Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infantile enteritis viruses: morphogenesis and morphology

A new virus was found to be associated with acute gastroenteritis in children. In duodenal biopsies, it was observed infecting only intestinal epithelial cells, and it resembled orbiviruses in its morphogenesis. For diagnsotic purposes the virus was readily demonstrated by negative staining of fecal extracts. Two forms of particles were seen: double-sheeled particles (70 to 75 nm in diameter) resembling those of reovirus with a sharper outline, and single-shelled particles (60 nm in diameter) with obvious capsomer structure and resembling those of orbiviruses. The morphological resemblance of this human virus to the viruses of "Nebraska" calf scours and epizootic diarrhoea of infant mice is emphasized.
Emotional cuing to test attentional network functioning in trait anxiety

The Attention Networks Test (ANT) has been widely used to assess the three attentional networks proposed by Posner and his collaborators. Here we present a version of the ANT that uses emotionally laden words as cues to evaluate the functioning of the attention networks and their interactions. University students participated in the task and the results replicated those found in previous studies with the original version of the test. Then, those with extreme scores on a trait anxiety scale, STAI (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) were assigned to the low or the high anxiety group. The high anxiety group showed normal patterns in the functioning of the three attentional networks, but negative cues modulated the interaction between the orienting and the executive network. These participants failed to narrow the attention focus to cover the region containing the target, affecting conflict resolution in incongruent trials. It is now well established that the attentional system of anxious
Algebraic properties of a learning multiple-valued logic network

A simple arithmetic piecewise linear operator that can be used as a basic element to construct a large multiple-valued network is defined. The algebra is proved to be a functionally complete set and capable of constructing any multiple-valued logic functions. The layered piecewise linear node networks provide a natural and general architecture for backpropagation, thus making a learning multiple-valued logic network possible. <<ETX>>
Potential Applications of Euphorbia hirta in Pharmacology

Euphorbia is a genus of plants belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. Botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus assigned the name Euphorbia to the entire genus in the physician's honor. Euphorbia hirta is a very popular herb amongst practitioners of traditional herb medicine, widely used as a decoction or infusion to treat various ailments including intestinal parasites, diarrhoea, peptic ulcers, heartburn, vomiting, amoebic dysentery, asthma, bronchitis, hay fever, laryngeal spasms, emphysema, coughs, colds, kidney stones, menstrual problems, sterility and venereal diseases. Moreover, the plant is also used to treat affections of the skin. In this chapter we explore those investigations related to their pharmacological activities (see the section 2.2).
Accumulation of Lead by Biofilms in Drinking Water Distribution Systems

Recent crises, such as the one in Flint, MI, indicate that lead exposure from drinking water is a major health concern in the United States. Over six million lead service lines are still in use in the United States, and a universal protocol to safely remove these lead service lines from drinking water distribution systems has not yet been established. This paper calls to attention the potential hazard that biofilms pose as a source of lead in distribution systems, even after the removal of lead pipes. This study used a simulated water distribution system containing a lead source pipe and various pipe materials with periodic flow and stagnation conditions of a typical household to create, characterize, and determine lead accumulation capabilities of biofilms within the water pipes. Biofilms developed in all pipe materials with an overall range of 1.44×10 to 5.90×10 gene copies per cm of pipe surface. Pipe material affected the biofilm growth with plastic pipes supporting higher quantities of biofilms. Biofilms accumulated lead in all pipe materials with a maximum accumulation of 25.22 μg/cm. In addition, all pipe trains experienced an increase in lead accumulation immediately following the removal of the lead source with a maximum increase of 21.42 μg/cm in the galvanized steel pipe and then a gradual decrease during a period of one month afterward. The lead source also had an effect on the microbiome of the biofilms collected during the project. One genus specifically, Sphingobium, increased in all pipe materials following the removal of lead. This research provides valuable information regarding the timing and process of safe lead service line removal from drinking water distribution systems and helps minimize the human exposure to lead contamination within drinking water. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to my advisor, Dr. Wen Zhang for her expertise and guidance, especially in writing. Additionally, I want to thank Dr. Franck Carbonero for assistance with DNA sequencing. I’d also like extend gratitude to Mr. Roy Foster, Dr. Hua Jiang and other City of Tulsa Staff for both funding the project and assisting with gathering data during this study.
Lysosomal membrane permeabilization in cell death: new evidence and implications for health and disease

Recent studies have demonstrated that, in addition to their central role in cellular catabolic reactions, lysosomes are implicated in many cellular processes, including metabolism, membrane repair, and cell death. Lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) has emerged as a pathway by which cell demise is regulated under physiological conditions and contributes to cell death in many pathological situations. Here, we review the latest evidence on LMP‐mediated cell death, the upstream and downstream signals involved, and the role of LMP in the normal physiology of organisms. We also discuss the contributions of lysosomal damage and LMP to the pathogenic features of several disease states, such as lysosomal storage disorders and other neurodegenerative conditions.
A Logical Approach to Home Healthcare with Intelligent Sensor-Network Support

