Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression, Gene Cloning, and Characterization of Five Novel Phytases from Four Basidiomycete Fungi: Peniophora lycii, Agrocybe pediades, a Ceriporia sp., and Trametes pubescens

ABSTRACT Phytases catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphomonoester bonds of phytate (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate), thereby creating lower forms of myo-inositol phosphates and inorganic phosphate. In this study, cDNA expression libraries were constructed from four basidiomycete fungi (Peniophora lycii, Agrocybe pediades, a Ceriporia sp., and Trametes pubescens) and screened for phytase activity in yeast. One full-length phytase-encoding cDNA was isolated from each library, except for the Ceriporia sp. library where two different phytase-encoding cDNAs were found. All five phytases were expressed inAspergillus oryzae, purified, and characterized. The phytases revealed temperature optima between 40 and 60°C and pH optima at 5.0 to 6.0, except for the P. lycii phytase, which has a pH optimum at 4.0 to 5.0. They exhibited specific activities in the range of 400 to 1,200 U · mg, of protein−1 and were capable of hydrolyzing phytate down tomyo-inositol monophosphate. Surprisingly, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the hydrolysis of phytate by all five basidiomycete phytases showed a preference for initial attack at the 6-phosphate group of phytic acid, a characteristic that was believed so far not to be seen with fungal phytases. Accordingly, the basidiomycete phytases described here should be grouped as 6-phytases (EC 3.1.3.26 ).
How Can We Enhance Enjoyment of Secondary School? The Student View.

This paper considers enjoyment of formal education for young people aged 14 to 16, largely from their own perspective, based on the view of around 3000 students in England. The data include documentary analysis, official statistics, interviews and surveys with staff and students. Enjoyment of school tends to be promoted by factors such as successful social relationships, small classes, variation in learning and students having some control of their learning. Enjoyment tends to be inhibited by perceived lack of respect or concern by teaching staff and passive pedagogy. For some disengaged students, a work or college environment with more adult relationships appears to restore enjoyment and enthusiasm. Enjoyment, unlike attainment, for example, is not particularly stratified by the standard student background variables. Nor is there evidence of a clear school effect. This means that enjoyment should be easy to enhance more widely, positively affecting the learner identities of all young people, including the more reluctant learners.
Physiological demands of the firefighter Candidate Physical Ability Test.

PURPOSE The Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) is used by fire departments across North America to screen for minimal physical capabilities in potential candidates, but its physiological demands are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS We examined oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output (V x O2, V x CO2) and heart rate (HR) responses with the portable system in 57 subjects (23 females) who were familiarized before completing the CPAT in times similar to those of actual candidates. Two men and nine women failed to complete the circuit because of fatigue. Thirty-two men (91%) and four women (15%) completed the circuit under the criterion time (10 min 20 s) with mean completion times for men (8 min 32 s +/- 51 s) and women (11 min 16 s +/- 1 min 28 s, P < 0.05). For all finishers, V x O2 during the test was 38.5 and 36.6 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), corresponding to 73% and 71% of V x O 2max for men and women, and HR was 90% and 91% of maximum (P > 0.05). RER averaged 1.02 for men and 0.97 for women suggesting elevated anaerobic metabolism. Women had a drop in RER after the second event, and they were significantly slower at each event after the step mill than the men. Prediction of circuit completion time by backward stepwise regression yielded models with absolute V x O 2max alone or relative V x O 2max plus body mass and handgrip strength accounting for more than 67% of the variance but with large errors of estimation exceeding 75 s. CONCLUSION The CPAT challenged both the aerobic and anaerobic energy supply systems, and the average V x O2 and HR were similar to reported values during firefighting simulations with incumbent firefighters.
Intraoral Burkitt's lymphoma in an HIV positive patient

Burkitt's lymphoma is an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma composed of malignant cells of B lymphocyte origin. Burkitt's lymphoma is a rarity in the Indian subcontinent. Though intraoral Burkitt's lymphoma in HIV positive individuals is very uncommon, its importance lies in the fact that it is often the first sign of the underlying immunosuppression. We present a case of Burkitt's lymphoma in right maxillary region which was the first manifestation of HIV in the patient.
Social Integration in a Community College Environment

Among current retention models, Tinto’s Interactionalist Model has reached near paradigmatic status. When his model has been applied to two-year college settings, the social integration results have been inconsistent. This has led Maxwell (2000) and Deil-Amen (2011) to suggest that a different construct of social integration exists in community colleges; one that focuses less on purely social activities and more on peer groups centered on academically-related activities, and interactions with faculty and students inside the classroom. But are these two constructs really different? The current study sought to ascertain whether this alternative construct of social integration is, in fact, related to Tinto’s construct. It also was designed to investigate the impact of additional variables including gender, race, age, and program of study (i.e., occupational vs. transfer) have on both constructs. After conducting the analysis, it was found that the two social integration constructs were highly related. Additionally, it was found that social integration, using Tinto’s construct, significantly varied by gender. Future research strategies including longitudinal analysis, regression analysis, and qualitative techniques are all recommended.
An Optimal Algorithm for Stochastic Matroid Bandit Optimization

