Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone morphogenetic protein 7 regulates reactive gliosis in retinal astrocytes and Müller glia

Purpose The focus of this study was to determine whether bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) trigger reactive gliosis in retinal astrocytes and/or Müller glial cells. Methods Retinal astrocytes and the Müller glial cell line MIO-M1 were treated with vehicle, BMP7, or BMP4. Samples from the treated cells were analyzed for changes in gliosis markers using reverse transcriptase – quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blotting. To determine potential similarities and differences in gliosis states, control and BMP-treated cells were compared to cells treated with sodium peroxynitrite (a strong oxidizing agent that will bring about some aspects of gliosis). Last, mature mice were microinjected intravitreally with BMP7 and analyzed for changes in gliosis markers using RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. Results Treatment of retinal astrocyte cells and Müller glial cells with BMP7 regulated various reactive gliosis markers. When compared to the response of cells treated with sodium peroxynitrite, the profiles of gliosis markers regulated due to exposure to BMP7 were similar. However, as expected, the profiles including the oxidative agent and growth factor were not identical. Treatment of cells with BMP4, however, showed an attenuated response in comparison to peroxynitrite and BMP7 treatment. Injection of BMP7 into the mouse retina also triggered a reactive gliosis response 7 days after injection. Conclusions BMP7 induced changes in levels of mRNA and protein markers typically associated with reactive gliosis in retinal astrocytes and Müller glial cells, including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), glutamine synthetase (GS), a subset of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and other molecules.
What's the story? The tale of reading fluency told at speed

Fluent readers process written text rapidly and accurately, and comprehend what they read. Historically, reading fluency has been modeled as the product of discrete skills such as single word decoding. More recent conceptualizations emphasize that fluent reading is the product of competency in, and the coordination of, multiple cognitive sub‐skills (a multi‐componential view). In this study, we examined how the pattern of activation in core reading regions changes as the ability to read fluently is manipulated through reading speed. We evaluated 13 right‐handed adults with a novel fMRI task assessing fluent sentence reading and lower‐order letter reading at each participant's normal fluent reading speed, as well as constrained (slowed) and accelerated reading speeds. Comparing fluent reading conditions with rest revealed regions including bilateral occipito‐fusiform, left middle temporal, and inferior frontal gyral clusters across reading speeds. The selectivity of these regions' responses to fluent sentence reading was shown by comparison with the letter reading task. Region of interest analyses showed that at constrained and accelerated speeds these regions responded significantly more to fluent sentence reading. Critically, as reading speed increased, activation increased in a single reading‐related region: occipital/fusiform cortex (left > right). These results demonstrate that while brain regions engaged in reading respond selectively during fluent reading, these regions respond differently as the ability to read fluently is manipulated. Implications for our understanding of reading fluency, reading development, and reading disorders are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Genomic Evolution of the Pathogenic Wolbachia Strain, wMelPop

Most strains of the widespread endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis are benign or behave as reproductive parasites. The pathogenic strain wMelPop is a striking exception, however: it overreplicates in its insect hosts and causes severe life shortening. The mechanism of this pathogenesis is currently unknown. We have sequenced the genomes of three variants of wMelPop and of the closely related nonpathogenic strain wMelCS. We show that the genomes of wMelCS and wMelPop appear to be identical in the nonrepeat regions of the genome and differ detectably only by the triplication of a 19-kb region that is unlikely to be associated with life shortening, demonstrating that dramatic differences in the host phenotype caused by this endosymbiont may be the result of only minor genetic changes. We also compare the genomes of the original wMelPop strain from Drosophila melanogaster and two sequential derivatives, wMelPop-CLA and wMelPop-PGYP. To develop wMelPop as a novel biocontrol agent, it was first transinfected into and passaged in mosquito cell lines for approximately 3.5 years, generating wMelPop-CLA. This cell line-passaged strain was then transinfected into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, creating wMelPop-PGYP, which was sequenced after 4 years in the insect host. We observe a rapid burst of genomic changes during cell line passaging, but no further mutations were detected after transinfection into mosquitoes, indicating either that host preadaptation had occurred in cell lines, that cell lines are a more selectively permissive environment than animal hosts, or both. Our results provide valuable data on the rates of genomic and phenotypic change in Wolbachia associated with host shifts over short time scales.
The Preschooler's Understanding of the Causes and Consequences of Emotion

