Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barley yellow dwarf virus Infection Leads to Higher Chemical Defense Signals and Lower Electrophysiological Reactions in Susceptible Compared to Tolerant Barley Genotypes

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is a phloem limited virus that is persistently transmitted by aphids. Due to huge yield losses in agriculture, the virus is of high economic relevance. Since the control of the virus itself is not possible, tolerant barley genotypes are considered as the most effective approach to avoid yield losses. Although several genes and quantitative trait loci are known and used in barley breeding for virus tolerance, little is known about molecular and physiological backgrounds of this trait. Therefore, we compared the anatomy and early defense responses of a virus susceptible to those of a virus-tolerant cultivar. One of the very early defense responses is the transmission of electrophysiological reactions. Electrophysiological reactions to BYDV infection might differ between susceptible and tolerant cultivars, since BYDV causes disintegration of sieve elements in susceptible cultivars. The structure of vascular bundles, xylem vessels and sieve elements was examined using microscopy. All three were significantly decreased in size in infected susceptible plants where the virus causes disintegration of sieve elements. This could be associated with an uncontrolled ion exchange between the sieve-element lumen and apoplast. Further, a reduced electrophysiological isolation would negatively affect the propagation of electrophysiological reactions. To test the influence of BYDV infection on electrophysiological reactions, electropotential waves (EPWs) induced by leaf-tip burning were recorded using aphids as bioelectrodes. EPWs in infected susceptible plants disappeared already after 10 cm in contrast to those in healthy susceptible or infected tolerant or healthy tolerant plants. Another early plant defense reaction is an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using a fluorescent dye, we found a significant increase in ROS content in infected susceptible plants but not in infected tolerant plants. Similar results were found for the phytohormones abscisic acid and three jasmonates. Salicylic acid levels were generally higher after BYDV infection compared to uninfected plants. Heat stimulation caused an increase in jasmonates. By shedding light on the plant defense mechanisms against BYDV, this study, provides further knowledge for breeding virus tolerant plants.
Inter-calibration of VIRR/FY-3B infrared channels with AIRS/Aqua channels

To evaluate the radiometric characteristics of the thermal infrared channels of Visible and InfraRed Radiometer (VIRR) aboard Chinese second generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellite FengYun-3B (FY-3B), the inter-calibration of those thermal infrared channels with high spectral resolution data acquired by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard Aqua is carried out in this paper. Four steps, i.e. subsetting, collocating, transforming and regressing, were used to calculate the inter-calibration coefficients. The collocation data were picked out with a series of thresholds: the absolute viewing zenith angle differences less than 10°, the absolute viewing azimuth angle differences less than 20°, and absolute time differences less than 40 minute. The results on June 1st, 2012 reveal that the VIRR/FY-3B measurements are highly linearly related to the convolved AIRS/Aqua measurements. However, calibration discrepancies exist between VIRR and AIRS channels. When brightness temperatures in VIRR channels change from 270 K to 300 K under a normal condition, the AIRS-VIRR temperature adjustment linearly varies from -0.79 K to -2.32K for VIRR channel 4, from 0.14 K to -1.42 K for VIRR channel 5, respectively.
Altered proportion of CCR2+ and CX3CR1+ circulating monocytes in neovascular age‐related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy

We investigated the expression of chemokine receptors CCR2 (C‐C chemokine receptor) 2 and CX3CR1 (C‐X3‐C receptor 1) on circulating monocyte subsets in patients with neovascular age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) and patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV).
SCORTEN Overestimates Mortality in the Setting of a Standardized Treatment Protocol

