Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic basis of adult migration timing in anadromous steelhead discovered through multivariate association testing

Migration traits are presumed to be complex and to involve interaction among multiple genes. We used both univariate analyses and a multivariate random forest (RF) machine learning algorithm to conduct association mapping of 15 239 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for adult migration-timing phenotype in steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Our study focused on a model natural population of steelhead that exhibits two distinct migration-timing life histories with high levels of admixture in nature. Neutral divergence was limited between fish exhibiting summer- and winter-run migration owing to high levels of interbreeding, but a univariate mixed linear model found three SNPs from a major effect gene to be significantly associated with migration timing (p < 0.000005) that explained 46% of trait variation. Alignment to the annotated Salmo salar genome provided evidence that all three SNPs localize within a 46 kb region overlapping GREB1-like (an oestrogen target gene) on chromosome Ssa03. Additionally, multivariate analyses with RF identified that these three SNPs plus 15 additional SNPs explained up to 60% of trait variation. These candidate SNPs may provide the ability to predict adult migration timing of steelhead to facilitate conservation management of this species, and this study demonstrates the benefit of multivariate analyses for association studies.
Rule-Based Detection of Clausal Coordinate Ellipsis

With our experiment, we show how we can detect and annotate clausal coordinate ellipsis with Constraint Grammar rules. We focus on such an elliptical structure in which there are two coordinated clauses, and the latter one lacks a verb. For example, the sentence This belongs to me and that to you demonstrates the ellipsis in question, namely gapping. The Constraint Grammar rules are made for a Finnish parsebank, FinnTreeBank. The FinnTreeBank project is building a parsebank in the dependency syntactic framework in which verbs are central since other sentence elements depend on them. Without correct detection of omitted verbs, the syntactic analysis of the whole sentence fails. In the experiment, we detect gapping based on morphology and linear order of the words without using syntactic or semantic information. The test corpus, Finnish Wikipedia, is morphologically analyzed but not disambiguated. Even with an ambiguous morphological analysis, the results show that 89,9% of the detected sentences are elliptical, making the rules accurate enough to be used in the creation of FinnTreeBank. Once we have a morphologically disambiguated corpus, we can write more accurate rules and expect better results.
Physiological Cost of Rifampin Resistance Induced In Vitro in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a major threat to public health. In clinical practice, a limited number of resistance mutations in a short sequence of the beta subunit of RNA polymerase (encoded by rpoB) have been described. Spontaneous resistance to rifampin was induced in vitro in M. tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 9360). Only three resistance patterns could be detected by PCR–single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. Sequence analysis revealed that Ser531→Leu arose most frequently, followed by His526→Arg and then either His526→Tyr or His526→Asp. The relative Darwinian fitness of all but one of the mutant genotypes was less than that of the susceptible parent and, for these mutations, there was a significant correlation between fitness and clinical isolation rate (regression analysis P = 0.026). The fitness deficit in some mutants was small, suggesting that there is little likelihood of a spontaneous reversion to susceptibility.
Effect of α-linolenic acid and DHA intake on lipogenesis and gene expression involved in fatty acid metabolism in growing-finishing pigs

Abstract The regulation of lipogenesis mechanisms related to consumption of n-3 PUFA is poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to find out whether α-linolenic acid (ALA) or DHA uptake can have an effect on activities and gene expressions of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism in the liver, subcutaneous adipose tissue and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle of growing–finishing pigs. Six groups of ten pigs received one of six experimental diets supplemented with rapeseed oil in the control diet, extruded linseed, microalgae or a mixture of both to implement different levels of ALA and DHA with the same content in total n-3. Results were analysed for linear and quadratic effects of DHA intake. The results showed that activities of malic enzyme (ME) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) decreased linearly in the liver with dietary DHA. Although the expression of the genes of these enzymes and their activities were poorly correlated, ME and FAS expressions also decreased linearly with DHA intake. The intake of DHA down-regulates the expressions of other genes involved in fatty acid (FA) metabolism in some tissues of pigs, such as fatty acid desaturase 2 and sterol-regulatory element binding transcription factor 1 in the liver and 2,4-dienoyl CoA reductase 2 in the LD muscle. FA oxidation in the LD muscle and FA synthesis decreased in the liver with increasing amount of dietary DHA, whereas a retroconversion of DHA into EPA seems to be set up in this last tissue.
Mobile Phone Radiation Induces Reactive Oxygen Species Production and DNA Damage in Human Spermatozoa In Vitro

