Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutations in fam20b and xylt1 Reveal That Cartilage Matrix Controls Timing of Endochondral Ossification by Inhibiting Chondrocyte Maturation

Differentiating cells interact with their extracellular environment over time. Chondrocytes embed themselves in a proteoglycan (PG)-rich matrix, then undergo a developmental transition, termed “maturation,” when they express ihh to induce bone in the overlying tissue, the perichondrium. Here, we ask whether PGs regulate interactions between chondrocytes and perichondrium, using zebrafish mutants to reveal that cartilage PGs inhibit chondrocyte maturation, which ultimately dictates the timing of perichondral bone development. In a mutagenesis screen, we isolated a class of mutants with decreased cartilage matrix and increased perichondral bone. Positional cloning identified lesions in two genes, fam20b and xylosyltransferase1 (xylt1), both of which encode PG synthesis enzymes. Mutants failed to produce wild-type levels of chondroitin sulfate PGs, which are normally abundant in cartilage matrix, and initiated perichondral bone formation earlier than their wild-type siblings. Primary chondrocyte defects might induce the bone phenotype secondarily, because mutant chondrocytes precociously initiated maturation, showing increased and early expression of such markers as runx2b, collagen type 10a1, and ihh co-orthologs, and ihha mutation suppressed early perichondral bone in PG mutants. Ultrastructural analyses demonstrated aberrant matrix organization and also early cellular features of chondrocyte hypertrophy in mutants. Refining previous in vitro reports, which demonstrated that fam20b and xylt1 were involved in PG synthesis, our in vivo analyses reveal that these genes function in cartilage matrix production and ultimately regulate the timing of skeletal development.
Understanding the Confined Concrete Behavior on the Response of Hollow Bridge Columns

In seismic design practice, hollow concrete columns offer an efficient alternative especially for tall bridge columns. The confinement in critical regions of these columns is not well understood and the confinement models developed for solid concrete sections are used to characterize these columns. This report identifies several shortcomings in current practice associated with hollow column design. Using experimental and analytical means, it is shown that the confined concrete behavior in hollow concrete columns is different from that established for solid sections. Recommendations to improve analysis and design of hollow columns are presented with experimental verification. Modification to alter the confinement models developed for solid sections and a design example are also provided.
The effect of angiotensin II receptor blockade on insulin sensitivity and sympathetic nervous system activity in primary hypertension.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Losartan (NK-954, DuP-753), a new selective angiotensin II receptor antagonist, on insulin sensitivity and sympathetic nervous system activity in patients with severe primary hypertension. Five patients with a record of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) > or = 115 mmHg, currently either untreated or with DBP > 95 mmHg on antihypertensive treatment, were examined in an open study with the euglycemic glucose clamp examination before and after being treated with Losartan for an average of 6 weeks. The glucose disposal rate increased from 6.2 +/- 2.6 to 7.9 +/- 2.6 mg/kg x min (27%, p < 0.05) during treatment with Losartan. The insulin sensitivity index (glucose disposal rate divided by mean insulin concentration during clamp) increased from 7.7 +/- 4.5 to 10.1 +/- 4.1 arbitrary units (30%, p < 0.05). Plasma noradrenaline decreased from 1.87 +/- 0.53 to 1.11 +/- 0.13 nmol/l (40%, p < 0.05), while plasma adrenaline was unchanged (0.23 +/- 0.10 vs. 0.22 +/- 0.11 nmol/l, n.s.). Mean blood pressure decreased from 132 +/- 10 to 119 +/- 13 mmHg (p < 0.05) and heart rate was unchanged during treatment with Losartan. Thus, antihypertensive treatment with the new selective angiotensin II receptor antagonist Losartan seems to improve insulin sensitivity. A decrease in plasma noradrenaline on Losartan suggests a sympathicolytic effect which together with vasodilation may explain the fall in blood pressure and the improvement in insulin sensitivity.
Effect of molasses-based liquid supplements on digestibility of creeping bluestem and performance of mature cows on winter range.

Poor quality of tropical range forage leads to excessive weight loss and poor reproductive performance of beef cows. This research measured 1) the digestibility by steers fed creeping bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium var. stoloniferum) diets supplemented with cane molasses (0 or 20% of diet DM) and(or) added CP (no added CP, urea, or soybean meal) and 2) the performance of mature cows grazing creeping bluestem range and supplemented with 1.6 kg/(cow.d) (DM basis) of either molasses-urea or molasses-cottonseed meal-urea, each containing 30% CP (DM basis). Bluestem averaged 4.7% CP and 37.0% in vitro OM digestion. In the digestion trial, diets supplemented with molasses had greater (P < .01) apparent OM digestibility but lower (P < .01) apparent NDF, ADF, and hemicellulose digestibilities than diets not supplemented with molasses. Apparent OM digestibility of diets supplemented with soybean meal was greater (P < .05) than that of diets supplemented with urea but not different (P > .05) from the control. While grazing range, mature cows supplemented with molasses-urea lost less (P < .05) body condition (-1.7 vs -1.3) than cows supplemented with molasses-cottonseed meal-urea. Treatment did not affect cow weight loss on range (P = .85) or pregnancy rate (P = .51). Cows supplemented with molasses-urea tended to wean a heavier calf (P = .09). When fed at 1.6 kg/(cow.d) to mature cows grazing range, a molasses-based supplement containing urea was of equal value to one containing a natural protein.
Gene Clusters Located on Two Large Plasmids Determine Spore Crystal Association (SCA) in Bacillus thuringiensis Subsp. finitimus Strain YBT-020

Crystals in Bacillus thuringiensis are usually formed in the mother cell compartment during sporulation and are separated from the spores after mother cell lysis. In a few strains, crystals are produced inside the exosporium and are associated with the spores after sporulation. This special phenotype, named ‘spore crystal association’ (SCA), typically occurs in B. thuringiensis subsp. finitimus. Our aim was to identify genes determining the SCA phenotype in B. thuringiensis subsp. finitimus strain YBT-020. Plasmid conjugation experiments indicated that the SCA phenotype in this strain was tightly linked with two large plasmids (pBMB26 and pBMB28). A shuttle bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of strain YBT-020 was constructed. Six fragments from BAC clones were screened from this library and discovered to cover the full length of pBMB26; four others were found to cover pBMB28. Using fragment complementation testing, two fragments, each of approximately 35 kb and located on pBMB26 and pBMB28, were observed to recover the SCA phenotype in an acrystalliferous mutant, B. thuringiensis strain BMB171. Furthermore, deletion analysis indicated that the crystal protein gene cry26Aa from pBMB26, along with five genes from pBMB28, were indispensable to the SCA phenotype. Gene disruption and frame-shift mutation analyses revealed that two of the five genes from pBMB28, which showed low similarity to crystal proteins, determined the location of crystals inside the exosporium. Gene disruption revealed that the three remaining genes, similar to spore germination genes, contributed to the stability of the SCA phenotype in strain YBT-020. Our results thus identified the genes determining the SCA phenotype in B. thuringiensis subsp. finitimus.
Generalized graph products for network design and analysis

Network design, as it is currently practiced, involves putting devices together to create a network. However, a network is more than the sum of its parts, both in terms of the services it provides, and the potential for bugs. Devices are important, but their combination into a network should follow from expression of high-level policy, not the minutiae of network device configuration. Ideally we want to consider the network as a whole object. In this paper we develop generalized graph products that allow the mathematical design of a network in terms of small subgraphs that directly express business policy. The result is a flexible algebraic description of networks suitable for manipulation and proof. The approach is more than just design — it allows for analysis of existing networks providing an understanding of the policies used in their construction, something which can be difficult if the original designers no longer work on that network. We apply the approach to several real world networks to demonstrate how it can provide insight, and improve design.
Functional implications of cold-stable microtubules in kinetochore fibers of insect spermatocytes during anaphase

In normal anaphase of crane fly spermatocytes, the autosomes traverse most of the distance to the poles at a constant, temperature-dependent velocity. Concurrently, the birefringent kinetochore fibers shorten while retaining a constant birefringent retardation (BR) and width over most of the fiber length as the autosomes approach the centrosome region. To test the dynamic equilibrium model of chromosome poleward movement, we abruptly cooled or heated primary spermatocytes of the crane fly Nephrotoma ferruginea (and the grasshopper Trimerotropis maritima) during early anaphase. According to this model, abrupt cooling should induce transient depolymerization of the kinetochore fiber microtubules, thus producing a transient acceleration in the poleward movement of the autosomal chromosomes, provided the poles remain separated. Abrupt changes in temperature from 22 degrees C to as low as 4 degrees C or as high as 31 degrees C in fact produced immediate changes in chromosome velocity to new constant velocities. No transient changes in velocity were observed. At 4 degrees C (10 degrees C for grasshopper cells), chromosome movement ceased. Although no nonkinetochore fiber BR remained at these low temperatures, kinetochore fiber BR had changed very little. The cold stability of the kinetochore fiber microtubules, the constant velocity character of chromosome movement, and the observed Arrhenius relationship between temperature and chromosome velocity indicate that a rate-limiting catalyzed process is involved in the normal anaphase depolymerization of the spindle fiber microtubules. On the basis of our birefringence observations, the kinetochore fiber microtubules appear to exist in a steady-state balance between comparatively irreversible, and probably different, physiological pathways of polymerization and depolymerization.
Mortality after a First Episode of Status Epilepticus in the United States and Europe

Summary: Objective: In the last decade several studies have been published on incidence, etiology, and prognosis of status epilepticus (SE) with population‐based data from the United States and Europe. The aim of this review is to summarize the available information on the epidemiology of SE and to outline the sources of the variability in reported mortality after SE.
Classification of postoperative surgical site infections from blood measurements with missing data using recurrent neural networks

Clinical measurements that can be represented as time series constitute an important fraction of the electronic health records and are often both uncertain and incomplete. Recurrent neural networks are a special class of neural networks that are particularly suitable to process time series data but, in their original formulation, cannot explicitly deal with missing data. In this paper, we explore imputation strategies for handling missing values in classifiers based on recurrent neural network (RNN) and apply a recently proposed recurrent architecture, the Gated Recurrent Unit with Decay, specifically designed to handle missing data. We focus on the problem of detecting surgical site infection in patients by analyzing time series of their blood sample measurements and we compare the results obtained with different RNN-based classifiers.
Methodological approaches in MOOC research: Retracing the myth of Proteus

This paper explores the methodological approaches most commonly adopted in the scholarly literature on Massive Open Online Courses ( MOOCs), published during the period January 2008- May 2014. In order to identify trends, gaps and criticalities related to the methodological approaches of this emerging field of research, we analysed 60 papers selected across four relevant scientific databases plus one journal in the sector of e-learning that published a special issue on this topic. The emerging picture is that of a research field in its infancy, heavily relying on theoretical research and JOUR studies, which is just beginning to identify suitable methods to deal with large cohorts of learners, very large amounts of data and new ways of learning. The state-of-the-art is also quite fragmentary, due to the different epistemological and ontological conceptions of the authors of the papers about the nature of the issues faced and the way they should be studied. In this paper, we compare the problems related to the definition of the methodological approaches in this research field with the Greek myth of Proteus, the elusive, multiform divinity whose wisdom would only be revealed to those capable of catching him. We therefore advocate the need for catching Proteus, that is, better identifying and choosing the methodological approaches for MOOC research as a condition for its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Topographical Distribution of the Phanerogamic Parasites in Sukna Forest, Darjeeling Distric, West Bengal

A survey of the Phanerogamic parasites was made on 607.27 hectares of commercial forest in Sukana, West Bengal primarily to determine the effect of topographical elevations in the distribution of certain parasites. The data show. that the frequency of the parasites is highest on ridges, less on the slopes and least on the plains. The causes for such varied distribution in relation to topography are discussed.
Teacher's Role in the Reading Apprenticeship Framework: Aid by the Side or Sage by the Stage

Despite decades of efforts, alarming statistics about the literacy crisis from secondary school teachers indicate that the reading abilities of the learners are inadequate for the materials to be taught and teachers wonder if adolescents are literate enough, language-wise, to leave school and enter colleges or universities. The common mode of teaching allows students a passive role in class which leads to their being disengaged from literacy. How we teach literacy is of great importance if students are to become empowered as lifelong readers. As individuals differ in their reading abilities, teachers must move beyond testing for comprehension if students are to embrace a new way of being literate. Although research has taught us much about what is needed to read, it has provided much less knowledge about effective means of helping students learn to read. This study hoped to design a literacy program to respond to this need through a Reading Apprenticeship Framework as a partnership of expertise, drawing on what the teacher knows and does as a reader and on pre- university students’ often underestimated strengths as learners using exploratory mixed method design.
Polarity sets the stage for cytokinesis

Cell polarity is important for a number of processes, from chemotaxis to embryogenesis. Recent studies suggest a new role for polarity in the orchestration of events during the final cell separation step of cell division called abscission. Abscission shares several features with cell polarization, including rearrangement of phosphatidylinositols, reorganization of microtubules, and trafficking of exocyst-associated membranes. Here we focus on how the canonical pathways for cell polarization and cell migration may play a role in spatiotemporal membrane trafficking events required for the final stages of cytokinesis.
Forensic voice comparison with secular shibboleths - A hybrid fused gmm-multivariate likelihood ratio-based approach using alveolo-palatal fricative cepstral spectra

The suitability of voiceless fricative spectra for forensic voice comparison is explored within a Likelihood Ratio-based framework. Non-contemporaneous landline telephone recordings of 99 male Japanese speakers are compared using only tokens of their voiceless alveolo-patalal fricative [ς]. A subset of mean-cepstrally-subtracted LPC CCs from the fricative spectrum from dc to 5 kHz is used. GMM/UBM and multivariate likelihood ratios are extracted for the 99 target and 4851 non-target trials, and fused with logistic regression. An EER of 7.4% and log-LR cost of 0.26 is demonstrated. It is concluded that the [ς] spectrum does have some individualising potential.
Relational factors and family treatment engagement among low-income, HIV-positive African American mothers.

