Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cannabis Use and Mental Health Problems

This paper investigates whether cannabis use leads to worse mental health. To do so, we account for common unobserved factors affecting mental health and cannabis consumption by modeling mental health jointly with the dynamics of cannabis use. Our main finding is that using cannabis increases the likelihood of mental health problems, with current use having a larger effect than past use. The estimates suggest a dose response relationship between the frequency of recent cannabis use and the probability of currently experiencing a mental health problem.
Discontinuous and non-discontinuous subgenomic RNA transcription in a nidovirus

Arteri‐, corona‐, toro‐ and roniviruses are evolutionarily related positive‐strand RNA viruses, united in the order Nidovirales. The best studied nidoviruses, the corona‐ and arteriviruses, employ a unique transcription mechanism, which involves discontinuous RNA synthesis, a process resembling similarity‐assisted copy‐choice RNA recombination. During infection, multiple subgenomic (sg) mRNAs are transcribed from a mirror set of sg negative‐strand RNA templates. The sg mRNAs all possess a short 5′ common leader sequence, derived from the 5′ end of the genomic RNA. The joining of the non‐contiguous ‘leader’ and ‘body’ sequences presumably occurs during minus‐strand synthesis. To study whether toroviruses use a similar transcription mechanism, we characterized the 5′ termini of the genome and the four sg mRNAs of Berne virus (BEV). We show that BEV mRNAs 3–5 lack a leader sequence. Surprisingly, however, RNA 2 does contain a leader, identical to the 5′‐terminal 18 residues of the genome. Apparently, BEV combines discontinuous and non‐discontinous RNA synthesis to produce its sg mRNAs. Our findings have important implications for the understanding of the mechanism and evolution of nidovirus transcription.
Oscillating growth patterns of multicellular tumour spheroids

Abstract. The growth kinetics of 9L (rat glioblastoma cell line) and U118 (human glioblastoma cell line) multicellular tumour spheroids (MTS) have been investigated by non‐linear least square fitting of individual growth curves with the Gompertz growth equation and power spectrum analysis of residuals. Residuals were not randomly distributed around calculated growth trajectories. At least one main frequency was found for all analysed MTS growth curves, demonstrating the existence of time‐dependent periodic fluctuations of MTS volume dimensions. Similar periodic oscillations of MTS volume dimensions were also observed for MTS generated using cloned 9L cells. However, we found significant differences in the growth kinetics of MTS obtained with polyclonal cells. Our findings demonstrate that the growth patterns of three‐dimensional tumour cell cultures are more complex than has been previously predicted using traditional continuous growth models.
Role of the N-terminal Forkhead-associated Domain in the Cell Cycle Checkpoint Function of the Rad53 Kinase* 210

Forkhead-associated (FHA) domains are multifunctional phosphopeptide-binding modules and are the hallmark of the conserved family of Rad53-like checkpoint protein kinases. Rad53-like kinases, including the human tumor suppressor protein Chk2, play crucial roles in cell cycle arrest and activation of repair processes following DNA damage and replication blocks. Here we show that ectopic expression of the N-terminal FHA domain (FHA1) of the yeast Rad53 kinase causes a growth defect by arresting the cell cycle in G1. This phenotype was highly specific for the Rad53-FHA1 domain and not observed with the similar Rad53-FHA2, Dun1-FHA, and Chk2-FHA domains, and it was abrogated by mutations that abolished binding to a phosphothreonine-containing peptide in vitro. Furthermore, replacement of the RAD53 gene with alleles containing amino acid substitutions in the FHA1 domain resulted in an increased DNA damage sensitivity in vivo. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the FHA1 domain contributes to the checkpoint function of Rad53, possibly by associating with a phosphorylated target protein in response to DNA damage in G1.
Intrinsic features of biomedicai document for the efficient single document summarization

In this paper we demonstrate if the similarities between the abstract and individual sections comprised of the document are increased when we apply our devised additional weights based on intrinsic document features for better effective abstraction of a single scientific article belong to biomedical domain. And we treat MLP based experimental results about the prediction of presence or absence of the terms in the abstract, which are with additional weights appeared in the rest of paper except the abstract.
Cholinergic innervation of the chick basilar papilla

