Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of the Perirhinal Cortex and Hippocampus in Learning, Memory, and Perception

One traditional and long-held view of medial temporal lobe (MTL) function is that it contains a system of structures that are exclusively involved in memory, and that the extent of memory loss following MTL damage is simply related to the amount of MTL damage sustained. Indeed, human patients with extensive MTL damage are typically profoundly amnesic whereas patients with less extensive brain lesions centred upon the hippocampus typically exhibit only moderately severe anterograde amnesia. Accordingly, the latter observations have elevated the hippocampus to a particularly prominent position within the purported MTL memory system. This article reviews recent lesion studies in macaque monkeys in which the behavioural effects of more highly circumscribed lesions (than those observed to occur in human patients with MTL lesions) to different subregions of the MTL have been examined. These studies have reported new findings that contradict this concept of a MTL memory system. First, the MTL is not exclusively involved in mnemonic processes; some MTL structures, most notably the perirhinal cortex, also contribute to perception. Second, there are some forms of memory, including recognition memory, that are not always affected by selective hippocampal lesions. Third, the data support the idea that regional functional specializations exist within the MTL. For example, the macaque perirhinal cortex appears to be specialized for processing object identity whereas the hippocampus may be specialized for processing spatial and temporal relationships.
KH-type splicing regulatory protein is involved in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression

KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KHSRP) is a multifunctional RNA-binding protein, which is involved in several post-transcriptional aspects of RNA metabolism, including microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis. It affects distinct cell functions in different tissues and can have an impact on various pathological conditions. In the present study, we investigated the oncogenic functions of KHSRP and their underlying mechanisms in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). KHSRP expression levels were elevated in ESCC tumors when compared with those in non-tumorous tissues by immunohistochemistry, and cytoplasmic KHSRP overexpression was found to be an independent prognosticator for worse overall survival in a cohort of 104 patients with ESCC. KHSRP knockdown inhibited growth, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells. KHSRP knockdown also inhibited the maturation of cancer-associated miRNAs, such as miR-21, miR-130b, and miR-301, and induced the expression of their target mRNAs, such as BMP6, PDCD4, and TIMP3, resulting in the inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Our findings uncover a novel oncogenic function of KHSRP in esophageal tumorigenesis and implicate its use as a marker for prognostic evaluation and as a putative therapeutic target in ESCC.
Feature selection for segmentation of 2-D electrophoresis gel images

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis is the powerful technique used by biochemists to resolve and visualize protein samples.Commonly gels produced from several samples are analyzed in order to detect changes of protein expression. Thus computer-aided gel image analysis for protein spot detection became the main step in the whole process.Nevertheless accurate automatic spot detection is still difficult due to large variations in spot shape, image background and various inevitable artifacts. In this paper we investigate features of two-dimensional electrophoresis gel images.We look for those image features that will yield good results of protein spot detection done by the Feedforward Multilayer Neural Network. Feature comparison and spot segmentation results are presented and indicate that rotational symmetry features empowers segmentation of saturated and overlapped protein spots.
Competition for Light Causes Plant Biodiversity Loss After Eutrophication

Shedding Light on a Problem Human activities—mainly the application of fertilizers to farmland—have increased the availability of nutrients in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In grasslands, nutrient enrichment reduces plant species diversity, but the mechanisms underlying this loss of biodiversity remain unclear. Hautier et al. (p. 636) use an experimental manipulation, addition of supplementary light to the grassland understory, which supports the idea that competition for light is the major mechanism of plant diversity loss. A few species take advantage of fertilizer to grow fast, shade out competitors, and reduce the number of species in grassland. Human activities have increased the availability of nutrients in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In grasslands, this eutrophication causes loss of plant species diversity, but the mechanism of this loss has been difficult to determine. Using experimental grassland plant communities, we found that addition of light to the grassland understory prevented the loss of biodiversity caused by eutrophication. There was no detectable role for competition for soil resources in diversity loss. Thus, competition for light is a major mechanism of plant diversity loss after eutrophication and explains the particular threat of eutrophication to plant diversity. Our conclusions have implications for grassland management and conservation policy and underscore the need to control nutrient enrichment if plant diversity is to be preserved.
Vulnerabilities of developing countries to food commodity price risks: International responses

