Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmentally regulated algD promoter is responsive to the cAMP receptor protein in Escherichia coli

The environmentally activated algD promoter of Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been shown to be influenced by DNA supercoiling. It is believed that protein‐induced bending or looping is required for this activation. We studied the role of Escherichia coli cAMP‐CRP on algD promoter activation in E. coli and show that a functional CRP is required for this activation. We also demonstrate that the algD promoter is sensitive to glucose repression both in E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Deletion of a putative consensus CRP binding sequence upstream of the algD promoter renders the promoter non‐responsive to glucose repression. The involvement of c AM P‐CRP complex in the activation of the afgD promoter in E. coU has been demonstrated directly through binding of a 255 base pair DNA fragment containing the putative consensus CRP binding sequence. Other fragments, upstream or downstream but without any consensus CRP binding sequence, did not show any binding with CRP. A CRP‐like analogue, similar to that in Xanthomonas campestris, but capable of activating genes without forming a complex with cAMP, is believed to allow glucose repression in P. aeruginosa.
Dissociation between neural and vascular responses to sympathetic stimulation : contribution of local adrenergic receptor function.

Sympathetic activation produced by various stimuli, eg, mental stress or handgrip, evokes regional vascular responses that are often nonhomogeneous. This phenomenon is believed to be the consequence of the recruitment of differential central neural pathways or of a sympathetically mediated vasodilation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a similar heterogeneous response occurs with cold pressor stimulation and to test the hypothesis that local differences in adrenergic receptor function could be in part responsible for this diversity. In 8 healthy subjects, local norepinephrine spillover and blood flow were measured in arms and legs at baseline and during sympathetic stimulation induced by baroreflex mechanisms (nitroprusside infusion) or cold pressor stimulation. At baseline, legs had higher vascular resistance (27+/-5 versus 17+/-2 U, P=0.05) despite lower norepinephrine spillover (0.28+/-0.04 versus 0.4+/-0.05 mg. min(-1). dL(-1), P=0.03). Norepinephrine spillover increased similarly in both arms and legs during nitroprusside infusion and cold pressor stimulation. On the other hand, during cold stimulation, vascular resistance increased in arms but not in legs (20+/-9% versus -7+/-4%, P=0.03). Increasing doses of isoproterenol and phenylephrine were infused intra-arterially in arms and legs to estimate beta-mediated vasodilation and alpha-induced vasoconstriction, respectively. beta-Mediated vasodilation was significantly lower in legs compared with arms. Thus, we report a dissociation between norepinephrine spillover and vascular responses to cold stress in lower limbs characterized by a paradoxical decrease in local resistance despite increases in sympathetic activity. The differences observed in adrenergic receptor responses cannot explain this phenomenon.
Incompressibility of Products of Pseudo-homogeneous Varieties

Abstract We show that the conjectural criterion of $p$ -incompressibility for products of projective homogeneous varieties in terms of the factors, previously known in a few special cases only, holds in general. Actually, the proof goes through for a wider class of varieties, including the norm varieties associated with symbols in Galois cohomology of arbitrary degree.
Blue Horizontal-Branch Stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. Sample Selection and Structure in the Galactic Halo

We isolate samples of 733 bright (g < 18) and 437 faint (g > 18) high Galactic latitude blue horizontal-branch stars with photometry and spectroscopy in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Comparison of independent photometric and spectroscopic selection criteria indicates that contamination from F and blue straggler stars is less than 10% for bright stars (g < 18) and about 25% for faint stars (g > 18), and this is qualitatively confirmed by proper motions based on the USNO-A catalog as first epoch. Analysis of repeated observations shows that the errors in radial velocity are ≈26 km s-1. A relation between absolute magnitude and color is established using the horizontal branches of halo globular clusters observed by SDSS. Bolometric corrections and colors are synthesized in the SDSS filters from model spectra. The redder stars agree well in absolute magnitude with accepted values for RR Lyrae stars. The resulting photometric distances are accurate to about 0.2 mag, with a median of about 25 kpc. Modest clumps in phase space exist and are consistent with the previously reported tidal stream of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.
Cyclic piezoresistive effect in poly(dimethylsiloxane)/carbon nanofiber composites for large strain Sensing applications

Adding conductive one-dimensional carbon nanomaterials to poly(dimethysiloxane) can form bio-compatible composites with significant electromechanical (piezoresistive) response. This effect can be effectively tuned by controlling the carbon nanofiller size, concentration, and distribution. However, to be applied as strain sensors, the composite material has to meet mechanical, sensitivity, temperature stability, and reliability requirements. Here we report on the study of cyclic electromechanical behaviors of poly(dimethysiloxane)/carbon nanofiber composites under different temperatures. Through mechanical training, reproducible and sensitive piezoresistive response suitable for large strain sensing can be obtained.
Physiological effects of ingesting eucalyptus essential oil with milk casein peptide.

