Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plant-Microbe Interactions: Life and Death at the Interface.

Interactions between microorganisms and plants have undoubtedly had major effects on the development of civilization since humans began to rely extensively on cultivated crops for food. Indeed, ancient chronicles of famines, plagues, and epidemics show that some of the more serious plant diseases, such as rusts, smuts, and mildews, were recognized soon af? ter the emergence of organized agriculture. Theophrastus (~371 to 287 bc) described disease symptoms on a number of plants used for food and the Romans paid tribute to appease the rust god Robigo. More recently, plant disease outbreaks have resulted in catastrophic crop failures that have triggered famines and caused major social change. The effects of such epidemics have been particularly devastating in situations such as the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, in which communities depended on a single crop as their primary food source. The potential for se? rious crop disease epidemics still persists today, as evidenced by recent outbreaks of Victoria blight of oats and southern corn leaf blight. These diseases result from agricultural practices that rely on monoculture crops? planting closely related crop species over wide geographical areas provides, in effect, a large Petri dish for the evolution of increasingly virulent patho? gen forms. In addition to causing food shortages, microbial interactions with plants can directly affect the health of humans and livestock. One notable example is ergot poisoning, caused by toxins in the fruiting bodies of the fungus Claviceps purpurea, which can contaminate rye flour. These toxins cause a frightening syndrome typified by hallucinations, burning sensations, miscarriages, gangrene, and, in severe cases, death. The affliction, known as St. Anthony's fire or Holy fire, was most prevalent in the Middle Ages; present day outbreaks are only prevented by the strict cultural and sanitary standards that are now applied in the regulation of grain sales. Further problems resulting from the presence of allergens, carcinogenic com? pounds, and various mycotoxins in moldy grain, peanuts, and animal feed have recently been shown to affect human health. For readers interested in more fundamental information, a broad coverage of plant pathology is provided in the text by
Guitar Hero or Zero?

Motivations for, and outcomes of, playing rhythm-based music video games have had little direct study. The current research showed that fantasy-seeking motivations combined with self-esteem to create either unregulated game play habits or an incentive to play a musical instrument in real life. We obtained measures from adult players of rhythm-based music video games (N = 421), regarding their gaming habits, fantasy-seeking motivations, and self-esteem. Regression analyses showed that the interaction of low self-esteem with high fantasy-seeking motivation predicted unregulated game play. Self-esteem was negatively related to habitual and solitary game play. Fantasy-seeking motivations positively predicted a player’s desire to learn or play a musical instrument in real life. These results suggest that fantasy-seeking motivations reflect escapism under certain conditions and a desire to develop game-related skills in real life under other conditions. We discuss potential educational benefits of fantasy seeki.
Longitudinal Patterns of Women's Marital Quality: The Case of Divorce, Cohabitation, and Race-Ethnicity

Previous work on marital quality has compared average levels of marital quality by demographic characteristics, such as cohabitation, divorce, or race-ethnicity. Less work has examined whether such differences persist over time. To begin to answer this question, this article uses multigroup latent growth curves to examine changes in marital quality over time, in addition to measuring differences in levels of reported marital quality among cohabitors versus noncohabitors, divorced versus stably married women, and members of different racial-ethnic groups. Although many differences are small and statistically insignificant, the results show that non-normative and traditionally disadvantaged groups experience not only lower levels of marital quality but that these differences also persist throughout the life course. This article also shows that using marital instead of relationship duration for cohabitors has substantive implications when interpreting the results.
Differential Regulation of Sentrinized Proteins by a Novel Sentrin-specific Protease*

