Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Cryptococcus neoformans variety gattii SOD2 reveals distinct roles of the two superoxide dismutases in fungal biology and virulence

We studied superoxide dismutases (SODs) in the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn) variety gattii to analyse the role of mitochondrial MnSOD (SOD2) in fungal biology and virulence. SOD2 was cloned from a Cn cosmid library, sod2 mutant and sod2 + SOD2 reconstituted strains were constructed by homologous recombination, and two sod1sod2 double mutants were constructed by replacing SOD2 in the sod1 mutant with the sod2::HYG allele. The SOD2 protein (SOD2p) encoded 225 amino acids, with 36–66% identity with other fungal SOD2ps. SOD2 deletion rendered Cn highly growth‐defective at 37°C in 19–20% oxygen (normal air), and this defect was reversed by limiting oxygen to 1.3% as well in the presence of antioxidant, ascorbic acid. The sod2 mutant accumulated significantly more reactive oxygen species (ROS) at 37°C as well at 30°C in the presence of antimycin A, suggesting that SOD2p is the primary defence of Cn against the superoxide anion (O2• −) in the mitochondria. The sod2 was also highly susceptible to redox‐cycling agents, high salt and nutrient limitations. The sod2 mutant was avirulent in intranasally infected mice and markedly attenuated in its virulence in intravenously infected mice. The virulence defect of sod2 mutant appeared related to its growth defects in high oxygen environment, but not resulting from increased sensitivity to oxidative killing by phagocytes. The sod1sod2 double mutants were avirulent in mice. Additionally, sod1sod2 double mutants showed a marked reduction in the activities of other known Cn virulence factors; and they were more susceptible to PMN killing than was the sod2 single mutant. Previously, we reported that the attenuation of sod1 mutant in mice was resulting from enhanced susceptibility to phagocyte killing, combined with a reduction in the activities of a number of virulence factors. Thus, SOD1p and SOD2p play distinct roles in the biology and virulence of Cn var. gattii via independent modes of action.
These Kids Just Aren't Motivated to Read: The Influence of Preservice Teachers' Beliefs on Their Expectations, Instruction, and Evaluation of Struggling Readers

This qualitative case study examined the beliefs of preservice teachers about teaching struggling readers. The study was concerned with participants' beliefs in the context of tutoring struggling readers in order to discover how these beliefs influenced the preservice teachers' expectations, instruction, and evaluations of these learners. The findings from this multiple case study suggest that preservice teachers may not believe they are capable of or responsible for teaching all of their students to read. The preservice teacher beliefs about teacher efficacy and responsibility influenced many teaching behaviors in the current study.
Soluble Urokinase‐Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor: A Useful Biomarker for Coronary Artery Disease and Clinical Outcomes?

While coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, causal pathways for the progression of underlying atheromatous coronary plaque formation remain poorly understood. 1 Numerous clinical characteristics and associated laboratory findings (ie, elevated LDL-C levels) have been firmly linked with an increased likelihood of developing atherosclerosis. Some of these variables are modifiable, such as obesity, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and lack of exercise, while other demographic factors such as age, sex, and family history cannot be changed. 2,3 Risk assessment at the individual patient level, however, should not relate to simply accounting for the number of risk factors but rather should focus upon how to delineate the complex interplay among many established clinical and laboratory risk factors. With numerous recent advances, novel biomarkers have been identified from plasma samples of patients with possible or suspected CAD. One such biomarker that looks to be promising is the inflammatory protein—soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR). In the current issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association, Eapen et al 4 present the findings of a study that assessed the association of plasma suPAR with the presence and severity of CAD as well as the role of suPAR as a predictive marker for death and myocardial infarction (MI) (over a mean of 2 years) in 3367 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. In this study, suPAR levels were associated with both the presence and severity of CAD, and with an increased risk of subsequent death or myocardial infarction (MI) (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.9), cardiac death (HR: 2.62), and MI (HR: 3.20). The addition of suPAR levels to a prediction model that incorporated traditional risk factors modestly improved the discriminatory capabilities of the model (the C statistic changed from 0.72 to 0.74). Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its cell surface-receptor (uPAR) regulate cellular functions linked to adhesion and migration and are involved in the tissue remodeling processes. 5 The soluble form (suPAR) is present in the serum and other bodily fluids, and the soluble receptor accounts for 10% to 20% of the total receptor in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Numerous observational studies have shown systemic levels of suPAR to be associated with an increased risk of cancer, various infectious and inflammatory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and hepatic fibrosis. 6 Furthermore, elevated levels of suPAR have been shown to have prognostic value for patients with neoplasms, systemic inflammatory diseases, and those with various infectious diseases. 6
Entrepreneurial leadership in high‐tech firms: a field study

