Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stereochemical criteria for polypeptides and proteins. V. Conformation of a system of three linked peptide units

The general conformations of a system of three linked peptide units are studied, and it is found that there are three types of conformations which contain NH…O hydrogen bonding between the first and the third units. One of them is part of a 310‐helix, while the other two arc nonhelical. The two nonhelical conformations are very similar, and in both the cases the peptide chain turns around, reversing the direction of progress. Such a conformation can therefore occur in the region where a polypeptide chain folds back on itself, as in the cross‐β structure. The method of representing these interesting tripeptide conformations in a (ϕ,ψ) map is described. Examples of such hydrogen‐bonded, nonhelical conformations which occur in peptides and proteins are discussed—e.g., in cyclohexaglyeyl, an open tetrapeptide Gly‐L‐Pro‐L‐Leu‐Gly, and in parts of the lysozyme chain.
The pattern of atopic sensitization is associated with the development of asthma in childhood.

BACKGROUND Even though atopic sensitization has been shown to be strongly associated with childhood asthma, asthma eventually develops in only one third of atopic children. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the pattern of atopic sensitization typically associated with the development of asthma in childhood. METHODS The German Multicenter Allergy Study followed 1314 children from birth to the age of 7 years. Parental questionnaires on asthma and asthmatic symptoms were completed 6 times up to the age of 2 years and from then on yearly. Determination of specific IgE to 9 food and inhalant allergens was performed yearly, and at the age of 7 years, a bronchial histamine challenge was conducted. RESULTS Onset of atopic sensitization in atopic children with current asthma at the age of 7 years was significantly earlier than in atopic children without current asthma (39.4% before age 1 year vs 21.0%, P =.015). Early atopic sensitization without any sensitization to inhalant allergens at the age of 7 years conferred no increased risk for asthma at this age. Only those children sensitized to any allergen early in life and sensitized to inhalant allergens by the age of 7 years were at a significantly increased risk of being asthmatic at this age (odds ratio, 10.12; 95% CI, 3.81-26.88). However, even in this group of persistently sensitized children, the risk of being asthmatic at the age of 7 years was only increased if a positive parental history of asthma or atopy was present (odds ratio, 15.56; 95% CI, 5.78-41.83), with the effect being strongest for maternal asthma. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that an underlying factor pertaining to asthma and maternal transmission may determine both a certain pattern of sensitization and the expression of asthma.
Risk assessment: a forest fire example

The concern of this paper is obtaining baseline values for the number of forest fires as a function of time and location and other explanatories. A model is developed and applied to a large data set from Federal lands in the state of Oregon. To proceed the data are grouped into small spatial-temporal cells (voxels). Fires are rare so there are many of these voxels with no fires. In fact there are so many such cells that in the analyses presented a sample is taken to make the work manageable. The paper sets down a likelihood for the sampled data and fits a generalized additive model involving location, elevation and day of the year as explanatories.
Import Competition and Household Debt

We analyze the effect of import competition on household balance sheets from 2000 to 2007 using individual-level data on leverage and defaults. We exploit cross-regional variation in exposure to foreign import competition using industry level shipping costs and initial differences in regions' industry specialization. We confirm the adverse effect of import competition on local labor markets during this period (Autor et al., 2013). We then show that household debt increased significantly in regions where manufacturing industries are more exposed to import competition. A one standard deviation increase in exposure to import competition explains 30% of the cross-regional variation in the growth in household leverage over the period, and is mostly driven by home equity extraction. Our results highlight the distributive effects of globalization and their consequences for the mortgage market.
Journal of Medical Case Reports Polycythemia Vera as a Presentation of Renal Angiomyolipoma: a Case Report

Introduction: Angiomyolipoma is a common benign renal tumor composed of thick-walled blood vessels, smooth muscle, and adipose tissue. It may be found incidentally during workup for suspected renal disease. Although angiomyolipoma may present as a palpable, tender renal mass with flank pain and gross or microscopic hematuria, many patients are asymptomatic. Erythrocytosis is an unusual presentation, and malignant transformation may be suspected. This report describes a rare case of a woman diagnosed with renal angiomyolipoma and polycythemia vera. The report discusses the differential diagnosis using erythropoietin, erythropoietin-receptor and Janus kinase 2.
Gender and evolutionary theory in workplace health promotion

