Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution of the ACME-arcA gene among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from England and Wales.

BACKGROUND The ST8-SCCmecIVa (USA300) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clone can harbour the arginine catabolic mobile element (ACME). The arc gene cluster within the ACME may function as a virulence or strain survival factor. We determined the distribution of the ACME-associated arcA gene among genetically diverse MRSA from around England and Wales. METHODS MRSA isolates (n = 203) of diverse genetic types, referred to the England and Wales Staphylococcus reference laboratory, were tested for the presence of the ACME-arcA gene. ACME-arcA-positive isolates were characterized by toxin gene profiling, PFGE and spa sequence typing. MICs of a range of antimicrobials were also determined. RESULTS The ACME-arcA gene was detected in 17 isolates. Twelve were related to known ST8-MRSA-SCCmecIVa isolates of the USA300 lineage by pulsotype and were resistant to oxacillin, with variable ciprofloxacin and erythromycin resistance. Outside the USA300 lineage, four of the remaining five ACME-arcA isolates were closely related ST97-MRSA-SCCmecV, Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL)-negative, resistant to oxacillin and variously resistant to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, gentamicin, tetracycline and fusidic acid. The remaining isolate was ST1, PVL-positive and resistant to fusidic acid as well as oxacillin. Thirteen out of the 17 isolates were associated with skin and soft tissue infections. CONCLUSIONS The detection of ACME-arcA in diverse MRSA types highlights the mobility of the elements encoding ACME-arcA genes. The diversity of strain types and resistance profiles among ACME-arcA-encoding MRSA is a cause for public-health concern and demands continued surveillance and close monitoring.
Chronic zebrafish PFOS exposure alters sex ratio and maternal related effects in F1 offspring

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is an organic contaminant ubiquitous in the environment, wildlife, and humans. Few studies have assessed its chronic toxicity on aquatic organisms. The present study defined the effects of long‐term exposure to PFOS on zebrafish development and reproduction. Specifically, zebrafish at 8 h postfertilization (hpf) were exposed to PFOS at 0, 5, 50, and 250 µg/L for five months. Growth suppression was observed in the 250 µg/L PFOS‐treated group. The sex ratio was altered, with a significant female dominance in the high‐dose PFOS group. Male gonad development was also impaired in a dose‐dependent manner by PFOS exposure. Although female fecundity was not impacted, the F1 embryos derived from high‐dose exposed females paired with males without PFOS exposure developed severe deformity at early development stages and resulted in 100% larval mortality at 7 d postfertilization (dpf). Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid quantification in embryos indicated that decreased larval survival in F1 offspring was directly correlated to the PFOS body burden, and larval lethality was attributable to maternal transfer of PFOS to the eggs. Lower‐dose parental PFOS exposure did not result in decreased F1 survival; however, the offspring displayed hyperactivity of basal swimming speed in a light‐to‐dark behavior assessment test. These findings demonstrate that chronic exposure to PFOS adversely impacts embryonic growth, reproduction, and subsequent offspring development. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011;30:2073–2080. © 2011 SETAC
A Novel Population of Mesenchymal Progenitors with Hematopoietic Potential Originated from CD14- Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Hemopoietic system derived progenitor cells with mesenchymal features have been identified including CD14+ monocyte-derived progenitors. However, it is unclear whether there are mesenchyme derived progenitors with hematopoietic potential. Herein, we identified a novel CD14- cell-derived population with both mesenchymal and hematopoietic features in rat peripheral blood, and this cell population is different from the CD14+ monocyte-derived progenitors but designated peripheral blood multipotential mesenchymal progenitors (PBMMPs). Phenotype analysis demonstrated expression of mesenchymal markers in PBMMPs including BMPRs, Endoglin/CD105, Fibronectin (Fn), Vimentin (Vim), Collagen (Col) I/II/III along with hematopoietic marker CD34. CD14+ cell-derived population shared the same characteristics with CFs. In mixed culture of CD14+ and CD14- cells, PBMMPs were a predominant component and expressed CD29high, CD73high, CD34high, CD45low and CD90. Except for the value of mixed T lymphocytes and CD14+ cell-derived population, hematopoietic characters of cultured PBMMPs were indicated by CD14-/CD34+/CD45-/CD90+. The mesenchymal origin was further confirmed by comparing PBMMPs with bone marrow stromal cells. Finally, we transplanted PBMMPs into a skin wound model, and results showed the specific potential of PBMMPs in not only extracellular matrix secretion but epidermal regeneration. This study provides evidence that peripheral blood contains common hematopoietic-mesenchymal progenitors from both hematopoietic and mesenchymal lineages, and CD34+ mesenchymal progenitors are a possible alternative source of epidermal cells in wound healing.
IL-2 and IL-15 Regulate CD154 Expression on Activated CD4 T Cells1

