Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutator Phenotype Induced by Aberrant Replication

ABSTRACT We have identified thermosensitive mutants of fiveSchizosaccharomyces pombe replication proteins that have a mutator phenotype at their semipermissive temperatures. Allele-specific mutants of DNA polymerase δ (polδ) and mutants of Polα, two Polδ subunits, and ligase exhibited increased rates of deletion of sequences flanked by short direct repeats. Deletion of rad2+, which encodes a nuclease involved in processing Okazaki fragments, caused an increased rate of duplication of sequences flanked by short direct repeats. The deletion mutation rates of all the thermosensitive replication mutators decreased in a rad2Δ background, suggesting that deletion formation requires Rad2 function. The duplication mutation rate ofrad2Δ was also reduced in a thermosensitive polymerase background, but not in a ligase mutator background, which suggests that formation of duplication mutations requires normal DNA polymerization. Thus, although the deletion and duplication mutator phenotypes are distinct, their mutational mechanisms are interdependent. The deletion and duplication replication mutators all exhibited decreased viability in combination with deletion of a checkpoint Rad protein, Rad26. Interestingly, deletion of Cds1, a protein kinase functioning in a checkpoint Rad-mediated reversible S-phase arrest pathway, decreased the viability and exacerbated the mutation rate only in the thermosensitive deletion replication mutators but had no effect on rad2Δ. These findings suggest that aberrant replication caused by allele-specific mutations of these replication proteins can accumulate potentially mutagenic DNA structures. The checkpoint Rad-mediated pathways monitor and signal the aberrant replication in both the deletion and duplication mutators, while Cds1 mediates recovery from aberrant replication and prevents formation of deletion mutations specifically in the thermosensitive deletion replication mutators.
Photorejuvenation using long‐pulsed alexandrite and long‐pulsed neodymium:yttrium–aluminum–garnet lasers: A pilot study of clinical outcome and patients’ satisfaction in Koreans

Long‐pulsed 755‐nm alexandrite and long‐pulsed 1064‐nm neodymium:yttrium–aluminum–garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers have been used for photorejuvenation of the face. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of long‐pulsed alexandrite and long‐pulsed Nd:YAG lasers for photorejuvenation in Korea. One hundred and sixteen Korean patients with photo‐aged facial skin were enrolled. Sixty‐two patients with facial pigmentation underwent long‐pulsed alexandrite laser treatment. Eleven patients that wanted to improve facial pigmentation with minimal pain had quasi‐long‐pulsed alexandrite laser treatment. Forty three patients had long‐pulsed Nd:YAG laser therapy. Outcome assessments included standard photographs and global evaluation by blinded investigators. The self‐assessment grade was provided in questionnaires. Forty‐four percent of patients reported excellent or good improvement of their pigmentary lesions (>50% improvement) using a long‐pulsed alexandrite laser. Of patients who underwent long‐pulsed Nd:YAG laser treatment, 36% reported excellent or good improvement in skin tightening, 50% in facial flushing and 45% in pigmentary lesions. We conclude that long‐pulsed alexandrite and long‐pulsed Nd:YAG lasers are safe and effective for facial photorejuvenation in Koreans.
Extracting Situational Information from Microblogs during Disaster Events: a Classification-Summarization Approach

Microblogging sites like Twitter have become important sources of real-time information during disaster events. A significant amount of valuable situational information is available in these sites; however, this information is immersed among hundreds of thousands of tweets, mostly containing sentiments and opinion of the masses, that are posted during such events. To effectively utilize microblogging sites during disaster events, it is necessary to (i) extract the situational information from among the large amounts of sentiment and opinion, and (ii) summarize the situational information, to help decision-making processes when time is critical. In this paper, we develop a novel framework which first classifies tweets to extract situational information, and then summarizes the information. The proposed framework takes into consideration the typicalities pertaining to disaster events where (i) the same tweet often contains a mixture of situational and non-situational information, and (ii) certain numerical information, such as number of casualties, vary rapidly with time, and thus achieves superior performance compared to state-of-the-art tweet summarization approaches.
Creativity and Cognitive Skills among Millennials: Thinking Too Much and Creating Too Little

Organizations crucially need the creative talent of millennials but are reluctant to hire them because of their supposed lack of diligence. Recent studies have shown that hiring diligent millennials requires selecting those who score high on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and thus rely on effortful thinking rather than intuition. A central question is to assess whether the push for recruiting diligent millennials using criteria such as cognitive reflection can ultimately hamper the recruitment of creative workers. To answer this question, we study the relationship between millennials' creativity and their performance on fluid intelligence (Raven) and cognitive reflection (CRT) tests. The good news for recruiters is that we report, in line with previous research, evidence of a positive relationship of fluid intelligence, and to a lesser extent cognitive reflection, with convergent creative thinking. In addition, we observe a positive effect of fluid intelligence on originality and elaboration measures of divergent creative thinking. The bad news for recruiters is the inverted U-shape relationship between cognitive reflection and fluency and flexibility measures of divergent creative thinking. This suggests that thinking too much may hinder important dimensions of creative thinking. Diligent and creative workers may thus be a rare find.
Drinking behaviors by stress level in Korean university students