The selection of leaders in leader-follower multi-agent systems can be naturally formulated as a matroid optimization problem. In this paper, we investigate the online and stochastic version of such a problem, where in each iteration or round, we select a set of leaders and then observe a random realization of the corresponding reward, i.e., of the system performance. This problem is referred to as a stochastic matroid bandit, a variant of combinatorial multi-armed bandit problems where the underlying combinatorial structure is a matroid. We consider semi-bandit feedback and Bernoulli rewards, and derive a tight and problem-dependent lower bound on the regret of any consistent algorithm. We propose KL-OSM, a computationally efficient algorithm that exploits the matroid structure. We derive a finite-time upper bound of the regret of KL-OSM that improves the performance guarantees of existing algorithms. This upper bound actually matches our lower bound, i.e., KL-OSM is asymptotically optimal. Numerical experiments attest that KL-OSM outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in practice, and the difference in some cases is significant.
Green citizenship and the political critique of injustice

Over recent decades, normative theories of green citizenship have drawn upon observations that a long-prevalent dualistic understanding of society, as completely subjecting nature, is being displaced by growing political and cultural support for a holistic view of society, as participating in nature. Differences between avowedly liberal and civic-republican interpretations of green citizenship notwithstanding, the normative theories share five key social critiques: (1) the need to challenge nature/culture dualism; (2) to dissolve the division between the public and private spheres; (3) to undermine state-territorialism; (4) to eschew social contractualism and (5) to ground justice in awareness of the finiteness and maldistribution of ecological space (ES). This article offers a sympathetic provocation to normative theories of green citizenship. Adopting a critical realist perspective, it describes the partial and problematic realisation of these critiques in the contemporary types of social and political participation, contents of the rights and duties and institutional arrangements of the ‘stakeholder’ citizenship that has become established within the neoliberal or weak eco-modernising, global competition state. This perspective is important because it offers new insights into the discursive framework that encompasses contemporary debates over justice and injustice. In particular, injustice from within the post-industrial ecostate appears to be a diffuse whole-of-society problem, the by-product of unsustainable development that lacks an identifiable class of perpetrators. This makes the progressive task of enunciating claims that injustice is present in some senses difficult, while conservative ideological positions are simplified.
The Fast Fourier and Hilbert-Huang Transforms: A Comparison

The conversion of time domain data via the fast Fourier (FFT) and Hilbert-Huang (HHT) transforms is compared. The FFT treats amplitude vs. time information globally as it transforms the data to an amplitude vs. frequency description. The HHT is not constrained by the assumptions of stationarity and linearity, required for the FFT, and generates both amplitude and frequency information as a function of time. The behavior and flexibility of these two transforms are examined for a number of different time domain signal types
Vaginal prostaglandin (PGE2 and PGF2a) for induction of labour at term.

BACKGROUND Prostaglandins have been used for induction of labour since the 1960s. This is one of a series of reviews evaluating methods of induction of labour. This review focuses on prostaglandins given per vaginam, evaluating these in comparison with placebo (or expectant management) and with each other; prostaglandins (PGE2 and PGF2a); different formulations (gels, tablets, pessaries) and doses. OBJECTIVES To determine the effects of vaginal prostaglandins E2 and F2a for third trimester cervical ripening or induction of labour in comparison with placebo/no treatment or other vaginal prostaglandins (except misoprostol). SEARCH METHODS We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (1 March 2014) and bibliographies of relevant papers. SELECTION CRITERIA Clinical trials comparing vaginal prostaglandins used for third trimester cervical ripening or labour induction with placebo/no treatment, with each other, or other methods listed above it on a predefined list of labour induction methods. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS We assessed studies and extracted data independently. MAIN RESULTS Seventy randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (11,487 women) are included. In this update seven new RCTs (778 women) have been added. Two of these new trials compare PGE2 with no treatment, four compare different PGE2 formulations (gels versus tablets, or sustained release pessaries) and one trial compares PGF2a with placebo. The majority of trials were at unclear risk of bias for most domains.Overall, vaginal prostaglandin E2 compared with placebo or no treatment probably reduces the likelihood of vaginal delivery not being achieved within 24 hours. The risk of uterine hyperstimulation with fetal heart rate changes is increased (4.8% versus 1.0%, risk ratio (RR) 3.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.67 to 5.98, 15 trials, 1359 women). The caesarean section rate is probably reduced by about 10% (13.5% versus 14.8%, RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.02, 36 trials, 6599 women). The overall effect on improving maternal and fetal outcomes (across a variety of measures) is uncertain.PGE2 tablets, gels and pessaries (including sustained release preparations) appear to be as effective as each other, small differences are detected between some outcomes, but these maybe due to chance. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Prostaglandins PGE2 probably increase the chance of vaginal delivery in 24 hours, they increase uterine hyperstimulation with fetal heart changes but do not effect or may reduce caesarean section rates. They increase the likelihood of cervical change, with no increase in operative delivery rates. PGE2 tablets, gels and pessaries appear to be as effective as each other, any differences between formulations are marginal but may be important.
Constructing Symbolic Ancestry: Befriending Time, Confronting Death

