Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protein secondary structure and circular dichroism: A practical guide

This journal is testimony to the recent explosive interest in proteins. Now that we have learned how to manipulate genes, it is only natural to use these techniques to engineer gene products. Natural proteins are more easily isolated when they are overexpressed; site-directed mutagenesis allows selective changes to be made in the sequence of natural proteins. Furthermore, proteins can now be designed from scratch both by isolating products of synthetic genes and by synthesizing polypeptides with the desired sequence. These advances for producing proteins of all kinds have concomitantly produced a resurgence of interest in circular dichroism (CD), a technique which is sensitive to secondary structure, and which can be applied to proteins and polypeptides in solution (Fig. 1). How reliable are secondary structures predicted from CD? Some modern methods have been shown to have high reliability. A method utilizing the statistical procedure called “variable selection” boasts correlation coefficients of 0.97 for a-helix, 0.76 for p-sheet, 0.49 for p-turn, and 0.86 for other structures when the predicted secondary structure for CD data measured to 178 nm is compared to X-ray structure for the sixteen proteins in the data base. ’ To get reliable results it is important to understand the limitations of the technique. CD spectra of proteins look complicated, but the long wavelength bands are dominated by the CD due to any a-helical structure. Thus, the information content of a protein CD spectrum is lower than one might guess, the equivalent of two equations for spectra truncated a t 200 nm or three to four equations for spectra truncated at 190 nm. ’a3 Nevertheless, some workers who use our methods carry out analyses on spectra truncated at 190 or even 200 nm. As we will show in the next section, CD data can give statistically significant estimates of multiple classes of secondary structure only i f the data extend to 184 nm. If data extending only to 200 nm are used, a-helix is generally the only secondary structure that can be de-
Cultural Identification and Academic Achievement Among African American Males

Although most African Americans are aware of the importance of education, many still continue to suffer from poor school achievement. School failure, high rates of educational dropout, low college enrollment, over-representation in special education classes, and low standardized test scores reflect a pervasive problem of educational underachievement among African Americans. Our work with African American males reveals a positive relationship between cultural mistrust and oppositional cultural attitudes and an inverse relationship with outcome expectations, outcome value, and academic achievement. Cultural mistrust is a significant predictor of academic achievement. As African American males' mistrust increases, their academic outcome expectations decrease. As mistrust increases, oppositional cultural attitudes also increase. Students with high cultural mistrust, oppositional cultural attitudes, and low valuation for educational outcomes have lower expectations for the benefits of their educational outcome. A presence of cultural mistrust and oppositional cultural attitudes clearly undermines educational outcome expectations. These findings have implications for educational research and practice, particularly concerning the education of African American males living in urban environments. Resistant cultural identity or cultural mistrust may be early markers of risk status for educational underachievement. School policies and practices that support identity development may help more African American youth cultivate a strong positive cultural identity that is consistent with academic achievement. African American students who value outcomes associated with education and who exhibit oppositional identities may not anticipate being able to achieve those outcomes through educational means.
NNERVE: Neural Network Extraction of Repetitive Vectors for Electromyography. II. Performance analysis

For pt. I see ibid., vol. 41, no. 11, p. 1039-53 (1994). In pt. I the authors presented a new method for the decomposition of clinical electromyographic signals, NNERVE, which utilizes a novel "pseudo-unsupervised" neural network approach to signal decomposition. Here the authors present a detailed performance analysis. They present definitions for quantitative performance criteria. NNERVE is shown to be highly reliable over a wide range of neural network architectures. It is also minimally sensitive to learning parameters. The degradations of performance over a wide range of signals and parameters are shown to be gradual, slight and graceful. These characteristics are shown to translate directly into a high degree of robustness over widely varying signals. Real signals obtained from the entire range of patients encountered in clinical situations are shown to be correctly handled without any modifications or adjustments of any parameters. This neural network method is then directly compared to a prior traditional signal processing method and is shown quantitatively to have consistently superior performance on both simulated and real signals. Clinically acceptable performance over a wide range of signals, recorded using standard clinical methodology, and the lack of a need for user interaction, will facilitate the use of motor unit quantitation in routine clinical electromyography. <<ETX>>
Spatio‐temporal Variations in the Molecular Diversity of Microeukaryotes in Particular Ciliates in Soil of the Yellow River Delta, China

