Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parity and Longevity of Aedes aegypti According to Temperatures in Controlled Conditions and Consequences on Dengue Transmission Risks

Background In Guadeloupe, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are the only vectors of dengue and chikungunya viruses. For both diseases, vector control is the only tool for preventing epidemics since no vaccine or specific treatment is available. However, to efficiently implement control of mosquitoes vectors, a reliable estimation of the transmission risks is necessary. To become infective an Ae. aegypti female must ingest the virus during a blood meal and will not be able to transmit the virus during another blood-meal until the extrinsic incubation period is completed. Consequently the aged females will carry more infectious risks. The objectives of the present study were to estimate under controlled conditions the expectation of infective life for females and thus the transmission risks in relation with their reproductive cycle and parity status. Methodology/Principal Findings Larvae of Ae. aegypti were collected in central Guadeloupe and breed under laboratory conditions until adult emergence. The experiments were performed at constant temperatures (± 1.5°C) of 24°C, 27°C and 30°C on adults females from first generation (F1). Females were kept and fed individually and records of blood-feeding, egg-laying and survival were done daily. Some females were dissected at different physiological stages to observe the ovaries development. The data were analyzed to follow the evolution of parity rates, the number of gonotrophic cycles, the fecundity and to study the mean expectation of life and the mean expectation of infective life for Ae. aegypti females according to temperatures. The expectation of life varies with the parity rates and according to the temperatures, with durations from about 10 days at low parity rates at the higher temperature to an optimal duration of about 35 days when 70% of females are parous at 27°C. Infective life expectancy was found highly variable in the lower parous rates and again the optimal durations were found when more than 50% of females are parous for the mean temperatures of 27°C and 30°C. Conclusion Parity rates can be determined for field collected females and could be a good proxy of the expectation of infective life according to temperatures. However, for the same parity rates, the estimation of infective life expectation is very different between Ae. aegypti and Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Correlation of field parity rates with transmission risks requires absolutely to be based on Ae. aegypti models, since available Anopheles sp. models underestimate greatly the females longevity.
Action of Escherichia coli Enterotoxin: Adenylate Cyclase Behavior of Intestinal Epithelial Cells in Culture

Heat-labile enterotoxin preparations obtained from two enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli of porcine and human origin were shown to stimulate adenylate cyclase activity of human embryonic intestinal epithelial cells in culture. Comparable results were also obtained when cholera toxin was used. The degree of enzyme stimulation was proportional to the concentration of enterotoxin. Similar preparations from two strains of non-enterotoxigenic E. coli had no effect on adenylate cyclase activity. Cells exposed to enterotoxin could be washed after 1 min of contact time without altering the subsequent course of maximum adenylate cyclase activity, which was maintained for at least 18 h at 37 C. During long periods (18 h) of tissue culture incubation, the determination of adenylate cyclase activity was 200- to 300-fold more sensitive than quantitating fluid accumulation in the adult rabbit ileal loop model. Decreasing the incubation time appreciably reduced the sensitivity of the epithelial cells to enterotoxin. E. coli enterotoxin is an effective activator of nonintestinal adenylate cyclase systems. Treatment of KB and HEp-2 cell lines with enterotoxin also resulted in significant enzyme stimulation. The intestinal epithelial cell tissue culture model provides a sensitive homogenous biological system for studying the response of intestinal adenylate cyclase to enterotoxin while eliminating the numerous cellular and tissue components present in the ligated ileal loop model.
Limitations of the Intrinsic Cutoff Frequency to Correctly Quantify the Speed of Nanoscale Transistors

The definition of the intrinsic cutoff frequency (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rm{f}_{\rm T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) based on the current gain equals to one (0 dB) is critically analyzed. A condition for the validity of the quasi-static estimation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rm{f}_{\rm T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is established in terms of the temporal variations of the electric charge and electric flux on the drain, source, and gate terminals. Due to the displacement current, an electron traversing the channel generates a current pulse of finite temporal width. For electron devices where the intrinsic delay time of the current after a transient perturbation is comparable with such a temporal width, the displacement currents cannot be neglected and the quasi-static approximation becomes inaccurate. We provide numerical results for some ballistic transistors where the estimation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rm{f}_{\rm T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> under the quasi-static approximation can be one order of magnitude larger than predictions obtained from time-dependent numerical simulations of the intrinsic delay time (including particle and displacement currents). In other ballistic transistors, we show that the gate current phasor amplitud can be smaller than the drain one at all frequencies, giving no finite value for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rm{f}_{\rm T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
Investigating the relationship between infrared spectra of shared protons in different chemical environments: a comparison of protonated diglyme and protonated water dimer.

