Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Membrane Leucine Heptad Contributes to Trafficking, Signaling, and Transformation by Latent Membrane Protein 1

ABSTRACT Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is important for maintaining proliferation of EBV-infected B cells. LMP1, unlike its cellular counterpart, CD40, signals without a ligand and is largely internal to the plasma membrane. In order to understand how LMP1 initiates its ligand-independent signaling, we focused on a leucine heptad in LMP1's first membrane-spanning domain that was shown to be necessary for LMP1's signaling through NF-κB. LZ1EBV, a recombinant EBV genetically altered to express LZ1, a derivative of LMP1 in which a leucine heptad was replaced with alanines, transformed B cells with 56% of wild-type (wt) EBV's efficiency, demonstrating the importance of this heptad. To elucidate the mechanism by which this domain contributes to the functions of LMP1, the properties of the wt and LZ1 were compared in transfected cells. LZ1 failed to home to lipid rafts as efficiently as did wt LMP1. The distribution of tagged derivatives of LZ1 also differed from that of wt LMP1 in transfected cells. LZ1's defect in homing to lipid rafts and altered trafficking likely underlie the defect in transformation of LZ1EBV. While the third and fourth membrane-spanning domains of LMP1 foster its trafficking to the Golgi, the leucine heptad within the first membrane-spanning domain contributes to its trafficking, particularly to internal rafts. B cells that are successfully transformed by LZ1EBV have the same average number of viral genomes and the same fraction of cells with capped LZ1 at the cell surface but express 50% more of the LZ1 allele than wt infected cells.
Reliability, validity, and clinical usability of a digital goniometer.

OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to establish the validity of a digital goniometer (DG) prototype, determine the inter- and intra-rater reliability of the DG as compared to the universal goniometer (UG), and evaluate and describe the clinical usability of the DG as a measurement tool. PARTICIPANTS Eighteen healthy patient models and 5 physical therapists volunteered to participate. METHODS Reliability testing of both the UG and DG was determined from the measurements of 5 therapists who performed 2 randomized, repeated measures of 5 joint motions on each of 6 patient models during 3 data collection sessions. To determine the validity of the DG, the investigators measured 8 randomly selected, computer-aided design (CAD) angles during each of the 3 data collection sessions. Physical therapist participants completed pre-/post-surveys to assess perceptions of clinical usability of the DG. RESULTS No statistically significant differences were found between devices. Comparison of the DG and UG demonstrated no difference for intra- or inter-rater reliability, with the DG yielding higher inter-rater ICC values for each of the 5 motions measured. CONCLUSIONS The DG has adequate concurrent criterion-related validity as a tool for assessment of joint ROM and equivalent inter- and intra-rater reliability to the UG. User surveys indicated that several of the novel features of the DG contributed to a higher likelihood that the device would be utilized by clinicians.
Screening-detected rheumatic heart disease can progress to severe disease

Objectives Echocardiography is a sensitive test for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) screening; however the natural history of RHD detected on screening has not been established. We aimed to evaluate the progression of screening-detected RHD in Fiji. Methods All young people previously diagnosed with RHD through screening, with echocardiograms available for review, were eligible. All baseline echocardiograms were reported again. Participants underwent follow-up echocardiography. A paediatric cardiologist determined the diagnosis using the World Heart Federation criteria and assessed the severity of regurgitation and stenosis. Results Ninety-eight participants were recruited (mean age, 17 years; median duration of follow-up, 7.5 years). Two other children had died from severe RHD. Fourteen of 20 (70%) definite RHD cases persisted or progressed, including four (20%) requiring valve surgery. Four (20%) definite RHD cases improved to borderline RHD and two (10%) to normal. Four of 17 (24%) borderline cases progressed to definite RHD (moderate: 2; severe: 2) and two (12%) improved to normal. Four of the 55 cases reclassified as normal at baseline progressed to borderline RHD. Cases with a follow-up interval >5 years were more likely to improve (37% vs 6%, p=0.03). Conclusions The natural history of screening-detected RHD is not benign. Most definite RHD cases persist and others may require surgery or succumb. Progression of borderline cases to severe RHD demonstrates the need for monitoring and individualised consideration of prophylaxis. Robust health system structures are needed for follow-up and delivery of secondary prophylaxis if RHD screening is to be scaled up.
Effect of serum albumin on siderophore-mediated utilization of transferrin iron.

