Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro activity and in vivo efficacy of the saponin diosgenyl 2-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucopyranoside hydrochloride (HSM1) alone and in combination with daptomycin and vancomycin against Gram-positive cocci.

Surgical site infections are the second most common hospital- and community-acquired Gram-positive infections, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that about 500 000 surgical site infections occur annually in the USA. The aim of this work was to determine the in vitro activity of the saponin diosgenyl 2-amino-2-deoxy-β-d-glucopyranoside hydrochloride (HSM1) and its bactericidal effect for a large number of Gram-positive cocci, as well as to investigate its in vitro interaction with seven clinically used antibiotics. In vivo, a wound model was established through the panniculus carnosus of BALB/c mice and then inoculated with 5×10(7) c.f. u. Staphylococcus aureus or Enterococcus faecalis. For each bacterial strain, the study included an infected or non-infected group that did not receive any treatment, a group treated with local HSM1, a group treated with intraperitoneal vancomycin, a group treated with intraperitoneal daptomycin and two groups that received HSM1 local treatment plus intraperitoneal vancomycin or daptomycin. All isolates were inhibited by HSM1 at concentrations of 2-32 mg l(-1). Synergy was demonstrated when HSM1 was combined with vancomycin and daptomycin. In in vivo studies, all groups treated with single drugs showed a statistically significant result compared with the control group. The two groups treated with drug combinations showed the highest antimicrobial efficacy. The good in vitro activities and the in vivo efficacy suggest HSM1 as a promising therapeutic candidate in Gram-positive wound infections.
The exon junction complex: a lifelong guardian of mRNA fate

During messenger RNA (mRNA) biogenesis and processing in the nucleus, many proteins are imprinted on mRNAs assembling them into messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs). Some of these proteins remain stably bound within mRNPs and have a long‐lasting impact on their fate. One of the best‐studied examples is the exon junction complex (EJC), a multiprotein complex deposited primarily 24 nucleotides upstream of exon–exon junctions as a consequence of pre‐mRNA splicing. The EJC maintains a stable, sequence‐independent, hold on the mRNA until its removal during translation in the cytoplasm. Acting as a molecular shepherd, the EJC travels with mRNA across the cellular landscape coupling pre‐mRNA splicing to downstream, posttranscriptional processes such as mRNA export, mRNA localization, translation, and nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay (NMD). In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the EJC’s functions during these processes, and expound its newly discovered functions (e.g., pre‐mRNA splicing). Another focal point is the recently unveiled in vivo EJC interactome, which has shed new light on the EJC's location on the spliced RNAs and its intimate relationship with other mRNP components. We summarize new strides being made in connecting the EJC’s molecular function with phenotypes, informed by studies of human disorders and model organisms. The progress toward understanding EJC functions has revealed, in its wake, even more questions, which are discussed throughout. WIREs RNA 2017, 8:e1411. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1411
Buckling of Eccentrically Loaded Carbon Nanotubes

In the present study, buckling of eccentrically loaded nanobeams in which the load is not applied at the centroid of cross section, has been studied. Eringen’s Nonlocal Elasticity Theory has been used in the formulation of governing equation of motion of the nanobeam. Simply supported and free boundary conditions for nanobeam have been taken consideration. The effect of nonlocal parameter, eccentricity of the load, nanobeam length on the buckling deflection and critical buckling load on nanobeam have been investigated. Present results can be useful in the design of nano-structures.
Maternal Exposure to Secondhand Cigarette Smoke Primes the Lung for Induction of Phosphodiesterase-4D5 Isozyme and Exacerbated Th2 Responses: Rolipram Attenuates the Airway Hyperreactivity and Muscarinic Receptor Expression but Not Lung Inflammation and Atopy1

Airway hyperreactivity (AHR), lung inflammation, and atopy are clinical signs of allergic asthma. Gestational exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) markedly increases the risk for childhood allergic asthma. Muscarinic receptors regulate airway smooth muscle tone, and asthmatics exhibit increased AHR to muscarinic agonists. We have previously reported that in a murine model of bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, maternal exposure to mainstream CS increases AHR after acute intratracheal administration of Aspergillus fumigatus extract. However, the mechanism by which gestational CS induces allergic asthma is unclear. We now show for the first time that, compared with controls, mice exposed prenatally to secondhand CS exhibit increased lung inflammation (predominant infiltration by eosinophils and polymorphs), atopy, and airway resistance, and produce proinflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-13, but not IL-2 or IFN-γ). These changes, which occur only after an allergen (A. fumigatus extract) treatment, are correlated with marked up-regulated lung expression of M1, M2, and M3 muscarinic receptors and phosphodiesterase (PDE)4D5 isozyme. Interestingly, the PDE4-selective inhibitor rolipram attenuates the increase in AHR, muscarinic receptors, and PDE4D5, but fails to down-regulate lung inflammation, Th2 cytokines, or serum IgE levels. Thus, the fetus is extraordinarily sensitive to CS, inducing allergic asthma after postnatal exposure to allergens. Although the increased AHR might reflect increased PDE4D5 and muscarinic receptor expression, the mechanisms underlying atopy and lung inflammation are unrelated to the PDE4 activity. Thus, PDE4 inhibitors might ease AHR, but are unlikely to attenuate lung inflammation and atopy associated with childhood allergic asthma.
05.12: Effect of initial imperfection on elasto‐plastic behavior of SHS columns under axial force with bending moment

