Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synergistic inhibition of enterovirus 71 replication by interferon and rupintrivir.

BACKGROUND Enterovirus 71 (EV71) can cause severe diseases and even lead to death in children. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy to prevent or cure EV71 infection. Although interferon (IFN)-α has been used in the treatment of several viral infections, we found that IFN-α alone was ineffective in restricting EV71 replication in Vero cells. METHODS Through a bioinformatics analysis, several cellular proteins in the IFN response pathway were identified as susceptible substrates that might be degraded by the EV71-encoded 3C protease (3C(pro)). RESULTS Indeed, IRF9 was shown to be vulnerable to 3C(pro) cleavage, as revealed by enzyme-based and cell-based assays. Thus, the IFN-mediated antiviral mechanism compromised by the viral 3C(pro) in EV71-infected cells may be accountable, at least partially, for that IFN-α cannot inhibit EV71 replication. Because rupintrivir (AG7088) is known to be an effective EV71 inhibitor, we investigated the effects of the combination of rupintrivir and IFN-α on EV71 replication and found that they strongly synergized with each other in inhibiting EV71 replication. CONCLUSIONS Because rupintrivir was shown to be generally tolerable in earlier clinical investigations, it is worth evaluating whether a combination of rupintrivir and IFN-α could be an effective treatment for EV71.
Independent Effects of Invasive Shrubs and Deer Herbivory on Plant Community Dynamics

Both invasive species and deer herbivory are recognized as locally important drivers of plant community dynamics. However, few studies have examined whether their effects are synergistic, additive, or antagonistic. At three study areas in southern New England, we examined the interaction of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) herbivory and three levels of invasive shrub control over seven growing seasons on the dynamics of nine herbaceous and shrub guilds. Although evidence of synergistic interactions was minimal, the separate effects of invasive shrub control and deer herbivory on plant community composition and dynamics were profound. Plant communities remained relatively unchanged where invasive shrubs were not treated, regardless if deer herbivory was excluded or not. With increasing intensity of invasive shrub control, native shrubs and forbs became more dominant where deer herbivory was excluded, and native graminoids became progressively more dominant where deer herbivory remained severe. While deer exclusion and intensive invasive shrub control increased native shrubs and forbs, it also increased invasive vines. Restoring native plant communities in areas with both established invasive shrub thickets and severe deer browsing will require an integrated management plan to eliminate recalcitrant invasive shrubs, reduce deer browsing intensity, and quickly treat other opportunistic invasive species.
Dijkstra monads for free

Dijkstra monads enable a dependent type theory to be enhanced with support for specifying and verifying effectful code via weakest preconditions. Together with their closely related counterparts, Hoare monads, they provide the basis on which verification tools like F*, Hoare Type Theory (HTT), and Ynot are built. We show that Dijkstra monads can be derived "for free" by applying a continuation-passing style (CPS) translation to the standard monadic definitions of the underlying computational effects. Automatically deriving Dijkstra monads in this way provides a correct-by-construction and efficient way of reasoning about user-defined effects in dependent type theories. We demonstrate these ideas in EMF*, a new dependently typed calculus, validating it via both formal proof and a prototype implementation within F*. Besides equipping F* with a more uniform and extensible effect system, EMF* enables a novel mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic proofs within F*.
Teacher Inequality: New Evidence on Disparities in Teachers' Academic Skills.

When discussing the teacher quality gap, policy makers have tended to focus on teacher certification, degrees, and experience. These indicators have become key benchmarks for progress toward equality of educational opportunity, in part for lack of additional teacher quality indicators. This article turns attention to teachers' academic skills. National data on teachers' entrance examination scores and college selectivity reveal substantial disparities by school poverty level. The findings commend attention to the gap in academic skills in the formulation of future policy and research on the teacher quality gap.
Megakaryocytic programming by a transcriptional regulatory loop: A circle connecting RUNX1, GATA‐1, and P‐TEFb

Transcription factors originally identified as drivers of erythroid differentiation subsequently became linked to megakaryopoiesis, reflecting the shared parentage of red cells and platelets. The divergent development of megakaryocytic and erythroid progenitors relies on signaling pathways that impose lineage‐specific transcriptional programs on non‐lineage‐restricted protein complexes. One such signaling pathway involves RUNX1, a transcription factor upregulated in megakaryocytes and downregulated in erythroid cells. In this pathway, RUNX1 engages the erythro‐megakaryocytic master regulator GATA‐1 in a megakaryocytic transcriptional complex whose activity is highly dependent on the P‐TEFb kinase complex. The implications of this pathway for normal and pathological megakaryopoiesis are discussed. J. Cell. Biochem. 107: 377–382, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Data Processing Method Applying Principal Component Analysis and Spectral Angle Mapper for Imaging Spectroscopic Sensors

