Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of telomerase activity by telomere DNA-binding proteins in Oxytricha.

Telomere proteins protect the chromosomal terminus from nucleolytic degradation and end-to-end fusion, and they may contribute to telomere length control and the regulation of telomerase. The current studies investigate the effect of Oxytricha single-stranded telomere DNA-binding protein subunits alpha and beta on telomerase elongation of telomeric DNA. A native agarose gel system was used to evaluate telomere DNA-binding protein complex composition, and the ability of telomerase to use these complexes as substrates was characterized. Efficient elongation occurred in the presence of the alpha subunit. Moreover, the alpha-DNA cross-linked complex was a substrate for telomerase. At higher alpha concentrations, two alpha subunits bound to the 16-nucleotide single-stranded DNA substrate and rendered it inaccessible to telomerase. The formation of this alpha . DNA . alpha complex may contribute to regulation of telomere length. The alpha . beta . DNA ternary complex was not a substrate for telomerase. Even when telomerase was prebound to telomeric DNA, the addition of alpha and beta inhibited elongation, suggesting that these telomere protein subunits have a greater affinity for the DNA and are able to displace telomerase. In addition, the ternary complex was not a substrate for terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase. We conclude that the telomere protein inhibits telomerase by rendering the telomeric DNA inaccessible, thereby helping to maintain telomere length.
MCC : a High-Throughput Multi-Channel Data Collection Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

We present the design and implementation of MCC, the first high-rate multi-channel time-scheduled protocol for fair, real-time data collection in Wireless Sensor Networks. MCC incorporates sophisticated mechanisms for balanced routing tree formation, multiple frequency channel allocation and globally synchronized TDMA scheduling. Through systematic experiments with real WSN hardware(Tmote Sky), we first identify the maximum possible throughput for many-to-one (convergecast) data collection in sensor networks. We show through a comprehensive experimental evaluation on the Tutornet experimental testbed that MCC can achieve close to the maximum possible network throughput for collection in wireless sensor networks with very low synchronization overhead. Compared to the Collection Tree Protocol (CTP), the state of the art collection protocol for WSN, we show that MCC offers 25-100% improvement in throughput. Being a time-scheduled protocol, MCC can be easily configured for energy-efficient operation yielding energy savings of 85 to 95% compared to always-on operation.
Isolation and functional properties of murine hematopoietic stem cells that are replicating in vivo

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are multipotent cells that reside in the bone marrow and replenish all adult hematopoietic lineages throughout the lifetime of the animal. While experimenting with staining of murine bone marrow cells with the vital dye, Hoechst 33342, we discovered that display of Hoechst fluorescence simultaneously at two emission wavelengths revealed a small and distinct subset of whole bone marrow cells that had phenotypic markers of multipotential HSC. These cells were shown in competitive repopulation experiments to contain the vast majority of HSC activity from murine bone marrow and to be enriched at least 1,000-fold for in vivo reconstitution activity. Further, these Hoechst-stained side population (SP) cells were shown to protect recipients from lethal irradiation at low cell doses, and to contribute to both lymphoid and myeloid lineages. The formation of the Hoechst SP profile was blocked when staining was performed in the presence of verapamil, indicating that the distinctly low staining pattern of the SP cells is due to a multidrug resistance protein (mdr) or mdr-like mediated efflux of the dye from HSC. The ability to block the Hoechst efflux activity also allowed us to use Hoechst to determine the DNA content of the SP cells. Between 1 and 3% of the HSC were shown to be in S-G2M. This also enabled the purification of the G0-G1 and S-G2M HSC had a reconstitution capacity equivalent to quiescent stem cells. These findings have implications for models of hematopoietic cell development and for the development of genetic therapies for diseases involving hematopoietic cells.
TOMA DE DECISIONES ECONÓMICAS: EL APORTE COGNITIVO EN LA RUTA DE SIMON, ALLAIS Y TVERSKY Y KAHNEMAN

Economics, in its origins as a science integrated psychology in the building process of its propositions. The field of decision making was very notorious in economic research. Later on, economics takes some distance from psychology, and develop in the center of their scientific constructions, the maximizer and omniscient homo economicus. Nevertheless the explanatory power of the neoclassical models began to be clearly imperfect showing numerous anomalies. Prominent scientists in the cognitive vein began, first explaining the pitfalls of the prevalent theories and later building cognitive psychology-rooted alternative models. The seminal cognitive contributions by Herbert Simon and Maurice Allais, trace the path for two pioneers scholars, the cognitive psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, who developed a model which incorporates the advances in cognitive psychology in decision making scientific constructions. The paper reviews this paradigmatic example of scientific interdisciplinary nature between economics and cognitive psychology, in the search for better explanations to the decision making process.
A systematic review of interactions in pedagogical approaches with reported outcomes for the academic and social inclusion of pupils with special educational needs

