Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing chemical germicides against Candida species using quantitative carrier and fingerpad methods.

Six disinfectants were tested against Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis using quantitative carrier tests based on glass (QCT-1) and metal (QCT-2) surfaces. C. albicans was also used to test four topical agents by a fingerpad method. Hard water (200 ppm as CaCO(3)) was the product diluent. In preliminary tests with QCT-1 and QCT-2, the testing was with or without a soil load; subsequent tests and fingerpad tests included soil. In QCT-1 and QCT-2, each carrier received 10 microL (5.0 x 10(6) - 1.0 x 10(7)colony forming units) of Candida, and was air dried for 1 h, then exposed to 1 mL or 50 microL of test product at 22 +/- 2 degrees C for up to 10 min. Controls received an equivalent volume of saline. For fingerpad tests, each digit received 10 microL of inoculum, which was allowed to dry and exposed to 1 mL of test product for 20 s. Inoculated plates of Sabouraud's dextrose agar were held for 48 h at 30 degrees C and colonies counted to determine reductions in colony forming units. In tests on both hard surfaces and fingerpads, ethanol and products based on ethanol reliably and rapidly inactivated all the Candida species tested. Products with sufficient potency to have tuberculocidal claims produced substantial reductions in the titre of C. albicans, although some showed a lesser reduction in titre of C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis. This may reflect differences in cell hydrophobicity between Candida species, and highlights the need for care in selecting a suitable surrogate for disinfectant tests. The quantitative carrier and fingerpad protocols are suitable for assessing the activity of disinfectants and topical antiseptics against candida.
Implications of Perioperative Team Setups for Operating Room Management Decisions

BACKGROUND: Team performance has been studied extensively in the perioperative setting, but the managerial impact of interprofessional team performance remains unclear. We hypothesized that the interplay between anesthesiologists and surgeons would affect operating room turnaround times, and teams that worked together over time would become more efficient. METHODS: We analyzed 13,632 surgical cases at our hospital that involved 64 surgeons and 48 anesthesiologists. We detrended and adjusted the data for potential confounders including age, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status, and surgical list (scheduled cases of specific surgical specialties). The surgical lists were categorized as ear, nose, and throat surgery; trauma surgery; general surgery; and gynecology. We assessed the relationship between turnaround times and assignment of different anesthesiologists to specific surgeons using a Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS: We found significant differences in team performances among the different surgical lists but no team learning. We constructed managerial decision tables for the assignment of anesthesiologists to specific surgeons at our hospital. We defined a decision algorithm based on these tables. Our analysis indicated that had this algorithm been used in staffing the operating room for the surgical cases represented in our data, median turnaround times would have a reduction potential of 6.8% (95% confidence interval 6.3% to 7.1%). CONCLUSIONS: A surgeon is usually predefined for scheduled surgeries (surgical list). Allocation of the right anesthesiologist to a list and to a surgeon can affect the team performance; thus, this assignment has managerial implications regarding the operating room efficiency affecting turnaround times and thus potentially overutilized time of a list at our hospital.
NusA Is Required for Ribosomal Antitermination and for Modulation of the Transcription Elongation Rate of both Antiterminated RNA and mRNA*

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is elongated twice as fast as mRNA in vivo due to the presence of antitermination sequences in the 5′ part of the rRNA transcripts. A number of Nus factors bind to RNA polymerase at the antitermination sites and help confer resistance to Rho-dependent termination of transcription. In this paper, the effects of the nusAcs10allele on the elongation rate of both mRNA and antiterminated RNA were investigated. The results indicate that NusA is required to achieve a high elongation rate of RNA chains carrying the ribosomal antitermination boxA and that antitermination is defective when the rate of transcription elongation is decreased by thenusAcs10 allele. Furthermore, the nusAcs10allele had no significant effects on the elongation rate of normallacZ mRNA during steady state growth, but it abolished the inhibition of lacZ mRNA elongation by guanosine 3′,5′-bis(diphosphate) (ppGpp). These results suggest that NusA is the component of the transcription elongation complex required for inhibition of mRNA elongation by ppGpp.
An assessment of women's awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer and screening and the barriers to cervical screening in Ogun State, Nigeria.

This is an insight into women's understanding of cervical cancer risk factors, symptomatology, prevention and screening. Quantitative Data was collected using questionnaires administered to 2000 women (aged 20 to 64 years) who were selected by multi-stage sampling technique across the 20 local government areas in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study showed thatthe awareness of cervical cancer and screening was very low (6.5% and 4.8% respectively). The knowledge about cervical and screening was very poor. Only 2.3% of the women could identify a virus as the cause of cervical cancer while 4.1% identified cervical screening as a way to prevent cervical cancer. 97.7% and 97.9% had no or poor knowledge of risk factors and knowledge of symptoms of cervical cancer. 90.5% identified lack of awareness as the barrier to uptake of cervical screening. 1.4% of the women have had cervical screening done.In order to step up the campaign for the control of cervical cancer in Nigeria, it is therefore very important to concentrate much of the effort on creation of
Temperature sensing in bacterial gene regulation — what it all boils down to

Many bacterial gene regulatory circuits are controlled by temperature. Temperature‐mediated regulation occurs at the level of transcription and translation. Supercoiling, changes in mRNA conformation and protein conformation are all implicated in thermosensing. Bacterial virulence functions are often temperature regulated and thus many an example of thermoregulation comes from pathogenic organisms. H‐NS is at the crossroads of regulation in many such systems. mRNA melting has also been shown to act as a thermosensing mechanism in various contexts. Proteins can also act as temperature sensors as exemplified by the gene regulator TlpA in Salmonella typhimurium.
A PAM-based ontology concept and hierarchy learning method