The purposes of this study are to estimate the stress level of university students, and to verify the relationships between stress level and drinking behavior. A questionnaire survey was administered to 430 university students in the Gangwon area in Korea from November 5 to November 28, 2008, and data from 391 students were used for the final statistical analysis. The most stressful factor was "Worry about academic achievements" (2.86 by Likert-type 4 point scale). The subjects were divided into two groups, a low stress group (≤ 65.0) and a high stress group (≥ 66.0), by the mean value (65.1) and median value (66.0) of the stress levels. The drinking frequency was not different between the two stress groups, but the amount of alcohol consumption was significantly different (P < 0.05). The portion of students reporting drinking "7 glasses or over" was higher in the lower stress group than in the higher stress group. In addition, factor 6, "Lack of learning ability", was negatively correlated with drinking frequency and the amount of alcohol consumption (P < 0.05), and factor 3, "Worry about academic achievements", was negatively correlated with the amount of drinking (P < 0.05). The major motive for drinking was "When overjoyed or there is something to celebrate" (2.62), and the main expected effect of drinking was "Drinking enables me to get together with people and shape my sociability" (2.73). The higher stress group showed significantly higher scores on several items in the categories of motives (P < 0.01), negative experience (P < 0.05), and expected effects (P < 0.05) of drinking than the lower stress group. Our results imply that university students at the lower stress level may drink more from social motives in positive drinking environments, while those at the higher stress level may have more problematic-drinking despite their smaller amount of alcohol consumption.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Female Challenge

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is two- to three-fold more frequent in women than in men and a strong association with sex hormones has been demonstrated. There is strong evidence that autoimmunity is under genetic control, and genes in sexual chromosomes can play a role in supporting the female prevalence. On the other hand, it is widely accepted that sex hormones – estrogens in particular – may regulate the immune response by favoring the survival of forbidden autoreactive clones and ultimately the prevalence of autoimmunity in women. Accordingly, estrogens have been suggested to be associated with the development of RA. Pregnancy in RA women is a common situation and most pregnant patients experience a remission. This has been closely related to a switch from Th1 to Th2 immune responses and to a decreased production of proinflammatory cytokines, at least in part supported by the changes of the hormonal profile in pregnancy. Pregnancy planning is required in RA in order to avoid unwanted complications. In particular, the need to control the disease requires safe use of antirheumatic drugs both during the pregnancy itself and in the breastfeeding period. Hormonal treatment for contraception is contraindicated in the case of positivity for antiphospholipid antibodies owing to the increased thrombophilic risk. Similarly, replacement hormonal treatment in postmenopausal women with RA to control osteoporosis is no longer recommended as a result of its ability to increase the cardiovascular risk closely associated with RA itself.
Normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism: a survey in a small village of Southern Italy

We investigated the prevalence of normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (NPHPT) in the adult population living in a village in Southern Italy. All residents in 2010 (n=2045) were invited by calls and 1046 individuals accepted to participate. Medical history, calcium intake, calcium, albumin, creatinine, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 25OHD were evaluated. NPHPT was defined by normal albumin-adjusted serum calcium, elevated plasma PTH, and exclusion of common causes of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) (serum 25OHD <30 ng/ml, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and thiazide diuretics use), overt gastrointestinal and metabolic bone diseases. Complete data were available for 685 of 1046 subjects. Twenty subjects did not meet the inclusion criteria and 341 could not be evaluated because of thawing of plasma samples. Classical PHPT was diagnosed in four women (0.58%). For diagnosing NPHPT the upper normal limit of PTH was established in the sample of the population (n=100) who had 25OHD ≥30 ng/ml and eGFR ≥60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and was set at the mean+3s.d. Three males (0.44%) met the diagnostic criteria of NPHPT. These subjects were younger and with lower BMI than those with classical PHPT. Our data suggest, in line with previous studies, that NPHPT might be a distinct clinical entity, being either an early phenotype of asymptomatic PHPT or a distinct variant of it. However, we cannot exclude that NPHPT might also represent an early phase of non-classical SHPT, since other variables, in addition to those currently taken into account for the diagnosis of NPHPT, might cumulate in a normocalcemic subject to increase PTH secretion.
Functional connectivity of the angular gyrus in normal reading and dyslexia.