Objective: Ideas from evolutionary theories are increasingly taken up in health promotion. This article seeks to demonstrate how such a trend has the potential to embed essentialist and limiting stereotypes of women and men in health promotion practice. Design: We draw on material gathered for a larger ethnographic study that examined how discourses of health were re-contextualised in four workplace health promotion interventions in Sweden. Method: This study provided the opportunity to investigate how ideas derived from evolutionary theories produced particular constructs of the healthy employee. A Foucauldian notion of governmentality was used to examine the rationalities, truths and techniques that informed what we have called a ‘Stone Age’ discourse as these contributed to shaping the desires, actions and beliefs of lecturers and participants in the interventions. Results: We focus on one intervention which used the Stone Age discourse as an organising idea to constitute differences in women’s and men’s health through references to women as gatherers and men as hunters, thereby positioning men as the physical, emotional and mental ideal and women as the problematic and lacking ‘other’. Conclusion: The paper concludes by discussing the implications of such ideas about health and gender for interventions aimed at changing behaviour and lifestyles.
Biodegradable Alginate Antibiotic Beads

The authors investigated the poly-L-lysine-coated alginate beads as an antibiotic delivery system for the treatment of various surgical infections. The sodium alginate was mixed with vancomycin, coated with poly-L-lysine, and lyophilized to form five types of the biodegradable antibiotic beads. Type I, 2.5% alginate, nonpoly-L-lysine coated and nonlyophilized; Type II, 2.5% alginate, poly-L-lysine coated but nonlyophilized; Type III, 2.5% alginate, poly-L-lysine coated and lyophilized; Type IV, 5% alginate, poly-L-lysine coated and lyophilized; and Type V, 7.5% alginate, poly-L-lysine coated and lyophilized. Cytotoxicity of the alginate beads to fibroblasts and HeLa cells was evaluated by the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl2H tetrazolium bromide] colorimetric assay. A study of in vitro elution of vancomycin of the alginate antibiotic beads was performed. The results suggested that the alginate antibiotic beads present no obvious toxic risk to their use as a drug delivery system. The concentration of vancomycin in these five types of beads was well above the breakpoint sensitivity concentration (the antibiotic concentration at the transition point between bacterial killing and resistance to the antibiotic) for 9,11,12, 14, and 17 days respectively. The release was most marked during the first 3 days. The duration of antibiotic release was prolonged by using techniques of poly-L-lysine coating, lyophilization, and by increasing the content of alginate. This study offers a biodegradable delivery system of antibiotics to treat various surgical infections.
Competitive Antagonism between the Nicotinic Allosteric Potentiating Ligand Galantamine and Kynurenic Acid at α7* Nicotinic Receptors

Galantamine, a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease, is a nicotinic allosteric potentiating ligand, and kynurenic acid (KYNA), a neuroactive metabolite of the kynurenine pathway, is an endogenous noncompetitive inhibitor of α7* nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) [the asterisk next to the nAChR subunit is intended to indicate that the exact subunit composition of the receptor is not known (Pharmacol Rev 51:397–401, 1999)]. Here, possible interactions between KYNA and galantamine at α7* nAChRs were examined in vitro and in vivo. In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX), approximately 85% of cultured hippocampal neurons responded to choline (0.3–30 mM) with α7* nAChR-subserved whole-cell (type IA) currents. In the absence of TTX and in the presence of glutamate receptor antagonists, choline triggered inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) by activating α7* nAChRs on GABAergic neurons synapsing onto the neurons under study. Galantamine (1–10 μM) potentiated, whereas KYNA (10 nM-1 mM) inhibited, choline-triggered responses. Galantamine (1 μM), applied before KYNA, shifted to the right the concentration-response relationship for KYNA to inhibit type IA currents, increasing the IC50 of KYNA from 13.9 ± 8.3 to 271 ± 131 μM. Galantamine, applied before or after KYNA, antagonized inhibition of choline-triggered IPSCs by KYNA. Local infusion of KYNA (100 nM) in the rat striatum reduced extracellular dopamine levels in vivo. This effect resulted from α7* nAChR inhibition and was blocked by coapplied galantamine (1–5 μM). It is concluded that galantamine competitively antagonizes the actions of KYNA on α7* nAChRs. Reducing α7* nAChR inhibition by endogenous KYNA may be an important determinant of the effectiveness of galantamine in neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with decreased α7* nAChR activity in the brain.
Observational Study of Neural Respiratory Drive During Sleep at High Altitude.

