Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Is Required for the Trophic, But Not the Survival-Promoting, Actions of NGF on Sympathetic Neurons

Nerve growth factor (NGF) supports target-dependent survival of sympathetic and other neurons during development; however, the NGF-regulated signaling pathways required for survival are not fully understood. Sympathetic neurons are able to abort acutely the cell death pathway initiated by NGF deprivation at early, as well as late, time points after readdition of NGF. We found that NGF-dependent phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3-K) activity inhibited an early cell death event proximal to c-Jun phosphorylation. However, PI-3-K activity was not required for NGF to inhibit the translocation of Bax from the cytoplasm to the mitochondria, nor was it required for NGF to inhibit the subsequent release of mitochondrial cytochrome c,two events required for NGF deprivation-induced apoptosis. MEK/MAPK activity did not account for any of these NGF-dependent events. When subjected to long-term PI-3-K inhibition in the presence of NGF, the majority of sympathetic neurons did not die. Those that did die exhibited significant differences in the characteristics of death caused by PI-3-K inhibition as compared with NGF deprivation. Additionally, PI-3-K inhibition in the presence of NGF did not induce release of mitochondrial cytochrome c, indicating that these neurons were unable to complete the apoptotic program. In contrast to its modest effects on survival, inhibition of PI-3-K induced marked decreases in somal diameter and metabolic function, as measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphen-yltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction, suggesting that PI-3-K is required for the trophic effects of NGF. Therefore, although PI-3-K is important for the trophic effects of NGF, it is not required for survival. Other, or at least additional, signaling pathways contribute to NGF-mediated survival of sympathetic neurons.
International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems Impact of Erp Implementation at Malaysian Smes: Analysis of Five Dimensions Benefit

A wide range of researches have been carried out on ERP implementation to seek general evaluation of its benefits. The purpose of this paper is to outline the benefits of ERP implementation on Malaysian small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Two main categories are analysed, namely tangible plus intangible. This study would assist other SMEs in developing countries on ERP implementation. This study is restricted to small and medium-sized companies in Malaysia implementing ERP system. Data collection of this study is done based on combination of survey questionnaire and interviews with managers, chief information system (CIO), directors and also ERP experts conducted in January of 2012. The survey obtained 84 response samples out of 147 (57.14% response rate). " Better resource management " , " Improved decision making and planning " in Managerial benefits, " Support for business growth " in Strategic benefits have highest ranking in intangible category. Data gathering in this study carried various limitations of population. The classified results of investigation put in bright benefited Malaysian SMEs by analysing in five dimensions.
Mouse TEX14 Is Required for Embryonic Germ Cell Intercellular Bridges but Not Female Fertility1

Abstract A conserved feature of germ cell cytokinesis is the formation of stable intercellular bridges between daughter cells. These intercellular bridges are seen in diverse species from Drosophila melanogaster to Homo sapiens and have been shown to have roles in communication of large numbers of germ cells. In testis expressed gene 14 (Tex14) knockout mice, intercellular bridges do not form during spermatogenesis, and male mice are sterile, demonstrating an essential role for intercellular bridges in postnatal spermatogenesis in mammals. Intercellular bridges also form between dividing germ cells in both male and female embryos. However, little is known about the formation or role of the embryonic intercellular bridges in mammals. In females, embryonic intercellular bridges have been proposed to have a role in development of the presumptive oocyte. Herein, we show that TEX14 is an essential component of male and female embryonic intercellular bridges. In addition, we demonstrate that mitotic kinesin-like protein 1 (MKLP1, official symbol KIF23), which we have discovered is a component of intercellular bridges during spermatogenesis, is also a component of male and female embryonic intercellular bridges. Germ cell intercellular bridges are readily identified by KIF23 immunofluorescence between the gonocytes and oogonia of control mice but are absent between germ cells of Tex14-null mice. Furthermore, by electron microscopy, intercellular bridges are present in all control newborn ovaries but are absent in the Tex14 knockout ovaries. Despite the absence of embryonic intercellular bridges in the Tex14-null mice, male mice initiate spermatogenesis, and female mice are fertile. Although fewer oocytes were present in Tex14-null neonatal ovaries, folliculogenesis was still active at 1 yr of age. Thus, while TEX14 and intercellular bridges have an essential role in postnatal spermatogenesis, they are not required in the embryo.
Effect of swine lymphocyte antigen haplotypes on birth and weaning weights in pigs.

Birth weights of 708 live piglets and weaning weights of 566 piglets were used to investigate the effect of the swine lymphocyte antigen (SLA) complex on these traits in Large White pigs. Piglets were from litters of a long-term selection experiment to measure response for selection to increase litter size. SLA haplotypes were determined using conventional class I antisera. A total of 14 haplotypes were detected. The effect of SLA haplotype on birth and weaning weights was investigated using a statistical model that included the effects of experimental group, sire, dam, sex and SLA haplotype. Results indicated that SLA class I haplotype 13.1. 3 increased birth weights (P less than 0.10) and significantly increased weaning weights (P less than 0.01). This effect of haplotype 13.1. 3 on weaning weight was 605 +/- 215 g (0.3 standard deviations). SLA class I homozygosity did not appear to affect birth and weaning weights. These results suggest that the SLA complex plays an important role in early growth in the pig and that further study of SLA effects on growth and reproduction are warranted.
Population genetic structure of Siniperca chuatsi in the middle reach of the Yangtze River inferred from mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite loci

Abstract The Chinese mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) is currently one of the most important economic freshwater fish in China, whereas the wild resource has declined dramatically in recent years. In this study, we examined the genetic structure and diversity of five populations from the middle reach of the Yangtze River using mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences and microsatellite markers. This research revealed high genetic diversity and low genetic differentiation of S. chuatsi from these regions. The pairwise Fst values of the two markers showed low and no-significant differentiation among populations. AMOVA analysis of two markers and the haplotype genealogy of the Cytb gene confirmed these results. The STRUCTURE analysis of the microsatellite marker implied that the dam upon the tributary of the Yangtze River blocked the gene flow among those regions. This research will be useful in breeding programs and conservation management of this species.
THE EFFECTS OF CORE STABILIZATION TRAINING ON POSTURAL CONTROL IN SUBJECTS WITH CHRONIC ANKLE INSTABILITY

The aim of this study was to determine effects of core stabilization training in postural control of subjects with chronic ankle instability. Thirty three male students were enrolled. Samples of this study composed of subjects with (n=22) and without (n=11) chronic ankle instability groups and also from samples with instability 11 persons select as a control group. Core stabilization training was performed for eight weeks by study groups. Star excursion balance test (SEBT) used for evaluation of subjects postural control. For statistical analysis the Repeated Measure ANOVA and POSTHOC bonfferoni tests were used (P≤0.05). The results revealed that core stabilization training make increase in postural control in healthy and chronic ankle instability subjects. Because the important role of core stabilizer muscles in control of extremities distal parts, it’s proposed that for rehabilitation of ankle sprain we should implement preventive exercise for body total kinetic chain.
Influenza Virus A (H10N7) in Chickens and Poultry Abattoir Workers, Australia

In March 2010, an outbreak of low pathogenicity avian influenza A (H10N7) occurred on a chicken farm in Australia. After processing clinically normal birds from the farm, 7 abattoir workers reported conjunctivitis and minor upper respiratory tract symptoms. Influenza virus A subtype H10 infection was detected in 2 workers.
LANGUAGE, LEARNING, AND IDENTITY IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE CASE OF BUSUU

Recent progress in the discipline of computer applications such as the advent of webbased communication, afforded by the Web 2.0, has paved the way for novel applications in language learning, namely, social networking. Social networking has challenged the area of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) to expand its research palette in order to account for the way individuals engage in processes of learning and socialization, the way they interact, and the way they construct and perform their identities. With this in mind, it is necessary to examine the new material conditions, social arrangements, and the communicational landscape of Social Networking Sites (SNS). This study focuses on SNSs for language learning (SNSLL) and examines the particular case of Busuu. Drawing on theoretical tenets of sociocultural and ecological approaches combined with multimodal social semiotics, this research aims to analyze the views of language and learning that are enacted through the semiotic design of Busuu. It also purports to examine the types of identities wherein users are positioned through the compositional elements of this participatory online environment. The research design is informed by the principles of a qualitative case study and autoethnographic research. The data collected for this study consist of documentary information obtained from Busuu and the autoethnographic accounts of the researcher, who participated as a member of the Busuu community for 10 weeks. Results indicate that overall Busuu is an ecological system composed of sub-systems of nested views about language, learning, and users in which multiple timescales, spatiotemporal, and discursive resonances of various theories work in synergy. Thus, the semiotic spaces of Busuu combine structural, interactional and ecological views of language. Similarly, Busuu crystalizes views of learning that echo behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist theories. The website
Polygon Mesh Processing

Preface * Surface Representations Surface Definition and Properties Approximation Power Parametric Surface Representations Implicit Surface Representations Conversion Methods Summary and Further Reading * Mesh Data Structures Face-Based Data Structures Edge-Based Data Structures Halfedge-Based Data Structure Directed-Edge Data Structure Summary and Further Reading * Differential Geometry Curves Surfaces Discrete Differential Operators Summary and Further Reading * Smoothing Fourier Transform and Manifold Harmonics Diffusion Flow Fairing Summary and Further Reading * Parameterization General Goals Parameterization of a Triangulated Surface Barycentric Mapping Conformal Mapping Methods Based on Distortion Analysis Summary and Further Reading * Remeshing Local Structure Global Structure Correspondences Voronoi Diagrams and Delaunay Triangulations Triangle-Based Remeshing Quad-dominant Remeshing Summary and Further Reading * Simplification & Approximation Vertex Clustering Incremental Decimation Shape Approximation Out-of-Core Methods Summary and Further Reading * Model Repair Types of Artifacts: The "Freak Show" Types of Repair Algorithms Types of Input Surface-Oriented Algorithms Volumetric Repair Algorithms Summary and Further Reading * Deformation Transformation Propagation Shell-Based Deformation Multi-Scale Deformation Differential Coordinates Freeform Deformation Radial Basis Functions Limitations of Linear Methods Summary and Further Reading A. Numerics Discretizing Poisson and Laplace Equations Data Structures for Sparse Matrices Iterative Solvers Sparse Direct Cholesky Solver Non-Symmetric Indefinite Systems Comparison Bibliography Index
How I manage cold agglutinin disease

Primary chronic cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a clonal lymphoproliferative disorder accounting for 13–15% of autoimmune haemolytic anaemias. Significant advances have been made in treatment, which was largely unsuccessful until recently. The essential clinical, immunological and pathological features are reviewed, focusing on their relevance for therapy. Non‐pharmacological management still seems sufficient in some patients. With the recent improvements, however, drug therapy seems indicated more often than previously thought. Corticosteroids should not be used to treat CAD. Half of the patients respond to rituximab monotherapy; median response duration is 11 months. Fludarabine‐rituximab combination therapy is very effective, resulting in 75% response rate, complete remissions in about 20%, and more than 66 months estimated response duration. Toxicity is a concern, and benefits should be carefully weighed against risks. An individualized approach is discussed regarding the choice of fludarabine‐rituximab combination versus rituximab monotherapy. Patients requiring treatment should be considered for prospective trials.
Towards a dialog strategy for handling miscommunication in human-robot dialog

This paper presents a first theoretical framework for a dialog strategy handling miscommunication in natural language Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). On the one hand the dialog strategy is deduced from findings about human-human communication patterns and coping strategies for miscommunication. On the other hand, relevant cognitive theories concerning human perception serve as a conceptual basis for the dialog strategy. The novel approach is firstly to combine these communication patterns with coping strategies and cognitive theories from human-human interaction (HHI) and secondly transfer them to HRI as a general dialog strategy for handling miscommunication. The presented approach is applicable to any task-oriented dialog. In a first step the conversational context is confined to route descriptions, given that asking for directions is an restricted but nevertheless challenging example for task-oriented dialog between humans and a robot.
Ischemic Postconditioning Inhibits Apoptosis After Focal Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in the Rat

Background and Purpose— Ischemic postconditioning (Postcond) is defined as a series of intermittent interruptions of blood flow in the early phase of reperfusion that mechanically alters the hydrodynamics of reperfusion. A recent study showed that Postcond reduced infarct size in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, little is known about the mechanisms of Postcond in cerebral I/R injury. In the present study, we investigated the effects of Postcond in focal cerebral I/R injury in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model. Methods— Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with Postcond after 60 minutes of occlusion (beginning of reperfusion). Neurologic scores and infarct volumes were assessed at 24 and 72 hours. Oxidative stress was evaluated by malondialdehyde assay, and apoptosis-related molecules were studied by Western blotting. Results— Postcond treatment upregulated Bcl-2 and heat-shock protein 70 expression and downregulated cytochrome c release to the cytosol, Bax translocation to the mitochondria, and caspase-3 activity. Postcond treatment also reduced infarct volumes and oxidative stress levels and improved neurologic scores compared with the I/R-only group. Conclusions— These findings indicate that Postcond inhibits focal cerebral I/R injury. This neuroprotective effect is likely achieved by antiapoptotic mechanisms.
Robust Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode Task-Space Position Tracking Control of an Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System

This paper addresses a task-space trajectory control of an underwater vehicle-manipulator system (UVMS) employed for interactive underwater tasks. The robust task-space tracking control is achieved by designing a non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller (NFTSMC) with disturbance estimator and demonstrated on a planar underwater vehicle with serial two link manipulator arm attached to it. The proposed NFTSMC integrates a non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller (NFTSMC) with a non-linear disturbance observer. This combination not only assures finite and faster convergence of the systems states to the equilibrium from anywhere in the phase-plane but also overcomes the problem of singularity associated with conventional terminal sliding mode controller (TSMC). In addition to this, because of the disturbance observer augmented in the proposed control law, the overall stability of the closed-loop system is enhanced to a great extent. The feasibility of the proposed NFTSMC is confirmed by performing extensive numerical simulation on the UVMS for tracking a given pre-defined task space trajectory under the influence of parameter uncertainties, ocean current and measurement sensor noises.
Refining Personal and Social Presence in Virtual Meetings

Virtual worlds show promise for conducting meetings and conferences without the need for physical travel. Current experience suggests the major limitation to the more widespread adoption and acceptance of virtual conferences is the failure of existing environments to provide a sense of immersion and engagement, or of 'being there'. These limitations are largely related to the appearance and control of avatars, and to the absence of means to convey non-verbal cues of facial expression and body language. This paper reports on a study involving the use of a mass-market motion sensor (Kinect™) and the mapping of participant action in the real world to avatar behaviour in the virtual world. This is coupled with full-motion video representation of participant's faces on their avatars to resolve both identity and facial expression issues. The outcomes of a small-group trial meeting based on this technology show a very positive reaction from participants, and the potential for further exploration of these concepts.
Cell context‐dependent activities of parthenolide in primary and metastatic melanoma cells

Background and purpose: Growing evidence implicates NF‐κB as an important contributor to metastasis and increased chemoresistance of melanoma. Here, we report the effects of parthenolide on either untreated, cisplatin‐ or TNFα‐treated melanoma cell lines A375, 1205Lu and WM793, exhibiting different levels of constitutive NF‐κB activity.
Assessing Performance of Orthology Detection Strategies Applied to Eukaryotic Genomes

Orthology detection is critically important for accurate functional annotation, and has been widely used to facilitate studies on comparative and evolutionary genomics. Although various methods are now available, there has been no comprehensive analysis of performance, due to the lack of a genomic-scale ‘gold standard’ orthology dataset. Even in the absence of such datasets, the comparison of results from alternative methodologies contains useful information, as agreement enhances confidence and disagreement indicates possible errors. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is a statistical technique that can exploit this information to reasonably infer sensitivities and specificities, and is applied here to evaluate the performance of various orthology detection methods on a eukaryotic dataset. Overall, we observe a trade-off between sensitivity and specificity in orthology detection, with BLAST-based methods characterized by high sensitivity, and tree-based methods by high specificity. Two algorithms exhibit the best overall balance, with both sensitivity and specificity>80%: INPARANOID identifies orthologs across two species while OrthoMCL clusters orthologs from multiple species. Among methods that permit clustering of ortholog groups spanning multiple genomes, the (automated) OrthoMCL algorithm exhibits better within-group consistency with respect to protein function and domain architecture than the (manually curated) KOG database, and the homolog clustering algorithm TribeMCL as well. By way of using LCA, we are also able to comprehensively assess similarities and statistical dependence between various strategies, and evaluate the effects of parameter settings on performance. In summary, we present a comprehensive evaluation of orthology detection on a divergent set of eukaryotic genomes, thus providing insights and guides for method selection, tuning and development for different applications. Many biological questions have been addressed by multiple tests yielding binary (yes/no) outcomes but no clear definition of truth, making LCA an attractive approach for computational biology.
Pathogen Recognition Receptors: Ligands and Signaling Pathways by Toll-Like Receptors

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play critical roles in host defense against microbes. In the past decade, growing numbers of in vitro, in vivo and in silico studies have been performed and revealed the physiological significance and structural basis of their ligands and signal transduction, which involves various extracellular, membrane-bound, cytoplasmic and nuclear signaling molecules for the activation of TLR signaling. However, negative regulation of TLR-mediated responses is also essential for the prevention of autoimmunity and is mediated by a number of molecules. In this review, we will introduce recent advances in the understanding of TLR biology in terms of their ligands and signaling pathways.
What factors determine placental glucose transfer kinetics ? q

Introduction: Transfer of glucose across the human placenta is directly proportional to maternal glucose concentrations even when these are well above the physiological range. This study investigates the relationship between maternal and fetal glucose concentrations and transfer across the placenta. Methods: Transfer of D-glucose, 3H-3-o-methyl-D-glucose (3H-3MG) and 14C-L-glucose across the isolated perfused human placental cotyledon was determined for maternal and fetal arterial D-glucose concentrations between 0 and 20 mmol/l. Results: Clearance of 3H-3MG or 14C-L-glucose was not affected by maternal or fetal D-glucose concentrations in either circulation. Discussion: Based on the arterial glucose concentrations and the reported KM for GLUT1, the transfer of D-glucose and 3H-3MG would be expected to show signs of saturation as D-glucose concentrations increased but this did not occur. One explanation for this is that incomplete mixing of maternal blood and the rate of diffusion across unstirred layers may lower the effective concentration of glucose at the microvillous membrane and subsequently at the basal membrane. Uncertainties about the affinity of GLUT1 for glucose, both outside and inside the cell, may also contribute to the difference between the predicted and observed kinetics. Conclusion: These factors may therefore help explain why the observed and predicted kinetics differ and they emphasise the importance of understanding the function of transport proteins in their physiological context. The development of a computational model of glucose transfer may improve our understanding of how the determinants of placental glucose transfer interact and function as a system. 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.