Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutational analysis of the hepatitis C virus E1 glycoprotein in retroviral pseudoparticles and cell‐culture‐derived H77/JFH1 chimeric infectious virus particles

Summary. Cell entry by enveloped viruses is mediated by viral glycoproteins, and generally involves a short hydrophobic peptide (fusion peptide) that inserts into the cellular membrane. An internal hydrophobic domain within E1 (aa262–290) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) may function as a fusion peptide. Retrovirus‐based HCV‐pseudotyped viruses (HCVpp; genotype 1a) containing Ala or Pro substitutions at conserved amino acid positions within this putative fusion peptide were generated. Mutation of conserved residues significantly reduced efficiency of HCVpp entry into Huh‐7 cells. The majority of amino acid substitutions appeared to disrupt necessary interactions between E1 and E2. For some mutants, reductions in HCVpp‐associated E1 were associated with the incorporation of a high molecular weight, hyperglycosylated E2 that displayed decreased CD81‐binding. Other entry‐deficient mutants displayed normal E1E2 incorporation into pseudoparticles and normal CD81‐binding, and therefore might affect viral fusion. One mutant (S283P) consistently displayed two‐ to threefold higher infectivity than did wild‐type. Three mutations that decreased HCVpp infectivity also reduced levels of HCVcc infectious virus production. However, the S283P mutation had a different effect in the two systems as it did not increase production of infectious HCVcc. This comprehensive mutational analysis of the putative HCV fusion peptide provides insight into the role of E1 in its interaction with E2 and in HCV entry.
Horizontalgeneandchromosometransfer inplantpathogenic fungi a ¡ ecting host range

Horizontalgeneandchromosometransfer inplantpathogenic fungi a¡ecting host range Rahim Mehrabi, Ali H. Bahkali, Kamel A. Abd-Elsalam, Mohamed Moslem, Sarrah Ben M’Barek, Amir Mirzadi Gohari, Mansoor Karimi Jashni, Ioannis Stergiopoulos, Gert H.J. Kema & Pierre J.G. M. de Wit Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran; Botany and Microbiology Department, King Saud University, College of Science, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands
The Isolation, Differentiation, and Survival In Vivo of Multipotent Cells from the Postnatal Rat filum terminale

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are undifferentiated cells in the central nervous system (CNS) that are capable of self-renewal and can be induced to differentiate into neurons and glia. Current sources of mammalian NSCs are confined to regions of the CNS that are critical to normal function and surgically difficult to access, which limits their therapeutic potential in human disease. We have found that the filum terminale (FT), a previously unexplored, expendable, and easily accessible tissue at the caudal end of the spinal cord, is a source of multipotent cells in postnatal rats and humans. In this study, we used a rat model to isolate and characterize the potential of these cells. Neurospheres derived from the rat FT are amenable to in vitro expansion in the presence of a combination of growth factors. These proliferating, FT-derived cells formed neurospheres that could be induced to differentiate into neural progenitor cells, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes by exposure to serum and/or adhesive substrates. Through directed differentiation using sonic hedgehog and retinoic acid in combination with various neurotrophic factors, FT-derived neurospheres generated motor neurons that were capable of forming neuromuscular junctions in vitro. In addition, FT-derived progenitors that were injected into chick embryos survived and could differentiate into both neurons and glia in vivo.
A hardware-based approach for SEU monitoring in SRAMs with weak resistive defects

CMOS technology scaling has made the increase of transistor density in Systems-on-Chip (SoC) possible. In addition, the necessity of storing more and more information has resulted in the fact that Static Random Access Memories (SRAMs) have become great part of the SoC's silicon area. This miniaturization brings up several benefits, among them an increase of system performance. However, some undesirable behaviors, that did not exist or that were negligible, now became reality. Manufacturing process variation has introduced new types of defects, such as: (1) Resistive-Open defects and (2) Resistive-Bridge defects, which depending on their size can cause static or dynamic faults. Indeed, the circuit's sensibility to environmental noise is another challenge related to technology scaling. In more detail, the interference can damage the circuit behavior and cause Single Event Upsets (SEUs), affecting the circuit's reliability. Given these circumstances, this work proposes a hardware-based methodology able to detect resistive defects as well as to monitor defective cells in field aiming to detect SEUs. The fundamental idea is to use part of the hardware introduced to perform the manufacturing test to also detect bit-flips during the circuit's lifetime. Note that only SRAM cells with weak resistive defects are monitored, since the cells with strong defects that propagate static faults are isolated after manufacturing test. The proposed work has been validated and evaluated through SPICE simulations adopting an SRAM array modeled with a commercial 65nm CMOS technology library.
Chapter 11 Cyberbullying: It doesn't Stop After High School Graduation