The effect of serum and serum proteins on enterobactin- and aerobactin-mediated utilization of transferrin iron has been investigated. Serum was found to impede transfer of iron from iron transferrin to enterobactin and from [55Fe]ferric enterobactin to cells of Escherichia coli BN3040 Na 1R iuc . In contrast, serum had essentially no effect on the rate of these reactions mediated by aerobactin. Three purified serum proteins, human serum albumin, bovine serum albumin, and human immunoglobulin, were comparable to human serum in their selective ability to interfere with the transfer of 55Fe from [55Fe]ferric enterobactin to E. coli BN3040 Na 1R iuc . The inhibitory effect of human serum albumin on the enterobactin-mediated transfer of iron from [55Fe]transferrin was enhanced by preincubation of the protein with the siderophore. Pretreatment of the bacterial cells with human serum albumin did not affect the rate of utilization of siderophore iron. A linear, reciprocal relationship was found to hold for human albumin concentration vs. the first-order rate constant ( kobsd ) for the velocity of iron transfer from iron transferrin to enterobactin. Binding of serum albumin to enterobactin increased the intensity of the near-ultraviolet absorption band of the siderophore and shifted it to longer wavelengths. The stoichiometry of binding to human and bovine serum albumins was established as 1:1, and the binding constant for both enterobactin and ferric enterobactin was estimated to be in the range 1 X 10(4)-1.2 X 10(5) M-1. These results indicate that serum albumin may act synergistically with other factors in the serum, such as transferrin, to limit iron supply and in this way restrict the growth of invading microorganisms.
Barriers to Self-Management and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Seniors With Multimorbidities

PURPOSE Persons with multiple chronic diseases must integrate self-management tasks for potentially interacting conditions to attain desired clinical outcomes. Our goal was to identify barriers to self-management that were associated with lower perceived health status and, secondarily, with lower reported physical functioning for a population of seniors with multimorbidities. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey of 352 health maintenance organization members aged 65 years or older with, at a minimum, coexisting diagnoses of diabetes, depression, and osteoarthritis. Validated questions were based on previous qualitative interviews that had elicited potential barriers to the self-management process for persons with multimorbidities. We analyzed associations between morbidity burden, potential barriers to self-management, and the 2 outcomes using multivariate linear regression modeling. RESULTS Our response rate was 47%. Sixty-six percent of respondents were female; 55% were aged 65 to 74 years, and 45% were aged 75 years or older. Fifty percent reported fair or poor health. On average they had 8.7 chronic diseases. In multivariate analysis, higher level of morbidity, lower level of physical functioning, less knowledge about medical conditions, less social activity, persistent depressive symptoms, greater financial constraints, and male sex were associated with lower perceived health status. Potential barriers to self-management significantly associated with lower levels of physical functioning were higher level of morbidity, greater financial constraints, greater number of compound effects of conditions, persistent depressive symptoms, higher level of patient-clinician communication, and lower income. CONCLUSIONS In addition to morbidity burden, specific psychosocial factors are independently associated with lower reported health status and lower reported physical functioning in seniors with multimorbidities. Many factors are amenable to intervention to improve health outcomes.
Leveraging Intra and Inter-Dataset Variations for Robust Face Alignment

