Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
YrxA Is the Transcriptional Regulator That Represses De Novo NAD Biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT The first genetic, in vivo, and in vitro evidences that YrxA is the regulator of NAD de novo biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis are hereby reported. The protein is essential to the transcription repression of the divergent operons nadBCA and nifS-yrxA in the presence of nicotinic acid and binds to their shared operator-promoter region.
Bacterial septic arthritis in 19 dogs.

OBJECTIVE To provide information on the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of bacterial septic arthritis in dogs. DESIGN A retrospective study examining case records of all dogs diagnosed with bacterial septic arthritis at Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital between 1988 and 1997. RESULTS Nineteen dogs were diagnosed with bacterial septic arthritis, which most commonly occurred after surgery involving the stifle joint. Haematogenous infection occurred in only five dogs. Diagnosis was based on clinical signs, joint fluid analysis, radiography, microbiology and/or response to treatment. Chronic lameness was the most common problem at presentation. Analysis of joint fluid invariably revealed large number of nucleated cells, which consisted primarily of neutrophils. In all but one case the neutrophils were nondegenerate. Culture of joint fluid was frequently successful. Staphylococcus spp were the most common bacteria isolated. Treatment involved antimicrobial drugs only in five dogs. Other dogs received antimicrobial drugs in combination with surgical procedures such as joint lavage and removal of nonabsorbable suture material (eight), arthrodesis (two) or amputation (one). Two dogs were euthanased. Most dogs responded well to treatment and were free of signs of septic arthritis at follow-up. CONCLUSION Bacterial septic arthritis may often be mild and manifest as chronic lameness. Analysis of joint fluid will detect an inflammatory arthropathy but the presence of toxic neutrophils should not be relied on as an indicator of sepsis. Culture of infected joint fluid is likely to be successful if antimicrobials are not given prior to collection and if the sample is inoculated into enrichment broth. Treatment should involve antimicrobial drugs, open-joint lavage and removal of joint prostheses if the infection is associated with previous surgery.
The Period Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Complaints among Swedish Professional Drivers

The aim of the investigation was to survey the period prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among Swedish professional drivers. 460 out of 570 male drivers answered a postal inquiry. The period prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints was highest for the low back, the shoulders, the knees and the neck, in that order. For some parts of the musculoskeletal system the period prevalence of complaints tended to increase with age. A subdivision of the examined group of drivers according to task revealed—after standardizing for age (SRR)—different relative risk of complaints in various anatomical regions of the body. The interaction among some variables was studied by means of Automatic Interaction Detection Analysis. The analysis showed that the variables age and task reduced the variance of the period prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints most.
Eye gaze in virtual environments: evaluating the need and initial work on implementation

For efficient collaboration between participants, eye gaze is seen as being critical for interaction. Video conferencing either does not attempt to support eye gaze (e.g. AcessGrid) or only approximates it in round table conditions (e.g. life size telepresence). Immersive collaborative virtual environments represent remote participants through avatars that follow their tracked movements. By additionally tracking people's eyes and representing their movement on their avatars, the line of gaze can be faithfully reproduced, as opposed to approximated. This paper presents the results of initial work that tested if the focus of gaze could be more accurately gauged if tracked eye movement was added to that of the head of an avatar observed in an immersive VE. An experiment was conducted to assess the difference between user's abilities to judge what objects an avatar is looking at with only head movements being displayed, while the eyes remained static, and with eye gaze and head movement information being displayed. The results from the experiment show that eye gaze is of vital importance to the subjects correctly identifying what a person is looking at in an immersive virtual environment. This is followed by a description of the work that is now being undertaken following the positive results from the experiment. We discuss the integration of an eye tracker more suitable for immersive mobile use and the software and techniques that were developed to integrate the user's real‐world eye movements into calibrated eye gaze in an immersive virtual world. This is to be used in the creation of an immersive collaborative virtual environment supporting eye gaze and its ongoing experiments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Relationship of tumor hypoxia and response to photodynamic treatment in an experimental mouse tumor.

