Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H MRS) of the Hippocampal Formation in Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study

Background Recent post-mortem and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies strongly suggest a decrease in the volume of the hippocampus and other limbic temporal structures in schizophrenia. Therefore, we hypothesised that N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) which is found mainly in neurons and which can be measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) would be decreased in the limbic temporal region in schizophrenia. Method Consenting subjects fulfilling DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia (n = 11) and matched healthy volunteers (n = 11) who were recruited in a tertiary university referral centre, participated in a 1H MRS brain study. Proton MRS spectra were obtained from a 12 cm3 voxel (2 × 2 × 3 cm) in the right and left hippocampus/amygdala region. A researcher blind to the source of the spectra, measured the NAA intensity in all subjects, which were then statistically compared across the two groups. Results NAA intensities were significantly reduced in the right hippocampus/amygdala region of schizophrenic patients (P = 0.038). The difference of the left side did not reach significance at the 95% confidence level. Conclusions The findings of decreased NAA in this study suggest that there may be a decrement in neuronal number or tissue volume of the right hippocampal/amygdala region in schizophrenia. Biochemical alterations in the metabolism of NAA in schizophrenia may be an alternative explanation. The findings are consistent with other types of post-mortem and in vivo evidence for hypoplasia of the limbic temporal structures in schizophrenia, postulated to be of neurodevelopmental pathogenesis.
A cross-sectional study to assess the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals: a baseline assessment for quality improvement

Objectives To measure and establish a baseline assessment of the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals. Design A cross-sectional descriptive study using the Arabic version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (Short Form 2006). Participants A total of 339 nurses and physicians returned the questionnaire out of 370 achieving a response rate of 91.6%. Setting Four public general hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Methods Nurses and physicians were randomly selected using a proportionate random sampling. Data analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 20, and p value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Main outcomes measures Current status of patient safety culture among healthcare providers and percentage of positive attitudes. Results Male to female ratio was 2.16:1, and mean age was 36.5 ± 9.4 years. The mean score of Arabic Safety Attitude Questionnaire across the six dimensions on 100-point scale ranged between 68.5 for Job Satisfaction and 48.5 for Working Condition. The percentage of respondents holding a positive attitude was 34.5% for Teamwork Climate, 28.4% for Safety Climate, 40.7% for Stress Recognition, 48.8% for Job Satisfaction, 11.3% for Working Conditions and 42.8% for Perception of Management. Healthcare workers holding positive attitudes had better collaboration with co-workers than those without positive attitudes. Conclusion Findings are useful to formulate a policy on patient safety culture and targeted a specific safety culture dimension to improve the safety of patients and improve the clinical outcomes within healthcare organisations.
Taking Point Decision Mechanism for Page-level Incremental Checkpointing based on Cost Analysis of Process Execution Time

Incremental checkpointing, which is intended to minimize checkpointing overhead, saves only the modified pages of a process. This means that in incremental checkpointing, the time consumed for checkpointing varies according to the amount of modified pages. Thus, efficient intervals of checkpointing have to be determined on run-time of a process. In this paper, we present an efficient and adaptive page-level incremental checkpointing facility that is based on the taking point decision mechanism for minimizing the total execution time. Our simulation results show that the expected execution time was significantly reduced compared with existing periodic page-level incremental checkpointing.
Antigens in Immunity

When newborn rats were injected intraperitoneally with 1 µg or more of Salmonella adelaide flagellin on the day of birth and thereafter twice per week until adult life, they developed immunologic tolerance to this powerful bacterial antigen. Similarly, a single injection into newborn rats of a larger amount (100 µg) of flagellin induced complete tolerance, though this was not as long-lasting as the tolerant state following multiple injections. Rats rendered tolerant to monomeric flagellin also showed a marked degree of partial tolerance to the particulate antigens, polymerized flagellin and intact flagella. When these particulate antigens were injected repeatedly during the newborn period, it was shown that multiple doses of polymerized flagellin produced nearly complete tolerance; on a weight basis, polymerized flagellin was 10 times less efficient than monomeric flagellin. Only a slight degree of tolerance could be produced by multiple injections of intact flagella. The chief value of the study was twofold: First, it showed that convincing tolerance can be induced toward highly “foreign” microbial antigens. Second, elucidation of the minimum amount of antigen capable of giving complete tolerance has set the stage for a meaningful study of the cellular distribution and persistence of antigen molecules responsible for tolerance induction, using radioactively-labeled flagellin and autoradiography.
A Relative Resistance Ratio for Evaluation of Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Susceptibility Among Sugarcane Cultivars

