Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MSH2 and MLH1 immunodetection and the prognosis of colon cancer.

MSH2 and MLH1 are proteins involved in DNA reparation. They are mutated in some forms of colon cancer, i.e. hereditary non-polyposis carcinomas and a subset of sporadic carcinomas. We have studied the expression of MSH2 and MLH1 in a retrospective series of 225 colorectal carcinomas by immunohistochemistry. The results were compared to molecular tests of microsatellite instability using amplification by PCR of BAT-25 and BAT-26 repeated sequences and to histoclinical data. Positivity of both proteins was never associated with MSI phenotype. MSH2 and/or MLH1 negative tumors were frequently tumors of the proximal colon; in this subpopulation or proximal tumors, MSH2 and/or MLH1 negativity was associated with a longer disease-free survival.
PROVISION OF STUDENT LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES IN A LARGE-SCALE DISTANCE EDUCATION SYSTEM AT UNIVERSITAS TERBUKA, INDONESIA

This paper addresses the practice and experience of Universitas Terbuka (UT) in the provision of learning support services for students in a large-scale distance education system. The UT, which has a network of 37 regional offices and participating institutions, has challenges to provide and manage effective learning support system for more than 340,000 students, residing in various locations of Indonesia, a country with diverse level of the quality in terms of transportation, communication and technological infrastructure and facilities. UT has developed a systematic learning support system for distance students on the considerations that students’ independent and autonomous learning effort have to be enhanced with institutional support, which is managed centrally from the Headquarters as well as regionally by each of the Regional Offices throughout the country. UT student learning support system includes services such as tutorial, academic advising and counselling, study group activity, academic administration services for students, and organisation of student activities. Regional Offices has central roles in managing, implementing and networking with local partners to ensure the effectiveness of learning support at frontline level, even though policies are set at the Head Office. The aim of systematic learning support in distance education is to facilitate quality student learning process suited to students’ learning needs and flexibility, and ensure that students proceed their learning activities through access to various means of learning support.
Presence of Neutralizing Antibody against the 229E Strain of Coronavirus in the Sera of Residents of Sendai

Coronaviruses of man, recently recovered from patients with colds using tissue cul ture or organ culture techniques [7, 10], have emerged as one of the major etiol ogical agents of upper respiratory illness [3, 5, 10]. These agents were all shown to possess a similar morphology [1, 6] which resembled that of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) [2] and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) [9]. The virus particles were spherical or oblong, measured 100 to 160 m,u, in diameter, and surrounded by a fringe of clubor pear-shaped surface projections, about 10 mp, wide at the outer edge, and approximately 20 mil in length. In 1966, Hamre and Procknow described the re covery of 229E strain, one of the corona viruses, from several students with colds using standard tissue culture techniques [4]. Chanock and his associates [5, 8] confirm ed 229E virus infections by virus isolation and serologic test in patients with upper respiratory illness during the winter months in 1964 and 1967. According to the report by Tyrrell group, about 30% of residents of England possessed neutralizing antibody against the 229E virus, suggesting that 229E virus probably circulates to a significant extent there [3]. This short communication describes the presence of neutralizing antibody against the 229E virus in the sera of residents of Sendai. This is the first report demonstrat ing the presence of coronavirus infection in Japan. The 229E strain was supplied from Dr. Kapikian, NIH, Bethesda, as lyophilized WI-38 cell culture fluid. It was passed sev eral times in WI-38 and human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells in our laboratory. Sera were collected over a period from January 1969 to September 1970 from 139 subjects living in the city of Sendai, and were tested by neutralization test procedures. Neutrali zation tests were performed by the conventional test tube method using HEK cell monolayers. Equal volumes of 32TCD50 virus suspension diluted with Eagle's mini mal essential medium and 2-fold serial dilu tions of serum in Earle's balanced salt solu tion were incubated at room temperature for 2 hr. All sera were inactivated at 56 C for 30 min before test. After incubation, 0.2 ml of each mixture was inoculated into HEK cells, and the tubes were incubated on rotating drum at 33 C. The cultures were examined for CPE at 2to 3-day intervals
The Ventral Posterior Lateral Thalamus Preferentially Encodes Externally Applied Versus Active Movement: Implications for Self-Motion Perception

