Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
StrigoQuant: A genetically encoded biosensor for quantifying strigolactone activity and specificity

A ratiometric, quantitative, and genetically encoded strigolactone sensor, StrigoQuant, opens new avenues in SL signaling studies. Strigolactones are key regulators of plant development and interaction with symbiotic fungi; however, quantitative tools for strigolactone signaling analysis are lacking. We introduce a genetically encoded hormone biosensor used to analyze strigolactone-mediated processes, including the study of the components involved in the hormone perception/signaling complex and the structural specificity and sensitivity of natural and synthetic strigolactones in Arabidopsis, providing quantitative insights into the stereoselectivity of strigolactone perception. Given the high specificity, sensitivity, dynamic range of activity, modular construction, ease of implementation, and wide applicability, the biosensor StrigoQuant will be useful in unraveling multiple levels of strigolactone metabolic and signaling networks.
Differential Adaptation of Human Gut Microbiota to Bariatric Surgery–Induced Weight Loss

OBJECTIVE Obesity alters gut microbiota ecology and associates with low-grade inflammation in humans. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is one of the most efficient procedures for the treatment of morbid obesity resulting in drastic weight loss and improvement of metabolic and inflammatory status. We analyzed the impact of RYGB on the modifications of gut microbiota and examined links with adaptations associated with this procedure. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Gut microbiota was profiled from fecal samples by real-time quantitative PCR in 13 lean control subjects and in 30 obese individuals (with seven type 2 diabetics) explored before (M0), 3 months (M3), and 6 months (M6) after RYGB. RESULTS Four major findings are highlighted: 1) Bacteroides/Prevotella group was lower in obese subjects than in control subjects at M0 and increased at M3. It was negatively correlated with corpulence, but the correlation depended highly on caloric intake; 2) Escherichia coli species increased at M3 and inversely correlated with fat mass and leptin levels independently of changes in food intake; 3) lactic acid bacteria including Lactobacillus/Leuconostoc/Pediococcus group and Bifidobacterium genus decreased at M3; and 4) Faecalibacterium prausnitzii species was lower in subjects with diabetes and associated negatively with inflammatory markers at M0 and throughout the follow-up after surgery independently of changes in food intake. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that components of the dominant gut microbiota rapidly adapt in a starvation-like situation induced by RYGB while the F. prausnitzii species is directly linked to the reduction in low-grade inflammation state in obesity and diabetes independently of calorie intake.
Cerebrovascular and blood–brain barrier impairments in Huntington's disease: Potential implications for its pathophysiology

Although the underlying cause of Huntington's disease (HD) is well established, the actual pathophysiological processes involved remain to be fully elucidated. In other proteinopathies such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, there is evidence for impairments of the cerebral vasculature as well as the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which have been suggested to contribute to their pathophysiology. We investigated whether similar changes are also present in HD.
“Can I do well in mathematics reasoning?” Comparing US and Finnish students’ attitude and reasoning via TIMSS 2011

ABSTRACT This study investigated differences between the US and Finland in terms of how students’ attitude is related to mathematical reasoning skills through the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. Attitude towards mathematics was observed via 3 TIMSS contextual variables: liking mathematics, valuing mathematics, and confidence in mathematics. Scores for mathematical reasoning were collected from the TIMSS 2011 database. We used hierarchical linear modelling to construct multilevel models with interactions of the attitude variables. Findings showed that confidence in mathematics had the strongest positive relationships with mathematical reasoning in both countries. Finnish students generally reported stronger positive relationships between confidence in mathematics and reasoning than US students. Strong relationships between confidence and reasoning remained visible when examining valuing and liking mathematics. Findings provide important implications regarding the complex interactions between attitude towards mathematics and reasoning, critical for mathematics educators and policymakers to consider in an increasingly competitive international environment.
Metabolic bariatric surgery and type 2 diabetes mellitus: an endocrinologist's perspective

Abstract Traditional treatment of T2DM consisting of modification of diet, an exercise regimen, and pharmacotherapy has problems of poor lifestyle modifications and fail tend of treatment over time, now bariatric surgery is recommended for treatment of obese patients with T2DM because its great improvements on weight loss and metabolic. In this article, effects of bariatric surgery on diabetes and diabetes-related complications are reviewed.
Development and Validation of a 15-Item Japanese Health Knowledge Test

