Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interaction of signal-recognition particle 54 GTPase domain and signal-recognition particle RNA in the free signal-recognition particle

The signal-recognition particle (SRP) is a ubiquitous protein–RNA complex that targets proteins to cellular membranes for insertion or secretion. A key player in SRP-mediated protein targeting is the evolutionarily conserved core consisting of the SRP RNA and the multidomain protein SRP54. Communication between the SRP54 domains is critical for SRP function, where signal sequence binding at the M domain directs receptor binding at the GTPase domain (NG domain). These SRP activities are linked to domain rearrangements, for which the role of SRP RNA is not clear. In free SRP, a direct interaction of the GTPase domain with SRP RNA has been proposed but has never been structurally verified. In this study, we present the crystal structure at 2.5-Å resolution of the SRP54–SRP19–SRP RNA complex of Methanococcus jannaschii SRP. The structure reveals an RNA-bound conformation of the SRP54 GTPase domain, in which the domain is spatially well separated from the signal peptide binding site. The association of both the N and G domains with SRP RNA in free SRP provides further structural evidence for the pivotal role of SRP RNA in the regulation of the SRP54 activity.
Prothrombotic effect of prostasomes of metastatic cell and seminal origin

Prostasomes are secretory granules produced by the glandular epithelial cells of the prostate. Seminal prostasomes contain high amounts of Tissue Factor (TF) but no studies of TF on malignant cell prostasomes have been made. Here we compare the expression, phosphorylation, and function of TF on prostasomes of different origin.
Preschool Child Care Participation and Obesity at the Start of Kindergarten

OBJECTIVE. We examined the association between type of child care, participation in different types of child care in the year before kindergarten and the likelihood of obesity at the start of kindergarten. METHODS. Using a nationally representative sample of 15 691 first-time kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, we used logistic regression to estimate the relationship between type of primary child care arrangement and children's likelihood of being obese at the start of kindergarten. Our models controlled for family and child characteristics associated with obesity and choice of child care. To examine differential effects of child care participation for groups at high risk for obesity, we tested interactions between children's ethnicity and income with primary type of child care. RESULTS. At the start of kindergarten, 12% of the children were obese. Without controlling for other characteristics of children and families, children not in child care were significantly less likely and children in family, friend, and neighbor care were significantly more likely to be obese than children in other primary child care arrangements. White children were significantly less likely and Latino children more likely to be obese than children of other ethnic groups. After controlling for relevant child and family characteristics, children in family, friend, and neighbor care and non-Latino children in Head Start were more likely to be obese than children not in child care. For Latino children, however, participation in some types of nonparental child care had protective effects on their likelihood of being obese. CONCLUSIONS. Primary type of child care is associated with children's obesity. For Latino children, who are at a greater risk of being obese, participation in nonparental child care seems to have a protective effect. These results suggest that child care settings may be an important site for policy intervention during a crucial developmental period. Efforts to help family, friend, and neighbor caregivers support children's physical health may be warranted.
The potential role of prebiopsy magnetic resonance imaging combined with prostate‐specific antigen density in the detection of prostate cancer

Aim: Two‐thirds of patients with a gray‐zone prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) level undergo unnecessary biopsy. Sensitivity is not yet sufficient to permit the use of modified PSA parameters or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging alone for prostate cancer screening. Thus, we evaluated the combination of MR imaging and PSA density (PSAD) for specificity and sensitivity.
Investigating the association between social interactions and personality states dynamics

The recent personality psychology literature has coined the name of personality states to refer to states having the same behavioural, affective and cognitive content (described by adjectives) as the corresponding trait, but for a shorter duration. The variability in personality states may be the reaction to specific characteristics of situations. The aim of our study is to investigate whether specific situational factors, that is, different configurations of face-to-face interactions, are predictors of variability of personality states in a work environment. The obtained results provide evidence that within-person variability in personality is associated with variation in face-to-face interactions. Interestingly, the effects differ by type and level of the personality states: adaptation effects for Agreeableness and Emotional Stability, whereby the personality states of an individual trigger similar states in other people interacting with them and complementarity effects for Openness to Experience, whereby the personality states of an individual trigger opposite states in other people interacting with them. Overall, these findings encourage further research to characterize face-to-face and social interactions in terms of their relevance to personality states.
Randomized trial of the usefulness of a bile leakage test during hepatic resection.

