Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transmission dynamics of Bacillus thuringiensis infecting Plodia interpunctella: a test of the mass action assumption with an insect pathogen

Central to theoretical studies of host-pathogen population dynamics is a term describing transmission of the pathogen. This usually assumes that transmission is proportional to the density of infectious hosts or particles and of susceptible individuals. We tested this assumption with the bacterial pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis infecting larvae of Plodia interpunctella, the Indian meal moth. Transmission was found to increase in a more than linear way with host density in fourth and fifth instar P. interpunctella, and to decrease with the density of infectious cadavers in the case of fifth instar larvae. Food availability was shown to play an important part in this process. Therefore, on a number of counts, the usual assumption was found not to apply in our experimental system.
Health behaviors, health status, and access to and use of health care: a population-based study of lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women.

BACKGROUND There is a dearth of validated information about lesbian and bisexual women's health. To better understand some of these issues, we used population-based data to assess variations in health behaviors, health status, and access to and use of health care based on sexual orientation. METHODS Our study population was drawn from a population-based sample of women, the 1997 Los Angeles County Health Survey. Participants reported their sexual orientation and these analyses included 4697 women: 4610 heterosexual women, 51 lesbians, and 36 bisexual women. We calculated adjusted relative risks to assess the effect of sexual orientation on important health issues. RESULTS Lesbians and bisexual women were more likely than heterosexual women to use tobacco products and to report any alcohol consumption, but only lesbians were significantly more likely than heterosexual women to drink heavily. Lesbians and bisexual women were less likely than heterosexual women to have health insurance, more likely to have been uninsured for health care during the preceding year, and more likely to have had difficulty obtaining needed medical care. During the preceding 2 years, lesbians, but not bisexual women, were less likely than heterosexual women to have had a Papanicolaou test and a clinical breast examination. CONCLUSIONS In this first population-based study of lesbian and bisexual women's health, we found that lesbians and bisexual women were more likely than heterosexual women to have poor health behaviors and worse access to health care. These findings support our hypothesis that sexual orientation has an independent effect on health behaviors and receipt of care, and indicate the need for the increased systematic study of the relationship between sexual orientation and various aspects of health and health care. Arch Fam Med. 2000;9:1043-1051
Accounting for Delusional Misidentifications

Accounts of the major DMSs are given using theoretical models of the functional components underlying recognition of familiar people. Thus, Capgras' syndrome is suggested to involve impairment of processes that can support ‘covert’ recognition of familiar faces in prosopagnosia. It therefore forms a potential ‘mirror image’ of the impairments underlying prosopagnosia, and earlier attempts to link the two conditions directly are questioned. Frégoli syndrome and intermetamorphosis are explained as defects at different stages of an information-processing chain. Not only are these accounts consistent with the association of different DMSs with different brain injuries, but they also offer both suggestions for new inquiries and predictions about possible preserved and impaired abilities.
Cyclic pursuit in a multi-agent robotic system with double-integrator dynamics under linear interactions

