptic input

Glial cell processes are part of the synaptic structure and sense spillover of transmitter, while some glial cells can even receive direct synaptic input. Here, we report that a defined type of glial cell in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) receives excitatory glutamatergic synaptic input from the calyx of Held (CoH). This giant glutamatergic terminal forms an axosomatic synapse with a single principal neuron located in the MNTB. The NG2 glia, as postsynaptic principal neurons, establish synapse-like structures with the CoH terminal. In contrast to the principal neurons, which are known to receive excitatory as well as inhibitory inputs, the NG2 glia receive mostly, if not exclusively, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole-4-propionic acid receptor–mediated evoked and spontaneous synaptic input. Simultaneous recordings from neurons and NG2 glia indicate that they partially receive synchronized spontaneous input. This shows that an NG2+ glial cell and a postsynaptic neuron share presynaptic terminals.
Towards molecular spintronics

The discovery of tunneling and giant magnetoresistance in inorganic spin valves has led to a revolution in the field of magnetic memory and the significant increase in the storage capacity of modern hard drives. Simultaneously, given their inexpensive production, flexibility and diverse applications, molecularbased organic materials have become extremely important in electronic devices and circuitry. A combination of spintronics and organic electronics is expected to lead to a new generation of spin-based devices. These devices are expected to bring a wide range of exciting, new fields of application and products for organic/molecular spintronics.
Magnetic processes in a collapsing dense core I. Accretion and ejection

Context. To understand the star formation process, it is important to study the collapse of a prestellar dense core. Aims. We investigate the effect of the magnetic field during the first collapse up to the formation of the first core, focusing particularly on the magnetic braking and the launching of outflows. Methods. We perform 3D AMR high resolution numerical simulations of a magnetically supercritical collapsing dense core using the RAMSES MHD code and develop semi-analytical models that we compare with the numerical results. Results. We study in detail the various profiles within the envelope of the collapsing core for various magnetic field strengths. Even modest values of magnetic field strength modify the collapse significantly. This is largely due to the amplification of the radial and toroidal components of the magnetic field by the differential motions within the collapsing core. For a weak magnetic intensity corresponding to an initial mass-to-flux over critical mass-to-flux ratio, μ equals 20 a centrifugally supported disk forms. The strong differential rotation triggers the growth of a slowly expanding magnetic tower. For higher magnetic field strengths corresponding to μ = 2, the collapse occurs primarily along the field lines, therefore delivering weaker angular momentum into the inner part whereas at the same time, strong magnetic braking occurs. As a consequence no centrifugally supported disk forms. An outflow is launched from the central thermally supported core. Detailed comparisons with existing analytical predictions indicate that it is magneto-centrifugally driven. Conclusions. For cores having a mass-to-flux over critical mass-to-flux radio μ < 5, the magnetic field appears to have a significant impact. The collapsing envelope is denser and flatter than in the hydrodynamical case and no centrifugally supported disk forms. For values μ < 20, the magnetic field drastically modifies the disk evolution. In a companion paper, the influence of the magnetic field on the dense core fragmentation is studied.
Assessment of Enamel Remineralisation After Treatment with Four Different Remineralising Agents: A Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Study.

INTRODUCTION Decades of research has helped to increase our knowledge of dental caries and reduce its prevalence. However, according to World Oral Health report, dental caries still remains a major dental disease. Fluoride therapy has been utilised in a big way to halt caries progression, but has been met with limitations. This has paved the way for the development of newer preventive agents that can function as an adjunct to fluoride or independent of it. AIM The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the ability of Casein Phosphopeptide-Amorphous Calcium Phosphate Fluoride (CPP ACPF), Bioactive Glass (BAG), fluoride enhanced Hydroxyapatite (HA) gel and self-assembling peptide P11-4 to remineralise artificial carious lesions in enamel in vitro using a 30 day pH cycling model through surface microhardness analysis and SEM. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty enamel samples were divided into five groups of 12 samples each. The control Group A consisted of intact enamel samples, Group B: CPP-ACPF (Tooth Mousse Plus), Group C: BAG (SHY- NM), Group D: fluoride enhanced HA gel (ReminPro) and Group E: Self-assembling peptide P11-4 (Curodont Protect). All groups excluding the control group were subjected to demineralisation following which four of these groups were remineralised using the four remineralising agents. The treated groups were subjected to pH cycling over a period of 30 days. This was followed by assessment of surface microhardness and SEM for qualitative evaluation of surface changes. The results were analysed by One-Way Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA). Multiple comparisons between groups were performed by paired t-test and post-hoc Tukey test. RESULTS The results of the study revealed that remineralisation of enamel was the highest in samples of Group E (Self assembling peptide P11-4) followed by Group B (CPP-ACPF), Group C (BAG) and Group D (fluoride enhanced HA gel). There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the remineralising ability between the self assembling peptide P11-4 group and BAG and fluoride enhanced HA gel group. Although no significant difference was observed between the self assembling peptide P11-4 and CPP-ACPF group, the self assembling peptide P11-4 remineralised the enamel lesions more effectively. SEM photomicrographs of the test groups demonstrated either amorphous crystals or particles scattered on the surface or lines of remineralisation along the prismatic borders. CONCLUSION Self assembling peptide P11-4 demonstrated promising results by effectively and significantly remineralising the enamel lesions as compared to other test agents.
Biexponential diffusion attenuation in the rat spinal cord: Computer simulations based on anatomic images of axonal architecture

