Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Antiviral Efficacy of Zanamivir and Amantadine Against Tunisian Isolate of Avian Influenza Virus ( H 9 N 2 )

New emerging avian influenza A viruses pose a continued threat, not only to avian species but also to the humans. Avian influenza viruses increasingly crossing species barriers possibly with increased zoonotic potential. Due to rapid spread of influenza viruses, zoo animals and birds are at great risk. There are many species in zoos that are part of worldwide programme to save endangered species. Vaccination may protect birds kept in zoo against avian influenza as preventive and eradication programme along with culling and biosecurity. However, to eradicate influenza infection from valuable bird species in zoos, novel strategies are needed, including antiviral treatments. Antiviral treatments of infected birds kept in zoos are appropriate to prevent death of those birds that are part of genetics pool. The present study evaluated the anti-influenza efficacy of the potent neuraminidase inhibitor zanamivir and ion channel blockers amantadine in avian species using chickens. Zanamivir showed high antiviral efficacy than amantadine in the chicken model. Sequence analysis revealed mutation in matrix (M2) gene of virus for reduction in antiviral efficacy of amantadine. Antiinfluenza drug administration combined with active surveillance and vaccination strategies could be useful for control of AIV in precious captive birds.
Expression of dipeptidyl aminopeptidase IV during enterocytic differentiation of human colon cancer (Caco‐2) cells

The human colon cancer cell line Caco‐2 spontaneously differentiates to an enterocyte‐like cell after confluence under standard culture conditions. This is characterized by polarization of the cell monolayer with the appearance of tight junctions, a brush border membrane and expression of brush‐border‐membrane‐associated hydrolases. Studies have shown that differentiated Caco‐2 cells express relatively high levels of dipeptidyl aminopeptidase IV (DPP IV) when compared with other enzymes. However, the biochemical mechanisms involved in the expression of DPP IV in differentiated cells are currently unknown. Therefore, the biosynthesis and expression of membrane‐associated DPP IV in undifferentiated (0 day confluent) and differentiated (14 day confluent) Caco‐2 cells were examined. Though levels of DPP IV activity in differentiated cells was 5‐ to 6‐fold higher than undifferentiated cells, there was only a 1.6‐fold difference in the synthetic rate. Post‐translational processing of newly synthesized DPP IV occurred at a slower rate in differentiated cells, though there were no major differences in the type or degree of glycosylation. A comparison of the degradation rates revealed that they were similar with a half‐life of approximately 8 to 10 days. We conclude that the high levels of DPP IV expressed in differentiated Caco‐2 cells is primarily due to an increase in enzyme synthesis. In addition, accumulation of the enzyme is aided by its slow turnover rate.
Le spectre bipolaire : acquisitions et perspectives cliniques

Bien que les donnees epidemiologiques evaluent a 1 % la prevalence sur la vie entiere des troubles bipolaires, les elements actuels indiquent que le spectre des troubles bipolaires peut toucher 3 a 6 % de la population generale. Cet article resume vingt annees de recherche menee par l'auteur et d'autres investigateurs ; recherche que confirme l'existence d'un spectre ou se situent, a une extremite, des troubles psychotiques severes et a l'autre extremite des perturbations d'ordre temperamental. L'extension du cadre des troubles bipolaires s'explique par les nouvelles donnees validant l'existence des etats bipolaires mixtes, des troubles bipolaires a cycle rapide et des troubles bipolaires « attenues ». Les troubles bipolaires de type I se caracterisent par un syndrome maniaque. Des tableaux psychotiques extremes apparaissent souvent lorsqu'un syndrome maniaque est associe a une depression, engendrant alors une « manie dysphorique ». Les troubles bipolaires attenues se rapportent aux episodes depressifs majeurs coexistant avec des etats hypomaniaques legers ; ces derniers peuvent apparaitre spontanement ou etre induits par des antidepresseurs. Le trouble bipolaire de type Il se caracterise souvent par un temperament cyclothymique intermorbide ou premorbide. Les troubles bipolaires de type III se rapportent aux etats depressifs majeurs non associes a des episodes hypomaniaques mais ayant toujours pour base une adaptation hyperthymique stable de l'humeur et/ou des antecedents familiaux de troubles bipolaires. Ces troubles bipolaires attenues sont particulierement sujets aux depressions a caractere cyclique rapide et aux etats depressifs mixtes. Un diagnostic precis est important chez ces patients car de nombreux traitements anticonvulsivants (ainsi que des programmes educatifs abordant leurs troubles rythmopathiques) doivent etre utilises lors de leur prise en charge.
Structural and Functional Analysis of Human HtrA3 Protease and Its Subdomains