Successful interaction with our environment requires that voluntary behaviors be precisely coordinated with our perception of self-motion. The vestibular sensors in the inner ear detect self-motion and in turn send projections via the vestibular nuclei to multiple cortical areas through 2 principal thalamocortical pathways, 1 anterior and 1 posterior. While the anterior pathway has been extensively studied, the role of the posterior pathway is not well understood. Accordingly, here we recorded responses from individual neurons in the ventral posterior lateral thalamus of macaque monkeys during externally applied (passive) and actively generated self-motion. The sensory responses of neurons that robustly encoded passive rotations and translations were canceled during comparable voluntary movement (~80% reduction). Moreover, when both passive and active self-motion were experienced simultaneously, neurons selectively encoded the detailed time course of the passive component. To examine the mechanism underlying the selective elimination of vestibular sensitivity to active motion, we experimentally controlled correspondence between intended and actual head movement. We found that suppression only occurred if the actual sensory consequences of motion matched the motor-based expectation. Together, our findings demonstrate that the posterior thalamocortical vestibular pathway selectively encodes unexpected motion, thereby providing a neural correlate for ensuring perceptual stability during active versus externally generated motion.
The High Cost and Low Efficacy of Weekly Viral Cultures for Pregnant Women with Recurrent Genital Herpes

The use of weekly cultures to prevent neonatal infection among infants of pregnant women who have histories of genital herpes has been controversial since a decision analysis study in 1983 suggested that this strategy was not cost-effective and would avert relatively few cases of neonatal herpes simplex virus infection. Using more recent and better data, the authors reanalyzed this approach to reducing neonatal herpes infection. The reanalysis revealed that a national screening program would prevent only 1.8 cases of neonatal herpes in the United States annually, at a cost of more than 37 million dollars per case averted. The program would cost nearly 7 million dollars per quality-adjusted life year gained when only infant deaths are taken into consideration. When maternal deaths from excess cesarean deliveries are taken into account, over 44 million dollars would be spent for every quality- adjusted life-year gained. On the basis of the strategy's limited benefits and low cost- effectiveness, the authors support the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology's position of abandoning the recommendation for weekly prenatal herpes cultures. Key words: herpes; neonatal; screening; cost-effectiveness. (Med Decis Making 1989;9:225-230)
Structural requirements for trans activation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat-directed gene expression by tat: importance of base pairing, loop sequence, and bulges in the tat-responsive sequence

In order to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of action of the tat-responsive sequence, mutational analysis of the tat-responsive sequence was carried out. The most critical region comprised nucleotides +18 to +44 and included the 3-nucleotide bulge at positions +23 to +25, the loop sequence, and an intact stem. In addition, base pairing up to nucleotide +52 was required for the full magnitude of the trans-activation response. Single-nucleotide bulges at positions +5 to +17 were dispensable. Analysis of truncated and full-length transcripts demonstrated that a transcriptional antitermination model does not fully account for trans activation.
Advantages and Disadvantages of PowerPoint in Lectures to Science Students

PowerPoint is now widely used in lectures to science students in most colleges of China. We summarize its advantages as producing better visual effects, high efficiency in information transfer, precise and systemic knowledge structure. Disadvantages of PowerPoint may be induced by irrelevant information in slides, neglect of interaction with students, uncontrolled speed in presenting or too strict order of slides. Strategies to avoid these disadvantages are proposed.
Evidence for Significant Growth in the Stellar Mass of Brightest Cluster Galaxies over the Past 10 Billion Years