On September 22, 2010, a young man stood in distress on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge not far from his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, looking 600ft below at the Hudson River. He was ready to act on the decision he had announced just minutes before on Facebook. His first semester at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, located 27 miles southwest of New York City, had brought an unexpected challenge: his roommate had streamed two live Internet videos of his intimate encounters with another man. These were very private moments, and it was simply too much to bear. Tyler Clementi jumped to his death, leaving behind broken-hearted friends and family members, and shocking an entire nation with his tragic story (Kolowich, 2010; Foderaro, 2010). Tyler probably had no idea how his death would shed light on a serious college issue – cyberbullying. In this chapter, the authors address this issue in detail. This is done first by providing a review of relevant literature that defines cyberbullying, explaining its presence in higher education, and describing various factors that should be considered when dealing with it. The literature review includes discussion regarding key electronic resources that college students use to cyber bully, as well as various legal and judicial issues that relate to this cultural phenomenon. Following the literature review, cyberbullying is examined through a research study at Ohio University, a large public institution located in southeastern Ohio. This is accomplished by setting forth research questions and hypotheses, describing the research instrument and design, and explaining the findings from an Ohio University undergraduate student survey. The chapter concludes with suggestions that practitioners might consider implementing on campus, as well as recommendations for future research on this topic.
Factors Associated With Retention Among Non-Perinatally HIV-Infected Youth in the HIV Research Network.

BACKGROUND The transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among youth through high-risk behaviors continues to increase. Retention in Care is associated with positive clinical outcomes and a decrease in HIV transmission risk behaviors. We evaluated the clinical and demographic characteristics of non-perinatally HIV (nPHIV)-infected youth associated with retention 1 year after initiating care and in the 2 years thereafter. We also assessed the impact retention in year 1 had on retention in years 2 and 3. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of treatment-naive nPHIV-infected 12- to 24-year-old youth presenting for care in 16 US HIV clinical sites within the HIV Research Network between 2002 and 2008. Multivariate logistic regression identified factors associated with retention. RESULTS Of 1160 nPHIV-infected youth, 44.6% were retained in care during the first year, and 22.4% were retained in all 3 years. Retention in the first year was associated with starting antiretroviral therapy in the first year (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 3.47 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.57-4.67]), Hispanic ethnicity (AOR, 1.66 [95% CI, 1.08-2.56]), men who have sex with men (AOR, 1.59 [95% CI, 1.07-2.36]), and receiving care at a pediatric site (AOR, 5.37 [95% CI, 3.20-9.01]). Retention in years 2 and 3 was associated with being retained 1 year after initiating care (AOR, 7.44 [95% CI, 5.11-10.83]). CONCLUSION A high proportion of newly enrolled nPHIV-infected youth were not retained for 1 year, and only 1 in 4 were retained for 3 years. Patients who were Hispanic, were men who have sex with men, or were seen at pediatric clinics were more likely to be retained in care. Interventions that target those at risk of being lost to follow up are essential for this high-risk population.
Parameters of processing and microbial changes during fermentation of borde, a traditional Ethiopian beverage

Samples of borde from open markets at five localities in southern Ethiopia showed average aerobic mesophilic count (AMC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast counts of 9.9, 10.1, and 8.1 log CFU g-1 respectively. Enterobacteriaceae (EB) were Keywords: traditional technology; cereal fermentation; LAB; beverage; borde; Ethiopia J Food Tech in Africa (2002) 7, 85-92
Dead or Alive: Can Viability Staining Predict Response to Tuberculosis Treatment?

Stephen D. Lawn and Mark P. Nicol Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom; Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Division of Medical Microbiology and Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, and National Health Laboratory Service, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Response to Ultrashort Stimuli

The specificity of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) is determined spatially by the vascular architecture and temporally by the evolution of hemodynamic changes. The stimulus duration has additional influence on the spatiotemporal evolution of the HRF, as brief stimuli elicit responses that engage only the local vasculature, whereas long stimuli lead to the involvement of remote vascular supply and drainage. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and cerebral blood volume (CBV) HRF to ultrashort forelimb stimulation in an anesthetized rodent model. The HRFs to a single 333-μs-long stimulus were robustly detected and consisted of a rapid response in both CBF and CBV, with an onset time (OT) of 350 ms and a full width at half-maximum of 1 s. In contrast, longer stimuli elicited a dispersive transit of oxygenated blood across the cortical microvasculature that significantly prolonged the evolution of the CBV HRF, but not the CBF. The CBF and CBV OTs suggest that vasoactive messengers are synthesized, released, and effective within 350 ms. However, the difference between the BOLD and CBV OT (∼100 ms) was significantly smaller than the arteriolar–venular transit time (∼500 ms), indicating an arterial contribution to the BOLD HRF. Finally, the rapid rate of growth of the active region with stimulus elongation suggests that functional hyperemia is an integrative process that involves the entire functional cortical depth. These findings offer a new view into the spatiotemporal dynamics of functional hemodynamic regulation in the brain.
High-Avidity and Potently Neutralizing Cross-Reactive Human Monoclonal Antibodies Derived from Secondary Dengue Virus Infection

