Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brucella suis-Impaired Specific Recognition of Phagosomes by Lysosomes due to Phagosomal Membrane Modifications

ABSTRACT Brucella species are gram-negative, facultatively intracellular bacteria that infect humans and animals. These organisms can survive and replicate within a membrane-bound compartment in phagocytic and nonprofessional phagocytic cells. Inhibition of phagosome-lysosome fusion has been proposed as a mechanism for intracellular survival in both types of cells. However, the biochemical mechanisms and microbial factors implicated in Brucellamaturation are still completely unknown. We developed two different approaches in an attempt to gain further insight into these mechanisms: (i) a fluorescence microscopy analysis of general intracellular trafficking on whole cells in the presence of Brucella and (ii) a flow cytometry analysis of in vitro reconstitution assays showing the interaction between Brucella suis-containing phagosomes and lysosomes. The fluorescence microscopy results revealed that fusion properties of latex bead-containing phagosomes with lysosomes were not modified in the presence of live Brucella suis in the cells. We concluded that fusion inhibition was restricted to the pathogen phagosome and that the host cell fusion machinery was not altered by the presence of live Brucellain the cell. By in vitro reconstitution experiments, we observed a specific association between killed B. suis-containing phagosomes and lysosomes, which was dependent on exogenously supplied cytosol, energy, and temperature. This association was observed with killed bacteria but not with live bacteria. Hence, this specific recognition inhibition seemed to be restricted to the pathogen phagosomal membrane, as noted in the in vivo experiments.
Fluorophotometric determination of aqueous humor flow rate in clinically normal dogs.

OBJECTIVE To determine aqueous humor flow rate in clinically normal dogs, using fluorophotometry. ANIMALS 20 clinically normal Beagles. PROCEDURE A study was performed on 5 dogs to establish an optimal protocol for fluorophotometric determination of aqueous humor flow rate. This protocol then was used to measure aqueous humor flow rate in 15 dogs. Corneas were loaded with fluorescein by topical application, and corneal and aqueous humor fluorescein concentrations were measured 5, 6.5, and 8 hours after application. Concentration-versus-time plots were generated, and slopes and ratios of the fluorescein concentration in the cornea and aqueous humor from these graphs were used to calculate flow rates. Calculations were performed by use of automated software provided with the fluorophotometer and by manual computation, and the 2 calculation methods were compared. RESULTS The protocol established for the 5 dogs resulted in semilogarithmic and parallel decay of corneal and aqueous humor concentrations. Manually calculated mean +/- SD aqueous humor flow rates for left, right, and both eyes were 5.58 +/- 2.42, 4.86 +/- 2.49, and 5.22 +/- 1.87 microl/min, respectively, whereas corresponding flow rates calculated by use of the automated software were 4.54 +/- 3.08, 4.54 +/- 3.10, and 4.54 +/- 2.57 microl/min, respectively. Values for the left eye were significantly different between the 2 computation methods. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Aqueous humor flow rates can be determined in dogs, using fluorophotometry. This technique can be used to assess pathologic states and medical and surgical treatments that alter aqueous humor dynamics.
Amnesic Concentrations of the Nonimmobilizer 1,2-Dichlorohexafluorocyclobutane (F6, 2N) and Isoflurane Alter Hippocampal &thgr; Oscillations In Vivo

Background:Drug-induced temporary amnesia is one of the principal goals of general anesthesia. The nonimmobilizer 1,2-dichlorohexafluorocyclobutane (F6, also termed 2N) impairs hippocampus-dependent learning at relative, i.e., lipophilicity-corrected, concentrations similar to isoflurane. Hippocampal &thgr; oscillations facilitate mnemonic processes in vivo and synaptic plasticity (a cellular model of memory) in vitro and are thought to represent a circuit level phenomenon that supports memory encoding. Therefore, the authors investigated the effects of F6 and isoflurane on &thgr; oscillations (4–12 Hz). Methods:Thirteen adult rats were implanted with multichannel depth electrodes to measure the microelectroencephalogram and were exposed to a range of concentrations of isoflurane and F6 spanning the concentrations that produce amnesia. Five of these animals also underwent control experiments without drug injection. The authors recorded the behavioral state and hippocampal field potentials. They confirmed the electrode location postmortem by histology. Results:The tested concentrations for isoflurane and F6 ranged from 0.035% to 0.77% and from 0.5% to 3.6%, respectively. Isoflurane increased the fraction of time that the animals remained immobile, consistent with sedation, whereas F6 had the opposite effect. Electroencephalographic power in the &thgr; band was less when the animals were immobile than when they explored their environment. F6 suppressed the power of oscillations in the &thgr; band. Isoflurane slowed &thgr; oscillations without reducing total power in the &thgr; band. Conclusions:Drug-induced changes in &thgr; oscillations may be a common basis for amnesia produced by F6 and isoflurane. The different patterns suggest that these drugs alter network activity by acting on different molecular and/or cellular targets.
Extended phenotype of pontocerebellar hypoplasia with infantile spinal muscular atrophy

