Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The mechanism of Torsin ATPase activation

Significance Torsin activity critically depends on accessory cofactors that activate their ATPase activity by a poorly understood mechanism. This study establishes the mechanistic framework for Torsin activation, which relies on a complementation of the fragmentary Torsin active site. Given these unusual properties and the fact that Torsin activation is dysregulated in the congenital movement disorder primary dystonia, our results suggest that pharmacological manipulation of Torsin activation may present a novel therapeutic opportunity. Torsins are membrane-associated ATPases whose activity is dependent on two activating cofactors, lamina-associated polypeptide 1 (LAP1) and luminal domain-like LAP1 (LULL1). The mechanism by which these cofactors regulate Torsin activity has so far remained elusive. In this study, we identify a conserved domain in these activators that is predicted to adopt a fold resembling an AAA+ (ATPase associated with a variety of cellular activities) domain. Within these domains, a strictly conserved Arg residue present in both activating cofactors, but notably missing in Torsins, aligns with a key catalytic Arg found in AAA+ proteins. We demonstrate that cofactors and Torsins associate to form heterooligomeric assemblies with a defined Torsin–activator interface. In this arrangement, the highly conserved Arg residue present in either cofactor comes into close proximity with the nucleotide bound in the neighboring Torsin subunit. Because this invariant Arg is strictly required to stimulate Torsin ATPase activity but is dispensable for Torsin binding, we propose that LAP1 and LULL1 regulate Torsin ATPase activity through an active site complementation mechanism.
Culture and Education: A Study on Learning Style of Libyan College Students in Tripoli, Libya

People are used to learn everyday in their lives at which this learning is always an advantage to every individual. There are different ways or styles that people how to be learned. The most popular ones are visual, auditory and kinesthetic. These styles were the one utilized thus; it is seen in this study the learning style of Libyan college students and its differences according to demographic profile. Descriptive design was employed and random sampling was utilized. The VAK checklist was used in collecting data needed in the accomplishment of this endeavor. Collected data were tallied where frequency distribution and percentage was used to permit simple descriptive analysis. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 20.0 (SPSS) was used to validate differences. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) or F-test and Independent samples T-test was used for the significant differences according to demographic profile. Majority of the Libyan college students were found visual learners at which there are significant differences on learning style according to their demographic profile. The result of this study can steer mentors to understand the learning styles of learners that is necessary for proper identification of a teaching strategy that fits to the need of learners and can be one of basis in curriculum and syllabi development.
The use of incentives for motivating students to read.

Motivating students to read seems to be a near universal problem for teachers. To address that problem, the question for this research synthesis is, what does research say about the relationship between reading incentives and a student’s motivation to read? Results of this synthesis indicate that research into motivation and incentives, both generally and for reading, focuses mainly on students in the elementary school age range. For the effects of incentives in general, findings indicate that while tangible extrinsic rewards are used by teachers and schools, the greater impact on motivation and academic performance comes from teacher verbal encouragement and activity selection, and student interests and intrinsic motivation. For the effects of incentives specifically for reading motivation, findings indicate that these effects are similar to effects of incentives generally: that tangible extrinsic rewards are used by teachers and schools but appear to have little impact on student motivation to read, and that the greater impact on reading motivation and academic performance can come from certain types of reading instruction, student access to books, and student intrinsic motivation. These findings are relevant to the professional development of elementary teachers and will therefore be disseminated to them through a professional development video.
Handling Sensing Failures in Autonomous Mobile Robots

This article details the SFX-EH architecture for handling sensing failures in autonomous mobile robots. The SFX-EH uses novel extensions to the generate-and-test method to classify failures with only a partial causal model of the sensor/environment/task interactions for the robot. The generate-and-test methodology exploits the ability of the robot as a physically situated agent to actively test assumptions about the state of sensors, condition of the environment, and validity of task constraints. The SFX-EH uses the type of failure to determine the appropriate recovery strategy: reconfiguration of the logical sensor or logical behavior, recalibration of the sensor or actuator, and corrective actions. The system bypasses classification if all hypotheses lead to the same recovery strategy. Results of the SFX-EH running on two robots with different sensor suites and tasks are presented, demonstrating intelligent failure recovery within a modular, portable implementation.
Methionine sulfoxide is transported by high-affinity methionine and glutamine transport systems in Salmonella typhimurium

Three lines of evidence indicated that methionine sulfoxide is transported by the high-affinity methionine and glutamine transport systems in Salmonella typhimurium. First, methionine-requiring strains (metE) which have mutations affecting both of these transport systems (metP glnP) were unable to use methionine sulfoxide as a source of methionine. These strains could still grow on L-methionine because they possessed a low-affinity system (or systems) which transported L-methionine but not the sulfoxide. A methionine auxotroph with a defect only in the metP system, which was dependent upon the glnP+ system for the transport of methionine sulfoxide, was inhibited by L-glutamine because glutamine inhibited the transport of the sulfoxide by the glnP+ system. Second, a metE metP glnP strain could be transduced at either the metP or glnP genes to restore its ability to grow on methionine sulfoxide. Third, the transport of [14C]methionine sulfoxide was inhibited by methionine and by glutamine in the metP+ glnP+ strain. No transport was detected in the metP glnP double-mutant strain.
The effect of ITGD sensitivity and contact on attitudes towards burqas

