Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative single-molecule microscopy reveals that CENP-ACnp1 deposition occurs during G2 in fission yeast

The inheritance of the histone H3 variant CENP-A in nucleosomes at centromeres following DNA replication is mediated by an epigenetic mechanism. To understand the process of epigenetic inheritance, or propagation of histones and histone variants, as nucleosomes are disassembled and reassembled in living eukaryotic cells, we have explored the feasibility of exploiting photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM). PALM of single molecules in living cells has the potential to reveal new concepts in cell biology, providing insights into stochastic variation in cellular states. However, thus far, its use has been limited to studies in bacteria or to processes occurring near the surface of eukaryotic cells. With PALM, one literally observes and ‘counts’ individual molecules in cells one-by-one and this allows the recording of images with a resolution higher than that determined by the diffraction of light (the so-called super-resolution microscopy). Here, we investigate the use of different fluorophores and develop procedures to count the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-ACnp1 with single-molecule sensitivity in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). The results obtained are validated by and compared with ChIP-seq analyses. Using this approach, CENP-ACnp1 levels at fission yeast (S. pombe) centromeres were followed as they change during the cell cycle. Our measurements show that CENP-ACnp1 is deposited solely during the G2 phase of the cell cycle.
Posterior Fracture Dislocation of the Ankle: Technique and Clinical Experience Using a Posteromedial Surgical Approach

Objective: The purpose of this study is to revisit the posteromedial surgical approach to the ankle and report the clinical outcomes of this technique in a cohort of 17 patients. Design: Retrospective. Setting: Level I trauma center. Patients: Seventeen patients between 1990 and 2006 were treated using a posteromedial surgical approach to the ankle. Thirteen presented with a posterior ankle fracture dislocation and 4 with an ankle fracture without dislocation producing a large posterior malleolar fragment. There were 6 males and 11 females, from 23 to 80 years of age (mean 45.2 years). Intervention: All but 2 patients underwent open reduction and internal fixation of the posterior malleolar fracture using a single posteromedial approach. A combined surgical approach (posteromedial and posterolateral) to the ankle was used in 2 cases. Main Outcome Measurements: The Foot and Ankle Outcomes Questionnaire was used to evaluate postoperative ankle pain, function, stiffness and swelling, and giving way. Posttraumatic osteoarthritis was assessed using an adapted 4-point radiographic grading system. Results: Follow-up data on 12 patients were obtained at a mean interval of 9.4 years. There were no wound complications. The average global foot and ankle score was 87 points (range 69-100). The degree of arthrosis was grades 0 in 3 ankles, I in 1 ankle, II in 5 ankles, and III in 3 ankles. Conclusions: The posteromedial approach offers an effective technique for fracture reduction and buttress plate fixation of large posterior malleolar fragments. Good short- and mid-term clinical results should be expected.
Effects of signal-to-noise ratio on precision of memory for speech

The effortfulness hypothesis predicts that as background noise, age and hearing loss increase, the accuracy of memory recognition will decrease. Here we presented young and older adult listeners with sentences at three signalto-noise ratios in multitalker babble (∞, +15 dB, +5 dB) and probed subsequent recognition memory for these sentences as an offline measure of cognitive processing. Our results confirm the effortfulness hypothesis. Copyright by Margaret Ann Koeritzer 2016
Differences of Excess and Deficiency Zheng in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B by Urinary Metabonomics

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physicians stratify patients with the same disease into different subtypes in order to guide the appropriate treatment, which is called Zheng (TCM syndrome) classification. Excess and deficiency ZHENG is a couple of basic ZHENGs of maladjusted body nature, reflecting the struggling state of human body and pathogenic factor and is important and prevalently exists in the ZHENG classification of many diseases. The present work using chronic hepatitis B (CHB) as an entry point explored the substance connotation of excess and deficiency ZHENG with the metabonomic technology based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The different substantial basis of two ZHENGs suggested that CHB patients could be categorized into two groups with diverse pathogenesis. The differential metabolites and disturbed pathways compared to not-obvious ZHENG characters patients (without ZHENG group/WZ) were selected in both of the two ZHENGs. The ROC analysis demonstrated that five metabolites had a greater potential to be the clinic biomarkers of EZ or DZ. And excess ZHENG revealed a higher level of immune function than deficiency ZHENG. We are eager to transform the concept of traditional excess and deficiency ZHENGs to modern therapeutic approaches, with the prospect to help to promote personalized medicine.
Community treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder for children exposed to intimate partner violence: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate community-provided trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) compared with usual community treatment for children with intimate partner violence (IPV)-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. DESIGN Randomized controlled trial conducted using blinded evaluators. SETTING Recruitment, screening, and treatment were conducted at a community IPV center between September 1, 2004, and June 30, 2009. PARTICIPANTS Of 140 consecutively referred 7- to 14-year-old children, 124 participated. INTERVENTIONS Children and mothers were randomly assigned to receive 8 sessions of TF-CBT or usual care (child-centered therapy). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Total child PTSD symptoms assessed using child and parent structured interview (Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Present and Lifetime Version [K-SADS-PL]) and self-report (University of California at Los Angeles PTSD Reaction Index [RI]). Secondary child outcomes were scores on the K-SADS-PL (PTSD symptom clusters), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) (anxiety), Children's Depression Inventory (depression), Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (cognitive functioning), and Child Behavior Checklist (total behavior problems). RESULTS Intent-to-treat analysis using last observation carried forward showed superior outcomes for TF-CBT on the total K-SADS-PL (mean difference, 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-2.82), RI (mean difference, 5.5; 95% CI, 1.37-9.63), K-SADS-PL hyperarousal (mean difference, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.22-1.20), K-SADS-PL avoidance (0.55; 0.07-1.03), and SCARED (mean difference, 5.13; 95% CI, 1.31-8.96). Multiple imputation analyses confirmed most of these findings. The TF-CBT completers experienced significantly greater PTSD diagnostic remission (χ(2) = 4.67, P = . 03) and had significantly fewer serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Community TF-CBT effectively improves children's IPV-related PTSD and anxiety. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00183326.
Simultaneous and preceding sounds enhance rapid visual targets: Evidence from the attentional blink

