Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Periodic absence of nursing mothers phase‐shifts circadian rhythms of clock genes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of rat pups

Effects of absence of nursing mothers on the circadian pacemaker of their offspring were examined by measuring clock genes, the rat Per1 (rPer1) and rPer2 expression rhythms in the pup suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). Neonate rats born to mothers kept under a 12‐h light : 12‐h dark cycle (LD) were blinded immediately after birth and exposed to periodic maternal deprivation where pups were deprived of their mothers during the light phase of 12‐h for the first week of life. At postnatal day 6, the periodic maternal deprivation completely phase‐reversed the circadian rhythms in expression of the clock genes in the pup SCN and in spontaneous locomotor activity after the pups were weaned at postnatal day 21. The periodic maternal absence also altered the patterns of stress‐related gene expressions such as corticotropine‐releasing hormone, arginine vasopressin, and glucocorticoid receptor in particular brain areas of the mother‐deprived pups at P6. These findings indicate that periodic absence of the nursing mother in the first week of life produces a resetting effect on the neonatal circadian clock and induces stress responses in the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis.
Mouse models of human chromosomal translocations and approaches to cancer therapy.

Cancer arises because of genetic changes in somatic cells, eventually giving rise to overt malignancy. Principle among genetic changes found in tumor cells are chromosomal translocations which give rise to fusion genes or enforced oncogene expression. These mutations are tumor-specific and result in production of tumor-specific mRNAs and proteins and are attractive targets for therapy. Also, in acute leukemias, many of these molecules are transcription regulators which involve cell-type-specific complexes, offering an alternative therapy via interfering with protein-protein interaction. We are studying these various features of tumor cells to evaluate new therapeutic methods. We describe a mouse model of de novo chromosomal translocations using the Cre-loxP system in which interchromosomal recombination occurs between the Mll and Af9 genes. We are also developing other in vivo methods designed, like the Cre-loxP system, to emulate the effects of these chromosomal abnormalities in human tumors. In addition, we describe new technologies to facilitate the intracellular targeting of fusion mRNAs and proteins resulting from such chromosomal translocations. These include a masked antisense RNA method with the ability to discriminate between closely related RNA targets and the selection and use of intracellular antibodies to bind to target proteins in vivo and cause cell death. These approaches should also be adaptable to targeting point mutations or to differentially expressed tumor-associated proteins. We hope to develop therapeutic approaches for use in cancer therapy after testing their efficacy in our mouse models of human cancer.
Ground Color Customization of Soccer Videos

In this paper, we present a method for customizing the ground color in outdoor sports video to provide TV viewers with a better viewing experience. This relates to content personalization and the issue is becoming critical with the advent of mobile TV and interactive TV such as IPTV. In the case of watching outdoor sports video such as soccer video, it is sometimes observed that the ground color is not satisfied by viewers. In this work, the proposed algorithm is focused on customizing the ground color to deliver viewers better viewing experiences. The algorithm comprises three modules; ground detection, long-shot detection, and ground color customization. We customize the ground color by considering the difference between ground colors from both input video and target video. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme offers useful tools to provide a more comfortable viewing environment and is amenable to realtime performance even in a software based implementation.
Antioxidant enzyme activity in murine hematopoietic bone marrow following treatment with interleukin 1 alpha: influence of tumor.

To determine whether non-hematologic tumors influence the bone marrow's antioxidant enzyme response to the radioprotective cytokine interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1), studies were undertaken using BDF1 and Balb/c mice bearing small, medium or large Lewis lung carcinoma (LLCa) or EMT6 mammary carcinoma tumors, respectively. Results demonstrated that, similar to nontumor-bearing mice, treatment of tumor-bearing animals with IL-1 was associated with a significant increase in marrow MnSOD activity. However, the duration of this elevated activity was reduced as tumor burden increased, and this reduction may have an impact on IL-1's ability to radioprotect tumor bearing animals, especially when tumor burden is large. In addition to cytokine-mediated responses, significant tumor-related influences on the marrow's antioxidant enzyme status were seen. Notably, it was observed that the presence of tumor was correlated with a marked suppression of antioxidant enzyme activity. Surprisingly, however, the pattern of enzyme suppression was found to differ between the two tumor models studied both in temporal onset and in the number of enzymes involved. In conclusion, the data obtained from these studies on tumor-bearing animals demonstrate that there are both cytokine-related and tumor-related influences which can effect the antioxidant enzyme status of the hematopoietic marrow-influences which may have the potential to alter the marrow's ability to tolerate free radical-generating events, both endogenous (i.e inflammation, infection) and exogenous (i.e. radiation, certain chemotherapeutic drugs) in origin.
Multi modal hearing, the fundamental importance of the kinociliary servo system and the folly of psychoacoustics

