Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some like it hot: A hypothesis for establishment of the proto-mitochondrial endosymbiont during eukaryogenesis

Available evidence suggests that two prokaryotes, an archaeon and a bacterium, collaborated in the eventual formation of nucleated cells with arguably increased complexity of form and function. However, the mechanisms by which bacteria and archaea cooperated in the formation of eukaryotes, and the selective pressures that promoted this partnership, remain a mystery. Mitochondria are eukaryotic organelles thought to be derived from respiring, alpha-proteobacterial endosymbionts capable of generating ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. The earliest eukaryote likely harbored mitochondria, since all characterized eukaryotic lineages show evidence of containing, or having once contained, these organelles. Consequently, it has been argued that mitochondria, and particularly the ATP that can be generated by these compartments, allowed for evolution toward an expanded number of proteins, an increase in overt specialization achievable by eukaryotic cells, and the eventual formation of complex multicellular organisms. However, the relationship between mitochondrial ATP generation and its potency in allowing genome expansion has been a matter of debate. Moreover, how and why an endosymbiont not yet converted to an organelle might purposefully provide ATP to its host is not clear. Here, I propose that the initial driving force for integration of the proto-mitochondrial endosymbiont within the proto-eukaryotic host may not have been provision of ATP to its archaeal partner, but rather that heat generated by the endosymbiont allowed the archaeal host to endure lower temperatures at the outset of eukaryogenesis. I discuss how this arrangement may have led to the increased apparent complexity that is characteristic of eukaryotes.
Identification of the major steroids in ovarian and adrenal venous plasma of the brush-tail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and changes in the peripheral plasma levels of oestradiol and progesterone during the reproductive cycle.

The quantitatively major steroid hormones in ovarian and adrenal venous plasma of the female brush-tail possum were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The ovarian vein plasma samples all contained oestradiol and its concentration was highest during the pro-oestrous phase of the reproductive cycle. During this phase the concentration of progesterone was below the limit of detection but at day 13 of the oestrous cycle and pregnancy, the concentration of progesterone exceeded that of oestradiol. Cortisol and corticosterone were the major steroid hormones found in all adrenal vein samples with cortisol predominant. Androgens with a 3-oxo structure, if present, were below the limits of detection in all plasma samples. Radioimmunoassays for the measurement of progesterone and oestradiol in peripheral plasma were used to follow changes in the concentrations of these steroids during the reproductive cycle. Progesterone in serial blood samples was low at oestrus, rose gradually until day 7 and then increased more rapidly to reach a peak level of 21-29 nmol/l at around day 13. Any differences between the pregnant and non-pregnant cycles were minor. Oestradiol was only detected around oestrus when levels were variable (53.3 +/- 20.92 (S.E.M.) pmol/l; n = 4). The results indicate that the reproductive cycle of the brush-tail possum is characterized by a single peak of oestradiol at around pro-oestrus followed by gradually increasing levels of progesterone. Pregnancy appears to have no influence on the circulating concentrations of oestradiol or progesterone.
HAM1, the gene controlling 6‐N‐hydroxylaminopurine sensitivity and mutagenesis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The ham1 mutant of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is sensitive to the mutagenic and lethal effects of the base analog, 6‐N‐hydroxylaminopurine (HAP). We have isolated a clone from a centromere‐plasmid‐based genomic library complementing HAP sensitivity of the ham1 strain. After subcloning, a 3·4 kb functional fragment was sequenced. It contained three open reading frames (ORFs) corresponding to proteins 353, 197 and 184 amino acids long. LEU2+ disruptions of the promoter and N‐terminal part of the gene coding 197 amino acids long protein led to moderate and strong sensitivity to HAP, respectively, and were allelic to the original ham1‐1 mutation. Thus this ORF represents the HAM1 gene. The deduced amino acid sequence of HAM1 protein was not similar to any protein sequence of the SwissProt database. The HAM1 gene was localized on the right arm of chromosome X between cdc8 and cdc11. Spontaneous mutagenesis was not affected by the ham1::LEU2 disruption mutation.
High-speed decoding of the (71, 36, 11) quadratic residue code

