Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Site-Specific, Covalent Immobilization of Dehalogenase ST2570 Catalyzed by Formylglycine-Generating Enzymes and Its Application in Batch and Semi-Continuous Flow Reactors

Formylglycine-generating enzymes can selectively recognize and oxidize cysteine residues within the sulfatase sub motif at the terminus of proteins to form aldehyde-bearing formylglycine (FGly) residues, and are normally used in protein labeling. In this study, an aldehyde tag was introduced to proteins using formylglycine-generating enzymes encoded by a reconstructed set of the pET28a plasmid system for enzyme immobilization. The haloacid dehalogenase ST2570 from Sulfolobus tokodaii was used as a model enzyme. The C-terminal aldehyde-tagged ST2570 (ST2570CQ) exhibited significant enzymological properties, such as new free aldehyde groups, a high level of protein expression and improved enzyme activity. SBA-15 has widely been used as an immobilization support for its large surface and excellent thermal and chemical stability. It was functionalized with amino groups by aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The C-terminal aldehyde-tagged ST2570 was immobilized to SBA-15 by covalent binding. The site-specific immobilization of ST2570 avoided the chemical denaturation that occurs in general covalent immobilization and resulted in better fastening compared to physical adsorption. The site-specific immobilized ST2570 showed 3-fold higher thermal stability, 1.2-fold higher catalytic ability and improved operational stability than free ST2570. The site-specific immobilized ST2570 retained 60% of its original activity after seven cycles of batch operation, and it was superior to the ST2570 immobilized to SBA-15 by physical adsorption, which loses 40% of its original activity when used for the second time. It is remarkable that the site-specific immobilized ST2570 still retained 100% of its original activity after 10 cycles of reuse in the semi-continuous flow reactor. Overall, these results provide support for the industrial-scale production and application of site-specific, covalently immobilized ST2570.
Ionotropic glutamate receptor GluA4 and T‐type calcium channel Cav3.1 subunits control key aspects of synaptic transmission at the mouse L5B‐POm giant synapse

The properties and molecular determinants of synaptic transmission at giant synapses connecting layer 5B (L5B) neurons of the somatosensory cortex (S1) with relay neurons of the posteriomedial nucleus (POm) of the thalamus have not been investigated in mice. We addressed this by using direct electrical stimulation of fluorescently labelled single corticothalamic terminals combined with molecular perturbations and whole‐cell recordings from POm relay neurons. Consistent with their function as drivers, we found large‐amplitude excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) and multiple postsynaptic action potentials triggered by a single presynaptic action potential. To study the molecular basis of these two features, ionotropic glutamate receptors and low voltage‐gated T‐type calcium channels were probed by virus‐mediated genetic perturbation. Loss of GluA4 almost abolished the EPSC amplitude, strongly delaying the onset of action potential generation, but maintaining the number of action potentials generated per presynaptic action potential. In contrast, knockdown of the Cav3.1 subunit abrogated the driver function of the synapse at a typical resting membrane potential of −70 mV. However, when depolarizing the membrane potential to −60 mV, the synapse relayed single action potentials. Hence, GluA4 subunits are required to produce an EPSC sufficiently large to trigger postsynaptic action potentials within a defined time window after the presynaptic action potential, while Cav3.1 expression is essential to establish the driver function of L5B‐POm synapses at hyperpolarized membrane potentials.
Detection of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Genome in an Air Sample Originating from a Camel Barn Owned by an Infected Patient

