Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of callose deposition in rice regulated by exogenous abscisic acid and its involvement in rice resistance to Nilaparvata lugens Stål (Hemiptera: Delphacidae).

BACKGROUND Callose is a plant cell wall polysaccharide controlled by β-1,3-glucanase and synthase. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important plant hormone. Exogenous ABA promotes rice resistance to pests. Whether exogenous ABA could reduce the decline in rice yield after brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål; BPH) feeding is an important question, however, the mechanisms behind rice resistance induced by ABA remain obscure. RESULTS Electronic penetration graph (EPG) recording indicated a significant increase in rice resistance to BPH, and the number of BPH eggs decreased significantly upon application of exogenous ABA. As the concentration of ABA increased, the reduction in rice yield decreased significantly after BPH feeding. Further studies showed that β-1,3-glucanase activity was significantly lower, but synthase activity was higher after ABA treatment than in controls. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated that exogenous ABA suppressed β-1,3-glucanase and induced synthase activity, and promoted callose deposition. This is an important defense mechanism that prevents BPH from ingesting phloem sap. These studies provide support for an insect-resistance mechanism after ABA treatment and provide a reference for the integrated management of other piercing-sucking pests. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
Use of Suppression-Subtractive Hybridization To Identify Genes in the Burkholderia cepacia Complex That Are Unique to Burkholderia cenocepacia

ABSTRACT We have previously shown differences in virulence between species of the Burkholderia cepacia complex using the alfalfa infection model and the rat agar bead chronic infection model. Burkholderia cenocepacia strains were more virulent in these two infection models than Burkholderia multivorans and Burkholderia stabilis strains. In order to identify genes that may account for the increased virulence of B. cenocepacia, suppression-subtractive hybridization was performed between B. cenocepacia K56-2 and B. multivorans C5393 and between B. cenocepacia K56-2 and B. stabilis LMG14294. Genes identified included DNA modification/phage-related/insertion sequences and genes involved in cell membrane/surface structures, resistance, transport, metabolism, regulation, secretion systems, as well as genes of unknown function. Several of these genes were present in the ET12 lineage of B. cenocepacia but not in other members of the B. cepacia complex. Virulence studies in a chronic lung infection model determined that the hypothetical YfjI protein, which is unique to the ET12 clone, contributes to lung pathology. Other genes specific to B. cenocepacia and/or the ET12 lineage were shown to play a role in biofilm formation and swarming or swimming motility.
Infliximab Dosing Strategies and Predicted Trough Exposure in Children With Crohn Disease

Objectives: Standard infliximab maintenance dosing of 5 mg/kg every 8 weeks may be inadequate to consistently achieve sufficient drug exposure to minimize loss of response or treatment failure in pediatric Crohn disease (CD). We aimed to determine the predicted infliximab trough concentrations in children with CD during maintenance therapy and the percentage of patients achieving target trough concentration >3 &mgr;g/mL. Methods: A Monte Carlo simulation analysis was constructed using a published population pharmacokinetic model based on data from 112 children in the REACH trial. We assessed maintenance dosing strategies of 5, 7.5, and 10 mg/kg at dosing intervals of every 4, 6, and 8 weeks for children that differed by age, weight, albumin level, and concomitant immunomodulator therapy. Results: Based on the index case of a 10-year-old with CD receiving standard infliximab dosing with concomitant immunomodulator therapy, the median (interquartile range) simulated infliximab trough concentration at week 14 was 1.3 (0.5–2.7) &mgr;g/mL and 2.4 (1.0–4.8) &mgr;g/mL for albumin levels of 3 and 4 g/dL, respectively. Among 1000 simulated children in the model, trough concentration >3 &mgr;g/mL at week 14 was achieved 21% and 41% of the time for albumin levels of 3 and 4 g/dL, respectively. Conclusions: Standard infliximab maintenance dosing in children with CD is predicted to frequently result in inadequate exposure, especially when albumin levels are low. Optimized dosing strategies for individual patients are needed to achieve sufficient drug exposure during infliximab maintenance therapy.
The blood flow and oxygen consumption of the human brain in diabetic acidosis and coma.

