Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BRAIN LIPID PEROXIDATION AND CHANGES OF TRACE METALS IN RATS FOLLOWING CHRONIC MANGANESE CHLORIDE EXPOSURE

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic, daily, 30-d administration of manganese chloride (MnCl 2 ) to male Sprague-Dawley rats on lipid peroxidation and changes of trace elements (manganese, iron, copper, zinc) in various brain regions. Rats were intraperitoneally injected with MnCl 2 (20 mg/kg) once daily for 30 consecutive days. The Mn accumulated in frontal cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampus, striatum, hypothalamus, medulla, cerebellum, and spinal cord. Malondialdehyde, an end product of lipid peroxidation, was markedly decreased in frontal cortex and cerebellum. An increased level of Cu was observed in frontal cortex, medulla, and a cerebellum. A decreased Fe level was found only in cerebellum, and a decreased Zn level was observed in hippocampus and striatum. In a second group of animals, Mn (20 mg/kg/d) and glutathione (GSH, 15 mg/kg/d) were administered ip for 30 d. In GSH-Mn-treated rats, compared to Mn-treated rats, MDA concentrations were significantly reduced in frontal cortex, medulla and cerebellum. The changes of trace elements in rat brain were similar to the Mn-treated group. We suggest that Mn is an atypical antioxidant, as well as not involved in oxidative damage in rat brain. Fe and Cu may play roles in the protective effect of Mn against lipid peroxidation in rat brain.
Antimicrobial and Antiquorum‐Sensing Studies. Part 3: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of New Series of [1,3,4]Thiadiazoles and Fused [1,3,4]Thiadiazoles

New series of [1,3,4]thiadiazoles and fused [1,3,4]thiadiazoles were synthesized. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli. Compounds 3b and 10a displayed the highest activity against E. coli with MIC value of 78.125 μg/mL. In addition, compound 10a exhibited the highest activity against B. cereus with MIC value of 156.25 μg/mL. The antifungal activity of these compounds was also tested against Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus 3375. Compounds 3b, 5a, 10a, and 12b showed the best activity against A. flavus 3375 with MIC value of 19.531 μg/mL. The same compounds were examined for their antiquorum‐sensing activity against Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472, whereas compounds 3b, 5a, and 12b exhibited moderate activity. In vitro cytotoxicity testing of compounds 3b,c, 5a, 6a, 10a, and 12a,b against human normal lung fibroblast (W138) cell line was performed. The in vivo acute toxicity of the same compounds was also tested and the obtained results indicated that compound 10a is the least toxic analog. The same compounds were studied for their DNA‐binding affinity and the obtained results showed that compounds 3b, 10a, and 12a,b have moderate DNA‐binding affinity.
FTDP‐17: An early‐onset phenotype with parkinsonism and epileptic seizures caused by a novel mutation

Recently, mutations in the tau gene on chromosome 17 were found causative for autosomal dominantly inherited frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism (FTDP‐17). We describe a family carrying a missense mutation at nucleotide 1137 C → T, resulting in the amino acid substitution P301S. Methods of investigations include clinical, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques. This kindred presents with a novel phenotype characterized by an early onset of rapidly progressive frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism in combination with epileptic seizures. We define the dopaminergic deficits as being predominantly presynaptic by the use of single‐photon emission computed tomography with a dopamine transporter ligand. The association of this early‐onset phenotype with P301S mutation is not entirely consistent with current criteria for the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementias and may encourage the search for tau mutations in diseases similar but not identical to FTDP‐17. Also, the change from proline to serine suggests that this mutation might contribute to tau hyperphosphorylation.
Accumulation of small heat shock proteins, including mitochondrial HSP22, induced by oxidative stress and adaptive response in tomato cells.

