Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The carboxyl terminus of the human foamy virus Gag protein contains separable nucleic acid binding and nuclear transport domains

The Gag protein of human foamy virus (HFV) lacks Cys-His boxes present in the nucleocapsid (NC) domains of other retroviruses; instead it contains three glycine-arginine-rich motifs (GR boxes). We have expressed the carboxyl end of HFV Gag containing the GR boxes (the NC domain equivalent) and analyzed its nucleic acid binding properties. Our results show that the NC domain of HFV Gag binds with high affinity to both RNA and DNA, in a sequence-independent manner, as determined by filter binding assays. Analysis of a mutant containing a heterologous sequence in place of GR box I indicates that this motif is required for nucleic acid binding and for viral replication. A mutant in GR box II still binds to RNA and DNA in vitro, but virus containing this mutation does not replicate and no nuclear staining of the Gag protein is found in transfected cells. Surprisingly, a revertant from this mutant that completely lacks GR box II and exhibits very little nuclear transport of Gag can readily replicate in tissue culture. This finding thus provides a direct evidence that although the sequences in GR box II can serve as a nuclear transport signal, they are not required for HFV replication and it is unlikely that nuclear localization of Gag protein plays any critical role during viral infection. Taken together, our results suggest that the Gag protein of HFV may be more analogous to the core protein of the hepatitis B virus family than to conventional retroviral Gag protein.
Development of a transoral fundoplication device and related experimental research

This paper describes a device and surgical techniques developed between 1999 and 2003 to enable an entirely transoral approach to fundoplication. The Endofundoplication System (EFS) system consisted of a multifunctional flexible tube for oral introduction (18 mm) as the key component, with a specially designed retroverted grasper that was used to grasp the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) area of the esophagus, for invaginating the LES into the stomach and folding the gastric wall onto the wall of the intraabdominal esophagus. The EFS system was finally studied in a consecutive series of animal experiments in the domestic pig (n = 10). In nine out of the ten cases the procedure could be successfully completed and the animals survived six weeks according to the study protocol. The clinical follow‐up of the nine animals went without problems. The animals behaved normally the first day after the procedure and tolerated regular diet very well. No signs of pain or any abdominal pathology were found in the clinical follow‐up. Follow‐up by endoscopy and fluoroscopy showed a subsequent postoperative migration of fasteners within the tissue. After autopsy and macroscopic inspection of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), we found firm tissue indurations around the fasteners. This may indicate that the fastener as a foreign body leads to a sufficient amount of scar tissue formation to contribute to permanent fixation of the tissue layers. The basic advantage of the EFS technique was seen by our group in the fact that it comes closer to the shape and function of a classical fundoplication than any other techniques proposed at the time we did our development. The nipple valve created by the EFS technique is, however, geometrically not identical to any existing fundoplication technique and is not directly comparable to any such procedure.
Acrolein health effects

Abstract Acrolein is a chemical used as an intermediate reactive aldehyde in chemical industry. It is used for synthesis of many organic substances, methionine production, and methyl chloride refrigerant. The general population is exposed to acrolein via smoking, second-hand smoke, exposure to wood and plastic smoke. Firefighters and population living or working in areas with heavy automotive traffic may expose to higher level of acrolein via inhalation of smoke or automotive exhaust. Degradation of acrolein in all environmental media occurs rapidly, therefore, environmental accumulation is not expected. Acrolein degrade in 6 days when applied to surface water, and it has not been found as a contaminant in municipal drinking water. Acrolein vapor may cause eye, nasal and respiratory tract irritations in low level exposure. A decrease in breathing rate was reported by volunteers acutely exposed to 0.3 ppm of acrolein. At similar level, mild nasal epithelial dysplasia, necrosis, and focal basal cell metaplasia have been observed in rats. The acrolein effects on gastrointestinal mucosa in the animals include epithelial hyperplasia, ulceration, and hemorrhage. The severity of the effects is dose dependent. Acrolein induces the respiratory, ocular, and gastrointestinal irritations by inducing the release of peptides in nerve terminals innervating these systems. Levels of acrolein between 22 and 249 ppm for 10 min induced a dose-related decrease in substance P (a short-chain polypeptide that functions as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator).
Induction of apoptosis by a hepatocyte conditioned medium