Background Health literacy affects the acquisition of health knowledge and is thus linked to health outcomes. However, few scales have been developed to assess the level of health knowledge among the general public. Methods The 15-item Japanese Health Knowledge Test (J-HKT) was developed by using item response theory to score an item pool. We examined the construct validity of the J-HKT in relation to health literacy items, and analyzed the sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with poor health knowledge. Results We enrolled 1040 adult participants (mean age, 57 years; women, 52%). The 15 items that best identified people with poor health knowledge were selected. For all items on the J-HKT, the information function curves had a peak in the negative spectrum of the latent trait. As compared with participants reporting high levels of income, educational attainment, and literacy, those with low levels of income, education, and literacy had a lower total score on the J-HKT. As compared with non/light drinkers, moderate and heavy drinkers had lower total scores on the J-HKT. Conclusions The J-HKT may prove useful in measuring health knowledge among the general public, and in identifying and characterizing those with poor health knowledge.
Continuous and non-intrusive identity verification in real-time environments based on free-text keystroke dynamics

Internet services are important part of daily activities for most of us. These services come with sophisticated authentication requirements which may not be handled by average Internet users. The management of secure passwords for example creates an extra overhead which is often neglected due to usability reasons. Furthermore, password-based approaches are applicable only for initial logins and do not protect against unlocked workstation attacks. In this paper, we provide a non-intrusive identity verification scheme based on behavior biometrics where keystroke dynamics based-on free-text is used continuously for verifying the identity of a user in real-time. We improved existing keystroke dynamics based verification schemes in four aspects. First, we improve the scalability where we use a constant number of users instead of whole user space to verify the identity of target user. Second, we provide an adaptive user model which enables our solution to take the change of user behavior into consideration in verification decision. Next, we identify a new distance measure which enables us to verify identity of a user with shorter text. Fourth, we decrease the number of false results. Our solution is evaluated on a data set which we have collected from users while they were interacting with their mail-boxes during their daily activities.
From Chemically to Physically Induced Pluripotency in Stem Cell

A quantum model on the chemically and physically induced pluripotency in stem cells is proposed. Based on the conformational Hamiltonian and the idea of slow variables (molecular torsions) slaving fast ones the conversion from the differentiate state to pluripotent state is defined as the quantum transition between conformational states. The transitional rate is calculated and an analytical form for the rate formulas is deduced. Then the dependence of the rate on the number of torsion angles of the gene and the magnitude of the rate can be estimated by comparison with protein folding. The reaction equations of the conformational change of the pluripotency genes in chemical reprogramming are given. The characteristic time of the chemical reprogramming is calculated and the result is consistent with experiments. The dependence of the transition rate on physical factors such as temperature, PH value and the volume and shape of the coherent domain is analyzed from the rate equation. It is suggested that by decreasing the coherence degree of some pluripotency genes a more effective approach to the physically induced pluripotency can be made.
A Model of the Consumption Response to Fiscal Stimulus Payments

A wide body of empirical evidence, based on randomized experiments, finds that 20-40 percent of fiscal stimulus payments (e.g. tax rebates) are spent on non-durable household consumption in the quarter that they are received. We develop a structural economic model to interpret this evidence. Our model integrates the classical Baumol-Tobin model of money demand into the workhorse incomplete-markets life-cycle economy. In this framework, households can hold two assets: a low-return liquid asset (e.g., cash, checking account) and a high-return illiquid asset (e.g., housing, retirement account) that carries a transaction cost. The optimal life-cycle pattern of wealth accumulation implies that many households are "wealthy hand-to-mouth": they hold little or no liquid wealth despite owning sizable quantities of illiquid assets. They therefore display large propensities to consume out of additional income. We document the existence of such households in data from the Survey of Consumer Finances. A version of the model parametrized to the 2001 tax rebate episode is able to generate consumption responses to fiscal stimulus payments that are in line with the data.
What Viewers Want: Assessing the Impact of Host Bias on Viewer Engagement with Political Talk Shows

How do different types of host partisanship affect viewers of political talk shows? An experiment replicated on 2 age cohorts examines how different manifestations of partisanship in the cable news environment —explicit partisanship in which the host makes clear his views, and implicit partisanship in which the host gives more time to the guest on 1 side of an argument—affect viewers’ engagement with and credibility assessment of the program. While adults find congruent partisan news hosts more engaging and credible but are unaffected by subtler partisanship, young adults find congruent partisan news hosts more engaging but not more credible, and their perceptions of credibility are affected by subtle partisanship. This may help explain why partisan hosts proliferate but still invite guests from both sides of the aisle.
An improved LSB image steganography technique using bit-inverse in 24 bit colour image

