Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction of Metabolic Gene Biomarkers for Neurodegenerative Disease by an Integrated Network-Based Approach

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), have become more and more common among aged people worldwide. One hallmark of NDs is the presence of intracellular accumulation of specific pathogenic proteins that may result from abnormal function of metabolic processes. Previously, we have developed a computational method named Met-express that predicted key enzyme-coding genes in cancer development by integrating cancer gene coexpression network with the metabolic network. Here, we applied Met-express to predict key enzyme-coding genes in both PD and HD. Functional enrichment analysis and literature review of predicted genes suggested that there might be some common pathogenic metabolic pathways for PD and HD. We further found that the predicted genes had significant functional association with known disease genes, with some of them already documented as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for NDs. As such, the predicted metabolic genes may be of use as novel biomarkers not only for ND diagnosis but also for potential therapeutic treatments.
A 14-Item Mediterranean Diet Assessment Tool and Obesity Indexes among High-Risk Subjects: The PREDIMED Trial

Objective Independently of total caloric intake, a better quality of the diet (for example, conformity to the Mediterranean diet) is associated with lower obesity risk. It is unclear whether a brief dietary assessment tool, instead of full-length comprehensive methods, can also capture this association. In addition to reduced costs, a brief tool has the interesting advantage of allowing immediate feedback to participants in interventional studies. Another relevant question is which individual items of such a brief tool are responsible for this association. We examined these associations using a 14-item tool of adherence to the Mediterranean diet as exposure and body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) as outcomes. Design Cross-sectional assessment of all participants in the “PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea” (PREDIMED) trial. Subjects 7,447 participants (55–80 years, 57% women) free of cardiovascular disease, but with either type 2 diabetes or ≥3 cardiovascular risk factors. Trained dietitians used both a validated 14-item questionnaire and a full-length validated 137-item food frequency questionnaire to assess dietary habits. Trained nurses measured weight, height and waist circumference. Results Strong inverse linear associations between the 14-item tool and all adiposity indexes were found. For a two-point increment in the 14-item score, the multivariable-adjusted differences in WHtR were −0.0066 (95% confidence interval, –0.0088 to −0.0049) for women and –0.0059 (–0.0079 to –0.0038) for men. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for a WHtR>0.6 in participants scoring ≥10 points versus ≤7 points was 0.68 (0.57 to 0.80) for women and 0.66 (0.54 to 0.80) for men. High consumption of nuts and low consumption of sweetened/carbonated beverages presented the strongest inverse associations with abdominal obesity. Conclusions A brief 14-item tool was able to capture a strong monotonic inverse association between adherence to a good quality dietary pattern (Mediterranean diet) and obesity indexes in a population of adults at high cardiovascular risk.
Construct Validity of the Relationship Profile Test: Three-Year Retest Reliability and Links With Core Personality Traits, Object Relations, and Interpersonal Problems

The Relationship Profile Test (RPT; Bornstein & Languirand, 2003) is a 30-item self-report measure of destructive overdependence, dysfunctional detachment, and healthy dependency. Previous research has shown that the 3 RPT subscales have adequate internal consistency, good retest reliability over 23 and 85 weeks, and good convergent and discriminant validity with respect to measures of attachment style, relatedness, gender role, self-concept, alexithymia, locus of control, need for approval, and life satisfaction. In this investigation, we assessed the 3-year retest reliability of RPT scores in a northeastern liberal arts college student sample (Study 1) and evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity of RPT scores in a southern university sample (Study 2). Results generally supported the long-term stability and convergent and discriminant validity of RPT scores but also pointed to some limitations of the measure. We discuss implications of these results and describe future research directions.
Muscarinic and nicotinic synaptic activation of the developing chicken iris