Changes in gene expression, by application of H2O2, O2. - generating agents (methyl viologen, digitonin) and gamma irradiation to tomato suspension cultures, were investigated and compared to the well-described heat shock response. Two-dimensional gel protein mapping analyses gave the first indication that at least small heat shock proteins (smHSP) accumulated in response to application of H2O2 and gamma irradiation, but not to O2. - generating agents. While some proteins seemed to be induced specifically by each treatment, only part of the heat shock response was observed. On the basis of Northern hybridization experiments performed with four heterologous cDNA, corresponding to classes I-IV of pea smHSP, it could be concluded that significant amounts of class I and II smHSP mRNA are induced by H2O2 and by irradiation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that in plants some HSP genes are inducible by oxidative stresses, as in micro-organisms and other eukaryotic cells. HSP22, the main stress protein that accumulates following H2O2 action or gamma irradiation, was also purified. Sequence homology of amino terminal and internal sequences, and immunoreactivity with Chenopodium rubrum mitochondrial smHSP antibody, indicated that the protein belongs to the recently discovered class of plant mitochondrial smHSP. Heat shock or a mild H2O2 pretreatment was also shown to lead to plant cell protection against oxidative injury. Therefore, the synthesis of these stress proteins can be considered as an adaptive mechanism in which mitochondrial protection could be essential.
Efficient leukocyte depletion by a novel microfluidic platform enables the molecular detection and characterization of circulating tumor cells

RT-qPCR is a highly sensitive approach to detect rare transcripts, as derived from circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of cancer patients. However, the presence of unwanted leukocytes often leads to false positive results. Here, we evaluated whether the micro-fluidic Parsortix™ technology is appropriate to remove these leukocytes and thereby finally to improve the overall approach. In this study, we established a workflow including the micro-fluidic Parsortix™ technology for the molecular detection of CTC related transcripts. Background levels of EpCAM, PPIC, TUSC3, and MAL2 were efficiently removed due to an up to 106-fold depletion of leukocytes. The presence of these gene markers was observed in Parsortix™-enriched blood samples from patients with primary and recurrent gynecological cancer (32% and 14%), as well as in 86% of the metastatic breast cancer samples, at a very high specificity. In the ovarian cancer samples, PPIC was the most prominent gene marker, contributing to all positive cases and at least to 70% of the positive cases after pre-amplification of the respective target genes. Expanding the analytical panel up to 29 gene markers further increased the positivity rate (primary gynecological cancer: 95%, recurrent gynecological cancer: 100%, metastatic breast cancer: 92%). The established workflow strongly improved the overall molecular analysis of the target cells by the efficient removal of contaminating cells, and, thereby offers great promise for the molecular characterization of CTCs.
Specialized algorithm for identification of stable linear systems using Lagrangian relaxation

Recently Lagrangian relaxation has been used to generate convex approximations of the challenging simulation error minimization problem arising in system identification. In this paper, we present a specialized algorithm to optimize the convex bounds generated by Lagrangian relaxation, applicable to linear state-space models. The algorithm demonstrates superior scalability over general-purpose semidefinite programming solvers. In addition, we show empirically that Lagrangian relaxation is more resilient to a biasing effect commonly observed in other identification methods that guarantee model stability.
The standardized-taper root canal preparation--Part 2. GT file selection and safe handpiece-driven file use.

AIM To present guidelines on GT file selection, and safe operation. SUMMARY It is not necessary to remove excessive dentine for effective root canal preparation. GT files allow safe, standardized preparation, and should be selected to fit the case in hand. Small Root canals should be prepared with 0.06 and 0.08 taper GT files, whilst Large Root canals should be prepared with 0.10 GT or 0.12 Accessory GT files. The greatest challenge is un-learning habits acquired from traditional instrumentation methods. GT files should be used with light touch, and without up-down pumping motions. Spin speeds should be controlled below 300 r.p.m. for routine preparation. GT files are subject to fatigue and should be tracked to avoid overuse. It is recommended that GT files are discarded after the equivalent of five root canal preparations. For severe curvatures, GT files should be single-case tools. KEY LEARNING POINTS The standard GT file set comprises three instruments of 0.06, 0.08 and 0.10 taper. All are size 20 at the tip, and have a maximum diameter of 1 mm. Accessory GT files have a standard taper 0.12, and maximum diameter of 1.5 mm. They are available in tip sizes 35, 50 and 70. Large Roots are lower canines, upper anteriors, upper and lower single-rooted premolars, palatal roots of upper molars and distal roots of lower molars. They should be prepared with 0.10 GT or 0.12 Accessory GT files. Small Roots are lower incisors, multirooted premolars, buccal roots of upper molars and mesial roots of lower molars. They should be prepared with 0.06 or 0.08 GT files. All GT files should be used with light force and at the correct spin speed. GT files should be discarded after the equivalent of five root canal uses.
Evidence of motor-control difficulties in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, explored through a hierarchical motor-systems perspective