A data processing method to classify hyperspectral images from an imaging spectroscopic sensor is evaluated. Each image contains the whole diffuse reflectance spectra of the analyzed material for all the spatial positions along a specific line of vision. The implemented linear algorithm comes to solve real time constrains typical of industrial systems. This processing method is composed of two blocks: data compression is performed by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and the spectral interpretation algorithm for classification is the spectral angle mapper (SAM). This strategy, applying PCA and SAM, has been successfully tested for online raw material sorting in the tobacco industry, where the desired raw material (tobacco leaves) should be discriminated from other unwanted spurious materials, such as plastic, cardboard, leather, feathers, candy paper, etc. Hyperspectral images are recorded by a sensor consisting of a monochromatic camera and a passive prism-grating-prism device. Performance results are compared with a spectral interpretation algorithm based on artificial neural networks (ANN).
Functional Improvements and Musculoskeletal Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Spectroscopy Changes following Cell Therapy in a Case of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy

Limb girdle muscular dystrophy is a heterogeneous group of genetic disorders characterized by progressive muscle weakness caused by autosomal dominant or recessive gene mutations. Although no curative treatment is currently available, adult bone marrow stem cell transplantation maybe a promising therapeutic approach in view of their capacity to regenerate muscle fibers. Musculoskeletal magnetic resonance imaging is a useful noninvasive tool to track disease progression and to test the efficacy of a treatment. We report a twenty six year old female patient diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy and treated with intrathecal and intramuscular injections of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells followed by multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Repeat musculoskeletal magnetic resonance imaging 6 months post cell therapy, showed no further increase in fatty infiltration or loss of muscle volume in the musculature of bilateral upper and lower limbs. Objective improvements were seen on musculoskeletal resonance spectroscopy as less area under the curve in the flattened extramyocellular lipid peak with reduction in the intramyocellular (-CH2) lipid/creatine ratio in the tibialis anterior muscle in comparison to the pre-cell transplantation scan. Functional improvements were noted, along with strength improvements were noted in the bilateral hip abductors, adductors, left hip extensors, knee flexors, ankle dorsiflexors, plantar flexors, peronei, shoulder abductors and adductors, internal and external rotators, right wrist extensors, abdominals and back extensors on the modified Medical Research Council’s manual muscle testing scale with the improvements being maintained over the 9 month follow up duration. These functional improvements and positive musculoskeletal spectroscopic changes provide evidence of the disease modifying benefits of cell therapy in limb girdle muscular dystrophy. However, since these solitary results cannot be generalized to the limb girdle muscular dystrophy population, larger clinical controlled trials are needed.
Pulmonary Vascular Disease in Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage

Pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) was assessed by a qualitative and quantitative histopathologic analysis of lung specimens of 40 patients (age at autopsy 5 days to 12 years, median 3 months) with total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage. A PVD index was derived by counting the number of vessels with each Heath-Edwards grade of PVD (PVD index = [0 (N normal) +1 (N grade 1) +2 (N grade 2) …. +6 (N grade 6)1/number of vessels graded, where N = the number of patients) in randomly selected pulmonary resistance vessels 30–300 μ in diameter. Patients with pulmonary venous obstruction died earlier and had a higher PVD index as a group than patients with unobstructed venous drainage. A remarkable degree of advanced pulmonary vascular changes was found in the entire group, even young infants. Pulmonary vascular obstructive disease is an important factor in the pathophysiology of this lesion. Careful attention to the prevention and management of increased pulmonary vascular resistance in the postoperative period may improve survival.
Oral selamectin in the treatment of canine generalised demodicosis

The success rates and adverse effects of a selamectin spot-on preparation, given orally weekly or every other week, against canine generalised demodicosis were evaluated in 44 dogs, 39 with juvenile-onset demodicosis and five with adult-onset demodicosis. The dogs received selamectin at a dose of 24 to 48 mg/kg once a week, or the same dose every two weeks. Thirty-eight dogs completed the study, four dogs were lost to follow-up and two dogs died. Nine dogs went into remission: all had the juvenile-onset form of the disease. There was no difference between the two treatment groups, but dogs with clinical scores of 65 or less responded significantly better than those with a score of over 65 (P=0.0015). The most frequent adverse effects were vomiting and diarrhoea. Two dogs exhibited mild reversible neurological side effects, which resolved with cessation of treatment. Difficulties in oral administration were observed in several dogs.
An introduction to logical relations and parametric polymorphism (abstract)

