Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship of Sleep Duration and Regularity with Dietary Intake Among Preschool-Aged Children with Obesity from Low-Income Families

Objective: Diet is a modifiable factor associated with pediatric obesity outcomes, but few studies have evaluated the relationships of sleep duration and regularity on dietary intake of young preschool-aged children. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether short sleep duration and irregular sleep timing were associated with greater calorie, carbohydrate and fat consumption among young children with obesity from low-income families. Methods: Fifty-one ethnically diverse children aged 2 to 4 years were recruited from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children clinics in a southeast Texas county. Sleep behaviors were parent reported using the Child Sleep Assessment tool. Dietary intake data were obtained by 24-hour recall interviews (2 weekdays and 1 weekend day). Results: Short sleep duration (<11 hr) was highly prevalent among this cohort of preschool-aged children. Short sleep duration was associated with greater fat and decreased carbohydrate consumption. Children with greater variability in sleep duration and timing had greater energy intake from fat and protein sources. Conclusion: Allowing for the opportunity to educate parents on the importance of maintaining regular, adequate sleep and relationships between sleep and dietary intake may decrease the risk of childhood obesity in this high-risk pediatric population.
Integrated Transcriptional and Proteomic Analysis with In Vitro Biochemical Assay Reveal the Important Role of CYP3A46 in T-2 Toxin Hydroxylation in Porcine Primary Hepatocytes*

Both T-2 toxin and its metabolites are highly potent mycotoxins that can cause severe human and animal diseases upon exposure. Understanding the toxic mechanism and biotransformation process of T-2 toxin at a cellular level is essential for the development of counter-measures. We investigated the effect of T-2 toxin in porcine primary hepatocytes using porcine genome array and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time of flight mass spectrometry. Integrated transcriptional and proteomic analysis demonstrated that T-2 toxin adversely affected porcine hepatocytes by initiating lipid metabolism disorder, oxidative stress response, and apoptosis. In addition, xenobiotic metabolism genes, including cytochrome P450 3As (CYP3A46 and CYP3A39), carboxylesterase 1Cs (CES1C4 and CES1C5), and epoxide hydrolase (EPHX1), increased in T-2 toxin treatment cells. Using HepG2 cells to over-express the recombinant xenobiotic metabolism genes above and rapid resolution liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry to detect metabolites of T-2 toxin, we determined that porcine CYP3A46 mainly catalyzed T-2 to form 3′-hydroxy-T-2, which was further confirmed by purified CYP3A46 protein. However, recombinant porcine CES1C5 and EPHX1 did not enhance hydrolysis and de-epoxidation of T-2 implying that other esterases and epoxide hydrolases may play dominant roles in those reactions.
Clinical assessment of sacroiliitis and HLA-B27 are poor predictors of sacroiliitis diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging in psoriatic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and clinical predictors of sacroiliitis diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a psoriatic arthritis (PsA) population. METHODS The studied comprised 103 patients with PsA. A careful clinical assessment for sacroiliitis was made from history and examination, and HLA-B27 testing was performed. Sixty-eight patients underwent tilted coronal fat-saturated T1-weighted and STIR MRI of the sacroiliac joints. RESULTS Clinical features of moderate or severe sacroiliitis were found in 24/68 (35%) patients. MRI features of sacroiliitis were found in 26/68 (38%) patients. Clinical features of sacroiliitis were present in 14/42 (33%) with normal MRI scans and 10/26 (38%) with abnormal scans (normal vs abnormal scans, P = 0.7). The presence of sacroiliitis on MRI was associated with restricted spinal movements (P = 0.004) and the duration of PsA (P = 0.04). There was no correlation between HLA-B27 and sacroiliitis diagnosed by MRI. CONCLUSION Sacroiliitis diagnosed by MRI occurs commonly in PsA but is difficult to detect clinically.
The role of perilipin in human obesity and insulin resistance