The classic neurologic model for reading, based on studies of patients with acquired alexia, hypothesizes functional linkages between the angular gyrus in the left hemisphere and visual association areas in the occipital and temporal lobes. The angular gyrus also is thought to have functional links with posterior language areas (e.g., Wernicke's area), because it is presumed to be involved in mapping visually presented inputs onto linguistic representations. Using positron emission tomography , we demonstrate in normal men that regional cerebral blood flow in the left angular gyrus shows strong within-task, across-subjects correlations (i.e., functional connectivity) with regional cerebral blood flow in extrastriate occipital and temporal lobe regions during single word reading. In contrast, the left angular gyrus is functionally disconnected from these regions in men with persistent developmental dyslexia, suggesting that the anatomical disconnection of the left angular gyrus from other brain regions that are part of the "normal" brain reading network in many cases of acquired alexia is mirrored by its functional disconnection in developmental dyslexia.
High levels of diploid male production in a primitively eusocial bee (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Under single locus complementary sex determination (sl-CSD), diploid males are produced from fertilized eggs that are homozygous at the sex-determining locus. Diploid males are effectively sterile, and thus their production generates a costly genetic load. Using allozyme electrophoresis, a large number of diploid males were detected in natural populations of the primitively eusocial bee, Halictus poeyi Lepeletier collected in southern and central Florida during May 2000. Estimates for the proportion of diploids that are male ranged from 9.1% to 50%, while the frequency of matched matings ranged from 18.2% to 100%. The effective number of alleles at the sex-determining locus ranged from two to 11, with an average of five alleles. The effective population size of Halictus poeyi was estimated to be 19.6 ± 2.5 SE. These data are interpreted in the light of the biogeographic history of Florida and the social biology/population dynamics of H. poeyi.
The performance and durability of polyethylene terephthalate and crumb rubber–modified road pavement surfaces

This research investigates the influence of waste polymeric polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials obtained from waste plastic bottles and crumb rubber (CR) obtained from used automobile tyres on the performance (Marshall stability, flow and compression) and durability (weathering) characteristics of road-paving material made from Trinidad Petroleum Bitumen and the world-renowned Trinidad Lake Asphalt. Apart from possibly serving as additives to improve performance, incorporating waste PET and CR in asphaltic road-paving materials also offers a viable means of alleviating health and environmental problems associated with the waste disposal of PET and CR. The results of the Marshall testing found that the optimum dosage for polymer modification was 1.0% and 5.0% for PET and CR polymers, respectively. In comparison with a Marshall stability value for the unmodified asphalt sample of 10.2 kN with a corresponding flow value of 3.1 mm, the 5% PET modified sample had a Marshall stability value of 10.2 kN with a flow value of 3.2 mm, while the CR modified sample recorded the highest Marshall stability value of 10.7 kN at corresponding flow value of 2.8 mm. An undesirable trend of the gradual increasing of the voids in mineral aggregate (VMA) with incremental increases in the % of added PET and CR was observed; however, for all the modified specimens with the exception of the 5% PET modified sample, the VMA fell within the acceptable range of between 14% and 20%. The results of accelerated weathering and compression testing demonstrated that both the 1% PET and the 5% CR-modified samples had higher durability and compressive strength characteristics than the unmodified samples. Compressive stress values for the polymer-modified specimens were in excess of 45% compared to the unmodified ones. The relevance of the values obtained in this study cannot be ignored as it provides practical and essential data, especially of the optimal dosages of PET and CR required for the enhancement of the mechanical and durability properties of the Trinidad road-paving materials while simultaneously providing an environmentally desirable and sustainable method for reusing these waste polymers. Commercial application of the optimum formulation can be immediately implemented.
Logi-thermal simulation using high-resolution temperature dependent delay models

This paper proposes an accurate temperature dependent delay model for logi-thermal simulations. During the logi-thermal simulation of digital integrated circuits the propagation delays of the standard cells can be calculated from delay-temperature functions. The delay-temperature functions contain exact and precise delay values for each input-output path and temperature value. Temperature characterization corners can be specified in arbitrary fine granularity and range. The model presented in this paper overcome the limitation of the classic SDF (Standard Delay Format) models in that propagation delay values can be given for arbitrary temperatures, not only a few corners. With classic SDF, temperature dependence of timing and thus power can only be taken into account for a few design corners. Between characterization corners, like supply voltage, process variation and temperature, linear interpolation must be used for intermediate data. With our proposed delay model temperature-aware timing simulations would produce more accurate results than the classic SDF model. This paper compares the classic SDF delay model with our temperature dependent detailed model and provides evidence through a simple example for the necessity of temperature-aware timing simulation. The logi-thermal simulations are carried out with the CellTherm[1] application developed in the Dept. of Electron Devices, BME, Hungary. A logi-thermal acceleration technique is also introduced in this paper.
Regulatory (FOXP3+) T cells as target for immune therapy of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer

Regulatory (FOXP3+) T cells (Tregs) comprise a subpopulation of CD4+ T cells that suppress autoreactive immune cells, thereby protecting organs and tissues from autoimmunity. Tregs have also been detected in human malignancies and their depletion or inactivation substantially improves cellular antitumor immunity in preclinical studies. Novel therapeutic strategies for cervical cancer and precancerous cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) focus on immune‐modulatory and cancer vaccination approaches. In this context, the frequency of Tregs in cervical cancer and precancerous CIN could influence therapeutic strategies. We determined the frequency of infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells as well as FOXP3+ Tregs in high‐grade CIN lesions (CIN III) and cervical carcinoma compared to colon carcinoma, skin melanoma, and bronchial carcinoma. We show that human papilloma virus‐derived lesions have a significantly higher number of infiltrating lymphocytes and FOXP3+ Tregs compared to three other common tumor entities. In addition we explored the therapeutic effect of agonistic anti‐glucocorticoid‐induced tumor necrosis factor receptor family‐related protein antibodies that, by single systemic application, inactivate Tregs and induce strong intratumoral invasion of CD8+ T cells and complete tumor eradication in 70% of treated animals. The large number of Tregs in human papilloma virus‐derived lesions suggests a pivotal role of Tregs for counteracting the host immune response. We therefore regard CIN and cervical cancer as prime targets for new immune‐based non‐invasive therapies. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 1112–1117)
Distribution and dynamics of (99m)Tc-pertechnetate uptake in the thyroid and other organs assessed by single-photon emission computed tomography in living mice.

BACKGROUND (99m)Tc pertechnetate is a well-known anion, used for clinical imaging of thyroid function. This gamma emitter is transported by the sodium iodide symporter but is not incorporated into thyroglobulin. Scintigraphy using (99m)Tc pertechnetate or (123)iodide represents a powerful tool for the study of sodium iodide symporter activity in different organs of living animal models. However, in many studies that have been performed in mice, the thyroid could not be distinguished from the salivary glands. In this work, we have evaluated the use of a clinically dedicated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) camera for thyroid imaging and assessed what improvements are necessary for the development of this technique. METHODS SPECT of the mouse neck region, with pinhole collimation and geometric calibration, was used for the individual measurement of (99m)Tc pertechnetate uptake in the thyroid and the salivary glands. Uptake in the stomach was studied by planar whole-body imaging. Uptake kinetics and biodistribution studies were performed by sequential imaging. RESULTS This work has shown that thyroid imaging in living mice can be performed with a SPECT camera originally built for clinical use. Our experiments indicate that (99m)Tc pertechnetate uptake is faster in the thyroid than in the salivary glands and the stomach. The decrease in (99m)Tc pertechnetate uptake after injection of iodide or perchlorate as competitive inhibitors was also studied. The resulting rate decreases were faster in the thyroid than in the salivary glands or the stomach. CONCLUSIONS We have shown that a clinically dedicated SPECT camera can be used for thyroid imaging. In our experiments, SPECT imaging allowed the analysis of (99m)Tc pertechnetate accumulation in individual organs and revealed differences in uptake kinetics.
Regional temperature and precipitation changes under high-end (≥4°C) global warming

Climate models vary widely in their projections of both global mean temperature rise and regional climate changes, but are there any systematic differences in regional changes associated with different levels of global climate sensitivity? This paper examines model projections of climate change over the twenty-first century from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report which used the A2 scenario from the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, assessing whether different regional responses can be seen in models categorized as ‘high-end’ (those projecting 4°C or more by the end of the twenty-first century relative to the preindustrial). It also identifies regions where the largest climate changes are projected under high-end warming. The mean spatial patterns of change, normalized against the global rate of warming, are generally similar in high-end and ‘non-high-end’ simulations. The exception is the higher latitudes, where land areas warm relatively faster in boreal summer in high-end models, but sea ice areas show varying differences in boreal winter. Many continental interiors warm approximately twice as fast as the global average, with this being particularly accentuated in boreal summer, and the winter-time Arctic Ocean temperatures rise more than three times faster than the global average. Large temperature increases and precipitation decreases are projected in some of the regions that currently experience water resource pressures, including Mediterranean fringe regions, indicating enhanced pressure on water resources in these areas.
Latent infection of myeloid progenitors by human cytomegalovirus protects cells from FAS-mediated apoptosis through the cellular IL-10/PEA-15 pathway

Latent infection of primary CD34+ progenitor cells by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) results in their increased survival in the face of pro-apoptotic signals. For instance, we have shown previously that primary myeloid cells are refractory to FAS-mediated killing and that cellular IL-10 (cIL-10) is an important survival factor for this effect. However, how cIL-10 mediates this protection is unclear. Here, we have shown that cIL-10 signalling leading to upregulation of the cellular factor PEA-15 mediates latency-associated protection of CD34+ progenitor cells from the extrinsic death pathway.