Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of ethylene receptors during senescence and ripening in horticultural crops

The past two decades have been rewarding in terms of deciphering the ethylene signal transduction and functional validation of the ethylene receptor and downstream genes involved in the cascade. Our knowledge of ethylene receptors and its signal transduction pathway provides us a robust platform where we can think of manipulating and regulating ethylene sensitivity by the use of genetic engineering and making transgenic. This review focuses on ethylene perception, receptor mediated regulation of ethylene biosynthesis, role of ethylene receptors in flower senescence, fruit ripening and other effects induced by ethylene. The expression behavior of the receptor and downstream molecules in climacteric and non climacteric crops is also elaborated upon. Possible strategies and recent advances in altering the ethylene sensitivity of plants using ethylene receptor genes in an attempt to modulate the regulation and sensitivity to ethylene have also been discussed. Not only will these transgenic plants be a boon to post-harvest physiology and crop improvement but, it will also help us in discovering the mechanism of regulation of ethylene sensitivity.
Living with bipolar disorder: the impact on patients, spouses, and their marital relationship.

OBJECTIVES Patients with bipolar disorder are characterized by an unusually high divorce rate. As such, the purpose of the present study was to uncover information relating specifically to the impact of bipolar disorder on patients and spouses individually, and on the marital relationship from the perspectives of both patients and spouses. METHODS Eleven patients with bipolar disorder and ten spouses were interviewed separately about the impact of bipolar disorder on their lives and on their marital relationship. Data were analyzed using the grounded theory method. RESULTS The impact of bipolar disorder for spouses included self-sacrifice, caregiving burden, emotional impact, and a sense of personal evolution. The impact of bipolar disorder on patients included an emotional impact, responsibility for self-care, and struggling socially and developmentally. When comparing patient and spouse perspectives on the impact of the disorder, neither the patient nor the spouse was able to accurately assess the impact of the disorder on their partner's lives. The impact of bipolar disorder on the relationship included volatility in the relationship, strengthening the relationship, weakening the relationship, and family planning. CONCLUSIONS The research indicated that patients and partners alike struggle with the tremendous impact of bipolar disorder on their lives and on their relationships. Given the high rates of divorce and volatility in these relationships, healthcare professionals can provide (or refer to) emotional and practical support both to patients and spouses on their own, and as a couple in their clinics.
Dysfunction of Large-Scale Brain Networks in Schizophrenia: A Meta-analysis of Resting-State Functional Connectivity

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder with disorganized communication among large-scale brain networks, as demonstrated by impaired resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). Individual rsFC studies, however, vary greatly in their methods and findings. We searched for consistent patterns of network dysfunction in schizophrenia by using a coordinate-based meta-analysis. Fifty-six seed-based voxel-wise rsFC datasets from 52 publications (2115 patients and 2297 healthy controls) were included in this meta-analysis. Then, coordinates of seed regions of interest (ROI) and between-group effects were extracted and coded. Seed ROIs were categorized into seed networks by their location within an a priori template. Multilevel kernel density analysis was used to identify brain networks in which schizophrenia was linked to hyper-connectivity or hypo-connectivity with each a priori network. Our results showed that schizophrenia was characterized by hypo-connectivity within the default network (DN, self-related thought), affective network (AN, emotion processing), ventral attention network (VAN, processing of salience), thalamus network (TN, gating information) and somatosensory network (SS, involved in sensory and auditory perception). Additionally, hypo-connectivity between the VAN and TN, VAN and DN, VAN and frontoparietal network (FN, external goal-directed regulation), FN and TN, and FN and DN were found in schizophrenia. Finally, the only instance of hyper-connectivity in schizophrenia was observed between the AN and VAN. Our meta-analysis motivates an empirical foundation for a disconnected large-scale brain networks model of schizophrenia in which the salience processing network (VAN) plays the core role, and its imbalanced communication with other functional networks may underlie the core difficulty of patients to differentiate self-representation (inner world) and environmental salience processing (outside world).
The metacognitive loop I: Enhancing reinforcement learning with metacognitive monitoring and control for improved perturbation tolerance

Maintaining adequate performance in dynamic and uncertain settings has been a perennial stumbling block for intelligent systems. Nevertheless, any system intended for real-world deployment must be able to accommodate unexpected change—that is, it must be perturbation tolerant. We have found that metacognitive monitoring and control—the ability of a system to self-monitor its own decision-making processes and ongoing performance, and to make targeted changes to its beliefs and action-determining components—can play an important role in helping intelligent systems cope with the perturbations that are the inevitable result of real-world deployment. In this article we present the results of several experiments demonstrating the efficacy of metacognition in improving the perturbation tolerance of reinforcement learners, and discuss a general theory of metacognitive monitoring and control, in a form we call the metacognitive loop. ||This research is supported in part by the AFOSR and ONR.
Imp2 regulates GBM progression by activating IGF2/PI3K/Akt pathway

