Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Derivate of the Antibiotic Doxorubicin Is a Selective Inhibitor of Dengue and Yellow Fever Virus Replication In Vitro

ABSTRACT A doxorubicin derivate, SA-17, that carries a squaric acid amide ester moiety at the carbohydrate (α-l-daunosaminyl) group was identified as a selective inhibitor of in vitro dengue virus (DENV) serotype 2 replication (50% effective concentration [EC50] = 0.34 ± 0.20 μg/ml [0.52 ± 0.31 μM]). SA-17 is markedly less cytostatic than the parent compound, resulting in a selectivity index value of ∼100. SA-17 also inhibits yellow fever virus 17D (YFV-17D) replication (EC50 = 3.1 ± 1.0 μg/ml [4.8 ± 1.5 μM]), although less efficiently than DENV replication, but proved inactive against a variety of enveloped and nonenveloped viruses. SA-17 inhibits in vitro flavivirus replication in a dose-dependent manner, as was assessed by virus yield reduction assays and quantification of viral RNA by means of real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-qPCR) (∼2 to 3 log reduction). The anti-DENV activity was confirmed using a Renilla luciferase-expressing dengue reporter virus. Time-of-drug-addition studies revealed that SA-17 acts at the very early stages of the viral replication cycle (i.e., virus attachment and/or virus entry). This observation was corroborated by the observation that SA-17, unlike the nucleoside analogue ribavirin, does not inhibit the replication of DENV subgenomic replicons. Preincubation of high-titer stocks of DENV or YFV-17D with ≥5 μg/ml SA-17 resulted in 100% inhibition of viral infectivity (≥3 log reduction). SA-17, however, did not prove virucidal.
Multiple-User Cooperative Communications Based on Linear Network Coding

We propose a new scheme for cooperative wireless networking based on linear network codes. The network consists of multiple (M ≥ 2) users having independent information to be transmitted to a common basestation (BS), assuming block-fading channels with independent fading for different codewords. The users collaborate in relaying messages. Because of potential transmission errors in links, resulting in erasures, the network topology is dynamic. To efficiently exploit the diversity available by cooperation and time-varying fading, we propose the use of diversity network codes (DNCs) over finite fields. These codes are designed such that the BS is able to rebuild the user information from a minimum possible set of coded blocks conveyed through the dynamic network. We show the existence of deterministic DNCs. We also show that the resulting diversity order using the proposed DNCs is 2 M - 1, which is higher than schemes without network coding or with binary network coding. Numerical results from simulations also show substantial improvement by the proposed DNCs over the benchmark schemes. We also propose simplified versions of the DNCs, which have much lower design complexity and still achieve the diversity order 2 M - 1.
The WOPR Protein Ros1 Is a Master Regulator of Sporogenesis and Late Effector Gene Expression in the Maize Pathogen Ustilago maydis

The biotrophic basidiomycete fungus Ustilago maydis causes smut disease in maize. Hallmarks of the disease are large tumors that develop on all aerial parts of the host in which dark pigmented teliospores are formed. We have identified a member of the WOPR family of transcription factors, Ros1, as major regulator of spore formation in U. maydis. ros1 expression is induced only late during infection and hence Ros1 is neither involved in plant colonization of dikaryotic fungal hyphae nor in plant tumor formation. However, during late stages of infection Ros1 is essential for fungal karyogamy, massive proliferation of diploid fungal cells and spore formation. Premature expression of ros1 revealed that Ros1 counteracts the b-dependent filamentation program and induces morphological alterations resembling the early steps of sporogenesis. Transcriptional profiling and ChIP-seq analyses uncovered that Ros1 remodels expression of about 30% of all U. maydis genes with 40% of these being direct targets. In total the expression of 80 transcription factor genes is controlled by Ros1. Four of the upregulated transcription factor genes were deleted and two of the mutants were affected in spore development. A large number of b-dependent genes were differentially regulated by Ros1, suggesting substantial changes in this regulatory cascade that controls filamentation and pathogenic development. Interestingly, 128 genes encoding secreted effectors involved in the establishment of biotrophic development were downregulated by Ros1 while a set of 70 “late effectors” was upregulated. These results indicate that Ros1 is a master regulator of late development in U. maydis and show that the biotrophic interaction during sporogenesis involves a drastic shift in expression of the fungal effectome including the downregulation of effectors that are essential during early stages of infection.
Use of the California Psychological Inventory in Law Enforcement Officer Selection

