Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spontaneous waves in muscle fibres

Mechanical oscillations are important for many cellular processes, e.g. the beating of cilia and flagella or the sensation of sound by hair cells. These dynamic states originate from spontaneous oscillations of molecular motors. A particularly clear example of such oscillations has been observed in muscle fibers under non-physiological conditions. In that case, motor oscillations lead to contraction waves along the fiber. By a macroscopic analysis of muscle fiber dynamics we find that the spontaneous waves involve non-hydrodynamic modes. A simple microscopic model of sarcomere dynamics highlights mechanical aspects of the motor dynamics and fits with the experimental observations.
Precocious realists: perceptual and cognitive characteristics associated with drawing talent in non-autistic children

A local processing bias in the block design task and in drawing strategy has been used to account for realistic drawing skill in individuals with autism. We investigated whether the same kind of local processing bias is seen in typically developing children with unusual skill in realistic graphic representation. Forty-three 5–11-year-olds who drew a still life completed a version of the block design task in both standard and segmented form, were tested for their memory for the block design items, and were given the Kaufmann Brief Intelligence Test-II. Children were classified as gifted, moderately gifted or typical on the basis of the level of realism in their drawings. Similar to autistic individuals, the gifted group showed a local processing bias in the block design task. But unlike autistic individuals, the gifted group showed a global advantage in the visual memory task and did not use a local drawing strategy; in addition, their graphic realism skill was related to verbal IQ. Differences in the extent of local processing bias in autistic and typically developing children with drawing talent are discussed.
Genome-Wide Analysis of Long Noncoding RNA Expression Profiles in Human Xuanwei Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in various biological processes involved the development and progression of lung cancer. However, their expression signature in Xuanwei lung cancer (XWLC) remains unknown. METHODS High throughput microarray assay was performed to detect lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in five paired human XWLC and adjacent normal tissues. Bioinformatic analyses (gene ontology, pathway, and net-work analysis) were applied for further study of these differentially expressed mRNAs. An additional 33 paired XWLC samples were collected to verify the expression levels of 6 candidate lncRNAs using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). RESULTS Using abundant and varied probes, about 37,000 lncRNAs and 34,000 mRNAs were assessed in our micro-array. 1,484 lncRNAs and 1,997 mRNAs were differentially expressed in XWLC and adjacent normal samples (fold change ≥ 2.0). Using qRT-PCR validation, six candidate lncRNAs were differentially expressed in XWLC and adjacent normal tissues. The qRT-PCR results were consistent with the microarray data. Among these, FENDRR and SGOL1-AS1 were the most aberrantly expressed lncRNAs. CONCLUSIONS This study firstly ascertained the expression profile of lncRNAs in XWLC by microarray. The results revealed that many lncRNAs were differentially expressed in XWLC and adjacent normal tissues. Further investigation of the differentially expressed lncRNAs may serve as new biomarkers for diagnosis of XWLC or novel therapeutic targets.
Wind generation assessment proposal by experimental harmonic and distortion factor analysis

The ever-increasing presence of the wind generation in Romania power system triggers a vast array of challenges ranging from reliability, fault-ride-through capabilities, green certificates incentives, etc. The impact on power quality of a wind farm located in south-east of Romania composed of 45 wind turbines is investigated. The paper deals with power quality case studies conducted on existing renewable sources based systems. Harmonics determined by a wind farm up to 200 MW are analyzed. The measurements are carried out in different points of the power system supplying the wind farm. The correlation between the generated power and the main harmonic indices is highlighted.
Characterisation of pks15/1 in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Mexico

