Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monoclonal antibodies specific for human tumor‐associated antigen 90K/Mac‐2 binding protein: Tools to examine protein conformation and function

As part of our effort to identify glycoproteins that contribute to colon cancer progression, we have previously described a family of structurally related glycoproteins expressing β1–6 branched asparagine(Asn)‐linked oligosaccharides defined by monoclonal antibody (MAb 1H9), which are differentially expressed, processed, and glycosylated by human colon carcinoma cell lines (Laferté and Loh [1992]; Biochem J; 283:193–201). MAb 1H9 immunoprecipitates three glycoproteins having apparent sizes of 92–100, 66–70, and 25 kDa, the size heterogeneity attributable to cell‐type specific glycosylation differences. We report on the basis of partial protein and cDNA sequence information, that the 100‐kDa glycoprotein detected by MAb 1H9 is identical to the 90‐kDa glycoprotein variably known as tumor‐associated antigen 90K (TAA90K), Mac‐2 binding protein, and cyclophilin C‐associated protein. Using a PCR‐based cloning strategy, the complete cDNA encoding TAA90K was cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pCDNA‐3 (pCD‐TAA90Kwt) and the protein expressed in COS‐1 cells. A [35S]methionine‐labeled 60‐kDa polypeptide, processed to an endoglycosidase H‐sensitive 74‐kDa glycoprotein in the presence of dog pancreas microsomes, was detected in a coupled transcription/translation in vitro reaction. The in vitro‐translated 60‐kDa polypeptide and N‐glycanase‐treated TAA90K (60‐kDa species) immunoprecipitated from HT29 cells were shown to be structurally identical by limited proteolytic peptide mapping. Using a new panel of 11 TAA90K‐specific monoclonal antibodies, including five specific for human TAA90K and six cross‐reactive with a 90‐kDa species expressed by COS‐1 cells, we have detected conformational differences between recombinant wild‐type TAA90K, in vitro‐synthesized TAA90K, and mutant forms of TAA90K containing point mutations at residues 189, 223, and 259. Furthermore, we have shown that these mutant forms of TAA90K, as well as a truncated form of TAA90K containing amino acid residues 1–383, are defective in secretion. These studies demonstrate the potential usefulness of TAA90K‐specific monoclonal antibodies for examining the structure and function of TAA90K, and highlight the contribution of specific amino acid residues to its normal processing and secretion. J. Cell. Biochem. 77:540–559, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Advances in the Brazilian animal genetic resources conservation programme

Brazil has various species of domestic animals which developed from breeds brought by the Portuguese settlers soon after the discovery. Over the last five centuries, these breeds have been submitted to natural selection in particular environments and therefore today, they present characteristics adapted to the specific environmental conditions. From the beginning of this century, some exotic breeds, selected in temperate regions, have begun to be imported. Although more productive, these breeds lack adaptation traits, such as resistance to disease and parasites found in breeds considered to be“native” but even so, little by little, they have substituted the native breeds to such an extent that the latter are, today, in danger of extinction. To avoid the loss of this important genetic material, Brazil created an Animal Genetics Resource Conservation Programme, coordinated by the National Research Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (Cenargen) of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMPRAPA). The conservation has been carried out by various Research Centres of EMPRAPA, Universities, State Research Corporations, as well as by private farmers, with a single coordinator at national level, Cenargen. The conservation is being carried out through Conservation Nuclei, situated in the habitats where the animals have been subjected to natural selection (in situ) , and by the storage of semen and embryos (ex situ) . The recently created Animal Genetics Laboratory of Cenargen allowed genetic characterisation studies on cattle and horse breeds to begin, and, in the near future, work with asses, buffalo and sheep will be conducted‥ From the results of this research it will be possible to compare the native breeds and estimate genetic distances between them. The harmonisation of chosen micro-satellites with those which have been used in other Latin America and Iberian Peninsula countries will be extremely useful for comparative studies and will allow future exchange of germplasm between countries.
Active ingredients of substance use-focused self-help groups.