Steier, Joerg, Nic Cade, Ben Walker, John Moxham, and Caroline Jolley. Observational study of neural respiratory drive during sleep at high altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 18:242-248, 2017. AIMS Ventilation at altitude changes due to altered levels of pO2, pCO2 and the effect on blood pH. Nocturnal ventilation is particularly exposed to these changes. We hypothesized that an increasing neural respiratory drive (NRD) is associated with the severity of sleep-disordered breathing at altitude. METHODS Mountaineers were studied at sea level (London, United Kingdom), and at altitude at the Aconcagua (Andes, Argentina). NRD was measured as electromyogram of the diaphragm (EMGdi) overnight by a transesophageal multi-electrode catheter; results were reported for sea level, 3,380 m, 4,370 m, and 5,570 m. RESULTS Four healthy subjects (3 men, age 31(3)years, body mass index 23.6(0.9)kg/m2, neck circumference 37.0(2.7)cm, forced expiratory volume in 1 second 111.8(5.1)%predicted, and forced vital capacity 115.5(6.3)%predicted) were studied. No subject had significant sleep abnormalities at sea level. Time to ascent to 3,380 m was 1 day, to 4,370 m was 5 days, and the total nights at altitude were 21 days. The oxygen desaturation index (4% oxygen desaturation index [ODI] 0.8(0.4), 22.0 (7.2), 61.4 (26.9), 144.9/hour, respectively) and the EMGdi (5.2 (1.9), 12.8 (5.1), 14.1 (3.4), 18.5%, respectively) increased with the development of periodic breathing at altitude, whereas the average SpO2 declined (97.5 (1.3), 84.8 (0.5), 81.0 (4.1), 68.5%, respectively). The average EMGdi correlated well with the 4%ODI (r = 0.968, p = 0.032). CONCLUSION NRD sleep increases at altitude in relation to the severity of periodic breathing.
Effect of Thermocouple Size on the Measurement of Exhaust Gas Temperature in Internal Combustion Engines

Accurate measurement of exhaust gas temperature in internal combustion engines is essential for a wide variety of monitoring and design purposes. Typically these measurements are made with thermocouples, which may vary in size from 0.05 mm (for fast response applications) to a few millimetres. In this work, the exhaust of a single cylinder diesel engine has been instrumented both with a fast-response probe (comprising of a 50.8 μm, 127 μm and a 254 μm thermocouple) and a standard 3 mm sheathed thermocouple in order to assess the performance of these sensors at two speed/load conditions. The experimental results show that the measured time-average exhaust temperature is dependent on the sensor size, with the smaller thermocouples indicating a lower average temperature for both speed/load conditions. Subject to operating conditions, measurement discrepancies of up to ~80 K have been observed between the different thermocouples used. Thermocouple modelling supports the experimental trends and shows that the effect of conduction is inversely proportional to the thermocouple junction size-an effect attributed to changes in the thermal inertia of the device. This conduction error is not typically considered in the literature for exhaust gas temperature measurement. Modelling results also show that radiative heat transfer is small compared to the effect of conduction on the measurements. Finally, a new dynamic response thermocouple compensation method is presented, in order to correct for the dynamic error induced by the thermocouples. This technique recovers the “true” gas temperature with a maximum error of ~1.5-2% in peak temperature depending on speed/load conditions.
Low-delay peer-to-peer media streaming based on network coding over randomized multicast trees

