Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Potential Signaling Role for Profilin in Pollen of Papaver rhoeas

Regulation of pollen tube growth is known to involve alterations in intracellular calcium levels and phosphoinositide signaling, although the mechanisms involved are unclear. However, it appears likely that pollination events involve a complex interplay between signaling pathways and components of the actin cytoskeleton in pollen. In many eukaryotic cells, actin binding proteins function as stimulus–response modulators, translating signals into alterations in the cytoplasmic architecture. In this study, we examined whether profilin, which is a member of this class of signaling intermediate, might play a similar role in pollen. We have analyzed the functional properties of native profilin from pollen of Papaver rhoeas and have investigated the effects of profilin on the phosphorylation of pollen proteins in vitro by adding a slight excess of profilin to cytosolic pollen extracts. We present clear evidence that profilin interacts with soluble pollen components, resulting in dramatic alterations in the phosphorylation of several proteins. We also show, albeit in vitro, the involvement of profilin in modulating the activity of a signaling component(s) affecting protein phosphorylation. Our data, which suggest that pollen profilin can regulate actin-based cytoskeletal protein assembly and protein kinase or phosphatase activity, indicate a possible role for the involvement of profilin in signaling pathways that may regulate pollen tube growth.
Regulation of 3-ketosteroid reductase messenger ribonucleic acid levels and 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta 5-delta 4-isomerase activity in rat liver by sex steroids and pituitary hormones.

We have recently characterized three types of complementary DNA clones encoding predicted isoenzymes of the rat 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta 5-delta 4 isomerase (3 beta-HSD) family. Transient expression in nonsteroidogenic cells reveals that the type III isoenzyme specific for male liver does not display oxidative activity for classical substrates of 3 beta-HSD, in contrast to the two other 3 beta-HSD isoenzymes, thus showing exclusively 3-ketosteroid reductase (3-KSR) activity. In order to better understand the sex-specific control of 3 beta-HSD activity and type III 3-KSR gene expression in rat liver, we have studied in adult animals of both sexes the effect of sex steroids and hypophysectomy, pituitary implants, PRL, and GH on type III 3-KSR messenger RNA (mRNA) levels and 3 beta-HSD/delta 5-delta 4 isomerase activity as measured by the conversion of [14C]dehydroepiandrosterone into [14C] delta 4-androstenedione. Ribonuclease protection assay using types I-, II-, and III-specific complementary RNA probes reveals that type III transcripts are the only species detectable in liver RNA extracted from intact males, whereas no hybridization signal was detectable with any of the three probes in intact female liver RNA. In males, 15 days after castration, liver type III 3-KSR mRNA levels decreased by 80% compared to intact controls, whereas 3 beta-HSD activity was reduced by 48%. Administration of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) increased by 8.25-fold type III 3-KSR mRNA concentration and completely reversed the inhibitory effect of orchiectomy on 3 beta-HSD activity. In ovariectomized animals, treatment with DHT markedly increased type III 3-KSR mRNA accumulation and 3 beta-HSD activity, thus leading to values similar to those measured in intact males. Simultaneous treatment with 17 beta-estradiol almost completely abolished the stimulatory effect of DHT in female rats, whereas no significant effect was seen in males. Twenty-four days after hypophysectomy, type III 3-KSR mRNA levels were decreased by 50-55% in males, whereas in females these transcripts markedly increased from undetectable to 28-36% of the value measured in intact male rats. Treatment with DHT or 17 beta-estradiol for a period of 9 days starting 15 days after hypophysectomy had no effect in male and female rats. On the other hand, treatment with ovine PRL (1 mg, twice daily) had no effect in males but completely blocked the elevation of type III 3-KSR mRNA levels and 3 beta-HSD activity observed after hypophysectomy in females. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
High risk of acute pancreatitis after endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of side branch intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms

Background and Objectives: Data on the risk of acute pancreatitis following endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of pancreatic cystic lesions are limited. The aim of our study was to evaluate the frequency of acute pancreatitis after EUS-FNA of pancreatic cysts and solid lesions, and determine whether there was a difference in pancreatitis risk in patients with side branch intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (SB-IPMN). Patients and Methods: A retrospective review of patients who underwent EUS-FNA of pancreatic cysts and solid lesions was performed. The primary outcome measure was development of acute pancreatitis after EUS-FNA. Factors associated with acute pancreatitis were examined by statistical analysis to determine independent predictors of acute pancreatitis. Statistical significance was determined at a P ≤ 0.05. Results: We identified 186 patients with pancreatic cystic lesions and 557 with solid lesions in which EUS-FNA was performed. The median size of the cysts was 19 mm (range: 10-66 mm). There were 37 IPMNs, 33 mucinous cystic neoplasms, 58 serous cysts and 46 pseudocysts and 12 solid-cystic ductal carcinomas. The majority of patients (75%) with solid lesions were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. Patients with pancreatic cysts had a statistically greater frequency of developing pancreatitis after EUS-FNA when compared to those with solid lesions (2.6% vs. 0.36% respectively; P = 0.13). In patients with cysts, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups (with and without pancreatitis) with regard to a cyst location, size of the cyst, and number of needle passes or trainee involvement. Patients with SB-IPMN had a statistically higher frequency of pancreatitis after EUS-FNA compared to those with other cyst types (8% vs. 1.3% respectively; odds ratio = 6.4, 95% confidence intervals = 1.0-40.3, P = 0.05). Discussion: Patients with SB-IPMN are at a higher risk of developing acute pancreatitis after a EUS-FNA. Alternative means of diagnosis such as magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatogram might be necessary to avoid risk of EUS-FNA.
Moment-closure approximations for mass-action models.

Although stochastic population models have proved to be a powerful tool in the study of process generating mechanisms across a wide range of disciplines, all too often the associated mathematical development involves nonlinear mathematics, which immediately raises difficult and challenging analytic problems that need to be solved if useful progress is to be made. One approximation that is often employed to estimate the moments of a stochastic process is moment closure. This approximation essentially truncates the moment equations of the stochastic process. A general expression for the marginal- and joint-moment equations for a large class of stochastic population models is presented. The generalisation of the moment equations allows this approximation to be applied easily to a wide range of models. Software is available from http://pysbml.googlecode. com/ to implement the techniques presented here.
Topical 5‐Aminolevulinic Acid with Intense Pulsed Light versus Intense Pulsed Light for Photodamage in Chinese Patients

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that the adjunctive use of 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA) with intense pulsed light (IPL), known as ALA‐IPL photodynamic therapy (PDT), increases the benefits of IPL therapy for photoaging. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ALA‐IPL PDT for photoaging in Chinese subjects with Fitzpatrick skin types III and IV. METHOD This was a prospective, controlled, split‐face study with 26 subjects. Subjects received three split‐face treatments 4 weeks apart. A blinded investigator assessed the signs of photodamage. Satisfaction was also assessed. RESULT Twenty‐four subjects completed the trial. Better results were achieved for global score, fine lines, and coarse wrinkles on the PDT/IPL treated side than on the IPL‐only side at the final visit (50% vs 12.5%p=.005 for global score, 70.8% vs 33.3%p=.009 for fine lines, 50% vs. 12.5%, p=.005 for coarse wrinkles). Phototoxic reactions such as erythema and edema were the primary side effects, as well as an increase in postinflammatory hyperpigmentation. CONCLUSION ALA‐IPL PDT has superior rejuvenation effects over IPL alone in Chinese subjects. Taking reasonable precaution to prevent the postinflammatory hyperpigmentation is the most important point in making ALA‐IPL PDT a successful therapy. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.
Apolipoprotein E Genotype Is Related to Progression of White Matter Lesion Load