ABSTRACT Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a novel betacoronavirus that has been circulating in the Arabian Peninsula since 2012 and causing severe respiratory infections in humans. While bats were suggested to be involved in human MERS-CoV infections, a direct link between bats and MERS-CoV is uncertain. On the other hand, serological and virological data suggest dromedary camels as the potential animal reservoirs of MERS-CoV. Recently, we isolated MERS-CoV from a camel and its infected owner and provided evidence for the direct transmission of MERS-CoV from the infected camel to the patient. Here, we extend this work and show that identical MERS-CoV RNA fragments were detected in an air sample collected from the same barn that sheltered the infected camel in our previous study. These data indicate that the virus was circulating in this farm concurrently with its detection in the camel and in the patient, which warrants further investigations for the possible airborne transmission of MERS-CoV. IMPORTANCE This work clearly highlights the importance of continuous surveillance and infection control measures to control the global public threat of MERS-CoV. While current MERS-CoV transmission appears to be limited, we advise minimal contact with camels, especially for immunocompromised individuals, and the use of appropriate health, safety, and infection prevention and control measures when dealing with infected patients. Also, detailed clinical histories of any MERS-CoV cases with epidemiological and laboratory investigations carried out for any animal exposure must be considered to identify any animal source. This work clearly highlights the importance of continuous surveillance and infection control measures to control the global public threat of MERS-CoV. While current MERS-CoV transmission appears to be limited, we advise minimal contact with camels, especially for immunocompromised individuals, and the use of appropriate health, safety, and infection prevention and control measures when dealing with infected patients. Also, detailed clinical histories of any MERS-CoV cases with epidemiological and laboratory investigations carried out for any animal exposure must be considered to identify any animal source.
Automatic Realistic Real Time Stimulation/Recording in Weakly Electric Fish: Long Time Behavior Characterization in Freely Swimming Fish and Stimuli Discrimination

Weakly electric fish are unique model systems in neuroethology, that allow experimentalists to non-invasively, access, central nervous system generated spatio-temporal electric patterns of pulses with roles in at least 2 complex and incompletely understood abilities: electrocommunication and electrolocation. Pulse-type electric fish alter their inter pulse intervals (IPIs) according to different behavioral contexts as aggression, hiding and mating. Nevertheless, only a few behavioral studies comparing the influence of different stimuli IPIs in the fish electric response have been conducted. We developed an apparatus that allows real time automatic realistic stimulation and simultaneous recording of electric pulses in freely moving Gymnotus carapo for several days. We detected and recorded pulse timestamps independently of the fish’s position for days. A stimulus fish was mimicked by a dipole electrode that reproduced the voltage time series of real conspecific according to previously recorded timestamp sequences. We characterized fish behavior and the eletrocommunication in 2 conditions: stimulated by IPIs pre-recorded from other fish and random IPI ones. All stimuli pulses had the exact Gymontus carapo waveform. All fish presented a surprisingly long transient exploratory behavior (more than 8 h) when exposed to a new environment in the absence of electrical stimuli. Further, we also show that fish are able to discriminate between real and random stimuli distributions by changing several characteristics of their IPI distribution.
Phenomenological solar signature in 400 years of reconstructed Northern Hemisphere temperature record

We study the solar impact on 400 years of a global surface temperature record since 1600. This period includes the pre‐industrial era (roughly 1600–1800 or 1600–1900), when negligible amount of anthropogenic‐added climate forcing was present and the sun realistically was the only climate force affecting climate on a secular scale, and the industrial era (roughly since 1800–1900), when anthropogenic‐added climate forcing has been present in some degree. We use a recent secular Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction (Moberg et al., 2005), three alternative total solar irradiance (TSI) proxy reconstructions (Lean et al., 1995; Lean, 2000; Wang et al., 2005) and a scale‐by‐scale transfer climate sensitivity model to solar changes (Scafetta and West, 2005, 2006). The phenomenological approach we propose is an alternative to the more traditional computer‐based climate model approach, and yields results proven to be almost independent on the secular TSI proxy reconstruction used. We find good correspondence between global temperature and solar induced temperature curves during the pre‐industrial period such as the cooling periods occurring during the Maunder Minimum (1645–1715) and the Dalton Minimum (1795–1825). The sun might have contributed approximately 50% of the observed global warming since 1900 (Scafetta and West, 2006). We briefly discuss the global cooling that occurred from the medieval maximum (≈1000–1100 AD) to the 17th century minimum.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATION USING A NOVEL COMBINATION OF CHAOTIC SHIFT KEYING AND DUFFING OSCILLATORS