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a rare, severe, exfoliative disorder with a high mortality rate. SCORTEN is a recently developed scoring system that estimates severity and predicts mortality in patients with TEN based on seven independent clinical risk factors recorded within the first 24 hours of admission. An increasing SCORTEN level predicts a higher mortality rate. For more than 20 years, the treatment of TEN at our institution has involved the use of a standardized clinical pathway that includes removal of sloughed epidermis, dermal protection with porcine xenograft, early enteral nutrition, and critical care monitoring. We hypothesize that this standardized clinical approach will result in a lower mortality rate than predicted by SCORTEN. A retrospective review was performed on all patients treated for TEN using the standardized pathway from February 1987 to March 2004. SCORTEN was calculated in each patient. One hundred nine patients were treated for TEN during the study period. Overall observed mortality was 20% compared with a SCORTEN predicted mortality of 30%, resulting in a relative reduction in mortality of 33% (P = .011). In addition, observed probability of death was lower than predicted at all levels, except at SCORTEN score of 6 or greater. In conclusion, TEN remains a life-threatening disease with a high mortality rate. Our standardized treatment protocol results in significantly improved outcomes compared to those predicted by SCORTEN.
Differences in resting cardiovascular parameters in 10- to 15-year-old children of different ethnicity: The contribution of physiological and psychological factors

Background: The health status of children in the North West Province of South Africa was examined using the Transition and Health during Urbanization in South Africa in Children study. This is an epidemiological, cross-sectional study for which 1,244 children between 10 and 15 years of age were recruited from 44 schools.Purpose: Our objective was to investigate whether differences exist between resting cardiovascular parameters of Black, White, colored, and Indian children and evaluate the contribution of physiological and psychological factors.Methods: Blood pressure was monitored with the Finapres apparatus. By means of the Fast Modelflo software program, the systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure, heart rate, cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), and “Windkessel” compliance (Cw) of the arterial system were obtained. The psychological data were obtained by validated questionnaires.Results: After correction for body mass index, the SBP of the White children was significantly higher (p > .05) than the SBP of the other ethnic groups. The DBP showed no significant differences. The TPR measurements of the Black and colored children were significantly higher (p > .05) than the TPR of the White children, and the Cw measurements of the Black and colored children were significantly lower than the Cw of the White children. Significant correlations (p > .05) were found between the SV, CO, TPR, Cw, and the total score on violence in the Black and colored children.Conclusions: There are differences in the resting cardiovascular parameters in the different ethnic groups studied. The higher levels of violence to which the Black and colored children are exposed could alter vascular sensitivity to sympathetic stimulation. This may contribute via the higher αadrenergic sensitivity to the pathogenesis of hypertension in their later lives.
Identification of a Residue (Glu60) in TRAP Required for Inducing Efficient Transcription Termination at the trp Attenuator Independent of Binding Tryptophan and RNA

ABSTRACT Transcription of the tryptophan (trp) operon in Bacillus subtilis is regulated by an attenuation mechanism. Attenuation is controlled by the trpRNA-binding attenuation protein (TRAP). TRAP binds to a site in the 5′ leader region of the nascent trp transcript in response to the presence of excess intracellular tryptophan. This binding induces transcription termination upstream of the structural genes of the operon. In prior attenuation models, the role of TRAP was only to alter the secondary structure of the leader region RNA so as to promote formation of the trp attenuator, which was presumed to function as an intrinsic terminator. However, formation of the attenuator alone has been shown to be insufficient to induce efficient termination, indicating that TRAP plays an additional role in this process. To further examine the function of TRAP, we performed a genetic selection for mutant TRAPs that bind tryptophan and RNA but show diminished termination at the trp attenuator. Five such TRAP mutants were obtained. Four of these have substitutions at Glu60, three of which are Lys (E60K) substitutions and the fourth of which is a Val (E60V) substitution. The fifth mutant obtained contains a substitution at Ile63, which is on the same β-strand of TRAP as Glu60. Purified E60K TRAP binds tryptophan and RNA with properties similar to those of the wild type but is defective at inducing termination at the trp attenuator in vitro. IMPORTANCE Prior models for attenuation control of the B. subtilis trp operon suggested that the only role for TRAP is to bind to the leader region RNA and alter its folding to induce formation of an intrinsic terminator. However, several recent studies suggested that TRAP plays an additional role in the termination mechanism. We hypothesized that this function could involve residues in TRAP other than those required to bind tryptophan and RNA. Here we obtained TRAP mutants with alterations at Glu60 that are deficient at inducing termination in the leader region while maintaining tryptophan and RNA binding properties similar to those of the WT protein. These studies provide additional evidence that TRAP-mediated transcription termination at the trp attenuator is neither intrinsic nor Rho dependent.
Space-Invariant Signature Algorithm: A space-variance approach for the detection and localization of early abnormalities in liquid vibrating active systems