ABSTRACT The envelope (E) protein of dengue virus (DENV) is the major target of neutralizing antibodies (Abs) and vaccine development. Previous studies of human dengue-immune sera reported that a significant proportion of anti-E Abs, known as group-reactive (GR) Abs, were cross-reactive to all four DENV serotypes and to one or more other flaviviruses. Based on studies of mouse anti-E monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), GR MAbs were nonneutralizing or weakly neutralizing compared with type-specific MAbs; a GR response was thus not regarded as important for vaccine strategy. We investigated the epitopes, binding avidities, and neutralization potencies of 32 human GR anti-E MAbs. In addition to fusion loop (FL) residues in E protein domain II, human GR MAbs recognized an epitope involving both FL and bc loop residues in domain II. The neutralization potencies and binding avidities of GR MAbs derived from secondary DENV infection were stronger than those derived from primary infection. GR MAbs derived from primary DENV infection primarily blocked attachment, whereas those derived from secondary infection blocked DENV postattachment. Analysis of the repertoire of anti-E MAbs derived from patients with primary DENV infection revealed that the majority were GR, low-avidity, and weakly neutralizing MAbs, whereas those from secondary infection were primarily GR, high-avidity, and potently neutralizing MAbs. Our findings suggest that the weakly neutralizing GR anti-E Abs generated from primary DENV infection become potently neutralizing MAbs against the four serotypes after secondary infection. The observation that the dengue immune status of the host affects the quality of the cross-reactive Abs generated has implications for new strategies for DENV vaccination.
Pixel-grain prediction and K-order UEG-rice entropy coding oriented lossless frame memory compression for motion estimation in HEVC

With the resolution of video sequences increasing, the memory bandwidth and space requirement has become one bottleneck of a video coding system. Most of previous frame memory compression works merely focused on reducing the averaged bandwidth demand. In this paper, a lossless frame memory compression algorithm for motion estimation in HEVC and the corresponding hardware architecture are described. The compression algorithm is composed of the 64×4 partition compression algorithm and the partition group table based storage scheme. Experimental results demonstrate that, on average, the proposed algorithm reduces 70.1% memory bandwidth and 41% memory space, while saving 59.0% dynamic energy. With TSMC 90nm CMOS logic technology, our algorithm were implemented in a parallel VLSI architecture of compressor and decompressor at the cost of 48.1K and 44.2K respectively in gate-count. The achieved peak throughput is 1.51Gpixel/s, which is sufficient to handle the SHV(8K)@30fps real-time encoding with the level-D reference data reuse scheme.
‘Pleasures’,'Pains’ and Animal Welfare: Toward a Natural History of Affect

In hedonic theories of motivation, ‘motivational affective states’ (MASs) are typically seen as adaptations which motivate certain types of behaviour, especially in situations where a flexible or learned response is more adaptive than a rigid or reflexive one. MASs can be negative (eg unpleasant feelings of hunger or pain) or positive (eg pleasant feelings associated with eating and playing). Hedonic theories often portray negative and positive MASs as opposite ends of a one-dimensional scale.We suggest that natural selection has favoured negative and positive affect as separate processes to solve two different types of motivational problems. We propose that negative MASs (eg thirst, fear) evolved in response to ‘need situations’ where the fitness benefit of an action has increased, often because the action is needed to cope with a threat to survival or reproductive success. We propose that these negative MASs develop in response to a change in the body (eg dehydration) or the environment (eg the approach of a predator) which creates the need for action, and that negative MASs can become intense and prolonged if the threat to fitness is high and persistent. We propose that positive MASs evolved in ‘opportunity situations ‘ where an action (eg playing, exploring) has become advantageous because the fitness cost of performing it has declined. We propose that these positive MASs occur during, or as a result of, the performance of types of behaviour which are beneficial for fitness at a variety of times, not only when they are required to meet immediate needs; and that the pleasure inherent in the behaviour motivates the animal to perform it when the cost of so doing is sufficiently low. Some behaviour (eg eating) can be motivated by both positive and negative affect. Other behaviour, such as playing or fleeing from a predator, may be motivated largely by positive or negative affect alone. Our hypothesis needs to be tested, but we suggest that it corresponds well to common human experience.The hypothesis provides a basis for predicting whether an aspect of animal management is likely to cause strong and prolonged negative affect (‘suffering’), or to prevent animals from experiencing certain types of pleasure. This distinction is important for bringing animal welfare assessment into line with ethical concerns.
How to Make a Gonad: Cellular Mechanisms Governing Formation of the Testes and Ovaries

