Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PilP, a pilus biogenesis lipoprotein in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, affects expression of PilQ as a high‐molecular‐mass multimer

Studies of gonococcal pilus biogenesis are fundamental to understanding organelle structure/function relationships and identifying new approaches to controlling disease. This area of research is also relevant to elucidating the basic mechanisms of outer membrane translocation of macromolecules, which requires components highly related to those involved in type IV pilus expression. Previous studies have shown that products of several ancillary pil genes are required for organelle biogenesis but of these only PilQ, a member of the GspD protein family, is a component of the outer membrane. DNA sequencing of the region upstream of pilQ revealed the presence of two open reading frames (ORFs) whose deduced polypeptides shared significant identities with proteins required for pilus expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas syringae, the genes for which are arrayed upstream of a gene encoding a PilQ homologue. Gonococcal mutants bearing transposon insertions in these ORFs were non‐piliated and failed to express pilus‐associated phenotypes, and the corresponding genes were designated pilO and pilP. The piliation defects in the mutants could not be ascribed to polarity on distal pilQ expression as shown by direct measurement of PilQ antigen in those backgrounds and the use of a novel technique to create tandem duplications in the gonococcus (Gc) genome. As predicted by the presence of a consensus lipoprotein signal sequence, PilP expressed in both Escherichia coli and Gc could be labelled with [3H]‐palmitic acid. PilP− as well as PilQ− mutants shed PilC, a protein which facilitates pilus assembly and is implicated in epithelial cell adherence, in a soluble form. Combined with the finding that levels of multimerized PilQ were greatly reduced in PilP− mutants, the results suggest that PilP is required for PilQ function and that PilQ and PilC may interact during the terminal stages of pilus biogenesis. The findings also support the hypothesis that the Gc PilQ multimer corresponds to a physiologically relevant form of the protein required for pilus biogenesis.
Deep Generalized Canonical Correlation Analysis

We present Deep Generalized Canonical Correlation Analysis (DGCCA) – a method for learning nonlinear transformations of arbitrarily many views of data, such that the resulting transformations are maximally informative of each other. While methods for nonlinear two view representation learning (Deep CCA, (Andrew et al., 2013)) and linear many-view representation learning (Generalized CCA (Horst, 1961)) exist, DGCCA combines the flexibility of nonlinear (deep) representation learning with the statistical power of incorporating information from many sources, or views. We present the DGCCA formulation as well as an efficient stochastic optimization algorithm for solving it. We learn and evaluate DGCCA representations for three downstream tasks: phonetic transcription from acoustic & articulatory measurements, recommending hashtags and recommending friends on a dataset of Twitter users.
Expression of alpha-fetoprotein and prostate-specific antigen genes in several tissues and detection of mRNAs in normal circulating blood by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

BACKGROUND alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in serum are widely used as tumor markers in the evaluation of prognosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer, respectively. To establish the molecular diagnosis of cancer, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for AFP and PSA was used to identify circulating cancer cells in the blood of cancer patients. Here, we examined the tissue-specificity of AFP and PSA and tested whether AFP and PSA are suitable targets in the detection of certain cancer cells by RT-PCR using peripheral blood samples. METHODS Tissue specificity of AFP and PSA was analyzed by Northern blotting and RT-PCR. Probes for AFP and PSA were hybridized with poly A+ RNAs from 50 human tissues. RT-PCR for AFP and PSA mRNA was performed using several cancerous tissues and normal tissues and peripheral blood cells from seven healthy volunteers. RESULTS Broad expression of AFP was observed in several tissues and a large amount of AFP mRNA was found in fetal liver. PSA was expressed in prostate, salivary gland, pancreas and uterus. By RT-PCR, AFP and PSA mRNA were detected in several tumors, including salivary pleomorphic adenoma, hilar bile duct carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder and thyroid papillary carcinoma. Furthermore, AFP and PSA mRNAs were frequently detected by RT-PCR, even in peripheral blood cells from healthy volunteers. CONCLUSIONS Neither AFP nor PSA showed tissue-specific expression. AFP and PSA mRNA were detected in several diseased and non-diseased tissues and normal circulating blood by RT-PCR.
Analytical Validation of a New Enzymatic and Automatable Method for d-Xylose Measurement in Human Urine Samples

