Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuraminidase Is Important for the Initiation of Influenza Virus Infection in Human Airway Epithelium

ABSTRACT Influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) plays an essential role in release and spread of progeny virions, following the intracellular viral replication cycle. To test whether NA could also facilitate virus entry into cell, we infected cultures of human airway epithelium with human and avian influenza viruses in the presence of the NA inhibitor oseltamivir carboxylate. Twenty- to 500-fold less cells became infected in drug-treated versus nontreated cultures (P < 0.0001) 7 h after virus application, indicating that the drug suppressed the initiation of infection. These data demonstrate that viral NA plays a role early in infection, and they provide further rationale for the prophylactic use of NA inhibitors.
Association of interleukin 28B and mutations in the core and NS5A region of hepatitis C virus with response to peg‐interferon and ribavirin therapy

Background and aims: Mutations in the core and NS5A region of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b have been associated with response to interferon (IFN) therapy. Genome‐wide association studies have revealed that the single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of interleukin 28B (IL28B) contributes to IFN response. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the SNP of IL28B (rs8099917) and amino acid substitutions in the core and NS5A region affect the response to IFN therapy.
Improved test-retest reliability of 50-ms paired-click auditory gating using magnetoencephalography source modeling.

Used to study filtering abnormalities in schizophrenia, the paired-click paradigm suffers from poor test-retest reliability of the gating ratio, calculated from the P50 component of the ERP recorded at Cz approximately 50 ms following each of two stimuli. This study sought to improve reliability by assessing 50-ms gating at primary auditory cortices (PAC), the main generators of the P50 Cz component. MEG source modeling was used, taking advantage of the tangentially oriented PAC sources. Ten healthy subjects underwent three sessions, during which Cz-based and PAC-derived gating was measured. Unlike Cz P50, gating ratios at bilateral PACs achieved an intraclass coefficient of . 8 or greater. Variability of gating within the same subject was also significantly smaller for bilateral PACs than for Cz P50. Paired-click gating ratio reliability can be improved by examining the individual PACs rather than composite scalp-recorded activity.
Preferential binding of the methyl-CpG binding domain protein 2 at methylated transcriptional start site regions

Methyl-CpG Binding Domain (MBD) proteins are thought to be key molecules in the interpretation of DNA methylation signals leading to gene silencing through recruitment of chromatin remodeling complexes. In cancer, the MBD-family member, MBD2, may be primarily involved in the repression of genes exhibiting methylated CpG at their 5' end. Here we ask whether MBD2 randomly associates methylated sequences, producing chance effects on transcription, or exhibits a more specific recognition of some methylated regions. Using chromatin and DNA immunoprecipitation, we analyzed MBD2 and RNA polymerase II deposition and DNA methylation in HeLa cells on arrays representing 25,500 promoter regions. This first whole-genome mapping revealed the preferential localization of MBD2 near transcription start sites (TSSs), within the region analyzed, 7.5 kb upstream through 2.45 kb downstream of 5' transcription start sites. Probe by probe analysis correlated MBD2 deposition and DNA methylation. Motif analysis did not reveal specific sequence motifs; however, CCG and CGC sequences seem to be overrepresented. Nonrandom association (multiple correspondence analysis, p < 0.0001) between silent genes, DNA methylation and MBD2 binding was observed. The association between MBD2 binding and transcriptional repression weakened as the distance between binding site and TSS increased, suggesting that MBD2 represses transcriptional initiation. This hypothesis may represent a functional explanation for the preferential binding of MBD2 at methyl-CpG in TSS regions.
Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare

&NA; Healthcare, as with any other service operation, requires systematic innovation efforts to remain competitive, cost efficient, and up‐to‐date. This article outlines a methodology and presents examples to illustrate how principles of Lean Thinking and Six Sigma can be combined to provide an effective framework for producing systematic innovation efforts in healthcare. Controlling healthcare cost increases, improving quality, and providing better healthcare are some of the benefits of this approach.
Pharmacotherapeutic management of autism

There are no medications that are specifically marketed for the treatment of autism. There does exist, however, an extensive body of literature describing both open-label and controlled studies of medications in the treatment of both children and adults with autism. Some of the better-studied medications (including haloperidol and risperidone) are often efficacious in treating associated symptoms of autism but can also cause unacceptable adverse effects. Early studies of serotonin re-uptake inhibitors appear promising but may not be indicated for all age groups. Small, controlled studies of methylphenidate and clonidine indicate a possible role for these medications in the treatment of hyperactivity in autism. No medications have been proven to be efficacious in the treatment of the core social or communication impairment seen in autism. Current pharmacological management is best aimed at target symptoms that have been demonstrated to respond to medication in treatment studies.
Multi-layer kohonen self-organizing feature map for language identification