Incubation of primary cultures of parenchymal hepatocytes in a conditioned medium (CM), collected over the first 3 h of serum‐free rat hepatocyte culture (CM0–3), induces a time dependent increase of the frequency of apoptotic cells which is accompanied by prominent changes of cell morphology. Short‐term treatment with CM0–3 for the first 3 h of culture is sufficient to significantly (P < 0.05) increase the frequency of apoptotic cells, however, the effect is more pronounced upon long‐term treatment. Although apoptosis induction by CM0–3 is independent of the timepoint when cultivation in CM0–3 starts, our results suggest that the sensitivity for apoptosis induction by CM0–3 is increased during the phase of attachment. Purification of CM0–3 resulted in a fraction which significantly (P < 0.05) induced apoptosis at concentrations ≥10 ng/ml. Exposure of cultures to concentrations ≥1 μg/ml of purified CM0–3 gave rise to a prominent cytotoxic effect as indicated by the massive occurrence of necrotic cells. Biochemical analysis showed that the purified fraction of CM0–3 contains acidic ferritins with molecular weight of 23 and 43 kDa. Strikingly, both share homologies with placental isoferritins (PLF), for which growth inhibitory and immunosuppressive effects have been demonstrated by several investigations. Therefore, our results provide evidence that rat hepatocytes produce PLF or PLF‐related acidic isoferritins which are able to induce apoptosis. J. Cell. Physiol. 198: 452–460, 2004© 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Neuroprotective effect of naloxone in brain damage caused by repeated febrile seizure].

OBJECTIVE The brain damage caused by repeated febrile seizure (FS) during developing age is harmful to the intellectual development of children. So how to decrease the related damage is a very important issue. The main purpose of the present study was to find out whether the non-specific opiate antagonist naloxone at low dose has the neuroprotective effect on seizure-induced brain damage. METHODS Warm water induced rat FS model was developed in this study. Forty-seven rats were randomly divided into two groups: normal control group (n = 10) and hyperthermic seizure groups (n = 37). The latter was further divided into FS control group (n = 13) and naloxone-treated group (n = 24). The dose of naloxone is different in two naloxone-treated groups (12/each group), in one group the dose was 1 mg/kg, in the other one 2 mg/kg. Seven febrile seizures were induced in each rat of hyperthermic seizure groups with the interval of 2 days. The rats were weighed and injected intraperitoneally with naloxone once the FS occurred in naloxone-treated group, while the rats of the other groups were injected with 0.9% sodium chloride. Latency, duration and grade of FS in different groups were observed and compared. HE-staining and the electron microscopy (EM) were used to detect the morphologic and ultrastructural changes of hippocampal neurons. RESULTS In naloxone-treated group, the rats' FS duration and FS grade (5.02 +/- 0.63, 2.63 +/- 0.72) were significantly lower (t = 5.508, P < 0.01; t = 8.439, P < 0.01) than those in FS control group (7.70 +/- 2.25 min, 4.52 +/- 0.49), although no significant gap was observed on FS latency between them. In FS control group, HE-staining pattern of hippocampal CA(1) and CA(2) showed lots of disordered neurons with confused polarity and vacuoles formed. Nuclei were with various size, some rounded and some oblong. While in naloxone-treated groups, the arrangement of neurons was regular, only a small quantity of neurons had changed polarity and vacuoles formed. Most nuclei were oblong and in the same size. In hippocampal CA(1) region and dentate gyrus of rats from FS control group, EM showed that the most mitochondrion volumes obviously increased with vacuoles formed, the matrix condensed, the ridge obscured or disappeared, apoptosis body emerged. Minor to moderate dilation of rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi's complex was also observed. However, in naloxone-treated groups, the number of neurons with swollen mitochondrion and endoplasmic reticulum was much fewer than that in FS control group. No apoptosis body was observed. The comparison between them showed much lighter brain damage in naloxone-treated groups than in FS control group. CONCLUSION Although low-dose naloxone could not totally stop the occurrence of febrile seizure, it could lighten the brain damage resulted from repeated FS to some extent.
There is No Correlation Between Function and Lymphokine Production of HBs‐Antigen‐Specific Human CD4+‐Cloned T Cells

