Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Driving Competence of 90-Year-Old Drivers: From a Hospital-Based Driving Clinic

Objectives: To compare the performance on a standardized driving evaluation of a group of oldest old adults (age 90–97) against younger old adults (age 80–87) and examine whether the same cognitive variables and brake reaction time performance were associated with pass–fail status on a road test in both groups. Secondary objectives focused on an examination of the specific driving errors of both groups. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in the setting of a clinical driving evaluation program at an academic medical center in the United States. In this study we examined the performance of 88 participants (27 age 90–97 and 61 age 80–87) who completed comprehensive driving evaluations between 1997 and 2011. The outcome variable was performance on a standardized road test. Measures included the Trail Making Test (TMT), the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and brake reaction time (BRT). An exploratory analysis of the possible predictive value of specific MMSE subtests was also performed. Results: Results indicate that the oldest old adults (90–97 years old) were at no greater driving risk than were a younger old (80–87 years old) cohort and made similar types and frequency of driving errors. TMT-B time was associated with pass–fail status in both groups. MMSE attention items discriminated between safe and unsafe younger old drivers, and MMSE orientation items were associated with pass–fail status in the oldest old cohort. Conclusion: Drivers age 90 and above were at no greater driving risk than those one decade younger. MMSE orientation questions may be useful to assist in identifying which oldest old drivers could benefit from a comprehensive driving evaluation including an on-road test. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Traffic Injury Prevention to view the supplemental file.
Effects of Transforming Growth Factor‐&bgr; and Mechanical Strain on Osteoblast Cell Counts: An in Vitro Model for Distraction Osteogenesis

Factors known to regulate bone production during distraction osteogenesis include mechanical strain on bone forming cells and up‐regulation of transforming growth factor‐&bgr; (TGF‐&bgr;) during the distraction, or strain phase of distraction osteogenesis. In the present study, an in vitro model was used to evaluate the functional effect of exogenous TGF‐&bgr;1 on mitogenesis in murine‐derived MC3T3 osteoblasts during the period of active mechanical strain. The first hypothesis to be tested was that mitogenic suppression of MC3T3 osteoblasts by TGF‐&bgr;1 is further enhanced when these cells are also subjected to mechanical strain. To test this hypothesis, MC3T3 osteoblasts were seeded on flexible and rigid membranes. These were subjected to cyclic, vacuum‐induced strain, simulating physiologic stress loads. After 24 hours, all cells were transferred to media containing TGF‐&bgr;1, and strain was continued for an additional 48 hours. The study was repeated by using two doses of TGF‐&bgr;1. This study demonstrated that final cell counts were significantly decreased in the presence of TGF‐&bgr;1 in both the nonstrained and strained groups (p < 0.0001). The final cell count in the strained group was significantly less than that in the nonstrained group (p < 0.0001) for both concentrations of TGF‐&bgr;1 tested, confirming the initial hypothesis. The second hypothesis to be tested was that alteration in the mitogenic response of MC3T3 osteoblasts after strain is not directly due to autocrine factors produced by the strained osteoblasts. To test this hypothesis, a proliferation assay was performed on nonconfluent MC3T3 osteoblasts by using conditioned media collected from strained and nonstrained osteoblasts. This study demonstrated no significant differences in cell counts after addition of conditioned media collected from strained versus nonstrained cells, confirming the latter hypothesis. The present study demonstrates the functional significance of mechanical strain on osteoblast cell counts. Furthermore, this may help to explain the temporal relationship observed during the early distraction (strain) phase of distraction osteogenesis in rodent models in which peak up‐regulation of TGF‐&bgr;1 gene expression correlates with peak suppression of osteoblast function as measured by gene expression of extracellular matrix proteins. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 105: 130, 2000.)
Mixture models, robustness, and sum of squares proofs

