Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proteoliposome-based full-length ZnT8 self-antigen for type 1 diabetes diagnosis on a plasmonic platform

Significance Autoantibody directed against the pancreatic zinc transport 8 (ZnT8) is used as a major biomarker for identifying and staging presymptomatic type 1 diabetes (T1D). Owing to difficulties in maintaining the tertiary structure outside a membrane environment, full-length ZnT8 has been somewhat limited for ZnT8A detection. In this work, we realized efficient ZnT8A detection using a proteoliposome-based full-length ZnT8 (PLR-ZnT8) self-antigen immobilized on a plasmonic gold platform (pGOLD). Proteoliposomes immobilized on pGOLD improved the proper folding and structural stability of full-length ZnT8 and thus enabled autoreactive sites accessible to ZnT8A, leading to the superior microarray-based assay performance of ZnT8A detection. This proteoliposome-based strategy opens up a new way to develop effective self-antigens to capture autoantibodies for disease diagnosis. Identified as a major biomarker for type 1 diabetes (T1D) diagnosis, zinc transporter 8 autoantibody (ZnT8A) has shown promise for staging disease risk and disease diagnosis. However, existing assays for ZnT8 autoantibody (ZnT8A) are limited to detection by soluble domains of ZnT8, owing to difficulties in maintaining proper folding of a full-length ZnT8 protein outside its native membrane environment. Through a combined bioengineering and nanotechnology approach, we have developed a proteoliposome-based full-length ZnT8 self-antigen (full-length ZnT8 proteoliposomes; PLR-ZnT8) for efficient detection of ZnT8A on a plasmonic gold chip (pGOLD). The protective lipid matrix of proteoliposomes improved the proper folding and structural stability of full-length ZnT8, helping PLR-ZnT8 immobilized on pGOLD (PLR-ZnT8/pGOLD) achieve high-affinity capture of ZnT8A from T1D sera. Our PLR-ZnT8/pGOLD exhibited efficient ZnT8A detection for T1D diagnosis with ∼76% sensitivity and ∼97% specificity (n = 307), superior to assays based on detergent-solubilized full-length ZnT8 and the C-terminal domain of ZnT8. Multiplexed assays using pGOLD were also developed for simultaneous detection of ZnT8A, islet antigen 2 autoantibody, and glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibody for diagnosing T1D.
Dimensions of Deprivation and Threat, Psychopathology, and Potential Mediators: A Multi-Year Longitudinal Analysis

Prior research demonstrates a link between exposure to childhood adversity and psychopathology later in development. However, work on mechanisms linking adversity to psychopathology fails to account for specificity in these pathways across different types of adversity. Here, we test a conceptual model that distinguishes deprivation and threat as distinct forms of childhood adversity with different pathways to psychopathology. Deprivation involves an absence of inputs from the environment, such as cognitive and social stimulation, that influence psychopathology by altering cognitive development, such as verbal abilities. Threat includes experiences involving harm or threat of harm that increase risk for psychopathology through disruptions in social-emotional processing. We test the prediction that deprivation, but not threat, increases risk for psychopathology through altered verbal abilities. Data were drawn from the Child Development Project (N = 585), which followed children for over a decade. We analyze data from assessment points at age 5, 6, 14, and 17 years. Mothers completed interviews at age 5 and 6 on exposure to threat and deprivation experiences. Youth verbal abilities were assessed at age 14. At age 17, mothers reported on child psychopathology. A path analysis model tested longitudinal paths to internalizing and externalizing problems from experiences of deprivation and threat. Consistent with predictions, deprivation was associated with risk for externalizing problems via effects on verbal abilities at age 14. Threat was associated longitudinally with both internalizing and externalizing problems, but these effects were not mediated by verbal abilities. Results suggest that unique developmental mechanisms link different forms of adversity with psychopathology.
Evaluation of the 24-Hour Recall as a Reference Instrument for Calibrating Other Self-Report Instruments in Nutritional Cohort Studies: Evidence From the Validation Studies Pooling Project

