Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NEURAL MECHANISM OF SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION 1 A neural mechanism of social categorization

Humans readily sort one another into multiple social categories from mere facial features. However, the facial features used to do so are not always clear-cut, as they can be associated with opponent categories (e.g., feminine male face). Recently, computational models and behavioral studies have provided indirect evidence that categorizing such faces is accomplished through dynamic competition between parallel, coactivated social categories that resolve into a stable categorical percept. Using a novel paradigm combining fMRI with real-time hand-tracking, the present study examined how the brain translates diverse social cues into categorical percepts. Participants (male and female) categorized faces varying in gender and racial typicality. When categorizing atypical faces, participants’ hand movements were simultaneously attracted toward the unselected category response, indexing the degree to which such faces activated the opposite category in parallel. Multi-voxel pattern analyses provided evidence that such social category co-activation manifested in neural patterns of the right fusiform cortex. The extent to which the hand was simultaneously attracted to the opposite gender or race categoryy response corresponded with increased neural-pattern similarity with the average pattern associated with that category, which in turn associated with stronger engagement of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The findings point to a model of social categorization, whereby occasionally conflicting facial features are resolved through competition between co-activated ventral-temporal cortical representations with the assistance of conflict-monitoring regions. More broadly, the results offer a promising multi-modal paradigm to investigate the neural basis of “hidden”, temporarilyactive representations in the service of a broad range of cognitive processes.
Characterization of a Novel LysM Domain from Lactobacillus fermentum Bacteriophage Endolysin and Its Use as an Anchor To Display Heterologous Proteins on the Surfaces of Lactic Acid Bacteria

ABSTRACT The endolysin Lyb5, from Lactobacillus fermentum temperate bacteriophage φPYB5, showed a broad lytic spectrum against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria. Sequence analysis revealed that the C terminus of the endolysin Lyb5 (Ly5C) contained three putative lysin motif (LysM) repeat regions, implying that Ly5C was involved in bacterial cell wall binding. To investigate the potential of Ly5C for surface display, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused to Ly5C at its N or C terminus and the resulting fusion proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli. After being mixed with various cells in vitro, GFP was successfully displayed on the surfaces of Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus casei, Lb. brevis, Lb. plantarum, Lb. fermentum, Lb. delbrueckii, Lb. helveticus, and Streptococcus thermophilus cells. Increases in the fluorescence intensities of chemically pretreated L. lactis and Lb. casei cells compared to those of nonpretreated cells suggested that the peptidoglycan was the binding ligand for Ly5C. Moreover, the pH and concentration of sodium chloride were optimized to enhance the binding capacity of GFP-Ly5C, and high-intensity fluorescence of cells was observed under optimal conditions. All results suggested that Ly5C was a novel anchor for constructing a surface display system for lactic acid bacteria (LAB). To demonstrate the applicability of the Ly5C-mediated surface display system, β-galactosidase (β-Gal) from Paenibacillus sp. strain K1, replacing GFP, was functionally displayed on the surfaces of LAB cells via Ly5C. The success in surface display of GFP and β-Gal opened up the feasibility of employing the cell wall anchor of bacteriophage endolysin for surface display in LAB.
Présentation d’une enquête pour l’étude des régionalismes du français

Dans cette contribution, nous presentons les premiers resultats d’une enquete visant a etudier la vitalite et l’aire d’extension de certains regionalismes du francais parle en Europe. Un questionnaire a ete propose et diffuse via les medias sociaux, mettant ainsi a profit la methode dite du crowdsourcing, qui a permis de recueillir les reponses de plus de 10 000 francophones. L’enquete porte principalement sur des items lexicaux mais inclut egalement des regionalismes grammaticaux, plus rarement etudies. Cet article presente les principes qui ont motive la mise au point de cette enquete, la structure du questionnaire, les participants, ainsi que quelques resultats preliminaires. Nous nous interesserons ici en particulier a des faits linguistiques bien connus (l’idee etant de comparer nos donnees aux elements fournis par les dictionnaires de regionalismes traditionnels). Nous presenterons une douzaine de questions du sondage, en precisant la tâche proposee et une visualisation des reponses sous forme de cartes. En regard des travaux precedents, plusieurs cas de figure se dessinent : certains regionalismes restent bien employes, alors que d’autres semblent en perte de vitesse. Dans d’autres cas, l’aire d’extension des variantes a l’etude est tellement large qu’on ne peut y voir un fait de variation regionale.
On the specificity of avian blood parasites: revealing specific and generalist relationships between haemosporidians and biting midges