The presented research investigates whether intergroup disgust sensitivity (affect-laden construct reflecting individual differences to experience revulsion towards outgroups) predicts greater prejudicial attitudes towards burqas. In addition to investigating the effect of ITGD sensitivity on prejudicial attitudes, types of contact (no contact, imagined contact and physical contact) between participants and an outgroup member were investigated to assess the efficacy of reducing prejudice towards women who wear burqas. ITGD sensitivity along with attitude towards burqas was measured over two sessions. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant effect of ITGD sensitivity or contact type on attitudes towards burqas. However, mean score results indicated that there is some initial evidence suggesting an interaction between ITGD sensitivity and contact to predict prejudicial attitudes.
Evaluation of Transduction Properties of an Adenovirus Vector in Neonatal Mice

In gene therapy for congenital disorders, treatments during neonate and infant stages are promising. Replication-incompetent adenovirus (Ad) vectors have been used in gene therapy studies of genetic disorders; however, the transduction properties of Ad vectors in neonates and infants have not been fully examined. Accordingly, this study examined the properties of Ad vector-mediated transduction in neonatal mice. A first-generation Ad vector containing a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-driven luciferase expression cassette was administered to neonatal mice on the second day of life via retro-orbital sinus. The highest Ad vector genome copy numbers and transgene expression were found in the neonatal liver. The neonatal heart exhibited the second highest levels of transgene expression among the organs examined. There was an approximately 1500-fold difference in the transgene expression levels between the adult liver and heart, while the neonatal liver exhibited only an approximately 30-fold higher level of transgene expression than the neonatal heart. A liver-specific promoter for firefly luciferase expression conferred a more than 100-fold higher luciferase expression in the liver relative to the other organs. No apparent hepatotoxicity was observed in neonatal mice following Ad vector administration. These findings should provide valuable information for gene therapy using Ad vectors in neonates and infants.
Lookback study of HTLV‐1 and 2 seropositive donors and their recipients in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The objective of this study was to perform lookback study in recipients of blood components from human T‐lymphotropic virus (HTLV) seropositive donors. HTLV‐1/2 may be transmitted by blood transfusion. Brazil is an endemic area for the virus and its screening in blood donors is mandatory since 1993. Hemominas Foundation (HF) is the public transfusion centre in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data on HTLV‐1/2 seropositive donors and recipients from 1993 to 2004 were obtained at HF and 24 contracting hospitals. From 1993 to 2004, HTLV‐1/2 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was performed in 918 678 donations of approximately 422 600 blood donor candidates. Of these, 456 donors (0·1%) were reactive and confirmed by Western blot (WB): 449 HTLV‐1 and 7 HTLV‐2. Sixty‐six (14·5%) were repeat donors and had 194 blood cellular components produced from their previous donations. Of the distributed components, 119/146 (81·5%) had the recipient traced, with a total of 114 individuals. Of these, only 13 recipients were tested: six (46%) were HTLV‐1 positive (four recipients of red cell units, two of platelets) and seven (54%) were negative (six of red cell units and one of platelets). Eleven did not respond and 62/114 (54·0%) were deceased. Another 28/114 (25·0%) could not be located. All six seropositive HTLV‐1 recipients identified had no symptoms suggestive of HTLV‐1‐associated diseases. Acellular components, when used alone, were not associated with HTLV seropositivity. HTLV‐1 transmission by cellular blood components occurred before screening for the virus was introduced. Haemovigilance was difficult to perform due to unavailability of computer systems before 1999 and to inadequate medical records at hospitals.
Characterization and evolutionary history of an archaeal kinase involved in selenocysteinyl-tRNA formation

