Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Degumming of Raw Silk Fabric with Help of Marine Extracellular Protease

Protease secreting microbe was isolated and charact erized on the basis of their morphological, biochem ical, physiological and 16S rDNA based molecular properties. The extracellular protease was quantified and characterized. Protease was used for different time (4, 8, 12 and 24 h) at different temperature (RT a nd 37°C) for optimization of the degumming process for raw silk fabric with enzyme dosage (0.2-1 unit/cm 2 of fabric). Post-enzymatic treatment, the fabric quali ty and texture was compared with conventionally tre ated as well as untreated fabric in terms of degumming l oss, tensile strength and yarn count and colour fas tness to light/water. The isolate SM1 ( Bacillus thuringensis ) was able to grow in Carbon Minimal Salt Medium (CMSM) with jaggery or tamarind as the carbon source (0.3% w/v). Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescense (EDXRF) data showed intracellular accumulation of heavy metal by the isolate. Extracellular protease w as able to degum silk fabric within 4 h at RT with enz yme concentration of 0.8unit/cm 2 and the maximum degumming loss was 21.72%. Post enzymatic degumming, a shiny texture was observed under Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) and the yarn volume also increased. Utilization of CMSM made the process cost effective during large scale application. Intracellular metal accumulation and growth in a wide range of temperature and pH made the isolate a potential candidate for bioremediation . Extracellular protease with significant degumming p roperty could be used as an eco friendly approach a s compared to the conventional chemical treatment.
Inactivation of simian rotavirus SA11 by chlorine, chlorine dioxide, and monochloramine

The kinetics of inactivation of simian rotavirus SA11 by chlorine, chlorine dioxide, and monochloramine were studied at 5 degrees C with a purified preparation of single virions and a preparation of cell-associated virions. Inactivation of the virus preparations with chlorine and chlorine dioxide was studied at pH 6 and 10. The monochloramine studies were done at pH 8. With 0.5 mg of chlorine per liter at pH 6, more than 4 logs (99.99%) of the single virions were inactivated in less than 15 s. Both virus preparations were inactivated more rapidly at pH 6 than at pH 10. With chlorine dioxide, however, the opposite was true. Both virus preparations were inactivated more rapidly at pH 10 than at pH 6. With 0.5 mg of chlorine dioxide per liter at pH 10, more than 4 logs of the single-virus preparation were inactivated in less than 15 s. The cell-associated virus was more resistant to inactivation by the three disinfectants than was the preparation of single virions. Chlorine and chlorine dioxide, each at a concentration of 0.5 mg/liter and at pH 6 and 10, respectively, inactivated 99% of both virus preparations within 4 min. Monochloramine at a concentration of 10 mg/liter and at pH 8 required more than 6 h for the same amount of inactivation.
Novel Vascular Lesions in Mice Given a Non-Peptide Vitronectin Receptor Antagonist

Novel vascular lesions were observed in mice given an αvβ3, αvβ5 receptor antagonist (SB-273005) for up to 3 months. Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) necrosis was observed in aorta and renal hilar arteries approximately 6 hours after dosing followed by loss of VSMC, adaptive medial thickening by VSMC hypertrophy and deposition of PAS-positive matrix and collagen. Renal hilar and arcuate arteries developed delayed and transient fibrinoid necrosis and inflammation. Vascular regeneration was not evident following drug-withdrawal after 3 days of dosing. Vascular lesions were associated with necrosis, regeneration and fibrosis of heart, kidney and spleen consistent with initial ischemic injury followed by tissue repair. VSMC toxicity was likely not related to integrin antagonism because lesions were not observed with related compounds and no vascular changes were observed in other preclinical species. In vitro studies failed to demonstrate a direct toxic effect of SB-273005 on VSMC or unique species sensitivity of murine VSMC. In conclusion, SB-273005 caused VSMC necrosis in aorta and renal arteries of mice. Lesions did not progress or recover, but there was medial hypertrophic adaptation even with continued dosing. This is considered direct species-specific VSMC toxicity of unknown mechanism and unrelated to vitronectin receptor antagonism.
Self-Interest Bias in Moral Judgments of Others’ Actions