The recent period of high and volatile world food commodity prices has spurred many discussions initiatives and proposals for market regulation and enhancements. This has been of particular concern to the Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs), especially the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) among them. The paper suggests that the main concerns of these countries involve market unpredictability, uncertainty about contract enforcement in periods of crisis, and financial constraints in importing food staples. A review of the appropriate policies to deal with risks of NFIDCS reveals that there are several policies that have been proposed, which if implemented at international level could alleviate the concerns of NFIDCs. However, a review of actions and initiatives taken at the highest international levels reveals that while the rhetoric has been there, the actual actions and financing for them have been short of the objectives. On the other hand considerable legislative activity in the US and the EU has aimed at curbing excess speculation in derivatives markets under the assumption that these markets are the main cause of market upheavals, something, however, that has not been scientifically confirmed. It thus seems that there is still a lot to be done to insure NFIDCs against market food commodity market shocks and volatility.
Characterization of the Early Stages of Genetic Salt-Stress Responses in Salt-Tolerant Lophopyrum elongatum, Salt-Sensitive Wheat, and Their Amphiploid

Eleven unique cDNA clones corresponding to genes showing enhanced mRNA accumulation in the early stages of salt stress (early salt stress induced, ESI) were previously isolated. The accumulation of these mRNAs in Lophopyrum elongatum (Host) A. Love, salt-sensitive wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and their amphiploid is compared. The accumulation of ESI mRNAs was much greater in the L. elongatum roots than in the shoots. Additionally, mRNA accumulation in the roots of the three genotypes showed a biphasic response. The first phase occurred within a few hours after the onset of stress and had a large osmotic shock component, as indicated by induction of the accumulation of these mRNAs by a nonsaline osmoticum. The ion-specific component, however, also played a role. External Ca2+ reduced this response. The second phase was characterized by either constantly elevated mRNA levels or gradually increasing mRNA levels. The same biphasic response was elicited by exogenous abscisic acid (ABA). The response of all mRNAs to ABA closely approximated the response to 250 mM NaCl treatment in all three genotypes. The differences among the three genotypes in response to NaCl and ABA treatments were largely confined to the first phase of the response, in which mRNA levels were highest in L. elongatum and lowest in wheat. The levels of ESI mRNAs in the amphiploid closely approximated levels calculated on the basis of the doses of wheat and L. elongatum genomes in the amphiploid, which indicated an additive contribution of the genomes to early salt stress response in the amphiploid. The inducer of the ESI mRNA accumulation in response to NaCl and other osmotica is produced in the stressed roots and shows only minor, if any, translocation. A putative candidate for this inducer is root ABA.
A Network-based Analysis of Polyanion-binding Proteins Utilizing Yeast Protein Arrays*S

The high affinity of certain cellular polyanions for many proteins (polyanion-binding proteins (PABPs)) has been demonstrated previously. It has been hypothesized that such polyanions may be involved in protein structure stabilization, stimulation of folding through chaperone-like activity, and intra- and extracellular protein transport as well as intracellular organization. The purpose of the proteomics studies reported here was to seek evidence for the idea that the nonspecific but high affinity interactions of PABPs with polyanions have a functional role in intracellular processes. Utilizing yeast protein arrays and five biotinylated cellular polyanion probes (actin, tubulin, heparin, heparan sulfate, and DNA), we identified proteins that interact with these probes and analyzed their structural and amino acid sequence requirements as well as their predicted functions in the yeast proteome. We also provide evidence for the existence of a network-like system for PABPs and their potential roles as critical hubs in intracellular behavior. This investigation takes a first step toward achieving a better understanding of the nature of polyanion-protein interactions within cells and introduces an alternative way of thinking about intracellular organization.
Band selection based hyperspectral unmixing

Hyperspectral unmixing is the procedure by which the measured spectrum of a mixed pixel is decomposed into a collection of constituent spectra, or endmembers, and their mixing proportions. However, due to the hundreds of spectral bands contained in the hyperspectral imagery, the large amount of data not only increase the computational loads, but also are unfavorable for the fast hyperspectral unmixing. Hence, dimensionality reduction, which selects the relevant range of wavelengths in the spectrum, is a necessary preprocessing step for hyperspectral unmixing. In this paper, in order to preserve the crucial and critical information, band selection techniques are firstly used to choose the appropriate bands from the original data, and then the unmixing methods are applied. Two recently proposed algorithms, affinity propagation and constrained nonnegative matrix factorization, are respectively adopted for the above two procedures. Experimental results show that the performance of the band selection based hyperspectral unmixing strategy is comparable to that without band selection.
On the Performance of the Comonotonicity Approach for Pricing Asian Option in Some Benchmark Models from Equities and Commodities

In this paper, we investigate the applicability of the comonotonicity approach in the context of various benchmark models for equities and commodities. Instead of classical Levy models as in Albrecher et al. we focus on the Heston stochastic volatility model, the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model and Schwartz’ 1997 stochastic convenience yield model. We show how the technical difficulties of inverting the distribution function of the sum of the comonotonic random vector can be overcome and that the method delivers rather tight upper bounds for the prices of Asian Options in these models, at least for strikes which are not too large. As a by-product the method delivers super-hedging strategies which can be easily implemented.
A genome‐wide association study of suicidal behavior