Sentrin-1, also called SUMO-1, is a protein of 101 residues that is distantly related to ubiquitin and another ubiquitin-like protein, NEDD8. Here we report the cloning of a novel sentrin-specific protease, SENP1, which has no homology to the known de-ubiquitinating enzymes or ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolases. However, SENP1 is distantly related to the yeast Smt3-specific protease, Ulp1. A COS cell expression system was used to demonstrate the activity of SENP1 in vivo. When HA-tagged sentrin-1 was co-expressed with SENP1, the higher molecular weight sentrin-1 conjugates were completely removed. Surprisingly, the major sentrinized band at 90 kDa remained intact. The disappearance of the high molecular weight sentrin-1 conjugates also coincided with an increase in free sentrin-1 monomers. SENP1 is also active against proteins modified by sentrin-2, but not those modified by ubiquitin or NEDD8. In addition, sentrinized PML, a tumor suppressor protein that resides in the nucleus, was selectively affected by SENP1, whereas sentrinized RanGAP1, which is associated with the cytoplasmic fibrils of the nuclear pore complex, remained intact. The inability of SENP1 to process sentrinized RanGAP1in vivo is most likely due to its nuclear localization because SENP1 is active against sentrinized RanGAP1 in vitro. The identification of a nuclear-localized, sentrin-specific protease will provide a unique tool to study the role of sentrinization in the biological function of PML and in the pathogenesis of acute promyelocytic leukemia.
Learning a Two-Dimensional Fuzzy Discriminant Locality Preserving Subspace for Visual Recognition

A novel Two-dimensional Fuzzy Discriminant Locality Preserving Projections (2D-FDLPP) algorithm is proposed for learning effective subspace of two-dimensional images. The 2D-FDLPP algorithm is derived from the Two-dimensional Locality Preserving Projections (2DLPP) by exploiting both fuzzy and discriminant properties. 2D-FDLPP algorithm preserves the relationship degree of each sample belonging to given classes with fuzzy k-nearest neighbor classifier. Also, it introduces between-class scatter constrain and label information into 2D-LPP algorithm. 2D-FDLPP algorithm finds the subspace which can best discriminate different pattern classes and weakens the environment factors according to soft assignment method. Therefore, 2D-FDLPP algorithm has more discriminant power than 2D-LPP, and is more suitable for recognition tasks. Experiments are conducted on the MNIST database for handwritten image classification, the JAFFE database and Cohn-Kanade database for facial expression recognition and the ORL database for face recognition. Experimental results reported the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. key words: fuzzy assignment, discriminant objective function, locality preserving, pattern recognition
Molecular and Genetic Studies Imply Akt-mediated Signaling Promotes Protein Kinase CβII Alternative Splicing via Phosphorylation of Serine/Arginine-rich Splicing Factor SRp40*

Insulin regulates alternative splicing of PKCβII mRNA by phosphorylation of SRp40 via a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway (Patel, N. A., Chalfant, C. E., Watson, J. E., Wyatt, J. R., Dean, N. M., Eichler, D. C., and Cooper, D. C. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 22648–22654). Transient transfection of constitutively active Akt2 kinase promotes PKCβII exon inclusion. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) RNA-binding proteins regulating the selection of alternatively spliced exons are potential substrates of Akt kinase because many of them contain RXRXX(S/T) motifs. Here we show that Akt2 kinase phosphorylated SRp40 in vivo and in vitro. Mutation of Ser86 on SRp40 blocked in vitro phosphorylation. In control Akt2(+/+) fibroblasts, insulin treatment increased the phosphorylation of endogenous SR proteins, but their phosphorylation state remained unaltered by insulin in fibroblasts from Akt2(-/-) mice. Levels of PKCβII protein were up-regulated by insulin in Akt2(+/+) cells; however, only very low levels of PKCβII were detected in Akt2(-/-) cells and did not change following insulin treatment. Endogenous PKCβI and -βII mRNA levels in Akt2(+/+) and Akt2(-/-) gastrocnemius muscle tissues were compared using quantitative real time PCR. The results indicated a 54% decrease in the expression of PKCβII levels in Akt(-/-), whereas PKCβI levels remained unchanged in both samples. Further, transfection of Akt2(-/-) cells with a PKCβII splicing minigene revealed defective βII exon inclusion. Co-transfection of the mutated SRp40 attenuated βII exon inclusion. This study provides in vitro and in vivo evidence showing Akt2 kinase directly phosphorylated SRp40, thereby connecting the insulin, PI 3-kinase/Akt pathway with phosphorylation of a site on a nuclear splicing protein promoting exon inclusion. This model is upheld in Akt2-deficient mice with insulin resistance leading to diabetes mellitus.
Comparison of recipient site preparations in epidermal grafting for vitiligo: suction blister and CO2 laser

