Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TAXONOMIC STATUS OF LIGOPHORUS MUGILINUS (HARGIS, 1955) (MONOGENEA: ANCYROCEPHALIDAE), WITH A DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF LIGOPHORUS FROM MUGIL CEPHALUS (TELEOSTEI: MUGILIDAE) IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

Ligophorus mugilinus was originally described on the flathead mullet Mugil cephalus from the Gulf of Mexico. The species was later recorded in the Mediterranean Sea on the flathead mullet and in the Caribbean Sea on the white mullet Mugil curema. After examination of the type material and additional specimens of Ligophorus from the northwest Atlantic coast, the Caribbean Sea, and the Mediterranean and Black Sea, we observed morphological differences concerning haptoral and male copulatory structures between L. mugilinus from the northwest Atlantic and the forms from the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Accordingly, the latter specimens are described as a new species, Ligophorus mediterraneus n. sp. A redescription of L. mugilinus, including new morphometric data, is also given. The morphometric analysis of the Caribbean specimens suggested that their ascription to L. mugilinus is uncertain, but additional material is needed to clarify their specific identity. The results of this study, together with previous zoogeographical evidence, indicate that flathead mullets from different seas harbor different species complexes of Ligophorus. Given the coastal habits of the host, it is suggested that open oceans could act as geographical barriers favoring speciation within disjointed flathead mullet populations.
The Application of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Interventions in the Treatment of Co-occurring Addictive and Mood Disorders

ABSTRACT This article reviews the theory, clinical application, and empirical findings on mindfulness–based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for mental health and addictive disorders. Expanding upon the research demonstrating the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for addiction, this article develops and explores the rationale for combining mindfulness-based interventions with evidence-based CBTs in treating addictive disorders, with an emphasis on substance use disorders with co-occurring mood disorders.This article proposes that deficits in affect regulation — related to the behavioral and emotional effects of neurobiological changes that occur with longterm substance abuse — pose a unique set of challenges in early recovery. Prolonged use of addictive substances impairs the brain pathways to detach or maintain perspective in response to strong emotional states. In treating this affective dysregulation, which can contribute to the vulnerability to relapse in the early stages of recovery, the affect–regulation-specific focus of MBCT adds a valuable element to augment CBT for addiction. Summarizing magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography findings on the effects of MBCT and the neurobiology of drug addiction, this article out-lines directions for further research on potential benefits of MBCT for the recovering individual. Finally, this article describes a structured protocol, developed at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, which combines CBT with mindfulness-based intervention, for the treatment of affect-regulation issues specific to co-occurring addictive and mood disorders.
Dual phosphorylation of the T‐loop in cdk7: its role in controlling cyclin H binding and CAK activity

A cyclin‐dependent kinase (cdk)‐activating kinase (CAK) has been shown previously to catalyze T‐loop phosphorylation of cdks in most eukaryotic cells. This enzyme exists in either of two forms: the major one contains cdk7, cyclin H and an assembly factor called MAT‐1, whilst the minor one lacks MAT‐1. Cdk7 is unusual among cdks because it contains not one but two residues (S170 and T176 in Xenopus cdk7) in its T‐loop that are phosphorylated in vivo. We have investigated the role of S170 and T176 phosphorylation in the assembly and activity of cyclin H–cdk7 dimers. In the absence of MAT‐1, phosphorylation of the T‐loop appears to be required for cdk7 to bind cyclin H. Phosphorylation of both residues does not require cyclin H binding in vitro. Phosphorylation of S170 is sufficient for cdk7 to bind cyclin H with low affinity, but high affinity binding requires T176 phosphorylation. By mutational analysis, we demonstrate that in addition to its role in promotion of cyclin H binding, S170 phosphorylation plays a direct role in the control of CAK activity. Finally, we show that dual phosphorylation of S170 and T176, or substitution of both phosphorylatable residues by aspartic residues, is sufficient to generate CAK activity to one‐third of its maximal value in vitro, even in the absence of cyclin H and MAT‐1, and may thus provide further clues as to how cyclins activate cdk subunits.
How to Measure Non-tariff Barriers? A Critical Examination of the Price-Differential Approach(with Kyoji Fukao and Arata Kuno)