ABSTRACT Introduction: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may reflect a disorder of neural systems that regulate motor control. The current study investigates motor dysfunction in children with ADHD using a hierarchical motor-systems perspective where frontal–striatal/“medial” brain systems are viewed as regulating parietal/“lateral” brain systems in a top down manner, to inhibit automatic environmentally driven responses in favor of goal-directed behavior. It was hypothesized that due to frontal–striatal hypoactivation, children with ADHD would have difficulty with higher order motor control tasks felt to be dependent on these systems, yet have preserved general motor function. Method: A total of 63 children—ADHD and matched controls—completed experimental motor tasks that required maintenance of internal motor representations and the ability to inhibit visually driven responses. Children also completed a measure of motor inhibition, and a portion of the sample completed general motor function tasks. Results: On motor tasks that required them to maintain internal motor representations and to inhibit automatic motor responses, children with ADHD had significantly greater difficulty than controls, yet on measures of general motor dexterity, their performance was comparable. Children with ADHD displayed significantly greater intraindividual (subject) variability than controls. Intraindividual variability (IIV) contributed to variations in performance across the motor tasks, but did not account for all of the variance on all tasks. Conclusions: These findings suggest that children with ADHD may be more controlled by external stimuli than by internally represented information, possibly due to dysfunction of the medial motor system. However, it is likely that children with ADHD also display general motor-execution problems (as evidenced by IIV findings), suggesting that atypicalities may extend to both medial and lateral motor systems. Findings are interpreted within the context of contemporary theories regarding motor dysfunction in ADHD, and implications for understanding externalizing behaviors in ADHD are discussed.
Abstract No: A-096 LOCAL PEOPLES‟ APPRECIATION ON AND CONTRIBUTION TO CONSERVATION OF PEATLAND SWAMP FORESTS: EXPERIENCE FROM PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Over recent years, industrial plantation development on peatland and / or peat swamp forests (PSF) areas has created intense debate due to its potentially adverse social and environmental effects. In this paper we examined local peoples‘ appreciation on the values of PSF and how they can contribute to its conservation and protection. The study was carried out by interviewing 100 respondents and holding two focus group discussions in some degraded PSF areas in Perak and North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest. The study adopted participatory rural appraisal and contingent valuation methods. The respondents appreciated PSF for direct values including timber (6% respondents), vegetables (20%) source of fish (28%) and water for agriculture (32%). More than 80% respondents reported environmental values of PSF that includes flood prevention, biodiversity conservation, fresh air, soil fertility, perennial water source, and reduction of storm damages. They also reported several health and cultural benefits including sources of medicinal plants (62%), fresh food (50%), pure environment (92%), and tourism (84%). Even though they mentioned about demerits of PSF conversion such as deforestation (90%), biodiversity loss (90%), flooding (88%), and water scarcity (86%), they also claimed that PSF conversion provides them land for agriculture (50%), housing (24%) and for oil palm (60%). The respondents felt that the government agencies, large and small-scale oil palm companies are equally responsible for PSF degradation. They propose government should enact ban (80%) on PSF conversion and build community-forestry department-NGO partnership (90%) for PSF management. They sincerely want to contribute to PSF conservation through protection (75%), tree planting (82%), donation in cash (60%) and supplying seedlings, and joining in awareness creation programme (85%). The intrinsic values and peoples‘ enthusiasm for PSF conservation suggest for a community-based approach for sustainable PSF management. A pioneer project on community-based PSF management being implemented in North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest is discussed in this paper.
Radical Right Parties in Central and Eastern Europe: Mainstream Party Competition and Electoral Fortune

