Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Descriptive Epidemiology of Parkinson’s Disease through Proxy Measures

Abstract Background and Objective: In preparation for analytic study we undertook to describe areas of relative excess and deficit of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in Nebraska and tested two methodologic tools for inexpensive assessment of descriptive epidemiology of PD. Methods: In lieu of large-scale population screening and diagnosis, we obtained sales information of anti-PD drugs in the state in 1988 – 1990 as well as listings of all people dying from 1984 to 1993 who had Parkinson’s Disease mentioned anywhere on their death certificate. The anti-PD drug sales data are intended as a proxy for prevalence, while the death certificate data are intended as a proxy for incidence. Results: Sales divided by population over age 54 indicates where anti-PD drug sales differ from expected. We found high correlation of drug sales rates with several farming exposures. Age-adjusted death rates, however, showed a low degree of association with sales or farming variables. This may be attributable to differences in death certificate completion or in underlying incidence versus prevalence. Conclusions: These techniques provide a useful tool for delineating possible differences in incidence and prevalence. While not as accurate as full community survey with expert diagnosis, they are not as expensive, and can be followed by local cluster investigations and individual-level etiologic studies to test hypotheses resulting from the initial study.
Invasion by Salmonella typhimurium is affected by the direction of flagellar rotation

When grown aerobically, Salmonella typhimurium exhibits a low level of entry into tissue culture cells. We have isolated an S. typhimurium Tn10 mutant which, when grown under aerobic conditions, efficiently invades HEp-2 cells. Sequencing of S. typhimurium DNA adjacent to the site of the Tn10 element showed that the insertion disrupted transcription of the aspartate receptor gene, tar. Polar effects of the transposon on downstream genes also eliminated chemotaxis. Isogenic nonchemotactic (Che-), as well as nonmotile (Mot-) and nonflagellated (Fla-), S. typhimurium strains were examined for their ability to invade HEp-2 cells. "Smooth" swimming Che- mutants (cheA, cheW, cheR, and cheY) were found to possess increased invasiveness for cultured mammalian cells. In contrast, a "tumbly" cheB mutant and Mot- (flagellated) strain were found to have decreased levels of tissue culture invasiveness. A Fla- strain was found to be as invasive as the wild-type strain if centrifugation was used to facilitate contact with the monolayer surface. In addition, the observed hyperinvasiveness of the smooth swimming tar::Tn10 mutant was suppressed when the strain was paralyzed by the introduction of a mot or fla mutation. A murine infection model was used to demonstrate that the mutant invasive phenotypes were also observed in vivo. These data are most consistent with the idea that the rotation and physical orientation of flagella around the bacteria affect the ability of salmonellae to enter host cells.
Model-based recurrent neural network for modeling nonlinear dynamic systems

A model-based recurrent neural network (MBRNN) is introduced for modeling nonlinear dynamic systems. The topology of MBRNN as well as its initial weights are defined according to the linearized state-space model of the plant. As such, the MBRNN has the ability to incorporate the analytical knowledge of the plant in its formulation. With its original topology intact, the MBRNN can then be trained to represent the plant nonlinearities through modifying its node activation functions, which consist of contours of Gaussian radial basis functions (RBFs). Training involves adjusting the weights of the RBFs so as to modify the contours representing the activation functions. The performance of the MBRNN is demonstrated via several examples. The results indicate that it requires much shorter training than needed by ordinary recurrent networks. This training efficiency is attributed to the MBRNN's fixed topology, which is independent of training.
A Feature Selection Approach for Network Intrusion Classification: The Bi-Layer Behavioral-Based

