Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Making Sense of Non-Financial Competing Interests

Imagine you’re a peer reviewer who’s received a request to referee a paper. The paper reports the results of a study using cell lines derived from an aborted fetus as a diagnostic tool in identifying certain viral infections. You are also a member of a religious organization morally opposed to fetal cell research. In your review, you raise questions about the study’s validity and methodology that might undermine the paper’s chance of publication. Imagine you’re an editor and you receive a paper from the scientist who supervised your postdoctoral fellowship. It’s been a couple of years since you left his lab, but he has supported your career and you have warm feelings toward him; plus you still join your former lab mates occasionally at their monthly pub night. You select sympathetic reviewers and you fight hard for the paper at the editorial meeting. These two scenarios reflect true ones; and each provides an example of how a personal interest might conflict with your responsibility to ensure the integrity of the publication process. Are such non-financial competing interests of less concern than commercial interests in the publication of research? Not if they disrupt honest reporting, fair review, and transparent publication. Non-financial competing interests (sometimes called “private interests”) can be personal, political, academic, ideological, or religious. Like financial interests, they can influence professional judgment. Much as we’d like to believe that the reporting and evaluation of research are always objective, there is substantial evidence to the contrary [1]. Like all human activity, academic research and scientific publishing are inherently subjective, imperfect, and prone to bias, corruption, and self-interest. Indeed, because professional affinities and rivalries, nepotism, scientific or technological competition, religious beliefs, and political or ideological views are often the fuels for our passions and for our careers, private competing interests are perhaps even more potent than financial ones. Furthermore, the very nature of academic and editorial work ensures that none of us are immune. Expertise in itself presents a kind of conflict of interest. Ask one of the top malarial researchers to declare her competing interests when reviewing a transmission modeling paper and she may say, “I am a direct competitor. Who could review this paper who was not? ” But how detrimental are private interests to the publication process? And what kind of guidance is out there to make sense of non-financial competing interests?
Fliposomes: pH-controlled Release from Liposomes Containing New trans-2-Morpholinocyclohexanol-based Amphiphiles that Perform a Conformational Flip and Trigger an Instant Cargo Release upon Acidification

A new type of pH-sensitive liposome (fliposomes) was designed based on the amphiphiles that are able to perform a pH-triggered conformational flip (flipids). This flip disrupts the liposome membrane and causes rapid release of the liposome cargo, specifically in the areas of increased acidity. The flipids (1-3) are equipped with a trans-2-morpholinocyclohexanol conformational switch. pH-Sensitive fliposomes containing one of these flipids, POPC and PEG-ceramide (molar ratio 50/45/5) were constructed and characterized. These compositions were stable at 4oC and pH 7.4 for several months. Fliposomes loaded with ANTS/DPX demonstrated an unusually quick content release (in a few seconds) at pH below 5.5, which was more efficient in the case of flipid 1 with the shorter linear C12-tails. The pH-titration curve for the fliposome leakage paralleled the curve for the acid-induced conformational flip of 1-3 studied by 1H NMR. A plausible mechanism of the pH-sensitivity starts with an acid-triggered conformational flip of 1, 2 or 3, which changes the molecular size and shape, shortens the lipid tails, and perturbs the liposome membrane resulting in the content leakage.
Inhibition of glucocorticoid receptor binding by nitric oxide in endotoxemic rats*

