Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phospholipase C-β1 Is Present in the Botrysome, an Intermediate Compartment-Like Organelle, and Is Regulated by Visual Experience in Cat Visual Cortex

Monoclonal antibody Cat-307 identifies a 165 kDa neuronal protein expressed in the cat visual cortex during the period of sensitivity to alterations in visual experience (Kind et al., 1994). Dark-rearing, which prolongs the sensitive period, also prolongs the expression of the Cat-307 protein. The Cat-307 protein localizes to an organelle, here called the botrysome (from the Greek botrys, cluster of grapes), that is located between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus. The botrysome is composed of small ring-shaped profiles with electron-dense coats. The size and morphology of the rings and their coats are similar to those described for ER to Golgi transport vesicles. Biochemically, the Cat-307 protein cofractionates with microsomes and partitions with subunits of the coatomer proteins that coat ER-to-Golgi transport vesicles. Partial amino acid sequencing reveals that the Cat-307 protein is phospholipase C-β1, the G-protein-dependent phosphodiesterase that hydrolyses phosphatidylinositol 4,5 biphosphate into inositol 1,4,5 triphosphate and diacylglycerol after the stimulation of a variety of neurotransmitter receptors at the cell surface. These results suggest a role for phospholipase C-β1 and the botrysome in developmental plasticity and provide a possible link between receptor activation at the cell surface and protein transport during neuronal development.
Application of colony lift assay in the medullary thyroid carcinoma screening of single-chain variable fragment antibody phage library

The aim of the present study was to establish a colony lift assay for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cells and use it to screen a single-chain variable fragment antibody phage library targeted against MTC. This library was enriched with ‘adsorption–elution–amplification' in several selection rounds (SRs) and was then tested by a colony lift assay and random selection in each SR. The positive clones were scored among assay clones and the proportions that were obtained by each approach were compared. The results showed that positive clones for MTC antigen across one to several SRs accounted, respectively, for 0% (0/96), 3.13% (3/96), 10.42% (10/96) and 58.33% (56/96) in the random pick/selection approach, and 0.63% (2/318), 6.06% (12/198), 12.35% (20/162) and 63.51% (94/148) in the colony lift assay (SR1, χ2 = 0.607, P = 0.436; SR2, χ2 = 1.151, P = 0.283; SR3, χ2 = 0.218, P = 0.640; SR4, χ2 = 0.660, P = 0.417). There was no significant difference between the two methods, which suggested that the rates of positive clone selection by colony lift assay were consistent with those of random pick. However, the former method can test many more positive clones simultaneously. Thus, the established new colony lift assay method for panning MTC single-chain variable fragment (scFv) library could be considered effective, simple to manipulate and design, robust and convenient in screening a scFv antibody phage library.
Reagents, Stains, and Media: Bacteriology*

A number of classical and rapid tests are used for the identification of medically important bacteria. N-acetyl-L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide (NALC (mucolytic agent)-NaOH), Cetylpuridium chloride-sodium chloride (CPC-NaCl), oxalic acid are used for decontamination agents. A variety of dyes and indicators are used to detect specific reactions such as pH and oxygen production. A variety of stains can then be used to help visualize and differentiate bacteria from the specimen. Gram staining is the differential staining procedure most commonly used for microscopic examination of bacteria. Based upon the staining reaction, bacteria are classified as gram-positive organisms, which retain the primary crystal violet dye and appear deep blue or purple, and gram-negative organisms, which can be decolorized, thereby losing the primary stain and subsequently taking up the counterstain safranin and appearing red or pink. Louis Pasteur in 1860 was the first to use culture media for growing bacteria in the laboratory. Almost immediately, additional media began to be developed by Robert Koch and his colleagues, who used animal and plant tissues as sources of nutrients to support bacterial growth. Using solid media permits the isolation of pure cultures of bacteria. Agar is the most common solidifying agent used in microbiological media. Many media contain selective components that inhibit the growth of nontarget bacteria. Some pathogens are anaerobic, and factors such as thioglycolate are included in some media to reduce the availability of molecular oxygen so that anaerobes may be cultured. Bacteria that reduce nitrate to nitrite turn the reagents red or pink.
Opioid use and abuse in the United States