The cellular and humoral immune system is critically dependent upon CD40-CD154 (CD40 ligand) interactions between CD40 expressed on B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells, and CD154 expressed primarily on CD4 T cells. Previous studies have shown that CD154 is transiently expressed on CD4 T cells after T cell receptor engagement in vitro. However, we found that stimulation of PBLs with maximal CD28 costimulation, using beads coupled to Abs against CD3 and CD28, led to a very prolonged expression of CD154 on CD4 cells (>4 days) that was dependent upon autocrine IL-2 production. Previously activated CD4 T cells could respond to IL-2, or the related cytokine IL-15, by de novo CD154 production and expression without requiring an additional signal from CD3 and CD28. These results provide evidence that CD28 costimulation of CD4 T cells, through autocrine IL-2 production, maintains high levels of CD154 expression. This has significant impact on our understanding of the acquired immune response and may provide insight concerning the mechanisms underlying several immunological diseases.
Mouse movement behavioral biometric systems

A biometric system is a pattern-recognition system that recognizes a person based on either physiological or behavioral characteristics. This kind of system is used to provide access control to some valuable assets. In this paper, we proposed a behavioral biometric system that used random mouse movement in identifying a user. We developed a prototype of the proposed system and experiment it with a number of users. The experiment produced 14 matching or equal to 46.67% of successful matching. The results can be a preliminary result in observing the behavior of a user when the user was interacting with a random application by using a mouse.
Evaluation of a method for counting absolute numbers of cells with a flow cytometer

We evaluated a method for performing absolute cell counts of lymphocyte populations with a flow cytometer. In this method, TruCount, test tubes that contain a known number of brightly fluorescent polystyrene beads are provided by the manufacturer. Whole anticoagulated blood is accurately pipetted into the tubes and mixed with fluorochrome-labeled monoclonal antibodies, the erythrocytes are lysed, and this mixture is analyzed on the flow cytometer. Absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets are calculated by determining the ratio of beads to the cell population of interest and then multiplying this ratio by the number of beads in the tube. We found this method to be reproducible. The values we obtained by the TruCount method were 5 to 10% higher than those obtained by conventional methods (flow cytometry and automated hematology) used to determine absolute numbers of cells. We believe that these differences are due to the methods of determining absolute cell counts and not to faulty identification of lymphocyte subsets.
Focal Adhesion Kinase Acts Downstream of EphB Receptors to Maintain Mature Dendritic Spines by Regulating Cofilin Activity

Dendritic spines are the postsynaptic sites of most excitatory synapses in the brain and are highly enriched in polymerized F-actin, which drives the formation and maintenance of mature dendritic spines and synapses. We propose that suppressing the activity of the actin-severing protein cofilin plays an important role in the stabilization of mature dendritic spines, and is accomplished through an EphB receptor–focal adhesion kinase (FAK) pathway. Our studies revealed that Cre-mediated knock-out of loxP-flanked fak prompted the reversion of mature dendritic spines to an immature filopodial-like phenotype in primary hippocampal cultures. The effects of FAK depletion on dendritic spine number, length, and morphology were rescued by the overexpression of the constitutively active FAKY397E, but not FAKY397F, indicating the significance of FAK activation by phosphorylation on tyrosine 397. Our studies demonstrate that FAK acts downstream of EphB receptors in hippocampal neurons and EphB2–FAK signaling controls the stability of mature dendritic spines by promoting cofilin phosphorylation, thereby inhibiting cofilin activity. While constitutively active nonphosphorylatable cofilinS3A induced an immature spine profile, phosphomimetic cofilinS3D restored mature spine morphology in neurons with disrupted EphB activity or lacking FAK. Further, we found that EphB-mediated regulation of cofilin activity at least partially depends on the activation of Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) and LIMK-1. These findings indicate that EphB2-mediated dendritic spine stabilization relies, in part, on the ability of FAK to activate the RhoA–ROCK–LIMK-1 pathway, which functions to suppress cofilin activity and inhibit cofilin-mediated dendritic spine remodeling.
The Abundance and Emission of H2O and O2 in Clumpy Molecular Clouds