This study was conducted to clarify the effect of eucalyptus essential oil mixed with milk casein peptide food for human physiological relaxation. Fifteen male university students (21.2 ± 0.9 yr) participated in study as subjects. The subjects were given one of two types of experimental drink (peptide + eucalyptus flavor (Pep + EF), and peptide + grapefruit·orange flavor (Pep + G·O), each flavor contains natural essential oil). We measured the change in salivary cortisol concentration and POMS scores before and two hours after taking experimental drink. The results of a Type A behavior pattern test were used to classify subjects. The concentration of salivary cortisol decreased significantly two hours after taking Pep + EF. And Type B showed bigger change than Type A. In conclusion, the results show that eucalyptus essential oil has the effect of relaxation, and that the effects on Type A and Type B are different.
Partitions of Unity and Approximation

Abstract : This document shows that for certain translation invariant spaces S, a necessary and sufficient condition for the eventual denseness of the corresponding scaled spaces S sub h is that S contain a stable and locally supported partition of unity. These results have been motivated by recent work on approximation by multivariate piecewise polynomials on regular meshes. (Author)
Monkeypox virus: histologic, immunohistochemical and electron‐microscopic findings

Background: Human monkeypox, an emerging viral zoonosis first recognized in Africa, has recently emerged in the mid‐western US. Initially, it presents with skin eruptions and fevers with diaphoresis and rigors. Clinically, the skin lesions progress from papules to vesiculopustules to resolving eschars.
P9754 therapeutic intensification in non-metastatic osteosarcoma: A COG trial.

8514 Background: Outcome in osteosarcoma (OS) is predicted by percent necrosis (% NEC) after pre-operative chemotherapy. Efforts to improve outcome by post-operative therapeutic intensification have had limited success. Historically, 70% are standard responders (SR: < 98% NEC) whose outcomes justify efforts to intensify therapy. METHODS Patients <31 yrs diagnosed with non-metastatic OS were eligible for P9754. The objectives were 1) to assess feasibility of dose intensified regimens for SR and 2) to determine whether the cardioprotectant dexrazoxane (DXR) would adversely impact % NEC vs. historical outcomes. All received doxorubicin (75 mg/m2/cycle × 6; each dose with DXR), methotrexate (12 mg/m2 [20 mg max] × 10), cisplatin (120 mg/m2/cycle × 4). Pilots 2 and 3 also included "standard" ifosfamide (9 g/m2/cycle × 3-4). Three sequential pilots evaluated intensified therapy for SR: 1) Doxorubicin intensification to a cumulative dose of 600mg/m2 on Pilots 1 and 2; or 2) 3 cycles of etoposide (500mg/m2 /cycle) and high dose ifosfamide (14 g/m2/cycle) on Pilot 3. RESULTS Original accrual projections were 60 patients/pilot. Accrual to pilot 1 was doubled to assess toxicity of increased doxorubicin (to 600 mg/m2). 242 of 253 enrolled patients were eligible; 221 were assessable for major study endpoints (111, 54, 56 on pilots 1, 2, 3 ). Good Response (GR: > 98% NEC) to preoperative chemotherapy was noted in 30.2%, with 61.2% SR and 8.7% not evaluable (surgery not performed at time stipulated by protocol). Left ventricular dysfunction, ototoxicity and renal toxicity (Fanconi syndrome, decreased GFR) were not significantly increased by intensification. One secondary leukemia was reported (Pilot 2). Dose intensification by increased cumulative doxorubicin or by etoposide with high-dose ifosfamide was feasible. Two year EFS was 69%. CONCLUSIONS Dexrazoxane permitted the safe escalation of cumulative doxorubicin dose without adverse effect on % NEC after pre-operative chemotherapy. Dose intensification with either higher cumulative doxorubicin dose or etoposide/high dose ifosfamide was clinically feasible. 2-yr EFS was NSS different between pilots. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
The influence of impurities on the performance of the dielectric barrier discharge

In this letter, we investigate the effect of various levels of nitrogen impurity on the electrical performance of an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge in helium. We illustrate the different current profiles that are obtained, which exhibit one or more discharge pulses per half cycle and evaluate their performance in ionizing the discharge and dissipating the power. It is shown that flat and broad current profiles perform the best in ionizing the discharge and use the least amount of power per generated charged particle.
Strong natural selection during plant restoration favors an unexpected suite of plant traits