Using new and published data, we construct a sample of 160 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) spanning the redshift interval 0.03 < z < 1.63. We use this sample, which covers 70 per cent of the history of the universe, to measure the growth in the stellar mass of BCGs after correcting for the correlation between the stellar mass of the BCG and the mass of the cluster in which it lives. We find that the stellar mass of BCGs increases by a factor of 1.8 ± 0.3 between z = 0.9 and z = 0.2. Compared to earlier works, our result is closer to the predictions of semi-analytic models. However, BCGs at z = 0.9, relative to BCGs at z = 0.2, are still a factor of 1.5 more massive than the predictions of these models. Star formation rates in BCGs at z ∼ 1 are generally too low to result in significant amounts of mass. Instead, it is likely that most of the mass build up occurs through mainly dry mergers in which perhaps half of the mass is lost to the intra-cluster medium of the cluster.
Enhanced Data sharing protocols for improving transmission over Wired and wireless Networks

Networking in today world have become a more important aspect not only in a specifically organization but also in each and every field. As a part of data transmission we consider the important aspects like routing protocols, Internet protocol, data transmission techniques, ipv4, ipv6 and several important concepts which basically describe the importance of networking in today and tomorrow usage.
Collaborative tagging as a knowledge organisation and resource discovery tool

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the collaborative tagging phenomenon and explore some of the reasons for its emergence.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the related literature and discusses some of the problems associated with, and the potential of, collaborative tagging approaches for knowledge organisation and general resource discovery. A definition of controlled vocabularies is proposed and used to assess the efficacy of collaborative tagging. An exposition of the collaborative tagging model is provided and a review of the major contributions to the tagging literature is presented.Findings – There are numerous difficulties with collaborative tagging systems (e.g. low precision, lack of collocation, etc.) that originate from the absence of properties that characterise controlled vocabularies. However, such systems can not be dismissed. Librarians and information professionals have lessons to learn from the interactive and social aspects exemplified by colla.
Feasibility of Collecting Diary Data From Asthma Patients Through Mobile Phones and SMS (Short Message Service): Response Rate Analysis and Focus Group Evaluation From a Pilot Study

Background Self-management of asthma may improve asthma outcomes. The Internet has been suggested as a tool for the monitoring and self-management of asthma. However, in a recent study we found that a Web interface had some disadvantages and that users stopped using the application after a short while. Objective The primary objective of this study was to evaluate, from a user perspective, the feasibility of using short message service (SMS) for asthma diary data collection through mobile phones. The secondary objective was to investigate patient compliance with an SMS diary, as measured by response rates over time. Methods The study included quantitative response rate data, based on SMS collection, and qualitative data from a traditional focus group setting. In a period of 2 months, the participants received 4 SMS messages each day, including a medication reminder, a request to enter peak flow, data on sleep loss, and medication dosage. Participants were asked to reply to a minimum of 3 of the messages per day. Diary inputs were collected in a database and the response rate per patient was expressed as the number of diary inputs (SMS replies) divided by diary requests (product of number of days in the study and the number of diary questions per day) for each participant. After the study period, the participants were invited to a focus group interview addressing the participants' attitudes to their disease, their experience with the SMS asthma diary, and their future expectations from the SMS asthma diary. Results Twelve patients with asthma (6 males, 6 females) participated in the data collection study. The median age was 38.5 (range: 13 – 57) years. The median response rate per patient was 0.69 (range: 0.03 – 0.98), ie, half the participants reported more than about two thirds of the requested diary data. Furthermore, response rates were relatively steady during the study period with no signs of decreasing usage over time. From the subsequent focus group interview with 9 users we learned that, in general, the participants were enthusiastic about the SMS diary – it became an integrated part of their everyday life. However, the participants wished for a simpler diary with only one SMS message to respond to and a system with a Web interface for system customization and graphical display of diary data history. Conclusion This study suggests that SMS collection of asthma diary data is feasible, and that SMS may be a tool for supporting the self-management of asthma (and possibly other chronic diseases) in motivated and self-efficacious patients because mobile phones are a part of people's everyday lives and enable active requests for data wherever the patient is. The combination of SMS data collection and a traditional Web page for data display and system customization may be a better and more usable tool for patients than the use of Web-based asthma diaries which suffer from high attrition rates.
Is the Lower Gastrointestinal Route Really Preferred Over the Upper Gastrointestinal Route for Fecal Microbiota Transfer?

