Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GRIP Domain-mediated Targeting of Two New Coiled-coil Proteins, GCC88 and GCC185, to Subcompartments of the trans-Golgi Network*

The GRIP domain is a targeting sequence found in a family of coiled-coil peripheral Golgi proteins. Previously we demonstrated that the GRIP domain of p230/golgin245 is specifically recruited to tubulovesicular structures of the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Here we have characterized two novel Golgi proteins with functional GRIP domains, designated GCC88 and GCC185. GCC88 cDNA encodes a protein of 88 kDa, and GCC185 cDNA encodes a protein of 185 kDa. Both molecules are brefeldin A-sensitive peripheral membrane proteins and are predicted to have extensive coiled-coil regions with the GRIP domain at the C terminus. By immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy GCC88 and GCC185, and the GRIP protein golgin97, are all localized to the TGN of HeLa cells. Overexpression of full-length GCC88 leads to the formation of large electron dense structures that extend from the trans-Golgi. These de novo structures contain GCC88 and co-stain for the TGN markers syntaxin 6 and TGN38 but not for α2,6-sialyltransferase, β-COP, or cis-Golgi GM130. The formation of these abnormal structures requires the N-terminal domain of GCC88. TGN38, which recycles between the TGN and plasma membrane, was transported into and out of the GCC88 decorated structures. These data introduce two new GRIP domain proteins and implicate a role for GCC88 in the organization of a specific TGN subcompartment involved with membrane transport.
Review: power system analysis software tools

This paper summarizes the various user-friendly options that power system analysis and simulation software tools offer today with varied add-ons and premium modules. The authors' main intention is to present the information and key features of available software tools in power engineering. Based on the study presented in this paper, one could conclude that the advanced analysis methodology combines generation, transmission, various elements, and market economics into one virtual environment to deliver location, time, user-dependent analysis results, and indicators. The authors hope that the information furnished in this paper is helpful to potential users in industry and academia, and enables them to make the right decision before purchasing appropriate software.
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder with Comorbid Bipolar Disorders: Clinical Features and Treatment Implications.

BACKGROUND Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms within the context of a bipolar disorder (BD) have been described since the 19th century. Interestingly, the existence of a relevant overlap between the aforementioned psychiatric syndromes has been confirmed by a number of recent epidemiological and family studies. AIMS The aim of the present paper is to review the clinical features and the therapeutic implications of the OCD-BD comorbidity. DISCUSSION In the last two decades, the frequent association between OCD and BD has been earning a growing interest given its relevant nosological and therapeutic implications. Usually patients suffering from OCD-BD comorbidity show a peculiar clinical course, characterized by a larger number of concomitant depressive episodes and episodic course. In these cases, the treatment with antidepressants is more likely to elicit hypomanic or manic switches, while mood stabilizers significantly improve the overall clinical picture. Moreover, OCD-BD patients are frequently comorbid with a number of other psychiatric disorders, in particular anxiety disorders, social phobia, and different substance abuses, such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and sedatives. CONCLUSIONS BD-OCD comorbidity needs further investigations in order to provide more solid evidences to give patients a more precise clinical diagnosis and a more targeted therapeutic approach.
Long-term outcome of 114 children with cerebral aneurysms.