1. The Puzzle of Radical Right Electoral Fortune in Central and Eastern Europe: Introductory Remarks 2. The Radical Right and Their Mainstream Competitors in Central and Eastern Europe 3. Contest over Meaning: Theoretical Framework and Narrative Interaction Model of Radical Right Electoral Fortune 4. Bulwark of Christianity? Morality Debates in Poland 5. Defense against Hungarian Dominance? Minority Debates in Slovakia 6. A Second Trianon? Nemzetpolitika Debates in Hungary 7. Jobbik and Anti-Roma Minority Debates 8. Discursive Influence, Party Competition and Electoral Fortune: Comparative Results and Conclusions
A complex ripple analysis of switching DC/DC power converter circuits

An efficient and simple algorithm for comprehensive ripple analysis of switching power converter circuits is presented. Ripple analysis includes investigation of rms and peak-to-peak ripples as well as analysis of the ripple harmonic spectra of voltage and current waveforms. Knowledge of voltage and current ripples either inside the power train circuit or those present in the power converter input and output filter circuits has crucial practical implications. Ignoring the harmonic contents can lead to inaccurate results in determining the power conversion efficiency. A shortcoming of currently used methods for power conversion efficiency calculation is demonstrated. Computation results for hard and soft switching closed-loop power converter circuits are included.
Extreme Weather Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Extreme weather always brings potential risk to driving, which leads to people's life and property being put into great dangers. Therefore, the automatic recognition of extreme weather plays an important role in the application of the highway traffic condition warning, automobile auxiliary driving, climate analysis and so on. Generally, multiple sensors are adopted in traditional methods of automatic extreme weather recognition with artificial participation and low accuracy. A new extreme weather recognition method based on images by using computer vision manners has been proposed in this paper. Since the weather is affected by many factors, features that can accurately represent various weather characteristics are difficult to be extracted. Therefore, in this paper, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are applied to settle this problem. Features of extreme weather and recognition models are generated from big data. Moreover, a large-scale extreme weather dataset, "WeatherDataset", has been collected, in which 16635 extreme weather images are divided into four classes (sunny, rainstorm, blizzard, and fog), and complex scenes are coverd. A recognition model for extreme weather is obtained through two steps: Pre-training and Fine Tuning. In Pre-training step, ILSVRC-2012 Dataset is trained to obtain the model of ILSVRC using GoogLeNet. A more accurate model for extreme weather recognition is obatined by further fine-tuning GoogLeNet on WeatherDataset. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to achieve a high performance with the recognition accuracy rate of 94.5% and can meet the requirements of some real applications.
Importance of defining experimental conditions in a mouse excisional wound model

The murine dorsum dermal excisional wound model has been widely utilized with or without splint application. However, variations in experimental methods create challenges for direct comparison of results provided in the literature and for design of new wound healing studies. Here, we investigated the effects of wound location and size, number of wounds, type of adhesive used for splint fixation on wound healing using splinted or unsplinted dorsum excisional full thickness wound models. One or two 6‐ or 8‐mm full thickness wounds were made with or without splinting in genetically diabetic but heterozygous mice (Dock7m + / + Leprdb). Two different adhesives: tissue adhesive and an over the counter cyanoacrylate adhesive (OTCA) “Krazy glue” were used to fix splints. Wound contraction, wound closure, and histopathological parameters including reepithelialization, collagen deposition and inflammation were compared between groups. No significant effect of wound number (1 vs. 2), side (left vs. right and cranial vs. caudal) or size on wound healing was observed. The OTCA group had a significantly higher splint success compared to the tissue adhesive group that resulted in significantly higher reepithelialization and collagen deposition in the OTCA group. Understanding the outcomes and effects of the variables will help investigators choose appropriate experimental conditions for the study purpose and interpret data.
The abundance of Ixodes ricinus ticks depends on tree species composition and shrub cover

