Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
C7L Family of Poxvirus Host Range Genes Inhibits Antiviral Activities Induced by Type I Interferons and Interferon Regulatory Factor 1

ABSTRACT Vaccinia virus (VACV) K1L and C7L function equivalently in many mammalian cells to support VACV replication and antagonize antiviral activities induced by type I interferons (IFNs). While K1L is limited to orthopoxviruses, genes that are homologous to C7L are found in diverse mammalian poxviruses. In this study, we showed that the C7L homologues from sheeppox virus and swinepox virus could rescue the replication defect of a VACV mutant deleted of both K1L and C7L (vK1L−C7L−). Interestingly, the sheeppox virus C7L homologue could rescue the replication of vK1L−C7L− in human HeLa cells but not in murine 3T3 and LA-4 cells, in contrast to all other C7L homologues. Replacing amino acids 134 and 135 of the sheeppox virus C7L homologue, however, made it functional in the two murine cell lines, suggesting that these two residues are critical for antagonizing a putative host restriction factor which has some subtle sequence variation in human and murine cells. Furthermore, the C7L family of host range genes from diverse mammalian poxviruses were all capable of antagonizing type I IFN-induced antiviral activities against VACV. Screening of a library of more than 350 IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) identified interferon-regulated factor 1 (IRF1) as an inhibitor of vK1L−C7L− but not wild-type VACV. Expression of either K1L or C7L, however, rendered vK1L−C7L− resistant to IRF1-induced antiviral activities. Altogether, our data show that K1L and C7L antagonize IRF1-induced antiviral activities and that the host modulation function of C7L is evolutionally conserved in all poxviruses that can readily replicate in tissue-cultured mammalian cells.
Automatic glottal tracking from high-speed digital images using a continuous normalized cross correlation

The present work describes a new approach for the automatic tracking of the glottal area from high-speed digital images of the larynx. This approach involves three processes: Firstly, the frame with the maximal glottal opening is found automatically, by detecting the frame for which the sum of pixel intensities is minimum. Secondly, a segmentation algorithm based on active contours is used to detect the glottal space and build an initial template. Finally, using the normalized cross correlation the surface that represents the best matching between the initial template and the next frame is obtained. The surface area corresponds, at the same time, to the glottal space and to the new template. The process is repeated for each frame in order to obtain the new template and the new best cross correlation surface. This process is done iteratively until the last frame of the sequence has been reached. The performance, effectiveness and validation of the approach is demonstrated even in high-speed recordings in which the images present an inappropriate closure of the vocal folds.
Genes, chromosomes, cell division and inheritance - do students see any relationship?

With rapid developments in genetic screening there has been increasing concern about the poor level of understanding of inheritance within the general population. In 1989 a national curriculum was introduced in England and Wales for all students up to the age of 16. This study investigated the knowledge and understanding of genetics amongst 482 students nearing the end of compulsory education. Data were collected using written questions and small group discussions. Findings showed a poor understanding of the processes by which genetic information is transferred and a lack of basic knowledge about the structures involved (gene, chromosome, cell). Few 'alternative conceptions' were identified. Instead there appeared to be widespread uncertainty and confusion. The current approach to science education, as reflected in these findings, does not appear to provide an effective preparation for students - either for future training as scientists or for interactions with science in their personal life.
Co-expression and co-responses: within and beyond transcription

Whole genome sequencing, the relative ease of transcript profiling by the use of microarrays and latterly RNA sequencing approaches have facilitated the capture of vast amounts of transcript data. However, despite the enormous progress made in gene annotation a substantial proportion of genes remain to be annotated at the functional level. Considerable progress has, however, been made by searching for transcriptional coordination between genes of known function and non-annotated genes on the premise that such co-expressed genes tend to be functionally related. Here we review progress made following this approach as well as its expansion to include phenotypic information from other levels of cellular organization such as proteomic and metabolomic data as well as physiological and developmental phenotypes.
An extensible software router data-path for dynamic low-level service deployment

This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of an extensible software data path for a programmable router. The objective is to provide a configurable, dynamic and flexible software router architecture to enable service deployment at run time. The router forwarding plane uses the forwarding element (FE) model provided by the forwarding and control element separation (ForCES) architecture. The design relies on distributed software components to implement the modular router data path related to the FE model. The proposed architecture ensures dynamic reconfiguration of the data path topology needed for low-level service deployment. Results on achievable performance using the proposed extensible forwarding plane to achieve dynamic deployment of service components are reported
Document Image Binarization Based on Stroke Enhancement

This paper proposes a novel document image binarization approach based on stroke neighborhood enhancement. First, foreground pixels are initially labeled. Then, the strokes are enhanced based on their neighborhood information which include gradient information and foreground-background pixel distances of foreground pixels and their neighboring background pixels. At last, the enhanced image is finally binarized. This approach can provide good result for those document images suffering from lighting variance, low resolution and blurring
Gender differences in risk taking: A meta-analysis.

