Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subcellular analysis of starch metabolism in developing barley seeds using a non-aqueous fractionation method

Compartmentation of metabolism in developing seeds is poorly understood due to the lack of data on metabolite distributions at the subcellular level. In this report, a non-aqueous fractionation method is described that allows subcellular concentrations of metabolites in developing barley endosperm to be calculated. (i) Analysis of subcellular volumes in developing endosperm using micrographs shows that plastids and cytosol occupy 50.5% and 49.9% of the total cell volume, respectively, while vacuoles and mitochondria can be neglected. (ii) By using non-aqueous fractionation, subcellular distribution between the cytosol and plastid of the levels of metabolites involved in sucrose degradation, starch synthesis, and respiration were determined. With the exception of ADP and AMP which were mainly located in the plastid, most other metabolites of carbon and energy metabolism were mainly located outside the plastid in the cytosolic compartment. (iii) In developing barley endosperm, the ultimate precursor of starch, ADPglucose (ADPGlc), was mainly located in the cytosol (80–90%), which was opposite to the situation in growing potato tubers where ADPGlc was almost exclusively located in the plastid (98%). This reflects the different subcellular distribution of ADPGlc pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) in these tissues. (iv) Cytosolic concentrations of ADPGlc were found to be close to the published Km values of AGPase and the ADPGlc/ADP transporter at the plastid envelope. Also the concentrations of the reaction partners glucose-1-phosphate, ATP, and inorganic pyrophosphate were close to the respective Km values of AGPase. (v) Knock-out of cytosolic AGPase in Riso16 mutants led to a strong decrease in ADPGlc level, in both the cytosol and plastid, whereas knock-down of the ADPGlc/ADP transporter led to a large shift in the intracellular distribution of ADPGlc. (v) The thermodynamic structure of the pathway of sucrose to starch was determined by calculating the mass–action ratios of all the steps in the pathway. The data show that AGPase is close to equilibrium, in both the cytosol and plastid, whereas the ADPGlc/ADP transporter is strongly displaced from equilibrium in vivo. This is in contrast to most other tissues, including leaves and potato tubers. (vi) Results indicate transport rather than synthesis of ADPGlc to be the major regulatory site of starch synthesis in barley endosperm. The reversibility of AGPase in the plastid has important implications for the regulation of carbon partitioning between different biosynthetic pathways.
ICN-based service discovery mechanism for microservice architecture

Microservice architecture (MSA) is an emerging method of developing application systems in recent years. This architectural style enables better application performance, flexibility, and ease of deployment. In MSA, a service needs to acquire the location of other services in order to communicate with them. This problem can be solved by a process called service discovery, which is one of the big challenges in MSA. In this work, we propose an information-centric service discovery (ISD) mechanism which applies the information-centric networking (ICN) concept to solve the service discovery problem in a flexible way. Through analysis, we show that ISD achieves lower discovery latency and overhead compared to existing solutions of the MSA.
Clinicopathological correlations in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia

Accurately predicting the underlying neuropathological diagnosis in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) poses a daunting challenge for clinicians but will be critical for the success of disease-modifying therapies. We sought to improve pathological prediction by exploring clinicopathological correlations in a large bvFTD cohort. Among 438 patients in whom bvFTD was either the top or an alternative possible clinical diagnosis, 117 had available autopsy data, including 98 with a primary pathological diagnosis of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), 15 with Alzheimer's disease, and four with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who lacked neurodegenerative disease-related pathology outside of the motor system. Patients with FTLD were distributed between FTLD-tau (34 patients: 10 corticobasal degeneration, nine progressive supranuclear palsy, eight Pick's disease, three frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism associated with chromosome 17, three unclassifiable tauopathy, and one argyrophilic grain disease); FTLD-TDP (55 patients: nine type A including one with motor neuron disease, 27 type B including 21 with motor neuron disease, eight type C with right temporal lobe presentations, and 11 unclassifiable including eight with motor neuron disease), FTLD-FUS (eight patients), and one patient with FTLD-ubiquitin proteasome system positive inclusions (FTLD-UPS) that stained negatively for tau, TDP-43, and FUS. Alzheimer's disease was uncommon (6%) among patients whose only top diagnosis during follow-up was bvFTD. Seventy-nine per cent of FTLD-tau, 86% of FTLD-TDP, and 88% of FTLD-FUS met at least 'possible' bvFTD diagnostic criteria at first presentation. The frequency of the six core bvFTD diagnostic features was similar in FTLD-tau and FTLD-TDP, suggesting that these features alone cannot be used to separate patients by major molecular class. Voxel-based morphometry revealed that nearly all pathological subgroups and even individual patients share atrophy in anterior cingulate, frontoinsula, striatum, and amygdala, indicating that degeneration of these regions is intimately linked to the behavioural syndrome produced by these diverse aetiologies. In addition to these unifying features, symptom profiles also differed among pathological subtypes, suggesting distinct anatomical vulnerabilities and informing a clinician's prediction of pathological diagnosis. Data-driven classification into one of the 10 most common pathological diagnoses was most accurate (up to 60.2%) when using a combination of known predictive factors (genetic mutations, motor features, or striking atrophy patterns) and the results of a discriminant function analysis that incorporated clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological data.
INCREASING RUNNING STRIDE FREQUENCY : CAN IT BE TRAINED AND DOES IT IMPROVE ECONOMY ?

Numerous websites, popular literature, and coaches recommend a stride frequency (SF) of 180 steps per min (spm) as optimal for running economy and that most novice runners have lower spontaneous SF (SSF). The implication is that these runners should train to increase SSF. However, the literature to support these suggestions is inconclusive. The purpose of this study is to re-assess whether SSF can be increased through a training program and if so, does the increase in SF result in improved running economy? Using a metronome to increase SF and heart rate (VO2 was also measured in 2014) as a measure of running economy at constant speed, treatment subjects were trained for 10 min/week over 9 weeks in 2013 and 2014 and for 10 min 3x/week over 5 weeks in 2015. Treatment subjects showed a significant increase in SSF (P=0.001, F=9.686, N=16) and running economy (P=0.013, F=5.036, N=16) in 2013, no significant changes in 2014, and only a significant increase in SSF (P=0.002, t=-5.175, N=7) in 2015. No significant changes were found for any of the control groups. These findings indicate some merit in increasing SF, but the inconsistencies highlight the need for additional studies including more frequent training sessions and focusing on new, but habitual runners with uneconomical SSF.
QTc ınterval is prolonged in Wilson’s disease with neurologic ınvolvement

Abstract Background Neurologic and liver involvement in Wilson’s disease (WD) is well-documented, however, few reports demonstrated cardiac involvement. Tpe and Tpe/QT are new measures of ventricular repolarization which were recently suggested as predictor of arrythmogenesis. We aimed to evaluate ventricular depolarization and repolarization parameters including QT, QTc, Tpe intervals, Tpe/QT, Tpe/QTc ratios, and QT dispersion (QTd) in patients with WD. Materials and methods Thirty-five patients with WD and 30 healthy controls were included in the study. Patients were evaluated by a neurologist in addition to MR imaging. Twenty-one of 35 patients were diagnosed as neuroWilson (NW), whereas 14 patients as non-NW. ECG recordings were obtained using a 12-lead commercial device (Cardiac Science, Burdick s500,USA). All patients underwent standard echocardiographic evaluation. These two groups of patients and healthy controls were compared. Results There were no difference between patients with WD and healthy controls in terms of age sex, BMI, liver, and kidney functions where as patients with WD were anemic and thrombocytopenic. Left atrial, ventricular dimensions, left ventricular systolic, and diastolic functions were similar between patients and healthy control. QT interval was prolonged in patient group, however, QTc, Tpe intervals, Tpe/QT, and Tpe/QTc ratios and QTd did not differ between groups. When patients with NW and non-NW were compared, both QT and QTc intervals were significantly longer in patients with NW, however, Tpe interval, Tpe/QT and Tpe/QTc ratios, and QTd did not differ. Conclusion QT and QTc intervals are prolonged in patients with Wilson’s disease and neurologic involvement.
Chlamydia trachomatis Incidence Using Self-Reports and Serology by Gender, Age Period, and Sexual Behavior in a Birth Cohort

