Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An influenza A(H3) reassortant was epidemic in Australia and New Zealand in 2003

During 2003, Australia and New Zealand experienced substantial outbreaks of influenza. The strain responsible was an A(H3N2) influenza virus described as A/Fujian/411/2002‐like, which had circulated as a minor variant in the previous Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter, mainly in Korea and Japan. Early in the year the isolates were very similar to those that had been previously isolated in the NH, however, a reassortant strain emerged early in the New Zealand winter, followed by the appearance of similar viruses in Australia and other regional areas. While the hemagglutinin HA1 sequence of these viruses demonstrated only minor differences from the A/Fujian/411/2002 reference strain, the neuraminidase gene was clearly different from that of other recently circulating H3 viruses and most closely matched an earlier reference strain A/Chile/6416/2001. Three internal genes (NS, NP, M) in the reassortant viruses were also more closely related to the A/Chile/6416/2001 lineage. This reassortant A(H3) virus predominated in Australia and New Zealand in 2003 was also seen in Brazil and Malaysia during 2003 and was widespread in the United States and Europe during their 2003–04 winter. Interestingly most of the strains of A(H3) that were isolated at the beginning of the 2004 winter in Australia, did not have this earlier A/Chile/6416/2001‐like neuraminidase but had a neuraminidase that was similar to that of the reference strain A/Fujian/411/2002. This was suggestive of the re‐introduction of influenza A(H3) from other countries, however, there was still low level circulation of the reassortant virus in 2004 with isolates detected in Australia and Singapore. J. Med. Virol. 76:391–397, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Reliable monitoring of network-related performance parameters in wireless environments

End-to-end delay estimation is a crucial issue in the design of network monitoring systems for wireless best-effort infrastructures. This work demonstrates that estimations based on one-way delay are the most suitable for evaluating the delay on wireless networks such as Wi-Fi LANs and Bluetooth piconets. To prevent delay measurement from being affected by clock synchronization issues, raw measures need to be corrected by estimating clock synchronism attributes such as clock skew and offset. However, due to network noise and clock adjustments, this estimation process may affect the reliability of network monitoring systems. In this paper, we propose a trustworthy network performance monitor designed to support adaptive and/or soft real-time applications in wireless environments. The monitor corrects one-way delay measurements through an on-line algorithm for evaluating clock synchronism attributes. Simulation experiments show the effectiveness of our approach.
[Prevalence of drug abuse among children in basic schools].

BACKGROUND Peer methodology (PM) is an adaptation of the privileged access interviewer methodology and is used for prevalence studies. PM estimates higher drug consumption frequencies among school and college students than self reports, since it minimizes underreporting. AIM To assess drug abuse among students using PM. MATERIAL AND METHODS A random sample of 234 school students of middle and low-middle socioeconomic status, aged 9 to 14 years (53% women) were interviewed using PM about drug consumption. RESULTS The frequency of illicit drug consumption during the last year was 29% and 15% during the last month (current consumption). The consumption of tobacco and alcohol was 20% and 18% respectively during the last year. The figures for the last month were 11% and 8% respectively. The beginning age for smoking and alcohol consumption were 11.1 +/-1.5 and 11.3+/- 1.8 years respectively. The frequency of illicit drug consumption was 3.5%. Illicit drug users began illicit drug consumption at earlier ages their non user peers. CONCLUSIONS There is a high frequency of illicit drug consumption among school age children.
Action at a distance for negative control of transcription of the glpD gene encoding sn-glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Escherichia coli K-12