HYPOTHESIS An intraoperative bile leakage test will assist in decreasing postoperative bile leakage in patients undergoing hepatic resection. DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS One hundred three consecutive patients who were scheduled for hepatic resection without biliary reconstruction. Associated cirrhosis was present in 49 patients (48%), and only 24 (23%) had normal livers. Patients were randomized to undergo (n = 51) or to not undergo (n = 52) a bile leakage test, according to age, liver function, and hepatectomy method. The 2 groups were similar in baseline demographics. INTERVENTION A bile leakage test was carried out by injecting isotonic sodium chloride solution through the cystic duct, and interrupted suturing was taken for a bile leak on the transected liver surface. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The incidence of postoperative bile leakage and the length of the postoperative hospital stay. Bile leakage was defined as continuous drainage, with a bilirubin level of 86 micromol/L or more (> or =5 mg/dL), beyond 1 week. RESULTS Twenty-one patients (41%) in the test group showed a bile leak, and a median of 1 site (range, 1-6 sites) was closed during the test. Postoperative bile leakage was observed in 3 patients (6%) in the test group and in 2 (4%) in the control group (P = .99). The odds ratio of the event was 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.25-9.44). The median postoperative hospital stay lasted 17 (range, 13-47) and 18 (range, 12-41) days for the test and control groups, respectively (P =.98). CONCLUSION This randomized trial suggested no advantage in using a bile leakage test during hepatic resection.
Church dress: Oral narratives of African American women

This study explored church dress of African American women. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why African American women today wear church dress and the significance of this dress. Through an oral history approach, ten participants ranging in age from 70 to 100 years old provided narrative which revealed major influencers on their style and what they have worn throughout their life span. The study explored the women’s experiences within the African American church and the importance it played in the lives of the community providing social, political, and educational support. Oral narratives were analyzed using open and axial coding by the researcher. Symbolic interactionist theory helped in understanding the meanings behind the women’s methods of assembly of garments and accessories. The participants disclosed how garments were acquired and the attachment of status to the methods of acquisition. Evaluation of the data revealed that church denomination did not play as important a role for the participants in this study, however, their mode of dress was used as an outward manifestation of their inner beliefs to present their best to God. Their stories further revealed strong opinions about post-modern church dress and how society influences what is considered proper dress for church. The stories told by these women of their lives through dress explained how their clothing was symbolic of strong religious beliefs as well as a way of life for proper women and disclosed meanings about their self-concept related to dress. Age seemed to be the most significant theme that linked the ideas of church dress.
A novel cyclic algorithm for maximum likelihood frequency estimation

An algorithm for estimation of frequencies of narrowband sources from noisy observation data is presented. For Gaussianly distributed noise, the algorithm produces maximum likelihood estimates, otherwise least-squares estimates, are obtained. The proposed algorithm is iterative, and at each step of iteration the optimization is with respect to a single frequency only, and hence simple hardware/software is sufficient for implementation. The performance of the algorithm has been compared with theoretical Cramer-Rao bounds. <<ETX>>
Optical aggregometry versus the PFA–100™: experimental studies in pigs treated with propofol

