Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell Surface THY-1 Contributes to Human Cytomegalovirus Entry via a Macropinocytosis-Like Process

ABSTRACT Previously we showed that THY-1 has a critical role in the initial stage of infection of certain cell types with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and that THY-1 is important for HCMV-mediated activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt during virus entry. THY-1 is known to interact with integrins and is a major cargo protein of clathrin-independent endocytic vesicles. Since macropinocytosis involves integrin signaling, is PI3K/Akt dependent, and is a clathrin-independent endocytic process, we determined whether THY-1 has a role in HCMV entry by macropinocytosis. Using electron microscopy in two cell lines that support HCMV infection in a THY-1-dependent manner, we found that HCMV enters these cells by a macropinocytosis-like process. THY-1 associated with HCMV virions on the cell surface and colocalized with virus inside macropinosomes. 5-(N-Ethyl-N-isopropyl)amiloride (EIPA) and soluble THY-1 blocked HCMV infection in the cell lines by ≥80% and 60%, respectively. HCMV entry into the cells triggered increased influx of extracellular fluid, a marker of macropinocytosis, and this increased fluid uptake was inhibited by EIPA and by soluble THY-1. Blocking actin depolymerization, Na+/H+ exchange, PI3K, and Pak1 kinase, which are critical for macropinocytosis, impaired HCMV infection. Neither internalized HCMV virions nor THY-1 in virus-infected cells colocalized with transferrin as determined by confocal microscopy, indicating that clathrin-mediated endocytosis was not involved in THY-1-associated virus entry. These results suggest that HCMV has adapted to utilize THY-1, a cargo protein of clathrin-independent endocytotic vesicles, to facilitate efficient entry into certain cell types by a macropinocytosis-like process. IMPORTANCE Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infects over half of the population and is the most common infectious cause of birth defects. The virus is the most important infection occurring in transplant recipients. The mechanism of how HCMV enters cells is controversial. In this study, we show that THY-1, a cell surface protein that is critical for the early stage of entry of HCMV into certain cell types, contributes to virus entry by macropinocytosis. Our findings suggest that HCMV has adapted to utilize THY-1 to facilitate entry of HCMV into macropinosomes in certain cell types. Further knowledge about the mechanism of HCMV entry into cells may facilitate the development of novel inhibitors of virus infection.
Cytochalasin D alters kinetics of Ca2+ transient in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes: an effect of altered actin cytoskeleton?

The effects of cytochalasin D, a specific F-actin depolymerizing agent, on Ca2+ transients in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes were investigated. Cytochalasin D (20 microM) significantly slowed decay of Ca2+ transients (tau decay control cells=28.1+/-1.3, n=28tau decay=47.3+/-2.8 ms, n=20, P<0.001). The rising phase of Ca2+ transients was also significantly slower in cytochalasin D treated cells (tau rise=5.1+/-0.6 ms, n=17nu tau rise in control cells=3.6+/-0.2, n=21,P<0.01). Phalloidin (100 microM), an F-actin stabilizer, prevented cytochalasin D-induced alterations of Ca2+ transient kinetics. The cytochalasin D effect was not related to the l-type Ca2+ current since the current density and kinetics were not altered by the drug. We conclude that integrity of F-actin-based cytoskeleton is an important factor for sarcoplasmic reticulum function.
From Distance Education to Distributed Learning Surviving and Thriving

Higher education is currently undergoing what may be its most significant change since the advent of the printing press in the fifteenth century. A number of socioeconomic forces, primarily globalization, have increased student mobility and created a need for increased and more flexible access to education. At the same time, the recent vast expansion of electronic communication capability has presented us with the means to provide the desired increased access, using various types of distributed learning. Having this tool at hand has, in turn, created a demand for new levels of administrative flexibility on the part of educational institutions while at the same time increasing budgetary pressures on them (Clarke 2002).
Faster LEGO-based Secure Computation without Homomorphic Commitments