Feature selection is a preprocessing step to machine learning, leads to increase the classification accuracy and reduce its complexity. Feature selection methods are classified into two main categories: filter and wrapper. Filter methods evaluate features without involving any learning algorithm, while wrapper methods depend on a learning algorithm for feature evaluation. Variety hybrid Filter and wrapper methods have been proposed in the literature. However, hybrid filter and wrapper approaches suffer from the problem of determining the cut-off point of the ranked features. This leads to decrease the classification accuracy by eliminating important features. In this paper the authors proposed a Hybrid Bi-Layer behavioral-based feature selection approach, which combines filter and wrapper feature selection methods. The proposed approach solves the cut-off point problem for the ranked features. It consists of two layers, at the first layer Information gain is used to rank the features and select a new set of features depending on a global maxima classification accuracy. Then, at the second layer a new subset of features is selected from within the first layer redacted data set by searching for a group of local maximum classification accuracy. To evaluate the proposed approach it is applied on NSL-KDD dataset, where the number of features is reduced from 41 to 34 features at the first layer. Then reduced from 34 to 20 features at the second layer, which leads to improve the classification accuracy to 99.2%.
Plant Viruses. Invaders of Cells and Pirates of Cellular Pathways1

Plant viruses, discovered over a century ago when the science of virology was born (for review, see [Creager, 2002][1]), are obligate parasites on their hosts. Through their life cycle, from virus accumulation to intracellular, local, and systemic movement, viruses utilize plant proteins, normally
MelanomaTumor-Reactive CTL Infiltrating Metastatic SSX-2-Derived Epitope Recognized by Proteasome-Assisted Identification of a

The tumor Ag SSX-2 (HOM-MEL-40) was found by serological identiﬁcation of Ags by recombinant expression cloning and was shown to be a cancer/testis Ag expressed in a wide variety of tumors. It may therefore represent a source of CD8 (cid:1) T cell epitopes useful for speciﬁc immunotherapy of cancer. To identify potential SSX-2-derived epitopes that can be recognized by CD8 (cid:1) T cells, we used an approach that combined: 1) the in vitro proteasomal digestion of precursor peptides overlapping the complete SSX-2 sequence; 2) the prediction of SSX-2-derived peptides with an appropriate HLA-A2 binding score; and 3) the analysis of a tumor-inﬁltrated lymph node cell population from an HLA-A2 (cid:1) melanoma patient with detectable anti-SSX-2 serum Abs. This strategy allowed us to identify peptide SSX-2 41–49 as an HLA-A2-restricted epitope. SSX2 41–49 -speciﬁc CD8 (cid:1) T cells were readily detectable in the tumor-inﬁltrated lymph node population by multimer staining, and CTL clones isolated by multimer-guided cell sorting were able to lyse HLA-A2 (cid:1) tumor cells expressing SSX-2. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 168: 1717–1722. to elicit an the (cid:1)
Blockade of the inotropic effect of Bay K 8644 by cytochalasin‐B and phloretin

1 The positive inotropic effect in rabbit atria and papillary muscles of Bay K 8644 is blocked by cytochalasin‐B (Cyto‐B) and phloretin, two compounds known to block the facilitated diffusion of glucose. These compounds do not change the concentration‐response curve of calcium. 2 Cyto‐B is more potent in atria than in papillary muscles, 10−7 m having a maximal effect in atria whereas 2 × 10−5m was required for a maximal effect in papillary muscles. Phloretin was fully effective at 10−4m, the only concentration tested. 3 The inotropic effect of Bay K 8644 was virtually abolished in atria bathed in a glucose‐free medium or one containing 5 mM pyruvate. The contractile response to Bay K 8644 of papillary muscles was not changed significantly in glucose‐free or in pyruvate‐containing medium. 4 Cyto‐B (2 × 10−5 m) caused a slight but significant increase in the KD for the binding of nitrendipine to a crude sarcolemnal preparation from rabbit ventricles. The Bmax was unchanged. 5 These results may best be explained by the hypothesis that there is a metabolic requirement for the inotropic effect of Bay K 8644.
I Thought You Were Looking at Me