In this paper we present an innovative space-variance approach named as “Space-Invariant Signature Algorithm (SISA)” for processing images from active systems, such as the liquid vibrating active system, cancer cells, tumor growth, and dead cells, for the detection and localization of abnormalities at an incipient stage. In this paper, a SISA processing algorithm is developed, and this algorithm is tested on a liquid vibrating active system. The abnormality in an active system can be defined as the obstacle or a failure, which impedes the activities such as vibrations, smooth flow of blood or electrical signals etc. Due to this impeding nature of the abnormality, some parameter perturbations are induced. In this paper using the SISA approach, these perturbations were detected in a preliminary experiment on a liquid vibrating active system. The degree and position of the space-variance helps us in the detection and localization of abnormality even at an early (incipient) stage. The space-variance signature pattern is named as ‘SISA signature pattern’. In the absence of any abnormality, the signature pattern is spaceinvariant, whereas, in the presence of any abnormality, the SISA signature pattern varies in the space (space-variant). The basic experimental studies on a liquid vibrating active system strongly suggest a possible use of the SISA approach as a non-invasive method for the detection and localization of abnormalities in biological tissues such as cancer cells non-invasively, and this work will be reported in another paper.
Interkinetic nuclear migration in the tracheal and esophageal epithelia of the mouse embryo: Possible implications for tracheo‐esophageal anomalies

Interkinetic nuclear migration (INM) is a cell polarity‐based phenomenon in which progenitor cell nuclei migrate along the apico‐basal axis of the pseudostratified epithelium in synchrony with the cell cycle. INM is suggested to be at least partially cytoskeleton‐dependent and to regulate not only the proliferation/differentiation of stem/progenitor cells but also the localized/overall size and shape of organs/tissues. INM occurs in all three of the germ‐layer derived epithelia, including the endoderm‐derived gut. However, INM has not been documented in the esophagus and respiratory tube arising from the anterior foregut. Esophageal atresia with or without trachea‐esophageal fistula (EA/TEF) is a relatively common developmental defect. Transcription factors and signaling molecules have been implicated in EA/TEF, but the etiology of EA/TEF—which has been suggested to involve cell polarity‐related mechanisms—remains highly controversial. In the present study, we first examined whether INM exists in the trachea and esophagus of mouse embryos at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5), just after separation of the two tubes from the anterior foregut. By labeling the DNA‐synthesizing stem cell nuclei with 5‐ethynyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine, a nucleotide analogue, and statistically analyzing chronological changes in the distribution pattern of the labeled nuclei by using multidimensional scaling, we showed the existence of INM in both the esophagus and trachea, with differences in the INM magnitude and cycle pattern. We further showed morphological changes from the INM‐based pseudostratified single layer to the stratified multilayer in the esophageal epithelium in association with a temporal loss/perturbation of AB polarity, suggesting a possible relation with the pathogenesis of EA/TEF.
From Exact to Anytime Solutions for Marginal MAP

