Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Farnesol signalling in Candida albicans – more than just communication

Abstract Candida albicans is a successful colonizer of the human host, which can, under certain circumstances cause a range of clinically diverse infections. Important virulence-associated traits of the fungus, such as the dimorphic switch and biofilm formation, are controlled by the quorum sensing molecule farnesol. Given the potential of farnesol as a novel antifungal drug, there has been increasing research into the mechanism underlying farnesol sensing and action in C. albicans. However, despite the identification of various factors involved in farnesol signalling, its exact mode of action remains largely unclear. This review provides an overview of the currently known aspects of farnesol production, sensing and action within C. albicans. We also illustrate the characteristic of C. albicans to simultaneously produce and tolerate high farnesol concentrations that are lethal to other microbes. Furthermore, we summarize new literature on the role of farnesol in the interaction of C. albicans with the human host and highlight its action as a potent immunomodulatory molecule.
An Improved Algorithm to Extract Surfaces from Complete Range Descriptions

Reverse-engineering a machined part to generate a CAD model requires range data to be collected and registered from many views then segmented into surface primitives. Most previous research on surface extraction has concentrated on extracting surfaces from only one view at a time and then registering them afterwards. This leads to alignment problems from combining partial surface fragments in order to produce complete models. We have avoided these problems by implementing a 3D segmentation algorithm to extract surfaces directly from fully registered range data clouds. This paper reports on improvements to the algorithm which have had the effect of reducing errors in the surface parameter estimation as well as increasing the overall robustness of the technique.
As good as it gets? Going online with a clinical information system.

This study analyzed nursing staff attitudes at three different time periods during and after implementation of a clinical information system (CIS). Nursing staff completed a 12-item questionnaire about their perceptions of a computer CIS after receiving training on the system, but before going "online. " Participants then completed surveys after 1 month of use and again after 6 months of use of the system. There was a positive relationship between participants' perceptions of the CIS and the self-rating of their adaptability level (P < 0.013), their rating of the technical level of their unit (P < 0.012), and the number of years of experience in their job (P < 0.048). There was no relationship between nurses' perceptions of the CIS and their age or between nurses' perceptions and their personal computer experience. Although attitudes became less positive at each time interval, the attitude differences from preimplementation to 1 month later were not statistically significant, whereas the difference from 1 month to 6 months was statistically significant.
[Effect of kuntai capsule on the number of retrieved oocytes, high-quality oocytes and embryos in in vitro fertilization of poor ovarian response patients].

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of Kuntai Capsule (KC) on the number of retrieved oocytes, the quality of high-quality oocytes and embryos in in vitro fertilization of poor ovarian response (POR) patients. METHODS Totally 70 POR patients preparing for in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) were randomly assigned to the observation group and the control group, 35 cases in each group. KC was administered to patients in the observation group in the preparation cycle (i.e., three menstrual cycles before IVF-ET) and during the superovulation process. Those in the control group took placebo during this period. Before and after medication the improvement of Shen yin deficiency syndrome (SYDS) was observed in the two groups. The basal follicle-stimulating hormone (bFSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), the ratio of FSH to LH, and antral follicle count (AFC) were observed. Besides, the E2 level of a single ovum on the day of HCG injection, the number of retrieved oocytes, the high-quality oocyte rate, and the high-quality embryos were observed. RESULTS Compared with the control group, the SYDS, decreased bFSH and LH levels, increased ACF numbers, the E2 level of a single ovum on the day of HCG injection, the number of retrieved oocytes, high-quality oocytes, and high-quality embryos were superior in the observation group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the decreased FSH/LH level (P > 0.05). E2 and AMH increased after medication of KC in the observation group, while they decreased after administration of placebos in the control group. There was statistical difference in the post-pre treatment difference of E2 and AMH between the two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION KC could increase the number of retrieved oocytes, and elevate the quality of occytes and embryos in the IVF-ET.
Critical appraisal of eculizumab for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome

The biology of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome has been shown to involve inability to limit activation of the alternative complement pathway, with subsequent damage to systemic endothelial beds and the vasculature, resulting in the prototypic findings of a thrombotic microangiopathy. Central to this process is the formation of the terminal membrane attack complex C5b-9. Recently, application of a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to C5, eculizumab, became available to treat patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, replacing plasma exchange or infusion as primary therapy. This review focuses on the evidence, based on published clinical trials, case series, and case reports, on the efficacy and safety of this approach.
Multisensor-based outdoor tour guide robot NTU-I

