Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatitis delta antigens enhance the ribozyme activities of hepatitis delta virus RNA in vivo

The mechanism of regulation for the ribozyme activity of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) RNA in infected cells is unknown. Previously, we developed a direct assay capable of detecting the ribozyme activity of HDV dimer or trimer RNAs in vivo (K.-S. Jeng, A. Daniel, and M. M. C. Lai, J. Virol, 70:2403-2410, 1996). In this study, we used this method to examine the effects of hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg) on the ribozyme activities of HDV RNA in vivo. The HDV multimer cDNAs were cotransfected with plasmids encoding either HDV small delta antigen (SHDAg) or large delta antigen (LHDAg), and the self-cleavage of the primary transcripts from the HDV cDNA was analyzed at day 2 postransfection. The results were as follows. (i) Both HDAgs, particularly LHDAg, enhanced the self-cleavage activity of HDV RNA; however, HDAgs are not required for HDV RNA cleavage. (ii) HDAg could not restore the ribozyme activity of mutant HDV RNAs which have lost the ribozyme function. (iii) The enhancement of ribozyme activity by HDAg does not require HDV RNA replication. (iv) RNA-binding activity of HDAg is required for the enhancement of RNA cleavage. (v) The self-ligation activities of HDV ribozyme also were enhanced by HDAg. These results suggest that HDAg can regulate the cleavage and ligation of HDV RNA during the HDV life cycle.
Implication of clinical pathway care for community-acquired pneumonia in a community hospital: early switch from an intravenous beta-lactam plus a macrolide to an oral respiratory fluoroquinolone.

OBJECTIVE The effect of clinical pathway (CP) care and early switch from intravenous to oral antibiotics therapy on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been well documented. However, limited studies have evaluated the effects of CP on reducing time taken for attaining clinical stability and duration of antibiotics prescriptions. This study was aimed to investigate the use of a CP and its implication for CAP in a community hospital. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of CAP patients hospitalized between November 2005 and January 2007. The patients were divided into two groups, those for whom CP was adopted and those for whom CP was not adopted on admission. We compared the outcomes of three risk classes assessed using the severity scoring system (A-DROP). CP included switching from an intravenous beta-lactam plus a macrolide to an oral respiratory fluoroquinolone, when the patients exhibited risk factors for drug-resistant pneumococci. RESULTS One hundred thirty-five patients were evaluated, and sixty received CP care. Patients in the CP group had a lower A-DROP score. Although clinical cure proportions were similar, the CP group in the mild and moderate classes (A-DROP score, <or=2) required significantly less time to achieve clinical stability and had a reduced duration of total antibiotics prescriptions, length of hospital stay, and hospital charges. These effects were absent in the severe class. CONCLUSION Implementation of this CP would lead to effective care, may serve to reduce time for attaining clinical stability and reduce the use of unnecessary antibiotics without worsening clinical outcomes in mild and moderate CAP.
On classification with missing data using rough-neuro-fuzzy systems

On classification with missing data using rough-neuro-fuzzy systems The paper presents a new approach to fuzzy classification in the case of missing data. Rough-fuzzy sets are incorporated into logical type neuro-fuzzy structures and a rough-neuro-fuzzy classifier is derived. Theorems which allow determining the structure of the rough-neuro-fuzzy classifier are given. Several experiments illustrating the performance of the roughneuro-fuzzy classifier working in the case of missing features are described.
Reliability of Objectively Measured Sedentary Time and Physical Activity in Adults

Background In adults, a minimum of 3–5 days of accelerometer monitoring is usually considered appropriate to obtain reliable estimates of physical activity (PA). However, a longer period of measurement might be needed to obtain reliable estimates of sedentary behavior (SED). The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of objectively assessed SED and PA in adults. Methods Eighty-seven adult subjects (28 men; mean (standard deviation) age 31.3 (12.2) years; body mass index 23.7 (3.1) kg/m2) wore the GT3X+ accelerometer for 21 subsequent days, for which the reliability of different wear time criteria (8 to 12 h/day and 3 to 5 d/week) was explored. Variance partitioning along with the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula was used as the basis for determining intraclass-correlation coefficients (ICC) and the number of monitoring days needed (N) to achieve an ICC = 0.80. Week-by-week reliability was reported using ICC, Bland-Altman plots and absolute measures of agreement. Results Seven-10 days of monitoring was needed to reliably assess overall- (axis 1 and vector magnitude (VM) counts per minute (CPM)) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), 3–4 days was needed for light PA (LPA), whereas the number of days needed for SED depended on whether adjustments were made for wear time (6–8 days) or not (13–15 days). The week-by-week ICC was ≥0.70 for all variables, with limits of agreement being ±267.8 cpm for CPM, ±352.3 cpm for VM CPM, ±76.8 min/day for SED, ±57.8 min/day for LPA and ±43.8 min/day for MVPA, equal to 1.0–1.6 standard deviations, when adjustment was made for wear time. Conclusions For most variables, more than one week of measurement was needed to achieve an ICC = 0.80. Correcting for wear time was crucial to reliably determine SED. Considerable week-by-week variability was found for all variables. Researchers need to be aware of substantial intra-individual variability in accelerometer-measurements.
Stomatal closure in dry air : mechanism and ecology