Objective:Nitric oxide is an important participant in septic shock. For example, it causes profound vasodilation and hypotension. Despite their potent antiinflammatory properties, glucocorticoids are not routinely used in septic shock. Some studies show that antiinflammatory doses of glucocorticoids can be beneficial, but other studies do not indicate their use in this situation. We have previously shown the inhibitory effect of nitric oxide on glucocorticoid receptor binding in vitro. Nitric oxide donors decreased the binding of immunoprecipitated glucocorticoid receptor obtained from mouse L929 fibroblasts. These in vitro findings prompted us to study whether in vivo manipulations of the nitric oxide system would interfere with the glucocorticoid receptor binding. Design:Prospective, experimental study. Setting:Research laboratory at a university. Subjects:Female Wistar rats. Interventions:Injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide, anesthesia, cardiovascular perfusion, and organ removal for biochemical assays. Measurements and Main Results:Following lipopolysaccharide injection, plasma nitrate + nitrite increased and inducible nitric oxide synthase activity was stimulated in several organs, the highest rates being in the lung and spleen. If dexamethasone was injected before lipopolysaccharide, it completely blocked inducible nitric oxide synthase induction and the increase in plasma nitrate + nitrite. On the other hand, if dexamethasone was injected after lipopolysaccharide, it failed to affect both inducible nitric oxide synthase induction and increased plasma nitrate + nitrite levels. Lipopolysaccharide also caused an inhibition of glucocorticoid receptor binding in lung and spleen. Previous administration of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor prevented both lipopolysaccharide-induced decrease in glucocorticoid receptor binding and the increase in plasma nitrate + nitrite. Injection of a nitric oxide donor into naïve animals significantly decreased glucocorticoid receptor binding activity and prevented dexamethasone-induced increase in liver tyrosine aminotransferase activity. Conclusions:The results indicate that the failure of glucocorticoids to exhibit their antiinflammatory effects when administered to endotoxemic rats may be explained, at least in part, by the nitric oxide-induced inhibition of glucocorticoid receptor binding ability, thus precluding the expression of the antiinflammatory effects of both exogenous and endogenous corticosteroids.
Genetic Analysis of the ZNF512B, SLC41A1, and ALDH2 Polymorphisms in Parkinson's Disease in the Iranian Population.

AIMS Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders; its etiology includes both genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. The ZNF512B, SLC41A1, and ALDH2 genes have recently been identified as contributing to PD. In this study we investigated the association of alleles of these genes with PD in the Iranian population. METHODS In a case-control study, rs2275294, rs11240569, and rs4767944, three single nucleotide polymorphisms in ZNF512B, SLC41A1, and ALDH2 genes, respectively, were genotyped in 490 PD patients and 490 controls. The genotype and allele frequencies were compared between the two groups using chi-square and logistic regression tests. RESULTS A significant association between the rs11240569 polymorphism and a reduced risk of PD was found (p = 0.014, OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.60-0.94 for allele frequencies). We did not find any associations between PD and the rs2275294 and rs4767944 polymorphisms. CONCLUSION The association of rs11240569 polymorphism in SLC41A1 gene with reduced risk of PD was replicated in our population.
Prevention of Vaginal SHIV Transmission in Rhesus Macaques Through Inhibition of CCR5

Topical agents, such as microbicides, that can protect against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission are urgently needed. Using a chimeric simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV SF162), which is tropic for the chemokine receptor CCR5, we report that topical application of high doses of PSC-RANTES, an amino terminus–modified analog of the chemokine RANTES, provided potent protection against vaginal challenge in rhesus macaques. These experimental findings have potentially important implications for understanding vaginal transmission of HIV and the design of strategies for its prevention.
Scheduling DAG-based workflows on single cloud instances: High-performance and cost effectiveness with a static scheduler

The problem of achieving high-performance cost-effectively in cloud computing is challenging when workflows have Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)-structured inter-task dependencies. We study this problem within single cloud instances and provide empirical evidence that the static Area-Oriented DAG-Scheduling (AO) paradigm, which predetermines the order for executing a DAG’s tasks, provides both high performance and cost effectiveness. AO produces schedules in a platform-oblivious manner; it ignores the performance characteristics of the platform’s resources and focuses only on the dependency structure of the workflow. Specifically, AO’s schedules strive to enhance the rate of rendering tasks eligible for execution. Using an archive of diverse DAG-structured workflows, we experimentally compare AO with a variety of competing DAG-schedulers: (a) the static locally optimal DAG-scheduler (LO), which, like AO, is static and platform-oblivious but chooses its DAG-ordering based on tasks’ outdegrees; and (b) five dynamic versions of static schedulers (including AO and LO), each of which can violate its parent static scheduler’s prescribed task orders to avoid stalling. Our results provide evidence of AO’s supremacy as compared with LO and its essential equivalence to dynamic-AO: neither competitor yields higher performance at an lower cost than AO does. Two aspects of these results are notable. Firstly, AO is platform-oblivious, whereas dynamic-AO is intensely platform-sensitive; one would expect platform sensitivity to enhance performance. Secondly, AO outperforms LO by an order of magnitude, together with lower costs; one would not expect such a performance gap.
Intrinsic Promoter Recognition by a “Core” RNA Polymerase*

