Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of anticytoplasmic antibodies and their clinical associations.

OBJECTIVES--To characterise the cytoplasmic staining patterns identified by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) of human epithelial (HEp-2) cells and the antigens recognised using additional serological techniques. To define the disease associations of anticytoplasmic antibodies. METHODS--Sera from 1173 patients were screened for cytoplasmic IF staining on HEp-2 cells and the patterns characterised. The presence of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) was evaluated by a sensitive anti-pyruvate dehydrogenase complex enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (IgG) and by immunoblotting. Detection of antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens (ENA) was performed by double immunodiffusion and the presence of anti-ribosomal P antibodies was determined by immunoblotting. RESULTS--Cytoplasmic IF staining was demonstrated in 75 sera (6.4%). Six different patterns were recognised: coarse granular filamentous speckles (AMA, n = 9); condensed large speckles (anti-golgi apparatus antibodies, n = 3); cytoskeletal (n = 9); centriolar (n = 4); diffuse coarse speckles (n = 33); and fine speckles (n = 17). Of the nine sera with an AMA pattern, the presence of these antibodies was confirmed in seven by the ELISA (n = 6) and on immunoblotting (n = 7). One of the seven patients had primary biliary cirrhosis, and two had scleroderma. Two patients with anti-golgi antibodies had rheumatoid arthritis and two with anticentriolar antibodies had scleroderma. Of 33 sera that had cytoplasmic staining and were ANA negative, three were positive for anti-Ro and two were positive for anti-Jo-1 antibodies. CONCLUSIONS--In general, defined cytoplasmic IF patterns have no specific disease associations. However, the finding of cytoplasmic fluorescence should not be ignored, as it may indicate the presence of antibodies to ENA in the absence of nuclear staining.
Sodium dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of human parotid salivary proteins

The proteins in human parotid saliva have been separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis into 20 or more well resolved species. The Coomassie Brilliant Blue (CBB) R‐250 and silver staining procedures have been modified to overcome the problems encountered with staining of praline‐rich proteins. By means of the CBB R‐250 procedure which stains praline‐rich proteins pink‐violet, immunoblotting, concanavalin A binding, periodate‐Schiff staining and zinc binding, all of the major proteins have been characterised. Substantial individual‐to‐individual differences were observed in the protein patterns formed. Comparison of parotid, submandibular, and whole saliva from a single individual indicated that fewer proline‐rich proteins are expressed in submandibular saliva than in parotid, but whole saliva contains much lower levels than either duct secretion. The results will form a useful base for future research into the functions of salivary proteins.
Comparison of Kasai Autocorrelation and Maximum Likelihood Estimators for Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography

In optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ultrasound, unbiased Doppler frequency estimators with low variance are desirable for blood velocity estimation. Hardware improvements in OCT mean that ever higher acquisition rates are possible, which should also, in principle, improve estimation performance. Paradoxically, however, the widely used Kasai autocorrelation estimator's performance worsens with increasing acquisition rate. We propose that parametric estimators based on accurate models of noise statistics can offer better performance. We derive a maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) based on a simple additive white Gaussian noise model, and show that it can outperform the Kasai autocorrelation estimator. In addition, we also derive the Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB), and show that the variance of the MLE approaches the CRLB for moderate data lengths and noise levels. We note that the MLE performance improves with longer acquisition time, and remains constant or improves with higher acquisition rates. These qualities may make it a preferred technique as OCT imaging speed continues to improve. Finally, our work motivates the development of more general parametric estimators based on statistical models of decorrelation noise.
Dietary Anthocyanins against Obesity and Inflammation

Chronic low-grade inflammation plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of obesity, due to its associated chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases and cancer. Thus, targeting inflammation is an attractive strategy to counter the burden of obesity-induced health problems. Recently, food-derived bioactive compounds have been spotlighted as a regulator against various chronic diseases due to their low toxicity, as opposed to drugs that induce severe side effects. Here we describe the beneficial effects of dietary anthocyanins on obesity-induced metabolic disorders and inflammation. Red cabbage microgreen, blueberry, blackcurrant, mulberry, cherry, black elderberry, black soybean, chokeberry and jaboticaba peel contain a variety of anthocyanins including cyanidins, delphinidins, malvidins, pelargonidins, peonidins and petunidins, and have been reported to alter both metabolic markers and inflammatory markers in cells, animals, and humans. This review discusses the interplay between inflammation and obesity, and their subsequent regulation via the use of dietary anthocyanins, suggesting an alternative dietary strategy to ameliorate obesity and obesity associated chronic diseases.
Erwinia amylovora pyrC mutant causes fire blight despite pyrimidine auxotrophy