The growing demand for inclusive practices within mainstream schools has resulted in classroom teachers having to take direct responsibility for the individual learning needs of all pupils within the setting, and reduced the expectation that support staff should be the primary practitioners for children with special educational needs (SEN). The belief in a need for special pedagogical approaches for these children has also been widely critiqued (e.g. Norwich and Lewis, 2001; Hart, 1996) and there has been a growing focus upon the teaching practices that can be, and are, more broadly used by mainstream practitioners. Central to all these approaches are the interactions that both create the learning context and operate within it.
The role of domestic animals in the epidemiology of plague. 3. Experimental infection of swine.

Swine were shown to be clinically refractory to experimental plague. Yersinia pestis, formerly known as Pasteurella pestis, was not isolated from blood or from buccal-cavity cultures 4 hr or more after oral challenge. In spite of the lack of clinical evidence of infection, all of the swine developed high titers of indirecthemagglutination (IH) antibody specific for Fraction I antigen of Y. pestis within nine days of exposure. Peak titers of IH antibody occurred by day 28 and remained essentially unchanged for a period of 200 days. Swine did not produce complement-fixing antibody against the Fraction I antigen of Y. pestis.
Inference About Trends in Temperature Data After Controlling for Serial Correlation and Heteroskedastic Variance

Global surface temperature anomalies post-1958 are examined for evidence of significant trends. The routine application of a linear least-squares method is critiqued. Testing for model misspecification in the form of serial correlation and heteroskedasticity in the residuals leads to consideration of a piecewise trend with lagged anomalies and a linear model of the error variance. While the naive least-squares model suggests a highly significant trend post-1979, correcting the known specification errors leads to the finding of a reduced trend magnitude and evidence that the trend is insignificant, i.e. within the bounds of random noise. This points to the need for careful treatment of time series variables in order to avoid spurious inference.
It can be smart to be dumb

An important problem in game theory is why bounded rationality occurs, e.g., why altruism to non-kin occurs. Previous explanations involved computational limitations of the players, repeated play among the players etc. As an alternative, we introduce a pre-play step in which each player i chooses a “persona”, i.e., a ficticious utility function she commits to use in the game. By adopting different personas, player i induces different moves by the other players in the game. Sometimes by adopting a “bounded rational” persona, player i induces moves by the other players that increase i’s true utility function. In such cases, player i’s acting in a “bounded rational” way can be optimal for i. This phenomenon can explain some experimental observations concerning the prisoner’s dilemma, the ultimatum game, and the traveler’s dilemma.
A Stackable Wear-Leveling Module for Linux-Based Flash File Systems

Flash memory has now become a crucial component in building Linux-based embedded computers. As the overall flash-memory lifetime is concerned with block endurance, wear leveling is needed to evenly erase all blocks. This paper presents a modularized implementation of a wear-leveling algorithm. Our goal is to instantly enable any existing Linux-based flash file systems the ability of wear leveling without to modify the file systems.
A Methodology for Implementation of High-Efficiency Broadband Power Amplifiers With Second-Harmonic Manipulation

This brief describes a methodology for designing broadband power amplifiers (PAs) based on the manipulation of second-harmonic impedance. The proposed approach starts from the inverse class-F (F-1) design specification and extends it to a family of specifications that allow achieving better than class-B performance in terms of output power and drain efficiency. It is shown that the achievable performance can be maintained over a wide frequency range reaching 57% of fractional bandwidth. As such, the proposed approach permits higher flexibility and offers relaxed matching constraints in implementing broadband high-efficiency PAs. For the experimental implementation, the proposed approach is adopted to implement a broadband PA using a 10-W gallium-nitride transistor. Peak drain efficiencies greater than 75% are measured over carrier frequencies between 500 and 900 MHz. The saturated output power levels, on the other hand, are higher than 10 W with a maximum of 13 W. Measured results are confirmed to be in good agreement with theory and simulations.
Fungal rhinosinusitis

Fungal infections in both their invasive and non-invasive forms can prove difficult to diagnose. The often characteristic appearances on imaging are of great assistance. CT is the primary imaging modality and is probably more accurate than MRI in diagnostic specificity and determining the extent of bone erosion. However this may require a modified scanning technique to adequately demonstrate the typical soft tissue density variations of fungi. MRI should be used to supplement CT when intra-cranial or intra-orbital extension is suspected.
Blood thiamin status and determinants in the population of Seychelles (Indian Ocean).

