Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immediate GTP hydrolysis upon FtsZ polymerization

To understand the polymerization dynamics of FtsZ, a bacterial cell division protein similar to tubulin, insight is required into the nature of the nucleotide bound to the polymerized protein. In a previous study, we showed that the FtsZ polymers contain mostly GDP. A recent study challenged this result, suggesting that the polymerized FtsZ is in a GTP‐bound state. Here, we show that, when radiolabelled [γ‐32P]‐GTP is used to polymerize FtsZ, GTP is hydrolysed instantaneously. The FtsZ polymer contains both GDP and the radiolabelled inorganic phosphate.
Cytotoxic flavonoids and other constituents from the stem bark of Ochna schweinfurthiana

Seven flavonoids, hemerocallone (1), 6,7-dimethoxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyisoflavone (2), amentoflavone (4), agathisflavone (6), cupressuflavone (8), robustaflavone (9) and epicatechin (10), together with three other compounds, lithospermoside (3), β-D-fructofuranosyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (5) and 3β-O-D-glucopyranosyl-β-stigmasterol (7), were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the stem bark of Ochna schweinfurthiana F. Hoffm. All the compounds were characterised by spectroscopic and mass spectrometric methods, and by comparison with literature data. Cytotoxicity of the extracts and compounds against cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cells was evaluated by MTT assay. Compounds 4 and 6 exhibited good cytotoxic activity, with IC50 values of 20.7 and 10.0 μM, respectively.
Multiple‐goal learners and their differential patterns of learning

The hypothesis in this study was that different types of multiple‐goal learners would have different patterns of learning. A sample of 797 adult distance learners enrolled in different programs offered by a distance learning university in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire assessing their goals, use of strategies, motivational beliefs, and attitudes towards the course they were doing. Two‐stage cluster analyses found a group of single‐goal learners (mastery focused) and three groups of multiple‐goal learners with different focuses in their goal profiles: performance focus, work focus, and multiple focuses. These four clusters of learners differed in terms of use of learning strategies, regulatory strategies, motivational beliefs, and attitudes towards the course. Learners focusing on work‐related goals or performance goals achieved better examination results than did those focusing on multiple goals or solely on mastery goals.
GLBTIQ teachers in Australian education policy: protections, suspicions, and restrictions

Recognition of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status by the United Nations has led to the development of new policies concerning homophobia and transphobia in educational contexts. This paper examines new Australian education policies impacting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) teachers. A policy review uncovered a range of protections for GLBTIQ teachers in contexts such as the State of Victoria, alongside restrictions. Experiences of policy discussed in pilot study data from surveys of 63 Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, and in-depth interviews with nine Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, revealed that GLBTIQ teachers were relatively unaware of the protections available to them, compared to their awareness of protections for students. Many teachers were out as lesbian or gay to some staff members but fewer had come out to students. Teachers in religious schools had more difficulties, causing some to leave the sector. Further promotion of protections and more research are recommended.
Formal Operations from a Twenty-First Century Perspective

The author reflects on Piaget’s 1972 article, ‘Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood,’ addressed to questions regarding what he alleged to be the final, most advanced level of cognition in his developmental stage theory – formal operations, as described in his 1958 volume coauthored with Inhelder, The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. It is asked here whether, from a contemporary perspective, Piaget’s ideas regarding formal operations appear to have been right, and whether they have any current relevance, in particular concerning how best to support the development of intellectual potential during the second decade of life.
Love: American style, Russian style, and Japanese style

This study was undertaken to examine young women's and men's orientations toward love in three very different cultures: Japan (N = 223), Russia (N = 401), and the United States (N = 1,043). The love variables examined were: frequency of lore experiences, attachment types, love styles, love as a basis for marriage, romantic attitudes, and predictors of falling in love. Many cultural differences were found in the love variables, but the effect of culture was not always in the expected direction. We also examined how the pattern of gender differences in love variables differed across the three societies. Some of the gender differences and similarities found in previous love research and also in the U.S. sample of this study were not replicated in the Japanese and/or Russian samples. We discuss the importance of studying love and other aspects of close relationships with data collected from more than one culture.
Gifted High School Students' Attitudes toward Careers and Sex Roles.

The purpose of this study was to identify age and gender differences in the attitudes of gifted high school students toward career plans and sex roles. The Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) and the Occupational Check List (OCL) were administered to 24 gifted 11th and 12th graders and to 36 gifted 9th graders. A two‐by‐two ANOVA (age x gender) showed a non‐significant interaction on both the AWS and the OCL; however, significant main effects for age and gender were found on both the AWS and the OCL, with the 12th graders scoring significantly higher than the 9th graders and the females scoring significantly higher than the males. It was concluded that males have more traditional attitudes about careers and sex roles than females, and the younger students, especially younger males, have more traditional attitudes than older students.
Restricting quantifier scope in Dutch : Evidence from child language comprehension and production.

