Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aspartate Mutations in Presenilin and γ‐Secretase Inhibitors Both Impair Notch1 Proteolysis and Nuclear Translocation with Relative Preservation of Notch1 Signaling

It has been hypothesized that a presenilin 1 (PS1)‐related enzymatic activity is responsible for proteolytic cleavage of the C‐terminal intracellular protein of Notch1, in addition to its role in β‐amyloid protein (Aβ) formation from the amyloid precursor protein (APP). We developed an assay to monitor ligand‐induced Notch1 proteolysis and nuclear translocation in individual cells : Treatment of full‐length Notch1‐enhanced green fluorescent protein‐transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells with a soluble preclustered form of the physiologic ligand Delta leads to rapid accumulation of the C terminus of Notch1 in the nucleus and to transcriptional activation of a C‐promoter binding factor 1 (CBF1) reporter construct. Nuclear translocation was blocked by cotransfection with Notch's physiologic inhibitor Numb. Using this assay, we now confirm and extend the observation that PS1 is involved in Notch1 nuclear translocation and signaling in mammalian cells. We demonstrate that the D257A and the D385A PS1 mutations, which had been shown previously to block APP γ‐secretase activity, also prevent Notch1 cleavage and translocation to the nucleus but do not alter Notch1 trafficking to the cell surface. We also show that two APP γ‐secretase inhibitors block Notch1 nuclear translocation with an IC50 similar to that reported for APP γ‐secretase. Notch1 signaling, assessed by measuring the activity of CBF1, a downstream transcription factor, was impaired but not abolished by the PS1 aspartate mutations or γ‐secretase inhibitors. Our results support the hypotheses that (a) PS1‐dependent APP γ‐secretase‐like enzymatic activity is critical for both APP and Notch processing and (b) the Notch1 signaling pathway remains partially activated even when Notch1 proteolytic processing and nuclear translocation are markedly inhibited. The latter is an important finding from the perspective of therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer's disease by targeting γ‐secretase processing of APP to reduce Aβ production.
The Effect of Ouabain on Histamine Release from Human Skin Mast Cells

0XVWDID uHQRO 0', o +DOLO g]HURO 0', Asha V. Patel, MS, David P. Skoner, MD There are controversial reports on the effect of sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (Na-K ATPase) inhibition on mast cell mediator release. Some of them have indicated that ouabain (strophanthin G), a specific Na-K ATPase inhibitor, inhibited the release, whereas the others have shown that ouabain had no effect or even had a stimulatory effect on the mediator secretion. Most of these studies utilized animal-derived cells. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Na-K ATPase inhibition on human skin mast cells. Unpurified and purified mast cells were obtained from newborn foreskins and stimulated by calcium ionophore A23187 (1 μM) for 30 min following a 1 hr incubation with various concentrations (10 to 10 M) of ouabain. Histamine release was assayed by enzyme immunoassay. The results indicated that ouabain, a Na-K ATPase inhibitor, had no significant effect on the non-immunologic histamine release from human skin mast cells in vitro and suggested differences between human and animal mast cells. [Journal of Turgut Ozal Medical Center 1996;3(4):277-283]
Effects of Peroxidase and Hydrogen Peroxide on the Dityrosine Formation and the Mixing Characteristics of Wheat-Flour Dough

The effects of adding hydrogen peroxide and peroxidase to wheat-flour dough on dityrosine formation and mixing characteristics were investigated. Dityrosine in wheat-flour dough was identified by HPLC with a fluorescence detector and by LC/MS/MS. Formation of dityrosine increased with the addition of hydrogen peroxide, and hydrogen peroxide plus peroxidase, to wheat-flour dough, while the addition of peroxidase had no effect on the amount of dityrosine formed. The mixing curve obtained by a doughgraph changed with the addition of hydrogen peroxide, and hydrogen peroxide plus peroxidase; the peak time was significantly delayed and the dough development time was extended. We found that dityrosine cross-links in wheat-flour dough increased with the addition of peroxidase plus hydrogen peroxide. It is thought that these cross-links can lead to polymerization of the proteins in wheat-flour dough.
Determinants of the EIA Report Quality for Development Cooperation Projects: Effects of Alternatives and Public Involvement

