Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The phosphatase inhibitor Sds23 regulates cell division symmetry in fission yeast

Animal and fungal cells divide through the assembly, anchoring, and constriction of a contractile actomyosin ring (CAR) during cytokinesis. The timing and position of the CAR must be tightly controlled to prevent defects in cell division, but many of the underlying signaling events remain unknown. The conserved heterotrimeric protein phosphatase PP2A controls the timing of events in mitosis, and upstream pathways including Greatwall-Ensa regulate PP2A activity. A role for PP2A in CAR regulation has been less clear, although loss of PP2A in yeast causes defects in cytokinesis. Here, we report that Sds23, an inhibitor of PP2A family protein phosphatases, promotes the symmetric division of fission yeast cells through spatial control of cytokinesis. We found that sds23Δ cells divide asymmetrically due to misplaced CAR assembly, followed by sliding of the CAR away from its assembly site. These mutant cells exhibit delayed recruitment of putative CAR anchoring proteins including the glucan synthase Bgs1. Our observations likely reflect a broader role for regulation of PP2A in cell polarity and cytokinesis because sds23Δ phenotypes were exacerbated when combined with mutations in the fission yeast Ensa homolog, Igo1. These results identify the PP2A regulatory network as a critical component in the signaling pathways coordinating cytokinesis.
A current-mode spiking neural classifier with lumped dendritic nonlinearity

We present the current mode implementation of a spiking neural classifier with lumped square law dendritic nonlinearity. It has been shown earlier that such a system with binary synapses can be trained with structural plasticity algorithms to achieve comparable classification accuracy with less synaptic resources than conventional algorithms. Hence, in our address event based implementation, we save 2-12X memory resources in storing connectivity information. The chip fabricated in 0. 35μm CMOS has 8 dendrites per cell and uses two opposing cells per class to cancel common mode inputs. Preliminary results show the chip is functional and dissipates 30nW of static power per neuronal cell and 422pJ/spike.
Tear Film Osmolarity Measurements in Dry Eye Disease Using Electrical Impedance Technology

Purpose: Tear film hyperosmolarity is recognized as an important pathogenetic factor in dry eye syndrome, but difficulties in its measurement have limited its utility in the recent past. This prospective, nonrandomized, clinical single-center study investigates the osmolarity in tear samples of patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca compared with healthy controls. Methods: One hundred thirty-three patients [aged 58 years (51–64 years), 86 women and 47 men] with moderate to severe keratoconjunctivitis sicca and 95 controls [aged 52 years (48–61 years), 55 women and 40 men] were enrolled in the trial. Tear samples were collected directly from the inferior lateral tear meniscus. Inclusion criteria were a tear breakup time of less than 5 seconds, a Schirmer test with anesthesia less than 5 mm, and positive symptoms (Ocular Surface Disease Index score > 83). Tear film osmolarity was analyzed by the TearLab osmometer. Results: In our study, patients with moderate to severe keratoconjunctivitis sicca showed a tear film osmolarity of 320 mOsmol/L (301–324 mOsmol/L). The results of the control group were 301 mOsmol/L (298–304 mOsmol/L). Our results revealed a significantly higher tear film osmolarity in patients with moderate to severe keratoconjunctivitis sicca compared with the control group. The sensitivity was 87%, and the specificity was 81%. Conclusions: Our results approved the referent value in moderate to severe dry eye of approximately 316 mOsmol/L, as described in the literature. The results showed a significantly higher tear film osmolarity in patients with severe keratoconjunctivitis sicca compared with the healthy controls. Testing tear film osmolarity can be a very effective objective diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of dry eye disease.
Chemoattraction of Vibrio fischeri to Serine, Nucleosides, and N-Acetylneuraminic Acid, a Component of Squid Light-Organ Mucus

ABSTRACT Newlyhatched juveniles of the Hawaiian squid Euprymna scolopes rapidly become colonized by the bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Motility is required to establish the symbiotic colonization, but the role of chemotaxis is unknown. In this study we analyzed chemotaxis of V. fischeri to a number of potential attractants. The bacterium migrated toward serine and most sugars tested. V. fischeri also exhibited the unusual ability to migrate to nucleosides and nucleotides as well as to N-acetylneuraminic acid, a component of squid mucus.
Comparative Susceptibility of European Corn Borer, Southwestern Corn Borer, and Sugarcane Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) to Cry1Ab Protein in a Commercial Bacillus thuringiensis Corn Hybrid