ABSTRACT The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), is a major pest of sugarcane (hybrids of Saccharum spp.) in Louisiana and Texas. Resistance to E. loftini was evaluated in 51 commercial and experimental cultivars of sugarcane, energycane (hybrids of Saccharum spp.), and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench and hybrids of Sorghum spp. ] in four replicated small plot field experiments from 2009 to 2012. A relative resistance ratio was developed to compare levels of susceptibility among cultivars based on the percentage of bored internodes and survival to adulthood. This index was able to separate cultivars into five resistance categories and provides a new method for comparing levels of resistance among cultivars. E. loftini pest pressure in 2009 was among the highest recorded with injury ranging from 55 to 88% bored internodes. Commercial sugarcane cultivar HoCP 85–845 was identified as resistant in three of four experiments, whereas HoCP 04-838 was identified as susceptible in all experiments. Of the five sugarcane cultivars in commercial production in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, only TCP 87-3388 was categorized as resistant. Of the cultivars with potential for bioenergy production, all of the energycane cultivars demonstrated higher levels of resistance than high-biomass and sweet sorghum cultivars. Continued evaluation of cultivar resistance to E. loftini is important to development of effective integrated pest management strategies for this pest.
Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) antibodies in women from São Paulo, Brazil. Association with behavioral factors and Kaposi's sarcoma.

BACKGROUND With the spread of AIDS, many HIV-infected women have been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), especially in Africa. Since the discovery of a novel herpesvirus as the causative agent of KS (human herpesvirus 8 - HHV-8) several seroepidemiological studies have been conducted to identify groups at risk for KS. The risk for women in Brazil has not been studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS We searched for HHV-8 antibodies in sera obtained from a bank made up of samples from 3 groups of individuals: Group I: 163 HIV-1-infected women attended at an ambulatory clinic in 1994; Group II: 108 children born to HIV-1-infected mothers from 1990 to 1992, their antibodies reflected maternal infection, and Group III: 630 HIV-1-seronegative, healthy women. In-house immunofluorescence and Western-Blot assays based on the BCBL-1 cell line were used to detect anti-latent and anti-lytic HHV-8 antibodies. RESULTS Group I had an overall frequency of antibodies of 8.6%, with a 1.2% frequency of anti-latent antibodies and an 8.0% frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. Similar results were detected in Group II, i.e., no cases with anti-latent antibodies and a 7.4% frequency of anti-lytic antibodies. In contrast, prevalences of 1.1% anti-latent antibodies and 0.3% anti-lytic antibodies were observed in Group III. CONCLUSIONS The epidemiologic pattern of HHV-8 in women from São Paulo varies according to behavioral factors, with emphasis on the sexual and blood routes of virus transmission/acquisition. Although HHV-8 anti-lytic antibodies were found in HIV-1-infected women, no case of KS was detected. Protective factors against KS are probably related to gender and/or to antiretroviral therapies introduced in Brazil since 1994.
Structural and Functional Similarity between the Bacterial Type III Secretion System Needle Protein PrgI and the Eukaryotic Apoptosis Bcl-2 Proteins

Background Functional similarity is challenging to identify when global sequence and structure similarity is low. Active-sites or functionally relevant regions are evolutionarily more stable relative to the remainder of a protein structure and provide an alternative means to identify potential functional similarity between proteins. We recently developed the FAST-NMR methodology to discover biochemical functions or functional hypotheses of proteins of unknown function by experimentally identifying ligand binding sites. FAST-NMR utilizes our CPASS software and database to assign a function based on a similarity in the structure and sequence of ligand binding sites between proteins of known and unknown function. Methodology/Principal Findings The PrgI protein from Salmonella typhimurium forms the needle complex in the type III secretion system (T3SS). A FAST-NMR screen identified a similarity between the ligand binding sites of PrgI and the Bcl-2 apoptosis protein Bcl-xL. These ligand binding sites correlate with known protein-protein binding interfaces required for oligomerization. Both proteins form membrane pores through this oligomerization to release effector proteins to stimulate cell death. Structural analysis indicates an overlap between the PrgI structure and the pore forming motif of Bcl-xL. A sequence alignment indicates conservation between the PrgI and Bcl-xL ligand binding sites and pore formation regions. This active-site similarity was then used to verify that chelerythrine, a known Bcl-xL inhibitor, also binds PrgI. Conclusions/Significance A structural and functional relationship between the bacterial T3SS and eukaryotic apoptosis was identified using our FAST-NMR ligand affinity screen in combination with a bioinformatic analysis based on our CPASS program. A similarity between PrgI and Bcl-xL is not readily apparent using traditional global sequence and structure analysis, but was only identified because of conservation in ligand binding sites. These results demonstrate the unique opportunity that ligand-binding sites provide for the identification of functional relationships when global sequence and structural information is limited.
Systematic Comparison of Brain Imaging Meta-Analyses of ToM with vPT

