Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Structure and Function of Gut Microbiomes of Two Species of Sea Urchins, Mesocentrotus nudus and Strongylocentrotus intermedius, in Japan

Sea urchin is an indicator of coastal environmental changes in the global warming era, and is also a model organism in developmental biology and evolution. Due to the depletion of wild resources, new aquaculture techniques for improving stocks have been well studied. The gut microbiome shapes various aspects of a host’s physiology. However, these microbiome structures and functions on sea urchins, particularly Mesocentrotus nudus and Strongylocentrotus intermedius which are important marine bioresources commonly found in Japan, have not been fully investigated yet. Using metagenomic approaches including meta16S and shotgun metagenome sequencings, the structures, functions, and dynamics of the gut microbiome of M. nudus and S. intermedius, related to both habitat environment and host growth, were studied. Firstly, a broad meta16S analysis revealed that at the family level, Psychromonadaceae and Flavobacteriaceae reads (38–71%) dominated in these sea urchins, which is a unique feature observed in species in Japan. Flavobacteriaceae reads were more abundant in individuals after rearing in an aquarium with circulating compared to one with running water. Campylobacteraceae and Vibrionaceae abundances increased in both kinds of laboratory-reared sea urchins in both types of experiments. 2-weeks feeding experiments of M. nudus and S. intermedius transplanted from the farm to laboratory revealed that these gut microbial structures were affected by diet rather than rearing environments and host species. Secondly, further meta16S analysis of microbial reads related to M. nudus growth revealed that at least four Amplicon Sequence Variant (ASV) affiliated to Saccharicrinis fermentans, which is known to be a nitrogen (N2) fixing bacterium, showed a significant positive correlation to the body weight and test diameter. Interestingly, gut microbiome comparisons using shotgun metagenome sequencing of individuals showing higher and lower growth rates revealed a significant abundance of “Nitrate and nitrite ammonification” genes in the higher-grown individuals under the circulating water rearing. These findings provide new insights on the structure-function relationship of sea urchin gut microbiomes beyond previously reported nitrogen fixation function in sea urchin in 1950s; we discovered a nitrate reduction function into ammonium for the growth promotion of sea urchin.
Bioinformatic identification of genes suppressing genome instability

Unbiased forward genetic screens for mutations causing increased gross chromosomal rearrangement (GCR) rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are hampered by the difficulty in reliably using qualitative GCR assays to detect mutants with small but significantly increased GCR rates. We therefore developed a bioinformatic procedure using genome-wide functional genomics screens to identify and prioritize candidate GCR-suppressing genes on the basis of the shared drug sensitivity suppression and similar genetic interactions as known GCR suppressors. The number of known suppressors was increased from 75 to 110 by testing 87 predicted genes, which identified unanticipated pathways in this process. This analysis explicitly dealt with the lack of concordance among high-throughput datasets to increase the reliability of phenotypic predictions. Additionally, shared phenotypes in one assay were imperfect predictors for shared phenotypes in other assays, indicating that although genome-wide datasets can be useful in aggregate, caution and validation methods are required when deciphering biological functions via surrogate measures, including growth-based genetic interactions.
A historical commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander

This, the second volume of a magisterial commentary on the work of the historian Arrian, deals in depth with a crucial period (329-326 BC) of the reign of Alexander the Great. It discusses some of the earliest datable evidence for the history of Central Asia and Pakistan, and analyses Alexander's views of sovereignty and divinity. Professor Bosworth is the leading authority on Arrian, and his commentary should become a classic work of reference for historians.
The Role of Visual Imagery in Spelling

Current models of spelling posit that information from the orthographic output buffer can be translated into physical letter codes for written output or into name letter codes for spoken output. It is not known, at present, whether or not visualization of these codes is necessary to spell or recognize orally spelled words. We report a 73-year-old woman who could spell words better than she could image them and who demonstrated near flawless recognition of orally spelled words. We conclude that visual imagery is not necessary to either spell or recognize orally spelled words.
Signalling in Plant Lateral Organ Development Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.000828.

