Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Localization of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Preintegration Complexes (PICs): V165A and R166A Are Pleiotropic Integrase Mutants Primarily Defective for Integration, Not PIC Nuclear Import

ABSTRACT Retroviral replication requires the integration of reverse-transcribed viral cDNA into a cell chromosome. A key barrier to forming the integrated provirus is the nuclear envelope, and numerous regions in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) have been shown to aid the nuclear localization of viral preintegration complexes (PICs) in infected cells. One region in integrase (IN), composed of Val-165 and Arg-166, was reportedly essential for HIV-1 replication and nuclear localization in all cell types. In this study we confirmed that HIV-1V165A and HIV-1R166A were replication defective and that less mutant viral cDNA localized to infected cell nuclei. However, we present three lines of evidence that argue against a specific role for Val-165 and Arg-166 in PIC nuclear import. First, results of transient transfections revealed that V165A FLAG-tagged IN and green fluorescent protein-IN fusions carrying either V165A or R166A predominantly localized to cell nuclei. Second, two different strains of previously described class II IN mutant viruses displayed similar nuclear entry profiles to those observed for HIV-1V165A and HIV-1R166A, suggesting that defective nuclear import may be a common phenotype of replication-defective IN mutant viruses. Third, V165A and R166A mutants were defective for in vitro integration activity, when assayed both as PICs isolated from infected T-cells and as recombinant IN proteins purified from Escherichia coli. Based on these results, we conclude that HIV-1V165A and HIV-1R166A are pleiotropic mutants primarily defective for IN catalysis and that Val-165 and Arg-166 do not play a specific role in the nuclear localization of HIV-1 PICs in infected cells.
Remote limb ischemic conditioning treatment for intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis patients

Objective The recurrence rate of ischemic stroke remains high among symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis patients with either ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. The aim of our study is to evaluate whether remote limb ischemic conditioning (RLIC) prevents cerebral ischemic events in symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis patients. Methods Symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis patients with either ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack will be recruited from more than 60 hospitals in China to participate in a randomized, double-blind, parallel-controlled clinical trial that will compare the efficacy and safety of RLIC for the prevention of recurrent stroke. Following randomization, patients allocated to the RLIC group (n = 1500) will receive RLIC once daily for 12 months, with treatment consisting of five cycles of 5 min of pressure treatment at 200 mm Hg, followed by 5 min of reperfusion. The sham group (n = 1500) will be treated identically, with the exception of pressure treatment at 60 mm Hg. Results The primary endpoint will be an ischemic stroke event during the study period. Secondary endpoints will include composite fatal and nonfatal stroke, fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction, and transient ischemic attack. Patients will be assessed periodically over a approximate 3-year study period using the modified Rankin Scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and Barthel Activities of Daily Living Index. Conclusion We predict that RLIC treatment for 12 months will safely reduce the ischemic stroke recurrence rate.
Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening and Treatment in the United States: An Update and Recommendation Overview.

ABSTRACT No regulatory mandate exists in the United States (U.S.) for comprehensive obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk assessment and stratification for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. Current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requirements are outdated and depend largely on subjective report, a less reliable strategy in an occupational setting. Without FMCSA standards, sleep specialists, occupational medical examiners and employers rely on a collection of medical consensus recommendations to establish standards of care. These recommendations advise OSA risk assessment through a combination of focused medical history, physical examination, questionnaires, and accident history, which increase OSA detection compared to current FMCSA standards. For those diagnosed with OSA, consensus-based risk stratification helps identify CMV drivers who may benefit from OSA treatment and establish minimum standards for assessing treatment efficacy and adherence. Unfortunately no consolidated recommendation exists; rather, publications span medical and governmental literature in a patchwork fashion that no longer fully reflect current practice due to subsequent advances in OSA diagnosis, treatment, and technology. Based on searches of medical literature, internet materials, and reference lists from existing publications, an overview and discussion of key published recommendations regarding OSA assessment and treatment in CMV operators is provided. Suggestions for incorporating these recommendations into clinical sleep medicine practice in the U.S. are presented. The challenge for sleep specialists is maintaining the delicate balance between recommendations impacting standard of care and associated medico-legal impact with stakeholder interests from medical, regulatory, industry and public perspectives while providing high quality and efficient care.
A boundary extraction method based on Dual-T-Snakes and dynamic programming

