Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sequence Heterogeneity in the Core and NS5A Region of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and IL-28B Polymorphisms in Predicting Treatment Response among Chronic HCV Genotype 4 Infected Egyptian Patients

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global health problem, considered a major cause of chronic liver diseases. Its ability to evade host defense mechanisms services to establish persistent infection, producing a wide spectrum of pathogenicity (El-Shamy et al., 2014). Based on phylogenetic analysis, HCV has been classified into seven different genotypes and diverse subtypes (Smith et al., 2014). It is estimated that about 170 million people, 3% of the world’s population, are infected with HCV. Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV worldwide, with an average of 14.7%. HCV genotype 4 (HCV-GT4) is responsible for 90% of the total HCV infections in Egypt (Lavanchy et al., 2011; Miller et al., 2010).
The Role of Ketamine in Preventing Fentanyl-Induced Hyperalgesia and Subsequent Acute Morphine Tolerance

Perioperative opioids increase postoperative pain and morphine requirement, suggesting acute opioid tolerance. Furthermore, opioids elicit N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-dependent pain hypersensitivity. We investigated postfentanyl morphine analgesic effects and the consequences of NMDA-receptor antagonist (ketamine) pretreatment. The rat nociceptive threshold was measured by the paw-pressure vocalization test. Four fentanyl boluses (every 15 min) elicited a dose-dependent (a) increase followed by an immediate decrease of the nociceptive threshold and (b) reduction of the analgesic effect of a subsequent morphine administration (5 mg/kg): −15.8%, −46.6%, −85.1% (4 × 20, 4 × 60, 4 × 100 &mgr;g/kg of fentanyl, respectively). Ketamine pretreatment (10 mg/kg) increased the fentanyl analgesic effect (4 × 60 &mgr;g/kg), suppressed the immediate hyperalgesic phase, and restored the full effect of a subsequent morphine injection. Fentanyl also elicited a delayed dose-dependent long-lasting decrease of the nociceptive threshold (days) that was prevented by a single ketamine pretreatment before fentanyl. However, a morphine administration at the end of the fentanyl effects restored the long-lasting hyperalgesia. Repeated ketamine administrations were required to obtain a complete preventive effect. Although ketamine had no analgesic effect per se at the dose used herein, our results indicate that sustained NMDA-receptor blocking could be a fruitful therapy for improving postoperative morphine effectiveness.
Remarks on an Adaptive-type Self-tuning Controller using Quantum Neural Network with Qubit Neurons

This paper presents a self-tuning controller based on a quantum neural network and investigates the controller’s characteristics for control systems. A multi-layer quantum neural network which uses qubit neurons as an information processing unit is utilized to design an adaptive-type self-tuning controller which conducts the training of the quantum neural network as an online process. As an example of designing the self-tuning controller, either a proportional integral derivative controller or a fuzzy logic controller is utilized as a conventional controller for which parameters are tuned by the quantum neural network. To evaluate the learning performance and capability of the adaptive-type quantum neural self-tuning controller, we conduct computational experiments to control the single-input single-output non-linear discrete time plant. The results of the computational experiments confirm both feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed self-tuning controller.
Planar EBG structure in application of SAR reduction of tablet PC

In this paper, a planar EBG structure is designed for SAR reduction in tablet PC application. We simulated EBG reflection phase by HFSS and measured SAR by SAR test equipment (iSAR) in order to verify. The experiment results prove the proposed planar EBG is useful in reducing SAR of tablet PC under WLAN operation frequencies (2400MHz-2483.5MHz).
Clinical evaluation of the AutoMicrobic system Yeast Biochemical Card for rapid identification of medically important yeasts

The autoMicrobic system Yeast Biochemical Card (Vitek Systems, Inc., subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas, Hazelwood, Mo.), a fully automated and computer-assisted method for identifying seven yeast genera based on 26 biochemical reactions, was compared with the API 20C (Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y) yeast identification system, using 253 clinical yeast isolates. There was an 84% correlation between the Yeast Biochemical Card and API 20C systems based on biochemical tests alone and a 96% correlation when morphology was combined with the biochemical profile. Of 22 species examined, 14 were definitively identified within 24 h, using only the biochemical tests; the remaining 8 species were presumptively identified, using biochemical tests within 24 h, with definitive identification being completed in 48 to 72 h when morphological characteristics were ascertained. The Yeast Biochemical Card system was both a facile and, with concomitant morphology, an accurate system for performing yeast identification.
CAMs and Axonal Growth: A Critical Evaluation of the Role of Calcium and the MAPK Cascade