LEGO-style cut-and-choose is known for its asymptotic efficiency in realizing actively-secure computations. The dominant cost of LEGO protocols is due to wire-soldering — the key technique enabling to put independently generated garbled gates together in a bucket to realize a logical gate. Existing wire-soldering constructions rely on homomorphic commitments and their security requires the majority of the garbled gates in every bucket to be correct. In this paper, we propose an efficient construction of LEGO protocols that does not use homomorphic commitments but is able to guarantee security as long as at least one of the garbled gate in each bucket is correct. Additionally, the faulty gate detection rate in our protocol doubles that of the state-of-the-art LEGO constructions. We have implemented our protocol and our experiments on several benchmark applications show that the performance of our approach is highly competitive in comparison with existing implementations.
Mutation analysis of GABRR1 andGABRR2 in autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (RP25)

Editor—Retinitis pigmentosa (RP, MIM 268000) is the most frequent form of retinal dystrophy world wide. The clinical findings are night blindness and narrowing of the visual field. Examination of the fundus of the eye in RP patients usually shows bone spicula pigmentation of the retina, waxy pallor of the optic disc, attenuation of the retinal blood vessels, and no results detectable by electroretinogram.1 RP shows notable allelic and non-allelic heterogeneity2(RET-GEN-NET htp://www.sph.uth.tm.edu/Retnet/home.htm). By using classical linkage strategies and the direct and indirect candidate gene approach, the number of RP loci identified has grown increasingly since 1989 and to date more than 30 autosomal RP loci have been identified, including syndromic and non-syndromic forms of the disease. Autosomal recessive RP (ARRP) is the commonest form of RP and to date at least 13 independent ARRP loci have been identified.3-15 Our group proposed the hypothesis that the alteration of functions related to neurotransmission in the external plexiform layer of the retina could be related to RP.14 In order to test this model, we used homozygosity mapping to analyse different genes involved in retinal neurotransmission. Using this indirect candidate gene approach, we identified the locus RP25 in an important subgroup of ARRP patients from our cohort. In fact, around 14% of the ARRP families from southern Spain showed linkage to RP25. 14 RP25 is an ARRP locus located on the long arm of chromosome 6 between markers D6S257 and D6S1644 (MIM 602772). This chromosomal region contains the GABRR1 and GABRR2 genes, both being expressed in the retina. These genes encode the rho1 and rho2 subunits of the C type receptor for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAc receptor). 16 17The GABAc …
Multi-Agent Decision Fusion and Its Application in Adversarial Multi-robot System

With the analysis and study of the decision in adversarial multi-robot system, a method to multi-agent decision fusion is presented. The architecture of decision fusion is built, in which observing agent model based on evidential reasoning, decision agent model based on TBM and decision fusion center model are designed. Also, the associative algorithms are provided. With the application and experiment in Robot Soccer, it is shown that this method has better performance and effectiveness for making decision in adversarial multi-robot system.
Validated Composite Assessment Scales for the Global Face

Background Twenty grading scales have been developed to assess age‐related facial changes. Until now, the validity with regard to the patient's actual age and the clinical importance of combined measurement tools to describe facial aging was unclear. Objective To investigate the reliability and validity of a total face score and three global face assessment scales for estimated age, estimated aesthetic treatment effort, and signs of aging in the facial units. Materials and Methods Descriptive, reliability, correlation, and principal component analyses based on the assessment of 50 subjects by 12 raters using the 20 grading scales and the global face assessment scales. Results Inter‐ and intrarater reliability was high for the total face score and for the scales on estimated age and aesthetic treatment effort. Actual age was highly correlated with these three measures. Facial aging was indicated particularly by scales of the lower face. Conclusion The aesthetic grading scales and global scales on estimated age and aesthetic treatment effort are reliable and valid instruments. The results suggest that a more‐comprehensive evaluation of the human face and its age‐related changes can help to identify important areas of facial aging and to define optimal aesthetic treatment strategies.
Design and Comparison of Direct-Drive Stator-PM Machines for Electric Power Generation

