Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An internal ribosomal entry signal in the rat VL30 region of the Harvey murine sarcoma virus leader and its use in dicistronic retroviral vectors

The genetic organization of the 5' genomic RNA domain of the highly oncogenic Harvey murine sarcoma virus appears to be unusual in that a multifunctional untranslated leader precedes the v-ras oncogene. This 5' leader is 1,076 nucleotides in length and is formed of independent regions involved in key steps of the viral life cycle: (i) the Moloney murine leukemia virus 5' repeat, untranslated 5' region, and primer binding site sequences necessary for the first steps of proviral DNA synthesis, (ii) the virus-like 30S (VL30)-derived sequence containing a functional dimerization-packaging signal (E/DLS) directing viral RNA dimerization and packaging into MLV virions, and (iii) an Alu-like sequence preceding the 5' untranslated sequence of v-rasH which contains the initiation codon of the p21ras oncoprotein. These functional features, the unusual length of this leader (1,076 nucleotides), and the presence of stable secondary structures between the cap and the v-ras initiation codon might well cause a premature stop of the scanning ribosomes and thus inhibit v-ras translation. In order to understand how Harvey murine sarcoma virus achieves a high level of expression of the ras oncogene, we asked whether the rat VL30 sequence, 5' to v-ras, could contribute to an efficient synthesis of the ras oncoprotein. The implications of the VL30 sequence in the translation initiation of Ha-ras were investigated in the rabbit reticulocyte lysate system and in murine cells. Results show that the rat VL30 sequence allows a cap-independent translation of a downstream reporter gene both in vitro and in murine cells. Additional experiments performed with dicistronic neo.VL30. lacZ mRNAs indicate that the 5' VL30 sequence (positions 380 to 794) contains an internal ribosomal entry signal. This finding led us to construct a new dicistronic retroviral vector with which the rat VL30 sequence was able to direct the efficient expression of a 3' cistron and packaging of recombinant dicistronic RNA into murine leukemia virus virions.
Physical Contact and Financial Risk Taking

We show that minimal physical contact can increase people’s sense of security and consequently lead them to increased risk-taking behavior. In three experiments, with both hypothetical and real payoffs, a female experimenter’s light, comforting pat on the shoulder led participants to greater financial risk taking. Further, this effect was both mediated and moderated by feelings of security in both male and female participants. Finally, we established the boundary conditions for the impact of physical contact on risk-taking behaviors by demonstrating that the effect does not occur when the touching is performed by a male and is attenuated when the touch consists of a handshake. The results suggest that subtle physical contact can be strongly influential in decision making and the willingness to accept risk.
OCRdroid : A Framework to Digitize Text on Smart Phones

As demand grows for mobile phone applications, research in optical character recognition, a technology well developed for scanned documents, is shifting focus to the recognition of text embedded in digital photographs. In this paper, we present OCRdroid, a generic framework for developing OCR-based applications on mobile phones. OCRdroid combines a lightweight image preprocessing suite installed inside the mobile phone and an OCR engine connected to a backend server. We demonstrate the power and functionality of this framework by implementing two applications called PocketPal and PocketReader based on OCRdroid on HTC Android G1 mobile phone. Initial evaluations of these pilot experiments demonstrate the potential of using OCRdroid framework for real-world OCR-based mobile applications.
Cascade Convolutional Neural Network Based on Transfer-Learning for Aircraft Detection on High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images