The energetics, dynamics, and infrared spectroscopy of the shared proton in different chemical environments is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. A three-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) suitable for describing proton transfer between an acceptor and a donor oxygen atom is combined with an all-atom force field to carry out reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The construction of the fully dimensional PES is inspired from the established mixed quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics treatment of larger systems. The "morphing potential" method is used to transform the generic PES for proton transfer along an O.H+. O motif into a three-dimensional PES for proton transfer in protonated diglyme. Using molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperature, the gas phase infrared spectra are calculated for both species from the Fourier transform of the dipole moment autocorrelation function. For protonated diglyme the modes involving the H+ motion are strongly mixed with other degrees of freedom. At low temperature, the O.H+. O asymmetric stretching vibration is found at 870 cm-1, whereas for H5O2+ this band is at 724 cm-1. As expected, the vibrational bands of protonated diglyme show no temperature dependence whereas for H5O2+ at T = 100 K the proton transfer mode is found at 830 cm-1, in good agreement with 861 cm-1 from very recent molecular dynamics simulations.
Novel therapies targeting the immune system: CTLA4 blockade with tremelimumab (CP-675,206), a fully human monoclonal antibody

Background: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) is an activation-induced transmembrane receptor. Binding of CTLA4 to its natural ligands downregulates T-cell activation. Tremelimumab, a fully human IgG2 monoclonal antibody binds CTLA4 and prevents ligand interaction resulting in enhanced cellular immunity. Objective: To provide a comprehensive overview of the preclinical and clinical studies conducted during the development of tremelimumab. Methods: Data with tremelimumab from all relevant preclinical studies and clinical trials completed at the time of publication and submitted to scientific meetings or published in peer-reviewed journals were collected and analysed. Salient clinical aspects observed during its early development were also included. Results/conclusions: CTLA4 blockade with tremelimumab at 15 mg/kg every 3 months has demonstrated substantial antitumor activity and an overall safe profile in patients with advanced melanoma. Phase III studies in melanoma and earlier stages of clinical development in colorectal, pancreatic, breast, and non-small cell lung carcinomas are ongoing.
Relationship between intrapartum transperineal ultrasound measurement of angle of progression and head–perineum distance with correlation to conventional clinical parameters of labor progress and time to delivery

Abstract Objective: To assess whether angle of progression (AOP) and head–perineum distance (HPD) measured by intrapartum transperineal ultrasound (ITU) correlate with clinical fetal head station (station); and whether AOP versus HPD varies during uterine contraction and relaxation. In a subset of primipaorus women, whether these ITU parameters correlate with time to normal spontaneous delivery (TD). Methods: We evaluated prospectively 100 primiparous and multiparous women at term in active labor. Transabdominal and transperineal ultrasound (sagittal and transverse plane) were used to measure fetal head position and ITU parameters, respectively. Digitally palpated station and cervical dilatation were also noted. The results were compared using regression and correlation coefficients. Results: Station was moderately correlated with AOP (r = 0.579) and HPD (r = −0.497). AOP was highly correlated with HPD during uterine contraction (r = −0.703) and relaxation (r = −0.647). In the subgroup of primiparous women, natural log of TD has the highest correlation with HPD and AOP during uterine contraction (r = 0.742), making prediction of TD similar to that of using cervical dilatation. Conclusion: ITU parameters were moderately correlated with station. There was constant high correlation between AOP and HPD. Prediction of TD in primiparous women using ITU parameters was similar to that of using cervical dilatation.
Evolution of a portfolio-based design in ecology: a three-year design cycle

Portfolio-based designs are among the most popular student-centered approaches in higher education. While the pedagogical literature typically provides generic advice on ideal portfolio-based designs, there is little empirical data on how such designs are developed over time and what design decisions teachers take in response to challenges in practice. This article provides an empirical account of a three-year design cycle of a portfolio-based ecology course at a Norwegian university. It investigates how the design changed over the years and how these changes related to the challenges the teacher met during the enactment of the course. To that end, a thematic analysis of course plans, evaluations, and interviews with the designing teacher was conducted. The findings show how the teacher introduced, removed, and (re-)configured different course components in order to address challenges related to the limited coherence between portfolio items and organized class meetings, and students’ limited engagement with the disciplinary knowledge. Thereby, the course design gradually evolved from a portfolio-based design towards a hybrid design combining portfolio, traditional exam and team-based learning. This study illustrates that portfolio-based designs have great potential but no guarantee to support students in active engagement with knowledge; and that teachers need to actively maintain their student-centered focus in their designs by responding flexibly to the emerging challenges.
Cyanobacterial circadian clockwork: roles of KaiA, KaiB and the kaiBC promoter in regulating KaiC