The question whether antigen‐specific human CD4+ T cells can be classified on the basis of appropriate and fixed lymphokine production patterns and their corresponding functions still remains lo be elucidated. We generated ten CD4+ T‐cell clones specific for HBsAg from HBsAg‐positive but HBsAb‐negative individuals. Seven of these clones exhibited helper activity for HBsAb response, while the three other clones did not. Both helper‐ and non‐helper‐type T‐cell clones produced interleukin 4 (IL‐4) after antigenic stimulation. By stimulation with phytohaem‐agglutinin (PHA) plus phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). three of the seven helper‐type clones produced interleukin 2 (lL‐2) in addition toiL‐4. However, the other four helper‐type clones did not produce IL‐2 by such stimulation, although they continued the production of IL‐4. All non‐help)er‐type T‐cell clones produced a large amount of IL‐2. and some of them completely became an IL‐2 producer after certain stimulation. These results suggested that both helper‐ and non‐helper‐type CD4+ T‐cell clones specific for HBsAg might have no strict pattern of lymphokine production as m the TH1 /TH2 dichotomy of murine CD4+ T cells. The data also revealed that lymphokine‐producing capacity of individual cloned T cells is changeable depending upon the sort of activation.
Mutational Analysis of a Plant Defensin from Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) Reveals Two Adjacent Sites Important for Antifungal Activity*

Mutational analysis of Rs-AFP2, a radish antifungal peptide belonging to a family of peptides referred to as plant defensins, was performed using polymerase chain reaction-based site-directed mutagenesis and yeast as a system for heterologous expression. The strategy followed to select candidate amino acid residues for substitution was based on sequence comparison of Rs-AFP2 with other plant defensins exhibiting differential antifungal properties. Several mutations giving rise to peptide variants with reduced antifungal activity against Fusarium culmorum were identified. In parallel, an attempt was made to construct variants with enhanced antifungal activity by substituting single amino acids by arginine. Two arginine substitution variants were found to be more active than wild-type Rs-AFP2 in media with high ionic strength. Our data suggest that Rs-AFP2 possesses two adjacent sites that appear to be important for antifungal activity, namely the region around the type VI β-turn connecting β-strands 2 and 3, on the one hand, and the region formed by residues on the loop connecting β-strand 1 and the α-helix and contiguous residues on the α-helix and β-strand 3, on the other hand. When added to F. culmorum in a high ionic strength medium, Rs-AFP2 stimulated Ca2+ uptake by up to 20-fold. An arginine substitution variant with enhanced antifungal activity caused increased Ca2+ uptake by up to 50-fold, whereas a variant that was virtually devoid of antifungal activity did not stimulate Ca2+ uptake.
Measures of reliability in the kinematics of maximal undulatory underwater swimming.