When Isaac Newton knew that his end was near, he wrote: 'I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I appear to have been only a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me'. (Brewster) Yet Newton's lifeless universe was a mere lagoon in comparison with the vast ocean that confronts the biologist and physiologist when they seek to unfold the mysteries of living tissues.
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, diabetes, and ethnicity in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and diabetes risk and whether it varies by ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed an analysis of data from participants who attended the morning examination of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994), a cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population. Serum levels of 25OHD, which reflect vitamin D status, were available from 6,228 people (2,766 non-Hispanic whites, 1,736 non-Hispanic blacks, and 1,726 Mexican Americans) aged > or =20 years with fasting and/or 2-h plasma glucose and serum insulin measurements. RESULTS Adjusting for sex, age, BMI, leisure activity, and quarter of year, ethnicity-specific odds ratios (ORs) for diabetes (fasting glucose > or =7.0 mmol/l) varied inversely across quartiles of 25OHD in a dose-dependent pattern (OR 0.25 [95% CI 0.11-0.60] for non-Hispanic whites and 0.17 [0.08-0.37] for Mexican Americans) in the highest vitamin D quartile (25OHD > or =81.0 nmol/l) compared with the lowest 25OHD (< or =43.9 nmol/l). This inverse association was not observed in non-Hispanic blacks. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (log e) was inversely associated with serum 25OHD in Mexican Americans (P=0.0024) and non-Hispanic whites (P=0.058) but not non-Hispanic blacks (P=0.93), adjusting for confounders. CONCLUSIONS These results show an inverse association between vitamin D status and diabetes, possibly involving insulin resistance, in non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans. The lack of an inverse association in non-Hispanic blacks may reflect decreased sensitivity to vitamin D and/or related hormones such as the parathyroid hormone.
Botulinum toxin type A: a novel approach to the treatment of recurrent urethral strictures.

Recently, investigators have demonstrated that botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) can be used to prevent scar formation in facial wounds.1 This concept led us to investigate the treatment of recurrent urethral stricture scars using a combination of direct visual internal urethrotomy (DVIU) and BTX-A. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three patients with a history of posterior urethral stricture disease who had undergone failed DVIU were treated with repeat DVIU in combination with BTX-A injection. Etiologies for urethral strictures included radical retropubic prostatectomy in 2 patients with prostate cancer, and Targis microwave procedure (Urologix, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota) for benign prostatic hyperplasia in 1. All patients had a combination of stress urinary incontinence and recurrent urethral strictures diagnosed by videourodynamics and cystoscopy, respectively. Intraoperatively, each stricture was radially incised through the fibrous tissue in 4 quadrants until bleeding tissue was reached and a 21Fr or greater cystoscope could be easily passed into the bladder. Using a 25 gauge Williams needle 100 units BTX-A diluted in 2 ml preservative-free saline was injected circumferentially at the base of the scar into the intervening areas between the incisions (fig. 1). All patients had a catheter placed at the end of the procedure that was left indwelling for 2 to 5 days. Patients returned at approximately 4 to 6 weeks for repeat cystoscopy. On repeat cystoscopy a 21Fr cystoscope easily passed through the previous stricture site in 2 of 3 patients, each of whom later underwent successful placement of an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) to treat the stress urinary incontinence. Nine months following DVIU plus BTX-A injection cystoscopy revealed continued patency of the posterior urethra in 1 patient who had undergone implantation of an AUS (fig. 2). Long-term urethral patency of the other AUS implant was confirmed during operative revision of the AUS 12 months after DVIU plus BTX-A injection. The third patient, who previously had undergone radical retropubic prostatectomy complicated by an anastomotic urinary stricture, had a moderate recurrence of the scar following DVIU plus BTX-A treatment. Repeat cystoscopy 6 weeks postoperatively showed an approximately 10Fr to 12Fr caliber urethral lumen. An 18-week followup cystoscopy demonstrated no further diminution in urethral caliber. Nine months after stricture incision and BTX-A injection the patient continues to void to completion without straining or the need to catheterize.
Faculty self-reported experience with racial and ethnic discrimination in academic medicine

