Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between post-transcriptional adenylation of herpes virus RNA and messenger RNA abundance.

Analysis of the hybridization kinetics of labeled DNA of herpes simplex virus with unlabeled excess RNA from infected cells showed that viral RNA sequences form two classes differing in molar concentration. The abundant class constituted 93.5-99.3% of total virus-specific RNA and was complementary to 14-16% of the early DNA (2 hr after infection) and to 19-22% of the late DNA (8 hr after infection) in the reproductive cycle of the virus. The early RNA sequences were found to be a subset of the late sequences. The scarce sequences constituted 0.7-6.5% of total virus-specific RNA and were complementary to 28-30% of DNA both early and late in the reproductive cycle. In this study, abundant and scarce sequences were quantitatively separated on the basis of the finding that abundant species are adenylated, i.e., contain post-transcriptionally added poly(A), whereas the scarce RNA is not. Thus, nuclear and polyribosomal adenylated RNA were complementary to 24 and 22%, respectively, of viral DNA and, in abundance competition tests, were found to compete with each other and with abundant RNA from infected cells after 8 hr. The nonadenylated polyribosomal RNA was complementary to 27% of total viral DNA of which 6% was also complementary to adenylated polyribosomal RNA. Hybridization kinetics indicated that each of the fractionated adenylated RNA formed two classes complementary to 6 and 21% of viral DNA.
Artificial companions with personality and social role

Robots and virtual characters are becoming increasingly used in our everyday life. Yet, they are still far from being able to maintain long-term social relationships with users. It also remains unclear what future users will expect from these so-called “artificial companions” in terms of social roles and personality. These questions are of importance because users will be surrounded with multiple artificial companions. These issues of social roles and personality among a group of companions are seldom tackled in user studies. In this paper, we describe a study in which 94 participants reported the social roles and personalities they would expect from groups of companions. We explain how the results give insights for the design of future groups of companions endowed with social intelligence.
Woeseia oceani gen. nov., sp. nov., a chemoheterotrophic member of the order Chromatiales, and proposal of Woeseiaceae fam. nov.

A novel Gram-stain-negative, rods or bent rods, facultatively anaerobic, oxidase-negative and catalase-positive bacterium, designated XK5T, was isolated from coastal sediment from Xiaoshi Island, Weihai, China. Optimal growth occurred at 28-35 °C (range 8-42 °C) and pH 7.0-8.0 (range pH 6.0-9.0) with 1-3 % (w/v) NaCl (range 0.5-8 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain XK5T was 92.1 % similar to the type strain of Thioalkalivibrio thiocyanodenitrificans, 91.9 % to the type strain of Thioalkalivibrio sulfidiphilus and 91.8 % to the type strain of Thioalkalivibrio denitrificans; similarity to other species was less than 91 %. The isolate and closely related environmental clones formed a novel family level clade in the order Chromatiales. The polar lipid profile of the novel isolate consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and some other unknown phospholipids, aminolipids and lipids. Major cellular fatty acids were iso-C17 : 1ω9c and iso-C15 : 0 and the main respiratory lipoquinone was Q-8. The DNA G+C content of strain XK5T was 59.3 mol%. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and characterization indicated that strain XK5T represents a novel species of a new genus within a novel family of the order Chromatiales, for which the name Woeseia oceani gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Woeseia oceani is XK5T ( = ATCC BAA-2615T = CICC 10905T). In addition, a novel family name, Woeseiaceae fam. nov., is proposed to accommodate the genus Woeseia.
CD1a expression defines an interleukin‐12 producing population of human dendritic cells