Water diffusion in neurological tissues is known to possess multicomponent diffusion behavior. The fractions of fast and slow apparent diffusion components have often been attributed to the volume fractions of extracellular space (ECS) and intracellular space (ICS) although diffusion fractions are at variance with the tissue compartment volume ratios. In this article this puzzle was examined with a finite difference diffusion simulation model on the basis of optical images from sectioned rat spinal cord. Here the results show that assignment of fractions obtained from biexponential fits of fast and slow diffusion attenuation to ECS and ICS volume ratios is not correct. Rather, the observed multicomponent diffusion behavior is caused by motional restriction and limited intercompartmental water exchange in that at long diffusion times diffusion attenuation is shown to become monoexponential. Although the measured apparent diffusion fractions also depend on T2 relaxation time of water protons in the various compartments, the sensitivity to T2 is small and thus T2 differences are unlikely to explain the mismatch between apparent diffusion fractions and cellular volume fractions. Magn Reson Med 47:455–460, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Longitudinal Study of the Molecular Epidemiology of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a University Hospital

ABSTRACT Surveillance for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at the University Hospital of Heidelberg revealed an increase in the numbers of newly detected MRSA isolates in recent years. We conducted a study to assess the dynamics of the changes in the MRSA population. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of MRSA isolates from all patients at the University Hospital of Heidelberg collected between 1993 and 2004 was performed. The microbiology database contained 1,807 entries for newly detected MRSA isolates from 1,301 patients. A total of 1,252 isolates were available for PFGE typing. The isolates could be classified into 109 different PFGE types. Most PFGE types (n = 70) were detected less than five times and showed no evidence of transmission (sporadic strains). They accounted for 8.7% of all isolates, with few variations in frequency over the time. Thirty-seven PFGE types were clustered by time of detection, and transmission of the strains was likely (local epidemic strains). A total of 37.3% of the isolates belonged to this group of strains. The remaining 54.0% of the isolates belonged to only two further PFGE types (endemic strains). One endemic strain accounted for 5.0% of all isolates in 1994 and 68.2% in 2004. A second endemic strain was detected in 1.1% of all isolates in 1998 but in 12.4% in 2004. Statistical analysis of the associations between the kind of strain (sporadic, local epidemic, or endemic) and the patients' characteristics revealed a significant association for age and mode of acquisition. The remarkable increase in the rate of MRSA detection at the University Hospital of Heidelberg is mainly due to the dissemination of two different strains. Infection control measures seemed sufficient to prevent further transmission of some but not all of the strains.
Brief Report: CD14brightCD16− monocytes and sCD14 level negatively associate with CD4-memory T-cell frequency and predict HCV-decline on therapy

Abstract:During HIV+ hepatitis C virus (HCV)+ coinfection CD14brightCD16− monocytes produce soluble immune-activation markers that predict disease progression and poor response to interferon (IFN)-&agr; treatment. We evaluated relationships among immune activation, monocyte phenotype, CD4-memory T cells, and HCV−, cytomegalovirus−, and cytomegalovirus/Epstein-Barr virus/influenza–specific IFN-&ggr;-response before and during IFN-&agr; treatment. Effector-memory and central-memory CD4 T-cell frequencies were lower in HCV+ HIV+ donors than in uninfected donors and correlated negatively with HCV level, CD14brightCD16− monocytes, and plasma sCD14. sCD14 and CD14brightCD16− monocytes negatively correlated with IFN-&agr;–dependent HCV decline. CD4 effector-memory T cells positively associated with cytomegalovirus/Epstein-Barr virus/influenza(CEF)-specific IFN-&ggr; response, while sCD14 negatively associated with both CD4 effector-memory T cells and CEF-specific IFN-&ggr; response. These data support a role for memory-CD4 T cells in HCV containment and link immune activation and CD14brightCD16−-monocyte frequency to the failure of IFN-dependent HCV clearance.
Distributed Subspace Projection in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Computational Codes

In this paper, we develop a new power-efficient algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in order to obtain, in a distributed manner, the Projection of an observed sampled spatial field on a subspace of lower dimension. This is an important problem that is motivated in various applications where there are well defined subspaces of interest (e.g. spectral maps in cognitive radios). As opposed to traditional Gossip Algorithms used for subspace projection assuming separation of channel coding and computation, our algorithm combines Computational Coding and a modification of existing Gossip Algorithms, achieving important savings in convergence time and yielding an exponential decrease in energy consumption as the size of the network increases.
Epilepsy in children: an epidemiological study at Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital Kathmandu.