There are many known reasons why hot start‐ups fail – new technologies, new markets, new distribution channels, inexperienced management teams, etc. – but an unquestionably critical factor is the leadership ability of the entrepreneurial CEO. Conventional wisdom states that professional managers should replace founders because they customarily do not have the necessary leadership skills and experience to further the continued growth of the organization. Recent research, however, has found no evidence that professional managers perform better in high‐growth firms than the original founder. This investigation analyzed the experiences of 27 entrepreneurial CEOs who successfully defied conventional wisdom by leading their organizations from tenuous start‐up to professionally managed enterprise. The research revealed two distinct sets of leadership competencies – labeled self competencies and functional competencies – required of entrepreneurs aspiring to remain at the helm of growth‐driven high‐tech firms.
Acute Mountain Sickness Prophylaxis: A High-Altitude Perspective

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is the most common form of altitude illness affecting athletes and adventurists who work or play at elevations greater than 10,000 ft above mean sea level. Considerable research has been conducted to mitigate risk for those who work or play in environmental extremes. This article describes the experiences of a group of U.S. Army Special Operations soldiers who tested recommended doses of acetazolamide prophylaxis for AMS during six expeditions to elevations between 19,000 and 23,000 ft. In addition, we briefly review the literature as it pertains to prophylaxis of AMS. In our experience, prophylaxis with the recommended doses of acetazolamide resulted in fewer AMS symptoms and seemed to confer a higher likelihood of successfully summiting each peak. We conclude that acetazolamide is an acceptable choice for AMS prevention along with a slow, controlled ascent and proper fitness, nutrition, clothing, and gear.
Online 3-D Tracking of Suspension Living Cells Imaged with Phase-Contrast Microscopy

Neural stem cells/neural progenitors (NSCs/NPs) are cells that give rise to the main cell types of the nervous system: oligodendrocytes, neurons, and astrocytes. Studying NSCs/NPs with time-lapse microscopy is critical to the understanding of the biology of these cells. However, NSCs/NPs are very sensitive to phototoxic damage, and therefore, fluorescent dyes cannot be used to follow these cells. Also, since in most of NSC/NP-related experiments, a large number of cells neesd to be monitored. Consequently, the acquisition of a huge amount of images is required. An additional difficulty is related to our original suspension living, tracking objective, behavior much closer to the natural, in vivo, way of development of the cells. Indeed, unlike adherent cells, suspension cells float freely in a liquid solution, thus, making their dynamics very different from that of adherent cells. As a result, existing visual tracking algorithms that have primarily been developed to track adherent cells are no longer adequate to tackle living cells in suspension. This paper presents a novel automated 3-D visual tracking of suspension living cells for time-lapse image acquisition using phase-contrast microscopy. This new tracking method can potentially strongly impact on current 3-D video microscopy methods, paving the way for innovative analysis of NSCs/NPs and as a result, on the study of neurodegenerative diseases.
Familienbezogene Lebensqualität bei Müttern von Jungen mit Fragilem-X-Syndrom im frühen Kindesalter

Die Erfassung familienbezogener Lebensqualitat bei Muttern behinderter Kinder richtet sich sowohl auf Einschrankungen, die mit der Erziehung und Versorgung des Kindes fur das eigene Leben verbunden sind, wie auch mogliche positive Veranderungen der eigenen Perspektiven. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass die Lebensqualitat u. a. vom Alter des Kindes und der Art seiner Behinderung abhangt. Es wird uber eine Untersuchung mit dem Fragebogen zur familienbezogenen Lebensqualitat (FLQ) berichtet, in der die Mutter von 26 Jungen mit Fragilem-X-Syndrom im fruhen Kindesalter befragt wurden. Die Wahrnehmung der eigenen Lebensqualitat wird beschrieben. Sie variiert mit der erlebten Belastung im Alltag, aber auch mit personlichem Optimismus und der Qualitat der Familienbeziehungen. Temperaments- und Verhaltensmerkmale des Kindes haben allenfalls einen indirekten Einfluss auf die Selbsteinschatzung der Lebensqualitat der Mutter. Schlagworter Lebensqualitat – Mutter behinderter Kinder – Fragiles-X-Syndrom – elterliche Belastung Quality of life has been conceptualized as a subjective view of one’s feeling of well-being. There is evidence for restraints caused by parenting stress as well as resilience in mothers of children with an intellectual handicap. Specifically, we report on an investigation using the family-related life quality questionnaire (FLQ) in mothers of 26 young boys with Fragile X syndrome. Quality of life is affected by parenting stress as well as individual and social coping resources (hope as a personal trait and quality of family relationships). Child-related variables (age, adaptive competence) had no significant effect on perceived quality of life, child temperament and atypical behavior is related indirectly to maternal life satisfaction as a factor determining the degree of parenting stress. Keywords maternal quality of life – intellectual disabilities – fragile X syndrome – parenting stress
Natural Language Processing Based Instrument for Classification of Free Text Medical Records

