Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computer-Based Iternatives in Higher Education-Past , Present and Future

Many thousands of animals are still used annually in tertiary education despite efforts by enthusiastic teachers to reduce this number by developing and making available to their colleagues a range of alternatives. Technology-based alternatives which support replacement and reduction are at the forefront of these efforts. Persunding teachers to use them is critical and strategies to raise awareness and support the integration ofthe alternatives into teaching are described. Many of the existing computer-based alternatives were developed in the early 1990s and rapid changes in the technologies used to deliver them have rendered them difficult to use and in some cases obselete despite the fact that their content and educational design are still valid. A project, using a learning object approach to development, which aims to preserve the content and educational design, improve the fiexibilty of delivery and enable teachers to edit the content, is also described. Zusammenfassung: Computer-basierte Alternativen In der Hochschulbildung bisher, jetzt und in Zukunft Viele tausend Tiere werden immer noch jährlich in der Hochschulbildung verbraucht, obwohl enthusiastische Lehrer diesem entgegenzuwirken versuchen, indem sie eine Reihe von Alternativmethoden entwickeln und entwickelt haben und diese ihren Kollegen zur verfügung stellen. Technologie-basierte Alternativen, die den Ersatz und die Reduktion von Tierversuchen fördern, sind an vorderster Front dieser Bemühungen. Es ist heikel, die Lehrenden von diesen Methoden zu überzeugen, damit sie auch eingesetzt werden. In diesem Artikel sind Strategien beschrieben, durch die der Bekanntheitsgrad von Alternativen und die Integration von Alternativen in die Lehre verbessert werden können. Viele der erhältlichen Computerbasierten Alternativen wurden in den frühen I990ern entwickelt, und die schnellen technologischen Entwicklungen in den Transfertechnologien haben ihreAnwendung erschwert und in manchen Fällen unmöglich gemacht, trotzdem ihre Inhalte und ihre pädagogische Ausgestaltung noch aktuell sind. Hier wird ein Projekt beschrieben, in dem durch einen Lernobjekt-Ansatz; der Inhalte und pädagogische Ausgestaltung enthält, eine bessere Flexibilität bezüglich des Transfers gewährleistet wird und den Lehrenden erlaubt, die Inhalte anzupassen.
Factors Controlling the Input–Output Relationship of Spherical Bushy Cells in the Gerbil Cochlear Nucleus

Despite the presence of large endbulb inputs, the spherical bushy cells (SBCs) of the rostral anteroventral cochlear nucleus do not function as simple auditory relays. We used the good signal-to-noise ratio of juxtacellular recordings to dissect the intrinsic and network mechanisms controlling the input–output relationship of SBCs in anesthetized gerbils. The SBCs generally operated close to action potential (AP) threshold and showed no evidence for synaptic depression, suggesting that the endbulbs of Held have low release probability in vivo. Analysis of the complex waveforms suggested that in the absence of auditory stimulation, postsynaptic spike depression and stochastic fluctuations in EPSP size were the main factors determining jitter and reliability of the endbulb synapse. During auditory stimulation, progressively larger EPSPs were needed to trigger APs at increasing sound intensities. Simulations suggested hyperpolarizing inhibition could explain the observed decrease in EPSP efficacy. Synaptic inhibition showed a delayed onset and generally had a higher threshold than excitatory inputs, but otherwise inhibition and excitation showed mostly overlapping frequency–response areas. The recruitment of synaptic inhibition caused postsynaptic spikes to be preferentially triggered by well-timed, large EPSPs, resulting in improved phase locking despite more variable EPSP–AP latencies. Our results suggest that the lack of synaptic depression, caused by low release probability, and the apparent absence of sound-evoked synaptic inhibition at low sound intensity maximize sensitivity of SBCs. At higher sound intensities, the recruitment of synaptic inhibition constrains their firing rate and optimizes their temporal precision.
Further Improvements of Fast Encryption Algoirthm for Multimedia