Steel products which have various characteristic (e.g. high ductility, high yield stress, low yield stress and high weldability) are used as main structures by diversification of demanded application, and technology for steel manufacturing has developed. Because steel square tubular member is processed by cold‐forming and welding in the process of manufacturing, residual stress will exist in the products. Moreover, due to the cold‐forming process, geometrical initial imperfection, i.e., global and local, will exist. These initial imperfection are still remained even so the technology for steel manufacturing is developed. However, effect of the initial imperfection on elasto‐plastic behaviour of square hollow section columns under compressive axial force with bending moment is not clarified. In this paper, firstly, the effect of individual initial imperfection (e.g. initial global imperfection, initial local imperfection or residual stress) on elasto‐plastic performance is investigated independently; comparison between the experimental results are shown. It is shown that initial local imperfection has a significant impact on elasto‐plastic performance. Secondly, the effect of composite initial imperfections is investigated. The amplitude of the local imperfection is the most influential initial imperfection on the deformation capacity of the column, and the deformation capacity decreased with an increase of the amplitude of local imperfection. Validation of the numerical simulation were also performed and recommend values of imperfections are shown.
Analyses of Hypomethylated Oil Palm Gene Space

Demand for palm oil has been increasing by an average of ∼8% the past decade and currently accounts for about 59% of the world's vegetable oil market. This drives the need to increase palm oil production. Nevertheless, due to the increasing need for sustainable production, it is imperative to increase productivity rather than the area cultivated. Studies on the oil palm genome are essential to help identify genes or markers that are associated with important processes or traits, such as flowering, yield and disease resistance. To achieve this, 294,115 and 150,744 sequences from the hypomethylated or gene-rich regions of Elaeis guineensis and E. oleifera genome were sequenced and assembled into contigs. An additional 16,427 shot-gun sequences and 176 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) were also generated to check the quality of libraries constructed. Comparison of these sequences revealed that although the methylation-filtered libraries were sequenced at low coverage, they still tagged at least 66% of the RefSeq supported genes in the BAC and had a filtration power of at least 2.0. A total 33,752 microsatellites and 40,820 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified. These represent the most comprehensive collection of microsatellites and SNPs to date and would be an important resource for genetic mapping and association studies. The gene models predicted from the assembled contigs were mined for genes of interest, and 242, 65 and 14 oil palm transcription factors, resistance genes and miRNAs were identified respectively. Examples of the transcriptional factors tagged include those associated with floral development and tissue culture, such as homeodomain proteins, MADS, Squamosa and Apetala2. The E. guineensis and E. oleifera hypomethylated sequences provide an important resource to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with important agronomic traits in oil palm.
Massive Intravascular Hemolysis From Clostridium perfringens Septicemia

We describe the case of a patient with hemolysis-associated Clostridium perfringens septicemia and review all similar cases published in the literature since 1990, with specific focus on the relationship between treatment strategy and survival. We searched PubMed for all published cases of C. perfringens-associated hemolysis, using the medical subject terms “clostridia,” “clostridial sepsis,” and/or “hemolysis. ” All case reports, case series, review articles, and other relevant references published in the English literature since 1990 were included in this study. There were no exclusion criteria. Each case was examined with respect to presenting features of illness, antibiotic regimen, time-to-antibiotic therapy, additional interventions, complications, and patient survival. These variables were entered into a data set and then systematically analyzed with the aid of a statistician, using serial t tests and chi-square analyses. Since 1990, 50 patients of C. perfringens septicemia with hemolysis have been reported. Median age was 61 years (range 31-84), and 58% were male. Mortality was 74%, with a median time to death of 9.7 hours (range 0-96 hours). Of the patients, 35 (70%) were treated medically, while 15 (30%) received antibiotics and surgery. Surgical intervention was associated with significantly improved survival (risk ratio [RR] 0.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.10, 0.53) as was the use of a combination of penicillin and clindamycin (RR of death 0.46, 95% CI 0.25, 0.83). Four patients utilizing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) have been reported, and all patients survived. In cases of clostridial sepsis with hemolysis, strong predictors of survival include early initiation of appropriate antibiotics as well as surgical removal of infected foci. The HBOT may also be associated with survival. The disease often progresses rapidly to death, so rapid recognition is critical for the patient survival.
Experiments with nonholonomic manipulation

