Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulations of nerve growth factor and Bcl‐2 in ultraviolet‐irradiated human epidermis

Background: Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation to the skin causes apoptosis of keratinocytes. Melanocytes are more resistant to UV‐induced apoptosis, due, in part, to high levels of antiapoptotic proteins such as Bcl‐2. In vitro studies have shown that nerve growth factor (NGF), a neurotrophic polypeptide, is produced by keratinocytes and exerts a protective role for melanocytes by upregulating Bcl‐2. The purpose of this study was to determine NGF and Bcl‐2 modulations in UV‐irradiated human skin.
The pnhA Gene of Pasteurella multocida Encodes a Dinucleoside Oligophosphate Pyrophosphatase Member of the Nudix Hydrolase Superfamily

ABSTRACT The pnhA gene of Pasteurella multocida encodes PnhA, which is a member of the Nudix hydrolase subfamily of dinucleoside oligophosphate pyrophosphatases. PnhA hydrolyzes diadenosine tetra-, penta-, and hexaphosphates with a preference for diadenosine pentaphosphate, from which it forms ATP and ADP. PnhA requires a divalent metal cation, Mg2+ or Mn2+, and prefers an alkaline pH of 8 for optimal activity. A P. multocida strain that lacked a functional pnhA gene, ACP13, was constructed to further characterize the function of PnhA. The cellular size of ACP13 was found to be 60% less than that of wild-type P. multocida, but the growth rate of ACP13 and its sensitivity to heat shock conditions were similar to those of the wild type, and the wild-type cell size was restored in the presence of a functional pnhA gene. Wild-type and ACP13 strains were tested for virulence by using the chicken embryo lethality model, and ACP13 was found to be up to 1,000-fold less virulent than the wild-type strain. This is the first study to use an animal model in assessing the virulence of a bacterial strain that lacked a dinucleoside oligophosphate pyrophosphatase and suggests that the pyrophosphatase PnhA, catalyzing the hydrolysis of diadenosine pentaphosphates, may also play a role in facilitating P. multocida pathogenicity in the host.
Computing connected components on parallel computers

We present a parallel algorithm which uses <italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt> processors to find the connected components of an undirected graph with <italic>n</italic> vertices in time <italic>O</italic>(log<supscrpt>2</supscrpt><italic>n</italic>). An <italic>O</italic>(log<supscrpt>2</supscrpt><italic>n</italic>) time bound also can be achieved using only <italic>n</italic>⌈<italic>n</italic>/⌈log<subscrpt>2</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>⌉⌉ processors. The algorithm can be used to find the transitive closure of a symmetric Boolean matrix. We assume that the processors have access to a common memory. Simultaneous access to the same location is permitted for fetch instructions but not for store instructions.
Bacteremia during Tonsillectomy

Objectives:(1) To assess the incidence of bacteremia in patients with chronic tonsillitis who underwenttonsillectomy by dissection method. (2) To identify the aerobic organisms involved in bacteremia during tonsillectomy and their antibiotic sensitivity. Materials And Methods:This descriptive study was conducted on patients who presented to the ENT OPD in YENEPOYA MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL over a period from October 2013 to October 2014. 42 patients who underwent elective tonsillectomy by dissection method, for chronic tonsillitis were selected.During tonsillectomy, within 2 minutes of removal of the first tonsil,blood samples were taken from the peripheral veins in accordance with the techniques of sterile bloodcollection.Samples were subcultured on suitable media under aerobic conditions for 24hrs, 72hrs and 5 days. Results:Of the 42 samples collected, only 7 (16.67%) yielded positive blood cultures, while 35 samples (83.33%) showed no growth. The organisms isolated were Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (2), Pseudomonas (2), Acinetobacter (1), Diphtheroids (1) and a Gram +’ve bacilli (1). Conclusion:Bacteremia could originate from the tonsillar tissue bacteria following tonsillectomy. Antibiotic therapy is necessary, especially in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Amikacin may be a good empirical choice in the antibiotic regimen for prevention of bacteremiafollowingtonsillectomy.
Mixed membership trajectory models of cognitive impairment in the multicenter AIDS cohort study