Steganography is an art of disguising the fact that communication is going on by concealing information in other information. In general, the communication carrier can be files in many formats; however, digital images are the most common due to their frequent use on the Internet. This paper introduces an improvement on the standard least significant bit (LSB)-based image steganography technique and proposes the bit inversion method that improves the stego-images quality in 24-bit colour image. A stego-image is the outcome of an image (usually called the cover image), after a secret message is hidden in it. In this technique, the LSB’s of some pixels of the cover image are inverted, when inputs of specific patterns of some bits related to the pixels are found. In this way, less number of pixels is modified in comparison to the standard LSB method. Our focus is to obtain a high value ratio of the Peak Signal-to-Noise (PSNR) of the stego-image, to make sure that both stego-image and the original image are difficult to discern by human eyes. The proposed bit inversion method starts with the last LSBs of both green and blue colour planes that will be replaced by the first and the second most significant bits (MSB) of the secret image. The proposed method introduces two additional levels of security to the standard LSB steganography. The first level is that because only the green and blue colours are used, instead of three colors red, green, and blue in the standard LSB, the red colour will act as noise data, and thus increases the complexity of an attacker, when he/she tries to retrieve the secret message. The second level exploits the new bit inversion technique that reverses the bits of the image pixels after applying the standard LSB. Experiments have been conducted using a collection of standard images to evaluate the proposed technique, which give the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) values of 72, 61, and 70 for Lena.jpg, Babbon.jpg, and Pepper.jpg respectively. From the experiment, we also observed that by using the bit inverse technique, less numbers of pixels are modified compared with the standard LSB method.
An investigation of the role of carbonic anhydrase in aquatic and aerial gas transfer in the African lungfish Protopterus dolloi

SUMMARY Experiments were performed on bimodally breathing African lungfish Protopterus dolloi to examine the effects of inhibition of extracellular vs total (extracellular and intracellular) carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity on pulmonary and branchial/cutaneous gas transfer. In contrast to previous studies on Protopterus, which showed that the vast majority of CO2 is excreted into the water through the gill and/or skin whereas O2 uptake largely occurs via the lung, P. dolloi appeared to use the lung for the bulk of both O2 uptake (91.0±2.9%) and CO2 excretion (76.0±6.6%). In support of the lung as the more important site of CO2 transfer, aerial hypercapnia (PCO2=40 mmHg) caused a significant rise in partial pressure of arterial blood CO2 (PaCO2) whereas a similar degree of aquatic hypercapnia was without effect on PaCO2. Intravascular injection of low levels (1.2 mg kg-1) of the slowly permanent CA inhibitor, benzolamide, was without effect on red blood cell CA activity after 30 min, thus confirming its suitability as a short-term selective inhibitor of extracellular CA. Benzolamide treatment did not affect CO2 excretion, blood acid–base status or any other measured variable within the 30 min measurement period. Injection of the permeant CA inhibitor acetazolamide (30 mg kg-1) resulted in the complete inhibition of red cell CA activity within 10 min. However, CO2 excretion (measured for 2 h after injection) and arterial blood acid–base status (assessed for 24 h after injection) were unaffected by acetazolamide treatment. Intra-arterial injection of bovine CA (2 mg kg-1) caused a significant increase in overall CO2 excretion (from 0.41±0.03 to 0.58±0.03 mmol kg-1 h-1) and an increase in air breathing frequency (from 19.0±1.3 to 24.7±1.8 breaths min-1) that was accompanied by a slight, but significant, reduction in PaCO2 (from 21.6±1.6 to 19.6±1.8 mmHg). The findings of this study are significant because they (i) demonstrate that, unlike in other species of African lungfish that have been examined, the gill/skin is not the major route of CO2 excretion in P. dolloi, and (ii) suggest that CO2 excretion in Protopterus may be less reliant on carbonic anhydrase than in most other fish species.
Physical activity and interaction for less active pupils at elementary school: The experiences of teachers and parents

The aim of this study was to explore how teachers and parents experience and reflect on participation and interaction with and between less active fifth-grade pupils in physically active academic lessons, in the school playground and during physical activity homework. This study formed part of the Active Smarter Kids study investigating the effects of daily physical activity on academic performance and health, and generated qualitative data from focus group interviews with teachers and parents. We identified three main themes: (1) aiming at and planning for interaction – a critical prerequisite for learning; (2) negotiating collaborative interaction during activities at school; and (3) facilitating physical activity at home through collaboration. The promotion of collaborative interaction appeared as a powerful means of facilitating learning in physically active academic lessons at school and at home for less active pupils.
Cooperative stabilization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis rrnAP3 promoter open complexes by RbpA and CarD

The essential mycobacterial transcriptional regulators RbpA and CarD act to modulate transcription by associating to the initiation complex and increasing the flux of transcript production. Each of these factors interacts directly with the promoter DNA template and with RNA polymerase (RNAP) holoenzyme. We recently reported on the energetics of CarD-mediated open complex stabilization on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis rrnAP3 ribosomal promoter using a stopped-flow fluorescence assay. Here, we apply this approach to RbpA and show that RbpA stabilizes RNAP-promoter open complexes (RPo) via a distinct mechanism from that of CarD. Furthermore, concentration-dependent stopped-flow experiments with both factors reveal positive linkage (cooperativity) between RbpA and CarD with regard to their ability to stabilize RPo. The observation of positive linkage between RbpA and CarD demonstrates that the two factors can act on the same transcription initiation complex simultaneously. Lastly, with both factors present, the kinetics of open complex formation is significantly faster than in the presence of either factor alone and approaches that of E. coli RNAP on the same promoter. This work provides a quantitative framework for the molecular mechanisms of these two essential transcription factors and the critical roles they play in the biology and pathology of mycobacteria.
Do Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies Contain Dark Matter?