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectocontagious respiratory disease caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. A 7 base pair (bp) deletion in the locus polyketide synthase (pks)15/1 is described as polymorphic among members of the M. tuberculosis complex, enabling the identification of Euro-American, Indo-Oceanic and Asian lineages. The aim of this study was to characterise this locus in TB isolates from Mexico. One hundred twenty clinical isolates were recovered from the states of Veracruz and Estado de Mexico. We determined the nucleotide sequence of a ± 400 bp fragment of the locus pks15/1, while genotypic characterisation was performed by spoligotyping. One hundred and fifty isolates contained the 7 bp deletion, while five had the wild type locus. Lineages X (22%), LAM (18%) and T (17%) were the most frequent; only three (2%) of the isolates were identified as Beijing and two (1%) EAI-Manila. The wild type pks15/1 locus was observed in all Asian lineage isolates tested. Our results confirm the utility of locus pks15/1 as a molecular marker for identifying Asian lineages of the M. tuberculosis complex. This marker could be of great value in the epidemiological surveillance of TB, especially in countries like Mexico, where the prevalence of such lineages is unknown.
Serum miR-224 Reflects Stage of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Predicts Survival

Background. In our previous study, we conducted a systematic screening of miRNA to identify potential serum biomarkers for predicting venous metastasis and survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). miR-224 was one of the differentially expressed miRNAs. This study aimed to confirm whether serum miR-224 level is associated with the presence of venous metastasis and survival. Methods. TaqMan miRNA probe was used to perform qRT-PCR assays to evaluate the expression of serum miR-224 in a cohort of 182 HCC patients. Results. Patients with high miR-224 serum level showed poor survival compared to that with low miR-224 serum level (HR 1.985; 95% CI, 1.08, 3.65, P = 0.027). The serum miR-224 levels were significantly higher in the BCLC stage C patients compared with the stage B patients (P = 0.005). In further analysis, significant difference of serum miR-224 expression level was observed when patients grouped by the status of PVTT but not the status of extra-liver metastasis (P = 0.013 and P = 0.091). Serum levels of miR-224 showed significant relation with parameters of liver damage and serum AFP. Conclusion. Serum miR-224 might be BCLC stage dependent. It can reflect the status of tumor and liver damage. It was an independent predictor for the survival of HCC patients.
Towards heterogeneous multimedia information systems: the Garlic approach

Provides an overview of the Garlic project, a new project at the IBM Almaden Research Center. The goal of this project is to develop a system and associated tools for the management of large quantities of heterogeneous multimedia information. Garlic permits traditional and multimedia data to he stored in a variety of existing data repositories, including databases, files, text managers, image managers, video servers, and so on; the data is seen through a unified schema expressed in an object-oriented data model and can be queried and manipulated using an object-oriented dialect of SQL, perhaps through an advanced query/browser tool that we are also developing. The Garlic architecture is designed to be extensible to new kinds of data repositories, and access efficiency is addressed via a "middleware" query processor that uses database query optimization techniques to exploit the native associative search capabilities of the underlying data repositories. <<ETX>>
Title Recurring measles epidemic in Vietnam 2005-2009 : Implication forstrengthened control strategies

Background: Measles remains a serious vaccine preventable cause of mortality in developing nations. Vietnam is aiming to achieve the level of immunity required to eliminate measles by maintaining a high coverage of routine first vaccinations in infants, routine second vaccinations at school entry and supplementary local campaigns in high-risk areas. Regular outbreaks of measles are reported, during 2005-2009. Methods: National measles case-based surveillance data collected during 2005-June 2009 was analyzed to assess the epidemiological trend and risk factors associated with measles outbreak in Vietnam. Results: Of the 36,282 measles suspected cases reported nationwide, only 7,086 cases were confirmed through laboratory examination. Although cyclical outbreaks occurred between 2005 and 2009, there was no definite trend in measles outbreaks during these periods. Overall, 2438 of measles confirmed cases were among children ≤5 years and 3068 cases were among people ≥16 years. The distribution with respect to gender skewed towards male (3667 cases) significant difference was not observed (P= 0.1693). Unsurprisingly, 4493 of the confirmed cases had no history of vaccination (X <0.01). The northern and highland regions were identified as the main endemic foci and the spatial distribution changed with time. The occurrence of cases, in a considerable proportion of vaccinated population, is not only a reflection of the high vaccination coverage in Vietnam but also portrays a possibility of less than 100% vaccine efficacy. More so, in order to prevent measles in adults, high-risk groups must be identified and catch-up for selected groups selected. Conclusions: This study therefore reinforces the need for continued improvement of surveillance system and to probe into the possible role of changes in age-distribution of cases if the effective control of measles is to be achieved.
Les qualités psychométriques du PSA-A