Background and Purpose— The relationship between white matter lesions (WMLs) and the apolipoprotein E genotype has been controversial from cross-sectional studies and no longitudinal finding has been reported. We investigated whether the apolipoprotein E genotype influences baseline and evolution over 4-year follow-up of WML volumes in a population-based sample of 1779 nondemented subjects aged 65 to 80 years old at enrollment. Methods— The sample consisted of 3C-Dijon study participants who had 2 cerebral MRIs, at entry and at 4-year follow-up. WML volumes were estimated using a fully automatic procedure. We performed analysis of covariance to evaluate the relationship between apolipoprotein E genotype and WML load and progression. Results— Multivariable analyses showed that ϵ4ϵ4 individuals had both significantly higher WML volume at baseline and higher WML increase over 4-year follow-up than noncarriers and heterozygous of the ϵ4 allele for apolipoprotein E genotype. Conclusion— These findings suggest it might be important to take into account WML severity when assessing the relationship between apolipoprotein E and dementia.
Effect of Maximum Particles Size on Compressive Strength of Cement Stabilised Compressed Earth Blocks

This paper reports an experimental investigation into the effects of particles size on the compressive strengths of Cement stabilised Compressed Earth Blocks of mix ratio 8% and 10% , (of cement), using varying soil particle sizes of 2mm, 1.25mm, 0.63mm, and 0.40mm. The compressed bricks were crushed for strength at 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days. The results showed that the compressive strength at 7 days were 1.53 Nmm -2 for 2mm; 1.7 Nmm -2 for 1.25mm; 1.8Nmm -2 for 0.63mm; and 1.94 Nmm -2 for 0.40mm. For 14 days, with 2mm, 1.25mm, 0.63mm, and 0.40mm maximum particle sizes the strength were 1.7 Nmm -2 , 1.82 Nmm -2 , 2.17 Nmm -2 , 2.24, Nmm -2 . While at 28 days were the strength were 2.34 Nmm -2 , 2.83 Nmm -2 , 3.49 Nmm -2 , and 4.19 Nmm -2 for 2mm, 1.25mm, 0.63mm, and 0.40mm respectively. In summary, the result shows increase in strength with decrease in particle size of soil and increase in days of curing.
Content and design attributes of antivaccination web sites.

CONTEXT Individuals searching the Internet for vaccine information may find antivaccination Web sites. Few published studies have systematically evaluated these sites. OBJECTIVES To examine antivaccination Web site attributes and to delineate the specific claims and concerns expressed by antivaccination groups. DESIGN AND SETTING In late 2000, using a metasearch program that incorporates 10 other search engines, we reviewed and analyzed 772 links to find 12 Web sites that promulgated antivaccination information. Analyzing links from these 12 sites yielded another 10 sites, producing a total of 22 sites for study. Using a standardized form, 2 authors (R.M.W., L.K.S.) systematically evaluated these sites based on specific content and design attributes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Presence or absence of 11 Web site content attributes (antivaccination claims) and 10 Web site design attributes. RESULTS The most commonly found content claims were that vaccines cause idiopathic illness (100% of sites), vaccines erode immunity (95%), adverse vaccine reactions are underreported (95%), and vaccination policy is motivated by profit (91%). The most common design attributes were the presence of links to other antivaccination sites (100%of sites), information for legally avoiding immunizations (64%), and the use of emotionally charged stories of children who had allegedly been killed or harmed by vaccines (55%). CONCLUSION Antivaccination Web sites express a range of concerns related to vaccine safety and varying levels of distrust in medicine. The sites rely heavily on emotional appeal to convey their message.
Differential Effects of Dry Eye Disorders on Metabolomic Profile by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

We used 1H NMR spectroscopy to analyze the metabolomic profile of reflex tears from patients with dry eye disorders (DEDs). 90 subjects were divided into 2 groups: (1) patients with DEDs (DEDG; n = 55) and (2) healthy subjects (CG; n = 35). Additionally, the DEDG was subdivided into 2 subgroups based on DED severity: mild-to-moderate and moderate (n = 22 and n = 33, resp.). Personal interviews and systematized ophthalmologic examinations were carried out. Reflex tears (20–30 μL) were collected by gently rubbing in the inferior meniscus of both eyelids with a microglass pipette and stored at −80°C until analysis. NMR spectra were acquired using a standard one-dimensional pulse sequence with water suppression. Data were processed and transferred to MATLAB for further chemometric analysis. Main differences in tear composition between DEDG and CG were found in cholesterol, N-acetylglucosamine, glutamate, creatine, amino-n-butyrate, choline, acetylcholine, arginine, phosphoethanolamine, glucose, and phenylalanine levels. This metabolic fingerprint helped also to discriminate between the three additional subgroups of DEDG. Our results suggest that tear metabolic differences between DEDG and CG identified by NMR could be useful in understanding ocular surface pathogenesis and improving biotherapy.
Carbohydrate-mediated responses during zygotic and early somatic embryogenesis in the endangered conifer, Araucaria angustifolia