Despite recent gratifying advances in our knowledge of carbohydrate metabolism, diabetic coma remains an important medical emergency and our understanding of its fundamental pathogenesis and rational treatment is far from complete. The sequence of events leading from disturbed carbohydrate utilization through acidosis, coma and death has been. variously defined and important roles have been assigned at one time or another to ketosis, acidosis, dehydration, circulatory failure, and cerebral anoxia. In an effort better to define these fundamental derangements and their inter-relationships, the brain was chosen as an important object of study since its integrity is so intimately associated with survival. Clinicians who have studied diabetic acidosis are agreed that cerebral function as reflected in mental state is closely correlated with the severity of the disease and its prognosis (1-6). The central nervous system, apparently dependent on carbohydrate for its normal source of energy (7 to 9), would be expected significantly to reflect disturbances in the metabolism of this foodstuff. For many reasons recently recapitulated by Soskin and Levine (10), the results of extensive in vitro studies may not rigorously be applied to the metabolism of tissues in the living organism so that inferences drawn from work with the Warburg apparatus require validation by studies on living organs in situ. Such studies are comparatively rare because suitable methods have been developed only in the past few years. The recently devised nitrous oxide method for the quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow in man (11, 12) makes possible calculation of the utilization or production by the brain of any
Short but normal

The use of growth hormone in short normal children remains a controversial issue. Many studies continue to evaluate the benefits of treatment only in terms of the number of centimetres gained.1-3 Before asking who might respond to growth hormone, we should first ask who needs it. It is some 13 years since the Wessex growth study (WGS) began and it is appropriate to draw some evidence based conclusions about the normality, or otherwise, of the short normal child.4 Rational intervention assumes some abnormality, physical or psychological, that can be corrected. Where short stature is the result of growth hormone deficiency (GHD), the case for intervention is clear and uncontroversial: final adult height is compromised and the underlying endocrine disorder is associated with a variety of physiological abnormalities. Disorders of mood and performance have also been linked to GHD, especially in adults, but while these may be of interest, a psychological assessment is not required to justify the use of growth hormone.5 In the short but otherwise normal child, the indications for treatment are less clear. Despite the fact that short stature per se is not a disease, two distinct lines of reasoning have nevertheless been proffered in defence of growth hormone therapy for these children, each claiming to demonstrate the abnormality of short stature. First, it has been …
Ground-based Lightcurve Observation of (25143) Itokawa, 2001-2004

Abe, S. Hasegawa, M. Ishiguro, K. Kitazato, N. Miura, H. Nonaka, Y. Ohba, M. Okyudo, T. Ozawa, Y. Sarugaku, and M. Ueno. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 31-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8501, Japan (nisihara@planeta.sci.isas.jaxa.jp), Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, College of Liberal Arts, University of Tokyo, Accenture Japan Ltd., Student Center for Independent Research in the Sciences, Wakayama University, Misato Observatory, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo
An Entropy-based Model for a Fast Computation of SSIM

: The paper presents a model for assessing image quality from a subset of pixels. It is based on the fact that human beings do not explore the whole image information for quantifying its degree of distortion. Hence, the vision process can be seen in agreement with the Asymptotic Equipartition Property. The latter assures the existence of a subset of sequences of image blocks able to describe the whole image source with a preﬁxed and small error. Speciﬁcally, the well known Structural SIMilarity index (SSIM) has been considered. Its entropy has been used for deﬁning a method for the selection of those image pixels that enable SSIM estimation with enough precision. Experimental results show that the proposed selection method is able to reduce the number of operations required by SSIM of about 200 times, with an estimation error less than 8%.
Development of Power Interface With FPGA-Based Adaptive Control for PEM-FC System