Human HtrA3 protease, which induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis, can be a tumor suppressor and a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of cancer. However, there is little information about its structure and biochemical properties. HtrA3 is composed of an N-terminal domain not required for proteolytic activity, a central serine protease domain and a C-terminal PDZ domain. HtrA3S, its short natural isoform, lacks the PDZ domain which is substituted by a stretch of 7 C-terminal amino acid residues, unique for this isoform. This paper presents the crystal structure of the HtrA3 protease domain together with the PDZ domain (ΔN-HtrA3), showing that the protein forms a trimer whose protease domains are similar to those of human HtrA1 and HtrA2. The ΔN-HtrA3 PDZ domains are placed in a position intermediate between that in the flat saucer-like HtrA1 SAXS structure and the compact pyramidal HtrA2 X-ray structure. The PDZ domain interacts closely with the LB loop of the protease domain in a way not found in other human HtrAs. ΔN-HtrA3 with the PDZ removed (ΔN-HtrA3-ΔPDZ) and an N-terminally truncated HtrA3S (ΔN-HtrA3S) were fully active at a wide range of temperatures and their substrate affinity was not impaired. This indicates that the PDZ domain is dispensable for HtrA3 activity. As determined by size exclusion chromatography, ΔN-HtrA3 formed stable trimers while both ΔN-HtrA3-ΔPDZ and ΔN-HtrA3S were monomeric. This suggests that the presence of the PDZ domain, unlike in HtrA1 and HtrA2, influences HtrA3 trimer formation. The unique C-terminal sequence of ΔN-HtrA3S appeared to have little effect on activity and oligomerization. Additionally, we examined the cleavage specificity of ΔN-HtrA3. Results reported in this paper provide new insights into the structure and function of ΔN-HtrA3, which seems to have a unique combination of features among human HtrA proteases.
A benchmark study on feature selection for human activity recognition

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) currently confronts the challenge of interpreting massive data streams to a significantly smaller number of activities. Thus, feature selection should be treated as an inseparable aspect of the HAR chain. In this work we perform an integrated study on feature selection, considering: (a) the generation of an expanded HAR dataset; (b) the development of a software tool that covers the entire feature-level fusion chain; (c) the calculation of performance metrics that go beyond machine learning terms. The results yield guidelines on the preferable feature selection technique that should be considered for adoption in the HAR domain.
Boron/nitrogen flame retardant additives cross‐linked cellulose nanofibril/montmorillonite aerogels toward super‐low flammability and improved mechanical properties

Low-flammability freeze-dried cellulose nanofibril (CNF)/sodium montmorillonite (MMT) aerogels with improved mechanical properties were fabricated via a facile cross-linking of boric acid (BA) and melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resins. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that BA cross-linking reduced the interspacing of layered CNF/MMT aerogels whereas introduction of MF formed polymeric fibrils that connected the layers. These changes on microstructures resulted in the improvement on compressive mechanical properties of the cross-linked aerogels. Moreover, the boron (B)/nitrogen (N) containing flame retardant cross-linkers greatly increased the limiting oxygen index values that could reach 85% and leveled the UL-94 rating from no rating to V-0. Cone calorimetric results suggested that BA and MF induced a synergistic effect on the flame retardant properties of the CNF/MMT aerogels. However, the thermal conductivity was little affected because pore structure and size was not substantially modified. This simple approach fabricated highly flame-resistant and mechanically strong CNF-based aerogels that could be used in various engineering fields
DNase I Hypersensitivity Patterns of the Serglycin Proteoglycan Gene in Resting and Phorbol 12-Myristate 13-Acetate-stimulated Human Erythroleukemia (HEL), CHRF 288-11, and HL-60 Cells Compared with Neutrophils and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells*

We mapped the DNase I-hypersensitive sites (DHSS) of the serglycin gene in resting and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-stimulated human erythroleukemia (HEL) and CHRF 288-11 cells, which have megakaryocytic characteristics, and HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells. We compared these DHSS with those of normal primary neutrophils and human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Several DHSS appear to be involved in regulating the level of endogenous expression and in the PMA response of hematopoietic cell lines. A DHSS unique to resting HL-60 cells and induced in CHRF 288-11 by PMA may explain the high degree of endogenous expression in HL-60 relative to HEL and CHRF (Schick, B. P., Petrushina, I., Brodbeck, K. C., and Castronuevo, P. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 24726–24735). A total of 4 DHSS in intron 1 and 6 in intron 2 are associated with the PMA response in a cell-specific manner. A DHSS in the 5′-flanking region and another in intron 1 lie in areas that have high homology with the orthologous murine serglycin locus and are rich in potential transcription factor binding sites. One DHSS in intron 1 and one in intron 2 are located within Alu repeats. Two DHSS found in DNA of normal primary neutrophils were different from those of the cell lines. One DHSS in exon 2 unique to neutrophils correlated with a previously unrecognized alternative splicing that removes exon 2. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells had a DHSS in intron 1 that was common with the cell lines. The different patterns of DHSS exhibited by the cells studied suggest that cell- and differentiation-specific alterations in chromatin structure may control serglycin gene expression.
Exploiting low-dimensional structures to enhance DNN based acoustic modeling in speech recognition