Cette etude a pour objectif de valider la version abregee du Profil socio-affectif ou PSA-A (LaFreniere et al., 1992), questionnaire concu pour evaluer tant la competence que les inadaptations sociales chez les enfants d'âge prescolaire. Les 1 145 enfants qui composent l'echantillon (569 filles et 576 garcons d'âge prescolaire) ont ete evalues a l'aide du PSA-A et 412 d'entre eux (218 filles et 194 garcons) ont en outre ete evalues a l'aide d'instruments de mesure cognitive (Lollipop et WPSSI-R). De plus, le rendement scolaire de 181 de ces enfants a ete evalue a la fin de la premiere annee. Les resultats indiquent que le PSA-A est homogene et stable dans le temps et qu'il presente une bonne validite de construit.
Poly-β-Hydroxybutyrate Biosynthesis in the Facultative Methylotroph Methylobacterium extorquens AM1: Identification and Mutation of gap11, gap20, and phaR

ABSTRACT Methylobacterium extorquens AM1, a serine cycle facultative methylotroph, accumulates poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) as a carbon and energy reserve material during growth on both multicarbon- and single-carbon substrates. Recently, the identification and mutation of the genes involved in the biosynthesis and degradation of PHB have been described for this bacterium, demonstrating that two of the genes of the PHB cycle (phaA and phaB) are also involved in C1 and C2 metabolism, as part of a novel pathway for glyoxylate regeneration in the serine cycle (N. Korotkova and M. E. Lidstrom, J. Bacteriol. 183:1038-1046, 2001; N. Korotkova, L. Chistoserdova, V. Kuksa, and M. E. Lidstrom, J. Bacteriol. 184:1750-1758, 2002). In this work, three new genes involved in PHB biosynthesis in this bacterium have been investigated via mutation and phenotypic analysis: gap11, gap20, and phaR. We demonstrate that gap11 and gap20 encode two major granule-associated proteins (phasins) and that mutants with mutations in these genes are defective in PHB production and also in growth on C2 compounds, while they show wild-type growth characteristics on C1 or multicarbon compounds. The phaR mutant shows defects in both PHB accumulation and growth characteristics when grown on C1 compounds and has defects in PHB accumulation but grows normally on C3 and C4 compounds, while both PHB accumulation and growth rate are at wild-type levels during growth on C2 compounds. Our results suggest that this phenotype is due to altered fluxes of acetyl coenzyme A (CoA), a major intermediate in C1, C2, and heterotrophic metabolism in M. extorquens AM1, as well as the entry metabolite for the PHB cycle. Therefore, it seems likely that PhaR acts to control acetyl-CoA flux to PHB in this methylotrophic bacterium.
Proligodendroblast Antigen (POA), a Developmental Antigen Expressed by A007/O4‐Positive Oligodendrocyte Progenitors Prior to the Appearance of Sulfatide and Galactocerebroside