This paper presents the development of a power interface for a fuel cell (FC) system supplying an ac load. The proposed system comprises a two stages conditioning system, including a switched capacitor dc-dc boost converter and a full bridge insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) single-phase inverter (dc-ac converter). A fully digital control structure is proposed to manage both power converters using the same control device. The control strategy takes advantage of the parallelism of the field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) technology to share in real-time the controller's information addressing the common problem of low-frequency ripple of FC current when supplying ac loads. The control system has been implemented and evaluated by co-simulation, and by experimentation with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) system. The results show that the proposed system allows a safe operation of the FC by limiting the current ripple under 3%. These results also confirm that the transient response of the conversion system permits to correctly supply the ac load.
Effects of a very congested match schedule on body-load impacts, accelerations, and running measures in youth soccer players.

PURPOSE To analyze the effects of a very congested match schedule on the total distance (TD) covered, high-intensity-running (HIR) distance, and frequency of accelerations and body-load impacts (BLIs) performed in a team of under-15 soccer players (N=10; 15.1±0.2 y, 171.8±4.7 cm, 61±6.0 kg) during an international youth competition. METHODS Using global positioning systems, player performances were repeatedly monitored in 5 matches performed over 3 successive days. RESULTS Significant differences were observed between matches (P<.05) for the frequency of accelerations per minute, BLIs, and BLIs per minute. No differences were observed for the TD covered, TD run per minute, number of high-intensity runs, distance covered in HIR, per-minute peak running speed attained, or frequency of accelerations. The frequency of accelerations per minute decreased across the competition while BLIs were higher during the final than in all other matches. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that BLIs and acceleration might be used as an alternative means to represent the external load during congested match schedules rather than measures related to running speed or distance covered.
Decline of the Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata in Ladakh, India

The Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata is endemic to the Tibetan plateau. In the Ladakh region of northern India its range declined from c. 20,000 km2 in the early 1900s to c. 1,000 km2 in the late 1980s. Here we report the results of our recent (1999–2003) assessments of the gazelle's conservation status in Ladakh. Range-wide surveys indicate that the present population of the Tibetan gazelle in Ladakh is c. 50, restricted to a range of c. 100 km2. Populations in the Tso Kar basin and Dungti have gone extinct within the past decade. Throughout the last century hunting was the primary cause of the gazelle's decline. Although hunting has been brought under control in the last two decades, intensified livestock grazing appears to have prevented the gazelle's recovery and may be precipitating further declines. The species needs immediate, participatory conservation management, as well as a reassessment of its IUCN Red List status.
A simple ON/OFF logarithmic model for frame-level errors in wireless channels applied to GSM

An accurate modelling of errors at link layer in wireless networks is especially relevant as it is indispensable for evaluating system performance and for tuning communication protocols at higher layers. In this paper, a simple algorithm to model frame-level errors in wireless channels has been developed. Such a model has been tested, analyzing an experimental GSM link layer frame error trace. The developed model is based on a two state semi-Markov process, where the holding time of each state is characterized by a discrete logarithmic distribution, whose parameter has been estimated from the data trace using the maximum likelihood method. The obtained results in terms of frame error rate (FER) and autocorrelation function have been compared with the GSM trace and with another model already available from the literature (i.e., the extended ON/OFF model). The numerical results show that the proposed method is able to capture first and second order statistics (FER and autocorrelation) with similar accuracy to the extended ON/OFF model, but with minor computational complexity.
Neuroimaging Data in Bipolar Disorder: An Updated View