A high-speed and memory-efficient table lookup decoding algorithm (TLDA), called the syndrome and syndrome difference decoding algorithm (SSDDA), is developed to decode the long binary systematic (71, 36, 11) quadratic residue (QR) code. The essential point of the SSDDA is based on the property of the weight of syndrome and the weight of syndrome difference to reduce the memory size of the lookup table. The proposed algorithm generates a novel compact lookup table (CLT), which only consists of 7,806 syndromes and their corresponding error patterns. Consequently, the memory size of the proposed CLT is only about 38.39% of the lookup table proposed by Lin et al.
The role of activated carbon and disinfection on the removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs from wastewater

Endocrine disrupting chemicals and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are two important groups of emerging pollutants due to their toxicological and chemical characteristics and their persistent detection in the aquatic environment. Wastewater treatment plants are a significant pathway for their transfer to the water courses. It is well evidenced that these chemicals are only partially removed through biological treatment of wastewater and therefore being detected in secondary effluents. This work focuses on the evaluation of the efficiency of two well-established disinfection technologies (chlorination and UV irradiation) along with UV/H 2O 2 and powdered activated carbon (PAC) to remove these chemicals from biologically treated wastewater. Based on the results it is shown that appreciable removal efficiencies due to chlorination should be expected for most of the target compounds, whereas this was not the case for ibuprofen and ketoprofen. With the exemption of diclofenac and ketoprofen direct UV irradiation did not efficiently removed target compounds for UV doses usually applied for disinfection purposes. The application of advanced UV treatment through the addition of H 2O 2 although resulted in increased removal of the target compounds is not sufficient at moderate UV and H 2O 2 doses to achieve satisfactory removal efficiencies. PAC use resulted in sufficient removal of target compounds although high PAC doses were required for some chemicals. Comparison of Freundlich isotherms of this study with those of other studies, derived employing water samples, suggested that the water matrix along with the target compounds concentration range can significantly affect the outcome of the experiments.
Wealth Effects, Distribution and Theory of Organization.

Abstract We construct a general equilibrium model of firm formation in which organization is endogenous. Firms are coalitions of agents providing effort and investment capital. Effort is unobservable unless a fixed monitoring cost is paid, and borrowing is subject to a costly state verification problem. Because incentives vary with an agent's wealth, different types of agents become attractive firm members under different circumstances. When borrowing is not costly, firms essentially consist of one type of agent and are organized efficiently. But when the costly state verification problem is sufficiently severe, firm organization will depend on the distribution of wealth: with enough inequality, it will tend to be dictated by incentives of rich agents to earn high returns to wealth, even if the chosen organizational form is not a technically efficient way to provide incentives.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: D2, D31, J41, L2.
Perinatal death audits in a peri-urban hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

BACKGROUND The perinatal mortality of 70 deaths per 1,000 total births in Uganda is unacceptably high. Perinatal death audits are important for improvement of perinatal care and reduction of perinatal morality. We integrated perinatal death audits in routine care, and describe its effect on perinatal mortality rate at Nsambya Hospital. METHODS This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted from March - November 2008. An interdisciplinary hospital team conducted weekly perinatal death reviews. Each case was summarized and discussed, identifying gaps and cause of death. Local solutions were implemented according to the gaps identified from the audit process. RESULTS Of the 350 perinatal deaths which occurred, 120 perinatal deaths were audited. 34.2% were macerated still births, 31.7% fresh still births and 34.2% early neonatal deaths. Avoidable factors included: poor neonatal resuscitation skills, incorrect use of the partographs and delay in performing caesarean sections. Activities implemented included: three skills sessions of neonatal resuscitation, introduction of Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for babies with respiratory distress, updates on use of partographs. Perinatal mortality rate was 47.9 deaths per 1000 total births in 2008 after introduction of the audits compared to 52.8 per 1,000 total births in 2007. CONCLUSION Conducting routine perinatal audits is feasible and contributes to reduction of facility perinatal mortality rate.
Transcription of the procyclic acidic repetitive protein genes of Trypanosoma brucei