Erwinia amylovora bacteria cause fire blight disease, which affects apple and pear production worldwide. The Erw. amylovora pyrC gene encodes a predicted dihydroorotase enzyme involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis. Here, we discovered that the Erw. amylovora pyrC244::Tn5 mutant was a uracil auxotroph. Unexpectedly, the Erw. amylovora pyrC244::Tn5 mutant grew as well as the wild‐type in detached immature apple and pear fruits. Fire blight symptoms caused by the pyrC244::Tn5 mutant in immature apple and pear fruits were attenuated compared to those caused by the wild‐type. The pyrC244::Tn5 mutant also caused severe fire blight symptoms in apple tree shoots. A plasmid‐borne copy of the wild‐type pyrC gene restored prototrophy and symptom induction in apple and pear fruit to the pyrC244::Tn5 mutant. These results suggest that Erw. amylovora can obtain sufficient pyrimidine from the host to support bacterial growth and fire blight disease development, although de novo pyrimidine synthesis by Erw. amylovora is required for full symptom development in fruits.
Examination of the Watershed-Wide Distribution of Escherichia coli along Southern Lake Michigan: an Integrated Approach

ABSTRACT Recent research has highlighted the occurrence of Escherichia coli in natural habitats not directly influenced by sewage inputs. Most studies on E. coli in recreational water typically focus on discernible sources (e.g., effluent discharge and runoff) and fall short of integrating riparian, nearshore, onshore, and outfall sources. An integrated “beachshed” approach that links E. coli inputs and interactions would be helpful to understand the difference between background loading and sewage pollution; to develop more accurate predictive models; and to understand the differences between potential, net, and apparent culturable E. coli. The objective of this study was to examine the interrelatedness of E. coli occurrence from various coastal watershed components along southern Lake Michigan. The study shows that once established in forest soil, E. coli can persist throughout the year, potentially acting as a continuous non-point source of E. coli to nearby streams. Year-round background stream loading of E. coli can influence beach water quality. E. coli is present in highly variable counts in beach sand to depths just below the water table and to distances at least 5 m inland from the shore, providing a large potential area of input to beach water. In summary, E. coli in the fluvial-lacustrine system may be stored in forest soils, sediments surrounding springs, bank seeps, stream margins and pools, foreshore sand, and surface groundwater. While rainfall events may increase E. coli counts in the foreshore sand and lake water, concentrations quickly decline to prerain concentrations. Onshore winds cause an increase in E. coli in shallow nearshore water, likely resulting from resuspension of E. coli-laden beach sand. When examining indicator bacteria source, flux, and context, the entire “beachshed” as a dynamic interacting system should be considered.
Internal Capital Market Efficiency and the Diversification Discount: The Role of Financial Statement Comparability

This paper investigates how financial statement comparability affects the efficiency of internal capital markets and diversification discounts in multiâ€ segment firms through monitoring mechanisms. Previous studies suggest that financial statement comparability improves transparency and reduces the cost of information processing, mitigating information asymmetry between managers and shareholders. Using measures of comparability and internal capital efficiency, we find that financial statement comparability has a strong positive influence on internal capital market efficiency. Further, we find that by improving the efficiency of internal capital markets, financial statement comparability indeed mitigates diversification discounts. Especially, the effect of financial statement comparability is more pronounced for firms with high information asymmetry or operating environment volatility. The results support our arguments that financial statement comparability enhances the efficiency of internal capital markets and increases firm value in diversified firms by mitigating agency problems via monitoring and corporate control mechanisms.
Endogenous Debt‐Equity Ratio and Balance‐Sheet Channel: Implications for Growth and Welfare

This paper endogenizes the debt&#8208;equity ratio and embodies financial leverage in a cash&#8208;in&#8208;advance model of endogenous growth. Our analysis finds that the debt&#8208;equity ratio is positively related to the balanced&#8208;growth rate, since it serves as a &#8216;financial accelerator&#8217; to stimulate investment projects. Compared to previous studies, this positive relationship gives rise to an additional balance&#8208;sheet effect, which substantially affects the macroeconomic consequences of monetary and taxation policies. Due to the existence of the balance&#8208;sheet effect, we also find that the Friedman rule is not necessarily optimal.
Microfinance, gender and entrepreneurial behaviour of families in Ghana

