Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep fragmentation alters brain energy metabolism without modifying hippocampal electrophysiological response to novelty exposure

Sleep is viewed as a fundamental restorative function of the brain, but its specific role in neural energy budget remains poorly understood. Sleep deprivation dampens brain energy metabolism and impairs cognitive functions. Intriguingly, sleep fragmentation, despite normal total sleep duration, has a similar cognitive impact, and in this paper we ask the question of whether it may also impair brain energy metabolism. To this end, we used a recently developed mouse model of 2 weeks of sleep fragmentation and measured 2‐deoxy‐glucose uptake and glycogen, glucose and lactate concentration in different brain regions. In order to homogenize mice behaviour during metabolic measurements, we exposed them to a novel environment for 1 h. Using an intra‐hippocampal electrode, we first showed that hippocampal electroencephalograph (EEG) response to exploration was unaltered by 1 or 14 days of sleep fragmentation. However, after 14 days, sleep fragmented mice exhibited a lower uptake of 2‐deoxy‐glucose in cortex and hippocampus and lower cortical lactate levels than control mice. Our results suggest that long‐term sleep fragmentation impaired brain metabolism to a similar extent as total sleep deprivation without affecting the neuronal responsiveness of hippocampus to a novel environment.
Plant Genome Complexity May Be a Factor Limiting In Situ the Transfer of Transgenic Plant Genes to the PhytopathogenRalstonia solanacearum

ABSTRACT The development of natural competence by bacteria in situ is considered one of the main factors limiting transformation-mediated gene exchanges in the environment. Ralstonia solanacearumis a plant pathogen that is also a naturally transformable bacterium that can develop the competence state during infection of its host. We have attempted to determine whether this bacterium could become the recipient of plant genes. We initially demonstrated that plant DNA was released close to the infecting bacteria. We constructed and tested various combinations of transgenic plants and recipient bacteria to show that the effectiveness of such transfers was directly related to the ratio of the complexity of the plant genome to the number of copies of the transgene.
Water Masses and Circulation in the Tropical Pacific off Central Mexico and Surrounding Areas

AbstractThe seasonal variations and the interactions of the water masses in the tropical Pacific off central Mexico (TPCM) and four surrounding areas were examined based on an extensive new hydrographic database. The regional water masses were redefined in terms of absolute salinity (SA) and conservative temperature (Θ) according to the Thermodynamic Equation of Seawater 2010 (TEOS-10). Hydrographic data and the evaporation minus (precipitation + runoff) balance were used to investigate the origin and seasonality of two salinity minima in the area. The shallow (50–100 m) salinity minimum originates with the California Current System and becomes saltier as it extends southeastward and mixes with tropical subsurface waters while the surface salinity minimum extends farther north in the TPCM in summer and fall because of the northward advection of tropical surface waters. The interactions between water masses allow a characterization of the seasonal pattern of circulation of the Mexican Coastal Current (MCC).
The quorum‐hindered transcription factor YenR of Yersinia enterocolitica inhibits pheromone production and promotes motility via a small non‐coding RNA

The YenR and YenI proteins of Yersinia enterocolitica resemble the quorum sensing proteins LuxR and LuxI of Vibrio fischeri. Apo‐YenR activated a gene, designated yenS, that lies adjacent to and divergent from yenR. YenR‐dependent expression of yenS was inhibited by endogenous or exogenous 3‐oxohexanoylhomoserine lactone (OHHL) a pheromone made by YenI. Purified apo‐YenR bound non‐cooperatively to two 20‐nucleotide sites that lie upstream of yenS. Binding occurred in the absence of (OHHL), and YenR was largely released from the DNA by this pheromone. yenS encoded two non‐translated RNAs 169 and 105 nucleotides long that share the same 5′ end but have different 3′ ends. One or both RNAs inhibited the translation and accumulation of the yenI mRNA by binding to a region that overlaps the YenI start codon. A mutation in yenI strongly stimulated swarming motility on the surface of semi‐solid agar, while exogenous OHHL completely suppressed this phenotype. Hypermotility in yenI mutants was also suppressed by mutations in yenR or yenS, suggesting that YenS plays a direct, stimulatory role in swarming motility.
The Effect of Crude Diosgenin Extract from Purple and Yellow Greater Yams (Dioscorea alata L.) on the Lipid Profile of Dyslipidemia Rats

The effect of crude diosgenin extracts from purple and yellow greater yam (Dioscorea alata L.) tubers on blood lipid profile and fecal cholesterol was studied. Tweny four male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: normal group and 3 dyslipidemia groups. Two dyslipidemia groups were administered by crude diosgenin extract from purple and yellow greater yam separately, and one group without administration. The crude diosgenin extracts were orally force-fed at a dose of 88.4 mg/kg body weight for 4 weeks. The results showed that crude diosgenin extracst from purple and yellow greater yam improved blood lipid profiles, but did not affect body weight gain. Diosgenin had a role to inhibit cholesterol absorption that indicated by higher fecal cholesterol in treated groups. Crude diosgenin extract from purple greater yam exhibited better lipid profile improvement than crude diosgenin extract from yellow greater yam, indicated by lower total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, and higher high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol after 4 week treatment. Crude extract of purple water yam also had better inhibition of cholesterol absorption. In clonclusion, both crude diosgenin extracts from greater yam increased fecal cholesterol secretion and improved blood lipid profiles.
Postsurgical meningitis caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica.