Presenting two targets in a rapid visual stream will frequently result in the second target (T2) being missed when presented shortly after the first target (T1). This so-called attentional blink (AB) phenomenon can be reduced by various experimental manipulations. This study investigated the effect of combining T2 with a non-specific sound, played either simultaneously with T2 or preceding T2 by a fixed latency. The reliability of the observed effects and their correlation with potential predictors were studied. The tone significantly improved T2 identification rates regardless of tone condition and of the delay between targets, suggesting that the crossmodal facilitation of T2 identification is not limited to visual-perceptual enhancement. For the simultaneous condition, an additional time-on-task effect was observed in form of a reduction of the AB that occurred within an experimental session. Thus, audition-driven enhancement of visual perception may need some time for its full potential to evolve. Split-half and test-retest reliability were found consistently only for a condition without additional sound. AB magnitude obtained in this condition was related to AB magnitudes obtained in both sound conditions. Self-reported distractibility and performance in tests of divided attention and of cognitive flexibility correlated with the AB magnitudes of a subset but never all conditions under study. Reliability and correlation results suggest that not only dispositional abilities but also state factors exert an influence on AB magnitude. These findings extend earlier work on audition-driven enhancement of target identification in the AB and on the reliability and behavioural correlates of the AB.
Measuring Turnover of SIV DNA in Resting CD4+ T Cells Using Pyrosequencing: Implications for the Timing of HIV Eradication Therapies

Resting CD4+ T cells are a reservoir of latent HIV-1. Understanding the turnover of HIV DNA in these cells has implications for the development of eradication strategies. Most studies of viral latency focus on viral persistence under antiretroviral therapy (ART). We studied the turnover of SIV DNA resting CD4+ T cells during active infection in a cohort of 20 SIV-infected pigtail macaques. We compared SIV sequences at two Mane-A1*084:01-restricted CTL epitopes using serial plasma RNA and resting CD4+ T cell DNA samples by pyrosequencing, and used a mathematical modeling approach to estimate SIV DNA turnover. We found SIV DNA turnover in resting CD4+ T cells was slow in animals with low chronic viral loads, consistent with the long persistence of latency seen under ART. However, in animals with high levels of chronic viral replication, turnover was high. SIV DNA half-life within resting CD4 cells correleated with viral load (p = 0.0052) at the Gag KP9 CTL epitope. At a second CTL epitope in Tat (KVA10) there was a trend towards an association of SIV DNA half-life in resting CD4 cells and viral load (p = 0.0971). Further, we found that the turnover of resting CD4+ T cell SIV DNA was higher for escape during early infection than for escape later in infection (p = 0.0084). Our results suggest viral DNA within resting CD4 T cells is more labile and may be more susceptible to reactivation/eradication treatments when there are higher levels of virus replication and during early/acute infection.
A New Concept of Soil Line Retrieval from Landsat 8 Images for Estimating Plant Biophysical Parameters