In this paper, an improved technique for constructing Chaotic Shift Keying (CSK) for transmitting digital signals is introduced. In contrast to the classical methods where only two chaotic attractors, representing logic 0 and logic 1 are used to build CSK, the proposed system allows the chaotic transmitted signal to alternate among four different chaotic attractors. In addition, the transmitter parameters are used to implement a novel XOR-based encryption function to scramble the secret message. This has the effect of effectively hiding the secret message and providing better security and privacy against intruders’ attacks to the public communication channel. The parameters of the transmitter are assumed unknown, and are estimated at the receiver side to accomplish two tasks. The first one is to complete the synchronization process, while the second one is to decrypt the secret message using the duality property of the XOR-based digital function. A Duffing oscillator with smooth cubic nonlinearity is used to build the proposed system, where both synchronization and parameters estimation are carried out using an adaptive Lyapunov-based control approach. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance in both time and frequency domains using a single time series. Finally, recommendations for improving the performance are provided via discussing tuning of the control parameters and suggesting different ways to meet hardware constraints when transmitting real-time signals.
The effect of food-price movements on African households

In this paper, we aim to assess households’ vulnerability to food-price increases in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We use two established indicators of sensitivity to food price changes – one measuring the share of income spent on food, the other measuring net sales of food compared to total expenditures. In contrast to earlier studies, we look at all food items and not just one or a few staple foods and find that the exclusion of non-staple foods has a significant impact on the results. We find that the shares of the populations spending more than half of their income on food lie in the range 62% to 81% in rural areas and 26% to 67% in urban areas. Further, we find that in all countries/regions studied, most households (74% to 99%) in rural areas are net buyers of food and stand to lose in the short term from higher food prices.
Risk Factors Associated with Decreased Renal Function after Hand-Assisted Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy: A Multivariate Analysis of a Single Surgeon Experience

Background: Hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy is a minimally invasive procedure for living kidney donation. The surgeon operative volume is associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the risk factors associated with decreased renal function after hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy performed by a single experienced surgeon. Methods: We included living renal donors who underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy by a single experienced surgeon between 2006 and 2013. Decreased renal function was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 on postoperative day 4. The donors were categorized into groups with postoperative eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 or ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the risk factors associated with decreased renal function after hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. The hospital stay duration, intensive care unit admission rate, and eGFR at postoperative year 1 were evaluated. Results: Of 643 patients, 166 (25.8%) exhibited a postoperative eGFR of < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the risk factors for decreased renal function were age [odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 1.062 (1.035-1.089), P < 0.001], male sex [odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 3.436 (2.123-5.561), P < 0.001], body mass index (BMI) [odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 1.093 (1.016-1.177), P = 0.018], and preoperative eGFR [odds ratio (95% confidence interval), 0.902 (0.881-0.924), P < 0.001]. There were no significant differences in postoperative hospital stay duration and intensive care unit admission rate between the two groups. In addition, 383 of 643 donors were analyzed at postoperative year 1. Sixty donors consisting of 14 (5.0%) from the group of 279 donors in eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, and 46 (44.2%) from the group of 104 donors in eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 had eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 at postoperative year 1 (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Increased age, male sex, higher BMI, and decreased preoperative eGFR were risk factors for decreased renal function after hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy by a single experienced surgeon. These results provide important evidence for the safe perioperative management of living renal donors.
Treatment effect of maximum performance speech therapy for individuals with Parkinson's disease and dysarthria

iii LITERATURE REVIEW.1 ICF Model for Rehabilitation.2 Parkinson’s Disease.3 Hypokinetic Dysarthria.4 Lee Silverman Voice Treatment.5 Modifications to LSVT TM Protocol.7 METHODS.12 Subjects.12 Design . 12 Procedures.13 Data Analysis.15 RESULTS.17 Experimental Questions.18 Reliability.25 DISCUSSION.27 Limitations.33 Future Studies . 35 SUMMARY.36 REFERENCES.37 APPENDIX A: CMOST OUTCOME MEASURES PROTOCOL.43 APPENDIX B: CMOST THERAPY PROTOCOL.46 VITA.48
Simulating star formation in molecular cloud cores. I. The influence of low levels of turbulence on fragmentation and multiplicity

