Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mass spectrometric and chemical stability of the Asp‐Pro bond in herpes simplex virus epitope peptides compared with X‐Pro bonds of related sequences

The mass spectrometric analysis of the immunodominant epitope region (273–284) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1) glycoprotein D (gD) showed a favoured fission at the Asp‐Pro peptide bond. The fast atom bombardment collision induced dissociation (FAB‐CID) study of closely related X‐Pro peptides documented that neither the length nor the amino acid composition of the peptide has a significant influence on this preferential cleavage. At the same time the DP bond proved to be sensitive to acidic conditions in the course of peptide synthesis. These observations prompted us to compare the chemical and mass spectrometric stability of a new set of nonapeptides related to the 273–284 epitope region of gD, i.e. SALLEDPVG and SALLEXPVG peptides, where X = A, K, I, S, F, E or D, respectively. The chemical stability of these peptides during acidic hydrolysis was investigated by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS) and the products were identified by ESI‐MS and on‐line high performance liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry (HPLC‐MS). The mass spectrometric fragmentation and bond stability of the untreated peptide samples were also studied using ESI‐MS and liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry (LSIMS). Both the chemical hydrolysis and the mass spectrometric fragmentation showed that the Asp‐Pro bond could easily be cleaved, while the KP bond proved to be stable under both circumstances. On the other hand, the XP bond (X = A, I, S, F or E) fragmented easily under the mass spectrometric conditions, but was not sensitive to the acidolysis. Copyright © 2002 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pilots' Monitoring Strategies and Performance on Automated Flight Decks: An Empirical Study Combining Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Data

Objective: The objective of the study was to examine pilots' automation monitoring strategies and performance on highly automated commercial flight decks. Background: A considerable body of research and operational experience has documented breakdowns in pilot-automation coordination on modern flight decks. These breakdowns are often considered symptoms of monitoring failures even though, to date, only limited and mostly anecdotal data exist concerning pilots' monitoring strategies and performance. Method: Twenty experienced B-747-400 airline pilots flew a 1-hr scenario involving challenging automation-related events on a full-mission simulator. Behavioral, mental model, and eye-tracking data were collected. Results: The findings from this study confirm that pilots monitor basic flight parameters to a much greater extent than visual indications of the automation configuration. More specifically, they frequently fail to verify manual mode selections or notice automatic mode changes. In other cases, they do not process mode annunciations in sufficient depth to understand their implications for aircraft behavior. Low system observability and gaps in pilots' understanding of complex automation modes were shown to contribute to these problems. Conclusion: Our findings describe and explain shortcomings in pilot's automation monitoring strategies and performance based on converging behavioral, eye-tracking, and mental model data. They confirm that monitoring failures are one major contributor to breakdowns in pilot-automation interaction. Application: The findings from this research can inform the design of improved training programs and automation interfaces that support more effective system monitoring.
Hepatic 31P MRS in rat models of chronic liver disease: assessing the extent and progression of disease

Background: Hepatic adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels are an accurate reflection of functioning hepatic mass following surgical resections and acute liver injury. Objective: To determine whether hepatic ATP levels can serve as a non-invasive means of documenting progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis. Methods: In vivo phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) was performed in three animal models of chronic liver disease. Sixty six adult Sprague- Dawley rats were subjected to either thioacetamide, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), or common bile duct ligation (CBDL) to induce liver disease (n=35, 21, and 10, respectively). Serial MRS examinations, blood samples, and liver biopsies (when appropriate) were obtained throughout and/or on completion of the study. Results: Over the course of the chronic liver disease, a progressive decrease in hepatic ATP levels was consistently observed in each model. The findings were most striking when end stage liver disease (cirrhosis) was established. The reduction in hepatic ATP levels correlated with significant changes in serum albumin concentrations (CCl4 and CBDL models) and the extent of hepatocyte loss seen histologically (all models). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that during progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis, there is a progressive reduction in hepatic ATP levels. In addition, changes in hepatic ATP levels correlate with changes in liver function and histology. Thus hepatic 31P MRS provides a non-invasive means of documenting the severity and progression of parenchymal and cholestatic models of chronic liver disease in rats.
Gender differences in the decline of mortality rates of acute myocardial infarction in West Germany *

In Germany in 1994, 86 915 people died from acute myocardial infarction; 563% of these cases were male. The corresponding mortality rates per 100 000 were 1161 in men and 879 in women. The male-female mortality ratio in 1994 was most pronounced for males aged 45-54 years with a relative risk of 5-7 (95% CI, 5-2 to 6-2). The mean age of death was 70-5 years in men and 78-6 years in women, reflecting a difference of 81 years.
On the origin of the genes for neoplasia: G.H.A. Clowes memorial lecture.

