Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunocytochemical characterization of the endocytic and phagolysosomal compartments in peritoneal macrophages

We have used endocytic and phagocytic tracers in an EM immunocytochemical study to define the compartments of the phagocytic and endocytic pathways in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Endocytosed BSA- gold appeared successively in early endosomes, spherical endosomal vesicles, a late endosomal tubuloreticular compartment (TC), and terminal lysosomes. The TC appeared as an elaborate structure enriched for the lysosomal membrane glycoproteins Lamp 1 and Lamp 2, and expressing significant levels of rab7, a late endosome-specific GTP- binding protein. The cation-independent mannose-6-phosphate receptor was restricted to specialized regions of the TC that were predominantly adjacent to the Golgi complex. Both the early endosome and the TC had coated bud structures whose composition and function are presently unknown. Phagolysosomes containing latex beads expressed the same membrane antigens and received endocytic tracers simultaneously with the TC. Since the membrane surrounding both organelles was also in direct continuity, we assume that both structures form one functional compartment. Macrosialin, an antigen confined to macrophages and dendritic cells, was heavily expressed in TC and phagolysosomal membranes with low levels being detected in other endosomal compartments and on the cell surface. Treatment of cells with wheat germ agglutinin drastically altered the morphology of the TC, giving rise to sheets of tightly adherent membrane and greatly expanded vesicles, in which cell-associated wheat germ agglutinin was concentrated. The spherical endosomal carrier vesicles loaded with internalized gold tracers clustered nearby, often making contact without fusing. Since the delivery of endocytic tracer to the TC was significantly delayed these experiments suggest that the lectin is somehow preventing the endosome vesicles from fusing with the TC. Collectively, our data argue first that the PLC is equivalent to the "tubular lysosomes" commonly described in macrophages, and second that the meeting of the phagocytic and endocytic pathway occurs in this compartment.
Parental behavior in relation to physical activity and fitness in 9-year-old children.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between parental behaviors and physical activity and fitness in elementary school-aged children. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey of students and parents. SETTING Seven public elementary schools in a suburban southern California city. PARTICIPANTS One hundred forty-eight fourth-grade girls and 149 fourth-grade boys and their parents. Eighty-four percent were white. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS Children's physical activity was indicated by self-report, data obtained from a monitor (accelerometer), and results of the mile run/walk. Multiple regression analysis, controlling for ethnicity and body mass index, was conducted separately for girls and boys to explain variation in child activity and fitness. Parents' reported physical activity was not associated with child activity or fitness. However, availability of transportation by parents to sport and fitness activities was significant (or nearly so) in two regressions for boys and in one regression for girls. Parents who played with their children had more active boys, based on self-report, but verbal encouragement to be active was not significant in any model. CONCLUSION The parental role as gatekeeper of access to activity and sport facilities deserves further study.
Genetic diversity and connectivity in a brooding reef coral at the limit of its distribution