Opioids have quadrupled the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths since 1999 and are now among the leading causes of death in the United States. Though some reform has recently occurred, the United States continues to operate largely under a punitive criminal justice model despite unsuccessful legislative schemes and voluminous research stemming from a previous war on drugs. This thesis serves to explore the history and extent of opioids in the United States and to analyze salient catalysts responsible for creating an epidemic of abuse. While private and governmental coalitions have formed to develop successful interventions and treatments, they are drastically underfunded. Beginning in the early 2000s, there have been a number of civil and criminal lawsuits against manufacturers, distributors, and prescribers of opioids, with the hope of curbing overdose deaths and disrupt the illicit opioid market.
Gray Matter Volume Correlates of Sleepiness: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study in Younger and Older Adults

Background Subjectively experienced sleepiness is a problem in society, possibly linked with gray matter (GM) volume. Given a different sleep pattern, aging may affect such associations, possibly due to shrinking brain volume. Purpose The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between subjectively rated sleepiness and GM volume in thalamus, insula, hippocampus, and orbitofrontal cortex of young and older adults, after a normal night’s sleep. Methods Eighty-four healthy individuals participated (46 aged 20–30 years, and 38 aged 65–75 years). Morphological brain data were collected in a 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Sleepiness was rated multiple times during the imaging sessions. Results In older, relative to younger, adults, clusters within bilateral mid-anterior insular cortex and right thalamus were negatively associated with sleepiness. Adjustment for the immediately preceding total sleep time eliminated the significant associations. Conclusion Self-rated momentary sleepiness in a monotonous situation appears to be negatively associated with GM volume in clusters within both thalamus and insula in older individuals, and total sleep time seems to play a role in this association. Possibly, this suggests that larger GM volume in these clusters may be protective against sleepiness in older individuals. This notion needs confirmation in further studies.
Bacillus cereus harboring the pXO1 plasmid with pag gene causes anthrax-like fatal septicemia in immunosuppressed cattle - short communication.

________________________________________________________________________________________ CHANDRANAIK, B. M. , P. GIRIDHAR, H. K. MUNIYELLAPPA, R. HEGDE, N. EARANNA, D. RATHNAMMA, R. S. KALGE, S. KANAKA, G. K. CHANDRAKALA, ASHAMAYANNA, M. D. VENKATESHA: Bacillus cereus harboring the pXO1 plasmid with pag gene causes anthrax-like fatal septicemia in immunosuppressed cattle short communication. Vet. arhiv 85, 347-357, 2015. ABSTRACT Bacillus cereus is ubiquitous in nature and while most isolates appear to be harmless, some are associated with food-borne illnesses, wound infections, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, endophthalmitis and urinary tract infections in humans. Recently, a few isolates have been identifi ed as the causative agents of anthrax-like severe pneumonia in humans, and these isolates were found to harbor most of the B. anthracis virulence plasmid pXO1. Here we report the characterization of three clinical B. cereus isolates recovered from heart blood and spleen samples of cattle which had died with ‘anthrax like’ symptoms. Apart from the cultural characterizations, primers targeting the 16S rRNA gene of B. cereus were designed and used on these isolates. The isolates were found to harbor the pXO1 plasmid and lacked pXO2 plasmid. Further characterization of the pXO1 plasmid revealed that the isolates contained pag, lef and cya genes, which code for protective antigen, lethal factor and edema factor toxins responsible for eliciting an ‘anthrax like disease’ in cattle. The sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of partial pag gene sequences of B. cereus isolates were identical to pag gene sequences on the pXO1 of B. anthracis. In a pathogenicity test on mice, B. cereus isolates, when inoculated by the intra peritoneal route, caused mortality of the mice within 6 hours post inoculation.
The Relationship Between Classroom Age Composition and Children’s Language and Social School Readiness Outcomes: Examining the Role of Peer Effects

Tiffany Jamie Foster: Younger and older preschool-age children are commonly placed together in mixed age classrooms. However, both theory and empirical evidence conflict over whether mixed age classrooms are the best environment for developing children. A factor that may play a role in the is peer skill as children may benefit from being around more skilled peers. The present study uses a large sample of preschoolers from low income families to examine the influence of classroom age composition and peer skill on children’s social and language outcomes. Using hierarchical linear analyses, results suggested that being in a mixed age classroom did not relate to the outcomes of children categorized into younger and older age groups. However, being around peers with higher language skills and fewer behavior problems tended to relate to more positive child outcomes. These findings suggest a need to support peer-to-peer contact in preschool between more and less skilled children.
Reports of the Workshops Held at the 2018 International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