In order to efficiently encrypt multimedia streams delivered in real-time environments, a Fast Encryption Al-gorithm for Multimedia (FEA-M) was proposed [8, 9]. Cryptanalyses of this technique [1, 3, 4, 5] have identified its weaknesses and an improved variant has been suggested in [5]. In this paper, we identify further weaknesses in the original FEA-M and also in the improved variant. Our solution provides message integrity, guarantees zero packet loss and protects against specific known plaintext attacks.
Signal‐to‐noise ratio and spectral linewidth improvements between 1.5 and 7 Tesla in proton echo‐planar spectroscopic imaging

This study characterizes gains in sensitivity and spectral resolution of proton echo‐planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) with increasing magnetic field strength (B0). Signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) per unit volume and unit time, and intrinsic linewidth (LW) of N‐acetyl‐aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), and choline (Cho) were measured with PEPSI at 1.5, 3, 4, and 7 Tesla on scanners that shared a similar software and hardware platform, using circularly polarized (CP) and eight‐channel phased‐array (PA) head coils. Data were corrected for relaxation effects and processed with a time‐domain matched filter (MF) adapted to each B0. The SNR and LW measured with PEPSI were very similar to those measured with conventional point‐resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) SI. Measurements with the CP coil demonstrated a nearly linear SNR gain with respect to B0 in central brain regions. For the PA coil, the SNR–B0 relationship was less than linear, but there was a substantial SNR increase in comparison to the CP coil. The LW in units of ppm decreased with B0, resulting in improved spectral resolution. These studies using PEPSI demonstrated linear gains in SNR with respect to B0, consistent with theoretical expectations, and a decrease in ppm LW with increasing B0. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Signaling Pathways-Catenin-TCF / Lef β Integrin-Linked Kinase-Mediated Akt and Cyr 61 Is Overexpressed in Gliomas and Involved in Updated

Cyr61 is a member of the CCN family of growth factors; these proteins are secreted and can act as ligands of distinct integrins. We show that Cyr61 can enhance tumorigenicity of glioma cells acting through activated integrin-linked kinase (ILK) to stimulate -catenin-TCF/Lef and Akt signaling pathways. Overexpression of Cyr61 occurred in highly tumorigenic glioma cell lines and in 68% of the most malignant glioblastoma multiforme brain tumors. Forced expression of Cyr61 in U343 glioma cells accelerated their growth in liquid culture, enhanced their anchorageindependent proliferation in soft agar, and significantly increased their ability to form large, vascularized tumors in nude mice. Overexpression of Cyr61 in the U343 cells led to the up-regulation of distinct integrins, including 1 and 3, which have been shown to interact with Cyr61 and ILK. The activity of ILK was increased dramatically in these cells. Overexpression of Cyr61 also resulted in the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 and accumulation and nuclear translocation of -catenin, leading to activation of the -catenin-TCF/Lef-1 signaling pathway. Furthermore, forced expression of Cyr61 in the glioma cells activated phosphatidylinositol 3 -kinase pathway, resulting in prominent phosphorylation of Akt and the antiapoptotic protein Bad. Cyr61 appears to stimulate several signaling pathways in the development of gliomas.
Immunohistochemical Demonstration of Vitamin D Receptor Distribution in Goat Intestines

Vitamin D (VD) plays an important role in calcium homeostasis. 1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol or calcitriol modulates gene transcription via nuclear VD receptors (VDR). In the intestines, VD promotes calcium resorption via VDR. VDR has not been systematically assessed within the intestine in any species. We therefore present a semiquantitative immunohistochemical study of the distribution patterns of VDR in goat intestines. Intestinal tissue probes were collected from 5 lambs and 5 non-lactating non-pregnant dams, fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin and assessed for VDR. Nuclear VDR immunoreaction was scored semiquantitatively. VDR exhibited a segment-specific distribution pattern. Goblet cells were always devoid of VDR. Enterocytes within the surface epithelium and the superficial crypts generally demonstrated only a weak immunoreaction along the length of the intestine, while basally and/or intermediately located crypt epithelial cells exhibited strong VDR immunoreactions in the duodenum, jejunum and colon descendens. The difference in VDR staining between deep and superficial locations was most prominent in the duodenum and less evident in the jejunum, ileum and colon descendens. Results demonstrate that VDR distribution exhibits cell type-, segment- and location-specific patterns in the goat. Data may serve as a basis for future experiments on the role of VDR in Ca metabolism.
Plankton Community Stability and Its Relationship with Phytoplankton Species Richness in Lake Nansihu, China