Gaze direction is an important social signal in humans and other primates. In this study, we used an adaptation paradigm to investigate the functional organization of gaze perception in humans. Adaptation to consistent leftward or rightward gaze produced a powerful illusion that virtually eliminated observers' perception of gaze in the adapted direction; gaze to that side was seen as pointing straight ahead, though perception of gaze to the opposite side was unimpaired. This striking dissociation held even when retinotopic mapping between adaptation and test stimuli was disrupted by changes in size or head orientation, suggesting that our findings do not reflect adaptation to low-level visual properties. Moreover, adaptation to averted gaze did not affect judgments of line bisection, illustrating that our findings do not reflect a general spatial bias. Our findings provide evidence that humans have distinct populations of neurons that are selectively responsive to particular directions of seen gaze.
Mycobacterium bovis isolated from a sheep during routine surveillance

SIR, — We would like to report the isolation of Mycobacterium bovis from a sheep submitted to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (vla) as part of routine scanning surveillance. The flock involved comprised 200 ewes, which had been turned out after lambing in February/March 2008. During March, 15
Quantifying the strength of ligand antagonism in TCR triggering

Triggering of the T cell receptor (TCR) may be antagonized by ligands that are slight variants of the immunogenic peptide. This paper proposes a mathematical model to quantify the strength of the antagonistic effect. The model is based on the kinetics of association and dissociation of TCR and peptide/major histocompatibility (pMHC) molecules, and incorporates TCR triggering according to a kinetic proofreading mechanism. Model analysis indicates that while the average lifetime of the TCR/pMHC complex is the basic determinant of the contribution to TCR triggering made by the ligand, the affinity of the ligand and its MHC presentation level are also important. However, these contributions depend on the kinetic limitation regime. There is a continuum of limitation regimes, at the extremes of which are found TCR limitation and MHC limitation. Both ligand affinity and TCR and pMHC densities determine whether TCR triggering is TCR limited or MHC limited. The changing importance of affinity and antigen presentation level under various kinetic limitation regimes may explain the respective roles of antagonistic and agonistic self peptides in thymic selection. Moreover, TCR down-regulation under TCR-limited conditions may allow the T cell to differentiate between the average lifetime of the TCR/pMHC complex and the presentation level of the ligand. A method for experimental differentiation between passive and active antagonistic effects is proposed which exploits the differences between TCR and MHC limitation.
A Texture-based Classification Method for Proteins in Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis Gel Images - A Feature Selection Method using Support Vector Machines and Genetic Algorithms

In this paper, the influence of textural information is studied in two-dimensional electrophoresis gel images. A Genetic Algorithm-based feature selection technique is used in order to select the most representative textural features and reduced the original set (296 feat.) to a more efficient subset. Such a method makes use of a Support Vector Machines classifier. Different experiments have been performed, the pattern set has been divided into two parts (training and validation) extracting a total of 30%, 20% and 0% of the training data, and a 10-fold cross validation is used for validation. In case of extracting 0% means that training set is used for validation. For each division 10 different trials have been done. Experiments have been carried out in order to measure the behaviour of the system and to achieve the most representative textural features for the classification of proteins in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis images. This information can be useful for a protein segmentation process.
Faktor-Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Penghindaran Pajak Pada Perusahaan Manufaktur

This study aims to examine the effect of cash flow volatility, geographic dispersion, and tax amnesty on tax avoidance of manufacturing industry firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange period of 2010-2016. Using path analysis model with Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 22and SmartPLS 3.0. This study examined the secondary data from financial statement for tax avoidance. There are sixindicators of tax avoidance used as proxy. This studt gives result that cash flow volatility, geographic dispersion, and tax amnesty have an insignificant effect on tax avoidance.
Analise de fibras colagenas atraves da morfometria computadorizada em feridas cutaneas de ratos submetidos a irradiaçao do laser HeNe