RUSSELL, JAMES A. The Preschooler's Understanding o! f the Causes and Coirseyueirces of Emotion. CHILI) 1990, 61, 1872-1881. This article reports evidence on 2 issues: (a) the preDEVELOPI~ENT. schooler's understanding of the causes and consequences of basic emotions, and (h) the relative power of a word, such as happy, versus a facial expression, such as a smile, to evoke that knowledge. Preschoolers (N = 120, mean age = 4-11)completed stories about fear, anger, sadness, happiness, and surprise by telling either why the protagonist felt that way or what the protagonist did when feeling that way. Responses were scored both "sul>jectively" (rated as appropriate or not) and more "objectively" (frequency of a judge guessing the question asked). By both criteria, the children did well, distinguishing causes from consequences and between most of the emotions. Conh-ary to what is co~n~nonl~ assumed, children were no more accurate-and sometimes less accurate-when the emotion was specified by a prototypical facial expression than when specified by a word. The study reported in this article was than 7 have been portrayed as understanding aimed at gathering information on two ques- only those emotions associated with a charactions about children's knowledge of emotion: teristic facial or other nonverbal display (Har(a) how much preschoolers know about the ris, 1989, p. 82). And the power of faces precauses and consequences of basic emotions, sumably remains through adulthood, when and (b)the relative power of a word versus a communication of emotion is said to be more facial expression to evoke that knowledge. I powerful through nonverbal than through vershall begin with the second issue. bal channels (Mehrabian, 1972).
Relationships Between Social Self-Esteem , Media Influence and Drive for Thinness

Although media exposure is known to relate to drive for thinness and social self-esteem in women, less is known about how media affects drive for thinness and social self-esteem in men. The present study examined the relationships between drive for thinness, social selfesteem, and media influence among men and women. Two hundred ninety-four college students completed the Texas Social Behavior Inventory, the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale-3, a self-constructed questionnaire measuring the influence of media models, and the Drive for Thinness scale of the EDI-3. We expected to find an association between drive for thinness and media influence and between drive for thinness and social competence in both men and women. In addition, we expected that the use of media, social pressures and media internalization would relate to drive for thinness in both men and women. As expected, we found a relationship between media influence and drive for thinness, as well as a relationship between social competence and drive for thinness in both men and women. After controlling for the influence of social self-esteem, the influence of media models on body image related to drive for thinness in both men and women. In addition, societal pressures related to drive for thinness in women, but not men. Implications for college counselors will be discussed.
ADDHard: Arrhythmia Detection with Digital Hardware by Learning ECG Signal

Anomaly detection in Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals facilitates the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases i.e., arrhythmias. Existing methods, although fairly accurate, demand a large number of computational resources. Based on the pre-processing of ECG signal, we present a low-complex digital hardware implementation (ADDHard) for arrhythmia detection. ADDHard has the advantages of low-power consumption and a small foot print. ADDHard is suitable especially for resource constrained systems such as body wearable devices. Its implementation was tested with the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database and achieved an accuracy of 97.28% with a specificity of 98.25% on average.
Statistical significance of variables driving systematic variation in high-dimensional data

Motivation: There are a number of well-established methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) for automatically capturing systematic variation due to latent variables in large-scale genomic data. PCA and related methods may directly provide a quantitative characterization of a complex biological variable that is otherwise difficult to precisely define or model. An unsolved problem in this context is how to systematically identify the genomic variables that are drivers of systematic variation captured by PCA. Principal components (PCs) (and other estimates of systematic variation) are directly constructed from the genomic variables themselves, making measures of statistical significance artificially inflated when using conventional methods due to over-fitting. Results: We introduce a new approach called the jackstraw that allows one to accurately identify genomic variables that are statistically significantly associated with any subset or linear combination of PCs. The proposed method can greatly simplify complex significance testing problems encountered in genomics and can be used to identify the genomic variables significantly associated with latent variables. Using simulation, we demonstrate that our method attains accurate measures of statistical significance over a range of relevant scenarios. We consider yeast cell-cycle gene expression data, and show that the proposed method can be used to straightforwardly identify genes that are cell-cycle regulated with an accurate measure of statistical significance. We also analyze gene expression data from post-trauma patients, allowing the gene expression data to provide a molecularly driven phenotype. Using our method, we find a greater enrichment for inflammatory-related gene sets compared to the original analysis that uses a clinically defined, although likely imprecise, phenotype. The proposed method provides a useful bridge between large-scale quantifications of systematic variation and gene-level significance analyses. Availability and implementation: An R software package, called jackstraw, is available in CRAN. Contact: jstorey@princeton.edu
Enhancing pedestrian detection using optical flow for surveillance