AIMS AND METHODS This paper provides an overview of some of the probable active ingredients of self-help groups in light of four related theories that identify common social processes that appear to underlie effective psychosocial treatments for and continuing remission from these disorders. RESULTS Social control theory specifies active ingredients such as bonding, goal direction and structure; social learning theory specifies the importance of norms and role models, behavioral economics and behavioral choice theory emphasizes involvement in rewarding activities other than substance use, and stress and coping theory highlights building self-efficacy and effective coping skills. A review of existing studies suggests that the emphasis on these active ingredients probably underlies some aspects of the effectiveness of self-help groups. CONCLUSIONS Several issues that need to be addressed to enhance understanding of the active ingredients of action of self-help groups are discussed, including consideration of indices of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) affiliation as active ingredients, identification of personal characteristics that may moderate the influence of active ingredients on substance use outcomes, examination of whether active ingredients of self-help groups, can amplify or compensate for treatment, identification of potential detrimental effects of involvement in self-help groups and focusing on the link between active ingredients of self-help groups and other aspects of the overall recovery milieu, such as the family and social networks.
Francisella Recognition by Inflammasomes: Differences between Mice and Men

Pathogen recognition by intracellular sensors involves the assembly of a caspase-1 activation machine termed the inflammasome. Intracellular pathogens like Francisella that gain access to the cytosolic detection systems are useful tools to uncover the details of caspase-1 activation events. This review overviews Francisella function in the mononuclear phagocyte with particular attention to inflammasome versus pyroptosome roles and outlines differences between mouse and human caspase-1 activation pathways. Specific attention is placed on functional differences between human and murine pyrin as an intracellular recognition molecule for Francisella.
Fiber-Bridging Constitutive Law of Engineered Cementitious Composites

This paper is on modeling and measuring fiber-bridging constitutive law of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC), a high performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite featuring high tensile ductility. Fiber-bridging constitutive law plays an important role in the multiple cracking behavior of ECC. Therefore, proper control of fiber-bridging behavior through tailoring material microstructure is the key to successfully designing tensile strain-hardening ECC. In this paper, an analytical fiber-bridging model of ECC which connects material constituent parameters and composite properties, built on a previous simplified version, was proposed. To improve accuracy of crack opening prediction, new mechanisms of fiber/matrix interactions, specifically fiber two-way debonding and pull-out, matrix micro-spalling, and Cook-Gordon effects were included. This revised model was compared with experimental measurement of fiber-bridging behavior and the validity of the model was confirmed. It is expected that this model will greatly improve ECC design technology in terms of steady-state crack width control, key for structural long-term durability, and in terms of composite tensile properties important for structural safety at ultimate limit state.
Clinical outcome in children hospitalized with complicated measles.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association of clinical outcome of measles in children with demographic profile and complications. DESIGN A cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Isolation ward, The Children's Hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), from January 2003 to August 2004. PATIENTS AND METHODS Detailed history and physical examination of all the hospitalized patients with complications of measles was filled in case report form. Immunization cards were assessed for measles vaccination status. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 10 software. The clinical outcome of measles was compared with demographic profile and complications by using Chi-square test and p-values were obtained. RESULTS Two hundred and five hospitalized patients with complications of measles were studied. There were 61.5% males. Mean age was 46.1 months and 57% patients were vaccinated against measles. Malnourished patients were 71.2% and had a longer hospital stay (p=0.010). Pneumonia (40.0%) and diarrhoea (38.5%) were the commonest complications. Seven children died. Mortality was significantly associated with younger age (p=0.04), unvaccinated status (p=0.04) and presence of encephalitis (p=0.00001). CONCLUSION The most common complications of measles are pneumonia and diarrhoea with dehydration requiring hospitalization. Malnourished children experience more complications and have longer hospital stay. Mortality is significantly associated with infancy, unvaccinated status and encephalitis. A second dose of measles should be introduced at 15 months of age.
Down-Regulation of Benzodiazepine Binding to α5 Subunit-Containing γ-Aminobutyric AcidA Receptors in Tolerant Rat Brain Indicates Particular Involvement of the Hippocampal CA1 Region