A plant lateral organ, defined here as either a leaf or a leaf-like organ of the shoot or flower, arises from a group of initial cells within the flanks of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) or floral meristem. For example, the tobacco leaf is formed from a group of ∼100 initial cells in all three
Bandwidth Efficient Cooperative Diversity for Wireless Networks

Cooperative diversity has been recently proposed as a way to form distributed antenna arrays that improve error performance and capacity. In this paper, a bandwidth efficient cooperative diversity scheme is proposed for half-duplex amplify- and-forward wireless relay networks. By employing a signal space diversity technique and allowing the source node to keep on transmitting over the whole duration of the cooperation frame, the proposed cooperative scheme is proved to be able to achieve both full-rate and full-diversity simultaneously. Diversity analysis shows that the achievable diversity gain is M + 1, where M is the number of relay nodes. Moreover, a power allocation scheme is proposed to maximize the coding gain under a total power constraint. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the full- rate and full-diversity of the proposed scheme.
RIE gate-recessed (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P/InGaAs double doped-channel FETs using CHF3+BCl3 mixing plasma

BCl/sub 3/+CHF/sub 3/ gas mixtures for the reactive ion etching process were applied to the gate-recess for fabricating (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P quaternary heterostructure double doped-channel FET's (D-DCFET), where a high uniformity of Vth was achieved. With the merits of this wide bandgap (Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/)/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P layer, microwave power performance of this heterostructure D-DCFET demonstrates a compatible performance for devices fabricated on AlGaAs/InGaAs heterostructures.
Changes in UK ophthalmology surgical training: analysis of cumulative surgical experience 2009–2015

Objective To investigate changes in the patterns of cumulative surgical experience for ophthalmologists in the UK following the introduction of a new national training scheme. Design Retrospective review of all surgical training records submitted to the UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists by trainees for the award of Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) for the period 2009–2015. Setting Secondary level care, UK. Participants 539 trainees achieving CCT over the 7-year study period. Interventions Higher specialist training or ophthalmology specialist training. Outcome measures Number of CCT awards by years and procedures performed for cataract surgery, strabismus, corneal grafts, vitreoretinal (VR) procedures, oculoplastics and glaucoma. Results Cataract surgical experience showed little change with median number performed/performed supervised (P/PS) 592, IQR: 472–738; mean: 631. Similarly, the median number of strabismus (P/PS 34), corneal grafts (assisted, 9) and VR procedures (assisted, 34) appeared constant. There was a trend towards increasing surgical numbers for oculoplastics (median 116) and glaucoma (57). Overall case numbers for ophthalmic specialist training (OST) trainees (7-year training programme) were higher than higher surgical training (HST) trainees (4.5-year programme) with the exception of squint (P/PS), corneal grafts (P/PS) and VR cases (P/PS). Conclusions Overall case numbers reported at time of CCT application appear stable or with a marginal trend towards increasing case numbers. HST (4.5-year programme) case numbers do not include those performed before entry to HST, and although case numbers tended to be higher for OST trainees (7-year programme) compared with HST trainees, they were not proportionately so.
Brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in Alzheimer's disease: changes after treatment with xanomeline, an M1 selective cholinergic agonist.

OBJECTIVE Higher than normal cellular levels of the phospholipid catabolic intermediate glycerophosphocholine have been found in postmortem brain tissue of persons with Alzheimer's disease. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) can detect a choline resonance that is largely due to glycerophosphocholine. The authors tested the hypothesis that treatment with xanomeline, an M1 selective muscarinic cholinergic agonist, would be associated with a decrease in the 1H-MRS choline resonance. METHOD Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease received placebo or xanomeline for 6 months. 1H-MRS spectra were collected at baseline and after treatment discontinuation for 12 patients, two taking placebo and 10 taking xanomeline at a dose of 25 mg t.i. d. (N = 4), 50 mg t.i. d. (N = 3), or 75 mg t.i. d. (N = 3). RESULTS For the combined group of patients taking xanomeline, there was a significant decrease in the choline/creatine ratio from baseline to endpoint. CONCLUSIONS Treatment of Alzheimer's disease with a cholinergic agonist is associated with a decrease in the MRS choline resonance. Xanomeline may reduce breakdown of cholinergic neuron membranes by reducing the cellular requirement for free choline for acetylcholine synthesis.
miRNAs as novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease: a patent evaluation of WO2014018650

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) requires novel means for early-stage recognition, enabling early therapeutic approaches. Since microRNAs (miRNAs) are important components of the gene regulatory networks in neurodegenerative diseases, there is huge effort to find correlation between expression patterns of miRNAs and disease. Areas covered: The current application claims the use of miRNA signatures to diagnose and treat PD also in early nonsymptomatic stages. Therefore, samples from putamen and CSF were collected to identify miRNA signatures in PD. Resulting microarrays provide expression patterns of miRNAs that were highly predictive for different stages of PD pathology. Different kits are provided to determine miRNA signatures and to classify the individual stage of disease. Furthermore, an oligonucleotide is suggested, with the aim to downregulate an miRNA, predicted to play a causal role in the development of PD pathology. Expert opinion: The asymptomatic early phase in PD is associated with specific changes in miRNA expression patterns. However, further work is required to assess the real diagnostic and therapeutic potential of this application’s findings. Targeting individual miRNAs is a strategy worth to be investigated, but many technical issues still need to be addressed.
SVM classification for fake biometric detection using image quality assessment: Application to iris, face and palm print