ABCKGROUND: Despite the need to recruit and retain minority faculty in academic medicine, little is known about the experiences of minority faculty, in particular their self-reported experience of racial and ethnic discrimination at their institutions.OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of self-reported experience of racial/ethnic discrimination among faculty of U.S. medical schools, as well as associations with outcomes, such as career satisfaction, academic rank, and number of peer-reviewed publications.DESIGN: A 177-item self-administered mailed survey of U.S. medical school faculty.SETTING: Twenty-four randomly selected medical schools in the contiguous United States.PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 1,979 full-time faculty, stratified by medical school, specialty, graduation cohort, and gender.MEASUREMENTS: Frequency of self-reported experiences of racial/ethnic bias and discrimination.RESULTS: The response rate was 60%. Of 1,833 faculty eligible, 82% were non-Hispanic white, 10% underrepresented minority (URM), and 8% nonunderrepresented minority (NURM). URM and NURM faculty were substantially more likely than majority faculty to perceive racial/ethnic bias in their academic environment (odds ratio [OR], 5.4; P<.01 and OR, 2.6; P<.01, respectively). Nearly half (48%) of URM and 26% of NURM reported experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination by a superior or colleague. Faculty with such reported experiences had lower career satisfaction scores than other faculty (P<.01). However, they received comparable salaries, published comparable numbers of papers, and were similarly likely to have attained senior rank (full or associate professor). CONCLUSIONS: Many minority faculty report experiencing racial/ethnic bias in academic medicine and have lower career satisfaction than other faculty. Despite this, minority faculty who reported experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination achieved academic productivity similar to that of other faculty.
Factors affecting the level of damage by wild boar in farmland in north-eastern Poland.

BACKGROUND There was an unchecked increase in wild boar population and in the damaged crops in Poland in 2010, and the amount of compensation reached €12.4 million. The objective of the present study was to establish the factors affecting boar-related damage and to verify the effectiveness of protective strips used again wild boar pressure upon fields. RESULTS Damage was positively correlated with the wild boar population density, the farmland-forest ecotone index, the proportion of deciduous stands, the Simpson index for dominant tree species and the age class of forest stands. The relationship between level of damage and feeding strips was not significant. Stepwise regression explains 55.6% of the variability of a given feature affected by the wild boar density, the forest-field ecotone index and the Simpson index for the age structure of the forest. During 5 years, the compensation for damage caused by boar amounted to €34.2 million, whereas the revenue from carcasses sold amounted to €9.5 million. CONCLUSIONS Protective strips do not reduce the damage to crops, and so the offer of high-protein food on these strips, which increases reproduction rates among wild boar, should be discontinued. Reduction in the level of damage can only be achieved by a radical reduction in numbers of wild boar.
Impacts of the Shell Doping Profile on the Electrical Characteristics of Junctionless FETs

This paper presents the impacts of an advanced shell doping profile (SDP) on the electrical characteristics of a junctionless (JL) FET in terms of OFF-current, subthreshold swing (SS), and ON-current by a numerical simulator. Due to the potential mirroring effect, a special observation stemming from the SDP, the carriers can enter the intrinsic region from the doped surface reducing the series resistance though the junction depth is smaller than 5 nm. The proposed doping profile provides an additional structure parameter for designing a JL FET showing the mitigated short-channel effects, a better SS, and a higher ON/OFF current ratio for sub-20-nm channel length. Compared with traditional devices, a JL FET with the proposed SDP shows a lower OFF-current by decades and less electrical characteristics variation caused by the nanowire diameter variation. The SDP not only reduces the series resistance of a JL FET but also poses a possible solution of avoiding the negative impacts of quantum confinement for advanced technology nodes.
Construction of Otherwise Isogenic Serotype 6B, 7F, 14, and 19F Capsular Variants of Streptococcus pneumoniae Strain TIGR4

ABSTRACT The polysaccharide capsule is the primary virulence factor in Streptococcus pneumoniae. There are at least 90 serotypes of S. pneumoniae, identified based on the immunogenicity of different capsular sugars. The aim of this study was to construct pneumococcal strains that are isogenic except for capsular type. Serotype 4 strain TIGR4 was rendered unencapsulated by recombinational replacement of the capsular polysaccharide synthesis (cps) locus with the bicistronic Janus cassette (C. K. Sung, J. P. Claverys, and D. A. Morrison, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:5190-5196, 2001). In subsequent transformation with chromosomal DNA, the cassette was replaced by the cps locus derived from a strain of a different serotype, either 6B, 7F, 14, or 19F. To minimize the risk of uncontrolled recombinational replacements in loci other than cps, the TIGRcps::Janus strain was“ backcross” transformed three times with chromosomal DNA of subsequently constructed capsular type transformants. Capsular serotypes were confirmed in all new capsule variants by the Quellung reaction. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the cps locus confirmed the integrity of the cps region transformed into the TIGR strain, and RFLP of the flanking regions confirmed their identities with the corresponding regions of the recipient. Transformants had in vitro growth rates greater than or equal to that of TIGR4. All four strains were able to colonize C57BL/6 mice (female, 6 weeks old) for at least 7 days when mice were intranasally inoculated with 6 × 106 to 8 × 106 CFU. The constructed capsular variants of TIGR4 are suitable for use in studies on the role of S. pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide in immunity, colonization, and pathogenesis.
A 2ns-read-latency 4Mb embedded floating-body memory macro in 45nm SOI technology