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Micronutrient deficiencies have become rare in industrialised countries as availability of fresh food, supplementation, and fortification have improved but a less favourable situation may still prevail in many developing countries. Blood thiamin status and determinants were therefore investigated in the Seychelles in view of the high incidence of dilated cardiomyopathy and as the staple diet is polished rice that is deficient in thiamin. DESIGN: This was a cross sectional population study using an age and sex stratified random sample. SETTING: Seychelles Islands (Indian Ocean). PARTICIPANTS: A subsample of 206 subjects aged 25-64 years from the population of Seychelles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measurement of total thiamin concentration in whole blood using high performance liquid chromatography. Dietary variables measured using a face to face semi-quantitative food questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean (SD) whole blood thiamin concentration was 77.9 (22.4) nmol/l and low concentration (< 70 nmol/l) was found in 37% of the subjects (95% CI: 31%, 44%). Blood thiamin was significantly related to education and diet but not to age, sex, smoking, and body mass index. Blood thiamin was associated positively with meat, vegetable, salad, and tea intake and negatively with alcohol and fish intake. However, no combination of the examined variables could explain more than 15% of the observed variance in blood thiamin values. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the distribution of blood thiamin in the sampled population is shifted to lower values compared with that generally accepted as normal in European populations. Further research should establish the significance of such lower values in this specific population to facilitate clinical and public health action as necessary.
HomSSPICE: a homotopy-based circuit simulator for periodic steady-state analysis of oscillators

In this paper, we describe a new circuit simulator named HomSSPICE that incorporates homotopy algorithms for steady-state simulations of oscillators. The new simulator is based on SSPICE and HOMPACK. It employs a homotopy-based algorithm that is suitable for the periodic steady-state simulations of autonomous circuits, such as sinusoidal oscillators.
Uniformly most powerful cyclic permutation invariant detection for discrete-time signals

The uniformly most powerful invariant (UMPI) test is derived for detecting a target with unknown location in a noise sequence. This test has the property that for each possible target location it has the greatest power of all tests which are invariant to cyclic permutations of the observations. The test is compared to the generalised likelihood ratio test (GLRT), which is commonly used as a solution to this detection problem. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the powers of the two tests are comparable, thereby justifying near-optimality of the GLRT.
Investigating the Role of Islet Cytoarchitecture in Its Oscillation Using a New β-Cell Cluster Model

The oscillatory insulin release is fundamental to normal glycemic control. The basis of the oscillation is the intercellular coupling and bursting synchronization of β cells in each islet. The functional role of islet β cell mass organization with respect to its oscillatory bursting is not well understood. This is of special interest in view of the recent finding of islet cytoarchitectural differences between human and animal models. In this study we developed a new hexagonal closest packing (HCP) cell cluster model. The model captures more accurately the real islet cell organization than the simple cubic packing (SCP) cluster that is conventionally used. Using our new model we investigated the functional characteristics of β-cell clusters, including the fraction of cells able to burst f b, the synchronization index λ of the bursting β cells, the bursting period T b, the plateau fraction p f, and the amplitude of intracellular calcium oscillation [Ca]. We determined their dependence on cluster architectural parameters including number of cells n β, number of inter-β cell couplings of each β cell n c, and the coupling strength g c. We found that at low values of n β, n c and g c, the oscillation regularity improves with their increasing values. This functional gain plateaus around their physiological values in real islets, at n β∼100, n c∼6 and g c∼200 pS. In addition, normal β-cell clusters are robust against significant perturbation to their architecture, including the presence of non-β cells or dead β cells. In clusters with n β>∼100, coordinated β-cell bursting can be maintained at up to 70% of β-cell loss, which is consistent with laboratory and clinical findings of islets. Our results suggest that the bursting characteristics of a β-cell cluster depend quantitatively on its architecture in a non-linear fashion. These findings are important to understand the islet bursting phenomenon and the regulation of insulin secretion, under both physiological and pathological conditions.
High interaction alginate-hyaluronate associations by hyaluronate deacetylation for the preparation of efficient biomaterials.

The paper presents fundamental investigations of alginate-hyaluronate association with significant polymer interactions for preparation of efficient biomaterials. For this purpose, acetamide functions of hyaluronate were partly cleaved by hydrazine at high temperature, yielding amino groups accessible to carboxylic functions of the alginate chain. Alginate-hyaluronate association was studied both in dissolved state by rheological measurements and CD, and in the form of gel slabs prepared after calcium diffusion. Appreciable interaction between carboxylic groups of alginate and the released amino groups of hyaluronate was put into evidence by enhanced values of the viscosity of mixed solutions, and by assessment of the properties of the gel formed: moderate deacetylation allowed gels of improved hardness and viscosity. Nevertheless, high deacetylation was observed to hinder the gel formation by Ca(2+) complexation of alginate, by the significant competition of COOH-NH(2) association. Interaction between alginate and modified hyaluronate results in regular gel structure, with small cavities.
Geospatial dataset curation through a location-based game: Description of the Urbanopoly linked datasets