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 150 studies in which the risk-taking tendencies of male and female participants were compared. Studies were coded with respect to type of task (e.g., self-reported behaviors vs. observed behaviors), task content (e.g., smoking vs. sex), and 5 age levels. Results showed that the average effects for 14 out of 16 types of risk taking were significantly larger than 0 (indicating greater risk taking in male participants) and that nearly half of the effects were greater than . 20. However, certain topics (e.g., intellectual risk taking and physical skills) produced larger gender differences than others (e.g., smoking). In addition, the authors found that (a) there were significant shifts in the size of the gender gap between successive age levels, and (b) the gender gap seems to be growing smaller over time. The discussion focuses on the meaning of the results for theories of risk taking and the need for additional studies to clarify age trends.
N=4 Superconformal Chern-Simons Theories with Hyper and Twisted Hyper Multiplets

We extend the = 4 superconformal Chern-Simons theories of Gaiotto and Witten to those with additional twisted hyper-multiplets. The new theories are generically linear quiver gauge theories with the two types of hyper-multiplets alternating between gauge groups. Our construction includes the Bagger-Lambert model of SO(4) gauge group. A family of abelian theories are identified with those proposed earlier in the context of the M-crystal model for M2-branes probing (2/n)2 orbifolds. Possible extension with non-abelian BF couplings and string/M-theory realization are briefly discussed.
A reconfigurable chassis-mode MIMO antenna

Reconfigurable MIMO antennas have the potential to improve the performance of a MIMO antenna system operating in a changing environment. This paper presents a novel reconfigurable MIMO antenna that utilizes pattern diversity to provide increased adaptability via reconfiguring the radiation pattern. It is designed using the characteristic modes of the structure which are manipulated using two tunable parasitic elements. Simulation studies of this two-port antenna confirm that the radiation patterns are orthogonal to each other in each of the two states of the antenna, as well as between the two states, thus indicating its use as a potential reconfigurable MIMO antenna. Measured two-port S-parameters of a prototype employing switched PIN diode loading correspond well with simulations.
An Investigation of the Characteristics of Mothers and their Very Low Birth Weight Babies Referred to North Carolina's Infant Toddler Program

Objectives: This study compares the prevalence of high neonatal risk among very-low-birth-weight babies (VLBW) referred to North Carolina’s Infant/Toddler Program and those VLBW babies not referred to the program. The study also compares demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of mothers with VLBW babies referred and not referred to the program. Methods: The sample for this study was obtained from the North Carolina Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). The study design incorporates a case-control approach. High neonatal risk includes birth weight less than or equal to 800 grams, gestational age less than or equal to 28 weeks, and extended infant hospitalization after birth (75+ days). For the study period, July 1997 through December 1999, there were 616 VLBW PRAMS babies. The case group consisted of 200 of these infants whose birth certificate name and date of birth matched to the Infant/Toddler service records, leaving 416 infants in the control or non-Infant/Toddler group. Results: No significant demographic differences were found among mothers with VLBW babies in the Infant/Toddler and non-Infant/Toddler groups. The prevalence rates for extreme low birth weight, extreme preterm birth, and extended infant hospitalization after birth were all significantly higher in the Infant/Toddler group. Among the four low socioeconomic indicators, two were significantly elevated in the Infant/Toddler group: Medicaid payment for prenatal care and annual household income below $12,000. Conclusion: The study confirms that high neonatal risk is strongly associated with an infant being referred to North Carolina’s Infant/Toddler program. Monitoring program coverage rates for extremely low birth weight and extremely preterm babies over time will help assess program efforts to enhance coverage of this high risk population.
Applying a scalable CORBA event service to large-scale distributed interactive simulations