The automatic and affective nature of moral judgments leads to the expectation that these judgments are biased by an observer’s own interests. Although the idea of self-interest bias is old, it has never been directly tested with respect to the moral judgments of other individuals’ behaviors. The participants of three experiments observed other individuals’ counternormative behavior (breaking a rule or cheating for gain), which was judged as immoral. However, this judgment became much more lenient when the observers gained from the observed behavior. All three studies showed that the influence of self-interest on moral judgments was completely mediated by the observer’s increased liking for the perpetrator of the immoral acts but not by changes in mood. When the participants were induced to dislike the perpetrator (in a moderation-of-process design), the self-interest bias disappeared. Implications for the intuitionist approach to moral judgment are discussed.
'I play, therefore I learn?' Measuring the Evolution of Perceived Learning and Game Experience in the Design Flow of a Serious Game

This article explores how the serious game Poverty Is Not a Game (PING) is experienced by high school students in its subsequent design stages. We first focus on the multifaceted construct of game experience and how it is related to serious games. To measure game experience we use the Game Experience Questionnaire and add a perceived learning scale to account for the specificity of serious games in a classroom. Next, the data obtained from testing PING in 22 classrooms are analyzed. Results suggest that the evolution in the different design stages of the game is not just an issue of game experience, but also of usability. Furthermore, little evidence is found indicating that the learning experience changed positively during the different test phases. However, findings show a strong effect of the game experience on perceived learning while the game experience also varies significantly between different classrooms.
Higher Productivity of Growth‐Arrested Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells Expressing the Cyclin‐Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27

We constructed stable Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines which conditionally and coordinately express the model product gene secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) and one of the cytostatic genes p21, p27, and p53175P, a p53 mutant deficient in apoptotic but not cell‐cycle arrest function. The use of dicistronic expression technology allowed the conditional expression of the model product gene and the cytostatic gene in a coordinated fashion from a single expression unit under the control of the tetracycline‐responsive promoter PhCMV*‐1. Due to the presence of a cytostatic gene in the multicistronic expression unit, the growth behavior of the engineered CHO cell lines could be controlled by the addition or withdrawal of the exogenous agent tetracycline to or from the cell culture medium. Withdrawal of tetracycline resulted in sustained growth arrest of the stable cell lines for a prolonged period. The growth arrest of such cell lines was found to be accompanied by a 10–15‐fold increase in their production of SEAP per cell. This controlled proliferation technology allows the design of a novel two‐stage production process which consists of a proliferation phase leading to the desired cell density, followed by an extended production phase during which the cells remain growth‐arrested and increase cell‐specific production of a heterologous protein.
Technical Note - Optimal Structural Results for Assemble-to-Order Generalized M-Systems

We consider an assemble-to-order generalized M-system with multiple components and multiple products, batch ordering of components, random lead times, and lost sales. We model the system as an infinite-horizon Markov decision process and seek an optimal policy that specifies when a batch of components should be produced (i.e., inventory replenishment) and whether an arriving demand for each product should be satisfied (i.e., inventory allocation). We characterize optimal inventory replenishment and allocation policies under a mild condition on component batch sizes via a new type of policy: lattice-dependent base stock and lattice-dependent rationing.
Disappearance of actin‐binding protein, drebrin, from hippocampal synapses in alzheimer's disease

