Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of tetralinoleoyl‐cardiolipin in Barth syndrome

Barth syndrome is an X‐linked cardiac and skeletal mitochondrial myopathy. Barth syndrome may be due to lipid alterations because the product of the mutated gene is homologous to phospholipid acyltransferases. Here we document that a single mitochondrial phospholipid species, tetralinoleoyl‐cardiolipin, was lacking in the skeletal muscle (n = 2), right ventricle (n = 2), left ventricle (n = 2), and platelets (n = 6) of 8 children with Barth syndrome. Tetralinoleoyl‐cardiolipin is specifically enriched in normal skeletal muscle and the normal heart. These findings support the notion that Barth syndrome is caused by alterations of mitochondrial lipids.
Prognostic value of plasma L-lactate concentration measured cow-side with a portable clinical analyzer in Holstein dairy cattle with abomasal disorders.

BACKGROUND L-Lactate has been used as a prognostic indicator for ill humans and animals. A portable analyzer that measures L-lactate could help veterinarians decide to proceed with correction of a displaced abomasum. HYPOTHESES The likelihood of a dairy cow with a displaced abomasum remaining in the herd can be predicted by lactate concentration and other variables. ANIMALS Thirty-four healthy early-lactation dairy cows, and 131 cows with abomasal displacements (DA) presented to Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. METHODS Plasma L-lactate was measured using a commercial analyzer (i-STAT). A cow had a positive outcome (PO) if she remained in the herd 30 days after surgical correction of the displaced abomasum and a negative outcome (NO) if she was culled or died in that time. A multivariable model with physical examination and clinicopathologic variables for predicting NO for cows with right-sided abomasal displacements was constructed. RESULTS The median plasma L-lactate was 0.54 mM/L (interquartile range, 0.42-0.74) in healthy lactating Holstein cows. In cows with right-sided displaced abomasa, median plasma L-lactate concentrations were higher in cows with NO (5.88 mM/L) versus PO (3.23 mM/L) (P = .002). In a multivariable model, which identified chloride, heart rate, and L-lactate as the best fitting variables for cows with right-sided displacements, the probability of NO increased as L-lactate increased. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Plasma L-lactate concentration might be a useful predictor of productive outcomes in cows with right-sided abomasal disorders.
Surgical Outcomes of Anomalous Origin of the Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery in Children: An Echocardiography Follow-up

Background: Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare but potentially life-threatening congenital heart defect. A retrospective analysis was carried out to elucidate the surgical outcomes of ALCAPA in infants and children using follow-up echocardiography. Methods: From September 2008 to March 2017, 26 children diagnosed with ALCAPA underwent left coronary re-implantation. All surviving patients received echocardiography during follow-up. Results: The mortality rate after the operation was 11.5%. Before repair, twenty patients (76.9%) presented with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. The mean Z-score of the preoperative LV end-diastolic diameter was 4.42 ± 2.09. Mitral regurgitation (MR) was present in all patients. Two patients (7.7%), both with mitral valve prolapse, underwent mitral valve repair at the time of ALCAPA repair. Two children required postoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. LV function normalized at a median time of 5.3 months (range: 0.5–36.0 months). The Z-score of the LV end-diastolic diameter decreased simultaneously. The degree of MR gradually decreased in all surviving patients. All patients had patency of the proximal left coronary artery confirmed by echocardiography at the most recent follow-up. Six patients (26.1%) showed supravalvar pulmonary stenosis and seven patients (30.4%) showed right pulmonary stenosis during follow-up. Conclusions: Coronary re-implantation was effective for rebuilding a dual coronary system in patients with ALCAPA and resulted in progressive improved LV function and reduced functional MR. Echocardiography was valuable for evaluating the outcomes. LV function, the degree of MR, and possible complications could be detected with follow-up echocardiography.
TIDAL FRICTION AND TIDAL LAGGING. APPLICABILITY LIMITATIONS OF A POPULAR FORMULA FOR THE TIDAL TORQUE