In this paper we describe a novel use of a multi-layer Kohonen self-organizing feature map (MLKSFM) for spoken language identification (LID). A normalized, segment-based input feature vector is used in order to maintain the temporal information of speech signal. The LID is performed by using different system configurations of the MLKSFM. Compared with a baseline PPRLM system, our novel system is capable of achieving a similar identification rate, but requires less training time and no phone labeling of training data. The MLKSFM with the sheet-shaped map and the hexagonal-lattice neighborhoods relationship is found to give the best performance for the LID task, and this system is able to achieve a LID rate of 76.4% and 62.4% for the 45-sec and 10-sec OGI speech utterances, respectively.
Globular tail of myosin-V is bound to vamp/synaptobrevin.

VAMP/synaptobrevin is one of a number of v-SNAREs involved in vesicular fusion events in neurons. In a previous report, VAMP was shown to form a complex with synaptophysin and myosin V, a motor protein based on the F-actin, and that myosin V was then released from the complex in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. Here, we found that VAMP alone is bound to myosin V in a Ca(2+)-independent manner, and determined that the globular tail domain of myosin V is its binding site. The syntaxin-VAMP-myosin V formed in the presence of Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM). In the absence of CaM, only syntaxin-VAMP, or VAMP-myosin V complex was formed. Our results suggest that VAMP acts as a myosin V receptor on the vesicles and regulates formation of the complex.
Effect of pattern adaptation on spatial frequency discrimination.

The effect of pattern adaptation on spatial frequency discrimination was examined in two experiments. In the first experiment delta f/f was measured (with and without adaptation) as a function of stimulus contrast; in the second experiment the contrast required to discriminate a fixed delta f/f was measured (with and without adaptation) as a function of the value of delta f/f. Maximum precision, as measured by the asymptotic value that delta f/f approaches at medium and high contrasts, was not altered by adaptation. Rather, the effect of adaptation was to translate the functions relating delta f/f and contrast along the log-contrast axis, i.e., to increase by a constant factor the contrast required to achieve a given precision of discrimination. This factor agreed closely with the factor by which adaptation raised the contrast threshold for detection of the test stimuli. The largest effects were observed when the reference and the adapting stimuli had the same spatial frequency (5 cycles/deg). Smaller or negligible effects were observed when reference and adapting frequencies differed by an octave.
In vitro effect of coffee on oral malodor-related parameters

In the present investigation we examined the effect of three brands of coffee on microbial volatile sulfur compound (VSC) production using a decarboxylase incubation assay. Stimulated whole saliva was added to decarboxylase medium supplemented with 0.005% hemin. Incubation was carried out anaerobically for 72 h in the presence of powdered coffee at concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 2.0% (w/v), as compared with appropriate controls. VSC levels were determined using OralChroma™ and Halimeter™ and malodor was scored by an experienced odor judge. Experimental biofilm was grown with or without coffee and examined for VSC-producing bacteria using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Results showed that VSC and malodor levels were decreased by 85% in the presence of 2% coffee. The data suggest that coffee components reduce malodor production, VSC levels and experimental biofilm VSC-producing bacteria in vitro.
A Grouping Genetic Algorithm for the Multiple Traveling Salesperson Problem

The multiple traveling salesperson problem (MTSP) involves scheduling m > 1 salespersons to visit a set of n > m locations. Thus, the n locations must be divided into m groups and arranged so that each salesperson has an ordered set of cities to visit. The grouping genetic algorithm (GGA) is a type of genetic algorithm (GA) designed particularly for grouping problems. It has been successfully applied to a variety of grouping problems. This paper focuses on the application of a GGA to solve the MTSP. Our GGA introduces a new chromosome representation to indicate which salesperson is assigned to each tour and the ordering of the cities within each tour. We compare our method to standard GAs that employ either the one-chromosome or two-chromosome representation for MTSP. This research demonstrates that our GGA with its new chromosome representation is capable of solving a variety of MTSP problems from the literature and can outperform the traditional encodings of previously published GA methods.
A New Triterpenoid from the Aerial Parts of Agrimonia pilosa

(1S,3R,17R,18R,19R,20R,22R)-1,3,19,22-tetrahydroxy-28-norurs-12-en-2-one (1), along with 5 known triterpenoids (2–6), were isolated from the aerial parts of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb. Their structures were established based on extensive spectroscopic and MS analysis. The absolute configuration of compound 1 was deduced by circular dichroism (CD). Compound 1 was the first example of a 28-norursene backbone isolated from the genus Agrimonia. Compounds 2–6 were tested for anti-inflammatory activities against RAW 264.7 macrophages. A plausible biosynthetic pathway for compound 1 in A. pilosa was also proposed.
Network Coding-aware Routing for Energy Minimization in Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