In this paper we critically examined the methods used by preceding studies to measure NTBs. Among the four major categories of NTB measure,we mainly focused on the price differential approach, which is the one that has been most frequently used in resent researches. This approach calculates the differential between the import price and the domestic price of each commodity at a disaggregated level and subtracts the tariff rate on the commodity from this differential. The result is treated as a non-tariff barrier. We critically examined measurements of Japanfs NTBs based on the price differential approach. Four major commodities, beef, rice, steel, and petroleum, were considered, taking fully into account the detailed composition and quality of imported and domestic goods. We also took account of domestic measures that can affect imports, such as subsidies to domestic production of these products, or price support schemes through market interventions by the government.
Relay assignment in network-coded cooperative systems with M-PSK modulation over asymmetric channels

We consider in this paper relay assignment for cooperative systems with multiple two-way relay channels. The nodes corresponding to one two-way relay channel (henceforth referred to as pair) communicate with each other through a relay. The relays use network coding to simultaneously transmit the signals corresponding to the pairs they are assigned to. We propose two relay assignment schemes. One scheme considers all possible relay assignment permutations and selects the one yields the best performance, and the other one considers only a subset of these permutations and selects the best one. The advantage of the latter is that it results in a significant reduction in computational complexity, in addition to making the analysis more tractable. We consider the cases when a relay is assigned to a single pair and the case when a relay is assigned (simultaneously) to multiple pairs. To achieve the latter, we use higher order modulation schemes at the relay nodes. We analyze the performance of these schemes over symmetric and asymmetric independent Rayleigh fading channels, and derive closed-form expressions for the end-to-end bit error rate performance. We present several examples to verify the theoretical results
Bridging Worlds in the Social Studies Classroom:Teachers' Practices and Latino Immigrant Youths' Civic and Political Development.

PURPOSE Prior research suggests that high school experiences shape young adult political behaviors, particularly among immigrant youth. The U.S. social studies classroom, focused on democratic citizenship education, proves an interesting socializing institution. METHODS Through qualitative inquiry, we interviewed Latino immigrant young adults and their former teachers regarding their high school social studies experiences and evolving political and civic engagement. FINDINGS indicate that armed with experience bridging the worlds of the school and home, immigrant students respond and relate to the content and pedagogy of the social studies classroom in such a way that they (1) participate in civic discourse and (2) nurture a disposition toward leadership through teachers' civic expectations of them and instructional emphasis on critical thinking skills. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS The ability to engage in civic discourse and a disposition toward leadership are both necessary to foster America's democratic ideals, and to take on leadership roles during adulthood. With focused effort on the unique perspective of immigrant youth, high school social studies teachers can nurture in these students the ability to become leaders in young adulthood, broadening the potential leadership pool. ORIGINALITY This study highlights how the social studies curriculum may be particularly salient to Latino immigrant youth as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood and develop their political and civic identities.
On The Optimal Amount of Training for Peak-Power-Limited Rayleigh Fading Channels

We consider the optimal amount of training for single-antenna Rayleigh flat fading channels with peak-power- limited input. The receiver uses known training symbols to perform minimum mean square error (MMSE) channel estimation. With a block-fading channel model and a perfect interleaving assumption, we first analyze the characteristics of the optimum input distribution, then numerically compute the training-based capacity, and then find the optimal number of training symbols that maximizes the capacity.
Arraying the Orchestration of Allograft Pathology