The Urbanopoly datasets contain the results of a data curation campaign on available geospatial open datasets like OpenStreetMap. The curation effort is conducted through a location-based Game with a Purpose inspired by the monopoly board game. The paper describes the generated datasets: we illustrate the genesis and life-cycle of Urbanopoly data; we explain the modelling choices by introducing the provenance-based Human Computation ontology and by giving examples of the datasets' content; we describe the datasets' publication on the Web as Linked Data and the cross-links to the curated datasets; finally, we indicate the envisioned uses of the datasets as well as their possible re-uses.
A Multi-Agent System for Hand-drawn Diagram Recognition

In this paper we present AgentSketch, an agent- based system for on-line recognition of hand-drawn diagrams. Agents are used for managing the activity of symbol recognizers and for providing efficient interpretations of the sketch to the user thanks to the use of contextual information for ambiguity resolution. The system can be applied to a variety of domains by providing recognizers of the symbols in that domain. A first experimental evaluation has been performed on the domain of UML use case diagrams to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis in Eastern Slovakia

Purpose. Quality of life (QoL) is an important measure of the burden of disease and could be useful in evaluating patient management and practical interventions. The aim of this study was to explore the association of psychological and clinical variables with QoL in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods. One hundred and fourteen consecutive patients (mean age 36.1 ± 10.3 years, 72%% female) from one MS centre completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Fatigue Severity Scale and the Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Functional disability was assessed using the Expanded Disability Status Scale. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to analyse demographic, psychological and clinical data. Results. Functional disability, depression and fatigue were found to be related inversely to the physical health subscale. Disease course, anxiety and depression were associated negatively with the mental health subscale. Conclusions. Functional disability, depression and fatigue were the main variables related to the perceived physical health subscale, and disease course, anxiety and depression to the perceived mental health subscale in the group of patients with MS. Thus, effective treatment of fatigue, anxiety and depression could be assumed to increase a patient's QoL.
The crystal structure of a bacterial Sufu-like protein defines a novel group of bacterial proteins that are similar to the N-terminal domain of human Sufu

Sufu (Suppressor of Fused), a two‐domain protein, plays a critical role in regulating Hedgehog signaling and is conserved from flies to humans. A few bacterial Sufu‐like proteins have previously been identified based on sequence similarity to the N‐terminal domain of eukaryotic Sufu proteins, but none have been structurally or biochemically characterized and their function in bacteria is unknown. We have determined the crystal structure of a more distantly related Sufu‐like homolog, NGO1391 from Neisseria gonorrhoeae, at 1.4 Å resolution, which provides the first biophysical characterization of a bacterial Sufu‐like protein. The structure revealed a striking similarity to the N‐terminal domain of human Sufu (r.m.s.d. of 2.6 Å over 93% of the NGO1391 protein), despite an extremely low sequence identity of ∼15%. Subsequent sequence analysis revealed that NGO1391 defines a new subset of smaller, Sufu‐like proteins that are present in ∼200 bacterial species and has resulted in expansion of the SUFU (PF05076) family in Pfam.
Alcohol Consumption and Physical Activity in Austrian College Students—A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT Background: The age of college students is considered as crucial for developing health-related behaviors, e.g., alcohol consumption or a physically active lifestyle. Previous research reported a positive relationship between alcohol consumption and physical activity (PA) in college students. However, the main body of research was done in students from the United States who might differ from European students. Objectives: Thus the aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between alcohol consumption and PA in a sample of Austrian college students. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 861 Austrian students from various study fields responded to a web-based questionnaire. Self-reported alcohol consumption, PA, and relevant sociodemographic variables were assessed. Multiple regression analyses were used to study the relationship between alcohol consumption and PA. Results: In none of the regression models, a significant relationship between alcohol consumption and PA was found. There was a significant influence of sex, age, relationship status, education level, and study field on alcohol consumption. Male, older, and undergraduate students studying social sciences without a relationship reported higher alcohol consumption. Conclusions/Importance: The results do not support a general relationship between alcohol consumption and PA among urban Austrian college students of various study fields. Compared to other variables (e.g., sex, relationship status), PA seems to be less important in relation to the consumption of alcohol. This study challenges a global perspective on a positive relationship between alcohol consumption and PA and highlights the need for more cross-cultural investigations.
Complete Genome Sequence of “Candidatus Sulcia muelleri” ML, an Obligate Nutritional Symbiont of Maize Leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis)

ABSTRACT “Candidatus Sulcia muelleri” is a symbiont of sap-feeding insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. The strain “Ca. Sulcia muelleri” ML is associated with the maize leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis), collected in Brazil, which is a disease vector that affects corn production. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of this bacterium.