Antibodies directed against choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), the synthesizing enzyme for acetylcholine (ACh) and a specific marker of cholinergic neurons, were used to label axons and nerve terminals of efferent fibers that innervate the chick basilar papilla (BP). Two morphologically distinct populations of cholinergic fibers were labeled and classified according to the region of the BP they innervated. The inferior efferent system was composed of thick fibers that coursed radially across the basilar membrane in small fascicles, gave off small branches that innervated short hair cells with large cup‐like endings, and continued past the inferior edge of the BP to ramify extensively in the hyaline cell area. The superior efferent system was made up of a group of thin fibers that remained in the superior half of the epithelium and innervated tall hair cells with bouton endings. Both inferior and superior efferent fibers richly innervated the basal two thirds of the BP. However, the apical quarter of the chick BP was virtually devoid of efferent innervation except for a few fibers that gave off bouton endings around the peripheral edges. The distribution of ChAT‐positive efferent endings appeared very similar to the population of efferent endings that labeled with synapsin antisera. Double labeling with ChAT and synapsin antibodies showed that the two markers colocalized in all nerve terminals that were identified in BP whole‐mounts and frozen sections. These results strongly suggest that all of the efferent fibers that innervate the chick BP are cholinergic. J. Comp. Neurol. 445:159–175, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Viremia Induces Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Activation In Vivo and Diminished Alpha Interferon Production In Vitro

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection has been associated with perturbations of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDC), including diminished frequencies in the peripheral blood and reduced production of type I interferons (IFNs) in response to in vitro stimulation. However, recent data suggest a paradoxical increase in production of type 1 interferons in vivo in HIV-infected patients compared to uninfected controls. Using a flow cytometric assay to detect IFN-α-producing cells within unseparated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we observed that short-term interruptions of antiretroviral therapy are sufficient to result in significantly reduced IFN-α production by PDC in vitro in response to CpG A ligands or inactivated HIV particles. The primary cause of diminished IFN-α production was reduced responsiveness of PDC to de novo stimulation, not diminished per cell IFN-α production or migration of cells to lymphoid organs. Real-time PCR analysis of purified PDC from patients prior to and during treatment interruptions revealed that active HIV-1 replication is associated with upregulation of type I IFN-stimulated gene expression. Treatment of hepatitis C virus-infected patients with IFN-α2b and ribavirin for hepatitis C virus infection resulted in a profound suppression of de novo IFN-α production in response to CpG A or inactivated HIV particles, similar to the response observed in HIV-infected patients. Together, these results suggest that diminished production of type I interferons in vitro by PDC from HIV-1-infected patients may not represent diminished interferon production in vivo. Rather, diminished function in vitro is likely a consequence of prior activation via type I interferons or HIV virions in vivo.
Multilevel Supply-Modulated Chireix Outphasing With Continuous Input Modulation

This paper presents a dynamic characterization of a multilevel (ML) Chireix outphasing (ML-CO) power amplifier (PA) with modulated signals. The ML-CO technique combines the advantages of envelope tracking and outphasing architectures by limiting the supply modulation to discrete levels with an efficient power-DAC modulator and using outphasing for fine amplitude control. We describe an experimental test bench that supplies the required phase- and time-aligned modulated signals for outphasing and supply modulation simultaneously. Pulsed characterization is used to design an ML memoryless polynomial DPD. The linearized ML-CO GaN X-band MMIC PA is demonstrated with fixed input drive levels for 9.3-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), 1.4-MHz and 11.3-dB PAPR, 10-MHz LTE signals with a 9.7-GHz carrier. For both signals, the average total power consumption is reduced by a factor of two when supply modulation is used. An investigation of control signal generation strategies is presented, including combinations of discrete supply and continuous input modulation. A simple exponential function tracks the optimal efficiency trajectory of the ML-CO PA, enabling overall efficiency improvements within 9 and 27 percentage points. This control strategy is applied to radar pulses with amplitude shaping and frequency chirp, with the efficiency improvement of up to 11.8 percentage points compared with constant-supply operation, with 29-dB improvement in spectral confinement.
Strain resolution of scanning electron microscopy based Kossel microdiffraction

Kossel microdiffraction in a scanning electron microscope enables determination of local elastic strains. With Kossel patterns recorded by a CCD camera and some automation of the strain determination process, this technique may become a convenient tool for analysis of strains. As for all strain determination methods, critical for the applicability of the Kossel technique is its strain resolution. The resolution was estimated in a number of ways: from the simplest tests based on simulated patterns (of an Ni alloy), through analysis of sharp experimental patterns of Ge, to estimates obtained by in situ tensile straining of single crystals of the Ni-based superalloy. In the latter case, the results were compared with those of conventional X-ray diffraction and synchrotron-based Kossel diffraction. In the case of high-quality Ge patterns, a resolution of 1 × 10−4 was reached for all strain tensor components; this corresponds to a stress of about 10 MPa. With relatively diffuse patterns from the strained Ni-based superalloy, under the assumption of plane stress, the strain and stress resolutions were 3 × 10−4 and 60 MPa, respectively. Experimental and computational conditions for achieving these resolutions are described. The study shows potential perspectives and limits of the applicability of semiautomatic Kossel microdiffraction as a method of local strain determination.
Cloning of Full-Length cDNA of Teleost Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Precursor by Improved Inverse PCR

