Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of transposon mutants of biofilm-producing Staphylococcus epidermidis impaired in the accumulative phase of biofilm production: genetic identification of a hexosamine-containing polysaccharide intercellular adhesin

The primary attachment to polymer surfaces followed by accumulation in multilayered cell clusters leads to production of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms, which are thought to contribute to virulence in biomaterial-related infections. We isolated Tn917 transposon mutants of biofilm-producing S. epidermidis 13-1, which were completely biofilm negative. In pulsed-field gel electrophoresis no obvious deletions of the mutants were noted. The Tn917 insertions of mutants M10 and M11 were located on different EcoRI fragments but on identical 60-kb SmaI and 17-kb BamHI chromosomal fragments. Linkage of transposon insertions of mutants M10 and M11 with the altered phenotype was demonstrated by phage transduction, whereas the several other mutants apparently represented spontaneous variants. In a primary attachment assay with polystyrene spheres, no significant difference between any of the mutants and the wild type could be detected. Cell clustering as an indication of intercellular adhesion, which is a prerequisite for accumulation in multilayered cell clusters, was not detected with any mutant. These results demonstrate that the mutants were impaired in the accumulative phase of biofilm production. Mutants M10 and M11 did not produce detectable amounts of a specific polysaccharide antigen (D. Mack, N. Siemssen, and R. Laufs, Infect. Immun. 60:2048-2057, 1992), whereas substantially reduced amounts of antigen were produced by the spontaneous variants. Hexosamine was determined as the major specific component of the antigen enriched by gel filtration of biofilm-producing S. epidermidis 1457 because almost no hexosamine was detected in material prepared from the isogenic biofilm-negative transductant 1457-M11, which differentiates the antigen from other S. epidermidis polysaccharide components. Our results provide direct genetic evidence for a function of the antigen in the accumulative phase of biofilm production by S. epidermidis by mediating intercellular adhesion.
Horizontal Cells of the Primate Retina: Cone Specificity Without Spectral Opponency

The chromatic dimensions of human color vision have a neural basis in the retina. Ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, exhibit spectral opponency; they are excited by some wavelengths and inhibited by others. The hypothesis that the opponent circuitry emerges from selective connections between horizontal cell interneurons and cone photoreceptors sensitive to long, middle, and short wavelengths (L-, M-, and S-cones) was tested by physiologically and anatomically characterizing cone connections of horizontal cell mosaics in macaque monkeys. H1 horizontal cells received input only from L- and M-cones, whereas H2 horizontal cells received a strong input from S-cones and a weaker input from L- and M-cones. All cone inputs were the same sign, and both horizontal cell types lacked opponency. Despite cone type selectivity, the horizontal cell cannot be the locus of an opponent transformation in primates, including humans.
Minutiae Persistence among Multiple Samples of the Same Person's Fingerprint in a Cooperative User Scenario

This paper investigates the probability of a reference minutia repeating in another sample of the same personâs fingerprint, when that probability depends only on the consistency with which a user places their finger onto a fingerprint scanner. The investigation targets cooperative users in a civilian fingerprint recognition application. A database of 800 fingerprint samples from 100 participants was collected for the purpose of simulating such a scenario. Analysis of this database showed that such users are typically sufficiently consistent in the placement of their fingers onto the scanner to ensure that there is a 0.95 probability of a reference minutia repeating in another sample of the same fingerprint. Combining multiple samples of the same fingerprint during enrolment to filter out only the most reliable reference minutiae was shown to improve this probability even further. Additional analysis showed that, as the number of reference fingerprints used increases, the number of reference minutiae remaining for recognition purposes decreases. While this trend is expected, our results indicate that this loss in the number of reference minutiae is not very significant among cooperative users.
DIMENSIONAL STABILITY PERFORMANCE OF FIRE RETARDANT TREATED VENEER-ORIENTED STRANDBOARD COMPOSITES