Aerobic sn-glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase is a cytoplasmic membrane-associated respiratory enzyme encoded by the glpD gene of Escherichia coli. The glpD operon is tightly controlled by cooperative binding of the glp repressor to tandem operators (O(D)1 and O(D)2) that cover the -10 promoter element and 30 bp downstream of the transcription start site. In this work, two additional operators were identified within the glpD structural gene at positions 568 to 587 (0(D)3) and 609 to 628 (0(D)4). The two internal operators bound the glp repressor in the presence or absence of the tandem operators (O(D)1 and O(D)2) in vitro, as shown by DNase I footprinting. To assess a potential regulatory role for the two internal operators in vivo, a glpD-lacZ transcriptional fusion containing all four operators was constructed. The response of this fusion to the glp repressor was compared with those of fusion constructs in which O(D)3 and O(D)4 were inactivated by either deletion or site-directed mutagenesis. It was found that the repression conferred by binding of the glp repressor to O(D)1 and O(D)2 was increased five- to sevenfold upon introduction of the internal operators. A regulatory role for HU was suggested when it was found that repressor-mediated control of glpD transcription was increased fourfold in strains containing HU compared with that of strains deficient in HU. The effect of HU was apparent only in the presence of all four glpD operators. The results suggest that glpD is controlled by formation of a repression loop between the tandem and internal operators. HU may assist repression by bending the DNA to facilitate loop formation.
Association of Salmonella enterica SerovarEnteritidis YafD with Resistance to Chicken EggAlbumen

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis is a major cause of food-borne diseases in industrialized countries. The incidence of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis infections has increased substantially in recent decades, and S. enterica serovar Enteritidis is now one of the leading serovars of Salmonella in the United States. A unique epidemiological characteristic of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis is its association with chicken shell eggs, since approximately 80% of all human gastrointestinal diseases can be traced to contaminated egg products. Eggs are contaminated when bacteria from reproductive tissues of infected hens are packaged into the eggs and persist inside the hostile egg albumen environment. Therefore, resistance to egg albumen is an important aspect in the transmission of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis. We identified a gene, yafD from S. enterica serovar Enteritidis, whose overexpression conferred upon S. enterica serovar Typhimurium enhanced resistance to egg albumen, while disruption of this gene in S. enterica serovar Enteritidis rendered the organism more susceptible to egg albumen. YafD is homologous to members of an exonuclease-endonuclease-phosphatase family, including some enzymes involved in DNA repair. Furthermore, we discovered that egg albumen has nuclease activities and uses both circular and linear DNA as substrates. We propose that YafD provides a survival advantage to S. enterica serovar Enteritidis in eggs by repairing DNA damage caused by egg albumen and that it may be one of the biologic determinants that contribute to the epidemiological association of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis with egg products.
Detection and Differentiation of Frontotemporal Dementia and Related Disorders From Alzheimer Disease Using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a cognitive screening tool used by practitioners worldwide. The efficacy of the MoCA for screening frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and related disorders is unknown. The objectives were: (1) to determine whether the MoCA detects cognitive impairment (CI) in FTD subjects; (2) to determine whether Alzheimer disease (AD) and FTD subtypes and related disorders can be parsed using the MoCA; and (3) describe longitudinal MoCA performance by subtype. We extracted demographic and testing data from a database of patients referred to a cognitive neurology clinic who met criteria for probable AD or FTD (N=192). Logistic regression was used to determine whether dementia subtypes were associated with overall scores, subscores, or combinations of subscores on the MoCA. Initial MoCA results demonstrated CI in the majority of FTD subjects (87%). FTD subjects (N=94) performed better than AD subjects (N=98) on the MoCA (mean scores: 18.1 vs. 16.3; P=0.02). Subscores parsed many, but not all subtypes. FTD subjects had a larger decline on the MoCA within 13 to 36 months than AD subjects (P=0.02). The results indicate that the MoCA is a useful tool to identify and track progression of CI in FTD. Further, the data informs future research on scoring models for the MoCA to enhance cognitive screening and detection of FTD patients.
Glutamate forward and reverse transport: From molecular mechanism to transporter‐mediated release after ischemia