SUMMARY The mainstream forestry policy in many European countries is to convert coniferous plantations into (semi-natural) deciduous woodlands. However, woodlands are the main habitat for Ixodes ricinus ticks. Therefore, assessing to what extent tick abundance and infection with Borrelia spirochetes are affected by forest composition and structure is a prerequisite for effective prevention of Lyme borreliosis. We selected a total of 25 pine and oak stands, both with and without an abundant shrub layer, in northern Belgium and estimated tick abundance between April and October 2008–2010. Additionally, the presence of deer beds was used as an indicator of relative deer habitat use. Borrelia infections in questing nymphs were determined by polymerase chain reactions. The abundance of larvae, nymphs, and adults was higher in oak stands compared to pine stands and increased with increasing shrub cover, most likely due to differences in habitat use by the ticks' main hosts. Whereas tick abundance was markedly higher in structure-rich oak stands compared to homogeneous pine stands, the Borrelia infection rates in nymphs did not differ significantly. Our results indicate that conversion towards structure-rich deciduous forests might create more suitable tick habitats, but we were unable to detect an effect on the infection rate.
Korean medicinal plants inhibiting to Human Immunodeﬁciency Virus type 1 (HIV‐1) fusion

In order to ﬁnd novel anti‐HIV agents from natural products, 80 MeOH extracts of Korean plants were applied to a syncytia formation inhibition assay, which is based on the interaction between the HIV‐1 envelope glycoprotein gp120/41 and the cellular membrane protein CD4 of T lymphocytes. The most potent HIV‐1 fusion inhibition was shown by the stem bark of Ailanthus altissima with 74.9 ± 4.4% at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of subcutaneous insulin detemir on glucose flux, lipolysis and electroencephalography in type 1 diabetes

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of subcutaneous detemir on glucose flux, lipid metabolism and brain function. Twelve people with type 1 diabetes received, in random order, 0.5 units/kg body weight detemir or NPH insulin. Glucose concentration was clamped at 5 mmol/l then increased to 10 mmol/l. Glucose production rate (glucose Ra), glucose uptake (glucose Rd) and glycerol production (glycerol Ra) were measured with a constant intravenous infusion of [6,62H2]glucose and [2H5]glycerol. Electroencephalography direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) potentials were measured. While detemir induced similar effects on glucose Ra, glucose Rd and glycerol Ra during euglycaemia compared with NPH, it triggered a distinct negative shift in DC potentials, with a significant treatment effect in frontal cerebrocortical channels (p < 0.001). AC spectral power showed significant differences in theta and alpha frequencies during euglycaemia (p = 0.03). Subcutaneous detemir exerts different effects on brain function when compared with NPH in people with type 1 diabetes. This may be an important mechanism behind the limitation of weight gain with detemir.
Positive and negative regulation of basal expression of a yeast HSP70 gene

The SSA1 gene, one of the heat-inducible HSP70 genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also displays a basal level of expression during logarithmic growth. Multiple sites related to the heat shock element (HSE) consensus sequence are present in the SSA1 promoter region (Slater and Craig, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:1906-1916, 1987). One of the HSEs, HSE2, is important in the basal expression of SSA1 as well as in heat-inducible expression. A promoter containing a mutant HSE2 showed a fivefold-lower level of basal expression and altered kinetics of expression after heat shock. A series of deletion and point mutations led to identification of an upstream repression sequence (URS) which overlapped HSE2. A promoter containing a mutation in the URS showed an increased level of basal expression. A URS-binding activity was detected in yeast whole-cell extracts by a gel electrophoresis DNA-binding assay. The results reported in this paper indicate that basal expression of the SSA1 promoter is determined by both positive and negative elements and imply that the positively acting yeast heat shock factor HSF is responsible, at least in part, for the basal level of expression of SSA1.