This research consisted of two investigations of the use of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) in law enforcement officer selection. The first study examined preemployment profiles of academy' graduates (N = 5791, comparing subjects rated psychologically suited for law enforcement to those rated unsuited by training instructors, Graduates rated unsuited had significantly lower overall CPI profiles. The second study compared preemployment CPI profiles of law enforcement officers who had experienced serious job performance problems (n = 45) to those of matched officer controls who had experienced no such difficulties. Officers with serious job problems scored lower on scales comprising Gough's Class II group of variables, Scales that primarily differentiated between the two officer groups were So, St, Wb, and To. Results provide support for the use of the CPI as an addition to law enforcement officer selection procedures.
Self-organized criticality, causality and correlation of probability of recurrence between daily mean temperature and dew point across India

The temperature and dew point records of seven weather stations, located in India have been scrutinized under the self-organized criticality regime. The data models an almost ideal scaling behaviour as of the type of t/fα noise; with α≈1. This scaling behaviour strongly suggests the presence of self-organized criticality (SOC) behind both the signals. To draw more insight into the detailed dynamics and to strengthen the explanation of such behaviour, causal relationship exploiting singularity spectrum analysis (SSA), multivariate singularity spectrum analysis (MSSA) and Correlation of Probability of Recurrence (CPR) based on recurrence plot have been studied in between the two signals for all the stations. The results reveal sufficient causal relationship and high correlation of probability of recurrence for strong support behind such critical dynamical systems.
Mulibrey Heart Disease: Clinical Manifestations, Long-Term Course, and Results of Pericardiectomy in a Series of 49 Patients Born Before 1985

Background—Mulibrey nanism is a rare inherited disease characterized by growth failure and multiorgan manifestations, including constrictive pericarditis. Its long-term course, the results of pericardiectomy, and the details of myocardial involvement have not been reported previously. Methods and Results—We studied 49 patients (26 men) born before 1985 and followed for up to 25 years. By 1999, 25 patients (51%) had developed congestive heart failure (CHF), 19 (39%) had undergone pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis, 10 (22%) had died of cardiac causes, and 5 (10%) had died of noncardiac causes. Of the 19 pericardiectomized patients, 12 derived lasting clinical benefit, whereas 1 patient suffered an early noncardiac death and 6 died later of unrelieved or recurrent CHF. At echocardiography in 34 living patients, left ventricular mass adjusted for body height and weight averaged (±SEM) 149±5 g in 21 unoperated patients, 144±8 g in 13 pericardiectomized patients, and 104±7 g in 16 healthy persons matched for age and sex (P =0.000). Autopsies of 11 patients showed fibrotic thickening of the pericardial leaves with myocardial hypertrophy and variable but mostly mild myocardial fibrosis. Endocardial thickening was seen in 3 patients. Conclusions—Constrictive pericarditis, myocardial hypertrophy, and variable myocardial fibrosis constitute the main elements of Mulibrey heart disease. At least one half of patients ultimately develop CHF. Pericardiectomy generally provides clinical benefit, but in approximately one third of patients, CHF may recur because of coexisting myocardial involvement.
The ethnification and nationalisation of religion in the post-Soviet Georgian nation-state building process: a source of discrimination and minority rights violations?

This article discusses the growing religious nationalism in post-Soviet Georgia. It is argued that religious nationalism and the prioritisation of nation-state building are exercised at the expense of democracy and minority rights, and thus endanger national and territorial integrity. The article also aims to analyse the implementation of minority rights in Georgia which is elaborated in the context of the country's membership of the Council of Europe and international treaties to which it is a party. In this context, the deprivatisation of religion in Georgia is also discussed together with the role of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the public sphere.
Multidimensional Assessment of Young Male Offenders in Penal Institutions

On the assumption of psychotherapy indication, a multidimensional assessment was carried out in a study group consisting of 103 imprisoned male offenders (mean age 20.8 years). It included a demographic and personal history inventory, psychological tests, and diagnosis according to the multiaxial classification. In addition, psychotherapy adherence was categorized, and therapy objectives were formulated. Participants showed multiple developmental risk factors and average-to-good results in language-free IQ-test scores. Furthermore, they displayed a more-pronounced negative attitude to life and higher rates of aggression toward themselves. Main ICD-10 disorders included personality and behavior disorders, substance use disorders, conduct disorders, and emotional disorders. The spectrum of psychiatric morbidity within the psychotherapy group was largely comparable with that of imprisoned and forensic populations, whereas the total prevalence was slightly higher. A quarter of the original sample failed after five test sessions to fulfill the final indication for a subsequent psychotherapeutic treatment.
Beyond the regret minimization barrier: an optimal algorithm for stochastic strongly-convex optimization

We give a novel algorithm for stochastic strongly-convex optimization in the gradient oracle model which returns an O( 1 T )-approximate solution after T gradient updates. This rate of convergence is optimal in the gradient oracle model. This improves upon the previously known best rate of O( log(T ) T ), which was obtained by applying an online strongly-convex optimization algorithm with regret O(log(T )) to the batch setting. We complement this result by proving that any algorithm has expected regret of Ω(log(T )) in the online stochastic strongly-convex optimization setting. This lower bound holds even in the full-information setting which reveals more information to the algorithm than just gradients. This shows that any online-to-batch conversion is inherently suboptimal for stochastic strongly-convex optimization. This is the first formal evidence that online convex optimization is strictly more difficult than batch stochastic convex optimization.
Choosing a secondary school for young people on the autism spectrum: a multi-informant study

Deciding on a secondary school for children with autism is notoriously difficult for parents. While current UK legislation emphasises the choice that parents of children with special educational needs should have in educational decision-making, there is a dearth of research in this area, which means that little is known about how parents come to make decisions about secondary school placements and the types of support, if any, they receive from professionals. The present study aimed to determine the factors that immediately influence secondary school choice for young people with autism in one London local authority from the perspectives of multiple informants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with autism (n = 7), young people themselves prior to secondary school entry (n = 6), parent advisors (n = 5) and secondary school professionals (n = 5). Parents emphasised the anxiety and burden of the decision-making process. There was, however, substantial agreement among adult groups on the factors necessary for a successful secondary school placement: a nurturing, flexible and inclusive environment that emphasised both academic and life skills. Few adults, however, mentioned the importance of children's social relationships – a factor that featured prominently in the reports of young people. These findings highlight both the different perceptions of those involved in making decisions about the educational placements of children with autism and the challenges associated with weighing up these potentially conflicting perspectives. More work is needed to ensure both that information is transparent and accessible to all parents and that young people are actively involved in decisions that ultimately affect their lives.
Expression of P450arom and Estrogen Receptor Alpha in the Oviduct of Chinese Brown Frog (Rana dybowskii) during Prehibernation

One specific physiological phenomenon of Chinese brown frog (Rana dybowskii) is that its oviduct expands prior to hibernation instead of expanding during the breeding period. In this study, we investigated the expression of P450arom and estrogen receptors α and β (ERα and ERβ) in the oviduct of Rana dybowskii during the breeding period and prehibernation. The results of the present study showed that there were significant differences in both oviductal weight and size with values markedly higher in prehibernation than in the breeding period. P450arom was observed in stromal tissue in both the breeding period and prehibernation. ERα was expressed in stromal tissue and epithelial cells in both periods, whereas ERβ could not be detected. The mean protein and mRNA levels of P450arom and ERα were significantly higher in prehibernation as compared to the breeding period. Besides, oviductal content of 17β-estradiol was also higher in prehibernation than in the breeding period. These results suggested that estrogen may play autocrine/paracrine roles mediated by ERα in regulating the oviductal hypertrophy during prehibernation.
STUDIES IN VIVO ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRAIN TRYPTOPHAN, BRAIN 5‐HT SYNTHESIS AND HYPERACTIVITY IN RATS TREATED WITH A MONOAMINE OXIDASE INHIBITOR AND L‐TRYPTOPHAN

Abstract— The effect of l‐tryptophan loading upon the amount of 5‐HT accumulating in the brains of rats pretreated with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor was studied. The amount of brain 5‐HT accumulated increased with increasing tryptophan dosages and brain tryptophan concentrations up to a tryptophan dose of 120 mg/kg body wt. and a brain tryptophan of about 70 μg/g brain. Above this dose and concentration no further increase in brain 5‐HT accumulation occurred. After monoamine oxidase inhibition and tryptophan loading gross hyperactivity and hyperpyrexia occurred. Monoamine oxidase inhibition, tryptophan administration and intact aromatic amino acid decarboxylase activity were all collectively essential for the production of hyperactivity and hyperpyrexia. DL‐Parachlorophenyl‐alanine prevented both the occurrence of hyperactivity and the increased accumulation of, brain 5‐HT. Indices of hyperactivity correlated with the amount of brain 5‐HT accumulating in 1 h after tryptophan loading but not with the overall concentration of brain 5‐HT, suggesting that hyperactivity was dependent upon the rate of 5‐HT synthesis. Reserpine and tetra‐benazine pretreatment speeded the onset and rate of development of the hyperactive state without altering the synthesis of brain 5‐HT. It is suggested that when monoamine oxidase is inhibited and the rate of 5‐HT synthesis is increased, granular uptake and storage of 5‐HT and other rate‐limiting mechanisms for 5‐HT inactivation are unable to prevent 5‐HT 'spilling over’to produce hyperactivity.
The Neural Basis of Implicit Perceptual Sequence Learning

The present fMRI study investigated the neural areas involved in implicit perceptual sequence learning. To obtain more insight in the functional contributions of the brain areas, we tracked both the behavioral and neural time course of the learning process, using a perceptual serial color matching task. Next, to investigate whether the neural time course was specific for perceptual information, imaging results were compared to the results of implicit motor sequence learning, previously investigated using an identical serial color matching task (Gheysen et al., 2010). Results indicated that implicit sequences can be acquired by at least two neural systems: the caudate nucleus and the hippocampus, having different operating principles. The caudate nucleus contributed to the implicit sequence learning process for perceptual as well as motor information in a similar and gradual way. The hippocampus, on the other hand, was engaged in a much faster learning process which was more pronounced for the motor compared to the perceptual task. Interestingly, the perceptual and motor learning process occurred on a comparable implicit level, suggesting that consciousness is not the main determinant factor dissociating the hippocampal from the caudate learning system. This study is not only the first to successfully and unambiguously compare brain activation between perceptual and motor levels of implicit sequence learning, it also provides new insights into the specific hippocampal and caudate learning function.
Religious coping, religious support, and psychological functioning among short-term missionaries

Effects of positive and negative religious coping and received religious support (from God, co-workers, and team leaders) on psychological functioning were examined among 98 Protestant college students. Students participated in two-month missions trips to various destinations. Before going (Time 1), trait anger and life satisfaction were assessed. Upon returning (Time 2), religious coping and religious support were measured, and trait anger and life satisfaction were reassessed. Cross-sectional Time 2 analyses revealed significant effects of both religious support and religious coping on psychological functioning. Findings included a positive relationship between negative religious coping and trait anger, a positive relationship between team support and life satisfaction, and an interaction of positive religious coping and received God support on life satisfaction. All these findings remained significant even after controlling for initial levels of psychological functioning. Findings are discussed with respect to applications to training programmes for short-term missionaries.
The emotions and social information processing patterns of aggressive children

Title of Document: THE EMOTIONS AND SOCIAL INFORMATION PROCESSING PATTERNS OF AGGRESSIVE CHILDREN Tracey Meryl Potter, Master of Arts, 2007 Directed By: Professor Hedwig Teglasi, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services This study examined children’s emotions, ratings of aggressive behaviors and aggression related social information processing patterns. Second and third grade students completed self-reports of anger and aggression, as well as a measure of SIP. The students’ teachers and peers also completed aggression ratings that differentiated between reactive and proactive aggression and overt and relational aggression respectively. Exploratory factor analyses revealed inconsistent results with previous studies regarding the designation of items as “reactive” or “proactive” on aggression ratings scales. Generally, teachers and peers agreed in their ratings of aggression, but did not agree with students’ own self-reported aggression. There were modest correlations between hostile SIP responses and reports of aggression, and modest to moderate correlations between hostile SIP responses and self-reported anger. Finally, neither aggression nor anger made a unique contribution to predict SIP hostile intent
Sperm plasma membrane breakdown during Drosophila fertilization requires Sneaky, an acrosomal membrane protein

Fertilization typically involves membrane fusion between sperm and eggs. In Drosophila, however, sperm enter eggs with membranes intact. Consequently, sperm plasma membrane breakdown (PMBD) and subsequent events of sperm activation occur in the egg cytoplasm. We previously proposed that mutations in the sneaky (snky) gene result in male sterility due to failure in PMBD. Here we support this proposal by demonstrating persistence of a plasma membrane protein around the head of snky sperm after entry into the egg. We further show that snky is expressed in testes and encodes a predicted integral membrane protein with multiple transmembrane domains, a DC-STAMP-like domain, and a variant RING finger. Using a transgene that expresses an active Snky-Green fluorescent protein fusion (Snky-GFP), we show that the protein is localized to the acrosome, a membrane-bound vesicle located at the apical tip of sperm. Snky-GFP also allowed us to follow the fate of the protein and the acrosome during fertilization. In many animals, the acrosome is a secretory vesicle with exocytosis essential for sperm penetration through the egg coats. Surprisingly, we find that the Drosophila acrosome is a paternally inherited structure. We provide evidence that the acrosome induces changes in sperm plasma membrane, exclusive of exocytosis and through the action of the acrosomal membrane protein Snky. Existence of testis-expressed Snky-like genes in many animals, including humans, suggests conserved protein function. We relate the characteristics of Drosophila Snky, acrosome function and sperm PMBD to membrane fusion events that occur in other systems.
Toward an Integrated Theory of Task Design.

Abstract : Study of individual tasks in organizational settings has long been of interest to organizational scientists. Frequently subsumed under the labels of 'task' or 'job' design, theory and research in the area has attempted to describe strategies for changing or refining jobs so as to enhance such organizationally relevant criterion variables as performance, motivation, satisfaction, absenteeism, and so forth. At present, the study of task design lacks a clear and demonstrable focus. The reasons relate to controversies and contradictions surrounding the dominant models and theories in the area. In an effort to reestablish focus and direction, the author proposes an integrated theory of task design which is viewed as a natural extension of existing models. After a brief review of the literature, several emerging questions and issues about the current viewpoints are explicated and discussed. The integrated theory is presented and its major concepts are identified and defined. The boundaries of the theory are delineated, system state dynamics are summarized and the nomological network among three central concepts of the theory is discussed. Each broad category of related variables is then introduced and appropriate interrelationships noted. The major elements of the theory are summarized as propositional statements and an overview of implications for future theory and research concludes the presentation.