Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of ER Stress by 2-Aminopurine Treatment Modulates Cardiomyopathy in a Murine Chronic Chagas Disease Model

Trypanosoma cruzi infection results in debilitating cardiomyopathy, which is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the endemic regions of Chagas disease (CD). The pathogenesis of Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) has been intensely studied as a chronic inflammatory disease until recent observations reporting the role of cardio-metabolic dysfunctions. In particular, we demonstrated accumulation of lipid droplets and impaired cardiac lipid metabolism in the hearts of cardiomyopathic mice and patients, and their association with impaired mitochondrial functions and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in CD mice. In the present study, we examined whether treating infected mice with an ER stress inhibitor can modify the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy during chronic stages of infection. T. cruzi infected mice were treated with an ER stress inhibitor 2-Aminopurine (2AP) during the indeterminate stage and evaluated for cardiac pathophysiology during the subsequent chronic stage. Our study demonstrates that inhibition of ER stress improves cardiac pathology caused by T. cruzi infection by reducing ER stress and downstream signaling of phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor (P-elF2α) in the hearts of chronically infected mice. Importantly, cardiac ultrasound imaging showed amelioration of ventricular enlargement, suggesting that inhibition of ER stress may be a valuable strategy to combat the progression of cardiomyopathy in Chagas patients.
Density‐dependent increase in superpredation linked to food limitation in a recovering population of northern goshawks Accipiter gentilis

A better understanding of the mechanisms driving superpredation, the killing of smaller mesopredators by larger apex predators, is important because of the crucial role superpredation can play in structuring communities and because it often involves species of conservation concern. Here we document how the extent of superpredation changed over time, and assessed the impact of such temporal variation on local mesopredator populations using 40 years of dietary data collected from a recovering population of northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), an archetypical avian superpredator. We then assessed which mechanisms were driving variation in superpredation, e.g., was it opportunistic, a response to food becoming limited (due to declines in preferred prey) or to reduce competition. Raptors comprised 8% of goshawk diet on average in years when goshawk abundance was high, which is higher than reported elsewhere. Additionally, there was a per capita increase in superpredation as goshawks recovered, with the proportion of goshawk diet comprising raptors increasing from 2% to 8% as the number of goshawk home-ranges increased from ≤14 to ≥25. This increase in superpredation coincided with a population decline in the most commonly killed mesopredator, the Eurasian kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), which may represent the reversal of the “mesopredator release” process (i.e., mesopredator suppression) which occurred after goshawks and other large raptors declined or were extirpated. Food limitation was the most likely driver of superpredation in this system given: 1) the substantial decline of two main prey groups in goshawk diet, the increase in diet diversity and decrease in goshawk reproductive success are all consistent with the goshawk population becoming food-limited; 2) it's unlikely to be purely opportunistic as the increase in superpredation did not reflect changes in the availability of mesopredator species; and 3) the majority of mesopredators killed by goshawks do not compete with goshawks for food or nest sites. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Does Teacher Quality Affect Student Performance? Evidence from an Italian University

In this paper, we analyse whether the characteristics of university teaching staff matter with regard to students' performance and interest in the discipline. We use data on about 1000 students enrolled on the first-level degree course in business and economics at a medium-sized Italian university. Thanks to the random assignment of students to different teaching classes during their first year, we are able to analyse the effect that teachers with different characteristics, in terms of experience and research productivity, produce both on students' performance, measured in terms of the grades obtained at subsequent examinations, and on courses chosen. Our results suggest that teacher quality has statistically significant effects on students' grades in subsequent courses. These effects are also robust after controlling for unobserved individual characteristics. On the other hand, we find less clear evidence when relating teacher quality to student involvement with a subject. It emerges that research productivity does not produce a statistically significant effect on the probability of a student undertaking additional courses in a subject, while more experienced teachers have a negative impact. However, also this effect does not become statistically significant when we run separate regressions for different disciplines.
Differentiation-dependent LMP 1 expression is required for 1 efficient lytic EBV reactivation in epithelial cells 2

word count: 245 17 Text word count: 6,230 18 19 JVI Accepted Manuscript Posted Online 8 February 2017 J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02438-16 Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. on F ebuary 7, 2017 by U iv of W isnsin M aison http/jvi.asm . rg/ D ow nladed fom
Preference-based approaches to deriving breeding objectives: application to sheep and plant breeding