Abstract One field strain each of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner); southwestern corn borer, Diatraea grandiosella Dyar; and sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.); were collected from cornfields in northeastern Louisiana. Susceptibilities of the field strain and a corresponding laboratory strain of the three borer species to Cry1Ab protein in DK69-70 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn hybrid were determined by exposing neonates to intact leaf tissues from whorl stage plants or by feeding neonates or third instars on a meridic diet treated with different concentrations of Cry1Ab protein extracted from Bt corn leaves. Mortality and growth of larvae were evaluated after 2 and 4 d posttreatment in the bioassays by using intact leaf tissues or after 7 d in the bioassays by using diet incorporating Cry1Ab protein. D. saccharalis was the least susceptible species to Cry1Ab protein among the three species, followed by D. grandiosella, whereas O. nubilalis was most susceptible. The 2-d mortality of D. saccharalis neonates on intact Bt leaf tissues was lower than that of O. nubilalis and D. grandiosella. All neonates of O. nubilalis were killed on the diet treated with Cry1Ab protein at 0.5 and 1 mg/kg. The mortality of D. grandiosella was >75% at 1 mg/kg, but it was <6% for D. saccharalis at 1 mg/kg. The LC50 values of D. saccharalis were 3- and 11-fold higher than those of D. grandiosella and O. nubilalis, respectively. The LC90 values of D. saccharalis were 8- and 32-fold higher than those of D. grandiosella and O. nubilalis, respectively. Larval growth of the three species on Cry1Ab-treated diet was inhibited, but the inhibition was greater for O. nubilalis and D. grandiosella than for D. saccharalis. The lower susceptibility of D. saccharalis to Cry1Ab protein suggests that it is necessary to verify if a high-dose Bt corn for O. nubilalis and D. grandiosella is also a high dose for D. saccharalis.
Insulin Resistance Predicts Atherogenic Lipoprotein Profile in Nondiabetic Subjects

Background Atherogenic diabetes is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk and mortality in diabetic individuals; however, the impact of insulin resistance (IR) in lipid metabolism in preclinical stages is generally underreported. For that, we evaluated the capacity of IR to predict an atherogenic lipid subfraction profile. Methods Complete clinical evaluation and biochemical analysis (lipid, glucose profile, LDL, and HDL subfractions and LDL phenotype and size) were performed in 181 patients. The impact of IR as a predictor of atherogenic lipoproteins was tested by logistic regression analysis in raw and adjusted models. Results HDL-C and Apo AI were significantly lower in individuals with IR. Individuals with IR had a higher percentage of small HDL particles, lower percentage in the larger ones, and reduced frequency of phenotype A (IR = 62%; non-IR = 83%). IR individuals had reduced probability to have large HDL (OR = 0.213; CI = 0.999–0.457) and had twice more chances to show increased small HDL (OR = 2.486; CI = 1.341–7.051). IR was a significant predictor of small LDL (OR = 3.075; CI = 1.341–7.051) and atherogenic phenotype (OR = 3.176; CI = 1.469–6.867). Conclusion IR, previously DM2 diagnosis, is a strong predictor of quantitative and qualitative features of lipoproteins directly associated with an increased atherogenic risk.
Using role play for collecting question-answer pairs for dialogue agents

Chatbot-like dialogue agents typically use character-anchored question-answer pairs for response generation. However, creating such pairs requires manual effort and is very costly. We propose using role play to efﬁciently collect such character-anchored question-answer pairs. In our role-play-based scheme, users play the roles of certain characters and respond to questions. Since multiple users can play the role of the same character, questions addressed to one character can be quickly answered by any of the role-players of that character. This leads to the efﬁcient collection of character-anchored question-answer pairs. In addition, role play has a certain entertaining nature, which could encourage the active participation of users. From the analysis of a trial run of a website based on our scheme, we found that users were highly motivated to provide data and that appropriate question-answer pairs were collected, which suggests the effectiveness of role play for dialogue data collection.
A clinical isolate of Leishmania donovani with ITS1 sequence polymorphism as a cause of para‐kala‐azar dermal leishmaniasis in an Ethiopian human immunodeficiency virus‐positive patient on highly active antiretroviral therapy

The diagnosis of para‐kala‐azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL/VL), either as an immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS)‐associated syndrome or as a complication of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) during human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co‐infection in patients with or without highly active antiretroviral therapy, represents a challenge for prompt treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the causative Leishmania species and to clarify whether the post‐kala‐azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL)‐like lesions appeared as a result of IRIS or not. A 31‐year‐old Ethiopian male patient, with stage IV HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), was clinically diagnosed with PKDL/VL. He had developed a generalized maculopapular rash on his face after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy. The Leishmania isolate obtained from the skin lesions was analysed by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR‐RFLP) and sequencing of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and partial coding sequences of the heat shock protein 70 gene (hsp70). Restriction analysis of the ITS1 PCR product gave a unique RFLP pattern not seen before for any Leishmania isolate. Sequencing of both the ITS1 and hsp70 PCR products identified the causative species as Leishmania donovani, and further revealed the existence of five different sequence variants of the ITS1 among the 10 clones sequenced. The results indicate that PKDL/VL resulted from an infection by L. donovani. The sequence variants of ITS1 might be due to the presence of multiple strains/clones or the existence of intragenomic variations in the multicopy ITS1, or a combination of both.
Physicochemical Composition, Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Sour Cherry cv. Marasca During Ripening

