Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
α7 nicotinic ACh receptors are necessary for memory recovery and neuroprotection promoted by attention training in amyloid‐β‐infused mice

Attention training reverses the neurodegeneration and memory loss promoted by infusion of amyloid‐β (Aβ) peptide in rats and increases the density of α7 nicotinic ACh receptors (α7nAChRs) in brain areas related to memory. Hence, we aimed to assess the role of α7nAChRs in the memory recovery promoted by attention training.
The association between perceived discrimination and allostatic load in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.

OBJECTIVE Perceived discrimination is a risk factor for poor health among ethnic and racial minority groups. However, few studies have examined the association between major lifetime and everyday perceived discrimination and allostatic load (AL), a pre-clinical indicator of disease. We examine the association between two measures of discrimination and AL among Puerto Rican adults. METHODS Using primarily Wave 3 data from the longitudinal Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, we examined the association between major lifetime and everyday perceived discrimination and AL (multisystem dysregulation of 11 physiological components) among Puerto Rican adults residing in the Boston metro area (n=882). Five models were tested using multivariable regression. The final model adjusted for demographic factors, migration factors, socioeconomic status and work history, health behaviors/risk factors, and depressive symptomatology. RESULTS Respondents had a mean AL score of 5.11 (SD=1.76; range from 0-11). They had an average score of 0.21 (0.42) for major lifetime perceived discrimination (ranging from 0-3) and 0.29 (0.49) for everyday perceived discrimination (ranging from 0-3). In a fully adjusted model, major lifetime perceived discrimination was associated with greater AL (b = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.19, 0.92), whereas greater everyday perceived discrimination was marginally, but not significantly, associated with lower AL (b = -0.42; 95% CI: -0.87, 0.04). CONCLUSIONS Perceived discrimination remains a common stressor and may be a determinant of AL for Puerto Ricans, although the type of perceived discrimination may have differing effects. Further research is needed to better understand the ways in which major lifetime and everyday perceived discrimination operate to effect physiological systems among Puerto Ricans.
EyeFlow: pursuit interactions using an unmodified camera

We investigate the smooth pursuit eye movement based interaction using an unmodified off-the-shelf RGB camera. In each pair of sequential video frames, we compute the indicative direction of the eye movement by analyzing flow vectors obtained using the Lucas-Kanade optical flow algorithm. We discuss how carefully selected low vectors could replace the traditional pupil centers detection in smooth pursuit interaction. We examine implications of unused features in the eye camera imaging frame as potential elements for detecting gaze gestures. This simple approach is easy to implement and abstains from many of the complexities of pupil based approaches. In particular, EyeFlow does not call for either a 3D pupil model or 2D pupil detection to track the pupil center location. We compare this method to state-of-the-art approaches and ind that this can enable pursuit interactions with standard cameras. Results from the evaluation with 12 users data yield an accuracy that compares to previous studies. In addition, the benefit of this work is that the approach does not necessitate highly matured computer vision algorithms and expensive IR-pass cameras.
Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs)-Based Dual Vaccine for Influenza A H1N1 Virus and MERS-CoV

Vaccination is the most functional medical intervention to prophylactically control severe diseases caused by human-to-human or animal-to-human transmissible viral pathogens. Annually, seasonal influenza epidemics attack human populations leading to 290–650 thousand deaths/year worldwide. Recently, a novel Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus emerged. Together, those two viruses present a significant public health burden in areas where they circulate. Herein, we generated a bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs)-based vaccine presenting the antigenic stable chimeric fusion protein of the H1-type haemagglutinin (HA) of the pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1) strain from 2009 (H1N1pdm09) and the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (OMVs-H1/RBD). Our results showed that the chimeric antigen could induce specific neutralizing antibodies against both strains leading to protection of immunized mice against H1N1pdm09 and efficient neutralization of MERS-CoV. This study demonstrate that OMVs-based vaccines presenting viral antigens provide a safe and reliable approach to protect against two different viral infections.
A Framework to Harness the Power of Quality Collaboratives to Improve Perinatal Outcomes

The Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative developed a framework for successfully engaging teams and implementing statewide obstetric and neonatal quality improvement (QI) initiatives. This framework includes: (1) engaging hospitals to create an environment of improvement; (2) motivating hospital teams to facilitate change at their hospital; and (3) supporting hospital teams through the 3 pillars of QI—collaborative learning opportunities, rapid-response data, and QI support—to achieve initiative goals and improve outcomes for mothers and newborns. Utilizing this framework, the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative Severe Maternal Hypertension Initiative engaged teams and achieved initiative goals.
QoS-Based Resource Allocation with Cooperative Diversity in OFDMA