The present study examines: a) the relationship between religious orientations and interest in the ancestral past; and b) the discursive practices of genealogists in dealing with time and death. Genealogy refers to the construction of family pedigrees in terms of births, marriages, and deaths, embellished with stories about the historic family and individual ancestors. Analyses are based on quantitative and qualitative data taken from personal interviews and surveys conducted in Canada (in 1994 and 1998) and Australia (in 1999). Multivariate analyses of national data failed to find effects for religiosity on passive or active interest in genealogy, but found significant negative effects for belief in an afterlife on both measures. Qualitative analyses of genealogists' accounts of their experiences in the pastime revealed symbolic and largely secular strategies designed to extend the time frame of their lives beyond their personal biographies, and to address the twin challenges posed by aging and death on the part of close family members and themselves.
Nondecisions and the Study of Local Politics

The widely cited concept of nondecisions is particularly prominent in criticisms of “pluralist” research on local politics. But no scholars, including those who introduced the notion of nondecisions, have done empirical research explicitly on this topic. The lack of research on nondecisions reflects the concept's weaknesses as a guide to field research: (1) It involves a number of unrealistic assumptions about political life. (2) It requires data that are difficult to gather or wholly unobtainable. (3) Even the data that can be collected do not provide a basis for sensible conclusions about the distribution of political power. The impracticability of research on nondecisions is not a serious setback for political science, however, for most of its specific component ideas, such as the policy consequences of different governmental forms or the impact of political socialization, are being studied without reference to the notion of nondecisions. Judged by its utility for empirical research, then, the idea of nondecisions appears to be superfluous. The same might be said of the notion of “power structures. ”
Teachers' understanding of composing in the primary classroom

This article is taken from doctoral research which sought to discover the nature of teachers' pedagogy in the primary school classroom by looking at their understanding of the teaching of composing, their approach to lesson design and organisation, and the way these are reflected in their practice. Specific examples of six case studies involving specialist music teachers from different primary schools in the south west of England will present the case for their teaching of composing. Data were collected through interviews with the teachers, head teachers and children; videotaped observations of classroom composition lessons; and teachers' engagement in reflective conversations based on a viewing of their own lesson and the lesson of another teacher in the study. The paper argues that teachers are not free agents but that their choices, where practice is concerned, are constrained by their circumstances and their perceptions of those circumstances. In order to affect the quality of children's learning positively, teachers need to draw their teaching from a range of their previous experiences as creative individuals, musicians and teachers and engage with the students in the activity of creative music making.
National identity and its relationship with teachers' historical knowledge and pedagogy: the case of Taiwan

National identity is one of the most important forms of ideology that affects human behaviours. Yet, the issue of whether it influences history teachers' subject matter knowledge or teaching practice is overlooked most of the time. With regime change in Taiwan, history curriculum and textbooks are no longer dominated by a China-centred narrative; more Taiwanese history is included in the curriculum. Given the fact that the Taiwanese are split on the issue of national identity, it is important to understand if and how teachers vary in their historical knowledge and instruction. This study examines the issue by investigating the relationships between Taiwanese junior high school history teachers' national identities, their subject matter knowledge and teaching practices. The result indicates that teachers' national identities significantly relate to their historical knowledge and conceptions about history, but bear no relationship to their teaching approaches. Pro-independence teachers have significantly more knowledge in both Taiwanese and Chinese histories and have better conceptions about the nature of history, but they do not necessarily choose to provide students multiple perspectives and interpretations. The implications for democratic citizenship education and teacher education are discussed.
Left hemispheric preference and alexithymia: A neuropsychological investigation