Microarrays, or gene chips, are exciting investigative tools for analyzing expression changes across thousands of genes in concert in tissues and cells of interest. Despite the relatively recent application of microarrays to transplant research, they hold great promise for unraveling the staging of rejection, stratifying patients towards more individualized treatment regimes, and discovering noninvasive biomarkers for monitoring of intragraft events. Bioinformatics tools are being developed to sift through the large data sets generated as ‘genomic fingerprints’ of the underlying biologic pathways. Gene clustering and class prediction tools allow discovery of diagnostic and prognostic molecular signatures of health and disease. Oligonucleotide‐based microarrays also have utility in genotyping polymorphic markers. This report reviews the current literature of microarray use in transplantation research, compares currently available array platforms, and discusses future application of this technology to clinical organ transplantation.
Transition metal dependent regulation of the signal transduction cascade driving oocyte meiosis

The G2‐M transition of the cell cycle requires the activation of members of the Cdc25 dual specificity phosphatase family. Using Xenopus oocyte maturation as a model system, we have previously shown that chelation of transition metals blocks meiosis progression by inhibiting Cdc25C activation. Here, using approaches that allow for the isolation of very pure and active recombinant Cdc25C, we show that Cdc25C does not bind zinc as previously reported. Additionally, we show that mutants in the disordered C‐terminal end of Cdc25C are poor initiators of meiosis, likely due to their inability to localize to the proper sub‐cellular location. We further demonstrate that the transition metal chelator, TPEN, acts on or upstream of polo‐like kinases in the oocyte to block meiosis progression. Together our results provide novel insights into Cdc25C structure‐function relationship and the role of transition metals in regulating meiosis.
Hepatitis E virus infection as a cause of graft hepatitis in liver transplant recipients

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection induces self‐limiting liver disease in immunocompetent individuals. Cases of chronic hepatitis E have recently been identified in organ transplant recipients. We questioned if chronic hepatitis E plays a role in graft hepatitis after liver transplantation in a low endemic area. Two hundred twenty‐six liver transplant recipients, 129 nontransplanted patients with chronic liver disease, and 108 healthy controls were tested for HEV antibodies. HEV RNA was investigated in all sera from transplanted patients. HEV antibodies were detected in 1 healthy control (1%), 4 patients with chronic liver disease (3%), and 10 liver transplant recipients (4%). Three liver transplant patients also tested positive for HEV RNA. Two of them developed persistent viremia with HEV genotype 3. The patients were anti‐HEV immunoglobulin G–negative and HEV RNA–negative before transplantation and had an episode of acute hepatitis 5 or 7 months after transplantation, which led to advanced liver fibrosis after 22 months in 1 patient. Seroconversion to anti‐HEV occurred not before 4 months after the first detection of HEV RNA. The possibility of reverse zoonotic transmission was experimentally confirmed by the infection of 5 pigs with a patient's serum. The pigs showed histological inflammation in the liver, and HEV RNA was detectable in different organs, including muscle. In conclusion, the prevalence of HEV infection in Central European liver transplant recipients is low; however, chronic hepatitis E may occur and needs to be considered in the differential diagnosis of graft hepatitis. The diagnosis of HEV infection should be based on HEV RNA determination in immunosuppressed patients. We suggest that immunocompromised individuals should avoid eating uncooked meat and contact with possibly HEV‐infected animals. Liver Transpl 16:74–82, 2010. © 2009 AASLD.
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells undergo JCV T-antigen mediated transformation and generate tumors with neuroectodermal characteristics