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a central issue in ecology. The insurance hypothesis suggests that biodiversity could improve community productivity and reduce the temporal variability of main ecosystem processes. In the present study, we used a plankton community that was investigated from 2011 to 2014 in Lake Nansihu to test this hypothesis and explore the mechanisms involved. As a result, 138 phytoplankton and 76 zooplankton species were identified in the lake, and their biomasses showed apparent seasonal variations. The average temporal stability index of zooplankton taxa was significantly higher than that of phytoplankton. Complex relationships were observed between the species richness and temporal stability of different phytoplankton taxa: a unimodal relationship for both Cyanophyta and Bacillariophyta; a strong concave relationship for Euglenophyta; and no apparent relationship for both Chlorophyta and total phytoplankton. These relationships were primarily controlled by the portfolio effect; while the effects of overyielding and species asynchrony were relatively weak. Phytoplankton species richness had a significant positive influence on the temporal stability indices of protozoa, Rotifera and total zooplankton, while its influence on Cladocera and copepods was not significant. The dominant mechanisms were found to be ‘trophic overyielding’ and a weak ‘trophic portfolio effect’; however, ‘trophic species asynchrony’ played a minor role. These results demonstrated that the effects of diversity on community stability can be complex in natural ecosystems. In addition, the diversity of phytoplankton not only influenced its own temporal stability, but also affected the stability of zooplankton through trophic interactions.
On the nature of the peripheral nerve lesions associated with acute intermittent porphyria

A survey of the literature on the anatomical basis for paralysis associated with acute intermittent porphyria yields a confused picture that sheds little light on how this comes about. Erbsloh (1903) originally described changes in the peripheral nerves of a patient paralysed after sulphonal medication which were undoubtedly Wallerian in type.
Robustness of tonal and segmental information in noise - auditory and visual contributions

This paper examines the robustness of tonal and segmental cues in noise exemplified by Mandarin monosyllables. We investigate how varying levels of noise inhibit the recognition of syllabic tone, onset, vowel nucleus and coda, and which property of the syllable is the most stable in audio only and audio plus video conditions. A corpus of 220 frequent syllables was uttered by a male speaker of Mandarin and video-taped. Multi-talker babble noise was added to the resulting speech recordings at SNRs of 0, -3, -6 and -9 dB. In a perception test subjects were asked to write down the Pinyin plus tone combination of the word they perceived. Results indicate, inter alia, that the tonal information is more robust in noise than the segmental one, and that the nuclear vowel is the most stable part of the syllable. Auditory-visual gain was observed for the segments, but different from results of an earlier study, not for the tones. Tonal recognition rates were also influenced by the type of the nuclear vowel, with front vowels yielding highest and back vowels yielding lowest rates.
The Influence of Organic Loading Rates on Hydrolysis and Acidification Rates of Fruit and Vegetable Waste Anaerobic Fermentation

Continuous flow anaerobic fermentation experiments of fruit and vegetable waste were carried out in four laboratory-scale anaerobic acidification reactors with pH controlling system. The organic loading rate (OLR) were 13, 20, 30 kg COD/m3 d gradually and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3 days were constantly. The results, obtained from the three stages operation, showed that hydrolysis rate increased along with the rising of OLR, to the highest of 79.3%, and acidification rate decreased on the contrary, showing that the activity of acidification bacteria was inhibited by high OLR. High pH value contributed to the process of hydrolysis and acidification especially under high OLR in the acidogenic phase of the fruit and vegetable waste.
EPIZOOTIOLOGY OF SIN NOMBRE AND EL MORO CANYON HANTAVIRUSES, SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO, 1995–2000