Calcium has long been recognized as a key player in the control of axonal growth and guidance. Recent studies lend support to this pivotal role by showing that local changes in calcium can directly induce the formation of filopodia in vivo and turn a growth cone in vitro. Under normal growth conditions, the L1 adhesion molecule has now been shown to induce local rather than global changes in calcium in growth cones, and this suggests that cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) use localized calcium transients to stimulate axonal growth and guidance. A number of recent reports have demonstrated that the neurite outgrowth response stimulated by L1 and other adhesion molecules (NCAM, N-cadherin, laminin) also depends in part upon the integrity of the MAPK cascade in cells. In this review we consider the recent data and suggest that calcium and the MAPK cascade might be required for very distinct growth cone functions. Finally, we will consider the contentious issue of how the above CAMs activate signaling cascades in growth cones and review the recently available data that support the hypothesis that at least one of these CAMs (N-cadherin) might promote growth cone motility by directly interacting with the FGFR in growth cones.
Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve

There is increasing, but largely indirect, evidence pointing to an effect of commensal gut microbiota on the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is unknown whether lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus could have a direct effect on neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS in normal, healthy animals. GABA is the main CNS inhibitory neurotransmitter and is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes. Alterations in central GABA receptor expression are implicated in the pathogenesis of anxiety and depression, which are highly comorbid with functional bowel disorders. In this work, we show that chronic treatment with L. rhamnosus (JB-1) induced region-dependent alterations in GABAB1b mRNA in the brain with increases in cortical regions (cingulate and prelimbic) and concomitant reductions in expression in the hippocampus, amygdala, and locus coeruleus, in comparison with control-fed mice. In addition, L. rhamnosus (JB-1) reduced GABAAα2 mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but increased GABAAα2 in the hippocampus. Importantly, L. rhamnosus (JB-1) reduced stress-induced corticosterone and anxiety- and depression-related behavior. Moreover, the neurochemical and behavioral effects were not found in vagotomized mice, identifying the vagus as a major modulatory constitutive communication pathway between the bacteria exposed to the gut and the brain. Together, these findings highlight the important role of bacteria in the bidirectional communication of the gut–brain axis and suggest that certain organisms may prove to be useful therapeutic adjuncts in stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression.
Circulatory Responses to Ketamine Anesthesia

The circulatory effects of ketamine, 2 mg/kg, administered intravenously, were studied in 12 patients undergoing diagnostic heart catheterization and coronary angiography. Six subjects were found to have cardiac disease and six had normal hearts. No differences between their responses to ketamine were observed. Nine studies were done in the unpaced state, and six with rate control by atrial pacing. Ketamine has both cardiac and peripheral effects. Systemic vascular resistance had both time-dependent and patient variability (<25 per cent). Maximal peripheral stimulation preceded maximal cardiac response in four of six paced patients. In unpaced patients, from whom single sets of measurements were obtained after development of maximal aortic pressure, cardiac index (CI) and heart rate (HR) increased 29 and 33 per cent, respectively, with a constant stroke-volume index (SVI), and elevated pulmonary arterial pressure (44 per cent). In the paced group an increase in CI (26 per cent) occurred, with a corresponding increase in SVI. The increase in CI after ketamine was not primarily due to a rate change. A negative correlation between change in LVEDP and increase in CI suggests that ketamine enhances myocardial contractility. Preloading (rise in LVEDP with increase in CI) occurred in less than half of the studies and did not appear to be a predominant mechanism. Analysis of the determinanls of myocardial Mo2 (tension-time index, external work, HR) suggests that Mo2 was increased by ketamine.
Oral health status of rural adults in the United States.

BACKGROUND Many sociodemographic indicators of oral health disparity in the United States have been documented. Rural residence, however, has not been researched thoroughly, though it has been considered to be a potential indicator of disparity. The authors conducted this study to present information on the effects of rural residence on oral health in the United States. METHODS The authors conducted their analyses using data from adults aged 18 to 64 years from the 1995, 1997 and 1998 National Health Interview Surveys and the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, 1988-94. The authors present national estimates for various oral health status indicators including dental insurance coverage, unmet care needs, frequency of dental visits, caries experience and prevalence of edentulism by rural/urban residence. RESULTS The authors found that adults living in rural areas were more likely to report having unmet dental care needs and were less likely to have had a dental visit in the past year compared with adults living in urban areas. The prevalence of edentulism among rural adults was 16.3 percent-almost twice that of urban adults. Caries experience also was more likely to be greater among adults residing in rural areas. CONCLUSIONS Oral health disparities exist among U.S. adults living in rural and urban areas. Compared with urban residents, rural residents were less likely to report a dental visit in the past year and were more likely to be edentulous. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS By understanding the rural/urban differences in adult oral health status, practitioners, policy-makers and rural health advocates will have better information to use to promote activities that better meet the needs of rural adults in the United States.
Social Death through HIV and AIDS Stigmatization and Discrimination in Ghana: A Case Study of the Central Regional Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana

Stigmatization of and discrimination against People Living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (PLHIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are increasingly recognized as the single greatest challenge to slowing the spread of HIV and partly the cause of the increased death rate particularly in Africa and Ghana to be specific. The purpose of the study was to identify the causes and effects of stigmatization of and discrimination against PLHIV visiting the Central Regional Hospital of Ghana for treatment and care. The research was conducted with a sample size of 120. Purposive and convenient/accidental sampling techniques were used to select respondents for the study. The study revealed that some people in Ghana stigmatize PLHIV because of the misconceptions they have about the modes of HIV transmission, the myths surrounding HIV and AIDS as well as their socio-cultural backgrounds and orientations. These stigmatizing behaviors towards PLHIV have serious health, social and psychological effects on them in particular and the society at large. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that there should be an intensification of education on HIV and AIDS through the media. This would make the population in Ghana more knowledgeable about the disease, which may help to reduce stigmatization of and discrimination against persons living with HIV.
The multivariate association between genomewide DNA methylation and climate across the range of Arabidopsis thaliana

Epigenetic changes can occur due to extracellular environmental conditions. Consequently, epigenetic mechanisms can play an intermediate role to translate environmental signals to intracellular changes. Such a role might be particularly important in plants, which often show strong local adaptation and have the potential for heritable epigenetic states. However, little is currently known about the role of epigenetic variation in the ecological mechanisms of adaptation. Here, we used multivariate redundancy analyses to examine genomewide associations between DNA methylation polymorphisms and climate variation in two independent panels of Arabidopsis accessions, including 122 Eurasian accessions as well as in a regional panel of 148 accessions in Sweden. At the single‐nucleotide methylation level, climate and space (geographic spatial structure) explain small yet significant amount of variation in both panels. On the other hand, when viewed in a context of genomic clusters of methylated and unmethylated cytosines, climate and space variables explain much greater amounts of variation in DNA methylation than those explained by variation at the single‐nucleotide level. We found that the single‐nucleotide methylation polymorphisms with the strongest associations with climate were enriched in transposable elements and in potentially RNA‐directed methylation contexts. When viewed in the context of genomic clusters, variation of DNA methylation at different sequence contexts exhibit distinctive segregation along different axes of variation in the redundancy analyses. Genomewide methylation showed much stronger associations with climate within the regional panel (Sweden) compared to the global (Eurasia). Together, these findings indicate that genetic and epigenetic variation across the genome may play a role in response to climate conditions and local adaptation.
Das okuläre Surfactant-System und dessen Rolle bei entzündlichen Erkrankungen der Augenoberfläche

The amphiphilic surfactant proteins B (SP-B) and C (SP-C) are tightly bound to phospholipids. These proteins play important roles in maintaining the surface tension-lowering properties of pulmonary surfactant. Surfactant protein A (SP-A) and D (SP-D) are hydrophilic and are thought to have a role in recycling surfactant and, especially, in improving host defense in the lung. Moreover, SP-A supports the hydrophobic surfactant proteins B and during surfactant subtype assembly and inhibits the secretion of lamellar bodies into the alveolar space. During recent years surfactant proteins have also been detected at locations outside the lung such as the lacrimal apparatus. In this review, the latest information regarding SP function and regulation in the human lacrimal system, the tear film and the ocular surface is summarised with regard to dry eye, rheological and antimicrobial properties of the tear film, tear outflow, certain disease states and possible therapeutic perspectives.
Mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis: signal transduction and histone‐like elements in the regulation of bacterial virulence

The profuse production of the exopolysaccharide alginate results in mucoidy, a critical virulence factor expressed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa during chronic respiratory tract infections in cystic fibrosis. Studies of the regulation of this pathogenic determinant have unravelled at least two levels of control, including bacterial signal transduction systems and histone‐like elements. Although only in its initial phase, an understanding of the dual control of mucoidy may help to illuminate adaptive processes that depend on the combination of these regulatory factors. Integration of specific signals transduced by the two‐component systems with inputs generated by the general state of bacterial nucleoids may govern the expression of certain virulence determinants and provide a framework facilitating selection of pheno‐types successful under particular environmental conditions and selective pressures.
Solving and Learning Soft Temporal Constraints: Experimental Scenario and Examples