Two classes of RNA polymerases transcribe RNA from promoters on DNA templates: promoter recognition-competent single polypeptides and multisubunit enzymes that require separable promoter recognition factors. Eukaryotic mitochondria utilize an unusual hybrid of these classes composed of a “core” RNA polymerase related to the single polypeptide enzymes plus a “specificity factor” necessary for promoter utilization. Using supercoiled or premelted templates, we have discovered that the yeast core mitochondrial RNA polymerase (Rpo41) has the intrinsic ability to initiate from promoters without its specificity factor (Mtf1). Rpo41 requires the mitochondrial promoter sequence (ATATAAGTA) for this activity. On premelted templates addition of Mtf1 actually inhibits the promoter selective activity of Rpo41. Mtf1 increases abortive relative to productive transcription by Rpo41, possibly by stabilizing the promoter complex and reducing escape into elongation. The requirement for Mtf1 on closed but not open templates indicates that Mtf1 facilitates melting but not recognition of promoters.
In Search of the Elusive Magic Bullet: Parental Involvement and Student Outcomes.

A study examined the relationships between parent involvement practices and student outcomes in 10 Chapter 1 project schools in the Honolulu school district. The research on parent involvement was reviewed extensively to identify research questions and develop various instruments. Questionnaire surveys and interviews were conducted with parents, students, and staff to assess participant perceptions. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain representative samples of project schools, parents, ana students, and case studies were conducted with a small number of project schools. Results indicated that all stakeholder groups have positive attitudes and beliefs regarding the values and importance of parent involvement in Chapter 1 project planning and implementation. There was, however, a relatively low levo.1 of involvement in the instructional process in general and in home-based activity in particular. Few significant relationships appeared to exist between parent involvement activities and children's school performance. Where a link was found, it generally related to home-based reinfurcement provided by parents. Consistent with other studies, most of the barriers to parent involvement related to lack of time, cultural differences, language barriers, and inappropriate attitudes (in this case, the negative attitudes of teenage students). Results also indicated that a sincere and caring attitude on the part of school staff, personal contacts with parents, and meaningful activities to engage parents tended to increase parent involvement. Several recommendations for Chapter 1 programs were drawn from the results, including: (1) increase home-based parent activities to reinforce student learning; (2) develop programs to raise parents' literacy skills; (3) solicit input from parents in planning parent involvement activities; and (4) involve students in promoting family-school partnerships. (Contains 27 references and 8 tables.) (HTH) U.S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Oii,ro or Four:atonal Research dna yew.0m EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) XThis document has been reproduced as received froin the person or organization originating it Minor cnanges have been made to improve reproduction quality 00 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represen; CNI cociai OERI position or policy N co In Search of the Elusive Magic Bullet: Parent Involvement and Student Outcomes
Cell wall and DNA cosegregation in Bacillus subtilis studied by electron microscope autoradiography