The Workshop Program of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence’s 12th International Conference on Web and Social Media (AAAI-18) was held at Stanford University, Stanford, California USA, on Monday, June 25, 2018. There were fourteen workshops in the program: Algorithmic Personalization and News: Risks and Opportunities; Beyond Online Data: Tackling Challenging Social Science Questions; Bridging the Gaps: Social Media, Use and Well-Being; Chatbot; Data-Driven Personas and Human-Driven Analytics: Automating Customer Insights in the Era of Social Media; Designed Data for Bridging the Lab and the Field: Tools, Methods, and Challenges in Social Media Experiments; Emoji Understanding and Applications in Social Media; Event Analytics Using Social Media Data; Exploring Ethical Trade-Offs in Social Media Research; Making Sense of Online Data for Population Research; News and Public Opinion; Social Media and Health: A Focus on Methods for Linking Online and Offline Data; Social Web for Environmental and Ecological Monitoring and The ICWSM Science Slam. Workshops were held on the first day of the conference. Workshop participants met and discussed issues with a selected focus — providing an informal setting for active exchange among researchers, developers, and users on topics of current interest. Organizers from nine of the workshops submitted reports, which are reproduced in this report. Brief summaries of the other five workshops have been reproduced from their website descriptions.
Habitat and Water Quality Preferences of Mayflies and Stoneflies from South Australian Streams

Abstract Understanding habitat and water quality preferences of macroinvertebrates can provide important information to support biological assessments. The preferences of the nymphal stages of eight mayfly and five stonefly species were assessed from 650 stream sites in South Australia. The stoneflies showed similar preferences for flowing freshwater streams in cooler, wetter regions, with medium sized sediment (particularly cobbles), dense riparian cover, low conductivity, low nutrients and high colour. The mayflies were more variable with two species preferring permanent, non-flowing pools throughout the State, including arid streams, while others occurred more frequently in streams where the annual average rainfall exceeds 600 mm. These preferences may provide additional information to help derive national water quality guidelines. Results from this study suggest that current trigger values for TN, TP, turbidity and possibly conductivity for south-central Australia may be too high to protect these insect orders. The assumption that all stoneflies and mayflies are sensitive taxa and indicative of high quality streams through the use of EPT metrics and family level identifications is questioned, particularly for semi-arid and arid streams where at least some baetid and caenid mayflies can tolerate harsh climatic conditions.
Analysis of the Drosophila Sugar Receptor Genes

Analysis of the Drosophila Sugar Receptor Genes by Jesse David Slone University Program in Genetics and Genomics Duke University Date:___December 1, 2009___ Approved: ___________________________ Hubert Amrein, Supervisor ___________________________ Fan Wang ___________________________ Hiro Matsunami ___________________________ Dan Tracey An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University Program in Genetics and Genomics in the Graduate School of Duke University
In Vitro Induction of Aneuploid Forms of Tetraploid Grapes by para-Fluorophynylalanine