Sin Nombre virus (SNV) is an etiologic agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. To better understand the natural history of this virus we studied population dynamics and temporal pattern of infection of its rodent hosts in southeastern Colorado (USA) from 1995 to 2000. We present evidence for the presence of two hantaviruses, SNV in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and El Moro Canyon virus in western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis), at our study sites. Sin Nombre virus appeared only sporadically in deer mouse populations; overall prevalence of antibody to SNV was 2.6%. El Moro Canyon virus was enzootic: seroconversions occurred throughout the year; antibody prevalence (11.9% overall) showed a delayed–density-dependent pattern, peaking as relative abundance of mice was declining. Males of both host species were more frequently infected than were females. An apparently lower mean survivorship (persistence at the trapping site) for SNV antibody-positive deer mice could indicate a detrimental effect of SNV on its host, but might also be explained by the fact that antibody-positive mice were older when first captured.
[Differences in risk factors of diabetic foot in the patients in South and North China].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the differences on the diabetic foot problems and its risk factors in south and north of China. METHODS Patients with foot problems were surveyed from January 1 to December 31, 2004 in 14 teaching hospitals located in different cities in China, including demographic data, present and past history of the foot problems and peripheral artery disease (PAD), the classification of the foot ulcers based on the Wagner' system, control of the hyperglycemia and lipids disorder, medical cost in hospital and the diabetic complications. All the patients were divided into two groups due to their geographical data, south and north. RESULTS There were 285 and 349 patients for the group south and group north. No significant differences were found for duration of diabetes or foot problems, fasting or post-meal glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, and the numbers of patients with smoke, hypertension, nephropathy or neuropathy between the two groups. There were significant differences for the age (70 yrs vs 66 yrs), percentage of the patients with average person income with over RMB 1000 per month (57.7% vs 45.6%), coronary heart disease (42.6% vs 61.0%) and retinopathy (35.7% vs 49.5%), HbA1c (7.90% vs 8.80 %), LDL-C (2.75 mmol/L vs 2.98 mmol/L), WBC (6.70 x 10(9) vs 7.40 x 10(9)/L), HCT (0.37 vs 0.38), creatinine (87 micromol/L vs 76 micromol/L) and uric acid (333 mmol/L vs 271 mmol/L), and amputation rate (2.6% vs 9.7%) between south and north groups. Logistic analysis showed that severity of the foot problems was associated with ABI and WBC in south group, and with ABI, PLT and HCT in north group. CONCLUSION Diabetic foot problems were more severe, with more risk factors and with more medical cost in north patients.
Histone Deacetylases

In the current era of genomic medicine, diseases are identified as manifestations of anomalous patterns of gene expression. Cancer is the principal example among such maladies. Although remarkable progress has been achieved in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the genesis and progression of cancer, its epigenetic regulation, particularly histone deacetylation, demands further studies. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are one of the key players in the gene expression regulation network in cancer because of their repressive role on tumor suppressor genes. Higher expression and function of deacetylases disrupt the finely tuned acetylation homeostasis in both histone and non-histone target proteins. This brings about alterations in the genes implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other cellular processes. Moreover, the reversible nature of epigenetic modulation by HDACs makes them attractive targets for cancer remedy. This review summarizes the current knowledge of HDACs in tumorigenesis and tumor progression as well as their contribution to the hallmarks of cancer. The present report also describes briefly various assays to detect histone deacetylase activity and discusses the potential role of histone deacetylase inhibitors as emerging epigenetic drugs to cure cancer.
The Influenza Virus H5N1 Infection Can Induce ROS Production for Viral Replication and Host Cell Death in A549 Cells Modulated by Human Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1) Overexpression

Highly pathogenic H5N1 infections are often accompanied by excessive pro-inflammatory response, high viral titer, and apoptosis; as such, the efficient control of these infections poses a great challenge. The pathogenesis of influenza virus infection is also related to oxidative stress. However, the role of endogenic genes with antioxidant effect in the control of influenza viruses, especially H5N1 viruses, should be further investigated. In this study, the H5N1 infection in lung epithelial cells decreased Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) expression at mRNA and protein levels. Forced SOD1 expression significantly inhibited the H5N1-induced increase in reactive oxygen species, decreased pro-inflammatory response, prevented p65 and p38 phosphorylation, and impeded viral ribonucleoprotein nuclear export and viral replication. The SOD1 overexpression also rescued H5N1-induced cellular apoptosis and alleviated H5N1-caused mitochondrial dysfunction. Therefore, this study described the role of SOD1 in the replication of H5N1 influenza virus and emphasized the relevance of this enzyme in the control of H5N1 replication in epithelial cells. Pharmacological modulation or targeting SOD1 may open a new way to fight H5N1 influenza virus.
Implementation and performance evaluation of an adaptable failure detector