There is now accumulating evidence showing that some tumors may arise from transformed stem cells. In this study we demonstrate that adult bone marrow- derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) undergo neoplastic transformation induced by the human polyomavirus JCV, early protein, T-antigen, and are tumorigenic when transplanted into the flanks of Nude mice as compared to non-transformed MSCs. Histologically, the tumors are heterogeneous with mesenchymal and neural crest characteristics as evidenced by expression of the neural crest markers p75, SOX-10, and S-100, with populations of tumor cells exhibiting characteristics of primitive neuroectodermal cells. In addition, a subset of T-antigen positive tumor cells exhibit a high proliferation index as detected by Ki-67 labeling, and co-express CD133, a marker which is expressed on cancer stem cells. These results show that tumors with neuroectodermal characteristics may arise from transformation of MSCs, a globally accessible adult stem cell with multipotent differentiation capacity. In light of earlier reports on the association of JCV with a broad variety of human tumors, our data suggests that T-antigen transformation of adult stem cells with a multipotent capacity can serve as a possible common origin for some of these cancers, and offers a novel model for oncogenesis.
The willingness of South Africans to support more green reporting

The purpose of the article is to establish the willingness of South Africans to support more environmental corporate reporting. A questionnaire was used in the empirical study. The views of three groups were obtained, namely the preparers of financial statements (directors of companies were regarded as such), auditors of financial statements and their users. Seeing that accountability was chosen as the uppermost reason for disclosure in financial statements, the views of users were regarded as most important. However, the views of the other groups may well become more important should environmental legislation or regulation of reporting be considered in future. In analysing the results it was found that there were few cases of significant difference of opinion between the three groups. The preparers, auditors and users of financial statements were generally quite positive about more environmental corporate reporting. They were even in favour of making such disclosure compulsory.
Vehicle Detection Using Probability Fusion Maps Generated by Multi-camera Systems

In this paper we describe a multi-camera traffic monitoring system relying on the concept of probability fusion maps (PFM) to detect vehicles in a traffic scene. In the PFM, traffic images from multiple cameras are inverse perspective-mapped and registered onto a common reference frame, combining the multiple camera information to reduce the impact of occlusions. Although the unconstrained perspective projection is non-invertible, imposing the condition that the image points be co-planar allows the relaxation of this constraint. In images of road scenes, the road surface is locally planar, and as such can be inversely mapped. We show that computing the perspective undistortion by finding 4 matching points between a camera image and an ideal non-perspectively distorted image, a system of linear equations can be solved that corresponds to applying the rotation, translation, and re-projection onto the common reference plane without needing calibrated cameras. We show that this method yields good results in the detection of vehicles for subsequent tracking and monitoring.
Real‐time PCR for single‐cell genotyping in sickle cell and thalassemia syndromes as a rapid, accurate, reliable, and widely applicable protocol for preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Sickle‐cell and β‐thalassemia syndromes are priority genetic diseases for prevention programs involving population screening with the option of prenatal diagnosis for carrier couples. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) represents a specialized alternative to prenatal diagnosis and is most appropriately used for couples with an unsuccessful reproductive history and/or undergoing assisted reproduction. However, clinical application of PGD has been hindered by difficulties in reliably transferring molecular diagnostic protocols to the single‐cell level. We standardized and validated a protocol involving first‐round multiplex PCR, amplifying the region of the β‐globin gene containing most of the common disease mutations world‐wide and two unlinked microsatellite markers (GABRB3 and D13S314), followed by: 1) analysis of β‐globin genotypes with real‐time PCR and 2) microsatellite sizing to exclude chance contamination. The protocol was standardized on 100 single lymphocytes from a β‐thalassemia heterozygote, including 15 artificially contaminated samples, the latter demonstrated through microsatellite analysis. PCR failure and allele drop‐out (ADO) were observed in one (uncontaminated) sample each (1.2%). A pilot study in six clinical PGD cycles with five different β‐globin genotype interactions achieved results (in 5–6 hr) in 46 out of 50 single blastomeres (92%), all concordant with results from an established PGD method applied simultaneously; microsatellite analysis detected only parental alleles, excluding contamination. β‐globin genotypes were also confirmed in two blastomeres through prenatal diagnosis (twin pregnancy), and in 11 out of 12 spare embryos, revealing one incident of ADO. Overall, the protocol proved to be sensitive, accurate, reliable, rapid, and applicable for many genotype interactions, with internal monitoring of contamination, thus fulfilling all requirements for clinical PGD application. Hum Mutat 23:513–521, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Altered tryptophan hydroxylase 2 expression in enteric serotonergic nerves in Hirschsprung's-associated enterocolitis.