Mutation or somaclonal variation is one of the most useful tools in breeding of vegetatively propagated plants such as fruit trees. Mutation mainly occurs at the gene or chromosome level in a given plant. Para–fluorophenylalanine (PFP), which is an amino acid analogue, alters amino acid metabolism (Widholm, 1977), inhibits mitotic spindle formation (Thao et al., 2003) and, subsequently, reduces chromosome number to haploid number in the daughter cells (Lhoas, 1961). The effect of PFP on the reduction of chromosome number has been firstly reported in diploid Aspergillus niger from which haploid cells were induced (Lhoas, 1961). After this report, similar effects of PFP have been described in many plants such as Ribes (Knight et al., 1963), Allium (Sinha and Bhojwani, 1976), Fragaria (Niizeki and Fukui, 1983) and Alocasia (Thao et al., 2003). In Vitis, it has been reported that PFP effected on the change of chromosome number in the root cells of seedlings (Omura and Akihama, 1980; Omura et al., 1985) and induction of a triploid from PFP–treated shoots of tetraploid ‘Kyoho’ (Omura and Akihama, 1981). However, there are no reports as to somaclonal induction of hyper– and hypo–tetraploid grapes by PFP treatment. Hyper– and hypo–tetraploid grapes (2n=4x±1 or 4x±2) resulting from failure or irregularity of meiosis were found as a spontaneous (probably S1) seedling of ‘Kyoho’ (Yamane et al., 1978), appeared in selfed seedlings with abnormal cotyledons in ‘Kyoho’ (Park et al., 1999a) and rarely found in hybrid seedlings from interploid crosses between triploid and tetraploid grapes (Park et al., 1999b, 2002). ‘Takao’, a spontaneous hypotetraploid seedling of ‘Kyoho’, produces almost seedless berries of small size, but it produces large seedless berries with the aid of gibberellin treated at full bloom (Ashikawa, 1972). Thus, the crossing between tetraploid cultivars, followed by selection of the resultant seedlings with abnormal cotyledons, is an excellent method to obtain hyper– and hypo–tetraploid hybrid grapes for breeding of seedless cultivars. On the other hand, direct induction of hyper– and hypo–tetraploid forms from excellent but seeded tetraploid grape cultivars without crossings may be useful for establishing seedlessness in the seeded cultivars without greatly loosing their high tree vigor and other characters such as productivity, large berry size (Reisch and Pratt, 1996; Notsuka et al., 2000) and berry quality, although high parthenocarpy is required for the original cultivars to set and produce large–sized seedless berries without gibberellin treatment. To establish the efficient method to produce hyper– and hypo–tetraploid forms, we studied the effect of in vitro PFP treatment on the small change in tetraploid chromosome number in cultured shoots of ‘Kyoho’, colchiploid of ‘Rozaki’ and ‘Kyoho’ hybrids, all of which are tetraploid plants with relatively high parthenocarpic ability.
Improved methods for color‐marking hummingbirds

Individual color-marking is an essential tool for studying the behavior of free-living birds. Hummingbirds represent a particular challenge for traditional avian color-marking techniques because of their small size and short tarsi. Although several techniques have been successfully used, the retention time of color-markers and their safety and ease of construction could be improved. I developed two new color-marking techniques for marking Little Hermits (Phaethornis longuemareus): (1) a plastic back tag constructed by fusing colored beads, and (2) a leg tag attached to a metal band fitted around the tarsus. Both tag designs were visible in field conditions, and neither appeared to adversely affect behavior. Both back and leg tags had high retention rates within seasons, but back tags had a poor retention rate between years. Although these marking techniques were designed for use on one species of hummingbird, they would likely also be useful with other species of hummingbirds. RESUMEN Marcaje de color en individuos es una herramienta esencial para estudiar el comportamiento de aves silvestres. Los colibries representan un reto especial para las tecnicas de marcado de color tradicional en aves debido a su pequeno tamano y tarsos cortos. A pesar de que varias tecnicas han sido utilizadas con exito, el tiempo de retencion del color, marcadores y su seguridad y facilidad de construccion se podria mejorar. He desarrollado dos nuevas tecnicas de marcaje de color para marcar los Phaethornis longuemareus: (1) una etiqueta dorsal de plastico construidas por la fusion de cuentas de colores, y (2) una etiqueta de la pata unida a una banda de metal colocada en el tarso. Ambos disenos eran visibles en condiciones de campo, y no parece afectar negativamente el comportamiento. Tanto la etiqueta dorsal como en la pierna tuvieron altos indices de retencion dentro de las estaciones, pero las etiquetas dorsales tuvieron una baja retencion entre anos. Aunque estas tecnicas de marcaje han sido disenados para su uso en una especie de colibri, es probable que tambien sean utiles en otras especies de colibries.
Korean VQA with Deep learning