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Quantifying K-12 and college student learning outcomes of STEM guitar building

There is a national initiative to incorporate integrated science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in K-16 classrooms. This study quantified student learning outcomes related project-based STEM guitar building curriculum implemented in institutions serving students grades 6–8, 9–12, and at the college level. Faculty participants were provided with tools and training needed to implement STEM guitar building curriculum. The curriculum included students building guitars as well as completing pre- and post-assessments that tested their knowledge of 12 modular learning activity skills, such as electronics, scale length, and guitar geometry. These skills align with the Common Core math standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. The data collected include pre- and post-assessment from 769 students in 15 states. Analysis of the pre- and post-assessment scores using the Wilcoxon signed ranks test demonstrated a significant increase in scores for each of the 12 MLAs; each post-assessment score was statistically significantly higher than the corresponding pre-assessment score at the p < . 05 level. Overall, the STEM guitar building curriculum resulted in improvements in pre- and post-assessment scores measuring STEM related concepts for this group of 769 students.
Plasma Ionization in Low-Pressure Radio-Frequency Discharges—Part II: Particle-in-Cell Simulation

Plasma ionization in the low-pressure operation regime (< 5 Pa) of RF capacitively coupled plasmas (CCPs) is governed by a complex interplay of various mechanisms, such as field reversal, sheath expansion, and wave-particle interactions. In a previous paper, it was shown that experimental observations in a hydrogen CCP operated at 13.56 MHz are qualitatively well described in a 1-D symmetrical particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. In this paper, a spherical asymmetrical PIC simulation that is closer to the conditions of the highly asymmetrical experimental device is used to simulate a low-pressure neon CCP operated at 2 MHz. The results show a similar behavior, with pronounced ionization through field reversal, sheath expansion, and wave-particle interactions, and can be exploited for more accurate quantitative comparisons with experimental observations.
Cardiorespiratory fitness and short-term complications after bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND Morbid obesity is associated with reduced functional capacity, multiple comorbidities, and higher overall mortality. The relationship between complications after bariatric surgery and preoperative cardiorespiratory fitness has not been previously studied. METHODS We evaluated cardiorespiratory fitness in 109 patients with morbid obesity prior to laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Charts were abstracted using a case report form by reviewers blinded to the cardiorespiratory evaluation results. RESULTS The mean age (+/- SD) was 46.0 +/- 10.4 years, and 82 patients (75.2%) were female. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 48.7 +/- 7.2 (range, 36.0 to 90.0 kg/m(2)). The composite complication rate, defined as death, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, venous thromboembolism, renal failure, or stroke, occurred in 6 of 37 patients (16.6%) and 2 of 72 patients (2.8%) with peak oxygen consumption (Vo(2)) levels < 15.8 mL/kg/min or > 15.8 mL/kg/min (lowest tertile), respectively (p = 0.02). Hospital lengths of stay and 30-day readmission rates were highest in the lowest tertile of peak Vo(2) (p = 0.005). There were no complications in those with BMI < 45 kg/m(2) or peak Vo(2) > or= 15.8 mL/kg/min. Multivariate analysis adjusting for age and gender found peak Vo(2) was a significant predictor of complications: odds ratio, 1.61 (per unit decrease); 95% confidence interval, 1.19 to 2.18 (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Reduced cardiorespiratory fitness levels were associated with increased, short-term complications after bariatric surgery. Cardiorespiratory fitness should be optimized prior to bariatric surgery to potentially reduce postoperative complications.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY & LIFE SCIENCES (Int. J. of Pharm. Life Sci.) Hematological alterations induced by Sodium arsenate toxicity in Albino mice