This paper presents three configurations of direct- drive stator permanent magnet generators (SPMGs) as potential candidates for electric power generation. The design principles are discussed with details, while the proposed configurations are analysed by using the finite element method (FEM). In particular, the no-load electromotive forces (EMFs), the steady torques, the cogging torques, the flux densities and the output powers can be analysed thoroughly. Consequently, the quantitative comparisons are concluded among three proposed generators.
Effect of Pesticides on Neuronal and Glial Cell Differentiation and Maturation in Primary Cultures

Since many pesticides are developed to target the nervous system of different organisms their effects on the human brain are of great concern, in particular the effects on the immature brain. The acute neurotoxicity of pesticides is well-known from occupational exposure studies, poisoning events and suicide data (Kimbrough et al., 1989). Furthermore, developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) effects, such as reduced short-term memory, hand-eye coordination, drawing ability and visuospatial deficits have been observed in several epidemiological studies (Grandjean et al., 2006; Guillette et al., 1998; Ruckart et al., 2004). It is widely accepted that the developing central nervous system (CNS), is much more vulnerable to injury induced by different classes of chemicals, including pesticides, than the adult CNS. This is partly due to the fact that the adult brain is well protected against chemicals by the blood brain barrier (BBB) while children's BBB is not fully differentiated until around 6 months after the birth (Adinolfi, 1985; Tilson, 2000) and at the same time they have increased absorption and a diminished ability to detoxify many exogenous compounds in comparison to that of adults (NRC, 2000). Moreover, the development of the CNS is a very complex process involving several different important events, e.g. differentiation of progenitor cells, proliferation and cell migration, synaptogenesis, myelination, cell death, synthesis of neurotransmitters, formation of receptors, trimming of connections or electrical activity stimulation. These events are occurring within strictly controlled time frames and therefore each event creates different windows of vulnerability to xenobiotic exposure (Rice and Barone, 2000; Rodier, 1994; Rodier, 1995). Furthermore, the brain consists of many different cell types (e.g. neuronal, glial and endothelial cells) that have specific functions and different roles. Also each cell type is produced at a defined moment during the development and is therefore susceptible to environmental disturbances at different developmental time periods. Some events take place during a very short time period and interference by chemicals during these stages could have serious consequences for the individual.
Forensic Speaker Verification in Noisy Environmental by Enhancing the Speech Signal Using ICA Approach

We propose a system to real environmental noise and channel mismatch for forensic speaker verification systems. This method is based on suppressing various types of real environmental noise by using independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. The enhanced speech signal is applied to mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) or MFCC feature warping to extract the essential characteristics of the speech signal. Channel effects are reduced using an intermediate vector (i-vector) and probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) approach for classification. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by using an Australian forensic voice comparison database, combined with car, street and home noises from QUT-NOISE at a signal to noise ratio (SNR) ranging from -10 dB to 10 dB. Experimental results indicate that the MFCC feature warping-ICA achieves a reduction in equal error rate about (48.22%, 44.66%, and 50.07%) over using MFCC feature warping when the test speech signals are corrupted with random sessions of street, car, and home noises at -10 dB SNR. Keywords—Noisy forensic speaker verification, ICA algorithm, MFCC, MFCC feature warping.
Deposited in DRO : 09 July 2013 Version of attached file :