OBJECT Population-based data on pediatric patients with aneurysms are limited. The aim of this study is to clarify the characteristics and long-term outcomes of pediatric patients with aneurysms. METHODS All pediatric patients (≤ 18 years old) with aneurysms among the 8996 aneurysm patients treated at the Department of Neurosurgery in Helsinki from 1937 to 2009 were followed from admission to the end of 2010. RESULTS There were 114 pediatric patients with 130 total aneurysms during the study period. The mean patient age was 14.5 years (range 3 months to 18 years). The male:female ratio was 3:2. Eighty-nine patients (78%) presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage. The majority of the aneurysms (116 [89%]) were in the anterior circulation, and the most common location was the internal carotid artery bifurcation (36 [28%]). The average aneurysm diameter was 11 mm (range 2-55 mm) with 16 giant aneurysms (12%). Eighty aneurysms (62%) were treated microsurgically, and 37 (28%) were treated conservatively due to poor medical and neurological status of the patient or due to technical reasons during the early years of the patient series. No connective tissue disorders common to pediatric aneurysm patients were diagnosed in this series, with the exception of 1 patient with tuberous sclerosis complex. The mean follow-up duration was 24.8 years (range 0-55.8 years). At the end of follow-up, 71 patients (62%) had a good outcome, 3 (3%) were dependent, and 40 (35%) had died. Twenty-seven deaths (68%) were assessed to be aneurysm-related. Factors correlating with a favorable long-term outcome were good neurological condition of the patient on admission, aneurysm location in the anterior circulation, complete aneurysm closure, and absence of vasospasm. Six patients developed symptomatic de novo aneurysms after a median of 25 years (range 11-37 years). Fourteen patients (12%) had a family history of aneurysms. There was no increased incidence for cardiovascular diseases in long-term follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Most aneurysms were ruptured and of medium size. Internal carotid artery bifurcation was the most frequent location of the aneurysms. There was a male predominance of pediatric patients with aneurysms. Most patients experienced good recovery, with 91% of the long-term survivors living at home independently without assistance and meaningfully employed. Altogether, almost a third of these patients finished high school and one-fifth had a college or university degree. Pediatric patients had a tendency to develop de novo aneurysms.
Effects and mechanisms of the secondary structure on the antimicrobial activity and specificity of antimicrobial peptides

A 15‐mer cationic α‐helical antimicrobial peptide HPRP‐A1 was used as the parent peptide to study the effects of peptide secondary structure on the biophysical properties and biological activities. Without changing the amino acid composition of HPRP‐A1, we designed two α‐helical peptides with either higher or lower helicity compared with the parent peptide, a β‐sheet peptide and a random coiled peptide using de novo design approach. The secondary structures were confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The three α‐helical peptides exhibited comparable antibacterial activities, but their hemolytic activity varied from extreme hemolysis to no hemolysis, which is correlated with their helicity. The β‐sheet peptide shows poor antibacterial and strong hemolytic activities. More interestingly, the random coil peptide shows no antibacterial activity against Gram‐negative bacteria, weak antibacterial activity against Gram‐positive bacteria, and extremely weak hemolytic activity. Bacterial membrane permeabilization was also testified on peptides with different secondary structures. Tryptophan fluorescence experiment revealed that the peptide binding preference to the lipid vesicles for mimicking the prokaryotic or eukaryotic membranes was consistent with their biological activities. With the de novo design approach, we proved that it is important to maintain certain contents of amphipathic secondary structure for a desirable biological activity. We believe that the de novo design approach of relocation of the amino acids within a template sequence could be an effective approach in optimizing the specificity of an antimicrobial peptide. Copyright © 2015 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Discrimination between Surgical and Nonsurgical Nuclear Cataracts Based on ROC Analysis

Abstract Purpose: The aim of this article is to propose a quantitative methodology for determining a criterion to discriminate the nonsurgical nuclear cataract from the surgical one taking into account objective measures of intraocular scattering in patients with good visual acuity (>0.6). Methods: Two groups of subjects were taken into account: a control group and a group with nuclear cataracts. At a first stage, eyes belonging to the cataract group were classified into “nonsurgical” and “surgical” cataracts by ophthalmologists at their clinical settings. At a second stage a double-pass instrument was also used to determine the objective scatter index (OSI) at the laboratory. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyze OSI values to determine a value able to separate between nonsurgical and surgical cataracts. Results: We obtained statistically significant differences among the control and both nuclear cataract groups (p < 0.05). ROC curves determined an OSI criterion level (of 2.1) to suggest surgery in nuclear cataracts with an area under curve of 0.83, i.e. with 80% of sensitivity and 80% of specificity. Conclusions: ROC analysis allows separating both groups of nuclear cataract, and we determined a value of OSI in nuclear cataract quantification for surgery.
Plasma Membrane is Compartmentalized by a Self-Similar Cortical Actin Meshwork

