Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Compartmentalization of Serine Racemase Regulates d-Serine Production

d-Serine is a physiological co-agonist that activates N-methyl d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and is essential for neurotransmission, synaptic plasticity, and behavior. d-Serine may also trigger NMDAR-mediated neurotoxicity, and its dysregulation may play a role in neurodegeneration. d-Serine is synthesized by the enzyme serine racemase (SR), which directly converts l-serine to d-serine. However, many aspects concerning the regulation of d-serine production under physiological and pathological conditions remain to be elucidated. Here, we investigate possible mechanisms regulating the synthesis of d-serine by SR in paradigms relevant to neurotoxicity. We report that SR undergoes nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and that this process is dysregulated by several insults leading to neuronal death, typically by apoptotic stimuli. Cell death induction promotes nuclear accumulation of SR, in parallel with the nuclear translocation of GAPDH and Siah proteins at an early stage of the cell death process. Mutations in putative SR nuclear export signals (NESs) elicit SR nuclear accumulation and its depletion from the cytosol. Following apoptotic insult, SR associates with nuclear GAPDH along with other nuclear components, and this is accompanied by complete inactivation of the enzyme. As a result, extracellular d-serine concentration is reduced, even though extracellular glutamate concentration increases severalfold. Our observations imply that nuclear translocation of SR provides a fail-safe mechanism to prevent or limit secondary NMDAR-mediated toxicity in nearby synapses.
Is it possible to Diagnose Subclinical Infection with M . paratuberculosis in Cattle younger than 2 years of Age ?

Paratuberculosis has emerged to become a serious disease of dairy cattle in industrialised countries. The exact prevalence of paratuberculosis in Danish dairy herds is not known, but recent pilot projects suggested that approximately 50% of the herds are infected (Nielsen et al., 2000a; Nielsen et al., 2000b). In Denmark, diagnosis of infection with M. paratuberculosis is made most commonly through detection of the pathogen by cultivation of faecal samples. However, cultivation-positive results cannot be expected until late in the subclinical stage, when infected animals are 2 years of age or older. Similarly, antibody detection methods such as the absorbed indirect enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) may not reveal infected animals until late in the course of infection. However, ELISA is widely used for diagnosis of paratuberculosis due to easy performance and high accuracy (Collins, 1996). Test for the cellular immune response, that is the first response elicited to infection with mycobacteria and other intracellular pathogens (Chiodini, 1996), may result in an earlier diagnosis than by faecal cultivation or serum ELISA. Detection of secreted interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), following antigen stimulation of peripheral blood lymphocytes, has been evaluated as a diagnostic tool for identification of young cattle infected with M. paratuberculosis (McDonald et al., 1999). Problems with non-paratuberculosis specific reactions and uncertain interpretation of assay results limited the diagnostic potential in calves. Results from recent Danish studies indicate that infected animals may be identified by the IFN-γ test from approximately 1 year of age (Jungersen et al., 2002; Huda et al., 2003). This presentation reports results from testing of IFN-γ test and the application of IFN-γ test compared to serum and milk ELISA to cattle in different age groups.
New synthetic routes for quantum dots

Various methods for the synthesis of quantum dots of compound semiconductors are discussed. Emphasis is placed on methods involving the decomposition of chalcogenide–containing precursors in tri–n–octylphosphine oxide. The use of simple coordination complexes can avoid the use of pyrophoric precursors. Approaches based on melts or the use of imino–bisdichalcogeno–diphosphinates are also discussed. These routes may be suitable for the production of large quantities of quantum dots.
Impact of health literacy level on aspects of medication nonadherence reported by underserved patients with type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND Medication adherence can be affected by many factors, including health literacy. The purpose of this study is to determine (1) if a relationship exists between health literacy and self-reported or objectively measured medication adherence and (2) which aspect or aspects of medication nonadherence are most associated with health literacy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This is a multicenter, cross-sectional survey study of adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), taking one or more antidiabetes medication for ≥6 months with a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measure on record. Data collected included patient demographics (age, gender, race, language, highest level of education, injectable diabetes medication use, last HbA1c, and diabetes medication refill history) and two survey instruments (the Morisky eight-item Medication Adherence Scale [MMAS-8] and the short-form Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults [s-TOFHLA]). Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were assessed, along with linear and logistic regression. RESULTS One hundred ninety-two patients with an average HbA1c level of 8.1% were included. Of these subjects, 32.8% had limited health literacy as measured by the s-TOFHLA, 58.9% had low adherence as measured by MMAS-8, and 65.1% were nonadherent based on cumulative medication gap (CMG) analysis. Age was associated with s-TOFHLA (-0.411; P<0.01) and MMAS-8 (0.157; P<0.05) scores. HbA1c was associated with MMAS-8 (-0.209; P<0.01) and CMG (0.152; P<0.05) scores. There was no significant association between s-TOFHLA and MMAS-8 or CMG. However, s-TOFHLA was positively related to MMAS-8 question 8, assessing difficulty remembering to take medications (P=0.017). CONCLUSIONS Health literacy level is not associated with self-reported or objectively measured medication adherence in underserved patients with T2DM. Lower health literacy scores are associated with a patient experiencing difficulty remembering to take medications.
Semi-blind detection method for cognitive Radio networks in multiple antenna systems