According to the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia a new health management system has to be introduced in the nearest future. In this context arises the problem of structuring and classifying documents containing all the history of medical services provided. The present work introduces the instrument for classification of medical records based on the Georgian language. It is the first attempt of such classification of the Georgian language based medical records. On the whole 24.855 examination records have been studied. The documents were classified into three main groups (ultrasonography, endoscopy, and X-ray) and 13 subgroups using two well-known methods: Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). The results obtained demonstrated that both machine learning methods performed successfully, with a little supremacy of SVM. In the process of classification a “shrink” method, based on features selection, was introduced and applied. At the first stage of classification the results of the “shrink” case were better; however, on the second stage of classification into subclasses 23% of all documents could not be linked to only one definite individual subclass (liver or binary system) due to common features characterizing these subclasses. The overall results of the study were successful.
Multiple neuropeptides in the Drosophila antennal lobe suggest complex modulatory circuits

The fruitfly, Drosophila, is dependent on its olfactory sense in food search and reproduction. Processing of odorant information takes place in the antennal lobes, the primary olfactory center in the insect brain. Besides classical neurotransmitters, earlier studies have indicated the presence of a few neuropeptides in the olfactory system. In the present study we made an extensive analysis of the expression of neuropeptides in the Drosophila antennal lobes by direct profiling using matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometry and immunocytochemistry. Neuropeptides from seven different precursor genes were unambiguously identified and their localization in neurons was subsequently revealed by immunocytochemistry. These were short neuropeptide F, tachykinin related peptide, allatostatin A, myoinhibitory peptide, SIFamide, IPNamide, and myosuppressin. The neuropeptides were expressed in subsets of olfactory sensory cells and different populations of local interneurons and extrinsic (centrifugal) neurons. In some neuron types neuropeptides were colocalized with classical neurotransmitters. Our findings suggest a huge complexity in peptidergic signaling in different circuits of the antennal lobe. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:3359–3380, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: Counter-storytelling

Using critical race theory as a framework, the article utilizes counter-storytelling to examine the different forms of racial and gender discrimination experienced by Chicana and Chicano graduate students. After describing the critical race theory framework and counter-storytelling method, the article moves to a story of two composite and data-driven characters, Professor Leticia Garcia and graduate student Esperanza Gonzalez. Various theoretical and conceptual issues such as self-doubt, survivor guilt, impostor syndrome, and invisibility are woven into Esperanza's graduate school and Professor Garcia's pre-tenure experiences.
Driving Force Distribution and Control for EV With Four In-Wheel Motors: A Case Study of Acceleration on Split-Friction Surfaces

Motion stabilization for electric vehicles with four in-wheel motors has been extensively studied in recent years. While most of the previous works have tended to focus on the development of optimization algorithms for driving force distribution, this paper considers a global–local control scheme: the global controller coordinates wheel and vehicle motions to generate reference driving forces and the local controller further controls the generated force commands. Specifically, two approaches with different global control concepts are proposed. The first approach considers the redesign of weighting factors for a conventional driving force optimization algorithm, and based on the first method, the second approach formulates the objective function and equality constraints in a two degree-of-freedom control framework. As an example, vehicle start off on an instantaneous split-friction road is employed to verify the proposed methods in both simulations and experiments.
Measures, Uncertainties, and Significance Test in Operational ROC Analysis

In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the sampling variability can result in uncertainties of performance measures. Thus, while evaluating and comparing the performances of algorithms, the measurement uncertainties must be taken into account. The key issue is how to calculate the uncertainties of performance measures in ROC analysis. Our ultimate goal is to perform the significance test in evaluation and comparison using the standard errors computed. From the operational perspective, based on fingerprint-image matching algorithms on large datasets, the measures and their uncertainties are investigated in the three scenarios: 1) the true accept rate (TAR) of genuine scores at a specified false accept rate (FAR) of impostor scores, 2) the TAR and FAR at a given threshold, and 3) the equal error rate. The uncertainties of measures are calculated using the nonparametric two-sample bootstrap based on our extensive studies of bootstrap variability on large datasets. The significance test is carried out to determine whether the difference between the performance of one algorithm and a hypothesized value, or the difference between the performances of two algorithms where the correlation is taken into account is statistically significant. Examples are provided.
A data scheduling algorithm for autonomous distributed real-time applications in grid computing