Human and murine dendritic cell (DC) subsets are often defined by phenotypic features that predict their functional characteristics. In humans and mice, DC have been shown to have the ability to polarize naive CD4 T cells to a T helper type 1 (Th1) or Th2 phenotype. However, human myeloid DC generated from monocytes (monocyte‐derived DC) have often been regarded as a homogeneous population, both phenotypically and functionally. Monocytes give rise to subpopulations of DC in vitro that can be separated on the basis of their expression of CD1a, a well‐described DC subset marker. Importantly, we show that the CD1a+ DC subset produces significant quantities of interleukin‐12p70 (IL‐12p70) upon stimulation and, similar to the murine CD8α+ DC subset, can polarize naive CD4+ T cells to a Th1 phenotype. In contrast, CD1a− DC, similar to murine CD8α− DC, do not produce significant amounts of IL‐12p70 upon stimulation or polarize T cells to a Th1 phenotype. Like monocyte‐derived DC, CD1a+ and CD1a− DC subsets obtained from CD34+ haematopoietic progenitors under distinct culture conditions were found to have these same features, suggesting that CD1a expression is a marker for myeloid DC that are a major source of IL‐12 and Th1 CD4+ T cell polarization in man.
Do the competition rules of synchronized swimming encourage undesirable levels of hypoxia?

Recent anecdotal reports that some synchronized swimmers have become dizzy or disorientated towards the end of their performance, and in the worst cases fainted underwater, have caused concern. However, the rules of synchronized swimming encourage slow performance of compulsory figures, and an analysis of the competition placings and duration of underwater sequences showed that the highest rankings were gained by slowly performed compulsory figures and free programmes containing a long underwater sequence. The combination of breath-holding and the vigorous exercise involved suggests that some of the symptoms complained of by the swimmers might be due to hypoxia. We therefore studied the alveolar gas tensions in nine members of the Great Britain National Squad immediately following the performance of set figures and the initial underwater sequence of their free routine in a swimming-bath. All were cyanosed after the underwater sequences of the free routine and reported being mildly confused. The mean(s.d.) alveolar PO2 at this stage was 5.07(1.1) KPa, while three girls had an alveolar PO2 below 4 KPa, the lowest being 3.67 KPa. These gas tensions suggest that potentially dangerous levels of hypoxia may develop during competitive synchronized swimming and that prolonged underwent sequences should not be encouraged.
Regulation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae HOG1 mitogen-activated protein kinase by the PTP2 and PTP3 protein tyrosine phosphatases