We propose to model the acoustic space of deep neural network (DNN) class-conditional posterior probabilities as a union of low-dimensional subspaces. To that end, the training posteriors are used for dictionary learning and sparse coding. Sparse representation of the test posteriors using this dictionary enables projection to the space of training data. Relying on the fact that the intrinsic dimensions of the posterior subspaces are indeed very small and the matrix of all posteriors belonging to a class has a very low rank, we demonstrate how low-dimensional structures enable further enhancement of the posteriors and rectify the spurious errors due to mismatch conditions. The enhanced acoustic modeling method leads to improvements in continuous speech recognition task using hybrid DNN-HMM (hidden Markov model) framework in both clean and noisy conditions, where upto 15.4% relative reduction in word error rate (WER) is achieved.
Designing software for consumers to easily set up a secure home network

Home networking continues to expand into a collection of computers and networked devices that are becoming more complex to setup and manage. Research indicated that new techniques were needed to help people set up a secure home network. The techniques should satisfy the expectations of advanced users, without requiring technical knowledge on the part of novice users. A central design theme influenced the software solution: If a networking expert was advising a user on how to set up, configure, and secure a home network, what would this person tell the user to do? In this case study, insights about creating a new home networking program to solve the challenges are discussed. Results indicated animations, good default settings and a network map increased the user success rate for network setup.
Population structure of island‐associated dolphins: Evidence from photo‐identification of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the main Hawaiian Islands

Management agencies often use geopolitical boundaries as proxies for biological boundaries. In Hawaiian waters a single stock is recognized of common bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, a species that is found both in open water and near-shore among the main Hawaiian Islands. To assess population structure, we photo-identified 336 distinctive individuals from the main Hawaiian Islands, from 2000 to 2006. Their generally shallow-water distribution, and numerous within-year and between-year resightings within island areas suggest that individuals are resident to the islands, rather than part of an offshore population moving through the area. Comparisons of identifications obtained from Kaua‘i/Ni‘ihau, O‘ahu, the “4-island area,” and the island of Hawai‘i showed no evidence of movements among these island groups, although movements from Kaua‘i to Ni‘ihau and among the “4-islands” were documented. A Bayesian analysis examining the probability of missing movements among island groups, given our sample sizes for different areas, indicates that interisland movement rates are less than 1% per year with 95% probability. Our results suggest the existence of multiple demographically independent populations of island-associated common bottlenose dolphins around the main Hawaiian islands.
Meaningful Use of Information Technology: A Local Perspective

To reduce costs of care and improve quality, the federal government is stimulating adoption of health information technology through meaningful use policy. The legislation, however, is built on several assumptions that are unrealistic from a provider's perspective-the group that is expected to purchase, use, and sustain the information technology infrastructure. A viable meaningful use policy may do better to account for the realities of patient care by using a bottom-up approach for adoption rather than the current top-down strategy.
Hydrogen-Permeable Tubular Membrane Reactor: Promoting Conversion and Product Selectivity for Non-Oxidative Activation of Methane over an Fe©SiO2 Catalyst.

Non-oxidative methane conversion over Fe©SiO2 catalyst was studied for the first time in a hydrogen (H2 ) permeable tubular membrane reactor. The membrane reactor is composed of a mixed ionic-electronic SrCe0.7 Zr0.2 Eu0.1 O3-δ thin film (≈20 μm) supported on the outer surface of a one-end capped porous SrCe0.8 Zr0.2 O3-δ tube. Significant improvement in CH4 conversion was achieved upon H2 removal from the membrane reactor compared to that in a fixed-bed reactor. The Fe©SiO2 catalyst in the H2 permeable membrane reactor demonstrated a stable ≈30 % C2+ single-pass yield, with up to 30 % CH4 conversion and 99 % selectivity to C2 (ethylene and acetylene) and aromatic (benzene and naphthalene) products, at the tested conditions. The selectivity towards C2 or aromatics was manipulated purposely by adding H2 into or removing H2 from the membrane reactor feed and permeate gas streams.
A knowledge discovery system for detecting and visualizing knowledge evolution of a research field

The paper proposes a knowledge discovery system for detecting and visualizing knowledge evolution patterns of a research field. It is mainly focused on co-word technology and core-based algorithm of tracking knowledge evolution. Firstly, the paper defines six kinds of knowledge evolution patterns systematically. Moreover, the paper illustrates the complex architecture of the system which contains four levels, i.e., basic data layer, pre-process layer, visualization layer and analysis layer. The paper elaborates key technologies involved in the system construction, knowledge structure building, knowledge evolution pattern detection and visualization. Then, as an example, the knowledge evolution patterns of hybrid rice field across 17 years are analyzed using 22 core journals of related fields, which verify the feasibility of the system preliminarily.
The Ketogenic Diet Alters the Hypoxic Response and Affects Expression of Proteins Associated with Angiogenesis, Invasive Potential and Vascular Permeability in a Mouse Glioma Model