A preference-based approach, using the internet-based software 1000Minds, was used to derive part-worth utilities of farmers’ assessments with respect to traits in the definition of a breeding objective for sheep in Ireland and pasture plants in Australia. The most critical issue in developing such approaches is the clear definition of traits and the use of realistic ranges of variation in trait performance in order to define alternatives. Conversion of part-worth utilities (percentages) into economic values requires that the economic value is generated within the survey by providing respondents with options that relate to traits which can be defined in economic terms. In presenting alternatives, application of discounted gene-flow principles to breeding objectives in survey-based methods depends on the way questions are asked. It was apparent that respondents’ understanding of traits (attributes, levels), experience with the traits, and how alternatives are presented are very important in using preference-based approaches to define breeding objectives. Issues related to separation of true differences in preferences, confounding and double counting (in animal breeding objectives) are challenges in development of breeding objectives from such preference approaches.
Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations

AbstractLittle dispute surrounds the observed global temperature changes over the past decades. As a result, there is widespread agreement that a corresponding response in the global hydrologic cycle must exist. However, exactly how such a response manifests remains unsettled. Here we use a unique recently developed long-term satellite-based record to assess changes in precipitation across spatial scales. We show that warm climate regions exhibit decreasing precipitation trends, while arid and polar climate regions show increasing trends. At the country scale, precipitation seems to have increased in 96 countries, and decreased in 104. We also explore precipitation changes over 237 global major basins. Our results show opposing trends at different scales, highlighting the importance of spatial scale in trend analysis. Furthermore, while the increasing global temperature trend is apparent in observations, the same cannot be said for the global precipitation trend according to the high-resolution dataset, P.
A Tropical Stochastic Skeleton Model for the MJO, El Niño, and Dynamic Walker Circulation: A Simplified GCM

A simple dynamical stochastic model for the tropical ocean atmosphere is proposed that captures qualitatively major intraseasonal to interannual processes altogether including El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the associated wind bursts, and the background dynamic Walker circulation. Such a model serves as a prototype “skeleton” for general circulation models (GCMs) that solve similar dynamical interactions across several spatiotemporal scales but usually show common and systematic biases in representing tropical variability as a whole. The most salient features of ENSO, the wind bursts, and the MJO are captured altogether including their overall structure, evolution, and fundamental interactions in addition to their intermittency, diversity, and energy distribution across scales. Importantly, the intraseasonal wind bursts and the MJO are here solved dynamically, which provides their upscale contribution to the interannual flow as well as their modulation in return in a more explicit way. This includes a realistic onset of El Niño events with increased wind bursts and MJO activity starting in the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific and expanding eastward toward the central Pacific, as well as significant interannual modulation of the characteristics of intraseasonal variability. A hierarchy of cruder model versions is also analyzed in order to highlight fundamental concepts related to the treatment of multiple time scales, main convective nonlinearities, and the associated stochastic convective parameterizations. The model developed here also should be useful to diagnose, analyze, and help eliminate the strong tropical biases that exist in current operational models.
Pharmacogenomics applications in perioperative medicine

The wide spectrum of pharmacologic management used in the perioperative patient presents a series of challenges for clinicians, and selection of medications to optimize therapeutic effect while minimizing risk of adverse effects can be difficult. Heterogeneity in patient response to pharmacologic treatments is attributed to differences in several factors including age, gender, race, weight, body-mass-index, disease state, use of concomitant medication(s) and genetic factors [1]. The post-genomic era following the sequencing of the human genome has brought significant advancement in our understanding of human genetics and technological advances that are shaping the fields of pharmacogenetics (the study of the effect of single genes on drug metabolism and response) and pharmacogenomics (the study of the effects of many genes as well as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions) [2]. A comprehensive understanding of the pharmacologic agent, as well as the intended dose and delivery method are critical for maximizing therapeutic efficacy and minimizing adverse effects during the perioperative period. Personalizing perioperative pharmacotherapies requires examination of genetic variations effecting drug absorption, transport, metabolism, and pharmacodynamic target(s) [3]. The purpose of this paper is to review the impact of genetic variation on perioperative drug management.
Characterisation and Biodiversity of a Fast-Growing Rhizobacterial Population Nodulating Lupine in Morocco

First investigation was made to assess the phenotypic and the genetic diversity of nodule occupants harvested from different lupine species in Morocco. The determination of the phenotypic characteristics of strains revealed a wide range of tolerance to pH, to high salt (NaCl) concentrations and to extreme temperatures. Strains were also highly resistant to many heavy metals and antibiotics. Particularly, strains exhibited a fast growth rate and cultural features typical to Rhizobium. Besides, symbiosis with Lupinus luteus showed to be more effective with strains isolated from wild species. Numerical analysis allowed the recovery of interesting strains for use as potential inoculants. PCR-RFLP patterns of 16S rRNA gene indicate a big heterogeneity between the strains with a clear distinction from the reference strains used. However, two strains were closely related to Rhizobium and another strain was grouped with the Mesorhizobium. Further analysis to precise the taxonomic position of these strains is claimed. nbsp
CONTRIBUTIONS Vasectomy and Prostate Cancer : A Case-Control Study in a Health Maintenance Organization