In this paper, we consider the sensing methods based on the known noise level in cognitive radio (CR) networks under multi antenna systems and compare with the unknown noise level detection methods. The analysis is focused on energy detection (ED) and maximum eigenvalue based methods that require the knowledge of noise level. Threshold and detection performance of the maximum eigenvalue based method are expressed by closed analytical formulas. Random matrix theory is used to derive the expressions for threshold and probability of detection. The performance comparison of different sensing methods is provided through simulation analysis. Simulation results provide performance of various sensing methods for wireless microphone signals and independent and identically distributed (iid) signals.
Clinical Features and Natural History of Nonalcoholic Steatosis Syndromes

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, along with other forms of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is a chronic liver disease that is attracting increasing significance. It is a clinicopathologic syndrome that was originally described in obese, diabetic females who denied alcohol use but in whom the hepatic histology was consistent with alcoholic hepatitis. This typical patient profile has been expanded and is now recognized to occur even in normal weight males without overt abnormalities in carbohydrate metabolism. Although originally believed to be a benign clinical entity, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is now recognized as a cause of progressive fibrotic liver disease with adverse clinical sequelae. It is important to emphasize that nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is best considered one type of a larger spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that is a consequence of insulin resistance and ranges from fat alone to fat plus inflammation, fat plus ballooning degeneration, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, the latter being the most serious form. As with any disease, the clinical importance of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is related to its prevalence and natural history. Recent studies using different methodologies indicate that in the general population the prevalence of fatty liver and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is approximately 20% and 3%, respectively. These prevalence rates are increased in certain subpopulations such as obesity and type II diabetes. Of greater concern is the recognition that cirrhosis and liver-related deaths occur in approximately 20% and 8% of these patients, respectively, over a 10-year period. Risk factors for these adverse clinical symptoms include patients older than the age of 45, the presence of diabetes or obesity, an aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio > 1 and hepatic histology. However, a number of important unresolved issues must be clarified before the true natural history of this disease can be fully understood.
MASON: A Multiagent Simulation Environment

MASON is a fast, easily extensible, discrete-event multi-agent simulation toolkit in Java, designed to serve as the basis for a wide range of multi-agent simulation tasks ranging from swarm robotics to machine learning to social complexity environments. MASON carefully delineates between model and visualization, allowing models to be dynamically detached from or attached to visualizers, and to change platforms mid-run. This paper describes the MASON system, its motivation, and its basic architectural design. It then compares MASON to related multi-agent libraries in the public domain, and discusses six applications of the system built over the past year which suggest its breadth of utility.
0 Direct Posterior Confidence for Out-of-Vocabulary Spoken Term Detection

Spoken term detection (STD) is a key technology for spoken information retrieval. As compared to the conventional speech transcription and keyword spotting, STD is an open-vocabulary task and has to address out-of-vocabulary (OOV) terms. Approaches based on subword units, e.g. phones, are widely used to solve the OOV issue; however, performance on OOV terms is still substantially inferior to that of in-vocabulary (INV) terms. The performance degradation on OOV terms can be attributed to a multitude of factors. One particular factor we address in this paper is the unreliable confidence estimation caused by weak acoustic and language modeling due to the absence of OOV terms in the training corpora. We propose a direct posterior confidence derived from a discriminative model, such as a multi-layer perceptron (MLP). The new confidence considers a wide-range acoustic context which is usually important for speech recognition and retrieval; moreover, it localizes on detected speech segments and therefore avoids the impact of long-span word context which is usually unreliable for OOV term detection. In this paper we first develop an extensive discussion about the modeling weakness problem associated with OOV terms, and then propose our approach to address this problem based on direct poster confidence. Our experiments carried out on spontaneous and conversational multi-party meeting speech, demonstrate that the proposed technique provides a significant improvement in STD performance as compared to the conventional lattice-based confidence, in particular for OOV terms. Furthermore, the new confidence estimation approach is fused with other advanced techniques for OOV treatment, such as stochastic pronunciation modeling and discriminative confidence normalization. This leads to an integrated solution for OOV term detection that results in a large performance improvement.
Development of a consumer-driven Wheelchair Seating Discomfort Assessment Tool (WcS-DAT)