The study of host–parasite relationships involving vector‐borne parasites requires understanding interactions between parasites and vectors. The capacity of haemosporidians to infect insects has clear evolutionary consequences for the transmission of diseases. Here, we investigated (i) the associations between blood parasites, biting midges and birds and (ii) the potential specificity between biting midge and haemosporidian haplotypes. A total of 629 parous biting midges Culicoides and 224 wild birds (belonging to seven species) from a locality of central Spain were individually examined for the presence of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium parasites by sequencing a fragment of cytochrome B. Biting midges were identified morphologically and characterized on the basis of a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene. Overall, 12 Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium haplotypes were isolated and sequenced. Among them, 10 haplotypes were exclusively isolated from biting midges, three haplotypes only from birds and two haplotypes from both biting midges and birds. Biting midge haplotypes showed both specific and generalist relationships with Haemoproteus haplotypes but only generalist relationships with Plasmodium haplotypes. Several C. festivipennis and C. kibunesis haplotypes established significant coevolutionary links with Haemoproteus haplotypes. These results shed light on the specificity of interactions between vectors and blood parasites.
Companion diagnostic assays for PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC

ABSTRACT The immune checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab and nivolumab together with their diagnostic assays have recently been granted market authorization for treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer in the USA. The two assays, PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx and PD-L1 IHC 28-8 pharmDx (both by Dako, Glostrup, Denmark), are the first PD-L1 IHC assays to obtain regulatory approval through the Premarket Approval process. This approval is supported by recent clinical studies that have shown a positive correlation between PD-L1 expression and the outcome following treatment with different PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors. These diagnostic assays are able to identify the group of non-small-cell lung cancer patients who will benefit most from treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, so far, it is only the PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay, which is linked to the use of pembrolizumab, that has obtained regulatory status as a companion diagnostic.
Exponentiality Test Based on the Progressive Type II Censoring via Cumulative Entropy

In this article, we use cumulative residual Kullback-Leibler information (CRKL) and cumulative Kullback-Leibler information (CKL) to construct two goodness-of-fit test statistics for testing exponentiality with progressively Type-II censored data. The power of the proposed tests are compared with the power of goodness-of-fit test for exponentiality introduced by Balakrishnan et al. (2007). We show that when the hazard function of the alternative is monotone decreasing, the test based on CRKL has higher power and when the hazard function of the alternative is non-monotone, the test based on CKL has higher power. But, when it is monotone increasing the power difference between test based on CKL and their proposed test is not so remarkable. The use of the proposed tests is shown in an illustrative example.
Classifying urban land use by integrating remote sensing and social media data

ABSTRACT Urban land use information plays an important role in urban management, government policy-making, and population activity monitoring. However, the accurate classification of urban functional zones is challenging due to the complexity of urban systems. Many studies have focused on urban land use classification by considering features that are extracted from either high spatial resolution (HSR) remote sensing images or social media data, but few studies consider both features due to the lack of available models. In our study, we propose a novel scene classification framework to identify dominant urban land use type at the level of traffic analysis zone by integrating probabilistic topic models and support vector machine. A land use word dictionary inside the framework was built by fusing natural–physical features from HSR images and socioeconomic semantic features from multisource social media data. In addition to comparing with manual interpretation data, we designed several experiments to test the land use classification accuracy of our proposed model with different combinations of previously acquired semantic features. The classification results (overall accuracy = 0.865, Kappa = 0.828) demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy that blends features extracted from multisource geospatial data as semantic features to train the classification model. This method can be applied to help urban planners analyze fine urban structures and monitor urban land use changes, and additional data from multiple sources will be blended into this proposed framework in the future.
Comparative Analysis of Earnings Rate, Retention Rate, and Dividend Yield as Determinants of Capital Growth

This work compares the effect of earnings rate, retention rate, and dividend yield on the capital growth of Nigeria’s emerging and large companies. The study begins with a detailed characterization of emerging companies in the Nigerian context, then, an extensive review of both theoretical and empirical studies surrounding dividend policy. Thereafter, three contextual arguments or positions were identified to provide the framework for divergence or convergence with the outcome of this work. The variables were also specified as follows: growth in equity capital (GEC), earnings rate (ER), retention rate (RR), and dividend yield (DY). Two procedures were adopted: z-test of two means, aimed at providing additional basis for predicting the outcome of our estimates. To do this, ten years time series data were collected from the annual financial reports of ten emerging and twenty large companies quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, thus, pooling 100 data items for emerging companies and 200 data items for large companies. Then, the means of the respective variables for each size of company were compared, particularly, to establish any significant growth pattern explained later in the second procedure. The second procedure involves specification of panel data regression model with random effect, one for each of the two classes of companies. The results show statistically significant and consistent differences between the two categories of companies in the means of GEC and ER. Secondly, for the emerging companies, only RR significantly contributed to changes in GEC. Thirdly, for the large companies, none of the independent variables significantly explained changes in GEC. It was concluded that the study did not demonstrate any pattern in dividend/retention behavior in emerging or large companies that is consistent with any of dividend policy positions, leading us to conclude that no single dividend policy magic wand is a recipe for all managers at all times.
Maturation of sympathetic neurotransmission in the rat heart. VIII. Slowed development of noradrenergic synapses resulting from hypothyroidism.