To the Editor: Furuya-Kanamori et al1 recently published a paper entitled “Upper Versus Lower Gastrointestinal Delivery for Transplantation of Fecal Microbiota in Recurrent or Refractory Clostridium difficile Infection: A Collaborative Analysis of Individual Patient Data From 14 Studies” in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. We question if the authors’ conclusion that the lower gastrointestinal (LGI) route is preferred over the upper gastrointestinal (UGI) route in treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, is a correct interpretation of the literature analyzed. First, the patient groups differ in baseline characteristics. Substantially more children have been included in the UGI group (12%) than in the LGI group (3%). Fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) has not been well studied in the pediatric population, and its efficacy needs to be established before pooling data with adults. No adjustment has been made for possible confounders other than age and sex (such as comorbidity, antibiotic use after FMT, and number of FMT treatments), which can influence the relapse rate significantly. Second, the article does not describe a thorough quality assessment of the studies included in the metaanalysis. For instance, the authors did not address the fact that more than half of the patients received less than the recommended 50 g of donor feces, as Gough et al,2 demonstrated a 4 times greater relapse rate when <50g of stool was used. In contrast, data of the first published randomized controlled trial of FMT by van Nood et al,3 is not included in this meta-analysis. Third, the treatment effect of the LGI and UGI route only diverges from 30 days onwards, and not directly after 30 days as suggested in the article. The median follow-up period was 80 days in the UGI and 354 days in the LGItreated patients. Therefore, the difference between the groups at 90 days follow-up is based on a very small sample of patients. As there is no biological plausibility for the superiority of the LGI route, and the temporality of the observed effect opposes a direct treatment effect, we suppose that this outcome may have been a result of bias. Since 2008, we have treated several dozens of patients in the Netherlands with FMT via a nasoduodenal tube. We have not noticed any recurrences 30 days after FMT, with a median follow-up time of 21 months (van Beurden et al, manuscript submitted). We prefer the UGI route because it is generally well tolerated by patients, and less invasive compared with colonoscopy, especially in an inflamed bowel as with severe Clostridium difficile infection. We agree with the authors that a randomized controlled trial with a sufficient sample size is required to determine the optimal route for administration of FMT.
Finite element-galerkin approximation of the eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of selfadjoint problems

Abstract : This paper establishes some refined estimates for the approximation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of selfadjoint eigenvalue problems by finite element or, more generally, Galerkin methods. Suppose lambda is an eigenvalue of multiplicity q of a selfajoint problem and let M(lambda) denote the space of eigenvectors corresponding to lambda. Keywords: Hilbert space.
Mechanisms of P2 receptor‐evoked DNA synthesis in thyroid FRTL‐5 cells

The expression of the P2 receptors and their functional responses were studied in rat thyroid FRTL‐5 cells. RT‐PCR analysis revealed transcripts for the G protein‐coupled P2Y2, P2Y4 and P2Y6 receptors, and for the transmitter‐gated ion channel P2X3, P2X4 and P2X5 subunits. In Fura‐2‐loaded cells, UTP, ATP, ATPγS or UDP increased [Ca2+]i, and behaved as potent full agonists, while 2‐Methylthio‐ATP (2‐MeSATP), α,β‐methylene‐ATP (α,β‐meATP) and pure ADP were weak agonists. The agonist‐mediated [Ca2+ ]i increases were diminished in Ca2+ ‐free buffer, and by pertussis toxin (PTX) or suramin treatments. ATP, UTP, UDP and ATPγS increased 3H‐thymidine incorporation into DNA and expression of the protooncogenes c‐Fos and c‐Jun, while 2‐MeSATP was ineffective, and α,β‐meATP gave a response only at 100‐μM dose. The ATP‐stimulated expression of c‐Fos and c‐Jun was dependent on Ca2+, and protein kinase C, but not on calmodulin or Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II. Extracellular signal‐regulated kinases (ERK1 and ERK2) are also involved as the MEK inhibitor, PD98059, reduced both ATP‐evoked 3H‐thymidine incorporation and c‐Fos and c‐Jun expression. These results indicate that multiple P2Y receptor subtypes and at least the P2X5 subtype are functionally expressed in FRTL‐5 cells, and that nucleotides acting via P2 receptors are involved in the regulation of DNA‐synthesis. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Sensor Network Simulator for the Contiki OS