Background In recent times there has been some controversy over the impact of electromagnetic radiation on human health. The significance of mobile phone radiation on male reproduction is a key element of this debate since several studies have suggested a relationship between mobile phone use and semen quality. The potential mechanisms involved have not been established, however, human spermatozoa are known to be particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress by virtue of the abundant availability of substrates for free radical attack and the lack of cytoplasmic space to accommodate antioxidant enzymes. Moreover, the induction of oxidative stress in these cells not only perturbs their capacity for fertilization but also contributes to sperm DNA damage. The latter has, in turn, been linked with poor fertility, an increased incidence of miscarriage and morbidity in the offspring, including childhood cancer. In light of these associations, we have analyzed the influence of RF-EMR on the cell biology of human spermatozoa in vitro. Principal Findings Purified human spermatozoa were exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) tuned to 1.8 GHz and covering a range of specific absorption rates (SAR) from 0.4 W/kg to 27.5 W/kg. In step with increasing SAR, motility and vitality were significantly reduced after RF-EMR exposure, while the mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen species and DNA fragmentation were significantly elevated (P<0.001). Furthermore, we also observed highly significant relationships between SAR, the oxidative DNA damage bio-marker, 8-OH-dG, and DNA fragmentation after RF-EMR exposure. Conclusions RF-EMR in both the power density and frequency range of mobile phones enhances mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation by human spermatozoa, decreasing the motility and vitality of these cells while stimulating DNA base adduct formation and, ultimately DNA fragmentation. These findings have clear implications for the safety of extensive mobile phone use by males of reproductive age, potentially affecting both their fertility and the health and wellbeing of their offspring.
Multimedia content diffusion approach for emerging 5G mobile social networks

In the emerging Fifth Generation (5G) systems mobile social networks will play an important role for disseminating information and multimedia contents. In such a scenario, short range transmissions and multicast services are considered as promising technologies in order to disseminate contents as fast as possible. This paper proposes a viral information diffusion approach for improving the information diffusion time among a large number of users. A novel expected information diffusion time is considered by taking into account system metrics on both network and social side. In particular, we defined a new metric named social network contact time which describes the social interaction time between a generic user and the social platform. We compared the proposed approach with conventional multicast scheme and social information diffusion approach based on distance. Results show that the proposed viral algorithm achieves considerable gains in term of information diffusion time and data rate per UE. In particular, the gain experienced by the users in term of content dissemination varies between the 14% and 48%.
A comparison of the effect of muscle energy technique (Chaitow method) and passive stretching on hanstring extensibility

This study compared the effects of the Chaitow Muscle Energy Technique (MET), with passive stretching for increasing hamstring muscle extensibility both immediately and after 30 minutes. Fifty nine asymptomatic participants were measured for hamstring length using active knee extension (AKE). AKE was recorded using digital photography, and values were calculated using computer software. After the initial measurement, participants were randomly allocated to either a passive stretch or MET intervention group. Immediately after the treatment, post-intervention measurements of AKE were recorded, and this was repeated 30 minutes later. There was a mean increase of 4.38 degrees recorded in the MET group, whereas passive stretching produced a mean increase of 2.24 degrees. Using a split-plot ANOVA, a significant change over time in the AKE values was found, however, there were no significant differences between groups. Although the measurement procedure was determined to be repeatable, modifications to the AKE methodology may have resulted in under-estimation of the error range, and raises major concerns about the validity of the measurement procedure. In view of this methodological flaw, no conclusions can be made regarding the effectiveness of the two manual techniques. Future studies are recommended using the accepted AKE methodology and measurement analysis. This minor thesis was written by a post-graduate student as part of the requirements of the Master of Health Science (Osteopathy) program.
Efficient Query Evaluation in XML Information Subscription Systems