We introduce randomized multicast trees (RMT), an overlay topology designed for low-delay media streaming using network coding. RMTs improve on tree-based overlays in terms of start-up delay. We develop a push-based streaming system that leverages network coding to efficiently distribute the information in the overlay without using buffer maps, followed by a short pull stage to recover from packet losses, and appropriate management procedures to handle ungraceful peers departures.We report performance results of the proposed system, and compare it with an optimized pull system, and with an existing peer-to-peer system employing network coding, showing a significant performance improvement in terms of delay and resiliency to peers’ dynamics and packet losses.
Embedding hardware description languages in proof systems

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the integration of hardware description languages (hdls) and automated proof systems. Simulation of circuit designs written in an hdl is an important method of testing their correctness. However, due to the combinatorial explosion of possible inputs it is not feasible to verify designs using simulation alone. Formal hardware verification, using a proof system, has tried to address this issue. Whilst some medium-sized designs have been (partially) verified, industrial takeup of formal methods has been slow. This is partly due to the use of specialised, non-standard notations employed in various formalisms. By embedding a hardware description language in a proof system we hope to clarify the semantics of the particular hdl, and present a more standard interface to formal methodologies. We have given a new static structural operational semantics for a subset of the ella hardware description language. The formal dynamic semantics of this subset is based on an existing informal model. We embedded the semantics of this hdl in the Lambda higher-order logic proof system. The embedding allows meta-theoretical results to be proved about this and other semantics. It has been proved that the semantics computes the least fixed point solution of the circuit description. Another semantics which computes a more defined output has also been embedded, and the relationship between both semantics has been proved formally. A number of paradigms such as operational semantics based formal symbolic simulation, formal interactive (top-down and bottom-up) synthesis, formal hardware generators, proved correct transformations and traditional hardware verification are presented as small case studies. However, scaling up of the examples turned out to be difficult, and verification tended to be slow.
Screening Tests Using Serum Tissue Transglutaminase IgA May Facilitate the Identification of Undiagnosed Celiac Disease among Japanese Population

The prevalence of celiac disease (CD) among Japanese population has been unknown, whereas it has been increasingly recognized in the US and in the European countries. The aim of the present study is to identify possible cases with CD among Japanese population and clarify the relevance of screening for the disease. We conducted a serologic screening for the disease among 710 Japanese patients and 239 healthy volunteers at a local tertiary teaching hospital, using an anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA (TTG-IgA) test, and histological examination of the small intestines from the TTG-IgA positive subjects. There were no TTG-IgA positive sera among the healthy volunteers. Twenty of the patients (2.8%), including eight with malignant lymphoma, were tested positive for TTG-IgA. The histological examination of the eleven patients among those with positive TTG-IgA, seven showed villous atrophy and partial lymphocytes infiltration in the mucosa, which could be compatible to mucosal changes observed in CD. Five of them had non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the gastrointestinal tracts. Serologic tests using TTG-IgA might be relevant to screen for those with undiagnosed CD among Japanese population.
Differences in Cytokine Expression and STAT3 Activation between Healthy Controls and Patients of Unexplained Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (URSA) during Early Pregnancy

Unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) is a common complication of pregnancy. Although tolerance of the maternal immune system is considered to be essential for a normal pregnancy, the precise mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of URSA remains to be fully elucidated, albeit it is known to involve inflammation. Here, we examine the relationship between the expression of inflammatory cytokines and the activation of downstream signaling pathways in URSA patients. Decidual and peripheral blood samples were collected from 30 URSA patients and from 30 women with normal early pregnancies. Western blot analysis was used to measure the expression levels of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3(STAT3), phosphorylated STAT3(p-STAT3), and interleukin-17 receptor(IL-17R) in the decidual samples. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to assess the levels of IL-17, IL-10, IL-6, and IL-23 in the peripheral blood and decidual samples. In the URSA patients, the IL-10 expression levels were lower than those in the control subjects (P<0.05), whereas IL-6, IL-17, and IL-23 were all expressed at higher levels(P<0.05). Furthermore, the expression levels of IL-17R and p-STAT3 were higher in the URSA patients, exhibiting a trend similar to that of IL-23. Our finding of increased IL-23 expression in the deciduae and peripheral blood of patients with URSA suggest that this maybe a contributing factor to the pathogenesis of this disease. Likewise, STAT3 activation through its phosphorylation, which was associated with the IL-23 increase, may also be involved in URSA pathogenesis. However, the precise pathogenic mechanism requires further study.
Temporary increase in plasma membrane tension coordinates the activation of exocytosis and contraction during cell spreading