The procyclic acidic repetitive protein (parp) genes of Trypanosoma brucei encode a small family of abundant surface proteins whose expression is restricted to the procyclic form of the parasite. They are found at two unlinked loci, parpA and parpB; transcription of both loci is developmentally regulated. The region of homology upstream of the A and B parp genes is only 640 base pairs long and may contain sequences responsible for transcriptional initiation and regulation. Transcription upstream of this putative promoter region is not developmentally regulated and is much less active than that of the parp genes; the polymerase responsible is inhibited by alpha-amanitin, whereas that transcribing the parp genes is not. Transcription of the parp genes is strongly stimulated by low levels of UV irradiation. The putative parp promoter, when placed upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene, is sufficient to cause production of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase in a T. brucei DNA transformation assay. Taken together, these results suggest that a promoter for an alpha-amanitin-resistant RNA polymerase lies less than 600 nucleotides upstream of the parp genes.
Effect of surface treatment on micro shear bond strength of two indirect composites

Aim: To determine the effect of surface treatment on micro shear bond strength of two indirect composites. Materials and Methods: Blocks of 2 × 7 × 20 mm dimensions were made from two kinds of resin composites, Gradia and Signum plus. Samples were subjected to secondary curing to complete polymerization. They were divided into five groups: control without any preparation, second group sandblasted with aluminum oxide, third, fourth and fifth groups were lased under a beam of 0.5, 1 and 2 W respectively. Panavia resin cement was placed on the composite blocks using tygon tubes and cured and micro shear bond strength was measured. One sample of each group was observed under electronic microscope. Data was analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison tests. Results: For Gradia composite, the sandblasted group showed highest strength (25.7±2.9 MPa) followed by the laser beam of 1 W group (with 23.6± 2.8 MPa). In Signum composite, the laser beam of 1 W (21.4±4.2 MPa) showed the highest strength followed by the sandblasted group (with 19.4±3.2 MPa). Conclusion: Surface treatments using sandblast and laser beam of 1W power along with silane are two effective methods to increase the bond strength of composites.
Decision-Making for Gastrostomy and Ventilatory Support for People with Motor Neurone Disease: Variations across Uk Hospices

Interventions, such as the use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and non-invasive ventilation (NIV), are used in the management of people with motor neurone disease with the aim of improving quality of life and relieving symptoms. However, the number of people receiving these interventions varies across the UK. This study has looked at the involvement and knowledge of consultants, within specialist palliative care services, with these procedures, to ascertain if there were differences in attitudes to their use. Twenty-two consultants took part in a telephone audit. There appeared to be great variation in their involvement in and knowledge of the use of these interventions. The majority of services were involved in the care of people with MND, but often only in the terminal stages. There appears to be a need for the wider application of guidelines on the use of PEG and NIV, as well as the development of a collaborative approach with other services, including neurology and rehabilitation services.
HIV Infection and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Female Commercial Sex Workers in China

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among female commercial sex workers (FSWs) in Zhengzhou, China, to estimate rates of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and to document their sexual behavior patterns from October 2000 to January 2001. FSWs were recruited by the snowball sampling technique and were interviewed at their working environments anonymously. This strategy resulted in high rates of response (92%) and concordance (98%) to sensitive questions. A total of 621 FSWs were enrolled. One direct FSW and 1 indirect FSW were positive for antibodies to HIV in oral fluids (prevalence of HIV infection, 1.4% and 0.2%, respectively). A history of STDs was reported by 49% of the FSWs. Most FSWs (87%) reported inconsistent condom use. Ten percent of FSWs recognized their clients as drug users. A few FSWs (2.2%) were injecting drug users, of whom 2 reported incidents of sharing needles/syringes with other injecting drug users. Direct FSWs had more risk characteristics and were more vulnerable to HIV infection and STDs than indirect FSWs. Inconsistent use of condoms and a high level of STDs underscore the urgent need to implement intervention strategies and condom promotion, particularly among direct sex workers in China.
Approaching capacity by equiprobable signaling on the Gaussian channel