Glioblastomas multiforme (GBM) are the most frequently occurring malignant brain cancers. Treatment for GBM consists of surgical resection and subsequent adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Despite this, GBM patient survival is limited to 12–15 months, and researchers are continually trying to develop improved therapy options. Insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (Imp2) is known to be upregulated in many cancers and is known to regulate the signaling activity of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2). However, relatively little is known about its role in malignant development of GBM. In this study, we first found Imp2 is upregulated in GBM tissues by using clinical samples and public database search. Studies with loss and gain of Imp2 expression in in vitro GBM cell culture system demonstrated the role of Imp2 in promoting GBM cell proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Additionally, our results show that Imp2 regulates the activity of IGF2, which further activates PI3K/Akt signaling, thereby to promote GBM malignancy. Inhibition of Imp2 was also found to sensitize GBM to temozolomide treatment. These observations add to the current knowledge of GBM biology, and may prove useful in development of more effective GBM therapy.
Probing recent star formation with absorption-line strengths in hierarchical models and observations

Stellar population parameters (e. g. age, metallicity and stellar abundance ratios) derived from spectral line strengths provide a powerful probe of galaxy properties and formation histories. We implement the machinery for extracting line strengths and 'single-stellar-population-equivalent' (SSP-equivalent) stellar population parameters from synthetic spectra generated by a hierarchical galaxy formation model. Our goals are (1) to test the consistency of these line-strength-derived stellar population parameters with more physically relevant light-and mass-weighted parameters for complex, cosmologically motivated star formation histories, (2) to interpret line-strength observations for early-type galaxies within the context of hierarchical structure formation and (3) to test the galaxy formation models using stellar population parameters derived from some of the best available samples of observed line strengths. We find that the SSP-equivalent age is related to the light-weighted age in a complicated fashion that reflects the influence of recently formed stars and is poorly correlated with the mass-weighted age. We find that the tendency for SSP-equivalent ages to be biased young means that 'archaeological downsizing' overstates the 'true', mass-weighted downsizing in age with mass. We find, however, that the SSP-equivalent metallicity closely tracks the mass-and light-weighted metallicities, so that observed mass-metallicity relations for old galaxies closely reflect the underlying trends. We construct mock catalogues of early-type galaxies in a Coma-cluster-sized halo and compare them directly to observations of early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster. The similarity of the SSP-equivalent ages in the observational samples and the mock catalogues gives us confidence that the star formation quenching implemented in the hierarchical galaxy formation model roughly produces the correct amount of recent star formation. Unfortunately, the current observational samples either are too small or have too low signal-to-noise ratio to accurately determine detailed star formation histories. However, the data show that the model has deficiencies: the SSP-equivalent metallicities are too low and have the wrong slope as a function of velocity dispersion, and the SSP-equivalent ages of the model galaxies may have an incorrect slope as a function of velocity dispersion. These problems are indicative both of the simplified chemical evolution prescription currently implemented in the galaxy formation model and that the star formation histories resulting from the model are incorrect in detail.
ZO‐2, a tight junction protein involved in gene expression, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell size regulation

ZO‐2 is a peripheral tight junction protein that belongs to the membrane‐associated guanylate kinase protein family. Here, we explain the modular and supramodular organization of ZO‐2 that allows it to interact with a wide variety of molecules, including cell–cell adhesion proteins, cytoskeletal components, and nuclear factors. We also describe how ZO proteins evolved through metazoan evolution and analyze the intracellular traffic of ZO‐2, as well as the roles played by ZO‐2 at the plasma membrane and nucleus that translate into the regulation of proliferation, cell size, and apoptosis. In addition, we focus on the impact of ZO‐2 expression on male fertility and on maladies like cancer, cholestasis, and hearing loss.
Apnoea in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

with immunohistochemical techniques. Lancet 1 985;i: 1302-5. 2 Hainsworth JD, Wright EP, Gray GF, Greco FA. Poorly differentiated carcinoma of unknown primary site: correlation of light microscopic findings with response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol 1987;5: 127580. 3 Collis CH. Chemotherapy-related morbidity to the lungs. In: Plowman PN, McElwain T, Meadows A, eds. Complications of cancer management. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 1991:250-71. 4 Isaacson PG, Androulakis PA, Diss TC, Pan L, Wright DH. Follicular colonization in thyroid lymphoma. Am J Pathol 1991;141:43-52. 5 Tsang RW, Gospodarowicz MK, Sutcliffe SB, Sturgeon JF, Panzarella T, Patterson BJ. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the thyroid gland: prognostic factors and treatment outcome. The Princess Margaret Hospital Lymphoma Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1993;27:599-604. 6 Chan JK, Ng CS, Lau WH, Lo ST. Most nasal/nasopharyngeal lymphomas are peripheral T-cell neoplasms. Am J Surg Pathol 1987;11:418-29.
Potential Activity of the Purine Compounds Caffeine and Aminophylline on Bacteria