Using model strains in which we ectopically express the cyanobacterial clock protein KaiC in cells from which the clock genes kaiA, kaiB and/or kaiC are deleted, we found that some features of circadian clocks in eukaryotic organisms are conserved in the clocks of prokaryotic cyanobacteria, but others are not. One unexpected difference is that the circadian autoregulatory feedback loop in cyanobacteria does not require specific clock gene promoters as it does in eukaryotes, because a heterologous promoter can functionally replace the kaiBC promoter. On the other hand, a similarity between eukaryotic clock proteins and the cyanobacterial KaiC protein is that KaiC is phosphorylated in vivo. The other essential clock proteins KaiA and KaiB modulate the status of KaiC phosphorylation; KaiA inhibits KaiC dephosphorylation and KaiB antagonizes this action of KaiA. Based upon an analysis of clock mutants, we conclude that the circadian period in cyanobacteria is determined by the phosphorylation status of KaiC and also by the degradation rate of KaiC. These observations are integrated into a model proposing rhythmic changes in chromosomal status.
Time-varying system identification via maximum a posteriori estimation and its application to driver steering models

Modern automotive technologies try to predict the driver's intention in order to control the vehicle effectively. However mathematical models describing the driver's steering behavior with sufficient accuracy are not available. The difficulties arise from the time-varying properties of the driver's behavior under rapidly changing traffic conditions. In this paper, a time- varying system identification method using maximum a posteriori estimation is proposed. An efficient iterative procedure is presented for maximizing the posterior probability of the parameters conditioning on observed data. Then it is applied to the experimental driving data, and the driver's time-varying steering models are identified and analyzed The results indicate that the time-varying model reduces the output estimation errors significantly. Moreover, changes of driving strategies are observed from the identified models after drivers drive for a period of time.
OpenPET: A Flexible Electronics System for Radiotracer Imaging

We present the design for OpenPET, an electronics readout system designed for prototype radiotracer imaging instruments. The critical requirements are that it has sufficient performance, channel count, channel density, and power consumption to service a complete camera, and yet be simple, flexible, and customizable enough to be used with almost any detector or camera design. An important feature of this system is that each analog input is processed independently. Each input can be configured to accept signals of either polarity as well as either differential or ground referenced signals. Each signal is digitized by a continuously sampled ADC, which is processed by an FPGA to extract pulse height information. A leading edge discriminator creates a timing edge that is “time stamped” by a TDC implemented inside the FPGA. This digital information from each channel is sent to an FPGA that services 16 analog channels, and information from multiple channels is processed by this FPGA to perform logic for crystal lookup, DOI calculation, calibration, etc. As all of this processing is controlled by firmware and software, it can be modified/customized easily. The system is open source, meaning that all technical data (specifications, schematics and board layout files, source code, and instructions) will be publicly available.
Contrast medium assisted fluid flow measurements

In this paper the development and evaluation of two new approaches for ultrasound time-domain fluid flow measurements by tracking echoes scattered by a contrast agent following injection of a bolus of the contrast agent are described. Their feasibility was investigated by measuring velocity or velocity profile of blood flowing in a mock circulatory loop in vitro. Measurements were made with a one transducer intravessel approach and a two transducer extravessel approach. A hybrid cluster or vector cross-correlation method was used to track the motion of the scatterers in the two transducer time-domain method. This cluster or vector cross correlation method was developed to reduce the ambiguity resulted from misregistration which is a common problem in target tracking by correlating signal patterns. The experimental results show a good agreement between the measured data and those estimated from timing the volume. Although the discussions given in this paper pertain only to blood flow measurements, there is no reason to indicate that these approaches can not be used for fluid flow measurements in an industrial environment if suitable contrast agents can be developed. <<ETX>>
Human Fecal Water Modifies Adhesion of Intestinal Bacteria to Caco-2 Cells

The aqueous phase of feces (fecal water) has been suggested to mediate the effects of diet on colon carcinogenesis. We determined whether human fecal water samples, of varying genotoxic potential, had the capacity to alter adhesion of intestinal bacteria to intestinal (Caco-2) cells. Genotoxicity of fecal water samples was measured using the single-cell gel electrophoresis assay ("comet" assay), and bacterial adhesion was measured using a well-established model system. Fecal water genotoxicity was found to correlate positively with inhibition of adhesion of Escherichia coli strains, Salmonella species, and Enterococcus faecium to Caco-2 cells. The presence of fecal water samples did not interfere with adhesion of Bacteroides and Lactobacillus species. Inhibition of adhesion by fecal water was not due to cytotoxicity to Caco-2 cells as cytotoxicities of most fecal water samples were similar, nor was the inhibitory effect due to bacteriotoxicity as toxicity of fecal waters in the 10 strains of bacteria studied was not detected. Results indicate that components in fecal water may alter adhesion of intestinal bacteria to intestinal cell surfaces and that this effect may be correlated to the genotoxic potential of fecal water. This may have consequences for dietary effects on colon carcinogenesis.
Investigation of the Epitaxial Graphene/p-SiC Heterojunction