Objective:The longitudinal trajectories that individuals may take from a state of normal cognition to HIV-associated dementia are unknown. We applied a novel statistical methodology to identify trajectories to cognitive impairment, and factors that affected the ‘closeness’ of an individual to one of the canonical trajectories. Design:The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) is a four-site longitudinal study of the natural and treated history of HIV disease among gay and bisexual men. Methods:Using data from 3892 men (both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected) enrolled in the neuropsychology substudy of the MACS, a Mixed Membership Trajectory Model (MMTM) was applied to capture the pathways from normal cognitive function to mild impairment to severe impairment. MMTMs allow the data to identify canonical pathways and to model the effects of risk factors on an individual's ‘closeness’ to these trajectories. Results:First, we identified three distinct trajectories to cognitive impairment: ‘normal aging’ (low probability of mild impairment until age 60); ‘premature aging’ (mild impairment starting at age 45–50); and ‘unhealthy’ (mild impairment in 20s and 30s) profiles. Second, clinically defined AIDS, and not simply HIV disease, was associated with closeness to the premature aging trajectory, and, third, hepatitis-C infection, depression, race, recruitment cohort and confounding conditions all affected individual's closeness to these trajectories. Conclusion:These results provide new insight into the natural history of cognitive dysfunction in HIV disease and provide evidence for a potential difference in the pathophysiology of the development of cognitive impairment based on trajectories to impairment.
Calcium Nutrition in Adolescence

Adolescence is an important period of nutritional vulnerability due to increased dietary requirements for growth and development and special dietary habits. Calcium needs are elevated as a result of the intensive bone and muscular development and thus adequate calcium intake during growth is extremely important to reach the optimum peak bone mass and to protect against osteoporosis in the adult age, a major public health threat whose incidence is increasing in Western countries. However, most children and adolescents worldwide fail to achieve the recommended calcium intake. The hormonal changes associated with the pubertal period promote greater mineral utilization, which needs to be satisfied with suitable calcium consumption. Diet, therefore, must contribute nutrients in sufficient quality and quantity to allow maximum bone mass development. Consequently, adolescents should be educated and encouraged to consume adjusted and balanced diets that, together with healthy lifestyles, enable optimal calcium utilization.
THE TEMPO AND MODE OF EVOLUTION: BODY SIZES OF ISLAND MAMMALS

The tempo and mode of body size evolution on islands are believed to be well known. It is thought that body size evolves relatively quickly on islands toward the mammalian modal value, thus generating extreme cases of size evolution and the island rule. Here, we tested both theories in a phylogenetically explicit context, by using two different species‐level mammalian phylogenetic hypotheses limited to sister clades dichotomizing into an exclusively insular and an exclusively mainland daughter nodes. Taken as a whole, mammals were found to show a largely punctuational mode of size evolution. We found that, accounting for this, and regardless of the phylogeny used, size evolution on islands is no faster than on the continents. We compared different selection regimes using a set of Ornstein–Uhlenbeck models to examine the effects of insularity of the mode of evolution. The models strongly supported clade‐specific selection regimes. Under this regime, however, an evolutionary model allowing insular species to evolve differently from their mainland relatives performs worse than a model that ignores insularity as a factor. Thus, insular taxa do not experience statistically different selection from their mainland relatives.
The FBN2 gene: new mutations, locus‐specific database (Universal Mutation Database FBN2), and genotype‐phenotype correlations

Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA) is an extremely rare disease, due to mutations in the FBN2 gene encoding fibrillin‐2. Another member of the fibrillin family, the FBN1 gene, is involved in a broad phenotypic continuum of connective‐tissue disorders including Marfan syndrome. Identifying not only what is in common but also what differentiates these two proteins should enable us to better comprehend their respective functions and better understand the multitude of diseases in which these two genes are involved. In 1995 we created a locus‐specific database (LSDB) for FBN1 mutations with the Universal Mutation Database (UMD) tool. To facilitate comparison of identified mutations in these two genes and search for specific functional areas, we created an LSDB for the FBN2 gene: the UMD‐FBN2 database. This database lists 26 published and six newly identified mutations that mainly comprise missense and splice‐site mutations. Although the number of described FBN2 mutations was low, the frequency of joint dislocation was significantly higher with missense mutations when compared to splice site mutations. The database is freely available at http://umd.be. Hum Mutat 0, 1–10, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Transcriptome Characterization Analysis of Bactrocera minax and New Insights into Its Pupal Diapause Development with Gene Expression Analysis