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between microfinance participation and entrepreneurial behaviour of Ghanaian families as well as the moderating role of the family head’s gender. It is argued from a resource-based theory perspective that microfinance is a financial resource that removes credit constraints to entrepreneurial behaviour of families. However, gender of the family head creates heterogeneity in this relationship in line with the gender theory. ,In order to test these claims, cross-sectional data from 2,727 families on microfinance participation and household characteristics in Ghana are utilised. ,The study finds that microfinance participation has a positive and significant relationship with a family’s decision to own an enterprise. Also, the study finds that female-headed families are better utilizers of microfinancial resources for entrepreneurial purposes compared to their male counterparts. This difference is a pure gender effect. ,This finding is in contrast to the dominant stream of gender-based entrepreneurship research that suggests that women are subordinate to men and need to be helped to become “honorary men”. From a policy standpoint, solutions aimed at reversing discrimination against women in economic markets must consider women within their own right. The study makes a contribution to the literature by showing empirically the source of heterogeneity in entrepreneurial returns to microfinance participation by families.
Antimicrobial activity in cultures of endophytic fungi isolated from Garcinia species.

The aim of the present study was to screen for antimicrobial activity in endophytic fungi isolated from surface sterilized leaves and branches of five Garcinia plants, G. atroviridis, G. dulcis, G. mangostana, G. nigrolineata and G. scortechinii, found in southern Thailand. Fermentation broths from 377 isolated fungi were tested for antimicrobial activity by the agar diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were obtained for crude ethyl acetate extracts. Seventy isolates (18.6%) displayed antimicrobial activity against at least one pathogenic microorganism, such as Staphylococcus aureus, a clinical isolate of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. The results revealed that 6-10%, 1-2% and 18% of the crude ethyl acetate extracts inhibited both strains of S. aureus (MIC 32-512 microg mL(-1)), Ca. albicans and Cr. neoformans (MIC 64-200 microg mL(-1)), and Microsporum gypseum (MIC 2-64 microg mL(-1)), respectively. Isolates D15 and M76 displayed the strongest antibacterial activity against both strains of S. aureus. Isolates M76 and N24 displayed strong antifungal activity against M. gypseum. Fungal molecular identification based on internal transcribed spacer rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that isolates D15 (DQ480353), M76 (DQ480360) and N24 (DQ480361) represented Phomopsis sp. , Botryosphaeria sp. and an unidentified fungal endophyte, respectively. These results indicate that some endophytic fungi from Garcinia plants are a potential source of antimicrobial agents.
Impact of Organizational Career Management Activities on Organizational Commitment of Early, Mid, and Late Stage Career Professionals

Impact of Organizational Career Management Activities on Organizational Commitment of Early, Mid, and Late Stage Career Professionals by Melissa J. Furman May 2018 Chair: Patricia Ketsche Major Academic Unit: Executive Doctorate in Business Organizational commitment continues to be studied by researchers and practitioners due to the presumed relationships with important organizational outcomes such as turnover, performance, and absenteeism. Organizations are challenged with identifying practices such as organizational career management activities that will reduce costs associated with low performance and high turnover while recognizing the diversity of their workforces as it relates to early, mid, and late stage career professionals. Understanding the needs and unique characteristics of early, mid, and late career stage professionals can better inform organizations’ decision to invest in organizational career management activities to enhance organizational commitment across all three career stages. In this study, the impact of the availability and utilization of organizational career management activities on organizational commitment is studied through the lens of Perceived Organizational Support Theory. Results indicate that the availability and utilization of organizational career management activities have a positive relationship with perceived organizational support and perceived organizational support has a positive relationship with affective, normative, and continuance organizational commitment. Organizational career management activities do not have a direct relationship with turnover
A cafeteria diet modifies the response to chronic variable stress in rats

Stress is known to lead to metabolic and behavioral changes. To study the possible relationships between stress and dietary intake, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed one of three diets for 6 weeks: high carbohydrate (HC), high fat (HF), or “Cafeteria” (CAF) (Standard HC plus a choice of highly palatable cafeteria foods: chocolate, biscuits, and peanut butter). After the first 3 weeks, half of the animals from each group (experimental groups) were stressed daily using a chronic variable stress (CVS) paradigm, while the other half of the animals (control groups) were kept undisturbed. Rats were sacrificed at the end of the 6-week period. The effects of stress and dietary intake on animal adiposity, serum lipids, and corticosterone were analyzed. Results showed that both chronic stress and CAF diet resulted in elevated total cholesterol, increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL). In addition, increases in body weight, food intake, and intra-abdominal fat were observed in the CAF group compared with the other dietary groups. In addition, there was a significant interaction between stress and diet on serum corticosterone levels, which manifest as an increase in corticosterone levels in stressed rats relative to non-stressed controls in the HC and HF groups but not in the CAF group. These results show that a highly palatable diet, offering a choice of food items, is associated with a reduction in the response to CVS and could validate a stressor-induced preference for comfort food that in turn could increase body weight.
A chaotic time-delay system based digital RNG and integrated autonomous test suite