Pontocerebellar hypoplasia (PCH) is rarely associated with anterior horn cell disease and designated as PCH‐1. This phenotype is characterized by severe muscle weakness and hypotonia starting prenatally or at birth with a life span not exceeding a few months in most cases. Milder disease courses with later onset and longer survival are normally not diagnosed as PCH‐1. We describe the clinical and neuroradiological findings in nine patients out of six siblingships with evidence of cerebellar defects and early onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), representing a broad spectrum of clinical variability. In all patients, the diagnosis of SMA (Werdnig‐Hoffmann disease) was made on the basis of electrophysiological data and muscle biopsy; however, genetic testing failed to confirm the diagnosis of infantile SMA with a gene defect on chromosome 5q and resulted in clinical reevaluation. Age at onset was after a normal period in the first months of life in three siblingships and pre‐ and postnatally in the other three families. Life span was 2–4 years in patients with later onset, and age at death occurred after birth or within months in the more severe group. Two siblingships showed discordant ages at death despite similar treatment. In contrast to the previous definition of PCH‐1, our observations suggest the existence of milder phenotypes with pontocerebellar hypoplasia or olivopontocerebellar atrophy in combination with anterior horn cell loss. A pontine involvement is not necessarily seen by neuroimaging methods. The genetic basis of PCH‐1 remains to be determined. The gene locus for infantile SMA on chromosome 5q could be excluded by linkage studies. Parental consanguinity and affected siblings make autosomal recessive inheritance most likely. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Importance of Director External and Internal Social Networks to Stock Price Crash Risk

Prior research documents that information transmitted via director networks affects firms’ policies and real economic activities. We explore whether information flow through director networks influences managers’ ability to hoard bad news. We find that the extent of external connections of the board of directors is negatively associated with future stock price crash risk. Additional analysis implies that this evidence is driven by firms with more powerful executives, with weaker auditor monitoring, or subject to strong investor protection, and by directors with greater monitoring incentives or responsibilities, with less firm-specific knowledge, and with more valuable reputations to protect. We further find that director external network size is negatively associated with a variety of bad new hoarding signals. Collectively, our research lends empirical support for the monitoring view under which better informed directors narrow the scope for bad news hoarding evident in stock price crash risk. In another series of tests, we fail to find evidence consistent with the information leakage view under which directors pass sensitive firm-specific information to connections who trade on the information before its public release. Other analysis helps dispel the concern that the endogenous match between directors and companies is spuriously responsible for our core results. In contrast to our strong, robust evidence on the role that director external networks play, we only find some results implying that CEO-director internal networks shape stock price crash risk.
THE INFLUENCE OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA ON GENERATION Y ONLINE PURCHASE INTENTIONS

The objective of this study is to determine how the formal and informal communication in social media can be used to affect the Generation Y online purchase intention. Generation Y is selected in this study as this generation is the generation who are heavily depend on social media. Selfadministrated questionnaire is used to gather the respond from the target respondent by using random sampling. The result from the sample size of 230 Generation Y respondents showed that there is positive influence of online sales promotion and word of mouth on the consumers purchase intention. The outcome of this study is very important to give an insights to the business on how they should use the social media to communicate and influence the consumer online purchase intentions.
Vehicle Tracking and Counting System in Dusty Weather with Vibrating Camera Conditions

Traffic surveillance systems are interesting to many researchers to improve the traffic control and reduce the risk caused by accidents. In this area, many published works are only concerned about vehicle detection in normal conditions. The camera may vibrate due to wind or bridge movement. Detection and tracking of vehicles are a very difficult task when we have bad weather conditions in winter (snowy, rainy, windy, etc.) or dusty weather in arid and semiarid regions or at night, among others. In this paper, we proposed a method to track and count vehicles in dusty weather with a vibrating camera. For this purpose, we used a background subtraction based strategy mixed with extra processing to segment vehicles. In this paper, the extra processing included the analysis of the headlight size, location, and area. In our work, tracking was done between consecutive frames via a particle filter to detect the vehicle and pair the headlights using the connected component analysis. So, vehicle counting was performed based on the pairing result. Our proposed method was tested on several video surveillance records in different conditions such as in dusty or foggy weather, with a vibrating camera, and on roads with medium-level traffic volumes. The results showed that the proposed method performed better than other previously published methods, including the Kalman filter or Gaussian model, in different traffic conditions.
Reduction of Postischemic Contractile Dysfunction of the Isolated Rat Heart by Sevoflurane: Comparison with Halothane