There has been significant research in the study of in-plane charge-carrier transport in graphene in order to understand and exploit its unique electrical properties; however, the vertical graphene-semiconductor system also presents opportunities for unique devices. In this letter, we investigate the epitaxial graphene/p-type 4H-SiC system to better understand this vertical heterojunction. The I-V behavior does not demonstrate thermionic emission properties that are indicative of a Schottky barrier but rather demonstrates characteristics of a semiconductor heterojunction. This is confirmed by the fitting of the temperature-dependent I-V curves to classical heterojunction equations and the observation of band-edge electroluminescence in SiC.
Atypical Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release from a sarco‐endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+‐ATPase 3‐dependent Ca2+ pool in mouse pancreatic β‐cells

The contribution of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores to the rise in the free cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c) triggered by Ca2+ influx was investigated in mouse pancreatic β‐cells. Depolarization of β‐cells by 45 mm K+ (in the presence of 15 mm glucose and 0.1 mm diazoxide) evoked two types of [Ca2+]c responses: a monotonic and sustained elevation; or a sustained elevation superimposed by a transient [Ca2+]c peak (TCP) (40–120 s after the onset of depolarization). Simultaneous measurements of [Ca2+]c and voltage‐dependent Ca2+ current established that the TCP did not result from a larger Ca2+ current. Abolition of the TCP by thapsigargin and its absence in sarco‐endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+‐ATPase 3 (SERCA3) knockout mice show that it is caused by Ca2+ mobilization from the endoplasmic reticulum. A TCP could not be evoked by the sole depolarization of β‐cells but required a rise in [Ca2+]c pointing to a Ca2+‐induced Ca2+ release (CICR). This CICR did not involve inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (IP3) receptors (IP3Rs) because it was resistant to heparin. Nor did it involve ryanodine receptors (RyRs) because it persisted after blockade of RyRs with ryanodine, and was not mimicked by caffeine, a RyR agonist. Moreover, RyR1 and RyR2 mRNA were not found and RyR3 mRNA was only slightly expressed in purified β‐cells. A CICR could also be detected in a limited number of cells in response to glucose. Our data demonstrate, for the first time in living cells, the existence of an atypical CICR that is independent from the IP3R and the RyR. This CICR is prominent in response to a supraphysiological stimulation with high K+, but plays little role in response to glucose in non‐obese mouse pancreatic β‐cells.
The challenge of pediatric cardiac services in the developing world.

Pediatric cardiac services are too expensive for most developing nations. Problems other than cardiac disease take priority when it comes to budget allocations. Poor health infrastructure and referral systems, malnutrition, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic aggravate the situation, and the increasing economic divide is threatening what services do exist. We highlight how the practice of pediatric cardiac surgery in South Africa compares with first-world standards and outline some of the problems faced by pediatric cardiac services in developing nations.
BIOGEOGRAPHY OF NEW WORLD TAIGA‐DWELLING MICROTUS (MAMMALIA: ARVICOLIDAE): A HYPOTHESIS TEST THAT ACCOUNTS FOR PHYLOGENETIC UNCERTAINTY

If we adopt a statistical approach to systematics and recognize that phylogenies are estimated with error, then we can begin to explore statistically justified methods for testing a variety of comparative hypotheses, including those concerning the evolution of life‐history characters and biogeography. In this paper I examine two biogeographic hypotheses concerning the rodent genus Microtus. Like many comparative hypotheses, these can be phrased so that each predicts the existence of a particular monophyletic group. Neither of the predicted groups appear on the single best phylogeny as determined by both Dollo parsimony and maximum likelihood analysis of restriction site maps of mitochondrial DNA. Simulation studies, however, suggest that often the best phylogeny from a single data set has only a low probability of being exactly correct. We must also examine those trees that, while not the single best‐supported tree, are not rejected by the data. If we find the best phylogeny for which a hypothesis is satisfied, then likelihood methods can be used to test whether that phylogeny is significantly worse then the best tree overall. If that tree can be rejected, then so can the hypothesis. Computational constraints limit the use of likelihood methods for searching among topologies, so parsimony is used as a data exploratory tool. One of the predicted groups cannot be rejected, even though the most parsimonious tree which includes that group requires 11 more steps than does the most parsimonious tree.