Optical flow can be used to segment a moving object from its backgrounds and track it. In this paper, an Enhanced Lucas-Kanade optical flow technique was used to improve human detection in terms of speed and accuracy. We combined object segmentation output with a human detector using an optical flow algorithm. The proposed technique used the optical flow to find the area of interest to complete object segmentation and use those results as an input for the human detector. This technique has been developed to be used in surveillance systems. Our experiments indicated that the proposed method was 37% faster and 118% more accurate than the standard Felzenszwalb PFF detector.
On Vowels Perception of Sp e ct ra l Features , Related Aspects of Production and Sociophonetic Dilllensions

The first and major part of this thesis deals with spectral features of vowels and with the distinction of phonetic information from personal and transmittal information also conveyed to listeners by speech sounds. The results of perceptual experiments with synthetic vowels whose fundamental and first formant were varied in frequency suggested that the smaller tonotopical distances between formants « 6 Bark) are invariant in phonetically identical vowels. This was also confirmed by an analysis of formant frequency data of vowels produced by male and female speakers of several languages. It is further investigated how partials are resolved in the process of timbre perception. Previous experiments by other researchers suggest an effective bandwidth close to three Bark. In similar experiments, though using different stimuli, this result could not be replicated. A re-analysis of some other experimental results gave, among other details, effective bandwidths roughly propor­ tional to frequency in the range below 600 Hz. Due to contextual effects, the general validity of this result is in question. The non-uniform sex-differences in formant frequencies are shown mainly to be conse­ quences of an anatomical development in accord with the perceptual condition of invariant phonetic qualities. The second part of the thesis, Vocalism in Eastern Central Bavarian, represents a case study of the realization of sociophonetic dimensions in speech. In the chosen group of dialects some phonological rules lead to a richly shadowed vowel system. The application of these rules is investigated with respect to dialectal, sociolectaJ, speaker age, and speech tempo variation. © 1983 Hartmut Trannmuller ISBN 91-7146-324-0 minab/gotab, Stockholm, 1983
Cooperation and Punishment, Especially in Humans

Explaining altruistic cooperation is one of the greatest challenges faced by sociologists, economists, and evolutionary biologists. The problem is determining why an individual would carry out a costly behavior that benefits another. Possible solutions to this problem include kinship, repeated interactions, and policing. Another solution that has recently received much attention is the threat of punishment. However, punishing behavior is often costly for the punisher, and so it is not immediately clear how costly punishment could evolve. We use a direct (neighbor‐modulated) fitness approach to analyze when punishment is favored. This methodology reveals that, contrary to previous suggestions, relatedness between interacting individuals is not crucial to explaining cooperation through punishment. In fact, increasing relatedness directly disfavors punishing behavior. Instead, the crucial factor is a positive correlation between the punishment strategy of an individual and the cooperation it receives. This could arise in several ways, such as when facultative adjustment of behavior leads individuals to cooperate more when interacting with individuals who are more likely to punish. More generally, our results provide a clear example of how the fundamental factor driving the evolution of social traits is a correlation between social partners and how this can arise for reasons other than genealogical kinship.
Familiarity with a female does not affect a male's courtship intensity in garter snakes Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis

In many animal species, males direct more intense courtship towards females they have not previously encountered, than towards females with which they have previously mated. To test the factors responsible for this "Coolidge Effect", we need studies on a wide range of taxa - including those with mating systems in which we would not expect (based on current theory) that such an effect would be evident. The Coolidge Effect has been documented in several lizard species, but has not been looked for (and would not be expected) in snakes. We conducted experimental trials with red-sided garter snakes Thamnophis sirtalis pa- rietalis at a communal den in Manitoba, to see whether previous exposure to a female (either courting, or courting plus mating) modified male mate choice or courtship intensity. In keeping with prediction from theory (but contrary to an early anecdotal re- port), male garter snakes did not modify their courtship behaviour based upon their familiarity (or lack thereof) with a specific female. At least in large courting aggregations, male snakes may maximize their fitness by basing mate-choice upon immediate attributes of the female (body size, condition, mated status) and the intensity of competition (numbers and sizes of rival males) rather than information derived from previous sexual encounters (Current Zoology 58 (6): 805-811, 2012).
Alpha‐interferon and its effects on signal transduction pathways