Large-scale data intensive applications with real-time requirements are currently emerging in many disciplines of science and engineering. Such applications can benefit from a grid environment provided that an efficient solution to the following data scheduling problem can be found: schedule the transfer of a set of large-scale data objects of distributed applications in a grid environment so as to meet real-time constraints associated with these data transfers. Based on this premise, This work focuses on the aforementioned problem and proposes a new effective path-selection based scheduling algorithm. The algorithm performs its optimization based on a schedule reflection model; a new cost criterion that takes into account the satisfiability of each application as a whole. We show, by simulation, that our algorithm improves the performance of data intensive real-time applications.
Towards a Cloud of Clouds Elasticity Management System

In recent years, cloud computing paradigm has grown massively popular in both industry and academic sectors. One of the main reasons for the wide adoption of Cloud Computing is the ability to add and remove resources "on the fly" to handle the load variation through the concept of elasticity. The efficient management of cloud elastic system is a challenging task. This paper proposes a multi agent system for cloud of clouds elasticity management. Concretely, we adopt a formal modelling approach based on Bigraphs (BRS) for the specification of the multi-agent system structural and behavioral aspects.
Teaching Technical Communication in an Era of Distributed Work: A Case Study of Collaboration Between U.S. and Swedish Students

As distributed work begins to shift the nature of practice for technical communication professionals in the workplace, faculty need new frameworks to help prepare students for roles that involve negotiating, supporting, and facilitating virtual global collaboration. This paper identifies key areas of metaknowledge appropriate to these new frameworks by synthesizing a review of current scholarship on such collaborations and a case study of students participating in a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural team project.
A Graph Clustering Approach to Product Attribute Extraction

This work focuses on attribute extraction from product descriptions. We propose a novel solution to extract attributes of a product from a set of text documents. A graph is constructed from the text using word co-occurrence statistics. We compute word clusters and extract attributes from these clusters using graph based methods. Our solution is able to achieve nearly 80% precision and 45% recall. Experiments show that the methods employed are effective in identifying attributes for different dataset sizes.
Hybrid methodologies for summarisation of Kannada language text documents

The problem of information explosion is becoming a serious concern. In this regard, any new methodology developed to solve the issues related to information retrieval (a.k.a. Information Retrieval or IR) draws wide attention. Text summarisation is a predominant field of NLP which may provide promising solution to the issues stated earlier. Text summarisation or text document summarisation provides a quick and concise meaning of the document without even reading the whole document. In this work, we have developed hybrid methodologies for providing summary of a given document in the Kannada language. The approach is new as we have used combination of feature selection methods as a pre-processing step for summarisation. In this work, we have devised four different methodologies for text document summarisation, which focus on text extraction, which is an open approach as stated earlier: (a) summarisation based on keywords, (b) summarisation based on sentence ranking, (c) summarisation based on Jaccards' similarity score and (d) summarisation based on neural network approach.
Enteropathogenic and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli : more subversive elements

Enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) constitute a significant risk to human health worldwide. Both pathogens colonize the intestinal mucosa and, by subverting intestinal epithelial cell function, produce a characteristic histopathological feature known as the ‘attaching and effacing’ (A/E) lesion. Although EPEC was the first E. coli to be associated with human disease in the 1940s and 1950s, it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the mechanisms and bacterial gene products used to induce this complex brush border membrane lesion and diarrhoeal disease started to be unravelled. During the past few months, there has been a burst of new data that have revolutionized some basic concepts of the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis in general and EPEC pathogenesis in particular. Major breakthroughs and developments in the genetic basis of A/E lesion formation, signal transduction, protein translocation, host cell receptors and intestinal colonization are highlighted in this review.
Hemostatic Markers in Congestive Heart Failure Dogs with Mitral Valve Disease

Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen, D-dimer, antithrombin III (AT III), protein C (PC), factor VII (F.VII), and factor VIII (F.VIII), as well as hematocrit (HCT), platelets number (PLT), total plasma protein (TP), and albumin (ALB), were studied on fifty-eight congestive heart failure (CHF) dogs with mitral valve disease (MVD) and fifty control dogs. All of variables of MVD group, except APTT, were significantly different (P < 0.5) from control group. The variables were also compared among functional classes of CHF dogs and control dogs. It was determined that the higher the functional class of CHF dogs was, the greater the levels of fibrinogen and D-dimer were, whereas the lesser the activities of AT III and PC were presented. Additionally, TP had linear correlation with fibrinogen, D-dimer, HCT, and PLT (r = 0.31, 0.30, 0.43, and 0.38, resp., P < 0.5). These findings suggested that fibrinogen and D-dimer were the factors predisposing hypercoagulability through an increase in blood viscosity. The hemorheological abnormalities would shift an overall hemostatic balance toward a more thrombotic state in CHF dogs with MVD.