Selenocysteine (Sec)-decoding archaea and eukaryotes employ a unique route of Sec-tRNASec synthesis in which O-phosphoseryl-tRNASec kinase (PSTK) phosphorylates Ser-tRNASec to produce the O-phosphoseryl-tRNASec (Sep-tRNASec) substrate that Sep-tRNA:Sec-tRNA synthase (SepSecS) converts to Sec-tRNASec. This study presents a biochemical characterization of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii PSTK, including kinetics of Sep-tRNASec formation (Km for Ser-tRNASec of 40 nM and ATP of 2.6 mM). PSTK binds both Ser-tRNASec and tRNASec with high affinity (Kd values of 53 nM and 39 nM, respectively). The ATPase activity of PSTK may be activated via an induced fit mechanism in which binding of tRNASec specifically stimulates hydrolysis. Albeit with lower activity than ATP, PSTK utilizes GTP, CTP, UTP and dATP as phosphate-donors. Homology with related kinases allowed prediction of the ATPase active site, comprised of phosphate-binding loop (P-loop), Walker B and RxxxR motifs. Gly14, Lys17, Ser18, Asp41, Arg116 and Arg120 mutations resulted in enzymes with decreased activity highlighting the importance of these conserved motifs in PSTK catalysis both in vivo and in vitro. Phylogenetic analysis of PSTK in the context of its ‘DxTN’ kinase family shows that PSTK co-evolved precisely with SepSecS and indicates the presence of a previously unidentified PSTK in Plasmodium species.
Learning Chinese Word Representations From Glyphs Of Characters

In this paper, we propose new methods to learn Chinese word representations. Chinese characters are composed of graphical components, which carry rich semantics. It is common for a Chinese learner to comprehend the meaning of a word from these graphical components. As a result, we propose models that enhance word representations by character glyphs. The character glyph features are directly learned from the bitmaps of characters by convolutional auto-encoder(convAE), and the glyph features improve Chinese word representations which are already enhanced by character embeddings. Another contribution in this paper is that we created several evaluation datasets in traditional Chinese and made them public.
Drug Battles and School Achievement: Evidence from Rio de Janeiro's Favelas

Abstract This paper examines the effects of gunfights between drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro's favelas on student achievement. We explore variation in violence that occurs across time and space when gangs battle over territories. Within-school estimates indicate that students' scores are lower in math in years in which they are exposed to drug battles. The effect increases with conflict intensity, duration, and proximity to exam dates and decreases with the distance between the school and the conflict location. School supply is an important mechanism. Gunfights are associated with higher teacher absenteeism, principal turnover, and temporary school closings.
pH and ion strength modulated ionic species loading in mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) have emerged as appealing host materials to accommodate guest molecules for biomedical applications, and recently various methods have been developed to modulate the loading of guest molecules in the silica matrix. Herein, it was demonstrated that pH and ion strength showed great influence on the loading of charged species into the nanoparticles, taking MCM-41 as a host MSN model and methylviologen (MV2+) and 1,5-naphthalene disulfonate (NDS2−) as typical charged ionic guest molecules. As the pH increased from 3.0 to 8.0, the loading amount of MV2+ increased gradually, while on the contrary, it decreased gradually for NDS2−, for the solution pH changed the electrostatic interaction between the silica matrix and the ionic guest molecules. Additionally, the adding of NaCl reduced the electrostatic interaction, which resulted in a decreasing of the electrostatic rejection and electrostatic accumulation for the molecules carrying the same and the opposite charge to the particle respectively. Thus, pH and ion strength can be employed as simple approaches to modulate the loading of charged molecules and permselectivity in MSN. This work has a definite guidance function for molecule loading, transport modulation, controlled release as well as sensors based on MSN.
A Virtual Force Based Movement Scheme for Area Coverage in Directional Sensor Networks

A directional sensor network is composed of many directional sensor nodes. Unlike conventional omni-directional sensors that always have an omni-angle of sensing range, directional sensors may have a limited angle of sensing range due to technical constraints or cost considerations. Area coverage is still an essential issue in a directional sensor network. In this paper, we study the area coverage problem in directional sensor networks with mobile sensors, which can move to the coverage holes to get better coverage ratio. In order to increase the coverage ratio, each sensor will move from overlapped regions to coverage holes after random deployment. The movements of sensors are adjusted round-by-round so that the coverage ratio is gradually improved. To guide the moving direction of each sensor, we introduce a virtual forces based coverage algorithm for directional sensor networks. Our proposed scheme consists of four different forces caused by neighboring sensors and uncovered regions in the field. By applying the resultant force from these four different forces to directional sensors, coverage holes are eliminated quickly. Simulation results show the effectiveness of our scheme in term of the coverage improvement.
Use of Dielectric Properties to Detect Egg Protein Denaturation

Changes in water and ion binding that occur during egg protein denaturation can be detected by measuring the dielectric properties. The dielectric properties of egg yolk, egg white and egg ovalbumin were tested from 25 to 105°C at I I frequencies from 300–2450 MHz. DSC was used to determine the temperature of protein denaturation. Both the dielectric constant and loss factor of egg yolk decreased due to denaturation of the protein lipovitellin. The dielectric constant increased at the initial denaturation and decreased after the complete denaturation and aggregation of egg ovalbumin in both egg white and ovalbumin.
Potential role of PET-CT in chemotherapy efficacy assessment and recurrence diagnosis in a patient with a Wilms' tumour.

