Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developmental Validation of Reduced‐Size STR Miniplex Primer Sets *

Abstract: This paper describes a developmental validation study of three Miniplex sets covering 12 of the 13 CODIS loci. As these new sets will be used for the analysis of degraded and low level DNA, the validation studies were performed using 100–125 pg of DNA, the lowest input level at which peak balance, peak intensity, and allele consistency were stable. To demonstrate the applicability of the Miniplex sets to forensic casework, these validation studies were completed in accordance with the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM). A range of tests were performed including studies of concordance with standard multiplex kits, sensitivity and reproducibility, and PCR amplification conditions. Additionally, studies of mixtures, nonhuman and environmentally degraded DNA, and simulated forensic samples were performed. Our results demonstrate that Miniplex STR amplification procedures are a robust and sensitive tool for the analysis of degraded DNA.
Voltage‐gated K channels support proliferation of colonic carcinoma cells

Plasma membrane potassium (K+) channels are required for cell proliferation. Evidence is growing that K+ channels play a central role in the development and growth of human cancer. Here we examine the contribution and the mechanism by which K+ channels control proliferation of T84 human colonic carcinoma cells. Numerous K+ channels are expressed in T84 cells, but only voltage‐gated K+ (Kv) channels influenced proliferation. A number of Kv channel inhibitors reduced DNA synthesis and cell number, without exerting apoptotic or toxic effects. Expression of several Kv channels, such as EagI, Kv 3.4 and Kv 1.5, was detected in patch clamp experiments and in fluorescence‐based assays using a voltage sensitive dye. The contribution of EagI channels to proliferation was confirmed by siRNA, which abolished EagI activity and inhibited cell growth. Inhibition of Kv channels did not interfere with the ability of T84 cells to regulate their cell vol, but it restricted intracellular pH regulation. In addition, inhibitors of Kv channels, as well as siRNA for EagI, attenuated intracellular Ca2+ signaling. The data suggest that Kv channels control proliferation of colonic cancer cells by affecting intracellular pH and Ca2+ signaling. Spitzner, M. , Ousingsawat, J., Scheidt, K. , Kunzelmann, K. , Schreiber, R. Voltage‐gated K+ channels support proliferation of colonic carcinoma cells. FASEB J. 21, 35–44 (2007)
An Integrated saliency detection model based on weighted global entropy

Visual saliency detection plays an important role in computer vision applications. This paper proposes an integrated saliency detection model based on weighted global entropy. Firstly, in the calculation of element saliency, new definitions of element uniqueness and compactness with logarithmic responses are proposed, which can reduce the detection model's sensitivity to object interior textures and ensure the completeness of the detected salient object. Then, a nonlinear fusion method based on weighted global entropy is proposed and applied to combine the saliency maps that are separately calculated in multi-scale Lab and RGB color spaces. Lastly, the proposed saliency detection model is compared with 12 state-of-the-art methods on a publicly available dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that our model can improve the precision, maintain a higher recall ratio, and produce saliency maps closer to human-labelled salient regions.
The pH of Activation of the Hemagglutinin Protein Regulates H5N1 Influenza Virus Pathogenicity and Transmissibility in Ducks

ABSTRACT While the molecular mechanism of membrane fusion by the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) protein has been studied extensively in vitro, the role of acid-dependent HA protein activation in virus replication, pathogenesis, and transmission in vivo has not been characterized. To investigate the biological significance of the pH of activation of the HA protein, we compared the properties of four recombinant viruses with altered HA protein acid stability to those of wild-type influenza virus A/chicken/Vietnam/C58/04 (H5N1) in vitro and in mallards. Membrane fusion by wild-type virus was activated at pH 5.9. Wild-type virus had a calculated environmental persistence of 62 days and caused extensive morbidity, mortality, shedding, and transmission in mallards. An N114K mutation that increased the pH of HA activation by 0.5 unit resulted in decreased replication, genetic stability, and environmental stability. Changes of +0.4 and −0.5 unit in the pH of activation by Y23H and K58I mutations, respectively, reduced weight loss, mortality, shedding, and transmission in mallards. An H24Q mutation that decreased the pH of activation by 0.3 unit resulted in weight loss, mortality, clinical symptoms, and shedding similar to those of the wild type. However, the HA-H241Q virus was shed more extensively into drinking water and persisted longer in the environment. The pH of activation of the H5 HA protein plays a key role in the propagation of H5N1 influenza viruses in ducks and may be a novel molecular factor in the ecology of influenza viruses. The data also demonstrate that H5N1 neuraminidase activity increases the pH of activation of the HA protein in vitro.
Digital primary-side sensing and PFC control of a flyback converter