Cooperative diversity at a system level is a promising method to improve the performance of the users located at the border of cells in distributed cellular networks. In this paper, we propose a Quality-of-Service based resource allocation algorithm for downlink OFDMA, in which Base Stations trigger cooperative diversity for users requiring a minimum data rate. As Downlink cooperation increases the spectral efficiency for users at the border of the cells, it enables to decrease the power required for these users. The remaining Best Effort users can then be served with more power, therefore increasing their sum throughput. The proposed distributed method is compared with other resource allocation techniques, and proves to be very efficient for the users with both types of Quality of Service.
Molecular events in uterine cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To review the literature regarding the molecular events which occur in the development of uterine cervical cancer, with particular reference to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. METHODOLOGY: Bibliographic searches of Medline and the ISI citation databases using appropriate keywords, including the following: papillomavirus, cervix, pathology, cyclin, chromosome, heterozygosity, telomerase, smoking, hormones, HLA, immune response, HIV, HSV, EBV. CONCLUSIONS: It has become clear that most cervical neoplasia, whether intraepithelial or invasive, is attributable in part to HPV infection. However, HPV infection alone is not sufficient, and, in a small proportion of cases, may not be necessary for malignant transformation. There is increasing evidence that HPV gene products interfere with cell cycle control leading to secondary accumulation of small and large scale genetic abnormalities. This may explain the association of viral persistence with lesion progression but, in many patients, secondary factors, such as smoking and immune response, are clearly important. However, the mechanisms involved in the interaction between HPV and host factors are poorly understood.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management

Pesticide regulation requires regulatory authorities to assess the potential ecological risk of pesticides submitted for registration, and most risk assessment schemes use a tiered testing and assessment approach. Standardized ecotoxicity tests, environmental fate studies, and exposure models are used at lower tiers and follow well‐defined methods for assessing risk. If a lower tier assessment indicates that the pesticide may pose an ecological risk, higher tier studies using more environmentally realistic conditions or assumptions can be performed to refine the risk assessment and inform risk management options. However, there is limited guidance in the United States on options to refine an assessment and how the data will be incorporated into the risk assessment and risk management processes. To overcome challenges to incorporation of higher tier data into ecological risk assessments and risk management of pesticides, a workshop was held in Raleigh, North Carolina. Attendees included representatives from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, universities, commodity groups, consultants, nonprofit organizations, and the crop protection industry. Key recommendations emphasized the need for 1) more effective, timely, open communication among registrants, risk assessors, and risk managers earlier in the registration process to identify specific protection goals, address areas of potential concern where higher tier studies or assessments may be required, and if a higher tier study is necessary that there is agreement on study design; 2) minimizing the complexity of study designs while retaining high value to the risk assessment and risk management process; 3) greater transparency regarding critical factors utilized in risk management decisions with clearly defined protection goals that are operational; and 4) retrospective analyses of success–failure learnings on the acceptability of higher tier studies to help inform registrants on how to improve the application of such studies to risk assessments and the risk management process. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;15:714–725. © 2019 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)
Utilization of Heterologous Siderophores Enhances Levels of Iron Available to Pseudomonas putida in the Rhizosphere

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas spp. have the capacity to utilize siderophores produced by diverse species of bacteria and fungi, and the present study was initiated to determine if siderophores produced by rhizosphere microorganisms enhance the levels of iron available to a strain of Pseudomonas putida in this natural habitat. We used a previously described transcriptional fusion (pvd-inaZ) between an iron-regulated promoter (pvd) and the ice nucleation reporter gene (inaZ) to detect alterations in iron availability toP. putida. Ice nucleation activity (INA) expressed from thepvd-inaZ fusion by P. putida N1R or N1R Pvd−, a derivative deficient in the production of a pyoverdine siderophore, was inversely related to the concentration of ferric citrate in a culture medium. In culture, INA expressed by N1R Pvd− (pvd-inaZ) was reduced in the presence of the ferric complex of pseudobactin-358, a pyoverdine siderophore produced by P. putida WCS358 that can be utilized as a source of iron by N1R Pvd−. In the rhizosphere of cucumbers grown in sterilized soil, N1R Pvd− (pvd-inaZ) expressed INA, indicating that iron availability was sufficiently low in that habitat to allow transcription of the iron-regulated pvd promoter. Coinoculation with WCS358 or N1R significantly decreased INA expressed by N1R Pvd− (pvd-inaZ) in the rhizosphere, whereas coinoculation with a pyoverdine-deficient mutant of WCS358 did not reduce INA expressed by N1R Pvd−(pvd-inaZ). These results indicate that iron availability to N1R Pvd−(pvd-inaZ) in the rhizosphere was enhanced by the presence of another strain of P. putida that produces a pyoverdine that N1R Pvd−(pvd-inaZ) was able to utilize as a source of iron. In culture, strain N1R Pvd− also utilized ferric complexes of the siderophores enterobactin and aerobactin as sources of iron. In the rhizosphere of cucumbers grown in sterilized soil, INA expressed by N1R Pvd− (pvd-inaZ) was reduced in the presence of strains of Enterobacter cloacae that produced enterobactin, aerobactin, or both siderophores, but INA expressed by N1R Pvd−(pvd-inaZ) was not altered in the presence of a mutant of E. cloacae deficient in both enterobactin and aerobactin production. Therefore, the iron status of P. putida was altered by siderophores produced by an unrelated bacterium coinhabiting the rhizosphere. Finally, we demonstrated that INA expressed by N1R containing pvd-inaZ in the rhizosphere differed between plants grown in sterilized versus nonsterilized field soil. The results of this study demonstrate that (i) P. putida expresses genes for pyoverdine production and uptake in the rhizosphere, but the level of gene expression is influenced by other bacteria that coexist with P. putida in this habitat, and (ii) diverse groups of microorganisms can alter the availability of chemical resources in microbial habitats on root surfaces.
Maximising camera trap data: Using attractants to improve detection of elusive species in multi-species surveys

