Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic and neurochemical modulation of prefrontal cognitive functions in children.

OBJECTIVE The catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene affects how long dopamine acts in the prefrontal cortex. The Methionine polymorphism, which results in a slower breakdown of prefrontal dopamine, is associated with better adult prefrontal cortex function. The authors investigated the relation between the COMT gene polymorphism and cognitive performance in children. METHOD Children were tested on cognitive tasks that depend on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and seem to be sensitive to the level of dopamine there (dots-mixed task), depend on that neural region but appear insensitive to its dopamine content (self-ordered pointing), and depend on other neural systems (recall memory and mental rotation). After data collection, cheek swabs were obtained from all children. DNA was extracted and genotyped for the COMT gene with polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Children who were homozygous for the Methionine polymorphism performed significantly better on the dots-mixed task but not on others. CONCLUSIONS The findings provide an existence proof that genotypic differences can relate to differences in cognitive performance in typically developing children. The authors achieved a level of specificity never previously attempted; the COMT polymorphism was found to be differentially related to performance on tasks linked to the same prefrontal region by whether cognitive requirements of the tasks were sensitive to the level of dopamine found. These results challenge accepted notions that since dopamine is important for some cognitive functions dependent on the prefrontal cortex, it is important for all. The differential sensitivity of distinct cognitive abilities to specific neurotransmitters may make possible targeted pharmacological interventions.
In Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial and Antimycobacterial Activities of Solanum guaraniticum A. St.-Hil. Leaves

Article history: With the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, it becomes necessary to search for new alternatives for the treatment of infectious diseases. Solanum guaraniticum is a shrub known as jurubeba or false jurubeba that has hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities, used in popular medicine for the treatment of various diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial and antimycobacterial activities of crude extract, chloroforn, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions from its leaves. Good activities were observed for the ethyl acetate fraction against Staphylococcus intermedius and Listeria monocytogenes (MIC = 64 µg/mL) and for the crude extract against Micrococcus luteus (MIC = 32 µg/mL). In general, the extracts showed moderate activity against Gram-positive bacteria, and were inactive against Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. It was also verified considerable activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis, mainly by chloroform fraction (MIC = 156 µg/mL). These results are probably due to the good antioxidant activity and to the presence of high contents of polyphenols, tannins and alkaloids, metabolites known to possess antimicrobial activity. Studies aiming the isolation of compounds are necessary in order to know the main component involved in these activities, since the plant has an antimicrobial potential.
A collisional perspective on quadrupedal gait dynamics

The analysis of terrestrial locomotion over the past half century has focused largely on strategies of mechanical energy recovery used during walking and running. In contrast, we describe the underlying mechanics of legged locomotion as a collision-like interaction that redirects the centre of mass (CoM). We introduce the collision angle, determined by the angle between the CoM force and velocity vectors, and show by computing the collision fraction, a ratio of actual to potential collision, that the quadrupedal walk and gallop employ collision-reduction strategies while the trot permits greater collisions. We provide the first experimental evidence that a collision-based approach can differentiate quadrupedal gaits and quantify interspecific differences. Furthermore, we show that this approach explains the physical basis of a commonly used locomotion metric, the mechanical cost of transport. Collision angle and collision fraction provide a unifying analysis of legged locomotion which can be applied broadly across animal size, leg number and gait.
Strain Hardening Behavior of Ultrafine‐ Grained Cu by Analyzing the Tensile Stress‐Strain Curve

UFG Cu was found to experience two stages of strain hardening processes under uniaxial tensile stress, which was similar to the Stage IV and V of CG Cu after large plastic deformation. The storage of dislocations in small grains and dynamic recovery caused by annihilation of dislocations and GB-mediated processes were responsible for the different stages of strain hardening behavior. Improvement of strain hardening capability for UFG metals should be based on the mechanisms of strain hardening.
N-terminal truncation of the scrapie-associated form of PrP by lysosomal protease(s): implications regarding the site of conversion of PrP to the protease-resistant state

