Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunological and PCR Analyses for Borna Disease Virus in Psychiatric Patients and Blood Donors in Japan

ABSTRACT The involvement of Borna disease virus (BDV) in psychiatric diseases in humans remains controversial. T-cell memory response and seroprevalence of BDV in patients with psychiatric disorders and blood donors in Japan were evaluated collectively by Western blot (WB) analysis with inhibition test, electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, immunofluorescence assay, and T-cell proliferative response as well as detection of BDV p24 RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Positive proliferative responses to both BDV p40 and p24 proteins were detected in 9% of patients with mood disorders (4 of 45), 4% of schizophrenic patients (2 of 45), and 2% of blood donors (1 of 45). By WB analysis, the antibody to BDV p40 was detected only in 2% of patients with mood disorders (1 of 45). The BDV p24 antibody was detected in 2% of patients with mood disorders (1 of 45) and 9% of schizophrenic patients. (4 of 45) No plasma reacted with both BDV proteins. The finding of a lower seroprevalence than previously reported suggests the presence of false-positive cases in the previous report. BDV RNA was detected only in 2% of patients with mood disorders (1 of 45). In these three serological assays, T-cell responses, and PCR analysis, there was no significant difference in the prevalence among the three groups. However, we found three psychiatric patients who were positive for both BDV antibodies and T-cell proliferative responses and one patient who was positive for BDV RNA in PBMCs. These findings suggest the usefulness of the proliferative T-cell response and that certain individuals are infected with BDV or a BDV-related virus.
Small molecule inhibitor of HIV‐1 cell fusion blocks chemokine receptor‐mediated function

The intersection of the HIV and the chemokine fields began with the observation that HIV entry into cells could be blocked by certain chemokines. Subsequent work showed that HIV entry is dependent on the presence of specific chemokine receptors. These observations led us to evaluate a series of compounds, ureido analogs of distamycin previously reported to block HIV entry into cells in vitro, for chemokine antagonist activity. One of the distamycin analogs, 2,2′[4,4′‐[[aminocarbonyl]amino]bis[N,4′‐di[pyrrole‐2‐carboxamide‐1,1'‐dimethyl]]‐6,8 napthalenedisulfonic acid] hexasodium salt (NSC 651016), is shown here to inhibit syncytia formation and cell fusion. Mechanistic studies showed that this inhibition was not due to conformational changes in gp120‐gp41 induced by target cell CD4 and chemokine co‐receptor and was therefore not due to interference with binding of HIV‐1. Additional mechanistic studies demonstrated that NSC 651016 inhibited chemokine binding to specific chemokine receptors, induced CXCR4 and CCR5 receptor internalization, and inhibited chemokine‐induced chemotaxis by macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)‐1α, MIP‐1β, RANTES, and stromal‐derived factor‐1α but not monocyte chemotactic protein‐1. Thus, we describe a novel compound that inhibits in vivo replication of HIV‐1 by down‐regulation of co‐receptors. These data lead us to propose that NSC 651016 may have in vivo anti‐inflammatory activity. J. Leukoc. Biol. 64: 6–13; 1998.
Angiotensin-converting Enzyme I/D Polymorphism is Associated with COPD Risk in Asian Population: Evidence from a Meta-analysis

Abstract Several molecular epidemiological studies were conducted in recent years to evaluate the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) associated with insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). However, the results remain conflicting rather than conclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of association between ACE polymorphism and the risk of COPD, we performed a meta-analysis from all available relevant studies. We used odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the strength of the association. There was a markedly positive association between the D allele or DD genotype and COPD risk in Asians (D vs. I: OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.407–2.44; DD vs. II: OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.65–3.89; DD vs. DI/II: OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.09–4.03), but this association was not observed in Europeans (D vs. I: OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.75–1.15; DD vs. II: OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.56–1.33; DD vs. DI/II: OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.63–1.23). Our meta-analysis provides strong evidence that D allele and DD homozygous might be significant genetic molecular markers for COPD susceptibility in Asians, but not for Europeans. Additional well-designed large studies were required for the validation of our results.
Enhancements in Assamese spoken query system: Enabling background noise suppression and flexible queries

In the work presented in this paper, the recent improvements incorporated in the earlier developed Assamese spoken query (SQ) system for accessing the price of agricultural commodities are discussed. The developed SQ system consists of interactive voice response (IVR) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) modules. These are developed using open source resources. The speech data used for developing the ASR system was collected in the field conditions, thus contained significantly high level of background noise. On account of the background noise, the recognition performance of earlier version of the SQ system was severely affected. In order to deal with that, a front-end noise suppression module-based on zero frequency filtering has been added in the current version. Furthermore, we have also incorporated the subspace Gaussian mixture (SGMM) and deep neural network (DNN)-based acoustic modeling approaches. These techniques are found to be more effective than the Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based approach which was employed in the previous version. The combination of noise removal and DNN-based acoustic modeling is found to result in a relative improvement of almost 32% in word error rate in comparison to the earlier reported GMM-HMM-based ASR system. The earlier SQ system was designed expecting the users' queries in form of isolated words only and, therefore, a high degraded recognition performance was noted whenever the queries were in the form of continuous sentences. In order to overcome that, we present a simple technique exploiting the inherent patterns in the user queries. These patterns are then incorporated in the employed language model. The modified language model is observed to result in significant improvements in the recognition performances in case of continuous queries.
Proteomic strategy for probing complementary lethality of kinase inhibitors against pancreatic cancer

In the present study, proteomic analysis was performed to discover combinational molecular targets for therapy and chemoresistance by comparing differential protein expression from Panc‐1 cells treated with FDA‐approved drugs such as sunitinib, imatinib mesylate, dasatinib, and PD184352. A total of 4041 proteins were identified in the combined data from all of the treatment groups by nano‐electrospray ultra‐performance LC and MS/MS analysis. Most of the proteins with significant changes are involved in apoptosis, cytoskeletal remodeling, and epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition. These processes are associated with increased chemoresistance and progression of pancreatic cancer. Among the differentially expressed proteins, heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) was found in the sunitinib and imatinib mesylate treatment groups, which possibly acts as a specific target for synthetic lethality in combinational treatment. HO‐1 was found to play a key role in sensitizing the chemoresistant Panc‐1 cell line to drug therapy. Viability was significantly decreased in Panc‐1 cells cotreated with sunitinib and imatinib mesylate at low doses, compared to those treated with sunitinib or imatinib mesylate alone. The results suggest that induction of chemosensitization by manipulating specific molecular targets can potentiate synergistic chemotherapeutic effects at lower, better tolerated doses, and in turn reduce the toxicity of multidrug treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Insights into the deactivation of 5-bromouracil after ultraviolet excitation

5-Bromouracil is a nucleobase analogue that can replace thymine in DNA strands and acts as a strong radiosensitizer, with potential applications in molecular biology and cancer therapy. Here, the deactivation of 5-bromouracil after ultraviolet irradiation is investigated in the singlet and triplet manifold by accurate quantum chemistry calculations and non-adiabatic dynamics simulations. It is found that, after irradiation to the bright ππ* state, three main relaxation pathways are, in principle, possible: relaxation back to the ground state, intersystem crossing (ISC) and C–Br photodissociation. Based on accurate MS-CASPT2 optimizations, we propose that ground-state relaxation should be the predominant deactivation pathway in the gas phase. We then employ different electronic structure methods to assess their suitability to carry out excited-state dynamics simulations. MRCIS (multi-reference configuration interaction including single excitations) was used in surface hopping simulations to compute the ultrafast ISC dynamics, which mostly involves the 1nOπ* and 3ππ* states. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Theoretical and computational studies of non-equilibrium and non-statistical dynamics in the gas phase, in the condensed phase and at interfaces’.
Support for removal of point-of-purchase tobacco advertising and displays: findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Canada survey

Background Although most countries now have at least some restrictions on tobacco marketing, the tobacco industry meet these restrictions by re-allocating expenditure to unregulated channels, such as at point-of-purchase. Methods Longitudinal data from 10 Canadian provinces in the International Tobacco Control Survey was analysed to examine adult smokers' support for a ban on tobacco advertising and displays in stores and whether this support is associated with noticing either advertising or displays in stores, and quit intentions, over time. In total, there were 4580 respondents in wave 5 (October 2006 to February 2007), wave 6 (September 2007 to February 2008) and wave 7 (October 2008 to June 2009). The surveys were conducted before, during and in some cases after the implementation of display bans in most Canadian provinces and territories. Results Smokers in all provinces showed strong support for a ban on tobacco displays over the study period. Levels of support for an advertising and display ban were comparable between Canadian provinces over time, irrespective of whether they had been banned or not. Noticing tobacco displays and signs in-store was demonstrably less likely to predict support for display (OR=0.73, p=0.005) and advertising (OR=0.78, p=0.02) ban, respectively. Smokers intending to quit were more likely to support advertising and display bans over time. Conclusion This study serves as a timely reminder that the implementation of tobacco control measures, such as the removal of tobacco displays, appear to sustain support among smokers, those most likely to oppose such measures.
Evaluating factors associated with STD infection in a study with interval‐censored event times and an unknown proportion of participants not at risk for disease

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality world‐wide. Because of their association with an increased risk of infection with human immunodeficiency virus, the prevention and control of STD are particularly important. Studies designed to evaluate factors associated with the transmission of STD can pose a number of statistical challenges, however. Two such concerns are the interval‐censored event times that result from spacing between follow‐up test visits, and an unknown proportion of study participants who are not at risk for infection. Researchers in various fields of study have used parametric mixture models to account for individuals not at risk. Owing to non‐identifiability concerns within the mixture model framework, however, it is not always possible to distinguish between effects of explanatory variables on the distribution of event times for at‐risk individuals and their effects on the probability of being at risk. We address these issues using data from a clinical trial designed to investigate the effectiveness of an intravaginal microbicide in preventing male‐to‐female transmission of STD. Factors associated with time to infection among at‐risk women are initially identified by fitting right‐truncated models to the interval‐censored event times of participants who tested positive for STD, and hence are known to have been at risk. Subsequently, factors associated with the probability of being at risk are evaluated using mixture models that incorporate information contributed by the right‐censored event‐free times of uninfected study participants. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
EEG-Based Brain-Controlled Mobile Robots: A Survey

EEG-based brain-controlled mobile robots can serve as powerful aids for severely disabled people in their daily life, especially to help them move voluntarily. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the complete systems, key techniques, and evaluation issues of brain-controlled mobile robots along with some insights into related future research and development issues. We first review and classify various complete systems of brain-controlled mobile robots into two categories from the perspective of their operational modes. We then describe key techniques that are used in these brain-controlled mobile robots including the brain-computer interface techniques and shared control techniques. This description is followed by an analysis of the evaluation issues of brain-controlled mobile robots including participants, tasks and environments, and evaluation metrics. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the current challenges and future research directions.
Planning distribution primary feeders for smart-grid operation via network flow analysis

Planning the expansion of distribution systems (DS) is a nonlinear and combinatorial problem that combines technical and regulatory constraints. Commonly, the planning of DS is intended to achieve a radial topology to reduce its complexity. However, in a smart-grid context, distribution feeders are subject to reconfigurations to transfer load between feeders in failure events, or to compensate for voltage profile and power quality issues caused by distributed generation (DG). In this paper we propose a novel methodology for the planning of primary feeders, which considers the DS performance in both open and closedloop arrangements. To this end we introduce the concept of reach current, which we use to define and solve a minimum power-loss flow problem. We solve this problem for each type of conductor considered to find a set of primary-feeder candidates. Additionally, an efficiency evaluation is performed to select the best among the candidate primary feeders. Simulation results on a test system show how this method is able to capture open and closed-loop operations, explicitly considering DG in the DS expansion planning within a smart-grid scheme.
Velocity measures in ultrasound data. Gestural timing of post-vocalic /l/ in English

We propose a new method for extracting dynamic information from midsagittal ultrasound images of tongue shape and location. The method is based on analysing parts of the tongue contour as they appear to travel up and down fan lines at key articulatory locations, representing velar and alveolar constrictions. The tongue displacement in these dimensions serves as the basis for calculating instantaneous velocity, whose maxima and minima help to define articulatory events. We validate the proposed method using data on /l/-darkening in Standard Southern British English. Our analysis extracts systematic information about the relative timing of gestures involved in the articulation of post-vocalic /l/, and it provides the basis for selecting representative images of consonantal constriction.
Identification of two bvg-repressed surface proteins of Bordetella pertussis

Bordetella pertussis, the etiological agent of whooping cough, has the ability to modulate its phenotype in response to environmental conditions by using the BvgAS sensory transduction system which is encoded by the vir locus (now known as bvg). The BvgAS system is part of a large family of two-component sensory transduction systems which are common to a number of pathogenic bacteria. Although much is known about the proteins which exist in the B. pertussis virulent (X-mode or phase I) phenotype, relatively little is known about the proteins produced in the avirulent (C-mode or phase III) phenotype. We used sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing techniques to demonstrate the existence of at least 22 vir-repressed molecules which are increased in the avirulent phenotype. In addition, a series of monoclonal antibodies which are specific for the surface of avirulent B. pertussis were developed. Using immunological and protein techniques, we characterized two of these antigens as surface-exposed proteins. One of these antigens is expressed only in B. pertussis but not in the related species B. parapertussis and B. bronchiseptica. The other antigen is also present in B. parapertussis and B. bronchiseptica but is expressed at lower levels which are not regulated by bvg. The identification and characterization of vir-repressed proteins (and the genes which encode and regulate them) may help elucidate a physiological role for modulation of this obligate human pathogen.
Pathogenicity of a natural recombinant associated with ageratum yellow vein disease: implications for geminivirus evolution and disease aetiology.

Yellow vein disease of Ageratum conyzoides is caused by a viral DNA complex consisting of the genomic component (DNA A) of the monopartite begomovirus Ageratum yellow vein virus (AYVV, family: Geminiviridae) and a small satellite-like DNA beta component. AYVV DNA A is unable to induce symptoms in this host alone but can systemically infect A. conyzoides in which it accumulates to low levels. Here, we demonstrate that the yellow vein phenotype can also be produced by co-inoculating A. conyzoides with AYVV DNA A and recDNA-Abeta17, a naturally occurring recombinant of approximately the same size as DNA beta that contains sequences from both DNA A and DNA beta. Symptoms induced by DNA A and recDNA-Abeta17 in A. conyzoides and Nicotiana glutinosa are qualitatively similar to those associated with DNA A and DNA beta although milder. Recombination between DNA A and DNA beta to produce a chimera resembling recDNA-Abeta17 was observed after whitefly transmission of the disease in A. conyzoides. Hence, such recombination events are likely to occur frequently, implying that recombinants will normally be associated with this type of disease complex in the field. Possible implications of these findings for the evolution of begomoviruses and the aetiology of their diseases are discussed.
The effects of endorsers’ traits on counterfeit purchase

This study applies Balance Theory and Elaboration Likelihood Model to explain consumerspsila counterfeit purchase behaviors. The results find that idolspsila exterior traits enhance not only consumerspsila worship levels, but also foster consumerspsila counterfeit purchase behaviors. Idolspsila interior traits enhance only worship levels, but not counterfeit purchase behaviors. In contrast, the role of worship level is to minimize the positive association between exterior traits and counterfeit purchase behaviors. Elder consumers display more counterfeit purchase behaviors than do younger consumers. This study suggests that emphasizing idolspsila interior traits is a helpful strategy for both marketing firms and consumers. Study implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Repeated exposure to iron oxide nanoparticles causes testicular toxicity in mice

The aim of this study was to determine whether repeated exposure to iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3‐NPs) could be toxic to mice testis. Fe2O3‐NPs (25 and 50 mg/kg) were intraperitoneally administered into mice once a week for 4 weeks. Our study showed that Fe2O3‐NPs have the ability to cross the blood‐testis barrier to get into the testis. The findings showed that exposure resulted in the accumulation of Fe2O3‐NPs which was evidenced from the iron content and accumulation in the testis. Furthermore, 25 and 50 mg/kg Fe2O3‐NPs administration increased the reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, protein carbonyl content, glutathione peroxidase activity, and nitric oxide levels with a concomitant decrease in the levels of antioxidants—superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and vitamin C. Increased expression of Bax, cleaved‐caspase‐3, and cleaved‐PARP confirms apoptosis. Serum testosterone levels increased with increased concentration of Fe2O3‐NPs exposure. In addition, the histopathological lesions like vacuolization, detachment, and sloughing of germ cells were also observed in response to Fe2O3‐NPs treatment. The data from our study entailed that testicular toxicity caused by Fe2O3‐NPs exposure may be associated with Fe2O3‐NPs accumulation leading to oxidative stress and apoptosis. Therefore, precautions should be taken in the safe use of Fe2O3‐NPs to avoid complications in the fertility of males. Further research will unravel the possible molecular mechanisms on testicular toxicity of Fe2O3‐NPs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 32: 594–608, 2017.
Penerapan Pendekatan Pendidikan Matematika Realistik Indonesia (PMRI) ditinjau dari Multiple Intelligences

The purpose of this research is to know if there are: (1) the influence of PMRI approach to the problem-solving ability of mathematical learners; (2) the influence between multiple intelligences capability categories of mathematical problem solving abilities; (3) there is an interaction between PMRI approach with multiple intelligences on mathematical problem solving ability. This research is a quasi-experimental design research with 2 × 3 factorial design. Sampling technique in this research use probability sampling with cluster random sampling. The research instrument used is the test of mathematical problem-solving ability and multiple intelligences questionnaire. The resulting data of mathematical problem-solving test were analyzed by using another test of two different cell paths. The result of the research shows that: (1) there is an influence of PMRI approach to students' mathematical problem solving ability; (2) there is influence between categories of multiple intelligences ability in mathematical problem solving ability; (3) there is no interaction between PMRI approach with multiple intelligences on mathematical problem solving ability.