We designed a new inverse PCR protocol combined with switching mechanism at 5′ end of RNA transcript (SMART) technology, and applied it to the cloning of teleost corticotropin-releasing hormone precursor cDNA. Due to the advantages of both techniques, this method can efficiently amplify the complete 5′- and 3′-ends of cDNA in a single reaction, and might prove to be an alternative to the conventional rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) approaches.
Women's Knowledge and Attitudes About Emergency Contraception: A Survey in a Melbourne Women's Health Clinic

Summary: The aim of the study was to determine the level of awareness of emergency contraception in women seeking pregnancy counselling and to investigate their attitudes towards emergency contraception. All women presenting for pregnancy counselling at a Melbourne women's health clinic in October 1997 were invited to complete a questionnaire detailing their contraceptive practices. One hundred and sixty‐six questionnaires were distributed and 153 were completed (92% response rate). The majority of this sample population had heard of some form of emergency contraception and knew where to access it. However only 26% knew that emergency contraception should be taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Although 80% of the sample had heard of emergency contraception (or the morning after pill) only 9% used it in an attempt to prevent this pregnancy. The majority of the women surveyed support the increased availability of emergency contraception by rescheduling it to a non‐prescription item and re‐packaging as a single treatment.
Engineering size-scaling of plastic deformation in nanoscale asperities

Size-dependent plastic flow behavior is manifested in nanoindentation, microbending, and pillar-compression experiments and plays a key role in the contact mechanics and friction of rough surfaces. Recent experiments using a hard flat plate to compress single-crystal Au nano-pyramids and others using a Berkovich indenter to indent flat thin films show size scaling into the 100-nm range where existing mechanistic models are not expected to apply. To bridge the gap between single-dislocation nucleation at the 1-nm scale and dislocation-ensemble plasticity at the 1-μm scale, we use large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to predict the magnitude and scaling of hardness H versus contact size ℓc in nano-pyramids. Two major results emerge: a regime of near-power-law size scaling H ≈ ℓc−η exists, with ηMD ≈ 0.32 compared with ηexpt ≈ 0.75, and unprecedented quantitative and qualitative agreement between MD and experiments is achieved, with HMD ≈ 4 GPa at ℓc = 36 nm and Hexpt ≈ 2.5 GPa at ℓc = 100 nm. An analytic model, incorporating the energy costs of forming the geometrically necessary dislocation structures that accommodate the deformation, is developed and captures the unique magnitude and size scaling of the hardness at larger MD sizes and up to experimental scales while rationalizing the transition in scaling between MD and experimental scales. The model suggests that dislocation–dislocation interactions dominate at larger scales, whereas the behavior at the smallest MD scales is controlled by nucleation over energy barriers. These results provide a basic framework for understanding and predicting size-dependent plasticity in nanoscale asperities under contact conditions in realistic engineered surfaces.
Fast reconstruction of image deformation field using radial basis function

Fast and accurate registration of image data is a key component of computer-aided medical image analysis. Instead of performing the registration directly on the input images, many algorithms compute the transformation using a sparse representation extracted from the original data. However, in order to apply the resulting transformation onto the original images, a dense deformation field has to be reconstructed using a suitable inter-/extra-polation technique. In this paper, we employ the radial basis function (RBF) to reconstruct the dense deformation field from a sparse transformation computed by a model-based registration. Various kernels are tested using different scenario. The dense deformation field is used to warp the source image and compare it quantitatively to the target image using two different metrics. Moreover, the influence of the number and distribution of the control points required by the RBF is studied via two different scenarios. Beside the accuracy, the performance of the method accelerated using a GPU is reported.
Relationship Satisfaction for Heterosexual Women Compared to Lesbians and Men in a Sample of Faith Communities from Topeka, Kansas

A modified version of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale was administered to 239 women who belonged to 8 different faith communities in Topeka, Kansas in 2001. 12 members of a Metropolitan (gay and lesbian) church identified themselves as lesbians. Lesbian respondents reported significantly higher relationship satisfaction scores than heterosexual women (Cohen's d=0.69). Controlling for number of children and social desirability reduced the regression coefficient for sexual orientation to a statistically nonsignificant level. Using a matched sample of 12 heterosexual women compared with the lesbians yielded a nonsignificant result (ES = 0.31). Nevertheless, although not statistically significant, comparisons between lesbians and heterosexual women continued to feature effect sizes that represented higher satisfaction for lesbians with no children or with only one child when compared to heterosexual women with no children or only one child. It is apparent that methodology made a difference in the results obtained in this comparative study of lesbian and heterosexual relationships. It was also observed, among members of churches other than the Metropolitan church, that relationship satisfaction was significantly lower (d=0.22) among females than males, including among wives compared to husbands; significant linear and cubic relationships between a single-item measure of relationship social desirability and relationship satisfaction were also observed.
Mutations in the Escherichia coli Ribosomal Protein L22 Selectively Suppress the Expression of a Secreted Bacterial Virulence Factor