An experimental study of platelet aggregation was performed in 22 male Landrace 2 Large-White crossbred pigs treated with propofol at different doses, to compare the results of optical aggregometry with those of the PFA-100™ (Dade Int., Miami, FL, USA), a new platelet function analyzer. Platelet aggregation was analyzed in basal blood samples by both methods, after which the pigs were divided into three groups: G1, anaesthetic induction with propofol (2 mg/kg intravenously (i.v.)); G2, anaesthetic induction with propofol (2 mg/kg i.v.), followed by a second dose of 1.5 mg/kg; and G3, anaesthetic induction with propofol (2 mg/kg i.v.), followed by 1 h of continuous i.v. infusion at 13 mg/kg/h. Four minutes after propofol injection, blood samples were again taken from each group and studied by both methods. In groups G2 and G3, both methods showed reduced platelet aggregation, while in group G1 neither evidenced an anti-aggregating effect of propofol. Under our experimental conditions: (1) the propofol effect on platelet aggregation depends on the plasma concentration; (2) the results obtained with the two methods are comparable; (3) PFA-100™ may provide an alternative to optical aggregometry for detecting the effects of anaesthetic agents ex vivo .
Advances in Brief Population-based Mapping of Pulmonary Adenoma Susceptibility 1 Locus 1

Pulmonary adenoma susceptibility 1 (Pas1), the major locus affecting inherited predisposition to lung tumor development in mice, maps near the Kras2 gene. We previously reported a significant association between a KRAS2/RsaI polymorphism and the risk and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma (ADCA) in the Italian population. In the present case-control study, we examined 269 lung ADCA patients, 121 squamous cell lung carcinoma patients, and 632 healthy individuals (general population controls) in the Japanese population with genetic markers spanning;1200 kb in the KRAS2 region. Allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization revealed the same KRAS2/RsaI polymorphism associated with risk and prognosis as in Italian lung ADCA patients; the polymorphism was significantly associated with clinical stage (P< 0.001) and survival rate (log rank 5 0.0014), confirming the mapping of PAS1 and pointing to the role of this locus in human lung cancer.
Personality and Behavior Changes Subsequent to Traumatic BrainInjury: A Review of the Literature

Alterations in personality and behavior following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are examined in a review of the literature. Research suggests that changes in personality and behavior could be caused by the injury at an organic level, as well as the patient? s response to the injury and the subsequent deficits that are experienced. Currently, various treatment options are available and practitioners would serve patients best by sampling from many areas of psychological and medical interventions in order to create custom rehabilitation programs to suit the individual patient? s needs. Future research into the level of permanency of the personality changes, compensatory skill building for affect deficits, and increased involvement of social supports in treatment are suggested.
Sul fi te Reductase Protects Plants against Sul fi te Toxicity 1 [ W ] [ OA ]

Plant sulfite reductase (SiR; Enzyme Commission 1.8.7.1) catalyzes the reduction of sulfite to sulfide in the reductive sulfate assimilation pathway. Comparison of SiR expression in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum ‘Rheinlands Ruhm’) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants revealed that SiR is expressed in a different tissue-dependent manner that likely reflects dissimilarity in sulfur metabolism between the plant species. Using Arabidopsis and tomato SiR mutants with modified SiR expression, we show here that resistance to ectopically applied sulfur dioxide/sulfite is a function of SiR expression levels and that plants with reduced SiR expression exhibit higher sensitivity than the wild type, as manifested in pronounced leaf necrosis and chlorophyll bleaching. The sulfite-sensitive mutants accumulate applied sulfite and show a decline in glutathione levels. In contrast, mutants that overexpress SiR are more tolerant to sulfite toxicity, exhibiting little or no damage. Resistance to high sulfite application is manifested by fast sulfite disappearance and an increase in glutathione levels. The notion that SiR plays a role in the protection of plants against sulfite is supported by the rapid up-regulation of SiR transcript and activity within 30 min of sulfite injection into Arabidopsis and tomato leaves. Peroxisomal sulfite oxidase transcripts and activity levels are likewise promoted by sulfite application as compared with water injection controls. These results indicate that, in addition to participating in the sulfate assimilation reductive pathway, SiR also plays a role in protecting leaves against the toxicity of sulfite accumulation.
Prostate Cancer: How Young is too Young?

Prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous malignancy in men. It is generally considered a cancer of the elderly, and the median age of presentation is 68 years. However 10% of new diagnoses in the USA occur in men aged ≤ 55 years. This may be due to more prevalent screening nowadays, and may also reflect the diagnosis of an increasingly recognized but underappreciated entity, i.e. early-onset prostate cancer. Patients with early onset prostate cancer pose unique challenges. Current data suggest that early-onset prostate cancer is a distinct phenotype—from both an etiological and clinical perspective— that deserves further attention. We present a case of a 28-year-old man who presented with lower urinary tract symptoms and was diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer.
Comparing endoscopic systems on two simulated tasks

Endoscopes are slender instruments for performing medical procedures through small incisions or natural body orifices. Three experiments examined the performance effects of various endoscope systems when naive participants executed tasks in a bladder-like environment. The systems involved a direct endoscope, requiring the user to look through a lens at the outer part of the endoscope, and a video endoscope that picks up the image via a camera attached to the endoscope and displays it on a video monitor. The results indicate that the participants performed the tasks better with video than with direct endoscopes, and showed more transfer of practice with video endoscopic surgery from a small to a large task environment than vice versa. The optimal position of the monitor with video endoscopic surgery appeared to involve a reasonable angle relative to the operating area (45° was used). Performance was less at a greater angle (90°), but also at a small angle (10°). It did not matter whether the monitor was located left, right or above the operating area. As performance did not fully transfer to differently sized task environments, endoscopists should initially train with task environments of different, and especially small, sizes.
Impact of Collaborative Teaching (CT) on Mathematics Students' Achievement in Pakistan

The study explored the impact of CT on 8 th grade students’ achievement in mathematics. The experiment was conducted using Solomon Four-Group on 118 students in a public sector school in Punjab province. Two volunteer mathematics’ teachers from the sampled school and the 2nd researcher participated in the experiment. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was used to measure the academic achievement of the students in their abilities of conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, and problem solving. MAT items were selected from the Mathematics item pool of National Educational Assessment System (NEAS) Pakistan. A Collaborative Mathematics Teaching Module (CMTM) was developed and implemented that included two content strands, Algebra and Geometry. The duration of the experiment was thirty seven days. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, independent sample t-test and 2×2 ANOVA. The results of the experiment revealed that CT had significant positive impact on students’ conceptual learning achievement particularly on their conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge.
Abnormalities in fasting circulating proinsulin concentration in mild gestational diabetes

Fasting plasma proinsulln, Insulin and glucose concentrations were measured In ten women with mild gestational diabetes and ten controls matched for race, age (32·6 vs 31 ±6 years), body mass index (28·8 vs 27·6) and gestational week (24·4 vs 25 ± 4 weeks). There was no significant difference in fasting plasma glucose between these gestational diabetics and their controls (median 4·7, range 3·7–6·0 mmol/l vs 4·5, range 3·4–5·3 mmol/l). The fasting proinsulin levels were significantly higher in the gestational diabetics compared with the controls (median 12·2, range > 4–14·8 pmol/l vs 5·8, range > 4–12·8 pmol/l, P ± 0·02, Wilcoxon Summed Rank Test), while the calculated intact insulin levels (immunoreactive insulin minus proinsulin) were significantly lower (median 14·5, range 6·3–81·8 pmol/l vs 51·6, range 11·7–312 pmol/l, P± 0·01). The ratio of proinsulin to calculated Intact insulin was significantly higher in the gestational diabetics than the controls (median 0·66, range 0·16–2·04 vs 0·12, range 0·03–0·62), P± 0·01). These results demonstrate that gestational diabetics, with normal fasting plasma glucose values, have abnormalities In pancreatic β‐cell secretion, which are likely to be Important both in the aetiology of gestational diabetes and non‐Insulin dependent diabetes.
Interobserver variability among measurements of the maximum and mean standardized uptake values on 18F-FDG PET/CT and measurements of tumor size on diagnostic CT in patients with pulmonary tumors