In visual perspective taking (vPT) one has to concern oneself with what other people see and how they see it. Since seeing is a mental state, developmental studies have discussed vPT within the domain of “theory of mind (ToM)” but imaging studies have not treated it as such. Based on earlier results from several meta-analyses, we tested for the overlap of visual perspective taking studies with 6 different kinds of ToM studies: false belief, trait judgments, strategic games, social animations, mind in the eyes, and rational actions. Joint activation was observed between the vPT task and some kinds of ToM tasks in regions involving the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), anterior precuneus, left middle occipital gyrus/extrastriate body area (EBA), and the left inferior frontal and precentral gyrus. Importantly, no overlap activation was found for the vPT tasks with the joint core of all six kinds of ToM tasks. This raises the important question of what the common denominator of all tasks that fall under the label of “theory of mind” is supposed to be if visual perspective taking is not one of them.
Ranking Paraphrases in Context

We present a vector space model that supports the computation of appropriate vector representations for words in context, and apply it to a paraphrase ranking task. An evaluation on the SemEval 2007 lexical substitution task data shows promising results: the model significantly outperforms a current state of the art model, and our treatment of context is effective.
mHealth in the Wild: Using Novel Data to Examine the Reach, Use, and Impact of PTSD Coach

Background A majority of Americans (58%) now use smartphones, making it possible for mobile mental health apps to reach large numbers of those who are living with untreated, or under-treated, mental health symptoms. Although early trials suggest positive effects for mobile health (mHealth) interventions, little is known about the potential public health impact of mobile mental health apps. Objective The purpose of this study was to characterize reach, use, and impact of “PTSD Coach”, a free, broadly disseminated mental health app for managing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Methods Using a mixed-methods approach, aggregate mobile analytics data from 153,834 downloads of PTSD Coach were analyzed in conjunction with 156 user reviews. Results Over 60% of users engaged with PTSD Coach on multiple occasions (mean=6.3 sessions). User reviews reflected gratitude for the availability of the app and being able to use the app specifically during moments of need. PTSD Coach users reported relatively high levels of trauma symptoms (mean PTSD Checklist Score=57.2, SD=15.7). For users who chose to use a symptom management tool, distress declined significantly for both first-time users (mean=1.6 points, SD=2.6 on the 10-point distress thermometer) and return-visit users (mean=2.0, SD=2.3). Analysis of app session data identified common points of attrition, with only 80% of first-time users reaching the app’s home screen and 37% accessing one of the app’s primary content areas. Conclusions These findings suggest that PTSD Coach has achieved substantial and sustained reach in the population, is being used as intended, and has been favorably received. PTSD Coach is a unique platform for the delivery of mobile mental health education and treatment, and continuing evaluation and improvement of the app could further strengthen its public health impact.
Importance of the N Terminus of Rous Sarcoma Virus Protease for Structure and Enzymatic Function

ABSTRACT All retrovirus proteases (PRs) are homodimers, and dimerization is essential for enzymatic function. The dimer is held together largely by a short four-stranded antiparallel beta sheet composed of the four or five N-terminal amino acid residues and a similar stretch of residues from the C terminus. We have found that the enzymatic and structural properties of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) PR are exquisitely sensitive to mutations at the N terminus. Deletion of one or three residues, addition of one residue, or substitution of alanine for the N-terminal leucine reduced enzymatic activity on peptide and protein substrates 100- to 1,000-fold. The purified mutant proteins remained monomeric up to a concentration of about 2 mg/ml, as determined by dynamic light scattering. At higher concentrations, dimerization was observed, but the dimer lacked or was deficient in enzymatic activity and thus was inferred to be structurally distinct from a wild-type dimer. The mutant protein lacking three N-terminal residues (ΔLAM), a form of PR occurring naturally in virions, was examined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and found to be folded at concentrations where it was monomeric. This result stands in contrast to the report that a similarly engineered monomeric PR of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is unstructured. Heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectra of the mutant at concentrations where either monomers or dimers prevail were nearly identical. However, these spectra differed from that of the dimeric wild-type RSV PR. These results imply that the chemical environment of many of the amide protons differed and thus that the three-dimensional structure of the ΔLAM PR mutant is different from that of the wild-type PR. The structure of this mutant protein may serve as a model for the structure of the PR domain of the Gag polyprotein and may thus give clues to the initiation of proteolytic maturation in retroviruses.
Assessment of Effectiveness of Protection Strategies in Tanzania Based on a Decade of Survey Data for Large Herbivores