Chronic benzodiazepine treatment can produce tolerance and changes in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptors. To study the effect of treatment on a selected population of receptors, assays were performed using [ 3 H]RY-80, which is selective for GABA A receptors with an α5 subunit. Rats were given a flurazepam treatment known to produce tolerance and down-regulation of benzodiazepine binding, or a diazepam treatment shown to produce tolerance but not receptor down-regulation. Quantitative receptor autoradiography using sagittal brain sections bound with [ 3 H]RY-80 showed binding in areas known to express α5 mRNA. Brains from flurazepam-treated rats showed significantly decreased 1 nM [ 3 H]RY-80 binding in hippocampal formation (e.g., 32% decrease in CA1) and superior colliculus, but not other areas. Using 5 nM [ 3 H]RY-80 showed similar decreases in hippocampus. A corresponding 29% decrease in B max but no change in K d was found with a filtration binding assay using hippocampal homogenates. Down-regulation of [ 3 H]RY-80 binding had returned to control by 2 days after withdrawing flurazepam treatment. The magnitude of down-regulation of [ 3 H]RY-80 binding suggested that GABA A receptors with an α5 subunit may play a prominent role in the adaptive responses associated with benzodiazepine tolerance. Chronic diazepam treatment also resulted in decreased [ 3 H]RY-80 binding. However, the regional selectivity was even more pronounced than in flurazepam-treated rats, and only the hippocampal CA1 region showed decreased binding (27%). This localized down-regulation persisted for several days after the end of diazepam treatment. These data indicate that synapses in the hippocampal CA1 region are particularly involved in the adaptive response to chronic benzodiazepine treatments.
IMU-Based Joint Angle Measurement for Gait Analysis

This contribution is concerned with joint angle calculation based on inertial measurement data in the context of human motion analysis. Unlike most robotic devices, the human body lacks even surfaces and right angles. Therefore, we focus on methods that avoid assuming certain orientations in which the sensors are mounted with respect to the body segments. After a review of available methods that may cope with this challenge, we present a set of new methods for: (1) joint axis and position identification; and (2) flexion/extension joint angle measurement. In particular, we propose methods that use only gyroscopes and accelerometers and, therefore, do not rely on a homogeneous magnetic field. We provide results from gait trials of a transfemoral amputee in which we compare the inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based methods to an optical 3D motion capture system. Unlike most authors, we place the optical markers on anatomical landmarks instead of attaching them to the IMUs. Root mean square errors of the knee flexion/extension angles are found to be less than 1° on the prosthesis and about 3° on the human leg. For the plantar/dorsiflexion of the ankle, both deviations are about 1°.
BMP action in skeletogenesis involves attenuation of retinoid signaling

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and growth and differentiation factor (GDF) signaling pathways have well-established and essential roles within the developing skeleton in coordinating the formation of cartilaginous anlagen. However, the identification of bona fide targets that underlie the action of these signaling molecules in chondrogenesis has remained elusive. We have identified the gene for the retinoic acid (RA) synthesis enzyme Aldh1a2 as a principal target of BMP signaling; prochondrogenic BMPs or GDFs lead to attenuation of Aldh1a2 expression and, consequently, to reduced activation of the retinoid signaling pathway. Consistent with this, antagonism of retinoid signaling phenocopies BMP4 action, whereas RA inhibits the chondrogenic stimulatory activity of BMP4. BMP4 also down-regulates Aldh1a2 expression in organ culture and, consistent with this, Aldh1a2 is actively excluded from the developing cartilage anlagens. Collectively, these findings provide novel insights into BMP action and demonstrate that BMP signaling governs the fate of prechondrogenic mesenchyme, at least in part, through regulation of retinoid signaling.
Chinese Culture, Personality Formation and Mental Illness