Background: 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) imaging has been shown to be an accurate method for diagnosing pulmonary lesions, and the standardized uptake value (SUV) has been shown to be useful in differentiating benign from malignant lesions. Purpose: To survey the interobserver variability of SUVmax and SUVmean measurements on 18F-FDG PET/CT scans and compare them with tumor size measurements on diagnostic CT scans in the same group of patients with focal pulmonary lesions. Material and Methods: Forty-three pulmonary nodules were measured on both 18F-FDG PET/CT and diagnostic chest CT examinations. Four independent readers measured the SUVmax and SUVmean of the 18F-FDG PET images, and the unidimensional nodule size of the diagnostic CT scans (UDCT) in all nodules. The region of interest (ROI) for the SUV measurements was drawn manually around each tumor on all consecutive slices that contained the nodule. The interobserver reliability and variability, represented by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (COV), respectively, were compared among the three parameters. The correlation between the SUVmax and SUVmean was also analyzed. Results: There was 100% agreement in the SUVmax measurements among the 4 readers in the 43 pulmonary tumors. The ICCs for the SUVmax, SUVmean, and UDCT by the four readers were 1.00, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively. The root-mean-square values of the COVs for the SUVmax, SUVmean, and UDCT by the four readers were 0%, 13.56%, and 11.03%, respectively. There was a high correlation observed between the SUVmax and SUVmean (Pearson's r=0.958; P <0.01). Conclusion: This study has shown that the SUVmax of lung nodules can be calculated without any interobserver variation. These findings indicate that SUVmax is a more valuable parameter than the SUVmean or UDCT for the evaluation of therapeutic effects of chemotherapy or radiation therapy on serial studies.
Performance of Facepiece Respirators and Surgical Masks Against Surgical Smoke: Simulated Workplace Protection Factor Study

Abstract Objective: Surgical smoke generated during electrocautery contains toxins which may cause adverse health effects to operating room (OR) personnel. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of surgical masks (SMs), which are routinely used in ORs, more efficient N95 surgical mask respirator (SMRs) and N100 filtering facepiece respirator (FFRs), against surgical smoke. Methods: Ten subjects were recruited to perform surgical dissections on animal tissue in a simulated OR chamber, using a standard electrocautery device, generating surgical smoke. Six respiratory protective devices (RPDs) were tested: two SMs, two SMRs, and two N100 FFRs [including a newly developed faceseal (FS) prototype]. Fit testing was conducted before the experiment. Each subject was then exposed to the surgical smoke while wearing an RPD under the tests. Concentrations inside (Cin) and outside (Cout) of the RPD were measured by a particle size spectrometer. The simulated workplace protection factor (SWPF) was determined by the ratio of Cout and Cin for each RPD-wearing subject. Results: For the SMs, the geometric means of SWPFtotal (based on the total aerosol concentration) were 1.49 and 1.76, indicating minimal protection. The SWPFtotal values of the SMRs and N100 FFRs were significantly higher than those of the SMs: for the two SMRs, the SWPFtotal were 208 and 263; for the two N100s, the SWPFtotal values were 1,089 and 2,199. No significant difference was observed between either the two SMs or the two SMRs. The SWPFtotal for the novel FS prototype N100 FFR was significantly higher than the conventional N100 FFR. The correlation between SWPFtotal and fit factor (FF) determined for two N95 SMRs was not significant. Conclusions: SMs do not provide measurable protection against surgical smoke. SMRs offer considerably improved protection versus SMs, while the N100 FFRs showed significant improvement over the SMRs. The FS prototype offered a higher level of protection than the standard N100 FFR, due to a tighter seal. While we acknowledge that conventional N100 FFRs (equipped with exhalation valves) are not practical for human OR use, the results obtained with the FS prototype demonstrate the potential of the new FS technology for implementation on various types of respirators.