Purpose of review More than 1.1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. We know that obesity is determined by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Although hundreds of obesity candidate genes have been identified through different metabolic pathways, the fundamental basis of obesity resides with excessive storage of triacylglycerides in adipose tissue. Recent findings The mechanisms that control the storage and release of triacylglycerides in lipid droplets are complex and poorly understood; yet, they are likely to be crucial to the understanding of the regulation of body weight. In this regard, the family of perilipin, adipophilin and TIP47 proteins may play key roles in obesity. It has recently been shown that variants at the perilipin locus were associated with BMI and obesity risk in females from several population studies. Moreover, the reported interactions between perilipin and dietary factors may shed light on the complex relation between dietary intake and body weight changes observed on an individual basis. Summary These findings support an important role for PLIN as a candidate gene for obesity risk in humans as well as a modulator of dietary response to therapies aimed to reduce body weight and decrease metabolic syndrome risk.
Biomathematical Description of Synthetic Peptide Libraries

Libraries of randomised peptides displayed on phages or viral particles are essential tools in a wide spectrum of applications. However, there is only limited understanding of a library's fundamental dynamics and the influences of encoding schemes and sizes on their quality. Numeric properties of libraries, such as the expected number of different peptides and the library's coverage, have long been in use as measures of a library's quality. Here, we present a graphical framework of these measures together with a library's relative efficiency to help to describe libraries in enough detail for researchers to plan new experiments in a more informed manner. In particular, these values allow us to answer-in a probabilistic fashion-the question of whether a specific library does indeed contain one of the "best" possible peptides. The framework is implemented in a web-interface based on two packages, discreteRV and peptider, to the statistical software environment R. We further provide a user-friendly web-interface called PeLiCa (Peptide Library Calculator, http://www.pelica.org), allowing scientists to plan and analyse their peptide libraries.
First-person-vision-based driver assistance system

This paper presents a driver assistance system to monitor the driver driving behavior by applying the so-called “First-Person Vision” (FPV) technology. It consists of two modules: the scene classification and the driver viewing angle estimation. First, we use “bag of words” image classification approach based on FAST and BRIEF feature descriptor in the dataset. Second, we establish the “vocabulary dictionary” to encode an input image as a feature vector. Third, we apply SVM classifier to detect whether the driver's view is inside or outside scene of a vehicle. Finally, we estimate the driver viewing angle estimation based on FPV and the windshield-mounted camera. In the experiments, we illustrate the effectiveness of our system.
Caffeine inhibits inositol trisphosphate‐mediated liberation of intracellular calcium in Xenopus oocytes.

1. Voltage‐clamp recording of Ca(2+)‐activated chloride currents in Xenopus oocytes was used to study the effects of caffeine on the liberation of intracellular Ca2+ induced by photo‐release of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (InsP3) from caged InsP3. Bath application of caffeine, at concentrations between 0.1 and 10 mM, reduced or abolished the current evoked by photo‐release of InsP3 and by microinjection of InsP3. 2. Caffeine did not appreciably reduce currents evoked by injection of Ca2+ into oocytes, whereas measurements using the Ca2+ indicator Rhod‐2 showed that it instead inhibited the liberation of Ca2+ by InsP3. 3. Caffeine increased the threshold amount of InsP3 required to evoke a current response and proportionally reduced the currents evoked by suprathreshold levels of InsP3. 4. Theophylline and 3‐isobutyl‐1‐methylxanthine (IBMX) were much less potent than caffeine, and few changes were seen in the InsP3 responses following application of forskolin or intracellular injection of cyclic AMP. Thus, inhibition of InsP3 responses by caffeine does not arise through inhibition of phosphodiesterase enzymes. 5. Even at high (10 mM) concentrations, caffeine did not itself elicit any clear Ca(2+)‐activated current. It is therefore unlikely that inhibition of the InsP3 responses arise because caffeine itself liberates Ca2+ from intracellular stores. 6. The site of action of caffeine is intracellular, because injections of caffeine into the oocyte strongly inhibited responses to InsP3, whereas local extracellular applications of similar amounts were almost without effect.
Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) Promoter Polymorphism and Coronary Artery Disease in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes

Summary Elevated levels of PAI-1 are found in coronary artery disease (CAD) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM). PAI-1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of CAD through suppression of fibrinolysis, alternatively the high levels may result from vascular damage. There is evidence that PAI-1 levels are related to genotype at a PAI-1 promoter polymorphism. Genotype at this 4G/5G polymorphism was determined in 160 NIDDM (90 males and 70 females) patients with (n = 38) or without (n = 122) clinical evidence of CAD. Levels of cholesterol were higher (6.5 vs 5.9 mM, p <0.01) and of PAI-1 tended to be higher (PAI-1 activity 23.0 vs 20.4 U/ml) with CAD. The frequency of the 4G/4G genotype was increased and the 5G/5G genotype decreased, in the group CAD compared to those without (p <0.05). These results suggest that possession of the 4G/4G PAI-1 promoter genotype is a risk factor for the development of CAD in subjects with NIDDM.
Relaxed Stabilization of controlled positive discrete-time T-S fuzzy systems

This paper deals with sufficient conditions of asymptotic stability for non linear discrete-time systems represented by Takagi-Sugeno type fuzzy model with restricted sign state. This work is based on multiple Lyapunov functions by using state feedback control. The results are presented in LMIs form. Non PDC techniques with slack variables and PDC techniques with cone complementarity are used to obtain less conservative results.
Itaconate, an isocitrate lyase-directed inhibitor in Pseudomonas indigofera

Enzymes catalyzing steps from ethanol to acetyl-coenzyme A, from malate to pyruvate, and from pyruvate to glucose 6-phosphate were identified in ethanol-grown Pseudomonas indigofera. Enzymes catalyzing the catabolism of glucose to pyruvate via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway were identified in glucose-grown cells. Phosphofructokinase could not be detected in Pseudomonas indigofera. Itaconate, a potent inhibitor of isocitrate lyase, abolished growth of P. indigofera on ethanol at concentrations that had little effect upon growth on glucose. The date obtained through enzyme analyses and studies of itaconate inhibition with both extracts and toluene-treated cells suggest that itaconate selectively inhibits and reduces the specific activity of isocitrate lyase.
Action Observation Plus Sonification. A Novel Therapeutic Protocol for Parkinson’s Patient with Freezing of Gait

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a disabling symptom associated with falls, with little or no responsiveness to pharmacological treatment. Current protocols used for rehabilitation are based on the use of external sensory cues. However, cued strategies might generate an important dependence on the environment. Teaching motor strategies without cues [i.e., action observation (AO) plus Sonification] could represent an alternative/innovative approach to rehabilitation that matters most on appropriate allocation of attention and lightening cognitive load. We aimed to test the effects of a novel experimental protocol to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and FoG, using functional, and clinical scales. The experimental protocol was based on AO plus Sonification. 12 patients were treated with 8 motor gestures. They watched eight videos showing an actor performing the same eight gestures, and then tried to repeat each gesture. Each video was composed by images and sounds of the gestures. By means of the Sonification technique, the sounds of gestures were obtained by transforming kinematic data (velocity) recorded during gesture execution, into pitch variations. The same 8 motor gestures were also used in a second group of 10 patients; which were treated with a standard protocol based on a common sensory stimulation method. All patients were tested with functional and clinical scales before, after, at 1 month, and 3 months after the treatment. Data showed that the experimental protocol have positive effects on functional and clinical tests. In comparison with the baseline evaluations, significant performance improvements were seen in the NFOG questionnaire, and the UPDRS (parts II and III). Importantly, all these improvements were consistently observed at the end, 1 month, and 3 months after treatment. No improvement effects were found in the group of patients treated with the standard protocol. These data suggest that a multisensory approach based on AO plus Sonification, with the two stimuli semantically related, could help PD patients with FoG to relearn gait movements, to reduce freezing episodes, and that these effects could be prolonged over time.
Conditional Arbiters: The Limits of Political Party Influence in Presidential Nominations