Sympathetic nerve input has been proposed to regulate cardiac growth and differentiation. In the present study, this hypothesis was tested by giving the neurotoxic adrenergic neuron blocking agent, guanethidine (50 mg/kg, s.c), daily to rats for 21 consecutive days to produce long-term peripheral sympathectomy in neonatal rats. Ontogeny of the sympathetic nerve terminal was measured by the ability of synaptic vesicle preparations to take up radiolabeled norepinephrine, and heart growth in the sympathectomized animals was monitored by organ weight as well as by RNA and protein synthesis. Guanethidine treatment produced a massive sympathectomy. as synaptic vesicle development was totally arrested; the functional consequence of this treatment was confirmed by the attenuation of chronotropic responses to tyramine, a drug which acts by displacement of norepinephrine from the noradrenergic terminal. Despite the clear-cut effectiveness of guanethidine to prevent formation of functional sympathetic innervation of the heart, no significant alterations in heart growth or RNA and protein synthetic capabilities were observed in the developing rats. These results suggest that the presence of sympathetic innervation is not obligatory for normal growth of the heart to occur.
Evaluation by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of trabecular bone quality in the dentate and edentulous mandible.

OBJECTIVE To quantify the differences in mandibular trabecular bone quality between edentulous and dentate patients using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (QMRI). METHODS The patients in this study had been referred to our clinic for QMRI examination for various reasons. A total of 40 male patients (18 dentate, 22 edentulous), 45-55 years of age, were examined. Mandibular T2* axial cross-sections were performed following receipt of consent from each patient. T2* relaxation time values (RTVs) were determined in the trabecular area. RESULTS The mean mandibular T2* RTVs of dentate and edentulous patients were 181 and 182, respectively. There were no significant differences between the two groups (P=0.929) (Student's t-test). CONCLUSIONS Mandibular trabecular bone quality may not be influenced by edentulousness according to QMRI.
Covered, expandable esophageal metallic stent tubes: experiences in 119 patients.

PURPOSE To study fluoroscopic placement of covered expandable stent tubes in patients with esophagogastric strictures. MATERIALS AND METHODS Under fluoroscopic guidance, 132 stent tubes were placed in 116 patients with malignant neoplasm; four, in three patients with benign lesions. All patients had aphagia or dysphagia to soft food or liquid. RESULTS After placement (successful in 100% of cases), 93 (78%) of the patients could ingest solid food; 24 (20%), soft food. Complications in the 119 patients included blockage in 13, stent tube migration in 12, gastroesophageal reflux in nine, severe pain in nine, and delayed massive bleeding in four. Most major complications were managed by means of a balloon catheter, a second stent tube, or analgesics. One hundred four patients died 2-80 weeks after stent placement. CONCLUSION Treatment with placement of a covered expandable stent tube is effective in most patients with dysphagia due to malignant esophogastric strictures and is less effective in patients with benign strictures.
Relational Personhood Revisited

This article revisits one of the key heuristic devices archaeologists have used to appreciate personhood over the last 15 years—the idea that there is a tension between individual and dividual aspects of personhood. I argue that personhood is always relational, but in varied ways, and propose a revised heuristic approach to assist with appreciating diversity in the multi-dimensional and multi-modal character of personhood.
Awareness and Use of the National Archives in Nigeria

This study sought to ascertain the awareness and use of National Archives of Nigeria. The study adopted the survey design. Study population was made up of artisans, undergraduate students, teachers, accountants and sales persons at Babcock Univeristy, Ilishan - Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. Although the exact population of those within Babcock University could not be ascertained at the time of the study, proportional random sampling technique was, however, used for selecting 100 respondents who took part in the study. A self constructed questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was evident from the findings that majority of Nigerians are not aware of the National Archives. Among those who are aware of its' existence, few have actually bothered to visit it and those who have did so mainly for the purpose of school excursion. It was, however, interesting to note that those who have actually visited the National Archives did learn something new from their visit and rated the National Archives as effective in helping Nigerians learn about their national heritage. Based on the findings, recommendations were made. Keywords: Cultural heritage, National Archives, Nigeria, Nigerian culture
Skeletal muscle sodium channel is affected by an epileptogenic beta1 subunit mutation.