The original proposal of active contour models, also called snakes, for image segmentation, suffers from a strong sensitivity to its initial position and can not deal with topological changes. The sensitivity to initialization can be addressed by dynamic programming (DP) techniques which have the advantage of guaranteeing the global minimum and of being more stable numerically than the variational approaches. Their disadvantages are the storage requirements and computational complexity. In this paper we address these limitations of DP by reducing the region of interest (search space) through the use of the Dual-T-Snake approach. The solution of this method consists of two curves enclosing each object boundary which allows the definition of a more efficient search space for a DP technique. The resulting method (Dual-T-Snake plus DP) inherits the capability of changing the topology and avoiding local minima from the Dual-T-Snake and the global optimal properties of the dynamic programming. It can be also extended for 3D.
Induced mass change technique for glucose detection in microcantilever-based sensors

Microcantilever-based glucose sensor is a state-of-art sensor that has been widely investigated for biosensing applications. This work focuses on the preliminary study of correlation of the glucose reaction and the induced force on the microcantilever sensor by measuring the induced mass changes due to the glucose reaction. The induced force is then used to test the fabricated microcantilever sensor for glucose detection. Gold-coated glass slides were used as the immobilization sites for glucose oxidase enzyme. The reaction of the glucose oxidase enzyme and ß-D glucose was observed by injecting 5 mM glucose solution on 0.3 mL immobilized enzyme on three samples. The resulted mass changes, ranging from 151.87 mg to 180. 14 mg for the three samples, indicate a good correlation between the enzyme-glucose reaction and the induced mass change. The induced forces of 0.28 μN to 0.29 μN, converted from the mass changes of the glucose-enzyme reaction, is in a range of interactive force values commonly found in biochemical detection applications.
A Short History of Blood Pressure Measurement

The evolution of clinical sphygmomanometry has been well documented, but differing degrees of emphasis have been placed on the various personalities and ideas which form part of the history of blood pressure measurement. The aim of this short history is to present a collated, succinct, yet personal account of the ideas which have led to the present-day approach, which involves compression of the brachial artery, and auscultation
Population genetics of insect immune responses

within the genome and lacks the antibody production that characterizes the adaptive immune response of higher vertebrates. The insect innate immune system is capable of recognition and subsequent eradication of microbes and multicellular parasites through humoral and cellular defence mechanisms (reviewed in Lemaitre and Hoffmann, 2007). Humoral immunity is mediated by production of microbicidal peptides, enzymes, oxidative free radicals, and other compounds that are secreted directly into the insect haemolymph (blood). The humoral defence against microbial infection is genetically well understood in Drosophila melanogaster. Invading microbes are detected by recognition molecules performing surveillance, signal is transduced through two primary signalling pathways, and defence is effected in part by abundantly produced antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The two signalling pathways, termed the Toll and Imd pathways, are conserved between invertebrates and vertebrates. Cellular immunity is de3 ned by encapsulation or engulfment of infective agents by circulating haemocytes. It has been less well characterized at the genetic level, although some genes that mediate cellular recognition and trigger phagocytic engulfment of microbes have been identi3 ed. A distinct process, RNA silencing (RNA interference, RNAi), allows speci3 c detection and eradication of RNA viruses (Wang et al., 2006). It is expected that functional diversity within the immune response will translate into variation in the selective pressures on different components of the defence response. This chapter will examine the evolutionary genetics of immune defence, interpreting molecular evolutionary patterns in light of protein function to 13.
Study of 1/f noise in N-MOSFET's: Linear region

A modified McWhorter model has been developed to explain the mechanisms involved in the1/fnoise in n-channel metal-oxide, semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET's). Under the assumption of an energy distribution of traps in the bandgap, an expression for the power spectral density of1/fnoise was derived for MOSFET's operating in the linear region. Experimentally, noise measurements were performed on short-channel enhancement-mode MOSFET's with gate widths of 100 µm, and varying gate lengths of 2 to 10 µm. It was found that noise power increased with increasing drain voltage or decreasing gate bias. Quantitative analyses have been done to compare the experimental results with the model calculations.
Semi-supervised learning methods for large scale healthcare data analysis