Recent observations with the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) indicate abundances of gaseous H2O and O2 in dense molecular clouds that are significantly lower than those found in standard homogeneous chemistry models. We present here results for the thermal and chemical balance of inhomogeneous molecular clouds exposed to ultraviolet radiation in which the abundances of H2O and O2 are computed for various density distributions, radiation field strengths, and geometries. It is found that an inhomogeneous density distribution lowers the column densities of H2O and O2 compared with the homogeneous case by more than an order of magnitude at the same AV. O2 is particularly sensitive to the penetrating ultraviolet radiation, more so than H2O. The S140 and ρ Ophiuchi clouds are studied as relevant test cases of star-forming and quiescent regions. The SWAS results of S140 can be accommodated naturally in a clumpy model with a mean density of 2 × 103 cm-3 and an enhancement of IUV = 140 compared with the average interstellar radiation field, in agreement with observations of [C I] and 13CO of this cloud. Additional radiative transfer computations suggest that this diffuse H2O component is warm, ~60-90 K, and can account for the bulk of the 110-101 line emission observed by SWAS. The ρ Oph model yields consistent O2 abundances but too much H2O, even for [C]/[O] = 0.94, if IUV < 10 (respectively <40) for a mean density of 103 (respectively 104 cm-3). It is concluded that enhanced photodissociation in clumpy regions can explain the low H2O and O2 abundances and emissivities found in the large SWAS beam for extended molecular clouds but that additional freezeout of oxygen onto grains is needed in dense cold cores.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE LINE-EMITTING REGIONS OF Mrk 493

We report the results of three-dimensional spectroscopic observations of Mrk 493 (narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy) with the integral-field spectrograph MultiPupil Fiber Spectrograph of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6 m telescope. The difference in the slope of the optical continuum emission intensity across the nucleus part and an extensive continuum emission region is detected. The emission in lines (Hα, Hβ, [O iii], etc.) coincides with a composite nuclear region: an active galactic nucleus plus a circumnuclear star-forming ring observed in the Hubble Space Telescope UV/optical images. The [S ii] emission region tends to be up to 1 kpc around the center. The Hα and Hβ could be decomposed into three components (broad ∼2000 km s−1, intermediate ∼700 km s−1, and narrow ∼250 km s−1). We found that the width (∼750 km s−1) of the Fe ii lines corresponds to the intermediate component that may indicate a non-broad-line region (non-BLR) origin of the Fe ii lines, or that a large fraction of the Fe ii emission arises in the outer parts of the BLR. The weak broad component detected in the Hα, Hβ, and Heλ4686 may come from the unresolved central BLR, but also could be partly produced by violent starburst in the circumnuclear ring. Moreover, diagnostic diagrams clearly show the presence of the H ii regions (not an Sy 1 nucleus) in the narrow-line region of Mrk 493.
Task Allocation Via Coalition Formation Among Autonomous Agents

Autonomous agents working in multi-agent environments may need to cooperate in order to fulfill tasks. Given a set of agents and a set of tasks which they have to satisfy, we consider situations where each task should be attached to a group of agents which will perform the task. The allocation of tasks to groups of agents is necessary when tasks cannot be performed by a single agent. It may also be useful to assign groups of agents to tasks when the group's performance is more efficient than the performance of single agents. In this paper we give an efficient solution to the problem of task allocation among autonomous agents, and suggest that the agents will form coalitions in order to perform tasks or improve the efficiency. We present a distributed algorithm with a low ratio bound and with a low computational complexity. Our algorithm is an any-time algorithm, it is simple, efficient and easy to implement.
Incorporating Uncertain Evidence Into Arithmetic Circuits Representing Probability Distributions

Arithmetic circuits have been used as tractable representations of probability distributions, either generated from models such as Bayesian networks, sum-product networks and Probability Sentential Decision Diagrams, or directly from data. An interesting question is how we can incorporate uncertain evidence, which specifies that the marginal probabilities of a variable has to undergo certain changes, directly into an arithmetic circuit and then perform reasoning on it to compute the probability distribution after incorporating this uncertain evidence. In this paper, we show that we can incorporate uncertain evidence on a variable by setting indicators of this variable in the arithmetic circuit to non-negative values based on the likelihood ratios in Pearl’s method of virtual evidence and the current marginal probabilities of this variable. For tractable computation of these marginal probabilities, the arithmetic circuit has to satisfy the properties of decomposability and smoothness, and we show that an algorithm using a downward pass can compute these marginal probabilities for all single variables. We show a procedure of how to incorporate virtual evidence, including multiple pieces of virtual evidence.
Surgical and interventional management of mitral valve regurgitation: a position statement from the European Society of Cardiology Working Groups on Cardiovascular Surgery and Valvular Heart Disease.