Abstract: Evidence is presented for the immunological identification of a developmental antigen appearing at a critical point in the oligodendroglial lineage. Specifically, monoclonal antibody A007 recognizes cells in the oligodendrocyte lineage at two distinct stages. Analyses of purified lipid standards and lipid extracts from galactocerebroside‐positive (GalC+) oligodendrocytes by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, lipid dot blot, and immuno‐TLC demonstrated that A007 recognizes sulfatide (SUL) and seminolipid. However, neither 35SO4 incorporation into SUL nor SUL accumulation could be detected in A007‐positive cells lacking galactocerebroside (i.e., A007+GalC− progenitor cells) present early in development. These data suggest that A007 also recognizes an antigen, named proligodendroblast antigen (POA), that appears during the late stage of oligodendrocyte progenitor development prior to the expression by oligodendrocytes of SUL and GalC. We have previously reported that monoclonal antibody O4 also recognizes not only SUL and seminolipid, but in addition an antigen that appears prior to the expression of SUL and galactocerebroside. In the present study all A007+ cells were also O4+ (and vice versa), and the developmental patterns of the two antibodies appeared to be identical. We conclude that (1) A007 is similar or identical to O4 with respect to its antigenic specificity, and (2) during oligodendrocyte lineage progression both antibodies react first with antigen POA on the surface of the oligodendrocyte progenitor cell prior to the expression of SUL [i.e., A007+O4+(POA+)SUL−GalC− proligodendroblasts], and only later with SUL as terminally differentiating oligodendrocytes emerge (i.e., A007+‐O4+SUL+GalC+ oligodendrocytes).
Automated Software Testing Using Metahurestic Technique Based on an Ant Colony Optimization

Software testing is an important and valuable part of the software development life cycle. Due to time, cost and other circumstances, exhaustive testing is not feasible that’s why there is a need to automate the testing process. Testing effectiveness can be achieved by the State Transition Testing (STT) which is commonly used in real time, embedded and web-based kinds of software systems. The tester’s main job to test all the possible transitions in the system. This paper proposed an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique for the automated and full coverage of all state-transitions in the system. Present paper approach generates test sequence in order to obtain the complete software coverage. This paper also discusses the comparison between two metaheuristic techniques (Genetic Algorithm and Ant Colony optimization) for transition based testing.
Investigations on Inhibitors of Hedgehog Signal Pathway: A Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Study

The hedgehog signal pathway is an essential agent in developmental patterning, wherein the local concentration of the Hedgehog morphogens directs cellular differentiation and expansion. Furthermore, the Hedgehog pathway has been implicated in tumor/stromal interaction and cancer stem cell. Nowadays searching novel inhibitors for Hedgehog Signal Pathway is drawing much more attention by biological, chemical and pharmological scientists. In our study, a solid computational model is proposed which incorporates various statistical analysis methods to perform a Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) study on the inhibitors of Hedgehog signaling. The whole QSAR data contain 93 cyclopamine derivatives as well as their activities against four different cell lines (NCI-H446, BxPC-3, SW1990 and NCI-H157). Our extensive testing indicated that the binary classification model is a better choice for building the QSAR model of inhibitors of Hedgehog signaling compared with other statistical methods and the corresponding in silico analysis provides three possible ways to improve the activity of inhibitors by demethylation, methylation and hydroxylation at specific positions of the compound scaffold respectively. From these, demethylation is the best choice for inhibitor structure modifications. Our investigation also revealed that NCI-H466 served as the best cell line for testing the activities of inhibitors of Hedgehog signal pathway among others.
Understanding the Capacity Region of the Greedy Maximal Scheduling Algorithm in Multihop Wireless Networks

In this paper, we characterize the performance of an important class of scheduling schemes, called greedy maximal scheduling (GMS), for multihop wireless networks. While a lower bound on the throughput performance of GMS has been well known, empirical observations suggest that it is quite loose and that the performance of GMS is often close to optimal. In this paper, we provide a number of new analytic results characterizing the performance limits of GMS. We first provide an equivalent characterization of the efficiency ratio of GMS through a topological property called the local-pooling factor of the network graph. We then develop an iterative procedure to estimate the local-pooling factor under a large class of network topologies and interference models. We use these results to study the worst-case efficiency ratio of GMS on two classes of network topologies. We show how these results can be applied to tree networks to prove that GMS achieves the full capacity region in tree networks under the K -hop interference model. Then, we show that the worst-case efficiency ratio of GMS in geometric unit-disk graphs is between 1/6 and 1/3.
Double-pushout graph transformation revisited