With the development of information technology in healthcare industry, more and more data has been generated and stored electronically. To fully exploit the information and knowledge, data mining and machine learning methods have been developed and studied. We notice that a large body of healthcare data are lack of supervised information which requires expense human efforts in labelling or scoring them so as to be analysed in a data mining model. In this article, we address the problem of making use of unlabeled or un-scored data, together with only a few supervised data, to improve the performance of analysis model for healthcare decision making. This kind of paradise is called semi-supervised learning in machine learning literatures. We focus on semi-supervised kernel learning and propose to apply the learned kernel in two algorithms, i.e., support vector machine SVM and kernel regularised least squares KRLS. The evaluation results on two publicly available healthcare dataset illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
Influence of water uptake, gel network, and disintegration time on prednisone release from encapsulated solid dispersions

Prednisone is considered the glucocorticoid of choice for anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects. However, its very low aqueous solubility can compromise oral bioavailability. Changes in the dissolution of a prednisone-PEG 6000 solid dispersion into capsule were investigated by addition of pregelatinized starch. Physical state of prednisone:PEG 6000 was analyzed by X-ray diffractometry, and scanning electron microscopy. Capsule formulations containing prednisone-PEG 6000 and pregelatinized starch showed superior dissolution properties (> 95% in 60 min) when compared with reference capsules without disintegrant (< 45% in 60 min). Water uptake and disintegration time were directly correlated with pregelatinized starch amount. The morphology of prednisone-PEG 6000 particles with disintegrant was analyzed by SEM, showing a novel surface structure. Thus, solid dispersions of a poorly water soluble drug combined with a disintegrant were confirmed as a valid approach to the improvement of drug dissolution.
Basaloid carcinoma of the prostate gland: histogenesis and review of the literature

The clinicopathological features of a basaloid carcinoma of the prostate gland are described in a 28‐year‐old man, and the management and prognosis discussed. Basaloid tumours of the prostate are very rare and only a few cases have been described in detail. Those cases which have been reported as adenoid cystic carcinoma, adenoid cystic‐like carcinoma and adenoid basal cell tumour are reviewed.
A randomized clinical trial to compare the efficacy of three treatment regimens along with footcare in the morbidity management of filarial lymphoedema

The progression of lymphoedema to elephantiasis associated with increased incidence of episodic adeno‐lymphangitis (ADL) is of great concern, as it causes physical suffering, permanent disability and economic loss to lymphatic filariasis patients. This randomized clinical trial aimed to assess the efficacy in terms of reduction of oedema and ADL frequency of three treatment regimens among lymphoedema patients from Orissa, India. The regimens were: (I) oral penicillin – one tablet of 800 000 U penicillin G potassium twice daily for 12 days‐repeated every 3 months for 1 year; (II) diethylcarbamazine – 6 mg/kg bodyweight for 12 days‐repeated every 3 months for 1 year; and (III) topical antiseptic, i.e. betadine ointment. Foot care was part of all regimens. All three drug regimens are efficacious in reducing oedema and frequency of ADL episodes. Although the efficacy was slightly higher in regimen I, the difference was not significant. About half of all patients had reduced oedema after the 90 days of treatment, with oedema reduction of 75–100% in 20%. A major proportion of the remaining patients had oedema reduced by less than 25%. The proportion of people whose oedema reduced was slightly but not significantly lower in regimen II. anova revealed that lymphoedema reduction varied according to grade; being greatest at grade 1 lymphoedema, followed by grade 2. All three regimens significantly reduced ADL frequency after 1 year of treatment. This may be because of foot care as well as use of antibiotics. The estimated costs of treatment per patient for a period of 3 months are US$2.4, 1.5 and 4.0 respectively for regimen I, II and III. Thus affordable treatments with simple antibiotics and foot care can give substantial relief to the patients and reverse early lymphoedema.
A Complete Control Scheme for Variable Speed Stall Regulated Wind Turbines