Aircraft detection from high-resolution remote sensing images is important for civil and military applications. Recently, detection methods based on deep learning have rapidly advanced. However, they require numerous samples to train the detection model and cannot be directly used to efficiently handle large-area remote sensing images. A weakly supervised learning method (WSLM) can detect a target with few samples. However, it cannot extract an adequate number of features, and the detection accuracy requires improvement. We propose a cascade convolutional neural network (CCNN) framework based on transfer-learning and geometric feature constraints (GFC) for aircraft detection. It achieves high accuracy and efficient detection with relatively few samples. A high-accuracy detection model is first obtained using transfer-learning to fine-tune pretrained models with few samples. Then, a GFC region proposal filtering method improves detection efficiency. The CCNN framework completes the aircraft detection for large-area remote sensing images. The framework first-level network is an image classifier, which filters the entire image, excluding most areas with no aircraft. The second-level network is an object detector, which rapidly detects aircraft from the first-level network output. Compared with WSLM, detection accuracy increased by 3.66%, false detection decreased by 64%, and missed detection decreased by 23.1%.
Azithromycin 1.5% ophthalmic solution: efficacy and treatment modalities in chronic blepharitis.

PURPOSE To assess the efficacy of topical 1.5% azithromycin in the treatment of moderate to severe chronic blepharitis and to compare the efficacy of two different treatment modalities. METHODS A randomized clinical trial included 67 patients with chronic anterior and/or posterior blepharitis, followed-up for 3 months. Signs and symptoms were graded according to severity. Patients were randomized into two groups: 33 patients in group I and 34 patients in group II. Group I patients were treated with topical 1.5% azithromycin twice a day for three days, and Group II patients were treated with topical 1.5% azithromycin twice a day for three days then at bedtime for the rest of the month. All patients were instructed to apply warm compresses and an eye-friendly soap twice daily. RESULTS Patients in both groups tolerated the treatment with minimal irritation. A significant improvement in signs and symptoms was noted at the one week follow-up visit. Group II showed a more pronounced and longer-lasting improvement that persisted after three months of follow-up. CONCLUSION Topical 1.5% azithromycin ophthalmic solution is an effective treatment option for chronic blepharitis. In moderate to severe blepharitis, a one month treatment is safe and shows better improvement than the three-day protocol with no significant relapse until three months of follow-up.
Uncomplicated male gonorrhea--a review.

VENEREAL DISEASE is California's major communicable disease (Table 1) and gonorrhea is the leading reportable disease for 1971 (Table 2). The reported cases of gonorrhea in California and the United States have continued to increase at a high rate, but a slight decline has been recorded for California in 1971 (Table 3). However, adding unreported cases throughout the United States to those reported by physicians, one finds the estimated incidence of gonorrhea is approximately two million cases per year.1 In 1970, a survey was conducted by the National Disease and Therapeutic Index of a representative sample of more than 1,500 private physicians. The findings were startling. Patients with gonococcal infections represented more than half of all venereal disease visits during 1970. Patient visits were mostly by males, 69 percent.2 Thus, an epidemic of gonorrhea prevails.
Sfh1p, a component of a novel chromatin-remodeling complex, is required for cell cycle progression

Several eukaryotic multiprotein complexes, including the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Snf/Swi complex, remodel chromatin for transcription. In contrast to the Snf/Swi proteins, Sfh1p, a new Snf5p paralog, is essential for viability. The evolutionarily conserved domain of Sfh1p is sufficient for normal function, and Sfh1p interacts functionally and physically with an essential Snf2p paralog in a novel nucleosome-restructuring complex called RSC (for remodels the structure of chromatin). A temperature-sensitive sfh1 allele arrests cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, and the Sfh1 protein is specifically phosphorylated in the G1 phase. Together, these results demonstrate a link between chromatin remodeling and progression through the cell division cycle, providing genetic clues to possible targets for RSC function.
Reproducibility of grayscale and radiofrequency IVUS data acquisition in stented coronary arteries