AIM To determine if expression of colonic tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2), a surrogate marker of neuronal 5-hydroxytryptamine, is altered in Hirschsprung's-associated enterocolitis. METHODS Entire resected colonic specimens were collected at the time of pull-through operation in children with Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR, n = 12). Five of these patients had a history of pre-operative Hirschsprung's-associated enterocolitis (HAEC). Controls were collected at colostomy closure in children with anorectal malformation (n = 10). The distribution of expression of TPH2 was evaluated using immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Protein expression of TPH2 was quantified using western blot analysis in the deep smooth muscle layers. RESULTS TPH2 was co-expressed in nitrergic and cholinergic ganglia in the myenteric and submucosal plexuses in ganglionic colon in HSCR and healthy controls. Co-expression was also seen in submucosal interstitial cells of Cajal and PDGFRα(+) cells. The density of TPH2 immuno-positive fibers decreased incrementally from ganglionic bowel to transition zone bowel to aganglionic bowel in the myenteric plexus. Expression of TPH2 was reduced in ganglionic bowel in those affected by pre-operative HAEC compared to those without HAEC and healthy controls. However, expression of TPH2 was similar or high compared to controls in the colons of children who had undergone diverting colostomy for medically refractory HAEC. CONCLUSION Altered TPH2 expression in colonic serotonergic nerves of patients with HSCR complicated by HAEC may contribute to intestinal secretory and motor disturbances, including recurrent HAEC.
Erratum: Projected squeezing of the wintertime North-Atlantic jet (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 074016)

The future response of the atmospheric circulation to increased anthropogenic forcing is uncertain, in particular due to competing inﬂuences of the large projected warming at the surface in the Arctic, and at upper-levels in the tropics. In the present study two ensembles of fully-coupled 21st century climate simulations are used to analyze changes in the wintertime eddy-driven jet in the North Atlantic and the relation to the well-deﬁned thermal signatures of climate change. The models project a robust reinforcement of the eddy-driven jet and a decrease in waviness and blockings, that we attribute to a narrowing of the westerly ﬂow in mid-latitudes. Composite analyses suggest that this signal is driven by the opposite inﬂuence of Arctic and tropical warming on each ﬂank of the jet. We ﬁnd
Influence of lipoplex surface charge on siRNA delivery: application to the in vitro downregulation of CXCR4 HIV-1 co-receptor

Objective: Cationic lipidic formulations have been successfully used to deliver small interfering RNA (siRNA) into cells but they show limitations for in vivo application due to their cytotoxicity and instability in the presence of serum. To overcome these limitations, the authors developed an anionic lipid-based carrier named Neutraplex (Nx). Here, they wanted to investigate the influence of the lipoplex (Lx) surface charge on cytotoxicity, delivery and silencing activity of siRNAs. Methods: The efficiency of three Nx formulations (cationic, close to neutrality and anionic) to deliver anti-CXCR4 siRNAs in MAGI cells was investigated and compared with the cationic commercial transfection reagent Lipofectamine RNAiMAX. Cellular uptake and intracellular localization of a fluorescent siRNA was monitored in live cells using fluorescence microscopy and silencing activity was measured by flow cytometry and RT-PCR analysis. Results: The authors found that the Lx surface charge influenced cellular uptake and silencing activity of siRNA in cell cultures. Although cationic Lx formulations were the most efficient carriers to deliver active silencing siRNAs, negatively charged lipoplexes were taken up by cells, delivered active siRNAs and presented low cytotoxicity. Conclusions: Altogether, the findings support further investigation for in vivo delivery of therapeutic siRNAs using Nx. Furthermore, this study indicates that anionic delivery systems may have potential for in vivo RNAi therapeutics.