BD is a prevalent mood disorder, often comorbid with other medical and psychiatric conditions and frequently misdiagnosed (Altamura et al., 2011a). Intense emotional states that occur in BD comprise manic, hypomanic, mixed or depressive episodes. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IVth edition, text revision (DSMIV–TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), BD spectrum ranges from cyclothymia to Bipolar I, Bipolar II Disorder and Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) forms. BD can also be conceptualized as a gradual change in mood scale, which ranges from severe depression to severe mania with an intermediate euthymic state or balanced mood. Dysthymia is a chronic state of mild low mood occurring for a minimum of two years. At the other end of the scale there is hypomania and severe mania. An alternative and broader dimensional approach conceptualizes BD as a continuum, between unipolar depression, schizoaffective disorder (which is considered by some authors a subcategory of BD) and schizophrenia. This theory may be supported from a clinical point of view by the fact that, sometimes, during severe manic, mixed or depressive episodes, bipolar patients experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. It is also supported by the presence of morphometric alterations of frequent observation among major psychoses, such as enlarged ventricles and white matter volume reductions in the left and temporoparietal regions (Czobor et al., 2007). In BD, symptomatic states are frequently associated with poor working functioning and social impairment. Bipolar patients, moreover, have higher suicide rates than the general population and among the highest of psychiatric patients. In a recent study on factors predicting suicide in BD, white race, family history of suicide, and previous cocaine abuse were considered predictive of suicidal behaviour (Cassidy, 2011). Usually BD develops in early adulthood/late teens, with an age of onset ranging from 15 to 50 years (Cassano et al., 2006). International treatment guidelines for BD recommend the use of mood stabilizers either in monotherapy or in association as the gold standard in both acute and long-term therapy. The concept of stabilization, in fact, has been stressed as the ultimate objective of the treatment of BD, given the chronic and recurrent nature of the illness, which accounts for its significant levels of impairment and disability (Altamura et al., 2011b). Beyond the
Heme oxygenase‐1 inhibits T cell‐dependent skin inflammation and differentiation and function of antigen‐presenting cells

Abstract: Heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) is increased in psoriatic skin. We asked for the impact of physiological and pharmacological HO‐1 induction on skin immunity and the mechanisms involved in HO‐1‐induced immunomodulation. We found cutaneous HO‐1 expression upregulated comparable with suppressors of cytokine signalling (SOCS)1 and SOCS3 in psoriasis and atopic eczema and temporarily increased in murine ovalbumin‐induced late phase reaction (LPR) and 2,4‐dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)‐induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS). Cutaneous inflammation was enhanced by HO‐1 inhibition and was abrogated by treatment with the HO‐1 inducer cobaltic protoporphyrin (CoPP) both when applied around sensitization or before challenge. HO‐1 inhibition specifically prevented the anti‐inflammatory CoPP effect. CoPP inhibited T cell proliferation in splenocytes of treated mice and in human mixed leukocyte reaction and lymphocyte transformation test. CoPP induced HO‐1 in antigen‐presenting cells and depressed monocytic accessory molecule expression and the differentiation and maturation of monocyte‐derived dendritic cells (MDDC). It decreased tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α and interleukin (IL)‐12 production while increasing IL‐10 secretion. The antigen‐presenting capacity was diminished in CoPP‐treated and HO‐1‐transduced MDDC. We demonstrate for the first time the physiological role of HO‐1 in the limitation of skin inflammation and implement pharmacological HO‐1 induction as a therapeutic approach for T cell‐dependent inflammatory dermatoses. Suppression of antigen‐presenting cells may represent a main anti‐inflammatory mechanism of HO‐1.
Spectral Theory for Random Poincaré Maps