Calibrating dietary self-report instruments is recommended as a way to adjust for measurement error when estimating diet-disease associations. Because biomarkers available for calibration are limited, most investigators use self-reports (e.g., 24-hour recalls (24HRs)) as the reference instrument. We evaluated the performance of 24HRs as reference instruments for calibrating food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), using data from the Validation Studies Pooling Project, comprising 5 large validation studies using recovery biomarkers. Using 24HRs as reference instruments, we estimated attenuation factors, correlations with truth, and calibration equations for FFQ-reported intakes of energy and for protein, potassium, and sodium and their densities, and we compared them with values derived using biomarkers. Based on 24HRs, FFQ attenuation factors were substantially overestimated for energy and sodium intakes, less for protein and potassium, and minimally for nutrient densities. FFQ correlations with truth, based on 24HRs, were substantially overestimated for all dietary components. Calibration equations did not capture dependencies on body mass index. We also compared predicted bias in estimated relative risks adjusted using 24HRs as reference instruments with bias when making no adjustment. In disease models with energy and 1 or more nutrient intakes, predicted bias in estimated nutrient relative risks was reduced on average, but bias in the energy risk coefficient was unchanged.
BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 germline mutation analysis among Indian women from south India : identifi cation of four novel mutations and high-frequency occurrence of 185 delAG mutation

Genetic predisposition for familial early-onset breast cancer accounts for approximately 5–10% of all breast cancers and 7–10% of all ovarian cancers (Emery et al. 2001). Mutations in two autosomal dominant genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been linked to familial breast or breast and ovarian cancer (Hall et al. 1990; Miki et al. 1994; Wooster et al. 1995). Women who carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations have an estimated lifetime risk of between 60% and 85% for developing breast cancer, and a lifetime risk of between 26% and 54% for developing ovarian cancer for BRCA1, and between 10% and 23% for BRCA2 (Easton et al. 1993; Brose et al. 2002; Antoniou et al. 2003; King et al. 2003). Although their mechanism of action is not yet fully elucidated, it is assumed that these genes play a key role in important cellular pathways including response to DNA damage, transcription, and interaction with other proteins involved in DNA repair and apoptosis (Somasundaram 2003; Narod and Foulkes 2004). Genetic testing helps in identifying high-risk individuals in families with
Analysis of life quality and prevalence of cognitive impairment, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in older adults

Abstract The development of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and a decrease in cognitive performance can affect older adults’quality of life. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to analyze quality of life and determine the prevalence ofcognitive impairment, anxiety, and depression symptoms in senior center participants. A total of 120 older adults livingin the city of Passo Fundo , RS, Brazil, participated in this study. The convenience sampling technique was used. Allparticipants answered questions relative to socio-demographic variables, quality of life (World Health OrganizationQuality of Life-Bref), cognitive performance (Addenbrooke’ Cognitive Examination), and emotional state (GeriatricDepression Scale and Beck Anxiety Inventory). The prevalence of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and cognitive impairmentwere low indicating satisfactory quality of life of the older adults investigated. Keywords : Aging; Cognition; Depression; Life change events; Stress, psychological. Resumo
Nano-structured Chitosan Self-Aggregates as a Drug Delivery Carrier

Colloidal delivery systems including polymeric selfaggregates have been widely investigated to date, as these formulations may reduce unwanted side effects and may improve the therapeutic effects. Various characteristics of self-aggregates prepared from deoxycholic acid-modified chitosan were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopic and dynamic light scattering methods, and found to be controlled by the degree of substitution of hydrophobic groups, and pH and ionic strength of the medium. Chitosan self-aggregates can form complexes with plasmid DNA, and can be used to transfect COS-1 cells in vitro. Adriamycin can be also entrapped into chitosan selfaggregates and released in a sustained manner in vitro. These self-aggregates may find potential applications as a delivery vehicle of genes and anti-cancer drugs.
On Stability of the Chemotactic Dynamics in Bacterial-Foraging Optimization Algorithm