Hypolactasia, or intestinal lactase deficiency, affects more than half of the world population. Currently, xylose quantification in urine after gaxilose oral administration for the noninvasive diagnosis of hypolactasia is performed with the hand-operated nonautomatable phloroglucinol reaction. This work demonstrates that a new enzymatic xylose quantification method, based on the activity of xylose dehydrogenase from Caulobacter crescentus, represents an excellent alternative to the manual phloroglucinol reaction. The new method is automatable and facilitates the use of the gaxilose test for hypolactasia diagnosis in the clinical practice. The analytical validation of the new technique was performed in three different autoanalyzers, using buffer or urine samples spiked with different xylose concentrations. For the comparison between the phloroglucinol and the enzymatic assays, 224 urine samples of patients to whom the gaxilose test had been prescribed were assayed by both methods. A mean bias of −16.08 mg of xylose was observed when comparing the results obtained by both techniques. After adjusting the cut-off of the enzymatic method to 19.18 mg of xylose, the Kappa coefficient was found to be 0.9531, indicating an excellent level of agreement between both analytical procedures. This new assay represents the first automatable enzymatic technique validated for xylose quantification in urine.
The CTSA as an Exemplar Framework for Developing Multidisciplinary Translational Teams

Translational science requires that scientists from multiple disciplines work together to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. Although a literature exists on the design and management of multidisciplinary teams, little has been written on multidisciplinary translational teams (MTTs). MTTs are distinct hybrid entities, with goals taken from both industry and academic models. We identified 30 design factors in 10 domains from a literature survey relevant to our MTT model: specific goals, structures, and processes. These dimensions were adapted to our own institutional environment in the selection and management of 11 MTTs that exploited resources of University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Clinical and Translational Sciences Awards (CTSA). Case illustrations of two specific MTTs illustrate some of the challenges encountered and opportunities realized in terms of education and scientific advances. Network depiction of disciplinarity indicated that CTSA KRs and CTSA leadership contributed to discipline diversity especially in small (or nascent) MTTs. A separate depiction of MTT‐KR utilization indicated that data analysis, translational technologies, and novel methods were heavily utilized by MTTs, whereas other KRs contributed significant effort to infrastructure development. We conclude that the CTSA can provide a rich infrastructural framework and scientific environment for the development of successful MTTs. Clin Trans Sci 2013; Volume 6: 60–71
Fusion symmetric spaces and subfactors

We construct analogs of the embedding of orthogonal and symplectic groups into unitary groups in the context of fusion categories. At least some of the resulting module categories also appear in boundary conformal field theory. We determine when these categories are unitarizable, and explicitly calculate the index and principal graph of the resulting subfactors.
Garden Stories: Auto/biography, Gender and Gardening

Life writing in the form of a single garden story is used in this paper to examine the garden as a powerful theme in gendered leisure. I explore the ways in which garden narratives in the form of auto/biography can represent new identities in everyday life. One women's life story is (re)told; about her childhood, her home and family, and her work in the garden. I conclude that life stories contained in the Mass Observation Archive (big and small) are useful ways of studying gendered lives to gain deeper understandings of the uses and meanings of leisure spaces in and around the home.
Associations between Self-medication, Health Literacy, and Self-perceived Health Status: A Community-Based Study

Background: Although the frequency of self-medication has been well-documented in the public health literature, but no study has examined the relationship between health literacy and self-medication yet. This study was aimed to investigating the relationship between health literacy and self-medication in a community-based study. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 924 adults to survey association between health literacy and self-medication among peoples in Ardabil city in 2014 who were selected using a multi-stage random sampling method. Health literacy was measured by the test of functional health literacy in adults and general health status was measured by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, and self-reported self-medication (overall, sedative, antibiotic and herbal) in last 3 months was assessed. All statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS version 18 and a P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age and weight of respondents were 37 years and 74.7 kg, respectively. The prevalence of self-medication was 61.6%, and the percentage of self-administering antibiotics, sedative, and herbal medicines were 40%, 54.4%, and 59.1% in the last 3 months, respectively. Significant relationship was found between of total health literacy and general health status with self-medication. The prevalence of self-medication among participants with poor and very poor self-rated physical and mental health was significantly higher than other participants (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Self-medication had a significant relationship with health literacy and health status. Therefore, the design and implementation of training programs are necessary to increase the perception on the risk of self-medication.
Atrial Fibrillation Detection via Accelerometer and Gyroscope of a Smartphone