Remote populations are predicted to be vulnerable owing to their isolation from potential source reefs, and usually low population size and associated increased extinction risk. We investigated genetic diversity, population subdivision and connectivity in the brooding reef coral Seriatopora hystrix at the limits of its Eastern Australian (EA) distribution and three sites in the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Over the approximately 1270 km survey range, high levels of population subdivision were detected (global FST = 0.224), with the greatest range in pairwise FST values observed among the three southernmost locations: Lord Howe Island, Elizabeth Reef and Middleton Reef. Flinders Reef, located between the GBR and the more southerly offshore reefs, was highly isolated and showed the signature of a recent bottleneck. High pairwise FST values and the presence of multiple genetic clusters indicate that EA subtropical coral populations have been historically isolated from each other and the GBR. One putative first-generation migrant was detected from the GBR into the EA subtropics. Occasional long-distance dispersal is supported by changes in species composition at these high-latitude reefs and the occurrence of new species records over the past three decades. While subtropical populations exhibited significantly lower allelic richness than their GBR counterparts, genetic diversity was still moderately high. Furthermore, subtropical populations were not inbred and had a considerable number of private alleles. The results suggest that these high-latitude S. hystrix populations are supplemented by infrequent long-distance migrants from the GBR and may have adequate population sizes to maintain viability and resist severe losses of genetic diversity.
Correlates of serum lipids and lipoproteins in Congolese patients with arterial hypertension.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of dyslipidaemia and the correlates of serum lipids and lipoproteins among Congolese subjects with and without arterial hypertension. METHODS One hundred hypertensive patients attending the outpatient clinics at the University of Kinshasa Hospital, and 100 age- and sex-matched controls recruited among hospital personnel or blood donors entered the case-control study. Their blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), plasma fibrinogen (only in patients) and fasting glucose, serum uric acid, creatinine and creatinine clearance (CrCl) were compared using the Student's t-test or Chi-square test as appropriate. Associations between continuous variables were assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients, and correlates of lipids and lipoproteins were determined using multiple linear-regression analysis. RESULTS Compared to healthy controls, hypertensive patients had greater BMI (p <or= 0.05) and WHR (p <or= 0.01), and higher levels of fasting plasma glucose (p <or= 0.05), serum uric acid (p <or= 0.05) and creatinine (p <or= 0.001). The average TC (4.96 +/- 1.18 mmol/l for controls vs 5.01 +/- 1.49 mmol/l for hypertensives), LDL-C (3.46 +/- 1.16 mmol/l vs 3.36 +/- 1.32 mmol/l) and HDL-C (1.19 +/- 0.39 mmol/l vs 1.27 +/- 0.39 mmol/l) were similar and within the normal ranges, whereas TG in hypertensives (1.03 +/- 0.66 mmol/l) were significantly higher (p <or= 0.05) than in controls (0.85 +/- 0.48 mmol/l). Dyslipidaemia was observed in 33 controls (33%) and 40 hypertensive patients (40%). Sixteen controls (16%) and 23 hypertensive patients (23%) had TC >or= 6.20 mmol/l. In hypertensive patients, TC (r = 0.24; p < 0.01) and LDL-C (r = 0.20; p < 0.05) were positively correlated to plasma fibrinogen. A positive correlation was also observed between TC and LDL-C (r = 0.91; p < 0.001), HDL-C and CrCl (r = 0.28; p < 0.001), and TG and glucose (r = 0.24; p < 0.01), whereas TG were negatively correlated to HDL-C (r = -0.38; p < 0.001). In multiple linear-regression analysis, LDL-C, HDL-C, TG and age accounted for 87% (R2) of variation in TC levels; plasma glucose and HDL-C for 19% (R2) of variation in TG levels; and TG and CrCl for only 17% (R2) of variation in HDL-C levels. CONCLUSIONS The present data indicate that dyslipidaemia affects a substantial proportion of healthy and hypertensive Congolese subjects. Furthermore, hypertension is associated with a cluster of risk factors characteristic of the metabolic syndrome, of which overweight/central obesity could be the cornerstone. Management of arterial hypertension should therefore focus both on lowering high blood pressure and correcting associated lipid disorders.
The Postsynaptic Density: There Is More than Meets the Eye

The postsynaptic density (PSD), apparent in electron micrographs as a dense lamina just beneath the postsynaptic membrane, includes a deeper layer, the “pallium”, containing a scaffold of Shank and Homer proteins. Though poorly defined in traditionally prepared thin-section electron micrographs, the pallium becomes denser and more conspicuous during intense synaptic activity, due to the reversible addition of CaMKII and other proteins. In this Perspective article, we review the significance of CaMKII-mediated recruitment of proteins to the pallium with respect to both the trafficking of receptors and the remodeling of spine shape that follow synaptic stimulation. We suggest that the level and duration of CaMKII translocation and activation in the pallium will shape activity-induced changes in the spine.
On the scope and interpretation of the Tofts models for DCE‐MRI

The Tofts model (TM) and extended Tofts model (ETM) have become a standard for the analysis of dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI. In this study, a mathematical analysis is used to identify exactly in which tissue types the Tofts models may be applied. The results show that the TM is accurate if and only if the tissue is weakly vascularised (small blood volume). The ETM is additionally accurate in highly perfused tissues (high blood flow). In tissues that are highly vascularised, or where tracer exchange is very fast or very slow, TM and ETM accurately fit the data but lead to a misinterpretation of the parameters. In tissue types with intermediate vascularity, perfusion and tracer exchange, neither model offers a good fit to the tissue concentrations. A good fit can be obtained with a measured input function by reducing the temporal resolution, but this does not improve the accuracy of the parameters. In conclusion, the Tofts models only produce reliable parameter values if the tissue is weakly vascularized (TM or ETM) or highly perfused (ETM). Without prior knowledge that at least one of these constraints is fulfilled, the physiological interpretation of the values produced by the Tofts models is unclear. Magn Reson Med, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ordinal Boltzmann Machines for Collaborative Filtering

Collaborative filtering is an effective recommendation technique wherein the preference of an individual can potentially be predicted based on preferences of other members. Early algorithms often relied on the strong locality in the preference data, that is, it is enough to predict preference of a user on a particular item based on a small subset of other users with similar tastes or of other items with similar properties. More recently, dimensionality reduction techniques have proved to be equally competitive, and these are based on the co-occurrence patterns rather than locality. This paper explores and extends a probabilistic model known as Boltzmann Machine for collaborative filtering tasks. It seamlessly integrates both the similarity and co-occurrence in a principled manner. In particular, we study parameterisation options to deal with the ordinal nature of the preferences, and propose a joint modelling of both the user-based and item-based processes. Experiments on moderate and large-scale movie recommendation show that our framework rivals existing well-known methods.
Resilient parenting of preschool children at developmental risk.