Extraction of vegetation information from remotely sensed images has remained a long-term challenge due to the influence of soil background. To reduce this effect, the slope and intercept of the soil line (SL) should be known to calculate SL-related vegetation indices (VIs). These VIs can be used to estimate the biophysical parameters of agricultural crops. However, it is a difficult task to retrieve the SL parameters under the vegetation canopy. A feasible method for retrieving these parameters involves extracting the bottom boundary line in two-dimensional spectral spaces (i.e., red and near-infrared bands). In this study, the slope and intercept of the SL was extracted from Landsat 8 OLI images of a test site in northeastern Germany. Different statistical methods, including the Red-NIRmin method, quantile regression method (using a floating tau with the smallest p-value), and a new approach proposed in this paper using a fixed quantile tau known as the diffuse non-interceptance (DIFN) value, were applied to retrieve the SL parameters. The DIFN value describes the amount of light visible below the canopy that reaches the soil surface. Therefore, this value can be used as a threshold for retrieving the bottom soil line. The simulated SLs were compared with actual ones extracted from ground truth data, as recorded by a handheld spectrometer, and were also compared with the SL retrieved from bare soil pixels of the Landsat 8 image collected after harvest. Subsequently, the SL parameters were used to separately estimate the dry biomasses of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and canola (Brassica napus L.) at the local and field scales using different SL-related vegetation indices. The SL can be retrieved more accurately at the local scale compared with the field scale, and its simulation can be critical in the field due to significant differences from the actual SL. Moreover, the slope and intercept of the simulated SLs found using the floating and fixed quantile tau (slope ≈ 1.1 and intercept ≈ 0.05) show better agreement with the actual SL parameters (slope ≈ 1.2 and intercept ≈ 0.03) in the late growing stages (i.e., end of ripening and senescence stages) of crops. The slope and intercept of the soil line extracted from bare soil pixels of the Landsat 8 OLI data after harvest (slope = 1.3, intercept = 0.03, and R2 = 0.94) are similar to those of the simulated SL. The correlation coefficient (R2) of the simulated SLs are greater than 0.97 during different growing stage and all of the SL parameters are statistically significant (p < 0.05) at the local scale. The results also imply the need for different vegetation indices to best retrieve the crop biomass depending on the growing stage, but relatively small differences in performances were observed in this study.
MicroRNA-21 Promotes Cell Growth and Migration by Targeting Programmed Cell Death 4 Gene in Kazakh's Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth most common cancer worldwide and the sixth most common cause of cancer death. There are two main types of EC—squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and adenocarcinoma (EAC). Although some advances in the exploration of its possible etiological mechanism were made recently including behaviors and environmental risk factors as well as gene alterations, the molecular mechanism underlying ESCC carcinogenesis and progression remains poorly understood. It has been reported that miR-21 was upregulated in most malignant cancers, the proposed mechanism of which was through suppressing expression of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). In present study, it is firstly reported that miR-21 was upregulated in Kazakh's ESCC and that miR-21 played a negative role in regulating PDCD4 using in situ hybridization (ISH) and luciferase reporter approach. Morever, in model of ESCC xenografted nude mice, miR-21 maybe used as an effective target in the treatment. The present results demonstrated that miR-21 may be a potential therapeutic target in management of ESCC.
Information embedding meets distributed control

We consider the problem of information embedding where the encoder modifies a white Gaussian host signal in a power-constrained manner to encode the message, and the decoder recovers both the embedded message and the modified host signal. This extends the recent work of Sumszyk and Steinberg to the continuous-alphabet Gaussian setting. We show that a dirty-paper coding based strategy achieves the optimal rate for perfect recovery of the modified host and the message. We also provide bounds for the extension wherein the modified host signal is recovered only to within a specified distortion. Our results specialized to the zero-rate case provide the tightest known lower bounds on the asymptotic costs for the vector version of a famous open problem in distributed control - the Witsenhausen counterexample. Using this bound, we characterize the asymptotically optimal costs for the vector Witsenhausen problem to within a factor of 1.3 for all problem parameters, improving on the earlier best known bound of 2.
Time evolution of polarization mode dispersion in optical fibers

The fluctuation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) due to environmental change is an important issue for fiber-optic communication systems. We measure the time evolution of PMD for installed aerial and buried cables and for a spooled fiber in a temperature controlled chamber. The results show that PMD fluctuates much more rapidly for aerial cables than for buried cables. The magnitude of PMD is different for the three fibers and our results also show that the magnitude of PMD fluctuation depends on the magnitude of the PMD.
Effects of Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia on Uterine Electromyography During Spontaneous Onset of Labor in Term Nulliparous Women