In this study, we tested 4to 6-year-old Dutch children and adults on their comprehension and production of indefinite subjects and objects in universally quantified sentences. Our comprehension results show that, whereas the adults showed a strong preference for indefinite subjects to refer to specific entities, corresponding to a wide scope interpretation for the indefinite subject, the children overwhelmingly accepted non-specific referents for indefinite subjects, corresponding to a narrow scope interpretation. In the production task, however, the children, like the adults, did not use indefinite subjects to express non-specific reference. Although this seems to indicate that children’s non-adult-like performance with indefinite subjects is limited to comprehension, their pattern of production was slightly different from that of adults, too. We suggest that this may be due to a non-adult-like ranking of constraints on specificity and familiarity.
Thinking Intelligently About Therapy of Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a very complex disease. Although it is thought that hyperlipidemia, dyslipidemia, and other conditions such as high blood pressure are mainly responsible for the development of atherosclerosis, many other factors such as endothelial dysfunction and inflammation play a significant role in its pathology.The clinicians should be aware of all the contributing factors to optimize the therapy for atherosclerosis. A combination of lifestyle modification, nutritional measures, and pharmacological intervention with statins or fibrates would achieve good results if the treatment of atherosclerosis were pursued vigorously. In the presence of hypertension, the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and calcium channel blockers would be more appropriate.
Interpretable Spatial Gradient Analysis for Spatial Transcriptomics Data

Cellular anatomy and signaling vary across niches, which can induce gradated gene expressions in subpopulations of cells. Such spatial transcriptomic gradient (STG) makes a significant source of intra-tumor heterogeneity and can influence tumor invasion, progression, and response to treatment. Here we report Local Spatial Gradient Inference (LSGI), a computational framework that systematically identifies spatial locations with prominent, interpretable STGs from spatial transcriptomic (ST) data. To achieve so, LSGI scrutinizes each sliding window employing non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) combined with linear regression. With LSGI, we demonstrated the identification of spatially proximal yet opposite directed pathway gradients in a glioblastoma dataset. We further applied LSGI to 87 tumor ST datasets reported from nine published studies and identified both pan-cancer and tumor-type specific pathways with gradated expression patterns, such as epithelial mesenchymal transition, MHC complex, and hypoxia. The local gradients were further categorized according to their association to tumor-TME (tumor microenvironment) interface, highlighting the pathways related to spatial transcriptional intratumoral heterogeneity. We conclude that LSGI enables highly interpretable STG analysis which can reveal novel insights in tumor biology from the increasingly reported tumor ST datasets.
Faunistic Study and Biodiversity of Scorpions in Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf)

Background Scorpions are known as the most widespread poisonous creatures that cause casualties and death to human. They are distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. Among the sixteen Iranian Island in the Persian Gulf, Qeshm Island is the biggest and is located in the focus of the important internal and international commercial marinelines. Furthermore, thousands of tourists also visit the Island every year for its natural beauties and the siteseeings. The present research study was carried out during 1998–99 throughout Qeshm Island in order to know the species of scorpions, their abundance, the distribution and control strategy in order to reduce the scorpion stings and to safeguard the visitors as well as the local population. Methods: Collections were made randomly during the night. Samples were searched by black light and then collected by forceps. A total of 102 scorpions were captured. Results: The scorpions were identified as Buthotus jayakari numbered 42 specimens (41.17%) and B. leptochelys numbering only 7 specimens (6.86%) belonging to the family Buthidae. Androctonus crassicauda was collected in the most parts of the Island and considered as the dominant species. The sex ratio was 1:1.53 in favor of females. B. leptochelys was rare species and by far restricted in its distribution. Conclusion: Considering the high population of A. crassicauda and its wide distribution, it is regarded to be responsible for the majority of scorpion stings in Qeshm Island.
The Effects of Subsidiary Tasks on Memory Retrieval from Long and Short Lists

Burrows and Okada (1975) found that reaction time in an item recognition task was a monotonic but non-linear function of memory set size when set size varied from two to 20. A bilinear function with a steep slope for short lists and a shallow slope for long lists provided a good description of the data. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether the difference in slope between long and short lists arises from the extra attention devoted to, or rehearsal of, items within the span of immediate memory. Rehearsal of a prememorized list was discouraged by including a counting backwards task (Experiment I) or by presenting a second list of items that required processing (Experiment II). In neither experiment did the subsidiary task reduce the slope difference. It would appear that the slope difference is not a result of rehearsal of subspan lists.
Trusted to Deceive: A Case Study of ‘Strategic Deception’ and the Normalization of Lying at Work