Throughput in wireless networks can be enhanced with the help of network coding. This approach also increases network lifetime in the cases of devices running on battery, such as wireless sensor nodes. Additionally, network coding achieves a reduction in the number of transmissions needed for transmission of a specific message through the network by making energy usage more efficient. Despite its benefits, however, network coding can have a negative impact on network lifetime if it is implemented excessively. The present study addresses this compromise that demonstrates that networks with energy restrictions are incompatible with the current network coding strategies based on throughput. One routing issue is attributed particular importance, namely, reduction of overall energy usage and improvement of individual node lifetime through effective routing of a series of traffic demands over the network.A range of analytical formulations are put forth to generate an optimal solution for the issue of multi-path routing. Results show that, by comparison to solutions without network coding, the suggested solution improves energy efficiency while at the same time satisfying the specified lifetime restrictions.
Sex‐linked differences in the course of chronic kidney disease and congestive heart failure: a study in 5/6 nephrectomized Ren‐2 transgenic hypertensive rats with volume overload induced using aorto‐caval fistula

The role of hypertension and the renin‐angiotensin system (RAS) in sex‐related differences in the course of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and congestive heart failure (CHF) remain unclear, especially when the two diseases are combined. In male and female Ren‐2 transgenic rats (TGR), a model of hypertension with activation of endogenous RAS, CKD was induced by 5/6 renal mass reduction (5/6 NX) and CHF was elicited by volume overload achieved by creation of an aorto‐caval fistula (ACF). The primary aim of the study was to examine long‐term CKD‐ and CHF‐related mortality, especially in animals with CKD and CHF combined, with particular interest in the potential sex‐related differences. The follow‐up period was 23 weeks after the first intervention (5/6 NX). We found, first, that TGR did not exhibit sexual dimorphism in the course of 5/6 NX‐induced CKD. Second, in contrast, TGR exhibited important sex‐related differences in the course of ACF‐induced CHF‐related mortality: intact female TGR showed higher survival rate than male TGR. This situation is reversed in the course of combined 5/6 NX‐induced CKD and ACF‐induced CHF‐related mortality: intact female TGR exhibited poorer survival than male TGR. Third, the survival rate in animals with combined 5/6 NX‐induced CKD and ACF‐induced CHF was significantly worsened as compared with rat groups that were exposed to ‘single organ disease’. Collectively, our present results clearly show that CKD aggravates long‐term mortality of animals with CHF. In addition, TGR exhibit remarkable sexual dimorphism with respect to CKD‐ and CHF‐related mortality, especially in animals with combined CKD and CHF.
Effect of granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor on the number of leucocytes and course of Listeria monocytogenes infection in naive and leucocytopenic mice

This study concerns the effect of recombinant murine granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) on the number of circulating leucocytes, activation of peritoneal macrophages and proliferation of Listeria monocytogenes in various organs of naive and leucocytopenic mice. Mice were rendered leucocytopenic by sublethal total body irradiation or cyclophosphamide treatment. GM‐CSF treatment enhanced the number of granulocytes and monocytes in peripheral blood during L. monocytogenes infection in naive mice, but not in irradiated or cyclophosphamide‐treated mice. In naive mice, irradiated and cyclophosphamide‐treated mice, GM‐CSF did not affect the course of L. monocytogenes infection in thigh muscle, spleen and liver. However, GM‐CSF treatment significantly increased the number of macrophages in the peritoneal cavity of naive mice during infection; these macrophages were more enlarged and showed a higher frequency of binucleated and multinucleated cells relative to non‐GM‐CSF‐treated mice. Together, these results demonstrated that GM‐CSF increased the number of circulating granulocytes and monocytes, and the number of peritoneal macrophages during infection with L. monocytogenes in naive mice, but did not affect the course of the infection in thigh muscle, spleen or liver of these mice. In leucocytopenic mice, however, GM‐CSF did not affect the number of circulating phagocytes, which explains that this factor had no effect on the proliferation of the bacteria in the various organs.
Network performance management using mobile software agents

In recent years a lot of promise has surrounded the potential impact of mobile software agents in the area of network management. The work aims to present a clear- direction of practical exploitation of mobile agents for network management tasks. Three different case studies of network performance management were examined in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the agent mobility strategy and autonomous behaviour applied within the specific context. This work importantly allowed the identification of 'Constrained' mobility, an agent migration strategy especially suited for network management tasks, involving a mobile agent autonomously migrating to a single network element where its execution is confined. The mobile agent benefits identified relate primarily to the easy support for programmability of network elements and the autonomous, self-configurable agent operation. An important drawback is that the advanced capabilities of modem mobile agent frameworks typically incur significant performance overheads and these were confirmed through a detailed performance evaluation comparing mobile agents to distributed object and mobile code approaches. In the direction of addressing this drawback, the work proposes network management solutions based on specially formulated execution environments that retain important mobile agent benefits while reducing network performance overheads.
Amniotic fluid cardiac troponin T in pathological pregnancies with evidence of chronic fetal hypoxia.