The quality of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports is fundamental to making good decisions and the low quality of EIA reports is a constraint in developed and developing countries. In developing countries, it appears to be very difficult to improve the quality of reports under present constraints such as limited funding, human resources, and information. The purposes of this study are to identify determinants of the overall quality of EIA reports for development cooperation projects that Japan International Cooperation Agency has supported, and to propose benchmarks for satisfactory quality reports under the present situation in developing countries. The study reviewed the quality of 160 reports from 2001 to 2016 and examined factors influencing the overall quality of reports using statistical tests, cluster analysis, and decision tree analysis. The study clarified that the two processes of alternatives and public involvement were determinants and their linkage affected the quality of reports. The study concludes that the just satisfactory grade of alternatives and public involvement at the scoping and draft reporting are the benchmarks for satisfactory EIA reports. Further verification through comparative studies and case studies, is needed to confirm how two processes have an effect on the quality of reports.
Assignment1 of the plakophilin-2 gene (PKP2) and a plakophilin-2 pseudogene (PKP2P1) to human chromosome bands 12p11 and 12p13, respectively, by in situ hybridization

Supported by the Geconcerteerde Onderzoeksactie, the Fund for Scientific Research– Flanders, and the ASLK Verzekeringen, Belgium. S.B. was supported by the Vlaams Instituut voor de bevordering van het Wetenschappelijk-Technologisch Onderzoek in de Industrie. J.v. H. is a postdoctoral fellow with the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders, and F.v. R. is Research Director with the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Blood Cadmium Levels and Incident Cardiovascular Events during Follow-up in a Population-Based Cohort of Swedish Adults: The Malmö Diet and Cancer Study

Background: Cadmium exposure may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The only published longitudinal study on cadmium and incident cardiovascular disease was performed in American Indians with relatively high cadmium exposure. Objectives: Our aim was to examine the association between blood cadmium at baseline and incident cardiovascular events in a population-based study of Swedish men and women with cadmium levels similar to those of most European and U.S. populations. Methods: A Swedish population-based cohort (n = 6,103, age 46–67 years) was recruited between 1991 and 1994. After we excluded those with missing data on smoking, 4,819 participants remained. Acute coronary events, other major cardiac events, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality were followed until 2010. Associations with blood cadmium (estimated from cadmium in erythrocytes) were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression including potential confounders and important cardiovascular risk factors. Results: Hazard ratios for all cardiovascular end points were consistently increased for participants in the 4th blood cadmium quartile (median, 0.99 μg/L). In models that also included sex, smoking, waist circumference, education, physical activity, alcohol intake, serum triglycerides, HbA1c, and C-reactive protein, the hazard ratios comparing the highest and lowest quartiles of exposure were 1.8 (95% CI: 1.2, 2.7) for acute coronary events, and 1.9 (1.3, 2.9) for stroke. Hazard ratios in never-smokers were consistent with these estimates. Conclusions: Blood cadmium in the highest quartile was associated with incident cardiovascular disease and mortality in our population-based samples of Swedish adults. The consistent results among never-smokers are important because smoking is a strong confounder. Our findings suggest that measures to reduce cadmium exposures are warranted, even in populations without unusual sources of exposure. Citation: Barregard L, Sallsten G, Fagerberg B, Borné Y, Persson M, Hedblad B, Engström G. 2016. Blood cadmium levels and incident cardiovascular events during follow-up in a population-based cohort of Swedish adults: the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study. Environ Health Perspect 124:594–600; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1509735
Infectious agents identified in aborted swine fetuses in a high-density breeding area

Reproductive failure in sows is one of the most important factors affecting pig breeding. Many reproductive disorders are linked to both environmental factors and infectious agents. The goal of our study was to determine the presence of pathogens that are known to cause abortion, considering a set of conditioning factors, such as seasonality and pregnancy period. A large number of aborted fetuses (1,625 fetuses from 140 farms) from a high-density breeding area in northern Italy was analyzed for a period of 3 years. The pigs were diagnosed based on direct (culture, PCR) or indirect (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) evidence. An infectious etiologic agent was found in 323 of 549 cases of abortion (58.8%). These included viral agents (Porcine circovirus-2, 138/323; Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, 108/323; porcine parvovirus, 20/323; pseudorabies virus, 6/323; and Encephalomyocarditis virus, 3/323) and bacteria (Escherichia coli, 64/323; Streptococcus sp., 63/323; Staphylococcus sp., 5/323; Pasteurella sp., 3/323; Shigella sp., 1/323; and Yersinia sp., 1/323). This study describes the prevalence of infectious agents involved in reproductive failure in a high-density swine population. The data can be useful to swine breeders, practitioners, and medical specialists in monitoring animal health and in supervising the breeding process.
Determination of theoretical retention times for peptides analyzed by reversed- -phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Background. Peptides are important components of foods mainly due to their biological activity. The basic method of their identification is reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-ESI-MS). Retention time (tR) prediction in silico is very helpful in analysis of multicomponent peptide mixtures. One of problems associated with RP-HPLC-ESI-MS is deterioration of mass spectra quality by trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This problem can be avoided through the use of chromatographic columns designed for work with low TFA concentrations in mobile phase. The objective of this study was to determine the correlations between peptide retention times predicted with the use of a program available on-line and experimental retention times obtained using the column working with low TFA concentrations. Material and methods. The set of synthetic peptides and bovine α-lactalbumin fragments (18 peptides) was used in the experiment. Theoretical retention times were calculated using Sequence Specific Retention Calculator (SSRC) program. The experimental retention times were measured via RP-HPLC-ESI-MS method using column working with low TFA content. The dependence between theoretical and experimental tR was expressed via empirical equations. Results. The best correlation between theoretical and experimental retention times of peptides containing at least four amino acid residues has been obtained when third order polynomial (R2 = 0.9536). Prediction quality for diand tripeptides was significantly lower. The method described can be applied for cysteine-containing peptides although our sample preparation procedure did not include modification of this amino acid, taken into attention by SSRC program.
Inhibition and working memory in young preschool children with symptoms of ADHD and/or oppositional-defiant disorder