Face alignment is a critical topic in the computer vision community. Numerous efforts have been made and various benchmark datasets have been released in recent decades. However, two significant issues remain in recent datasets, e.g., Intra-Dataset Variation and Inter-Dataset Variation. Inter-Dataset Variation refers to bias on expression, head pose, etc. inside one certain dataset, while Intra-Dataset Variation refers to different bias across different datasets. To address the mentioned problems, we proposed a novel Deep Variation Leveraging Network (DVLN), which consists of two strong coupling sub-networks, e.g., Dataset-Across Network (DA-Net) and Candidate-Decision Network (CD-Net). Extensive evaluations show that our approach demonstrates real-time performance and dramatically outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the challenging 300-W dataset. ,,,,,, To address the mentioned problems, we proposed a novel Deep Variation Leveraging Network (DVLN), which consists of two strong coupling sub-networks, e.g., Dataset-Across Network (DA-Net) and Candidate-Decision Network (CD-Net). In particular, DA-Net takes advantage of different characteristics and distributions across different datasets, while CD-Net makes a final decision on candidate hypotheses given by DA-Net to leverage variations within one certain dataset. Extensive evaluations show that our approach demonstrates real-time performance and dramatically outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the challenging 300-W dataset.
Loss of reactivity to pan‐cadherin antibody in epidermal cells as a marker for metamorphic alteration of Xenopus skin

Pan‐cadherin antibodies recognize the conserved C‐terminal region of the family of cell–cell adhesion molecules, cadherins, and have a broad spectrum of reactivity to the molecules. In the present study, by immunohistochemistry using an anti‐pan cadherin monoclonal antibody (mAb), expression dynamics of cadherins in epidermal tissues were analyzed during metamorphosis of Xenopus laevis. At early stages of development, the anti‐pan cadherin mAb detected signals at cell–cell boundaries and in the cytoplasm of both trunk and tail epidermal cells. During metamorphosis, the immunoreactivity decreased in the trunk skin tissue but remained in the tail. At the climax stage, immunoreactivity was observed only in the regressing tail epidermis. The signals disappeared completely from the trunk epidermis, which had already transformed into adult‐type tissue. This observation was confirmed by western blot analysis. A specific band was detected in the larval skin, but not in the adult lysate, at approximately 135 kDa in molecular size, corresponding to the molecular mass of cadherins. This different immunoreactivity in larvae and adults was observed in the epidermis of the skin, but not in any other tissues examined, that is, brain, kidney and liver. The immunoreactivity seen in larval epidermal cells was drastically downregulated by thyroid hormone treatment in vitro. These changes of immunoreactivity were specific for the C‐terminal region of cadherins, suggesting intracellular alteration of the molecules during metamorphosis, and the anti‐pan cadherin mAb can be a marker for larval‐type epidermal cells that is applicable to analysis of Xenopus metamorphosis.
Output and Welfare Implications of Oligopolistic Third-Degree Price Discrimination

Using estimable concepts, this paper provides sufficient conditions for third-degree price discrimination to increase or decrease aggregate output, social welfare, and consumer surplus in differentiated oligopoly when all discriminatory markets are open even in the absence of price discrimination. Specifically, we allow cost differences to exist across separate markets, and demonstrate that under general demand functions, our sufficient conditions entail a cross-market comparison of multiplications of two or three of the following key endogenous variables: pass-through value, conduct index, and markup value. Notably, the welfare results based on these “sufficient statistics” can readily be extended to accommodate heterogeneous firms, which suggest that our analysis can be used as a building block for empirical analysis of third-degree price discrimination and welfare effects.
Increasing support for alcohol-control enforcement through news coverage of alcohol's role in injuries and crime.

OBJECTIVE Prior research has shown that the proportion of news stories about violent crimes, car crashes, and other unintended injuries that mention the possible contributing role of alcohol is far lower than the actual proportion of alcohol-related crimes and unintended injuries. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of such mention can increase concern about alcohol risks and support for alcohol-control measures, which have elsewhere been shown to decrease alcohol-related problems in community settings. Methodologically, we provide a model for experiments permitting generalization across randomly selected message stimuli. METHOD Sixty randomly selected local news stories on violent crime, motor vehicle crashes, and other unintended injuries from newspapers throughout the United States were manipulated into versions including or not including alcohol as a causative factor. Participants (n = 785) were drawn from a national online research panel representative of the U.S. population; 66% of panel members contacted agreed to participate. Data were analyzed using mixed-effect, multilevel models to permit generalization across message and participant variability. RESULTS Mention of alcohol in news stories increased support for enforcement of alcohol-control laws. CONCLUSIONS Efforts to increase mention of alcohol as a causative factor in news reports of violent crime and unintended injury have the potential to increase public support for alcohol-control policies.
Efficacy and safety of combination etanercept and methotrexate versus etanercept alone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with an inadequate response to methotrexate: the ADORE study