Summary and Conclusion There are two groups of avian ribodeoxyviruses, the avian leukosis-sarcoma viruses and the reticuloendotheliosis viruses. Virions of these viruses contain RNA, and the viruses replicate through a DNA intermediate. There is wide variation from none to great among these viruses in their ability to cause cancer. The viruses that cause cancer seem to have genes for cancer. Carcinogenesis by these strongly transforming viruses involves the formation in infected cells of genes for cancer copied from the viral genome. Normal chicken cells do not contain infectious DNA for transformation or for virus production. Therefore, there is not an inactive provirus of a strongly transforming virus in normal chicken cells. The protovirus hypothesis for cancer states that the genes for neoplastic transformation arise in an organism as a result of misevolution of a normal system of DNA to RNA to DNA information transfer. The protovirus hypothesis for the origin of ribodeoxyviruses states that ribodeoxyviruses arise as a result of misevolution of normal cellular genes. There is evidence from experiments involving nucleic acid hybridization and study of DNA polymerase relationships for the protovirus hypothesis for the origin of ribodeoxyviruses.
A Back-Channel-Etched Amorphous InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistor Technology With Al-Doped ZnO as Source/Drain and Pixel Electrodes

A back-channel-etched fabrication process for amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors is proposed, in which an alumium-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent conductive film is used to form both source/drain and pixel electrodes. It is demonstrated that rinsed acetic acid solution has a high etching selectivity over 100:1 between AZO and a-IGZO. In addition, bus and interconnect lines are formed in a separate fabrication step in this process, so that the Cu process could be adopted without bringing contamination issue.
Death and Dying in Assisted Living

This study examined death and dying in assisted living (AL) and the various factors that influence these processes. The study is set in a 60-bed assisted living facility outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Data collection methods included participant observation and in-depth interviews with 28 residents and 6 staff. Data were analyzed using the grounded theory approach and focused on the 18 residents who were dying and/or died during the study period. Findings show that AL residents experience a variety of dying trajectories that vary in duration and shape; for the majority of residents, hospice is an important element in their death and dying experiences. In general, death is not communicated or acknowledged formally within the facility. Responses to deaths depend largely on the nature of the relationship the deceased resident had with others. Findings have implications for how to handle death and dying in AL and to improve residents‟ experiences. INDEX WORDS: Death, Death and dying, Assisted living, Nursing home, Dying trajectories, Responses to death, Death attitudes, End-of-life care DEATH AND DYING IN ASSISTED LIVING
A spatial-temporal analysis of section 404 wetland permitting in Texas and Florida: Thirteen years of impact along the coast

Over the past 200 years, an estimated 53% (about 47 million ha) of the original wetlands in the conterminous United States have been lost, mainly as a result of various human activities. Despite the importance of wetlands (particularly along the coast), and a longstanding federal policy framework meant to protect their integrity, the cumulative impact on these natural systems over large areas is poorly understood. We address this lack of research by mapping and conducting descriptive spatial analyses of federal wetland alteration permits (pursuant to section 404 of the Clean Water Act) across 85 watersheds in Florida and coastal Texas from 1991 to 2003. Results show that more than half of the permits issued in both states (60%) fell under the Nationwide permitting category. Permits issued in Texas were typically located outside of urban areas (78%) and outside 100-year floodplains (61%). More than half of permits issued in Florida were within urban areas (57%) and outside of 100-year floodplains (51%). The most affected wetlands types were estuarine in Texas (47%) and palustrine in Florida (55%). We expect that an additional outcome of this work will be an increased awareness of the cumulative depletion of wetlands and loss of ecological services in these urbanized areas, perhaps leading to increased conservation efforts.
Attachment and Loss. Vol. I

It is difficult to give a full assessment of this book (which was previewed at last year's Mental Health Congress) since it is the first part of a two volume work, which should no doubt be viewed as a whole. Nevertheless, the important place it will have in the field of psychiatric literature is already obvious. Whereas many psychoanalysts have tended to harden in their views with the passage of years? as do people in all walks of life? Bowlby has taken the opposite course. On the basis of his trained sensitivity to human behaviour, he has reached out to such new sciences as animal ethology and cybernetics, which were unknown in Freud's day. The result is provocative, enlightening and profoundly stimulating, though not everyone will be able to accept fully the mixture that emerges. The concept of instinctive behaviour in man still remains profoundly difficult, though the author's version is a more acceptable one than most which have been offered before. As far as the mother-child tie is concerned, this makes infinitely more sense in the light of human evolution? as interpreted by Bowlby? than on the basis of conventional psychoanalytical theory. Those who do not have the chore of reading this book in full will be able to get an impression of its most important parts from Bowlby's contribution to the 1968 Congress proceedings, which are to appear shortly. The present work is a worthy successor to that now classic monograph on maternal separation with which the author came to the world's attention in 1951.
Static Task Scheduling Algorithms Based on Greedy Heuristics for Battery-Powered DVS Systems

The principles for good design of battery-aware voltage scheduling algorithms for both aperiodic and periodic task sets on dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) systems are presented. The proposed algorithms are based on greedy heuristics suggested by several battery characteristics and Lagrange multipliers. To construct the proposed algorithms, we use the battery characteristics in the early stage of scheduling more properly. As a consequence, the proposed algorithms show superior results on synthetic examples of periodic and aperiodic tasks from the task sets which are excerpted from the comparative work, on uni- and multi-processor platforms, respectively. In particular, for some large task sets, the proposed algorithms enable previously unschedulable task sets due to battery exhaustion to be schedulable.
Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders.