The Synchronised Nutrition and Activity Program for Adults (SNAPAe) was developed to address the need for accurate, reliable, feasible, inexpensive and low-burden methods for assessing specific dietary and physical activity behaviours in adults. Short-term test–retest reliability of SNAPAe was assessed in forty-four adults (age 41·4 (SD 17·3) years) who completed SNAPAe twice in 1 day. Concurrent validity against direct dietary observation and combined heart rate and accelerometry was assessed in seventy-seven adults (age 34·4 (SD11·1) years). Test–retest reliability revealed no substantial systematic shifts in mean values of the outcome variables: percentage of food energy from fat (% fat), number of portions of fruit and vegetables (FV) and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). For lunchtime dietary intake, the mean match rate between food items reported using SNAPAe and those observed was 81·7%, with a phantom rate of 5·6%. Pearson’s correlations between SNAPAe and the reference methods ranged from 0·27 to 0·56 for % fat, FV portions and minutes of MVPA. For % fat and FV intake, there was no fixed or proportional bias, and mean differences between the methods (SNAPAe 2 reference) were 5·1% and 0 portions, respectively. For minutes of MVPA, a fixed bias of 228min was revealed when compared with all minutes of MVPA measured by combined heart rate and accelerometry, whereas a proportional bias (slope 1·47) was revealed when compared with minutes carried out in bouts $10min. SNAPAe is a promising tool for measuring specific energy balance behaviours, though further work is required to improve accuracy for physical activity behaviours.
Neural correlates of the affect regulation model in schizophrenia patients with substance use history: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

BACKGROUND The lifetime prevalence of substance use disorders among schizophrenia patients is close to 50%. The negative consequences of substance abuse in schizophrenia are well documented, but the etiology of this comorbid condition remains unknown. According to the affect regulation model, schizophrenia patients abuse drugs in order to cope with their negative affects. Supporting the model, clinical studies have shown that dual-diagnosis patients have less blunting of affect and that they experience more negative affect. We hypothesized that patients with a history of substance use would have increased cerebral activations in response to aversive stimuli when compared to abstinent patients. METHOD Schizophrenia patients were divided into 2 groups: patients with (SCZ-SU group; N = 12) and without (SCZ group; N = 11) a current or past substance use disorder (alcohol, cannabis, and/or LSD). Diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV criteria. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), patients were scanned during passive viewing of emotionally negative pictures (International Affective Picture System). Data were gathered from September 2001 to December 2003. RESULTS Subjectively, the emotional experience induced by viewing the negative pictures was rated significantly higher in the SCZ-SU group than in the SCZ group (p = .008). Neurally, in the SCZ-SU group, significant loci of activation were identified in the right medial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area [BA] 10), left medial prefrontal cortex (BA 10), right orbitofrontal cortex (BA 47), and left amygdala. No significant loci of activation were observed in the SCZ group. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that the functioning of the medial prefrontal cortex, thought to be impaired in patients with prominent negative symptoms, is more preserved in dual-diagnosis schizophrenia. This relative preservation could be primary or secondary to substance use.
The Genetic Factors in Cancer Development and their Implications for Cancer Prevention and Detection

Abstract Demant, P. The Genetic Factors in Cancer Development and their Implications for Cancer Prevention and Detection. Radiat. Res. 164, 462–466 (2005). Experimental data from laboratory animals indicate that the same extent of DNA damage or the same mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in different hosts result in widely differing cancer development because of numerous polymorphic tumor susceptibility genes. Similarly, recent epidemiological data indicate that susceptibility to common, “sporadic” cancers in humans is influenced considerably by multiple polymorphic host genes with relatively weak effects. This indicates that in addition to hereditary familial cancer syndromes, the sporadic cancer is also under strong genetic control. The multiplicity of genes involved, variation in exposure to environmental carcinogens, and small sizes of cancer families prevent efficient searches for the responsible genes in humans. Therefore, an alternative strategy based on the definition of susceptibility genes in experimental animals and the subsequent study of their human homologues has been successfully employed by several groups. This strategy also helped reveal several important features of cancer susceptibility, including mutual interactions of cancer susceptibility genes, their functional heterogeneity, and the existence of stage-specific control of cancer development. This latter phenomenon is especially important, because the susceptibility to early stages of cancer development may be quite different from that of late stages of cancer development. This needs to be taken into account when introducing preventive testing of biomarkers of early preneoplastic lesions or early cancers, because their predictive value is greatly influenced by the genetically determined individual tendency to proceed toward a more advanced form of neoplasia. Therefore, genetic testing of persons in danger of being exposed to carcinogenic factors should be an important part of the personnel selection.
A family of cost-efficient non-isaolated single-inductor three-port converters for low power stand-alone renewable power applications

