Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Highly infectious plasmids carrying poliovirus cDNA are capable of replication in transfected simian cells

We examined events leading to production of infectious poliovirus upon transfection of simian cells with plasmids carrying poliovirus cDNA and simian virus 40 transcription and replication signals. The nature of the simian virus 40 promoter upstream from the poliovirus cDNA had no influence on its infectivity. A high specific infectivity was correlated with plasmid replication, dependent on expression of T antigen either encoded by the plasmid or present in host cells (COS-1).
Olfactory Responses of the Asiatic Citrus Psyllid(Diaphorina citri) to Mineral Oil-Treated Mandarin Leaves

Problem statement: Evidence of rejection or acceptance by phytophagous pests of citrus plants treated with mineral oils suggests that impa cts of oils may be related to detection by olfactor y and/or contact chemoreceptors of repellent oils or plant volatiles. Alternatively, the oils may mask o r suppress attractant host plant volatiles. To date, no studies have reported that oils elicit an olfact ory response in Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). Therefore, we undertook two studies to determine how oil deposits on citrus leaves infl uenced the behaviour of D. citri . Approach: The attractiveness of citrus leaves treated separately with an nC21 horticultural mineral oil and an nC24 agricultural mineral oil to D. citri was evaluated under laboratory conditions. In the first of two studies, the oils were applied as 0.5% aqueous emul sions to mandarin leaves and responses of adults determined after they walked on surfaces saturated with either distilled water or 2% aqueous emulsions of the oils. In the second study, responses of adul t psyllids to host-leaf volatiles, mineral oil vola tiles emanating from leaves dipped in 2% v/v aqueous emulsions of each oil and similarly treated filter paper paired with water-dipped leaves were determined in single, linear-tube olfactometers. Results: In the first study, deposits of both oils significa ntly reduced the proportion of D. citri attracted to citrus leaves. Prior exposure of the insects to oil deposi ts did not influence this response. However, prior contact with the HMO slightly reduced the proportio n of psyllids alighting on the water-dipped leaves. In the second study, oil volatiles emanating from f ilter paper significantly reduced the attractivenes s of water-dipped mandarin leaves. Conclusion: These results indicate that application of the oil s to the mandarin leaves may have: (a) suppressed release of attractant host plant volatiles; (b) masked attractant host plant volatiles; (c) led to the rel ease of repellent volatiles from leaves and/or (d) to adults being repelled by oil volatiles. The results from the study using the olfactometer suggested th at detection of mineral oil volatiles by olfactory rec eptors of adult D. citri contributed to their response to oil deposits on the mandarin leaves.
Real-Time Systems Symposium : Work in Progress

This paper presents a representative Navy shipboard control system and discusses its distributed implementation. The real-time, fault tolerance and scalability aspects are discussed; the system configuration is described; and the computing infrastructure is summarized. The paper also presents challenges which are likely to be faced by the engineers of the next generation of Navy surface combatants.
Scoring and Manipulating Gene Position and Dynamics Using FROS in Budding Yeast

The spatial organization of the genome within the nucleus is now seen as a key contributor to genome function. Studying chromatin dynamics in living cells has been rendered possible by the development of fast microscopy coupled with fluorescent repressor operator systems (FROS). In these systems, arrays of protein‐binding sites integrated at specific loci by homologous recombination are monitored through the fluorescence of tagged DNA‐binding proteins. In the budding yeast, where homologous recombination is efficient, this technique, combined with targeting assay and genetic analysis, has been extremely powerful for studying the determinants and function of chromatin dynamics in living cells. However, issues have been recurrently raised in different species regarding the use of these systems. Here we discuss the different uses of gene tagging with FROS and their limitations, focusing in budding yeast as a model organism. Curr. Protoc. Cell Biol. 62:22.17. 1‐22.17. 14. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Sphingosine‐1‐phosphate induces a Ca2+ signal in primary rat astrocytes and a Ca2+ signal and shape changes in C6 rat glioma cells

Treatment of rat glioma C6 cells with the β‐adrenergic agonist L‐isoproterenol leads to a rise in cAMP level and a subsequent change in cell morphology from an epithelial to an astrocytic type of appearance. This morphological response is reverted by the addition of sphingosine‐1‐phosphate (S1P) with an EC50 of 10 nM. In rat glioma C6 cells loaded with the Ca2+ indicator Fura‐2, S1P evoked Ca2+ release from internal stores and Ca2+ influx from the external medium. Half‐maximal stimulation of the Ca2+ increase was 10–20 nM. A similar Ca2+ signal was observed in primary rat astrocytes loaded with the Ca2+ indicator fluo‐3. Pretreatment of the C6 cells with PMA (162 nM) prevented both the S1P‐induced Ca2+ increase and the morphological reversion. Ca2+ ions therefore seem essential for the morphological reversion by S1P. Pretreatment of the cells with the Clostridium botulinum C3 exoenzyme did not affect the reversion of the morphological response by S1P, indicating that the small GTP‐binding protein Rho is not involved in the S1P‐induced reversion. J. Neurosci. Res. 52:427–434, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
GABAergic Mechanisms in Epilepsy