The relationship between tumor oxygenation and the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) was studied in vitro and in vivo using the RIF mouse tumor model. The oxygen dependence of photodynamic inactivation of RIF cells, which had been exposed to 25 mg/kg porphyrin (dihematoporphyrin ether) in vivo, isolated and illuminated in vitro, was determined. No cell kill was achieved under anoxic conditions, full effect was reached at 5% O2, and the half value of cell inactivation was found to be at 1% O2. Tumor hypoxia was assessed after in vivo gamma-irradiation of control and PDT-treated tumors by in vitro clonogenic assay of cell radiosensitivity. In vitro control experiments established that the radio-sensitivity of PDT-surviving RIF cells was identical to that of untreated control cells. RIF tumors of treatment size (80-120 mg) contained no detectable hypoxic tumor cell fraction. PDT treatment consisting of i.p. injection of 10 mg/kg dihematoporphyrin ether 24 h prior to 45 J/cm2 of 630 nm light, rendered approximately 9% of tumor cells severely hypoxic within 10 min of treatment time. An illumination period of 30 min (135 J/cm2) induced a hypoxic tumor cell fraction of 17%, which increased to 47% within 1 h posttreatment. Despite the prompt induction of tumor hypoxia during PDT light treatment, the tumors proved highly curable (81% cures) under the present treatment conditions (depilation of tumor area, 10 mg/kg dihematoporphyrin ether i.p., 135 J/cm2). Considering the reduced effectiveness of photodynamic cell kill at low oxygen concentrations, the rapid induction of tumor hypoxia by PDT itself, and the high tumor cure rate, it has to be concluded that in the RIF tumor hypoxic tumor cells are inactivated by a mechanism other than direct photodynamic cytotoxicity, and are thus not limiting to PDT tumor response.
DIGITAL INDOCYANINE GREEN VIDEOANGIOGRAPHY AND CHOROIDAL NEOVASCULARIZATION

This report describes a new system for digital indocyanine green videoangiography (ICGV) that provides enhanced imaging of the choroidal circulation. This newly assembled system was used to study a consecutive series of 129 patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and ill-defined or occult choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Overall, 39% of the patients in this study with occult CNV could be reclassified as having well-delineated or so-called classic CNV by virtue of the additional findings provided by ICGV. In this series, ICGV was particularly useful in identifying occult CNV in eyes with a large, serous pigment epithelial detachment (PED) and in eyes with recurrent CNV after previous laser photocoagulation treatment. Some of these patients were selected for laser photocoagulation of the abnormal choroidal vessels in order to evaluate the feasibility of this form of treatment on the basis of combined clinical, fluorescein angiographic, and ICGV findings. The results of this study suggest that ICGV is an important adjunct in the evaluation, classification, and laser treatment of patients with occult CNV secondary to AMD.
Consumers’ Perception on Online Shopping

E-commerce is emerging as a great level given that organized retail is still not ubiquitous across the length and breadth of the country with large retail chains making up less than 10% of the market.E-commerce is helping people in smaller towns in India access quality products and services similar to what people in the larger cities have access to. It being forecast that close to 60% of online shoppers would come from beyond the top eight large cities by end of this year.Increasing internet penetration has helped to expand the potential customer pool. Internet penetration is only about 10% (or about 121 million users) as against about 81% in the US and 36% in China. However this number continues to rise at a consistent pace because of falling prices for broadband connections. The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, opened for commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994: online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut, Netscape's SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and inter-shop’s first online shopping system. Immediately after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was introduced in 1996. In the past decade, there has been a dramatic change in the way consumers have altered their way of shopping. Although consumers continue to purchase from a physical store, consumers feel very convenient to shop online since it frees the customer from personally visiting the store. Internet shopping has its own advantages and it reduces the effort of travelling to a physical store. Decisions can be made from home at ease looking at various choices and prices can be easily compared with the competitor’s products to arrive at a decision. This study highlights student’s attitude towards online shopping and their product preference on online shopping. This enable the e-retailers to support their online customer better by developing suitable marketing strategy in order to attract and convert potential customer as an active customers by encouraging them in an efficient way to make a purchase decision. Keywords : Online Shopping, Consumer Perception, Buying Behaviour, Purchase Decision, e-Commerce
Ketorolac Suppresses Postoperative Bladder Spasms After Pediatric Ureteral Reimplantation