Primary-side sensing (PSS) technique can be used for the output voltage or current regulation of a flyback converter by employing an auxiliary winding for the indirect detection of output voltage and conduction period of the output rectifier diode. However, errors in the estimation of output voltage or current may be induced by the voltage drop of the secondary diode, secondary leakage inductance, secondary winding resistance, and measurement error due to limited bandwidth of the sensing circuits. In this paper, a sampling instant modulation technique is developed to reduce the sensing error in primary-side sensing of flyback converters. This new PSS sampling technique is then implemented for the power factor correction (PFC) of a flyback converter. A multi-mode control strategy can improve sampling accuracy at the zero-crossing of the rectified input voltage. Experimental results are shown to verify the feasibility of PSS technique realized with digital control technique.
Physical Activity and Cardiac Protection

Epidemiologic data clearly show that men and women with higher levels of physical activity have lower rates of cardiovascular disease. While the precise biologic mechanisms for this relation have not been elucidated completely, several plausible mechanisms involving traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors have been described. In line with the 2008 federal guidelines for physical activity, the available evidence indicates that 150 min·wk−1 of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or the equivalent in vigorous, or moderate plus vigorous activities, is sufficient to reduce risk. There is a dose-response relation in that additional amounts of physical activity exceeding this level are associated with additional reductions in cardiovascular disease risk, supporting the 2008 federal guidelines, which further recommend 300 min·wk−1 of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or the equivalent in vigorous, or moderate plus vigorous activities, for additional health benefits. Among patients with established coronary artery disease, physical activity also reduces all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates.
Mutually exclusive apicobasolateral sorting of two oligodendroglial membrane proteins, proteolipid protein and myelin/oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, in Madin‐Darby canine kidney cells

Oligodendrocytes elaborate an extensive membrane network that ensheathes CNS axons in multilamellar wrappings. A compaction process excludes much of the cytoplasm in mature myelin membranes, giving rise to distinct lipid/protein compositions in two membrane compartments (compact myelin and membranes of the cell body and processes). Insofar as oligodendrocytes arise from neuroepithelial progenitors, it seems likely that some elements are shared for protein targeting by these two cell types. We hypothesized that certain membrane proteins targeting different oligodendroglial membrane compartments would preferentially sort to opposite domains when transfected into Madin‐Darby canine kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells. Myelin/oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is found in uncompacted membrane (cell body, processes), and it sorts exclusively to MDCK basolateral membrane. Proteolipid protein (PLP) is found in compact myelin, and it sorts exclusively to MDCK apical membrane. Myelin‐associated glycoprotein (MAG) is primarily in the periaxonal inner loop of myelin; however, it fails to target preferentially within MDCK cells. This inability of MAG to sort within MDCK cells suggests a lack of required oligodendroglial‐specific targeting components. In contrast, the sorting machinery in both oligodendrocytes and MDCK cells recognizes targeting signals for MOG and PLP, and we propose that these oligodendroglial membrane proteins delineate cognate basolateral and apical domains, respectively. J Neurosci. Res. 66:1140–1148, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Malignant tumors of the nose and paranasal sinuses.

• The growth of malignant tumors in the region of the nose and paranasal sinuses is insidious. The patient in whom symptoms occur early has a surprisingly good outlook, because vigorous combined surgical and radiologic treatment can be started early. Other patients may not have symptoms until the growth is far advanced. The microscopic classification of these tumors is unsatisfactory. The rapid advances of surgery, however, make it possible to operate much more effectively and safely than ever before, with a wide exposure and with due regard to the subsequent rehabilitation of the patient. Radiotherapeutic techniques have improved. Teletherapy permits homogeneous irradiation of large masses when that is desired. The use of molds for the central positioning of radium in cavities avoids the unevenness of irradiation ordinarily caused by the rapid fall-off in dose from contact radium. External radiation is used not only for inoperable lesions but also- as the sole method of therapy for patients who have lymphoma and lymphoepithelioma. The five-year survival rates for malignant tumors in this region, as reported by various contemporary groups, range from 10% to 23%.
Dimensions of intonation. Wiktor Jassem’s contribution to the studies on the melody of speech

Abstract Intonation is often considered the most problematic component of prosody. It may largely contribute to the meaning of an utterance and provide rich indexical information. The complexity of the intonationrelated phenomena, from the acoustic level up to the cognitive process of semiosis, resulted in a variety of conceptualisations and divergent theoretical approaches. In the present text, an attempt is made to sketch the late Wiktor Jassem’s contribution to intonation studies, starting from his early work on colloquial British English to the studies focused on the Polish language as well as his general perspective on prosody and on the methods of its exploration. Some of his unpublished contribution to research projects on various aspects of prosody is also acknowledged. The present overview is based both on available written materials (publications, references, reports, reviews) and the author’s personal communication with Wiktor Jassem and his collaborators.
Speech Perception in Classroom Acoustics by Children With Cochlear Implants and With Typical Hearing.