This paper summarizes ongoing work with a mobile manipulator (Mobipulator). We describe the system architecture of the latest version of the robot, a hierarchy of robot motion commands (the Mobipulation library) that can be snapped together to generate complicated paths easily, a configuration space planner that plans wheel motions to manipulate paper, and a visual servoing system to monitor and correct errors in robot motion.
The Role of Age in Moderating the Association between Disability and Light-Intensity Physical Activity

Purpose. There's a lack of evidence on the association between light-intensity physical activity and disability. This study examines the relationships in activity by self-reported physical function in five domains (i.e., activities of daily living [ADL], instrumental ADL, leisure activities, lower extremity, and general activities), and whether this association varies by age. Design. Cross-sectional. Setting. Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2004 and 2005–2006 waves. Subjects. Participants included 5700 men and women ages 20 to 85 years. Measures. Difficulty with various activities was measured with the Physical Functioning Questionnaire, accelerometer-measured physical activity, demographics, and self-rated health. Analysis. Ordinary least squares regression models were run to examine the relationship between physical function in each domain, light-intensity activity, and the moderating effect of age. Analyses controlled for body mass index, moderate-to-vigorous–intensity activity, self-reported health, accelerometer wear time, and gender. Results. Little variation was seen in light-intensity physical activity among younger adults regardless of disability status. Older adults reporting difficulty with activities engaged in significantly less light-intensity physical activity compared to those with no disability (271.8 vs. 316.5 minutes). Age significantly moderated the association between light-intensity physical activity and leisure activities (p = .048), and lower extremity mobility (p = .039). Age did not moderate other domains of disability. Conclusion. Younger age may be protective regarding the influence of disability on light-intensity activity. In addition, disability may be more debilitating for some older individuals. Interventions to increase light-intensity activity should aim to address disability at all ages, with increased attention for older adults.
Thermal eﬀects on the mechanical properties of marble, travertine and concrete cores under direct tensile test

Fire and high temperatures are the most destructive accidental loads that a structure can be subjected to. There are numerous kinds of research concentrated on the effect of high temperature on physical and mechanical properties of rocks and concrete while there are a few inadequate investigations on marble and limestones. This work presents direct tensile tests results obtained under high temperatures on marble, travertine and concrete samples, previously heated at a namely temperature (350°C), were tested. Destructive tests of direct tensile tests and uniaxial compressive tests were performed on the samples. Furthermore, tests were carried out under air-cooled conditions to minimize the effect of the fire-off method and then physio-mechanical properties of thermally treated, and the reference samples at room temperature were discovered. The results show that direct tensile strength, and tensile modulus decrease as the temperature rises for the tested range of temperatures. After thermal treatment, the measured direct tensile strength is found to show a decrease up to 44%, 45%, 16.71% for Marble, travertine, and concrete samples respectively. Regarding Young’s modulus, a fall over 42% , 22% and 33% in air-cooled is observed. Review History:
Combining Constraint Programming and Simulated Annealing on University Exam Timetabling

—In this paper, we present a solution method for examination timetabling, consisting of two phases: a constraint programming phase to provide an initial solution and a simulated annealing phase with Kempe chain neighborhood. The second phase is equipped with some refined mechanisms that help to determine crucial cooling schedule parameters. We perform preliminary experiments of the algorithm on real data sets.
Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the mobile tongue: A rare case

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) occurs more commonly in the minor salivary glands of the palate on than the tongue. ACC is a malignant neoplasm that accounts for 1-2% of all head and neck malignancies and 10-15% of all salivary gland malignancies. ACC affects the exocrine glands at any site, but the parotid gland is the most common site in the head and neck region. Many factors should be taken into account in the prognosis of ACC, including the histological and clinical stages of the disease. The most striking feature of ACC is that it is locally aggressive, with a high recurrence level, perineural invasion and distant metastases, especially to the lungs and bones. The most common presentation histologically is the presence of cribriform appearance (Swiss cheese pattern). The present case is a rare one present on the tongue.
Cross-Validated Variable Selection in Tree-Based Methods Improves Predictive Performance