Tidal torques play a key role in rotational dynamics of celestial bodies. They govern these bodies' tidal despinning and also participate in the subtle process of entrapment of these bodies into spin–orbit resonances. This makes tidal torques directly relevant to the studies of habitability of planets and their moons. Our work begins with an explanation of how friction and lagging should be built into the theory of bodily tides. Although much of this material can be found in various publications, a short but self-consistent summary on the topic has been lacking in the hitherto literature, and we are filling the gap. After these preparations, we address a popular concise formula for the tidal torque, which is often used in the literature, for planets or stars. We explain why the derivation of this expression, offered in the paper by Goldreich and in the books by Kaula (Equation (4.5.29)) and Murray & Dermott (Equation (4.159)), implicitly sets the time lag to be frequency independent. Accordingly, the ensuing expression for the torque can be applied only to bodies having a very special (and very hypothetical) rheology which makes the time lag frequency independent, i.e., the same for all Fourier modes in the spectrum of tide. This expression for the torque should not be used for bodies of other rheologies. Specifically, the expression cannot be combined with an extra assertion of the geometric lag being constant, because at finite eccentricities the said assumption is incompatible with the constant-time-lag condition.
Rapid separation of protein isoforms by capillary zone electrophoresis with new dynamic coatings

Many cellular functions are regulated through protein isoforms. Changes in the expression level or regulatory dysfunctions of isoforms often lead to developmental or pathological disorders. Isoforms are traditionally analyzed using techniques such as gel‐ or capillary‐based isoelectric focusing. However, with proper electroosmotic flow (EOF) control, isoforms with small pI differences can also be analyzed using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Here we demonstrate the ability to quickly resolve isoforms of three model proteins (bovine serum albumin, transferrin, α1‐antitrypsin) in capillaries coated with novel dynamic coatings. The coatings allow reproducible EOF modulation in the cathodal direction to a level of 10‐9 m2V‐1s‐1. They also appear to inhibit protein adsorption to the capillary wall, making the isoform separations highly reproducible both in peak areas and apparent mobility. Isoforms of transferrin and α1‐antitrypsin have been implicated in several human diseases. By coupling the CZE isoform separation with standard affinity capture assays, it may be possible to develop a cost‐effective analytical platform for clinical diagnostics.
Information Asymmetry and Information Dissemination in High-Frequency Capital Markets

This dissertation is concerned with information asymmetry and information dissemination in high-frequency capital markets. At the intersection of information dissemination and asymmetry with market microstructure, this dissertation pursues three major goals. We propose enhancements to market microstructure methodology to be able to empirically conduct research on information dissemination and asymmetry on recent, high-frequency trading data. Second, we empirically evaluate related microstructure methodology to test its robustness and guide researchers in its application. Third, we employ the proposed methodology to evaluate the efficacy of different information channels, both traditional, legislation-based and new, technology-based channels.
Oleate Hydratase Catalyzes the Hydration of a Nonactivated Carbon-Carbon Bond

ABSTRACT The hydration of oleic acid into 10-hydroxystearic acid was originally described for a Pseudomonas cell extract almost half a century ago. In the intervening years, the enzyme has never been characterized in any detail. We report here the isolation and characterization of oleate hydratase (EC 4.2.1.53) from Elizabethkingia meningoseptica.
Price Competition in Sequential Multi-Product Oligopolies