OBJECTIVES To analyze the relative frequencies of various epileptic seizures and to study the age at onset of different seizure types in Nepalese children. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Hospital outpatient based in Kathmandu, Nepal, between November 2001 to October 2002. PARTICIPANTS 50 children diagnosed as epilepsy excluding neonatal and febrile seizures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Diagnosis and classification of cases according to the International Classification of Epilepsy of the International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE] and number of patients in each category with various ages at first seizure. RESULT Generalized seizures (78%) were 3.54 times commoner than partial seizures (22%). Most frequent seizure types were generalized tonic clonic (36%), tonic (16%), complex partial (14%), atonic (12%) and absence (10%). Generalized clonic, simple partial and partial with secondary generalization, each had less than 5% frequencies. In 40% cases the first seizure occurred when aged between 2-5 years. In partial seizures the peak age at onset was observed below 6 years while primary generalized seizure was more frequently seen in age group 2-10 years. CONCLUSION More paediatric patients with primary generalized seizures (78%) were observed than with partial seizures (22%). In this age group, the most frequent seizure type was generalized tonic clonic (36%) with the peak frequency of age at onset of seizures in 2-5 years.
Effects of Colonization of the Roots of Domestic Rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Amaroo) by Burkholderia pseudomallei

ABSTRACT Burkholderia pseudomallei is a saprophytic bacterium that causes melioidosis and is often isolated from rice fields in Southeast Asia, where the infection incidence is high among rice field workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between this bacterium and rice through growth experiments where the effect of colonization of domestic rice (Oryza sativa L. cv Amaroo) roots by B. pseudomallei could be observed. When B. pseudomallei was exposed to surface-sterilized seeds, the growth of both the root and the aerosphere was retarded compared to that in controls. The organism was found to localize in the root hairs and endodermis of the plant. A biofilm formed around the root and root structures that were colonized. Growth experiments with a wild rice species (Oryza meridionalis) produced similar retardation of growth, while another domestic cultivar (O. sativa L. cv Koshihikari) did not show retarded growth. Here we report B. pseudomallei infection and inhibition of O. sativa L. cv Amaroo, which might provide insights into plant interactions with this important human pathogen.
Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other

The scales used to describe the attributes of different choice options are usually open to alternative expressions, such as inches versus feet or minutes versus hours. More generally, a ratio scale can be multiplied by an arbitrary factor (e.g., 12) while preserving all of the information it conveys about different choice alternatives. We propose that expanded scales (e.g., price per year) lead decision makers to discriminate between choice options more than do contracted scales (e.g., price per month) because they exaggerate the difference between options on the expanded attribute. Two studies show that simply increasing the size of an attribute's scale systematically changes its weight in both multiattribute preferences and willingness to pay: Expanding scales for one attribute shifts preferences to alternatives favored on that attribute.
Effect of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant on ambient air densities of aerosols containing bacteria and viruses

Bacteria- and virus-containing aerosols were studied during the late summer and fall seasons in a midwestern suburb of the United States before and during the start-up and operation of an unenclosed activated sludge wastewater treatment plant. The study showed that the air in this suburban area contained low-level densities of indicator microorganisms. After the plant began operating, the densities of total aerobic bacteria-containing particles, standard plate count bacteria, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, fecal streptococci, and coliphages increased significantly in the air within the perimeter of the plant. Before plant operations, bacteria were detected from five genera, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia, Salmonella, and Aeromonas. During plant operations, the number of genera identified increased to 11. In addition to those genera found before plant operations, Escherichia, Providencia, Citrobacter, Acinetobacter, Pasteurella, and Proteus, were also identified. Enteric viruses were detected in low densities from the air emissions of this plant. Only standard plate count bacteria remained at significantly higher than base-line densities beyond 250 m downwind from the center of the aeration tanks. Fecal streptococci and coliphages appeared to be more stable in aerosols than the other indicator microorganisms studied. In general, the densities of microorganism-containing aerosols were higher at night than during the day. The techniques used in this study may be employed to establish microorganism-containing aerosol exposure during epidemiological investigations.
A Conserved Domain of the viviparous-1 Gene Product Enhances the DNA Binding Activity of the bZIP Protein EmBP-1 and Other Transcription Factors (*)

