Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of apoptosis in the synovium of mice with autoantibody-mediated arthritis by the intraarticular injection of double-stranded MicroRNA-15a.

OBJECTIVE MicroRNA is a family of noncoding RNAs that exhibit tissue-specific or developmental stage-specific expression patterns and are associated with human diseases. MicroRNA-15a (miR-15a) is reported to induce cell apoptosis by negatively regulating the expression of Bcl-2, which suppresses the apoptotic processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether double-stranded miR-15a administered by intraarticular injection could be taken up by cells and could induce Bcl-2 dysfunction and cell apoptosis in the synovium of arthritic mice in vivo. METHODS Autoantibody-mediated arthritis was induced in male DBA/1J mice. In the experimental group, double-stranded miR-15a labeled with FAM-atelocollagen complex was injected into the knee joint. In the control group, control small interfering RNA-atelocollagen complex was injected into the knee joint. Synovial expression of miR-15a was analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, FAM by fluorescence microscopy, Bcl-2 by Western blotting, and Bcl-2 and caspase 3 by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The expression of miR-15a in the synovium of the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group. Green fluorescence emission of FAM was observed in the synovium of the experimental group. Bcl-2 protein was down-regulated and the expression of caspase 3 was increased as compared with that in the control group. CONCLUSION These results indicate that the induction of cell apoptosis after intraarticular injection of double-stranded miR-15a occurs through inhibition of the translation of Bcl-2 protein in arthritic synovium.
Fungal Resistance to Plant Antibiotics as a Mechanism of Pathogenesis

SUMMARY Many plants produce low-molecular-weight compounds which inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi in vitro. These compounds may be preformed inhibitors that are present constitutively in healthy plants (also known as phytoanticipins), or they may be synthesized in response to pathogen attack (phytoalexins). Successful pathogens must be able to circumvent or overcome these antifungal defenses, and this review focuses on the significance of fungal resistance to plant antibiotics as a mechanism of pathogenesis. There is increasing evidence that resistance of fungal pathogens to plant antibiotics can be important for pathogenicity, at least for some fungus-plant interactions. This evidence has emerged largely from studies of fungal degradative enzymes and also from experiments in which plants with altered levels of antifungal secondary metabolites were generated. Whereas the emphasis to date has been on degradative mechanisms of resistance of phytopathogenic fungi to antifungal secondary metabolites, in the future we are likely to see a rapid expansion in our knowledge of alternative mechanisms of resistance. These may include membrane efflux systems of the kind associated with multidrug resistance and innate resistance due to insensitivity of the target site. The manipulation of plant biosynthetic pathways to give altered antibiotic profiles will also be valuable in telling us more about the significance of antifungal secondary metabolites for plant defense and clearly has great potential for enhancing disease resistance for commercial purposes.
Comparative genome analysis of Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN reveals a wide spectrum of endophytic lifestyles based on interaction strategies with host plants

Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN is a naturally occurring plant-associated bacterial endophyte that effectively colonizes a wide range of plants and stimulates their growth and vitality. Here we analyze whole genomes, of PsJN and of eight other endophytic bacteria. This study illustrates that a wide spectrum of endophytic life styles exists. Although we postulate the existence of typical endophytic traits, no unique gene cluster could be exclusively linked to the endophytic lifestyle. Furthermore, our study revealed a high genetic diversity among bacterial endophytes as reflected in their genotypic and phenotypic features. B. phytofirmans PsJN is in many aspects outstanding among the selected endophytes. It has the biggest genome consisting of two chromosomes and one plasmid, well-equipped with genes for the degradation of complex organic compounds and detoxification, e.g., 24 glutathione-S-transferase (GST) genes. Furthermore, strain PsJN has a high number of cell surface signaling and secretion systems and harbors the 3-OH-PAME quorum-sensing system that coordinates the switch of free-living to the symbiotic lifestyle in the plant-pathogen R. solanacearum. The ability of B. phytofirmans PsJN to successfully colonize such a wide variety of plant species might be based on its large genome harboring a broad range of physiological functions.
Development of choline acetyltransferase (CAT) in the sympathetic innervation of rat sweat glands

It has been postulated that the developing sympathetic innervation of rat eccrine sweat glands changes from adrenergic to cholinergic under the influence of its target. In agreement with previous evidence that the sympathetic innervation of adult rat sweat glands is cholinergic, we found that choline acetyltransferase (CAT)-immunoreactive nerve fibers are present in adult glands, and that gland-rich chunks of adult footpads contain CAT enzyme activity. We were therefore interested in determining when CAT activity is first expressed in the developing gland innervation. Low levels of acetylating activity were observed in rat footpads as early as postnatal day 4, when sympathetic fibers first contact the glands. A greater than fourfold increase in CAT specific activity occurred between postnatal days 11 and 21. Neonatal treatment of rats with the adrenergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) eliminated most of the CAT activity in 14 and 19 d footpads. In contrast, the acetylating activity observed prior to day 11 was unaffected by neonatal 6-OHDA treatment, and only slightly reduced by the selective CAT inhibitor, naphthylvinylpyridine. These results indicate that the sympathetic fibers that innervate rat sweat glands do not acquire detectable levels of CAT activity until a full week after they contact the glands.
Cutaneous Side Effects of Antiosteoporosis Treatments

Cutaneous adverse reactions are reported for many therapeutic agents and, in general, are observed in between 0% and 8% of treated patients depending on the drug. Antiosteoporotic agents are considered to be safe in terms of cutaneous effects, however there have been a number of case reports of cutaneous adverse reactions which warrant consideration. This was the subject of a working group meeting of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis in April 2009, which focused on the impact of cutaneous adverse reactions and drug-induced hypersensitivity in the management of postmenopausal osteoporosis. This position paper was drafted following these discussions and includes a flowchart for their recognition. Cutaneous adverse reactions observed with antiosteoporotic agents were reviewed and included information from case reports, regulatory documents and pharmacovigilance. These reactions ranged from benign effects including exanthematous or maculopapular eruption (drug rash), photosensitivity and urticaria, to the severe and potentially life-threatening reactions of angioedema, drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), Stevens Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. A review of the available evidence demonstrates that cutaneous adverse reactions occur with all commonly used antiosteoporotic treatments. Notably, there are reports of Stevens Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis for bisphosphonates, and of DRESS and toxic epidermal necrolysis for strontium ranelate. These severe reactions remain very rare (<1 in 10,000 cases). In general, with proper management and early recognition, including immediate and permanent withdrawal of the culprit agent, accompanied by hospitalization, rehydration and systemic corticosteroids if necessary, the prognosis is positive.
Boll Weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Survival through Cotton Gin Trash Fans

Abstract There is concern that cotton gins may serve as loci for reintroduction of boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, to eradicated or suppressed zones when processing weevil-infested cotton from neighboring zones. Previous work has shown that virtually all weevils entering the gin in the seed cotton will be removed before they reach the gin stand. Those not killed by the seed cotton cleaning machinery will be shunted alive into the trash fraction, which passes through a centrifugal trash fan before exiting the gin. The objective of this study was to determine survival potential of boll weevils passed through a trash fan. Marked adult weevils were distributed in gin trash and fed through a 82.6-cm (32.5-in.) diameter centrifugal fan operated across a range of fan-tip speeds. A small number of boll weevils were recovered alive immediately after passage through the fan, but all were severely injured and did not survive 24 h. In another experiment, green bolls infested with both adult- and larval-stage weevils were fed through the fan. Several teneral adults survived 24 h, and there was no evidence that fan-tip speed affected either initial survival of weevils, or the number of unbroken boll locks that could harbor an infesting weevil. Thus, designating a minimum fan-tip speed for ensuring complete kill is not possible for the boll weevil. Experiments suggest that a device installed in a gin that partially crushes or cracks bolls open before entering a trash fan will increase mortality, possibly enough that further precautions would be unnecessary.
Evidence of Chinese herbal medicine Duhuo Jisheng decoction for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials

Objectives Duhuo Jisheng decoction (DJD) is considered beneficial for controlling knee osteoarthritis (KOA)-related symptoms in some Asian countries. This review compiles the evidence from randomised clinical trials and quantifies the effects of DJD on KOA. Designs 7 online databases were investigated up to 12 October 2015. Randomised clinical trials investigating treatment of KOA for which DJD was used either as a monotherapy or in combination with conventional therapy compared to no intervention, placebo or conventional therapy, were included. The outcomes included the evaluation of functional activities, pain and adverse effect. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. The estimated mean difference (MD) and SMD was within a 95% CI with respect to interstudy heterogeneity. Results 12 studies with 982 participants were identified. The quality presented a high risk of bias. Meta-analysis found that DJD combined with glucosamine (MD 4.20 (1.72 to 6.69); p<0.001) or DJD plus meloxicam and glucosamine (MD 3.48 (1.59 to 5.37); p<0.001) had a more significant effect in improving Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (total WOMAC scores). Also, meta-analysis presented more remarkable pain improvement when DJD plus sodium hyaluronate injection (MD 0.89 (0.26 to 1.53); p=0.006) was used. These studies demonstrated that active treatment of DJD in combination should be practiced for at least 4 weeks. Information on the safety of DJD or comprehensive therapies was insufficient in few studies. Conclusions DJD combined with Western medicine or sodium hyaluronate injection appears to have benefits for KOA. However, the effectiveness and safety of DJD is uncertain because of the limited number of trials and low methodological quality. Therefore, practitioners should be cautious when applying DJD in daily practice. Future clinical trials should be well designed; more research is needed.
Switching between global and local levels: the level repetition effect and its hemispheric asymmetry

The global level of hierarchical stimuli (Navon’s stimuli) is typically processed quicker and better than the local level; further differential hemispheric dominance is described for local (left hemisphere, LH) and global (right hemisphere, RH) processing. However, neuroimaging and behavioral data indicate that stimulus category (letter or object) could modulate the hemispheric asymmetry for the local level processing. Besides, when the targets are unpredictably displayed at the global or local level, the participant has to switch between levels, and the magnitude of the switch cost increases with the number of repeated-level trials preceding the switch. The hemispheric asymmetries associated with level switching is an unresolved issue. LH areas may be involved in carrying over the target level information in case of level repetition. These areas may also largely participate in the processing of level-changed trials. Here we hypothesized that RH areas underly the inhibitory mechanism performed on the irrelevant level, as one of the components of the level switching process. In an experiment using a within-subject design, hierarchical stimuli were briefly presented either to the right or to the left visual field. 32 adults were instructed to identify the target at the global or local level. We assessed a possible RH dominance for the non-target level inhibition by varying the attentional demands through the manipulation of level repetitions (two or gour repeated-level trials before the switch). The behavioral data confirmed a LH specialization only for the local level processing of letter-based stimuli, and detrimental effect of increased level repetitions before a switch. Further, data provides evidence for a RH advantage in inhibiting the non-target level. Taken together, the data supports the notion of the existence of multiple mechanisms underlying level-switch effects.
Survey of ENT services in sub-Saharan Africa: little progress between 2009 and 2015

ABSTRACT Background: A 2009 survey of ENT, audiology, and speech therapy services and training opportunities in 18 Sub-Saharan African countries reported that the availability of services was extremely poor, the distribution of services was very inequitable, and training opportunities were limited. Objective: We conducted a new survey to determine the current status of ear, nose, and throat (ENT), audiology, and speech therapy services in sub-Saharan Africa. Method: This study is a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was distributed by email to an ad hoc group of ENT surgeons and audiologists in 30 sub-Saharan African countries. Data from the current survey were compared to those of a 2009 survey. The numbers of ENT surgeons, audiologists, and speech therapists/100,000 people were compared to the ratios in the United Kingdom. Results: A total of 22 countries responded to the questionnaire. When data of the 15 countries that responded in both 2009 and 2015 are compared, the number of ENT surgeons had increased by 43%, audiologists had increased by 2.5%, and speech therapists by 30%. When the 23% population growth is taken into account, the numbers of ENT surgeons, audiologists, and speech therapists per 100,000 people had declined in four countries, and there remains a severe shortfall of ENT surgeons, audiologists, and speech therapists when compared to the UK Respondents cited lack of availability of basic equipment as the most frequent limitation in providing ENT services. Other important factors causing limitations in daily practice were: lack of ENT training facilities and audiological rehabilitation, low awareness of the burden of ENT pathology, as well as poor human resources management. Conclusions: There has been a lack of progress in ENT, audiology, and speech therapy services and training opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa between 2009 and 2015. There is a need to look at increased collaboration with developed countries and non-governmental organisations, establishing new and improving existing training centres in Africa, and task-shifting of some ENT services to primary health workers.
A technique for the optimization of the parameters of technical indicators with Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms

Technical indicators (TIs) are used to interpret stock market and to predict market trends. The main difficulty in the use of TIs lies in deciding which their optimal parameter values are in each moment, since constant optimal values do not seem to exist. In this work, the use of Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) is proposed to obtain the best values of the parameters in order to help to buy and sell shares. Those parameters are applied in real time and belong to a collection of indicators. Unlike other previous approaches, the necessity of repeating the parameter optimization process each time a new data enters the system is justified, searching for the best adjustment of the parameters (and hence the TIs) in every moment. The Moving Averages Convergence-Divergence (MACD) indicator and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) oscillator have been chosen as TIs, so the MOEAs will provide the best parameters to use them on investment decisions. Experiments compare up to nine different configurations with the Buy & Hold strategy (B & H). The obtained results show that the Multi-Objective technique proposed here can greatly improve the results of the B & H strategy even operating daily. This statement is also demonstrated by comparing the results to those previously presented in the literature.
Effort discounting and its association with negative symptoms in schizophrenia

Introduction. Deficits in the initiation and persistence of goal-directed behaviour are key aspects of schizophrenia. In this study, the association between these motivational deficits and discounting of reward value in function of increasing physical effort costs was investigated. Methods. Effort-based decision-making was investigated in 40 patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects by means of an effort discounting task. To assess negative symptom severity, we made use of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms as well as objective measurements of hedonic response to stimuli and motor activity levels. Results. Patients as well as control subjects discounted the subjective value of rewards significantly with increasing physical effort costs. However, we failed to find a difference in the discounting curves between patients and controls. Furthermore, effort discounting was not associated with any of the negative symptoms measures. Conclusions. Physical effort discounting was not found to be associated with motivational symptoms in schizophrenia if other decision costs are constant. However, recent findings show that more cognitive effort and/or an interaction between effort and other decision costs (e.g. temporal delay or uncertainty) are associated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia. This should be investigated further in future research.
Limits on Galactic dark matter with 5 years of EROS SMC data

Five years of EROS data towards the Small Magellanic Cloud have been searched for gravitational microlensing events, using a new, more accurate method to assess the impact of stellar blending on the efficiency. Four long-duration candidates have been found which, if they are microlensing events, hint at a non-halo population of lenses. Combined with results from other EROS observation programs, this analysis yields strong limits on the amount of Galactic dark matter made of compact objects. Less than 25% of a standard halo can be composed of objects with a mass between 2 10^-7 Msol and 1 Msol at the 95% C.L.
Seasonal Variability in Abundance and Diversity of Soil Gymnamoebae Along a Short Transect in Southeastern USA

Abstract The abundance and diversity of gymnamoebae in three subsoils varying in compaction and water retention along a 1.2 m transect were documented as the local climatic conditions changed from late summer 1999 through mid-summer 2000. The mean density of gymnamoebae for the loose soil (1,655/g) was greater than either the most compact (1,468/g) or moderately compact soil (851/g). Minimum densities occurred in middle and late summer for all soils while significant (F = 38.803, ≤ 0.0002) density peaks at 3,212/g occurred in early summer in the most compact soil, 2,928/g in the least compact, and 2,209/g in the moderately compact soil. Limax non-eruptive gymnamoebae (mt 2) correlated (r = 0.49, p ≤ 0.016) with moisture while eruptive limax gymnamoebae (mt 3) correlated with temperature (r = 0.07, p ≤ 0.024), moisture (r = 0.58, p ≤ 0.001) and precipitation (r = 0.46, p ≤ 0.029). Flattened or discoid amoebae (mt 4) dominated throughout most of the survey, and the two limax groups showed inverse relationships. Chi-square analyses showed significant differences in the numbers of limax eruptive gymnamoebae compared to all other morphotypes on all but one sampling period.
Airy Phenomena and Analytic Combinatorics of Connected Graphs

Until now, the enumeration of connected graphs has been dealt with by probabilistic methods, by special combinatorial decompositions or by somewhat indirect formal series manipulations. We show here that it is possible to make analytic sense of the divergent series that expresses the generating function of connected graphs. As a consequence, it becomes possible to derive analytically known enumeration results using only first principles of combinatorial analysis and straight asymptotic analysis—specifically, the saddle-point method. In this perspective, the enumeration of connected graphs by excess (of number of edges over number of vertices) derives from a simple saddle-point analysis. Furthermore, a refined analysis based on coalescent saddle points yields complete asymptotic expansions for the number of graphs of fixed excess, through an explicit connection with Airy functions.
Physical Characteristics of Edible Film made from Carrageenan and Beeswax Composites through Nanoemulsion Process

A research on producing edible film from composite of carrageenan and beeswax using nanoemulsion process has been conducted, with the objective is to analyze the effect of composite concentrations and homogenization rate on physical characteristics of edible films. The edible films were made using carrageenan concentrations 3.5 and 4.5%, beeswax concentrations 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8% and homogenization rates of 2,000 and 3,000 rpm. Physical properties of the edible film were analyzed, i.e: thickness, tensile strength, elongation, water vapor transmission rate and percent of solubility. The result, shows that the composite concentration ratio of carrageenan and beeswax and homogenization rate influence the physical characteristics of edible film. Increased concentrations of composite and homogenization rates have highly significant effect (p 0.05) on increased of thickness and tensile strength. The best treatment was obtained from composite concentration ratio of carrageenan 4,5% and beeswax 0.8% with homogenization rate 3,000 rpm, with the average value of thickness 0.1534 mm, tensile strength 22.44 N/mm2, elongation 22.5%, water vapor transmission rate 25.3411 g/m2/hr and percent of solubility 88%.