Sex determination of the gonad is an extraordinary process by which a single organ anlage is directed to form one of two different structures, a testis or an ovary. Morphogenesis of these two organs utilizes many common cellular events; differences in the timing and execution of these events must combine to generate sexually dimorphic structures. In this chapter, we review recent research on the cellular processes of gonad morphogenesis, focusing on data from mouse models. We highlight the shared cellular mechanisms in testis and ovary morphogenesis and examine the differences that enable formation of the two organs responsible for the perpetuation of all sexually reproducing species.
Antisocial behavior, somatization, and sensation-seeking behavior in mothers of clinic-referred children.

OBJECTIVE The relationship between antisocial behavior and somatization was studied in a sample of mothers of clinic-referred, school-age children. The goal was to overcome some of the methodological limitations of past research in this area and to provide a preliminary test of the theory that these disorders share a common substrate: a tendency toward behavioral disinhibition. METHOD Structured diagnostic interviews and an objective personality measure were used to assess antisocial behavior and somatization in a sample of 90 biological mothers (mean age 34 years) of children referred to an outpatient mental health clinic. A rating scale measure of sensation-seeking behavior was used as a measure of behavioral disinhibition. Structured interviews were used to assess a history of antisocial behavior in the children and their biological fathers. RESULTS Results indicated a link between somatization and antisocial behavior both within individuals and across generations. This intergenerational link could not be solely accounted for by assortative mating between women with somatization and antisocial men. Both somatization and antisocial behavior were correlated with scores on the sensation seeking scale. CONCLUSIONS These findings are consistent with the theory that antisocial behavior and somatization are related syndromes and that behavioral disinhibition may be a common predisposition that underlies both.
Parasite Antigen-Specific Regulation of Th1, Th2, and Th17 Responses in Strongyloides stercoralis Infection

Chronic helminth infections are known to be associated with modulation of Ag-specific CD4+ T responses. However, the role of CD4+ T cell responses in human infection with Strongyloides stercoralis is not well defined. To examine the role of CD4+ T cells expressing Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines in strongyloidiasis, we compared the frequency (Fo) of these subsets in infected (INF) individuals with Fo in S. stercoralis–uninfected (UN) individuals. INF individuals exhibited a significant decrease in the spontaneous and Ag-specific Fo of both monofunctional and dual-functional Th1 cells compared with UN. Similarly, INF individuals also exhibited significantly decreased Fo of monofunctional and dual-functional Th17 cells upon Ag stimulation compared with UN. In contrast, both the spontaneous and the Ag-induced Fo of monofunctional and dual-functional Th2 cells was significantly increased in INF compared with UN individuals. This differential T cell response was predominantly Ag specific because it was abrogated upon control Ag or mitogen stimulation. The regulation of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells was predominantly dependent on IL-10, whereas the regulation of Th2, but not Th1 or Th17, cells was also dependent on TGF-β. In addition, treatment of S. stercoralis infection significantly increased the Ag-specific Fo of Th1 and Th17 cells and decreased the Fo of Th2 cells in INF individuals. Thus, S. stercoralis infection is characterized by a parasite Ag-dependent regulation of monofunctional and dual-functional Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, a regulation also reversible by antihelminthic treatment.
Acute Corneal Toxicity of Combined Antiglaucoma Topical Eyedrops

ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate the corneal toxicity of three combined antiglaucoma topical eyedrops using transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Methods: Corneal TER changes after a 60-s exposure to latanoprost/timolol with 0.02% benzalkonium chloride (BAC), travoprost/timolol with polyquaternium-1, and dorzolamide/timolol with 0.005% BAC were measured in living rabbits. Corneal damage was also examined by SEM. Hank’s balanced salt solution (HBSS) was used as a control.Results: There was a significant decrease in the corneal TER after exposure of the cornea to latanoprost/timolol with 0.02% BAC. Travoprost/timolol with polyquaternium-1 and dorzolamide/timolol with 0.005% BAC did not produce any significant decrease in the corneal TER as compared to HBSS control eyes. SEM revealed that superficial cells of corneas treated with latanoprost/timolol with 0.02% BAC were damaged and exhibited degenerated microvilli. Conversely, the superficial cells of corneas exposed to travoprost/timolol with polyquaternium-1 or dorzolamide/timolol with 0.005% BAC appeared normal and had normal microvilli under SEM examinations.Conclusion: The corneal toxicity of latanoprost/timolol with 0.02% BAC is greater than that of travoprost/timolol with polyquaternium-1 and dorzolamide/timolol with 0.005% BAC. Latanoprost/timolol contains 0.02% BAC, which may be responsible for the corneal toxicity.