Bactrocera minax is a major citrus pest distributed in China, Bhutan and India. The long pupal diapause duration of this fly is a major bottleneck for artificial rearing and underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Genetic information on B. minax transcriptome and gene expression profiles are needed to understand its pupal diapause. High-throughput RNA-seq technology was used to characterize the B. minax transcriptome and to identify differentially expressed genes during pupal diapause development. A total number of 52,519,948 reads were generated and assembled into 47,217 unigenes. 26,843 unigenes matched to proteins in the NCBI database using the BLAST search. Four digital gene expression (DGE) libraries were constructed for pupae at early diapause, late diapause, post-diapause and diapause terminated developmental status. 4,355 unigenes showing the differences expressed across four libraries revealed major shifts in cellular functions of cell proliferation, protein processing and export, metabolism and stress response in pupal diapause. When diapause was terminated by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), many genes involved in ribosome and metabolism were differentially expressed which may mediate diapause transition. The gene sets involved in protein and energy metabolisms varied throughout early-, late- and post-diapause. A total of 15 genes were selected to verify the DGE results through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR); qRT-PCR expression levels strongly correlated with the DGE data. The results provided the extensive sequence resources available for B. minax and increased our knowledge on its pupal diapause development and they shed new light on the possible mechanisms involved in pupal diapause in this species.
Spirituality And Religiosity In Adolescents With Sickle Cell Disease: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOSITY IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE: A DESCRIPTIVE QUALITATIVE STUDY Dora Clayton-Jones, PhD (c), MSN, RN, CPNP Marquette University, 2014 Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a serious debilitating chronic illness and global health problem. Spirituality and religiosity have been shown to have positive correlations with their health outcomes. Research addressing the spiritual and religious needs of adolescents living with SCD is limited. The aim of this descriptive qualitative study was to examine how adolescents (Mage = 16.2 years) with SCD describe and experience spirituality and religiosity. Nine adolescents completed two semi-structured interviews. Sickle Cell Disease Interview Guides were developed using the Spiritual Development Framework developed by Benson & Roehlkepartain (2008) as a guide. The framework provided a foundation for conceptualizing the spiritual element of human development. Sickle Cell Disease Interview Guides were used to elicit information on adolescents’ beliefs, spirituality, and religiosity. Participant Demographic Forms were completed by each adolescent and used to collect information regarding their demographics, SCD histories, and religiosities. Parent Demographic Forms were completed by each parent and used to collect information regarding parents’ demographics and religiosities. Data were analyzed using a template analysis style and a concurrent analysis process of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification. The Spiritual Development Framework was used as a guide in constructing components of the analysis template. Adolescents verbalized their thoughts regarding their spirituality and religiosity. The adolescents believed that religiosity is personal, meaningful, and should be respected. Four main themes emerged to include: spirituality and religiosity as coping mechanisms, shaping of identity, the influence of beliefs on health and illness, and the expectations for health care providers. The theme spirituality and religiosity as coping mechanisms included six threads to include: interconnecting with God, interconnecting with others, interconnecting with creative arts, scriptural metanarratives, transcendent experiences, and acceptance and finding meaning. The theme expectations for health providers included two threads to include: religiosity is private/personal and sharing spiritual and religious beliefs is risky. The current study examined spirituality and religiosity as described and experienced by adolescents with SCD. The current study highlights the role of spirituality and religiosity in an age-specific population living with sickle cell disease. Exploring spirituality and religiosity may lead to innovative interventions improving quality of life.
Heuristic Algorithms for Scheduling Independent Tasks on Nonidentical Processors

The finishing time properties of several heuristic algorithms for scheduling <italic>n</italic> independent tasks on <italic>m</italic> nonidentical processors are studied. In particular, for <italic>m</italic> = 2 an <italic>n</italic> log <italic>n</italic> time-bounded algorithm is given which generates a schedule having a finishing time of at most (√5 + 1)/2 of the optimal finishing time. A simplified scheduling problem involving identical processors and restricted task sets is shown to be P-complete. However, the LPT algorithm applied to this problem yields schedules which are near optimal for large <italic>n</italic>.
A System Computational Model of Implicit Emotional Learning

Nowadays, the experimental study of emotional learning is commonly based on classical conditioning paradigms and models, which have been thoroughly investigated in the last century. Unluckily, models based on classical conditioning are unable to explain or predict important psychophysiological phenomena, such as the failure of the extinction of emotional responses in certain circumstances (for instance, those observed in evaluative conditioning, in post-traumatic stress disorders and in panic attacks). In this manuscript, starting from the experimental results available from the literature, a computational model of implicit emotional learning based both on prediction errors computation and on statistical inference is developed. The model quantitatively predicts (a) the occurrence of evaluative conditioning, (b) the dynamics and the resistance-to-extinction of the traumatic emotional responses, (c) the mathematical relation between classical conditioning and unconditioned stimulus revaluation. Moreover, we discuss how the derived computational model can lead to the development of new animal models for resistant-to-extinction emotional reactions and novel methodologies of emotions modulation.
Instrumentation in Diffuse Optical Imaging

Diffuse optical imaging is highly versatile and has a very broad range of applications in biology and medicine. It covers diffuse optical tomography, fluorescence diffuse optical tomography, bioluminescence, and a number of other new imaging methods. These methods of diffuse optical imaging have diversified instrument configurations but share the same core physical principle – light propagation in highly diffusive media, i.e., the biological tissue. In this review, the author summarizes the latest development in instrumentation and methodology available to diffuse optical imaging in terms of system architecture, light source, photo-detection, spectral separation, signal modulation, and lastly imaging contrast.
Differential Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders Using the BASC-2 Parent Rating Scales Preschool Form

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS USING THE BASC-2 PARENT RATING SCALESPRESCHOOL FORM by Julia I. Juechter The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus 2004) is a behavior rating scale commonly used in preschool settings. In addition to measuring behavioral constructs such as hyperactivity, social skills, and adaptive functioning, the BASC-2 includes a Developmental Social Disorders (DSD) content scale that evaluates the presence of behaviors commonly associated with pervasive developmental disorders, including items related to self-stimulation, withdrawal and poor socialization. This study compared the T-scores of toddler and preschool-aged children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to children diagnosed with other developmental delays, and typically developing children using the BASC-2 Parent Rating Scales, Preschool form. Participants from the ASD group obtained significantly higher T-scores than the typically developing group on the Hyperactivity, Atypicality, Withdrawal, and Attention Problems scales, and obtained significantly lower T-scores on the Adaptability, Social Skills, Activities of Daily Living, and and Functional Communication scales. Significant differences were not observed between participants in the ASD group and those diagnosed with other developmental delays. However, the DSD scale was effective in distinguishing between groups, with participants in the ASD group obtaining significantly higher T-scores on the DSD scale than those diagnosed with other developmental delays and typically developing children. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS USING THE BASC-2 PARENT RATING SCALESPRESCHOOL FORM by Julia I. Juechter
A Modified Priority Based Probe Algorithm for Distributed Deadlock Detection and Resolution

A modified, priority-based probe algorithm for deadlock detection and resolution in distributed database system is presented. Various examples are used to show that the original priority-based algorithm, presented by M.K. Sinha and N. Natarajan (1985), either fails to detect deadlocks or reports deadlocks that do not exist in many situations. A modified algorithm that eliminates these problems is proposed. The algorithm has been tested through simulation and appears to be errorfree. The performance of the modified algorithm is briefly discussed. >
Ökonomische Unsicherheit und Fertilität. Die Wirkung von Beschäftigungsunsicherheit und Arbeitslosigkeit auf die Familiengründung in Ost- und Westdeutschland / Economic Insecurity and Fertility. The Effects of Job Insecurity and Unemployment on Family Formation in East and West Germany

Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund der jüngsten, teils kontroversen wissenschaftlichen Debatte zur Auswirkung ökonomischer Unsicherheit auf die Familiengründung analysieren wir in diesem Beitrag die Fertilitätskonsequenzen der zwei wohl wichtigsten Indikatoren ökonomischer Unsicherheit - befristeter Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und Arbeitslosigkeit - in Ost- und Westdeutschland. Basierend auf Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) der Jahre 1995-2007 können wir weder für ost- noch für westdeutsche Frauen nachweisen, dass befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse zu einem Aufschub der ersten Mutterschaft führen. Ebenfalls lassen sich keine Wirkungsunterschiede befristeter Beschäftigung nach individuellem Bildungsniveau, dem Qualifikationsgrad der beruflichen Position oder dem Wirtschaftssektor feststellen. Phasen von Arbeitslosigkeit hingegen führen sowohl in Ost- als auch in Westdeutschland zu einer Verschiebung der ersten Geburt. Allerdings unterscheiden sich die Fertilitätsmuster zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland dahingehend, dass in Westdeutschland Familiengründungen häufig dann verschoben werden, wenn der männliche Partner von Arbeitslosigkeit betroffen ist, während der Prozess der Familiengründung in Ostdeutschland weniger von der Erwerbssituation des männlichen Partners als vielmehr von der Arbeitsmarktlage der Frau betroffen zu sein scheint. Summary Against the background of recent scientific discussions about the impact of economic insecurity on family formation, we have analyzed the fertility consequences of two very important indicators of economic insecurity - limited contracts and unemployment - in East and West Germany. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1995–2007) our results show that for women limited contracts do not lead to postponement of reproduction. Also, the effects of limited contracts do not differ across educational level, qualification level of the occupational position, or economic sector. In contrast to these results, periods of unemployment seem to increase the risk of postponement of reproduction both in East and in West Germany. However, these fertility patterns turn out to be rather different between East and West Germany: While in West Germany family formation is postponed especially when the male partner is unemployed, the process of family formation in East Germany is above all influenced by the employment situation of the woman and not so much by that of her partner.
Controversies, Questions, and Prospects for Spontaneous Social Inferences

Three decades of research on spontaneous social inferences, particularly traits, have settled some questions and generated more. We describe that research in terms of these controversies and questions. If you think you know the story, read on because it continues to surprise all of us. It deals with such broader issues as automatic and controlled processing, the nature of meaning, causality, stages of forming inferences about others, the role of consciousness, and differences between implicit and explicit impressions. Evidence on neurological substrate is growing. Spontaneous inferences continue to be a useful tool for illuminating impression formation processes.