In this paper, we propose two methods of improving the efficiency of query evaluation in XML information subscription systems, where the users register queries to the server, and they are evaluated periodically. First, we show a method of optimizing communication costs between client sites and the server sites. In information subscription systems, when a user registers many queries, the answers to those queries can be redundant. Therefore, sending those redundant answers separately to the client is not optimal. In our approach, the server sends a minimal-size view set that can answer all the original queries, and the client produces answers from it. We show algorithms for computing a minimal view set for given queries. Second, we show a method of improving the efficiency of query evaluation on the servers. In information subscription systems, registered queries are evaluated periodically, and only changes to the answers to those queries are notified to the users. We show a method of incrementally computing only changes to the answers to the given queries upon the updates of the database
What Women Want from Work: Gender and Occupational Choice in the 21st Century

Despite improvements in opportunities, women remain concentrated in particular occupational sectors and roles. What underlies this situation? Do women simply prefer distinct types of work? Or are current patterns more a function of external limitations on initial ambitions? Although there is a wealth of literature relating to gendered occupational segregation, there is comparatively little seeking to account for how work choices are made from the individual's perspective. Ruth Woodfield offers a detailed, qualitative exploration of over one hundred and eighty girls' and women's accounts of their journeys towards work choices. She examines narratives of work decisions and experiences through the lens of commentary on two neglected case study occupations - fire fighting and teaching - and explores the impact of the media, parents, teachers, as well as discourses of masculinity and femininity, individualism and collectivism, free will and constraint, on the development of these individual perspectives.
Lossless Compression Techniques for Medical Images In Telemedicine

Telemedicine is telecommunication technology integrated with the advancements in information technology. The main purpose is to enhance health care delivery to a wider population. This telemedicine technology supports the transfer of pathological and imaging reports of patients across the telemedicine networks, so as to provide consultation by specialists located in geographically different locations. The integration of mobile communication and biomedical instrumentation technology plays an important role in Telemedicine as doctors away from the system can also get the health status of their critical patients (AlfredoI.Hernandez et al., 2001). Advances made in the field of biomedical engineering, has lead to the development of more accurate biomedical instrumentation to measure vital physiological parameters and the development of interdisciplinary areas to fight the effects of body malfunctions and disease. The chapter is organised as follows. Subsections under 1 describe the application of telecommunication technology to health care and the necessity of telemedicine in India. The challenges pertaining to telemedicine have also been identified and addressed accordingly. Section 2 briefs on the concepts of effective medical image compression. The effectiveness of Huffman Compression in telemedicine and related work is presented in Section 3. Section 4 describes transform based image compression. The basics of contourlet coding and global thresholding based on Otsu’s method is described in Sections 4.2 and 4.3 respectively. The algorithm steps of Contourlet based Joint Medical image compression is presented in 4.5. Section 5 gives the results obtained on applying the algorithm. The conclusion is presented in Section 6.
Perspectives on anxiety, panic, and fear

Modern conceptualization of the multidimensional nature of anxiety, panic, and fear are examined from a variety of perspectives, including theories of emotion and cognition, neuropsychology, and conditioning.Carroll E. Izard and Eric A. Youngstrom open with a review of Differential Emotions Theory. In the second chapter, Jeffrey A. Gray and Neil McNaughton summarize and update Gray's neuropsychological theory of anxiety. Susan Mineka and Richard Zinbarg consider what modern conditioning theory contributes to the understanding of emotion, and Richard J. McNally offers an overview of the application of experimental cognitive paradigms to fear, panic, and anxiety.The volume concludes with a new version of David H. Barlow's theory of emotional disorders. Barlow, Bruce F. Chorpita, and Julia Turovsky draw from work on emotion, neurophysiology, attributions, learning, ethology, attention, and child development to describe how the inappropriate activation of fear (e.g., a panic attack) can trigger events that may eventually become a clinical anxiety disorder. "Perspectives on Anxiety, Panic, and Fear "confirms that anxiety, panic, and fear are complex phenomena requiring a multidimensional approach that ranges from neuroanatomy to conditioning.
Alternative splicing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 mRNA modulates viral protein expression, replication, and infectivity