This paper explores the anytime performance of search-based algorithms for solving the Marginal MAP task over graphical models. The current state of the art for solving this challenging task is based on best-first search exploring the AND/OR graph with the guidance of heuristics based on mini-bucket and variational cost-shifting principles. Yet, those schemes are uncompromising in that they solve the problem exactly, or not at all, and often suffer from memory problems. In this work, we explore the well known principle of weighted search for converting best-first search solvers into anytime schemes. The weighted best-first search schemes report a solution early in the process by using inadmissible heuristics, and subsequently improve the solution. While it was demonstrated recently that weighted schemes can yield effective anytime behavior for pure MAP tasks, Marginal MAP is far more challenging (e.g., a conditional sum must be evaluated for every solution). Yet, in an extensive empirical analysis we show that weighted schemes are indeed highly effective for Marginal MAP yielding the most competitive schemes to date for this task.
Accessory Spleen in the Greater Omentum: Embryology and Revisited Prevalence Rates

Purpose: To investigate in a large sample the prevalence rates of accessory spleens located in the greater omentum and to explain the embryological background and the vascular supply of this rare congenital disorder. Methods: Evaluation of the presence of accessory spleens located in the greater omentum was performed in 5 different international anatomical centers investigating a total of 1,045 body donors. Arterial and venous blood supply and the precise location of the respective vasculature within the splenic ligaments are described based on dissection of this rare condition in a male specimen. Results: The reported prevalence rates from 5 different centers were: 0.5% (out of 380 body donors), 0% (out of 230 donors), 0% (out of 200 donors), 2% (out of 200 donors), and 0% (out of 35 donors). The cumulative prevalence rate obtained from 1,045 anatomical dissections was 0.6%. The identified accessory spleen measured 3 × 3 × 2.5 cm and was located in the left upper abdominal quadrant. A vascular stag 7.5 cm in length was identified within the gastro-splenic ligament, containing an artery and a vein piercing the greater omentum from posterior. Conclusion: An accessory spleen located in the greater omentum is a rare congenital disorder. Physicians should be aware of the fact that in patients without any representative symptom history a nodular mass located within the greater omentum could be an accessory spleen.
Factors Affecting Speech Discrimination in Children with Cochlear Implants: Evidence from Early-Implanted Infants.

BACKGROUND To learn words and acquire language, children must be able to discriminate and correctly perceive phonemes. Although there has been much research on the general language outcomes of children with cochlear implants (CIs), little is known about the development of speech perception with regard to specific speech processes, such as speech discrimination. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of speech discrimination in infants with CIs and identify factors that might correlate with speech discrimination skills. RESEARCH DESIGN Using a Hybrid Visual Habituation procedure, we tested infants with CIs on their ability to discriminate the vowel contrast /i/-/u/. We also gathered demographic and audiological information about each infant. STUDY SAMPLE Children who had received CIs before 2 yr of age served as participants. We tested the children at two post cochlear implantation intervals: 2-4 weeks post CI stimulation (N = 17) and 6-9 mo post CI stimulation (N = 10). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The infants' mean looking times during the novel versus old trials of the experiment were measured. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between the normalized looking time difference and the following variables: chronological age, age at CI stimulation, gender, communication mode, and best unaided pure-tone average. RESULTS We found that the best unaided pure-tone average predicted speech discrimination at the early interval. In contrast to some previous speech perception studies that included children implanted before 3 yr of age, age at CI stimulation did not predict speech discrimination performance. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that residual acoustic hearing before implantation might facilitate speech discrimination during the early period post cochlear implantation; with more hearing experience, communication mode might have a greater influence on the ability to discriminate speech. This and other studies on age at cochlear implantation suggest that earlier implantation might not have as large an effect on speech perception as it does on other language skills.
Implications of elevated CO2 on pelagic carbon fluxes in an Arctic mesocosm study – an elemental mass balance approach