Three-port converters (TPCs) are the cost-effective way to connect the renewable source, energy-stored component and the load, and thus, can be widely used in the stand-alone renewable power system. This paper propose a new and simple non-isolated TPC family, which is obtained by embedding a general cell into the classic buck, boost and buck-boost converters. The proposed TPC family includes several advantages, such as the easy-to-derivation feature, compact size and the maximal usage of control degree of freedom. The derivation method and control strategy are presented in this paper, and a prototype is also built as an interface for a 18V photovoltaic panel, a 24V battery and a 12V/2A load. The experimental results show the validity of the analysis.
Photosystem-II electron transport and phosphorylation with dibromothymoquinone as the electron acceptor.

Dibromothymoquinone has two effects on isolated chloroplasts. At very low concentrations it inhibits the reduction of conventional hydrophilic electron acceptors, probably by acting as a plastoquinone antagonist. At higher concentrations it acts as an electron acceptor, intercepting electrons either before or at the site of its inhibitory activity. Reduced dibromothymoquinone can be readily reoxidized by excess ferricyanide in the reaction mixture or by molecular oxygen. The transfer of electrons to this substance from water is coupled to phosphorylation. The pH optima for this reduction and associated phosphorylation are both at 7.3, considerably lower than the pH optimum of 8.4 observed with the normal Hill reaction. The ratio of molecules of ATP formed to pairs of electrons transported is relatively constant (0.3 –0.4) between pH 6 and 9. The rate of reduction is independent of the presence or absence of ADP and phosphate or uncouplers. The reduction of dibromothymoquinone resembles the reduction of other lipid-soluble oxi-dants such as oxidized p-phenylenediamines and 2,5-dimethylquinone in several respects. Both reactions are insensitive to the plastocyanin inhibitors KCN and polylysine, but are sensitive to 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea. They support phosphorylation with a similar efficieney. However, dibromothymoquinone reduction differs from the reduction of other lipophilic oxidants in that its sensitivity to dichlorophenyl-dimethylurea decreases with increasing light intensities. This implies that it may be reduced via a pool (plastoquinone? ) which is a common electron acceptor for independent photosystem II units whereas oxidized p-phenylenediamines and 2,5-dimethylquinone are reduced directly by these independent units.
Isolation and Proteomic Characterization of Human Parvulin-associating Preribosomal Ribonucleoprotein Complexes* 210

Human parvulin (hParvulin; Par14/EPVH) belongs to the third family of peptidylprolyl cis-trans isomerases that exhibit an enzymatic activity of interconverting the cis-trans conformation of the prolyl peptide bond, and shows sequence similarity to the regulator enzyme for cell cycle transitions, human Pin1. However, the cellular function of hParvulin is entirely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that hParvulin associates with the preribosomal ribonucleoprotein (pre-rRNP) complexes, which contain preribosomal RNAs, at least 26 ribosomal proteins, and 26 trans-acting factors involved in rRNA processing and assembly at an early stage of ribosome biogenesis. Since an amino-terminal domain of hParvulin, which is proposed to be a putative DNA-binding domain, was alone sufficient to associate in principle with the pre-rRNP complexes, the association is probably through protein-RNA interaction. In addition, hParvulin co-precipitated at least 10 proteins not previously known to be involved in ribosome biogenesis. Coincidentally, most of these proteins are implicated in regulation of microtubule assembly or nucleolar reformation during the mitotic phase of the cell. Thus, these results, coupled with the preferential nuclear localization of hParvulin, suggest that hParvulin may be involved in ribosome biogenesis and/or nucleolar re-assembly of mammalian cells.