To meet advancing market demands, microprocessor embedded memory applications require denser and faster memory arrays with each process generation. Recent work presented an 18.5ns 128Mb DRAM with a floating body cell for conventional DRAM products [1] and a 4Mb memory macro using a memory cell built with two floating body transistors [2]. This paper presents a floating-body Z-RAM® memory cell [3] to fabricate a high-density low-latency and high-bandwidth 4Mb memory macro building block, targeted at the requirements of microprocessor caches. It uses a single transistor (1T), unlike traditional 1T1C DRAM [4], or six transistor 6T-SRAM memory cells [5].
Hispanic/Latino Disparities in Living Donor Kidney Transplantation: Role of a Culturally Competent Transplant Program

Background Hispanic Americans face disparities in access to kidney transplantation, particularly living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). This study compared characteristics of LDKT recipients before and after implementing the Hispanic Kidney Transplant Program (HKTP) at Northwestern Medicines (NM) and other centers. Methods The NM HKTP, initiated in December 2006, delivers culturally and linguistically competent and congruent care. Program-specific data were used to compare the mean ratios of Hispanic to non-Hispanic white LDKTs between pre-HKTP (2001-2006) and post-HKTP (2008-2013), and to compare the characteristics of NM's adult LDKT patients between pre-HKTP and post-HKTP. The same ratio was calculated for transplant centers in regions with a significant Hispanic population (≥25%) and performing in the top tertile of total LDKT volume in the pre-HKTP period. The number of Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients added to the waiting list were compared between pre-HKTP (2001-2006) and post-HKTP (2008-2013) as a proxy for increased patient referrals and a pathway by which the HKTP may increase LDKTs. Results The ratio of Hispanic to non-Hispanic white LDKTs significantly increased by 70% after the implementation of NM's HKTP (pre-HKTP mean = 0.20, post-HKTP mean = 0.34; P= 0.001). None of the other transplant centers experienced a similar increase in their ratio of Hispanic to non-Hispanic white LDKTs. The NM waiting list additions grew by 91% among Hispanics, but grew only 4% for non-Hispanic whites. Conclusions These data suggest that the development and implementation of a culturally congruent transplant program can positively affect Hispanic LDKT and thereby reduce Hispanics disparities in LDKT rates. Further studies are needed to prospectively evaluate the generalizability of implementing such culturally competent interventions at other transplant programs.
Recent evolutionary history of the bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) across Eurasia

We analysed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 154 bluethroats (Luscinia svecica) sampled at 21 sites throughout much of their Eurasian range. A previously reported, single base‐pair mtDNA difference between L. s. svecica and L. s. namnetum was inconsistent upon expanded geographical sampling. A significant FST value (0.29) and an isolation‐by‐distance effect show the existence of geographical differentiation. Phylogenetic analysis of haplotypes revealed northern and southern groups, although lineage sorting is incomplete. There was no geographical structure to the haplotype tree within groups, and currently recognized subspecies were not supported. A minimum evolution tree based on pairwise mtDNA genetic distances among average samples showed the same two broadly distributed northern and southern groups. These groups abut in the centre of the latitudinal range, and were possibly isolated by forest that developed and spread westward over the last 15 000 years. Pairwise FST values averaged 0.16 in the southern group, 0.04 in the northern group, and 0.42 between groups. Mismatch distributions suggested population growth in each group, with that in the south being more recent. In the northern group, the geographical pattern in tau suggested northward and eastward expansion. Analysis of nucleotide diversity suggested westward expansion in the southern group. The northern group had higher nucleotide diversity than the southern group, consistent with a larger current population size in the north. Given the significant FST, incompletely sorted haplotype tree, and broadly patterned minimum evolution tree, L. svevica appears to represent a species at an intermediate stage of differentiation between panmixia and reciprocal monophyly.
Toward a Model of Equity Practice: Equity-minded Teacher Praxis in Urban High Schools

In this research project the perceptions about equity, equity practices, and opinions about support for equity were investigated. This qualitative case study consisted of semi-structured interviews with three urban equity-minded high school teachers from the Toronto area. Particular attention was paid attention to the resources and support available to teachers in implementing equity, the practices of equity minded teachers and obstacles to these teachers. The practices of these teachers were found to fall under four overarching categories, forming a model of equity practice: Preventive, Evaluative, Active, and Reactive (P.E.A.R.). These different aspects appear to encompass the range and scope of possible equity practices. I also suggest that the reactive practices of these teachers form another type of curriculum, called the reactive curriculum whereby teachers impart implicit information to students based on how they react in the moment to an equitable issue arising in the classroom or school. Overall, participants felt that much more support and resources such as workshops need to be provided, differentiated and mandated in the realm of equity.