This paper presents our development of a new outdoor tour guide robot, named, NTU-I. It is constructed to provide autonomous guiding services on the campus of National Taiwan University. In order to fulfill reliability and safety of outdoor navigation, data acquired via several sensing technologies, such as differential global positioning system (DGPS), dead reckoning, and digital compass are fused by the way of the well known extended Kalman filtering (EKF) technique. Furthermore, a shortest path planning and an obstacle avoidance algorithm are also implemented. For the latter, we deploy twelve ultrasonic sensors around the body of NTU-I to detect the nearby object within three meters. Once the robot encounters an unexpected obstacle, the proposed hierarchical navigation strategy will drive the robot to avoid collision. Experiments of both outdoor tour guide motion and on-line obstacle avoidance demonstrate the superior design of our autonomous tour guide robot NTU-I as well as its effective and plausible control scheme.
Changes in the structure and function of northern Alaskan ecosystems when considering variable leaf‐out times across groupings of species in a dynamic vegetation model

The phenology of arctic ecosystems is driven primarily by abiotic forces, with temperature acting as the main determinant of growing season onset and leaf budburst in the spring. However, while the plant species in arctic ecosystems require differing amounts of accumulated heat for leaf‐out, dynamic vegetation models simulated over regional to global scales typically assume some average leaf‐out for all of the species within an ecosystem. Here, we make use of air temperature records and observations of spring leaf phenology collected across dominant groupings of species (dwarf birch shrubs, willow shrubs, other deciduous shrubs, grasses, sedges, and forbs) in arctic and boreal ecosystems in Alaska. We then parameterize a dynamic vegetation model based on these data for four types of tundra ecosystems (heath tundra, shrub tundra, wet sedge tundra, and tussock tundra), as well as ecotonal boreal white spruce forest, and perform model simulations for the years 1970–2100. Over the course of the model simulations, we found changes in ecosystem composition under this new phenology algorithm compared with simulations with the previous phenology algorithm. These changes were the result of the differential timing of leaf‐out, as well as the ability for the groupings of species to compete for nitrogen and light availability. Regionally, there were differences in the trends of the carbon pools and fluxes between the new phenology algorithm and the previous phenology algorithm, although these differences depended on the future climate scenario. These findings indicate the importance of leaf phenology data collection by species and across the various ecosystem types within the highly heterogeneous Arctic landscape, and that dynamic vegetation models should consider variation in leaf‐out by groupings of species within these ecosystems to make more accurate projections of future plant distributions and carbon cycling in Arctic regions.
Unexpected persistence on habitat islands: genetic signatures reveal dispersal of a eucalypt‐dependent marsupial through a hostile pine matrix

Several factors contribute to the extinction of populations in fragmented habitat but key ones include habitat loss and disruptions to connectivity. Aspects of the ecology of greater gliders (Petauroides volans), along with observations of their response to native forest clearance at a site in southeastern Australia, lead to the prediction in the 1960s that the species would not persist in the replacement exotic pine plantation. However, 35 years later, the species was observed in many remnant native vegetation patches retained within the plantation boundary, albeit at a lower occupancy rate than at matched continuous forest control sites. To determine the role of patch connectivity in persistence of P. volans in remnants, we employed 12 microsatellite markers to genotype individuals from 11 remnants, three contemporary nearby continuous native eucalypt forest sites and a sample collected during native vegetation clearance at the site in the 1960s. Patch samples retained substantially more genetic diversity than expected under an isolation model, suggesting that patches have experienced some immigration. Five putative patch immigrants — two from sampled sites 1‐ and 7‐km distant, and three from unresolved or unsampled localities — were identified via genetic parentage and population assignment analyses. Patch populations displayed varying levels of admixture in Bayesian genetic structure analyses, with the oldest and most geographically isolated ones showing the least admixture, suggesting they have experienced relatively little immigration. Evidence of at least some immigration into patches may explain why P. volans has persisted contrary to expectation in heavily fragmented habitat.
Bacterial Culture Preservation in Frozen and Dry-Film Methylcellulose

Forty-seven of 61 bacterial cultures, including strains of Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Erwinia, Agrobacterium, Corynebacterium, Serratia, Klebsiella, and Escherichia, remained viable after storage in frozen methylcellulose or in dried methylcellulose for up to 38 months. Pathogenicity remained intact for those strains tested. Bacteria were grown on a solid medium and then removed and placed in 1.0% methylcellulose (cellulose methyl ether) to make a final suspension of 108 colony-forming units (CFU) per ml. For storage in dried form, the bacteria-methylcellulose suspension was placed in a petri dish and dried in a forced-air incubator. After 24 h of storage at 25°C, viable populations of 105 CFU/mg (equivalent to 106 CFU/ml) were recovered. Populations of 102 to 104 CFU/mg were recovered after storage of up to 38 months. Similar results were obtained in frozen methylcellulose. Survival was greatly enhanced when the growth medium for the bacteria was potato dextrose peptone rather than nutrient agar, yeast dextrose calcium carbonate peptone, or King's medium B. Addition of 0.1 M MgSO4 to the methylcellulose suspension and to the resuspending liquid also increased survival and recovery from storage for some strains. Methylcellulose storage should be a simple, inexpensive, and reliable method of maintaining cultures for short or long periods of time.
The yeast Ura2 protein that catalyses the first two steps of pyrimidines biosynthesis accumulates not in the nucleus but in the cytoplasm, as shown by immunocytochemistry and Ura2‐green fluorescent protein mapping