We use the Sum of Squares method to develop new efficient algorithms for learning well-separated mixtures of Gaussians and robust mean estimation, both in high dimensions, that substantially improve upon the statistical guarantees achieved by previous efficient algorithms. Our contributions are: Mixture models with separated means: We study mixtures of poly(k)-many k-dimensional distributions where the means of every pair of distributions are separated by at least kε. In the special case of spherical Gaussian mixtures, we give a kO(1/ε)-time algorithm that learns the means assuming separation at least kε, for any ε> 0. This is the first algorithm to improve on greedy (“single-linkage”) and spectral clustering, breaking a long-standing barrier for efficient algorithms at separation k1/4. Robust estimation: When an unknown (1−ε)-fraction of X1,…,Xn are chosen from a sub-Gaussian distribution with mean µ but the remaining points are chosen adversarially, we give an algorithm recovering µ to error ε1−1/t in time kO(t), so long as sub-Gaussian-ness up to O(t) moments can be certified by a Sum of Squares proof. This is the first polynomial-time algorithm with guarantees approaching the information-theoretic limit for non-Gaussian distributions. Previous algorithms could not achieve error better than ε1/2. As a corollary, we achieve similar results for robust covariance estimation. Both of these results are based on a unified technique. Inspired by recent algorithms of Diakonikolas et al. in robust statistics, we devise an SDP based on the Sum of Squares method for the following setting: given X1,…,Xn ∈ ℝk for large k and n = poly(k) with the promise that a subset of X1,…,Xn were sampled from a probability distribution with bounded moments, recover some information about that distribution.
Immunodominant “Asymptomatic” Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and 2 Protein Antigens Identified by Probing Whole-ORFome Microarrays with Serum Antibodies from Seropositive Asymptomatic versus Symptomatic Individuals

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 are medically significant pathogens. The development of an effective HSV vaccine remains a global public health priority. HSV-1 and HSV-2 immunodominant “asymptomatic” antigens (ID-A-Ags), which are strongly recognized by B and T cells from seropositive healthy asymptomatic individuals, may be critical to be included in an effective immunotherapeutic HSV vaccine. In contrast, immunodominant “symptomatic” antigens (ID-S-Ags) may exacerbate herpetic disease and therefore must be excluded from any HSV vaccine. In the present study, proteome microarrays of 88 HSV-1 and 84 HSV-2 open reading frames(ORFs) (ORFomes) were constructed and probed with sera from 32 HSV-1-, 6 HSV-2-, and 5 HSV-1/HSV-2-seropositive individuals and 47 seronegative healthy individuals (negative controls). The proteins detected in both HSV-1 and HSV-2 proteome microarrays were further classified according to their recognition by sera from HSV-seropositive clinically defined symptomatic (n = 10) and asymptomatic (n = 10) individuals. We found that (i) serum antibodies recognized an average of 6 ORFs per seropositive individual; (ii) the antibody responses to HSV antigens were diverse among HSV-1- and HSV-2-seropositive individuals; (iii) panels of 21 and 30 immunodominant antigens (ID-Ags) were identified from the HSV-1 and HSV-2 ORFomes, respectively, as being highly and frequently recognized by serum antibodies from seropositive individuals; and (iv) interestingly, four HSV-1 and HSV-2 cross-reactive asymptomatic ID-A-Ags, US4, US11, UL30, and UL42, were strongly and frequently recognized by sera from 10 of 10 asymptomatic patients but not by sera from 10 of 10 symptomatic patients (P < 0.001). In contrast, sera from symptomatic patients preferentially recognized the US10 ID-S-Ag (P < 0.001). We have identified previously unreported immunodominant HSV antigens, among which were 4 ID-A-Ags and 1 ID-S-Ag. These newly identified ID-A-Ags could lead to the development of an efficient “asymptomatic” vaccine against ocular, orofacial, and genital herpes.
Endo β‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase F cleavage specificity with peptide free oligosaccharides

