Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ruminal fermentation and digestion in lactating cows fed grass silage with protein and energy supplements.

Four multiparous Holstein cows were used in a 4 x 5 incomplete Latin square design to study the effects of different dietary sources of energy and protein on digestion, ruminal fermentation, and degradability in cows fed high moisture grass silage. The five treatments were an all silage diet (control); silage and concentrate containing soybean meal fed with corn, beet pulp, or a mixture (50:50 on a DM basis) of oats and barley; and fish meal fed with beet pulp. Concentrates were fed between . 70 and . 76% of BW to give similar CP and NEL intakes. Total DMI and milk production were lower for unsupplemented than for supplemented cows, but digestion and ruminal fermentation did not differ. Digestibility of fiber and concentration of total VFA were higher for cows fed corn than for those fed the mixture of oats and barley, but starch source had no effect on total DMI or milk production and composition. Energy source had no effect on total DMI or milk production and composition. Digestibility of DM and NDF was higher, and ruminal concentration of NH3 N and degradability of silage N tended to be lower, for cows fed beet pulp than for those fed starch, suggesting an improvement in the microbial protein synthesis in the rumen when beet pulp was fed instead of starch.
Effect of subdomain interactions on methyl group dynamics in the hydrophobic core of villin headpiece protein

Thermostable villin headpiece protein (HP67) consists of the N‐terminal subdomain (residues 10–41) and the autonomously folding C‐terminal subdomain (residues 42–76) which pack against each other to form a structure with a unified hydrophobic core. The X‐ray structures of the isolated C‐terminal subdomain (HP36) and its counterpart in HP67 are very similar for the hydrophobic core residues. However, fine rearrangements of the free energy landscape are expected to occur because of the interactions between the two subdomains. We detect and characterize these changes by comparing the µs‐ms time scale dynamics of the methyl‐bearing side chains in isolated HP36 and in HP67. Specifically, we probe three hydrophobic side chains at the interface of the two subdomains (L42, V50, and L75) as well as at two residues far from the interface (L61 and L69). Solid‐state deuteron NMR techniques are combined with computational modeling for the detailed characterization of motional modes in terms of their kinetic and thermodynamic parameters. The effect of interdomain interactions on side chain dynamics is seen for all residues but L75. Thus, changes in dynamics because of subdomain interactions are not confined to the site of perturbation. One of the main results is a two‐ to threefold increase in the value of the activation energies for the rotameric mode of motions in HP67 compared with HP36. Detailed analysis of configurational entropies and heat capacities complement the kinetic view of the degree of the disorder in the folded state.
3.7μW 0.8V VCO-integrator-based high-efficiency capacitor-free low-dropout voltage regulator

This paper presents a VCO-integrator-based high-efficiency low-dropout voltage regulator (LDO). Due to the integrator based architecture the LDO has higher efficiency, lower input voltage and better load regulation than traditional operational-amplifier based implementations. The proposed LDO was fabricated in 180nm CMOS technology along with a traditional operational-amplifier based design for comparison. The proposed LDO consumes a power of 3. 7μW at 0.8V input and can achieve a drop-out voltage of 100mV and a load regulation of 8. 8μV/mA. The proposed LDO is capacitor-free.
How does leverage affect R&D intensity and how does R&D intensity impact on firm value in South Korea?

ABSTRACT We examine how leverage affects corporate research and development (R&D) intensity, as well as examine the impact of R&D on firm value in South Korea, a country in which corporate-funded R&D intensity is one of the highest in the world. Among our main results, we find that growth opportunities have a positive effect on R&D intensity, while leverage has a negative effect on R&D intensity. When leverage is at an extremely high level, the relationship between growth opportunities and R&D intensity turns from positive to negative. Using instrumental variables, we find that R&D generates an increase in firm value.
The Aspergillus fumigatus Sialidase Is a 3-Deoxy-d-glycero-d-galacto-2-nonulosonic Acid Hydrolase (KDNase)