Summary: γ‐Aminobutyric acid (GABA), the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the cerebral cortex, maintains the inhibitory tone that counterbalances neuronal excitation. When this balance is perturbed, seizures may ensue. GABA is formed within GABAergic axon terminals and released into the synapse, where it acts at one of two types of receptor: GABAA, which controls chloride entry into the cell, and GABAB, which increases potassium conductance, decreases calcium entry, and inhibits the presynaptic release of other transmitters. GABAA‐receptor binding influences the early portion of the GABA‐mediated inhibitory postsynaptic potential, whereas GABAB binding influences the late portion. GABA is rapidly removed by uptake into both glia and presynaptic nerve terminals and then catabolized by GABA transaminase. Experimental and clinical study evidence indicates that GABA has an important role in the mechanism and treatment of epilepsy: (a) Abnormalities of GABAergic function have been observed in genetic and acquired animal models of epilepsy; (b) Reductions of GABA‐mediated inhibition, activity of glutamate decarboxylase, binding to GABAA and benzodiazepine sites, GABA in cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue, and GABA detected during microdialysis studies have been reported in studies of human epileptic brain tissue; (c) GABA agonists suppress seizures, and GABA antagonists produce seizures; (d) Drugs that inhibit GABA synthesis cause seizures; and (e) Benzodiazepines and barbiturates work by enhancing GABA‐mediated inhibition. Finally, drugs that increase synaptic GABA are potent anticonvulsants. Two recently developed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), vigabatrin (VGB) and tiagabine (TGB), are examples of such agents. However, their mechanisms of action are quite different (VGB is an irreversible suicide inhibitor of GABA transaminase, whereas TGB blocks GABA reuptake into neurons and glia), which may account for observed differences in drug side‐effect profile.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Decreases Sympathetic Nerve Activity: The Effect Is Modulated by Glycemic Status

Abstract Insulin-like growth factor-l (IGF-I) has been demonstrated to exert metabolic as well as cardiovascular actions similar to those of insulin. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that IGF-I acts both peripherally and centrally to increase muscle and renal blood flow and to decrease mean arterial pressure (MAP). Insulin has similar cardiovascular actions and has also been demonstrated to increase sympathetic nerve activity that may or may not play a role in blood flow or arterial pressure regulation. In this study, we evaluated the effect of IGF-I on lumbar sympathetic nerve activity (LSNA) and renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA), and correlated these responses with MAP and glycemic status. Normal rats were anesthetized with chloralose/urethane, the femoral artery and vein were cannulated to monitor MAP or heart rate (HR), or for infusions. The lumbar sympathetic nerve or renal nerve was isolated and placed on electrodes embedded in silicone gel for recording of nerve activity. Cardiovascular and nerve activity responses to IGF-I were recorded using a Dasy Lab Acquisition System. The infusion of IGF-I resulted in a decrease in plasma glucose that was accompanied by a decrease in MAP and an increased LSNA. However, when IGF-I was infused and euglycemia was maintained by glucose replacement, the LSNA was decreased. Renal nerve recording demonstrated that the RSNA was decreased both when hypoglycemia was allowed to occur and when euglycemia was maintained. We conclude that IGF-I acts to decrease LSNA and RSNA, and that the activity of the LSNA to skeletal muscle can be increased by hypoglycemia.
Geant4 low energy electromagnetic physics

The Geant4 simulation toolkit includes a specialised package, implementing a precise treatment of electromagnetic interactions of particles with matter below 1 keV. The Geant4 low energy electromagnetic package provides a variety of models describing the electromagnetic processes of electrons and positrons, photons, charged hadrons and ions, taking into account detailed features, such as atomic shell effects and charge dependence. Those features are relevant to several experimental domains, such as astrophysics, space science and bio-medical research, and have enabled new simulation studies beyond the conventional applications of Geant4 in high energy physics. The design of the package and the physics models implemented are presented.
Empirical Study of Earnings Management of ST Listed Companies

This paper is on the base of predecessors' studies on the earnings management of loss listed companies. This paper choosing new study period, adopting new research objects - listed companies under special treatment, using new samples, studies the behaviors and features earnings management of loss Listed Companies. First, the description of the change of financial component is provided in the paper, which indicates possible earnings management in the researched years. Second, evidence of earnings management of listed company is provided as a whole by cross-section models. The result suggests that listed companies under special treatment decreases earnings unnatural before the year of special treatment and before two years of free from special treatment. And it is no effective evidence that listed companies have high earnings in the year of special treatment.
Dynamic Tile Free Scheduling for Code with Acyclic Inter-Tile Dependence Graphs