This report introduces a new sensor network simulator for the Contiki OS - the COOJA Simulator. The Contiki OS is a portable operating system designed specifically for resource limited devices such as sensor nodes. It is built around an event-driven kernel but supports pre-emptive multithreading at a per-process basis. It also supports a full TCP/IP stack via uIP and the programming abstraction Protothreads. The main design goal of the COOJA Simulator is extendibility, for which Interfaces and Plugins are used. An Interface represents a sensor node property or device, such as a position, a button or a radio transmitter. A Plugin is used to interact with a simulation, for example to control the simulation speed or to watch all network traffic between the simulated nodes. Both new Plugins and Interfaces can easily be created and added to the simulation environment. A number of other parts of the simulator, for example a radio medium responsible for forwarding radio network data, can also be implemented and added to the simulator. And by supporting several different simulation environments at the same time in one simulation, different underlying hardware platforms can be simulated in heterogeneous networks. Java Native Interface is used to connect the new simulator with Contiki, allowing simulated applications to run in a real Contiki system. By using this approach, any simulated application can then be run on a real sensor node unaltered.
Ten years-long survey on pathogen status of mouse and rat breeding colonies.

Eleven pathogens including P. aeruginosa, Salmonella spp. , E. coli O115a, c: K(B), P. pneumotropica, B. bronchiseptica, C. kutscheri, Tyzzer's organism, M. pulmonis, Sendai virus, MHV and Syphacia spp. were surveyed in 217 mouse and rat breeding colonies during 1972-1981. In conventional animals, P. pneumotropica and/or Syphacia spp. were detected in nearly 90% of 89 mouse and 64 rat colonies. Sendai virus, M. pulmonis, P. aeruginosa and MHV were positive in 51.7 to 23.6% of the colonies, and Tyzzer's organism, B. bronchiseptica and probably SDA virus were also detected in more than 10% of the rat colonies. Salmonella spp. , E. coli O115a, c: K(B) and C. kutscheri were found in a few colonies. In SPF animals, P. aeruginosa was isolated from about one third of 33 mouse and 31 rat colonies, and P. aeruginosa was isolated from about one third of 33 mouse and 31 rat colonies, and P. pneumotropica was also positive in 3 rat colonies. Infection rates of P. pneumotropica, M. pulmonis, Sendai virus and Syphacia spp. were usually higher than 40% of animals sampled from colonies contaminated with them. Accidental contaminations of SPF colonies were usually caused by P. pneumotropica and Syphacia spp.
Prevalence and predictors of high-risk human papillomavirus infection in a population-based sample of women in rural Uganda

Summary: High-risk genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is aetiologically linked to cervical cancer; however, data on the prevalence and determinants of high-risk HPV infection in Uganda are limited. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey among 18-49-year-old women in rural Southwest Uganda. The primary outcome was presence or absence of high-risk HPV DNA (for genotypes 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 or 68) in the genital secretions as determined by HPV DNA Hybrid Capture 2 assay (Digene Corp, Beltsville, MD, USA). In 314 women who participated, the prevalence of high-risk HPV was 17.2% (54/314; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 13-21). Older women had a lower proportion of high-risk HPV infection; with a 9% decrease in the odds ratio (OR) of high-risk HPV infection per year increase in age (OR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.96). The odds of detecting high-risk HPV infection was higher among women who were previously tested positive for HIV (OR = 12.1; 95% CI: 2.8, 52.3). In this population of rural Ugandan women, the prevalence of high-risk cervical HPV infection was high. Information on predictors of high-risk HPV infection and intention to receive a vaccine can guide future immunization initiatives for young sexually active women.