We evaluated the efficacy of ketorolac in suppressing postoperative bladder spasms after ureteroneocystostomy (ureteral reimplantation). Twenty-four pediatric patients undergoing intravesical ureteroneocystostomy were enrolled prospectively to receive either ketorolac or placebo via double-blinded randomization. Twelve patients in each group shared similar preoperative characteristics. All were maintained on an epidural infusion of bupivacaine (0.1%) with fentanyl (2 &mgr;g/mL) throughout the study. Patients were given either ketorolac (0.5 mg · kg-1 · dose-1) or placebo (equivalent volume saline) IV after surgery and every 6 h thereafter for 48 h. Parents were instructed to record bladder spasm episodes prospectively by using a standardized time-flow diary. Three patients (25%) in the ketorolac group experienced bladder spasms, compared with 10 patients (83%) in the placebo group (two-sided P < 0.05). The median severity score for the ketorolac group was 1.2 (mild = 1.0, severe = 3.0), compared with 2.6 for the placebo group (P = 0.003). We conclude that IV ketorolac reduces the frequency and severity of postoperative bladder spasms after intravesical ureteroneocystostomy. Implications We studied the efficacy of ketorolac, a prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, in the treatment of bladder spasm after ureteroneocystostomy (antireflux operation). Patients were randomized in a double-blinded manner to receive either ketorolac or placebo after the surgery. We demonstrate that ketorolac reduces the frequency and severity of postoperative bladder spasm.
Access and reproduction policies of university digital collections

The access and reproduction policies of the digital collections of 10 leading university digital libraries worldwide are classified according to factors such as the creation type of the material, acquisition method, copyright ownership etc. The relationship of these factors is analysed, showing how acquisition methods and copyright ownership affect the access and reproduction policies of digital collections. The article concludes with rules about which factors lead to specific policies. For example, when the library has the copyright of the material, reproduction for private use is usually provided free with a credit to the source or otherwise mostly under fair use provisions, but commercial reproduction needs written permission and fees are charged. Finally, common practice on access and reproduction policies are extracted and conventional policies are mapped onto digital policies.
Formation and dissolution of phospholipid domains with varying textures in hybrid lipo-polymersomes

The design of novel, soft membrane structures with chemical and physical properties that are tunable across a broad spectrum of parameter space is important for the development of new functional materials. Many potential applications of these novel membranes will likely require biocompatible interfaces, e.g., for functional reconstitution of integral proteins. Here we investigate the formation and control of compositional heterogeneities in hybrid lipo-polymersomes (HLPs) created by mixing the diblock copolymer poly(butadiene-b-ethylene oxide) with common natural lipids, e.g., 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine or 1,2-palmitoyl-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. Mixing and de-mixing of lipid-rich domains from the polymer-rich matrix of hybrid vesicles is controlled via thermally driven phase separation and by the inclusion of cholesterol. Domain size and morphology can be controlled by cooling rate and lipid composition, respectively. Macromolecular additives, e.g., cyclodextrins, enzymes and surfactants, can be used to remodel the hybrid membrane and its domains, resulting in domain dissolution, controlled release of contents or rupture of the hybrid vesicles. These composite membranes are promising materials for encapsulation-based technologies that require the combination of biocompatible membrane environments and enhanced structural stability, e.g., delivery and sensing applications or controlling (bio)chemical reactions within confinement.
Altered Cortical GABAA Receptor Composition, Physiology, and Endocytosis in a Mouse Model of a Human Genetic Absence Epilepsy Syndrome*