ABSTRACT The 2016 Republican presidential nomination challenges arguments about political party insiders’ influence on the outcome. This article argues, first, that party insider influence is conditional on the participation, coalescence, and timing of party stakeholders behind a front-runner during the invisible primary, and second, that party insider influence has probably declined since the 2000 presidential election. Data on endorsements by elite elected officials in open presidential nominations from 1984 to 2016 show that party insiders’ participation and convergence of support behind the front-runner is less extensive than what was found by Cohen, Karol, Noel, and Zaller (2008), though the data sets differ. Party insiders participate and unify more readily when the party coalition is stable and there is a candidate in the race who has demonstrable national support. Party elites remain on the sidelines when the party coalition is divided or when there is uncertainty about the appeal of candidates (Ryan 2011; Whitby 2014). The potency of insider endorsements likely has declined with the rise of social media, the changing campaign finance landscape, and the reemergence of populism in each party.
INCREASED BLOOD‐BRAIN BARRIER PERMEABILITY AROUND CEREBRAL STAB WOUNDS, AGGRAVATED BY ACUTE ETHANOL INTOXICATION

Control and ethanol‐intoxicated rats were injured with a small cerebral stab wound and the extravasation of Evans blue‐labelled albumin (EBA) was studied. Control rats displayed an extravasation of EBA in the immediate peri‐traumatic area with subsequent uptake of EBA in neurosns and glia. Ethanol‐intoxicated rats showed a greater leakage of EBA as well as a wider area of leaking blood vessels around the stab wound, both in the peri‐traumatic and in the early post‐traumatic period. Neuronal uptake of EBA was enhanced and observed in a wider area in intoxicated than control rats. The difference in distribution of EBA among neurons and glia between intoxicated and control rats was partly a consequence of the difference in leakage of EBA in the experimental groups. However, part of the increased neuronal uptake of EBA might be explained by an effect of ethanol on neuronal plasmalemma. The results obtained indicated a more pronounced injury to endothelial and neuronal cells after small cerebral stab wounds in ethanol‐intoxicated compared to control rats.
High-dose furosemide for established ARF: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial.

BACKGROUND The effect of furosemide on the survival and renal recovery of patients presenting with acute renal failure (ARF) is still debated. METHODS Three hundred thirty-eight patients with ARF requiring dialysis therapy were randomly assigned to the administration of either furosemide (25 mg/kg/d intravenously or 35 mg/kg/d orally) or matched placebo, with stratification according to severity at presentation. The primary end point was survival. The secondary end point was number of dialysis sessions. Tertiary end points included time on dialysis therapy, time to achieve a serum creatinine level less than 2.26 mg/dL (<200 micromol/L), and time to reach a 2-L/d diuresis. RESULTS There were no differences in survival and renal recovery rates between the 2 groups. Time to achieve a 2-L/d diuresis was shorter with furosemide (5.7 +/- 5.8 days) than placebo (7.8 +/- 6.8 days; P = 0.004). Overall, 148 patients achieved a urine output of at least 2 L/d during the study period (94 of 166 patients; 57%) with furosemide versus 54 of 164 patients (33%) with placebo ( P < 0.001). However, there were no significant differences in number of dialysis sessions and time on dialysis therapy between the furosemide and placebo groups, even in the subgroup of patients reaching a 2-L/d diuresis. CONCLUSION High-dose furosemide helps maintain urinary output, but does not have an impact on the survival and renal recovery rate of patients with established ARF.
GFP-Tagged Expression Analysis Revealed That Some Histidine Kinases of Aspergillus nidulans Show Temporally and Spatially Different Expression during the Life Cycle

His-Asp phosphorelays are signal transduction mechanisms widely found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The phosphorelay comprises three types of signal transducers: a sensor with histidine kinase (HK), a response regulator containing a phospho-accepting receiver (RR), and a histidine-containing phosphotransmitter (HPt). In this study, we examined HK expression using a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter driven by HK promoters in Aspergillus nidulans. All the transformants showed fluorescence derived from GFP in a submerged culture, although some of them were very weak, indicating that all the promoters were active. As judged by the fluorescence of transformants grown on a culture plate on which sexual development was induced, promoters of fphA, hk-8-2, and hk-8-5 preferentially functioned in conidial heads, the promoter of phkA preferentially functioned in cleistothecia, and the promoters of tcsB and nikA function in both conidial heads and cleistothecia. These results indicate that at least some HKs of A. nidulans showed temporally and spatially different expression during the cell cycle.
Major life events increase the risk of stroke but not of myocardial infarction: results from the Copenhagen City Heart Study