A broad range of membrane proteins display anomalous diffusion on the cell surface. Different methods provide evidence for obstructed subdiffusion and diffusion on a fractal space, but the underlying structure inducing anomalous diffusion has never been visualized because of experimental challenges. We addressed this problem by imaging the cortical actin at high resolution while simultaneously tracking individual membrane proteins in live mammalian cells. Our data confirm that actin introduces barriers leading to compartmentalization of the plasma membrane and that membrane proteins are transiently confined within actin fences. Furthermore, superresolution imaging shows that the cortical actin is organized into a self-similar meshwork. These results present a hierarchical nanoscale picture of the plasma membrane.
Position sensing for a bio-inspired flapping wing-actuation system

Three sensors were investigated as possible position sensors for a 3 degree-of-freedom flapping wing-actuation system - infrared displacement sensor, infrared camera tracking system and resistive flex sensor. The performance of the sensors were weighed against such criteria as precision, sampling frequency, invasiveness and the scalability of the sensor to smaller Micro Air Vehicle systems. The IR displacement sensor and IR camera tracking system were ruled out as potential sensors. The IR displacement sensor had a precision of 1mm making it too imprecise. The IR camera tracking system had a limited sampling frequency of 22Hz. In addition, both these concepts were not scalable to MAV sizes due to their complexity. The flex sensor is suitable as a position sensor due to its high precision of 0.25mm. It is an analogue sensor and has a sampling frequency only limited by the data-logger and frequency response. Frequency and thermal characteristics were acceptable. Additionally, its solid state nature makes it highly scalable.
D-Lib Magazine: Its First 13 Years

By the use of bibliometric techniques, authorship characteristics of D-Lib Magazine (D-Lib) are studied. Data was collected by examining issues from the Magazine's launch date, July 1995 to the issue dated May/June 2008. Author productivity, the most productive authors, authors' gender, type of affiliated institutions, authors' geographic distribution, multiple authorship, and the average number of references per article are reported. The impact of D-Lib Magazine was investigated by utilizing Web of Sciences (WoS) databases and its analyzing tools. The most cited D-Lib Magazine authors, D-Lib articles, and the lists of authors, journals, and academic fields that often cite the Magazine are presented.
Robust invariant set theory applied to networked buffer-level control

A manufacturer producing several items keeps them into safety stocks (buffers) in order to supply an external stochastic demand without interruptions. We consider the classical problem of determining stock levels guaranteeing that a stochastic bounded demand is always satisfied. A simple n-th integrator model with additive disturbances is employed. Invariant set theory for linear and switched linear systems is used to compute robust positive invariant sets and controlled robust invariant sets for two commonly used scheduling policies. This paper provides the explicit expression of the invariant sets for any arbitrary n.
Detection of galectin-3 in tear fluid at disease states and immunohistochemical and lectin histochemical analysis in human corneal and conjunctival epithelium

BACKGROUND/AIM Components of the tear fluid contribute to the biochemical defence system of the eye. To reveal whether the immune mediator and lipopolysaccharide binding galectin-3 is present in tears, tear samples were collected from eyes in healthy and pathological states. Investigation of expression of galectin-3 and galectin-3 reactive glycoligands in normal human conjunctival and corneal epithelia was also initiated as a step to understand the role of galectin-3 in ocular surface pathology. METHODS Immunoblot analysis using either a rabbit polyclonal or a mouse monoclonal antibody against galectin-3 was employed to detect galectin-3 in tear fluid. Galectin-3 expression in tissue specimens was detected by immunocytochemistry employing A1D6 mouse monoclonal antibody, and galectin-3 reactive glycoligands were visualised by lectin histochemistry using labelled galectin-3. RESULTS Galectin-3 was found only in tears from patients with ocular surface disorders. It was expressed in normal corneal and conjunctival epithelia but not in lacrimal glands. Inflammatory leucocytes and goblet cells found in galectin-3 containing tear fluid also expressed galectin-3. Galectin-3 binding sites were detected on the surface of conjunctival and corneal epithelial cells co-localising with desmoglein. CONCLUSIONS This study revealed expression of galectin-3 in tear fluid obtained from patients with eye diseases. The role of this endogenous lectin (produced by inflammatory as well as epithelial cells) in antimicrobial action and inflammation modulation could be expected.
Impact of carotid artery ultrasound and ankle-brachial index on prediction of severity of SYNTAX score.