Aspergillus fumigatus is a filamentous fungus that can cause severe respiratory disease in immunocompromised individuals. A putative sialidase from A. fumigatus was recently cloned and shown to be relatively poor in cleaving N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) in comparison with bacterial sialidases. Here we present the first crystal structure of a fungal sialidase. When the apo structure was compared with bacterial sialidase structures, the active site of the Aspergillus enzyme suggested that Neu5Ac would be a poor substrate because of a smaller pocket that normally accommodates the acetamido group of Neu5Ac in sialidases. A sialic acid with a hydroxyl in place of an acetamido group is 2-keto-3-deoxynononic acid (KDN). We show that KDN is the preferred substrate for the A. fumigatus sialidase and that A. fumigatus can utilize KDN as a sole carbon source. A 1.45-Å resolution crystal structure of the enzyme in complex with KDN reveals KDN in the active site in a boat conformation and nearby a second binding site occupied by KDN in a chair conformation, suggesting that polyKDN may be a natural substrate. The enzyme is not inhibited by the sialidase transition state analog 2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac2en) but is inhibited by the related 2,3-didehydro-2,3-dideoxy-d-glycero-d-galacto-nonulosonic acid that we show bound to the enzyme in a 1.84-Å resolution crystal structure. Using a fluorinated KDN substrate, we present a 1.5-Å resolution structure of a covalently bound catalytic intermediate. The A. fumigatus sialidase is therefore a KDNase with a similar catalytic mechanism to Neu5Ac exosialidases, and this study represents the first structure of a KDNase.
Effectiveness of “Palliative Care Information Booklet” in Enhancing Nurses’ Knowledge

Context: Patients diagnosed with a disease like cancer require not only physical control of disease but also they need psychological reassurance, social and spiritual support in coming to terms with their disease. Nurses working in the specialized cancer hospitals play a significant role in the care of terminally ill patients. They must be knowledgeable, skilled and sensitive to the needs of these patients and their families in order to provide active, holistic care. Aims: In this study, we attempted to assess the level of knowledge about palliative care among nurses working in the oncology department using a self administered structured questionnaire and also to assess the effectiveness of information booklet designed on various aspects of palliative care on their knowledge. Settings and Design: Indo American Cancer Hospital, Hyderabad, AP, India. The design adopted for this study was One Group pretest – posttest, pre - experimental design. Materials and Methods: Hundred nurses working in Indo American Cancer Hospital, Hyderabad, AP, India were selected by using the non probability purposive sampling technique. A structured self administered questionnaire was prepared and administered as a pretest. An information booklet was developed pertaining to the general concepts of palliative care, care components (physical, social, emotional and spiritual) and role of the nurse in palliative care and it was given to the participants. As a post test, the same questionnaire was re-administered after four days to the same study subjects. Pretest and post test knowledge scores were compared and the findings were analyzed statistically. Statistical analysis used: Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science package. Results: The post test scores were significantly higher than the pretest knowledge scores, which indicate that the developed information booklet regarding palliative care was highly effective in enhancing the knowledge levels of the nurses. Conclusions: The information booklet was effective in enriching the knowledge of nurses on palliative care. Enhancing the nurse’s knowledge about palliative care will promote their understanding of the needs of the advanced stage patients and will enable them to provide quality care.
The Clinical Urine Culture: Enhanced Techniques Improve Detection of Clinically Relevant Microorganisms

ABSTRACT Enhanced quantitative urine culture (EQUC) detects live microorganisms in the vast majority of urine specimens reported as “no growth” by the standard urine culture protocol. Here, we evaluated an expanded set of EQUC conditions (expanded-spectrum EQUC) to identify an optimal version that provides a more complete description of uropathogens in women experiencing urinary tract infection (UTI)-like symptoms. One hundred fifty adult urogynecology patient-participants were characterized using a self-completed validated UTI symptom assessment (UTISA) questionnaire and asked “Do you feel you have a UTI? ” Women responding negatively were recruited into the no-UTI cohort, while women responding affirmatively were recruited into the UTI cohort; the latter cohort was reassessed with the UTISA questionnaire 3 to 7 days later. Baseline catheterized urine samples were plated using both standard urine culture and expanded-spectrum EQUC protocols: standard urine culture inoculated at 1 μl onto 2 agars incubated aerobically; expanded-spectrum EQUC inoculated at three different volumes of urine onto 7 combinations of agars and environments. Compared to expanded-spectrum EQUC, standard urine culture missed 67% of uropathogens overall and 50% in participants with severe urinary symptoms. Thirty-six percent of participants with missed uropathogens reported no symptom resolution after treatment by standard urine culture results. Optimal detection of uropathogens could be achieved using the following: 100 μl of urine plated onto blood (blood agar plate [BAP]), colistin-nalidixic acid (CNA), and MacConkey agars in 5% CO2 for 48 h. This streamlined EQUC protocol achieved 84% uropathogen detection relative to 33% detection by standard urine culture. The streamlined EQUC protocol improves detection of uropathogens that are likely relevant for symptomatic women, giving clinicians the opportunity to receive additional information not currently reported using standard urine culture techniques.
Moving beyond Factions: Using Social Network Analysis to Uncover Patronage Networks among Chinese Elites