Background More attention has been paid to psychosocial conditions as possible risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the impact of accumulated major life events (MLE) on the development of CVD has received little attention. Design The aim of this study was to explore the influences of MLE on CVD risk in a large cohort study. Methods The study population consisted of 9542 randomly selected adults free of CVD examined in the Copenhagen City Heart Study in 1991-1994 and followed up for CVD defined as myocardial infarction or ischaemic stroke until 2001. MLE were analysed using an 11-item questionnaire and hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results During follow-up there were 443 myocardial infarctions (MI) and 350 ischaemic strokes. Financial problems in both childhood and adulthood were associated with risk of stroke with an HR of 1.71 (95% CI: 1.29-2.26) and 1.60 (1.12-2.30), respectively. Accumulation of M LE was also associated with risk of stroke with HR reaching a maximum of 1.41 (95% CI: 1.06-1.90) for more than one event in childhood and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.09-2.04) for more than one event in adulthood. MLE accumulated over a life course showed a dose-response relationship with stroke. Associations were somewhat attenuated by adjustment for vital exhaustion suggesting a mediating role, but not by adjustment for behavioural risk factors. There were no associations between MLE and MI. Conclusion In this population-based cohort study, we found that MLE conveyed a moderately increased risk of stroke partly mediated through vital exhaustion. We found no association between MLE and the risk of MI.
A framework for multi-angle TIRF microscope calibration

This communication presents a pipeline for Multi-Angle TIRF calibration from the measurement of the incident angle to the model validation. This problem is of major importance when dealing with 3D reconstruction methods from a set of MA-TIRF acquisitions since the reconstruction accuracy highly depends on the agreement between the theoretical model and the physical system. One main issue is then to build phantom samples with known geometry, or known properties, in order to adjust and/or validate the model. This paper describes such a calibration procedure using a lens as phantom sample and proposes a new model validation experiment based on a dual-color co-localization.
Dielectrophoretic micro/nanoassembly with microtweezers and nanoelectrodes

The contact phase of an assembly task involving micro and nano-sized building blocks is complicated by the presence of surface and intermolecular forces such as electrostatic, surface-tension and Van der Waals forces. Assembly strategies must account for the presence of these forces in order to guarantee successful repeatable micro and nanoassembly with high precision. In this paper, a detailed model is presented for the electrostatic interactions at these scales and qualitatively analyzed. Based on the results of this analysis, dielectrophoretic assembly principles of MEMS/NEMS devices are proposed and experimentally verified with microtweezers for microscale Ni parts and with nanoelectrodes fabricated by electron-beam lithography for carbon nanotube assembly. The successful manipulation and assembly of carbon nanotubes using dielectrophoretic forces produced by nanoelectrodes will lead to a higher integration of CNTs into both nanoelectronics and NEMS
Mouse Testis Brain Ribonucleic Acid-Binding Protein/Translin Colocalizes with Microtubules and Is Immunoprecipitated with Messenger Ribonucleic Acids Encoding Myelin Basic Protein, α Calmodulin Kinase II, and Protamines 1 and 21

Abstract Testis brain RNA-binding protein (TB-RBP) is a sequence-dependent RNA-binding protein that binds to conserved Y and H sequence elements present in many brain and testis mRNAs. Using recombinant TB-RBP and a highly enriched tubulin fraction, we demonstrate here that recombinant TB-RBP binds to microtubules assembled in vitro. The interaction between recombinant TB-RBP and microtubules was inhibited by high salt and by the microtubule disassembling agents colcemid and calcium, but not by the microfilament-disassembling agent cytochalasin D. Confocal microscopy confirmed colocalization of TB-RBP and tubulin in the cytoplasm of male germ cells. An affinity-purified antibody prepared against recombinant TB-RBP specifically precipitated mRNAs encoding myelin basic protein and α calmodulin-dependent kinase II—two transported mRNAs, and protamines 1 and 2—two translationally regulated testicular mRNAs. These data indicate an intracellular association between TB-RBP and specific target mRNAs and suggest an involvement of TB-RBP in microtubule-dependent mRNA transport in the cytoplasm of cells.