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a common commensal and respiratory pathogen in many wild and domestic animals, but it is a rare cause of human infection. There have been reports of human respiratory tract infection and bacteremia, occurring predominantly in immunocompromised patients and the elderly. We report a case of B. bronchiseptica postsurgical meningitis in an adolescent who had household pet contacts.
Dietary carotenes, vitamin C, and vitamin E as protective antioxidants in human cancers.

INTRODUCTION . 1 39 DIETARY ANTIOXIDANTS: THEORETICAL ROLES IN CANCER PREVENTION . 140 LABORATORY ANIMAL RESEARCH . 142 Carotenoids . 143 Vitamin C . 144 Vitamin E. 144 EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES . 144 Dietary Assessment . 145 Case-Control and Cohort Diet Studies . 145 Studies of Blood Nutrients . 1 5 1 Randomized Controlled Trials. 153 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 153
Altered processing of amyloid precursor protein in the human neuroblastoma SH‐SY5Y by chronic hypoxia

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is more prevalent following an ischemic or hypoxic episode, such as stroke. Indeed, brain levels of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the cytotoxic amyloid β peptide (Aβ) fragment are enhanced in these patients and in animal models following experimental ischaemia. We have investigated the effect of chronic hypoxia (CH; 2.5% O2, 24 h) on processing of APP in the human neuroblastoma, SH‐SY5Y. We demonstrate that constitutive and muscarinic‐receptor‐enhanced secretion of the α‐secretase cleaved fragment of APP, sAPPα, was reduced by ∼60% in CH cells. The caspase inhibitor BOC‐D(Ome)FMK did not reverse this effect of CH, and CH cells were as viable as controls, based on MTT assays. Thus, loss of sAPPα is not related to cell death or caspase processing of APP. Pre‐incubation with antioxidants did not reverse the effect of CH, and the effect could not be mimicked by H2O2, discounting the involvement of reactive oxygen species in hypoxic loss of sAPPα. CH did not affect muscarinic activation of extracellular‐signal regulated kinase. However, expression of ADAM 10 (widely believed to be α‐secretase) was decreased approximately 50% following CH. Thus, CH selectively decreases processing of APP by the α‐secretase pathway, most likely by decreasing levels of ADAM 10.
Stochastic properties of radiation-induced DSB: DSB distributions in large scale chromatin loops, the HPRT gene and within the visible volumes of DNA repair foci

Purpose: We computed probabilities to have multiple double-strand breaks (DSB), which are produced in DNA on a regional scale, and not in close vicinity, in volumes matching the size of DNA damage foci, of a large chromatin loop, and in the physical volume of DNA containing the HPRT (human hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase) locus. Materials and methods: The model is based on a Monte Carlo description of DSB formation by heavy ions in the spatial context of the entire human genome contained within the cell nucleus, as well as at the gene sequence level. Results: We showed that a finite physical volume corresponding to a visible DNA repair focus, believed to be associated with one DSB, can contain multiple DSB due to heavy ion track structure and the DNA supercoiled topography. A corrective distribution was introduced, which was a conditional probability to have excess DSB in a focus volume, given that there was already one present. The corrective distribution was calculated for 19.5 MeV/amu N ions, 3.77 MeV/amu α-particles, 1000 MeV/amu Fe ions, and X-rays. The corrected initial DSB yield from the experimental data on DNA repair foci was calculated. The DSB yield based on the corrective function converts the focus yield into the DSB yield, which is comparable with the DSB yield based on the earlier PFGE experiments. The distribution of DSB within the physical limits of the HPRT gene was analyzed by a similar method as well. Conclusion: This corrective procedure shows the applicability of the model and empowers the researcher with a tool to better analyze focus statistics. The model enables researchers to analyze the DSB yield based on focus statistics in real experimental situations that lack one-to-one focus-to-DSB correspondance.
An efficient strategy for extensive integration of diverse biological data for protein function prediction