BACKGROUND Numerous reports have shown that both carotid artery ultrasound (carotid US) findings and ankle-brachial index (ABI) are associated with the prevalence of coronary artery disease. The relationship between carotid US findings and ABI and the complexity of coronary artery disease (as measured by SYNTAX [SX] score), was evaluated. METHODS AND RESULTS The subjects included 496 consecutive patients who underwent carotid US, ABI analysis and initial coronary angiography. The mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness (mean IMT) was evaluated on carotid US. Patients with mean IMT ≥ 0.9 mm had significantly higher SX scores than patients without thickening (mean IMT <0.9 mm; P<0.0001). Similarly, patients with low ABI (<0.9) had significantly higher SX scores than patients with ABI ≥ 0.9 (P<0.0001). When the patients were divided into 4 groups on the basis of mean IMT and ABI (group A, mean IMT <0.9 mm, ABI ≥ 0.9; group B, mean IMT <0.9 mm, low ABI; group C, mean IMT ≥ 0.9 mm, ABI ≥ 0.9; group D, mean IMT ≥ 0.9 mm, low ABI), the SX scores were significantly different. Among the patients in group D, 75% had coronary artery disease. CONCLUSIONS Carotid US and ABI are associated with SX score. The combination of carotid US and ABI provides useful information for predicting the complexity and presence of coronary artery disease.
Seasonal temperature acclimatisation of rainbow trout: cardiovascular and morphometric influences on maximal sustainable exercise level

Adult rainbow trout (mass 600-1500 g; length 40-44 cm) were held in the laboratory for up to 28 days at seasonally appropriate temperatures. The maximal sustainable aerobic exercise level (involving slow-twitch muscle activity alone) was determined by following muscle recruitment patterns using electromyography. The mean (± s.e.m.) speeds recorded for maximal sustainable aerobic exercise were 0.52±0.02, 0.81±0.06 and 0.39±0.02 BL s-1 (body lengths per second) for animals swimming at their acclimatisation temperatures of 4, 11 and 18 °C, respectively. Thus, fish acclimatised to 11 °C reached the highest maximal sustainable (purely aerobic) levels of exercise. They had similar stride lengths to the 4 °C animals, but generated less thrust per stride, as indicated by increased tail-beat frequency. Acclimatisation to 4 °C led to an increased mass of slow muscle and more effective tail beats (greater stride length at lower frequencies), relative to animals at higher temperatures. Fish acclimatised to 18 °C had the lowest stride length and a reduced aerobic swimming capacity. Sustainable levels of aerobic exercise were reflected in unchanged values for mean heart rate and arterial blood pressure between rest and imposed, graded exercise. Radiolabelled microspheres were used to determine cardiac output (V.b) and regional blood flow distribution simultaneously in fish, both at rest and while swimming, for each acclimatisation temperature. Fish acclimatised to 11 °C had the greatest scope for increasing V.b. This resulted in a significant hyperaemia in slow muscle upon exercise (10-fold increase), without an active redistribution of flow from other tissues. Maximum V.b at 18 °C did not differ significantly from that at 11 °C but, because resting V.b was higher, the scope was reduced and was similar to that found at 4 °C. Specific blood flow to the active muscle was also reduced and this, together with decreased blood oxygen content and reduced slow muscle mass, may limit aerobic swimming performance at 18 °C.
(E)-2-[4-(Di­ethyl­amino)­styr­yl]-1-methyl­quinolin-1-ium 4-chloro­benzene­sulfonate monohydrate