Glutamate transporters remove the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate from the extracellular space after neurotransmission is complete, by taking glutamate up into neurons and glia cells. As thermodynamic machines, these transporters can also run in reverse, releasing glutamate into the extracellular space. Because glutamate is excitotoxic, this transporter‐mediated release is detrimental to the health of neurons and axons, and it, thus, contributes to the brain damage that typically follows a stroke. This review highlights current ideas about the molecular mechanisms underlying glutamate uptake and glutamate reverse transport. It also discusses the implications of transporter‐mediated glutamate release for cellular function under physiological and patho‐physiological conditions. © 2008 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(9): 609–619, 2008
Role of Oxidative Stress in Arsenic-Induced Toxicity

Arsenic is recognized as a carcinogen for human skin, bladder, and lung, following either ingestion or inhalation; however the exact mode of action of environmentally relevant exposure has not been determined. Because arsenic in the environment exists in several oxidative states and can interact with thiols, it is thought that arsenic toxicity is mediated through oxidative stress. Production of oxygen radicals following acute in vitro exposures has been demonstrated. However, our research has chosen to focus on the role of oxidative stress following whole animal exposure to environmentally relevant doses of arsenic. Following a 28-d inhalation of arsenic or cigarette smoke or both, there was a significant decrease in both the reduced and total glutathione levels in the combined arsenic and smoke group compared to groups exposed to arsenic or smoke alone. This correlated with a 5-fold increase in DNA oxidation. Lungs processed for immunohistochemistry localization of 8-oxo-dG showed increased staining in nuclei of airway epithelium and subadjacent interstitial cells. Increases in DNA oxidation were not due to increased inflammation. Although inhalation of arsenic is an important occupational exposure, the majority of human exposures occurs through ingestion of arsenic. Our recent work has been devoted to the identification of altered pulmonary gene and protein expression following ingestion of environmentally relevant levels of arsenic in drinking water. We have found that, following chronic exposure, arsenic leads to misregulation of a number of genes and proteins in the lung. A large percentage of the altered genes and proteins are known to be regulated by redox-sensitive transcription factors, (SP1, NF κB, AP-1), suggesting that, at environmentally relevant levels of chronic exposure, arsenic may be acting through alteration of cellular redox status. Validation of the alterations seen in animal models of exposure is being carried out in humans.
Tumoral and Normal Cells Treatment With High-Voltage Pulsed Cold Atmospheric Plasma Jets

High-voltage pulsed cold atmospheric plasma jets were used to treat tumoral (B16 and COLO320) and normal (macrophage) cells. Cold atmospheric plasma jet generator and plasma jet physical characteristics are presented. The treatment of the tumoral cells intended to obtain their apoptosis. For tumoral cells, percents of up to 70% apoptosis have been obtained, using helium plasma, activated with up to 2% oxygen. In the same experimental conditions, the plasma treatment did not induce apoptosis in normal (macrophage) cells. In addition, the macrophage cells were not activated by the plasma jets.
Synchronization of TDMA bursts with short preamble for satellite receiver

This paper deals with the baseband digital demodulation of bursty BPSK signals in the presence of frequency, phase and time offset in an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) impaired narrowband satellite TDMA channel. The receiver perform the tasks of acquiring synchronization in time, frequency and phase, matched filtering, BPSK demodulation and soft decision Viterbi decoding on the received baseband data to obtain the estimate of the transmitted information. The demodulator is developed to work completely in discrete domain and it exhibits good performance even at low SNR. This demodulator is completely implemented on a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) in C programming language.
Selection and Preliminary Mechanism of Resistance to Profenofos in a Field Strain of Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae) from Pakistan

ABSTRACT House flies are major insect pests at dairy farms in Pakistan and are mainly controlled with insecticides of different classes, including organophosphates. To develop a better resistance management strategy, a field strain of house flies was selected in the laboratory to study the potential for the development of resistance, possible mechanisms of resistance and cross-resistance to other insecticides. The selection of the field strain with profenofos for five consecutive generations resulted in the LC50 values to increase from 50.49 to 176.03 µg/ml, and the resistance ratio increased from 29.70 to 103.55 as compared with a laboratory-susceptible strain; however, the resistance was decreased significantly when the selected strain was reared for the next five generations without exposure to any insecticide. The profenofos-selected strain (Profen-SEL) showed cross-resistance to chlorpyrifos and deltamethrin but no cross-resistance observed to spinosad. Synergism studies with piperonyl butoxide and S,S,Stributylphosphorotrithioate indicated that the resistance to profenofos was probably associated with esterase and, possibly, microsomal oxidase activity. Resistance to profenofos in the selected strain suggests that the resistance, owing to instability, could be overcome by switching off profenofos use for few generations in the field or by rotation with different insecticides having different modes of action.
Concussion in professional football: performance of newer helmets in reconstructed game impacts--Part 13.

OBJECTIVE The performance of five newer helmets was compared with the baseline VSR-4 helmet in 10 reconstructed cases of National Football League (NFL) collisions causing concussion. The laboratory reconstructions were conducted to determine changes in concussion risk with newer football helmets. METHODS In 60 laboratory tests, translational and rotational head accelerations were measured in the striking and struck players represented by Hybrid III dummies. Six-axis upper neck loads and moments were measured in five cases with the struck player and five with the striking player. Biomechanical responses and concussion risks were evaluated for each collision to determine changes with newer helmet designs. RESULTS Thirty-two out of 50 reconstructed cases showed greater than 10% reduction in severity index with newer helmets compared with the VSR-4; four cases increased. The average reduction in concussion risk with newer helmets was 10.8% (range, 6.9-16.7%) based on severity index. The reduction was 9.7% (range, 6.5-13.9%) based on translational acceleration and 18.9% (range, 10.6-23.4%) with rotational acceleration. Neck responses in the struck player showed a general reduction in moment and force with newer helmets. CONCLUSION With newer football helmets, there was a trend toward 10 to 20% lower risks of concussion in reconstructed National Football League game collisions. However, a few designs and cases showed increased responses. The evaluation of football helmets to the proposed National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment concussion standard should lead to more uniform reductions in concussion risk with future football helmets.
Shape Analysis of the Corpus Callosum and Cerebellum in Female MS Patients with Different Clinical Phenotypes

The aim of this study was to investigate the shape differences in the corpus callosum (CC) and cerebellum of female relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) patients compared with healthy controls. This study was conducted using the magnetic resonance imaging scans of 15 control subjects, 26 RRMS, and 14 SPMS patients. The data obtained from the landmark coordinates were analyzed with statistical shape analysis. The landmarks that were chosen to determine the shape differences of the CC and cerebellum have been identified and used in previous studies. In addition to these landmarks, constructed landmarks were determined and used to assess regional shape differences better. The shapes of the CC and cerebellum showed statistically significant differences from the controls when compared with both the RRMS and SPMS patients. It was found that the deformation observed from controls to SPMS was greater than the deformation from controls to RRMS, both for the CC and cerebellum. In conclusion, this study revealed CC and cerebellar shape change in RRMS and SPMS, and showed that deformations both in CC and cerebellum advances with the disease progression. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2012 Wiley‐Periodicals, Inc.
The Origin of the Entrepreneur and the Role of the Innovation Commons

We introduce the proto-entrepreneur as an economic agent who must first — i.e., before acting entrepreneurially — coordinate non-price information with others in order to reveal exploitable opportunities. Entrepreneurship, therefore, involves dual economic discovery problems, each of which may hold different efficient institutional solutions. Applying transaction cost economics logic to this problem, we reveal what we call an ‘entrepreneurial fundamental transformation’: while the entrepreneurial process begins with proto-entrepreneurs undertaking non-price coordination in polycentric collective action governance structures called innovation commons (Allen & Potts, 2016), it ends with integration in the hierarchical start-up firm. This governance shift, we argue, is the result of falling structural uncertainty — as unknown complementary collaborators become known — and rising idiosyncratic quasi-rents, both of which bring contracting hazards and move the economising structure towards the nascent firm.
The spatial and temporal expression pattern of sevenless is exclusively controlled by gene‐internal elements.