Endo β‐N‐acetylglucosaminidase activities were determined based on conversion of oligosaccharides containing two N‐acetylglucosamines to the oligosaccharides with a single N‐acetylglucosamine at the reducing terminal and following their separation on a carbohydrate analyzer. The oligosaccharides eluted from the high performance anion exchange column in the order of fucosyl‐N,N′ ‐diacetylchitobiose, N,N′ ‐diacetylchitobiose and N‐acetylglucosamine containing reducing terminals. Using this assay, differences in cleavage specificity of the glycoproteins was determined. The commercial Endo F‐peptide N‐glycosidase/glycanyl amidase (PNGase)mixture readily leaved high mannose and complex oligosaccharides (neutral and sialyated) with common core α1–6 linked fucose found in porcine thyroglobulin including the trimannosyl‐chitobiose core structure. However, the same Endo F mixture did not cleave the non‐fucosylated complex oligosaccharides found in human transferrin and also the common core structure. Glycopeptide counterparts with and without fucose were good substrates for the endoglycosidases. These results show that the specificity of these enzymes is such that they can recognize the conformational differences between free oligosaccharides and glycopeptides with and without the common core α1–6 linked fucose. In contrast, highly purified Endo F cleaved only the high mannose type oligosaccharides and was unable to cleave ovalbumin hybrid type oligosaccharides. However, it was similar to Endo H when reduced ovalbumin oligosaccharides were used as substrates, consistent with the recently isolated Endo F subfraction F1 being similar to Endo H [Trimble, R. B. and Tarentino, a. L. (1991). J. Biol. Chem. 266, 1646]. Results obtained in this study suggest that the complex oligosaccharides cleaving enzymes F2 and F3 show high specificity towards peptide free oligosaccharides with the core α1‐6 linked fucose, unlike the glycopeptide substrates. Therefore PNGase free Endo F1, F2 and F3 mixtures should be useful in the functional evaluation of the oligosaccharides in glycoproteins.
Evidence of active microglia in substantia nigra pars compacta of parkinsonian monkeys 1 year after MPTP exposure

Inflammatory changes have been found in Parkinson's disease, in humans intoxicated with the parkinsonian toxin MPTP, and in animal models of the disease. However, it is still not known whether inflammatory changes are responsible for active nerve cell death or if they have a protective role against neurodegeneration. In this study, we analyzed the glial reaction in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and the striatum of monkeys rendered parkinsosian by chronic MPTP injections. At postmortem examination 1 year after the last MPTP injection, the density of astroglial cells and activated microglial cells in the SNpc, but not in the striatum, of MPTP‐intoxicated animals was significantly higher than in the two control animals. These data suggest that neurodegeneration was still active despite the absence of the agent triggering cell death and that the glial reaction is associated with long‐term neurodegeneration. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Magnetic resonance imaging of perfusion using spin inversion of arterial water

A technique has been developed for proton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of perfusion, using water as a freely diffusable tracer, and its application to the measurement of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the rat is demonstrated. The method involves labeling the inflowing water proton spins in the arterial blood by inverting them continuously at the neck region and observing the effects of inversion on the intensity of brain MRI. Solution to the Bloch equations, modified to include the effects of flow, allows regional perfusion rates to be measured from an image with spin inversion, a control image, and a T1 image. Continuous spin inversion labeling the arterial blood water was accomplished, using principles of adiabatic fast passage by applying continuous-wave radiofrequency power in the presence of a magnetic field gradient in the direction of arterial flow. In the detection slice used to measure perfusion, whole brain CBF averaged 1.39 +/- 0.19 ml.g-1.min-1 (mean +/- SEM, n = 5). The technique's sensitivity to changes in CBF was measured by using graded hypercarbia, a condition that is known to increase brain perfusion. CBF vs. pCO2 data yield a best-fit straight line described by CBF (ml.g-1.min-1) = 0.052pCO2 (mm Hg) - 0.173, in excellent agreement with values in the literature. Finally, perfusion images of a freeze-injured rat brain have been obtained, demonstrating the technique's ability to detect regional abnormalities in perfusion.
Novel lipoxygenase inhibitors as neuroprotective reagents

The lipid‐metabolizing enzyme 12/15‐lipoxygenase (12/15‐LOX) mediates cell death resulting from oxidative stress in both neurons and oligodendrocytes. Specifically, it may contribute to the pathophysiology of stroke and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. We report here that two of three specific 12/15‐LOX inhibitors, derived from a virtual screen by computer modeling and validated by inhibition of recombinant human 15‐LOX in vitro, are able to rescue both neuronal as well as oligodendroglial cells from cell death induced by oxidative stress. Thus, in a fairly streamlined process, an initial virtual screen of 50,000 compounds in a library of drug‐like molecules has led to the identification of two novel drug candidates for targeting LOX. Future studies of these novel neuroprotective inhibitors of 12/15‐LOX may provide new therapeutic opportunities to combat stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A New Link-Based Hamiltonian Cycle Protection in Survivable WDM Optical Networks