Genome wide array studies have reported limited success in identifying genetic markers conferring risk for suicidal behavior (SB). This may be attributable to study designs with primary outcome other than SB. We performed a GWAS on suicides and cases with a history of nonfatal suicide attempts compared with psychiatric controls and healthy volunteers. A consortium of USA, Canadian and German teams assembled two groups of cases (suicide attempters and suicides, N = 577) and non‐attempter psychiatric and healthy controls (N = 1,233). Logistic regression was used to test genotype‐suicidal behavior association. The test was repeated separating suicide attempt and completed suicide as outcomes. No SNP reached genome‐wide significance, but several SNPs within STK3, ADAMTS14, PSME2, and TBX20 genes reached P < 1 × 10−5. The top SNPs for the suicide attempt analysis included two from DPP10, one from CTNNA3 and one from STK32B. In the suicide analysis we found seven SNPs from the TBX20 gene in the top hits. Pathway analysis identified the following pathways: “Cellular Assembly and Organization,” “Nervous System Development and Function,” “Cell Death and Survival,” “Immunological Disease,” “Infectious Disease,” and “Inflammatory Response. ” The top genes in the SB analysis did not overlap with those in the ideation analysis. No genome wide significant results suggest that susceptibility to SB has genetic risk factors with smaller effect sizes. The strongest candidate genes, ADAMTS14, and PSME2 (both linked to inflammatory response), STK3 (neuronal cell death), and TBX20 (brainstem motor neuron development), have not been previously reported in association with suicide and warrant further study. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Development and validation of ELISAs for monitoring bacterial and parasitic infections in laboratory rodents and rabbits

According to the FELASA recommendations for the health monitoring of rodent and rabbit breeding and experimental colonies (Kraft et al. 1994; Rehbinder et al. 1996) bacterial and parasitic infections are monitored by culture and microscopy respectively whereas viral infections are monitored by serology. The recommendation on the breeding colonies states that serological methods exist for the detection of antibodies to various bacterial pathogens e.g. Bacillus piliformis (now Clostridium piliforme ), mycoplasmas and Leptospira spp. and suggests the possible use of serology for these infections as well as for Treponema cuniculi , Encephalitozoon cuniculi and Toxoplasma gondii . Since 1985 we have explored the utility of serology, notably the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for the monitoring of animal colonies. Serology avoids the killing of animals and large numbers of animals can be more easily tested than by culture and results can be obtained within hours. Here we give a brief overview of our work and some experiences. Details can be found in a series of papers published between 1993 and 1999 in Laboratory Animals (LA) and the Journal of Experimental Animal Science (JEAnS) (Table 1). We started with non-X (hemin) and non-V (NADP) factor requiring Pasteurellaceae as such bacteria frequently occurred in all animal species. Later we extended our studies to growth factor requiring members of the family ( Haemophilus sp) and bacterial species belonging to other families. The development and validation of the assays were done similarly for bacterial species or groups studied (Figure 1).
Process evaluation of an environmental and educational nutrition intervention in residential drug-treatment facilities

Abstract Objective To evaluate the implementation of a controlled, 6-week, environmental and educational intervention to improve dietary intake and body composition, and to study the association of implementation fidelity with diet and body composition outcomes. Design A process evaluation documented participation, dose of nutrition education delivered, participant satisfaction, fidelity and completeness of the food environment intervention implementation, and context through observations and interviews with staff and residents. Intervention sites were scored and categorized as high or low participation and implementation and compared on essential elements of the food environment and on diet and body composition outcomes. Setting Six urban residential drug-treatment facilities in Upstate New York. Subjects Fifty-five primarily black and white men in residential drug-treatment programmes. Results Participants were exposed to 94 % and 69 % of the educational and environmental elements, respectively. High implementation sites were significantly more likely to provide water and 100 % juice, offer fruit or vegetable salad, offer choices of fruits and vegetables, and limit fried foods. Mixed-model analysis of covariance revealed that participants in the high participation and implementation sites reported greater reductions in total energy, percentage of energy from sweets, daily servings of fats, oils and sweets, and BMI over the intervention period. Participants in low participation and implementation sites reported greater reductions in percentage of energy from fat. Differential implementation of environmental elements limited the intervention impact. Conclusions These findings document the contribution of changes in eating environments to facilitate dietary behaviour change in community residential substance-abuse settings.
Noninvasive Determination of Fetal RhD Status Using Fetal DNA in Maternal Serum and PCR