SUMMARY We investigate the controlled realization of a stable circular pursuit model in a multi-agent robotic system described by double-integrator dynamics with homogeneous controller gains. The dynamic convergence of the system starting from a randomly chosen, non-overlapping initial configuration to a sustained, stable pursuit configuration satisfying velocity matching and uniform inter-agent separation is demonstrated using the proposed control framework. The cyclic pursuit configuration emerges from local, linear, inter-agent interactions and is shown to be robust under stochastic perturbations of small and moderate intensities. The stability criterion discussed in this work is independent of the number of agents, permitting dynamic addition/deletion of agents without affecting overall system stability. Experimental results that validate the key theoretical results are also presented. Potential applications of the results obtained include cooperative perimeter tracking and resource distribution applications such as border patrol and wildfire monitoring.
Translocation of endotoxin and acute-phase proteins in malleolar fractures.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Translocation of endotoxins was demonstrated for multiple injury but not for minor trauma such as isolated malleolar fractures. Major trauma leads to substantial changes in the plasma concentration of acute-phase proteins. However, isolated malleolar fractures are minor trauma. The objective of this study was to elucidate the kinetics of endotoxemia and the ability of plasma to inactivate endotoxin of patients operated on malleolar fractures and to demonstrate the early time course of the acute-phase proteins C-reactive protein, transferrin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, haptoglobin, and interleukin-6 and to correlate them with the amount of endotoxemia. METHODS Thirty patients with malleolar fractures were operated on within 6 hours after injury. Blood was collected immediately after admission and regularly up to 96 hours after surgery. RESULTS Preoperative endotoxin plasma levels were increased compared with that of healthy individuals (0.05 +/- 0.017 vs. 0.02 EU/mL). Endotoxemia peaked 0.5 hours after the surgical procedure at 0.096 +/- 0.03 (p < 0.05 vs. healthy) and decreased to almost normal values after 24 hours. The ability of the plasma to inactivate endotoxin was significantly reduced after the surgical procedure compared with normal subjects (recovery, 0.17 +/- 0.028 EU/mL vs. 0.04 +/- 0.01 EU/mL; p < 0.05). Plasma interleukin-6 peaked 0.5 hours postoperatively (114 +/- 11 pg/mL, p < 0.05 vs. healthy), decreasing thereafter. C-Reactive protein peaked at 45 +/- 5 mg/mL (p < 0.05) 48 hours after injury. Transferrin decreased significantly postoperatively (2.41 +/- 0.12 mg/mL vs. pre-OP 2.65 +/- 0.1 mg/mL) and remained on this level for 96 hours. Both, alpha1-acid glycoprotein and haptoglobin increased postoperatively until day 4 (0.78 +/- 0.06 mg/mL to 1.15 +/- 0.08 mg/mL and 1.51 +/- 0.12 mg/mL to 3.24 +/- 0.22 mg/mL). There was no correlation between endotoxemia and the concentrations of the acute-phase proteins and interleukin-6. CONCLUSION Surgery for malleolar fractures is associated with temporary endotoxemia and temporary reduced endotoxin inactivation capacity of the plasma. The injury and the surgical procedure leads to substantial changes in the plasma concentrations of acute-phase proteins. The relation between endotoxemia and acute-phase response is not dose dependent.
Automated Storage Layout for Database Systems

Modern storage systems are complex. Simple direct-attached storage devices are giving way to storage systems that are flexible, network-attached, consolidated and virtualized. Today, storage systems have their own administrators, who use specialized tools and expertise to configure and manage storage resources. As a result, database administrators are no longer in direct control of the design and configuration of their database systems’ underlying storage resources. This introduces problems because database physical design and storage configuration are closely related tasks, and the separation makes it more difficult to achieve a good end-toend design. For instance, the performance of a database system depends strongly on the storage layout of database objects, such as tables and indexes, and the separation makes it hard to design a storage layout that is tuned to the I/O workload generated by the database system. In this thesis we address this problem and attempt to close the information gap between database and storage tiers by addressing the problem of predicting the storage (I/O) workload that will be generated by a database management system. Specifically, we show how to translate a database workload description, together with a database physical design, into a characterization of the I/O workload that will result. Such a characterization can directly be used by a storage configuration tool and thus enables effective end-toend design and configuration spanning both the database and storage tiers. We then introduce our storage layout optimization tool, which leverages such workload characterizations to generate an optimized layout for a given set of database objects. We formulate the layout problem as a non-linear programming (NLP) problem and use the I/O characterization as input to an NLP solver. We have incorporated our I/O estimation technique into the PostgreSQL database management system and our layout optimization technique into a database layout advisor. We present an empirical assessment of the cost of both tools as well as the efficacy and accuracy of their results.
A Watershed Method for MR Renography Segmentation

MR renography has emerged as a promising radiological measure of renal function. The MRR image segmentation has been the important technology in kidney image processing and analysis. Due to the rapid calculation speed, watershed transform is developed rapidly in image segmentation field in recent years. But it has an inevitable over-segmentation problem in the application. In this paper, a new watershed method for MR renography image segmentation has been proposed. To achieve smoothing and enhancing the contrast in image preprocessing, the total variation model is used as nonlinear filter. The results of experiments performed on real medical MRI kidney images show that the new approach solves the over-segmentation problem effectively, and it can identify the kidney regions clearly.
Laboratory evaluation of transgenic Populus davidiana×Populus bolleana expressing Cry1Ac + SCK, Cry1Ah3, and Cry9Aa3 genes against gypsy moth and fall webworm