Abstract Objectives. Variability in data acquisition from intervened coronary arteries could represent a source of error that has implications for the design of serial stent studies. We assessed inter-pullback reproducibility of volumetric grayscale and radiofrequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) data in stented coronary arteries. Design. Fifteen patients with coronary artery lesions treated with stent implantation were included and examined with two separate pullbacks using the Eagle Eye Gold-phased array 20 MHz IVUS catheter (Volcano). The arteries were divided into five segments, giving a total of 150 sub-segments for analyses. Matching of frames was performed using landmarks that were clearly visible in coronary angiography and intravascular pullbacks. Data were analyzed off-line at an independent Corelab. Results. The inter-pullback reproducibility of geometrical data was very good for non-stented segments with relative differences less than 5% between pullbacks for lumen-, vessel-, and plaque volumes. For stented segments reproducibility was poorer with relative differences between pullbacks in the range of 5–10%. The inter-pullback reproducibility of compositional data demonstrated large standard deviations of relative differences, indicating a weaker agreement. Conclusions. Agreements between pullbacks were weaker in stented than those in non-stented segments. Based on our data, future longitudinal IVUS studies in intervened vessels should account for a variability of 5–10% attributed to the acquisition of images.
Cardiovascular disease and risk factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and control subjects. METHODS Data for patients continuously enrolled in an integrated outcomes database between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2002, with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes of 714.x (RA), 696.0 (PsA), or 720.0 (AS) were evaluated in this cross-sectional comparative study. Control groups were established for each patient group (1:4 ratio) by matching on the basis of age, sex, geographic region, and length of time in plan. Age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities and risk factors were calculated; the prevalence ratio of the comorbidities and risk factors for the patient groups compared with the control population were estimated. Use of selected cardiovascular medications was also compared between patient and control groups. RESULTS The RA, PsA, and AS cohorts comprised 28,208, 3066, and 1843 patients, respectively. The prevalence ratio of ischemic heart disease (1.5, 1.3, 1.2), atherosclerosis (1.9, 1.4, 1.5), peripheral vascular disease (2.4, 1.6, 1.6), congestive heart failure (2.0, 1.5, 1.8), cerebrovascular disease (1.6, 1.3, 1.7), type II diabetes (1.4, 1.5, 1.2), hyperlipidemia (1.2, 1.2, 1.2), and hypertension (1.3, 1.3, 1.3) were higher in patients than controls. For RA, PsA, and AS, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, nitrates/vasodilators, anticoagulants, and antihyperlipidemia agents was significantly higher in patients than controls. CONCLUSION Cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors were more common in patients with RA, PsA, and AS than in matched controls.
Environmental Optima for Seven Strains of Pseudochattonella (Dictyochophyceae, Heterokonta)

The ichthyotoxic flagellate Pseudochattonella has formed recurrent blooms in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat since 1998. Five strains of Pseudochattonella farcimen and two strains of P. verruculosa were examined in an assay comparing the light response of specific growth rates over a range of temperatures and salinities to get further knowledge on the autecology of members of this genus. Temperature optima were lower in P. farcimen (9°C–15°C) than in P. verruculosa (12°C–20°C). P. farcimen also showed a somewhat lower salinity optimum (18–26) than P. verruculosa (20–32). All strains showed light‐dependent growth responses reaching saturation between 18 and 52 μmol · photons · m−2 · s−1 at optimal temperature and salinity conditions. Compensation point estimates ranged from 4.2 to 15 μmol · photons · m−2 · s−1. Loss rates increased with temperature and were lowest at salinities close to optimal growth conditions. Blooms of P. farcimen have been recorded in nature under conditions more similar to those minimizing loss rates rather than those maximizing growth rates in our culture study.
Critical Analysis of the Current and Voltage Superposition Approaches at Sharing Harmonic Distortion Responsibility

Faced with the guidelines contained in documents approved by the National Electric Power Agency PRODIST - Module 8, amongst other indicators of electric power supply quality, the harmonic distortions appear as an important issue. The mentioned regulation takes into account specific matters such as definitions, measurement procedures, benchmarks, etc. Focusing the subject of voltage distortions and the establishment of approaches to determine the responsibility for possible violations of given limits emerges as an important task. This research topic has been taken into account by the literature and a few procedures to characterize the responsibility of a given distortion level due to supplier and consumer has been proposed. The most widespread solutions are based on frequency domain superposition principles. Having this in mind, the current paper conducts a critical analysis performance of the superposition methodology throughout two possible ways of dealing with the subject. The first uses the current contributions and the other by focusing the voltage harmonic found at a given busbar. The studies highlight that the current procedure do not lead to consistent results whereas the voltage method seems to provide a promising manner of dealing with the identification of the harmonic distortion responsibility.
Mesenchymal stem cells in rheumatoid synovium: enumeration and functional assessment in relation to synovial inflammation level