Lying is an endemic feature of social life but has remained under-researched in organization studies. This paper examines the case of VoiceTel, a market leader in the high-quality virtual reception business that practised ‘strategic deception’ (Patwardhan et al., 2009). Receptionists concealed that they were not physically located in their clients’ premises and lying was an intrinsic and enduring feature of their work. We adapt and extend Ashforth and Anand’s (2003) ‘normalization of corruption’ framework to develop a new model of the ‘normalization of lying’. We examine how lying becomes institutionalized, rationalized and socialized into the structure and culture of an organization such that it becomes embedded, maintained and strengthened over time as a legitimate and integral part of the job. Our model of normalization integrates organizational and group levels to examine the significance and interaction of ‘bottom-up’ as well as ‘top-down’ processes. Employees gained recognition from their proficiency in deception and drew considerable satisfaction, self-esteem and status as employees who are ‘trusted to deceive’.
Effect of early screening for invasive fungal infections in U.S. service members with explosive blast injuries.

BACKGROUND An outbreak of invasive fungal infections (IFI) began in 2009 among United States servicemen who sustained blast injuries in Afghanistan. In response, the military trauma community sought a uniform approach to early diagnosis and treatment. Toward this goal, a local clinical practice guideline (CPG) was implemented at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in early 2011 to screen for IFI in high-risk patients using tissue histopathology and fungal cultures. METHODS We compared IFI cases identified after initiation of the CPG (February through August 2011) to cases from a pre-CPG period (June 2009 through January 2011). RESULTS Sixty-one patients were screened in the CPG period, among whom 30 IFI cases were identified and compared with 44 pre-CPG IFI cases. Demographics between the two study periods were similar, although significantly higher transfusion requirements (p<0.05) and non-significant trends in injury severity scores and early lower extremity amputation rates suggested more severe injuries in CPG-period cases. Pre-CPG IFI cases were more likely to be associated with angioinvasion on histopathology than CPG IFI cases (48% versus 17%; p<0.001). Time to IFI diagnosis (three versus nine days) and to initiation of antifungal therapy (seven versus 14 days) were significantly decreased in the CPG period (p<0.001). Additionally, more IFI patients received antifungal agent at LRMC during the CPG period (30%) versus pre-CPG period (5%; p=0.005). The CPG IFI cases were also prescribed more commonly dual antifungal therapy (73% versus 36%; p=0.002). There was no statistical difference in length of stay or mortality between pre-CPG and CPG IFI cases; although a non-significant reduction in crude mortality from 11.4% to 6.7% was observed. CONCLUSIONS Angioinvasive IFI as a percentage of total IFI cases decreased during the CPG period. Earlier diagnosis and commencement of more timely treatment was achieved. Despite these improvements, no difference in clinical outcomes was observed compared with the pre-CPG period.
The Hilbert Space of Probability Mass Functions and Applications on Probabilistic Inference

The Hilbert space of probability mass functions (pmf) is introduced in this thesis. A factorization method for multivariate pmfs is proposed by using the tools provided by the Hilbert space of pmfs. The resulting factorization is special for two reasons. First, it reveals the algebraic relations between the involved random variables. Second, it determines the conditional independence relations between the random variables. Due to the first property of the resulting factorization, it can be shown that channel decoders can be employed in the solution of probabilistic inference problems other than decoding. This approach might lead to new probabilistic inference algorithms and new hardware options for the implementation of these algorithms. An example of new inference algorithms inspired by the idea of using channel decoder for other inference tasks is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detection algorithm which has a complexity of the square-root of the optimum MIMO detection algorithm.
Ischemic Colitis Has a Worse Prognosis When Isolated to the Right Side of the Colon

BACKGROUND:In general, ischemic colitis has a very good prognosis, but there is concern that when ischemia affects the right side of the colon in an isolated fashion, the prognosis may not be so favorable.OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to compare the clinical features and outcomes of ischemia isolated to the right side of the colon with those of ischemia involving other areas of the colon.METHODS:A retrospective study was undertaken of patients with colon ischemia hospitalized at the Moses and Weiler Divisions of the Montefiore Medical Center during the interval 1998–2005. Patients were identified using computerized searches of ICD-9 codes for colon ischemia and were divided into two groups: those with isolated right colon ischemia (IRCI) and those with colon ischemia not involving the right colon in an isolated fashion (non-IRCI). Only patients with biopsy-proven ischemic colitis were entered into our study.RESULTS:A total of 273 cases of biopsy-proven ischemic colitis were identified, of which 71 (26.0%) were isolated to the right side. Of these IRCI cases, 59.2% had an unfavorable outcome compared with 17.3% of cases of non-ICRI: 54.9% of IRCI patients required surgery compared with 10.9% of non-IRCI patients; mortality in patients with IRCI was 22.5% compared with 11.9% in patients with non-IRCI.CONCLUSIONS:A total of 273 cases of biopsy-proven ischemic colitis were identified of which 71 (26.0%) involved only the right side. Patients with IRCI had a worse outcome than those with colon ischemia involving other colon regions, including a fivefold need for surgery and a twofold mortality.
The emotional profiling of disgust‐eliciting stimuli: Evidence for primary and complex disgusts