Summary Sour cherry cv. Marasca is Dalmatian cultivar from XVI century. Cultivation is limited on the north and central part of Dalmatia and on the part of the islands, where it achieves the best quality of fruit, high content of dry matter and sugar respectively, agreeable aroma and intense color. Sour cherry cv. Marasca is source of biologically active ingredients, organic and inorganic compounds, dietary fi bers, aromatic compounds and high content of phenolic compounds, particularly anthocyanins and hormone melatonin. Many epidemiological studies showed that phenolic compounds have antioxidant and anti-infl ammatory properties, and they have benefi cial eff ect on human health. Marasca is rich with mentioned compounds. Physicochemical composition (total and soluble dry matter, pH value, total acidity) during ripening of cv. Marasca ecotype Recta (Cerasus marasca recta) grown in Zadar and Split area were determined. Total and soluble dry matter increased and pH value and total acidity showed little change during ripening. Th e content of phenolic compounds increased during ripening as well as content of anthocyanins, while antioxidant activity decreased with ripening. Th at indicates there was no correlation between antioxidant activity and content of total phenolic compounds.
Construction of language models for an handwritten mail reading system

This paper presents a system for the recognition of unconstrained handwritten mails. The main part of this system is an HMM recognizer which uses trigraphs to model contextual information. This recognition system does not require any segmentation into words or characters and directly works at line level. To take into account linguistic information and enhance performance, a language model is introduced. This language model is based on bigrams and built from training document transcriptions only. Different experiments with various vocabulary sizes and language models have been conducted. Word Error Rate and Perplexity values are compared to show the interest of specific language models, fit to handwritten mail recognition task.
Microbiological quality of colonial cheese sold in Porto Alegre-RS

Colonial cheese is a traditional dairy product in southern Brazil and is commonly purchased by the citizens of Porto Alegre. However, there is still a lack of technical regulation of colonial cheese, and there is little information about the microbiological quality of this product at the retail level. Thus, the objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate compliance with the legal microbiological standards of colonial cheese sampled from street fairs and the central market of the city of Porto Alegre; (ii) statistically test the hypothesis of an association between noncompliance with the standards and local purchasing (street fairs or central market); (iii) estimate the number of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in the positive samples; and (iv) characterize the L. monocytogenes strains by serotyping and macrorestriction (PFGE). For this purpose, 205 cheese samples belonging to 17 different brands were analyzed. The microbiological analyses were conducted according to ISO standardized protocols for the detection of L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. or by enumeration of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus and coliforms at 45°C. Among the samples, 47.31% did not comply with at least one of the microbiological standards established by the Brazilian legislation and were thus unsuitable for human consumption. Regarding the coliforms at 45ºC and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus, 10.73% and 40.48% of the samples presented higher counts than the legal parameter, respectively. There was no association between the frequency of samples with coagulase-positive Staphylococcus counts above the legal parameter and local of purchasing; however, the commercial brand influenced the frequency of unsuitable samples. This may indicate failures of hygiene during cheese production. Salmonella spp. were not detected. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from 2.9% of the samples. The estimated average populations of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes were low in the positive cheese samples at -3.3 log CFU g? 1 and -2.26 log CFU g? ¹, respectively. The strains of L. monocytogenes belonged to serovars 1/2a, 1/2b and 1/2c and could be grouped into five pulsotypes with no evident epidemiological relation among them. The results demonstrate the need to improve the hygiene procedures during colonial cheese production and to strengthen monitoring at the dairy plants and retail levels.
The mean shift algorithm and the unified framework

This paper considers two classes of algorithms for the representation of data points using centroids: the unified framework and the mean shift algorithm. The relationship between both approaches is presented showing that the mean shift algorithm fits within the unified framework being equivalent to snake with Cohen potential. However it does not use competitive learning as the other methods considered in the unified framework. The advantages of both types of techniques are exemplified through examples.
Attachment Style in College Students : Family Origins and Mental Health Correlates

The ability of humans to form meaningful relationships with others is an essential aspect of our everyday lives. The relationships and bonds that form between family members and with peers is a common source of both happiness and support. This paper will provide a review of attachment theory, propose a method for measuring and categorizing various styles of attachment and attachment behaviors, and consider family factors that influence attachment style, and the mental health correlates that are related to an individual’s attachment style.
Leader-following consensus of parameter-dependent networks via distributed gain-scheduling control

