Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distinct roles for the α, β and γ1 isoforms of protein phosphatase 1 in the outside-in αIIbβ3 integrin signalling-dependent functions

Summary Although protein kinases and phosphatases participate in integrin αIIbβ3 signalling, whether integrin functions are regulated by the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1c) isoforms are unclear. We show that siRNA mediated knockdown of all PP1c isoforms (α, β and γ1) in 293 αIIbβ3 cells decreased adhesion to immobilised fibrinogen and fibrin clot retraction. Selective knockdown of only PP1cγ1 did not alter adhesion or clot retraction, while depletion of PP1cβ decreased both functions. Unexpectedly, knockdown of PP1cα enhanced αIIbβ3 adhesion to fibrinogen and clot retraction. Protein interaction studies revealed that all PP1c isoforms can interact with the integrin αIIb subunit. Phospho-profiling studies revealed an enhanced activation of mitogen- activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 in the PP1cα depleted cells. Enhanced adhesive phenotype displayed by the PP1cα-depleted 293 αIIbβ3 cells was blocked by pharmacological inhibition of p38. Conversely, the decreased adhesion of PP1cα overexpressing cells was rescued by the expression of constitutively active p38α or p38γ. Thus, PP1c isoforms have distinct contribution to the outside-in αIIbβ3 signalling- dependent functions in 293 αIIbβ3 cells. Moreover, PP1cα negatively regulates integrin function by suppressing the p38 pathway.
Fingerprint recognition performance in rugged outdoors and cold weather conditions

This paper reports on tests of the performance of fingerprint recognition technology in rugged outdoor conditions, with an especial concentration on the performance in cold weather. We analyze: 1) chip versus optical fingerprint scanner technology, 2) recognition performance and image quality, and 3) user/device interaction. A outdoor fingerprint door access system was designed to capture fingerprint images and video data of user interactions. Using this device, data were captured over a period of two years, and a user survey performed. Data were analyzed in terms of biometric error rates and fingerprint quality (NFIQ) as a function of temperature and humidity. Results suggest: 1) biometric performance has no significant dependence on temperature and humidity (-30C to +20C), 2) both chip based and optical fingerprint scanners have some flaws in rugged and cold weather applications, and 3) overall fingerprint biometric technology has a good level of usability in this application.
STUDIES ON THE NUTRITION AND PHYSIOLOGY OF PASTEURELLA PESTIS

The cultivation of Pasteurella pestis in chemically defined media has been investigated by Rao (1939, 1940), Berkman (1942), Doudoroff (1943), Rockenmacher, et al. (1952), and Hills and Spurr (1952). These studies have shown that at a temperature of 27 C the minimal growth requirements of this species are satisfied by media containing relatively few amino acids and no added accessory growth factors. Although there have been some disagreements as to which amino acids were to be designated as essential, it has been established generally that phenylalanine, cysteine, and methionine are required for most strains of P. pestis. However, the requirement for cysteine could be satisfied by inorganic sulfur compounds such as sulfite, thiosulfate, etc., (Englesberg, 1952). The highest yields obtained in synthetic media, heretofore, have been of the order of 1 billion cells per ml. Because much higher yields (60 to 100 billion cells per ml) have been obtained in a complex medium (Higuchi and Carlin, 1957), it was believed that yields in synthetic media could be greatly improved. The present report deals with the development of a chemically defined medium which is capable of supporting growth of a number of strains of P. pestis to yield viable cell populations in the range of 40 to 60 billion cells per ml.
Successful recovery of H. pylori from rapid urease tests (CLO tests)