Free scheduling is a task ordering technique under which instructions are executed as soon as their operands become available. Coarsening the grain of computations under the free schedule, by means of using groups of loop nest statement instances (tiles) in place of single statement instances, increases the locality of data accesses and reduces the number of synchronization events, and as a consequence improves program performance. The paper presents an approach for code generation allowing for the free schedule for tiles of arbitrarily nested affine loops at run-time. The scope of the applicability of the introduced algorithms is limited to tiled loop nests whose inter-tile dependence graphs are cycle-free. The approach is based on the Polyhedral Model. Results of experiments with the PolyBench benchmark suite, demonstrating significant tiled code speed-up, are discussed.
Olfactory dysfunction in schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy.

BACKGROUND Schizophrenia and mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) represent two common brain disorders that share dysfunction of temporo-limbic neural substrates. OBJECTIVE We evaluated whether patients with schizophrenia exhibited olfactory performance more similar to right or left temporal lobe epilepsy patients. METHODS Odor identification ability and detection threshold sensitivity were measured in 40 patients with schizophrenia, 14 patients with right- and 18 patients with left-temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients, and 25 healthy controls. Odor identification was assessed with the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) and odor detection threshold sensitivity with a single-staircase procedure using the stimulant phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA). RESULTS Relative to controls, only patients with schizophrenia and right TLE exhibited significant impairment in UPSIT performance. Left TLE patients and controls performed comparably on the UPSIT. Detection threshold sensitivity to PEA did not differ significantly among the four groups. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest a greater reliance of olfactory processing on right hemisphere structures and are also consistent with recent neuroimaging studies that have implicated aberrant processing of olfactory information in right hemispheric brain regions in schizophrenia.
Preliminary study of bubble formation in vegetable oil filled power transformer

This paper presents the work performed to date on investigating water bubble formation in transformer oil and cellulose insulation systems, and any impact that using a vegetable oil dielectric will have in contrast to standard mineral oil. It is important to understand this phenomenon because it can lead to the failure of a transformer on overload, when water suddenly migrates from the cellulose into the oil. The system used to investigate bubbling is presented in this paper along with a discussion on how bubbling occurs. The next step will be to re-perform this investigation using vegetable oil under a variety of different conditions.
Monitoring leakage current of ice-covered station post insulators using artificial neural networks

This paper presents the analysis of leakage current evolution of an ice-covered station post insulator during a melting period using artificial neural network (ANN) models. The tests, carried out under wet-grown ice regime for different experimental conditions, showed that the permanent establishment of white arcs, identified as ¿permanent regime¿ led to flashover in the large majority of the cases,. Based on these observations, the development of a monitoring methodology aimed at forewarning the approach of the leading white arc during melting periods is proposed. The monitoring methodology uses different ANNs in order to predict the appearance of the white arc based on the identification, classification and analysis of the occurrence frequency of electric discharges. The results show that the ANN monitoring model developed is able to predict the onset of permanent regime under various experimental conditions. Hence, it was found that the delay between the permanent regime onset prediction delivered by the ANN model and its realization is 9 minutes on average. These results confirm that the proposed ANN model could be used as part of a monitoring system for post insulators during icing events for protection against potential flashover hazards.
Smoking behaviour as a predictor of depression among Finnish men and women: a prospective cohort study of adult twins

Background. Depression is associated with smoking, but the causality of the relationship is debated. The authors examine smoking behaviour as a predictor of depression among the Finnish adult twin population. Method. Based on responses to surveys in 1975 and 1981, the authors characterized the subjects as never smokers, persistent former smokers, quitters, recurrent smokers and persistent smokers. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was applied in 1990 to measure depression (BDI score >9). Although the population consisted of twins, the authors first considered the subjects as individuals. Logistic regression models were computed for 4164 men and 4934 women. In order to control for family and genetic background, conditional logistic regression analyses were conducted among twin pairs discordant for depression. Bivariate genetic modelling was used to examine genetic and environmental components of the correlation between smoking and depression. Results. Among the men, persistent smoking (OR 1·42, 95% CI 1·07–1·89) and smoking in 1975 but quitting by 1981 (OR 1·68, 95% CI 1·17–2·42) was associated with a higher risk of depression, while among the women only the quitters had an elevated risk (OR 1·38, 96% CI 1·01–1·87). The gender×smoking interaction showed persistent smoking to be a stronger risk for men. When family and genetic background were controlled, smoking remained a predictor of depression. Genetic modelling among the men suggested a modest correlation (rg=0·25) between genetic components of smoking and depression. Conclusions. Smoking behaviour may be a gender-sensitive predictor of depression, the stronger association in men being partly accounted for by having underlying genes in common.
Screening of immunomodulatory activity of Sphaeranthus indicus Linn . whole plant