PSYCHIATRISTS have developed increasing interest in the study of &dquo;culture and psychiatry&dquo; in the last few decades. There is a practical need to understand different ways of life and the ways in which mental illness is manifested in different cultures in order to enable us to apply knowledge of psychiatry across cultural boundaries. It is also of theoretical interest to inquire what is the universal human pattern and what are cultural variants of human behavior in order to help us broaden our concept of human life and improve our theories of psychiatry.
Weak Competition Among Tropical Tree Seedlings: Implications for Species Coexistence

The intensity of competition among forest tree seedlings is poorly understood, but has important ramifications for their recruitment and for the maintenance of species diversity. Intense competition among seedlings could allow competitively dominant species to exclude subordinate species. Alternatively, the low density and small stature of forest tree seedlings could preclude intense interseedling competition. In this case, other processes, such as size‐asymmetric competition with adults, interactions with consumers, or neutral dynamics would prevail as those structuring the forest understory. We tested the intensity of, and potential for, intraspecific competition among tree seedlings of three species (Brosimum alicastrum, Matisia cordata, and Pouteria reticulata) in two Neotropical rain forests. We reduced stem densities by up to 90 percent and monitored individual growth and survival rates for up to 24 mo. Individual growth and survival rates were generally unrelated to stem density. Contrary to the predicted behavior of intensely competing plant populations, the distribution of individual heights did not become more left‐skewed with time for any species, regardless of plot density; i.e., excesses of short, suppressed individuals did not accumulate in high‐density plots. We further measured the overlap of zones of influence (ZOIs) to assess the potential for resource competition. Seedling ZOIs overlapped only slightly in extremely dense monodominant plots, and even less in ambient‐density plots of mixed composition. Our results thus suggest that interseedling competition was weak. Given the low density of tree seedlings in Neotropical forests, we infer that resource competition among seedlings may be irrelevant to their recruitment.
The Ether-Cleaving Methyltransferase System of the Strict Anaerobe Acetobacterium dehalogenans: Analysis and Expression of the Encoding Genes

ABSTRACT Anaerobic O-demethylases are inducible multicomponent enzymes which mediate the cleavage of the ether bond of phenyl methyl ethers and the transfer of the methyl group to tetrahydrofolate. The genes of all components (methyltransferases I and II, CP, and activating enzyme [AE]) of the vanillate- and veratrol-O-demethylases of Acetobacterium dehalogenans were sequenced and analyzed. In A. dehalogenans, the genes for methyltransferase I, CP, and methyltransferase II of both O-demethylases are clustered. The single-copy gene for AE is not included in the O-demethylase gene clusters. It was found that AE grouped with COG3894 proteins, the function of which was unknown so far. Genes encoding COG3894 proteins with 20 to 41% amino acid sequence identity with AE are present in numerous genomes of anaerobic microorganisms. Inspection of the domain structure and genetic context of these orthologs predicts that these are also reductive activases for corrinoid enzymes (RACEs), such as carbon monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl coenzyme A synthases or anaerobic methyltransferases. The genes encoding the O-demethylase components were heterologously expressed with a C-terminal Strep-tag in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant proteins methyltransferase I, CP, and AE were characterized. Gel shift experiments showed that the AE comigrated with the CP. The formation of other protein complexes with the O-demethylase components was not observed under the conditions used. The results point to a strong interaction of the AE with the CP. This is the first report on the functional heterologous expression of acetogenic phenyl methyl ether-cleaving O-demethylases.
Fluid resuscitation strategies: a systematic review of animal trials.