In this paper, we propose a new link-based Hamiltonian cycle protection (LBHCP) scheme for tolerating the single-link failure in WDM optical networks. From theoretical analysis and simulation results, we can clearly see that LBHCP has better resources utilization ratio and faster recovery time than previous path-based shared protection scheme.
Expression of Major Capsid Protein VP-1 in the Absence of Viral Particles in Thymomas Induced by Murine Polyomavirus

ABSTRACT Thymomas induced by polyomavirus strain PTA in mice are known to express the major capsid protein VP-1. Since the expression of a late structural protein such as VP-1 is considered a sign of virus replication, the present work attempted to clarify the implication of the presence of this protein in tumor cells. Electron microscopy of tumors showed a striking absence of viral particles in the vast majority of the cells. However, immunoelectron microscopy of the same samples demonstrated intranuclear VP-1 in most cells despite the absence of viral particles. Very little infectious virus was recovered from tumors. A change in the electrophoretic mobility of VP-1 from thymomas was detected compared with VP-1 from productively infected cells. The data presented in this work prove that the expression of VP-1 in polyomavirus-induced tumors is not synonymous with the presence of infectious virus, suggesting a possible defect in viral encapsidation.
Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities.

* The reporting of most sentinel events to The Joint Commission is voluntary and represents only a small proportion of actual events. Therefore, these data are not an epidemiologic data set and no conclusions should be drawn about the actual relative frequency of events or trends in events over time. Published for Joint Commission accredited organizations and interested health care professionals, Sentinel Event Alert identifies specific types of sentinel and adverse events and high risk conditions, describes their common underlying causes, and recommends steps to reduce risk and prevent future occurrences.
Universal Minicircle Sequence-binding Protein, a Sequence-specific DNA-binding Protein That Recognizes the Two Replication Origins of the Kinetoplast DNA Minicircle*

Replication of the kinetoplast DNA minicircle lagging (heavy (H))-strand initiates at, or near, a unique hexameric sequence (5′-ACGCCC-3′) that is conserved in the minicircles of trypanosomatid species. A protein from the trypanosomatidCrithidia fasciculata binds specifically a 14-mer sequence, consisting of the complementary strand hexamer and eight flanking nucleotides at the H-strand replication origin. This protein was identified as the previously described universal minicircle sequence (UMS)-binding protein (UMSBP) (Tzfati, Y., Abeliovich, H., Avrahami, D., and Shlomai, J. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 21339–21345). This CCHC-type zinc finger protein binds the single-stranded form of both the 12-mer (UMS) and 14-mer sequences, at the replication origins of the minicircle L-strand and H-strand, respectively. The attribution of the two different DNA binding activities to the same protein relies on their co-purification fromC. fasciculata cell extracts and on the high affinity of recombinant UMSBP to the two origin-associated sequences. Both the conserved H-strand hexamer and its flanking nucleotides at the replication origin are required for binding. Neither the hexameric sequence per se nor this sequence flanked by different sequences could support the generation of specific nucleoprotein complexes. Stoichiometry analysis indicates that each UMSBP molecule binds either of the two origin-associated sequences in the nucleoprotein complex but not both simultaneously.
Multiple attributes decision making method on social stability in nuclear accident scenario

The Chernobyl nuclear accident made Europe and even the whole world clearly aware of the threats posed by nuclear accidents. When the Fukushima nuclear accident happened in Japan, the “Rush for Salt Affair” took place in some Chinese cities. Meanwhile, large numbers of anti-nuclear parades were held in many Western countries, such as Germany and the United States. Nuclear accidents have a much more serious impact on society than does an ordinary disaster, due both to the nature and characteristics of nuclear accidents, as well as asymmetric in the general public’s access to reliable information. By analyzing the mechanisms and characteristics of the impacts on social stability of a nuclear accident, this paper develops a multi-attributes decision making method based on index system of social stability factors in nuclear accident scenarios.
N ov 2 00 3 MAVID : Constrained ancestral alignment of multiple sequences