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo comparar os resultados dos efeitos da terapia laser na regeneracao tecidual de feridas cutaneas. Neste estudo foi realizada uma analise morfometrica do percentual de fibras colagenas por densidade de cor. Utilizamos 48 ratos Wistar, machos, que foram submetidos a uma lesao no dorso e divididos em dois grupos de 24 animais. O grupo I foi tratado com laser e o grupo II nao foi tratado. Os animais do grupo I foram tratados com laser HeNe cun uma dosagem de 4J/cm por 36s. Um de cada grupo foi sacrificado no 3o, 7o e 14 dias apos a lesao e retiradas as amostras que foram emblocadas em parafina, coradas com H.E. , Tricromic de Masson,realizada a analisse morfometrica pelo software Imagelab. Os dados obtidos a partir das amostras retiradas, foram tratados estatisticamente por analise de variancia e fixou-se em 0,05 ou 5(§
Acidosis in models of cardiac ventricular myocytes

The effects of acidosis on cardiac electrophysiology and excitation–contraction coupling have been studied extensively. Acidosis decreases the strength of contraction and leads to altered calcium transients as a net result of complex interactions between protons and a variety of intracellular processes. The relative contributions of each of the changes under acidosis are difficult to establish experimentally, however, and significant uncertainties remain about the key mechanisms of impaired cardiac function. In this paper, we review the experimental findings concerning the effects of acidosis on the action potential and calcium handling in the cardiac ventricular myocyte, and we present a modelling study that establishes the contribution of the different effects to altered Ca2+ transients during acidosis. These interactions are incorporated into a dynamical model of pH regulation in the myocyte to simulate respiratory acidosis in the heart.
Dietary fiber, low-molecular-weight food constituents and colo-rectal inflammation in animal models -- a review.

This review provides an overview over studies in experimental animals aimed at elucidating the influence of dietary constituents on colo-rectal inflammation. Human studies as well as in vitro investigations will not be covered. In experimental animals, a variety of chemical treatments and genetic modifications, lead to various types of gut inflammation. In a number of these models, there is good evidence for an anti-inflammatory action of dietary tocopherols, certain polyphenols, and curcumin at relatively high oral doses. It has also been established, that oral application of fats and oils rich in n-3 PUFAs and/or conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) can attenuate certain types of colitis in experimental animal models. While the effect of dietary calcium on experimental colitis is less clear, there are hints indicating that certain high-fiber diets or diets rich in digestion-resistant carbohydrates ("fiber") can attenuate experimental colitis in animals, although contradictory results have been reported. In summary, the anti-inflammatory potency of dietary constituents on colon inflammation in experimental animals seems to be rather limited. The reasons for this lack of activity seem to be manifold including pharmacokinetic limitations and intestinal degradation of the compounds, in particular insufficient local, i. e. , intra- or sub-mucosal levels of the effective compounds, and general limitations of animal models.
Enhancement of intracardiac navigation by new GPS-guided location system (MediGuide Technologies).

Ventricular tachycardia in patients with structural heart disease is a clinical relevant arrhythmogenic disorder. Many of these patients require a combination of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) for prevention of sudden cardiac death with antiarrhythmic medications to decrease the frequency of ventricular tachycardia (VT) episodes. However, ICD cannot prevent arrhythmia episodes and medication has only limited efficacy and in relevant number of patients it has to be discontinued due to multiple side effects. Severalreportsinthelastdecadehaveshownthatinpatientswith frequently recurrent ventricular arrhythmia episodes catheter ablation can be a highly effective therapy as an adjunct to ICD and/or medical treatment. In addition, the SMASH-VT and VTACH trials demonstrates, that prophylactic VT ablation results in a prolonged time to recurrence of VT in patients with stable VT, previous myocardial infarction, and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. 1,2 According to this data it is hardlysurprising that, besides atrialfibrillation ablation, treatment of ventricular tachycardia is the next big frontier in the field of interventional therapy of cardiac arrhythmias. However, management of ventricular tachycardia is still challenging driven by a complex three-dimensional substrate. Successful treatment requires a comprehensive understanding and visualization of cardiac anatomy and electrical activation. Beside conventional fluoroscopy, 3-D electromagnetic mapping systems have been introduced to facilitate catheter navigation. Currently used techniques have some weaknesses. For instance, fluoroscopy provides only two-dimensional information, where it is difficult to repeatedly guide the catheter to the same area of interest. Thus, with prolonged procedures there is an increased X-ray exposure, adding risk for both the patient and the physician. One limitation of available 3-D-mapping system is failing to sufficiently compensate for respiratory, cardiac cycle, and patient movement and the limited integration on fluoroscopy. Recently, a new intracardiac navigation system (MediGuide TM System) was introduced to overcome this limitation and to merge the key benefits of fluoroscopy and 3-D-mapping system in a unique manner. In the following we are going to introduce this technology and present potential implications on interventional treatment of ventricular arrhythmias.
Microscopic Polyangiitis Presenting with Liver Dysfunction Preceding Rapidly Progressive Necrotizing Glomerulonephritis