A case-control study was conducted within Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound to evaluate the relation between prior vasectomy and the risk of prostate cancer. Cases consisted of 175 men newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed prostate cancer during 1989-1991. A total of 258 controls, matched to cases on birth year and membership status, were randomly selected from the general membership of the plan. Information was collected from mailed questionnaires and medical records on medical history, including prior vasectomy, anthropometric measures, family history of prostate cancer, personal habits, and medical care utilization, and demographic factors. Conditional logistic regression analyses showed that the odds ratio for prostate cancer associated with vasectomy was 0.86 (95% confidence interval 0.57-1.32) after adjustment for confounders. The odds ratio estimate did not differ substantially by age at vasectomy or time since vasectomy. However, the odds ratio estimate for prostate cancer associated with vasectomy tended to be increased among men who had a father or brother with prostate cancer. Nevertheless, the increased risk may be related to detection bias or differential participation rates due to both vasectomy status and a family history of prostate cancer. These results suggest no overall association between vasectomy and prostate cancer. Am J Epidemiol 1996;144:717-22.
Linear Filtering

A simple linear smoothing operator of general order p is constructed for discretized functions. It is particularly suited for problems in numerical integration where it is necessary or desirable to suppress two-grid-interval waves. The operator is ideal in the sense that for the class of damping operators of order p, which remove two-gridinterval waves without changing the phase of any wave component, this operator produces the least damping of the amplitudes of all other waves.
Crystal chemistry of (RE, A)2M3O7 compounds (RE=Y, lanthanide; A=Ba, Sr, Ca; M=Al, Ga)

Phases of general formula (RE, A)2M3O7 (RE=lanthanide, A=Ca, Sr, Ba; M=Ga, Al) are of interest for their nonlinear optical properties and have potential as solid state lasers. Their structures have been refined using X-ray and neutron diffraction data and are related to gehlenite, Ca2Al2SiO7, with M cations occupying Al and Si sites and RE and A cations sharing the Ca site with no evidence for ordering, although they occur in the ratio 1:1 because of stoichiometry; the M cations are tetrahedrally coordinated. (RE, Ba)2M3O7 compounds cannot be synthesized for M=Al or for RE cations smaller than Sm; this limitation is believed to be due to size mismatch between cations within the structure.
Cryptic Consumers and the Ecology of an African Savanna

E African savannas have fascinated generations of explorers, scientists, and the public. Nowhere else is there such a concentration and diversity of large, charismatic animals, and nowhere else is ecology portrayed so dramatically. Spectacular migrations of a million wildebeest tracking the rains dominate the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem of Tanzania and Kenya (McNaughton 1976, Sinclair and Norton-Griffiths 1979, Sinclair and Arcese 1995). Lions and hyenas pursue gazelle, zebra, and buffalo in a conspicuous contest between predator and prey (Kruuk 1972, Schaller 1972, Sinclair 1977). And giraffe and elephants shape the landscape by browsing and trampling savanna trees (Cumming 1992, Dublin 1995). The abundance of so many large mammals in East Africa has led to the assumption that interactions among these prominent animals dominate the ecological dynamics of savanna communities. Recent research, however, has shown that there is also a cryptic web of interactions hidden in the tall savanna grasses. This web is centered around a group of herbivorous mammals that share both habitat and forage with their much larger hooved counterparts. These are the small mammals, and until recently almost nothing was known about their importance in savannas of East Africa.
MACHINE LEARNING BASED NETWORK TRAFFIC CLASSIFICATION INCLUDING ZERO DAY TRAFFIC AS A CLASS.

Support Vector Machines (SVM)represent one of the most promising Machine Learning (ML) tools that can be applied to the problem of traffic classification in IP networks. In the case of SVMs, there are still open questions that need to be addressed before they can be generally applied to traffic classifiers. Identifying and categorizing network traffic by application type is challenging because of the continued evolution of applications, especially of those with a desire to be undetectable. The diminished effectiveness of port-based identification and the overheads of deep packet inspection approaches motivate us to classify traffic by exploit To tackle this critical problem, we propose a novel traffic classification scheme which has the capability of identifying zero-day traffic as well as accurately classifying the traffic generated bypre-defined application classes
Temporal, spatial and biotic variations in extrafloral nectar secretion by Macaranga tanarius

