Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emission Enhancement of Surface Plasmon Coupled Blue LED With a Surface Al Nanoparticle

Emission enhancement of a radiating dipole at a desired emission wavelength in blue range coupling with a surface plasmon (SP) resonance mode induced on a nearby surface Al nanoparticle (NP) is demonstrated. Meanwhile, increasing the size of the NP and utilizing a high refractive index dielectric layer to cover the NP are effective approaches to a spectral red-shift of the SP resonance mode of Al, the location and direction of the radiating dipole also play important roles in the SP coupling effect. Such advantages make surface Al NP be an alternative low-cost and simple technique used in SP-coupled light-emitting diodes.
Sources of fixed nitrogen ( a ) Biological fixation ( i ) Terrestrial ecosystems

NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Penicuik, UK CNRS, University Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris, France Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA Department of Biogeochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany
Isolation of salmonellae from dried rattlesnake preparations

Salmonella arizonae and other Salmonella serovars were isolated from four different rattlesnake preparations which were used for self-treatment of various diseases. A case of disseminated S. arizonae infection is reported in a patient who had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and ingested dried rattlesnake.
Detecção de mecanismos de resistência, propriedades adesivas e capacidade de formação de biofilmes de Klebsiella pneumoniae multirresistentes

Durante as ultimas decadas, a Klebsiella pneumoniae tem emergido como um dos patogenos mais importantes clinicamente, especialmente em funcao da alta prevalencia de amostras produtoras de beta-lactamases de espectro estendido (ESBL) e carbapenemases. As opcoes terapeuticas para o tratamento destas infeccoes sao limitadas nao somente por esta producao enzimatica, mas tambem pela frequente capacidade de formacao de biofilmes. O estabelecimento de biofilmes de K. pneumoniae sobre tecidos do hospedeiro acaba por proteger os microrganismos da acao de agentes antimicrobianos e da resposta imunologica, alem de conduzir a expressao de determinantes de virulencia. Neste sentido, o objetivo deste trabalho foi detectar mecanismos de resistencia, propriedades adesivas e capacidade de formacao de biofilmes de isolados clinicos de K. pneumoniae multirresistentes. Na primeira fase deste estudo, foram isoladas 33 isolados clinicos de K. pneumoniae com perfil de sensibilidade reduzida aos carbapenemicos. Atraves de testes fenotipicos foram detectadas 10 amostras que apresentaram positividade para o teste modificado de Hodge (MHT) sugerindo producao de carbapenemases e duas amostras que apresentaram positividade para o teste sinergico com acido boronico (AB), indicando producao de KPC (Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase). Quando utilizado ferramentas moleculares, como a reacao em cadeia da polymerase, nao foi detectado o gene blaKPC, caracterizando desta forma uma falha na deteccao fenotipica de KPC. Na segunda fase deste estudo, foram analisadas 14 amostras de K. pneumoniae multirresistentes a fim de verificar a capacidade de formacao de biofilmes, bem como propriedades adesivas/agregativas. A maioria das isolados clinicos analisadas apresentaram baixa afinidade ao xileno, sugerindo um carater hidrofilico, alem de alta afinidade ao solvente basico acetato de etila indicando caracteristicas superficiais acidas. Foi verificado ainda que os isolados clinicos estudados apresentaram alta capacidade de formacao de biofilme e importante adesao em celulas epiteliais. As combinacoes de todas estas caracteristicas estudadas podem contribuir para a sobrevivencia de K. pneumoniae no hospedeiro e no ambiente, pois a organizacao dos microrganismos em biofilme dificulta o tratamento farmacologico e favorece a sua disseminacao e multirresistencia.
Hormonal responses to high and low planes of nutrition in weanling thoroughbreds.

Growth-related skeletal diseases in young horses have been associated with high planes of nutrition, although the mechanisms underlying such an association have not been determined. It is likely that nutrition-induced effects on growth rate or growth quality involve the endocrine system. Hormonal and metabolic responses to the ingestion of meals containing either 80% (diet A) or 160% (diet B) of National Research Council energy and protein recommendations were examined in eight Thoroughbred weanling horses after 3 wk of dietary adaptation. After 24 h fasts, prefeeding serum concentrations of thyroxine (T4) and insulin and plasma concentrations of glucose, total protein, total triglycerides, creatinine, Ca and P were similar regardless of which diet the horses had been consuming. Serum cortisol concentrations were higher (P less than .05) in horses when fasted from diet B. Thyroxine, insulin and glucose concentrations increased during ingestion of both meals. During the first hour after ingestion of diet A, T4 concentrations increased to about 150% of fasting concentrations, whereas after diet B, T4 concentrations decreased to about 85% of fasting concentrations. Concentrations of T4 were not different from fasting concentrations 4 h after the ingestion of both diets. Glucose concentrations increased during the first hour postprandially, from about 105 mg/dl to about 165 mg/dl. However, glucose decreased more rapidly after ingestion of diet B. Serum insulin concentrations increased more rapidly after ingestion of diet B. Cortisol concentrations decreased after both meals, and the concentrations of the other metabolites measured were not affected by diet level or by meal consumption. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Guanidine hydrochloride extraction and detection of prion proteins in mouse and hamster prion diseases by ELISA