Objective:Culture of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and the determination of its antibiotic susceptibility is of increasing importance with the rise in numbers of antibiotic-resistant strains. The aim of this study was to determine whether H. pylori could be successfully isolated from antral biopsies used in Rapid Urease Tests (CLOtests) in clinical practice.Methods:Antral biopsies from patients undergoing endoscopy were inserted into the gel of CLOtests to determine the H. pylori status of the patients. If the CLOtest was positive at the end of the endoscopy session, it was kept at ambient temperature until processed. In the laboratory, biopsies were removed from the gel and cultured on selective and nonselective media. In an attempt to enhance the recovery rate of H. pylori, a subset of positive CLOtests were kept at 4°C from the time that the color change was noted until the removal of the biopsy.Results:One hundred and forty-one positive CLOtests were studied at times between 1 h and 6 h postendoscopy. Culture success was 93% in the 1st hour but fell off sharply after 2 h (p < 0.001). Isolation was also improved if positive CLOtests were stored at 4°C and plated out within 4 h (p < 0.001). Conclusions:H. pylori can be successfully cultured from biopsies in CLOtests kept at room temperature within 2 h or within 4 h if kept at 4°C. Thus the antral biopsy in the CLOtest can be usefully retrieved when, in the light of the CLOtest result, the physician wishes to obtain both culture and antibiotic sensitivity results.
The Antituberculosis Drug Pyrazinamide Affects the Course of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis In Vivo and Increases Activation of Macrophages and Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Antileishmanial therapy is suboptimal due to toxicity, high cost, and development of resistance to available drugs. Pyrazinamide (PZA) is a constituent of short-course tuberculosis chemotherapy. We investigated the effect of PZA on Leishmania major promastigote and amastigote survival. Promastigotes were more sensitive to the drug than amastigotes, with concentrations at which 50% of parasites were inhibited (MIC50) of 16.1 and 8.2 μM, respectively (48 h posttreatment). Moreover, 90% of amastigotes were eliminated at 120 h posttreatment, indicating that longer treatments will result in parasite elimination. Most strikingly, PZA treatment of infected C57BL/6 mice resulted in protection against disease and in a 100-fold reduction in the parasite burden. PZA treatment of J774 cells and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells and macrophages increased interleukin 12, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and activation marker expression, as well as nitric oxide production, suggesting that PZA enhances effective immune responses against the parasite. PZA treatment also activates dendritic cells deficient in Toll-like receptor 2 and 4 expression to initiate a proinflammatory response, confirming that the immunostimulatory effect of PZA is directly caused by the drug and is independent of Toll-like receptor stimulation. These results not only are strongly indicative of the promise of PZA as an alternative antileishmanial chemotherapy but also suggest that PZA causes collateral immunostimulation, a phenomenon that has never been reported for this drug.
Nurse perceptions of the quality of patient care: Confirming the importance of empowerment and job satisfaction

Aim: This aim of this study was to investigate the interactive effects of psychological empowerment and job satisfaction on the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and nurses' perceptions of the quality of patient care they provide. Background: Studies of high-performing organizations in a variety of industries have consistently reported a positive relationship between HPWS and performance outcomes. Although many of these studies have been conducted in manufacturing, similar findings of a positive correlation between aspects of HPWS and improved patient outcomes have been reported in international health care studies. Method: We used regression analysis with tests of mediation and moderation to analyze survey responses collected in March 2008 of 201 nurses in a large regional Australian health service. Findings: Psychological empowerment fully mediated the relationship between HPWS and perceptions of quality of patient care. Job satisfaction moderated the relationship between HPWS and perceptions of quality of patient care. Conclusion: Hospital managers should focus on promoting HPWS and ensuring that nurse unit managers have the competencies to empower and to enhance the job satisfaction of their staff.
Small air bubbles in reagent grade water and seawater: 1. Rise velocities of 20‐ to 1000‐μm‐diameter bubbles

The terminal rise velocities of 20- to 1000-μm-diameter air bubbles in water and seawater were measured at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The velocities were the same in both liquids for bubbles with diameters less than 450 μm. Above 450 μm the rise velocities were higher in water than in seawater. For all diameters tested, the measured velocities fell between those expected for bubbles with “frozen” surfaces and those expected for bubbles with fluid surfaces which exhibit internal circulation.
Infant Learning of Ill-Defined Categories.

The present experiment is unique in providing knowledge about the ability of preverbal infants to form and use ill-defined categories, to respond differen tially to contrasting categories, and to use specific dimensions in learning these categories. Twenty 10-month-old infants completed a two-response discrete trial discrimination learning task (turn left in the presence of Category A exem plars; turn right in the presence of Category Β exemplars), followed by a test for response generalization (novel exemplars). Results showed that infants were not only capable of learning two ill-defined categories, but that they could do so with relative ease. A comparison between error rates on individual exem plars during learning and classification probabilities of novel items in transfer revealed that infants attended to the same dimensions across both learning and test phases. Not only was dimensional usage consistent across these two phases but least squares analyses of individual performance indicated that most infants used multiple dimensions (two or three). The results of this study demonstrate that sophisticated questions regarding infant category acquisition can be ad dressed successfully.
Synaptic vesicles are “primed” for fast clathrin-mediated endocytosis at the ribbon synapse