Arsenic is one of the most dangerous occupational and environmental toxins. Arsenic (As) is a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid. For the general population, arsenic In drinking water is the main exposure source, and more harmful than arsenic in food, because the bioavailability (actual amount absorbed into the bloodstream) of arsenic from water is greater than that from grains or vegetable. Arsenic exists in the trivalent and pentavalent forms and is widely distributed in nature. The drastic adverse changes in the various hematological parameters were observed in treated mice when compared control animals. Haematological parameters are used as sensitive indicators of toxicity due to different pollutant. First group exposed to tap water maintained as control where as second and third groups were treated with different doses of Sodium arsenate. Blood samples were collected after 7 days and 14 days. The lymphocytes were severely damaged by arsenic toxicity. White Blood Cells (WBCs), Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and hemoglobin level in control groups were in normal range whereas level were significantly decreased with the increase dose of arsenic in the respective treatmental groups. The data was analyzed statistically and was found that significant was found among the group (p < 0.05).
Asthma in Patients Climbing to High and Extreme Altitudes in the Tibetan Everest Region

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the behavior of asthma in patients traveling to high and extreme altitudes. Methods: Twenty-four Dutch patients with mild asthma did a trekking at high and extreme altitudes (up to 6410 m = 21030 ft) in the Tibetan Everest region. Asthma symptoms, use of asthma medication, symptoms of acute mountain sickness, spirometry, peripheral oxygen saturation, and heart rate were measured at 1300 m (baseline), and at 3875, 4310, 5175, and 6410 m. Asthma symptoms were assessed by means of a modified version of the Asthma Control Test. Symptoms of acute mountain sickness were scored by the Lake Louise self-report questionnaire. The expedition staff, consisting of seven healthy persons, acted as a control group. Results: In both asthmatics and controls, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) decreased with increasing altitude, whereas FEV1 as percent of FVC (FEV1%FVC) did not change. In both groups, peak expiratory flow (PEF) increased with increasing altitude. In general, differences in spirometric values between asthmatics and controls were not significant. Asthma symptoms did not change with increasing altitude. During ascent, less than half of the asthma patients increased their medication use. According to the Lake Louise score, no acute mountain sickness occurred, except for in the asthma group at 6410 m, which showed mild acute mountain sickness at that altitude. As expected, peripheral oxygen saturation decreased with increasing altitude in asthmatics and controls, differences between the two groups not being significant. In general, heart rate (at rest) did not change with altitude, except for an increase in asthmatics at 6410 m. Conclusions: These results suggest that traveling to high and extreme altitudes is safe for patients with mild asthma.
THE METHYLENE TETRAHYDROFOLATE REDUCTASE (C677T) MUTATION AS A POTENTIAL RISK FACTOR FOR AVASCULAR NECROSIS IN SICKLE CELL DISEASE

Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the humeral and femoral heads is a frequent and debilitating complication of sickle cell disease. Some of the risk factors for AVN are a-thalassemia and age. Recently, newly discovered thrombophilia mutations have been associated with AVN in patients without sickle cell disease. We studied the frequency of the thermolabile methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) variant (C677T) in adult sickle cell patients with and without AVN. The frequency of the MTHFR mutation was 35.6% in patients with AVN and 12.9% in those without AVN (p=0.006). These data suggest that the thermolabile MTHFR variant may be a contributing risk factor for AVN in some populations with sickle cell disease.
Spherical Horn Array for Wideband Propagation Measurements