This paper describes an intelligent home healthcare system characterized by a wireless sensor network (WSN) and a reasoning component. The aim of the system is to allow constant and unobtrusive monitoring of a patient in order to enhance autonomy and increase quality of life. Data collected by the sensor network are used to support a reasoning component, which is based on answer set programming (ASP), in performing three main reasoning tasks: (i) continuous contextualization of the physical, mental and social state of a patient, (ii) prediction of possibly risky situations and (iii) identification of plausible causes for the worsening of a patient's health. Starting from different data sources (sensor data, test results, inference results) the reasoning component applies expressive logic rules aimed at correct interpretation of incomplete or inconsistent contextual information, and evaluates correlation rules expressed by clinicians. The expressive power of ASP allows efficient enough reasoning to support prevention, while declarativity simplifies rule-specification and allows automatic encoding of knowledge. Preliminary evaluations show that the combination of an ASP-based reasoning component and a WSN is a good solution for creating a home-based healthcare system.
Stability of DNA Methylation Patterns in Mouse Spermatogonia Under Conditions of MTHFR Deficiency and Methionine Supplementation1

ABSTRACT Little is known about the conditions contributing to the stability of DNA methylation patterns in male germ cells. Altered folate pathway enzyme activity and methyl donor supply are two clinically significant factors that can affect the methylation of DNA. 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a key folate pathway enzyme involved in providing methyl groups from dietary folate for DNA methylation. Mice heterozygous for a targeted mutation in the Mthfr gene (Mthfr+/−) are a good model for humans homozygous for the MTHFR 677C>T polymorphism, which is found in 10% of the population and is associated with decreased MTHFR activity and infertility. High-dose folic acid is administered as an empirical treatment for male infertility. Here, we examined MTHFR expression in developing male germ cells and evaluated DNA methylation patterns and effects of a range of methionine concentrations in spermatogonia from Mthfr+/− as compared to wild-type, Mthfr+/+ mice. MTHFR was expressed in prospermatogonia and spermatogonia at times of DNA methylation acquisition in the male germline; its expression was also found in early spermatocytes and Sertoli cells. DNA methylation patterns were similar at imprinted genes and intergenic sites across chromosome 9 in neonatal Mthfr+/+ and Mthfr+/− spermatogonia. Using spermatogonia from Mthfr+/+ and Mthfr+/− mice in the spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) culture system, we examined the stability of DNA methylation patterns and determined effects of low or high methionine concentrations. No differences were detected between early and late passages, suggesting that DNA methylation patterns are generally stable in culture. Twenty-fold normal concentrations of methionine resulted in an overall increase in the levels of DNA methylation across chromosome 9, suggesting that DNA methylation can be perturbed in culture. Mthfr+/− cells showed a significantly increased variance of DNA methylation at multiple loci across chromosome 9 compared to Mthfr+/+ cells when cultured with 0.25- to 2-fold normal methionine concentrations. Taken together, our results indicate that DNA methylation patterns in undifferentiated spermatogonia, including SSCs, are relatively stable in culture over time under conditions of altered methionine and MTHFR levels.
Minimum Energy of Computing, Fundamental Considerations

In the last forty years the progress of the semiconductor industry has been driven by its ability to cost-effectively scale down the size of the CMOS-FET [1] switches, the building block of present computing devices, and this has provided continuing increases in computing capa‐ bility. However, this has been accompanied by a continuing increase in energy consumption and heat generation up to a point where the power dissipated in heat during computation has become a serious limitation [2, 3]. The energetics issues of current and future computation raises a question of the ultimate energy efficiency of computation that is reminiscent of the Carnot limit for the efficiency for heat engines [4]. It should be noted that the entire discipline of thermodynamics emerged from the practical need to increase the efficiency of utility heat engines. Innovations in steam engines and internal combustion engines have been driven by the need to more closely approach the ideal limit of a Carnot engine. Today, approximately 200 years after the work of Carnot, the problem of understanding the efficiency of generalized energy generators remains, although today the object of interest not only includes large power plants but also small scale devices and systems for information processing. In fact, one can view information processor as a computing engine that transforms incoming energy flow into useful work and also produces some heat [5].
New agents and approaches to the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Importance of the field: B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a significant public health problem as the most common hematologic malignancy in many areas of the world. Current treatments are generally effective, but only a minority of this large group of patients can be cured. Areas covered in this review: Progress in clinical development of novel, targeted agents and newer cytotoxic agents has led to improved, more durable responses in all major subtypes of NHL. This article covers novel therapeutic agents, which are investigational or registered recently for NHL and/or other cancers. Subtypes of B-cell NHL are addressed separately including relevant papers over the past 20 years. What the reader will gain: This review provides a better understanding of studies that have formed the basis for current treatment approaches for B-cell NHL. Also, areas of unmet need are covered. Novel agents are described along with their mechanisms of action, as well as how they might advance the treatment of B-cell NHL. Take home message: This review highlights advancements and the current state of knowledge by presenting clinical trial results as well as preclinical data and advances in prognostic and predictive factors that will pave the way to further progress in NHL.
Addressing Tempo Estimation Octave Errors in Electronic Music by Incorporating Style Information Extracted from Wikipedia