We present the results of an ensemble of simulations of the collapse and fragmentation of dense star-forming cores. We show that even with very low levels of turbulence the outcome is usually a binary, or higher-order multiple, system. We take as the initial conditions for these simulations a typical low-mass core, based on the average properties of a large sample of observed cores. All the simulated cores start with a mass of Mtotal = 5.4 M� , a flattened central density profile, a ratio of thermal to gravitational energy αtherm = 0.45 and a ratio of turbulent to gravitational energy αturb = 0.05 . Even this low level of turbulence - much lower than in most previous simulations - is sufficient to produce multiple star formation in 80% of the cores; the mean number of stars and brown dwarfs formed from a single core is 4.55, and the maximum is 10. At the outset, the cores have no large-scale rotation. The only difference between each individual simulation is the detailed structure of the turbulent velocity field. The multiple systems formed in the simulations have properties consistent with observed multiple systems. Dynamical evolution tends preferentially to eject lower mass stars and brown dwarves whilst hardening the remaining binaries so that the median semi-major axis of binaries formed is ∼30 AU. Ejected objects are usually single low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, yielding a strong correlation between mass and multiplicity. Brown dwarves are ejected with a higher average velocity than stars, and over time this should lead to mass segregation in the parent cluster. Our simulations suggest a natural mechanism for forming binary stars that does not require large-scale rotation, capture, or large amounts of turbulence.
Environmental influences on the morphology and dynamics of group-sized haloes

We use group-sized haloes, with masses in the range 10 13 < M < 2 × 10 14 h −1 M� , identified with a 'friends of friends' (FOF) algorithm in a concordancecold dark matter (� CDM) GADGET2 (dark matter only) simulation to investigate the dependence of halo properties on the environment at z = 0. The study is carried out using samples of haloes at different distances from their nearest massive cluster halo, considered as such if its mass is larger than the upper limit of the above halo mass range (i.e. M 2 × 10 14 h −1 M� ). We find that the fraction of haloes with substructure typically increases in high-density regions. The halo mean axial ratioc/aalso increases in overdense regions, a fact which is true for the whole range of halo mass studied. This can be explained as a reflection of an earlier halo formation time in high- density regions, which gives haloes more time to evolve and become more spherical. Moreover, this interpretation is supported by the fact that, at a given halo-cluster distance, haloes with substructure are more elongated than their equal mass counterparts with no substructure, reflecting that the virialization (and thus sphericalization) process is interrupted by merger events. The velocity dispersion of low-mass haloes with strong substructure shows a significant increase near massive clusters with respect to equal mass haloes with low levels of substructure or with haloes found in low-density environments. The alignment signal between the shape and the velocity ellipsoid principal axes decreases going from lower to higher density regions, while such an alignment is stronger for haloes without substructure. We also find, in agreement with other studies, a tendency of halo major axes to be aligned and of minor axes to lie roughly perpendicular with the orientation of the filament within which the halo is embedded, an effect which is stronger in the proximity of the massive clusters.
Neuropeptide abnormalities in patients with early Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND Deficits in somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) and corticotropin-releasing factor immunoreactivity (CRF-IR) are well recognized as prominent neurochemical deficits in Alzheimer disease (AD). The question of whether these profound neuropeptidergic deficits found in patients with end-stage disease extend into those with much earlier disease is relatively unanswered. To determine the relation between level of SLI and CRF-IR in different cerebrocortical regions to the earliest signs of cognitive deterioration in AD. METHODS We examined SLI and CRF-IR levels in 9 neocortical brain regions of 66 elderly patients in a postmortem study of nursing home residents who had either no significant neuropathologic lesions or lesions associated only with AD. Patients were assessed by the Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR) to have no dementia or questionable, mild, or moderate dementia, and were compared with 15 patients with severe dementia. RESULTS Both CRF-IR and SLI were significantly reduced in the cortices of patients with the most severe dementia, but only the levels of CRF-IR were reduced in those with mild (CDR = 1.0) and moderate dementia (CDR = 2.0). Levels of CRF-IR and SLI correlated significantly with CDR, but this correlation was more robust for CRF-IR and persisted even when severely cognitively impaired patients were eliminated from analysis. CONCLUSIONS Although SLI and CRF-IR levels are significantly reduced in patients with severe dementia, only CRF-IR is reduced significantly in the cortices of those with mild dementia. Thus, CRF-IR can serve as a potential neurochemical marker of early dementia and possibly early AD.
Speech segmentation without speech recognition