Camera traps are a key tool in ecological studies, and are increasingly being used to understand entire communities. However, robust inferences continue to be hampered by low detection of rare and elusive species. Attractants can be used to increase detection rates, but may also alter behaviour, and little research has evaluated short-term, localized response to the presence of attractants. We conducted three camera trap surveys in Kibale National Park, Uganda, using food baits and scent lures (“attractants”) at each camera station to entice small carnivores to pass in front of camera stations. To examine the interrelationship between scavenging and response to attractants, we also placed camera traps at five food refuse pits. We modelled the effect of attractant and duration of trap placement on the detection probability of small carnivores and selected African golden cat Caracal aurata prey items. We examine transient site response of each species, by comparing our observed likelihood of detection in each 24 h period from 1–7 d following refreshing of attractants to randomly generated capture histories. African civet Civettictis civetta, rusty-spotted genet Genetta maculata, African palm civet Nandinia binotata, and marsh mongoose Atilax paludinosus detection probabilities were highest and Weyns’s red duiker Cephalophus wenysi detection probability was lowest immediately after attractants were placed. Within 24 h after attractant was placed, rusty-spotted genet and African palm civet were more likely to be detected and African golden cat, red duiker, and blue duiker Philantomba monticola were less likely to be detected. Our results suggest that attractants can increase detection of small-bodied species and include some arboreal species in terrestrial camera trap sampling. However, attractants may also alter short-term visitation rates of some species, with potentially cascading effects on others. Community level and intraguild interaction studies should control for the potentially confounding effects of attractants on spatial activity patterns.
Improving real-time CNN-based pupil detection through domain-specific data augmentation

Deep learning is a promising technique for real-world pupil detection. However, the small amount of available accurately-annotated data poses a challenge when training such networks. Here, we utilize non-challenging eye videos where algorithmic approaches perform virtually without errors to automatically generate a foundational data set containing subpixel pupil annotations. Then, we propose multiple domain-specific data augmentation methods to create unique training sets containing controlled distributions of pupil-detection challenges. The feasibility, convenience, and advantage of this approach is demonstrated by training a CNN with these datasets. The resulting network outperformed current methods in multiple publicly-available, realistic, and challenging datasets, despite being trained solely with the augmented eye images. This network also exhibited better generalization w.r. t. the latest state-of-the-art CNN: Whereas on datasets similar to training data, the nets displayed similar performance, on datasets unseen to both networks, ours outperformed the state-of-the-art by ≈27% in terms of detection rate.
Cathepsin L inactivates human trypsinogen, whereas cathepsin L-deletion reduces the severity of pancreatitis in mice.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Acute pancreatitis is characterized by an activation cascade of digestive enzymes in the pancreas. The first of these, trypsinogen, can be converted to active trypsin by the peptidase cathepsin B (CTSB). We investigated whether cathepsin L (CTSL) can also process trypsinogen to active trypsin and has a role in pancreatitis. METHODS In CTSL-deficient (Ctsl(-/-)) mice, pancreatitis was induced by injection of cerulein or infusion of taurocholate into the pancreatic duct. Human tissue, pancreatic juice, mouse pancreatitis specimens, and recombinant enzymes were studied by enzyme assay, immunoblot, N-terminal sequencing, immunocytochemistry, and electron microscopy analyses. Isolated acini from Ctsl(-/-) and Ctsb(-/-) mice were studied. RESULTS CTSL was expressed in human and mouse pancreas, colocalized with trypsinogen in secretory vesicles and lysosomes, and secreted into pancreatic juice. Severity of pancreatitis was reduced in Ctsl(-/-) mice, whereas apoptosis and intrapancreatic trypsin activity were increased. CTSL-induced cleavage of trypsinogen occurred 3 amino acids toward the C-terminus from the CTSB activation site and resulted in a truncated, inactive form of trypsin and an elongated propeptide (trypsinogen activation peptide [TAP]). This elongated TAP was not detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) but was effectively converted to an immunoreactive form by CTSB. Levels of TAP thus generated by CTSB were not associated with disease severity, although this is what the TAP-ELISA is used to determine in the clinic. CONCLUSIONS CTSL inactivates trypsinogen and counteracts the ability of CTSB to form active trypsin. In mouse models of pancreatitis, absence of CTSL induces apoptosis and reduces disease severity.
Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Switching and Calcification in Aortic Aneurysm Formation.