Soft temporal constraint problems allow to describe in a natural way scenarios where events happen over time and preferences are associated to event distances and durations. However, sometimes such local preferences are difficult to set, and it may be easier instead to associate preferences to some complete solutions of the problem. To model everything in a uniform way via local preferences only, and also to take advantage of the existing constraint solvers which exploit only local preference use machine learning techniques which learn the local preferences from the global ones. In this paper we describe the existing framework for both solving and learning preferences in temporal constraint problems, the implemented modules, the experimental scenario, and preliminary results on some examples.
Black-Box Model, Identification Technique and Frequency Analysis for PEM Fuel Cell With Overshooted Transient Response

Fuel cells are one of the most promising energy sources, especially for onboard applications. However, fuel cells present several drawbacks, such as slow dynamic response, load-dependent voltage, and unidirectional power flow, which cause an inappropriate vehicle operation. So, secondary energy sources and power converters must be implemented in order to satisfy fast changes in the current load and to store the energy delivered by the load if regenerative braking is intended. Taking into account the number and nature of the power converters, loads, secondary energy sources, and the possibilities for the control strategies, the design of a power distribution architecture based on fuel cells for transport applications is a complex task. In order to address these architectures, modeling and simulation design tools at system level are essential. This paper proposes a complete fuel cell black-box model which reproduces the behavior of a commercial fuel cell with overshooted transient response. The identification technique applied to parameterize the model components, based on manufacturer's datasheets and a test based on load steps, is explained thoroughly. In addition, if only the fuel cell frequency response and manufacturer's datasheet are available, an alternative parameterization methodology based on the fuel cell frequency response is presented. The fuel cell black-box model is validated experimentally using a commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Two different parameterizations are carried out with the aim of verifying the robustness of both the fuel cell model and the proposed identification methodology.
Reconciling the different roles of Gsk3β in “naïve” and “primed” pluripotent stem cells

Signaling pathways orchestrated by PI3K/Akt, Raf/Mek/Erk and Wnt/β-catenin are known to play key roles in the self-renewal and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. The serine/threonine protein kinase Gsk3β has roles in all three pathways, making its exact function difficult to decipher. Consequently, conflicting reports have implicated Gsk3β in promoting self-renewal, while others suggest that it performs roles in the activation of differentiation pathways. Different thresholds of Gsk3β activity also have different biological effects on pluripotent cells, making this situation even more complex. Here, we describe a further level of complexity that is most apparent when comparing “naïve” murine and “primed” human pluripotent stem cells. In naïve cells, Gsk3β activity is restrained by PI3K/Akt, but when released from inhibitory signals it antagonizes self-renewal pathways by targeting pluripotency factors such as Myc and Nanog. This situation also applies in primed cells, but, in addition, a separate pool of Gsk3β is required to suppress canonical Wnt signaling. These observations suggest that different Gsk3β-protein complexes shift the balance between naïve and primed pluripotent cells and identify fundamental differences in their cell signaling. Altogether, these findings have important implications for the mechanisms underpinning the establishment of different pluripotent cell states and for the control of self-renewal and differentiation.
FEEDBACK CONTROL OF CHOLESTEROL SYNTHESIS IN MAN.

The ingenious balance studies of Schoenheimer and Breusch (1) first demonstrated that cholesterol metabolism in animals is under homeostatic control. It remained, however, for the isotopic experiments of Gould (2), Frantz, Schneider, and Hinkelman (3), and Tomkins, Sheppard, and Chaikoff (4) to prove conclusively that the feeding of cholesterol promptly suppresses hepatic cholesterol synthesis. The mechanism of this inhibition of cholesterol synthesis by dietary cholesterol has subsequently been studied extensively (5, 6) and has been shown to possess the characteristics of a negative feedback control system. Thus, in the sequence acetyl CoA ->/,8-hydroxy-f3methylglutaryl CoA -mevalonic acid -> cholesterol, a single reaction, the reduction of 8-hydroxy,8-methylglutaryl CoA to mevalonic acid, has been shown to be the primary site of the depression in cholesterogenesis produced by exogenous cholesterol (7, 8). It has also been demonstrated that this feedback system is operative in the livers of every species of experimental animal so far examined (2, 9, 10). Although it would thus seem likely that such a homeostatic mechanism would be present in human liver as well, no evidence for its existence in man has so far been reported. Furthermore, the only previous in vitro study of cholesterol synthesis in man (11) led to the unexpected conclusion that hepatic cholesterol synthesis is normally so low that such a feedback system in human liver could not play an important role in compensating for variations in dietary cholesterol. Because of certain objections to the conditions em-