Background: Heterozygous GABRA1 deletion causes absence epilepsy. Results: The deletion modestly decreased cortical GABAA receptor number but also reduced the rate of receptor endocytosis and thus partially compensated for the deletion by increasing the expression of different receptor isoforms. Conclusion: Heterozygous GABRA1 deletion caused novel alterations in cortical GABAA receptor expression and physiology. Significance: These findings reveal mechanisms of cortical disinhibition in absence epilepsy. Patients with generalized epilepsy exhibit cerebral cortical disinhibition. Likewise, mutations in the inhibitory ligand-gated ion channels, GABAA receptors (GABAARs), cause generalized epilepsy syndromes in humans. Recently, we demonstrated that heterozygous knock-out (Hetα1KO) of the human epilepsy gene, the GABAAR α1 subunit, produced absence epilepsy in mice. Here, we determined the effects of Hetα1KO on the expression and physiology of GABAARs in the mouse cortex. We found that Hetα1KO caused modest reductions in the total and surface expression of the β2 subunit but did not alter β1 or β3 subunit expression, results consistent with a small reduction of GABAARs. Cortices partially compensated for Hetα1KO by increasing the fraction of residual α1 subunit on the cell surface and by increasing total and surface expression of α3, but not α2, subunits. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that Hetα1KO increased the fraction of α1 subunits, and decreased the fraction of α3 subunits, that associated in hybrid α1α3βγ receptors. Patch clamp electrophysiology studies showed that Hetα1KO layer VI cortical neurons exhibited reduced inhibitory postsynaptic current peak amplitudes, prolonged current rise and decay times, and altered responses to benzodiazepine agonists. Finally, application of inhibitors of dynamin-mediated endocytosis revealed that Hetα1KO reduced base-line GABAAR endocytosis, an effect that probably contributes to the observed changes in GABAAR expression. These findings demonstrate that Hetα1KO exerts two principle disinhibitory effects on cortical GABAAR-mediated inhibitory neurotransmission: 1) a modest reduction of GABAAR number and 2) a partial compensation with GABAAR isoforms that possess physiological properties different from those of the otherwise predominant α1βγ GABAARs.
Determinants of Birth‐weight in Women with Established and Gestational Diabetes

Summary: Increased birth‐weight (macrosomia) can complicate the diabetic pregnancy, but many factors other than hyperglycaemia can influence birth‐weight, in particular maternal obesity. In a mixed population (European, Maori and Pacific Islander) with a high prevalence of glucose intolerance and obesity we have examined the relative impact of various maternal factors on birth‐weight in women with both established and gestational diabetes. Mean birth‐weight was significantly greater in women with established or gestational diabetes than in controls (p < 0.0001), but was similar in women with gestational and established diabetes, despite glycaemic control being significantly poorer (p < 0.0001) in the latter. Birth‐weight closely paralleled prepregnancy body mass index rather than glycaemic control, but in Maori women it was lower than expected, probably because of their high prevalence of smoking. Daily cigarette consumption was negatively correlated with birth‐weight (p<0.01) despite the smokers having significantly poorer glycaemic control (p<0.001). The most significant variables influencing birth‐weight in the diabetic pregnancy were gestational age at delivery, prepregnancy body mass index, maternal height, estimated weight gain during pregnancy, the presence of hypertension and cigarette smoking (the latter 2 having negative effects on birth‐weight). Glycaemic control in the last half of pregnancy was not significant in this analysis. We conclude that within the limits of glycaemic control which we obtained, birth‐weight was largely determined by maternal factors other than hyperglycaemia. Birth‐weight thus has severe limitations as an outcome measure of the diabetic pregnancy.
Cooperative Signaling between Oncostatin M, Hepatocyte Growth Factor and Transforming Growth Factor-β Enhances Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Lung and Pancreatic Tumor Models