Aortic aneurysm is a vascular disease whereby the ECM (extracellular matrix) of a blood vessel degenerates, leading to dilation and eventually vessel wall rupture. Recently, it was shown that calcification of the vessel wall is involved in both the initiation and progression of aneurysms. Changes in aortic wall structure that lead to aneurysm formation and vascular calcification are actively mediated by vascular smooth muscle cells. Vascular smooth muscle cells in a healthy vessel wall are termed contractile as they maintain vascular tone and remain quiescent. However, in pathological conditions they can dedifferentiate into a synthetic phenotype, whereby they secrete extracellular vesicles, proliferate, and migrate to repair injury. This process is called phenotypic switching and is often the first step in vascular pathology. Additionally, healthy vascular smooth muscle cells synthesize VKDPs (vitamin K-dependent proteins), which are involved in inhibition of vascular calcification. The metabolism of these proteins is known to be disrupted in vascular pathologies. In this review, we summarize the current literature on vascular smooth muscle cell phenotypic switching and vascular calcification in relation to aneurysm. Moreover, we address the role of vitamin K and VKDPs that are involved in vascular calcification and aneurysm.
Health care pathways and expert patients: Do they improve outcomes?/Rutas asistenciales y paciente experto: ¿mejoran resultados?

One of the greatest challenges for health systems now and in the near future is caring for people with chronic conditions [1]. This is going to involve not only providing specific solutions for various groups of patients, but also working and, in particular, tackling challenging situations in a different way. Any one organisation or professional group alone cannot give a ‘magical’ or ‘universal’ answer to this problem. The approach must change, be multidisciplinary and subsidiary. It requires settings to be developed in which organisations and professionals not just fulfil their duties but do so in a cooperative, integrated manner, in an organisational model that is different from the current one [2]. In this context, in a territory of 124.65 km2, with catchment population of 180,000, one secondary care hospital and seven primary care teams (PCT), one of which has formed a consortium with the local council, a joint project was designed to approach the most common chronic diseases. The aims are to improve the quality and continuum of healthcare provided, holding a first meeting between healthcare levels, primary care (PC) and specialised care (SC), in order to establish care pathways (CPs) for the following diseases: type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), heart failure (HF), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Feature Pyramid Reconfiguration With Consistent Loss for Object Detection

Taking the feature pyramids into account has become a crucial way to boost the object detection performance. While various pyramid representations have been developed, previous works are still inefficient to integrate the semantical information over different scales. Moreover, recent object detectors are suffering from accurate object location applications, mainly due to the coarse definition of the positive examples at training and predicting phases. In this paper, we begin by analyzing current pyramid solutions, and then propose a novel architecture by reconfiguring the feature hierarchy in a flexible yet effective way. In particular, our architecture consists of two lightweight and trainable processes: global attention and local reconfiguration. The global attention is to emphasize the global information of each feature scale, while the local reconfiguration is to capture the local correlations across different scales. Both the global attention and local reconfiguration are non-linear and thus exhibit more expressive ability. Then, we discover that the loss function for object detectors during training is the central cause of the inaccurate location problem. We propose to address this issue by reshaping the standard cross entropy loss such that it focuses more on accurate predictions. Both the feature reconfiguration and the consistent loss could be utilized in popular one-stage (SSD, RetinaNet) and two-stage (Faster R-CNN) detection frameworks. Extensive experimental evaluations on PASCAL VOC 2007, PASCAL VOC 2012, and MS COCO datasets demonstrate that our models achieve consistent and significant boosts compared with other state-of-the-art methods.