Mitral regurgitation (MR) has a prevalence of 2% in the general population and is even more common in the elderly. [1][1] Organic (or primary) MR arises as a result of pathology affecting one or more components of the mitral valve (MV) apparatus, whereas functional (or secondary) MR is a consequence
Extrusion-on-demand methods for high solids loading ceramic paste in freeform extrusion fabrication

ABSTRACT Fabrication of highly dense ceramic parts with complex geometries by paste extrusion-based solid freeform fabrication processes requires a precise control of the extrusion start and stop to dispense material on demand, which is often referred to as extrusion-on-demand (EOD). The EOD process for high solids loading pastes is difficult to control due to the paste’s non-Newtonian behaviour, compressibility, and inhomogeneity. In this study, three EOD methods based on ram extruder, shutter valve, and auger extruder are investigated for extrusion of high solids loading (>50 vol.%) aqueous ceramic pastes. The extrusion performance characteristics of the three methods in terms of start and stop accuracy, as well as flowrate consistency, are compared and analysed. The results indicate that the auger extruder-based extrusion method has superior EOD performance, and the highest flowrate consistency. Test parts were printed by using these methods and compared to further validate this conclusion.
Activation of dendritic cells by tumor cell death

A growing number of studies indicate that cell death can be either immunogenic or not, depending on its modalities, the type and the activation state of the cells, and finally, the environment where it happens. Increased understanding of the immunogenicity of cancer cell death will significantly improve the outcome of chemotherapeutic treatments.
What is Happening from Behind ? — Making the Impact of Internet Topology Visible ∗

The Internet topology has evolved over the past decades in an evolutionary process and continues to grow. Recently, it has attracted much attention from the networking and physics communities, as it forms a unique operational instance of a planetary-scale network environment. Several measurement projects observing the Internet have been undertaken over the past years, out of which Skitter, its successor Archipelago (Ark) and Dimes have established as continuous recordings of the vivid process of network formation. In this paper we compare Internet measurement data obtained from Skitter, Ark and Dimes by analyzing the Internet node degree distributions and correlations at IP node and router level. This comparative analysis was enabled by a data conversion and processing tool-chain implemented as an extension to the BRITE topology generator which we introduce, as well. Our results show significant differences in higher nodal degrees. Correlation analysis indicates that DIMES scans discover Internet links to a fairly uniform degree, while parts remain invisible within Skitter and Ark data. Mid-range, oscillating spatial autocorrelations are discovered as a signature of memory effects in Internet topology. Further on we analyze implications of the Internet structure as attained in both, its core and edge vicinities. Mobile multicast routing performance is quantized by the number of states minimally required for servicing listener or sender mobility. Results show a surprisingly low mobility overhead as compared to general multicast forwarding state management. As continuous mobility handovers necessarily occur between access routers located in geographic vicinity, we finally investigate the hypothesis that geographically adjacent edge networks attain a reduced network distances as compared to arbitrary Internet nodes. The evaluation of edge distance distributions in different regions for IP ranges, clustered according to their geographic location, reveals a stable correlation of geographic and network proximity at Internet edges.
Major depressive disorder in a community-based twin sample: are there different genetic and environmental contributions for men and women?

BACKGROUND Depression affects more women than men and often aggregates in families. Using a community-based sample of twins, we examined the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the risk of developing major depressive disorder and the effect of sex and different definitions of depression on the relative contributions of genetic and environmental effects. Sex differences in genetic effects were also studied. METHODS A volunteer sample of Australian twins (2662 pairs) was interviewed using an abbreviated version of the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism, a semi-structured lay interview designed to assess psychiatric disorders. Depression was defined using 3 different criteria sets: DSM-III-R major depressive disorder, DSM-IV major depressive disorder, and severe DSM-IV major depressive disorder. Genetic and environmental contributions to the liability to develop depression were estimated using genetic model fitting. RESULTS Lifetime prevalences were 31% in women and 24% in men for DSM-III-R major depressive disorder, 22% in women and 16% in men for DSM-IV major depressive disorder, and 9% in women and 3% in men for severe DSM-IV major depressive disorder. In women, the simplest model to fit the data implicated genetic factors and environmental factors unique to the individual in the development of depression, with heritability estimates ranging from 36% to 44%. In men, depression was only modestly familial, and thus individual environmental factors played a larger role in the development of depression. For DSM-III-R major depressive disorder, there were statistically different estimates for heritability for men vs. women. For both sexes, the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors were stable using different definitions of depression. CONCLUSIONS There was moderate familial aggregation of depression in women and this primarily was attributable to genetic factors. In men, there was only modest familial aggregation of depression. For both men and women, individual environmental experiences played a large role in the development of depression. Major depressive disorder as defined by DSM-III-R was more heritable in women as compared with men. The relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors in the development of depression were similar for varying definitions of depression, from a broad definition to a narrow definition.
Diagnosis of monogenic diabetes: 10‐Year experience in a large multi‐ethnic diabetes center

Monogenic diabetes accounts for approximately 1–2% of all diabetes, and is difficult to distinguish from type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Molecular diagnosis is important, as the molecular subtype directs appropriate treatment. Patients are selected for testing according to clinical criteria, but up to 80% of monogenic diabetes in the UK has not been correctly diagnosed. We investigated outcomes of genetic testing in our center to compare methods of selecting patients, and consider avenues to increase diagnostic efficiency.