The Ura2 multidomain protein catalyses the first two steps of pyrimidines biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It consists of a 240 kDa polypeptide which contains carbamyl phosphate synthetase and aspartate transcarbamylase domains. The Ura2 protein was believed to be nucleoplasmic, since one of the aspartate transcarbamylase reaction products, monophosphate, was reported to be precipitated by lead ions inside nuclei. However, this ultracytochemical approach was recently shown to give artifactual lead polyphosphate precipitates, and the use of cerium instead of lead failed to reveal this nucleoplasmic localization. Ura2 localization has therefore been undertaken by means of three alternative approaches based on the detection of the protein itself: (a) indirect immunofluorescence of yeast protoplasts; (b) immunogold labelling of ultrathin sections of embedded yeast cells (both approaches using affinity purified primary antibodies directed against the 240 kDa Ura2 polypeptide chain, or against a 22 residue peptide specific of the carbamyl phosphate synthetase domain); and (c) direct fluorescence of cells expressing an Ura2–green fluorescent protein hybrid. All three approaches localize the bulk of Ura2 to the cytoplasm, whereas the signals associated with the nucleus, mitochondria or vacuoles are close to or at the background level. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cuidar de familiar com doença crônica incapacitante: implicações na rede de apoio social

Objetivo: conhecer as alteracoes na rede de apoio socia l dos cuidadores de familiar com doenca cronica incapacitante . Metodos: p esquisa qualitativa do tipo exploratoria e descritiva realizada no periodo de marco a maio de 2009, no sul do Brasil , com cuidadores familiares , escolhidos por sorteio . Para a coleta de dados, foi utilizada entrevista semiestruturada e observacao , sendo os dados trabalhados conforme analise de conteudo, modalidade tematica. Resultados: a s alteracoes na rede de apoio foram observadas na familia, entre os vizinhos e amigos, no sistema de crencas, e no relacionamento com os profissionais de saude. Q uando os cuidadores mantinham uma boa rede de apoio antes do inicio do cuidado houve menores modificacoes negativas. Consideracoes Finais: c onhecer as possiveis alteracoes nas redes de apoio possibilita programar o cuidado de maneira diferenciada para cada familia .
Proteome Analysis—A Novel Approach to Understand the Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is associated with a specific destruction of the insulin-producing beta-cells in the islets of Langerhans. Several factors, e.g. genetic, environmental and immunologial, may be involved in the etiology and pathogenesis of T1DM. Autoreactive Tand B-lymphocytes, together with macrophages infiltrate the islets during the pathogenesis, releasing a mixture of cytokines, demonstrated to be specifically toxic to the beta-cells within the islets. Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the beta-cell specific toxicity enabling us to design novel intervention strategies in T1DM. The proteome approach allows us to get a detailed picture of the beta-cell proteins, which change expression level or are post-translationally modified in different in vitro and in vivo models of T1DM-associated beta-cell destruction. Combining the information obtained from this extended proteome approach, with that of genetic-, transcriptome- and candidategene approaches, we believe that it is possible to reach this goal.
Gas bubble formation in the cytoplasm of a fermenting yeast

Abstract Current paradigms assume that gas bubbles cannot be formed within yeasts although these workhorses of the baking and brewing industries vigorously produce and release CO2 gas. We show that yeasts produce gas bubbles that fill a significant part of the cell. The missing link between intracellular CO2 production by glycolysis and eventual CO2 release from cells has therefore been resolved. Yeasts may serve as model to study CO2 behavior under pressurized conditions that may impact on fermentation biotechnology.
Reading Faces with Conditional Random Fields

The purpose of this work is to explore the use of Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) in the automatic recognition of the basic units of facial expression, described by the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) as Action Units (AU). Facial expression recognition is a complex problem aggravated by (1) variability between the subjects and (2) variability in the dynamics of expression. The discriminative nature of CRFs and their ability to capture temporal dependencies makes them well suited to tackle these two difficulties. In this work, CRFs are compared with SVMs, which are considered state of the art for expression recognition. To evaluate the contribution of each of the purported theoretical benefits of CRFs, performance is also compared with logistic regression (their static analogue), and HMMs (their generative pair). To recognize subtle expressions, a combination of shape and appearance features is used. Results are evaluated on a subset of the Ru-FACS database, a large video corpus of diverse subjects undergoing a variety of spontaneous expressions.
Path Planning for Multiple Agents under Uncertainty