Objective: Achieving joint regeneration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represents a future challenge. Autologous synovial mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could be therapeutically exploited. However, the inflammatory milieu in the RA synovium could adversely affect endogenous MSC function. To test this hypothesis, the frequency and multipotency of RA synovial MSCs was evaluated in relation to existing synovial inflammation. Methods: Synovial inflammation was measured using the arthroscopic visual analogue score (VAS) and further validated using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Highly proliferative clonogenic in vivo MSCs were enumerated following fluorescence-activated cell sorting and expansion for 20 population doublings. MSC multipotency was quantified following standard in vitro culture expansion and trilineage differentiation assays. Real-time PCR, flow cytometry and ELISA were used to evaluate pro- and anti-chondrogenic molecules in standard polyclonal synovial MSCs. Results: The arthroscopic VAS significantly correlated with synovial macrophage infiltration. In RA, synovial MSC chondrogenesis was inhibited in direct relation to VAS (r = −0.777, p<0.05) and reduced compared with control osteoarthritis (OA)-MSCs (p<0.05). In vivo, MSCs resided in the synovial fibroblastic/stromal fraction (CD45−CD31−) and were reduced in frequency in relation to VAS (r = −0.695, p<0.05). In RA-MSCs, CD44 levels correlated negatively with inflammation and positively with chondrogenesis (r = −0.830 and r = 0.865, respectively). Cytokine production and Sox9 expression was similar in RA-MSCs and OA-MSCs. Conclusions: There is a negative relationship between synovial MSC chondrogenic and clonogenic capacities and the magnitude of synovitis in RA. Effective suppression of joint inflammation is therefore necessary for the development of autologous MSC treatments aimed at cartilage regeneration in RA.
Chemical Composition and Antiradical Activity of the Essential Oil from Satureja intricata, S. obovata and their Hybrid Satureja x delpozoi

Satureja x delpozoi is a hybrid found in southeastern Spain, in a population in which both parents S. intrincata and S. obovata are found together. This work presents for the first time the volatile profile and antioxidant activity of the essential oils of this hybrid. The volatile profile of the essential oils from S. x delpozoi underlines the hybrid character of these plants since the p-cymene, γ-terpinene, camphor and thymol concentrations in hybrid 1, and the same components, along with α-terpineol concentrations in hybrid 2, showed intermediate values with respect to the values observed in the parents. As regards the antioxidant capacity, the phenolic content of S. intrincata resulted in its essential oil having the greatest activity against the DPPH. and ABTS+ radicals. Both hybrids showed low activity against these radicals, although S. obovata showed none. On the bases of their essential oil composition and antioxidant capacity, these results corroborate the hybrid character of these two S. x delpozoi plants.
Sunitinib Therapy for Melanoma Patients with KIT Mutations

Purpose: Recent studies have shown activating KIT mutations in melanoma originating from mucosa, acral, or cumulative sun-damaged skin sites. We aimed to assess the predictive role of KIT mutation, amplification, or overexpression for response to treatment with the kinase inhibitor sunitinib. Experimental Design: Tumor tissues from 90 patients with stage III or IV acral, mucosal, or cumulative sun-damaged skin melanoma underwent sequencing of KIT, BRAF, NRAS, and GNAQ genes, FISH analysis for KIT amplification, and immunohistochemistry of KIT protein (CD117). Patients with mutations, amplifications, or overexpression of KIT were treated with sunitinib and responses measured by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Results: Eleven percent of the melanomas tested had mutations in KIT, 23% in BRAF, 14% in NRAS, and none in GNAQ. Of 12 patients treated with sunitinib, 10 were evaluable. Of the 4 evaluable patients with KIT mutations, 1 had a complete remission for 15 months and 2 had partial responses (1- and 7-month duration). In contrast, only 1 of the 6 patients with only KIT amplification or overexpression alone had a partial response. In 1 responder with rectal melanoma who later progressed, the recurring tumor had a previously undetected mutation in NRAS, which was found in addition to the persisting mutation in KIT. Interestingly, among patients with manifest stage IV disease, KIT mutations were associated with a significantly shortened survival time (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Sunitinib may have activity in patients with melanoma and KIT mutations; more study is needed. KIT mutations may represent an adverse prognostic factor in metastatic melanoma. Clin Cancer Res; 18(5); 1457–63. ©2012 AACR.
Concreteness and Psychological Distance in Natural Language Use

Existing evidence shows that more abstract mental representations are formed and more abstract language is used to characterize phenomena that are more distant from the self. Yet the precise form of the functional relationship between distance and linguistic abstractness is unknown. In four studies, we tested whether more abstract language is used in textual references to more geographically distant cities (Study 1), time points further into the past or future (Study 2), references to more socially distant people (Study 3), and references to a specific topic (Study 4). Using millions of linguistic productions from thousands of social-media users, we determined that linguistic concreteness is a curvilinear function of the logarithm of distance, and we discuss psychological underpinnings of the mathematical properties of this relationship. We also demonstrated that gradient curvilinear effects of geographic and temporal distance on concreteness are nearly identical, which suggests uniformity in representation of abstractness along multiple dimensions.
Myosin cleft closure determines the energetics of the actomyosin interaction

Formation of the strong binding interaction between actin and myosin is essential for force generation in muscle and in cytoskeletal motor systems. To clarify the role of the closure of myosin's actin‐binding cleft in the actomyosin interaction, we performed rapid kinetic, spectroscopic, and calorimetric experiments and atomic‐level energetic calculations on a variety of myosin isoforms for which atomic structures are available. Surprisingly, we found that the endothermic actin‐binding profile of vertebrate skeletal muscle myosin subfragment‐1 is unique among studied myosins. We show that the diverse propensity of myo‐sins for cleft closure determines different energetic profiles as well as structural and kinetic pathways of actin binding. Depending on the type of myosin, strong actin binding may occur via induced‐fit or conformational preselection mechanisms. However, cleft closure does not directly determine the kinetics and affinity of actin binding. We also show that cleft closure is enthal‐pically unfavorable, reflecting the development of an internal strain within myosin in order to adopt precise steric complementarity to the actin filament. We propose that cleft closure leads to an increase in the torsional strain of myosin's central β‐sheet that has been proposed to serve as an allosteric energy‐transducing spring during force generation. —Takacs, B. , O'Neall‐Hennessey, E. , Hetenyi, C. , Kardos, J., Szent‐Gyorgyi, A. G. , Kovacs, M. Myosin cleft closure determines the energetics of the actomyosin interaction. FASEBJ. 25, 111–121 (2011). www.fasebj. org
Efficiency of LSA and K-means in Predicting Students' Academic Performance Based on Their Comments Data

Predicting student academic performance has long been an important research topic in many academic disciplines. The prediction will help the tutors to identify the weak students and help them to score better marks; these steps were taken to improve the performance of the students. The present study uses free style comments written by students after each lesson. These comments reflect their learning attitudes to the lesson, understanding of subjects, difficulties to learn, and learning activities in the classroom. (Goda and Mine, 2011a) proposed the PCN method to estimate a learning situation from a comment freely written by students. This paper uses C method (Current) from the PCN method. The C method focuses on studentsâ understanding and achievements during the class period. The aims of this study are, by applying the method to the studentsâ comments, to clarify relationships between studentâs behaviour and their success, and to develop the model of studentsâ performance predictors. To this end, we use Latent Semantic Analyses (LSA) and K-means clustering techniques. The results of this study reported a model of student academic performance predictors by analysing comment data as variables predictors.