Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modifications of nuclear architecture and chromatin organization in ataxia telangiectasia cells are coupled to changes of gene transcription

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations of ATM gene. ATM kinase is a “master controller” of DNA‐damage response and signal transducer of external stimuli. The complex role of ATM may explain the pleiotropic phenotype characteristic of AT syndrome, only partially. In our hypothesis, the multi‐faceted phenotype of AT patients might depend on specific chromatin reorganization, which then reflects on the cellular transcription. We analyzed three lymphoblastoid cell‐lines isolated from AT patients and one healthy control. The three‐dimensional reconstruction disclosed marked changes of nuclear morphology and architecture in AT cells. When chromatin condensation was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, a remodeling was observed at the level of fiber folding and nucleosome conformation. Despite the structural differences, chromatin did not exhibit modifications of the average acetylation status in comparison to the control. Moreover, AT cells presented significant alterations in the transcription of genes involved in cell‐cycle regulation and stress response. In AT3RM cells, the average chromatin decondensation went with the upregulation of c‐fos, c‐jun, and c‐myc and downregulation of metallothioneins, p21 and p53. AT9RM and AT44RM cells were instead characterized by an increased chromatin condensation and presented a different transcription unbalance. Whereas in AT44RM all the considered genes were downregulated, in AT3RM the three oncogenes and metallothioneins were upregulated, but p53 and p21 were downregulated. J. Cell. Biochem. 99: 1148–1164, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Engineering research profile of countries in the African Union

Scholarly publication output of engineering research from the member countries of the African Union (AU) are mapped using scholarly publication data from the Scopus® database of Elsevier. The countries are ranked based on various parameters, for example; number of publications, activity index, citations received and so on. The collaboration profiles of countries are plotted using Social Network Analysis tools. The results show that the engineering research publications are increasing in Africa at an exponential rate. However, this is not the main research focus, as the indicators like the activity index and the relative specialization index show overall negative productivity. The possible reason for low productivity in engineering science is perhaps due to the limited coverage of African scholarly publications in global citation databases. Interestingly, engineering research papers from the AU member countries have received quite a good number of citations. So, it is fairly certain that African engineering research has significant impact on global science. In terms of collaboration, South Africa is the most major collaborator and has good impact on global collaborations, as well as within African. However, there are further scopes of alliances among African countries. The policy recommendations include more focused research in engineering disciplines and more cooperation among AU member countries.
c-kit expression identifies cardiovascular precursors in the neonatal heart

Directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells indicates that mesodermal lineages in the mammalian heart (cardiac, endothelial, and smooth muscle cells) develop from a common, multipotent cardiovascular precursor. To isolate and characterize the lineage potential of a resident pool of cardiovascular progenitor cells (CPcs), we developed BAC transgenic mice in which enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) is placed under control of the c-kit locus (c-kitBAC-EGFP mice). Discrete c-kit-EGFP+ cells were observed at different stages of differentiation in embryonic hearts, increasing in number to a maximum at about postnatal day (PN) 2; thereafter, EGFP+ cells declined and were rarely observed in the adult heart. EGFP+ cells purified from PN 0–5 hearts were nestin+ and expanded in culture; 67% of cells were fluorescent after 9 days. Purified cells differentiated into endothelial, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells, and differentiation could be directed by specific growth factors. CPc-derived cardiac myocytes displayed rhythmic beating and action potentials characteristic of multiple cardiac cell types, similar to ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Single-cell dilution studies confirmed the potential of individual CPcs to form all 3 cardiovascular lineages. In adult hearts, cryoablation resulted in c-kit-EGFP+ expression, peaking 7 days postcryolesion. Expression occurred in endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the revascularizing infarct, and in terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes in the border zone surrounding the infarct. Thus, c-kit expression marks CPc in the neonatal heart that are capable of directed differentiation in vitro; however, c-kit expression in cardiomyocytes in the adult heart after injury does not identify cardiac myogenesis.
Non-synaptic interaction between neurons in the brain, an analog system: far from Cajal-Sherringtons's galaxy.