The development of the mechanical characteristics of contraction and the pharmacology of synaptic activation in chick iris and ciliary body were examined from embryonic day 9 through posthatching. The ciliary ganglion-target muscle system has proven to be a useful model for both in vivo and in vitro studies of neuron-target interactions; one such interaction is involved in neuronal cell death, which in the ciliary ganglion occurs from Stage (St) 34 to 40. To understand the mechanism by which cholinergic blocking agents prevent naturally occurring neuronal death in the chick ciliary ganglion (see the following paper, Meriney et al., 1987), it was necessary to determine the effect of these agents on synaptic transmission at target structures during the cell death period. Initially (St 34–36), iris muscle contraction are synaptically mediated via muscarinic ACh receptors (AChRs) on myoepithelial cells, which have the contractile and structural characteristics of smooth muscle. Close apposition of synaptic terminals, similar to that described for mature synapses, was observed on these myoepithelial cells. Subsequently (St 37), the striated muscle fibers that appear are activated by nicotinic receptors, although muscarinic AChRs are also present. Mechanically, this can be seen as gradually changing from a slow-onset contraction, elicited only by 30 Hz stimulation, to a fast-twitch response (St 37–44). Dilator fibers that develop later in the iris (at about St 39) also possess nicotinic and muscarinic receptors. The ciliary body musculature, although not extensively studied, also appears to have dual cholinergic activation during development. The mature iris has predominately striated muscle fibers that have both junctional nicotinic and muscarinic (mostly extrajunctional) AChRs. The dual presence of both receptor types in the same muscle fiber was confirmed with intracellular recordings, in which only the initial portion of the ACh-elicited depolarization was sensitive to alpha bungarotoxin (alpha BTX). In addition, specific muscarinic binding sites were described in the developing, as well as in the mature, iris. The developing chick iris was also shown to contract directly in response to light, this response disappearing after hatching. This unique dual-receptor pharmacology (nicotinic- muscarinic) and light response of a striated muscle may be due to the neural crest origin of these cells.
Applying Petri Nets to Systems Biology using XML Technologies

Systems Biology is a rapidly developing discipline which utilises mathematical and computer science techniques to analyse and interpret biological models. Petri nets have been proposed as an effective formalism for Systems Biology but so far only a small number of simple manual Petri net models have been constructed and investigated. In this paper we present a scheme for automatically mapping biological systems into Petri net models using XML technology. We develop a simple prototype tool which translates Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) to the Petri Net Markup Language (PNML). As an illustrative example we consider mapping a SBML description of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae glycolysis pathway into PNML. An analysis of the resulting PNML model then demonstrates that even basic invariant analysis can produce interesting results for biologists. Finally we discuss what features may be desirable to systems biologists in future modifications of the PNML standard.
Properties of the primary organization field in the embryo of Xenopus laevis. II. Positional information for axial organization in embryos with two head organizers.

The results are reported of a series of experiments, the exact geometry of which has been presented in a previous paper. Late blastulae and early stage-10 gastrulae are supplied with a second head organizer region at varying angular distances, in the marginal zone, from the presumptive site of their own organizer. The configuration of positional information existing in the mesodermal mantle of the late gastrula or earliest neurula, as a final result of such operations, was recorded by observing the pattern of axial organ differentiation obtained by tailbud stages (26–28). The operational differences between various current theories as to the nature of embryonic differentiation fields are briefly discussed, as a framework within which to consider the results of experiments such as those reported here. It is suggested that in the future, and using the present results as a basis, experiments may be possible that are more critical in distinguishing between the various theoretical suppositions involved. Evidence is presented that the final configuration of positional information, achieved as a result of the implantation of a second head organizer at or before the onset of host gastrulation, becomes stable some time before it is irreversibly expressed in terms of a pattern of cell commitment in the mesodermal/endodermal mantle. It is insensitive both to relative ages of host and graft at the time of operation, over the range employed and, probably, to the ambient temperature of development between operation and the time of cell differentiation, being dependent only on the angular distance originally existing between graft and presumptive host organizer sites. In the discussion, a model is given for the visualization of positional information in partially double fields, produced in a two-dimensional sheet of cells where the normal end-point of field formation is a bilateral symmetry of differentiation zones.
The heritability hang-up

The nature-nurture issue has provided some of the most keenly contested debates in the fields of biology, psychology, sociology, and physics during the past 5 years. As is well known, the same questions have been a source of controversy for more than a hundred years in diverse political and social climates. From time to time, practical measures have been implemented whose nature has often depended on the relation between the political ideals of the regime of the time and the ideals of the contemporary "scientific" participants in the naturenurture controversy. Some of the history of this interaction in the United States as it pertains to intelligence has been surveyed by Kamin (I) and Allen (2). The most recent explosion of interest in the question is probably attributable to Jensen's (3, 4) contention that, since inequalities in cognitive performance are largely genetic in origin, environmental intervention through educational or social innovations will be of minimal value in reducing these inequalities. The premise for this argument is based on Jensen's analyses of the data from a large number of empirical studies. From these analyses, Jensen also argues that there is probably a strong genetic component to the observed differences in mean IQ between black and white children in the United States. The analyses and arguments that were made by Jensen for IQ, and by others for
Reflective judgment and the adult learner's use of metacognitive learning strategies