Current detection of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) relies on the proteolytic generation of a protease‐resistant core from the scrapie isoform of prion protein (PrPSc) followed by immunoblotting. This process is non‐quantitative, time‐consuming, and technically demanding. Recently, an alternative in vitro test for TSE based on the differential extraction of brain homogenates using guanidine hydrochloride followed by DELFIA (Dissociation Enhanced Lanthanide FluoroImmunoAssay) has been developed. In the present study, this approach was adopted using a panel of anti‐PrP monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in conventional sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to investigate hamster and two distinct strains of mouse prion diseases. Although PrP species were present in both soluble and insoluble fractions from normal as well as TSE samples, only the PrP species in the insoluble fractions from the latter samples were protease‐resistant. In addition, certain anti‐PrP MAb pairs could distinguish the PrP species in infected brains from those in the normal samples. The ability to differentiate disease‐associated PrP isoforms without proteinase K digestion could serve as a panacea for developing a reliable and rapid diagnostic test for prion diseases. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Altered substrate specificity of the gluco‐oligosaccharide oxidase from Acremonium strictum

A gluco‐oligosaccharide oxidase (GOOX) from Acremonium strictum type strain CBS 346.70 was cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The recombinant protein, GOOX‐VN, contained fifteen amino acid substitutions compared with the previously reported A. strictum GOOX. These two enzymes share 97% sequence identity; however, only GOOX‐VN oxidized xylose, galactose, and N‐acetylglucosamine. Besides monosaccharides, GOOX‐VN oxidized xylo‐oligosaccharides, including xylobiose and xylotriose with similar catalytic efficiency as for cello‐oligosaccharides. Of three mutant enzymes that were created in GOOX‐VN to improve substrate specificity, Y300A and Y300N doubled kcat values for monosaccharide and oligosaccharide substrates. With this novel substrate specificity, GOOX‐VN and its variants are particularly valuable for oxidative modification of cello‐ and xylo‐oligosaccharides. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108: 2261–2269. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Sex differences in cognitive regulation of psychosocial achievement stress: Brain and behavior

Although cognitive regulation of emotion has been extensively examined, there is a lack of studies assessing cognitive regulation in stressful achievement situations. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in 23 females and 20 males to investigate cognitive downregulation of negative, stressful sensations during a frequently used psychosocial stress task. Additionally, subjective responses, cognitive regulation strategies, salivary cortisol, and skin conductance response were assessed. Subjective response supported the experimental manipulation by showing higher anger and negative affect ratings after stress regulation than after the mere exposure to stress. On a neural level, right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and right superior temporal gyrus (STG) were more strongly activated during regulation than nonregulation, whereas the hippocampus was less activated during regulation. Sex differences were evident: after regulation females expressed higher subjective stress ratings than males, and these ratings were associated with right hippocampal activation. In the nonregulation block, females showed greater activation of the left amygdala and the right STG during stress than males while males recruited the putamen more robustly in this condition. Thus, cognitive regulation of stressful achievement situations seems to induce additional stress, to recruit regions implicated in attention integration and working memory and to deactivate memory retrieval. Stress itself is associated with greater activation of limbic as well as attention areas in females than males. Additionally, activation of the memory system during cognitive regulation of stress is associated with greater perceived stress in females. Sex differences in cognitive regulation strategies merit further investigation that can guide sex sensitive interventions for stress‐associated disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1028–1042, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Importance of Characterizing Growth Trajectories

In the era of the obesity epidemic in children, characterizing childhood growth trajectories (weight, length/height, or body mass index/weight for length) is becoming essential for surveillance. Clinicians routinely use growth curves to identify abnormal growth trajectories. Clinical epidemiologists are interested in both the determinants of growth and the consequences of certain patterns of growth on later health and diseases. Characterizing growth trajectories is also helpful to predict future growth based on past growth and might be useful in the future to compare the impact of various interventions.
The purification and properties of p-cresol-(acceptor) oxidoreductase (hydroxylating), a flavocytochrome from Pseudomonas putida.