Restoration is an opportunity to study natural selection: One can measure the distribution of traits in source propagules used to found populations, compare this with the distribution of traits in successful recruits, and determine the strength and direction of selection on potentially adaptive traits. We investigated whether natural selection influenced seedling establishment during postfire restoration in the Great Basin, an area where large‐scale restoration occurs with a few widely available cultivars planted over a large range of environmental conditions. We collected seeds from established plants of the perennial grass Elymus elymoides ssp. californicus (squirreltail) at two restoration sites and compared the distribution of phenotypic traits of surviving plants with the original pool of restoration seeds. Seeds were planted in common gardens for two generations. Plants grown from seeds that established in the field were a nonrandom subset of the original seeds, with directional selection consistently favoring a correlated suite of traits in both field sites: small plant and seed size, and earlier flowering phenology. These results demonstrate that natural selection can affect restoration establishment in strong and predictable ways and that adaptive traits in these sites were opposite of the current criteria used for selection of restoration material in this system.
New single nucleotide variation in the promoter region of androgen receptor (AR) gene in hypospadic patients

Background: Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital abnormalities in the male which is characterized by altered development of urethra, foreskin and ventral surface of the penis. Androgen receptor gene plays a critical role in the development of the male genital system by mediating the androgens effects. Objective: In present study, we looked for new variations in androgen receptor promoter and screened its exon 1 for five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in healthy and hypospadias Iranian men. Materials and Methods: In our study, at first DNA was extracted from patients (n=100) and controls (n=100) blood samples. Desired fragments of promoter and exon 1 were amplified using polymerase chain reaction. The promoter region was sequenced for the new variation and exone 1 screened for five SNPs (rs139767835, rs78686797, rs62636528, rs62636529, rs145326748) using restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Results: The results showed a new single nucleotide variation (C→T) at -480 of two patients’ promoter region (2%). None of the mentioned SNPs were detected in patients and controls groups (0%). Conclusion: This finding indicates that new single nucleotide polymorphism in androgen receptor promoter may have role in etiology of hypospadias and development of this anomaly. This article extracted from Ph.D. thesis. (Nasim Borhani)
Solid dispersions in the form of electrospun core-sheath nanofibers

Background The objective of this investigation was to develop a new type of solid dispersion in the form of core-sheath nanofibers using coaxial electrospinning for poorly water-soluble drugs. Different functional ingredients can be placed in various parts of core-sheath nanofibers to improve synergistically the dissolution and permeation properties of encapsulated drugs and to enable drugs to exert their actions. Methods Using acyclovir as a model drug, polyvinylpyrrolidone as the hydrophilic filament-forming polymer matrix, sodium dodecyl sulfate as a transmembrane enhancer, and sucralose as a sweetener, core-sheath nanofibers were successfully prepared, with the sheath part consisting of polyvinylpyrrolidone, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and sucralose, and the core part composed of polyvinylpyrrolidone and acyclovir. Results The core-sheath nanofibers had an average diameter of 410 ± 94 nm with a uniform structure and smooth surface. Differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction results demonstrated that acyclovir, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and sucralose were well distributed in the polyvinylpyrrolidone matrix in an amorphous state due to favoring of second-order interactions. In vitro dissolution and permeation studies showed that the core-sheath nanofiber solid dispersions could rapidly release acyclovir within one minute, with an over six-fold increased permeation rate across the sublingual mucosa compared with that of crude acyclovir particles. Conclusion The study reported here provides an example of the systematic design, preparation, characterization, and application of a novel type of solid dispersion consisting of multiple components and structural characteristics.
Correlation Between Dental Arch Width and Sagittal Dento-Skeletal Morphology in Untreated Adults

Objective: Dental arch form is one of the most important characteristics of dentition. However, this dimension usually receives less attention in diagnosis or treatment planning and orthodontic patients are traditionally classified with regard to their sagittal characteristics. The objectives of this study were to investigate if a relationship exists between the dental arch width (transverse dimension) and sagittal skeletal and dental parameters in orthodontic patients. Materials and Methods: Dental casts and lateral cephalograms of 108 consecutive untreated Iranian patients (47 males and 61 females) between 16 and 31 years of age were evaluated. Arch width (AW) parameters including upper and lower inter-molar width (UIMW and LIMW) and upper and lower inter-canine width (UICW and LICW) were measured by a digital caliper. Sagittal parameters included SNA and SNB angle and Wits’ appraisal obtained from lateral cephalograms in addition to upper and lower arch length (UAL and LAL) obtained from dental casts. The correlation between the aforementioned parameters was evaluated applying Pearson correlation coefficients. Molar and canine relationship according to Angle’s classification was also recorded and the means of all parameters were compared between three occlusal relationship classes and two gender groups by means of two-way ANOVA. Results: According to statistical analysis a significant positive correlation between sagittal parameters and arch width measures exists between SNA and UICW and between LICW and LAL. Upper and lower ICW were significantly correlated, the relationship between upper and lower IMW and between UAL and LAL were significant. Among sagittal measures, both UAL and LAL were correlated with the ANB angle. The means of arch width parameters in three occlusal classes were not significantly different. Conclusion: The only significant correlation between arch width and sagittal parameters existed between UICW and SNA angle and between LICW and LAL. No significant difference of the arch width parameter was observed between the three occlusal classes.
Efficient genome ancestry inference in complex pedigrees with inbreeding