The logical relations (or abstraction) theorem for the simply typed lambda calculus [1, 2] asserts that any function definable in the calculus maps “related” arguments into “related” results, where the meaning of “related” is arbitrary for type variables but induced in a fixed way for higher types. In addition to showing that the type system enforces abstraction, this theorem is a rich source of laws about definable functions of particular types [3]. For the polymorphic lambda calculus [4, 5, 6], the logical relations theorem suggests a plausible definition of Strachey’s concept of “parametricity” [7], i.e. that definable polymorphic functions treat types uniformly. This definition implies that certain low-order polymorphic types can be used as algebraic data types [8, 9, 2]. In this tutorial, we will try to explain the intuitions behind these ideas without becoming enmeshed in the mathematical complexities of defining the polymorphic lambda calculus rigorously. *This research was sponsored in part by National Science Foundation Grant CCR-8922109 and in part by the Avionics Lab, Wright Research and Development Center, Aeronautical Systems Division (AFSC), U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-6543 under Contract F33615-90-C-1465, Arpa Order No. 7597. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.
Generalized approach to resolution analysis in BSAR

Bistatic synthetic aperture radars (BSARs) have been the focus of increasing research activity over the last decade. The generalized ambiguity function (GAF) of bistatic SAR is introduced here. First, the GAF for BSAR is represented in the delay-Doppler domain, and is then expanded to the spatial (coordinates) domain. From the GAF, comprehensive knowledge regarding the resolution of BSAR can be extracted, including the range and azimuth resolutions, as well as the area of a resolution cell of BSAR. These general results are also applied to the performance analysis of several particular BSAR geometries, including the space-surface-BSAR (SS-BSAR) system, to demonstrate the potential ability of this newly introduced system.
A Wideband and Highly Symmetric Multi-Port Parallel Combining Transformer Technology

This paper presents a highly symmetric 1 : n concentric vortical transformer (CVT) technology, which can be implemented with slab inductors. The CVT and several widely used planar transformer structures are analyzed to show the characteristic distinction of the CVT. The proposed CVT was developed in an integrated passive device technology along with the popular distributed active transformer (DAT) for comparison. Under the same real-part impedance transformation ratio at 2.4 GHz, the outer diameter of the CVT is only 48% of the DAT. Moreover, 89.4% transformation efficiency and 191% - 1-dB fractional bandwidth are achieved by the CVT from a high coupling coefficient of 0.9. The symmetric nature of the CVT makes it capable of achieving far less variation than the DAT in resistance and reactance among multiple input ports when used for power combining.
Validity of rapid estimates of household wealth and income for health surveys in rural Africa

STUDY OBJECTIVE To test the validity of proxy measures of household wealth and income that can be readily implemented in health surveys in rural Africa. DESIGN Data are drawn from four different integrated household surveys. The assumptions underlying the choice of wealth proxy are described, and correlations with the true value are assessed in two different settings. The expenditure proxy is developed and then tested for replicability in two independent datasets representing the same population. SETTING Rural areas of Mali, Malawi, and Côte d'Ivoire (two national surveys). PARTICIPANTS Random sample of rural households in each setting (n=275, 707, 910, and 856, respectively). MAIN RESULTS In both Mali and Malawi, the wealth proxy correlated highly (r⩾0.74) with the more complex monetary value method. For rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire, it was possible to generate a list of just 10 expenditure items, the values of which when summed correlated highly with expenditures on all items combined (r=0.74, development dataset,r=0.72, validation dataset). Total household expenditure is an accepted alternative to household income in developing country settings. CONCLUSIONS It is feasible to approximate both household wealth and expenditures in rural African settings without dramatically lengthening questionnaires that have a primary focus on health outcomes.
Frequency Facilitation at Mossy Fiber–CA3 Synapses of Freely Behaving Rats Contributes to the Induction of Persistent LTD via an Adenosine-A1 Receptor-Regulated Mechanism

Frequency facilitation (FF), comprising a rapid and multiple-fold increase in the magnitude of evoked field potentials, is elicited by low-frequency stimulation (LFS) at mossy fiber–CA3 synapses. Here, we show that in freely behaving rats, FF reliably occurs in response to 1 and 2Hz but not in response to 0.25-, 0.3-, or 0.5-Hz LFS. Strikingly, prolonged (∼600 s) FF was tightly correlated to the induction of long-term depression (LTD) in freely moving animals. Although LFS at 2 Hz elicited unstable FF and unstable LTD, application of LFS at 1 Hz elicited pronounced FF, as well as robust LTD that persisted for over 24 h. This correlation of prolonged FF with LTD was absent at stimulation frequencies that did not induce FF. The adenosine-A1 receptor appears to participate in these effects: Application of adenosine-A1, but not adenosine-A3, receptor antagonists enhanced mossy fiber synaptic transmission and occluded FF. Furthermore, adenosine-A1 receptor antagonism resulted in more stable FF at 1 or 2 Hz and elicited more potent LTD. These data support the fact that FF contributes to the enablement of long-term information storage at mossy fiber–CA3 synapses and that the adenosine-A1 receptor may regulate the thresholds for this process.
Toward a Geometry of Common Sense: A Semantics and a Complete Axiomatization of Mereotopology