Next-generation distributed interactive simulations (DISs) will have stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements for throughput, latency and scalability, as well as requirements for a flexible communication infrastructure to reduce software lifecycle costs. The CORBA event service provides a flexible model for asynchronous communication among distributed and collocated objects. However, the standard CORBA event service specification lacks important features and QoS optimizations required by DIS systems. This paper makes five contributions to the design, implementation and performance measurement of DIS systems. First, it describes how the CORBA event service can be implemented to support key QoS features. Second, it illustrates how to extend the CORBA event service so that it is better suited for DISs. Third, it describes how to develop efficient event dispatching and scheduling mechanisms that can sustain high throughput. Fourth, it describes how to use multicast protocols to reduce network traffic transparently and to improve system scalability. Finally, it illustrates how an event service framework can be strategized to support configurations that facilitate high throughput, predictable bounded latency, or some combination of each.
Programming Pluripotent Precursor Cells Derived from Xenopus Embryos to Generate Specific Tissues and Organs

Xenopus embryos provide a rich source of pluripotent cells that can be differentiated into functional organs. Since the molecular principles of vertebrate organogenesis appear to be conserved between Xenopus and mammals, this system can provide useful guidelines for the directional manipulation of human embryonic stem cells. Pluripotent Xenopus cells can be easily isolated from the animal pole of blastula stage Xenopus embryos. These so called “animal cap” cells represent prospective ectodermal cells, but give rise to endodermal, mesodermal and neuro-ectodermal derivatives if treated with the appropriate factors. These factors include evolutionary conserved modulators of the key developmental signal transduction pathways that can be supplied either by mRNA microinjection or direct application of recombinant proteins. This relatively simple system has added to our understanding of pancreas, liver, kidney, eye and heart development. In particular, recent studies have used animal cap cells to generate ectopic eyes and hearts, setting the stage for future work aimed at programming pluripotent cells for regenerative medicine.
Do Negative Messages Work?

We examine the effectiveness of negative campaigning. Specifically, we focus on the question, Do negative campaign messages alter citizens’ evaluations of competing candidates? We rely on a research design that replicates the campaign environment for nearly 100 Senate elections involving thousands of voters. Furthermore, we utilize a theoretical framework that sheds light on how negative information influences people’s social judgments. In general, the results suggest that negative messages delivered in a legitimate fashion and focusing on a relevant topic depress evaluations of opponents. In contrast, negative messages containing irrelevant information delivered in an overly strident manner depress evaluations of both candidates involved in the campaign. In addition, the findings indicate that the impact of negative messages varies depending on (a) the status of the candidate delivering the message, (b) the characteristics of the citizens receiving the message, and (c) the style of the candidates’criticisms (e.g., policy vs. personal attacks).
Conformity as a Function of Race and Age

The conformity behavior of 16 black and 16 white male Ss, ages 7 and 11, was studied, using the “Asch technique” in same race and opposite race, 3-member confederate groups. Data showed that conformity was not a function of the race of Ss or the confederates. Age of Ss was a significant factor, conformity decreasing as age increased.
Trauma Surgeon Personality and Job Satisfaction: Results from a National Survey

Personality is correlated with job satisfaction, whereas job satisfaction is linked to performance. This study examines personality of practicing trauma surgeons in relation to their job satisfaction. The dominant theory in personality research is the five-factor model, which includes: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness. The sample was identified from American Association for Surgery of Trauma, Eastern Association for Surgery of Trauma, and Western Trauma Association membership. A web-based survey of demographics and empirically supported measures was created. Four hundred and twelve trauma surgeons (49 ± 14-years-old, 85% male) completed the survey. When comparing satisfied to unsatisfied trauma surgeons on personality variables, extraversion (5.0 ± 1.6 vs 4.4 ± 1.6, P = 0.014) and emotional stability (5.8 ± 1.1 vs 5.4 ± 1.2, P = 0.007) were significantly higher in satisfied surgeons. Moderate correlations were found for job satisfaction with emotional stability (r = 0.20, P < 0.01) and extraversion (r = 0.20, P < 0.01). Logistic regression of personality variables highlighted the significance of emotional stability and extraversion in prediction of job satisfaction. Extraversion and emotional stability are the most significant personality factors to job satisfaction of trauma surgeons. These findings may have important implications for surgical resident recruitment, job performance, and retention.
Design of double-negative ultrathin metamaterial absorber using array of electric field resonators

This article presents a design of Double-Negative (DNG) Ultrathin Metamaterial absorber, composed of Electric field resonators. The proposed structure is of four-fold symmetrical and exhibits 99.59% absorption at 12.4 GHz frequency with FWHM (Full width at half maximum) bandwidth of 480 MHz. Double negative nature of absorber is explained with the real part of permeability and permittivity plots. The metamaterial nature of the absorber has been explained by using dispersion graph.
A community of practice in action: SEDA as a learning community for educational developers in higher education

The Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) was formed in 1993 combining a number of predecessor organisations, including the Standing Conference for Educational Development and the Staff Development Group of the Society for Research in Higher Education. It was later joined by the membership of the Association of Educational Training Technology, SEDA Scotland and Flexible Learning in Higher Education. SEDA was set up to support members of the emergent profession of educational development, originally in the UK and subsequently internationally. In this article, the case is made that SEDA became a highly successful community of practice of individuals working in higher education institutions. It is proposed that features of communities of practice as proposed within the literature in the field can be evidenced in SEDA’s activities and in comments collected from SEDA members whose views were sought for this article.
The Ability of Children With Language Impairment to Recognize Emotion Conveyed by Facial Expression and Music

The emotion understanding of children with language impairment (LI) was examined in two studies employing emotion-recognition tasks selected to minimize reliance on language skills. Participants consisted of 43 children with LI and 43 typically developing, age-matched peers, sampled from the age ranges of 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 years. In the first study, participants were shown photographs of faces (Matsumoto & Ekman, 1988) and asked to indicate what emotion was being expressed. In the second study, participants listened to excerpts of classical music and indicated what emotion was being expressed. Children with LI identified the facial expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, and fear with the same accuracy as typical children. They were significantly less accurate than their peers at identifying surprise and disgust. Age differences were observed on anger and surprise, with the younger group performing more poorly than the older group. Children with LI also showed significant differences from typical children in identifying the emotion expressed in music excerpts. Significant differences between the performances of the younger and older groups were also found.
Examining the Internal Aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Leader Behavior and Employee CSR Participation

CSR research predominantly focuses on external pressure, strategic practices, and outcomes, and neglects investigation of CSR as a dynamic internal process relying on employee involvement in its development and implementation. This study examined how corporate leaders increase employee participation in CSR activities via behavior (performance and communication) by testing a structural equation model guided by social learning theory. By online surveying 462 employees of a multinational chemical company, three management behavioral attributes were found to directly and indirectly affect employee CSR participation: role-modeling (leading by example), advocacy, and facilitation. The findings also suggest the success of a simultaneous application of multiple leadership styles in generating employee participation. Implications are discussed to address criticisms of CSR.
Telomere Length, Current Perceived Stress, and Urinary Stress Hormones in Women

Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences that cap and protect the ends of chromosomes; critically short telomeres may lead to cellular senescence or carcinogenic transformation. Previous findings suggest a link between psychosocial stress, shorter telomeres, and chronic disease risk. This cross-sectional study examined relative telomere length in relation to perceived stress and urinary stress hormones in a sample of participants (n = 647) in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Sister Study, a cohort of women ages 35 to 74 years who have a sister with breast cancer. Average leukocyte telomere length was determined by quantitative PCR. Current stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale and creatinine-adjusted neuroendocrine hormones in first morning urines. Linear regression models estimated differences in telomere length base pairs (bp) associated with stress measures adjusted for age, race, smoking, and obesity. Women with higher perceived stress had somewhat shorter telomeres [adjusted difference of −129bp for being at or above moderate stress levels; 95% confidence interval (CI), −292 to 33], but telomere length did not decrease monotonically with higher stress levels. Shorter telomeres were independently associated with increasing age (−27bp/year), obesity, and current smoking. Significant stress-related differences in telomere length were seen in women ages 55 years and older (−289bp; 95% CI, −519 to −59), those with recent major losses (−420bp; 95% CI, −814 to −27), and those with above-average urinary catecholamines (e.g., epinephrine: −484bp; 95% CI, −709 to −259). Although current perceived stress was only modestly associated with shorter telomeres in this broad sample of women, our findings suggest the effect of stress on telomere length may vary depending on neuroendocrine responsiveness, external stressors, and age. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(2):551–60)
The Genetic Determinants of Renal Impairment Following Cardiac Surgery

Cardiac surgery is frequently performed, and acute renal dysfunction is a common adverse event following this procedure. Cardiac surgery-related renal injury independently predicts longer hospital stays and greater rates of morbidity and mortality. Although much work has been completed toward better understanding of this phenomenon, the state of knowledge concerning surgery-related renal injury remains limited. Currently, there is no effective paradigm to identify patients who are at risk for this condition; the specific mechanisms of renal injury during surgery are incompletely understood; and few therapies exist to prevent or treat this phenomenon. To better understand this common clinical problem, recent research has focused on the importance of genetic variability within the physiological and patho-physiological systems that underlie renal dysfunction following cardiac surgery. Emphasizing the importance of using genetics to elucidate molecular mechanisms of this disease, this article reviews the current literature on genetic polymorphisms and post cardiac surgery-related renal dysfunction.