Interferon‐α (IFNα) is a recombinant protein widely used in the therapy of several neoplasms such as myeloma, renal cell carcinoma, epidermoid cervical and head and neck tumors, and melanoma. IFNα, the first cytokine to be produced by recombinant DNA technology, has emerged as an important regulator of cancer cell growth and differentiation, affecting cellular communication and signal transduction pathways. However, the way by which tumor cell growth is directly suppressed by IFNα is not well known. Wide evidence exists on the possibility that cancer cells undergo apoptosis after the exposure to the cytokine. Here we will review the consolidate signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)‐dependent mechanism of action of IFNα. We will discuss data obtained by us and others on the triggering of the stress‐dependent kinase pathway induced by IFNα and its correlations with the apoptotic process. The regulation of the expression of proteins involved in apoptosis occurrence will be also described. In this regard, IFNα is emerging as a post‐translational controller of the intracellular levels of the apoptosis‐related protein tissue transglutaminase (tTG). This new way of regulation of tTG occurs through the modulation of their proteasome‐dependent degradation induced by the cytokine. Until today, inconsistent data have been obtained regarding the clinical effectiveness of IFNα in the therapy of solid tumors. In fact, the benefit of IFNα treatment is limited to some neoplasms while others are completely or partially resistant. The mechanisms of tumor resistance to IFNα have been studied in vitro. The alteration of JAK‐STAT components of the IFNα‐induced signaling, can be indeed a mechanism of resistance to IFN. However, we have recently described a reactive mechanism of protection of tumor cells from the apoptosis induced by IFNα dependent on the epidermal growth factor (EGF)‐mediated Ras/extracellular signal regulated kinase (Erk) signaling. The involvement of the Ras→Erk pathway in the protection of tumor cells from the apoptosis induced by IFNα is further demonstrated by both Ras inactivation by RASN17 transfection and mitogen extracellular signal regulated kinase 1 (Mek‐1) inhibition by exposure to PD098059. These data strongly suggest that the specific disruption of the latter could be a useful approach to potentiate the antitumour activity of IFNα against human tumors based on the new mechanistic insights achieved in the last years. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modeling of in-use stability for tablets and powders in bottles

Abstract A model is presented for determining the time when an active pharmaceutical ingredient in tablets/powders will remain within its specification limits during an in-use period; that is, when a heat-induction sealed bottle is opened for fixed time periods and where tablets are removed at fixed time points. This model combines the Accelerated Stability Assessment Program to determine the impact on degradation rates of relative humidity (RH) with calculations of the RH as a function of time for the dosage forms under in-use conditions. These calculations, in a conservative approach, assume that the air inside bottles with broached heat-induction seals completely exchanges with the external environment during periods when the bottle remains open. The solid dosages are assumed to sorb water at estimable rates during these openings. When bottles are capped, the moisture vapor transmission rate can be estimated to determine the changing RH inside the bottles between opening events. The impact of silica gel desiccants can also be included in the modeling.
Computer design of idealized β‐motifs

A lattice model of protein conformation and dynamics is used to explore the requirements for the de novo folding from an arbitrary random coil state of idealized models of four and six‐member β‐barrels. A number of possible conjectures for the factors giving rise to the structural uniqueness of globular proteins are examined. These include the relative role of generic hydrophilic/ hydrophobic amino acid patterns, the relative importance of the specific identity of the hydrophobic amino acids that form the core of the protein and the possible role played by polar groups in destabilizing alternative, misfolded conformations. These studies may also provide some insights into the relative importance of short range interactions, cooperative hydrogen bonding and tertiary interactions in determining the uniqueness of the native state, as well as the cooperativity of the folding process. Thus, these simulations may provide guidelines for the early stages of the protein design process. Possible applications to the.
Performance evaluation of nonchemically amplified negative tone photoresists for e-beam and EUV lithography

Abstract. Although extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is being considered as one of the most promising next-generation lithography techniques for patterning sub-20 nm features, the development of suitable EUV resists remains one of the main challenges confronting the semiconductor industry. The goal is to achieve sub-20 nm line patterns having low line edge roughness (LER) of <1.8 nm and a sensitivity of 5 to 20 mJ/cm2. The present work demonstrates the lithographic performance of two nonchemically amplified (n-CARs) negative photoresists, MAPDST homopolymer and MAPDST-MMA copolymer, prepared from suitable monomers containing the radiation sensitive sulfonium functionality. Investigations into the effect of several process parameters are reported. These include spinning conditions to obtain film thicknesses <50 nm, baking regimes, exposure conditions, and the resulting surface topographies. The effect of these protocols on sensitivity, contrast, and resolution has been assessed for the optimization of 20 nm features and the corresponding LER/line width roughness. These n-CARs have also been found to possess high etch resistance. The etch durability of MAPDST homopolymer and MAPDST-MMA copolymer (under SF6 plasma chemistry) with respect to the silicon substrate are 7.2∶1 and 8.3∶1, respectively. This methodical investigation will provide guidance in designing new resist materials with improved efficiency for EUVL through polymer microstructure engineering.