OBJECTIVES Our objective was to systematically review randomized, controlled trials of fluid resuscitation in animal models of uncontrolled hemorrhage and to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. METHODS We conducted an electronic bibliographic search of published research, reviewed reference lists of included trials, and contacted authors about unpublished studies. We included all unconfounded, randomized, controlled trials of fluid resuscitation (timing, volume, or resuscitation targets) in animal models of uncontrolled hemorrhage. The outcome measure was mortality at the end of the scheduled follow-up period of the trial. Two reviewers independently applied the selection criteria to the trial reports. A third reviewer resolved disagreements. RESULTS Forty-four trials compared fluid versus no fluid resuscitation. There was marked heterogeneity in the effect of fluid resuscitation on the risk of death, much of which was explained by the hemorrhage model used. In aortic injury models, the adjusted relative risk of death with fluid resuscitation was 0.48 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.33-0.71). In organ incision models, the adjusted relative risk of death was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.49-1.18). In tail resection models, the adjusted relative risk of death was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.38-1.25) if 50% or more was removed and 1.86 (95% CI, 1.13-3.07) if less than 50% was removed. In other vascular injury models, the adjusted relative risk of death with fluid resuscitation was 1.70 (95% CI, 1.01-2.85), respectively. Nine trials compared hypotensive versus normotensive resuscitation. The relative risk of death with hypotensive resuscitation was 0.37 (95% CI, 0.27-0.50). CONCLUSION Fluid resuscitation appears to reduce the risk of death in animal models of severe hemorrhage but increases the risk of death in those with less severe hemorrhage. Excessive fluid resuscitation could therefore be harmful in some situations. Hypotensive resuscitation reduced the risk of death in all the trials investigating it. An evaluation of the potential impact of hypotensive resuscitation in humans could now be warranted.
Metabolic and Cardiovascular Effects of Ghrelin

Ghrelin, an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, is synthesized as a preprohormone and then proteolytically processed to yield a 28-amino acid peptide. This peptide was originally reported to induce growth hormone release; large evidence, however, has indicated many other physiological activities of ghrelin, including regulation of food intake and energy balance, as well as of lipid and glucose metabolism. Ghrelin receptors have been detected in the hypothalamus and the pituitary, but also in the cardiovascular system, where ghrelin exerts beneficial hemodynamic activities. Ghrelin administration acutely improves endothelial dysfunction by increasing nitric oxide bioavailability and normalizes the altered balance between endothelin-1 and nitric oxide within the vasculature of patients with metabolic syndrome. Other cardiovascular effects of ghrelin include improvement of left ventricular contractility and cardiac output, as well as reduction of arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance. In addition, antinflammatory and antiapoptotic actions of ghrelin have been reported both in vivo and in vitro. This review summarizes the most recent findings on the metabolic and cardiovascular effects of ghrelin through GH-dependent and -independent mechanisms and the possible role of ghrelin as a therapeutic molecule for treating cardiovascular diseases.
On a new species of Isomeria Beck and redescription of species of Labyrinthus Beck from South America (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Camaenidae)

The Camaenid genera Labyrinthus Beck, 1837 and Isomeria Beck, 1837 are mainly distributed in northern South America. Current anatomical information available for both genera is scarce, particularly that concerning Isomeria species . The morphology of the pallial organs, genital and digestive systems of three species of Labyrinthus [L. subplanatus (Petit, 1843) , L. dunkeri (Pfeiffer, 1852) , L. tarapotoensis Moricand, 1858] and a new species of Isomeria are described. The morphology of hooked denticles that topped wall ridges inside penis and vagina in some species of Labyrinthus and in Isomeria are species-specific characters, differing in shape and size . These structures were not sufficiently studied either in Isomeria or in Labyrinthus and are absent in all anatomically studied species of Solaropsis Beck, 1837, their sister genus. The presence of a bursa copulatrix sac reflexed over its duct is a character shared by all L byrinthus species in which soft anatomy is known, and it was identified as a synapomorphy in a published phylogeny. Isomeria awa. n.sp. differs from other species of the genus mainly in shell morphology and characters of the distal genitalia. The presence of a stimulator-like structure in the vagina as well as the presence of a glandular pouch in the vagina are diagnostic characters of this new species, not present in the closely Camaenid related genera.