For the additive white Gaussian noise channel, there is a gap between the channel capacity and the highest achievable rate of equiprobable uniformly spaced one-dimensional signaling. It is commonly believed that approaching channel capacity requires the constituent one-dimensional signal points to have a Gaussian probability distribution. It is shown that the channel capacity can be achieved by equiprobable signaling with geometrical, Gaussian-like signal sets. Construction of these signal constellations is explicitly given. This result implicates that it is possible to approach channel capacity without using any kind of shaping codes. >
Do "Moderate" Drinkers Have Reduced Mortality Risk? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Alcohol Consumption and All-Cause Mortality.

OBJECTIVE Previous meta-analyses of cohort studies indicate a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and allcause mortality, with reduced risk for low-volume drinkers. However, low-volume drinkers may appear healthy only because the "abstainers" with whom they are compared are biased toward ill health. The purpose of this study was to determine whether misclassifying former and occasional drinkers as abstainers and other potentially confounding study characteristics underlie observed positive health outcomes for lowvolume drinkers in prospective studies of all-cause mortality. METHOD A systematic review and meta-regression analysis of studies investigating alcohol use and mortality risk after controlling for quality-related study characteristics was conducted in a population of 3,998,626 individuals, among whom 367,103 deaths were recorded. RESULTS Without adjustment, meta-analysis of all 87 included studies replicated the classic J-shaped curve, with low-volume drinkers (1.3-24.9 g ethanol per day) having reduced mortality risk (RR = 0.86, 95% CI [0.83, 0.90]). Occasional drinkers (<1.3 g per day) had similar mortality risk (RR = 0.84, 95% CI [0.79, 0.89]), and former drinkers had elevated risk (RR = 1.22, 95% CI [1.14, 1.31]). After adjustment for abstainer biases and quality-related study characteristics, no significant reduction in mortality risk was observed for low-volume drinkers (RR = 0.97, 95% CI [0.88, 1.07]). Analyses of higher-quality bias-free studies also failed to find reduced mortality risk for low-volume alcohol drinkers. Risk estimates for occasional drinkers were similar to those for low- and medium-volume drinkers. CONCLUSIONS Estimates of mortality risk from alcohol are significantly altered by study design and characteristics. Meta-analyses adjusting for these factors find that low-volume alcohol consumption has no net mortality benefit compared with lifetime abstention or occasional drinking. These findings have implications for public policy, the formulation of low-risk drinking guidelines, and future research on alcohol and health.
Coding and noncoding sequences at the 3' end of yeast histone H2B mRNA confer cell cycle regulation

Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) histone mRNA synthesis is tightly regulated to the S phase of the cell division cycle as a result of both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation. We focused on the role of posttranscriptional control in histone H2B1 gene (HTB1) regulation and studied a portion of the HTB1 message required for cell-cycle-specific accumulation. The 3' end of the HTB1 gene containing a 17-amino-acid coding sequence and entire noncoding sequence was fused to the bacterial neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (neo) under control of the GAL1 promoter. The expression of the endogenous and chimeric HTB1 genes was analyzed during the yeast cell cycle. As yeast cells entered a synchronous cell cycle following release from alpha-factor arrest, the level of GAL1-promoter-controlled neo-HTB1 message increased approximately 12-fold during S phase and dropped to basal level when the cells left S phase. This indicates that the 3' end of the HTB1 mRNA is capable of conferring cycle-specific regulation on a heterologous message. Deletion analysis of the 3' end showed that the signal for cell cycle control of HTB1 mRNA includes contiguous coding and noncoding sequences surrounding the stop codon. This differs from the situation in mammalian cells, whose posttranscriptional regulation of histone genes is mediated through a short sequence containing a stem-loop structure near the very terminus of the untranslated 3' end.
Quality of Evidence: Usefulness in Measuring the Quality of Health Care