This study investigated dimensional stability properties of oriented strandboard (OSB) panels faced with fire retardant treated (FRT) veneers. The beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) veneers were treated with monoammonium phosphate (MAP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), lime water (LW), and a borax/boric acid (BX/BA) (1:1) mixture. Dimensional stability tests were performed according to ASTM D-1037. The results revealed that facing veneers impregnated with fire-retardant chemicals had significant effects on the linear expansion (LE) properties. The lowest LE value was obtained from the panels faced with MAP treated veneers, while the highest LE value was found in the panels faced with BX/BA treated veneers. The FRT treated veneer facing technique also affected the thickness swelling (TS) properties of the OSB panels. The panels faced with LW treated veneers had the highest TS, whereas the panels faced with MAP treated veneers had the lowest TS values.
Actin filaments are severed by both native and recombinant dictyostelium cofilin but to different extents.

Cofilin has been reported to depolymerize F-actin alternately by either severing filaments to increase the number of depolymerizing ends or by increasing the off-rate of monomers from F-actin without increasing the number of filament ends. We have compared directly the ability of native and recombinant cofilins from Dictyostelium to sever F-actin. Our results demonstrate that native cofilin has a higher level of severing activity than recombinant cofilin. Significantly, the measurement of cofilin's severing activity by two independent methods, direct visualization with an improved light microscope assay and by scoring of the number of pointed ends by DNase I binding, clearly shows that both native and recombinant cofilins sever F-actin but to different extents. The severing activity in preparations of recombinant cofilin is variable depending on the method of preparation and, in some cases, is difficult to detect by microscopy assays. This latter point is particularly significant because it may lead to the conclusion that cofilin severs weakly or not at all depending on its method of isolation.
Lung Cancer in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

This retrospective study determined the clinical course of lung cancer in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. A total of 23 patients with HIV infection archived as lung cancer were studied: 16 were identified from about 1,000 lung cancer patients entered in the tumor registry and medical records of Jackson Memorial Hospital, 7 were identified from about 1,000 HIV-positive patients entered in the Special Immunology registry of Veterans Administration Medical Center, 4 patients did not have pathologic confirmation of lung cancer, and 19 patients, all men, met the criteria for analysis (histopathologic diagnosis of lung cancer and HIV+ by serology). The median age was 47 (range: 36–66). Risk factors for HIV were homosexuality (6 patients), blood transfusion (3), promiscuity (5), intravenous drug abuse (4), and none (3). Six patients had a history of coexistent pulmonary tuberculosis and 5 had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Median survival from diagnosis of lung cancer was 3 months. Advanced stages of both HIV infection and lung cancer may account for the poor survival. All patients were men and noted to be younger than other patients with lung cancer.
Price and Order Postponement in a Decentralized Newsvendor Model with Multiplicative and Price-Dependent Demand