We analyze a general model in which, at each echelon of the supply process, an arbitrary number of firms compete, offering one or multiple products to some or all of the firms at the next or possibly subsequent echelons or directly to the end consumer. At each echelon, the offered products are differentiated and the firms belonging to this echelon engage in price competition. The model assumes a general set of piece-wise linear consumer demand functions for all products (potentially) brought to the consumer market, where each product's demand volume may depend on the retail prices charged for all products; consumers' preferences over the various product/retailer combinations are general and asymmetric. Similarly the cost rates incurred by the firms at the most upstream echelon are general as well. We initially study a two-echelon sequential oligopoly with competing suppliers, each selling multiple products indirectly through a pool of multiple competing retailers or directly to end consumers. In some cases, a supplier may choose to sell some or all of its products simultaneously via its direct sales channel and indirectly via some or all of the retailers. We characterize the equilibrium behavior under linear price-only contracts. In the second stage, given wholesale prices and prices of direct sales channels selected in the first stage, all retailers simultaneously decide on their retail prices to maximize their total profits among all products of all suppliers they choose to do business with. In the first stage, the suppliers anticipate the retailers' responses and all suppliers simultaneously maximize their total pro ts from all channels direct or indirect channels by selecting the wholesale prices and direct sales channel prices. We show that in this two-stage competition model, a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium always exists. Multiple subgame perfect equilibria may arise but, if so, all equilibria are equivalent in the sense of generating unique demands and profits for all firms. We subsequently generalize our results to supply chain models with an arbitrary set of echelons, and show how all equilibrium performance measures can be computed with an efficient recursive scheme. The model may, also be used to evaluate the impact of various structural changes in the supply chain network.
Empirical Investigation Into Customer Adoption Of Islamic Banking Services In Tunisia

This paper seeks to identify the main factors influencing the adoption of Islamic banking by conventional bank customers in Tunisia. Based on a primary data collected by self-administered questionnaires involving a sample of 239 respondents located in Tunis City, the results of this study demonstrate that religious commitment, the amount of information held by consumers about Islamic finance, the relative advantage of Islamic banking and its compatibility with consumer values, lifestyle, and banking habits are predictors of its adoption. However, it is worth noting that social influence does not have any effect on customers’ decisions to use this new banking service. The findings also reveal that there is a general lack of information about the Islamic banking among Tunisian consumers. By identifying the drivers of Islamic banking acceptance among potential adopters, this paper aims to help bank managers target their actions and strategies more effectively.
Role of Liability, Verifiability, Reputation, and Competition

Credence goods markets are characterized by asymmetric informa? tion between sellers and consumers that may give rise to inefficien? cies, such as under- and overtreatment or market breakdown. We study in a large experiment with 936 participants the determinants for efficiency in credence goods markets. While theory predicts that liability or verifiability yield efficiency, we find that liability has a crucial, but verifiability at best a minor, effect. Allowing sellers to build up reputation has little influence, as predicted. Seller competi? tion drives down prices and yields maximal trade, but does not lead to higher efficiency as long as liability is violated. {JEL D12, D82)
Isolation and characterization of a novel extracellular metalloprotease from Bacillus subtilis

We have isolated and characterized two minor extracellular proteases from culture supernatants of a strain of Bacillus subtilis containing deletion mutations of the genes for the extracellular proteases subtilisin (apr) and neutral protease (npr) and a minor extracellular protease (epr) as well as intracellular serine protease-I (isp-1). Characterization studies have revealed that one of these enzymes is the previously described protease bacillopeptidase F. The second enzyme, the subject of this report, is a novel metalloprotease, which we designate Mpr. Mpr is a unique metalloprotease that has been purified to apparent homogeneity by using both conventional and high-performance liquid chromatography procedures. Mpr has a molecular mass of approximately 28 kilodaltons on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a basic isoelectric point of 8.7. The enzyme showed maximal activity against azocoll at pH 7.5 and 50 degrees C. Mpr was inhibited by dithiothreitol and a combination of beta-mercaptoethanol and EDTA. Activity was moderately inhibited by beta-mercaptoethanol and EDTA alone as well as by cysteine and citrate and only marginally by phosphoramidon 1,10-phenanthroline and N-[N-(L-3-trans-carboxyoxiran-2-carbonyl)-L-leucyl]-agmatine. Mpr was not inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. In addition, Mpr showed esterolytic but not collagenolytic activities. Our studies suggest that Mpr is a secreted metalloprotease containing cysteine residues that are required for maximal activity.
The female genital tract microbiota: composition, relation to innate immune factors, and effects of contraceptives