We present a smartphone-only solution for the detection of atrial fibrillation (AFib), which utilizes the built-in accelerometer and gyroscope sensors [inertial measurement unit, (IMU)] in the detection. Depending on the patient's situation, it is possible to use the developed smartphone application either regularly or occasionally for making a measurement of the subject. The smartphone is placed on the chest of the patient who is adviced to lay down and perform a noninvasive recording, while no external sensors are needed. After that, the application determines whether the patient suffers from AFib or not. The presented method has high potential to detect paroxysmal (“silent”) AFib from large masses. In this paper, we present the preprocessing, feature extraction, feature analysis, and classification results of the envisioned AFib detection system based on clinical data acquired with a standard mobile phone equipped with Google Android OS. Test data was gathered from 16 AFib patients (validated against ECG), as well as a control group of 23 healthy individuals with no diagnosed heart diseases. We obtained an accuracy of 97.4% in AFib versus healthy classification (a sensitivity of 93.8% and a specificity of 100%). Due to the wide availability of smart devices/sensors with embedded IMU, the proposed methods could potentially also scale to other domains such as embedded body-sensor networks.
Social and Personal Coping Resources, Functional Impairment, and Perceived Health Status Among Mexican-Origin Elders

Abstract This study explores the contributions of social and personal coping resources to selfreported health among Mexican-origin elders. While these resources have been studied previously in the general population, less is known about how they operate in Mexican-origin Americans. The authors used data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study for the Elderly (HEPESE), a longitudinal survey of 3,050 Mexican Americans to examine the effects of social and personal coping resources on selfreported health two years later. The results of the ordered logistic regression analysis indicated that personal coping resources were a significant predictor of better selfreported health. Social coping resources approached significance. Neither of these resources, however, mediated or moderated the considerable relationship between functional impairments and perceived, selfreported health. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.
The Salience of Racial and Ethnic Identification in Friendship Choices Among Hispanic Adolescents

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of youth in 7th to 12th grades, this study examines how racial and ethnic identification overlap among Hispanic adolescents (N = 6,399). The study examines the choices of friends to evaluate the proximity of race and ethnic identifiers among Hispanics. The result show evidence that ethnicity and race are distinct stratifiers as evidenced by their friendship choices, but that ethnicity is more significant than race in determining the choice of friends of Hispanics. Racial identification of Hispanics is closely associated with choosing a friend of the same race, whether or not that person is Hispanic. Finally, when Hispanics interact with non-Hispanics, racial identity becomes another determinant of friendships.
Predictors of conversion to thoracotomy during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy in lung cancer: additional predictive value of FDG-PET/CT in a tuberculosis endemic region.

BACKGROUND To evaluate the added clinical value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans to chest CT imaging in predicting the conversion to thoracotomy during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy in patients with lung cancer. METHODS This is a retrospective study of 235 consecutive patients who underwent planned VATS lobectomy for primary lung cancer between 2011 and 2015. CT images were interpreted in terms of the presence and the attenuation of peribronchial lymph nodes (PLN) and peribronchial cuffs of soft (PCS) tissue, pleural calcification, and parenchymal calcified nodule. On FDG PET/CT images, anthracofibrotic lymph node was considered present when high FDG uptake (SUVmax >3.5) was observed on PET/CT images corresponded to PLN or PCS on chest CT. RESULTS Among the 235 patients undergoing attempted VATS lobectomy, 55 (23.4%) underwent conversion to thoracotomy. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the attenuation of PLN or PCS on chest CT (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.328-4.380, 0.005) was an only independent predictor of conversion. The ROC curve showed that combined FDG PET/CT and chest CT reading [areas under curve (AUC), 0.847 (95% CI, 0.795-0.891)] was significantly better than that of chest CT scans alone [AUC, 0.655 (95% CI, 0.50-0.751)] in predicting conversion (P=0.024). CONCLUSIONS The addition of FDG PET/CT scanning to chest CT imaging provides better performance for predicting conversion to thoracotomy during VATS lobectomy in lung cancer patients. Therefore, in lung cancer patients undergoing surgical resection, FDG PET/CT can provide additional reliable information in selecting the appropriate surgical approach for a lobectomy.
Attachment to parents, social competence, and emotional well-being : A comparison of Black and White late adolescents

The model tested in this study proposed that the association of parental attachment bonds to emotional adjustment would be mediated by social competence. Relational variables were expected to be more important in the development of social competence and emotional adjustment for Black students than for White students; there were no directional hypotheses for gender differences. Single-group analyses and multiple-group comparisons revealed that the model fit the data reasonably well for a large sample (N = 630) of Black and White late adolescents. Gender of parent differences emerged, in which attachment to father generally was a more important predictor of social competence than was attachment to mother. In all analyses, social competence was a significant predictor of emotional adjustment. There were no significant differences between groups in comparisons of the relative strengths of construct interrelations.
Art and power in the new China: An exploration of Beijing's 798 district and its implications for contemporary urbanism