Starting from the hypothesis that alexithymics show a hyperactive left hemisphere, this study investigated the neural processing of visual information in two alexi-thymic groups and one nonalexithymic group. The subjects performed a lateralised visual-matching task, through which the proportions of ipsilateral and contralateral processing of three types of stimuli were assessed. In line with the hypothesis it was demonstrated that, in contradistinction to nonalexithymics, the two groups of alexithymics showed a left hemispheric preference in their neural processing of emotion words.
Teaching Note - Active Learning Exercise: Newspaper Page Layout

This exercise introduces students to the topics of modeling and mixed-integer programming and motivates them to investigate and understand the complexity of day-to-day problems. The activity consists of putting together a sheet of a newspaper using news and advertising items taken from a real newspaper. The objective is to arrive at a layout that has the highest possible value subject to the constraints of space on the sheet and the correct orientation of the items. Thus, the exercise poses a problem of optimization. The activity has all the necessary elements for use as an introduction to optimization and mixed-integer programming concepts, and it presents the students with a real-world situation that can also be seen as a game or competition. The enthusiasm this creates and the implicit difficulty of the actual problem motivate students to formalize the ideas involved and initiate a study of the basics of optimization techniques.
Induction of epidermal growth factor receptor gene transcription by transforming growth factor beta 1: association with loss of protein binding to a negative regulatory element.

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) is a potent modulator of cell growth in many systems. In normal rat kidney fibroblasts, TGF-beta 1 increases epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor gene transcription and synergizes with EGF to stimulate growth in soft agar, a characteristic of the transformed phenotype. In order to identify the target of TGF-beta 1 action, we have used a series of 5' deletion mutants of the EGF receptor promoter linked to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene (ERCAT). The TGF-beta response element(s) was localized to a cis-regulatory region which resides between positions -919 and -860 relative to the ATG translation initiation codon of the EGF receptor promoter. This 60-base pair region contains a repressor of the EGF receptor promoter and a TGF-beta inhibitory element that mediates TGF-beta 1 suppression of transin/stromelysin gene transcription through binding of a Fos-containing protein complex. Cotransfection of c-fos, c-jun, or both expression vectors with the intact or 5'-deleted ERCAT constructs identified several Fos-responsive inhibitory regions within the EGF receptor promoter, but these did not localize to the -919 to -860 promoter region. Mobility shift assays showed binding of the 60-base pair DNA fragment to proteins in extracts from untreated normal rat kidney cells; the binding was specifically competed by oligonucleotides containing a CAGATG sequence but not by oligonucleotides containing the EGF receptor repressor or the TGF-beta inhibitory element. TGF-beta 1 treatment but not anti-Fos antibody caused a decrease in specific 60-base pair DNA-protein complex formation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Direct Effect of 10-Valent Conjugate Pneumococcal Vaccination on Pneumococcal Carriage in Children Brazil

Background 10-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine/PCV10 was introduced in the Brazilian National Immunization Program along the year of 2010. We assessed the direct effectiveness of PCV10 vaccination in preventing nasopharyngeal/NP pneumococcal carriage in infants. Methods A cross-sectional population-based household survey was conducted in Goiania Brazil, from December/2010-February/2011 targeting children aged 7–11 m and 15–18 m. Participants were selected using a systematic sampling. NP swabs, demographic data, and vaccination status were collected from 1,287 children during home visits. Main outcome and exposure of interest were PCV10 vaccine-type carriage and dosing schedules (3p+0, 2p+0, and one catch-up dose), respectively. Pneumococcal carriage was defined by a positive culture and serotyping was performed by Quellung reaction. Rate ratio/RR was calculated as the ratio between the prevalence of vaccine-types carriage in children exposed to different schedules and unvaccinated for PCV10. Adjusted RR was estimated using Poisson regression. PCV10 effectiveness/VE on vaccine-type carriage was calculated as 1-RR*100. Results The prevalence of pneumococcal carriage was 41.0% (95%CI: 38.4–43.7). Serotypes covered by PCV10 and PCV13 were 35.2% and 53.0%, respectively. Vaccine serotypes 6B (11.6%), 23F (7.8%), 14 (6.8%), and 19F (6.6%) were the most frequently observed. After adjusted for confounders, children who had received 2p+0 or 3p+0 dosing schedule presented a significant reduction in pneumococcal vaccine-type carriage, with PCV10 VE equal to 35.9% (95%CI: 4.2–57.1; p = 0.030) and 44.0% (95%CI: 14.–63.5; p = 0.008), respectively, when compared with unvaccinated children. For children who received one catch-up dose, no significant VE was detected (p = 0.905). Conclusion PCV10 was associated with high protection against vaccine-type carriage with 2p+0 and 3p+0 doses for children vaccinated before the second semester of life. The continuous evaluation of carriage serotypes distribution is likely to be useful for evaluating the long-term effectiveness and impact of pneumococcal vaccination on serotypes reduction.