Background: Early symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) are associated with deficits in cognitive self-regulatory processes or executive functions (EF)s. However, the hypothesis that neurocognitive deficits underlying the two disorders are already evident during early preschool years still has limited empirical support. The present study investigated associations between symptoms of ADHD and/or ODD and two core EFs, inhibition and working memory, in a large nonclinical sample of 3-year old children. Method: Participants were 1045 children (554 boys, age 37–47 months), recruited from the population based Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Relations between behavioral symptoms and measures of inhibition and working memory were studied both categorically and dimensionally. Results: Children with co-occurring symptoms of ADHD and ODD performed at a significantly lower level than typically developing children in 4 out of 5 EF measures. Symptoms of ADHD, both alone and in combination with ODD, were associated with reduced performance on tests of inhibition in the group comparisons. Dimensional analyses showed that performance within both EF domains contributed to variance primarily in ADHD symptom load. The associations between test results and behavioral symptoms remained significant after gender and verbal skills had been controlled. Conclusion: Young preschoolers show the same pattern of relations between EF and behavioral symptoms of ADHD and/or ODD as previously described in older children diagnosed with ADHD and/or ODD. Effect sizes were generally small, indicating that measures of EF have limited clinical utility at this stage in development.
M-gated Scheduling in Wireless Networks: Performance and Cross-layer Design

E-limited (or K-limited) scheduling is attractive because its performance is close to that of the exhaustive scheduling which is proven to be the optimal polling scheme for symmetric systems (same traffic offered to all queues) by some researches. If the parameter K is chosen properly, E- limited scheduling can avoid the unfairness, which is an inherent problem for the exhaustive service on a short time scale. In this paper, M-gated scheduling which is superior to E- limited is proposed to be used in wireless networks. With the method of the imbedded Markov points and the probability generating function, we develop a model for this novel scheduling algorithm with vacations, where the vacations represent the time periods in which the resource sharing mechanism used is a non-polling mode. The theoretical analyses are consistent with the simulation results. We also use the derived quality of service parameter as the basis for cross- layer design and then analyze its performance.
ANN-Based Optical Performance Monitoring of QPSK Signals Using Parameters Derived From Balanced-Detected Asynchronous Diagrams

We demonstrate a technique of using artificial neural networks trained with parameters derived from asynchronous diagrams for optical performance monitoring of quadrature phase-shift-keying (QPSK) data signals. We show that asynchronous diagrams generated from balanced detection give superior results compared to single-ended detection in a 100 Gb/s QPSK system. Experimental demonstration verifies the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Evaluation of Diagnostic Applications of Monoclonal Antibodies against Avian Influenza H7 Viruses

ABSTRACT A panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) was generated from mice immunized with binary ethylenimine (BEI)-inactivated H7N1 (A/TK/ON/18-2/00) virus. Using a dot blot assay, six of seven MAbs reacted with viruses of the H7 subtype, but not with any of the other 15 hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes tested. Four of the seven MAbs reacted with 14 different H7 isolates, indicating that the MAbs binding epitopes are conserved among viruses of the H7 subtype. The binding epitopes of all seven MAbs were conformational and reacted with the HA1 fraction of the HA protein in Western blots under nonreducing conditions. Applications of these MAbs in the development of rapid tests for H7 subtype viruses were evaluated. The MAbs demonstrated reactivity with AI virus H7 antigen in immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry assays. Monoclonal antibody 3 showed a very strong immunostaining in the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue from the H7N3 virus-infected chicken. A double-antibody sandwich (DAS) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed using two of the MAbs. The DAS ELISA specifically detected all H7 strains tested in this study. A competitive ELISA (cELISA) for the detection of H7-specific antibodies was evaluated using one MAb and BEI-inactivated H7N1 virus as the antigen. All infected birds showed positive antibody responses at 7 days postinfection. The sensitivity of this cELISA was comparable with that of an influenza A nucleoprotein-based cELISA. This panel of MAbs is valuable in the development of various immunoassays.
Impact Of Non-Performing Assets On The Profitability Of Banks Â€“ A Selective Study