Motivation: High-density SNP data of model animal resources provides opportunities for fine-resolution genetic variation studies. These genetic resources are generated through a variety of breeding schemes that involve multiple generations of matings derived from a set of founder animals. In this article, we investigate the problem of inferring the most probable ancestry of resulting genotypes, given a set of founder genotypes. Due to computational difficulty, existing methods either handle only small pedigree data or disregard the pedigree structure. However, large pedigrees of model animal resources often contain repetitive substructures that can be utilized in accelerating computation. Results: We present an accurate and efficient method that can accept complex pedigrees with inbreeding in inferring genome ancestry. Inbreeding is a commonly used process in generating genetically diverse and reproducible animals. It is often carried out for many generations and can account for most of the computational complexity in real-world model animal pedigrees. Our method builds a hidden Markov model that derives the ancestry probabilities through inbreeding process without explicit modeling in every generation. The ancestry inference is accurate and fast, independent of the number of generations, for model animal resources such as the Collaborative Cross (CC). Experiments on both simulated and real CC data demonstrate that our method offers comparable accuracy to those methods that build an explicit model of the entire pedigree, but much better scalability with respect to the pedigree size. Contact: weiwang@cs.unc. edu
Reactive Neurogenesis and Down-Regulation of the Potassium-Chloride Cotransporter KCC2 in the Cochlear Nuclei after Cochlear Deafferentation

While many studies have been devoted to investigating the homeostatic plasticity triggered by cochlear hearing loss, the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in these central changes remain elusive. In the present study, we investigated the possibility of reactive neurogenesis after unilateral cochlear nerve section in the cochlear nucleus (CN) of cats. We found a strong cell proliferation in all the CN sub-divisions ipsilateral to the lesion. Most of the newly generated cells survive up to 1 month after cochlear deafferentation in all cochlear nuclei (except the dorsal CN) and give rise to a variety of cell types, i.e., microglial cells, astrocytes, and neurons. Interestingly, many of the newborn neurons had an inhibitory (GABAergic) phenotype. This result is intriguing since sensory deafferentation is usually accompanied by enhanced excitation, consistent with a reduction in central inhibition. The membrane potential effect of GABA depends, however, on the intra-cellular chloride concentration, which is maintained at low levels in adults by the potassium chloride co-transporter KCC2. The KCC2 density on the plasma membrane of neurons was then assessed after cochlear deafferentation in the cochlear nuclei ipsilateral and contralateral to the lesion. Cochlear deafferentation is accompanied by a strong down-regulation of KCC2 ipsilateral to the lesion at 3 and 30 days post-lesion. This study suggests that reactive neurogenesis and down-regulation of KCC2 is part of the vast repertoire involved in homeostatic plasticity triggered by hearing loss. These central changes may also play a role in the generation of tinnitus and hyperacusis.
Vaccinia Virus Protein Synthesis Has a Low Requirement for the Intact Translation Initiation Factor eIF4F, the Cap-Binding Complex, within Infected Cells

ABSTRACT The role of the cap-binding complex, eIF4F, in the translation of vaccinia virus mRNAs has been analyzed within infected cells. Plasmid DNAs, which express dicistronic mRNAs containing a picornavirus internal ribosome entry site, produced within vaccinia virus-infected cells both β-glucuronidase and a cell surface-targeted single-chain antibody (sFv). Cells expressing sFv were selected from nonexpressing cells, enabling analysis of protein synthesis specifically within the transfected cells. Coexpression of poliovirus 2A or foot-and-mouth disease virus Lb proteases, which cleaved translation initiation factor eIF4G, greatly inhibited cap-dependent protein (β-glucuronidase) synthesis. Under these conditions, internal ribosome entry site-directed expression of sFv continued and cell selection was maintained. Furthermore, vaccinia virus protein synthesis persisted in the selected cells containing cleaved eIF4G. Thus, late vaccinia virus protein synthesis has a low requirement for the intact cap-binding complex eIF4F. This may be attributed to the short unstructured 5′ noncoding regions of the vaccinia virus mRNAs, possibly aided by the presence of poly(A) at both 5′ and 3′ termini.