The functional interactions between neurons without synaptic contacts are specialized to function on a time scale of seconds (minutes) and a distance scale of hundreds of micrometers. These nonsynaptic receptors and transporters are of high affinity, have many implications for psychiatry for understanding e.g. depression, changes in mood, in appetite, affective illnesses etc. It is, therefore, suggested that many drugs applied in psychiatric diseases, exert their effects after diffusion through extracellular spaces and may mimic the mode, or may influence the effect of endogenous ligands. The nonsynaptic chemical communication between neurons, and between neurones and target cells, via both pre- and postsynaptic sites, seems likely to achieve growing recognition. This system has a similar degree of selectivity to that of synaptic circuitry but have, in addition, a domain of versatility and plasticity in "hardwired" circuitry. The brain is a wired instrument, but its neurons, besides cabled information processing (through synapses), are able to talk to each other without synaptic contact. It is suggested, therefore that the nonsynaptic tonic presynaptic modulation of chemical transmission, plays a physiological role in the brain in shaping emotion, behaviour or learning processes, or in controlling the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, or the nonsynaptic released transmitter is able to produce responses of the target cells and a local fine tuning of cytokine production (cf. Elenkov et al., 2000), steroid secretion and possible many other functions not yet discovered. The spatial and temporal effect of transmitters on nonsynaptic receptors located on axon terminals, adopts the strength of transmission to a given situation. This will not only influence the function of the neurons system in health and disease, but also therapeutic and untoward effects of drugs that bind these nonsynaptic receptors and transporters (Vizi, 2000).
Different pattern of codon recognition by mammalian mitochondrial tRNAs.

Analysis of an almost complete mammalian mitochondrial DNA sequence has identified 23 possible tRNA genes and we speculate here that these are sufficient to translate all the codons of the mitochondrial genetic code. This number is much smaller than the minimum of 31 required by the wobble hypothesis. For each of the eight genetic code boxes with four codons for one amino acid we find a single specific tRNA gene with T in the first (wobble) position of the anticodon. We suggest that these tRNAs with U in the wobble position can recognize all four codons in these genetic code boxes either by a "two out of three" base interaction or by U.N wobble.
A Novel Digital Image Magnification Algorithm by Binary Decomposed Adaptive Interpolation by Kaeser

Digital Image Magnification is the process of enlarging the spatial resolution of of a given low-resolution image. This is a routine process encountered in diverse applications like medical imaging, astronomy and satellite imaging, law enforcement, military defense, industrial operation, archeological research, high definition visualization, large size printing, cheap digital cameras and many more. The outcome of this thesis work is a novel image magnification algorithm which we have titled Binary Decomposed Adaptive Interpolation (BDAI). Our method decomposes a given image into layers of binary images, adaptively interpolate them selecting the binary pattern codes intelligently and finally aggregates them to obtain the magnified image. Motivated by the works of previous researchers, our proposed algorithm uniquely redefines the problem of adaptive interpolation from a new perspective that overcomes some of the difficulties in previous methods. Consequently our method not only contributes greatly in reducing the running time complexity of magnification technique but also maintains the high quality of magnified output image. Experimental performance and comparative analysis with 5 other well-established methods demonstrates that our BDAI method clearly outperforms all the other methods in terms of running time, and in doing so it comfortably generates excellent quality output images when compared with the existing best methods. We also exhibit that, for some special genre of images, our method produced the best magnification results compared to other methods.
Improvements in survival and clinical benefit with gemcitabine as first-line therapy for patients with advanced pancreas cancer: a randomized trial.

PURPOSE Most patients with advanced pancreas cancer experience pain and must limit their daily activities because of tumor-related symptoms. To date, no treatment has had a significant impact on the disease. In early studies with gemcitabine, patients with pancreas cancer experienced an improvement in disease-related symptoms. Based on those findings, a definitive trial was performed to assess the effectiveness of gemcitabine in patients with newly diagnosed advanced pancreas cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred twenty-six patients with advanced symptomatic pancreas cancer completed a lead-in period to characterize and stabilize pain and were randomized to receive either gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 weekly x 7 followed by 1 week of rest, then weekly x 3 every 4 weeks thereafter (63 patients), or to fluorouracil (5-FU) 600 mg/m2 once weekly (63 patients). The primary efficacy measure was clinical benefit response, which was a composite of measurements of pain (analgesic consumption and pain intensity), Karnofsky performance status, and weight. Clinical benefit required a sustained (> or = 4 weeks) improvement in at least one parameter without worsening in any others. Other measures of efficacy included response rate, time to progressive disease, and survival. RESULTS Clinical benefit response was experienced by 23.8% of gemcitabine-treated patients compared with 4.8% of 5-FU-treated patients (P = .0022). The median survival durations were 5.65 and 4.41 months for gemcitabine-treated and 5-FU-treated patients, respectively (P = .0025). The survival rate at 12 months was 18% for gemcitabine patients and 2% for 5-FU patients. Treatment was well tolerated. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that gemcitabine is more effective than 5-FU in alleviation of some disease-related symptoms in patients with advanced, symptomatic pancreas cancer. Gemcitabine also confers a modest survival advantage over treatment with 5-FU.
Visual system of calliphorid flies: Organization of optic glomeruli and their lobula complex efferents