Recent studies on the impacts of ocean acidification on pelagic communities have identified changes in carbon to nutrient dynamics with related shifts in elemental stoichiometry. In principle, mesocosm experiments provide the opportunity of determining temporal dynamics of all relevant carbon and nutrient pools and, thus, calculating elemental budgets. In practice, attempts to budget mesocosm enclosures are often hampered by uncertainties in some of the measured pools and fluxes, in particular due to uncertainties in constraining air–sea gas exchange, particle sinking, and wall growth. In an Arctic mesocosm study on ocean acidification applying KOSMOS (Kiel Off-Shore Mesocosms for future Ocean Simulation), all relevant element pools and fluxes of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were measured, using an improved experimental design intended to narrow down the mentioned uncertainties. Water-column concentrations of particulate and dissolved organic and inorganic matter were determined daily. New approaches for quantitative estimates of material sinking to the bottom of the mesocosms and gas exchange in 48 h temporal resolution as well as estimates of wall growth were developed to close the gaps in element budgets. However, losses elements from the budgets into a sum of insufficiently determined pools were detected, and are principally unavoidable in mesocosm investigation. The comparison of variability patterns of all single measured datasets revealed analytic precision to be the main issue in determination of budgets. Uncertainties in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen (DON) and particulate organic phosphorus (POP) were much higher than the summed error in determination of the same elements in all other pools. With estimates provided for all other major elemental pools, mass balance calculations could be used to infer the temporal development of DOC, DON and POP pools. Future elevated pCO2 was found to enhance net autotrophic community carbon uptake in two of the three experimental phases but did not significantly affect particle elemental composition. Enhanced carbon consumption appears to result in accumulation of dissolved organic carbon under nutrient-recycling summer conditions. This carbon over-consumption effect becomes evident from mass balance calculations, but was too small to be resolved by direct measurements of dissolved organic matter. Faster nutrient uptake by comparatively small algae at high CO2 after nutrient addition resulted in reduced production rates under future ocean CO2 conditions at the end of the experiment. This CO2 mediated shift towards smaller phytoplankton and enhanced cycling of dissolved matter restricted the development of larger phytoplankton, thus pushing the system towards a retention type food chain with overall negative effects on export potential.
Bedroom Light Exposure at Night and the Incidence of Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Study of the HEIJO-KYO Cohort

Previous studies have indicated that minimal exposure to light at night (LAN) increases depression risk, even at 5 lux, in nocturnal and diurnal mammals. Although such low-level LAN may affect human circadian physiology, the association between exposure to LAN and depressive symptoms remains uncertain. In the present study, bedroom light intensity was measured objectively, and depressive symptoms were assessed, during 2010-2014 in Nara, Japan. Of 863 participants (mean age = 71.5 years) who did not have depressive symptoms at baseline, 73 participants reported development of depressive symptoms during follow-up (median, 24 months). Compared with the "dark" group (average of <5 lux; n = 710), the LAN group (average of ≥5 lux; n = 153) exhibited a significantly higher depression risk (hazard ratio = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.13, 3.14), according to a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and economic status. Further, the significance remained in a multivariable model adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, and sleep parameters (hazard ratio = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.89). Sensitivity analyses using bedroom light data with a cutoff value of ≥10 lux suggested consistent results. In conclusion, these results indicated that exposure to LAN in home settings was independently associated with subsequent depression risk in an elderly general population.
Utilizing Hashtags for Sentiment Analysis of Tweets in The Political Domain

The objective of this research is to investigate the benefit of utilizing hashtags to determine sentiment polarity of tweets in the political domain. We used the sentiment polarity of hashtags as the features in classification, proposed rules for automatically annotating dataset based on the number of positive and negative hashtags in the tweets, and proposed a method to enrich terms in the tweet by extracting hashtag terms. We named the number of positive and negative hashtags as SentiHT feature. The experiments and evaluation show that sentiment classification using SentiHT feature and the automatically labeled dataset using SentiHT has a very good accuracy of more than 95%. Moreover, SentiHT outperforms unigram feature when combined with Naïve Bayes, SVM or Logistic Regression algorithms, but the opposite occurs when using Random Forest algorithm. Based on computing time to build the model, we recommend using SentiHT feature combined with Naïve Bayes algorithm.