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the problem of leader-following consensus control of multi-agent systems subject to time-varying parameters and local, external disturbances. The agent dynamics are considered to be heterogeneous and represented in the form of parameter-dependent linear fractional transformation (LFT). A novel distributed gain-scheduling control protocol is proposed, which consists of a distributed observer and a gain-scheduling LFT output-feedback controller. No plant state/output information but the local observer's estimation state is required to share among neighbouring agents. Under this new distributed control scheme, the overall network consensus with optimal disturbance attenuation performance can be achieved effectively by solving a set of independent convex optimisation problems. Simulation studies on synchronisation of multiple electrical circuit systems have been conducted to demonstrate the proposed approach.
Integrating drivers influencing the detection of plant pests carried in the international cut flower trade

This paper analyses the cut flower market as an example of an invasion pathway along which species of non-indigenous plant pests can travel to reach new areas. The paper examines the probability of pest detection by assessing information on pest detection and detection effort associated with the import of cut flowers. We test the link between the probability of plant pest arrivals, as a precursor to potential invasion, and volume of traded flowers using count data regression models. The analysis is applied to the UK import of specific genera of cut flowers from Kenya between 1996 and 2004. There is a link between pest detection and the Genus of cut flower imported. Hence, pest detection efforts should focus on identifying and targeting those imported plants with a high risk of carrying pest species. For most of the plants studied, efforts allocated to inspection have a significant influence on the probability of pest detection. However, by better targeting inspection efforts, it is shown that plant inspection effort could be reduced without increasing the risk of pest entry. Similarly, for most of the plants analysed, an increase in volume traded will not necessarily lead to an increase in the number of pests entering the UK. For some species, such as Carthamus and Veronica, the volume of flowers traded has a significant and positive impact on the likelihood of pest detection. We conclude that analysis at the rank of plant Genus is important both to understand the effectiveness of plant pest detection efforts and consequently to manage the risk of introduction of non-indigenous species. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cytokine induction during T-cell-mediated clearance of mouse hepatitis virus from neurons in vivo

To investigate the mechanism by which viruses are cleared from neurons in the central nervous system, we have utilized a mouse model involving infection with a neurotropic variant of mouse hepatitis virus (OBLV60). After intranasal inoculation, OBLV60 grew preferentially in the olfactory bulbs of BALB/c mice. Using in situ hybridization, we found that viral RNA localized primarily in the outer layers of the olfactory bulb, including neurons of the mitral cell layer. Virus was cleared rapidly from the olfactory bulb between 5 and 11 days. Athymic nude mice failed to eliminate the virus, demonstrating a requirement for T lymphocytes. Immunosuppression of normal mice with cyclophosphamide also prevented clearance. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subsets were important, as depletion of either of these subsets delayed viral clearance. Gliosis and infiltrates of CD4+ and CD8+ cells were detected by immunohistochemical analysis at 6 days. The role of cytokines in clearance was investigated by using an RNase protection assay for interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), TNF-beta, and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma). In immunocompetent mice there was upregulation of RNA for IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma at the time of clearance. Nude mice had comparable increases in these cytokine messages, with the exception of IFN-gamma. Induction of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) molecules on cells in infected brains was demonstrated by immunohistochemical analyses in normal and nude mice, suggesting that IFN-gamma may not be necessary for induction of MHC-I on neural cells in vivo.
Systolic versus diastolic blood pressure and risk of coronary heart disease. The Framingham study.

Abstract A comparison of the contribution of systolic versus diastolic blood pressure to risk of coronary heart disease and the role of mean arterial pulse pressure and systolic lability have been examined prospectively in 5,127 men and women during 14 years of biennial follow-up studies. Similar gradients of risk of subsequent coronary heart disease were observed whether persons were classified by their systolic or diastolic pressure, and no “safe” or critical level could be identified. Assessment of the net effect of each, employing discriminant analysis, indicated a stronger association of systolic than diastolic pressure with risk of coronary heart disease. Neither the systolic and diastolic pressure measurements in combination nor the pulse pressure and the mean arterial pressure measurements alone discriminated better than the systolic measurement alone. Systolic lability did not predict incidence of coronary heart disease independently of the associated level of blood pressure. There was a trend of declining relative importance of diastolic and a corresponding increase in the importance of systolic pressure with advancing age. Only in those under 45 was diastolic pressure predominant. The level of casually obtained blood pressure was a good predictor of coronary heart disease. The current practice of assessing the importance of blood pressure at all ages largely on the basis of diastolic pressure and the commonly held view concerning the innocuous nature of an elevated level of systolic pressure in the elderly requires reevaluation.