The actin‐binding protein drebrin is localized in postsynaptic terminals in adult brain and is considered to be related to synaptic plasticity. Immunocytochemical study demonstrated that widespread drebrin immunoreactivity was observed in hippocampal formations of control human brains, while Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains showed remarkable reductions in this immunoreactivity. Western blot analysis demonstrated that drebrin E (116 kD) as well as drebrin A (125 kD) presented in adult human brains, and that these isoforms were decreased in parallel in AD brains. On the other hand, synaptic vesicle‐specific 38‐kD protein (SVP‐38), a presynaptic marker was not so changed in AD brains in comparison with control brains by both techniques. These findings suggest that drebrin E and A in the adult human brain may be co‐localized in postsynaptic terminals, and that drebrin may be more sensitive as a marker of synaptic damage than SVP‐38, and that the disappearance of drebrin may contribute to the pathogenesis of memory disturbance in AD. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Novel Battery State-of-Health Estimation Method for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper presents a state-of-health (SOH) estimation method for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, by identifying the bulk capacitance of its equivalent RC circuit model. A novel algorithm is discussed to derive the attenuation factor of the bulk capacitance in different cycles. A discrete nonlinear observer is also designed so that the bulk capacitance can be successfully identified to realize the estimation of SOH, where the established nonlinear system is discretized directly at the sample time to improve the modeling accuracy and reliability. Three experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Study The Overprescription Of Proton Pump Inhibitors And Their Relation With Recurrent Community Aquired Infections In Outpatient Refilled Prescriptions Of Chronic Diseases Patients

Background: proton pump inhibitors are widely used worldwide and studies have demonstrated that the use of PPIs to be associated with various diseases such as several types of infection. Study objectives: to explore the effect of using PPIs on patients through studying some inflammatory biomarkers including WBC, neutrophil count, ESR, CRP, and IL-6. Methods and subjects: a retrospective study design was followed to collect data from study participants. The study included 62 patients receiving PPIs and 60 persons without being prescribed for PPIs. A working sheet was created for each patient and included the following information: age, WBC, neutrophil count, ESR, CRP, and IL-6. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20. The relationship between variables was tested using independent T test. Significance was considered at alpha level < 0.05. Study findings: age was not varied significantly between study group and control group. All inflammatory biomarkers under study were significantly elevated in study group compared with control group. Conclusions: the findings of the present study showed that the use of PPIs was associated significantly with increased inflammatory biomarkers. We think that health settings should pay much attention to the role of pharmacists and pharmacy doctors to increase the awareness about the use of PPIs.
Accuracy of computer-aided oral implant surgery: a clinical and radiographic study.

PURPOSE Computer-aided oral implant surgery offers several advantages over the traditional approach. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vivo accuracy of computer-aided, template-guided oral implant surgery by comparing the three-dimensional positions of planned and placed implants. MATERIALS AND METHODS Oral implant therapy was performed in two treatment centers on eligible patients using computerized tomography (CT)-based software planning and computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture stereolithographic templates. A second CT scan was obtained after surgery. Preoperative and postoperative CT images were compared (planned vs actual implant positions), and the accuracy of this type of image-guided therapy was assessed. RESULTS Twenty-five adult patients were included in this retrospective study; 17 (11 partially and eight fully edentulous arches) were treated in center 1, and eight (six partially and two fully edentulous arches) in center 2. Of the 104 implants inserted with the computer-aided method, 100 integrated, giving a cumulative survival rate of 96% (mean follow-up, 36 months). There were no major surgical complications. With regard to accuracy, 89 implants were available for comparison; mean lateral deviations at the coronal and apical ends of the implants were 1.4 mm and 1.6 mm, respectively. Mean depth deviation was 1.1 mm and mean angular deviation was 7.9 degrees. There was a statistically significant correlation in the accuracy of any implants placed with the same guide. There was no difference in accuracy data from the two private centers; nor could a learning curve be demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS Based upon this clinical study of 25 patients, the following observations were made: (1) computer-aided oral implant surgery used in two treatment centers provided a high likelihood (96%) of implant survival, and (2) deviations from planned implant positions existed in the coronal and apical portions of the implants as well as with implant angulation. Mean deviations were less than 2 mm in any direction and less than 8 degrees.
Awareness of Risk Factors for Skin Infections and its Impact on Quality of Life among Adults in a Malaysian City: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose : To explore the level of awareness of risk factors related to skin infection and its impact on quality of life (QoL) in Klang, Malaysia. Methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in Klang, Malaysia using a validated questionnaire and Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI). A stratified and convenient sampling technique was executed. Multivariate analysis was employed to summarize significant relationships between variables. Results : The prevalence of skin infection was 59 %. A majority (51.9 %) of the participants had experienced or claimed to have bacterial infections of the skin. More than 50 % of them were aware of the risk factors for skin infection. Several significant associations (p < 0.05) between variables of awareness of risk factors associated with skin infection and QoL were documented. Conclusion : Awareness of the risk factors contributing to skin infection do play a major role in improving basic understanding of skin infections and quality of life among Malaysians in Klang. Keywords : Skin infection, Awareness, Risk factors, Quality of Life
Occlusal Forces in Normal- and Long-face Adults