PURPOSE The purposes of this article were to establish the reliability of the kinematics of maximal undulatory underwater swimming (UUS) in skilled swimmers, to determine any requirement for familiarization trials, to establish the within-subject (WS) variability of the kinematics, and to calculate the number of cycles required to accurately represent UUS performance. METHODS Fifteen male swimmers performed 20 maximal UUS trials (two cycles per trial) during four sessions. The magnitude of any systematic bias present within the kinematic variables was calculated between session, trial, and cycle. Random error calculations were calculated to determine the WS variation. An iterative intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) process was used to determine the number of cycles required to achieve a stable representation of each kinematic variable. RESULTS Significant differences were found between session 1 and all other sessions for several variables, indicating the requirement for a familiarization session. Results indicated a wide range of WS variation (coefficient of variation [CV] = 1.21%-12.42%). Reductions in WS variation were observed for all variables when the number of cycles of data used to calculate WS variation was increased. Using six cycles of data, including additional cycles of data, provided diminishing returns regarding the reduction of WS variation. The ICC analysis indicated that an average of nine cycles (mean ± SD = 9.47 ± 5.63) was required to achieve the maximum ICC values attained, and an average of four cycles (mean ± SD = 3.57 ± 2.09) was required to achieve an ICC of 0.95. CONCLUSIONS After determining the systematic bias and establishing the requirement for a familiarization session, six cycles of data were found to be sufficient to provide high levels of reliability (CV(TE) = 0.86-8.92; ICC = 0.811-0.996) for each of the UUS kinematic variables.
The Experience of Perinatal Care at a Birthing Center: A Qualitative Pilot Study

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive pilot study was to describe women’s experiences of care and satisfaction at a freestanding birth center. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with seven women who had given birth within 12 months of participant selection. Using qualitative content analysis, three themes emerged: (1) Empowerment, (2) Sense of Motherhood, and (3) Establishing and Strengthening Relationships. Data revealed that women value caring providers, that caring providers may affect positive outcomes, and that those outcomes may lead to a satisfactory experience.
Female and male responses to cuteness , age and emotion in infant faces Running headline : Male and female responses to infant faces

Neonatal features in the newborn are thought to trigger parental care, the most fundamental prosocial behaviour. The underlying mechanisms that release parental care have not yet been resolved. Here we report sex differences in the ability to discriminate cues to cuteness despite equivalence in the capability to discriminate age and facial expression. These differences become apparent in a task where adults were asked to choose the cuter of two babies. While women could reliably choose the cuter infant, men had more difficulty in doing so. When showing the exact same face pairs but asking to choose the younger or the happier baby, there was no sex difference. These results suggest that the sex difference in the ability to discriminate cues to cuteness in infants underlies female-specific emotive responses. We argue that this reactivity expressed by women evolved to ensure that a female allocates her caretaking resources to her youngest offspring while it needs mothering care. Female and male responses to cuteness, age and emotion in infant faces Running headline: Male and female responses to infant faces Janek S. Lobmaier, Reiner Sprengelmeyer, Ben Wiffen, & David I. Perrett 1 School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Mary’s Quad, South Street, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JP, Scotland. 2 University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3012 Bern, Switzerland Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Janek Lobmaier or David Perrett Email: janek@perceptionlab.com; dp@st-andrews.ac. uk, Phone: +44 (0) 1334463044 Fax: +44 (0) 13344633042
Open for Ideation: Individual-level Openness and Idea Generation in R&D

Organizations are increasingly encouraging their scientists and engineers to work with ideas originally created outside the firm. Such attempts at open innovation have profound consequences for individuals working in R&D, forcing them to realign the direction of their search efforts outward. However, it is as yet unclear whether and how this individual-level increase in external search efforts impacts individuals’ ideation performance, and which factors might moderate this process in turn. Using a sample of 355 R&D scientists and engineers working at a large, mature organization, we examine the relationship between individuals’ openness to external sources of knowledge on their ability to develop new, useful innovative ideas for their organization. Drawing from theories of combinatorial search, we theorize – and empirically substantiate – that the openness to external ideas is curvilinearly related to ideation, indicating that benefits of openness to external sources are positive until they reach a point .
Mechanisms of osteolytic bone metastases in breast carcinoma