In response to increases in extracellular osmolarity, Saccharomyces cerevisiae activates the HOG1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, which is composed of a pair of redundant MAPK kinase kinases, namely, Ssk2p and Ssk22p, the MAPK kinase Pbs2p, and the MAPK Hog1p. Hog1p is activated by Pbs2p through phosphorylation of specific threonine and tyrosine residues. Activated Hog1p is essential for survival of yeast cells at high osmolarity. However, expression of constitutively active mutant kinases, such as those encoded by SSK2deltaN and PBS2(DD), is toxic and results in a lethal level of Hog1p activation. Overexpression of the protein tyrosine phosphatase Ptp2p suppresses the lethality of these mutations by dephosphorylating Hog1p. A catalytically inactive Cys-to-Ser Ptp2p mutant (Ptp2(C/S)p) is tightly bound to tyrosine-phosphorylated Hog1p in vivo. Disruption of PTP2 leads to elevated levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated Hog1p following exposure of cells to high osmolarity. Disruption of both PTP2 and another protein tyrosine phosphatase gene, PTP3, results in constitutive Hog1p tyrosine phosphorylation even in the absence of increased osmolarity. Thus, Ptp2p and Ptp3p are the major phosphatases responsible for the tyrosine dephosphorylation of Hog1p. When catalytically inactive Hog1(K/N)p is expressed in hog1delta cells, it is constitutively tyrosine phosphorylated. In contrast, Hog1(K/N)p, expressed together with wild-type Hog1p, is tyrosine phosphorylated only when cells are exposed to high osmolarity. Thus, the kinase activity of Hog1p is required for its own tyrosine dephosphorylation. Northern blot analyses suggest that Hog1p regulates Ptp2p and/or Ptp3p activity at the posttranscriptional level.
Mutant Analysis and Cellular Localization of the AlgI, AlgJ, and AlgF Proteins Required for O Acetylation of Alginate in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Alginate is an extracellular polysaccharide produced by mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that are typically isolated from the pulmonary tracts of chronically infected cystic fibrosis patients. Alginate is a linear polymer of d-mannuronate and l-guluronate with O-acetyl ester linkages on the O-2 and/or O-3 position of the mannuronate residues. The presence of O-acetyl groups plays an important role in the ability of the polymer to act as a virulence factor, and the algF, algJ, and algI genes are known to be essential for the addition of O-acetyl groups to alginate. To better understand the mechanism of O acetylation of alginate, the cellular locations of the AlgI, AlgJ, and AlgF proteins were determined. For these studies, defined nonpolar algI, algJ, and algF deletion mutants of P. aeruginosa strain FRD1 were constructed, and each mutant produced alginate lacking O-acetyl groups. Expression of algI, algJ, or algF in trans in the corresponding mutant complemented each O acetylation defect. Random phoA (alkaline phosphatase [AP] gene) fusions to algF, algJ, and algI were constructed. All in-frame fusions to algF and algJ had AP activity, indicating that both AlgF and AlgJ were exported to the periplasm. Immunoblot analysis of spheroplasts and periplasmic fractions showed that AlgF was released with the periplasmic contents but that AlgJ remained with the spheroplast fraction. An N-terminal sequence analysis of AlgJ showed that its putative AlgJ signal peptide was not cleaved, suggesting that AlgJ is anchored to the cytoplasmic membrane by its uncleaved signal peptide. AP gene fusions were also used to map the membrane topology of AlgI, and the results suggest that it is an integral membrane protein with seven transmembrane domains. These results suggest that AlgI-AlgJ-AlgF may form a complex in the membrane that is the reaction center for O acetylation of alginate.
Pneumatic reduction of intussusception in children at the Komfo Anokye Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of pneumatic reduction in the management of intussusception in children in the setting of a sub-Saharan African nation. DESIGN Prospective case series. SETTING Tertiary care teaching hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. SUBJECTS Forty four children, aged 4 months to 13 years, 28 boys and 16 girls, were admitted with a clinical diagnosis of intussusception and confirmed by ultrasonography. INTERVENTIONS Twenty two children had air enema reduction of the intussusception attempted in the operation theatre under general anaesthesia. The average pressure used for air enema reduction of the intussusceptions was 110.4 mm Hg. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Success of pneumatic reduction, morbidity and mortality. RESULTS Overall air enema reduction of intussusception was successful in 59.1% of children who underwent this procedure. There were no deaths among children who had a successful air enema reduction of intussusception. One child (11.1%) out of nine who had laparotomy done after a failed pneumatic reduction died. The average length of hospital stay was shorter in those with successful air enema reduction (3.8 +/- 2.3 days, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 2.4 to 5.2) than those who had a laparotomy performed for manual reduction of the intussusception after a failed pneumatic reduction (6.7 +/- 5.1 days, 95% CI = 33 to 9.9). CONCLUSION Although the sample size is small, pneumatic reduction of intussusception in children without peritonitis is possible, practical, and reliable and must be tried first, preferably under general anaesthesia in our sub-region before proceeding to laparotomy in case of failure.
Temporal and Regional Variations in the Seasonality of Births in Åland (Finland), 1653–1950

Monthly numbers of births are influenced by the length of the month and, thus, rates per day should be used. Comparisons of seasonality in data sets of different sizes must be based on standardized indices. Although strong seasonality exists, a poor model may incorrectly yield low seasonality measures. The standard deviation of the inter-monthly variation in the indices has been used as a seasonality measure. We introduce a new measure based on analysis of variance (ANOVA). Our methods are applied on 107,896 births in the archipelago of Åland (Finland), 1653–1950. For all subregions, the birth indices for the period 1653–1850 showed marked peaks in March to April and in September to October. The seasonality is weakest for the Main Island and strongest for the most isolated parish, Kökar, which has many local/extreme socioeconomics and genetic characteristics. For the period 1851–1950, the seasonality disappeared almost totally. The variation in the seasonality between subregions can mainly be explained by socioeconomic differences, and the temporal decrease in all regions seems to be connected to diminishing differences in living conditions. Comparisons with data from Sweden and Finland show higher seasonality in Åland.
MMAS Algorithm for Features Selection Using 1D-DWT for Video-Based Face Recognition in the Online Video Contextual Advertisement User-Oriented System