Non-performing Asset is a vital factor in the examination of financial performance of a bank. Non-Performing Asset is the key term for the banking corporations. Non-Performing Assets show the competence of the performance of the banks. Non-Performing Assets means which amount is not received by the bank in return of loans disbursed. Non-Performing Assets affect not only the finance institution but the total financial system. Thus a selective study has been done on public sector banks in India to evaluate the effect of Non-Performing Assets on the profitability of banks. Banks today are not judged only on the basis of number of branches and volume of deposits but also on the basis of standard of assets. NPAs negatively effect on the profitability, liquidity and solvency of the banks. This paper analyses the circumstances of NPAs in selected banks namely State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, United Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank and Central Bank India. It also highlights the policies followed by the banks to tackle the NPAs and suggests a multi-pronged strategy for speedy recovery of NPAs in banking sector. Seven Public Sector Banks has been selected for the study the relation between Gross NPA and Net Profit of seven banks. In this paper is applying the panel regression. The result shows that except for SBI and PNB all the other banks exhibit a negative correlation between their gross Non-Performing Assets and net profits. But SBI and PNB is increased the net profit every year not affected by Gross Non-Performing Assets. Both banks are paying attention towards their NPA to recover their pending loans. The study is based upon secondary data recovered from Report of Progress of banking in India, Websites, Journals and Articles. The scope of the study is limited to analysis of nonperforming assets of public sector banks covering the period of 2007-2016.
On-line detection of stator winding short-circuit faults in a PM machine using HF signal injection

This paper presents a high frequency (HF) injection scheme to detect short-circuits faults in the stator winding of a VSI-fed permanent magnet (PM) machine. The proposed approach is derived from sensorless control schemes based on HF voltage signal injection for tracking position in a surface-mount PM machine. In this paper the method of space-modulation profiling (SMP) is used to obtain a magnetic signature of the machine operating under healthy conditions. This signature can then be compared with the on-line measured saliency profile during normal operation to detect any abnormality in the drive's performance. The main application of the presented scheme is for the detection of windings problems such as insulation breakdowns and short circuits. Experimental results are shown for the case of a PM servo drive where incipient and full short-circuit faults have been emulated and successfully detected. Due to its relatively simple implementation and since no additional transducers are required, this approach presents an interesting alternative for condition monitoring.
An exploration of international acquisition and Joint Venture collaborationas means for closing strategic deficiencies of automotive suppliers: Providing an evidence-based advisory framework for cross-border transactions with USpartners

Purpose/objectives: The study considered international Joint Venture projects (‘IJV’) and international acquisitions (for recognition purposes, the term of international Mergers & Acquisitions ‘IM&A’ is used even though mergers are not specifically part of the study) with a focus on automotive suppliers in the passenger car market and regionally on US partners. The objective was to analyse how suppliers in the automotive industry can close their strategic deficiencies through these IJV and IM&A transactions. The regional focus on US partners was chosen, as the USA is a major market for automotive suppliers (volumes/size and innovation-focus). The idea was to identify, categorise, and subsequently analyse decision-making parameters of the engagement in IJV and IM&A. Design/methodology/approach: The research had two main areas: a general literature review and an empirical part with a case study approach. As the research drew on a constructivist perspective, the empirical part of the research was conducted with a qualitative approach. At the centre were three case studies of a major German supplier analysed in depth: one IM&A, one IJV and one ‘hybrid’ transaction. These studies examined good practices, highlights, and challenges through semi-structured interviews. Senior experts in the Business Units and collaboration teams involved in these strategic projects were interviewed. Documentation reviews and the researcher’s own observations flanked these interviews. Findings: Bringing together ideas from the existing literature, and enriching them with insights from projects in the real automotive world, the current study contains valuable considerations about these complex strategic transactions. In order to enhance the deliberate use of these collaborations, the research reflected on the possible alignments of the various parameters and strategic factors. Contributions: The study represents a contribution to the practice and to the academic world, since it is a study to bridge the relevant theory/practice literature with real casestudy- based insights of German-USA inter-firm collaborations in the automotive industry. On that basis, an ‘advisory framework’ was developed to enhance decisionmaking in that area of corporate strategy. It focuses on important factors to consider when engaging in cross-border IJV and IM&A in a specific industry. Research limitations/implications: The research results would need to be further explored in practice, which could be the subject of future research. Limitations from the current study stem from the chosen research design and sample size.