Background: Purine compounds are special types of alkaloids. Caffeine and aminophylline are considered the most important members of purines due to their wide use in therapeutics. Aims: To detect any potential antibacterial effects on pathogenic bacteria of the widely prescribed members of purines caffeine and aminophylline. Materials and Methods: Two species of gram-positive bacteria and five species of gram-negative bacteria were exposed to these purine agents. Antibacterial effects of the tested purines were determined using the spectrophotometer method to assess the minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC). Results: Among the strains of bacteria tested, Bacillus subtilis showed the most susceptibility to purine agents. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were found to be more susceptible to caffeine than the other strains. Aminophylline showed inhibitory action on many isolates, especially at the concentration of 10mg/ml. Paracoccus yeei demonstrated resistance to all tested purine compounds up to a concentration of 10.5mg/ml. Conclusions: Caffeine and aminophylline had the ability to inhibit many strains of pathogenic bacteria.
Bridging the quality chasm

Earlier this year the Institute of Medicine issued another report on health care quality, following its much heralded report on patient safety in 1999. Crossing the Quality Chasm is unequivocal in its assertion: the defects of American health care are so widespread that they detract from the “health, functioning, dignity, comfort, satisfaction, and resources of Americans. ”1 The report fails, however, to create an equally compelling vision of how health care in the United States can be transformed. We are not given a sense of how hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers will be engaged in this enormous task. The authors of this report characterise their earlier one, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System ,2 as a “small part of an unfolding story of quality in American health care. ” Yet that report, on medical errors, provoked universal, dramatic calls for action, while this latest report has received only a subdued response. Perhaps to the public and those who provide their care the quality problem is “old news. ” Or perhaps the problem is too large and too close to grasp. The indictment of our current system acknowledges both the tremendous advances in medical science and the good intentions and dedicated work of the vast majority of care givers. Nevertheless, the report describes a system that is wasteful, often redundant, and lacking even the most basic information systems to support clinical care. Patients see long waiting times, …
Synaptosomes secrete and uptake functionally active microRNAs via exocytosis and endocytosis pathways

In this study, we first characterized synaptosome microRNA (miRNA) profiles using microarray and qRT‐PCR. MicroRNAs were detected in isolated synaptic vesicles, and Ago2 immunoprecipitation studies revealed an association between miRNAs and Ago2. Second, we found that miR‐29a, miR‐99a, and miR‐125a were significantly elevated in synaptosome supernatants after depolarization. MiRNA secretion by the synaptosome was Ca2+‐dependent and was inhibited by the exocytosis inhibitor, okadaic acid. Furthermore, application of nerve growth factor increased miRNA secretion without altering the spontaneous release of miRNAs. Conversely, kainic acid decreased miRNA secretion and enhanced the spontaneous release of miRNAs. These results indicate that synaptosomes could secrete miRNAs. Finally, synthesized miRNAs were taken up by synaptosomes, and the endocytosis inhibitor Dynasore blocked this process. After incubation with miR‐125a, additional miR‐125a was bound to Ago2 in the synaptosome, and expression of the miR‐125a target gene (PSD95 mRNA) was decreased; these findings suggest that the ingested miRNAs were assembled in the RNA‐induced silencing complex, resulting in the degradation of target mRNAs. To our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates the secretion of miRNAs by synaptosomes under physiological stimulation and demonstrates that secreted miRNAs might be functionally active after being taken up by the synaptic fraction via the endocytic pathway.
Nanodiodes and Nanoantennas Fabricated by Transfer Technology

In the frame of the Ph.D. thesis, we designed and fabricated an optoelectronic device suitable for absorbing infrared light. The device consists of a large area arrangement of almost 1 million nanoantennas and terahertz rectifiers which were fabricated on a glass substrate via a printing technique. The optoelectronic characterization with an infrared laser showed that the Seebeck Effect is the dominant rectification mechanism for the induced high frequency current.
Investigational A3 adenosine receptor targeting agents