Clinically derived hypotheses regarding treatment engagement of families of low-income, HIV-positive, African American mothers are tested using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Predictors are baseline family relational factors (family support, mother's desire for involvement with family, and family hassles) and mother's history of substance dependence. The study examines a subsample of 49 mothers enrolled in a clinical trial testing the efficacy of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET). SET is a family-based intervention intended to relieve and prevent psychosocial distress associated with HIV/AIDS. Participants in the subsample were randomly assigned to SET and attended at least two therapy sessions. Findings reveal that family relational factors predicted family treatment engagement (family support, p < .004; mother's desire for involvement with family, p < .008; family hassles, p < .027). Family support predicted family treatment engagement beyond the prediction provided by the other relational factors and the mother's own treatment engagement (p < .016). History of substance dependence was neither associated with family treatment engagement nor family support. Post hoc analyses revealed that family hassles (p < .003) and mother's desire for involvement with family (p < .018) were differentially related to family treatment engagement in low- versus high-support families. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.
Astrometric Properties of Gravitational Binary-Microlens Events and Their Applications

In this paper, we study the astrometric properties of gravitational microlensing events caused by binary lenses. By investigating the centroid shifts for various types of binary-lens events, we find that the deviations of the centroid shift trajectories from the elliptical ones of single-lens events are characterized by distortions, twistings, and big jumps. We study the conditions of binary-lens system configurations and source star trajectories for individual types of deviations. We find dramatic differences in the astrometric centroid shifts for binary-lens microlensing events that would be degenerate had their parameters been determined photometrically. Therefore, when additional astrometric observations of a binary-lens event are available, one can resolve the ambiguity of the binary-lens fit and uniquely determine the binary-lens parameters.
Managing cost of quality: insight into industry practice

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to present results of the study of the quality costing practices at four large successful multinational companies.Design/methodology/approach – The method of benchmarking was used for the purpose of this study. Company representatives, who were invited for a benchmarking session, described the quality management programs running at their companies. Direct observation and archival records data collection were also used to extract more precise information for the following analysis and discussion.Findings – The findings of the study show that all four companies use systematic quality initiatives; however, a formal cost of quality (CoQ) methodology was only employed at one of them. This is in agreement with the literature findings arguing that a CoQ approach is not utilized in most quality management programs.Originality/value – This paper discusses and compares the quality programs of four companies and explains the benefits of the eventual adoption of a CoQ approach.
Identified neurons in mouse smi cortex which are postsynaptic to thalamocortical axon terminals: A combined golgi‐electron microscopic and degeneration study

A recently developed Golgi‐electron microscopic technique (Fairén et al., '77) has been used to identify neurons in mouse SmI cortex which that thalamic axon terminals synapsed with dendrites of several distinct neuronal types whose cell bodies occurred either in layer III, IV or V. The procedures employed were as follows: electrolytic lesions were used to destroy the cortical projections of the nucleus ventralis posterior pars lateralis thalami (homologous to medial portion of ventrobasal complex) and the nucleus posterior thalami. These two thalamic nuclei project to the posteromedial barrel subfield (PMBSF) in mouse somatosensory cortex. Blocks of cortex containing the PMBSF were processed by the Golgi method, sectioned at 150 μm and examined with the light microscope. Neurons of interest were then selected for Golgi deimpregnation (Fairén et al., '77). Portions of these cells were serial thin sectioned and subsequently examined with the electron microscope to determine if they synapsed with degenerating axon terminals.
Out of the frame: A longitudinal perspective on digitization and professional photojournalism

Contrary to the scholarly literature frequently associating digitization with external threats to professional photojournalists, this study focuses on internal factors: the new routines and practices of digital photojournalism, embedding them in the broader context of growing threats to cultural industries and labor markets. Using a longitudinal perspective, and based on in-depth interviews with 15 Israeli photojournalists with experience of both the chemical and digital eras, we suggest that digitization has had much wider ripples than just accelerating the speed and efficiency in which news photos are taken, transmitted, selected, manipulated, stored, and retrieved. Although not “causing” the crisis in the employment and work conditions of professional photojournalists, the implementation of digitization created a negative synergy between their old and new weaknesses. Further new routines may help restore the supremacy of professional photographers if they succeed in emphasizing their reskilling and upskilling enabled by new technology.