The relationships between adult learners’ placement in reflective judgment stages and use of learning strategies and between selected demographic variables and use of learning strategies of adult learners were examined. The study also investigated whether there were groups of adult learners who think and learn in a similar manner. Volunteer participants from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana were surveyed between September 1991 and March 1992. Learning strategy information was collected using the SKILLS survey instrument that had respondents selecting 18 responses to learning strategy questions on 4 learning scenarios. A second survey instrument, the RJQ used four problem scenarios to solicit reflective judgment stage responses for participant stage placement on the Reflective Judgment Model. Two hundred one participant surveys were used in the discriminant analyses and 197 surveys were used in the cluster analysis. Two discriminant analyses and a cluster analysis were to determine the relationship between learning strategies and education, gender, age and learning strategies and reflective judgment. The cluster analysis was used to determine if distinct groups of adult learners had similar patterns of learning and thinking. Three distinct reflective judgment groups were identified using discriminant analysis. Five cluster groups were identified using cluster analysis. IEgh reflective judgment group members indicated resource management use of human resources and identifying resources along with metacognition adjusting and critical thinking conditional acceptance were important learning strategies. Low learners identified metacognition monitoring and planning and metamotivation reward and attention as major learning strategies. Age and education were important variables for the high reflective judgment learners. Use of human resources, identifying resources, adjusting, and conditional acceptance were learning strategies associated with the high reflective judgment cluster groups. Planning, monitoring, and reward were important learning strategies of low reflective judgment cluster groups. Qn the basis of the analysis, it was concluded that there were three distinguishable learner groups identified by reflective judgment stages, cluster groups identified learners who thought and used learning strategies in a similar manner, and among adult learners there are discernible learning strategy patterns associated with different reflective judgment stages.
Reconfigurable RF circuits for future multi-mode multi-band mobile terminals

Reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) circuits will be a predominant solution for future global and compact mobile terminals, which supports 2G, 3G, and LTE cellular systems in various frequency bands. A single-path configuration and use of single-band devices with distributed reconfigurable matching networks have the potential to achieve the optimum RF frontend for future multi-band mobile terminals. Considering the difficulties in configuring a practical tunable band-pass filter as a top filter or duplexer, collaboration between the filter and lownoise amplifier (LNA) is a candidate to achieve the performance level required for the RF front-end. In addition, a power amplifier (PA) is also one of the key components in the RF frontend because its power consumption affects operating time of the terminal. This paper overviews the recent progress in our research on the reconfigurable LNA and PA. These RF circuits will contribute to the multi-mode band-free operation in future mobile terminals.
Characterization of a telomere-binding protein from Physarum polycephalum

We have partially purified a nuclear protein (PPT) from Physarum polycephalum that binds to the extrachromosomal ribosomal DNA telomeres of this acellular slime mold. Binding is specific for the (T2AG3)n telomere repeats, as evidenced by nitrocellulose filter binding assays, by gel mobility shift assays with both DNA fragments and double-stranded oligonucleotides, and by DNase I footprinting. PPT is remarkably heat stable, showing undiminished binding activity after incubation at 90 degrees C. It sediments at 1.2S, corresponding to a molecular weight of about 10,000 (for a globular protein), and its binding activity is undiminished by incubation with RNase, suggesting that it is not a ribonucleoprotein. We hypothesize that PPT plays a structural role in telomeres, perhaps preventing nucleolytic degradation or promoting telomere extension by a telomere-specific terminal transferase.
Antioxidant Activities of Dendrophthoe falcata (L.f. ) Etting

Dendrophthoe falcata is a parasitic plant used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac, astringent, and diuretic and for pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, menstrual disorder, swelling, and wound. The present study primarily describes the antioxidant activities of methanolic and aqueous extracts of the stem of D. falcate in different in vitro models. Both methanolic and aqueous extracts exhibited antioxidant activity, with IC50 values at 18 and 26
An Efficient Magnetic Tracking Method Using Uniaxial Sensing Coil

We propose an efficient and effective magnetic tracking method in this paper. The tracking method is based on tri-axial transmitting coils and uniaxial sensing of the generated electromagnetic field. Three mutually orthogonal transmitting coils are excited simultaneously with alternating current (AC) signals of different frequency. At a specific position, the sum of amplitude square of the three different frequency sensing signals will reach maximum when the uniaxial coil points to the tri-axial transmitting coils. The maximum value is reciprocally proportional to the cube of the distance between the transmitter and receiver. By processing the output signals from the uniaxial sensing coil when it is rotating, the direction and distance between the sensing coil and transmitting coils can be decided with an efficient method with low calculation overheads. Experiments were conducted to validate the proposed method.
Occurrence of alternatively spliced leader-delta onc-poly(A) transcripts in chicken neuroretina cells infected with Rous-associated virus type 1: implication in transduction of the c-mil/c-raf and c-Rmil/B-raf oncogenes