A frequently occurring problem of state-of-the-art tempo estimation algorithms is that the predicted tempo for a piece of music is a whole-number multiple or fraction of the tempo as perceived by humans (tempo octave errors). While often this is simply caused by shortcomings of the used algorithms, in certain cases, this problem can be attributed to the fact that the actual number of beats per minute (BPM) within a piece is not a listener’s only criterion to consider it being “fast” or “slow”. Indeed, it can be argued that the perceived style of music sets an expectation of tempo and therefore inﬂuences its perception. In this paper, we address the issue of tempo octave errors in the context of electronic music styles. We propose to incorporate stylistic information by means of probability density functions that represent tempo expectations for the individual music styles. In combination with a style classi-ﬁer those probability density functions are used to choose the most probable BPM estimate for a sample. Our evaluation shows a considerable improvement of tempo estimation accuracy on the test dataset.
The value of preliminary bone scanning in staging and assessing the prognosis of breast cancer

Preliminary bone scans have been performed on all patients with early breast cancer. The incidence of positive scans has been recorded and several factors determining scan status have been enumerated. Particular attention has been focused on the natural history of scan positive and scan negative patients. Eighteen per cent of stage I and 41 per cent of stage II cancers had positive bone scans. Scan results were correlated with age, menopausal status, tumour position, tumour size and histological node status. Postmenopausal patients were found to have a significantly increased risk of being scan positive (P < 0·01). Follow‐up studies have confirmed that the lesions demonstrated by scanning actually represent metastatic foci. At 18 months 85·7 per cent of scan positive patients had evidence of disseminated disease compared with only 11·4 per cent of scan negative patients (P < 0·01). Clinically overt advanced disease evolves from positive scan lesions.
Association of the genes encoding Metallo-β-Lactamase with the presence of integrons among multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii

Background: Metallo-β-Lactamases (MBL) are usually encoded on the gene cassettes harboring integrons and disseminated easily among Acinetobacter baumannii isolates. This study was aimed to investigate the association of the genes encoding MBL with the presence of class 1 and 2 integrons among multidrug-resistant (MDR) A.baumannii isolates. Methodology: A total of 85 non-duplicated A.baumannii isolates were collected and evaluated for the amplification of blaOXA-51. The presence of genes encoding MBLs, including blaIMP, blaVIM, blaSIM, blaSPM, blaGIM, blaDIM and blaNDM, as well as intI 1 and intI 2 was evaluated by PCR. Also, the production of MBLs was screened phenotypically by the combination of EDTA and meropenem. Results: In this study, 77 out of 85 isolates were MDR. Also, 34 isolates had only intI 1, 10 had only intI 2 and 15 had both intI 1 and intI 2. The phenotypic detection of MBLs was found in 30 isolates, among which blaVIM was as the most common the gene encoding MBL followed by blaIMP, blaSPM and blaSIM. The gene cassettes analysis revealed that class 1 integron is often responsible for transferring the genes harboring MBLs. Conclusion: The production of MBLs among A. baumannii strains is one of the main mechanisms of resistance to carbapenems. Therefore, the development of inexpensive screening methods for the phenotypic detection of MBLs in clinical laboratories settings is essential. Also, our data revealed that the class 1 integron is often responsible for the dissemination of the MBL genes among A. baumannii isolates.
From Consumer Decision to Market Share - Unanimity of Majority?

We use a general cellular automata model to study the consumer decision-making process. Within this general model we use three different rules governing word-of-mouth communication (w-o-m), one majority rule and two unanimity rules, and ask the question if differences between these three w-o-m rules, introduced on the microscopic level, will manifest on the macroscopic level. We show that in the model with the majority rule the neighborhood plays a significant role in terms of the market shares whereas movement (interpreted as seeking for information in other sources) is almost negligible. Exactly the opposite phenomena are observed for models in which unanimity, instead of majority, is needed to convince agents. We also introduce a modification of the unanimity rule, based on the Latane theory of the social influence, and show that on the macroscopic level this modification is indistinguishable from the simple unanimity rule. We conclude the paper with a recommendation which rules are more appropriate to model particular marketing phenomena.
Transcription Activation of Polyadenylated Nuclear RNA by Rta in Human Herpesvirus 8/Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