We analyze the effect of price and order postponement in a decentralized newsvendor model with multiplicative and price-dependent demand, wherein the manufacturer sets the wholesale price, and possibly offers a buyback rate, and the retailer determines the order quantity and retail price. Such postponement strategies can be used by the retailer by delaying his operational decisions (order quantity and retail price) until after demand uncertainty is observed. We show how the equilibrium values of the contract parameters and profits are affected by (i) vertical competition, (ii) type of contract (wholesale price-only or buyback), (iii) demand distribution, (iv) form of the expected demand function, and (v) the timing of the retailer's operational decisions. Although in most cases postponement is quite beneficial for the channel members, we show that for some model parameters, due to vertical competition, the expected value of perfect information about demand for price postponement and order postponement may be negative for the channel and even, surprisingly, for both members. We also show that when a buyback option is offered, neither order postponement nor price postponement has an effect on the equilibrium wholesale price, profit allocation ratio between the manufacturer and the retailer, and channel efficiency, and that the equilibrium wholesale price, expected retail price, profit allocation ratio between the manufacturer and the retailer, and channel efficiency in the model with buyback options under either order or price postponement further coincide with their counterparts in the corresponding deterministic model.
Effects of plantar perception training on standing posture balance in the old old and the very old living in nursing facilities: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To determine whether plantar perception training using a hardness discrimination task efficiently improves stabilization of standing posture balance in the old old as well as the very old. Design: A randomized two-group parallel controlled trial. Setting: Nursing homes. Participants: Forty-six elderly persons 75 years of age or older living in nursing facilities were randomly assigned evenly to either an intervention or a control group. Intervention: The intervention group was given a task to discriminate hardness differences while standing on foam rubber of different levels of hardness, while the control group was given the task to simply remain standing on foam rubber. The tasks were imposed for 10 successive days. Outcome measures: Outcome assessment was made by determinations of centre-of-gravity sway in the standing position and the Functional Reach Test. Results: Planter perception was significantly improved and centre-of-gravity sway in the standing position was also significantly reduced in the intervention group after the intervention. In the control group, however, there were no significant changes in perception or in sway (P < 0.01) There was a significant difference in the Functional Reach Test values between the two groups: an increment of 12.3 ± 10.1 cm in the intervention group vs. 2.3 ± 5.8 cm in the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: These results suggested that plantar perception exercises might efficiently stabilize standing postural balance in the old old as well as the very old.
Disposition of flavonoids via recycling: Direct biliary excretion of enterically or extrahepatically derived flavonoid glucuronides.

SCOPE Enterohepatic recycling is often thought to involve mostly phase II metabolites generated in the liver. This study aims to determine if direct biliary excretion of extrahepatically generated glucuronides would also enable recycling. METHODS AND RESULTS Conventional and modified intestinal perfusion models along with intestinal and liver microsomes were used to determine the contribution of extrahepatically derived glucuronides. Glucuronidation of four flavonoids (genistein, biochanin A, apigenin, and chrysin at 2.5-20 μM) were generally more rapid in the hepatic than intestinal microsomes. Furthermore, when aglycones (at 10 μM each) were perfused, larger (1.7-9 fold) amounts of glucuronides were found in the bile than in the luminal perfusate. However, higher concentrations of glucuronides were not found in jugular vein than portal vein, and apigenin glucuronide actually displayed a significantly lower concentration in jugular vein (<1 nM) than portal vein (≈4 nM). A direct portal infusion of four flavonoid glucuronides (5.9-10.4 μM perfused at 2 mL/h) showed that the vast majority (>65%) of the glucuronides (except for biochanin A glucuronide) administered were efficiently excreted into the bile. CONCLUSION Direct biliary excretion of extrahepatically generated flavonoid glucuronides is a highly efficient clearance mechanism, which should enable enterohepatic recycling of flavonoids without hepatic conjugating enzymes.
Heparan Sulfate Facilitates Rift Valley Fever Virus Entry into the Cell

ABSTRACT Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), an emerging arthropod-borne pathogen, has a broad host and cell tropism. Here we report that the glycosaminoglycan heparan sulfate, abundantly present on the surface of most animal cells, is required for efficient entry of RVFV. Entry was significantly reduced by preincubating the virus inoculum with highly sulfated heparin, by enzymatic removal of heparan sulfate from cells and in cells genetically deficient in heparan sulfate synthesis.
A novel family of anticoagulants from the saliva of Ixodes scapularis

Using biochemical and molecular approaches, we have identified a 9.8 kDa protein in the saliva of Ixodes scapularis that inhibits the intrinsic pathway of coagulation. The 9.8 kDa anticoagulant protein was purified by reverse‐phase HPLC and its N‐terminal amino acid sequence determined. The N‐terminal sequence showed homology with Salp14, an immuno‐dominant antigen present in the saliva of engorging I. scapularis nymphs. Recombinant Salp14 expressed in Escherichia coli prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) of human plasma in a dose‐dependent manner and was a specific inhibitor of factor Xa. A cDNA encoding a 9.3 kDa protein, Salp9Pac, was subsequently isolated from an I. scapularis salivary gland cDNA library. Salp9Pac showed 93% identity to the N‐terminal sequence of the anticoagulant purified by HPLC. These data indicate that the anticoagulant protein purified by HPLC, Salp9Pac and Salp14 are members of a family of novel coagulation protease inhibitors present in tick saliva. While recombinant Salp9Pac did not show biological activity in the assays tested currently, it is likely to be mechanistically different from its paralogues. This raises the possibility that ticks may enhance their adaptive ability to cope with a wide spectrum of proteases, by transcribing such structurally related anticoagulant proteins with different functions.
A discriminative framework of integrating translation memory features into SMT