Introduction : Adenosine is an endogenous nucleoside that accumulates in the extracellular space in response to metabolic stress and cell damage. Extracellular adenosine is a signaling molecule that signals by activating four GPCRs: the A1, A2A, A2B and A3 receptors. Since the discovery of A3 adenosine receptors, accumulating evidence has identified these receptors as potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Areas covered : A3 adenosine receptors are expressed on the surface of most immune cell types, including neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, lymphocytes and mast cells. A3 adenosine receptor activation on immune cells governs a broad array of immune cell functions, which include cytokine production, degranulation, chemotaxis, cytotoxicity, apoptosis and proliferation. In accordance with their multitudinous immunoregulatory actions, targeting A3 adenosine receptors has been shown to impact the course of a wide spectrum of immune-related diseases, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, ischemia and inflammatory disorders. Expert opinion : Given the existence of both preclinical and early clinical data supporting the utility of A3 adenosine receptor ligands in treating immune-related diseases, further development of A3 adenosine receptor ligands is anticipated.
Low-cost solutions for preventing simple side-channel analysis: side-channel atomicity

We introduce simple methods to convert a cryptographic algorithm into an algorithm protected against simple side-channel attacks. Contrary to previously known solutions, the proposed techniques are not at the expense of the execution time. Moreover, they are generic and apply to virtually any algorithm. In particular, we present several novel exponentiation algorithms, namely, a protected square-and-multiply algorithm, its right-to-left counterpart, and several protected sliding-window algorithms. We also illustrate our methodology applied to point multiplication on elliptic curves. All these algorithms share the common feature that the complexity is globally unchanged compared to the corresponding unprotected implementations.
Development of Functional Connectivity during Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study Using an Action–Observation Paradigm

Successful interpersonal interactions rely on an ability to read the emotional states of others and to modulate one's own behavior in response. The actions of others serve as valuable social stimuli in this respect, offering the observer an insight into the actor's emotional state. Social cognition continues to mature throughout adolescence. Here we assess longitudinally the development of functional connectivity during early adolescence within two neural networks implicated in social cognition: one network of brain regions consistently engaged during action observation and another one associated with mentalizing. Using fMRI, we reveal a greater recruitment of the social–emotional network during the observation of angry hand actions in male relative to female adolescents. These findings are discussed in terms of known sex differences in adolescent social behavior.
A note on Fisher's 'average effect' and 'average excess'.

The average effect and average excess of a gene substitution are formulated in terms of gene frequencies and inbreeding coefficient. This clarifies their meanings and shows how each is affected by non-random mating. The meanings of various definitions are examined, and one commonly used definition of average effect is found to be invalid with non-random mating. The concept of breeding value is shown to have no useful meaning when mating is not random.
A New Troodontid Theropod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah

Background The theropod dinosaur family Troodontidae is known from the Upper Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous, and Upper Cretaceous of Asia and from the Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous of North America. Before now no undisputed troodontids from North America have been reported from the Early Cretaceous. Methodology/Principal Findings Herein we describe a theropod maxilla from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah and perform a phylogenetic analysis to determine its phylogenetic position. The specimen is distinctive enough to assign to a new genus and species, Geminiraptor suarezarum. Phylogenetic analysis places G. suarezarum within Troodontidae in an unresolved polytomy with Mei, Byronosaurus, Sinornithoides, Sinusonasus, and Troodon + (Saurornithoides + Zanabazar). Geminiraptor suarezarum uniquely exhibits extreme pneumatic inflation of the maxilla internal to the antorbital fossa such that the anterior maxilla has a triangular cross-section. Unlike troodontids more closely related to Troodon, G. suarezarum exhibits bony septa between the dental alveoli and a promaxillary foramen that is visible in lateral view. Conclusions/Significance This is the first report of a North American troodontid from the Lower Cretaceous. It therefore contributes to a fuller understanding of troodontid biogeography through time. It also adds to the known dinosaurian fauna of the Cedar Mountain Formation.
Respiratory problems among cotton textile workers

Background: Long term occupational exposure to cotton dust is associated with respiratory symptoms and loss of pulmonary function. Aim: This study was conducted to explore respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function tests and chest radiography of workers, and to evaluate the findings of high resolution computed tomographyand its correlation with pulmonary function tests (PFT). Material and Methods: The study was conducted on 100 cotton workers as exposed group and 100 unexposed subjects. Smokers were excluded from the study. All workers were interviewed and examined by the pulmonologist. PFT and chest radiography were conducted for all subjects. HRCT was performed for those with abnormal PFT or chest radiography. Results: A total of 51% and 31% of the cotton textile workers had one or more respiratory symptoms and respiratory signs respectively. 28% of subjects in the exposed group and 5% of subjects in unexposed group had obstructive pattern. Bronchia wall thickening and air trapping were the most frequent chest radiography and HRCT abnormalities respectively. There was a significant correlation between HRCT and the results of PFT. Conclusion: We conclude that long term exposure to cotton dust is associated with obstructive disease that increase with duration of exposure (history of working years), also use of HRCT as a sensitive tool in the assessment of pathologic changes and it's correlation with PFT, confirms the expected pathophysiology of airway obstruction in cotton workers.