A spherical array of horn antennas designed to obtain directional channel information and characteristics is introduced. A dual-polarized quad-ridged horn antenna with open flared boundaries and coaxial feeding for the frequency band 600 MHz-6 GHz is used as the element of the array. Matching properties and coupling between the elements are investigated via measurements and numerical simulations. Radiation patterns and sum beams of the array on selected frequencies throughout the band are also presented. Based on the obtained results it is concluded that the array is a good candidate for a wideband multipath propagation studies.
Discrete Deep Learning for Fast Content-Aware Recommendation

Cold-start problem and recommendation efficiency have been regarded as two crucial challenges in the recommender system. In this paper, we propose a hashing based deep learning framework called Discrete Deep Learning (DDL), to map users and items to Hamming space, where a user»s preference for an item can be efficiently calculated by Hamming distance, and this computation scheme significantly improves the efficiency of online recommendation. Besides, DDL unifies the user-item interaction information and the item content information to overcome the issues of data sparsity and cold-start. To be more specific, to integrate content information into our DDL framework, a deep learning model, Deep Belief Network (DBN), is applied to extract effective item representation from the item content information. Besides, the framework imposes balance and irrelevant constraints on binary codes to derive compact but informative binary codes. Due to the discrete constraints in DDL, we propose an efficient alternating optimization method consisting of iteratively solving a series of mixed-integer programming subproblems. Extensive experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of our DDL framework on two different Amazon datasets, and the experimental results demonstrate the superiority of DDL over the state-of-the-art methods regarding online recommendation efficiency and cold-start recommendation accuracy.
Prostaglandin E2 Promotes the Survival of Bone Marrow-Derived Dendritic Cells1

Since dendritic cells (DC) participate in both innate and adaptive immunity, their survival and expansion is tightly controlled. Little is known about the mechanisms of DC apoptosis. PGE2, an arachidonic acid metabolite, plays an essential role in DC migration. We propose a novel function for PGE2 as a DC survival factor. Our studies demonstrate that PGE2 protects DC in vitro against apoptosis induced by withdrawal of growth factors or ceramide. DC matured in conditions that inhibit endogenous PGE2 release are highly susceptible to apoptosis and exogenous PGE2 re-establishes the more resistant phenotype. The antiapoptotic effect is mediated through EP-2/EP-4 receptors and involves the PI3K → Akt pathway. PGE2 leads to increased phosphorylation of Akt, protection against mitochondrial membrane compromise, and decreased caspase 3 activity. Macroarray data indicate that PGE2 leads to the down-regulation of a number of proapoptotic molecules, i.e., BAD, several caspases, and granzyme B. In vivo, higher numbers of immature and Ag-loaded CFSE-labeled DC are present in the draining lymph nodes of mice inoculated with PGE2 receptor agonists, compared with animals treated with ibuprofen or controls injected with PBS. This suggests that PGE2 acts as an endogenous antiapoptotic factor for DC and raises the possibility of using PGE2 agonists to increase the survival of Ag-loaded DC following in vivo administration.
Improving the delivery of prenatal care and outcomes of pregnancy: a randomized trial of nurse home visitation.

We evaluated a comprehensive program of prenatal and postpartum nurse home visitation. The program was designed to prevent a wide range of health and developmental problems in children born to primiparous women who were either teenagers, unmarried, or of low socioeconomic status. During pregnancy, women who were visited by nurses, compared with women randomly assigned to comparison groups, became aware of more community services; attended childbirth classes more frequently; made more extensive use of the nutritional supplementation program for women, infants, and children; made greater dietary improvements; reported that their babies' fathers became more interested in their pregnancies; were accompanied to the hospital by a support person during labor more frequently; reported talking more frequently to family members, friends, and service providers about their pregnancies and personal problems; and had fewer kidney infections. Positive effects of the program on birth weight and length of gestation were present for the offspring of young adolescents (less than 17 years of age) and smokers. In contrast to their comparison-group counterparts, young adolescents who were visited by nurses gave birth to newborns who were an average of 395 g heavier, and women who smoked and were visited by nurses exhibited a 75% reduction in the incidence of preterm delivery. (P less than or equal to .05 for all findings.)