A reduction in steady state stomata! aperture in response to an increase in leaf-to-air vapour pressure difference (VPD) is commonly observed in many different types of plants. This reduction in aperture means that the rate of transpiration in drier air is less than what it would otherwise have been. The benefits of this are a reduction in the plant water deficit and improved water economy. The work in this thesis explores both the underlying mechanism of this response and the way in which the -nature of the response in different species relates to their growth strategy and natural environmental range. Controlled environment gas exchange experiments were performed with a wide variety of plants of different growth form and from different natural habitats. These plants, which all exhibited C 3 photosynthesis, included ferns from moist environments, herbaceous crop plants, tropical rainforest tree seedlings and temperate deciduous tree seedlings. When grouped in this way, the responses to increasing VPD were similar within each group, but when the groups were compared they were found to be significantly different from each other. Under well watered conditions the amount of stomata! closure with increasing VPD was highest in the temperate deciduous trees and lowest in the herbaceous crop plants. These results, together with measurements of leaf hydraulic parameters and field observations, are discussed in relation to inherent physiological limitations, evolutionary trends and natural habitat. The mechanism of the VPD response was identified as comprising at least two interconnected, though independent systems. The primary system is one of passive negative feedback, involving the influence of transpiration rate on the water potential of guard cells. The other incorporates more obscure signal pathways, possibly involving active feedback elements or feedforward. Both are discussed theoretically, but experimental investigations concentrated on obtaining the characteristics of the elements in the passive feedback loop, such as leaf hydraulic parameters and the relationship between epidermal turgor, guard cell turgor and stomata! aperture. New experimental equipment and techniques were developed for the direct measurement and manipulation of guard cell pressure. With this information a mechanistic model of the passive feedback system is described, which simulates the moderate and rapidly reversible VPD responses of the ferns and herbaceous crop plants.
A Practical Chelation Protocol Based on Stratification of Thalassemic Patients by Serum Ferritin and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Cardiac T2*

Our previous study showed that combined therapy with deferiprone (L1) and deferoxamine (DFO) was safe and efficacious in reducing iron overload in poorly-chelated thalassemia major patients for the short-term but the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* evaluation was not available at that time. Since October 2006, we applied a standardized chelation protocol by stratifying transfusion-dependent thalassemic patients into three groups, namely well-chelated group (A), poorly-chelated group without (B) or with (C) risk of cardiac complications, based on their serum ferritin (SF) levels and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cardiac T2* measurements. The patients in each group were given options of chelation regimens to improve their iron overload status. Chelation regimens included continuation or intensification of DFO alone (Regimen Ic or Ii, respectively), L1 alone (Regimen II), and combined therapy with L1 and DFO (Regimen III). Group A patients continued with Regimen Ic. Group B patients could opt for either Regimen Ii or II/III. Group C patients could opt for either Regimen Ii or III. Serum ferritin levels and MRI cardiac and liver T2* measurements were evaluated after 1 year of treatment. Fifty-seven patients (27 males, 30 females; age range 5–34 years, median: 25 years) were categorized into Group A (n = 3), B (n = 20) and C (n = 34). All Group A patients continued with DFO treatment. In Group B, seven were on Regimen Ii, five on Regimen II and five on Regimen III. In Group C, five were on Regimen Ii, two on Regimen II and 26 on Regimen III. Significant improvement was noted only for Group C patients using Regimen III (combined therapy) in SF levels, cardiac T2* and liver T2* measurements.
Local Feature Based Online Mode Detection with Recurrent Neural Networks

In this paper we propose a novel approach for online mode detection, where the task is to classify ink traces into several categories. In contrast to previous approaches working on global features, we introduce a system completely relying on local features. For classification, standard recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and the recently introduced long short-term memory (LSTM) networks are used. Experiments are performed on the publicly available IAMonDo-database which serves as a benchmark data set for several researches. In the experiments we investigate several RNN structures and classification sub-tasks of different complexities. The final recognition rate on the complete test set is 98.47% in average, which is significantly higher than the 97% achieved with an MCS in previous work. Further interesting results on different subsets are also reported in this paper.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PLANTING DATES AND ORGANIC FERTILIZERS TREATMENTS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA L. PLANTS