The amount of dark matter in the four Galactic dwarf spheroidal galaxies with large mass-to-light ratios is investigated. Sextans has a cutoff radius that is equal to the expected tidal radius, assuming a high mass-to-light ratio. This satellite very likely is dark matter-dominated. Carina, Ursa Minor, and Draco, on the other hand, cannot contain a dominating dark matter component if the observed “extratidal” stars are located exterior to the tidal radii of these systems. The evidence for tidal stripping in the absence of dark matter is also supported by the fact that the observed cutoff radii of all three satellites are equal to their tidal radii, assuming a low, globular cluster-like mass-to-light ratio. The large velocity dispersions of these galaxies, on the other hand, provide strong evidence for a massive dark matter component. In this case, the “extratidal” stars lie deeply embedded in the dark matter potential wells of the satellites. These stars then would represent a gravitationally bound, extended stellar component of unknown origin.
College students' development of social support and its relationship to pre -orientation experiences

The work of any life transition involves specific tasks, often including the re-establishment of social support in a variety of forms (Weiss, 1974). College students are particularly affected by transition, often disrupting established support systems while transitioning into adulthood. To assist with this transition, campuses offer a number of services (e.g., admissions/alumni programs, campus visits, pre-orientation programs, first-year orientation, first-year seminars). Such services are defined in this study as Comprehensive Transitional Programs (CTP). Little is known about how CTP impact social support. This study focused on adapting the Campus Focused Social Provisions Scale (CF-SPS), as an instrument to measure social support, and investigate whether students in different pre-orientation experiences reported different levels of social provisions on the CF-SPS. The study was conducted at Harvard and Princeton universities because of their similar pre-orientation programs (i.e., wilderness, service, and pre-season athletics) and similar population demographics. A sample (n = 1601) of first-year and sophomore students was categorized by pre-orientation experiences and analyzed by numerous demographic variables (e.g., ease of making friends, number of roommates). A factor analysis resulted in a three-factor model for the CF-SPS, resulting in a high overall scale reliability (alpha = .94). A ttest showed no significant differences between schools, but a MANOVA indicated participants on wilderness orientation programs reported significantly higher levels of overall social provision scores and also in all six CF-SPS sub factors. Pre-season athletes reported significant differences on the sub-factor social integration (i.e., belonging to a group sharing your interest and values) (p < .05). Service programs reported no significant differences. A MLR indicated the variable "ease of making friends" as explaining the largest variance of any models (R2 = 20%--14%). Both women and sophomores were more likely to report higher levels of social provisions on campus, except with the variable of social integration. The study proposes new models for social provision development on campus (e.g., the primacy of social integration) and indicates areas for future research. The study was exploratory and somewhat limited by lack of specific controls for selection bias and inability to access a control/matched comparison group.
Autonomous Emergency Braking: A System-of-Systems perspective

In June 2012 the Ratings Group of EURO-NCAP published a strategic roadmap of the NCAP organization about the required safety features of new cars up to the year 2016. According to this roadmap Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS) to detect and protect pedestrians should be deployed on a wide scale in new cars by the year 2016. In a car equipped with an AEBS there are two autonomous systems that compete for the control over the car, the human driver and the AEBS. In this paper we analyze the coordination of these two autonomous subsystems from the perspective of System-of-Systems in order to avoid the emergence of detrimental behavior and elaborate on the dependability mechanisms required to ensure safe operation.
An Adaptable-Multilayer Fractional Fourier Transform Approach for Image Registration

A novel adaptable accurate way for calculating polar FFT and log-polar FFT is developed in this paper, named multilayer fractional Fourier transform (MLFFT). MLFFT is a necessary addition to the pseudo-polar FFT for the following reasons: It has lower interpolation errors in both polar and log-polar Fourier transforms; it reaches better accuracy with the nearly same computing complexity as the pseudo-polar FFT; it provides a mechanism to increase the accuracy by increasing the user-defined computing level. This paper demonstrates both MLFFT itself and its advantages theoretically and experimentally. By emphasizing applications of MLFFT in image registration with rotation and scaling, our experiments suggest two major advantages of MLFFT: 1) scaling up to 5 and arbitrary rotation angles, or scales up to 10 without rotation can be recovered by MLFFT while currently the result recovered by the state-of-the-art algorithms is the maximum scaling of 4; 2) No iteration is needed to obtain large rotation and scaling values of images by MLFFT, hence it is more efficient than the pseudopolar-based FFT methods for image registration.