Reconstructions of silver‐stained brains revealed 27 optic glomeruli that occupy a major volume of the lateral protocerebrum. Axons from different morphological types of columnar output neurons from the lobula complex sort out to specific glomeruli. Glomeruli are partially enwrapped by glial processes and are invaded by the dendrites and terminals of local interneurons that connect different glomeruli in a manner analogous to local interneurons in the antennal lobes. Each type of columnar neuron contributes to a palisade‐like ensemble that extends across the whole or a circumscribed area of the retinotopic mosaic. A second class of outputs from the lobula comprises wide‐field neurons, the dendrites of which interact with planar fields or column‐like patches of retinotopic inputs from the medulla. These neurons also send their axons to optic glomeruli. Dye fills demonstrate that lobula complex neurons supplying glomeruli do not generally terminate directly on descending neurons. Local interneurons and projection neurons provide integrative circuitry within and among glomeruli. As exemplified by the anterior optic tubercle, optic glomeruli can also have elaborate internal architectures. The results are discussed with respect to the identification of motion‐ and orientation‐selective neurons at the level of the lobula and lateral protocerebrum and with respect to the evolutionary implications raised by the existence of neural arrangements serving the compound eyes, which are organized like neuropils serving segmental ganglia equipped with appendages. J. Comp. Neurol. 500:166–188, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
COMPETENCE INCREASES SURVIVAL DURING STRESS IN STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE

Horizontal gene transfer mediated by transformation is of central importance in bacterial evolution. However, numerous questions remain about the maintenance of processes that underlie transformation. Most hypotheses for the benefits of transformation focus on what bacteria might do with DNA, but ignore the important fact that transformation is subsumed within the broader process of competence. Accordingly, the apparent benefits of transformation might rely less on recombination than on other potential benefits associated with the broader suite of traits regulated by competence. We examined the importance of this distinction in the naturally competent species Streptococcus pneumoniae, focusing specifically on predictions of the DNA‐for‐repair hypothesis. We confirm earlier results in other naturally competent species that transformation protects against DNA‐damaging stress. In addition, we show that the stress‐protection extends to non‐DNA‐damaging stress. More important, we find that for some forms of stress transformation is not required for cells to benefit from the induction of competence. This rejects the narrowly defined DNA‐for‐repair hypotheses and provides the first support for Claverys’ hypothesis that competence, but not necessarily transformation, may act as a general process to relieve stress. Our results highlight the need to distinguish benefits of transformation from broader benefits of competence that do not rely on DNA uptake and recombination.
To Be Stricken with Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Grounded Theory Study of Symptom Perception and Care-seeking Behaviour

The process of perceiving symptoms of illness is complex, and many patients delay seeking care when symptoms of acute myocardial infarction occur. However delayed treatment can have great consequences for the prognosis. This article reports on a grounded theory study, the aim of which was to increase our understanding of the individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions at the onset of an acute heart attack. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed four different ways of perceiving the onset of symptoms: understanding, misinterpretation, amazement and disregard. The symptom perception categories were related to two core categories labelled health beliefs and acute reactions. Some persons were aware of risks for coronary heart disease and were ready to seek care immediately. Several others had illusions of invulnerability. Such illusions caused people to delay seeking care at the onset of symptoms of myocardial infarction.
Flexible In–Ga–Zn–O-Based Circuits With Two and Three Metal Layers: Simulation and Fabrication Study

The quest for high-performance flexible circuits call for scaling of the minimum feature size in thin-film transistors (TFTs). Although reduced channel lengths can guarantee an improvement in the electrical properties of the devices, proper design rules also play a crucial role to minimize parasitics when designing fast circuits. In this letter, systematic computer-aided design simulations have guided the fabrication of high-performance flexible operational amplifiers (opamps) and logic circuits based on indium-gallium-zinc-oxide TFTs. In particular, the performance improvements due to the use of an additional third metal layer for the interconnections have been estimated for the first time. Encouraged by the simulated enhancements resulting by the decreased parasitic resistances and capacitances, both TFTs and circuits have been realized on a free-standing 50-μm-thick polymide foil using three metal layers. Despite the thicker layer stack, the TFTs have shown mechanical stability down to 5-mm bending radii. Moreover, the opamps and the logic circuits have yielded improved electrical performance with respect to the architecture with two metal layers: gain-bandwidth-product increased by 16.9%, for the first one, and propagation delay (tpd) decreased by 43%, for the latter one.
Inductive heating of ferrimagnetic particles and magnetic fluids: physical evaluation of their potential for hyperthermia.