The Yellow River delta in China is one of the most active regions of land–ocean interaction. It has suffered serious salinization due to drying‐up of the Yellow River, rising sea level, and seashore erosion, and thus represents a special and extreme environment. We evaluated the microeukaryotic molecular diversity and its response to change of seasons and environmental variables, in particular salinity in the soil of the Yellow River delta, by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and gene sequencing. The sequencing of the microeukaryotic DGGE bands revealed the presence of diverse groups dominated by protists in particular ciliates. We further recovered a high diversity of marine and soil ciliates inhabiting in coastal soil using the ciliate‐specific DGGE. The neighbor‐joining tree indicated that the ciliate 18S rDNA sequences from high‐salinity soil were affiliated to Colpodea, Spirotrichea, Litostomatea, and Oligohymenophorea, while all the sequences unique to the low‐salinity soil were affiliated to Colpodea. Statistical analysis indicated that the microeukaryotic molecular diversity was significantly different among sites, while statistically indistinguishable among seasons. Soil salinity might be the main factor regulating the distribution of microeukaryotes in the soil from the Yellow River delta.
Reperfusion for STEMI in current Canadian practice: Are we closing the care gap?

The current standard of care for patients presenting with acute ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) includes early reperfusion therapy with either fibrinolytics or primary percutaneous coronary intervention (primary PCI). Previous registry data has shown that 30% of patients with STEMI receive neither form of reperfusion (1,2,3). Furthermore, untreated patients have 30-day mortality rates that are 2-3 times higher than those who are treated (3,4). The goal of the present study is to document the current prevalence of reperfusion therapy at three Canadian teaching hospitals and to identify underlying demographic and clinical factors that correlate with rates of reperfusion in these patients.
Recognition Memory in Parkinson’s Disease With and Without Dementia: Evidence Inconsistent with the Retrieval Deficit Hypothesis

Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been associated with a pattern of performance on memory tests in which free recall is impaired but recognition and cued recall are intact, indicating problems with memory retrieval. Recent findings suggest that PD patients exhibit deficits in recognition as well as free recall, however. The current study set outto provide clear evidence that recognition and cued recall are not intact in PD. Ninety-nine idiopathic PD patients were administered the California Verbal Learning Test and their performance was compared to a well-matched normative sample. A profile analysis revealed that nondemented patients exhibited deficits on measures of cued recall and delayed recognition that were similar in magnitude to that of free recall. This was also the case for the cued recall deficits exhibited by demented patients; however, in this group recognition was worse than free recall. In both groups poor recognition appeared due to an elevated number of false positive errors. These results are inconsistent with the retrieval deficit hypothesis but support the notion that PD memory problems are secondary to prefrontal dysfunction.
M phase phosphorylation of the epigenetic regulator UHRF1 regulates its physical association with the deubiquitylase USP7 and stability