In this paper we investigate and compare four variants of the double-pushout approach to graph transformation. As well as the traditional approach with arbitrary matching and injective right-hand morphisms, we consider three variations by employing injective matching and/or arbitrary right-hand morphisms in rules. We show that injective matching provides additional expressiveness in two respects: for generating graph languages by grammars without non-terminals and for computing graph functions by convergent graph transformation systems. Then we clarify for each of the three variations whether the well-known commutativity, parallelism and concurrency theorems are still valid and – where this is not the case – give modified results. In particular, for the most general approach with injective matching and arbitrary right-hand morphisms, we establish sequential and parallel commutativity by appropriately strengthening sequential and parallel independence.
Effects of a selective educational system on fatigue, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression among senior high school adolescents in Taiwan

Objective The aim of the study reported here was to clarify the effects of academic pressure on fatigue, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression among senior high school adolescents in Taiwan. Methods This cross-sectional study enrolled 757 senior high school adolescents who were classified into four groups: Grade 1 (n=261), Grade 2 (n=228), Grade 3T (n=199; Grade 3 students who had another college entrance test to take), and Grade 3S (n=69; Grade 3 students who had succeeded in their college application). Fatigue, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and depression were assessed using the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory – Short Form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-Taiwan Form, the Chinese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory®-II (BDI-II), respectively. Results Physical, emotional, and mental fatigue scores were all higher in higher-grade groups. The Grade 3T (test) students had the worst fatigue severity, and the Grade 3S (success) students had the least fatigue severity. More than half of the students (60.9%) went to bed after 12 am, and they had on average 6.0 hours of sleep per night. More than 30% of the students in Grade 2 (37.3%) and Grades 3T/S (30.2%/30.4%) possibly had daily sleepiness problems. The students in Grade 3T had the worst BDI-II score (13.27±9.24), and the Grade 3S students had a much lower BDI-II score (7.91±6.13). Conclusion Relatively high proportions of fatigue, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and depression among senior high school adolescents were found in our study. The severities of fatigue, sleep problems, and depression were significantly diminished in the group under less academic stress (Grade 3S). Our findings may increase the understanding of the mental health of senior high school students under academic pressure in Taiwan. Further large sample size and population-based study should be done for better understanding about this topic.
From Polynomial Procedures to Efficient Reasoning with EL Ontologies

EL is a simple tractable Description Logic that features conjunctions and exis- tential restrictions. Due to its favorable computational properties and relevance to existing ontologies, EL has become the language of choice for terminological reasoning in biomed- ical applications, and has formed the basis of the OWL EL profile of the Web ontology language OWL. This paper describes ELK—a high performance reasoner for OWL EL ontologies—and details various aspects from theory to implementation that make ELK one of the most competitive reasoning systems for EL ontologies available today.
The LIM-only protein FHL2 interacts with β-catenin and promotes differentiation of mouse myoblasts

FHL2 is a LIM-domain protein expressed in myoblasts but down-regulated in malignant rhabdomyosarcoma cells, suggesting an important role of FHL2 in muscle development. To investigate the importance of FHL2 during myoblast differentiation, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen using a cDNA library derived from myoblasts induced for differentiation. We identified β-catenin as a novel interaction partner of FHL2 and confirmed the specificity of association by direct in vitro binding tests and coimmunoprecipitation assays from cell lysates. Deletion analysis of both proteins revealed that the NH2-terminal part of β-catenin is sufficient for binding in yeast, but addition of the first armadillo repeat is necessary for binding FHL2 in mammalian cells, whereas the presence of all four LIM domains of FHL2 is needed for the interaction. Expression of FHL2 counteracts β-catenin–mediated activation of a TCF/LEF-dependent reporter gene in a dose-dependent and muscle cell–specific manner. After injection into Xenopus embryos, FHL2 inhibited the β-catenin–induced axis duplication. C2C12 mouse myoblasts stably expressing FHL2 show increased myogenic differentiation reflected by accelerated myotube formation and expression of muscle-specific proteins. These data imply that FHL2 is a muscle-specific repressor of LEF/TCF target genes and promotes myogenic differentiation by interacting with β-catenin.