Transgenic poplar lines ‘Shanxin’ (Populus davidiana×Populus bolleana) were generated via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The transgenic lines carried the expression cassettes of Cry1Ac + SCK, Cry1Ah3, and Cry9Aa3, respectively. The expression levels of the exogenous insect resistance genes in the transgenic lines were determined by Q-PCR and Western blot. Leaves of the transgenic lines were used for insect feeding bioassays on first instar larvae of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) and fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea). At 5 d of feeding, the mean mortalities of larvae feeding on Cry1Ac + SCK and Cry1Ah3 transgenic poplars leaves were 97% and 91%, while mortality on Cry9Aa3 transgenic lines was about 49%. All gypsy moth and fall webworm larvae were killed in 7–9 days after feeding on leaves from Cry1Ac + SCK or Cry1Ah3 transgenic poplars, while all the fall webworm larvae were killed in 11 days and about 80% of gypsy moth larvae were dead in 14 days after feeding on those from Cry9Aa3 transgenic lines. It was concluded that the transgenic lines of Cry1Ac + SCK and Cry1Ah3 were highly toxic to larvae of both insect species while lines with Cry9Aa3 had lower toxicity,and H. cunea larvae are more sensitive to the insecticidal proteins compared to L. dispar. Transgenic poplar lines toxic to L. dispar and H. cunea could be used to provide Lepidoptera pest resistance to selected strains of poplar trees.
Inhibition of Hydrophobic Protein-MediatedCandida albicans Attachment to Endothelial Cells during Physiologic Shear Flow

ABSTRACT Adhesion interactions during hematogenous dissemination ofCandida albicans likely involve a complex array of host and fungal factors. Possible C. albicans factors include changes in cell surface hydrophobicity and exposed antigens that have been shown in static adhesion assays to influence attachment events. We used a novel in vitro shear analysis system to investigate host-pathogen interactions and the role of fungal cell surface hydrophobicity in adhesion events with human endothelial cells under simulated physiologic shear. Endothelial monolayers were grown in capillary tubes and tested with and without interleukin-1β activation in buffered medium containing human serum. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic stationary-phase C. albicans yeast cells were infused into the system under shear flow and found to adhere with widely varying efficiencies. The average number of adherent foci was determined from multiple fields, sampled via video microscopy, between 8 and 12 min after infusion. Hydrophobic C. albicans cells demonstrated significantly more heterotypic binding events (Candida-endothelial cell) and greater homotypic binding events (Candida-Candida) than hydrophilic yeast cells. Cytokine activation of the endothelium significantly increased binding by hydrophobic C. albicans compared to unactivated host cells. Preincubation of hydrophobic yeast cells with a monoclonal antibody against hydrophobic cell wall proteins significantly blocked adhesion interactions with the endothelial monolayers. Because the antibody also blocks C. albicans binding to laminin and fibronectin, results suggest that vascular adhesion events with endothelial cells and exposed extracellular matrix may be blocked during C. albicans dissemination. Future studies will address the protective efficacy of blocking or redirecting blood-borne fungal cells to favor host defense mechanisms.
Stimulant treatment for children: a community perspective.