The enzyme that catalyses the hydroxylation of the methyl group of p-cresol was purified from Pseudomonas putida. It has mol.wt. 115000 and appears to contain two subunits of equal molecular weight. One subunit is a c-type cytochrome and the other is a flavoprotein. Reduction of the cytochrome occurred on addition of substrate. The same enzyme catalyses both p-cresol hydroxylation and the further oxidation of the product, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol. The stoicheiometry of acceptor reduced per molecule of substrate oxidized is that for two dehydrogenation reactions. The Km for p-cresol is 7.3 x 10(-6) M and that for 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol is 47.6 x 10(-6) M. The enzyme, which is assayed with phenazine methosulphate as electron acceptor, was stimulated by particulate material, which probably contains the acceptor in vivo.
Enhanced lifetime of methane bubble streams within the deep ocean

We have made direct comparisons of the dissolution and rise rates of methane and argon bubbles experimentally released in the ocean at depths from 440 to 830 m. The bubbles were injected from the ROV Ventana into a box open at the top and the bottom, and imaged by HDTV while in free motion. The vehicle was piloted upwards at the rise rate of the bubbles. Methane and argon show closely similar behavior at depths above the methane hydrate stability field. Below that boundary (∼520 m) markedly enhanced methane bubble lifetimes are observed, and are attributed to the formation of a hydrate skin. This effect greatly increases the ease with which methane gas released at depth, either by natural or industrial events, can penetrate the shallow ocean layers.
Root Development and Abiotic Stress Adaptation

As soon as plants became independent from homogeneous aquatic environments, root-like organs were developed. The interface between land and water bodies was probably the medium for the earliest land plants. Taking into account that those ancestral root-like organs did not face problems of water and nutrient acquisition, they were probably rather simple. As the earliest plants colonized this medium, the sandy substrate was replaced by heterogeneous soil, promoting more sophisticated vegetation and expanding the limits of land plant colonization. Therefore, to increase the efficiency of exploration of heterogeneous soil, during plant evolu‐ tion the ancestral root-like organ was replaced by a complex root system (RS) as the one we now know [1-3]. Land plants nowadays present a wide diversity of root system architectures (RSA; spatial configuration of the root system) among species, from non-branched to highly com‐ plex branching patterns, achieving the most effective performance regarding anchorage and the acquisition of water and nutrients. Each kind of RSA is guided by a genetically controlled postembrionary root developmental program (PERDP). This program is not rigid, and actually permits high phenotypic plasticity in response to stressing environmental conditions. PERDP is essentially driven by two cellular processes, cell division in the apical root meristem and new lateral meristems formed from the pericycle, and cell expansion performed in the root elonga‐ tion area. This particular characteristic permits plants, which are sessile organisms, to change their root architecture to adapt to abiotic stress [4-6]. Soils provide plants with water and nutrients; however, nutrients and water are distributed in a heterogeneous or patchy manner. In order to enhance nutrient capture, plant roots have modified their root architecture to explore those nutrient-rich zones. In the last two decades, progress has been made understanding the physiological, molecular and biochemical basis of how the PERDP could be modified by abiotic environmental cues [5, 7]. The aim of this chapter is to provide a review of how abiotic stress modulates post-embryonic plant root development. We will begin with a discussion of origin, anatomy, morphology and kinds of RS. Then, we will review recent advances in the knowl‐
Postnatal apoptosis, development, and sex difference in the lateral septum of rats

To determine whether apoptosis is involved in the formation of the structure and morphological sex difference of the lateral septum (LS), the postnatal developmental changes in the number of apoptotic cells were examined in the LS on postnatal day 1 (PD1 = birth day), 4, 6, 8, 11, 16, and 31 in male and female rats. Apoptotic cells were immunohistochemically detected by antibody against single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA) or active caspase‐3. The volume of the LS was also measured and was found to increase with age. The number of apoptotic cells detected by anti‐ssDNA in the LS increased from PD1 to PD8 but decreased after PD11. Also, the LS was divided into dorsal, intermediate, and ventral parts (LSd, LSi, and LSv), and the volume and number of ssDNA‐immunoreactive cells in each part were measured on PD6, 8, 11, 16, and 31. In both sexes, a large number of ssDNA‐immunoreactive cells was found in the LSd and LSi on PD8 (but not on PD6) and in the LSv on PD6 and PD8. On PD6, the number of active caspase‐3‐immunoreactive cells was significantly greater in the LSv than in the LSd or LSi, in both sexes. Only the LSi of males had a high number of ssDNA‐immunoreacitve cells on PD16; the number was significantly greater than that of females of the same age. However, there was no significant sex difference in the number of active caspase‐3‐immunoreacitve cells in the LSi on PD16. On PD31, the volume of the LSi was significantly greater in females than in males. There was no sex difference in volume or number of apoptotic cells in the LSd or LSv. These findings indicate that loss of cells due to apoptosis, which is partially caused by activation of caspase‐3, occurs in the LS during postnatal development, with regional differences. They also indicate that sex difference in caspase‐3‐independent apoptosis contributes to morphological sexual differentiation of the LSi. J. Comp. Neurol. 475:177–187, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Managing Information in Online Product Review Communities: Two Approaches