PURPOSE This study measured speech perception ability in children with cochlear implants and children with typical hearing when listening across ranges of reverberation times (RTs) and speech-to-noise ratios. METHOD Participants listened in classroom RTs of 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 s combined with a 21-dB range of speech-to-noise ratios. Subsets also listened in a low-reverberant audiological sound booth. Performance measures using the Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech-in-Noise Test (Etymotic Research, Inc., 2005) were 50% correct word recognition across these acoustic conditions, with supplementary analyses of percent correct. RESULTS Reduction in RT from 0.9 to 0.6 s benefited both groups of children. A further reduction in RT to 0.3 s provided additional benefit to the children with cochlear implants, with no further benefit or harm to those with typical hearing. Scores in the sound booth were significantly higher for the participants with implants than in the classroom. CONCLUSIONS These results support the acoustic standards of 0.6 s RT for children with typical hearing and 0.3 s RT for children with auditory issues in learning spaces (≤283 m3) as specified in standards S12.60-2010/Part 1 of the American National Standards Institute /Acoustical Society of America (2010). In addition, speech perception testing in a low-reverberant booth overestimated classroom listening ability in children with cochlear implants.
Degenerate PCR method for identification of an antiapoptotic gene in BHV‐1

To investigate on the hypothetical presence of an antiapoptotic gene, we utilized the CODEHOP (COnsensus‐DEgenerate Hybrid Oligonucleotide Primers) strategy amplifying unknown sequences from a background of genomic (bovine herpesvirus type‐1) BHV‐1 DNA. An alignment of carboxyl‐terminal domains belonging to three proteins encoded by γ34. 5, MyD116 and GADD34 genes, was carried out to design degenerate PCR primers in highly conserved regions. This allowed the amplification of a 110 bp fragment. This fragment was subjected to automatic sequencing and DNA sequence analysis revealed that its position resided between the nt 14363 and the nt 14438 in bovine herpesvirus type‐1 (BHV‐1) Cooper strain sharing an identity of 86% (UL14). Transient transfections showed that UL14 protein is efficient in protecting MDBK and K562 cells from sorbitol induced apoptosis. The protein's anti‐apoptotic function may derive from its heat shock protein‐like properties. J. Cell. Biochem. 97: 813–823, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Osteomorphological Features of the Appendicular Skeleton of Gazelles, Genus Gazella Blainville 1816, Bohor Reedbuck, Redunca redunca (Pallas, 1767) and Bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus (Pallas, 1766)

Examined the osteomorphological features of the appendicular skeleton of Grant's gazelle (Gazella granti), bohor reedbuck (Redunca redunca) and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). Osseous remains of these medium sized antelopes are often encountered in African late Quaternary archaeological sites, but their specific identification poses considerable problems to the archaeozoologist.
Domain-representability of certain complete spaces

We show that three major classes of spaces are domain-representable, namely: (1) subcompact T3-spaces, (2) complete quasi-developable spaces, and (3) T1-spaces that are strongly a-favorable (with stationary strategies) that either have a Gd-diagonal or else that have a base of countable order.
Isatin‐binding proteins of rat and mouse brain: Proteomic identification and optical biosensor validation

Isatin (indole‐2,3‐dione) is an endogenous indole that has a distinct and discontinuous distribution in the brain and in other mammalian tissues and body fluids. Its output is increased under conditions of stress and anxiety. Isatin itself and its analogues exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities but its specific biological targets still are not well characterized. Affinity chromatography of Triton X‐100 lysates of soluble and particulate fractions of mouse and rat whole brain homogenates on 5‐aminocaproyl‐isatin‐Sepharose followed by subsequent proteomic analysis resulted in identification of 65 and 64 individual proteins, respectively. Isatin‐binding capacity of some of the identified proteins has been validated in an optical biosensor study using a Biacore 3000 optical biosensor, 5‐aminocarproyl‐isatin, and 5‐aminoisatin as the affinity ligands. The Kd values (of 0.1–20 μM) obtained during the optical biosensor experiments were consistent with the range of Kd values recently reported for [3H]isatin binding to brain sections. Although the number of isatin‐binding proteins identified in the mouse and rat brain was similar, only 21 proteins (about one‐third) were identical in the two species. This may be one reason for the differences in isatin effects in rats and mice reported in the literature.
A TAO-based adaptive middleware for pervasive computing

Pervasive computing environments are open, dynamic and heterogeneous. For the above, this paper proposes an adaptive middleware named PAmiddleware. PAmiddleware is service-oriented, context adaptive, and supported by QoS. The architecture of PAmiddleware is based on TAO which is a standards-based, CORBA middleware framework. This paper presents a model for context awareness to allow the adaption, and gives a method of context description for context resource. It also proposes an adaptive strategy which uses a genetic algorithm for optimization. Keywords-pervasive computing; middleware; components; context awareness; adaptive
Design and Fabrication of HTS Coils for a Vector Magnet