AIM To determine if prenatally measured cardiac troponin T in the amniotic fluid (Am-TnT) could be used as a marker of fetal myocardial hypoxia and necrosis in pathological pregnancy characterized by increased concentration of amniotic fluid erythropoietin (Am-EPO) as a sign of chronic fetal hypoxia. METHOD We measured Am-TnT and Am-EPO in 29 pathological and 5 uncomplicated pregnancies. Samples of amniotic fluid were collected prospectively during elective amniocentesis (n=15), cesarean sections (n=17), and before elective induction of labor in two pregnancies with stillbirth. Am-TnT and Am-EPO were determined by chemiluminescent immunological method. RESULTS Am-TnT was undetectable in normal pregnancies, but it was detectable in 9 of 29 amniotic fluid samples from pathological pregnancies, with a median value of 0.030 microg/L (range, 0.010-111.6 microg/L). Am-EPO values were above normal values (>11 U/L) in all pathological pregnancies. Am-EPO concentration showed positive correlation with the Am-TnT concentration (r=0.526, P=0.003). Median concentration of Am-EPO in 9 pregnancies with detectable Am-TnT was 198 U/L (range, 16-3,378 U/L). In 20 pathologic pregnancies with undetectable Am-TnT, the median concentration of Am-EPO was 39 U/L (range, 12-293 U/L). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P=0.051). CONCLUSION Am-TnT is measurable in some pathological pregnancies with signs of fetal chronic hypoxia and myocardial involvement and could be potentially used as a biochemical marker of fetal myocardial injury.
The Tumor Suppressor EXT-like Gene EXTL2 Encodes an α1, 4-N-Acetylhexosaminyltransferase That TransfersN-Acetylgalactosamine and N-Acetylglucosamine to the Common Glycosaminoglycan-Protein Linkage Region

We previously demonstrated a unique α-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase that transferredN-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) to the tetrasaccharide-serine, GlcAβ1–3Galβ1–3Galβ1–4Xylβ1-O-Ser (GlcA represents glucuronic acid), derived from the common glycosaminoglycan-protein linkage region, through an α1,4-linkage. In this study, we purified the enzyme from the serum-free culture medium of a human sarcoma cell line. Peptide sequence analysis of the purified enzyme revealed 100% identity to the multiple exostoses-like geneEXTL2/EXTR2, a member of the hereditary multiple exostoses (EXT) gene family of tumor suppressors. The expression of a soluble recombinant form of the protein produced an active enzyme, which transferred α-GalNAc from UDP-[3H]GalNAc to various acceptor substrates including GlcAβ1–3Galβ1–3Galβ1–4Xylβ1-O-Ser. Interestingly, the enzyme also catalyzed the transfer ofN-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) from UDP-[3H]GlcNAc to GlcAβ1–3Galβ1-O-naphthalenemethanol, which was the acceptor substrate for the previously described GlcNAc transferase I involved in the biosynthetic initiation of heparan sulfate. The GlcNAc transferase reaction product was sensitive to the action of heparitinase I, establishing the identity of the enzyme to be α1,4-GlcNAc transferase. These results altogether indicate thatEXTL2/EXTR2 encodes the α1,4-N-acetylhexosaminyltransferase that transfers GalNAc/GlcNAc to the tetrasaccharide representing the common glycosaminoglycan-protein linkage region and that is most likely the critical enzyme that determines and initiates the heparin/heparan sulfate synthesis, separating it from the chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate synthesis.
Comparison of the Diurnal Precipitation Cycle in Convection-Resolving and Non-Convection-Resolving Mesoscale Models

Abstract The diurnal cycles of rainfall in 5-km grid-spacing convection-resolving and 22-km grid-spacing non-convection-resolving configurations of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are compared to see if significant improvements can be obtained by using fine enough grid spacing to explicitly resolve convection. Diurnally averaged Hovmoller diagrams, spatial correlation coefficients computed in Hovmoller space, equitable threat scores (ETSs), and biases for forecasts conducted from 1 April to 25 July 2005 over a large portion of the central United States are used for the comparisons. A subjective comparison using Hovmoller diagrams of diurnally averaged rainfall show that the diurnal cycle representation in the 5-km configuration is clearly superior to that in the 22-km configuration during forecast hours 24–48. The superiority of the 5-km configuration is validated by much higher spatial correlation coefficients than in the 22-km configuration. During the first 24 forecast hours the 5-km m.