Virtual communities often suffer from a number of problems, including questionable information quality and information overload, which threaten their utility and stability. To address this, social filtering techniques may be used, in which users rate the postings, guiding others to the important ones. This method is contrasted to information retrieval techniques, in which intrinsic properties of texts, such as length or keywords, are used to rank them by perceived relevance to a topic. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. Social navigation assumes that users actively rate messages, however, soliciting sufficient participation is a known challenge. Additionally, what is interesting for one user may not be for others. Currently, we compare these approaches in the context of an e-commerce product review forum at Amazon.com. We find that while a significant proportion of reviews go unrated, these reviews are typically of low quality. Interestingly, we also find that the rankings produced using reader-assigned “helpful votes” are correlated to the rankings assigned by some simple information retrieval algorithms. The conclusion is that a number of approaches for filtering product reviews could effectively be used in such online communities in order to accommodate user preferences, and thus, in reinforcing the utility of the community.
Proposed Diagnostic Criteria of Internet Addiction for Adolescents

The aims of the present study were to develop diagnostic criteria of Internet addiction for adolescents and to examine the discriminating potential and validity of diagnostic criteria by an empirical community study among adolescent populations. We developed 13 candidate diagnostic criteria for characteristic symptoms of Internet addiction in adolescents. A total of 468 adolescents completed the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and were systematically assessed for Internet-using behaviors by seven psychiatrists using the diagnostic interview schedule. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of the 13 candidate diagnostic criteria were analyzed with references to the interviewers’ global clinical impressions and CIAS results. The cutoff point of the diagnostic criteria to differentiate the Internet-addicted subjects with nonaddicted ones was then determined by the best diagnostic accuracy and the receiver operating characteristic curve. This study selected nine of the 13 candidate diagnostic criteria to construct the diagnostic criteria of Internet addiction for adolescents, which were composed of three main criteria: characteristic symptoms of Internet addiction, functional impairment secondary to Internet use, and exclusive criteria. The diagnostic criteria had high diagnostic accuracy, specificity, negative predictive value, accepted sensitivity, and accepted positive predictive rate. The validity of the diagnostic criteria proposed in this study was further confirmed by comparing the demographic and Internet-using characteristics between those with and without Internet addiction. The diagnostic criteria for Internet addiction can provide health care professionals with a means to communicate and make comparisons of clinical cases.
Changes in motility, gene expression and actin dynamics: Cdk6‐induced cytoskeletal changes associated with differentiation in mouse astrocytes

Cyclin dependent kinase (cdk) 4 and cdk6 have historically been understood to be D‐cyclin kinases that phosphorylate pRb in the nucleus to regulate G1 phase of the cell cycle. In conflict with this understood redundancy are several studies that have demonstrated a novel role for cdk6 in differentiation. Cdk6 expression must be reduced to allow proper osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation, enforced cdk6 expression blocked differentiation of mouse embryo fibroblasts, and cdk6 expression in primary astrocytes favored the expression of progenitor cell markers (Ericson et al. [2003] Mol Cancer Res 1:654–664; Matushansky et al. [2003] Oncogene 22:4143–4149; Ogasawara et al. [2004a] J Bone Miner Res 19:1128–1136; Ogasawara et al. [2004b] Mol Cell Biol 24:6560–6568). Experiments shown here investigate novel cytoplasmic and nuclear functions of cdk6. These data demonstrate that cdk6 expression in mouse astrocytes results in changes in patterns of gene expression, changes in the actin cytoskeleton including loss of stress fibers, and enhanced motility. These changes in cdk6‐infected cells are associated with the process of cellular differentiation. J. Cell. Biochem. 99: 635–646, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.