Cell migration and spreading involve the coordination of membrane trafficking, actomyosin contraction, and modifications to plasma membrane tension and area. The biochemical or biophysical basis for this coordination is however unknown. In this study, we show that during cell spreading, lamellipodia protrusion flattens plasma membrane folds and blebs and, once the plasma membrane area is depleted, there is a temporary increase in membrane tension by over twofold that is followed by activation of exocytosis and myosin contraction. Further, an artificial increase in plasma membrane tension stopped lamellipodia protrusion and activated an exocytotic burst. Subsequent decrease in tension restored spreading with activation of contraction. Conversely, blebbistatin inhibition of actomyosin contraction resulted in an even greater increase in plasma membrane tension and exocytosis activation. This spatiotemporal synchronization indicates that membrane tension is the signal that coordinates membrane trafficking, actomyosin contraction, and plasma membrane area change. We suggest that cells use plasma membrane tension as a global physical parameter to control cell motility.
Phase Noise Simulation in Analog Mixed Signal Circuits: An Application to Pulse Energy Oscillators

Noise simulation of oscillators modeled in an analog mixed signal environment is challenging since both conventional steady-state simulation methods, such as shooting and harmonic balance ones, cannot be used. This brief proposes an improved approach based on saltation matrices and an extended formulation that considers the registers of the digital part of the circuit as state variables to determine the steady-state solution and phase noise. The proposed approach allows the correct computation of the fundamental matrix evaluated on the steady-state solution and therefore of the left eigenfunctions that are a key aspect in determining phase noise by exploiting the variational model of the oscillator and Floquet theory. The proposed approach is applied to compute the phase noise of an archetype circuit that implements an energy-restore pulsed oscillator. In these oscillators, the energy lost by the tank is refilled at peculiar time instants determined by a digital controller to maximize efficiency and minimize effects due to flicker noise sources.
Experimental and theoretical analysis of a smart transmission mechanism system

This paper focuses on a smart transmission mechanism system, designed and fabricated based on compliant mechanisms. The system was assembled using a piezo-stack actuator in conjunction with a rhombus-type amplifier, a novel transmission mechanism synthesized with flexure hinges, and an active rotatable flap. This assembly is able to be utilized in smart structures to dynamically transfer linear motion generated from some actuators to rotational motion of active rotatable flaps from a long distance at a wide range of frequencies (1 Hz ∼ 64 Hz). The Lagrangian approach was utilized for dynamic analysis of the system to evaluate the fundamental natural frequency of the smart transmission mechanism system, and the result is 385 Hz; the error is 9% compared with a finite element analysis using ANSYS. Then force and displacement transmissibility of the system was also theoretically calculated based on a newly established theoretical model, and the detailed finite element analysis was also performed to study these properties. A prototype of the smart transmission mechanism system and a special test platform were manufactured to test the force and displacement transmissibility then the transmissibility was experimentally tested. The theoretical and numerical results found a good correlation with the experimental results, and the errors between experimental and theoretical (or numerical) results are within 13% (or 11%). The newly designed transmission mechanism system and the corresponding theoretical, numerical and experimental studies are able to direct the optimal design of some smart systems which consist of compliant mechanisms and transmission mechanisms. They can also offer fundamental information on the active vibration control using some piezo-stack actuators to actuate active flaps.