We previously reported that serial passaging of Rous-associated virus type 1 in nondividing chicken embryo neuroretina cells leads to reproducible generation of acutely mitogenic retroviruses that transduced the catalytic domain of c-mil/c-raf or c-Rmil/B-raf. On the basis of structural analysis of several retroviruses, we proposed that the early step of oncogene transduction is the constitution of alternatively spliced leader-delta onc-poly(A) transcripts. Here, we show that neuroretina cells do synthesize hybrid leader-delta mil and leader-delta Rmil RNAs and that these RNAs exhibit mitogenic properties and serve as templates for the generation of transducing retorviruses.
Preparation and Microstructural Characterization of Griseofulvin Microemulsions Using Different Experimental Methods: SAXS and DSC

Purpose: The objective of the present study is to formulate and evaluate a new microemulsion (ME) for topical delivery of griseofulvin. Methods: The solubilities of griseofulvin in different combinations of surfactant to co-surfactant (S/Co ratio) were determined. Accordingly, based on their phase diagrams, eight microemulsions were formulated and then evaluated with respect to their particle size, surface tension, viscosity, conductivity, zeta potential and stability. Their release behavior, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), refractory index (RI), pH and Small-angle-X-ray scattering (SAXS) were also assessed. Results: The results indicated that the mean droplet size of the MEs ranged from 30.9 to 84.3 nm. Their zeta potential varied from -4.5 to -20.8. Other determined characteristics were viscosity: 254-381 cps, pH: 5.34-6.57, surface tension: 41.16- 42.83 dyne.cm-1, conductivity: 0.0442 – 0.111 ms.cm-1. The drug release was in the range of 22.4 to 43.69 percent. Also, hexagonal, cubic and lamellar liquid crystals were observed in SAXS experiments. Conclusion: It can be concluded that any alteration in MEs constituents directly affects their microstructure, shape, droplet size and their other physicochemical properties.
MultiResolution Anomaly Detection Method for Long Range Dependent Time Series

Driven by network intrusion detection, we propose a MultiResolution Anomaly Detection (MRAD) method, which effectively utilizes the multiscale properties of Internet features and network anomalies. In this paper, several theoretical properties of the MRAD method are explored. A major new result is the mathematical formulation of the notion that a two-scaled MRAD method has larger power than the average power of the detection method based on the given two scales. Test threshold is also developed. Comparisons between MRAD method and other classical outlier detectors in time series are reported as well.
Micro-transponder systems for medical applications

The low power consumption of CMOS electronics with on-chip cointegrated sensors or actuators make it ideal for use in implanted systems that need a very low power consumption. Three examples are presented here, which are powered by the energy of an external RF-field. The first microsystem described is a system for measuring the intraocular pressure (IOP). Second, a system for measuring blood pressure will be introduced The third system is used for stimulating the nerve cells of the retina of patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. Typical microsystem chip dimensions are about 2.5 mm /spl times/ 2.5 mm and typical power consumption is about 240 /spl mu/W.
Son preference in Pakistan: an analysis of intentions vs. behavior.

The study assesses the extent to which the very strong expressed preference for sons in Pakistan influences couples actual fertility behavior. Several fertility measures and estimation techniques were used to determine whether subsequent fertility behavior is influenced by the sex composition of previous births. Khan and Sirageldins work on sex preference and desires for additional children in Pakistan were reviewed followed by consideration of several methods of testing the relationship between sex of children and subsequent fertility and presentation of the results of several other tests of the hypothesis that sex composition of children affects actual fertility behavior. The Khan and Sirageldin (1977) results can be translated into a stopping rule which states that the higher the proportion of boys in a family the less likely a couple is to go on to have another child. This finding based on intentions conflicts with the results based on actual behavior presented here. The Khan and Sirageldin results were extended by assessing the extent to which couples translated their very strong expressed preferences for sons into actual behavior. This extension was based on a sample of women most of whom have completed fertility (all were aged 35 or older) and all of whom had at least 1 live birth. No overall relationship was found between the sex composition of children and subsequent fertility behavior. At least 2 explanations are possible for this inconsistency between intentions and behavior with each having a different implication for population policy and for the future of population growth in general. The first explanation is that in traditional societies such as Pakistan couples are unable to control their fertility adequately. The policy implications of this view suggest family planning and contraceptive distribution programs aimed at reducing the cost of achieving whatever desired family size couples want. Another explanation is that although parents indicate that they want more boys than girls their actions do not reflect this preference because of the dominating influence of overall desires for numbers of children regardless of the sex of those children. In other words couples may prefer boy to girl children but they would still rather have many girl children than few or no children at all. This explanation is consistent with theoretical findings. The results suggest that with regard to actual behavior Pakistani preferences for having children may dominate preferences for children of a certain type.