UHRF1 (Ubiquitin-like, with PHD and RING finger domains 1) plays an important role in DNA CpG methylation, heterochromatin function and gene expression. Overexpression of UHRF1 has been suggested to contribute to tumorigenesis. However, regulation of UHRF1 is largely unknown. Here we show that the deubiquitylase USP7 interacts with UHRF1. Using interaction-defective and catalytic mutants of USP7 for complementation experiments, we demonstrate that both physical interaction and catalytic activity of USP7 are necessary for UHRF1 ubiquitylation and stability regulation. Mass spectrometry analysis identified phosphorylation of serine (S) 652 within the USP7-interacting domain of UHRF1, which was further confirmed by a UHRF1 S652 phosphor (S652ph)-specific antibody. Importantly, the S652ph antibody identifies phosphorylated UHRF1 in mitotic cells and consistently S652 can be phosphorylated by the M phase-specific kinase CDK1-cyclin B in vitro. UHRF1 S652 phosphorylation significantly reduces UHRF1 interaction with USP7 in vitro and in vivo, which is correlated with a decreased UHRF1 stability in the M phase of the cell cycle. In contrast, UHRF1 carrying the S652A mutation, which renders UHRF1 resistant to phosphorylation at S652, is more stable. Importantly, cells carrying the S652A mutant grow more slowly suggesting that maintaining an appropriate level of UHRF1 is important for cell proliferation regulation. Taken together, our findings uncovered a cell cycle-specific signaling event that relieves UHRF1 from its interaction with USP7, thus exposing UHRF1 to proteasome-mediated degradation. These findings identify a molecular mechanism by which cellular UHRF1 level is regulated, which may impact cell proliferation.
Patellofemoral Pain Current Concepts: An Overview

The conceptualization of factors responsible for the etiology of patellofemoral pain are changing. In the recent past, chondromalacia and malalignment were believed to be most important factors relative to the genesis of anterior knee pain symptoms. However, new evidence from Europe and North America indicates other factors may be more important, such as overuse of anatomically normal patellofemoral structures, leading to the possible loss of both osseous and soft tissue homeostasis. The range of painless loading compatible with tissue homeostasis of a joint without causing structural or physiologic injury is termed the “envelope of function. ” Restoration of the envelope of function as safely and predictably as possible is viewed as the primary underlying principle of treatment for patients with patellofemoral pain.
A survey of Australian adult users of altered auditory feedback devices for stuttering: Use patterns, perceived effectiveness and satisfaction

Purpose. Small portable devices that provide delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and/or frequency altered feedback (FAF) have been developed and marketed to clinicians and people who stutter as fluency enhancing aids for use in everyday speaking situations. The literature contains many laboratory-based reports about the impact of altered auditory feedback (AAF) on the speech of people who stutter but few reports about its use in everyday speaking situations. This paper investigates use patterns and perceptions of the effectiveness and satisfaction with AAF devices. Methods. The current study surveys 14 Australian AAF users. Results. The survey responses revealed varied opinions about AAF devices and their use and effectiveness in everyday speaking situations. Opinions were somewhat related to the type of device used. Conclusions. The results of this study provide some important directions for future research. In particular there is need to investigate the effectiveness of AAF devices when used in conjunction with other traditional treatments.
Understanding the Role of Political Relations in Consumer Decision Making: A Grounded Theory Approach

Previous animosity studies have been conducted in single-target contexts where the effects of hostility towards one product’s country of origin were examined. This current study is an attempt to investigate the animosity construct in the multi-target boycott case of the Middle-East conflict where more than one party (countries and companies) are involved in the political conflict, as reports show that consumers have inconsistent reactions to these involved parties. One-on-one in-depth interviews, supported by documentation, were conducted with Arab consumers who are presumably involved in the conflict. It has been found that animosity is multi-level which belongs to the political relations (there after POLR) continuum and performs as a product attribute. POLRs’ effects on the consumer are subject to parties’ involvement level in the conflict and consumer prioritized needs. Research findings imply that “political positioning” can be applied by brands with “good quality” POLR, while others need to highlight other product attributes.
Which therapeutic interventions in critical care medicine have been shown to reduce mortality in prospective, randomized, clinical trials? A survey of candidates for the Belgian Board Examination in Intensive Care Medicine