We consider stochastic differential equations, obtained by adding weak Gaussian white noise to ordinary differential equations admitting N asymptotically stable periodic orbits. We construct a discrete-time, continuous-space Markov chain, called a random Poincare map, which encodes the metastable behaviour of the system. We show that this process admits exactly N eigenvalues which are exponentially close to 1, and provide expressions for these eigenvalues and their left and right eigenfunctions in terms of committor functions of neighbourhoods of periodic orbits. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are well-approximated by principal eigenvalues and quasistationary distributions of processes killed upon hitting some of these neighbourhoods. The proofs rely on Feynman–Kac-type representation formulas for eigenfunctions, Doob's h-transform, spectral theory of compact operators, and a recently discovered detailed-balance property satisfied by committor functions.
Transgenic expression of pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor-I ameliorates secretagogue-induced pancreatitis in mice.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Endogenous trypsin inhibitors are believed to inhibit protease activity if trypsin becomes inadvertently activated within the acinar cell. However, this action remains unproven, and the role of endogenous pancreatic trypsin inhibitors in acute pancreatitis is unknown. In this study, we tested whether increased levels of pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor-I (PSTI-I) in mice could prevent secretagogue-induced pancreatitis. METHODS Rat PSTI-I expression was targeted to pancreatic acinar cells in transgenic mice by creating a minigene driven by the rat elastase I enhancer/promoter. Secretagogue-induced pancreatitis was achieved by 12 hourly intraperitoneal injections of caerulein. The severity of pancreatitis was assessed by measurements of serum amylase, histologic grading, and pancreas wet weight-to-body weight ratio. Trypsinogen activation and trypsin activity were measured in pancreatic extracts. RESULTS Targeted expression of PSTI-I to the pancreas increased endogenous trypsin inhibitor capacity by 190% (P <.01) in transgenic vs. nontransgenic mice. Caerulein administration to nontransgenic mice produced histologic evidence of acute pancreatitis, and significantly elevated serum amylase and pancreas weight ratio. In caerulein-treated transgenic mice, the histologic severity of pancreatitis was significantly reduced. There was no difference in trypsinogen activation peptide levels between caerulein-treated transgenic and nontransgenic mice. However, trypsin activity was significantly lower in transgenic mice receiving caerulein compared with nontransgenic mice. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that the severity of secretagogue-induced pancreatitis is significantly ameliorated in mice with higher pancreatic levels of trypsin inhibitor. We propose that PSTI-I prevents pancreatitis by inhibiting the activity of trypsin, rather than by reducing trypsinogen activation.
Regulation of the immune response by stress‐activated protein kinases

Summary: Activation of immune cells to mediate an immune response is often triggered by potential ‘danger’ or ‘stress’ stimuli that the organism receives. Within the mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) family, the stress‐activated protein kinase (SAPK) group was defined as group of kinases that activated by stimuli that cause cell stress. In the immune cells, SAPKs are activated by antigen receptors (B‐ or T‐cell receptors), Toll‐like receptors, cytokine receptors, and physical–chemical changes in the environment among other stimuli. The SAPKs are established to be important mediators of intracellular signaling during adaptive and innate immune responses. Here we summarize what is currently known about the role of two sub‐groups of SAPKs – c‐Jun NH2‐terminal kinase and p38 MAPK‐in the function of specific components of the immune system and the overall contribution to the immune response.
Orthographic neighborhood effects in bilingual word recognition

A series of progressive demasking and lexical decision experiments investigated how the recognition of target words exclusively belonging to one language is affected by the existence of orthographic neighbors from the same or the other language of bilingual participants. Increasing the number of orthographic neighbors in Dutch systematically slowed response times to English target words in Dutch/English bilinguals, while an increase in target language neighbors consistently produced inhibitory effects for Dutch and facilitatory effects for English target words. Monolingual English speakers also showed facilitation due to English neighbors, but no effect of Dutch neighbors. The experiments provide evidence for parallel activation of words in an integrated Dutch/English lexicon. An implemented version of such a model making these assumptions, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model, is shown to account for the overall pattern of results. © 1998 Academic Press One of the striking features of bilingual language performance is the apparent ease with which the bilingual manages to keep interference from the non-target language at a minimal level. The fact remains, however, that interference from one language to the other does occur and is observable with respect to both language structure and linguistic processing. For example, in language production, interference from the first language can be noticed both at the phonological level (foreign accents) and at the sentence level (borrowed syntax), as well as in intrusions of words from the other language (accidental lexical borrowings).