Retrieval of synaptic vesicles can occur 1–10 s after fusion, but the role of clathrin during this process has been unclear because the classical mode of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is an order of magnitude slower, as during retrieval of surface receptors. Classical CME is thought to be rate-limited by the recruitment of clathrin, which raises the question: how is clathrin recruited during synaptic vesicle recycling? To investigate this question we applied total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) to the synaptic terminal of retinal bipolar cells expressing fluorescent constructs of clathrin light-chain A. Upon calcium influx we observed a fast accumulation of clathrin within 100 ms at the periphery of the active zone. The subsequent loss of clathrin from these regions reflected endocytosis because the application of a potent clathrin inhibitor Pitstop2 dramatically slowed down this phase by ~3 fold. These results indicate that clathrin-dependent retrieval of synaptic vesicles is unusually fast, most probably because of a “priming” step involving a state of association of clathrin with the docked vesicle and with the endosomes and cisternae surrounding the ribbons. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) showed that the majority of clathrin is moving with the same kinetics as synaptic vesicle proteins. Together, these results indicate that the fast endocytic mechanism operating to retrieve synaptic vesicles differs substantially from the classical mode of CME operating via formation of a coated pit.
Using GUI ripping for automated testing of Android applications

We present AndroidRipper, an automated technique that tests Android apps via their Graphical User Interface (GUI). AndroidRipper is based on a user-interface driven ripper that automatically explores the app's GUI with the aim of exercising the application in a structured manner. We evaluate AndroidRipper on an open-source Android app. Our results show that our GUI-based test cases are able to detect severe, previously unknown, faults in the underlying code, and the structured exploration outperforms a random approach.
3-Parameter Hough Ellipse Detection Algorithm for Accurate Location of Human Eyes

Accurately positioning the Human Eyes plays an important role in the detection of the fatigue driving. In order to improve the performance of positioning of human face and eyes, an accurately positioning method of the human eyes is proposed based on the 3-parameter Hough ellipse detection. Firstly, the human face area is divided by using the skin color clustering and segmentation algorithm. Then, the segmented image is filtered by using its geometric structure and the approximate positions of the human face area and eyes are calculated. Finally, on the basis of the spinning cone-shape eye model, the position of human face and eyes is accurately determined by using the 3-parameter Hough transformation ellipse detection algorithm. The different images of human face are used to test the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the extreme value of upper and lower eyelids and the actual position is 0.104 and the proposed algorithm has higher positioning accuracy
Verification of Arithmetic Functions with Binary Moment Diagrams

Binary Moment Diagrams (BMDs) provide a canonical representations for linear functions similar to the way Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) represent Boolean functions. Within the class of linear functions, we can embed arbitary functions from Boolean variables to real, rational, or integer values. BMDs can thus model the functionality of data path circuits operating over word level data. Many important functions, including integer multiplication, that cannot be represented efficiently at the bit level with BDDs have simple representations at the word level with BMDs. Furthermore, BMDs can represent Boolean functions with around the same complexity as BDDs. We propose a hierarchical approach to verifying arithmetic circuits, here basic building blocks are first shown to implement a word-level specification. The overall circuit functionality is then verified at the word level. Multipliers with word sizes of up to 62 bits have been verified by this technique.
Transfer of Learning from One Setting to Another.

Part of a collection of papers commissioned by Foundations, a career development project sponsored by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), the paper reviews research on transfer of knowledge and skills from one situation to another. A transfer classification scheme is proposed based on the notion that an individual's knowledge can be divided into two general categories: content and skills. In one section, research on content to content transfer (the impact of content knowledge learned in one situation on subsequent acquisition of new content knowledge) is reviewed. Traditional studies of transfer with word lists are briefly discussed, followed by a review of the research on the retention and transfer of meaningful verbal learning. Task, instructional, and learner variables are also considered. Recommendations include using concrete instructional materials liberally supported by pictures and illustrations, and tailoring methods to fit the styles, aptitudes, and preferences of learners. The next 'section focuses on skills to skills transfer (transfer of learned skills from one situation to another), including an examination of research on cognitive and motor skills. Recommendations include presenting knowledge relevant to acquiring a new skill without an excess of distracting stimuli. The next section examines skills to content transfer (skills that subsequently facilitate the acquisition, retention, retrieval, and transfer of knowledge). Recommendations center on the importance of stressing learning strategy skills rather than rote memorization. A final section discusses the educational implications-of transfer-related research, specifically regarding instructional material development, teaching methods, and supplementary courses in learning and problem solving. (CL) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Transfer of Learning From One Setting to Another
First-order Incremental Evaluation of Datalog Queries 1

We consider the problem of repeatedly evaluating the same (computationally expensive) query to a database that is being updated between successive query requests. In this situation, it should be possible to use the di erence between successive database states and the answer to the query in one state to reduce the cost of evaluating the query in the next state. We use rst-order queries to compute the di erences, and call this process \ rst-order incremental query evaluation. " After formalizing the notion of rst-order incremental query evaluation, we give an algorithm that constructs, for each regular chain query (including transitive closure as a special case), a nonrecursive program to compute the di erence between the answer after an update and the answer before the update. We then extend this result to weakly regular queries, which are regular chain programs augmented with conjunctive queries having the so-called cartesian-closed increment property, and to the case of unbounded-set insertions where the sets are binary cartesian products. Finally, we show that the class of weakly regular queries is decidable.
Fine-Tuning the Ration Mixing and Feeding of High Producing Herds