Informal connections play an important role in regimes all across the world, but among China's political elite, it is particularly factional affiliation that is said to structure contention over who will rule and who will fall victim to a purge. This article identifies two approaches to measuring factional ties in the literature: the exploratory approach traces alliance ties through qualitative assessment of insider sources, while the structured approach uses publicly available data to infer factions from shared characteristics. The article combines the two by arguing that informal politics is better conceptualized as a process of alliance formation shaped by an underlying social (network) structure. Among the structured approaches, coworker networks best capture the latter, but this can be further refined by noting the number of instances of working together, or by taking into account promotions that have occurred while the two individuals were coworkers.
Long-term Results of the Dial Osteotomy in the Treatment of High-grade Acetabular Dysplasia

The dial osteotomy, an acetabular reorientation procedure based on radiographs, was developed by R. H. Eppright for treatment of hip dysplasia; however, long-term results are not recorded. The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the results of the dial osteotomy as done in 37 patients (44 hips) at an average followup of 12.6 years. Articular pressures with the application of a time and pressure algorithm were calculated from radiographs to correlate calculated intraarticular pressures with progression of degenerative disease. Clinical results at followup were 32 (73%) satisfactory and 12 (27%) unsatisfactory hips. Six (13%) hips failed between 10–20 years (average 14.7 years). A satisfactory result correlated with the preoperative functional score. Radiographically, the anterior center-edge angle increased from an average of 6.7° to 37.9°. At followup, radiographic indices of degeneration indicated that eight (18%) hips had improved, 18 (41%) had stabilized, and 18 (41%) had deteriorated. Severin indices improved in 21 (48%) hips. Joint space width at followup provided the only correlation between radiographic parameters and clinical result. Contact pressures were reduced from 4.45 MPa to 1.12 MPa. The cumulative exposure to articular pressures averaged 61.6 MPa-years, and did not correlate with radiographic parameters or clinical success. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic study, Level IV (case series—no, or historical control group). See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Effect of gamma irradiation on characteristics of FOXFET biased edge-on silicon strip detector

Edge-on silicon strip detectors were designed and fabricated. The dependence of main detector parameters of importance such as leakage current, dynamic resistance of integrated FOXFET biasing structure, and radiation hardness on ionizing irradiation was investigated. Irradiation tests were carried out at different gate electric field using Co/sup 60/ gamma-ray source up to 0.2 Mrd(SiO/sub 2/). Optimized low-temperature segregation anneal results in a substantial decrease of detector leakage current. Dynamic resistance as high as 2 G/spl Omega/ was achieved on nonirradiated detectors for channel width and length of 10 /spl mu/m. Main factors influencing the radiation hardness of strip detector with FOXFET biasing structure are leakage current and strip potential. Leakage current increases detector noise and lowers the dynamic resistance of FOXFET biasing structure. The strip voltage shift toward positive voltages shows a strong dependence on gate electric field applied during the irradiation. The radiation hardness of oxide and composite nitride/oxide dielectric layers in MIS capacitor structures was investigated. Composite nitride/oxide (MNOS) capacitors show improved radiation hardness compared to oxide (MOS) capacitors in case of applied positive gate electric field.
Trypanosoma cruzi: Data Supporting Clonality in Mexican Stocks

To further study genetic heterogeneity of Mexican stocks of Trypanosoma cruzi, genomic Southern analyses from 54 Mexican isolates and 5 South American reference stocks were carried out. The membranes were hybridized with a homologous cDNA clone from the ribosomal protein S4 that identifies allelic bands from a single gene type locus. These allelic bands were sequentially numbered depending on their relative size. Mexican T. cruzi stocks were quite homogeneous: 31 cases (57%) showed a homozygous genotype 3/3, and 21 isolates (38%) exhibited the heterozygote genotype 2/3. Just 2 Mexican stocks (3%) showed a different genotype 2/5, but the potential parental homozygous 2/2 was never observed. Being that T. cruzi is a diploid organism, the apparent absence of the presumptive parental homozygous genotype 2/2 argues against sexual reproduction within the population, at least as a common event. Therefore, these data support a clonal population structure of T. cruzi in Mexico.
Lifestyle Factors and Risk for New-Onset Diabetes