Using both quartz- and foil-based piezo-electric force transducers, occlusal forces during swallow, simulated chewing, and maximum effort were evaluated in 19 long-face and 21 normal individuals. Forces were measured at 2.5 mm and 6.0 mm molar separation. Longface individuals have significantly less occlusal force during maximum effort, simulated chewing, and swallowing than do individuals with normal vertical facial dimensions. No differences in forces between 2.5- and 6.0-mm jaw separation were observed for either group.
Physical Activity Preferences for People Living With Multiple Myeloma: A Qualitative Study

Background: Although physical activity (PA) has significant benefits for people living with multiple myeloma (MM), participation rates are low. Examination of PA preferences will provide important information to clinicians and assist in the development of interventions to increase participation in PA for people living with MM. Objective: The aim of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the PA preferences for people living with MM, including the preferred role of clinicians. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with patients treated for MM within the preceding 2 to 12 months. Interviews were analyzed using content analysis, where coding categories were derived directly from the text data. Results: Twenty-four interviews were conducted (women, 54%; age: mean [SD], 62 [8.8] years); 16 (67%) participants had an autologous stem cell transplant. Light- to moderate-intensity PA during and after treatment was feasible, with the strongest preference for a program 2 to 8 months after treatment. The timing of information delivery was important, as was input from clinicians and organizations with knowledge of MM. Preferences for location, structure, and timing of programs varied. Conclusions: Low- to moderate-intensity PA after treatment is likely to interest people with MM. Programs need to be flexible and consider individual differences in PA preferences, functional status, and treatment schedules. Implications: An individually tailored PA program should form part of clinical care, involving clinicians and organizations with expertise in MM. Options for home-based PA are also important. Further research, including a population-based study of people living with MM, is necessary to further quantify PA preferences.
Pose-Robust Face Verification by Exploiting Competing Tasks

In this paper, we propose a pose-robust metric learning framework for unconstrained face verification by jointly optimizing face and pose verification tasks. We learn a joint model for these two tasks and explicitly discourage the information sharing between pose and identity verification metrics so as to mitigate the information contained in the pose verification task leading to making the identity metrics for face verification more pose-robust. Specifically, we use the joint Bayesian metric learning framework to learn the metrics for both tasks and enforce an orthogonal regularization constraint on the learned projection matrices for the two tasks. The pose labels used for training the joint model are automatically estimated and do not require extra annotations. An efficient stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. We conduct extensive experiments on three challenging unconstrained face datasets and show promising results compared to state-of-the-art methods.
Prolonged administration of erythropoietin increases erythroid response rate in myelodysplastic syndromes: a phase II trial in 281 patients