The increasing interest in the evaluation of biometric systems security is an important issue to be considered. The different threats called direct or spoofing attacks where in these attacks, the intruder uses some type of synthetically produced artifact (e.g., gummy finger, printed iris image or face mask), or tries to mimic the behavior of the genuine user, to fraudulent access of the biometric system have motivated to new efficient protection measures. In this paper, we present a novel software-based fake biometric detection method that can be used in multiple biometric systems to detect different types of fraudulent access attempts. The use of image quality assessment for liveness detection is motivated by the assumption that: It is expected that a fake image captured in an attack attempt will have different quality than a real sample acquired in the normal operation scenario for which the sensor was designed. The proposed approach presents a very low degree of complexity, which makes it suitable for real-time applications, using general image quality features extracted from one image to differentiate between real and fake samples. This proposed work enhances the security of biometric recognitions, by using the liveness detection through image quality assessment and by fusion of multiple biometric traits. The SVM classifier is used for differentiating between the real and fake samples.
Fractionating nonword repetition: The contributions of short-term memory and oromotor praxis are different

The ability to reproduce novel words is a sensitive marker of language impairment across a variety of developmental disorders. Nonword repetition tasks are thought to reflect phonological short-term memory skills. Yet, when children hear and then utter a word for the first time, they must transform a novel speech signal into a series of coordinated, precisely timed oral movements. Little is known about how children’s oromotor speed, planning and co-ordination abilities might influence their ability to repeat novel nonwords, beyond the influence of higher-level cognitive and linguistic skills. In the present study, we tested 35 typically developing children between the ages of 5−8 years on measures of nonword repetition, digit span, memory for non-verbal sequences, reading fluency, oromotor praxis, and oral diadochokinesis. We found that oromotor praxis uniquely predicted nonword repetition ability in school-age children, and that the variance it accounted for was additional to that of digit span, memory for non-verbal sequences, articulatory rate (measured by oral diadochokinesis) as well as reading fluency. We conclude that the ability to compute and execute novel sensorimotor transformations affects the production of novel words. These results have important implications for understanding motor/language relations in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Survival of candida sepsis in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Objective: To report the survival of fungal sepsis in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Design: Single case report. Setting: Tertiary referral children’s hospital pediatric intensive care unit. Patients: A single case report of an infant with congenital heart disease who developed candida sepsis while supported postoperatively with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Results: This infant survived a prolonged episode of candidemia after repair of congenital heart disease, which required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. The patient has no identified sequelae at 6-month follow-up and continues on long-term fluconazole therapy for candida endocarditis. Conclusions: Candidemia, particularly Candida albicans species, may not be a contraindication for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. With antifungal therapy and adequate inotropic use to counter the effects of septicemia, survival can be maintained until the patient adequately recovers, allowing decannulation, removal of all catheters, and eventual bloodstream sterility.
Fully Integrated CMOS Saturated Power Amplifier With Simple Digital Predistortion

A highly efficient CMOS saturated power amplifier (PA) is implemented. The efficiency is enhanced by the voltage waveform engineering using the second harmonic component generated by the nonlinear output capacitor (Cout). For an improved linearity to satisfy the specification of handset applications, a simple open-loop digital predisortion algorithm is employed. The fully integrated single-stage differential PA including the output transformer is fabricated using a 0.18- μm CMOS process. The PA with 3.5 V supply delivers good performance across the 1.7-2.0 GHz frequency band.
Meropenem-Clavulanic Acid Shows Activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis In Vivo

ABSTRACT The carbapenems imipenem and meropenem in combination with clavulanic acid reduced the bacterial burden in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected macrophages by 2 logs over 6 days. Despite poor stability in solution and a short half-life in rodents, treatment of chronically infected mice revealed significant reductions of bacterial burden in the lungs and spleens. Our results show that meropenem has activity in two in vivo systems, but stability and pharmacokinetics of long-term administration will offer significant challenges to clinical evaluation.
In Vitro Activity of the Histatin Derivative P-113 against Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens Responsible for Pneumonia in Immunocompromised Patients

ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of the histatin derivative P-113, alone or combined with eight antibiotics, was investigated against multidrug-resistant strains isolated from clinical specimens of immunocompromised patients with pneumonia. The gram-negative isolates were susceptible to P-113. S. aureus showed less susceptibility. Synergy was demonstrated when P-113 was combined with beta-lactams against gram-negative organisms.
Identifying the gaps between education and training

This paper discusses some of the issues concerning education in the academic environment and training in the industrial work environment. Recent college graduates, “new-hires”, must realize as they enter the workforce, that even though they have completed four year degree programs, they are beginning at an entry-level position. They will need job specific training to make them productive software engineers from their employer's perspective. The aspects of distinguishing between education and training are discussed along with an understanding of how college prepares graduates for employment in the computer industry; specifically, the field of military software development as developed at Texas Instruments.
TURBULENT PIPE FLOW THROUGH A 90° BEND

Stereoscopic PIV is used to investigate the structure of fully developed turbulent pipe-flow through a 90◦ bend. The results show that Dean motions downstream of the bend are very weak in the mean, and time resolved stereoscopic PIV demonstrates that the Dean motions co-exist with large scale swirling motions that switch sign and do not contribute to the mean. Snapshot POD analysis of the flow field reveals that the structures found upstream of the bend persist after the bend and survive the strong secondary motions induced by the pipe curvature. In particular, the Very Large Scale Motions (VLSM) are no longer the most energetic mode in the flow, but they are still the most energetic structure in terms of the streamwise fluctuations. INTRODUCTION Turbulent flow in pipe bends is of great practical interest due to the associated pressure losses and the distortion of the velocity profile. Bends tend to introduce secondary flows that lead to scour, and non-uniform heat transfer (Berger et al. 1983). Much research has been done in the area of secondary flows, as it is a phenomena related to many fluid problems, including flow through heat exchangers, industrial plant piping systems, scouring and river meandering. Early studies showed that secondary vortices in the streamwise direction downstream of the bend (Harlock 1955), the so-called Dean motions (Dean 1928). The strength of the secondary motions is often described using the Dean number, which is the ratio of the square root of the product of the inertia and centrifugal forces to the viscous force. That is,
Cyclin D 1 Gene G 870 A Variants and Primary Brain Tumors

Every year, about 10 per 100 million people are affected by primary brain tumors which correspond to about 2% of all adult primary tumors and 23% of all childhood cancers. Mortality caused by primary brain tumors is about 13,000 deaths per year and it represents 2% of adult and 25% of childhood cancer related deaths (Legler et al., 1999; DeAngelis, 2001; Wrensch et al., 2002; Furnari et al., 2007; Marie and Shinjo, 2011). Gliomas and meningiomas are the two most common primary brain tumors with approximately 50% and 20% proportion respectively. Among these two cancer types, meningiomas are mostly seen in women while gliomas are more common in men (Inskip et al., 1005; Parkin, et al., 2005; Park et al., 2009; Martinez et al., 2010). Glioblastoma multiforma (GBM) is known to be the most common and aggressive one among different primary brain tumor types (Yost et al., 2013). Primary brain tumors are mostly aggregated in families, suggesting a genetic basis for disease tendency. Thus, in addition to known familial syndromes; effects of the inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are needed to be understood in order to clarify the molecular
The changing relationship between income and mortality in Finland, 1988–2007

Background Socioeconomic mortality differences have increased in many high-income countries in recent decades mainly because of slower mortality decline among the lower social groups. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the changing socio-demographic composition explains the increasing disparity in mortality by income and the stagnation of mortality in the lowest income group. Methods The register data comprised a nationally representative 11% sample of individuals aged 35–64 years residing in Finland in 1988–2007, linked with mortality records. Household taxable income was used as the income measure. Poisson regression models were used to assess the changes in mortality disparity among the income quintiles between periods 1988–1991, 1996–1999 and 2004–2007. The measures of socio-demographic composition included educational level, social class, employment status and living alone. Results The mortality rate ratio (with the highest quintile as the reference category) of the lowest quintile increased from 2.80 to 5.16 among the men and from 2.17 to 4.23 among the women between 1988–1991 and 2004–2007. Controlling for other socio-demographic variables strongly attenuated the differences, but the rate ratio of the lowest quintile still increased from 1.32 to 1.73 among the men and from 1.13 to 1.66 among the women. There was no decline in the fully adjusted mortality of the lowest quintiles between second and third study periods. Conclusions Socio-demographic characteristics explained much of the mortality disparity between income quintiles within each study period. However, these characteristics do not explain the increasing disparity between the periods and stagnating mortality in the lowest quintile.