OBJECTIVE To examine the use of prescribed stimulants in relation to research diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a community sample of children. METHOD Data from 4 annual waves of interviews with 9- to 16-year-olds from the Great Smoky Mountains Study were analyzed. RESULTS Over a 4-year period, almost three quarters of children with an unequivocal diagnosis of ADHD received stimulant medications. However, girls and older children with ADHD were less likely to receive such treatment. Most children with impairing ADHD symptoms not meeting full criteria for DSM-III-R ADHD did not receive stimulant treatment. Stimulant treatment in this group was significantly related to the level of symptoms reported by parents and teachers and was much more common in individuals who met criteria for oppositional defiant disorder. The majority of individuals who received stimulants were never reported by their parents to have any impairing ADHD symptoms. They did have higher levels of nonimpairing parent-reported ADHD symptoms, higher levels of teacher-reported ADHD symptoms, and interviewer-observed ADHD behaviors, but these typically fell far below the threshold for a DSM-III-R diagnosis of ADHD. CONCLUSIONS In this area of the Great Smoky Mountains, stimulant treatment was being used in ways substantially inconsistent with current diagnostic guidelines.
A Critical Role for the cccA Gene Product, Cytochrome c2, in Diverting Electrons from Aerobic Respiration to Denitrification in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a microaerophile that, when oxygen availability is limited, supplements aerobic respiration with a truncated denitrification pathway, nitrite reduction to nitrous oxide. We demonstrate that the cccA gene of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain F62 (accession number NG0292) is expressed, but the product, cytochrome c2, accumulates to only low levels. Nevertheless, a cccA mutant reduced nitrite at about half the rate of the parent strain. We previously reported that cytochromes c4 and c5 transfer electrons to cytochrome oxidase cbb3 by two independent pathways and that the CcoP subunit of cytochrome oxidase cbb3 transfers electrons to nitrite. We show that mutants defective in either cytochrome c4 or c5 also reduce nitrite more slowly than the parent. By combining mutations in cccA (Δc2), cycA (Δc4), cycB (Δc5), and ccoP (ccoP-C368A), we demonstrate that cytochrome c2 is required for electron transfer from cytochrome c4 via the third heme group of CcoP to the nitrite reductase, AniA, and that cytochrome c5 transfers electrons to nitrite reductase by an independent pathway. We propose that cytochrome c2 forms a complex with cytochrome oxidase. If so, the redox state of cytochrome c2 might regulate electron transfer to nitrite or oxygen. However, our data are more consistent with a mechanism in which cytochrome c2 and the CcoQ subunit of cytochrome oxidase form alternative complexes that preferentially catalyze nitrite and oxygen reduction, respectively. Comparison with the much simpler electron transfer pathway for nitrite reduction in the meningococcus provides fascinating insights into niche adaptation within the pathogenic neisseriae.
World knowledge affects prediction as quickly as selectional restrictions: evidence from the visual world paradigm

ABSTRACT There has been considerable debate regarding the question of whether linguistic knowledge and world knowledge are separable and used differently during processing or not (Hagoort et al, 2004). Integration of word meaning and world knowledge in language comprehension (Matsuki et al, 2011). Event-based plausibility immediately influences on-line language comprehension (Paczynski et al, 2012). Multiple influences of semantic memory on sentence processing: Distinct effects of semantic relatedness on violations of real-world event/state knowledge and animacy selection restrictions (Warren et al, 2007). Investigating effects of selectional restriction violations and plausibility violation severity on eye movements in reading. Previous investigations into this question have provided mixed evidence as to whether violations of selectional restrictions are detected earlier than violations of world knowledge. We report a visual world eye-tracking study comparing the timing of facilitation contributed by selectional restrictions vs. world knowledge. College-aged adults (n = 36) viewed photographs of natural scenes while listening to sentences. Participants anticipated upcoming direct objects similarly regardless of whether facilitation was provided by only world knowledge or a combination of selectional restrictions and world knowledge. These results suggest that selectional restrictions are not available earlier in comprehension than world knowledge.
Saisonale und überregionale Unterschiede der Selenversorgung bei Pferden