Combining Translation Memory (TM) with Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) together has been demonstrated to be beneficial. In this paper, we present a discriminative framework which can integrate TM into SMT by incorporating TM-related feature functions. Experiments on English–Chinese and English–French tasks show that our system using TM feature functions only from the best fuzzy match performs significantly better than the baseline phrase- based system on both tasks, and our discriminative model achieves comparable results to those of an effective generative model which uses similar features. Furthermore, with the capacity of handling a large amount of features in the discriminative framework, we propose a method to efficiently use multiple fuzzy matches which brings more feature functions and further significantly improves our system.
Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder: changing manifestations of disease in a renal transplant population.

OBJECTIVE To review the changing manifestations of PTLD in patients with renal transplants. METHODS Review of 1954 records of the renal transplantation clinic from 1971 to 1993 produced 17 patients with the diagnosis of PTLD. RESULTS With changes in immunosuppression, the sites of involvement of PTLD have changed. Central nervous system involvement was the predominant site of disease prior to the use of cyclosporine. With the institution of cyclosporine, thoracic, and abdominal presentations became more common. PTLD isolated to the renal transplant is a new manifestation of disease that may be a result of immunosuppression with OKT3. Monomorphous PTLD was associated with a 78% PTLD related mortality. Polymorphous PTLD had a 0% PTLD related mortality. In patients with cross-sectional imaging abnormalities, PTLD presented as solitary or multiple masses in 78%. This is the finding most suggestive of PTLD in a transplant population. CONCLUSION Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder is a heterogeneous grouping of lymphoid proliferation with variable clinical and radiographic manifestations. An understanding of the range of manifestations may lead to improved diagnosis of this unusual disorder.
Clinical, immunological and bacteriological evaluation of adverse reactions to skin‐penetrating titanium implants in the head and neck region

Between 1977 und October 1989, 445 patients have been treated with bone‐anchored skin‐penetrating titanium implants for anchorage of facial prostheses or bone‐conducting hearing aids, at the Ear. Nose and Throat Department at Sahlgren's Hospital in Gothenburg. The majority of patients had no adverse skin read ions, while a few patients were responsible for the majority of the adverse reactions. The aim of our study was to analyse differences between these groups. We started a clinical study on 9 patients with a clinical history of adverse skin reactions around the titanium implants and 9 patients without adverse skin reactions were used us controls. None of the patients had delayed hypersensitivity to titanium. , Microbiological analyses showed that when there was clinical irritation, Staphylococccus aureus could be isolated.
EB1 Levels Are Elevated in Ascorbic Acid (AA)-stimulated Osteoblasts and Mediate Cell-Cell Adhesion-induced Osteoblast Differentiation*