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of etanercept (ETN) monotherapy compared with combination ETN and methotrexate (MTX) treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had an inadequate response to MTX monotherapy. (The response was defined by the presence of Disease Activity Score-28 joint count (DAS28) ⩾3.2 or a combination of ⩾5 swollen joints, ⩾5 painful joints and erythrocyte sedimentation rate ⩾10 mm/h. ) Methods: Patients with active rheumatoid arthritis taking MTX ⩾12.5 mg/week for ⩾3 months were included in this 16 week, randomised, open-label study. Patients were randomly assigned to either ETN (25 mg subcutaneous injection twice weekly) added to the baseline dose of MTX or ETN monotherapy. Results: 315 patients were randomised to ETN (n = 160) or ETN plus MTX (n = 155). The primary end point, DAS28 (4) improvement of >1.2 units, was achieved by 72.8% and 75.2% of patients treated with ETN and those treated with ETN plus MTX, respectively, with no significant difference (p = 0.658) between the two groups. The European League Against Rheumatism response criteria of good or moderate response was attained by 80.0% of patients in the ETN group and by 82.4% of patients in the ETN plus MTX group. American College of Rheumatology 20%, 50% and 70% response rates achieved by both groups were also similar: 71.0% v 67.1%, 41.9% v 40.1% and 17.4% v 18.4%, respectively. The rates of adverse and serious adverse events were similar between the treatment groups. Conclusion: Both the addition of ETN to MTX and the substitution of ETN for MTX in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had an inadequate response to MTX resulted in substantial improvements in clinical signs and symptoms and were generally well-tolerated treatment strategies for improving clinical signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
A simple electrical-mechanical model of the heart applied to the study of electrical-mechanical alternans

Recent evidence has shown that a subtle alternation in the surface ECG (electrical alternans) may be correlated with the susceptibility to ventricular fibrillation. In the present work, the author presents evidence that a mechanical alternation in the heartbeat (mechanical alternans) generally accompanies electrical alternans. A simple finite-element computer model which emulates both the electrical and the mechanical activity of the heart is presented. A pilot animal study is also reported. The computer model and the animal study both found that (1) there exists a regime of combined electrical-mechanical alternans during the transition from a normal rhythm towards a fibrillatory rhythm, (2) the detected degree of alternation is correlated with the relative instability of the rhythm, and (3) the electrical and mechanical alternans may result from a dispersion in local electrical properties leading to a spatial-temporal alternation in the electrical conduction process. <<ETX>>
Isolation of Campylobacter spp. from Semen Samples of Commercial Broiler Breeder Roosters

SUMMARY. Pooled semen samples from 12 groups of mature commercial broiler breeder roosters were analyzed for the presence of Campylobacter. Each of the 12 groups was comprised of eight individuals and was sampled weekly for five consecutive weeks. Once a day, roosters were allowed to have a restricted amount of feed after the semen samples were collected by abdominal massage. This feeding schedule reduced the amount of fecal contamination in and around the vent as well as in the semen sample. For replications 1, 2, and 3, the numbers of Campylobacter-positive groups were 8, 5, and 5, respectively, out of 12. For replications 4 and 5, 6 of 8 and 6 of 11 groups were positive, respectively. Only two groups were positive for Campylobacter at all sampling times, two groups were negative each time, and eight groups produced variable results. Also, fecal droppings, external swabs of the genitalia, and semen samples were taken from individual roosters between 49 to 65 wk of age. Of the total 275 semen samples collected, 9.47% contained naturally occurring Campylobacter, whereas 9.6% of 114 fecal droppings and 7.9% of the 114 genital swabs were positive. Levels of the organism present in the fecal samples ranged from 1.0 to 4.2 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g with an average of 2.9 log CFU/g feces. For semen, the levels ranged from as low as enrichment recovery only to as high as 3.1 log CFU/ml of semen with an average of 1.2 log CFU/ml. For swabs of genitalia, the levels of Campylobacter were so low that recovery was achieved only through enrichment. These data suggest that rooster semen may serve as a vehicle for transmission of Campylobacter to the reproductive tract of the hen and subsequently to the fertile egg.
Specular Reflection Reduction Using Periodic Frequency Selective Surfaces