Elham M. Attia and Rania M. Khater* Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Desert Research Center, Matareya Cairo, Egypt * E-mail: dr.raniakhater@yahoo.com * his research was conducted at the El-Qantara Sharq Research Station, Desert Research Center, during two successive summer seasons of 2013 and 2014 to study the effect of planting dates (15 th April, 1 st May and 15 th May) and organic fertilization treatments (control, 15 m 3 / feddan cattle manure, 15 m 3 / feddan compost and a mixture of organic fertilizers [15 m 3 / feddan compost + 15 m 3 / feddan cattle manure]) on growth, yield and active ingredients of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. plants. Early planting date (15 th April) resulted in significant increase in all growth characters, while delaying the planting dates decreased it in both seasons. The application of organic fertilizers produced the highest value in all growth characters during the two experimental seasons, while the treatment of mixed organic fertilizer significantly increased vegetative growth parameters, chemical ingredients and the chemical constituents. The interaction between planting dates and organic fertilization show that, the treatment of cultivation date on 15 th April and fertilization with mixed organic fertilizer significantly increased most of the studied characters, however this treatment gave the maximum sepals per plant and per feddan, yield of seeds per plant and per feddan, the anthocyanins content and fixed oil content in seeds compared with the other treatments.
Ultrastructural studies of ALS mitochondria connect altered function and permeability with defects of mitophagy and mitochondriogenesis

The key role of mitochondria in patients affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is well documented by electron microscopy studies of motor neurons within spinal cord and brainstem. Nonetheless, recent studies challenged the role of mitochondria placed within the cell body of motor neuron. In fact, it was demonstrated that, despite preservation of mitochondria placed within this compartment, there is no increase in the lifespan of transgenic mouse models of ALS. Thus, the present mini-review comments on morphological findings of mitochondrial alterations in ALS patients in connection with novel findings about mitochondrial dynamics within various compartments of motor neurons. The latter issue was recently investigated in relationship with altered calcium homeostasis and autophagy, which affect mitochondria in ALS. In fact, it was recently indicated that a pathological mitophagy, mitochondriogenesis and calcium homeostasis produce different ultrastructural effects within specific regions of motor neurons. This might explain why specific compartments of motor neurons possess different thresholds to mitochondrial damage. In particular, it appears that motor axons represent the most sensitive compartment which undergoes the earliest and most severe alterations in the course of ALS. It is now evident that altered calcium buffering is compartment-dependent, as well as mitophagy and mitochondriogenesis. On the other hand, mitochondrial homeostasis strongly relies on calcium handling, the removal of altered mitochondria through the autophagy flux (mitophagy) and the biogenesis of novel mitochondria (mitochondriogenesis). Thus, recent findings related to altered calcium storage and impaired autophagy flux in ALS may help to understand the occurrence of mitochondrial alterations as a hallmark in ALS patients. At the same time, the compartmentalization of such dysfunctions may be explained considering the compartments of calcium dynamics and autophagy flux within motor neurons.
Mitochondrial pathology and apoptotic muscle degeneration in Drosophila parkin mutants

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Several lines of evidence strongly implicate mitochondrial dysfunction as a major causative factor in PD, although the molecular mechanisms responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction are poorly understood. Recently, loss-of-function mutations in the parkin gene, which encodes a ubiquitin-protein ligase, were found to underlie a familial form of PD known as autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (AR-JP). To gain insight into the molecular mechanism responsible for selective cell death in AR-JP, we have created a Drosophila model of this disorder. Drosophila parkin null mutants exhibit reduced lifespan, locomotor defects, and male sterility. The locomotor defects derive from apoptotic cell death of muscle subsets, whereas the male sterile phenotype derives from a spermatid individualization defect at a late stage of spermatogenesis. Mitochondrial pathology is the earliest manifestation of muscle degeneration and a prominent characteristic of individualizing spermatids in parkin mutants. These results indicate that the tissue-specific phenotypes observed in Drosophila parkin mutants result from mitochondrial dysfunction and raise the possibility that similar mitochondrial impairment triggers the selective cell loss observed in AR-JP.
Output Feedback Control for a Class of Uncertain MIMO Nonlinear Systems With Non-Symmetric Input Gain Matrix

In this paper, a new continuous output feedback control mechanism is developed for output tracking for a class of high-order multi-input nonlinear systems with an input gain matrix that is positive definite but non-symmetric. The controller yields semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB) tracking while compensating for unstructured uncertainty in both the drift vector and the input matrix. First, a fullstate feedback controller is designed based on limited assumptions on the structure of the system nonlinearities and the controller is proven to yield SGUUB tracking through a Lyapunov-based analysis. Then, an output feedback control design based on a high gain observer is proposed. A comprehensive stability analysis of the closed-loop system under output feedback is carried out and a recovery of the state feedback SGUUB result is demonstrated for the output feedback control system. Neural network estimation method is employed in both state and output feedback control design to feedforward compensate for the nonlinear system uncertainty.
Comparison of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test results between Czech subjects dependent on methamphetamine versus healthy volunteers.