Background: EB1 is a microtubule (MT) plus-end-binding protein known to influence MT stability. Results: EB1 is up-regulated in osteoblasts and is required for bone cell differentiation. Conclusion: EB1 affects β-catenin stability and cooperates at cell-cell adhesion sites to influence gene expression. Significance: Learning how peripherally targeted proteins interact at cell-cell contact sites is crucial for understanding developmental processes. Osteoblasts are differentiated mesenchymal cells that function as the major bone-producing cells of the body. Differentiation cues including ascorbic acid (AA) stimulation provoke intracellular changes in osteoblasts leading to the synthesis of the organic portion of the bone, which includes collagen type I α1, proteoglycans, and matrix proteins, such as osteocalcin. During our microarray analysis of AA-stimulated osteoblasts, we observed a significant up-regulation of the microtubule (MT) plus-end binding protein, EB1, compared with undifferentiated osteoblasts. EB1 knockdown significantly impaired AA-induced osteoblast differentiation, as detected by reduced expression of osteoblast differentiation marker genes. Intracellular examination of AA-stimulated osteoblasts treated with EB1 siRNA revealed a reduction in MT stability with a concomitant loss of β-catenin distribution at the cell cortex and within the nucleus. Diminished β-catenin levels in EB1 siRNA-treated osteoblasts paralleled an increase in phospho-β-catenin and active glycogen synthase kinase 3β, a kinase known to target β-catenin to the proteasome. EB1 siRNA treatment also reduced the expression of the β-catenin gene targets, cyclin D1 and Runx2. Live immunofluorescent imaging of differentiated osteoblasts revealed a cortical association of EB1-mcherry with β-catenin-GFP. Immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed an interaction between EB1 and β-catenin. We also determined that cell-cell contacts and cortically associated EB1/β-catenin interactions are necessary for osteoblast differentiation. Finally, using functional blocking antibodies, we identified E-cadherin as a major contributor to the cell-cell contact-induced osteoblast differentiation.
Differential Associations of Interleukin 6 and Intestinal Fatty Acid-Binding Protein With Progressive Untreated HIV-1 Infection in Rakai, Uganda

The significance of HIV-associated immune activation and microbial translocation in Sub-Saharan African population remains poorly defined. We assessed biomarkers of inflammation, microbial translocation, and cellular activation and found most factors elevated in Ugandan HIV-1 seroconverters compared with community-matched controls. In contrast to previous findings in Western cohorts, C-reactive protein, neopterin, and intestinal fatty acid binding protein were not elevated. Higher T-cell activation and IL-6 were associated with faster disease progression. Surprisingly, intestinal fatty acid binding protein, indicative of enterocyte turnover, was higher in slow than in fast progressors. These data suggest differential relationships among biomarkers of intestinal barrier integrity and innate immune activation between developed countries and Sub-
The continuing significance of race: a study of race, class, and quality of life in America, 1972-1985.

There has been a great deal of interest recently in the issue of whether or not race has been declining in significance relative to social class in American society. The present paper evaluates the significance of race for psychological well-being and quality of life over the years 1972 to 1985 using data from the General Social Survey. Our analysis shows that blacks score consistently lower than whites on measures of psychological well-being and quality of life after controls have been introduced for social class variables, age, and marital status. Furthermore, the differences between blacks and whites remained constant between 1972 and 1985. We conclude that the significance of race as a determinant of psychological well-being and quality of life continues in spite of recent changes in the social and legal status of black Americans. Interpretations of these findings are offered.
Myopia and divergent squint in West Indian children.

With the large-scale immigration of West Indians into the United Kingdom, certain clinical entities associated with this group have become familiar to ophthalmologists here. Crews (I963) reported from Birmingham on West Indian amblyopia and Rubinstein (I967) reviewed the retinal findings in the S.A. and S.C. haemoglobinopathies also as seen in Birmingham. A keratopathy appearing only in West Indians has also been described (Rice, Jones, and Ashton, I 968). The purpose of this study was to confirm or deny the clinical impression that strabismus in West Indian children born in the United Kingdom displays a distinct pattern, and in particular that there is an increased incidence of myopia and divergent squint.
The WKB Approximation: An application to the alpha decay

In this paper, the WKB approximation is presented in full detail, including a derivation of the connection formulas. A particular case is studied which applies the WKB approximation to alpha particle decay in various isotopes of Uranium nuclei, and is then used to find the alpha energy values using data from numerical computations in published literature. Finally a comparison between the WKB approximation to published studies is made, concluding a relationship between alpha decay energy and its parent nuclear radius may exist.