This paper presents a method for controlling scattering from a surface with the use of periodic elements on a metallic ground plate. A comb reflection frequency selective surface (CR-FSS) is compared with a novel pin reflection frequency-selective surface (PR-FSS). The performance of the periodic surfaces are based on their ability to reduce specular scatter and redirect this as backscatter compared with a flat perfectly conducting (PEC) plate. The PR-FSS has comparable scattering performance when compared with the CR-FSS, despite a 90% reduction in fin material. Simulation and experimental results show that the PR-FSS is effective only for TM polarization, whereas the CR-FSS is adequate for both TM and TE polarizations. The effect of changes to the angle of incidence, height, and separation of the pins and fins are investigated. Aluminium prototypes have been manufactured and tested to provide experimental validation of the designs and are compared with simulated results. This includes full radar scattering cross sections, angle-of-incidence performance, and operational frequency bandwidth. Furthermore, suitable engineering applications of the CR-FSS and PR-FSS structures are considered.
Gene Expression Analysis in Mayak Workers With Prolonged Occupational Radiation Exposure

AbstractThe authors evaluated gene expression in the peripheral blood in relation to occupational exposure in Mayak workers to find out about the existence of a permanent post exposure signature. Workers were exposed to combined incorporated 239Pu and external gamma rays (n = 82) or to external gamma rays only (n = 18), and 50 unexposed individuals served as controls. Peripheral blood was taken from workers older than 70 y. RNA was isolated, converted into cDNA, and stored at −20°C. A two-stage study design was performed focusing on examinations on the transcriptional (mRNA) and post-transcriptional level (microRNA). In the first stage, 40 samples were identified for screening purposes and selection of candidate genes. For examinations on the transcriptional level, whole genome microarrays and qRT-PCR were employed on the post-transcriptional level (667 microRNAs). Candidate genes were assessed by (1) introducing a twofold difference in gene expression over the reference group and (2) showing a significant p-value using the Kruskal-Wallis test. From 42,545 transcripts of the whole genome microarray, 376 candidate genes (80 up-regulated and 296 down-regulated relative to the reference group) were selected. Expression of almost all of these genes (70−98%) appeared significantly associated with internal 239Pu and to a lesser extent were associated with external gamma-ray exposure (2−30%). Associations in the same direction were found for 45 microRNAs. Although both exposures led to modulations of different gene sets in different directions, the authors could detect no differences in gene set enrichment analysis.
A Mathematical Model for Self-Priming Circuits: Getting the Most From a Dielectric Elastomer Generator

A dielectric elastomer generator (DEG) can be used for converting mechanical energy from natural motion sources, such as walking, waves, trees, etc., into electrical energy. A DEG is comprised of a soft and flexible dielectric elastomer (DE) capacitor, a priming circuit (PC), which transfers high potential charge onto/off the DE electrodes, and a power extraction circuit that harvests the generated power. To generate power, the PC must charge and discharge the DE in synchronization with the DE's capacitance change. A simple circuit to do this exists: the self-priming circuit (SPC). The SPC consists of diodes and capacitors that passively switch between charge delivery and charge receiving states in synchronization with the DE's capacitance change. Until now, there has been no understanding of how to design an SPC in order to maximize harvested energy from the DE. A new mathematical model for an SPC is presented, leading to design and optimization. An accuracy of 0.1% between model, simulation, and experiment over five cycles is obtained, once losses are taken into consideration. The behavior of the SPC is shown to be related to the maximum and minimum capacitances of the DE, but is unaffected by the exact shape of the capacitance waveform.