Bacterial-foraging optimization algorithm (BFOA) attempts to model the individual and group behavior of E.Coli bacteria as a distributed optimization process. Since its inception, BFOA has been finding many important applications in real-world optimization problems from diverse domains of science and engineering. One key step in BFOA is the computational chemotaxis, where a bacterium (which models a candidate solution of the optimization problem) takes steps over the foraging landscape in order to reach regions with high-nutrient content (corresponding to higher fitness). The simulated chemotactic movement of a bacterium may be viewed as a guided random walk or a kind of stochastic hill climbing from the viewpoint of optimization theory. In this paper, we first derive a mathematical model for the chemotactic movements of an artificial bacterium living in continuous time. The stability and convergence-behavior of the said dynamics is then analyzed in the light of Lyapunov stability theorems. The analysis indicates the necessary bounds on the chemotactic step-height parameter that avoids limit cycles and guarantees convergence of the bacterial dynamics into an isolated optimum. Illustrative examples as well as simulation results have been provided in order to support the analytical treatments.
Unraveling Motivational Profiles of Health Care Professionals for Continuing Education: The Example of Pharmacists in the Netherlands

Introduction: Continuing education (CE) can support health care professionals in maintaining and developing their knowledge and competencies. Although lack of motivation is one of the most important barriers of pharmacists' participation in CE, we know little about the quality or the quantity of motivation. We used the self-determination theory, which describes autonomous motivation (AM) as originating from within an individual and controlled motivation (CM) as originating from external factors, as a framework for this study. Our aim was to obtain insight into the quality and quantity of pharmacists' motivation for CE. Methods: The scores of 425 pharmacists on Academic Motivation Scale were subjected to K-means cluster analysis to generate motivational profiles. Results: We unraveled four motivational profiles: (1) good quality with high AM/low CM, (2) high quantity with high AM/high CM, (3) poor quality with low AM/high CM, and (4) low quantity with low AM/low CM. Female pharmacists, pharmacists working in a hospital pharmacy, pharmacists working for more than 10 years, and pharmacists not in training were highly represented in the good-quality profile. Pharmacists working in a community pharmacy, pharmacists working for less than 10 years, and pharmacists in training were highly represented in the high-quantity profile. Male pharmacists were more or less equally distributed over the four profiles. The highest percentage of pharmacy owners was shown in the low-quantity profile, and the highest percentage of the nonowners was shown in the good-quality profile. Discussion: Pharmacists exhibit different motivational profiles, which are associated with their background characteristics, such as gender, ownership of business, practice setting, and current training. Motivational profiles could be used to tailor CE courses for pharmacists.
Usage Mining in Online Community for Evaluating Staff Performance

Evaluating performances are perhaps the most obvious and most frequently cited issues in dealing with human capital in organizations. Recently, one of the ways to measure performance is through individual’s contribution on the Net. Activities captured by the web site, such as Online Community Portal, are useful information for measuring performance. In this case, data collected in the log file of a website server provide valuable information to web administrator and web designer. However, since the data accumulated were in large quantity, analyzing them create problem. Nevertheless, web mining can be utilized to minimize the problem, as it has been identified as one of the processes to analyze these types of data. The output from this process is identification of usage patterns of the user’s access. In this study, Association Rule Mining (ARM), a technique to mine data in log file is used. This technique allocates rules that satisfy user defined constraints on minimum support and confidence with respect to a given dataset. The result of the study shows that users in the faculty prefer to participate in the teaching and learning option as compared to other options. This result would simplify and assist appraiser and superior in the faculty to evaluate work performances of faculty members objectively and clearly. In addition, users of the website can actively participate and inform/share their work performances within the faculty.
HIFs-MiR-33a-Twsit1 axis can regulate invasiveness of hepatocellular cancer cells.