The asymmetric unit of the title hydrated salt, C22H25N2+·C6H4ClO3S−·H2O, comprises two 2-[4-(di­ethyl­amino)­styr­yl]-1-methyl­quinolin-1-ium cations, two 4-chloro­benzene­sul­fon­ate anions and two solvent water mol­ecules. One ethyl group of both cations displays disorder over two positions in a 0.659 (2):0.341 (2) ratio in one mol­ecule and in a 0.501 (2):0.499 (2) ratio in the other. The sulfonate group of one anion is also disordered over two positions in a 0.893 (7):0.107 (7) ratio. The dihedral angle between the mean plane of the quinolinium ring system and that of benzene ring is 10.57 (18)° in one cation and 14.4 (2)° in the other. In the crystal, cations, anions and water mol­ecules are linked into chains along the [010] direction by O—H⋯Osulfonate hydrogen bonds, together with weak C—H⋯Osulfonate and C—H⋯Cl inter­actions. The cations are stacked by π–π inter­actions, with centroid–centroid distances in the range 3.675 (2)–4.162 (3) A.
Common variation in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 gene is not associated with endometriosis risk.

BACKGROUND Endometriosis is a polygenic disease with a complex and multifactorial aetiology that affects 8-10% of women of reproductive age. Epidemiological data support a link between endometriosis and cancers of the reproductive tract. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) has recently been implicated in both endometrial and breast cancer. Our previous studies on endometriosis identified significant linkage to a novel susceptibility locus on chromosome 10q26 and the FGFR2 gene maps within this linkage region. We therefore hypothesized that variation in FGFR2 may contribute to the risk of endometriosis. METHODS We genotyped 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) densely covering a 27 kb region within intron 2 of FGFR2 including two SNPs (rs2981582 and rs1219648) significantly associated with breast cancer and a total 40 tagSNPs across 150 kb of the FGFR2 gene. SNPs were genotyped in 958 endometriosis cases and 959 unrelated controls. RESULTS We found no evidence for association between endometriosis and FGFR2 intron 2 SNPs or SNP haplotypes and no evidence for association between endometriosis and variation across the FGFR2 gene. CONCLUSIONS Common variation in the breast-cancer implicated intron 2 and other highly plausible causative candidate regions of FGFR2 do not appear to be a major contributor to endometriosis susceptibility in our large Australian sample.
Effect of atorvastatin on bone mineral density in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on bone mineral density in patients with acute ischemic heart disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighty-three patients (52 male and 31 female) with acute coronary syndrome were studied. They received treatment with atorvastatin using low doses (20 mg) and high doses (40 mg-80 mg). Initial and final cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, phosphorus, 25-hydroxyvitamin D were obtained from every patient. Spine and hip bone mineral density were performed at the beginning and one year later. RESULTS Atorvastatin treatment increases vitamin D (33%, p = 0.007) and decreases the individuals with vitamin D insufficiency. Bone mineral density increased in the spine (1.31%, p = 0.02), but it was significant only in male and patients presenting vitamin D levels higher than 30 nmol/l. CONCLUSION Atorvastatin has a beneficial effect on bone metabolism in patients with acute ischemic heart disease (mainly males) by incrementing bone mineral density in which vitamin D levels are required to be higher than 30 nmol/l for the drug to be effective.
ICT-mediated Community Coaching to Improve Physical Activity

It is commonly known that physical activity is important to maintain health and prevent diseases. Many physical activity interventions have been developed to motivate people to be more physically active. Existing ICT-based interventions provide system-to-human feedback as a motivational strategy to be more physically active. In this paper we propose the ICT-mediated Community Coaching functionality as a novel motivational strategy based on human-to-human feedback where we transform the physical activity into a social activity. This paper presents the requirement elicitation, the design and implementation, and the evaluation of the Community Coaching system for physical activity.
Presence of numerous stop codons in HIV-1 reverse transcriptase proviral DNA sequences from patients with virological response to HAART

The impact of proviral DNA reverse transcriptase mutations on virological failure was evaluated in 50 HIV-1 HAART-treated patients switching from a protease inhibitor to a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. Neither the M184I/V mutation detected in 12 patients nor stop codons at tryptophane positions detected in 13 patients were associated with virological failure. Stop codons appeared under successful therapy in 12 patients. Their presence should be assessed in studies with higher statistical power.