MOTIVATION With the increasing availability of diverse biological information, protein function prediction approaches have converged towards integration of heterogeneous data. Many adapted existing techniques, such as machine-learning and probabilistic methods, which have proven successful on specific data types. However, the impact of these approaches is hindered by a couple of factors. First, there is little comparison between existing approaches. This is in part due to a divergence in the focus adopted by different works, which makes comparison difficult or even fuzzy. Second, there seems to be over-emphasis on the use of computationally demanding machine-learning methods, which runs counter to the surge in biological data. Analogous to the success of BLAST for sequence homology search, we believe that the ability to tap escalating quantity, quality and diversity of biological data is crucial to the success of automated function prediction as a useful instrument for the advancement of proteomic research. We address these problems by: (1) providing useful comparison between some prominent methods; (2) proposing Integrated Weighted Averaging (IWA)--a scalable, efficient and flexible function prediction framework that integrates diverse information using simple weighting strategies and a local prediction method. The simplicity of the approach makes it possible to make predictions based on on-the-fly information fusion. RESULTS In addition to its greater efficiency, IWA performs exceptionally well against existing approaches. In the presence of cross-genome information, which is overwhelming for existing approaches, IWA makes even better predictions. We also demonstrate the significance of appropriate weighting strategies in data integration.
Chronic Fatigue in a Population-Based Study of Gulf War Veterans

Abstract Fatigue has been associated with illness in veterans of the Gulf War; however, few studies have confirmed self-reported fatigue by using clinical evaluation, and symptomatic veterans have not been evaluated with established criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The authors describe the frequency and clinical characteristics of CFS in a sample of veterans residing in the northwestern United States. The sample was selected randomly from U.S. Department of Defense databases of troops deployed to southwest Asia during the Gulf War. The selected individuals were invited to participate in a clinical case-control study of unexplained illness. Of 799 survey respondents eligible for clinical evaluation, 178 had fatigue symptoms. Of the 130 veterans who were evaluated clinically, 103 had unexplained fatigue, and 44 veterans met the 1994 U.S. Centers for Disease Control criteria for CFS. In this population, the authors estimated a minimum prevalence of any unexplained fatigue to be 5.1%, and of CFS to be 2.2%. The estimated prevalence was greater among females than among males. Cases were similar to healthy controls, as determined by laboratory tests and physical findings. In comparison to several clinical studies of CFS patients, the authors of this study found a lower proportion of veterans who reported a sudden onset of symptoms (19%) vs. a gradual onset (50%). Although it has previously been suggested that veterans of the Gulf War suffer from higher rates of chronic fatigue than the general population, the study results described herein–on the basis of clinical examination of a population-based sample of veterans–actually indicate that an increased rate may indeed exist. Gulf War veterans with unexplained fatigue should be encouraged to seek treatment so that the impact of these symptoms on overall quality of life can be reduced.
A framework of the foundation theories underlying the relationships between individuals within a diverse workforce.

Researchers studying diversity in the workplace draw on several theories to explain an individual’s behaviour in diverse settings. Each theory or concept aids in explaining part of the behaviour relating to individuals in a diverse workforce, however, individually they represent an incomplete perspective of the cognitive processes at play. Minimal attention has been given to understanding how these are relevant to each other and how they function together. This paper proposes a framework for understanding the foundations that underlie an individual’s behaviour in a diverse workforce context. The premise of ten popular theories and concepts, frequently applied to diversity research, are examined and reviewed. These are divided into three groupings: social theories, interaction frameworks, and heuristics. Social theories refer to the identity theory, categorisation theory and social comparison theory. Interaction frameworks include the similarity attraction paradigm, person environment fit, and the tokenism and contact hypotheses. Heuristics accounts for the information processing that forms the bases of stereotyping, prejudice and bias. Furthermore, four common themes fundamental to these foundations recur. These are salience, the self concept, positive social identity, and familiarity. In combination, these theories and concepts reinforce and complement each other to provide a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s behaviour within a diverse workforce. The paper concludes with a discussion of the practical implications arising from this framework, with a particular emphasis for the Asia Pacific, and directions for future research.
Parenteral Bisphosphonates for Osteoporosis in Patients With Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

We aimed to describe the effects of parenteral bisphosphonates on bone mineral density (BMD) changes in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients with osteoporosis. Seventeen PBC patients with osteoporosis diagnosed between 1996 and 2005 were enrolled retrospectively. All patients received one of the following parenteral bisphosphonates: zoledronic acid, pamidronate disodium, or ibandronate sodium. The median (interquartile range) age of patients at osteoporosis diagnosis was 62.2 (56.4-67.9) and 94% were women. After treatment, percent change of lumbar spine bone mineral density (LS-BMD) and proximal femur BMD (PF-BMD) of patients with PBC was 2.9% and 0.4%, respectively. Eight patients (47%) showed a greater LS-BMD and/or PF-BMD with percent change of LS-BMD and PF-BMD of 8.7% and 0.8%, respectively. No serious adverse events were found. In PBC patients with osteoporosis, parenteral bisphosphonates can stabilize BMD for 47% of patients. More prospective studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of specific parenteral bisphosphonates in patients with PBC and osteoporosis.
Salivary glucose levels, oral candidal carriage, candidal strain diversity and antifungal susceptibility of candida among adult diabetic patients