Our aims were to evaluate the effect of sevoflurane on postcardioplegic functional recovery of the isolated rat heart including the role of the adenosine triphosphate regulated potassium (KATP) channels and to compare the cardioprotective effects of equipotent concentrations of halothane and sevoflurane. Isolated perfused rat hearts were subjected to 45 or 60 min normothermic cardioplegic arrest and 30 min reperfusion. Sevoflurane (0.9% and 1.7%), halothane (0.4% and 0.8%), or sevoflurane (0.9%) plus glibenclamide (10 &mgr;M) (a KATP channel blocker) were administered at different time intervals. Measurements of mechanical activity were made before and after arrest. Function during reperfusion after cardioplegic arrest was significantly depressed in both untreated and treated hearts. However, sevoflurane administered both before and after arrest, or before only, significantly improved functional recovery after 45 min of cardioplegia. This protective effect was abolished by simultaneous administration of glibenclamide, suggesting a role of the KATP channel. Sevoflurane was as effective as halothane in improving postcardioplegic functional performance. After 45 min of arrest, hearts exposed to either anesthetic at both concentrations had a significantly higher work performance on discontinuation of their administration than untreated controls. After 60 min of arrest, neither anesthetic elicited protection. Implications In view of the possible significance for volatile anesthetics in cardiac surgery, the effects of sevoflurane and halothane were compared on postcardioplegic recovery of rat hearts. Both anesthetics were equally effective in improving functional recovery after normothermic cardioplegic arrest. Sevoflurane’s beneficial effects were abolished by glibenclamide, suggesting a role for the adenosine triphosphate regulated potassium channel.
Transparent and flexible toluene sensor with enhanced sensitivity using adsorption catalyst-functionalized graphene

We have developed a highly sensitive, transparent and flexible toluene sensor using cobalt-metalloporphyrin (Co-MPP)-functionalized graphene as sensing material. The functionalization of MPP enhanced responsiveness (ΔR/Ri) over 200% compared to pristine graphene toward 10 ppm of toluene molecules at room temperature, while it still revealed optical transmittance and mechanical flexibility.
Growth Regulators for Yield and Quality Enhancement in Litchi (Litchi chinensis L) - A Review

The existing gaps in yield potential, production of poor quality, un-attractive fruits and negligible export potential of quality litchi fruit are the main concerns. These need to be combated in modern day fruit production to meet the ever increasing demand to nourish the growing population and increasing the economic returns. Plant growth hormones play important role in the integrated developmental activities of the fruits, yield as well as quality. Exogenous application of plant bio regulators in small quantities has become an important component for inhibiting or modifying the physiological processes by replacing or supplementing the endogenous hormones when their levels are below than required to bring a positive change in the course of plant development, thereby regulating different aspects such as fruit drop, quality and yield. Keeping all these factors in consideration, the present literature has been reviewed to clear the concepts and approaches involved with the use of different PGRs in relation to litchi fruit growth, development, yield, quality, shelf life etc. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 8 (2017) pp. 2152-2159 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Liquidity profitability trade-off: Evidence from medium enterprises

Research Question: This paper examines the impact of liquidity on the profitability of the Serbian polluting medium sized enterprises. Motivation: We study the impact of traditional liquidity indicators and indicators based on cash flow on the profitability. In domestic literature, a contribution in the field of financial stability analysis based on cash-flow is rare, consequently we use cash flow indicators as a liquidity measure. Focus of this paper is on the medium sized enterprises in Serbia being the major sources of environmental pollution. Medium-sized enterprises are the main drivers of economic growth. For improving environmental performance and applying technologies and processes that meet environmental requirements, it is necessary the liquidity and profitability improvement. The progress in the area of environmental protection is the relevant part of the accession process of Serbia to the EU. Idea: The idea of this paper was to empirically examine the liquidity profitability trade-off of selected enterprises. The research was conducted using return on assets as the dependent variable, and three liquidity ratios and three cash flow based indicators as independent variables. Data: The financial analysis is based on the sample of 48 polluting medium-sized enterprises for the period 2010-2015. The official financial statements were taken from the Serbian Business Registers Agency. The data are used on an annual basis. Tools: We tested the panel regression model of profitability with the total number of observations being 288. We estimated the unbalanced panel because our dataset had missing values. It is used the standard pooled OLS estimator. Before estimated panel regression model, we did stationarity and cointegration analysis of sample data. Findings: The results of our study show a significant impact of quick liquidity ratio, cash flow operating margin and cash flow investing margin on profitability measured by return on assets. However, there are no significant effects of current liquidity ratio, operating cash flow liquidity ratio and cash flow financing margin on profitability. The conclusions of our paper refer to the selected enterprises in the observed periods. Contribution: This paper contributes both to the literature concerning liquidity and profitability analysis, since we use cash flow indicators as a liquidity measure.
PENGARUH KOMITE AUDIT, KUALITAS AUDIT, KEPEMILIKAN INSTITUSIONAL, RETURN ON ASSETS, DAN LEVERAGE TERHADAP TAX AVOIDANCE