Literature on temperament, personality, and mood and anxiety disorders is reviewed. The review is organized primarily around L. A. Clark and D. Watson's (1991b) tripartite model for these disorders, but other influential approaches are also examined. Negative affectivity (or neuroticism) appears to be a vulnerability factor for the development of anxiety and depression, indicates poor prognosis, and is itself affected by the experience of disorder. Positive affectivity (or extraversion) is related more specifically to depression, may be a risk factor for its development, suggests poor prognosis, and also may be affected by the experience of disorder. Other personality dimensions (e.g., anxiety sensitivity, attributional style, sociotropy or dependence, autonomy or self-criticism, and constraint) may constitute specific vulnerability factors for particular disorders. More longitudinal and measurement-based research that jointly examines anxiety and depression is needed.
Programming osmosis: Knowledge transfer from imperative to visual programming environments

Computer science educators continue to develop new ways to support the teaching of introductory programming. Among some of the most popular new tools are Visual Programming Languages (VPL), which provide graphical interfaces for code construction and program display. In this paper we explore the use of Alice, a sophisticated VPL for building 3D animated scenes. When used in conjunction with a traditional programming language, we found minimal transfer from the imperative context to the visual environment. We also found that students struggled to make the connection between work in Alice, and “real programming”. We suggest caution when using curricular materials which, while technologically appealing, may not be pedagogically appropriate.
Altered expression of genes in adipose tissues associated with reduced fat mass in patients with pancreatic cancer

Loss of adipose tissue in patients with pancreatic cancer may involve altered gene expression. Peri-operative mRNA levels of 44 genes were analysed by RT-PCR in intra-abdominal (IAAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SCAT) sampled from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients undergoing tumour resection (n = 20), and control patients without cancer (n = 11). Peri- and post-operative IAAT and SCAT masses were measured by computerized tomography. PDAC patients displayed 2.6- and 1.7-fold higher Zn-α2-glycoprotein (AZGP1) mRNA levels than controls in IAAT and SCAT, respectively (P < 0.01), but expression was not correlated with post-operative changes in fat masses. IAAT mass changes correlated with genes in lipid metabolism, inflammation and apoptosis: e.g. stearoyl-Coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD), tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2; MCP-1). Patients with PDAC displayed increased AZGP1 mRNA levels in both IAAT and SCAT, but expression of other genes may predict IAAT loss.
Relationships between somatic cell count and milk yield in the Sarda dairy sheep breed

In dairy sheep, Somatic Cell Count (SCC) in bull milk has been used as an indicator of hygiene, animal welfare and prevalence of sub-clinical mastitis. SCC is also included in the parameters considered for the determination of the milk price. SCC individual recording has been implemented in several European sheep to detect sub-clinical mastitis and for selection purposes. In Sardinia a Regional Plan aimed at improving animal welfare and using as target the reduction of bulk milk SCC was launched. Simultaneously, a simplified recording system of individual value of SCC was applied in the selected population to evaluate the potential introduction as selection criterion. In this situation, it is crucial to assess the relationships between SCC and production traits. This work showed that raw relationships between somatic cell count and milk yield, even if negligible, are negative only in animals with high probability to have an infected udder.
Bio‐Inspired Two‐Dimensional Nanofluidic Generators Based on a Layered Graphene Hydrogel Membrane

An electrogenetic layered graphene hydrogel membrane (GHM) possesses ultra-large interlayer spacing of about 10 nm, forming charged 2D nanocapillaries between graphene sheets that selectively permeate counter-ions and exclude co-ions. When an electrolyte flow goes through the GHM, it functions as an integrated 2D nanofluidic generator converting hydraulic motion into electricity. The maximum streaming conductance density approaches 16.8 μA cm(-2) bar(-1) .
Crowdsourced Live Streaming over Aggregated Edge Networks