Abstract: Considerable controversy surrounds the effectiveness of strictly protected areas that prohibit consumptive resource use. For Tanzania we compared temporal changes in densities of large herbivores among heavily protected national parks and game reserves, partially protected game‐controlled areas, and areas with little or no protection. Comparisons based on surveys conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s versus the late 1990s and early 2000s showed three consistent patterns across the country. First, significant declines in the densities of large herbivores between these two snapshots in time overwhelmingly outnumbered significant increases in all protection categories. Second, more species fared well (increased significantly or showed no significant change) in strictly protected national parks than in areas with partial or no protection and in heavily protected game reserves relative to areas with no protection. Third, significantly more species fared poorly (densities declined or were too low to detect a decline) than fared well in areas with partial or no protection. Our results show that although heavy protection was generally more effective in maintaining large herbivore populations than partial or no protection, continued long‐term monitoring is needed in Tanzania to inform managers whether large herbivores are experiencing declining population trends even within heavily protected areas.
Reciprocal t(9;22) ABL/BCR Fusion Proteins: Leukemogenic Potential and Effects on B Cell Commitment

Background t(9;22) is a balanced translocation, and the chromosome 22 breakpoints (Philadelphia chromosome – Ph+) determine formation of different fusion genes that are associated with either Ph+ acute lymphatic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The “minor” breakpoint in Ph+ ALL encodes p185BCR/ABL from der22 and p96ABL/BCR from der9. The “major” breakpoint in CML encodes p210BCR/ABL and p40ABL/BCR. Herein, we investigated the leukemogenic potential of the der9-associated p96ABL/BCR and p40ABL/BCR fusion proteins and their roles in the lineage commitment of hematopoietic stem cells in comparison to BCR/ABL. Methodology All t(9;22) derived proteins were retrovirally expressed in murine hematopoietic stem cells (SL cells) and human umbilical cord blood cells (UCBC). Stem cell potential was determined by replating efficiency, colony forming - spleen and competitive repopulating assays. The leukemic potential of the ABL/BCR fusion proteins was assessed by in a transduction/transplantation model. Effects on the lineage commitment and differentiation were investigated by culturing the cells under conditions driving either myeloid or lymphoid commitment. Expression of key factors of the B-cell differentiation and components of the preB-cell receptor were determined by qRT-PCR. Principal Findings Both p96ABL/BCR and p40ABL/BCR increased proliferation of early progenitors and the short term stem cell capacity of SL-cells and exhibited own leukemogenic potential. Interestingly, BCR/ABL gave origin exclusively to a myeloid phenotype independently from the culture conditions whereas p96ABL/BCR and to a minor extent p40ABL/BCR forced the B-cell commitment of SL-cells and UCBC. Conclusions/Significance Our here presented data establish the reciprocal ABL/BCR fusion proteins as second oncogenes encoded by the t(9;22) in addition to BCR/ABL and suggest that ABL/BCR contribute to the determination of the leukemic phenotype through their influence on the lineage commitment.
“Yubi‐wakka” (finger‐ring) test: A practical self‐screening method for sarcopenia, and a predictor of disability and mortality among Japanese community‐dwelling older adults

We developed a simple self‐screening method, the “Yubi‐wakka (finger‐ring)” test to assess sarcopenia swiftly. This prospective cohort study aimed to examine the validity of this test as a practical method among community‐dwelling older adults for identifying sarcopenia, and for predicting disability and mortality.
Relaxation spectra of asphalt binders and the Christensen–Anderson rheological model

The development of the well-known Christensen–Anderson (CA) rheological model grew out of attempts to model the relaxation spectra of asphalt binders using a skewed logistic distribution function. For this reason, there exist very strong relationships between the CA model parameters and the characteristics of relaxation spectra for asphalt binders. This paper presents a recently developed equation that allows direct and accurate calculation of the relaxation spectra from CA model parameters, demonstrating the nature of this relationship. Of the CA model/spectrum parameters, the most important in terms of describing overall behaviour and potential performance is the R-value, which describes the shape and skewness of the spectrum. This parameter and other similar rheological parameters have been linked to various important aspects of asphalt binder behaviour, including fatigue resistance, chemical composition and degree of oxidative ageing. This makes the parameter R a potentially useful parameter for inclusion in asphalt binder specifications, although care must be taken in how it is determined to ensure that it is accurate, repeatable and reflects the performance characteristics of interest.