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic data on the combined influence of several lifestyle factors on diabetes risk are rare, particularly among older adults. OBJECTIVE To examine how combinations of lifestyle risk factors relate to the 11-year risk for incident diabetes. DESIGN Population-based prospective cohort study. SETTING National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study. PARTICIPANTS 114,996 men and 92,483 women, aged 50 to 71 years in 1995 to 1996, without evidence of heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. MEASUREMENTS A comprehensive survey of demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors, including dietary intake, body weight and height, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption at baseline (1995 to 1996). Low-risk groups were formed by dichotomizing each lifestyle factor. Incident self-reported, physician-diagnosed diabetes was identified with a follow-up survey in 2004 to 2006. RESULTS 11,031 men (9.6%) and 6969 women (7.5%) developed new-onset diabetes. For each additional lifestyle factor in the low-risk group, the odds for diabetes were 31% lower (odds ratio [OR], 0.69 [95% CI, 0.68 to 0.71]) among men and 39% lower (OR, 0.61 [CI, 0.60 to 0.63]) among women. Men and women whose diet score, physical activity level, smoking status, and alcohol use were all in the low-risk group had ORs for diabetes of 0.61 (CI, 0.56 to 0.66) and 0.43 (CI, 0.34 to 0.55), respectively. When absence of overweight or obesity was added, the respective ORs were 0.28 (CI, 0.23 to 0.34) and 0.16 (CI, 0.10 to 0.24) for men and women. Results did not differ by family history of diabetes or level of adiposity. LIMITATION The study was observational, with potential for residual confounding. CONCLUSION Lifestyle factors, when considered in combination, are associated with a substantial reduction in risk for diabetes. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH.
Zinc toxicity on neonatal cortical neurons: involvement of glutathione chelation

Several mechanisms have been implicated in pathological neuronal death including zinc neurotoxicity, calcium excitotoxicity and oxidative injury. Glutathione (GSH) serves to provide reducing equivalents for the maintenance of oxidant homeostasis, and also plays roles in intracellular and intercellular signaling in the brain. We investigated the role of GSH homeostasis in the neurotoxic action of zinc using both mixed cortical cultures containing neurons and glia, and cortical neurons prepared from 1‐day‐old rats. Zinc caused neuronal cell death in a concentration‐dependent manner. In parallel, a high concentration of zinc depleted GSH, in a time‐dependent manner, preceding the onset of neuronal damage. Depletion of GSH by diethylmaleate injured neurons and exacerbated zinc‐induced death. In contrast, replenishment of GSH attenuated zinc neurotoxicity. The thiol‐containing compounds N‐acetylcysteine and GSH chemically chelated zinc leading to decreases in the influx of zinc, the fall in GSH level and neuronal death. Interestingly, the glycolytic substrate pyruvate, but not lactate, chelated zinc concentration dependently and prevented its toxicity. On the other hand, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, serving as a zinc chaperon, enhanced its entry and toxicity. The results suggest that zinc non‐enzymatically depleted GSH, an intrinsic factor for neuron survival, leading to activation of the cellular death signal and eventually neuronal death.
Composition and antimicrobial activity of Equisetum arvense L. essential oil

The volatile constituents of the sterile stems of Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) were investigated for the first time using GC, GC/MS and 13C‐NMR. Twenty‐five compounds were identified. Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (18.34%), cis‐geranyl acetone (13.74%), thymol (12.09%) and trans‐phytol (10.06%) were the major constituents. A disk diffusion method was used for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of this oil against a panel of microorganisms (bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enteritidis; fungi: Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). The 1:10 dilution of the essential oil of Equisetum arvense L. was shown to possess a broad spectrum of a very strong antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DIFFERENCES IN HOST SELECTION OF ACTINOSPORES OF TWO MYXOSPOREANS, MYXOBOLUS ARCTICUS AND THELOHANELLUS HOVORKAI

We investigated the host selection mechanism of actinospore stages of 2 myxosporeans, Myxobolus arcticus and Thelohanellus hovorkai, infecting masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio), respectively. Discharge of the polar filaments and sporoplasm release by M. arcticus actinospores occurred within the first 5 min of exposure to skin mucus of masu salmon. The actinospores also reacted to the mucus of nonsusceptible fish, i.e., sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and goldfish (Carassius auratus), although the reactivity was comparatively lower. After exposure of masu, and sockeye and chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) to M. arcticus actinospores, the penetration of sporoplasms was observed in the fins and gills of masu and sockeye salmon to a similar extent and to a lesser extent in chum salmon. Thelohanellus hovorkai actinospores exhibited a slow response of sporoplasm release to common carp mucus as well as penetration into the gills of common carp. Neither chemoresponse to mucus of nonsusceptible fish (goldfish and sockeye salmon) nor sporoplasm invasion in goldfish was observed for T. hovorkai actinospores. These results indicate notable differences in the host selection at the time of entry between M. arcticus and T. hovorkai; the former responds quickly to fish mucus with low host specificity, whereas the latter was highly host specific in a dilatory reaction.
Temporal coupled mode theory in ring-bus-ring configuration

We develop the temporal coupled mode theory for the ring-bus-ring device by taking account of the energy-conservation. The presence of the center waveguide in the tri-coupler section of the RBR facilitates the interaction between the two side-coupled rings. The correspondence between the coupled mode theory in time and transfer matrix formalism (TMF) is established. A very good agreement is obtained between the TMF and the 2D finite-difference time-domain simulations (FDTD). Some applications using RBR device such as channel dropping filter and selective power splitter are presented.