Background Although understanding chlamydia incidence assists prevention and control, analyses based on diagnosed infections may distort the findings. Therefore, we determined incidence and examined risks in a birth cohort based on self-reports and serology. Methods Self-reported chlamydia and behavior data were collected from a cohort born in New Zealand in 1972/3 on several occasions to age 38 years. Sera drawn at ages 26, 32, and 38 years were tested for antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis Pgp3 antigen using a recently developed assay, more sensitive in women (82.9%) than men (54.4%). Chlamydia incidence by age period (first coitus to age 26, 26–32, and 32–38 years) was calculated combining self-reports and serostatus and risk factors investigated by Poisson regression. Results By age 38 years, 32.7% of women and 20.9% of men had seroconverted or self-reported a diagnosis. The highest incidence rate was to age 26, 32.7 and 18.4 years per 1000 person-years for women and men, respectively. Incidence rates increased substantially with increasing number of sexual partners. After adjusting age period incidence rates for partner numbers, a relationship with age was not detected until 32 to 38 years, and then only for women. Conclusions Chlamydia was common in this cohort by age 38, despite the moderate incidence rates by age period. The strongest risk factor for incident infection was the number of sexual partners. Age, up to 32 years, was not an independent factor after accounting for partner numbers, and then only for women. Behavior is more important than age when considering prevention strategies.
The Influence of Preprocessing Steps on Graph Theory Measures Derived from Resting State fMRI

Resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) is an imaging technique that allows the spontaneous activity of the brain to be measured. Measures of functional connectivity highly depend on the quality of the BOLD signal data processing. In this study, our aim was to study the influence of preprocessing steps and their order of application on small-world topology and their efficiency in resting state fMRI data analysis using graph theory. We applied the most standard preprocessing steps: slice-timing, realign, smoothing, filtering, and the tCompCor method. In particular, we were interested in how preprocessing can retain the small-world economic properties and how to maximize the local and global efficiency of a network while minimizing the cost. Tests that we conducted in 54 healthy subjects showed that the choice and ordering of preprocessing steps impacted the graph measures. We found that the csr (where we applied realignment, smoothing, and tCompCor as a final step) and the scr (where we applied realignment, tCompCor and smoothing as a final step) strategies had the highest mean values of global efficiency (eg). Furthermore, we found that the fscr strategy (where we applied realignment, tCompCor, smoothing, and filtering as a final step), had the highest mean local efficiency (el) values. These results confirm that the graph theory measures of functional connectivity depend on the ordering of the processing steps, with the best results being obtained using smoothing and tCompCor as the final steps for global efficiency with additional filtering for local efficiency.
Seismoacoustic coupling induced by the breakup of the 15 February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor

On 15 February 2013 around 03:20:00 UTC, the largest meteor reported since the 1908 Tunguska event was observed as a fireball traveling through the Earth's atmosphere, exploding in an air burst near the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. The rarity of such an event provides a unique window on the physics of meteoroid collision. We report the fine seismic detection of Rayleigh waves produced by the coupling of ground motion with the incident shock wave at distances up to 4000 km from the event. Combining information from seismic beam‐forming analysis, reconstructed trajectory from casual video records, and remote sensing, we identify the Rayleigh waves as being initiated by the shock wave produced by the main blast that occasioned damages and injuries in Chelyabinsk. From the Rayleigh wave observations, we report a magnitude Ms∼3.7 seismic source.
If WiFi APs Could Move: A Measurement Study