BACKGROUND Wilms' tumour is the most frequent renal malignancy in children. There is no worldwide consensus regarding treatment and PET-CT role in this neoplasm. The aim of this report is to demonstrate the potential role of PET-CT in chemotherapy efficacy assessment and recurrence diagnosis. CASE DESCRIPTION a 7-year-old boy was diagnosed with blastemic type Wilms' tumour and underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, nephrectomy, and adjuvant chemotherapy in compliance with SIOP protocol. Three years later the patient underwent surgical resection of the metastasis and chemoradiotherapy. Nine months later tomography and PET-CT were performed (during the third month of the treatment due to a second recurrence). The results were equivocal but within four months the boy underwent surgical resection of a third recurrence. Fourteen months later a second PET-CT revealed an active disease with extensive involvement of the left lung and pleura. The patient was referred to oral palliative chemotherapy. DISCUSSION Equivocal PET-CT results during chemotherapy should be interpreted with caution. The first, during third line chemotherapy, was equivocal; however, an early massive recurrence three months later indicates that treatment was ineffective. The second PET-CT examination fourteen months later, as the only modality, depicted massive progression of the disease. This suggests the value of this examination in recurrence diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS PET-CT seems to be valuable technique in recurrence detection in patients with histologically unfavourable tumours. Equivocal results of PET-CT should raise suspicion of recurrence even in recently treated patients. The timing of CIM and PET-CT should be considered individually--no universal and reliable schedule exists.
Treatment of striae distensae combined enhanced penetration platelet-rich plasma and ultrasound after plasma fractional radiofrequency

Abstract Background: Striae distensae (striae alba) is a challenging cosmetic problem for which various treatment modalities have been applied. However, the treatment of striae distensae has not been satisfactory. Objectives: This study was done to evaluate the effectiveness and the safety of enhanced penetration of platelet rich plasma with ultrasound after plasma fractional radiofrequency for the treatment of striae distensae. Subjects and method: Eighteen participants with striae distensae were treated with a Legato system (Alma Lasers, Israel) every two weeks for a total of four sessions. Thereafter, in order to enhance platelet-rich plasma penetration, ultrasound is applied. Clinical photographs were taken before first treatment and two months after the final treatment. Objective and subjective improvement scores were evaluated to demonstrate the efficacy. Abdominal skin biopsies were obtained from three individuals and histological changes were analyzed by light microscopy. Results: During the two months after the last treatment, the average width of the widest striae had decreased from 0.75 to 0.27 mm. In the objective assessment, 71.9% of the participants reported ‘‘good” or “very good’’ overall improvement. In the subjective assessment, and 72.2% of the participants reported ‘‘very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied’’ with overall improvement. The only reported side effect was post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (11.1%). Conclusions: The plasma fractional radiofrequency and transepidermal delivery of platelet-rich plasma using ultrasound is useful in the treatment of striae distensae.
When Sexism Cuts Both Ways

This study explored whether tolerance of sexual harassment of men (TSHM) is driven by a common set of sexist ideologies typically found to be related to tolerance of sexual harassment of women. University students (N = 433) completed a modified version of the Sexual Harassment Attitude Scale (SHAS) designed to measure TSHM. Predictor variables included sexual harassment myths about women, modern sexism, hostile, and benevolent sexism toward men and women and participant gender. A factor analysis of the measure revealed two reliable factors (sexual harassment as flirtation and minimization of victimization). With the exception of benevolence toward women, men scored higher on all measures of sexism and TSHM, yet correlational patterns showed a similar trend among men and women, suggesting a shared ideological belief that justifies TSHM. Despite differences in participant sex on most measures, participant sex was not a significant moderating variable in regression analyses when examining factors relating to TSHM. These results provide support that tolerance of sexual harassment is driven by a common set of sexist attitudes.
The relationship between nurse staffing and length of stay in acute-care: a one-year time-series data.

AIM To examine the relationship between nurse staffing and patient length of stay in an acute-care hospital over a 1-year period. BACKGROUND Although there has been prior research on the relationship between nurse staffing and length of stay in acute-care hospitals, there is a need for more information on how nurse staffing is related to length of stay longitudinally. METHODS Retrospective time-series registry data from 20 acute-care inpatient units of a Finnish university hospital as a monthly time series in 2008 were analysed by linear mixed models. RESULTS The ratio of registered nurses to all nurses was 72.4%. Nurses worked mainly (96%) full time, and 63% had permanent employment contracts. Statistically significant variation was found in time series of five variables. Statistically significant relationships were found between length of stay and patient acuity, diagnosis-related group-volume, census and nursing hours per patient day at the unit level. Nursing hours per patient day had the strongest correlation with length of stay. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT A rational response to the variations in patient care needs and intensity in the complex care environment is flexible nurse staffing. Increasing nursing hours per patient day to achieve shorter length of stays is not the only solution, well-functioning care processes are also essential.