This study aimed to find how the influence of audit committee, quality audit, institutional ownership, return on assets, and leverage on tax avoidance on property and real estate companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2012-2015. Tax avoidance is a dependent variable, while audit committee, quality audit, institutional ownership, return on assets, and leverage are independent variable. The data used are secondary data and sample of 103 financial statements on property and real estate companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2012-2015. This research used purposive sampling and the data were analyzed by using multiple linier regression analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS software 23 version. The result of the research showed that return on assets have significant positive effects on tax avoidance, while audit committee, quality audit, institutional ownership, and leverage has no significant effects on tax avoidance. To get better research results, further researches may add other variables that have major impact probabilities and use other than property and real estate companies. Key words : audit committee, quality audit, institutional ownership, return on assets, leverage, tax avoidance.
Ultrafast ternary quantizer using resonant tunneling devices

We investigate the performance of ultrafast ternary quantizers using resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) and high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) through circuit simulation and experiments. We first analyze the operation of a quantizer by circuit simulation and studied the factors limiting its performance. We then fabricated a ternary quantizer using InP-based RTDs and 0.7-/spl mu/m HEMTs. A three-valued return-to-zero type waveform was observed at a clock frequency of 10 GHz and an input frequency of 3 GHz.
An Automatic Method of Solving Discrete Programming Problems

In the classical linear programming problem the behaviour of continuous, nonnegative variables subject to a system of linear inequalities is investigated. One possible generalization of this problem is to relax the continuity condition on the variables. This paper presents a simple numerical algorithm for the solution of programming problems in which some or all of the variables can take only discrete values. The algorithm requires no special techniques beyond those used in ordinary linear programming, and lends itself to automatic computing. Its use is illustrated on two ~lumerical examples.
Prevalence, Factors and Consequences of Khat Chewing among High School Students of Gondar Town, Northwestern Ethiopia

Summary Khat (Catha edulis Forsk) is a plant grows in most parts of Ethiopia, contains a psychoactive substance called cathinone (amphetamine analogous). It is widely abused in some east African countries and the Arabian Peninsula. Habitual use of khat is certainly addictive and potentially harmful on physical, psychological and economical well being of the community. To assess the prevalence, factor and impacts of khat chewing among high school students of Gondar town, Northwestern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 397 students of two high schools found in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. A stratified sampling method was used for determination of students in each school. Students in each grade i.e. grade 9-12, were selected by systematic sampling technique. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection from April to May 2008.The result was analyzed by using EPI info version 3.4. 3 statistical software package. The study revealed 12.6% current prevalence of khat chewing, and that of lifetime prevalence was 22.7%. The lifetime prevalence was found to be significantly higher among males (30.2%), Muslims (42. 9%), age group greater than 23 years (42.9%), Tigries (38.7%), and widowed (80%) than their respective counterparts. The lifetime khat chewing was associated with sex (OR=3.4963, X 2 =18.7832, P=0.0000), age (X 2 =13.6309, P=0.0010), religion (X 2 =13.1870, P=0.0104), ethnicity (X 2 =8.5447, P=0.0360) source of money (X 2 =10.1689, P=0.0172), and family job (X 2 =14.3173, P=0.0137). Sixty (67.7%) of the lifetime chewers started chewing after they entered to high schools. Sixty-three (70%) of the lifetime chewers want to stop chewing. Economic and social problems including financial crisis, behavioral change, and loss of working time were mentioned by 115 (29 %) of the students. 265(66.8%) of the respondents strongly disagree with women’s khat chewing. The prevalence of khat chewing is increasing among high school students. Most of the students knew the effects of khat chewing on health and its socio-economic problems. Parents, colleagues, teachers and other concerned bodies should give emphasis on the side of avoiding exposing factors and have pave the ways make quit khat chewing and this will have strong positive impact on the coming new and productive generation of this world.
Thumb Carpal Metacarpal Arthritis

Abstract The thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) joint is the most common site of surgical reconstruction for osteoarthritis in the upper extremity. In patients older than age 75 years, thumb CMC osteoarthritis has a radiographic prevalence of 25% in men and 40% in women. The thumb CMC joint obtains its stability primarily through ligamentous support. A diagnosis of thumb CMC arthritis is based on symptoms of localized pain, tenderness and instability on physical examination, and radiographic evaluation. A reproducible radiographic classification for disease severity is based on the fourstage system described by Eaton. Nonsurgical treatment options include hand therapy, splinting, and injection. Surgical treatment is tailored to the extent of arthritic involvement and may include ligament reconstruction, metacarpal extension osteotomy, arthroscopic partial trapeziectomy, implant arthroplasty, and trapeziectomy with or without ligament reconstruction and tendon interposition.