5 Publications 7 List of abbreviations 8 Introduction . 9 The female lower genital tract Anatomy 10 Histology 11 Composition of the vaginal secretion . 13 Defence systems of the lower FGT 13 Membrane associated factors 15 Cytokines and chemokines 16 Antimicrobial peptides/proteins (AMPs) 17 Infections of the lower FGT 17 Bacterial Vaginosis BV-associated complications 20 Treatment of BV 21 Diagnostic methods 21 The vaginal microbiota The normal vaginal microbiota 23 BV-associated bacteria 26 Factors influencing the vaginal microbiota 26 Aims of the study 29 Material and methods 30 Results and Discussion 38 Conclusion 53 Acknowledgements 54 References 56 Paper I-IV 69
Rapid Entire Body Assessment: A Literature Review

The aim of this review is to provide a summary of one of the observational postural analysis ergonomic assessment tools; Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) in terms of its development, applications, validity and limitations. Research showed REBA’s convenience for postural assessment of jobs in numerous professional settings, including industrial and health care jobs, construction, sawmill tasks, supermarket industry, food industry, computer based jobs, packaging, school workshop, odontological services and for firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Face validity is established in two stages. In terms of concurrent validity, several studies used REBA to compare the results with other observational and direct methods so that the level of conformity between the two is determined. The limitations discussed in this review did not hold the method’s implementation back, on the contrary, it is currently used and remains a rapid to use tool with computerized checklist and tables available in public domain.
Characterization of an immunosuppressive parvovirus related to the minute virus of mice

We have characterized an immunosuppressive parvovirus related to the minute virus of mice (MVM). The parvovirus, MVM(i), grew efficiently on the murine lymphoma cell line EL-4 and not on the A-9 strain of L-cells which is a host for the prototype MVM. MVM(i) was immunosuppressive for allogeneic mixed leukocyte cultures, inhibiting the generation of cytolytic T lymphocytes. MVM had no effect on mixed leukocyte cultures. MVM and MVM(i) particles were similar in buoyant density, sedimentation rate, appearance in the electron microscope, and polypeptide composition. We present restriction enzyme maps of the DNAs of MVM and MVM(i) which show that they are closely related. Out of 109 restriction endonuclease cleavage sites (representing together about 10% of the nucleotide sequence), 86 sites were shared by MVM and MVM(i), whereas 22 sites were absent from one of the two viruses. MVM(i) DNA had an apparent deletion of about 60 nucleotides relative to MVM, located near the 5' terminus of viral DNA.
Pelvic exenteration for locally advanced primary and recurrent pelvic neoplasm: a series of 54 resectable cases

objective: To report on a series of 54 patients with pelvic neoplasms submitted to curative pelvic exenteration at a tertiary hospital and describe the results (morbidity, mortality, and long-term survival). Methods: The complete data of 54 patients submitted to pelvic exenteration between 1999 and 2007 were evaluated. Sixteen men and 38 women with a mean age of 65 years and median age of 66 years (36 to 77) were studied. Surgical procedures included total pelvic exenteration (n = 26), anterior pelvic exenteration (n = 5), and posterior pelvic exenteration (n = 23). results: The mean operative time was 402 minutes (280 to 585). The average volume of intraoperative bleeding was 2,013 ml (300 to 5,800). Postoperative mortality was 5% (n = 3). The overall morbidity rate was 46% (n = 25). Histological evaluation demonstrated that 47 resections were R0 (87%) while seven were R1 (13%). The overall survival rate in five years was 23.5% (n = 12). Conclusions: Despite its aggressive nature and high morbidity, pelvic exenteration is still justified in locally advanced pelvic neoplasms or even in isolated pelvic recurrence, since it affords a greater long-term control of the neoplasm.
Postoperative complications in patients with portal vein thrombosis after liver transplantation: evaluation with Doppler ultrasonography.