Recursive partitioning methods producing tree-like models are a long standing staple of predictive modeling. However, a fundamental flaw in the partitioning (or splitting) rule of commonly used tree building methods precludes them from treating different types of variables equally. This most clearly manifests in these methods’ inability to properly utilize categorical variables with a large number of categories, which are ubiquitous in the new age of big data. We propose a framework to splitting using leave-one-out (LOO) cross validation (CV) for selecting the splitting variable, then performing a regular split (in our case, following CART's approach) for the selected variable. The most important consequence of our approach is that categorical variables with many categories can be safely used in tree building and are only chosen if they contribute to predictive power. We demonstrate in extensive simulation and real data analysis that our splitting approach significantly improves the performance of both single tree models and ensemble methods that utilize trees. Importantly, we design an algorithm for LOO splitting variable selection which under reasonable assumptions does not substantially increase the overall computational complexity compared to CART for two-class classification.
Is Human Reasoning about Nonmonotonic Conditionals Probabilistically Coherent

Nonmonotonic conditionals (A j B) are formalizations of common sense expressions of the form \if A, normally B". The nonmonotonic conditional is interpreted by a \high" coherent conditional probability, P (BjA) > :5. Two important properties are closely related to the nonmonotonic conditional: First, A js B allows for exceptions. Second, the rules of the nonmonotonic system p guiding A j B allow for withdrawing conclusions in the light of new premises. This study reports a series of three experiments on reasoning with inference rules about nonmonotonic conditionals in the framework of coherence. We investigated the cut, and the right weakening rule of system p. As a critical condition, we investigated basic monotonic properties of classical (monotone) logic, namely monotonicity, transitivity, and contraposition. The results suggest that people reason nonmonotonically rather than monotonically. We propose nonmonotonic reasoning as a competence model of human reasoning.
Effect of Cytotoxic Drugs on Immature Rat's Gonads and Subsequent Reproductive Performance

Diminished Activity of Platelet Monoamilne Oxidase in Down's Syndrome. Philip F. Benson and Jennifer Southgate (Paediatric Research Unit, Guy's Hospital, London S.E.1). Subjects with primary trisomic Down's syndrome have low concentrations of blood serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) (5-HT). The reason for this is unknown. In Down's syndrome the binding of 5-HT to platelets has been found to be normal. In theory low blood 5-HT may be due either to a diminished rate of synthesis or to an accelerated breakdown. We report a study on platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activities in subjects with Down's syndrome and in controls. While the plasma enzyme is practically inactive with 5-HT, platelet MAO appears to be very similar to the liver mitochondrial enzyme which is the main reservoir of MAO in the body. Platelet MAO activity (measured fluorimetrically using kynuramine as substrate and expressed as ,ug. 4-hydroxyquinoline/mg. protein/30 minutes) was significantly lower in children with Down's syndrome (22 subjects, mean 0 * 81 SD 0. 38) than in controls matched for age, sex, and domicile (22 subjects, mean 1I24, SD 0 70) p = 0 01 -0 02. This does not support the view that low concentration of blood 5-HT is due to an accelerated rate of 5-HT breakdown. Moreover, a decrease in MAO activity is compatible with the observation that urinary excretion of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) is lower in subjects with Down's syndrome than in controls. If accelerated degradation of5-HT cannot be incriminated as the cause of low blood 5-HT in Down's syndrome, it is reasonable to suggest that there may be a diminished rate of 5-HT synthesis. This might be due to inefficient intestinal absorption of tryptophan or to diminished activity of enzymes involved in 5-HT synthesis. Theoretically the trisomic chromosome 21 might carry a regulatory gene for MAO, leading to increased synthesis of repressor and therefore to a decreased rate of MAO synthesis.
Replication of the Rotavirus Genome Requires an Active Ubiquitin-Proteasome System

ABSTRACT Here we show that the ubiquitin-proteasome system is required for the efficient replication of rotavirus RRV in MA104 cells. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 decreased the yield of infectious virus under conditions where it severely reduces the synthesis of not only viral but also cellular proteins. Addition of nonessential amino acids to the cell medium restored both viral protein synthesis and cellular protein synthesis, but the production of progeny viruses was still inhibited. In medium supplemented with nonessential amino acids, we showed that MG132 does not affect rotavirus entry but inhibits the replication of the viral genome. It was also shown that it prevents the efficient incorporation into viroplasms of viral polymerase VP1 and the capsid proteins VP2 and VP6, which could explain the inhibitory effect of MG132 on genome replication and infectious virus yield. We also showed that ubiquitination is relevant for rotavirus replication since the yield of rotavirus progeny in cells carrying a temperature-sensitive mutation in the E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme was reduced at the restrictive temperature. In addition, overexpression of ubiquitin in MG132-treated MA104 cells partially reversed the effect of the inhibitor on virus yield. Altogether, these data suggest that the ubiquitin-proteasome (UP) system has a very complex interaction with the rotavirus life cycle, with both the ubiquitination and proteolytic activities of the system being relevant for virus replication.