We describe a new global multiple alignment program capable of aligning a large number of genomic regions. Our progressive alignment approach incorporates the following ideas: maximum-likelihood inference of ancestral sequences, automatic guide-tree construction, protein based anchoring of ab-initio gene predictions, and constraints derived from a global homology map of the sequences. We have implemented these ideas in the MAVID program, which is able to accurately align multiple genomic regions up to megabases long. MAVID is able to effectively align divergent sequences, as well as incomplete unfinished sequences. We demonstrate the capabilities of the program on the benchmark CFTR region which consists of 1.8Mb of human sequence and 20 orthologous regions in marsupials, birds, fish, and mammals. Finally, we describe two large MAVID alignments: an alignment of all the available HIV genomes and a multiple alignment of the entire human, mouse and rat genomes.
A network anomaly detection method based on genetic algorithm

With the rapid development of computer network application, it is increasingly important to detect abnormal behaviors and patterns in the field of network security. In this paper, a genetic algorithm is proposed to detect the network anomaly by using Management Information Base (MIB), which is based on the theory of classification using integrated IF-THEN rules. This paper presents a new chromosome coding scheme, and a new method of sufficiency function design is discussed too. Some experiments based on a big data set from real network environment were designed and tested, the results show that this algorithm is efficient in network anomaly detection.
The MEN mediates the effects of the spindle assembly checkpoint on Kar9-dependent spindle pole body inheritance in budding yeast

Many asymmetrically dividing cells segregate the poles of the mitotic spindle non-randomly between their two daughters. In budding yeast, the protein Kar9 localizes almost exclusively to the astral microtubules emanating from the old spindle pole body (SPB) and promotes its movement toward the bud. Thereby, Kar9 orients the spindle relative to the division axis. Here, we show that beyond perturbing Kar9 distribution, activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) randomizes SPB inheritance. Inactivation of the B-type cyclin Clb5 led to a SAC-dependent defect in Kar9 orientation and SPB segregation. Furthermore, unlike the Clb4-dependent pathway, the Clb5- and SAC-dependent pathways functioned genetically upstream of the mitotic exit network (MEN) in SPB specification and Kar9-dependent SPB inheritance. Together, our study indicates that Clb5 functions in spindle assembly and that the SAC controls the specification and inheritance of yeast SPBs through inhibition of the MEN.
Delineation of Nocardia farcinica by delayed type skin reactions on guinea pigs.

SUMMARY: An immunological method based on the specificity of delayed-type skin reactions on guinea-pigs has been used for comparing 17 Nocardia strains. By this method, 4 isolates labelled Nocardia farcinica, four labelled N. asteroides and 1 strain labelled N. blackwellii could be grouped together with the type strain of N. farcinica. Three other strains labelled N. farcinica were clearly distinct from this group of 10 strains. A strain of N. asteroides used previously as reference strain for this species was clearly distinct from the N. farcinica strains, and this applied also to a recently proposed reference strain of N. asteroides. A strain of N. brasiliensis was clearly distinct from all the other strains, while the results obtained with a strain received without species designation were inconclusive. On this basis, the authors consider that all the 10 strains, which form a homogeneous group, should be classified as N. farcinica. The 3 other strains labelled N. farcinica should be classified into 2 other species. Nocardia asteroides would seem to be a separate species.
A Qualitative Study: Why Prolonged Stay in the Recovery Room?

There are a number of factors that prolong patients’ stay in the recovery room (RR), which are related to system or clinical issues. However, less has been discovered from the RR nurses about reasons for prolonged patient stay and recommendations to solve this issue. Prolonged patient stay of more than 2 hours in the RR interferes with the primary role of the RR nurse, which is to provide care to immediate postanaesthesia patients. Consequently, this could affect the operating room schedule, normal flow of patients to the RR and discharge to the nursing units.