Objective: To investigate the effect of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) on uterine electromyography (EMG) activity in term pregnant women during labor. Methods: Nulliparous pregnant women in spontaneous term labor (N = 30) were enrolled (PCEA group, n = 20 and control group, n = 10). Five time periods (30 minutes each) were defined for noninvasive abdominal recordings and analysis of uterine EMG activity, that is, period I: before PCEA treatment with 2-cm cervical dilation; periods II to IV: each period successively at 30, 60, and 120 minutes after PCEA; and period V: second stage of labor with cervix at 10 cm dilation. Control patients without PCEA were monitored during the same times. The number of bursts/30 min, power density spectrum peak frequency, mean amplitude, and duration of uterine EMG bursts were measured to assess uterine EMG activity. Maternal, fetal, and labor characteristics were also recorded. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance followed by other tests. Results: Electromyography parameters are significantly lower (P < .001) after PCEA (periods II to IV) compared to controls but similar between groups by period V (P > .05). Also, patients with PCEA have a slower rate of cervical dilation (P < .003, period IV only) and longer labor in both stage 1 and stage 2 (P < .05). All patients have similar (P > .05) positive labor outcomes. Conclusions: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia initially suppresses uterine EMG and slows cervical dilation thereby prolonging labor. However, the EMG activity recovers with labor progress with no effects on delivery outcomes.
Assessment of second-line antiretroviral regimens for HIV therapy in Africa.

BACKGROUND The efficacy and toxic effects of nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are uncertain when these agents are used with a protease inhibitor in second-line therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in resource-limited settings. Removing the NRTIs or replacing them with raltegravir may provide a benefit. METHODS In this open-label trial in sub-Saharan Africa, we randomly assigned 1277 adults and adolescents with HIV infection and first-line treatment failure to receive a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor (lopinavir-ritonavir) plus clinician-selected NRTIs (NRTI group, 426 patients), a protease inhibitor plus raltegravir in a superiority comparison (raltegravir group, 433 patients), or protease-inhibitor monotherapy after 12 weeks of induction therapy with raltegravir in a noninferiority comparison (monotherapy group, 418 patients). The primary composite end point, good HIV disease control, was defined as survival with no new World Health Organization stage 4 events, a CD4+ count of more than 250 cells per cubic millimeter, and a viral load of less than 10,000 copies per milliliter or 10,000 copies or more with no protease resistance mutations at week 96 and was analyzed with the use of imputation of data (≤4%). RESULTS Good HIV disease control was achieved in 60% of the patients (mean, 255 patients) in the NRTI group, 64% of the patients (mean, 277) in the raltegravir group (P=0.21 for the comparison with the NRTI group; superiority of raltegravir not shown), and 55% of the patients (mean, 232) in the monotherapy group (noninferiority of monotherapy not shown, based on a 10-percentage-point margin). There was no significant difference in rates of grade 3 or 4 adverse events among the three groups (P=0.82). The viral load was less than 400 copies per milliliter in 86% of patients in the NRTI group, 86% in the raltegravir group (P=0.97), and 61% in the monotherapy group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS When given with a protease inhibitor in second-line therapy, NRTIs retained substantial virologic activity without evidence of increased toxicity, and there was no advantage to replacing them with raltegravir. Virologic control was inferior with protease-inhibitor monotherapy. (Funded by European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and others; EARNEST Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN37737787, and ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00988039.).
Insulin Does Not Reduce Forearm «*-Vasoreactivity in Obese Hypertensive or Lean Normotensive Men

Evidence supports the hypothesis that an impaired capacity of insulin to antagonize norepinephrineinduced vasoconstriction increases «-adrenergic tone in overweight young men with insulin resistance and mild hypertension. Therefore, the effects of regionally infused insulin at 100 /iU/mL on forearm blood flow (mllliliters per deciliter per minute) and responses to norepinephrine were measured in seven obese hypertensive and eight lean nonnotenslve men younger than 45 years old. The obese hypertensive men were hyperinsulinemic and insulin resistant compared with the normotensive men, as evidenced by abnormal values for fasting insulin (15.5±1.6 versus 7.2±0.8 /lU/mL, P<.001), the insulin area under the curve in response to a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (12.0±1.5 versus 6.7±1.1 mUxmin/dL, /<.01), and the disappearance rate of glucose during a 15-minute insulin tolerance test (2.7±0.3 versus 4.1 ±0.3 mg%/min, P<.05). The logarithm of the norepinephrine ECM was not significantly different in obese hypertensive men (mean, 95% confidence interval: —8.15, -8.42 to —7.87) versus lean normotensive men (-7.91, -8.23 to -7.59). The 2-hour regional insulin infusion at 100 /iU/mL did not significantly alter the ECH for norepinephrine in either group. Insulin at this concentration induced significant and similar increases of forearm blood flow in the hypertensive and normotensive groups (1.7±0.4 versus 1.7±0.6 mL/100 mL per minute, P=NS). At approximately 100 jiU/mL, insulin does not antagonize norepinephrine-induced vasoconstriction in the forearm circulation of either obese hypertensive or lean normotensive men. At this dose, the direct forearm vasodilator actions of insulin, in contrast to indexes of insulin-mediated glucose disposal, are comparatively well preserved in obese young men with mild hypertension. Thus, abnormalities of the regional vascular actions of insulin do not explain the previously reported elevation of forearm vascular or-adrenerglc tone in obese, mildly hypertensive young men. (Hypertension. 1993^2:584-590.)