Objective: To highlight the lack of randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence in support of accepted therapeutic interventions in the intensive care unit by assessing the ability of Intensive Care Board Examination candidates to cite relevant studies. Design: As part of the Board Examination for Intensive Care Medicine in Belgium, candidates were asked to name accepted therapeutic interventions that have been shown to reduce mortality in RCTs. Setting: Survey of doctors Subjects: Candidates for the 1998 Board Examination for Intensive Care Medicine in Belgium. Interventions: None Measurements and Main Results: Of the 46 candidates, 25 (54%) gave no response and 3 (7%) stated that no such study exists; 16 responses from 13 doctors were considered acceptable answers. Conclusions: Candidates for the Board Examination of Intensive Care in Belgium were unable to list many accepted interventions in critical care medicine that are supported by RCT evidence. The RCT may not be the most appropriate tool for assessing the value of an intervention in the intensive care environment.
Genetic and environmental structure of individual differences in hand, foot, and ear preferences: A twin study

Recent studies with large sample size have reported moderate heritability of hand preference. However, little is known about genetic and environmental factors for lateral preference. We examined the genetic and environmental factors for hand, foot, and ear preferences using a twin design study. A lateral preference questionnaire was administered to twin participants (N=956). Phenotypic correlation matrices of lateral preferences were computed for monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs, and were subjected to Cholesky decomposition to compute additive genetic and unique environmental correlation matrices. Promax rotation factor analysis of each genetic and environmental correlation matrix yielded six genetic and four environmental factors. Factor-loading patterns for these factors indicated that hand and foot lateral activities were affected by different genetic factors. By contrast, each of the four environmental factors was mainly associated with hand, foot, or ear preference. These results suggest that the genetic structure for lateral preference may be more complex than the environmental structure. In particular, hand preference may be multidimensional in terms of genetic factors.
Die Ausbildungsbeteiligung von Kleinstbetrieben

Am Ausbildungsstellenmarkt wird es trotz des weiterhin bestehenden Bewerberuberhangs zunehmend schwieriger, das betriebliche Angebot und die Nachfrage der Jugendlichen zusammenzufuhren. Seit einigen Jahren ist uberdies (allein) die Anzahl der Ausbildungsbetriebe mit weniger als 10 Beschaftigten rucklaufig. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie ist es daher, den Ursachen dieser Entwicklung bei den Kleinstbetrieben nachzugehen. Die Befunde zeigen, dass sich Kleinstbetriebe nicht massiv aus der betrieblichen Ausbildung zuruckziehen, sondern dass sie im Vergleich zu groseren Betrieben haufiger Schwierigkeiten haben, ihre Ausbildungsplatze zu besetzen. Dabei ist weniger ein Mangel an Bewerbern als deren unzureichende Eignung aus Sicht der Betriebe ausschlaggebend. Weitere Ursachen sind in einer fur Jugendliche mangelnden Attraktivitat der Kleinstbetriebe und dem steigenden Interesse an hoheren Bildungsabschlussen zu sehen.
Long-Range Topological Order in Metallic Glass

The pressure-induced formation of a single crystal reveals the metallic glass Ce75Al25 to have long-range ordering. Glass lacks the long-range periodic order that characterizes a crystal. In the Ce75Al25 metallic glass (MG), however, we discovered a long-range topological order corresponding to a single crystal of indefinite length. Structural examinations confirm that the MG is truly amorphous, isotropic, and unstrained, yet under 25 gigapascals hydrostatic pressures, every segment of a centimeter-length MG ribbon devitrifies independently into a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal with the identical orientation. By using molecular dynamics simulations and synchrotron x-ray techniques, we elucidate that the mismatch between the large Ce and small Al atoms frustrates the crystallization and causes amorphization, but a long-range fcc topological order still exists. Pressure induces electronic transition in Ce, which eliminates the mismatch and manifests the topological order by the formation of a single crystal.
Patient Self-Assessment of the Cosmetic Results of Breast Reconstruction