Zusammenfassung Gegenstand und Ziel: Überprüfung der Selenversorgung von Pferden in verschiedenen Ländern Europas. Material und Methoden: In Serumproben von 137152 Pferden aus Europa, die im Zeitraum vom 1.1. 2006 bis 31.12. 2011 von Tierärzten in das IDEXX Vet Med Labor nach Ludwigsburg eingesandt wurden, erfolgte eine routinemäßige Bestimmung der Selenkonzentration mittels ICP-Analytik. Ergebnisse: Die Selengehalte im Boden scheinen für die Selenversorgung zentrale Bedeutung zu besitzen. In Ländern, die in Ozeannähe liegen, besteht durch den Seleneintrag eine bessere Selenversorgung der Pferdepopulation als in zentraleuropäischen Ländern. Dänemark und die Niederlande stehen in der Selenversorgung an erster Stelle. Die schlechteste Selenversorgung in Europa zeigen die Länder Österreich und Luxemburg. In fast allen Ländern lassen sich große regionale Unterschiede nachweisen. Besonders in Deutschland besteht vor allem ein West-Ost-Gefälle in der Selenversorgung. Das Nord-Süd-Gefälle ist weniger ausgeprägt, wie die Selengehalte im Boden zeigen. Eine sehr schlechte Selenversorgung findet sich in den Zentralgebieten Österreichs mit einer Unterversorgung von über 50%. Schlussfolgerung und klinische Relevanz: Die individuelle Pferdehaltung und -versorgung spielt für die Selenversorgung eine große Rolle. Da die Selenkonzentration in der Grundfutterration sehr stark schwankt und Spurenelementanalysen des Grundfutters meist nicht durchgeführt werden, gestaltet sich die Anpassung der Mineralfuttergabe für Selen oft sehr schwierig. Daher wird eine jährliche Kontrolle des Selengehalts im Serum empfohlen. Bei Pferden mit niedrigen Selenwerten kann die Unterversorgung durch Gaben von selenhaltigem Zusatz-/Mineralfutter behoben werden.
Clinical and Epidemiologic Characteristics of Human Bocavirus in Danish Infants: Results From a Prospective Birth Cohort Study

Background: Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a recently discovered parvovirus that has been detected in respiratory samples from children with acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) and in feces from children with gastroenteritis. However, its role as a causative agent of respiratory disease is not determined. Methods: We investigated the presence of HBoV by real-time polymerase-chain reaction of nasal swab specimens obtained from 228 healthy children followed in the community from birth to 1 year of age for a 2-year period from 2004 to 2006. Nasal swabs and symptom diaries were collected at monthly home visits. Results: HBoV was detected in 57 (8.2%) of 697 nasal swab specimens from children with ARTI, in 1 (2.3%) of 44 swabs from children with diarrhea, and in 13 (8.6%) of 152 swabs from asymptomatic children. HBoV was present mainly during the winter months. An additional respiratory virus was identified in 27 (47.4%) HBoV-positive samples. Thirty-four (68%) of 50 children with ARTI shed HBoV for less than 1 month, 13 (26%) for 2 months, 2 (4%) for 3 months, and 1 (2%) for 4 months. Seven asymptomatic children shed HBoV for less than 1 month, 2 children for 2 months, and 1 asymptomatic child had 5 HBoV-positive nasal swabs detected for 6 consecutive months. HBoV infection was associated with maternal smoking, being born in the winter, and predisposition to asthma. Conclusions: Asymptomatic carriage of HBoV is common in infants <1 year of age, and an HBoV-positive test result does not imply that HBoV is the cause of the illness.
Neural differentiation promoted by truncated trkC receptors in collaboration with p75(NTR).

trkC receptors, which serve critical functions during the development of the nervous system, are alternatively spliced to yield isoforms containing the catalytic tyrosine kinase domain (TK+) and truncated isoforms which lack this domain (TK-). To test for potential differences in their roles during early stages of neural development, TK+ and TK- isoforms were ectopically expressed in cultures of neural crest, the stem cell population that gives rise to the vast majority of the peripheral nervous system. NT-3 activation of ectopically expressed trkC TK+ receptors promoted both proliferation of neural crest cells and neuronal differentiation. Strikingly, the trkC TK- isoform was significantly more effective at promoting neuronal differentiation, but had no effect on proliferation. Furthermore, the trkC TK- response was dependent on a conserved receptor cytoplasmic domain and required the participation of the p75(NTR) neurotrophin receptor. Antibody-mediated receptor dimerization of TK+ receptors, but not TK- receptors, was sufficient to stimulate differentiation. These data identify a phenotypic response to activation of the trkC TK- receptor and demonstrate a functional interaction with p75(NTR), indicating there may be multiple trkC receptor-mediated systems guiding neuronal differentiation.