Mereological and topological notions of connection, part, interior and complement are central to spatial reasoning and to the semantics of natural language expressions concerning locations and relative positions. While several authors have proposed axioms for these notions, no one with the exception of Tarski [18], who based his axiomatization of mereological notions on a Euclidean metric, has attempted to give them a semantics. We offer an alternative to Tarski, starting with mereotopological notions that have proved useful in the semantic analysis of spatial expressions. We also give a complete axiomatization of this account of mereotopological reasoning.
Evaluation of analytic point target spectra for bistatic SAR

The 2-dimensional frequency domain formulation for Bistatic SAR image formation received intensive and continuous interests recently. Due to the double square roots in the range equation, additional efforts have to be taken in deriving its point target reference spectrum. Loffeld's bistatic formula and the spectrum based on the method of series reversion are both derived for general bistatic geometries, and a few focusing algorithms have been developed by basing on them. Most recently, LBF was modified to accommodate both the motion difference of bistatic platforms and high squinted geometries. We present the numeric comparison of these two methods using the simulated bistatic data. The focusing performance of point targets and their capability of accommodating range variance are examined in this paper.
A Privacy-Preserving Outsourced Functional Computation Framework Across Large-Scale Multiple Encrypted Domains

In this paper, we propose a framework for privacy-preserving outsourced functional computation across large-scale multiple encrypted domains, which we refer to as POFD. With POFD, a user can obtain the output of a function computed over encrypted data from multiple domains while protecting the privacy of the function itself, its input and its output. Specifically, we introduce two notions of POFD, the basic POFD and its enhanced version, in order to tradeoff the levels of privacy protection and performance. We present three protocols, named Multi-domain Secure Multiplication protocol (MSM), Secure Exponent Calculation protocol with private Base (SECB), and Secure Exponent Calculation protocol (SEC), as the core sub-protocols for POFD to securely compute the outsourced function. Detailed security analysis shows that the proposed POFD achieves the goal of calculating a user-defined function across different encrypted domains without privacy leakage to unauthorized parties. Our performance evaluations using simulations demonstrate the utility and the efficiency of POFD.
Next-generation sequencing identifies and immunohistochemistry confirms a novel crizotinib-sensitive ALK rearrangement in a patient with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.

The echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) gene fusion occurs in 2–7% of NSCLC cases[1,2] and is typically identified by Vysis ALK Break-Apart fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. Tumors expressing this fusion respond to treatment crizotinib[1].
Early Detection of Genital Chlamydial Infection in Women: An Economic Evaluation

A decision analysis model was constructed for comparison of early detection of asymptomatic genital chlamydial infection in women by the direct immunofluorescence antibody (DFA) test and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with no intervention. Early-detection programs using the DFA test and ELISA were shown to be cost-effective in female populations where the prevalences of chlamydial infection exceeded 6% and 7%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that the two most important factors were the probability of developing pelvic inflammatory disease and the cost of the test. The DFA method was more appropriate for an early-detection program because of its higher sensitivity.
Old Broken Crayons: Adolescent Artists with Autism in Art Education

This research engages a combined qualitative methodology of arts-informed research and critical descriptive ethnography to study thirteen adolescent artists with autism as they engage in art making across multiple art education contexts. This study revealed the perceptions of stakeholders about art and autism that informed the access these adolescent artists had to art education and art materials. These perceptions included varying ideas of competence, ability and struggle associated with an identity as ̳autistic‘. In the examination of these adolescents‘ experiences the engagement with art making and the role of art in the lives of these artists is explored. It is shown that art functions as communication and a way of connecting to the world around them, acting as a form of literacy through the visual text of their artwork. This study offers a paradigm for inclusive art education that operates within the social model of dis/ability and considers strategies for full inclusion with art curriculum and art materials. Recommendations for families, art teachers of students with autism and art teacher preparation are provided. OLD BROKEN CRAYONS: ADOLESCENT ARTISTS WITH AUTISM IN ART EDUCATION
Memories of a virulent past

Studies on bacterial virulence and host-pathogen interactions usually rely on type strains isolated from human or veterinary populations. For instance, the El Tor strain N16961 has been extensively used to characterize Vibrio cholerae virulence, while E2348/69 is a default choice for studies on enteropathogenic E. coli interactions with host cells. Subsequent to isolation, such strains are passaged under laboratory conditions in rich medium, and often genetically manipulated to induce specific mutations or other alterations. While the cumulative knowledge gained by focused studies on a limited number of bacterial isolates allows for rapid scientific progress, strain diversity resulting from prolonged propagation and manipulation in different laboratories may lead to a distorted perspective and, at times, confound attempts to replicate specific experiments. Exploring such aberrations is an inevitable and necessary, if not always welcome, part of scientific progress.