Objective: Because prenatal testing of fetal RhD status by amniocentesis carries small yet finite risks to the fetus and mother, this study sought to determine whether fetal DNA in maternal serum could be used to detect fetal RhD status by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: A retrospective analysis was made of frozen serum specimens from 20 sensitized RhD-negative pregnant women (ranging from 15.0 to 36.0 weeks' gestation) who were confirmed by serology at birth to have been carrying RhD-positive fetuses. Eleven serum specimens from RhD-negative individuals served as controls. DNA was isolated from serum and used in two PCR-based methods to detect a 99 base pair (bp) DNA fragment specific for the RhD gene and a 113 bp fragment specific for the RhCE gene as control. Results: Overall, in 14 (70%) of 20 RhD-positive fetuses the 99 base pair RhD-specific PCR product was detected. There was no false positive detection among the 11 control serum specimens. Conclusion: The results illustrate the ability to detect fetal RhD sequences in maternal serum of sensitized women. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that fetal single-gene disorders can be detected prenatally by using DNA isolated only from maternal serum.
Axonal damage in the spinal cord of multiple sclerosis patients detected by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Axonal damage is a major factor contributing to permanent disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS); it has been extensively investigated in the brain using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). In this study, MRS was used to investigate the degree of neuronal damage in the cervical spinal cord in MS. Spectra were acquired from spinal cord and brain in 11 patients with MS (expanded disability status score [EDSS], range 2.5–7.0) and 11 controls. Brain lesion volume and spinal cord cross‐sectional area were measured. Concentration of the neuronal metabolite N‐acetyl‐aspartate ([NAA]) was reduced in the spinal cord in MS patients relative to controls (reduced by 32%, P < 0.05), indicating significant neuronal damage. Additionally, the spinal cord was significantly atrophied in MS patients (15%, P < 0.001). No significant reduction in brain [NAA] was seen in the MS group. There were no correlations between clinical measures and cord atrophy or brain lesion volume on MRI; however, spinal cord [NAA] correlated with the cerebellar subscore of the neurological assessment (P < 0.005), while brain [NAA] correlated with disease duration (P < 0.05). MRS demonstrated cellular damage within the cord over and above the tissue atrophy seen by MRI. Combining MRI and MRS may therefore give a more complete picture of neurodegeneration in the spinal cord. Magn Reson Med 58:880–885, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Defining the Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome in a COPD Cohort.

BACKGROUND Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) has been recently described by international guidelines. A stepwise approach to diagnosis using usual features of both diseases is recommended although its clinical application is difficult. METHODS To identify patients with ACOS, a cohort of well-characterized patients with COPD and up to 1 year of follow-up was analyzed. We evaluated the presence of specific characteristics associated with asthma in this COPD cohort, divided into major criteria (bronchodilator test > 400 mL and 15% and past medical history of asthma) and minor criteria (blood eosinophils > 5%, IgE > 100 IU/mL, or two separate bronchodilator tests > 200 mL and 12%). We defined ACOS by the presence of one major criterion or two minor criteria. Baseline characteristics, health status (COPD Assessment Test [CAT]), BMI, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity (BODE) index, rate of exacerbations, and mortality up to 1 year of follow-up were compared between patients with and without criteria for ACOS. RESULTS Of 831 patients with COPD included,125 (15%) fulfilled the criteria for ACOS, and 98.4% of them sustained these criteria after 1 year. Patients with ACOS were predominantly male (81.6%), with symptomatic mild to moderate disease (67%), who were receiving inhaled corticosteroids (63.2%). There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics, and only survival was worse in patients with non-ACOS COPD after 1 year of follow-up (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS The proposed ACOS criteria are present in 15% of a cohort of patients with COPD and these patients show better 1-year prognosis than clinically similar patients with COPD with no ACOS criteria. TRIAL REGISTRY ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01122758; URL: www.clinicaltrials. gov.
Induction of proopiomelanocortin mRNA expression in animal caps of Xenopus laevis embryos

To convert animal pole cells of a frog embryo from an ectodermal fate into a neural one, inductive signals are necessary. The alkalizing agent NH4Cl induces the expression of several anterior brain markers and the early pituitary marker XANF‐2 in Xenopus animal caps. Here it is demonstrated that NH4Cl also induced proopiomelanocortin (POMC)‐expressing cells (the first fully differentiated pituitary cell type) in stage 9 and 10 Xenopus animal caps, and that all‐trans retinoic acid, a posteriorizing agent, was able to block this induction when it was administered within 2 h after the start of NH4Cl incubation. Thus, after 2 h, the fate of Xenopus animal cap cells was determined. Microinjection of ribonucleic acid (RNA) encoding noggin, an endogenous neural inducer, led to the induction of POMC gene expression in animal caps of stage 10 embryos, suggesting that noggin represents a candidate mesodermal signal leading to the POMC messenger (m) RNA producing cell type in uncommitted ectoderm. Hence, an alkalizing agent and a neural inducer can generate a fully differentiated POMC cell lineage from Xenopus animal caps.