1. 서론 Visual Question Answering(VQA)은 주어진 이미지와 질 문에 대해 알맞은 정답을 찾는 기술이다. VQA는 문자로 구성된 질문을 이해하는 자연어처리 기술과 이미지를 이 해하는 컴퓨터비전 기술이 요구되는 어려운 응용으로, 어린이 학습, 시각 장애인 보조 시스템, 인공지능 비서 등 여러 분야에 활용될 수 있는 중요한 기술이다. 최근 영어 데이터를 이용한 VQA 기술 연구가 국내외 많이 진행되고 있으며, 딥러닝을 이용한 연구가 주를 이 루고 있다. VQA 연구는 Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)를 이용하여 이미지를 이해하고, Recurrent Neural Network(RNN) 등의 딥러닝 모델을 이용하여 질문 을 이해한 후 정답을 도출하는 방법으로 연구가 이루어 지고 있다[1,2,3,4]. 영어 데이터를 이용한 많은 VQA 연구가 이루어지고 있 는 반면, 한국어 데이터를 이용한 연구는 전혀 이루어지 고 있지 않다. 이는 VQA 연구가 근래에 제안되어 관련된 한국어 데이터를 확보하는데 어려움을 겪기 때문인 것으 로 생각된다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 영어 VQA 데이터 중 하나인 COCO-QA[2] 데이터를 한국어로 번역하고, 이를 한국어 VQA를 위한 데이터로 사용하고자 한다. 또한 기 존 기계 번역 모델의 Context-Gate[5]를 참고하여, 주어 진 이미지와 질문 문장이 정답 유추에 기여하는 비율을 달리하였을 때의 성능을 확인한다. 마지막으로 주어진 이미지와 질문 문장의 비율을 적절히 분배할 수 있게 별 도의 Gate를 적용한다. 실험 결과 Gate를 적용한 모델이 Gate를 적용하지 않은 모델보다 영어 및 한국어, 두 VQA 데이터 모두에서 우수한 성능을 보였다.
Implications of molecular characters for the phylogeny of the genus Entyloma * * Part 203 in the ser

Many species formerly listed in Entyloma have been removed and are now placed in several orders. This study aims to clarify the framework of the genus Entyloma and the phylogeny of these plant parasitic smut fungi with molecular data. Analyses of LSU and ITS sequences are presented and support the monophyly of the order Entylomatales. The sequences show higher similarities within the examined species of Entyloma than within other smut families and genera, suggesting a recent radiation. Within the Entylomatales a cluster of anamorphic Tilletiopsis washingtonensis, T. lilacina and T. cremea collections is the sister group to Entyloma. The phylogenetic relationships in the genus Entyloma are a result of joint evolution with their hosts. The analyses of the sequence data show unresolved groups on Ranunculales and a well-supported group on Asteridae.
Development of n-ZnO/p-Si single heterojunction solar cell with and without interfacial layer

BABAR HUSSAIN. Development of n-ZnO/p-Si single heterojunction solar cell with and without interfacial layer. (Under the direction of DR. YONG ZHANG) The conversion efficiency of conventional silicon (Si) photovoltaic cells has not been improved significantly during last two decades but their cost decreased dramatically during this time. However, the higher price-per-watt of solar cells is still the main bottleneck in their widespread use for power generation. Therefore, new materials need to be explored for the fabrication of solar cells potentially with lower cost and higher efficiency. The ntype zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and p-type Si (p-Si) based single heterojunction solar cell (SHJSC) is one of the several attempts to replace conventional Si single homojunction solar cell technology. There are three inadequacies in the literature related to n-ZnO/p-Si SHJSC: (1) a detailed theoretical analysis to evaluate potential of the solar cell structure, (2) inconsistencies in the reported value of open circuit voltage (VOC) of the solar cell, and (3) lower value of experimentally achieved VOC as compared to theoretical prediction based on band-bending between n-ZnO and p-Si. Furthermore, the scientific community lacks consensus on the optimum growth parameters of ZnO. In this dissertation, I present simulation and experimental results related to n-ZnO/p-Si SHJSC to fill the gaps mentioned above. Modeling and simulation of the solar cell structure are performed using PC1D and AFORS-HET software taking practical constraints into account to explore the potential of the structure. Also, unnoticed benefits of ZnO in solar cells such as an additional antireflection (AR) effect and low temperature deposition are highlighted. The growth parameters of ZnO using metal organic chemical vapor deposition and sputtering are optimized. The structural, optical, and electrical characterization of ZnO