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a dual role in tumor progression. It enhances metastasis of tumor cells by increasing invasive capacity and promoting survival, and it decreases tumor cell sensitivity to epithelial cell-targeting agents such as epithelial growth factor receptor kinase inhibitors. In order to study EMT in tumor cells, we have characterized 3 new models of ligand-driven EMT: the CFPAC1 pancreatic tumor model and the H358 and H1650 lung tumor models. We identified a diverse set of ligands that drives EMT in these models. Hepatocyte growth factor and oncostatin M induced EMT in all models, while transforming growth factor-β induced EMT in both lung models. We observed morphologic, marker and phenotypic changes in response to chronic ligand treatment. Interestingly, stimulation with 2 ligands resulted in more pronounced EMT compared with single-ligand treatment, demonstrating a spectrum of EMT states induced by parallel signaling, such as the JAK and PI3K pathways. The EMT changes observed in response to the ligand were reversed upon ligand withdrawal, demonstrating the ‘metastable’ nature of these models. To study the impact of EMT on cell morphology and invasion in a 3D setting, we cultured cells in a semisolid basement membrane extract. Upon stimulation with EMT ligands, the colonies exhibited changes to EMT markers and showed phenotypes ranging from modest differences in colony architecture (CFPAC1) to complex branching structures (H358, H1650). Collectively, these 3 models offer robust cell systems with which to study the roles that EMT plays in cancer progression.
Reinnervation by axon collaterals from single facial motoneurons to multiple muscle targets following axotomy in the adult guinea pig.

To study the process of recovery from facial palsy experimentally, the location of cranial motoneurons supplying the posterior belly of the digastric muscle (PDG) and the extratemporal portion of the facial nerve trunk was examined in a double-labeling paradigm using two retrograde tracers in the adult guinea pig of which the facial nerve had been surgically injured. In different stages after the induced facial palsy had recovered functionally (4-13 weeks after the surgical operation), wheat germ-agglutinated horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was injected into the PDG and Fluoro-Ruby (FR) was applied to the proximal cut end of the extratemporal portion of the facial nerve trunk. Distribution of neurons retrogradely labeled with WGA-HRP and/or FR was plotted in the brainstem and compared with that of the controls. In the intact cases, HRP-labeled neurons were restrictedly seen in the accessory facial nucleus (Acs7), while FR-labeled neurons were found within the main facial nucleus (FMN). In the axotomized cases: (1) HRP-labeled neurons were seen diffusely in the Acs7 as well as in the FMN, where normal myotopical representation no longer seemed to be maintained. (2) FR-labeled neurons were also observed diffusely in the FMN and the Acs7. (3) A considerable number of neurons were doubly labeled with WGA-HRP and FR in both the Acs and the FMN in cases with shorter survival periods (4-7 weeks), but not in cases with longer survival periods (12-13 weeks). Thus, new findings show that connections are temporarily maintained by single, facial motoneurons with axon collaterals to multiple muscle targets in adult mammals. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Accuracy of Ground Penetrating Radar Horn-Antenna Technique for Sensing Pavement Subsurface

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is an intelligent sensor technique that has led to a powerful nondestructive testing (NDT) method for road pavement evaluation. Recent improvements in hardware and, in particular, software processing have contributed to the rapidly expanding popularity and usability of this technique in the pavement engineers community. In the present work, a GPR sensor system mounted on a driving van was used to acquire data from an asphalt pavement. Two different central frequency air-coupled horn antennas were used for data acquisition. The collected radar data was processed and analyzed in order for the accuracy of the antennas to be evaluated. For this purpose, the asphalt layer dielectric values and related thickness values were also estimated. Based on the GPR data analysis results, the performance of the two horn antennas in terms of sensing pavement subsurface is presented and discussed in the paper