The present paper reports the results of two studies that used a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis to categorise the emotional profiles of disgust‐evoking stimuli. Study 1 revealed three clusters of stimuli corresponding to: (1) nondisgust or “disgust‐irrelevant” items, (2) “primary” disgust items containing a range of disgust‐relevant items characterised by their ability to elicit fear of oral incorporation and their animal origin; and (3) “complex” disgusts, consisting mainly of behaviours or activities that are considered to be socially or morally unacceptable. The emotional profiles of these three categories also differed significantly, with “primary” and “complex” disgusts showing higher levels of disgust than the “disgust‐irrelevant” items. However, whereas the “primary” disgusts showed no evidence of elevated ratings on negative emotion scales other than disgust, the “complex” disgusts revealed high scores on all negative emotions in the profile (sadness, contempt, fear, and anger). Study 2 confirmed both the cluster analysis and emotional profile findings from Study 1, and also indicated that males and females did not differ significantly either on the cluster solution itself or the shape of the emotional profile. Female participants, however, did respond more intensively across all relevant negative emotions in the profiles than did males. The advantages of using emotional profiling as a means of categorising disgust stimuli are discussed, as are the implications of these findings for an understanding of the functions of disgust.
SIGNALLING OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE IN WHISPERED SPEECH

Several recent studies have shown that the internal structuring of a sentence can be signalled by manipulation of the time domain (for a review, cf. SCOTT 1982). Other studies, however, have associated the signalling of syntactic boundaries with specific pitch movements, such äs a fall-rise in the Intonation contour (LEA et al., 1972; ' HART and COHEN, 1973; COOPER and SORENSEN, 1977). The experiment described below was designed to explore whether there is any difference in the production and perception of syntactically ambiguous sentences produced in two modes: with normal phonation and in whisper. Sentences produced with normal phonation contain both durational and pitch cues to syntactic structure; whispered sentences lack fundamental frequency, but the temporal structure of a whispered sentence may contain a sufficient amount of Information to make its syntax analyzable by the listener. It is possible, furthermore, that a Speaker may compensate for the absence of pitch cues by exaggerating the temporal cues. A comparison of phonated and whispered speech may thus clarify the relative importance of these two kinds of cues used by listeners in the perception of syntactic structure. The test materials consisted of four syntactically ambiguous sentences of a type that has been previously shown to be easily disambiguated by Speakers and listeners (LEHISTE, 1973; SCOTT, 1982). The first of the sentences can be produced in three ways indicated below by the use of parentheses:
Modified Dirichlet Distribution: Allowing Negative Parameters to Induce Stronger Sparsity

The Dirichlet distribution (Dir) is one of the most widely used prior distributions in statistical approaches to natural language processing. The parameters of Dir are required to be positive, which significantly limits its strength as a sparsity prior. In this paper, we propose a simple modification to the Dirichlet distribution that allows the parameters to be negative. Our modified Dirichlet distribution (mDir) not only induces much stronger sparsity, but also simultaneously performs smoothing. mDir is still conjugate to the multinomial distribution, which simplifies posterior inference. We introduce two simple and efficient algorithms for finding the mode of mDir. Our experiments on learning Gaussian mixtures and unsupervised dependency parsing demonstrate the advantage of mDir over Dir. © 2016 Association for Computational Linguistics
Risk Factors Associated with Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus in Intensive Care Unit Settings in Saudi Arabia

Background. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are significant nosocomial pathogens worldwide. There is one report about the epidemiology of VRE in Saudi Arabia. Objective. To determine the risk factors associated with VRE infection or colonization in intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Design. This is a descriptive, epidemiologic hospital-based case-control study of patients with VRE from February 2006 to March 2010 in ICU in a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods. Data were collected from hospital records of patients with VRE. The main outcome measure was the adjusted odds ratio estimates of potential risk factors for VRE. Results. Factors associated with VRE included ICU admission for multiorgan failure, chronic renal failure, prior use of antimicrobial agents in the past three months and before ICU admission, gastrointestinal oral contrast procedure, and hemodialysis. Being located in a high risk room (roommate of patients colonized or infected with VRE) was found to be protective. Conclusions. Factors associated with VRE acquisition are often complex and may be confounded by local variables.