Face recognition is an importance step which can affect the performance of the system. In this paper, the authors propose a novel Max-Min Ant System algorithm to optimal feature selection based on Discrete Wavelet Transform feature for Video-based face recognition. The length of the culled feature vector is adopted as heuristic information for ant's pheromone in their algorithm. They selected the optimal feature subset in terms of shortest feature length and the best performance of classifier used k-nearest neighbor classifier. The experiments were analyzed on face recognition show that the authors' algorithm can be easily implemented and without any priori information of features. The evaluated performance of their algorithm is better than previous approaches for feature selection.
Outbreak of Lower Respiratory Tract Illness Associated With Human Enterovirus 68 Among American Indian Children

Human enterovirus 68 (EV68) infections are rarely reported. We describe a respiratory outbreak associated with EV68 among 18 children admitted to a remote Indian Health Service facility during August 11, 2010 through September 14, 2010. Clinical illness was characterized by pneumonia and wheezing. EV68 should be considered as an etiology in outbreaks of lower respiratory tract illness.
Study of the nature of recognition in molecularly imprinted polymers

In the present study molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared against a series of structurally related compounds containing various numbers of pyridyl groups. The goal, to increase understanding of the mechanisms of recognition in MIPs, was achieved by comparing the patterns of retention of the imprinted compounds on the different MIPs when related to a blank (non‐imprinted) polymer in a high performance liquid chromatography system. Furthermore, frontal analysis was carried out on three polymers: a blank, a pyridine‐imprinted and a 4,4′‐bipyridyl‐imprinted polymer, to evaluate the number (Bt), average specificity and strength (dissociation constant; Kdiss) of the recognition sites. The Kdiss values of pyridine on the different polymers were in the range 0.10–0.12 M, and the amount of imprinted binding sites (Bt) 0.10–0.12 mmol/g. Kdiss values of 4,4′‐bipyridyl were approximately 0.06 M, with Bt values equal to the above, except for in the anti‐4,4′‐bipyridyl polymer where the Kdiss was determined to be 0.02 M and Bt 0.07 mmol/g. From the results it can be concluded that multiple additive weak interactions dominate the recognition of the template molecules in these imprinted polymers.
Text reuse detection by keyword extraction for telegram channels

Text reuse detection is the task of finding similar texts, which has many applications e.g. in plagiarism detection and analysis of information diffusion. The general approach to this problem is by detection of texts similarities in combination with other features such as time-stamp which can be used to specify the precedence of publishers e.g. to find the first publisher. In this article a method for finding similar texts has been proposed using keyword extraction which operates in linear time like LSH1 method. In addition, it supports dynamic inputs and does not depend on text vector dimensions. Our evaluations show, it has better performance in clustering quality measures and also run time.
Intra‐ versus extracellular effects of microglia‐derived cysteine proteases in a conditioned medium transfer model

Activated microglia release inflammatory mediators that display either beneficial or harmful effects on neuronal survival and signaling. In the present study we demonstrate that exposure to lipopolysaccharide leads to an increase in the lysosomal cysteine proteases, cathepsin B, K, S, and X, in culture supernatants of the microglia cell line BV‐2. In addition, we observed an up‐regulation of cathepsins in the cytoplasmic fraction in response to stimulation with lipopolysaccharide. Conditioned medium from these cells was toxic to the neuroblastoma cell line Neuro2a. Experiments with membrane‐permeable and membrane‐impermeable cysteine protease inhibitors suggested that blocking extracellular cathepsins had no effect on microglia‐mediated neuron death in this medium transfer model. However, intracellular cathepsins seem to trigger the release of neurotoxic factors. In lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated BV‐2 cells, inhibition of intracellular cathepsins significantly diminished microglial activation characterized by reduced expression of different proinflammatory cytokines, thereby reducing the neurotoxic effects of the medium. This hitherto unknown intracellular effect of cysteine proteases in activated microglia might connect chronic neuroinflammation with neurodegeneration.
Microbial findings at failing implants.