OBJECTIVE In this study, we investigated whether miR-33a downregulation in HCC is a result of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) overexpression. Then, we further studied the regulative effects of miR-33a on Twist1 and their regulation in HCC cell invasiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS Human hepatocellular cancer (HCC) cell lines (HepG2 and BEL-7402) were transfected with miR-33a mimics, HIFs siRNA or Twist1 siRNA. MiR-33a level was measured using QRT-PCR. The binding between miR-33a and Twist1 3'UTR was verified using Western blot analysis and dual luciferase assay. E-cadherin and N-cadherin expression levels were detected by western blot analysis. Tumor cell invasion was assessed using transwell assay. RESULTS MiR-33a downregulation in HCC cells is hypoxia-induced and is a result of HIFs upregulation. HIF-1α and HIF-2α suppression partly rescued miR-33a expression under hypoxia. Both HepG2 and BEL-7402 cells with miR-33a overexpression had significantly decreased E-cadherin expression and increased N-cadherin level. Transwell analysis confirmed that miR-33a overexpression significantly suppressed the tumor cell invasion capability. Twist1 is a direct target of miR-33a in HCC. HepG2 cells with Twist1 knockdown had significantly increased E-cadherin, decreased N-cadherin and suppressed invasion capability. CONCLUSIONS MiR-33a downregulation in HCC cells is hypoxia-induced and is a result of HIFs upregulation. MiR-33a can modulate EMT and invasion of hepatocellular cancer cells at least partly via downregulating Twist1.
On ranking relevant entities in heterogeneous networks using a language-based model

A new challenge, accessing multiple relevant entities, arises from the availability of linked heterogeneous data. In this article, we address more specifically the problem of accessing relevant entities, such as publications and authors within a bibliographic network, given an information need. We propose a novel algorithm, called BibRank, that estimates a joint relevance of documents and authors within a bibliographic network. This model ranks each type of entity using a score propagation algorithm with respect to the query topic and the structure of the underlying bi-type information entity network. Evidence sources, namely content-based and network-based scores, are both used to estimate the topical similarity between connected entities. For this purpose, authorship relationships are analyzed through a language model-based score on the one hand and on the other hand, non topically related entities of the same type are detected through marginal citations. The article reports the results of experiments using the Bibrank algorithm for an information retrieval task. The CiteSeerX bibliographic data set forms the basis for the topical query automatic generation and evaluation. We show that a statistically significant improvement over closely related ranking models is achieved.
A Decline in Creativity? It Depends on the Domain

Earlier studies using psychometric tests have documented declines in creativity over the past several decades. Our study investigated whether and how this apparent trend would replicate through a qualitative investigation using an authentic nontest measure of creativity. Three-hundred and fifty-four visual artworks and 50 creative writing works produced by adolescents between 1990–1995 and 2006–2011 were assessed. Products were analyzed using a structured assessment method based on technical criteria and content elements. Criteria included in the current investigation (e.g., genre, medium, stylistic approach) are relevant both to the specific media domains and to previously established dimensions of creativity, such as originality and complexity. Results showed strong domain differences: performance in visual arts increased on a variety of indices of complexity and technical proficiency, and performance in writing decreased on indices related to originality and technical proficiency. Findings highlight the value of analysing creativity across domains. The importance of considering cultural and technological changes in characterizing and understanding apparent trends in amount and types of creativity is discussed.
Combining sensory modalities and exploratory procedures to improve haptic object recognition in robotics

In this paper we tackle the problem of object recognition using haptic feedback from a robot holding and manipulating different objects. One of the main challenges in this setting is to understand the role of different sensory modalities (namely proprioception, object weight from F/T sensors and touch) and how to combine them to correctly discriminate different objects. We investigated these aspects by considering multiple sensory channels and different exploratory strategies to gather meaningful information regarding the object's physical properties. We propose a novel strategy to train a learning machine able to efficiently combine sensory modalities by first learning individual object features and then combine them in a single classifier. To evaluate our approach and compare it with previous methods we collected a dataset for haptic object recognition, comprising 11 objects that were held in the hands of the iCub robot while performing different exploration strategies. Results show that our strategy consistently outperforms previous approaches [17].
Genetic Engineering of Crypthecodinium cohnii to Increase Growth and Lipid Accumulation