Background The successful treatment of malignant gliomas remains a challenge despite the current standard of care, which consists of surgery, radiation and temozolomide. Advances in the survival of brain cancer patients require the design of new therapeutic approaches that take advantage of common phenotypes such as the altered metabolism found in cancer cells. It has therefore been postulated that the high-fat, low-carbohydrate, adequate protein ketogenic diet (KD) may be useful in the treatment of brain tumors. We have demonstrated that the KD enhances survival and potentiates standard therapy in a mouse model of malignant glioma, yet the mechanisms are not fully understood. Methods To explore the effects of the KD on various aspects of tumor growth and progression, we used the immunocompetent, syngeneic GL261-Luc2 mouse model of malignant glioma. Results Tumors from animals maintained on KD showed reduced expression of the hypoxia marker carbonic anhydrase 9, hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha, and decreased activation of nuclear factor kappa B. Additionally, tumors from animals maintained on KD had reduced tumor microvasculature and decreased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, matrix metalloproteinase-2 and vimentin. Peritumoral edema was significantly reduced in animals fed the KD and protein analyses showed altered expression of zona occludens-1 and aquaporin-4. Conclusions The KD directly or indirectly alters the expression of several proteins involved in malignant progression and may be a useful tool for the treatment of gliomas.
Arguments about deletion: how experience improves the acceptability of arguments in ad-hoc online task groups

Increasingly, ad-hoc online task groups must make decisions about jointly created artifacts such as open source software and Wikipedia articles. Time-consuming and laborious attention to textual discussions is needed to make such decisions, for which computer support would be beneficial. Yet there has been little study of the argumentation patterns that distributed ad-hoc online task groups use in evaluation and decision-making. In a corpus of English Wikipedia deletion discussions, we investigate the argumentation schemes used, the role of the arguer's experience, and which arguments are acceptable to the audience. We report three main results: First, the most prevalent patterns are the Rules and Evidence schemes from Walton's catalog of argumentation schemes [33], which comprise 36% of arguments. Second, we find that familiarity with community norms correlates with the novices' ability to craft persuasive arguments. Third, acceptable arguments use community-appropriate rhetoric that demonstrate knowledge of policies and community values while problematic arguments are based on personal preference and inappropriate analogy to other cases.
Measuring public spending preferences using an interactive budgeting questionnaire

This paper considers an innovative approach to measuring public spending preferences using an interactive budgeting questionnaire. After being presented with the President’s requested budget for the upcoming fiscal year, survey respondents were asked to adjust spending levels in line with their personal preferences, subject to budgetary trade-offs. An analysis of survey results reveals that responses sharply contrast with those recovered by traditional survey measures. The results are then used to examine the relationship between fiscal preferences and self-reported ideology, and to explore the structure of budgetary preferences. It is found that preferences scale to two substantive dimensions: the first measures the trade-off between security and non-security spending and strongly correlates with self-reported ideology; and the second reveals a crosscutting cleavage that has attracted little, if any, attention in previous research. Specifically, it measures each respondent’s relative preference for rival and non-rival government goods and services.
Spatial Diversity and Eigenspectra

We analyse the spatial diversity of a multipath fading process for a general geometrical base of a dense antenna array in the plane and characterise it by the eigenvalue spectrum of the spatial autocorrelation kernel. We show how this diversity spectrum can be calculated for any spatial fading statistics represented by the power azimuth spectrum (PAS). Numerically calculated diversity spectra help to optimise the geometry of the antenna array. They demonstrate that the diversity gain of a onedimensional uniform linear array may be very small for a PAS with small angular spread. Circular arrays turn out to be more robust. For a channel coded system, diversity spectra give useful hints to design the time interleaving depth which is necessary to exploit the diversity gain of the code.
Mimicking Complexity - Automatic Generation of Models for the Development of Self-adaptive Systems

Many methods for complex systems control use a black box approach where the internal states and mechanisms of the controlled process are not needed to be known. Usually, such systems are tested on simulations before their validation on the real world process they were made for. These simulations are based on sharp analytical models of the target process that can be very difficult to obtain. But is it useful in the case of black box methods? Since the control system only sees inputs and outputs and is able to learn, we only need to mimic the typical features of the process (such as non-linearity, interdependencies, etc) in an abstract way. This paper aims to show how a simple and versatile simulator can help the design of systems that have to deal with complexity. We present a generator of models used in the simulator and discuss the results obtained in the case of the design of a control system for heat engines.