Three zygotic developmental stages and two somatic Araucaria angustifolia cell lines with contrasting embryogenic potential were analyzed to identify the carbohydrate-mediated responses associated with embryo formation. Using a comparison between zygotic and somatic embryogenesis systems, the non-structural carbohydrate content, cell wall sugar composition and expression of genes involved in sugar sensing were analyzed, and a network analysis was used to identify coordinated features during embryogenesis. We observed that carbohydrate-mediated responses occur mainly during the early stages of zygotic embryo formation, and that during seed development there are coordinated changes that affect the development of the different structures (embryo and megagametophyte). Furthermore, sucrose and starch accumulation were associated with the responsiveness of the cell lines. This study sheds light on how carbohydrate metabolism is influenced during zygotic and somatic embryogenesis in the endangered conifer species, A. angustifolia.
Th e Null Ritual What You Always Wanted to Know About Signifi cance Testing but Were Afraid to Ask

One of us once had a student who ran an experiment for his thesis. Let us call him Pogo. Pogo had an experimental group and a control group and found that the means of both groups were exactly the same. He believed it would be unscientifi c to simply state this result; he was anxious to do a signifi cance test. Th e result of the test was that the two means did not diff er signifi cantly, which Pogo reported in his thesis. In 1962, Jacob Cohen reported that the experiments published in a major psychology journal had, on average, only a 50 : 50 chance of detecting a medium-sized eff ect if there was one. Th at is, the statistical power was as low as 50%. Th is result was widely cited, but did it change researchers’ practice? Sedlmeier and Gigerenzer (1989) checked the studies in the same journal, 24 years later, a time period that should allow for change. Yet only 2 out of 64 researchers mentioned power, and it was never estimated. Unnoticed, the average power had decreased (researchers now used alpha adjustment, which shrinks power). Th us, if there had been an eff ect of a medium size, the researchers would have had a better chance of fi nding it by throwing a coin rather than conducting their experiments. When we checked the years 2000 to 2002, with some 220 empirical articles, we fi nally found 9 researchers who computed the power of their tests. Forty years after Cohen, there is a fi rst sign of change. Editors of major journals such as A. W. Melton (1962) made null hypothesis testing a necessary condition for the acceptance of papers and made small p-values the hallmark of excellent experimentation. Th e Skinnerians found themselves forced to start a new journal, the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, to publish their kind of experiments (Skinner, 1984, p. 138). Similarly, one reason for launching the Journal of Mathematical Psychology was to escape the editors’ pressure to routinely perform null hypothesis testing. One of its founders, R. D. Luce (1988), called this practice a “wrongheaded view about what constituted scientifi c progress” and “mindless hypothesis testing in lieu of doing good research: measuring eff ects, constructing substantive theories of some depth, and developing probability models and statistical procedures suited to these theories” (p. 582).
EEG Driven tDCS Versus Bifrontal tDCS for Tinnitus

Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of any objective physical sound source. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) induces shifts in membrane resting potentials depending on the polarity of the stimulation: under the anode gamma band activity increases, whereas under the cathode the opposite occurs. Both single and multiple sessions of tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; anode over right DLPFC) yield a transient improvement in tinnitus intensity and tinnitus distress. The question arises whether optimization of the tDCS protocol can be obtained by using EEG driven decisions on where to place anode and cathode. Using gamma band functional connectivity could be superior to gamma band activity as functional connectivity determines the tinnitus network in many aspects of chronic tinnitus. Six-hundred-seventy-five patients were included in the study: 265 patients received tDCS with cathodal electrode placed over the left DLPFC and the anode placed overlying the right DLPFC, 380 patients received tDCS based on EEG connectivity, and 65 received no tDCS (i.e., waiting list control group). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for pre versus post measurement. Bifrontal tDCS in comparison to EEG driven tDCS had a larger reduction for both tinnitus distress and tinnitus intensity. Whereas the results of the bifrontal tDCS seem to confirm previous studies, the use of gamma band functional connectivity seems not to bring any advantage to tDCS for tinnitus suppression. Using other potential biomarkers, such as gamma band activity, or theta functional connectivity could theoretically be of use. Further studies will have to elucidate whether brain state based tDCS has any advantages over “blind” bifrontal stimulation.
Do Bugs Foreshadow Vulnerabilities? A Study of the Chromium Project