BackgroundIn 1998, the Committee on Health Care Quality in America was created and given the charge of devising a strategy to achieve substantial improvement in the quality of health care for all Americans. One strategy to move the quality agenda forward is the use of evidence by both providers of health care and consumers of health care. One feature of this agenda, evidence-based practice, refers to a hierarchy of evidence ranging from individual randomized, controlled trials to expert opinion. ObjectivesThe purposes of this article are to describe the evidence base in nursing, discuss the quality and strength of nursing’s evidence, illustrate the application of the Quality Health Outcomes Model, and present recommendations for practice, research, and policy to increase nursing’s contribution to quality health care. Results and RecommendationsNurses everywhere must use innovative solutions to operationalize the “evidence” in evidence-based nursing. The Quality Health Outcomes Model (QHOM) provides a useful way of advancing research and evidence about the quality of health care in America. In concert with the conceptual framework for the National Health Care Quality Report, the QHOM provides a map for identifying evidence gaps and research questions arising from the model and conceptual framework, as well as evidence synthesis (integrating methodologic quality) driven by theoretical understanding.
Parent Problem Checklist: Measure of Parent Conflict

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Parent Problem Checklist (PPC), and to examine the contribution of conflict specific to child-rearing to the prediction of child problems. Method: The study examined the relationship between marital conflict, parenting conflict and emotional and behavioural problems in children aged 2–16 years, in evaluating the psychometric properties of the PPC in a sample of 200 parents. Results: Analysis of the PPC indicated good reliability and validity. Findings support the hypothesis that parenting conflict influences children's outcomes more than either general marital conflict or marital satisfaction. Conclusions: There are a number of implications for clinical practice and understanding the role of parenting conflict in the development of child difficulty.
Evaluation of Disinfectants Used in Pre-Chilling water Tanks of Poultry Processing Plants

In poultry processing plants, disinfectants are often added to pre-chilling water tanks to reduce microbial contamination. The present study aimed at evaluating the effect of five disinfectants (acidified sodium chlorite, alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, chlorine dioxide, peracetic acid, and sodium hypochlorite) on the populations of food quality indicator microorganisms and on Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in the presence and absence of organic matter. The results showed that chlorine dioxide and sodium hypochlorite did not reduce microbial carcass counts. On the other hand, acidified sodium chlorite, alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and peracetic acid reduced total and fecal coliform counts. Peracetic acid reduced the number of psychrotrophic microorganisms. All products were effective in reducing SE counts only in the absence of organic matter. Acidified sodium chlorite, alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and peracetic acid could be candidates for the replacement of sodium hypochlorite (commonly used in Brazil) in pre-chilling tanks.
Antioxidant activity, phenolic and flavonoid contents in the leaves of different varieties of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

The study of antioxidants from natural sources has gained popularity in the recent years. Six Ipomoea batatas leafy varieties namely Batu Kelantan, Batu Biasa, Biru Putih, Oren, Vitato and Indon were compared to assess the total phenols, flavonoids, reducing power and antioxidant activity. In this study, the Indon variety showed the highest level of total phenolic contents at 5.35 ± 0 g GAE/100 g DW. The flavonoid contents in the leaves ranged from 96 ± 47.6 µg/ g in Indon variety to 263.5 ± 43.5 µg/g in Batu Biasa variety. 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) was used to determine the radical scavenging activity in leaves, in which the Indon and Biru Putih variety had the highest and lowest scavenging activities of 372.4 µg/ ml (IC50) and 597.61 µg/ ml (IC50), respectively. All varieties, except Biru Putih, showed the high radical scavenging activity compared to the ascorbic acid standard. Besides, all the leaf varieties also showed increment in their reducing power with increasing concentrations. Thus, Ipomoea batatas leaves can be used as a potential source of natural antioxidants.