Wind turbine generators comprise the most efficient renewable energy source. Nowadays, in order to meet the increasing demand for electrical power produced by the wind, wind turbines with gradually increasing power rating are preferred. The variable speed pitch regulated wind turbine is the most dominant wind turbine technology so far, since it achieves high aerodynamic efficiency for a wide range of wind speeds and at the same time good power control to meet the variable utility grid power requirements. In particular, the power control is performed by altering the pitch angle of the rotor blades and consequently the aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor, through closed loop control, in order to keep the power at the specified level. Although the above technology has been proved to be quite effective, limitations and challenges appear in the construction of Mega Watt scale wind turbines where larger rotor diameters are required. Specifically, as the rotor diameter increases, the challenges and the cost associated with the pitch mechanism increase too, since this mechanism now has to cope with very large and heavy rotor blades. In addition, due to the increasing height of the tower and the associated increase of the cost, lighter constructions are preferred, which are also more flexible and entail lightly damped tower vibration modes. These vibration modes can be easily excited by the action of the pitch controller (Bossanyi, 2003). Consequently, the stable operation of the whole system poses additional challenges on the design of effective pitch controllers and actuators, while at the same time the cost should be kept as low as possible. The variable speed stall regulated wind turbine comprises a technology that has several advantages over pitch regulated wind turbines and has been of particular interest in the literature (Biachi et al., 2007). In particular, this type of wind turbine uses a rotor of fixed blade angle and therefore has a simpler and more robust construction and can have lower requirements for maintenance than the existing pitch regulated wind turbines. Due to these features, these wind turbines can have reduced cost, which is a crucial parameter especially for large scale wind turbines. In addition, they can be more economically efficient for offshore applications, where the maintenance is a major consideration. However, this type of wind turbine is not yet commercially available due to existing challenges in its control. Specifically, a variable speed stall regulated wind turbine is not an unconditionally stable system and has a dynamic behaviour which depends on the operating conditions (Biachi et al., 2007). Due to this feature, the control and the consequent construction of variable speed
Evaluation of Novel Tests of Neuromuscular Function Based on Brief Muscle Actions

Abstract Bozic, PR, Celik, O, Uygur, M, Knight, CA, and Jaric, S. Evaluation of novel tests of neuromuscular function based on brief muscle actions. J Strength Cond Res 27(6): 1568–1578, 2013—Although widely used, the standard strength test (SST) is known to provide moderate correlations with functional measures, while being based on sustained maximum forces and a relatively large number of trials. The aim of this study was to compare the concurrent (with respect to SST) and external validity (with respect to the standard balance and maximum power output tests) of 2 alternate tests of neuromuscular function based on brief isometric actions. The first test provides a slope between the rates of torque development (RTD) and peak torques (T) measured from a number of consecutive rapid actions performed across a wide range of T levels (brief force pulses, BFP). The second test (alternating consecutive maximum contractions, ACMC) provides T and RTD from multiple cycles of rapid alternating maximum actions of 2 antagonistic muscle groups. The results obtained from 29 young and healthy subjects revealed moderate-to-high concurrent validity of ACMC (median r = 0.56, p < 0.05) and its similar, if not higher external validity than SST. Conversely, both the concurrent and external validity of BFP seemed to be relatively low (r = 0.23, p > 0.05). Because ACMC could also have advantage over SST by being based on somewhat lower and transitional muscle forces exerted and fewer trials are needed for testing 2 antagonistic muscles, the authors conclude that ACMC could be considered as either an alternative or complementary test to SST for testing the ability for rapid exertion of maximum forces. Conversely, BFP may offer a measure of the neuromuscular system “as a whole” that is complementary to SST by providing outcomes that are relatively independent of muscle size and function.
Derepression of DNA damage‐regulated genes requires yeast TAFIIs

The general transcription factor TFIID and its individual subunits (TAFIIs) have been the focus of many studies, yet their functions in vivo are not well established. Here we characterize the requirement of yeast TAFIIs for the derepression of the ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) genes. Promoter mapping studies revealed that the upstream repressing sequences, the damage‐responsive elements (DREs), rendered these genes dependent upon TAFIIs. DREs are the binding sites for the sequence‐specific DNA binding‐protein Crt1 that represses transcription by recruiting the Ssn6–Tup1 co‐repressor complex to the promoter. We demonstrate that deletion of SSN6, TUP1 or CRT1 alleviated the TAFII dependence of the RNR genes, indicating that TAFII dependence requires the co‐repressor complex. Furthermore, we provide evidence that Crt1 specifies the TAFII dependence of these genes. Our studies show that TFIID interacts with the repression domain of Crt1, suggesting that the derepression mechanism involves an antagonism between TFIID and the co‐repressor complex. Our results indicate that yeast TAFIIs have other functions in addition to core promoter selectivity, and describe a novel activity: the derepression of promoters.
Does Marriage Improve a Cohabiting Relationship ? *

Data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households are used to test whether marriage improves the relationship quality of cohabitors. Cohabitors who marry report higher levels of relationship happiness as well as lower levels of relationship instability, disagreements, and violent conflict resolution than those who remain cohabiting, net of time one relationship quality and sociodemographic controls. Relationship fairness and interaction are not significantly affected by marriage. On balance, marriage significantly enhances the quality of cohabiting unions.