The sevenless gene controls the fate of a single photoreceptor cell type in the developing eye of Drosophila. Its RNA and protein accumulate transiently in a subpopulation of cells in the developing eye imaginal disc. We have used P‐element transformation with different minigenes and marker gene constructs to identify cis‐acting regulatory regions required for the complex sevenless expression pattern. Our results indicate that the upstream region of the sevenless gene is devoid of any detectable regulatory elements and that sequences located 3′ to the transcription start site are sufficient to promote the sevenless expression pattern. These gene‐internal sequences function in both orientations on heterologous promoters, also when placed at the 3′ end of a lacZ reporter gene.
Generation of a new adenovirus type 12-inducible fragile site by insertion of an artificial U2 locus in the human genome.

Infection with adenovirus type 12 (Ad12) induces four fragile sites in the human genome (H.F. Stich, G.L. van Hoosier, and J.J. Trentin, Exp. Cell Res. 34:400-403, 1964; H. zur Hausen, J. Virol. 1:1174-1185, 1967). The major site, at 17q21-22, contains the U2 gene cluster, which is specifically disrupted by infection in at least a percentage of the cells (D.M. Durnam, J.C. Menninger, S.H. Chandler, P.P. Smith, and J.K. McDougall, Mol. Cell. Biol. 8:1863-1867, 1988). For direct assessment of whether the U2 locus is the target of the Ad12 effect, an artificial locus, constructed in vitro and consisting of tandem arrays of the U2 6-kbp monomer, was transfected into human cells. We report that integration of this artificial locus on the p arm of chromosome 13 creates a new Ad12-inducible fragile site.
Performance of cooperative MIMO based on measured urban channel data

We study the potential benefits of cooperative multiple-input multiple-output signaling from multiple coherent base stations with one or more mobile stations in an urban macrocellular environment. The analysis uses novel and fully-coherent measurements of the channel from three base stations to a single mobile station equipped with four antennas. The observed channels are used to explore the gains in capacity enabled by cooperative base station signaling for point-to-point and multi-user communications. The analysis shows that cooperative signaling using practical algorithms yields significant increases in average capacity.
Global Impact of US and Euro Area Unconventional Monetary Policies: A Comparison

The paper analyses and compares the domestic and cross-border effects of US and euro area unconventional monetary policy measures on 24 major advanced and emerging economies, based on an estimated global vector error-correction model (GVECM). Unconventional monetary policies are measured using shadow interest rates developed by Lombardi and Zhu (2014). Monetary policy shocks are identified using sign restrictions. The GVECM impulse responses suggest that US unconventional monetary policy generally has stronger domestic and cross-border impacts than euro area non-standard measures. Its spillovers to other economies are estimated to be more sizeable and persistent, especially in terms of output growth and inflation. There is evidence of diverse responses in the emerging economies in terms of exchange rate pressures, credit growth as well as monetary policy. In addition, the strength of cross-border transmission channels to the emerging economies appears to differ for US and euro area policies.
The Preferences of Omega Ratio for Risk Averters and Risk Seekers

It is well-known that under some conditions, the mean-variance rule is equivalent to stochastic dominance rule. Some academics hypothesize that there could exist mean-Omega ratio rule that could be equivalent to stochastic dominance rule under certain conditions. To explore this possible, in this paper, we aim to establish the necessary conditions between Omega ratio and stochastic dominance that leads to the preferences of risk averters/seekers. We find that it is possible to establish the necessary conditions between and Omega ratio and the preferences of risk averters/seekers under the condition that the variables being compared belong to the location-scale family or the same linear combination of location-scale families.