Cells of a Bacillus subtilis mutant deficient in both major autolytic enzyme activities were continuously labeled in either cell wall or DNA or both cell wall and DNA. After appropriate periods of chase in minimal as well as in rich medium, thin sections of cells were autoradiographed and examined by electron microscopy. The resolution of the method was adequate to distinguish labeled DNA units from cell wall units. The latter, which could be easily identified, were shown to segregate symmetrically, suggesting a zonal mode of new wall insertion. DNA units could also be clearly recognized despite a limited fragmentation; they segregated asymmetrically with respect to the nearest septum. Analysis of cells simultaneously labeled in cell wall and DNA provided clear visual evidence of their regular but asymmetrical cosegregation, confirming a previous report obtained by light microscope autoradiography (J.-M. Schlaeppi and D. Karamata, J. Bacteriol. 152:1231-1240, 1982). In addition to labeled wall units, electron microscopy of thin sections of aligned cells has revealed fibrillar networks of wall material which are frequently associated with the cell surface. Most likely, these structures correspond to wall sloughed off by the turnover mechanism but not yet degraded to filterable or acid-soluble components.
Topiramate in the treatment of severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of topiramate (TPM) as an add-on regimen in reducing seizure rate in a population sample of patients diagnosed with severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SME). Eighteen patients were evaluated. The mean observation time was 10.5 months (range, 6-18 months). Seizure frequency and type were recorded. Topiramate was administered as an add-on regimen at a starting dose of 1 mg kg(-1)and titrated to a maximum of 6-8 mg per kg per day. Different escalation rates were used, mainly weekly or fortnightly increments of dose. Three patients (16.6%) became seizure free, and 10 (55.6%) had a >50% reduction in seizure frequency: six of them (22.2%) achieved a reduction greater than 75%. Side-effects were observed in nine patients, eight with a weekly titration schedule and one with a fortnightly schedule. TPM is effective as adjunctive therapy for SME. Side-effects were mild and transient, generally related to rapid dosage titration.
ACANTHOPARYPHIUM TYOSENENSE (DIGENEA: ECHINOSTOMATIDAE): EXPERIMENTAL CONFIRMATION OF THE CERCARIA AND ITS COMPLETE LIFE HISTORY IN KOREA

Cercaria yamagutii Ito, 1957, was found in the marine mesogastropods Lunatia fortuni and Glossaulax didyma from the tidelands of Simpo located at the estuary of the Mankyoung River, which runs to the western coast of Korea. Metacercariae were found in a marine bivalve Mactra veneriformis after being infected with C. yamagutii experimentally. When a sea gull, Larus crassiostris, was fed with the metacercariae collected from the infected M. veneriformis, adult worms were recovered 10 days later. It was confirmed that the parasites collected from L. crassiostris were Acanthoparyphium tyosenense Yamaguti, 1939. From the results of this life cycle study, it was determined that the first intermediate hosts of A. tyosenense are L. fortuni and G. didyma. The second intermediate and final hosts are M. veneriformis and L. crassiostris, respectively. Mactra veneriformis was experimentally infected with C. yamagutii isolated from L. fortuni and G. didyma by maintaining them in a water tank for 30 min at about 20 C. The cercariae entered M. veneriformis through their incurrent siphons. Five hours after infection, the cercariae tails began to separate from the bodies, and the cercariae formed cysts. Mature cysts were formed 340 hr (14 days) after infection and identified as the metacercariae of A. tyosenense. The prevalence of A. tyosenense metacercariae was 99.5% in naturally infected M. veneriformis. This is the first report of C. yamagutii as the cercaria of A. tyosenense, and the complete life cycle of A. tyosenense was established in Korea.
Presence of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in the cerebral spinal fluid is a common phenomenon in a variety of neurological diseases and not restricted to multiple sclerosis