The syndrome of generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus type 1 (GEFS+) has been associated to the gene SCN1B coding for the sodium channel beta1 subunit (Wallace, R. H. et al. (1998) Nature Genetics 19, 366-370). In patients, a mutation of the cysteine 121 to trpyptophane (C121W) would cause a lack of modulatory activity of the beta1 subunit on sodium channels expressed in the brain, rendering neurons hyperexcitable. We have confirmed that the normal beta1-modulation of type-IIA adult brain alpha subunits (BIIA) expressed in frog oocytes is defective in C121W. We observed that the mixture of wild-type and mutant beta1 subunits is less effective than wild-type alone, suggesting that the mutant beta1 subunit does bind the alpha subunit. However, we also observed a similar lack of modulation by C121W of the in adult skeletal muscle alpha subunit (SkM1). This finding is in contrast with the simple idea that the mutational effect observed in the oocyte expression system is the principal physiopathological correlate of GEFS+, because no skeletal muscle symptoms have been reported in GEFS+ patients. We conclude that the manifestation of the pathological phenotype is conditioned by the presence of susceptibility genes and/or that the frog oocyte expression system is inadequate for the study of the mutant beta1 subunit physiopathology.
Preventing the transfer of Streptococcus mutans from primary molars to permanent first molars using chlorhexidine.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine if the application of 1% chlorhexidine-containing wax on primary molars during the period of eruption of the first permanent molars could prevent the transfer of certain oral flora, namely Streptococcus mutans, to the permanent molars. METHODS Fourteen children with a mean age of 6.5 years (7 males and 7 females) were assigned into two groups: a chlorhexidine group (n=9) in which 1% chlorhexidine-containing wax was painted on primary molars on one side of the mouth; and a placebo wax group (n=5) in which a similar wax, but without chlorhexidine, was painted on primary molars on the other side of the mouth. Baseline saliva samples and pooled plaque samples from the primary molars on both sides of the dentition were obtained from the two treatment groups. Following treatment, plaque samples from the occlusal fissures of the first permanent molars on both sides of the dentition were obtained. The levels of S.mutans and other members of the oral flora on the treated sides (chlorhexidine or placebo) were compared with those on the untreated sides. RESULTS The results showed that the proportions of S.mutans to S.sanguinis were significantly lower in the chlorhexidine-treated sides compared to the untreated (P=0.04) and in the chlorhexidine-treated patients compared to placebo (P=0.029). CONCLUSIONS Since lower mutans to sanguinis ratios have been associated with lower caries experience, treating primary molars with 1% chlorhexidine wax during eruption of permanent first molars may be a simple means for shifting the fissure flora of the permanent molars towards a more favorable balance.
Hypothalamic Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Converting Enzyme Mediates Excitatory Amino Acid-Dependent Neuron-to-Glia Signaling in the Neuroendocrine Brain

Glial erbB1 receptors play a significant role in the hypothalamic control of female puberty. Activation of these receptors by transforming growth factor α (TGFα) results in production of prostaglandin E2, which then stimulates luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) neurons to secrete LHRH, the neuropeptide controlling sexual development. Glutamatergic neurons set in motion this glia-to-neuron signaling pathway by transactivating erbB1 receptors via coactivation of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Because the metalloproteinase tumor necrosis factor α converting enzyme (TACE) releases TGFα from its transmembrane precursor before TGFα can bind to erbB1 receptors, we sought to determine whether TACE is required for excitatory amino acids to activate the TGFα–erbB1 signaling module in hypothalamic astrocytes, and thus facilitate the advent of puberty. Coactivation of astrocytic AMPARs and mGluRs caused extracellular Ca2+ influx, a Ca2+/protein kinase C-dependent increase in TACE-like activity, and enhanced release of TGFα. Within the hypothalamus, TACE is most abundantly expressed in astrocytes of the median eminence (ME), and its enzymatic activity increases selectively in this region at the time of the first preovulatory surge of gonadotropins. ME explants respond to stimulation of AMPARs and mGluRs with LHRH release, and this response is prevented by blocking TACE activity. In vivo inhibition of TACE activity targeted to the ME delayed the age at first ovulation, indicating that ME-specific changes in TACE activity are required for the normal timing of puberty. These results suggest that TACE is a component of the neuron-to-glia signaling process used by glutamatergic neurons to control female sexual development.