Summary. Treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) improves anaemia in approximately 20% of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). We investigated the potential advantage of a prolonged administration of rHuEpo to achieve higher erythroid response rates (RR) in 281 MDS patients: 118 with refractory anaemia (RA), 77 with refractory anaemia and ringed sideroblasts (RARS), 59 with refractory anaemia with excess of blasts and blast count < 10% (RAEB‐I), and 27 with RAEB and blast count between 11–20% (RAEB‐II). rHuEpo was given subcutaneously at a dose of 150 U/kg thrice weekly, for a minimum of 26 weeks. Response to treatment was evaluated after 12 and 26 weeks of therapy. The overall RR was 45·1%; the RR for RA, RARS, RAEB‐I and RAEB‐II were 48·3%, 58·4%, 33·8% and 13% respectively. A significant increase in RR was observed at week 26 in RA, RARS and RAEB‐I patients, as the response probability increased with treatment duration. The RR was higher in the good cytogenetic prognostic group and serum Epo level of > 150 U/l at baseline predicted for non‐response. The median duration of response was 68 weeks and the overall risk of leukaemic transformation was 21·7%. These results suggest that prolonged administration of rHuEpo produces high and long‐lasting erythroid RR in MDS patients with low blast counts, particularly in those with pretreatment serum Epo levels of < 150 U/l and good cytogenetic prognosis.
The Human Histidine Decarboxylase Promoter Is Regulated by Gastrin and Phorbol 12-Myristate 13-Acetate through a Downstream cis-Acting Element*

Transcriptional regulation of the human histidine decarboxylase (HDC) gene by gastrin and the phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) was studied using transient transfection of human HDC promoter-luciferase constructs in a human gastric carcinoma cell line (AGS-B) that expresses the human cholecystokinin-B/gastrin receptor. The transcriptional activity of the human HDC promoter was stimulated 3–4-fold by gastrin and 13-fold by PMA, effects that could be blocked by down-regulation or antagonism of protein kinase C. 5′- and 3′-deletion analysis demonstrated that the sequence responsible for gastrin- and PMA-stimulated transactivation (gastrin response element (GAS-RE)) was located in a region (+2 to +24) downstream of the transcriptional start site (+1) in the human HDC promoter and contained a palindrome (5′-AA-3′). When ligated upstream of the herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase promoter, a single copy of the GAS-RE was sufficient to confer responsiveness to gastrin and PMA. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with specific competitors and factor-specific antibody supershifts showed that the labeled GAS-RE bound a novel nuclear factor(s). In addition, both gastrin and PMA increased binding of this factor to the GAS-RE. Hence, the palindromic GAS-RE site is sufficient to explain the gastrin/PMA responsiveness of the human HDC promoter and appears to bind a novel transcription factor.
Associations of Factor VIII and von Willebrand Factor with Age, Race, Sex, and Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis

Summary Several coagulation proteins have been implicated as possible risk factors for the development of atherosclerotic diseases, among which are factor VIII and von Willebrand factor. As part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, a prospective study designed to assess risk factors for the development of atherosclerotic diseases, baseline measurements of factor VIII and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were performed to determine their relationship to the development of atherosclerosis. We herein report the associations of factor VIII and vWF with constitutional, lifestyle, and biochemical factors. Factor VIII and vWF were strongly correlated with each other (r = 0.73), and, therefore, had similar associations with risk factors. Mean levels of both factors were higher in women than in men, in blacks than in whites, and increased with age. In univariate analysis, both were positively associated with diabetes, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, serum insulin, and plasma triglycerides. Both were negatively associated with alcohol intake, educational level, physical activity (with some exceptions), and HDL-cholesterol. No correlations were observed between factor VIII or vWF and plasma LDL-cholesterol or lipoprotein(a). Although factor VIII was negatively associated with smoking in both sexes, vWF was not associated with smoking status. Most of these associations were confirmed in multivariate analysis. The strongest associations observed were of factor VIII and vWF with race and diabetes. In multivariate analysis, blacks had factor VIII and vWF levels 15 to 18 percentage points higher than whites, and diabetics had factor VIII and vWF levels 11 to 18 percentage points higher than non-diabetics. These associations must be taken into account when analyzing the possible role of factor VIII and vWF in the development of atherosclerotic diseases.