Chlamydial DNA and viable organisms have been reported in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. We investigated whether this phenomenon is specific for MS and not occurring in patients with other neurological diseases (OND) or in healthy controls and whether it is caused by infected blood monocytes having crossed the blood–brain barrier. Twelve (21%) of fifty‐eight MS patients and 20 (43%) of 47 OND patients had Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in the CSF as determined by nested polymerase chain reaction. Viable organisms were cultured from one OND patient. We failed to detect C. pneumoniae in the CSF of 67 neurologically healthy persons. C. pneumoniae was detected in parallel in the blood monocytes of 2 of 6 CSF‐positive MS patients and in 8 of 10 CSF‐positive OND patients. Thus, chlamydial presence cannot exclusively be explained as being caused by contaminating infected monocytes that have crossed the blood–brain barrier. In peripheral blood mononuclear cell‐negative patients, chlamydia have been cleared from the circulation but persist in the central nervous system (CNS), indicating the establishment of a chronic process. In summary, the presence of C. pneumoniae in patients with neurological diseases is a common phenomenon and is not restricted to MS patients. The pathogenetic relevance of a chronic chlamydial CNS infection for neurological diseases remains unclear, but the hypothesis that susceptible patients may be impaired in their ability to clear chlamydiae from the CNS requires further examination.
Plant-based intervention strategies for Listeria monocytogenes control in foods

Listeriosis is a severe human disease caused by two potentially pathogenic listerial species: Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria ivanovii. In particular, the risk of contamination can be significantly high in refrigerated ready-to-eat foods, due to the limited use of traditional antimicrobial barriers. Moreover, Listeria spp. is widely disseminated in the manufacturing environment and can contaminate foods even after listericide treatments.
Face Recognition using Modified Generalized Hough Transform and Gradient Distance Descriptor

This research uses a modified version of the generalized Hough transform based on a new image descriptor, known as the gradient distance descriptor, to tackle the problem of face recognition. Thus, in addition to the position of the edges in a sketch of a face, this approach also takes into consideration the value of the corresponding descriptors. Individual descriptors are compared against one another using the matrix cosine similarity measure. This enables the technique to identify the region of a query face image that best matches a target face image in a database. The proposed technique does not require any training data and can be extended to general object recognition.
Disinfection Performance in Wastewater Stabilization Ponds in Cold Climate Conditions: A Case Study in Nunavut, Canada

Disinfection processes in passive wastewater treatment systems, which are dependent on natural purification, can be greatly influenced by environmental factors. In the Canadian Arctic, the passive systems face more challenges due to the extreme environmental conditions. The new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER) were implemented in Canada in 2012. Currently, they do not apply in the far North due to the limited wastewater treatment infrastructure in northern communities. In the summer of 2015, a field investigation was conducted to Pond Inlet, Nunavut, to assess the pathogen removal and inactivation of a wastewater stabilization pond (WSP). Sunlight disinfection was considered only effective at the water surface. The system achieved 0.76–1.2 log removal of E. coli and 0.79–1.02 log removal of total coliforms during the treatment season in 2015. Prior to annual decant, the average concentration of E. coli was 1.3 × 106 CFU/100 mL in the WSP, which exceeded discharge guidelines of 104 to 106 CFU/100 mL set by the Nunavut Water Board (NWB). Existing WSP disinfection models, which were typically designed for temperate or tropical regions, were selected to study their viability to predict the pathogen removal of Arctic WSPs. In general, the models over-predicted disinfection performance by an order of magnitude or more, and some were unable to replicate trends in the data. A modified model for northern WSPs should be developed in order to accurately predict disinfection performance.
Ultralow Friction of ZrO2 Ball Sliding against DLC Films under Various Environments

Ultralow friction is achieved by ZrO2 as the friction mate material for DLC (Diamond like carbon) films under various environments. Coefficient of friction (CoF) of ZrO2/DLC films is as ultra low as 0.02 in ambient air at the temperature of 200 °C, and 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05 in hydrogen, nitrogen and vacuum environments at the temperature of 100 °C, respectively. It is concluded that the transferred films are formed on the worn surface of ZrO2 ball and amorphous carbon films. Ultralow friction of the friction pair is related with hydrogen, which is derived from DLC films, hydrogen environment or the liberation hydrogen due to hydrothermal oxidation. The ultralow friction mechanism is attributed to the formation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films on ZrO2 ball and the shielding action of hydrogen from DLC films and the transferred films simultaneously.