As developers face ever-increasing pressure to engineer secure software, researchers are building an understanding of security-sensitive bugs (i.e. Vulnerabilities). Research into mining software repositories has greatly increased our understanding of software quality via empirical study of bugs. However, conceptually vulnerabilities are different from bugs: they represent abusive functionality as opposed to wrong or insufficient functionality commonly associated with traditional, non-security bugs. In this study, we performed an in-depth analysis of the Chromium project to empirically examine the relationship between bugs and vulnerabilities. We mined 374,686 bugs and 703 post-release vulnerabilities over five Chromium releases that span six years of development. Using logistic regression analysis, we examined how various categories of pre-release bugs (e.g. Stability, compatibility, etc.) are associated with post-release vulnerabilities. While we found statistically significant correlations between pre-release bugs and post-release vulnerabilities, we also found the association to be weak. Number of features, SLOC, and number of pre-release security bugs are, in general, more closely associated with post-release vulnerabilities than any of our non-security bug categories. In a separate analysis, we found that the files with highest defect density did not intersect with the files of highest vulnerability density. These results indicate that bugs and vulnerabilities are empirically dissimilar groups, warranting the need for more research targeting vulnerabilities specifically.
Unrealistically high costs of rejecting artificial model eggs in cuckoo Cuculus canorus hosts

Most studies that have tested the egg-recognition and egg-rejection ability of European cuckoo Cuculus canorus hosts have used artificial model eggs that are much harder than real Cuckoo eggs. Here we evaluate whether the use of such models overestimates the costs of egg rejection by hosts. We tested 17 potential cuckoo host species in south-eastern Spain with both artificial hard cuckoo-egg models and real eggs taken from a population of house sparrows Passer domesticus breeding in captivity. The puncture resistance of sparrow eggs, measured in the laboratory, was more similar to that of real cuckoo eggs than was the resistance of artificial models, although sparrow eggs were less resistant than real cuckoo eggs. Potential host species with a grasp index greater than 200 mm 2 did not suffer high rejection costs when rejecting hard models, probably because they are grasp ejectors. However, all species with a smaller grasp index suffered high costs when rejecting hard artificial models. For these species the frequency and magnitude of costs were significantly higher when rejecting artificial hard models than when rejecting real eggs. For some species the breakage of real eggs was quite difficult (they needed 97 to more than 4000 pecks in video-recorded ejections), and sometimes the birds suffered rejection costs. These results show that realistic estimates of the frequency and magnitude of rejection costs for hosts with small bills cannot be obtained by using artificial models, and also that for a variety of medium-sized puncture ejector species the costs when rejecting real eggs may be low.
A large-scale car dataset for fine-grained categorization and verification

This paper aims to highlight vision related tasks centered around “car”, which has been largely neglected by vision community in comparison to other objects. We show that there are still many interesting car-related problems and applications, which are not yet well explored and researched. To facilitate future car-related research, in this paper we present our on-going effort in collecting a large-scale dataset, “CompCars”, that covers not only different car views, but also their different internal and external parts, and rich attributes. Importantly, the dataset is constructed with a cross-modality nature, containing a surveillance-nature set and a web-nature set. We further demonstrate a few important applications exploiting the dataset, namely car model classification, car model verification, and attribute prediction. We also discuss specific challenges of the car-related problems and other potential applications that worth further investigations. The latest dataset can be downloaded at http://mmlab.ie. cuhk.edu. hk/ datasets/comp_cars/index.html.