BACKGROUND Given the great benefits of effective parenting to child development under normal circumstances, and the even greater benefits in the face of risk, it is important to understand why some parents manage to be effective in their interactions with their child despite facing formidable challenges. This study examined factors that promoted effective parenting in the presence of child developmental delay, high child behaviour problems, and low family income. METHOD Data were obtained from 232 families at child age 3 and 5 years. Using an adapted ABCX model, we examined three risk domains (child developmental delay, child behaviour problems, and low family income) and three protective factors (mother's education, health, and optimism). The outcome of interest was positive parenting as coded from mother-child interactions. RESULTS Levels of positive parenting differed across levels of risk. Education and optimism appeared to be protective factors for positive parenting at ages 3 and 5, and health appeared to be an additional protective factor at age 5. There was an interaction between risk and education at age 3; mothers with higher education engaged in more positive parenting at higher levels of risk than did mothers with less education. There was also an interaction between risk and optimism at age 3; mothers with higher optimism engaged in more positive parenting at lower levels of risk than did mothers with less optimism. The risk index did not predict change in positive parenting from age 3-5, but the protective factor of maternal health predicted positive changes. CONCLUSIONS This study examined factors leading to positive parenting in the face of risk, a topic that has received less attention in the literature on disability. Limitations, future directions, and implications for intervention are discussed.
ReconNet: Non-Iterative Reconstruction of Images from Compressively Sensed Measurements

The goal of this paper is to present a non-iterative and more importantly an extremely fast algorithm to reconstruct images from compressively sensed (CS) random measurements. To this end, we propose a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture which takes in CS measurements of an image as input and outputs an intermediate reconstruction. We call this network, ReconNet. The intermediate reconstruction is fed into an off-the-shelf denoiser to obtain the final reconstructed image. On a standard dataset of images we show significant improvements in reconstruction results (both in terms of PSNR and time complexity) over state-of-the-art iterative CS reconstruction algorithms at various measurement rates. Further, through qualitative experiments on real data collected using our block single pixel camera (SPC), we show that our network is highly robust to sensor noise and can recover visually better quality images than competitive algorithms at extremely low sensing rates of 0.1 and 0.04. To demonstrate that our algorithm can recover semantically informative images even at a low measurement rate of 0.01, we present a very robust proof of concept real-time visual tracking application.
Exposure to Ozone Modulates Human Airway Protease/Antiprotease Balance Contributing to Increased Influenza A Infection

Exposure to oxidant air pollution is associated with increased respiratory morbidities and susceptibility to infections. Ozone is a commonly encountered oxidant air pollutant, yet its effects on influenza infections in humans are not known. The greater Mexico City area was the primary site for the spring 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic, which also coincided with high levels of environmental ozone. Proteolytic cleavage of the viral membrane protein hemagglutinin (HA) is essential for influenza virus infectivity. Recent studies suggest that HA cleavage might be cell-associated and facilitated by the type II transmembrane serine proteases (TTSPs) human airway trypsin-like protease (HAT) and transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2), whose activities are regulated by antiproteases, such as secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI). Based on these observations, we sought to determine how acute exposure to ozone may modulate cellular protease/antiprotease expression and function, and to define their roles in a viral infection. We utilized our in vitro model of differentiated human nasal epithelial cells (NECs) to determine the effects of ozone on influenza cleavage, entry, and replication. We show that ozone exposure disrupts the protease/antiprotease balance within the airway liquid. We also determined that functional forms of HAT, TMPRSS2, and SLPI are secreted from human airway epithelium, and acute exposure to ozone inversely alters their expression levels. We also show that addition of antioxidants significantly reduces virus replication through the induction of SLPI. In addition, we determined that ozone-induced cleavage of the viral HA protein is not cell-associated and that secreted endogenous proteases are sufficient to activate HA leading to a significant increase in viral replication. Our data indicate that pre-exposure to ozone disrupts the protease/antiprotease balance found in the human airway, leading to increased influenza susceptibility.
Rapid analysis of intact phospholipids from whole bacterial cells by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry combined with on-probe sample pretreatment.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), utilizing an on-probe sample pretreatment, was applied to the rapid and direct detection of intact phospholipids from whole bacterial cells. The sample preparation procedure involved depositing growing bacterial colonies from culture dishes directly onto the MALDI probe followed by treatment of the sample spot with a 3 micro L aliquot of an aqueous 0.05 M solution of sodium iodide prior to the addition of a 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) matrix solution (ca. 8 mg dissolved in 70% acetonitrile/30% H(2)O containing 0.1% of trifluoroacetic acid). The MALDI spectra obtained from whole bacteria cells showed a series of ions generated from bacterial phospholipids, such as phosphatidylethanol-amines (PEs) and phosphatidylglycerols (PGs), which were clearly observed as well-resolved peaks. The ranges of the observed total carbon numbers in two acyl groups for PEs and PGs (30-36 and 33-36, respectively) were in good agreement with those reported previously. Furthermore, the distinct discrimination of four species of the Enterobacteriaceae family cultured identically was achieved by using principal components analysis (PCA) conducted on the relative peak intensities of phospholipids observed from the MALDI spectra.
Suppressor T Cells in Human Diseases