ABSTRACT Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) (also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus) encodes a novel noncoding polyadenylated nuclear (PAN) RNA (also known as T1.1 or nut-1) during the early phase of lytic replication. PAN RNA is the most abundant transcript of HHV-8, comprising 80% of total poly(A)-selected transcripts in HHV-8-infected cells during lytic replication. We directly measured the abundance of PAN RNA by visualizing 1.1- to 1.2- kb PAN RNA in an ethidium bromide-stained gel from poly(A)-selected RNA. We further pursued the mechanisms by which PAN RNA expression is induced to such high levels.rta, an immediate-early gene of HHV-8, is a transactivator that is sufficient and necessary to activate lytic gene expression in latently infected cells. Ectopic expression of Rta was previously shown to induce PAN RNA expression from the endogenous viral genome and activate the PAN promoter in a reporter system. Here, we have identified the Rta-responsive element (RRE) in the PAN promoter. Deletion analysis revealed that the RRE is present in a region between nucleotides −69 and −38 of the PAN promoter. A promoter construct containing the 69 nucleotides upstream of the transcription start site of the PAN promoter was activated by Rta in the absence or presence of the HHV-8 genome. Rta activated the PAN promoter up to 7,000-fold in 293T cells and 2,000-fold in B cells. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that Rta formed a highly stable complex with the RRE of the PAN promoter. Our study suggests that Rta can induce PAN RNA expression by direct binding of Rta to the RRE of the PAN promoter. This study has highlighted an important mechanism controlling PAN RNA expression and also provides a model system for investigating how Rta transactivates gene expression during lytic replication.
Follicular dendritic cell (FDC)‐FcγRIIB engagement via immune complexes induces the activated FDC phenotype associated with secondary follicle development

Follicular dendritic cell (FDC)‐FcγRIIB levels are up‐regulated 1–3 days after challenge of actively immunized mice with Ag. This kinetics suggested that memory cells are not driving this response, prompting the hypothesis that immune complex (IC)‐FDC interactions lead to FDC activation. To test this, mice passively immunized with anti‐OVA Ab were OVA challenged to produce IC. After 3 days, levels of IC, FcγRIIB, ICAM‐1, and VCAM‐1 on FDC were analyzed. FDC were also stimulated with IC in vitro, and mRNA for FcγRIIB, ICAM‐1, and VCAM‐1 was quantified by quantitative RT‐PCR. IC labeling in passively immunized WT and FcγRIIB–/– mice revealed five to six FDC‐reticula per LN midsagittal section. In WT mice, these IC‐bearing FDC‐reticula corresponded with FDC‐reticula labeling for FcγRIIB, ICAM‐1, and VCAM‐1. Increases in these molecules on IC‐stimulated FDC were confirmed by flow cytometry. In marked contrast, in FcγRIIB–/– mice, no increased VCAM‐1 or ICAM‐1 was seen on IC‐bearing FDC‐reticula or on purified FDC. Addition of IC in vitro resulted in dramatic increases in mRNA for FcγRIIB, ICAM‐1 and VCAM‐1 in WT FDC, but not in FDC from FcγRIIB–/– mice, 2.4G2‐pretreated WT FDC, B cells, or macrophages. Thus, although FDC‐FcγRIIB was not essential for IC trapping, engagement of FDC‐FcγRIIB with IC initiated an FDC activation pathway.
Targeting of CD25 and Glucocorticoid-Induced TNF Receptor Family-Related Gene-Expressing T Cells Differentially Modulates Asthma Risk in Offspring of Asthmatic and Normal Mother Mice1

Immunological mechanisms leading to increased asthma susceptibility in early life remain obscure. In this study, we examined the effects of neonatal Ab treatments targeting T cell populations on the development of an asthma syndrome. We used a model of increased asthma susceptibility where offspring of asthmatic BALB/c mother mice are more prone (than normal pups) to develop the disease. Neonatal pretreatment of naive pups with mAb directed against the IL-2Rα chain (CD25), the costimulatory molecule glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family related gene, and the inhibitory molecule CTLA-4 elicited contrasting effects in offspring depending on the mother’s asthma status. Specifically, neonatal CD25high T cell depletion stimulated asthma susceptibility in normal offspring whereas it ameliorated the condition of pups born of asthmatic mothers. Conversely, glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family related gene ligation as a primary signal reduced the spleen cellularity and largely abrogated asthma susceptibility in asthma-prone offspring, without inducing disease in normal pups. Striking changes in Th1/Th2 cytokine levels, especially IL-4, followed mAb pretreatment and were consistent with the impact on asthma susceptibility. These results point to major differences in neonatal T cell population and responsiveness related to maternal asthma history. Interventions that temporarily remove and/or inactivate specific T cell subsets may therefore prove useful to attenuate early life asthma susceptibility and prevent the development of Th2-driven allergic airway disease.