The aim of the present investigation is to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity for methanolic extract of Sphaeranthus indicus Linn. (MESI) at different doses as 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bd.wt. in healthy wistar albino rats. Immunomodulatory activity of MESI was evaluated for humoral immunity (antibody titre, plaque forming cell assay and quantitative haemolysis of SRBC) and cellular immunity (delayed type hypersensitivity, Tcell population and drug induced myelosuppression) with antigen challenge by sheep RBCs. MESI along with the antigen (sheep red blood cells) showed significant increase in the circulating antibody titer and the number of plaque forming cells (PFC) in the spleen at the dose of 100 mg/kg bd.wt. as compare to 200 and 400 mg/kg bd.wt. MESI also showed significant (p < 0.01) increase in the DTH response, restoration of histological parameters, increase in lymphocytes and rosettes formation in T-cell population at dose of 400 mg/kg bd.wt. as compare to 100 and 200 mg/kg bd.wt. The present investigation reveals that Sphaeranthus indicus can be used as immunomodulator for activation of specific and nonspecific immune responses.
Gender Differences in Outcome After Modified Broström Procedure for Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability

Background: The modified Broström procedure is commonly used for anatomic repair of chronic lateral ankle instability. However, no studies have compared outcomes of gender-based differences after the modified Broström procedure. We compared outcomes of the modified Broström procedure in men and women. Methods: A total of 155 patients (155 ankles) treated with the modified Broström procedure for chronic lateral ankle instability constituted the study cohort. The 155 ankles were divided into 2 groups: a men’s group (94 ankles) and a women’s group (61 ankles). The Karlsson score, American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score, talar tilt, and anterior talar translation were used to evaluate clinical and radiographic outcomes. The mean follow-up duration was 42.8 months (range, 24-101). Results: Mean preoperative Karlsson scores were 53.6 points (39-65) in the men’s group and 54.9 points (39-65) in the women’s group, and these improved to 93.2 (72-100) and 92.2 (80-100), respectively, at the final follow-up. Mean preoperative AOFAS ankle-hindfoot scores were 62.4 points (44-79) in men and 63.6 points (49-77) in women and 93.7 (72-100) and 92.3 (79-100), respectively, at the final follow-up. Mean preoperative talar tilt angles decreased from 11.9 degrees (2.5-27.5) in men and 11.4 degrees (0.9-24.7) in women to 6.0 (1.0-11.5) and 6.0 (2.3-11.9), respectively, at the final follow-up. Mean preoperative anterior talar translation in men and women improved from 8.6 mm (5.1-14.6) and 8.7 mm (2.3-11.9) to 6.0 (4.3-8.7) and 5.8 (3.3-9.9), respectively, at the final follow-up. No significant differences were found between men and women in terms of Karlsson scores, AOFAS scores, talar tilt angle, and anterior talar translation. Conclusions: The modified Broström procedure showed similar good functional and radiographic outcomes in men and women. These results suggest that the modified Broström procedure is effective and reliable for treating chronic lateral ankle instability regardless of gender. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative cohort study.
Strategy and small firm performance

The objective of this study is to contribute to the debate on the relationship between strategy and firm performance, especially for SMEs. The research questions are: Can different strategic groups of SMEs be identified and to what extent does the selected strategy influence the firm performance of SMEs? For the empirical analysis, data from the SME panel of EIM is used. The analysis shows that four distinct groups of companies can be identified: service differentiators, stuck-in-the-middle companies, innovation and marketing differentiators and process differentiators. Companies in the first two groups are relatively small and are less active with strategic issues like planning etc. Companies in the last two groups are relatively large and deal with strategy in a more professional way (written-down strategy, regular updates et cetera). If controlled for size, there are no significant differences in terms of turnover and profit.
E-Beam Photoresist and Carbon Nanotubes as Biomimetic Dry Adhesives

This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of nano-fibrils mimicking gecko foot-hairs for enhanced dry adhesion. High contact area ratio of the polymer and carbon nanotube fibrils is achieved, respectively, using e-beam lithography and chemical vapor deposition. The adhesion forces from gecko foot-hairs and the artificial fibrils are measured with a customized AFM tip to evaluate the effects of different materials and surface density. With the water-vapor assisted deposition, the surface density of the carbon nanotubes is optimized for comparable adhesion forces to gecko foot-hairs.
Watermelon stomach treated with oral corticosteroid.

JE. Endoscopic biopsy is dia- osticgastric antral var ectasia. The 'watermelon stomach'. Dig - Sci 1989;34:886-8 Calam J, Walker RJ. Antral vaclar lesion, alorydria and chronic gastro-intestinal bloods: response to steroids. DigDis Sci 1980;25:236-9