The aim of this study was to evaluate qualitative differences in the subgingival microbiota at titanium implants, ad modum Brånemark, demonstrating clinical and radiographic signs of loss of supporting tissues (peri-implantitis) as compared to implants surrounded by healthy tissues. A total of 37 patients demonstrating 1 or more implants with bone loss > or = 3 threads, bleeding on probing and/or suppuration and 51 patients with clinically healthy mucosa and no bone loss were recruited for the study. In each patient subgingival bacterial samples were obtained using paper-points, and subjected to microbiological analysis by culture. The two types of clinical conditions showed distinct bacterial profiles. For implants with peri-implantitis putative periodontal pathogens, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia/Prevotella nigrescens and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, were found in 60% of the cases and microorganisms primarily not associated with periodontitis, such as Staphylococcus spp. , enterics and Candida spp. , were found in 55% of the peri-imaplant lesions. In contrast, implants surrounded by healthy tissue demonstrated a microbiota associated with periodontal health. The results indicate that the microbiota of the healthy peri-implant sulci is similar to that from corresponding conditions around teeth. However, in peri-implant areas staphylococci, enterics and yeasts were found almost as frequently as periopathogens indicating differences as compared to the microbiota around periodontitis affected teeth. A microbiological diagnosis may therefore be of guidance for the choice of antimicrobial treatment in patients with peri-implant infection.
Enabling Communication and Feedback in Mass Lectures

It is hard to accomplish effective communication and discussions in lectures with many participants. Most of in-class-eLearning systems, which try to facilitate interaction, only provide partial solutions. For instance clicker systems are good for votes and polls, but cannot foster qualified communication between students and lecturers. In this paper, we give reasons to use such a qualified tool and present a microblog system, MiRA, which offers various communication possibilities inside and outside the classroom. MiRA has been developed specifically to support mass lectures and has been tested at NameX University. We present major development steps and the results of surveys and system evaluations.
2,4-Dinitrotoluene dioxygenase from Burkholderia sp. strain DNT: similarity to naphthalene dioxygenase

2,4-Dinitrotoluene (DNT) dioxygenase from Burkholderia sp. strain DNT catalyzes the initial oxidation of DNT to form 4-methyl-5-nitrocatechol (MNC) and nitrite. The displacement of the aromatic nitro group by dioxygenases has only recently been described, and nothing is known about the evolutionary origin of the enzyme systems that catalyze these reactions. We have shown previously that the gene encoding DNT dioxygenase is localized on a degradative plasmid within a 6.8-kb NsiI DNA fragment (W.-C. Suen and J. C. Spain, J. Bacteriol. 175:1831-1837, 1993). We describe here the sequence analysis and the substrate range of the enzyme system encoded by this fragment. Five open reading frames were identified, four of which have a high degree of similarity (59 to 78% identity) to the components of naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) from Pseudomonas strains. The conserved amino acid residues within NDO that are involved in cofactor binding were also identified in the gene encoding DNT dioxygenase. An Escherichia coli clone that expressed DNT dioxygenase converted DNT to MNC and also converted naphthalene to (+)-cis-(1R,2S)-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene. In contrast, the E. coli clone that expressed NDO did not oxidize DNT. Furthermore, the enzyme systems exhibit similar broad substrate specificities and can oxidize such compounds as indole, indan, indene, phenetole, and acenaphthene. These results suggest that DNT dioxygenase and the NDO enzyme system share a common ancestor.