This paper presents a time-delay system which originally has chaotic behavior, yet lost that dynamic due to finite quantization levels of state variable representation. One method to overcome this destructive effect of digitalization is engaging a time-varying delay amount which is studied in this paper. Based on this system, random number generator (RNG) topologies are demonstrated with better throughput values in comparison with our previous implementations. Online performance monitoring ability is integrated to the RNG for a further investigation on physical implementation variations. The results related to the implementation area variation and target Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip variation are reported and discussed. The initial findings promise an advanced usage of proposed RNGs as Physically Unclonnable Function (PUF).
Development of a process for the production of L-amino-acids concentrates from microalgae by enzymatic hydrolysis

A process for the production of L-amino-acids concentrates from microalgae biomass by enzymatic hydrolysis has been developed. The process includes pre-treatment for cell-disruption, enzymatic hydrolysis and final separation by centrifugation. Thermal and mechanical cell-disruption methods have been tested, selecting mechanical disruption using bead milling for 30 min. The enzymatic hydrolysis was done using the commercial enzymes Alcalase and Flavourzyme. Maximum hydrolysis was obtained for biomass concentrations under 270 g/l and previous additional treatment with Viscozyme, reaching a 42% hydrolysis. Repeated reaction steps increased the hydrolysis from 42% (4 h) with a single step to 59% (8 h) after two successive steps. Further increase of the number of steps had a meagre impact on the global yield. The process widens the portfolio of products that can be obtained from microalgae biomass and is a new possibility to enhance the economic viability of microalgae-based biofuels production
Voltage dependence of mouse acetylcholine receptor gating: different charge movements in di‐, mono‐ and unliganded receptors.

1. The voltage dependence of binding and gating in wild‐type and mutant recombinant mouse nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) was examined at the single‐channel level. 2. The closing rate constant of diliganded receptors decreased e‐fold with approximately 66 mV hyperpolarization in both wild‐type (adult and embryonic) and mutant receptors. The opening rate constant of a mutant receptor (alpha Y93F) was not voltage dependent. 3. The voltage dependence of closing in monoliganded receptors was examined in several receptors having a mutation in the binding site (alpha G153S) or pore region (alpha L251C and epsilon T264P). The closing rate constant of these monoliganded receptors decreased e‐fold with approximately 124 mV hyperpolarization. 4. The voltage dependence of closing and opening in unliganded receptors was examined in two receptors having a mutation in the pore region (alpha L251C and epsilon T264P). Neither the closing nor the opening rate constants of unliganded receptors were voltage dependent. 5. If z if the amount of charge that moves during channel closure and delta is the distance (as a fraction of the electric field) that the charge moves, we conclude that z delta = 0.4 in diliganded receptors, 0.2 in monoliganded receptors, and 0.0 in unliganded receptors. It is likely that charges on the protein, rather than the agonist molecule, move z delta = 0.2 after each ACh molecule has bound. 6. The results suggest that unliganded openings arise from a local, concerted change in the structure of the pore (channel opening) that does not involve the net movement of charged residues. We speculate that as a consequence of agonist binding, charged moieties in the protein change their disposition so that they move with respect to the electric field when the channel gates. The results are consistent with the idea that there is semi‐independent movement of distinct domains during AChR gating.
Effect of TiO2/GAC and water vapor on chloroform decomposition in a hybrid plasma-catalytic system

ABSTRACT This paper presents the combination of TiO2/GAC catalyst and NTP for the decomposition of chloroform using a DBD reactor. The experiments were performed using an AC transformer as the power supply system to determine the optimal conditions of the chloroform conversion in the presence of a hydrogen-rich substance, that is, water vapor. TiO2/GAC enhanced the removal efficiency and also CO2 selectivity significantly, leading to an acceptable conversion rate at SIEs higher than 400 J L−1. The adsorption property of GAC was noticed to be an effective factor for catalytic activity by increasing the residence time, although the higher retention time prevented the accurate determination of chlorine and carbon balance. Selectivity toward HCl was improved considerably from 24.3% to 64.3% over catalyst when water was fed as a hydrogen-rich compound. At the same time, the harmful chlorinated by-products such as TCBA and TCE declined significantly. A noticeable enhancement in the selectivity toward CO2 was observed when both catalyst and water were introduced, regardless of the inlet concentration. Our findings suggest that the hybrid of NTP with TiO2/GAC will highly be effective in the abatement of chloroform, and the addition of H2O will successfully decline harmful chlorinated by-products.