The authors describe a 52-year-old woman diagnosed with microscopic polyangiitis. She presented with abnormal liver function tests accompanied by fever, headache, and fatigue. Two months later, rapidly progressive necrotizing glomerulonephritis developed together with seropositivity for perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody. Although liver dysfunction from microscopic polyangiitis is very rare, especially at presentation, this diagnostic possibility should be kept in mind to permit prompt consideration of steroid therapy.
Camera based degraded text recognition using grayscale feature

As the rapid progress of digital imaging technology, camera based character recognition receives more and more attentions. One challenge in camera based OCR is the recognition for degraded text. Conventional OCR engines usually recognize on binary image. However, the performance drops dramatically as the degradation level increases. In this paper, a new recognition method is proposed to recognize degraded character based on dual eigenspace decomposition and synthetic degraded data. Then, the degraded character string is segmented by the combination of binary and grayscale analysis. Experiments on single character and text string recognition prove the effectiveness of our method.
Increased androgen receptor and remodeling in the prostatic stroma after the inhibition of 5‐alpha reductase and aromatase in gerbil ventral prostate

Prostate require high levels of steroidogenic enzymes such as 5α‐reductase (5α‐r) and Aromatase (Aro) for the formation of active steroids. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), the prostate dominant androgen, is converted from testosterone (T) by the action of 5α‐r. Aro provides an alternative pathway for estrogen, via T aromatization. Since prostatic maintenance is dependent on both reciprocal stromal–epithelial interaction and regulation by steroids, this study aimed to elucidate what the absence of 5α‐r and Aro enzymes provokes in the prostate microenvironment after their long‐term inhibition. Data obtained 1 day after the 30 consecutive days of enzymatic inhibition with Finasteride (5α‐r inhibitor) and Letrozole (Aro inhibitor) demonstrated a marked stromal remodeling, with an increased deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins besides androgen receptor (AR) overexpression in the three phases of postnatal development analyzed. The subepithelial area of acini from ventral prostate presented collagen and reticular fibers accumulation, besides various altered and active fibroblasts. The AR content immunostaining was elevated after enzymatic inhibition therapy, mainly in the nuclei of epithelial cells. Similar data were observed in the ventral prostates even 21 days after the end of treatments. Results obtained following the long‐term inhibition of 5α‐r and Aro are relevant and highlight the actions of these enzymes as crucial not only for the maintenance of tissue architecture and ECM arrangement but also for androgen and AR function. The long‐term absence of their action imposes a novel situation on the prostate from which its normal physiology could not be restored by the conclusion of the treatments. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Current treatment strategies and nanocarrier based approaches for the treatment and management of diabetic retinopathy

Abstract Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness in all working age groups which contribute to patient’s quality of life. Considering the anatomy and physiology of barriers in the eye, the treatment and management of pathologic ocular neovascularization in the posterior segment of the eye in DR is a challenging task. The current and emerging treatment strategies are discussed in this review for better understanding and treatment of the DR. Challenges in conventional therapy and recent developments in nanocarrier based approaches (polymeric, lipid nanoparticles, liposomes and dendrimers) and their advantages in targeting ocular tissues were also discussed in this review.