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase of user-generated video services. In such user-generated video services, crowdsourced live streaming (e.g., Periscope, Twitch) has significantly challenged today's content delivery infrastructure: today's edge networks (e.g., 4G, Wi-Fi) have limited uplink capacity support, making high-bitrate live streaming over such links fundamentally impossible. In this paper, we propose to let broadcasters (i.e., users who generate the video) upload crowdsourced video streams using aggregated network resources from multiple edge networks. There are several challenges in the proposal: First, how to design a framework that aggregates bandwidth from multiple edge networks? Second, how to make this framework transparent to today's crowdsourced live stream- ing services? Third, how to maximize the streaming quality for the whole system? We design a multi-objective and deployable bandwidth aggregation system BASS to address these challenges: (1) We propose an aggregation framework transparent to today's crowdsourced live streaming services, using an edge proxy box and aggregation cloud paradigm; (2) We dynamically allocate geo- distributed cloud aggregation servers to enable MPTCP (i.e., multi- path TCP), according to location and network characteristics of both broadcasters and the original streaming servers; (3) We maximize the overall performance gain for the whole system, by matching streams with the best aggregation paths.
The myth of self-esteem: Finding happiness and solving problems in America.

The Myth of Self-Esteem: Finding Happiness and Solving Problems in America by John P. Hewitt seeks to describe, interpret, and criticize the contemporary American fascination with self-esteem and its historical roots. Hewitt critically examines the concept of self-esteem as a cultural myth in the context of American societal values. The author provides a penetrating, sometimes amusing, look at how self-esteem is linked to the basic world-view of Americans.
“Guys Can't Say That to Guys”: Four Experiments Assessing the Normative Motivation Account for Deficiencies in the Emotional Support Provided by Men

Men are less likely than women to provide sensitive emotional support when attempting to comfort others. This paper reports four experiments that tested a normative motivation account for this sex difference, which maintains that men employ less sensitive messages because they desire to avoid acting in what they view as a feminine manner. We propose that target sex and gender schematicity influence the perceived normativeness of comforting behaviors and examined how these variables affected: participants’ judgments of the normativeness of helpers’ behavior (Experiment 1); helpers’ goals, as reflected in judgments about the importance of different ends that might be pursued in support situations (Experiment 2); helpers’ plans, as reflected in judgments about the appropriateness of different comforting messages (Experiment 3); and helpers’ actions, as reflected in the verbal messages produced to comfort distressed friends (Experiment 4). These studies supported the normative motivation account, but also indicated that other factors influence comforting behavior.
SZGR 2.0: a one-stop shop of schizophrenia candidate genes

SZGR 2.0 is a comprehensive resource of candidate variants and genes for schizophrenia, covering genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, translational and many other types of evidence. By systematic review and curation of multiple lines of evidence, we included almost all variants and genes that have ever been reported to be associated with schizophrenia. In particular, we collected ∼4200 common variants reported in genome-wide association studies, ∼1000 de novo mutations discovered by large-scale sequencing of family samples, 215 genes spanning rare and replication copy number variations, 99 genes overlapping with linkage regions, 240 differentially expressed genes, 4651 differentially methylated genes and 49 genes as antipsychotic drug targets. To facilitate interpretation, we included various functional annotation data, especially brain eQTL, methylation QTL, brain expression featured in deep categorization of brain areas and developmental stages and brain-specific promoter and enhancer annotations. Furthermore, we conducted cross-study, cross-data type and integrative analyses of the multidimensional data deposited in SZGR 2.0, and made the data and results available through a user-friendly interface. In summary, SZGR 2.0 provides a one-stop shop of schizophrenia variants and genes and their function and regulation, providing an important resource in the schizophrenia and other mental disease community. SZGR 2.0 is available at https://bioinfo.uth. edu/SZGR/.
Nurses’ perception of occupational stress and its influencing factors: A qualitative study

Background: Studies have shown that nurses are under considerable job stress, which can lead to health disorders and failure in duties. Stressors of nursing have been studied in some of quantitative studies; however, a few investigators have studied the nurses’ life experiences in this regard. The current qualitative research aimed to understand the nurses’ experiences and perceptions of job-related stress. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2010-2011 by using the content analysis technique. Data were collected through individual deep interviews with 19 nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Kashan University of Medical Sciences. The content of data was analyzed by the Krippendorff method. Results: Three categories were emerged including ‘nurses’ perception from the job stress, “professional interest”, and “prioritizing career over family life”. The first category included the following subcategories of “being in constantly alarm situation,” “lack of experience”, “dignity and social status”, “lack of proper logistics”, “shortage of nurses”, “Irregularities in the organization,” “directors of nursing performance,” “undesirable relations among colleagues,” and “the patients conditions all have effects on the nurses’ level of professional stress. Conclusion: The study participants defined job stress as a condition in which a nurse is under pressure so that the quality of care and the nurses’ personal and family life is interrupted. Being under continuous pressure, low social dignity, and the manner of nurse managers were among the important sources of job stress. Providing appropriate logistics, improving the coordination within hospital subsystems, and improving the managers and nurses relationships may decrease the stressors in nursing profession.