BACKGROUND Methamphetamine is a neurotoxic agent. Its chronic abuse may result in cognitive impairment with negative consequences for patients' treatment and rehabilitation. The aim of the study was to compare Wisconsin Card Sorting Test profiles of Czech subjects dependent on methamphetamine with healthy individuals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Forty-three hospitalized Czech Caucasian patients including twenty-seven men at the average age of 25.3±5.2 years dependent on methamphetamine for 6.2±3.3 years were assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. We used the same neurocognitive test for the comparison group of healthy controls with the same ethnicity (N=52, men N=28, average age of 38.7±12.1 years). We applied the Chi-Square Test, Two-Sample T Test, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test to compare methamphetamine dependent patients with healthy volunteers. RESULTS All recorded Wisconsin Card Sorting Test parameters were significantly different in the group of methamphetamine dependent patients versus healthy volunteers (P=0.04-0.006; Mann-Whitney U Test, Two-Sample T Test). The results showed a higher error rate and a smaller achievement quality in the patients as against healthy subjects. We ascertained a significant cognitive deterioration in the patients as compared to healthy volunteers even if the average patients' achievements were in the normal range according to the test norms. CONCLUSIONS A cognitive impairment was present in the group of patients as compared to healthy controls. Better understanding of neurocognitive symptoms in methamphetamine dependent subjects should help to generate modern therapeutic approaches, both pharmacological and psychosocial, to prevent or attenuate the long-term negative consequences of methamphetamine use disorders.
Activation of Dopamine D2 Receptor Suppresses Neuroinflammation Through &agr;B-Crystalline by Inhibition of NF-&kgr;B Nuclear Translocation in Experimental ICH Mice Model

Background and Purpose— Inflammatory injury plays a critical role in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)–induced secondary brain injury. Recently, dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) is identified as an important component controlling innate immunity and inflammatory response in central nervous system, and &agr;B-crystallin (CRYAB) is a potent negative regulator on inflammatory pathways. Here, we sought to investigate the role of DRD2 on neuroinflammation after experimental ICH and the potential mechanism mediated by CRYAB. Methods— Two hundred and twenty-four (224) male CD-1 mice were subjected to intrastriatal infusion of bacterial collagenase or autologous blood. Two DRD2 agonists quinpirole and ropinirole were administrated by daily intraperitoneal injection starting at 1 hour after ICH. DRD2 and CRYAB in vivo knockdown was performed 48 hours before ICH insult. Behavioral deficits and brain water content, Western blots, immunofluorescence staining, coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay, and proteome cytokine array were evaluated. Results— Endogenous DRD2 and CRYAB expressions were increased after ICH. DRD2 knockdown aggravated the neurobehavioral deficits and the pronounced cytokine expressions. DRD2 activation by quinpirole and ropinirole ameliorated neurological outcome, brain edema, interleukin-1&bgr;, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression, as well as microglia/macrophages activation, in the perihematomal region. These effects were abolished by pretreatment with CRYAB siRNAs. Quinpirole enhanced cytoplasmic binding activity between CRYAB and NF-&kgr;B and decreased nuclear NF-&kgr;B expression. Similar therapeutic benefits were observed using autologous blood injection model and intranasal delivery of quinpirole. Conclusions— DRD2 may have anti-inflammatory effects after ICH. DRD2 agonists inhibited neuroinflammation and attenuated brain injury after ICH, which is probably mediated by CRYAB and enhanced cytoplasmic binding activity with NF-&kgr;B.
Parallel Detrended Fluctuation Analysis for Fast Event Detection on Massive PMU Data

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are being rapidly deployed in power grids due to their high sampling rates and synchronized measurements. The devices high data reporting rates present major computational challenges in the requirement to process potentially massive volumes of data, in addition to new issues surrounding data storage. Fast algorithms capable of processing massive volumes of data are now required in the field of power systems. This paper presents a novel parallel detrended fluctuation analysis (PDFA) approach for fast event detection on massive volumes of PMU data, taking advantage of a cluster computing platform. The PDFA algorithm is evaluated using data from installed PMUs on the transmission system of Great Britain from the aspects of speedup, scalability, and accuracy. The speedup of the PDFA in computation is initially analyzed through Amdahl's Law. A revision to the law is then proposed, suggesting enhancements to its capability to analyze the performance gain in computation when parallelizing data intensive applications in a cluster computing environment.
A Comparison of Information Processing Abilities of Middle and Lower Class Negro Kindergarten Boys

Fifty middle class and 50 lower class Negro kindergarten boys were administered a battery of eight instruments designed to assess specific information processing abilities. An analysis of 19 variables produced five reasonably meaningful components, with a general language ability component the most significant. When class groups were compared, this component discriminated most significantly between the groups. Implications for educational definition, diagnosis, and program planning are discussed.