Multiple RNA splicing sites exist within human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genomic RNA, and these sites enable the synthesis of many mRNAs for each of several viral proteins. We evaluated the biological significance of the alternatively spliced mRNA species during productive HIV-1 infections of peripheral blood lymphocytes and human T-cell lines to determine the potential role of alternative RNA splicing in the regulation of HIV-1 replication and infection. First, we used a semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction of cDNAs that were radiolabeled for gel analysis to determine the relative abundance of the diverse array of alternatively spliced HIV-1 mRNAs. The predominant rev, tat, vpr, and env RNAs contained a minimum of noncoding sequence, but the predominant nef mRNAs were incompletely spliced and invariably included noncoding exons. Second, the effect of altered RNA processing was measured following mutagenesis of the major 5' splice donor and several cryptic, constitutive, and competing 3' splice acceptor motifs of HIV-1NL4-3. Mutations that ablated constitutive splice sites led to the activation of new cryptic sites; some of these preserved biological function. Mutations that ablated competing splice acceptor sites caused marked alterations in the pool of virus-derived mRNAs and, in some instances, in virus infectivity and/or the profile of virus proteins. The redundant RNA splicing signals in the HIV-1 genome and alternatively spliced mRNAs provides a mechanism for regulating the relative proportions of HIV-1 proteins and, in some cases, viral infectivity.
Cleavage of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4G by Exogenously Added Hybrid Proteins Containing Poliovirus 2Apro in HeLa Cells: Effects on Gene Expression

ABSTRACT Efficient cleavage of both forms of eukaryotic initiation factor 4G (eIF4G-1 and eIF4G-2) has been achieved in HeLa cells by incubation with hybrid proteins containing poliovirus 2Apro. Entry of these proteins into cells is promoted by adenovirus particles. Substantial levels of ongoing translation on preexisting cellular mRNAs still continue for several hours after eIF4G degradation. Treatment of control HeLa cells with hypertonic medium causes an inhibition of translation that is reversed upon restoration of cells to normal medium. Protein synthesis is not restored in cells lacking intact eIF4G after hypertonic treatment. Notably, induction of synthesis of heat shock proteins still occurs in cells pretreated with poliovirus 2Apro, suggesting that transcription and translation of these mRNAs takes place even in the presence of cleaved eIF4G. Finally, the synthesis of luciferase was examined in a HeLa cell line bearing the luciferase gene under control of a tetracycline-regulated promoter. Transcription of the luciferase gene and transport of the mRNA to the cytoplasm occurs at control levels in eIF4G-deficient cells. However, luciferase synthesis is strongly inhibited in these cells. These findings indicate that intact eIF4G is necessary for the translation of mRNAs not engaged in translation with the exception of heat shock mRNAs but is not necessary for the translation of mRNAs that are being translated.
Wafer-scale epitaxial graphene growth on the Si-face of hexagonal SiC (0001) for high frequency transistors

Up to two layers of epitaxial graphene have been grown on the Si-face of 2 in. SiC wafers exhibiting room-temperature Hall mobilities up to 2750 cm2 V−1 s−1, measured from ungated, large, 160×200 μm2 Hall bars, and up to 4000 cm2 V−1 s−1, from top-gated, small, 1×1.5 μm2 Hall bars. The growth process involved a combination of a cleaning step of the SiC in a Si-containing gas, followed by an annealing step in argon for epitaxial graphene formation. The structure and morphology of this graphene has been characterized using atomic force microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, top-gated radio frequency field-effect transistors (rf-FETs) with a peak cutoff frequency fT of 100 GHz for a gate length of 240 nm were fabricated using epitaxial graphene grown on the Si-face of SiC that exhibited Hall mobilities up to 1450 cm2 V−1 s−1 from ungated Hall bars and 1575 cm2 V−1 s−1 from top-gated ones. This is by far the highest cutoff frequency measured from any.
Indexing Valid Time Databases Via B �-trees – The MAP 21 Approach

