Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influenza Virus Receptor Specificity and Cell Tropism in Mouse and Human Airway Epithelial Cells

ABSTRACT Recent human infections caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 strains emphasize an urgent need for assessment of factors that allow viral transmission, replication, and intra-airway spread. Important determinants for virus infection are epithelial cell receptors identified as glycans terminated by an α2,3-linked sialic acid (SA) that preferentially bind avian strains and glycans terminated by an α2,6-linked SA that bind human strains. The mouse is often used as a model for study of influenza viruses, including recent avian strains; however, the selectivity for infection of specific respiratory cell populations is not well described, and any relationship between receptors in the mouse and human lungs is incompletely understood. Here, using in vitro human and mouse airway epithelial cell models and in vivo mouse infection, we found that the α2,3-linked SA receptor was expressed in ciliated airway and type II alveolar epithelial cells and was targeted for cell-specific infection in both species. The α2,6-linked SA receptor was not expressed in the mouse, a factor that may contribute to the inability of some human strains to efficiently infect the mouse lung. In human airway epithelial cells, α2,6-linked SA was expressed and functional in both ciliated and goblet cells, providing expanded cellular tropism. Differences in receptor and cell-specific expression in these species suggest that differentiated human airway epithelial cell cultures may be superior for evaluation of some human strains, while the mouse can provide a model for studying avian strains that preferentially bind only the α2,3-linked SA receptor.
Impact of Fe and Ag nanoparticles on seed germination and differences in bioavailability during exposure in aqueous suspension and soil

The potential environmental toxicity of zero‐valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) and three types of nanosilver differing in average particle size from 1 to 20 nm was evaluated using seed germination tests with ryegrass, barley, and flax exposed to 0–5000 mg L−1 nZVI or 0–100 mg L−1 Ag. For nZVI, germination tests were conducted both in water and in two contrasting soils to test the impact of assumed differences in bioavailability of nanoparticles. Inhibitory effects were observed in aqueous suspensions at 250 mg L−1 for nZVI and 10 mg L−1 for Ag. Reduction in shoot growth was a more sensitive endpoint than germination percentage. Complete inhibition of germination was observed at 1000–2000 mg L−1 for nZVI. For Ag, complete inhibition was not achieved. The presence of soil had a modest influence on toxicity, and inhibitory effects were observed at 300 mg nZVI L−1 water in soil (equivalent to 1000 mg nZVI kg−1 soil). Complete inhibition was observed at 750 and 1500 mg L−1 in sandy soil for flax and ryegrass, respectively, while for barley 13% germination still occurred at 1500 mg L−1. In clay soil, inhibition was less pronounced. Our results indicate that nZVI at low concentrations can be used without detrimental effects on plants and thus be suitable for combined remediation where plants are involved. Silver nanoparticles inhibited seed germination at lower concentrations, but showed no clear size‐dependant effects, and never completely impeded germination. Thus, seed germination tests seem less suited for estimation of environmental impact of Ag. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 2012.
Minimising compassion fatigue in obstetrics/gynaecology doctors: exploring an intervention for an occupational hazard

Aim: To explore the indicators of occupational stress in a group of obstetrics and gynaecology doctors and to investigate the impact of work-focused discussion groups over a 6 month period. Methods: The ProQOL questionnaire was used to measure the efficacy of monthly psychiatrist-led Balint style discussion groups on minimising Compassion Fatigue (consisting of Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout). The 25 doctors were given the given the ProQOL questionnaire to complete: (a) at the initiation of the intervention in July 2015, (b) in October 2015, and (c) in December 2015. Results: Significantly decreased levels of Secondary Traumatic Stress (p=0.008), Burnout (p=0.010), as well as significantly increased rates of Compassion Satisfaction (p=0.035) were recorded. Participants requested that the groups be continued. Conclusions: Psychiatrist-led work focused discussion groups were associated with improved rates of Secondary Traumatic Stress, Burnout, and Compassion Satisfaction in this sample group.
ANÁLISE COMPARADA DE CONCENTRAÇÕES DE NEGÓCIOS DOS SETORES INDUSTRIAL, COMERCIAL E DE TURISMO.

As redes de empresas, em especial as concentradas geograficamente em clusters ou APL's, tem sido alvo de interesse permanente de pesquisas e tambem de governos de paises em todo o mundo depois dos estudos de Marshall (1920), dos registros de Brusco (1982) sobre as experiencias de sucesso na Italia e das conclusoes ditadas por Michael Porter uma decada mais tarde e desde entao, sao observados em diferentes campos da atividade economica. Este estudo objetiva realizar uma revisao sistematica e analise comparativa de concentracoes de negocios aglomerados em clusters ou APL's atraves de artigos publicados em periodicos nacionais. Busca-se classificar a producao nacional de acordo com os pressupostos de abordagens teoricas desta tematica e destacando os pontos de convergencia e particularidades em cada segmento economico - industrial, comercial e turismo - permitindo compreender este tipo de formacao sob as diferentes oticas usadas pelos pesquisadores. Para atingir este objetivo sera realizada, a principio, uma investigacao utilizando tecnicas de pesquisa bibliometrica de artigos publicados em periodicos nacionais e constantes do banco de dados Spell (Scientific Periodicals Electronic Library). Em seguida os artigos serao analisados em profundidade, a fim de compreender melhor o fenomeno. A afirmativa orientadora da discussao e a premissa de que aglomeracoes, clusters e arranjos produtivos locais sao estudados e caracterizados por um metodo predominante distinto de acordo com o setor economico a que pertencem. Alem disso, ha a expectativa de que em cada setor haja o reconhecimento de caracteristicas que os diferenciam e outras que se assemelham.
In Vivo Pharmacodynamics of Antifungal Drugs in Treatment of Candidiasis

The field of antimicrobial pharmacodynamics examines the relationship between drug pharmacokinetics and antimicrobial activity or host toxicity (9). These investigations have been valuable for defining optimal antimicrobial dosing regimens and validating in vitro susceptibility breakpoints (4, 14, 25). The concepts encompassing this discipline were defined initially with antibacterial compounds (9, 34, 35). With the advent of standardized and reproducible antifungal susceptibility testing, similar pharmacodynamic analyses have been undertaken (24). Both in vitro and in vivo models have been able to demonstrate a correlation between drug dose, the MIC for an organism, and outcome (15, 17, 18, 36, 37). These investigations have been important for describing the relative potencies of antifungal drugs against a number of important pathogens. More recent in vivo pharmacodynamic investigations have examined the relationship among drug dose, dosing interval, MIC, and treatment outcome to define the specific pharmacodynamic parameter and parameter magnitude predictive of antifungal drug activity. This minireview summarizes these in vivo antifungal pharmacodynamic investigations.
Sporadic Versus Familial Medullary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: A Histopathologic Study of 50 Consecutive Patients

By means of calcitonin screening programs, sporadic and hereditary medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) can be detected at an early stage. We investigated the histopathologic findings of 16 familial (mean age 32 ± 21 years, female/male ratio 1.6:1) and 34 sporadic (mean age 58 ± 15 years; female/male ratio 2.4:1) MTCs with stage T1 comparatively. Patients with hereditary tumors were younger. Hereditary tumors were more often found multifocal (13 of 16 vs 3 of 34; p <0.001), bilateral (11 of 16 vs 3 of 34; p <0.001), displaying desmoplastic stroma (14 of 16 vs 19 of 34; p = 0.02), and accompanied by C cell hyperplasia (16 of 16 vs 24 of 34; p = 0.01), but all of these factors were present in some sporadic patients. Only tumors with desmoplastic stroma showed lymph node metastasis, which was observed in eight of the 50 patients. After surgery all patients showed permanent normalization of calcitonin levels. We conclude that 1) morphologic parameters considered to indicate familial MTC risk are of no value in the individual patient, 2) many sporadic MTCs develop on the background of CCH, 3) tumors with desmoplastic stroma are more likely to develop lymph node metastasis, and 4) early detection of MTC permits curative surgery in the majority of patients.
Retracted: Effects of Whey Peptides on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors

Previous studies have shown that peptides derived from milk proteins can improve blood pressure. Therefore, the authors tested the blood pressure‐lowering effects of a hydrolyzed whey protein supplement rich in bioactive peptides. In a 6‐week controlled study, 30 prehypertensive or stage 1 hypertensive subjects (blood pressure ≥120/80 mm Hg and ≤155/95 mm Hg) were randomized to receive 20 g/d of either a hydrolyzed whey protein (active treatment) or an unmodified whey protein (control treatment). Blood pressure, blood lipids, safety measures, side effects, and diet were evaluated throughout the trial. After completion of treatment, a 4‐week follow‐up was conducted. There was a mean reduction of 8.0+3.2 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure (P<.05) and of 5.5±2.1 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure (P<.05) in the treatment group compared with the control group. Low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein were significantly improved by treatment. Whey‐derived peptides might be a viable treatment option for prehypertensive and/or stage 1 hypertensive populations.
Neuroimaging Markers of Motor and Nonmotor Features of Parkinson's Disease: An [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Computed Tomography Study

Aim: We sought to identify markers of motor and nonmotor function in Parkinson's disease (PD) using advanced neuroimaging techniques in subjects with PD. Methods: We enrolled 26 nondemented PD subjects and 12 control subjects. All subjects underwent [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission computed tomography (FDG-PET) and magnetic resonance imaging, and a complete neuropsychological battery. Results: FDG-PET of subjects with PD revealed significant metabolic elevations in the bilateral posterior lentiform nucleus, posterior cingulate, and parahippocampus, and metabolic reductions in the bilateral temporoparietal association cortex and occipital lobe versus controls. PD subjects had significant reductions in executive/attention function, memory/verbal learning, and speed of thinking, and significantly increased depression, anxiety and apathy scores compared with controls. Motor dysfunction correlated with increased metabolism in the posterior lentiform nucleus, pons, and cerebellum, and decreased metabolism in the temporoparietal lobe. Cognitive dysfunction correlated with increased posterior cingulate metabolism and decreased temporoparietal lobe metabolism. Depressive symptoms correlated with increased amygdala metabolism; anxiety scores correlated with decreased caudate metabolism, and apathy scores correlated with increased metabolism in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal lobe and decreased metabolism in the temporoparietal association cortex. Conclusions: Our findings showed that motor, cognitive, and emotional dysfunction in PD are associated with distinct patterns of cerebral metabolic changes.
Expression from the adeno-associated virus p5 and p19 promoters is negatively regulated in trans by the rep protein

The leftward two promoters of the adeno-associated virus (AAV) 2 genome were fused to reporter genes, and the constructs were used to transfect HeLa cells. The promoters functioned constitutively but were repressed in trans by the AAV rep gene product(s). The repression was relieved by adenovirus infection. Evidence which indicated an enhancer function for the inverted terminal repeat of the AAV-2 genome was also obtained.
Real-time observation of bacteriophage T4 gp41 helicase reveals an unwinding mechanism

Helicases are enzymes that couple ATP hydrolysis to the unwinding of double-stranded (ds) nucleic acids. The bacteriophage T4 helicase (gp41) is a hexameric helicase that promotes DNA replication within a highly coordinated protein complex termed the replisome. Despite recent progress, the gp41 unwinding mechanism and regulatory interactions within the replisome remain unclear. Here we use a single tethered DNA hairpin as a real-time reporter of gp41-mediated dsDNA unwinding and single-stranded (ss) DNA translocation with 3-base pair (bp) resolution. Although gp41 translocates on ssDNA as fast as the in vivo replication fork (≈400 bp/s), its unwinding rate extrapolated to zero force is much slower (≈30 bp/s). Together, our results have two implications: first, gp41 unwinds DNA through a passive mechanism; second, this weak helicase cannot efficiently unwind the T4 genome alone. Our results suggest that important regulations occur within the replisome to achieve rapid and processive replication.
Standardized demonstration of silver-stained nucleolar organizer regions-associated proteins in archival oral squamous cell carcinomas and adjacent non-neoplastic mucosa.

Standardized silver staining and quantitation of nucleolar organizer regions-associated proteins (AgNORs) on routinely formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues has been recently established. The present study was designed to assess its applicability and reproducibility on archival oral squamous cell carcinoma specimens, with special emphasis on the invasive tumor front. Standardized image cytometric AgNOR analysis was performed at the invasive zone and central parts of the tumors as well as in adjacent dysplastic and normal oral mucosa by applying a modified silver staining on routinely processed archival tissues after wet autoclave pretreatment for protein retrieval. A statistically highly significant and reproducible difference of all of the four standardized AgNOR parameters evaluated (mean AgNOR number, mean AgNOR area, coefficient of variation (CV) of AgNOR number, and CV of AgNOR area per nucleus) was observed between the different areas assessed; there was a statistically significant gradual decrease in the CV of the AgNOR number from the invasive tumor front to central parts of the carcinomas, from dysplastic mucosa to normal epithelium. The observed increase of AgNORs at the invasive front of oral squamous cell carcinomas seems to indicate a subgroup of tumor cells with increased biosynthetic activity and malignant potential. Wet autoclave pretreatment before silver staining of AgNORs is necessary for a reliable visualization of single AgNOR dots. Second-order statistics of AgNOR features, e.g., CV values, offer a potent and highly reproducible parameter for AgNOR quantitation.
Towards Text Mining in Climate Science:Extraction of Quantitative Variables and their Relations

This paper addresses text mining in the cross-disciplinary fields of climate science, marine science and environmental science. It is motivated by the desire for literature-based knowledge discovery from scientific publications. The particular goal is to automatically extract relations between quantitative variables from raw text. This results in rules of the form “If variable X increases, than variable Y decreases”. As a first step in this direction, an annotation scheme is proposed to capture the events of interest – those of change, cause, correlation and feedback – and the entities involved in them, quantitative variables. Its purpose is to serve as an intermediary step in the process of rule extraction. It is shown that the desired rules can indeed be automatically extracted from annotated text. A number of open challenges are discussed, including automatic annotation, normalisation of variables, reasoning with rules in combination with domain knowledge and the need for meta-knowledge regarding context of use.
Molecular epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella typhimurium DTI04 on Ontario swine farms.

This study was conducted to examine antimicrobial resistances, plasmid profiles, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns of 80 Salmonella Typhimurium (including var. Copenhagen) DT104 strains (including DT104a and DT104b) recovered from pig and environmental fecal samples on 17 swine farms in Ontario. No resistance was observed to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, apramycin, carbadox, cephalothin, ceftriaxone, ceftiofur, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, trimethoprim, and tobramycin. However, the isolates exhibited resistance against 4 to 10 antimicrobials with the most frequent resistance being to sulfonamides (Su), ampicillin (A), streptomycin (S), spectinomycin (Sp), chloramphenicol (C), tetracycline (T), and florfenicol (F). Thirteen distinct resistance patterns were determined but 88% of isolates shared the typical resistance pattern "ACSpSSuT. " Twelve different plasmid profiles were observed; the 62 MDa virulence-associated plasmid was detected in 95% of the isolates. The 2.1 MDa plasmid was the second most frequent one, which was harbored by 65% isolates. The isolates were classified into 23 distinct genotypes by PFGE-SpeI + BlnI when difference in at least one fragment was defined as a distinct genotype. In total, 39 distinct "types" were observed when defining a "type" based on the combination of antimicrobial resistance, plasmid pattern, and PFGE-SpeI + BlnI for each isolate. The highest diversity was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.92, 0.96) for the "type" described above followed by 0.92 (95% CI: 0.88, 0.93) for PFGE-SpeI + BlnI. The diversity of DT104 isolates indicates there might be multiple sources for this microorganism on swine farms. This knowledge might be used to track these sources, as well as to study the extent of human salmonellosis attributed to pork compared to food products derived from other food-producing animals.
QSAR modelling of integrin antagonists using enhanced Bayesian regularised genetic neural networks

Bayesian regularised genetic neural network (BRGNN) has been used for modelling the inhibition activity of 141 biphenylalanine derivatives as integrin antagonists. Three local pattern search (PS) methods, simulated annealing and threshold acceptance were combined with BRGNN in the form of a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA). The results obtained revealed that PS is a suitable method for improving the ability of BRGNN to break out from the local minima. The proposed HGA technique is able to retrieve important variables from complex systems and nonlinear search spaces for optimisation. Two models with 8-3-1 artificial neural network (ANN) architectures were developed for describing α 4 β 7 and α 4 β 1 modulatory activities of integrin antagonists. Monte Carlo cross-validation was performed to validate the models and Q 2 values of 0.75 and 0.74 were obtained for α 4 β 7 and α 4 β 1 inhibitory activities, respectively. The scrambling technique was used for sensitivity analysis of descriptors appearing in ANN models. Frequencies of repetition and sensitivity analysis of molecular descriptors revealed that 3D-Morse descriptors are influential factors for describing α 4 β 7 inhibitory activity, while in the case of α 4 β 1 inhibitory activity, the Randic shape index, the lowest eigenvalue of the Burden matrix and the number of rotatable bonds are important parameters.
Serologic studies of meningococcal infection and polysaccharide vaccination.

Patients with meningococcal infection and volunteers who received meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines were studied by a variety of assays for antibody to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the tests. Indirect hemagglutination, using human erythrocytes sensitized with antigens of purified polysaccharide, was found to be highly sensitive and serogroup specific in demonstrating antibody response to natural infection and vaccination. Complement fixation using an antigen of protein was sensitive for detecting infection but did not show antibody response to polysaccharide vaccination. An immunofluorescent assay using whole organisms was shown to be sensitive and cross reactive for species following natural infection but group specific following immunization. Precipitation of polysaccharide in a micro-Ouchterlony system was a relatively insensitive test. None of these serologic assays have been evaluated as measures of the immune status of individuals or populations. For this purpose only the test for bactericidal activity of serum has been shown to have predictive value.
Using an enhanced LBG algorithm to reduce the codebook error in vector quantization

Presents a modification of the well-known LBG (Linde, Buzo and Gray, 1980) algorithm for the generation of codebooks in vector quantization. Our algorithm, which we call the ILBG (iterated LBG) algorithm, reduces the codebook error of the LBG algorithm drastically in typical applications. In our experiments, we were able to achieve up to a 75% reduction of the codebook error in only a few additional iteration steps. In the context of lossy image compression, this error reduction in turn leads to an increase of 2-3 dB in the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR).
Newcastle disease conjunctivitis with subepithelial infiltrates.

An epidemic of Newcastle disease occurred in turkeys of Southern Utah in the late fall of I965. Several workers in intimate contact with the turkeys at the processing plant developed a follicular conjunctivitis subsequently identified as due to Newcastle disease virus. The typical clinical findings and rise in haemagglutinin-inhibition titre indicated that the infection was acquired from the turkeys during the processing. Newcastle disease conjunctivitis in humans is usually a moderately severe follicular conjunctivitis with involvement of the preauricular nodes. The cornea is rarely affected (Allen, Burns, Gingrich, Givner, Key, Kimura, and Thygeson, I963; Allen, I964; Trott and Pilsworth, I965), although superficial infiltrates and epithelial staining have been reported (Keeney and Hunter, 1950; Jones, i962). To our knowledge, subepithelial infiltrates have not previously been described.
Robust detection of transmit diversity for wideband CDMA systems

The 3GPP WCDMA specification requires that the mobile terminal supports space time transmit diversity (STTD) encoding of various physical channels on the downlink, meaning that it needs to know if any physical channel is STTD encoded. We propose an efficient and robust algorithm to detect STTD on the downlink by correlating the received signal at the mobile with the known patterns of the downlink synchronization channel (SCH) and the primary common pilot channel (P-CPICH). The correlation result is used to estimate the binary-valued relative phase between SCH and P-CPICH, which is set at the base station transmitter depending on whether STTD is used or not. Near-optimum practical decision metrics are introduced and a statistical analysis of the proposed method is also provided.
Integrated Complementary Resistive Switches for Passive High-Density Nanocrossbar Arrays

Recently, the sneak-path obstacle in passive crossbar arrays has been overcome by the invention of complementary resistive switches (CRSs) consisting of two bipolar antiserially connected memristive elements. Here, we demonstrate the vertical integration of CRS cells based on Cu/SiO2/Pt bipolar resistive switches. CRS cells were fabricated and electrically characterized, showing high resistance ratios (Roff/Ron >; 1500) and fast switching speed (<; 120 μs). The results are one step further toward the realization of high-density passive nanocrossbar-array-based gigabit memory devices.