In this study, we evaluated suitable selected markers and optimized transformation protocols to develop a new genetic transformation methodology for DHA-producing Crypthecodinium cohnii. Additionally, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), potentially involved in CO2 fixation under autotrophic conditions, was selected as the target for construction of a gene knockdown mutant. Our results show that the constructs were successfully inserted into the C. cohnii chromosome by homologous recombination. Comparative analysis showed that deletion of the RuBisCO gene promoted cell growth and increased the lipid content of C. cohnii under heterotrophic conditions compared with those of the wild-type. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based metabolomic analysis showed that the metabolites involved in energy metabolism were upregulated, suggesting that the deletion of the RuBisCO gene may contribute to the re-direction of more carbon or energy toward growth and lipid accumulation under heterotrophic conditions.
Differentiation of regulatory Foxp3+ T cells in the thymic cortex

Regulatory Foxp3+ T cells (TR) are indispensable for preventing autoimmune pathology in multiple organs and tissues. During thymic differentiation T cell receptor (TCR)–ligand interactions within a certain increased affinity range, in conjunction with γc-containing cytokine receptor signals, induce Foxp3 expression and thereby commit developing thymocytes to the TR lineage. The contribution of distinct MHC class II–expressing accessory cell types to the differentiation process of Foxp3+ thymocytes remains controversial, because a unique role in this process has been ascribed to either thymic dendritic cells (tDC) or to medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC). Furthermore, it was suggested that the thymic medulla, where the bulk of the negative selection of self-reactive thymocytes takes place, provides a specialized microenvironment supporting TR differentiation. Here, we report that the cortex, as defined by cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTEC), is sufficient for supporting TR differentiation. MHC class II expression restricted to both cTEC and mTEC or to cTEC alone did not significantly affect the numbers of Foxp3+ thymocytes. Furthermore, genetic or pharmacologic blockade of thymocyte migration resulted in a prominent accumulation of Foxp3+ thymocytes in the cortex, demonstrating that secondary signals required for Foxp3 up-regulation exist in the cortex. Our results suggest that mTEC or tDC do not serve as a cell type singularly responsible for TR differentiation and that neither the cortex nor the medulla exclusively provides an environment suitable for Foxp3 induction. Instead, multiple accessory cell types probably contribute to the thymic generation of regulatory Foxp3+ T cells.
A Wideband and Compact Circularly-Polarized Rectenna for Low Power Application

This paper presents a wideband and compact circularly polarized rectenna composed by an Archimedean spiral antenna that covers the S and C frequency bands and a silicon Schottky diode. This rectenna (rectifier + antenna) is used for electromagnetic energy harvesting over a wide frequency band, in order to power autonomous wireless sensors used for satellite health monitoring. For low incident power densities (around 14 µW/cm²) the measured efficiency of at least 19% between 2GHz and 3.5GHz can be achieved using this rectenna. The efficiency may reach 37% at some frequencies in this wideband operating bandwidth.
Transitive inference of social dominance by human infants.

It is surprising that there are inconsistent findings of transitive inference (TI) in young infants given that non-linguistic species succeed on TI tests. To conclusively test for TI in infants, we developed a task within the social domain, with which infants are known to show sophistication. We familiarized 10- to 13-month-olds (M = 11.53 months) to a video of two dominance interactions between three puppets (bear > elephant; hippo > bear) consistent with a dominance hierarchy (hippo > bear > elephant; where '>' denotes greater dominance). Infants then viewed interactions between the two puppets that had not interacted during familiarization. These interactions were either congruent (hippo > elephant) or incongruent (elephant > hippo) with the inferred hierarchy. Consistent with TI, infants looked longer to incongruent than congruent displays. Control conditions ruled out the possibility that infants' expectations were based on stable behaviors specific to individual puppets rather than their inferred transitive dominance relations. We suggest that TI may be supported by phylogenetically ancient mechanisms of ordinal representation and visuospatial processing that come online early in human development.