ABSTRACT Mutations in the ribosomal protein L22 that impair peptide-mediated translation arrest in Escherichia coli have been shown to reduce the expression of several genes, including secA, which encodes an ATPase that drives protein export via the Sec pathway. Here, we used a comparative proteomic approach to obtain insight into the global effects of the L22(Δ82-84) mutation on gene expression and protein synthesis. While the mutation did not affect or modestly affected the level of most soluble proteins, it dramatically reduced the level of antigen 43 (Ag43), a secreted virulence factor that promotes autoaggregation. The reduced protein concentration correlated with a sharp decrease in the abundance and stability of Ag43 mRNA. We found that the overexpression of secA or the inactivation of genes that encode presecretory and membrane proteins restored Ag43 production in the L22 mutant strain. Furthermore, impairment of the Sec pathway in a wild-type strain reduced Ag43 production but did not significantly affect the synthesis of other presecretory proteins. Taken together, these results indicate that Ag43 gene expression is exquisitely sensitive to the status of the Sec machinery and strongly suggest that the L22 mutation decreases the Ag43 concentration indirectly by reducing secA expression. Our results imply the existence of a novel regulatory mechanism in which the efficiency of protein export is coupled to gene expression and help to explain the modulation of SecA synthesis that has been observed in response to secretion stress.
Evolution of the selfing syndrome: Anther orientation and herkogamy together determine reproductive assurance in a self‐compatible plant

Capacity for autonomous self‐fertilization provides reproductive assurance, has evolved repeatedly in the plant kingdom, and typically involves several changes in flower morphology and development (the selfing syndrome). Yet, the relative importance of different traits and trait combinations for efficient selfing and reproductive success in pollinator‐poor environments is poorly known. In a series of experiments, we tested the importance of anther–stigma distance and the less studied trait anther orientation for efficiency of selfing in the perennial herb Arabis alpina. Variation in flower morphology among eight self‐compatible European populations was correlated with efficiency of self‐pollination and with pollen limitation in a common‐garden experiment. To examine whether anther–stigma distance and anther orientation are subject to directional and/or correlational selection, and whether this is because these traits affect pollination success, we planted a segregating F2 population at two native field sites. Selection strongly favored a combination of introrse anthers and reduced anther–stigma distance at a site where pollinator activity was low, and supplemental hand‐pollination demonstrated that this was largely because of their effect on securing self‐pollination. The results suggest that concurrent shifts in more than one trait can be crucial for the evolution of efficient self‐pollination and reproductive assurance in pollinator‐poor habitats.
Therapy‐related acute myeloid leukemia in a child with Noonan syndrome and clonal duplication of the germline PTPN11 mutation

A 4‐year‐old girl with Noonan syndrome (NS) and constitutive PTPN11 mutation presented with stage 4 neuroblastoma and was treated by intensive chemotherapy. During the treatment, cytogenetic analysis revealed the development of a hyperdiploid clone with duplication of the germline PTPN11 mutation in a morphologically normal bone marrow. A few months later, the patient developed acute myelomonoblastic leukemia with an additional clonal deletion of 7q. Although, we cannot conclude whether there is an association between NS and neuroblastoma, this case suggests that duplication of germline PTPN11 mutations, potentially induced by chemotherapy, contributes to leukemogenesis in patients with NS. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;48:101–104. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Interactions of Allium sativum Leaf Agglutinin with a Chaperonin Group of Unique Receptor Protein Isolated from a Bacterial Endosymbiont of the Mustard Aphid*

The homopteran sucking insect, Lipaphis erysimi (mustard aphid) causes severe damage to various crops. This pest not only affects plants by sucking on the phloem, but it also transmits single-stranded RNA luteoviruses while feeding, which cause disease and damage in the crop. The mannose-binding Allium sativum (garlic) leaf lectin has been found to be a potent control agent of L. erysimi. The lectin receptor protein isolated from brush border membrane vesicle of insect gut was purified to determine the mechanism of lectin binding to the gut. Purified receptor was identified as an endosymbiotic chaperonin, symbionin, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Symbionin from endosymbionts of other aphid species have been reported to play a significant role in virus transmission by binding to the read-through domain of the viral coat protein. To understand the molecular interactions of the said lectin and this unique symbionin molecule, the model structures of both molecules were generated using the Modeller program. The interaction was confirmed through docking of the two molecules forming a complex. A surface accessibility test of these molecules demonstrated a significant reduction in the accessibility of the complex molecule compared with that of the free symbionin molecule. This reduction in surface accessibility may have an effect on other molecular interactive processes, including “symbionin virion recognition”, which is essential for such symbionin-mediated virus transmission. Thus, garlic leaf lectin provides an important component of a crop management program by controlling, on one hand, aphid attack and on the other hand, symbionin-mediated luteovirus transmission.