Multi-agent systems in cluttered environments require path planning that not only prevents collisions with static obstacles, but also safely coordinates the motion of many agents. The challenge of multi-agent path finding becomes even more difficult when the agents experience uncertainty in their pose. In this work, we develop a multi-agent path planner that considers uncertainty, called uncertainty M* (UM*), which is based on a prior multi-agent path approach called M*. UM* plans a path through the belief space for each individual agent and then uses a strategy similar to M* that coordinates only agents that are “likely” to collide. This approach has the same scalability advantages as M*. We then introduce an extension called Permuted UM* (PUM*) that uses randomized restarts to enhance performance. We finish by presenting a belief space representation appropriate for multi-agent path planning with uncertainty and validate the performance of UM* and PUM* in simulation and mixed-reality experiments.
Passive und Aktive Sicherheitsmaßnahmen im Kraftfahrzeug

Die Verbesserung der Sicherheit in der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion ist ein wichtiger Anreiz fur Neuund Weiterentwicklungen im Automobilbereich. Unterschiedliche Werkzeuge zur Gestaltung der Risikominimierung umfassen passive und aktive Sicherheitsmasnahmen, deren angemessener und erfolgreicher Einsatz jedoch weitere Forschung und Konkretisierung voraussetzt. Im Workshop „Sicherheit im Fahrzeug“ der Fruhjahrsschule des Zentrums fur Mensch-Maschine-Systeme der Technischen Universitat Berlin wurden zwei aktuelle Promotionsprojekte vorgestellt, die sich unter dieser Fragestellung mit verschiedenen passiven und aktiven Sicherheitsmasnahmen beschaftigen.
Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Rescue Optic Nerve Fibers in a Rat Glaucoma Model.

PURPOSE To determine if transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) can reduce loss of optic nerve axons after raised intraocular pressure (IOP) in the rat. METHODS OECs cultured from the adult olfactory mucosa were transplanted into the region of the optic disc. The IOP was raised by injection of magnetic microspheres into the anterior chamber. RESULTS At 4 weeks after raising the IOP, the transplanted OECs had migrated into the dorsal area of the optic nerve head (ONH) where they surrounded the optic nerve fibers with a non-myelinated ensheathment. The mean amount of damage to the ONH astrocytic area in rats was 51.0% compared with 85.8% in those without OEC transplants (P < 0.02) and the mean loss of axons in the optic nerve was 51.0% compared with 80.3% in the absence of OECs (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS OECs transplanted into the region of the ONH of the rat can reduce the loss of axons and the damage to ONH astrocytes caused by raised IOP. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE Confirmation of these preliminary experimental data, further understanding of possible mechanisms of axonal protection by OECs, and the longer-term time course of protection could provide a basis for future human clinical trials of autografted OECs, which would be available from autologous nasal epithelial biopsies.
The Effects of Digitally Enhanced Photos on Product Evaluation and Young Girls' Self-Esteem

This research builds on Social Comparison Theory to predict that a computer-enhanced photo of a model will have an impact on product evaluation and young girls' self-esteem. The results of two experiments show that a computer-enhanced photo will increase the product purchase intention. Moreover, girls are willing to pay more for the product when they are exposed to a computer-enhanced photo than when they see a non-enhanced photo. However, the social drawbacks can be significant. For instance, girls exposed to a computer-enhanced photo declare lower self-esteem, lower social assurance, and a greater desire to change their physical appearance than girls exposed to the same non-enhanced photo. A text warning message explaining that the photo has been computer-enhanced does not change these effects (studies 1 and 2), while a graphic warning reduces the negative effects of a computer-enhanced photo (study 2). The implications for advertising and health regulators are discussed.
Doctrines and Developments: Separation of Powers, the Po itics-Adm iinistration Dichotomy, and the Rise of the Administrative State

During the last century, two of the most important ideas of American government have repeatedly crossed paths. The venerable notion of separation of powers, borrowed and amplified by the founders from some classic themes of Western political thought, has had to confront the rise of the administrative state in the United States in a period when the politicsadministration dichotomy in its various forms was employed to explain, justify, and advance fundamental changes in the nation's living constitution. This essay explores the interplay between the two, with the object of helping to clarify the place of administration in the nation's public life. Separation of powers, an idea crystallized at the time of Montesquieu and even before, is not, of course, the only important principle imbedded in the American constitutional framework; but it has certainly been one
Multipulse inverter structures with low voltage distortion

A novel approach to the voltage source inverters (VSI) construction is presented in the paper. The invented inverter structures allow to operate several DC/AC converters in parallel resulting in lower voltage distortions at extremely low switching frequency. The research presented in the paper describes such a parallel operation of the VSI's which is possible thanks to the use of coupled inductors. The eighteen-pulse three-level converter was validated by the simulation and the prototype tests and the results of the examination are presented in the paper.