This article explores urban change in the Chinese context, specifically in terms of the creation of Beijing's Dashanzi Arts District, also known as 798. As the fusing of the cultural and economic now defines cities within the post-industrial economy, Beijing is recognising the symbolic importance of the arts within its financial system and urban image construction. The campaign for and establishment of the arts district demonstrates not only a political awareness of the economic power behind cultural districts, but also the increasing pluralisation of power within Chinese society. This paper will focus on how the 798 Arts District has been branded, first unofficially by its original artists to preserve the industrial area and then officially to promote Beijing as a global city. In relation to the cultural shift in Chinese urban policy and the global utilisation of arts districts in urban image construction, it will discuss how the area is both a result of and an influence on China's contemporary culture.
SAT-Based Answer Set Programming

The relation between answer set programming (ASP) and propositional satisfiability (SAT) is at the center of many research papers, partly because of the tremendous performance boost of SAT solvers during last years. Various translations from ASP to SAT are known but the resulting SAT formula either includes many new variables or may have an unpractical size. There are also well known results showing a one-to-one correspondence between the answer sets of a logic program and the model of its completion. Unfortunately, these results only work for specific classes of problems. In this paper we present a SAT-based decision procedure for answer set programming that (i) deals with any (non disjunctive) logic program, (ii) works on a SAT formula without additional variables, and (iii) is guaranteed to work in polynomial space. Further, our procedure can be extended to compute all the answer sets still working in polynomial space. The experimental results of a prototypical implementation show that the approach can pay off sometimes by orders of magnitude.
Atherosclerosis precursors in Finnish children and adolescents. XII. Smoking behaviour and its determinants in 12–18‐year‐old subjects

ABSTRACT. The cross‐sectional study of 1980 for atherosclerosis precursors in Finnish children and adolescents aimed at a wide coverage of the relevant relationships of the smoking behaviour to Socioeconomic and psychoSocial factors. The initiation and establishment of the smoking habits were primarily viewed as a function of the youngsters’main Socializing agents: the peer group and the family.
Anastomotic leakage after colon cancer resection: does the individual surgeon matter?

Anastomotic leakage is one of the most feared complications after colonic resection. Many risk factors for anastomotic leakage have been reported, but the impact of an individual surgeon as a risk factor has scarcely been reported. The aim of this study was to assess if the individual surgeon is an independent risk factor for anastomotic leakage in colonic cancer surgery.
Forgotten History: Mexican American School Segregation in Arizona from 1900–1951 1

This article documents the efforts by Mexican Americans to challenge school segregation in Arizona in the first half of the twentieth century. As in Texas and California, although state law never formally mandated the segregation of Mexican American students, school districts in Arizona often established separate “Mexican Schools” for Mexican American students. While districts argued that segregation was necessary because of students' poor English skills, the segregation of Mexican American students in Arizona's public schools was not an isolated practice but occurred in tandem with other discriminatory practices that restricted the social rights of Mexican Americans, many of whom were American citizens. However, Mexican Americans challenged segregation in the courts. Notably, in Gonzales v. Sheely, a case heard in the United States District Court of Arizona in 1950, Judge Dave Ling declared segregation unconstitutional over three years before the Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board (1954).
Executive functions in insight versus non-insight problem solving: An individual differences approach

This study investigated the roles of the executive functions of inhibition and switching, and of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory capacities, in insight and non-insight tasks. A total of 18 insight tasks, 10 non-insight tasks, and measures of individual differences in working memory capacities, switching, and inhibition were administered to 120 participants. Performance on insight problems was not linked with executive functions of inhibition or switching but was linked positively to measures of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory capacities. Non-insight task performance was positively linked to the executive function of switching (but not to inhibition) and to verbal and visuo-spatial working memory capacities. These patterns regarding executive functions were maintained when the insight and non-insight composites were split into verbal and spatial insight and non-insight composite scores. The results are discussed in relation to dual processing accounts of thinking.
Digital Media and Traditional Political Participation Over Time in the U.S.

ABSTRACT Research shows that digital media use is positively related to political participation. However, this relationship does not appear in all studies. To date, researchers have generally treated inconsistent findings from study to study and from election to election as an empirical problem that reflects differences in measurement and model specification. In this article, we question the assumption that a consistent relationship between Internet use and political participation should exist over time. We test this expectation using 12 years of data from the American National Election Studies. Our findings support the expectation that a general measure of Internet use for political information is not consistently related to six acts of traditional political participation across elections.