Scrapie and related transmissible spongiform encephalopathies result in the accumulation of a protease-resistant form of an endogenous brain protein called PrP. As an approach to understanding the scrapie-associated modification of PrP, we have studied the processing and sedimentation properties of protease-resistant PrP (PrP-res) in scrapie-infected mouse neuroblastoma cells. Like brain-derived PrP-res, the neuroblastoma cell PrP-res aggregated in detergent lysates, providing evidence that the tendency to aggregate is an intrinsic property of PrP-res and not merely a secondary consequence of degenerative brain pathology. The PrP-res species had lower apparent molecular masses than the normal, protease-sensitive PrP species and were not affected by moderate treatments with proteinase K. This suggested that the PrP-res species were partially proteolyzed by the neuroblastoma cells. Immunoblot analysis of PrP-res with a panel of monospecific anti-PrP peptide sera confirmed that the PrP-res species were quantitatively truncated at the N terminus. The metabolic labeling of PrP-res in serum-free medium did not prevent the proteolysis of PrP-res, showing that the protease(s) involved was cellular rather than serum-derived. The PrP-res truncation was inhibited in intact cells by leupeptin and NH4Cl. This provided evidence that a lysosomal protease(s) was involved, and therefore, that PrP-res was translocated to lysosomes. When considered with other studies, these results imply that the conversion of PrP to the protease-resistant state occurs in the plasma membrane or along an endocytic pathway before PrP-res is exposed to endosomal and lysosomal proteases.
Crustal loading near Great Salt Lake, Utah

Two sites of the BARGEN GPS network are located ∼30 km south of Great Salt Lake (GSL). Lake‐level records since mid‐1996 indicate seasonal water elevation variations of ∼0.3 m amplitude superimposed on a roughly “decadal” feature of amplitude ∼0.6 m. Using an elastic Green's function and a simplified load geometry for GSL, we calculate that these variations translate into radial crustal loading signals of ±0.5 mm (seasonal) and ±1 mm (decadal). The horizontal loading signals are a factor of ∼2 smaller. Despite the small size of the expected loading signals, we conclude that we can observe them using GPS time series for the coordinates of these two sites. The observed amplitudes of the variations agree with the predicted decadal variations to <0.5 mm. The observed annual variations, however, disagree; this difference may be caused by some combination of local precipitation‐induced site motion, unmodeled loading from other nearby sources, errors in the GSL model, and atmospheric errors.
Measurement of dielectric and magnetic properties of soil

The possibility of subsurface imaging using SAR technology has generated a considerable amount of interest in recent years. One requirement for the successful development of a subsurface imagin system is an understanding of how the soil affects the signal. In response to a need for an electromagnetic characterization of the soil properties, the Radar/Antenna department has developed a measurement system which determines the soils complex electric permittivity and magnetic permeability at UHF frequencies. The one way loss in dB is also calculated using the measured values. There are many reports of measurements of the electric properties of soil in the literature. However, most of these are primarily concerned with measuring only a real dielectric constant. Because some soils have ferromagnetic constituents it is desirable to measure both the electric and magnetic properties of the soil.
Video Rewrite: Driving Visual Speech with Audio

Video Rewrite uses existing footage to create automatically new video of a person mouthing words that she did not speak in the original footage. This technique is useful in movie dubbing, for example, where the movie sequence can be modified to sync the actors' lip motions to the new soundtrack. Video Rewrite automatically labels the phonemes in the training data and in the new audio track. Video Rewrite reorders the mouth images in the training footage to match the phoneme sequence of the new audio track. When particular phonemes are unavailable in the training footage, Video Rewrite selects the closest approximations. The resulting sequence of mouth images is stitched into the background footage. This stitching process automatically corrects for differences in head position and orientation between the mouth images and the background footage. Video Rewrite uses computer-vision techniques to track points on the speaker's mouth in the training footage, and morphing techniques to combine these mouth gestures into the final video sequence. The new video combines the dynamics of the original actor's articulations with the mannerisms and setting dictated by the background footage. Video Rewrite is the first facial-animation system to automate all the labeling and assembly tasks required to resync existing footage to a new soundtrack.
Brief report: cognitive functioning in children with Tourette's syndrome with and without comorbid ADHD.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether patients with Tourette's syndrome (TS) with and without comorbid attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differ in cognitive functioning and whether a higher level of cognitive functioning is associated with severity of TS symptoms and psychosocial functioning. METHODS Cognitive functioning, symptom severity, and psychosocial functioning were examined in 40 patients (33 boys, 7 girls; age range 6-18 years) with TS, of whom 17 had the comorbid diagnosis of ADHD. RESULTS Patients with a comorbid ADHD diagnosis evidenced poorer performance than those with TS alone with respect to severity of TS symptoms, psychosocial functioning, verbal and performance intelligence, and word fluency, but not on tests of cognitive flexibility. Psychosocial functioning was predicted by symptom severity, but not by intelligence or fluency. CONCLUSIONS Results confirm prior findings that comorbid ADHD is associated with more TS symptoms and worse psychosocial and cognitive functioning, and motivate whether cognitive flexibility plays a role in moderating the deleterious psychosocial effects of Tourette's syndrome and ADHD.
Genome-wide characterization of new and drought stress responsive microRNAs in Populus euphratica