We are developing a high-Tc superconducting vector magnet for use in solid-state physics apparatus. The vector magnet features are (a) 1 T peak and two-dimensional magnetic field vector controllable (b) comprising four split magnet units enabling free access in three directions to a sample space (c) cryogen-free conduction-cooled magnet. To obtain a vector controllable magnetic field as high as 1 T using a compact magnet, we adopted a tapered design for split magnet units. We fabricated a test magnet unit with YBCO tape conductors and examined its basic performance. The magnet unit generated the rated magnetic field. This paper describes the vector magnet design, fabrication procedures, and the magnet unit test results.
Implicit and Explicit Model-Based Signal Processing for the Analysis of Short-Term Cardiovascular Interactions

The paper stresses the importance of model-based signal processing in the analysis of the cardiovascular regulation mechanisms. It is remarked that even traditional signal processing implicitly assumes a model and interprets data according to it. Therefore, traditional signal processing is here referred to as implicit model-based signal processing in contrast with explicit model-based signal processing directly stemming from modeling considerations. The paper points out the advantages that can be achieved by rendering explicit the underlying model structure when it is implicit and by jointly applying implicit and explicit model-based signal processing approaches when dealing with complex, interacting,closed-loop biomedical systems. These advantages are rendered practical over several examples derived from the study of the short-term cardiovascular regulation performed by the autonomic nervous system.
Robust quantification of short echo time 1H magnetic resonance spectra using the Padé approximant

Accurate quantification of in vivo short echo time spectra is hampered by the presence of overlapping peaks and a significant baseline. In this work the Padé approximant in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulation is used to extract peak areas from short echo time 1H spectra. We exploit the fact that the Padé approximant is known to model broad non‐Lorentzian signals as arbitrary sums of Lorentzian components to separate baseline components from sharper metabolite signals by combining the Padé approximant with Monte Carlo simulation. The simulation results demonstrate that the Padé approximant–Monte Carlo hybrid analysis is able to separate the metabolite signals from the baseline, while a least squares fitting of a time domain model may result in significant bias of the peak area estimations. For the in vivo data the estimates of the peak areas using the Padé approximant and AMARES compare well, with the exception of the NAA peak at 2.02 ppm. We suggest that the discrepancy may be due to the baseline contamination as supported by the simulation results; however, without an in vivo gold standard this remains difficult to demonstrate. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HCN1 and HCN2 Proteins Are Expressed in Cochlear Hair Cells

Background: Protein-protein interaction between HCN1 and tip-link protocadherin 15CD3 suggests a role for HCN1 in hair-cell mechanotransduction. Results: HCN1 and HCN2 form alternate ternary protein complexes with hair-cell stereociliary proteins. Conclusion: Alternate protein-protein interactions reflect separation of binding events for stereociliary proteins implicated in mechanotransduction. Significance: HCN1 is the only channel component identified as binding to a stereociliary tip-link protein. A unique coupling between HCN1 and stereociliary tip-link protein protocadherin 15 has been described for a teleost vestibular hair-cell model and mammalian organ of Corti (OC) (Ramakrishnan, N. A., Drescher, M. J., Barretto, R. L., Beisel, K. W., Hatfield, J. S., and Drescher, D. G. (2009) J. Biol. Chem. 284, 3227–3238). We now show that Ca2+-dependent interaction of the organ of Corti HCN1 and protocadherin 15 CD3 is mediated by amino-terminal sequence specific to HCN1 and is not replicated by analogous specific peptides for HCN2 or HCN4 nor by amino-terminal sequence conserved across HCN isoforms utilized in channel formation. Furthermore, the HCN1-specific peptide binds both phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate but not phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate. Singly isolated cochlear inner and outer hair cells express HCN1 transcript, and HCN1 and HCN2 protein is immunolocalized to hair-cell stereocilia by both z-stack confocal and pre-embedding EM immunogold microscopy, with stereociliary tip-link and subcuticular plate sites. Quantitative PCR indicates HCN1/HCN2/HCN3/HCN4 = 9:9:1:89 in OC of the wild-type mouse, with HCN4 protein primarily attributable to inner sulcus cells. A mutant form of HCN1 mRNA and protein is expressed in the OC of an HCN1 mutant, corresponding to a full-length sequence with the in-frame deletion of pore-S6 domains, predicted by construct. The mutant transcript of HCN1 is ∼9-fold elevated relative to wild-type levels, possibly representing molecular compensation, with unsubstantial changes in HCN2, HCN3, and HCN4. Immunoprecipitation protocols indicate alternate interactions of full-length proteins; HCN1 can interact with protocadherin 15 CD3 and F-actin-binding filamin A forming a complex that does not include HCN2, or HCN1 can interact with HCN2 forming a complex without protocadherin 15 CD3 but including F-actin-binding fascin-2.