Aim/Introduction: To detect salivary glucose levels and for the determination, if salivary glucose levels could be used as a non-invasive tool to monitor glycemic control in diabetics. Furthermore, the evaluation of relationship between salivary glucose levels and candidal carriage alongwith identification of strain diversity and antifungal susceptibility was also carried out. Materials and methods: 90 subjects with age range of 40-60 years were selected. Diabetic status was determined by estimation of random non-fasting plasma glucose levels and glycosylated hemoglobin levels. Un-stimulated and stimulated saliva was analyzed for glucose levels. An oral rinse sample with Phosphate buffered saline was used to assess candidal colonization. The candidal isolates were identified and tested for in-vitro antifungal susceptibility using disc diffusion method. Results: Salivary glucose levels were significantly higher in diabetics and there was significant correlation between salivary glucose and random non-fasting plasma glucose. Candidal carriage was higher in diabetics with C. Albicans being the most frequently identified yeast in all groups, but subjects carried other fungal species as well. The antifungal susceptibility revealed that the Candida had different rates of resistance to the tested antifungal drugs except Amphotericin B. Conclusions: Salivary glucose levels could possibly be used as a non-invasive tool to monitor glycemic control in diabetics. The candidal carriage is increased in the diabetics. The most effective antifungal drug was Amphotericin B. Culture and sensitivity testing would add to the value of selecting appropriate antifungal drug as to prevent emergence of drug resistance. Correspondence to: Simranpreet Kaur, Senior Consultant, Dentition, Shivalik Hospital, SAS Nagar, Punjab, India, Tel: +91 9878880463; E-mail: simransaini2@yahoo.co.in
Serum and Dietary Vitamin E in Relation to Prostate Cancer Risk

α-Tocopherol supplementation (50 mg daily for 5-8 years) reduced prostate cancer incidence by 32% in the α-Tocopherol, β-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. We investigated whether serum α-tocopherol or intake of vitamin E (eight tocopherols and tocotrienols) was associated with prostate cancer risk with up to 19 years of follow-up in the α-Tocopherol, β-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study cohort. Of the 29,133 Finnish male smokers, ages 50 to 69 years recruited into the study, 1,732 were diagnosed with incident prostate cancer between 1985 and 2004. Baseline serum α-tocopherol was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and the components of vitamin E intake were estimated based on a 276-item food frequency questionnaire and food chemistry analyses. Proportional hazard models were used to determine multivariate-adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Higher serum α-tocopherol was associated with reduced risk of prostate cancer (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66-0.96 for highest versus lowest quintile; Ptrend = 0.03) and was strongly and inversely related to the risk of developing advanced disease (RR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.36-0.85; Ptrend = 0.002). The inverse serum α-tocopherol-prostate cancer association was greater among those who were supplemented with either α-tocopherol or β-carotene during the trial. There were no associations between prostate cancer and the individual dietary tocopherols and tocotrienols. In summary, higher prediagnostic serum concentrations of α-tocopherol, but not dietary vitamin E, was associated with lower risk of developing prostate cancer, particularly advanced prostate cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(6):1253–9)
Public health surveillance for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: comparison of methods for classifying health care- and community-associated infections.

OBJECTIVES We compared 3 methods for classifying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections as health care associated or community associated for use in public health surveillance. METHODS We analyzed data on MRSA infections reported to the Michigan Department of Community Health from October 1, 2004, to December 31, 2005. Patient demographics, risk factors, infection information, and susceptibility were collected for 2151 cases. We classified each case by the health care risk factor, infection-type, and susceptibility pattern methods and compared the results of the 3 methods. RESULTS Demographic, clinical, and microbiological variables yielded similar health care-associated and community-associated distributions when classified by risk factor and infection type. When 2 methods yielded the same classifications, the overall distribution was similar to classification by 3 methods. No specific combination of 2 methods was superior. CONCLUSIONS MRSA categorization by 2 methods is more accurate than it is by a single method. The health care risk factor and infection-type methods yield comparable classification results. Accuracy is increased by using more variables; however, further research is needed to identify the optimal combination.
CONTROLLABILITY IMPROVEMENT FOR LINEAR TIME-INVARIANT DYNAMICAL MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS

For two types of linear time-invariant dynamical multi-agent systems un- der leader-follower framework, the problem of graph topology adjustment is addressed to improve system controllability. As important concepts and theoretical foundations, the maximum controllability index of square matrices is defined and analyzed, and a general- ized controllability canonical form is introduced for single-input systems. Based on these concepts, approaches for adjusting the leader-follower and follower-follower communica- tion architectures are presented respectively.