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that play essential roles in plant growth, development, and stress response. Populus euphratica is a typical abiotic stress-resistant woody species. This study presents an efficient method for genome-wide discovery of new drought stress responsive miRNAs in P. euphratica. High-throughput sequencing of P. euphratica leaves found 197 conserved miRNAs between P. euphratica and Populus trichocarpa. Meanwhile, 58 new miRNAs belonging to 38 families were identified, an increase in the number of P. euphratica miRNAs. Twenty-six new and 21 conserved miRNA targets were verified by degradome sequencing, and target annotation showed that these targets were involved in multiple biological processes, including transcriptional regulation and response to stimulus. Furthermore, comparison of high-throughput sequencing with miRNA microarray profiling data indicated that 104 miRNA sequences were up-regulated, whereas 27 were down-regulated under drought stress. This preliminary characterization provides a framework for future analysis of miRNA genes and their roles in key poplar traits such as stress resistance, and could be useful for plant breeding and environmental protection
Germination and Emergence Characteristics of Common Beggar's-Tick (Bidens alba)

Abstract Common beggar's-tick is an annual weed commonly found in citrus groves in Florida. A series of laboratory and greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the germination response of common beggar's-tick to various environmental factors that influence seed survival, germination, and dormancy. The results suggest that common beggar's-tick germinated over a wide range of temperatures (15 to 40 C) and in both alternating light and dark and dark conditions. New seeds (collected in 2010) germinated better than the old seeds (collected in 2007) at 15/10 C; however, at temperatures above 35 C, the old seeds germinated better. The highest germination was 95% at 25 to 30 C with old seeds compared to 78 to 86% at 20 to 30 C with new seeds. Germination of common beggar's-tick was inhibited at osmotic potential above −0.6 MPa and salt concentrations of 320 mM. Highest germination in common beggar's-tick was found under neutral conditions (pH 7); germination decreased sharply under increasing acidity and alkalinity. Emergence decreased as depth of sowing increased, with greatest germination (89 to 91%) occurring when sown at the surface (0 cm) regardless of seed age. No germination was observed when seeds were buried at 10 cm. Results of this study suggest that favorable temperature and soil pH, and adequate moisture in Florida ensures the germination and continued presence of common beggar's-tick. Nomenclature: Common beggar's-tick, Bidens alba (L.) D.C.
Stomatal Development and Patterning Are Regulated by Environmentally Responsive Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases in Arabidopsis[W]

Stomata are specialized epidermal structures that regulate gas (CO2 and O2) and water vapor exchange between plants and their environment. In Arabidopsis thaliana, stomatal development is preceded by asymmetric cell divisions, and stomatal distribution follows the one-cell spacing rule, reflecting the coordination of cell fate specification. Stomatal development and patterning are regulated by both genetic and environmental signals. Here, we report that Arabidopsis MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE3 (MPK3) and MPK6, two environmentally responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and their upstream MAPK kinases, MKK4 and MKK5, are key regulators of stomatal development and patterning. Loss of function of MKK4/MKK5 or MPK3/MPK6 disrupts the coordinated cell fate specification of stomata versus pavement cells, resulting in the formation of clustered stomata. Conversely, activation of MKK4/MKK5-MPK3/MPK6 causes the suppression of asymmetric cell divisions and stomatal cell fate specification, resulting in a lack of stomatal differentiation. We further establish that the MKK4/MKK5-MPK3/MPK6 module is downstream of YODA, a MAPKKK. The establishment of a complete MAPK signaling cascade as a key regulator of stomatal development and patterning advances our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of intercellular signaling events that coordinate cell fate specification during stomatal development.
Color-based and context-aware skin detection for online video annotation

By analyzing the low level features of images only, skin detection in visual data cannot be solved. To compensate for this major drawback of many approaches, we combine a state of the art recognition algorithm with color model based skin detection. Detected faces in videos are the basis for adaptive skin-color models, which are propagated throughout the video, providing a more precise and accurate model in its recognition performance than pure color based approaches. The approach is able to run in real-time and does not need prior dataspecific training. We received challenging online videos from an online service provider and use additional videos from public web platforms covering a grand variety of different skin-colors, illumination circumstances, image quality and difficulty levels. In an extensive evaluation we estimated the best performing parameters and decide on the best model propagation techniques. We show that adaptive model propagation outperforms static low level detection.
Effects of Alpha-Lactalbumin or Whey Protein Isolate on Muscle Damage, Muscle Pain, and Mood States Following Prolonged Strenuous Endurance Exercise

This study compared the effect of alpha-lactalbumin and whey protein on muscle damage, muscle pain, and mood states during short term recovery following strenuous prolonged exercise. In a two-stage crossover counterbalanced design, 12 endurance male runners were recruited (age: 30.4 ± 2.8 year, height: 172.7 ± 5.6 cm, body mass: 66.7 ± 6.5 kg, VO2max: 58.0 ± 6.9 ml/kg−/min), ran for 90 min at 70% VO2max, and followed by a 4-h recovery. Two treatments (carbohydrate+alpha-lactalbumin, CA; carbohydrate+whey protein isolate, CW) were applied during the main trials. During the first 2-h of recovery, CHO was served at the rate of 0.66 g/kg/h and PRO at 0.34 g/kg/h every 30 min. Creatine kinase (CK), interleukin-6 (IL-6), salivary cortisol, rating of muscle pain, pressure pain threshold (PPT), and mood states were evaluated before (Pre-ex), immediately (Post-ex0), 2 h (Post-ex2h) and 4 h (Post-ex4h) after exercise. 24 h after exercise (Post-ex24h), CK and IL-6, muscle pain, and PPT were evaluated. Compared with Pre-ex, Post-ex24h CK was higher in both trials of CA (398.16 ± 41.37 vs. 184.77 ± 22.68 IU/L, P = 0.039) and CW (418.17 ± 67.86 vs. 202.41 ± 22.26 IU/L, P = 0.037). IL-6 was also higher than Pre-ex at Post-ex0 and Post-ex2h in trials of CA (Post-ex0 vs. Pre-ex0: 7.87 ± 0.74 vs. 1.69 ± 0.23, P < 0.01; Post-ex2h vs. Pre-ex0: 5.39 ± 0.88 vs. 1.69 ± 0.23, P = 0.02) and CW (Post-ex0 vs. Pre-ex0: 8.63 ± 1.06 vs. 1.59 ± 0.19, P < 0.01; Post-ex2h vs. Pre-ex0: 5.75 ± 1.33 vs. 1.59 ± 0.19, P < 0.01). No difference was found in CK and IL-6 between two trials at all time points (all P > 0.05). Compared with Pre-ex0, salivary cortisol was elevated at Post-ex0 in both trials (CA: 0.96 ± 0.13 vs. 0.41 ± 0.05 ng/ml, P < 0.01; CW: 1.15 ± 0.18 vs. 0.43 ± 0.06 ng/ml, P < 0.01) and was lower at Post-ex24h than Pre-ex in CA trial (0.17 ± 0.02 vs. 0.41 ± 0.05 ng/ml, P < 0.01). Compared with CW, PPT was higher at Post-2h in CA trial (31.55 ± 3.09 vs. 26.99 ± 2.32 N/cm2, P < 0.01). Compared with Post-ex0, feeling of fatigue was lower at Post-ex2h (P = 0.014) and Post-ex4h (P < 0.01) in CA, while it was lower at Post-ex4h (P = 0.038) in CW. Compared with CW, feeling of fatigue was marginally lower in the CA trial at Post-ex2h (P = 0.056). In conclusion, compared with the co-ingestion of CHO and whey PRO isolate, co-ingestion of CHO and alpha-lactalbumin reduced sensitivity to the muscle pain, attenuated feeling of fatigue and was more beneficial to reduce the feeling of fatigue and cortisol responses during 4-h recovery following 90-min running at 70% VO2max.
Fluid Flow Effects on Intermetallic Phases in Al-cast Alloys

In this paper we present an experimental study of the influence of controlled fluid flow conditions during solidification on the morphology and spatial arrangement of intermetallic phases in the alloy Al-7wt. %Si-1wt. %Fe. The forced convections are induced by a rotating magnetic field with a magnetic induction of 6mT at a frequency of 50Hz. The ternary alloy Al-7wt. %Si-1wt. %Fe and its binary counterpart Al-7wt. %Si are solidified directionally over a range of constant solidification velocities (0.015- 0.18mm/s) at a constant temperature gradient G of 3K/mm. The scientific results reached so far indicate a strong influence of the electromagnetic stirring on the microstructure of the samples: It is found that the coarse alpha-phase (alpha-Al 5 FeSi) platelets, which form during solidification of Al-cast alloys containing Fe, in interaction with the rotating magnetic field change all relations between microstructural parameters like primary and secondary dendrite arm spacing and solidification velocity and time respectively.
A novel approach to the estimation of voice source and vocal tract parameters from speech signals

The paper presents a novel adaptive pitch-synchronous analysis method for simultaneous estimation of voice source and vocal tract (formant/antiformant) parameters from the speech signal. The method uses a parametric Rosenberg-Klatt model to generate a glottal waveform and an autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX) model for representing the speech production process. The time-varying coefficients of the model are estimated with an adaptive algorithm based on a Kalman filter, while the parameters of the Rosenberg-Klatt model are optimized using the simulated annealing method. In addition, a new hybrid error criterion is used to optimize the glottal opening instant. Furthermore, in order to estimate the fundamental period parameter T/sub 0/, it is defined as two successive glottal closure instants, and is estimated automatically based on the obtained differentiated glottal waveform. Experiments using two-channel speech signals (speech and electroglottograph (EGG) signal) and continuous speech show a good estimation performance.
Selective Overexpression of the Hypoxia-Inducible Transcription Factor, HIF-2α, in Placentas from Women with Preeclampsia1

Abstract Transcription factors orchestrate the development of extraembryonic tissues. Because placental hypoxia likely plays an important role in both normal and abnormal placentation, we have been investigating the hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) in the human placenta. In this report, we focus on the placentas from women with preeclampsia. Because the placenta is a large, heterogeneous organ, we employed a systematic and unbiased approach to placental sampling, and our results are based on the analyses of eight biopsy sites per placenta. We observed no significant differences in HIF-1α or -2α mRNA expression between normal term and preeclamptic placentas. Nor was HIF protein expression significantly different, with the notable exception of HIF-2α, which, on average, was increased by 1.7-fold in the preeclamptic placentas (P < 0.03 vs. normal term placentas). Considering all 48 paired placental biopsy sites (eight sites each for six normal term and six preeclamptic placentas), HIF-2α protein levels in the preeclamptic placentas exceeded those in the normal term placentas in 39, or 81%, of the paired sites (P < 0.0013). The HIF-2α immunoreactivity was mainly located in the nuclei of the syncytiotrophoblast and fetoplacental vascular endothelium in the preeclamptic villous placenta. To control for the earlier gestational age of the preeclamptic placentas, an additional group of placentas from preterm deliveries without preeclampsia were also evaluated. The HIF protein expression was comparable in these preterm specimens and the normal term placentas. We conclude that protein expression of HIF-2α, but not of HIF-1α or -1β, is selectively increased in the preeclamptic placenta. The molecular mechanism(s) of this abnormality as well as the genes affected downstream are currently under investigation. To our knowledge, this is the first report of abnormal HIF-2α expression in human disease other than cancer.