The potential of colloidal subdomain ferrite particle suspensions (SDP) ('magnetic fluids'), exposed to an alternating magnetic field, is evaluated for hyperthermia. Power absorption measurements of different magnetic fluids are presented in comparison to multidomain ferrite particles (MDP). Variations with frequency as well as magnetic field strength have been investigated. The experimental results clearly indicate a definite superiority of even non-optimized magnetic fluids over MDP ferrites regarding their specific absorption rate (SAR). Based on the work of Shliomis et al. (1990) and Hanson (1991), a solid-state physical model is applied to explain the specific properties of magnetic fluids with respect to a possible use in hyperthermia. The experimentally determined SAR data on magnetic fluids are used to estimate the heating capabilities of a magnetic induction heating technique assuming typical human dimensions and tissue parameters. It is considered that for a moderate concentration of 5 mg ferrite per gram tumour (i.e. 0.5% w/w) and clinically acceptable magnetic fields, intratumoral power absorption is comparable to RF heating with local applicators and superior to regional RF heating (by comparison with clinical SAR measurements from regional and local hyperthermia treatments). Owing to the high particle density per volume, inductive heating by magnetic fluids can improve temperature distributions in critical regions. Furthermore, localized application of magnetic fluids in a tumour might be easier and less traumatic than interstitial implantation techniques.
Factors Influencing Prostate Cancer Screening in African American Men

African American men have the highest prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates worldwide, but have lower screening rates compared with Caucasian men. The purpose of the study was to identify social ecological factors that affect screening behaviors in African American men, knowledge that could be integral to the design of culturally appropriate interventions. The exploratory study included 60 African American males recruited from the greater Detroit metropolitan area. Social ecological variables examined included age, marital status, presence of health insurance, education, health values and behaviors, physician trust, and perceived stress coping (John Henryism). Analyses included descriptives, chi-square tests, one-way ANOVAs, and logistic regression. Findings concluded that a parsimonious model consisting of two variables (age and health values) was predictive. African American males, ≥50 years, with higher positive health values were more likely to obtain screening. Findings imply the importance of health values and targeted educational and screening interventions for younger African American men.
Primary tooth enamel surface topography with in vitro argon laser irradiation alone and combined fluoride and argon laser treatment: scanning electon microscopic study.

PURPOSE The purpose of this descriptive scanning electron microscopic study was to characterize surface alterations in primary tooth enamel after in vitro argon laser irradiation alone and combined with topical fluoride treatment either before or after argon laser irradiation. METHODS Twenty extracted or exfoliated primary teeth underwent soft tissue debridement and a fluoride-free prophylaxis. Buccal and lingual surfaces were determined to be caries-free by macroscopic examination (stereo-zoom binocular microscope, x16). Treatment groups were: (1) no-treatment control; (2) argon laser irradiation (ALI; 11.5 J/cm2); (3) 1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF before ALI); and (4) ALI before APF. Both buccal and lingual surfaces were evaluated following standard scanning electron microscopic preparation techniques. RESULTS With controls, enamel surfaces were relatively smooth with occasional enamel prism ends present on their surfaces. There were no areas with cavitations or surface defects. With ALI, the lased surfaces were roughened mildly to moderately irregular without cavitation of the enamel or exposure of enamel prism ends. The surfaces possessed adherent granules to globules, with most being <3 microm in greatest dimension. Only occasional fine cracks and porosities in the surface coatings were noted and these were typically less than 1 microm in width or diameter. With APF before ALI, the surfaces possessed an irregular contour, with numerous granules to globules varying in size from 1 to 3 microm in greatest dimension. With ALI before APF, a homogenous confluent surface was present that masked typical enamel surface markings. The previously noted adherent granules and globules with argon laser treatment alone or APF before ALI were not seen. The argon laser effects on the enamel surfaces were masked by the uniformity of these surface coatings. CONCLUSIONS Argon laser irradiation and combined APF and argon laser treatment of primary tooth enamel created surfaces that may provide a protective barrier against a cariogenic attack. The surface coatings associated with combined APF and argon laser treatment may contain fluoride-rich calcium and phosphate mineral phases that could act as reservoirs for fluoride, calcium, and phosphate and provide a certain degree of protection from a caries lesion challenge.
Blacklisting the Blacklist in Online Advertising: Improving Delivery by Bidding for What You Can Win

Every day, billions of online advertising slots are bought and sold through real time bidding (RTB). In RTB, publishers sometimes reject bids to deliver ads (impressions) for some brands, due to, for example, direct deals with other brands. Publishers rarely disclose which brands they blacklist to ad buyers. Buyers bidding for a blacklisted brand waste computing resources in a low latency environment and lose an opportunity to show a good ad for a different brand. Here we describe a dynamic system developed at Dstillery that detects these (publisher, brand) combinations based on ad auction win rates and limits bidding for them to the minimum. This system demonstrates 1) a significant increase in the win rates of our bids, 2) a sizable reduction of system load, and 3) effectiveness in finding qualified non-blacklisted brands to replace blacklisted brands to show ads for. The system allows us to deliver more ad impressions while making fewer bids. In addition, we develop and demonstrate a methodology of choosing the optimal exploration-exploitation balance of the problem.