Summary 1. Many plants produce extrafloral nectar (EFN) to nourish ants and other animals which defend them against herbivores. We aimed to find reasons for the high variability in amounts of EFN produced by most plant species. We investigated the influence of several biotic and abiotic factors (time of day, leaf age, nectar removal and leaf damage) on secretion rates of EFN in the common south-east Asian pioneer tree species, Macaranga tanarius (L.) Muell. Arg. 2. In most experiments leaves were washed with pure water and bagged in nets to protect them against nectar-collecting insects, and nectar was collected and quantified 24 h later. Six soluble sugars and up to eight amino acids were detected in nectar samples derived from untreated, field-grown plants. Total amounts of soluble substances varied more than the relative composition of EFN. 3. Nectar secretion rates were highest on young, expanded leaves. A diurnal pattern with a secretion peak in the first 2 h after dusk was detected in the field. Nectar removal had a positive effect and its accumulation a negative effect on further EFN production. Artificial leaf damage (punching leaves with a needle or removing parts of the leaf blade with scissors) led to a significant induction of EFN production for the next 3 days. 4. Extrafloral nectar of M. tanarius was secreted in complex patterns influenced by different biotic and abiotic factors; its production appeared to be adapted temporally and spatially in order to ensure optimal use of invested resources.
Bio-Inspired Design: An Overview Investigating Open Questions From the Broader Field of Design-by-Analogy

Bio-inspired design and the broader field of design-by-analogy have been the basis of numerous innovative designs throughout history; yet there remains much to be understood about these practices of design, their underlying cognitive mechanisms, and preferred ways in which to teach and support them. In this paper, we work to unify the broader design-by-analogy research literature with that of the bio-inspired design field, reviewing the current knowledge of designer cognition, the seminal supporting tools and methods for bio-inspired design, and postulating the future of bio-inspired design research from the larger design-by-analogy perspective. We examine seminal methods for supporting bio-inspired design, highlighting the areas well aligned with current findings in design-by-analogy cognition work and noting important areas for future research identified by the investigators responsible for these seminal tools and methods. Supplemental to the visions of these experts in bio-inspired design, we suggest additional projections for the future of the field, posing intriguing research questions to further unify the field of bio-inspired design with its broader resident field of design-by-analogy. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4028289]
1 Successive Optimization of a Homogeneous 2 Immunoassay for Antibody Detection in Viral 3 Infections 4

Although there are extensive literature reports on the use of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) 13 based homogeneous assays for detection of biomolecules, very few experimental description and 14 procedures involving their preparation are described. In this study, AuNPs conjugated to Bovine 15 Serum Albumin or Envelope protein from Dengue II were developed as a homogeneous 16 immunoassay for antibody detection. We report here optimization of key parameters to prepare an 17 immunoassay like conjugation protein concentration, centrifugation time, electrolyte addition and 18 assay temperature. We determined that saturating protein concentrations improved AuNPs 19 surface coverage and uniformity of the assay and addition of sodium chloride improved sensitivity 20 of the antibody detection method and assay stability. Furthermore, we showed that dynamic light 21 scattering can be used to monitor changes in gold nanoparticles in the preparation and detection 22 steps. Additionally, numerical simulations of the plasmonic optical response of AuNPs were carried 23 out to scan for size-dependent response of the AuNPs. The AuNPs homogeneous immunoassay 24 developed was further used in the detection of antibodies in vitro to detect Dengue virus infection. 25
Occupancy data : unravelling the mystery Measuring ' magnetism ' in Australia nursing environments

Objective The main purpose of this study was to clarify the method used to calculate bed occupancy rates. Design Qualitative, using semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews, telephone interviews and email correspondence with internal and external stakeholders, as well as analysis of key documents. Setting A tertiary hospital in Queensland, Australia. Participants Nursing and administrative staff from 34 clinical areas, nurse managers and finance officers. Main outcome measure Identification of the method used to calculate bed occupancy. Results A number of issues potentially impact on the accuracy of occupancy data including timeliness of data entry, knowledge about what should be entered and skill deficits. There was also considerable confusion and misinformation about how occupancy data is calculated, used and reported. Conclusion Occupancy data integrity may be compromised by timeliness and accuracy of data entry and by methods used for calculation. Until these problems are resolved, occupancy remains a woolly measure on which to estimate nursing resources.
Reconfigurable 3/6 dB Novel Branch Line Coupler

In this paper, a new idea of reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler is proposed. The proposed coupler is tuned through a simple open and short circuit at the coupler’s branches’ edges. At the short edges case, a 3 dB branch line coupler is obtained. In this case, the coupler’s branches are considered as microstrip transmission lines with 0.3 mm slot width which is etched in each coupler’s branch. At the open edges case, the coupler’s branches are considered as asymmetric coupled microstrip lines. In this case, a 6 dB branch line coupler is obtained. Both CST and IE3D simulators are used to optimize the reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler dimensions. As a prototypes, two BLCs are designed, analyzed and tested at the “on” and “off” states at 2.5 GHz. The measured S-parameters confirm the proposed concept of the reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler.