Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Sensitive and Specific Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Based on Recombinant Antigens for Rapid Detection of Antibodies against Mycoplasma agalactiae in Sheep

ABSTRACT We developed a new recombinant enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (rELISA) for serodiagnosis of contagious agalactia (CA), a disease caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae in sheep and goats. The assay is based on two M. agalactiae surface proteins, namely, P80 and P55. Identification of these immunodominant and common antigens was accomplished by examining the antibody response elicited in sheep during experimental infection and comparing it to the protein expression profiles of 75 M. agalactiae field strains. Our rELISA was tested with 343 sera, collected from sheep with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of CA (n = 223) and from healthy animals (n = 120). All sera had previously been tested by Western blotting (WB) for reactivity against M. agalactiae. In addition, our rELISA was compared with a commercial routine ELISA based on inactivated antigens (CHEKiT). Among the 223 samples that were WB positive for M. agalactiae, 209 (93.7%) tested positive for rP80-P55 with our ELISA, whereas only 164 (73.8%) tested positive with the CHEKiT ELISA. Among the 120 samples tested that were WB negative for M. agalactiae, 96.7% were confirmed as negative with our rELISA, while only 75.8% were confirmed as negative with the CHEKiT ELISA. A comparison of the results with receiver operating characteristic curves indicated that the differences observed between our rELISA and the CHEKiT ELISA are statistically significant. The use of recombinant peptides instead of inactivated antigens could significantly improve the discrimination of positive and negative animals, bringing significant advantages in controlling the import/export of live animals and helping in eradication of this economically detrimental disease.
Computer method for the analysis of evoked motor unit potentials

An on-line computer method is described for the isolation of single motor unit potentials, evoked by stimulation of the anterior tibial nerve at the ankle, from the compound action potential recorded from surface electrodes over the extensor digitorum brevis muscle. The latencies, durations, amplitudes, and areas of the potentials were measured in a group of control subjects and patients with myasthenia gravis. In myasthenic patients there is a significant reduction in the durations of motor unit potentials and a significant increase in latencies while their amplitudes and areas remain unchanged. The results are consistent with the presence of a `terminal neuropathy' in myasthenia gravis.
ANALYSIS OF HYDRODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF MICROASPERITY SHAPES ON THRUST BEARING SURFACES

OF THESIS ANALYSIS OF HYDRODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF MICROASPERITY SHAPES ON THRUST BEARING SURFACES The present thesis is a comparative study of the hydrodynamic effects of a few deterministic microasperity shapes in a thrust slider application. Numerical study based on finite difference methods is used to find the trend of important tribological properties such as friction and leakage. Also, this work utilizes a distinctive and practical approach for comparison by considering constant load conditions, instead of constant film thickness, as is expected in an operating thrust bearing. The results are encouraging and clearly reveal the existence of a transition point for asperity area fraction where a reversal in trends for both the coefficient of friction and leakage is observed. The shapes of asperities affect leakage but, have a negligible effect on coefficient of friction; however, the size and the type of asperity (positive or negative) do influence it. The effects of orientation, on the other hand, are found both on the coefficient of friction and leakage. Triangular asperities exhibit an advantage over the other shapes in terms of leakage. In general, the impact of shapes is distinguishable, more at higher asperity area fractions in accordance with the geometrical differences.
Convergence of empirical distributions in an interpretation of quantum mechanics.

From its beginning, there have been attempts by physicists to formulate quantum mechanics without requiring the use of wave functions. An interesting recent approach takes the point of view that quantum effects arise solely from the interaction of finitely many classical "worlds. " The wave function is then recovered (as a secondary object) from observations of particles in these worlds, without knowing the world from which any particular observation originates. Hall, Deckert and Wiseman [Physical Review X 4 (2014) 041013] have introduced an explicit many-interacting-worlds harmonic oscillator model to provide support for this approach. In this note we provide a proof of their claim that the particle configuration is asymptotically Gaussian, thus matching the stationary ground-state solution of Schrödinger's equation when the number of worlds goes to infinity. We also construct a Markov chain based on resampling from the particle configuration and show that it converges to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, matching the time-dependent solution as well.
Apple Sucrose Transporter SUT1 and Sorbitol Transporter SOT6 Interact with Cytochrome b5 to Regulate Their Affinity for Substrate Sugars1[W][OA]

Sugar transporters are central machineries to mediate cross-membrane transport of sugars into the cells, and sugar availability may serve as a signal to regulate the sugar transporters. However, the mechanisms of sugar transport regulation by signal sugar availability remain unclear in plant and animal cells. Here, we report that a sucrose transporter, MdSUT1, and a sorbitol transporter, MdSOT6, both localized to plasma membrane, were identified from apple (Malus domestica) fruit. Using a combination of the split-ubiquitin yeast two-hybrid, immunocoprecipitation, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, the two distinct sugar transporters were shown to interact physically with an apple endoplasmic reticulum-anchored cytochrome b5 MdCYB5 in vitro and in vivo. In the yeast systems, the two different interaction complexes function to up-regulate the affinity of the sugar transporters, allowing cells to adapt to sugar starvation. An Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) homolog of MdCYB5, AtCYB5-A, also interacts with the two sugar transporters and functions similarly. The point mutations leucine-73 → proline in MdSUT1 and leucine-117 → proline in MdSOT6, disrupting the bimolecular interactions but without significantly affecting the transporter activities, abolish the stimulating effects of the sugar transporter-cytochrome b5 complex on the affinity of the sugar transporters. However, the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) cytochrome b5 ScCYB5, an additional interacting partner of the two plant sugar transporters, has no function in the regulation of the sugar transporters, indicating that the observed biological functions in the yeast systems are specific to plant cytochrome b5s. These findings suggest a novel mechanism by which the plant cells tailor sugar uptake to the surrounding sugar availability.
Glatiramer Acetate Increases Phagocytic Activity of Human Monocytes In Vitro and in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Beside its effects on T cells, a direct influence on cells of the myelo-monocytic lineage by GA becomes evident. Recently, we demonstrated that GA drives microglia to adopt properties of type II antigen presenting cells (APC) and increases their phagocytic activity. In the present work, we focused on human blood monocytes in order to examine whether GA may increase phagocytic activity in vivo and to evaluate the molecular mechanisms explaining this new discovered mode of action. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained using a Biocoll-Isopaque gradient and monocytes were subsequently isolated by using CD14 MicroBeads. Phagocytic activity was determined by flow cytometric measurement of the ingestion of fluorescent beads. Flow cytometry was also used to assess monocytic differentiation and expression of phagocytic receptors. Monocytes of GA treated MS patients exhibited a significantly higher phagocytic activity than those of healthy controls or non-treated MS patients. In vitro, a significant phagocytic response was already detectable after 1 h of GA treatment at the concentrations of 62.5 and 125 µg/ml. A significant increase at all concentrations of GA was observed after 3 h and 24 h, respectively. Only monocytes co-expressing CD16, particularly CD14++CD16+ cells, were observed to phagocytose. Treatment of monocytes with IL-10 and supernatants from GA-treated monocytes did not alter phagocytosis. We observed a decrease in CD11c expression by GA while no changes were found in the expression of CD11b, CD36, CD51/61, CD91, TIM-3, and CD206. In our blocking assays, treatment with anti-CD14, anti-CD16, anti-TIM3, anti-CD210, and particularly anti-CD36 antibodies led to a decrease in phagocytosis. Our results demonstrate a new mechanism of action of GA treatment that augments phagocytic activity of human monocytes in vivo and in vitro. This activity seems to arise from the CD14++CD16+ monocyte subset.
Immunocytochemical localization of calretinin in the forebrain of the rat

The distribution of the calcium binding protein calretinin (protein 10) was examined in the rat forebrain by immunohistochemistry. The main and accessory olfactory bulbs had immunoreactive label in granule, periglomerular, and mitral cells. Positive fibers were noted in the external plexiform and granule cell layers, glomeruli, and in the molecular layer of the anterior olfactory nucleus. The cerebral cortex contained calretinin label in nonpyramidal bipolar cells. Cells in the substantia nigra compacta and ventral tegmental area were also calretinin positive as were nigrostriatal and mesolimbic projections (caudate‐putamen, nucleus accumbens). In the hippocampus, interneurons were stained in all the subfields of the CA1‐CA4 regions. In the thalamus, many positive cells were observed in the periventricular, reticular, lateral habenula, and reunions nuclei. Calretinin immunoreactive cells were particularly abundant in the lateral mamillary and septofimbrial nuclei. Several fiber tracts were also revealed, i.e., the lateral olfactory tract, mamillothalamic tract, fasciculus retroflexus, optic tract, and stria medullaris. These results demonstrate a distinct distribution of calretinin within cell bodies and fibers.
Dynamic Optimal Power Flow in Microgrids using the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers

Smart devices, storage and other distributed technologies have the potential to greatly improve the utilisation of network infrastructure and renewable generation. Decentralised control of these technologies overcomes many scalability and privacy concerns, but in general still requires the underlying problem to be convex in order to guarantee convergence to a global optimum. Considering that AC power flows are non-convex in nature, and the operation of household devices often requires discrete decisions, there has been uncertainty surrounding the use of distributed methods in a realistic setting. This paper extends prior work on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for solving the dynamic optimal power flow (D-OPF) problem. We utilise more realistic line and load models, and introduce a two-stage approach to managing discrete decisions and uncertainty. Our experiments on a suburb-sized microgrid show that this approach provides near optimal results, in a time that is fast enough for receding horizon control. This work brings distributed control of smart-grid technologies closer to reality.
Methodological Challenges in Studies Examining the Effects of Breakfast on Cognitive Performance and Appetite in Children and Adolescents

Breakfast is purported to confer a number of benefits on diet quality, health, appetite regulation, and cognitive performance. However, new evidence has challenged the long-held belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This review aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of the key methodological challenges and considerations in studies assessing the effect of breakfast on cognitive performance and appetite control, along with recommendations for future research. This review focuses on the myriad challenges involved in studying children and adolescents specifically. Key methodological challenges and considerations include study design and location, sampling and sample section, choice of objective cognitive tests, choice of objective and subjective appetite measures, merits of providing a fixed breakfast compared with ad libitum, assessment and definition of habitual breakfast consumption, transparency of treatment condition, difficulty of isolating the direct effects of breakfast consumption, untangling acute and chronic effects, and influence of confounding variables. These methodological challenges have hampered a clear substantiation of the potential positive effects of breakfast on cognition and appetite control and contributed to the debate questioning the notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Nonlinear Viscoelastic Creep Prediction of HDPE-Agro-fiber Composites

Agro-based plastic composites are being used as deck boards and other load-bearing materials. In these composites, both fibers and plastics contribute to creep when they carry loads. However, the existing literature concentrates on creep prediction and characterization of composites as a single-phase material. In our study, an attempt is made to develop a generic creep prediction model that describes the creep behavior of composites with the constituents’ creep behavior. The ‘theory of mixture’ for composites is extended to describe the creep behavior of this material, which is two phase. This model is validated for HDPE-rice husk composites with power-law-Boltzmann’s superposition principles. The model works well not only to describe creep, but also its nonlinearity. The model is generic enough for extending it to incorporate varying environmental conditions, such as time and temperature. This is the first model to describe creep for a two-phase bio-based composite. This study is a vanguard in correlating Schapery’s ‘single-phase’ model with a ‘two-phase’ model, where the same is validated for step-loading situations.
THE MYTHS OF VEGETARIANISM

Bill and Tanya sat before me in my office in a somber mood: they had just lost their first baby in the second month of pregnancy. Tanya was particularly upset. "Why did this happen to me? Why did I miscarry my baby? " The young couple had come to see me mostly because of Tanya's recurrent respiratory infections, but also wanted some advice as to how they could avoid the heartache of another failed pregnancy.
A Comparative Analysis of Data Distribution Methods in an Agent-Based Neural System for Classification Tasks

The NeurAge (Neural agents) system has been proposed as an alternative to transform the centralized decision making process of a multi-classifier system into a distributed, flexible and incremental one. This system has presented good results in some conventional (centralized) classification tasks. Nevertheless, in some classification tasks, relevant features might be distributed over a set of agent. These applications can be classified as distributed classification tasks. In this paper, a comparative investigation of the NeurAge system using some methods for data distribution will be performed. In addition, the performance of the NeurAge system will be compared with some existing multi-classifier systems.
Involvement of AtPol l in the Repair of High Salt-and DNA Cross-Linking Agent-Induced Double Strand Breaks in Arabidopsis 1 [ C ] [ W ]

DNA polymerase l (Pol l) is the sole member of family X DNA polymerase in plants and plays a crucial role in nuclear DNA damage repair. Here, we report the transcriptional up-regulation of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AtPoll in response to abiotic and genotoxic stress, including salinity and the DNA cross-linking agent mitomycin C (MMC). The increased sensitivity of atpoll knockout mutants toward high salinity and MMC treatments, with higher levels of accumulation of double strand breaks (DSBs) than wild-type plants and delayed repair of DSBs, has suggested the requirement of Pol l in DSB repair in plants. AtPoll overexpression moderately complemented the deficiency of DSB repair capacity in atpoll mutants. Transcriptional upregulation of major nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway genes KU80, X-RAY CROSS COMPLEMENTATION PROTEIN4 (XRCC4), and DNA Ligase4 (Lig4) along with AtPoll in Arabidopsis seedlings, and the increased sensitivity of atpoll-2/atxrcc4 and atpoll-2/atlig4 double mutants toward high salinity and MMC treatments, indicated the involvement of NHEJ-mediated repair of salinityand MMC-induced DSBs. The suppressed expression of NHEJ genes in atpoll mutants suggested complex transcriptional regulation of NHEJ genes. Pol l interacted directly with XRCC4 and Lig4 via its N-terminal breast cancer-associated C terminus (BRCT) domain in a yeast two-hybrid system, while increased sensitivity of BRCT-deficient Pol l-expressing transgenic atpoll-2 mutants toward genotoxins indicated the importance of the BRCT domain of AtPoll in mediating the interactions for processing DSBs. Our findings provide evidence for the direct involvement of DNA Pol l in the repair of DSBs in a plant genome.
Effects of a Listener Robot with Children in Storytelling

This paper investigates the effects of a listener robot that joins a storytelling situation for children as a side-participant. For this purpose, we develop a storytelling-robot system that consists of both reader and listener robots. Our semi-autonomous system involves a human operator who makes correct responses and provides easily understandable answers to the children's questions during storytelling. We develop a gaze model for the natural and autonomous gaze behaviors of a reader robot by considering multiple listeners and a storytelling object (a display that shows images). We conducted an experiment with 16 children to investigate whether they preferred storytelling with/without the listener robot and the changes of speech activities during the storytelling. Children preferred storytelling with the listener robot to storytelling without it. Their speech activities decreased when the listener robot was involved in the storytelling.
Increasing Stroke Incidence and Decreasing Case Fatality, 1989–1998: A Study From the Stroke Register in Malmö, Sweden

Background and Purpose— Although the incidence of and mortality from myocardial infarction (MI) have declined in most industrialized countries, incidence studies of stroke have shown less consistent trends. This study examines time trends in the incidence of stroke and case fatality rates in relation to socioeconomic circumstances and history of MI. Methods— Stroke incidence in the city of Malmö, Sweden (250 000 citizens), has been continuously monitored since 1989. All patients 50 to 79 years of age who experienced a first-ever stroke between 1989 and 1998 were included. Results— We included 3621 patients (1969 men, 1652 women). The age-standardized incidence was 647 per 100 000 persons-years for men and 400 per 100 000 persons-years for women. The annual increase—3.1% in men (P <0.05) and 2.9% in women (P <0.05)—was more pronounced in the younger age groups and was lowest in areas with poor socioeconomic circumstances. We found that 13% of the men and 6% of the women had a history of MI; this proportion was stable over the study period. The average case fatality rates in 1989 to 1998 were 10% for men and 9.3% for women. Rates remained stable for men but declined significantly in women (odds ratio per year, 0.895; 95% confidence interval, 0.84 to 0.95). Conclusions— In this urban population, stroke incidence increased between 1989 and 1998. The rate of increase tended to be lower in residential areas with least favorable socioeconomic circumstances. The proportion with a history of MI remained unchanged during the study period. There has been significant improvement in the case fatality rate in women but not in men.
Molecular dissection of the domain architecture and catalytic activities of human PrimPol

PrimPol is a primase–polymerase involved in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Although PrimPol is predicted to possess an archaeo-eukaryotic primase and a UL52-like zinc finger domain, the role of these domains has not been established. Here, we report that the proposed zinc finger domain of human PrimPol binds zinc ions and is essential for maintaining primase activity. Although apparently dispensable for its polymerase activity, the zinc finger also regulates the processivity and fidelity of PrimPol's extension activities. When the zinc finger is disrupted, PrimPol becomes more promutagenic, has an altered translesion synthesis spectrum and is capable of faithfully bypassing cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolesions. PrimPol's polymerase domain binds to both single- and double-stranded DNA, whilst the zinc finger domain binds only to single-stranded DNA. We additionally report that although PrimPol's primase activity is required to restore wild-type replication fork rates in irradiated PrimPol−/− cells, polymerase activity is sufficient to maintain regular replisome progression in unperturbed cells. Together, these findings provide the first analysis of the molecular architecture of PrimPol, describing the activities associated with, and interplay between, its functional domains and defining the requirement for its primase and polymerase activities during nuclear DNA replication.
Gate Capacitance Model for Aligned Carbon Nanotube FETs With Arbitrary CNT Spacing

In this paper, we present a gate capacitance model for the aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) array-based FETs with arbitrary distribution of separations between CNTs. By using conformal mapping, the boundary conditions of a capacitor formed by a CNT and a finite planar gate electrode are transformed into a symmetrical circular geometry that simplifies the formulation of the capacitance. The derived model shows improved accuracy compared with the existing models in most of the practical situations, including closely packed CNTs with strong electric field screening, nonuniform CNT spacing, endpoint capacitance with finite gate electrode termination, and substrate material with a different dielectric constant from the gate dielectric. The model has been extensively verified by numerical simulation. To demonstrate the usefulness of the model, it has been applied to predict the gate capacitance of a CNTFET with an experimentally measured CNT spacing distribution.