Chandra and Toueg (1996) introduced the concept of unreliable failure detectors, They showed how, by adding these detectors to an asynchronous system, it is possible to solve the Consensus problem. In this paper, we propose a new implementation of a failure detector. This implementation is a variant of the heartbeat failure detector which is adaptable and can support scalable applications. In this implementation we dissociate two aspects: a basic estimation of the expected arrival date to provide a short detection time, and an adaptation of the quality of service according to application needs. The latter is based on two principles: an adaptation layer and a heuristic to adapt the sending period of "I am alive" messages.
Efficient Interaction of HIV-1 with Purified Dendritic Cells via Multiple Chemokine Coreceptors

HIV-1 actively replicates in dendritic cell (DC)-T cell cocultures, but it has been difficult to demonstrate substantial infection of purified mature DCs. We now find that HIV-1 begins reverse transcription much more efficiently in DCs than T cells, even though T cells have higher levels of CD4 and gp120 binding. DCs isolated from skin or from blood precursors behave similarly. Several M-tropic strains and the T-tropic strain IIIB enter DCs efficiently, as assessed by the progressive formation of the early products of reverse transcription after a 90-min virus pulse at 37°C. However, few late gag-containing sequences are detected, so that active viral replication does not occur. The formation of these early transcripts seems to follow entry of HIV-1, rather than binding of virions that contain viral DNA. Early transcripts are scarce if DCs are exposed to virus on ice for 4 h, or for 90 min at 37°C, conditions which allow virus binding. Also the early transcripts once formed are insensitive to trypsin. The entry of a M-tropic isolates is blocked by the chemokine RANTES, and the entry of IIIB by SDF-1. RANTES interacts with CCR5 and SDF-1 with CXCR4 receptors. Entry of M-tropic but not T-tropic virus is ablated in DCs from individuals who lack a functional CCR5 receptor. DCs express more CCR5 and CXCR4 mRNA than T cells. Therefore, while HIV-1 does not replicate efficiently in mature DCs, viral entry can be active and can be blocked by chemokines that act on known receptors for M- and T-tropic virus.
Detection of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in fecal samples by PCR

Surveillance cultures for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are time-consuming and expensive for the laboratory to perform. Therefore, we investigated the use of PCR as an alternative method of detecting and identifying VRE directly in fecal samples. PCR primers directed to vanA, vanB, vanC1, vanC2, and enterococcal ligase genes were used to detect and identify VRE in fecal material obtained by rectal or perirectal swabbing. Although PCR-inhibitory substances were present in DNA prepared directly from the swabs, the inhibitory substances could be reduced by processing the nucleic acid with two commercially available DNA preparation columns. Fecal material from 333 swabs was cultured on several selective agar media before and after broth enrichment. DNA was extracted from the fecal material and was analyzed by PCR. By using all four primer sets, only 59 (67.8%) of the samples were positive for vanA. However, after retesting the negative samples with only the vanA primer set, 77 (88.5%) of 87 specimens that were culture positive for Enterococcus faecium containing vanA were positive by PCR. One specimen was PCR positive for the vanA gene but culture negative for enterococci. The specificity of the vanA assay was 99.6%. PCR analysis of enrichment broth samples with all four primers sets after 15 to 18 h of incubation detected 74 (85.1%) of the 87 culture-positive specimens. The specificity of the vanA assay after the enrichment step was 100%. No vanB-containing enterococci were recovered by culture. Since 16 samples can be tested by PCR in 4 h (including electrophoresis), identification of VRE is possible within 8 h of specimen submission at a cost of approximately $10.12/assay. Thus, PCR may be a cost-effective alternative to culture for surveillance of VRE in some hospitals.