Although central and peripheral tolerance are important for the regulation of human immune responses to self- and microbial antigens, an important role of suppressor CD4+ CD25+ T cells is suggested from the recent investigations of human autoimmune diseases and HIV. These new data provide increasing evidence that altered function of CD4+ CD25+ T cells may be an important factor in a wide range of human inflammatory and infectious diseases.
Reticuloses and epidermal tumors in hairless mice after topical skin applications of cantharidin and asiaticoside.

Summary Cantharidin, a vesicant agent, and asiaticoside, which promotes the healing of skin ulcers, were tested for carcinogenicity by topical applications to the skin of hairless mice. A short-term tetrazolium test indicated that both compounds were weak carcinogens. The compounds were then separately painted twice weekly on the dorsal skin up to about 20 months; some of the mice had previously been initiated with a small dose of 20-methylcholanthrene (MCA). A control group which received only the solvent benzene after MCA initiation was also studied. Cantharidin acted as a weak but complete carcinogen on the skin, causing carcinomas in 6.3% of the animals. These carcinomas did not appear before about 16 months of observation. Before this, the painted, MCA-initiated animals had a significantly lower number of papillomas of the skin than the corresponding control group with only benzene treatment. It therefore seemed that cantharidin in the early stages of painting was tumor inhibitory, or “anticarcinogenic,” possibly due to selective damage of latent tumor cells. By systematic autopsy it was found that nearly 60% of the MCA-initiated, cantharidin-painted mice had reticuloses or malignant lymphomas, while only about 30% of the corresponding MCA-initiated, benzene or asiaticoside-treated animals had such neoplasms. It is therefore concluded that cantharidin penetrates the skin and promotes the development of tumors in the reticuloendothelial system. Asiaticoside dissolved in benzene gave an increased yield of papillomas and also 2.5% skin sarcomas of the animals, indicating an effect on the dermis as well.
Midground object detection in real world video scenes

Traditional video scene analysis depends on accurate background modeling to identify salient foreground objects. However, in many important surveillance applications, saliency is defined by the appearance of a new non-ephemeral object that is between the foreground and background. This midground realm is defined by a temporal window following the object's appearance; but it also depends on adaptive background modeling to allow detection with scene variations (e.g., occlusion, small illumination changes). The human visual system is ill-suited for midground detection. For example, when surveying a busy airline terminal, it is difficult (but important) to detect an unattended bag which appears in the scene. This paper introduces a midground detection technique which emphasizes computational and storage efficiency. The approach uses a new adaptive, pixel-level modeling technique derived from existing backgrounding methods. Experimental results demonstrate that this technique can accurately and efficiently identify midground objects in real-world scenes, including PETS2006 and AVSS2007 challenge datasets.
Interdependence of corticosterone and thyroid hormones in larval toads (Bufo boreas). I. Thyroid hormone-dependent and independent effects of corticosterone on growth and development.

In a previous study (Hayes et al. [1993] J. Exp. Zool., 266:206-215), we demonstrated that exogenous corticosterone (B) inhibited growth, and had varied effects on development and metamorphosis in the toad (Bufo boreas). The current study determined the relation between the actions of B and thyroid hormones on body growth (length and weight), tail growth and reduction (length and height), rear leg growth and differentiation, and foreleg emergence (FLE). Thiourea (Thio; a goitrogen) and metyrapone (MTP; a glucocorticoid synthesis inhibitor) were used to determine the role of endogenous hormones in growth and development. These inhibitors were also used in various combinations with the thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), to determine the extent to which B's actions depend on the thyroid hormones. B was ineffective at inducing tail reduction (length and height) in the presence of Thio, but B enhanced the effects of both thyroid hormones, suggesting that the actions of B on the tail were dependent on thyroid hormones. B inhibited body growth even in the presence of Thio, but did not enhance thyroid hormone's inhibition of growth. B alone stimulated foreleg emergence (FLE) and enhanced thyroid hormone's activity on FLE when B and the thyroid hormones were given in combination, but did not induce FLE in the presence of Thio. B stimulated rear leg development, but not in the presence of Thio, suggesting that this effect was due to interactions with thyroid hormones. Furthermore, MTP antagonized the stimulatory effect of T4 on rear leg development, suggesting that endogenous B also interacted with exogenous thyroid hormones. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)