AIM To study the postoperative complications in patients with preoperative portal vein thrombosis (PVT) undergoing liver transplantation (LT) and to evaluate the complications with Doppler ultrasonography. METHODS Retrospective studies were performed on 284 patients undergoing LT (286 LT) with respect to pre- and postoperative clinical data and Doppler ultrasonography. According to the presence and grade of preoperative PVT, 286 LTs were divided into three groups: complete PVT (c-PVT), partial PVT (p-PVT) and non-PVT, with 22, 30 and 234 LTs, respectively. Analyses were carried out to compare the incidence of early postoperative complications. RESULTS PVT, inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis, hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) and biliary complications were found postoperatively. All complications were detected by routine Doppler ultrasonography and diagnoses made by ultrasound were confirmed by clinical data or/and other imaging studies. Nine out of 286 LTs had postoperative PVT. The incidence of the c-PVT group was 22.7%, which was higher than that of the p-PVT group (3.3%, P < 0.05) and non-PVT group (1.3%, P < 0.005). No difference was found between the p-PVT and non-PVT groups (P > 0.25). Of the 9 cases with postoperative PVT, recanalizations were achieved in 7 cases after anticoagulation under the guidance of ultrasound, 1 case received portal vein thrombectomy and 1 case died of acute injection. Ten LTs had postoperative IVC thrombosis. The c-PVT group had a higher incidence of IVC thrombosis than the non-PVT group (9.1% vs 2.6%, P < 0.05); no significant difference was found between either the c-PVT and p-PVT groups (9.1% vs 6.7%, P > 0.5) or between the p-PVT and non-PVT groups (P > 0.25). Nine cases with IVC thrombosis were cured by anticoagulation under the guidance of ultrasound, and 1 case gained natural cure without any medical treatment after 2 mo. HAT was found in 2 non-PVT cases, giving a rate of 0.7% among 286 LTs. Biliary complications were seen in 12 LTs. The incidence of biliary complications in the c-PVT, p-PVT and non-PVT groups was 9.1%, 3.3% and 4.3%, respectively (P > 0.25 for all), among which 2 stenosis led retransplantations and others were controlled by relative therapy. CONCLUSION C-PVT patients tend to have a higher incidence of PVT and IVC thrombosis than non-PVT patients after LT. The incidence of postoperative complications in p-PVT patients does not differ from that of non-PVT patients. A relatively low incidence of HAT was seen in our study. Doppler ultrasonography is a convenient and efficient method for detecting posttransplant complications and plays an important role in guiding treatment.
Temporal Variations of the Chemical Composition of Three Seaweeds in Two Tropical Coastal Environments

The seaweeds Chaetomorpha antennina, Gymnogongrus griffithsiae and Ulva fasciata were studied regarding tissue concentrations of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total protein, hydrosoluble protein, total carbohydrate, chlorophyll a and total carotenoid throughout a 39-month survey in two coastal environments of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. One of the sites (Itapuca Stone) has high concentrations of dissolved nutrients and an intense long-term process of cultural eutrophication; the second site (Bananal Inlet) is thought to have lower concentrations of dissolved nutrients and no relevant anthropic impact. Seaweeds experienced changes in the concentrations of the substances in the thalli; however they did not show any cyclic seasonal pattern, except for pigments, with lower values in summer in both sites. The differences found for each species in each sampling at the sites were small (e.g. U. fasciata, more total nitrogen at Itapuca Stone) or absent (e.g. C. antennina, no significant differences for hydrosoluble protein in the sites). Differences in the concentrations of dissolved nutrients in the sites did not generate contrasting chemical profiles in the seaweeds. There is no evidence of nitrogen- or phosphorus-limitation in any season. It is presumable that the concentrations of dissolved nutrients at the nutrient-poorer site are sufficient to generate high concentrations of the substances in the thalli of the species tested, similar to the concentrations measured in the eutrophic site. Experimental data are needed to elucidate the factors that promote the success of the species tested under contrasting nutrient availability and environmental disturbance.