This paper explores the possibility of injecting mobility into wireless network infrastructure. We envision WiFi APs on wheels that move to optimize user performance. Movements need not be all around the floor, neither do they have to operate on batteries. As a first step, WiFi APs at home could remain tethered to power and Ethernet outlets while moving in small areas (perhaps under the couch). If such systems prove successful, perhaps future buildings could offer explicit support for network infrastructure mobility. This paper begins with a higher level discussion of robotic wireless networks—the opportunities and the hurdles—and then pivots by developing a smaller slice of the vision through a system called <italic>iMob</italic>. With <italic>iMob</italic>, a WiFi AP is mounted on a Roomba robot and made to periodically move within a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2x2$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="gowda-ieq1-2799933.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> sqft region. The core questions pertain to finding the best location to move to, such that the SNRs from its clients are strong, and the interferences from other APs are weak. Our measurements show that the richness of wireless multipath offers significant opportunities—even within a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2x2$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="gowda-ieq2-2799933.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> sqft region, locations exist that are <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.7x$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="gowda-ieq3-2799933.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> better than the average location in terms of throughput. When multiple APs in a neighborhood coordinate, the gains can be even higher. In sum, although infrastructure mobility has been discussed in the context of Google Balloons, ad hoc networks, and delay tolerant networks, we believe that the possibility of moving our personal devices in homes and offices is relatively unexplored, and could open doors to new kinds of innovation.
Some chemical studies of the female reproductive tract and seminal plasma of the male turkey and their relationship to fertility.

Abstract INTRODUCTION ARTIFICIAL insemination in the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) has in recent years become almost universal. However, the successful development of a suitable medium for preservation of spermatozoa in vitro for long term storage has not been reported. An approach to preservation in vitro may evolve around the hypothesis that fertility may be related to seminal chemistry, or more important, to the chemistry of the female reproductive tract. It is well established that spermatozoa, once inseminated, live in the female tract for several days prior to fertilization. Little information has been reported on seminal chemistry of the turkey. Brown (1959) reported a seminal plasma concentration of 338 mg. (147 mEq./1.) and 113 mg. (29 mEq./1.) per 100 ml. for sodium and potassium, respectively. Considerable work has been conducted and reported on some of the chemical constituents of fowl seminal plasma. An excellent review has been reported by Lake (1966) which in…
To Assess Sleep Quality among Pakistani Junior Physicians (House Officers): A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Sleep deprivation among junior physicians (house officers) is of growing concern. In developed countries, duty hours are now mandated, but in developing countries, junior physicians are highly susceptible to develop sleep impairment due to long working hours, on-call duties and shift work schedule.Aim: We undertook the study to assess sleep quality among Pakistani junior physicians. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at private and public hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan, from June 2012 to January 2013. The study population comprised of junior doctors (house physicians and house surgeons). A consecutive sample of 350 physicians was drawn from the above-mentioned study setting. The subject underwent two validated self-administered questionnaires, that is, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Results: A total of 334 physicians completely filled out the questionnaire with a response rate of 95.4% (334/350). Of 334 physicians, 36.8% (123/334) were classified as "poor sleepers" (global PSQI score > 5). Poor sleep quality was associated with female gender (P = 0.01), excessive daytime sleepiness (P < 0.01), lower total sleep time (P < 0.001), increased sleep onset latency (P < 0.001), and increased frequency of sleep disturbances (P < 0.001). Abnormal ESS scores (ESS > 10) were more prevalent among poor sleepers (P < 0.01) signifying increased level of daytime hypersomnolence.Conclusion: Sleep quality among Pakistani junior physicians is significantly poor. Efforts must be directed towards proper sleep hygiene education. Regulations regarding duty hour limitations need to be considered.
Development of allergic sensitization and its relevance to paediatric asthma

Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to summarize the recent evidence on the distinct atopic phenotypes and their relationship with childhood asthma. We start by considering definitions and phenotypic classification of atopy and then review evidence on its association with asthma in children. Recent findings It is now well recognized that both asthma and atopy are complex entities encompassing various different sub-groups that also differ in the way they interconnect. The lack of gold standards for diagnostic markers of atopy and asthma further adds to the existing complexity over diagnostic accuracy and definitions. Although recent statistical phenotyping studies contributed significantly to our understanding of these heterogeneous disorders, translating these findings into meaningful information and effective therapies requires further work on understanding underpinning biological mechanisms. Summary The disaggregation of allergic sensitization may help predict how the allergic disease is likely to progress. One of the important questions is how best to incorporate tests for the assessment of allergic sensitization into diagnostic algorithms for asthma, both in terms of confirming asthma diagnosis, and the assessment of future risk.