Osteolytic and osteoblastic metastases are often the cause of considerable morbidity in patients with advanced prostate and breast carcinoma. Breast carcinoma metastasis to bone occurs because bone provides a favorable site for aggressive behavior of metastatic cancer cells. A vicious cycle arises between cancer cells and the bone microenvironment, which is mediated by the production of growth factors such as transforming growth factor β and insulin growth factor from bone and parathyroid hormone‐related protein (PTHrP) produced by tumor cells. Osteolysis and tumor cell accumulation can be interrupted by inhibiting any of these limbs of the vicious cycle. For example, bisphosphonates (e.g., pamidronate, ibandronate, risedronate, clodronate, and zoledronate) inhibit both bone lesions and tumor cell burden in bone in experimental models of breast carcinomametastasis. Neutralizing antibodies to PTHrP, which inhibit PTHrP effects on osteoclastic bone resorption, also reduce osteolytic bone lesions and tumor burden in bone. Other pharmacologic approaches to inhibit PTHrP produced by breast carcinoma cells in the bone microenvironment also produce similar beneficial effects. Identification of the molecular mechanisms responsible for osteolytic metastases is crucial in designing effective therapy for this devastating complication. Cancer 2003;97(3 Suppl):834–9. © 2003 American Cancer Society.
Introduction to multiagent systems

From the Publisher: An agent is an entity with domain knowledge, goals and actions. Multi-agent systems are a set of agents which interact in a common environment. Multi-agent systems deal with the construction of complex systems involving multiple agents and their coordination. A multi-agent system (MAS) is a distributed computing system with autonomous interacting intelligent agents that coordinate their actions so as to achieve its goal(s) jointly or competitively.
Distal biceps tendon anatomy: a cadaveric study.

BACKGROUND The anatomy of the distal biceps tendon and aponeurosis has not been studied in detail. METHODS Seventeen cadaver elbows were dissected with loupe magnification to identify the details of the distal biceps tendon and the lacertus fibrosus. RESULTS In ten of the seventeen specimens, the distal biceps tendon was in two distinct parts, each a continuation of the long and short heads of the muscle. The remaining seven specimens showed interdigitation of the muscle distally. The tendon continued from each muscle belly. The short head inserted distal to the radial tuberosity and was positioned to be a more powerful flexor of the elbow, while the tendon of the long head inserted on the tuberosity further from the axis of rotation of the forearm and was positioned to be a stronger supinator. The bicipital aponeurosis consisted of three layers and completely encircled the ulnar forearm flexor muscles. The aponeurosis may be important in stabilizing the tendons distally. CONCLUSIONS The double tendon insertion may allow an element of independent function of each portion of the biceps, and, during repair of an avulsion, the surgeon should ensure correct orientation of both tendon components.
Cytotoxicity, organ distribution and morphological effects of melamine and cyanuric acid in rats

Abstract Melamine (Mel) is used widely as a basic organic chemical intermediate in several products. Within the last 10 years there have been two high-profile Mel exposures that caused toxicological concern, especially regarding food adulteration. Objective: This study aimed to determine the toxicity of Mel and one of its homologs, cyanuric acid (Cya), in vitro and in vivo. Materials and Methods: The IC50 of Mel and Cya was determined by the MTT assay in NRK-52E and 293T cell lines. Organ-specific toxicity was assessed using the following dosing paradigm of Wistar rats: group 1: normal saline; group 2: Mel (180 mg/kg); group 3: Cya (150 mg/kg); and group 4: Mel (180 mg/kg) + Cya (150 mg/kg). Results: The NRK cell toxicity studies on Mel and Cya revealed IC50 values of 1.89 mg/mL and 4.20 mg/mL, respectively. Similarly, Mel and Cya IC50 values in 293T cells were 2.07 mg/mL and 3.71 mg/mL, respectively. Histopathologic studies revealed crystals in the renal medulla-cortex and loss of chief cells in the lining of the stomach in the group receiving Mel plus Cya. HPLC-MS analysis of organ homogenates showed that the concentration of Mel was greatest in the animals receiving a combination of both Mel and Cya. Discussion and conclusion: Mel is more toxic than its homolog Cya. The kidney is the most affected organ. Mel was present at high concentration not only in the kidneys, but also in the uterus and liver, informing the scope of future studies on the mechanism of Mel and Cya toxicity.