This study examined the concept of seating discomfort in a population of full-time wheelchair users with intact sensation. The goal was to construct a tool that would quantify seating discomfort experienced by wheelchair users. Ten participants were interviewed using ethnographic interview techniques. Data were analyzed using a cross-classifying matrix to examine commonalities among the 10 participants’ responses. There were 16 discomfort and 13 comfort descriptors used by the participants. Of these, eight discomfort and five comfort descriptors were selected to include in the Wheelchair Seating Discomfort Assessment Tool (WcS-DAT). The discomfort descriptors selected were: aches and pains, need to move, pressure points, feeling poorly positioned, unable to concentrate, instability, not comfortable, and feeling too hot, cold or damp. The comfort descriptors selected were: absence of discomfort, feeling good, having no pain, able to concentrate, and feeling stable. The WcS-DAT also includes general information, such as the amount of time spent sitting and whether the individual was transferred into the chair properly—factors thought to affect discomfort—and ratings of discomfort intensity—in general and differentiated by body area. The WcS-DAT is a comprehensive tool for quantification of wheelchair seat discomfort for this population.
Key Drivers of Guanxi in China among Taiwanese Small to Medium-Sized Firms

As China has emerged as one of the world’s economic powerhouses, research on guanxi, or social/business ties in China, becomes more common. This study employs a theoretical framework of social embeddedness, in which the flows of information, resources, and opportunities occur across recognized members of a social network to create mutual benefits. With this framework, the authors empirically investigate impetuses for Taiwanese small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) to employ guanxi networks with their business community, local governments, and the central Chinese government. The study results indicate that the extent to which Tawanese firms use different types of guanxi differ by firm characteristics (i.e., resources, capabilities, and entry mode) and market factors (i.e., market stability and competition).
An Analysis of a Broken P1-Nonconforming Finite Element Method for Interface Problems

We study some numerical methods for solving a second order elliptic problem with interface. We introduce an immersed finite element method based on the “broken” $P_1$-nonconforming piecewise linear polynomials on interface triangular elements having edge averages as degrees of freedom. These linear polynomials are broken to match the homogeneous jump condition along the interface which is allowed to cut through the element. We prove optimal orders of convergence in the $H^1$- and $L^2$-norm. Next we propose a mixed finite volume method in the context introduced in [S. H. Chou, D. Y. Kwak, and K. Y. Kim, Math. Comp., 72 (2003), pp. 525-539] using the Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element and this “broken” $P_1$-nonconforming element. The advantage of this mixed finite volume method is that once we solve the symmetric positive definite pressure equation (without Lagrangian multiplier), the velocity can be computed locally by a simple formula. This procedure avoids solving the saddle point problem. Furthermore, we show optimal error estimates of velocity and pressure in our mixed finite volume method. Numerical results show optimal orders of error in the $L^2$-norm and broken $H^1$-norm for the pressure and in the $H(\mathrm{div})$-norm for the velocity.
Flexible plastic single-crystal si CMOS

In this paper, the materials, processing and device characteristics of flexible Si CMOS on plastic substrates are reviewed. The methods to create transferrable single-crystal Si nanomembranes are described first followed by the description of doping and transfer techniques developed for the nanomembranes. The preliminary device characteristics of CMOS and inverters on plastic substrates are presented.
A numerical simulation study of a nanoscaled side selective buried oxide MOSFET

Two dimensional numerical simulation of nanoscaled selective buried oxide (SELBOX) based MOSFET is performed. In this device an opening is provided under the device channel in the buried oxide (BOX). A comparative analysis of the SELBOX, bulk and SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) devices for various performance measuring parameters has been done. The simulation study has revealed that by properly choosing various device parameters, the overall performance of the SELBOX device is found to be optimal to that of the conventional MOSFET and SOI device, particularly when self heating, short channel effects and breakdown voltage are considered together.
Integrated analysis of co-expressed MAP kinase substrates in Arabidopsis thaliana

MAP kinase (MAPK) signal transduction cascades are conserved eukaryotic pathways that modulate stress responses and developmental processes. In a recent report we have identified novel Arabidopsis MAPKK/MAPK/Substrate signaling pathways using microarrays containing 2,158 unique Arabidopsis proteins. Subsequently, several WRKY and TGA targets phosphorylated by MAPKs were verified in planta. We have also reported that specific MAPKK/MAPK modules expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana induced a cell death phenotype related to the immune response. We have generated a MAPK phosphorylation network based on our protein microarray experimental data. Here we further analyze our network by integrating phosphorylation and gene expression information to identify biologically relevant signaling modules. We have identified 108 phosphorylation events that occur among 96 annotated genes with highly similar pairwise expression profiles. Our analysis brings a new perspective on MAPK signaling by revealing new relationships between components of signaling pathways.
5‐Lipoxygenase and 12‐Lipoxygenase: Attractive Targets for the Development of Novel Antipsoriatic Drugs. 5‐Lipoxygenase und 12‐Lipoxygenase: Attraktive Target‐Enzyme für die Entwicklung neuer Antipsoriatika