The maize VP1 protein is a seed-specific regulator of gene expression that effects the expression of a subset of abscisic acid (ABA)-regulated genes that are expressed during the maturation program of the seed. In addition, VP1 has pleiotropic effects on seed development that are not related to ABA. In transient expression assays, VP1 has been shown to transactivate gene expression through at least two distinct promoter elements: the G boxes from the ABA-inducible wheat Em gene and the SphI box from the maize C1 gene. We have investigated how VP1 can transactivate gene expression through diverse promoter elements by analyzing its association in vitro with EmBP-1, a factor that binds the Em promoter. We demonstrate that VP1 can greatly enhance the DNA binding activity of EmBP-1 in a gel retardation assay. This enhancing activity has also been observed on transcription factors as diverse as Opaque-2, Max, Sp1, and NF-κB. Deletion of a small but highly conserved region (BR2) in VP1 eliminates the enhancement in vitro as well as the ability of VP1 to transactivate Em gene expression in a transient expression assay. A 40-amino acid fragment from VP1 sandwiched between the maltose-binding protein and LacZ can confer the enhancement function to this fusion protein in vitro. A weak and relatively nonspecific interaction between BR2 and DNA is demonstrated by UV cross-linking. The in vitro properties we observe for VP1 might explain the regulatory effects of VP1 on a diverse set of genes and why mutations in the vp1 locus have pleiotropic effects.
Multiple M2-branes and plane waves

We propose a natural generalisation of the BLG multiple M2-brane action to membranes in curved plane wave backgrounds, and verify in two different ways that the action correctly captures the non-trivial space-time geometry. We show that the M2 to D2 reduction of the theory along a non-trivial direction in field space is equivalent to the D2-brane world-volume Yang-Mills theory with a non-trivial (null-time dependent) dilaton in the corresponding IIA background geometry. As another consistency check of this proposal we show that the properties of metric 3-algebras ensure the equivalence of the Rosen coordinate version of this action (time-dependent metric on the space of 3-algebra valued scalar fields, no mass terms) and its Brinkmann counterpart (constant couplings but time-dependent mass terms). We also establish an analogous result for deformed Yang-Mills theories in any dimension which, in particular, demonstrates the equivalence of the Rosen and Brinkmann forms of the plane wave matrix string action.
Integrated mechanisms of CaMKII-dependent ventricular remodeling

CaMKII has been shown to be activated during different cardiac pathological processes, and CaMKII-dependent mechanisms contribute to pathological cardiac remodeling, cardiac arrhythmias, and contractile dysfunction during heart failure. Activation of CaMKII during cardiac stress results in a broad number of biological effects such as, on the one hand, acute effects due to phosphorylation of distinct cellular proteins as ion channels and calcium handling proteins and, on the other hand, integrative mechanisms by changing gene expression. This review focuses on transcriptional and epigenetic effects of CaMKII activation during chronic cardiac remodeling. Multiple mechanisms have been described how CaMKII mediates changes in cardiac gene expression. CaMKII has been shown to directly phosphorylate components of the cardiac gene regulation machinery. CaMKII phosphorylates several transcription factors such as CREB that induces the activation of specific gene programs. CaMKII activates transcriptional regulators also indirectly by phosphorylating histone deacetylases, especially HDAC4, which in turn inhibits transcription factors that drive cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and dysfunction. Recent studies demonstrate that CaMKII also phosphorylate directly histones, which may contribute to changes in gene expression. These findings of CaMKII-dependent gene regulation during cardiac remodeling processes suggest novel strategies for CaMKII-dependent “transcriptional or epigenetic therapies” to control cardiac gene expression and function. Manipulation of CaMKII-dependent signaling pathways in the settings of pathological cardiac growth, remodeling, and heart failure represents an auspicious therapeutic approach.
Prediction of protein relative solvent accessibility with support vector machines and long‐range interaction 3D local descriptor

The prediction of protein relative solvent accessibility gives us helpful information for the prediction of tertiary structure of a protein. The SVMpsi method, which uses support vector machines (SVMs), and the position‐specific scoring matrix (PSSM) generated from PSI‐BLAST have been applied to achieve better prediction accuracy of the relative solvent accessibility. We have introduced a three‐dimensional local descriptor that contains information about the expected remote contacts by both the long‐range interaction matrix and neighbor sequences. Moreover, we applied feature weights to kernels in SVMs in order to consider the degree of significance that depends on the distance from the specific amino acid. Relative solvent accessibility based on a two state‐model, for 25%, 16%, 5%, and 0% accessibility are predicted at 78.7%, 80.7%, 82.4%, and 87.4% accuracy, respectively. Three‐state prediction results provide a 64.5% accuracy with 9%; 36% threshold. The support vector machine approach has successfully been applied for solvent accessibility prediction by considering long‐range interaction and handling unbalanced data. Proteins 2004;54:000–000. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.