We present an approach named MAP21 which uses standard B -trees, in a multiple disks single processor architecture, to provide efficient indexing of valid time ranges. The approach is based on mapping one dimensional ranges to one dimensional points where the lexicographical order among the ranges is preserved. We compare MAP21 to the Time Index and the R -tree and we show that MAP21 is comparable to or outperforms those, depending on the number of trees utilized, the degree of parallelization among these and the type of query. The main contribution of this paper is to show that standard B -trees, available in virtually any DBMS, can be used to provide an efficient temporal index. Although our discussion is made in terms of valid time databases, MAP21 can be used (or extended to be used) within other application domains as well.
Development of the Hebrew-Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation (H-MID): A Valid and Reliable Measure of Pathological Dissociation

ABSTRACT The Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation (MID; Dell, 2004b) has 168 dissociation items and 50 validity items. The MID assesses 14 major facets of dissociation, 23 symptoms of dissociation, and has 5 validity scales. The MID operationalizes (a) the subjective/phenomenological domain of dissociation, and (b) 23 hypothesized symptoms of dissociative identity disorder (DID). This article describes the development of a Hebrew version of the MID (H-MID). In a sample of clinical and nonclinical research participants, the H-MID had strong internal consistency, temporal stability, and strong structural, convergent, discriminant, and construct validity. In addition, mean H-MID scores demonstrated incremental validity over the Hebrew Dissociative Experiences Scale (H-DES) by predicting an additional 17% of the variance in weighted trauma scores on the Traumatic Experiences Questionnaire (TEQ). Factor analysis of the H-MID extracted a single factor: dissociation. Both the MID and the subjective/phenomenological concept of pathological dissociation appear to have applicability not only in North America, but also in a heterogeneous Middle Eastern culture.
Evaluation of the Clearview <emph type="2">Clostridium difficile</emph> Toxin A Test and various selective culture media in comparison with the cytotoxin assay for the diagnosis of <emph type="2">Clostridium difficile</emph>‐associated diarrhoea

Aim: Clostridium difficile is the major pathogen associated with nosocomial diarrhoea. We evaluated the performances of a commercially available toxin A enzyme immunoassay (EIA; Clearview C. difficile Toxin A Test), culture and tissue culture cytotoxin assay in the diagnosis of C. difficile‐associated diarrhoea. Methods: Comparative test performance was determined from data obtained from 166 faecal samples. The initial analysis compared the performance of toxin A EIA and culture with that of cytotoxin assay, this being defined as a 'laboratory gold standard'. A second analysis compared the individual performance of the toxin A EIA, culture and cytotoxin assay using a combined clinical and laboratory diagnostic assessment as a 'clinical gold standard'. In a parallel, study three selective culture media were compared. Results: From the initial analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of the methods were, respectively, 84.6 and 65.4% for the toxin A EIA, and 38.5 and 93.5% for culture. From the second analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of the methods were, respectively, 100 and 67.5% for the toxin A EIA, 63.6 and 96.7% for culture and 72.7 and 98.0% for cytotoxin assay. Media containing d‐cycloserine 250 mg/L and cefoxitin 8 mg/L performed best, growing 88.2% of the isolates. Conclusion: The toxin A EIA we evaluated had poor specificity in the diagnosis of C. difficile‐associated diarrhoea. We conclude that in our laboratory the combination of culture and cytotoxin assay is a preferred approach to the diagnosis of C. difficile‐associated diarrhoea.