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease occuring in about 2% of the population in Western c0untries.l). The phenotype is characterized by silvery scaling erythematous papules or plaques. The usual expression of the disease is psoriasis vulgaris2). Another form is pustular psoriasis, occuring when polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) collect within the dermis in sufficient quantities to produce pustules3). Although psoriatic lesions may occur on any part of the skin, favoured areas are elbows, knees, and buttocks2). Etiological factors that precipitate or aggravate the disease are infections, heredity, stress, and certain drugs4). The course of the disease tends to be chronic and punctuated by unpredictable periods of remission and exacerbation2). The most frequent age of onset is before 30 years of age4). The pathogenesis is at yet unknown, but it has been suggested that both the proliferative and the inflammatory component are important parts of the disease process4). The mitotic cycle of the epidermal cell is increased and the tumover time of the epidermis is reduced from 28 days to 3-4 days and this rapid transit time of the epidermal cells results in disturbed keratini~ation~). Clinically and histologically psoriasis is characterized by hyperproliferation of the epidermis, incomplete differentiation of the epidermis, and inflammatory infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils mediated by arachidonic acid metabolites6). Factors responsible for these events have not yet been established. The recent recognition of the lipoxygenase products as mediators of inflammation has led to a better understanding of the pathogensis of psoriasis and provides new targets for therapeutical interventions. For comprehensive reviews on leukotrienes and lipoxygenases, see e.g. The purpose of this article is to discuss chemical, biological, and clinical aspects of arachidonic acid metabolism in psoriasis and the interference with’ known antipsoriatic agents. Special emphasis is placed on the potential targets and mechanisms of compounds that may limit the biological effects of lipoxygenase products. In particular, the anthrone class of LO inhibitors will be discussed. None of the arachidonic acid metabolites are stored in tissues but are biosynthesized from fatty acids upon chemical, mechanical, or immunological stimuli. Thus, there is considerable interest in the development of antipsoriatic drugs that either con3
Relations between Hope and Graduate Students' Coping Strategies for Studying and Examination-Taking

In 1998, Onwuegbuzie reported a negative relationship between scores on hope and anxiety about statistics among graduate students who were enrolled in statistics classes. In 1999, Snyder posited that hope theory provides a useful framework for assessing students' coping strategies. In support of the utility of hope theory for identifying students with debilitating test-related anxieties, lower scores on the Pathways and Agency subscales which assess hope were related to 87 graduate students' problematic coping strategies for studying and taking statistics examinations. After a brief review of other recent data linking hope to academic performance at both public school and college levels, further research seems appropriate.
Serum HE4 as a Useful Biomarker in Discriminating Ovarian Cancer From Benign Pelvic Disease

Objective To evaluate the role of the novel tumor marker human epididymal secretory protein E4 (HE4) in discriminating ovarian cancer from benign pelvic disease in patients with a pelvic mass. Methods Serum samples from 131 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and 126 patients with various benign pelvic diseases were collected preoperatively and tested for cancer antigen (CA)125 and HE4 levels. Receiver operator characteristic curves were constructed, and the area under the curve (AUC) was compared between the markers. Results The median CA125 and HE4 levels were significantly higher in the patients with EOC than in those with benign disease (P < 0.001). Using benign controls as the comparison group for all cases, the AUC for combined HE4 and CA125 (0.955) was significantly higher than that for HE4 (0.941) or CA125 alone (0.924; P < 0.05). A comparison of premenopausal benign controls to EOC cases showed that the AUC for combined HE4 and CA125 (0.97) was significantly higher than that for CA125 (0.93; P < 0.004). The AUC for HE4 was significantly higher compared to that of CA125 in discriminating EOC from ovarian endometriosis (0.969 vs 0.904; P = 0.014) and pelvic inflammatory disease (0.909 vs 0.819; P = 0.034). Conclusion Serum HE4 testing is a more powerful tool than CA125 assay to discriminate EOC from ovarian endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease. For patients with a pelvic mass, especially premenopausal patients, the serum concentration of HE4 adds valuable information to CA125 in identifying patients with EOC from those with benign pelvic disease.