Feed is the single largest operating expense on dairy farms and should be considered one of the most important variables behind successful production, animal health, and profitability of a dairy. Annual feed costs per milking cow can average $1000 to $1200 per year, or $100,000 to $120,000 for every 100 milking cows. Despite this fact, only a minority of dairy farms closely track feed quality variation, feed mixing, inventories, feed bunk delivery, shrink, and corresponding animal performance. The result is lost opportunity to improve cow performance and to better management expenses. Total mixed rations (TMR) have rapidly grown to be the preferred method of feeding for non-grazing herds. Although TMR caught on many years ago, the art and science of how to best manage specific mixers continues to evolve. The questions have largely moved beyond the advantages of a TMR and are now more focused on “How can my TMR mixing and feeding be improved? ”
On Heterogeneous Distributed Geoscientiic Query Processing

Geoscience studies produce data from various observations , experiments, and simulations at an enormous rate. With proliferation of geographic applications , scientiic data formats, and storage systems, in-teroperability remains an important geoscientiic data management issue that is often overlooked in current geoscientiic query processing research. In this paper , we present how some issues concerning interoper-ability in geoscientiic query processing are addressed in the Conquest parallel geoscientiic query processing system under development at UCLA. The design of Conquest is based on the Volcano extensive query processing system which encapsulates parallel computation through the exchange operator. Conquest extends the exchange operator to support multicasting of data streams and hide the heterogeneity in hardware and operating system platforms from users developing parallel geoscientiic applications. The Conquest data model captures some important structural and semantic properties of common geoscientiic datasets and is used as a canonical model for a wide variety of sci-entiic and non-scientiic datasets. In addition, Conquest supports a uniform interface to a variety of sci-entiic data sources. Access to data managed by a remote data repository is optimized by \pushing" Conquest operators into data repositories to maximize use of local database capability and reduce the volume of data transfer between the data repositories and Conquest .
Immune reactivity towards insulin, its amyloid and protein S100B in blood sera of Parkinson's disease patients

Peripheral immune responses can be sensitive indicators of disease pathology. We evaluated the autoimmune reactions to endocrine (insulin) and astrocytical (S100B) biomarkers in the blood sera of 26 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients compared with controls by using ELISA. We found a statistically significant increase of the autoimmune responses to both antigens in PD patients compared with controls with a mean increase of 70% and 50% in the autoimmune reactions towards insulin and S100B, respectively. Heterogeneity of the immune responses observed in patients may reflect the modulating effect of multiple variables associated with neurodegeneration and also changes in the basic mechanisms of individual autoimmune reactivity. We did not detect any pronounced immune reactions towards insulin amyloid fibrils and oligomers in PD patients, indicating that an amyloid‐specific conformational epitope is not involved in immune recognition of this amyloid type, while sequential epitope of native insulin is hidden within the amyloid structures. Immune reactions towards S100B and insulin may reflect the neurodegenerative brain damaging processes and impaired insulin homeostasis occurring in PD.
Examining the Role of Components of Slc11a1 (Nramp1) in the Susceptibility of New Zealand Sea Lions (Phocarctos hookeri) to Disease

The New Zealand sea lion (NZSL, Phocarctos hookeri) is a Threatened marine mammal with a restricted distribution and a small, declining, population size. The species is susceptible to bacterial pathogens, having suffered three mass mortality events since 1998. Understanding the genetic factors linked to this susceptibility is important in mitigating population decline. The gene solute carrier family 11 member a1 (Slc11a1) plays an important role in mammalian resistance or susceptibility to a wide range of bacterial pathogens. At present, Slc11a1 has not been characterised in many taxa, and despite its known roles in mediating the effects of infectious disease agents, has not been examined as a candidate gene in susceptibility or resistance in any wild population of conservation concern. Here we examine components of Slc11a1 in NZSLs and identify: i) a polymorphic nucleotide in the promoter region; ii) putative shared transcription factor binding motifs between canids and NZSLs; and iii) a conserved polymorphic microsatellite in the first intron of Slc11a1, which together suggest conservation of Slc11a1 gene structure in otariids. At the promoter polymorphism, we demonstrate a shift away from normal allele frequency distributions and an increased likelihood of death from infectious causes with one allelic variant. While this increased likelihood is not statistically significant, lack of significance is potentially due to the complexity of genetic susceptibility to disease in wild populations. Our preliminary data highlight the potential significance of this gene in disease resistance in wild populations; further exploration of Slc11a1 will aid the understanding of susceptibility to infection in mammalian species of conservation significance.