In this paper, we presented a semantic speech segmentation approach, in particular sentence segmentation, without speech recognition. In order to get phoneme level information without word recognition information, a novel vowel/consonant/pause (V/C/P) classification is proposed. An adaptive pause detection method is also presented to adapt to various background and environment. Three feature sets, which include pause, rate of speech and prosody, are used to discriminate the sentence boundary. Experiments on broadcasting news indicate that the performance of proposed algorithm is satisfying.
Dorsal Penile Nerve Block With Ropivacaine-Reduced Postoperative Catheter-Related Bladder Discomfort in Male Patients After Emergence of General Anesthesia

AbstractCatheter-related bladder discomfort (CRBD) is a distressing symptom complex after surgery, especially in male patients who have had urinary catheterization under general anesthesia. In this prospective, randomized, controlled trial, we compared dorsal penile nerve block (DPNB) with 0.33% ropivacaine with intravenous tramadol 1.5 mg kg−1 in prevention of CRBD, as well as the incidences of postoperative side effects.Fifty-eight male patients aged 18 to 50 years, undergoing elective liver surgery and limb surgery with urinary catheterization, were enrolled and divided randomly into 2 groups. In the DPNB group, patients were given dorsal penile nerve block with 15 mL of 0.33% ropivacaine, and in the tramadol intravenous administration (TRAM) group, patients were given 1.5 mg kg−1 tramadol after the completion of surgery before extubation. The primary outcome was the incidence of CRBD, and the secondary outcomes included the severity of CRBD, postoperative side effects, postoperative pain, and the acceptance of urinary catheterization. Patients were evaluated upon arrival to postanesthetic care unit (PACU), at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours after patients’ arrival in the PACU for outcomes.The incidence of CRBD was significantly lower in the DPNB group than in the TRAM group, either upon arrival to PACU (10.3% vs 37.9%, P = 0.015), or at 0.5 hours (3.4% vs 34.5%, P = 0.003), 1 hours (3.4% vs 37.9%, P = 0.001), 2 hours (6.9% vs 34.5%, P = 0.010), and 4 hours (6.9% vs 27.6%, P = 0.039) after patients’ arrival in PACU. Compared with the TRAM group, the severity of postoperative CRBD upon arrival to PACU (P = 0.011) and at 0.5 hours (P = 0.005), 1 hours (P = 0.002), 2 hours (P = 0.005), 4 hours (P = 0.017), and 6 hours (P = 0.047) after patients’ arrival in PACU were all significantly reduced in the DPNB group. The incidences of postoperative nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and sedation were decreased significantly in the DPNB group compared with the TRAM group (P < 0.05). The acceptance of urinary catheterization was 93.1% (27/29 patients) in the DPNB group and 58.6% (17/29 patients) in the TRAM group, respectively (P < 0.001). DPNB with ropivacaine has a better effect for CRBD reduction and less side effects than intravenous tramadol administration.The trial has been registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov (NCT01721031).