Background: In a previous study, the authors evaluated factors that contribute to patient satisfaction with breast reconstruction, using a comprehensive chart review and questionnaire. The results of part of this questionnaire, regarding patients' rating of the cosmetic result of their breast reconstruction, are presented in this article. Methods: The questionnaire was mailed to 267 patients, 214 questionnaires (80.1 percent) were returned, and 200 contained a response to the question rating the overall cosmetic outcome of breast reconstruction (Fig. 1). To conduct a statistical analysis, the data were collapsed into two smaller groups. An “excellent” or “good” result was considered a “favorable” outcome, while lower responses were “unfavorable” outcomes. Fig. 1. Portion of questionnaire analyzed for this study. Note that the responses to overall cosmesis were later condensed into “favorable” versus “unfavorable” categories to facilitate statistical analysis. Results: The outcome was rated as excellent by 82 patients, good by 76 patients, fair by 31 patients, and poor by 11 patients. A significant association was found between overall cosmesis and breast size, shape, or scars. Conclusion: It should not be assumed that patients' responses regarding satisfaction with reconstruction will reflect their specific feelings regarding cosmetic results.
Glucose Increases Both the Plasma Membrane Number and Phosphorylation of Insulin-like Growth Factor II/Mannose 6-Phosphate Receptors*

We have investigated the effect of glucose on insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) binding to, and intracellular phosphorylation of, the IGF-II/mannose 6-phosphate (M6P) receptor in the insulin-secreting cell line RINm5F. Glucose, at a concentration of 3 mm, significantly increased binding of IGF-II to the cells. A further increase of the binding was observed at a glucose concentration of 10 mm. Scatchard analysis showed that the increased binding was caused by an increased number of the receptors rather than changes in affinity. This effect of glucose was also demonstrated in another insulin-secreting cell line HIT as well as in the human erythroleukemia cell line K562. Affinity cross-linking of the RINm5F cells, using 125I-IGF-II, revealed increased binding to the IGF-II/M6P receptor induced by glucose. The effect of glucose on IGF-II binding was mimicked by fructose (10 mm), but not by 3-O-methylglucose (10 mm), and was abolished by the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor calphostin C, or down-regulation of PKC, but not by the protein phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid. Glucose dose dependently stimulated phosphorylation of the IGF-II/M6P receptor, an effect that was inhibited by down-regulation of PKC activity. This study suggests that the distribution of the IGF-II/M6P receptor in insulin-secreting cells can be regulated by glucose-induced phosphorylation, a mechanism mediated by PKC.
Information and culture - the impact of national culture on information processes

This paper analyses the impact of culture on information systems by applying findings of existing intercultural research in the area of sociology and management theory to this field. The model developed by the Dutch sociologist, Geert Hofstede, for comparing cultures is used in this work and is applied to the information processes to show the possible impact of culture on the components of the information system: the information producer and the information content, the user of information, the information channel and the information intermediary. The theoretical findings may provide a basis for further practical research to test the hypothesis presented and to develop strategies for future international information work.
Platelet Monoamine Oxidase Kinetics, Alcoholism Subtypes and Cigarette Smoking

In trying to dissociate the effect of alcohol and tobacco use on platelet monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) activity, we compared the enzyme kinetics in controls (n = 66) and alcohol-dependent patients (n = 81), subdivided according to the severity of both, alcohol and tobacco use. Platelet MAO-B kinetics was measured spectrophotofluorimetrically in chronic alcohol intoxication and after 3 weeks abstinence. In alcoholic patients, an increased Michaelis-Menten constant (16%, p < 0.01) was shown, notwithstanding smoking status. Maximal velocity did not differ between patients and controls when adjusted for smoking. In cigarette smokers, a highly significant dose-dependent reduction of platelet MAO velocity (40%, p < 0.001) was demonstrated, with a similar degree of reduction in patients and controls. Tobacco use itself had no influence on MAO affinity. No differences were shown between subtype 1 and 2 alcoholics, or between the day of admission and the 21st day of abstinence. In conclusion, it seems that both, alcohol and tobacco consumption, may contribute to the lowering of overall platelet MAO-B activity. The effect of alcohol is small, due to interference with substrate binding, and not alteration of catalytic activity. In contrast, the effect of cigarette smoking is pronounced and relates to the dose-dependent reduction of platelet MAO velocity, with no influence on its affinity.