As a shared conceptual model that can express knowledge and a modelling tool that can describe conceptual model in the semantic and knowledge level, ontology plays an important role in the related fields of the Semantic Web, natural language processing and information retrieval. Ontology learning is a series of methods and technologies to construct ontology automatically or semi-automatically. Concept and hierarchy learning are the most important parts of the ontology construction. This paper proposes an ontology concept and hierarchy learning method based on the Pachinko Allocation Model. The above problem is transformed into a probability and statistical inference problem by building an ontology concept learning model. Gibbs sampling is used to estimate the parameters. Then, using the ontology concept generation algorithm based on WordNet, an abstract description of the ontology concept is obtained. Experimental results on the standard test dataset show that the proposed method can offer an effective solution to ontology concept and hierarchy learning.
Implementing task-based learning with young learners

This article draws on qualitative classroom observation data from case studies of three EFL classes in Hong Kong primary schools. It analyses four themes relevant to the classroom implementation of task-based learning with young learners, namely, noise/indiscipline, the use of the mother tongue, the extent of pupil involvement, and the role of drawing or colouring activities. For each of these issues, strategies for classroom practice are discussed. It is suggested that the paper carries implications for teachers carrying out activities or tasks with young EFL learners in other contexts.
Further Studies on the Eijkman Reactions of Shigella Cultures

Stuart et al. (1942) found that 15 cultures of ShigeUa paradysenteriae, with one exception, failed to grow while 17 S. sonnei, 4 S. alkcalescens and one S. di&par (madampensis) cultures grew readily and fermented glucose at 45.5°C. Wood et al. (1943) found that the ability of ShigeUa species to reduce trimethylamine oxide corresponded to their EiJkman reactions. In view of this correlation it seemed advisable to extend the work on the Eijkman reactions of ShigeUa. In the present work on 276 cultures a temperature of 45°C. , i 0.1°C. , was found more satisfactory than 45.5°C. Inoculations were made from 24-hour broth cultures. Two loopfuls of group I and one loopful of group II species
Sequence specific peptidomimetic molecules inhibitors of a protein–protein interaction at the helix 1 level of c‐Myc

Our work is focused in the broad area of strategies and efforts to inhibit protein–protein interactions. The possible strategies in this field are definitely much more varied than in the case of ATP‐pocket inhibitors. In our previous work (10), we reported that a retro‐inverso (RI) form of Helix1 (H1) of c‐Myc, linked to an RI‐internalization sequence arising from the third α‐helix of Antennapedia (Int) was endowed with an antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity toward the cancer cell lines MCF‐7 and HCT‐116. The activity apparently was dependent upon the presence of the Myc motif. In this work, by ala‐scan mapping of the H1 portion of our molecules with D‐aa, we found two amino acids necessary for antiproliferative activity: D‐Lys in 4 and D‐Arg in 5 (numbers refer to L‐forms). In the natural hetero‐dimer, these two side chains project to the outside of the four α‐helix bundle. Moreover, we were able to obtain three peptides more active than the original lead. They strongly reduced cell proliferation and survival (RI‐Int‐VV‐H1‐E2A,S6A,F8A; RI‐Int‐VV‐H1‐S6A,F8A,R11A; RI‐Int‐VV‐H1‐S6A,F8A,Q13A): after 8 days at 10 µM total cell number was ∼1% of the number of cells initially seeded. In these more potent molecules, the ablated side chains project to the inside in the corresponding natural four α‐helix bundle. In the present work, we also investigated the behavior of our molecules at the biochemical level. Using both a circular dichroism (CD) and a fluorescence anisotropy approach, we noted that side chains projecting at the interior of the four α‐helix bundle are needed for inducing the partial unfolding of Myc‐H2, without an opening of the leucine zipper. Side chains projecting at the outside are not required for this biochemical effect. However, antiproliferative activity had the opposite requirements: side chains projecting at the outside of the bundle were essential, and, on the contrary, ablation of one side chain at a time projecting at the inside increased rather than decreased biological activity. We conclude that our active molecules probably interfere at the level of a protein–protein interaction between Myc‐Max and a third protein of the transcription complex. Finally, CD and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data, plus dynamic simulations, suggest a prevalent random coil conformation of the H1 portion of our molecules, at least in diluted solutions. The introduction of a kink (substitution with proline in positions 5 or 7) led to an important reduction of biological activity. We have also synthesized a longer peptido‐mimetic molecule (RI‐Int‐H1‐S6A,F8A‐loop‐H2) with the intent of obtaining a wider zone of interaction and a stronger interference at the level of the higher‐order structure (enhanceosome). RI‐Int‐H1‐S6A,F8A‐loop‐H2 was less active rather than more active in respect to RI‐Int‐VV‐H1‐S6A,F8A, apparently because it has a clear bent to form a β‐sheet (CD and NMR data).
Physician-Scientists--Endangered and Essential

If the country9s medical research enterprise is to make the contributions it is poised to deliver, the progressive, dangerous decline in the number of physician-scientists must be reversed. This decline--most pronounced among trainees and young investigators--has resulted from: societal pressures toward careers in primary care; economic disincentives, a shift in funding priorities; and the growth of managed care. Because physician-scientists are indispensable participants in the bi-directional flow of information from bedside to laboratory, and because no single agency can correct this problem alone, a major national effort--catalyzed by federal legislation-is recommended: to establish a climate in academia conducive to creating physician-scientists; to set up a network of clinical research units; to enlist the support of foundations, biopharmaceutical companies and managed care entities, as well as government and academia; and to set up a national database of physicians scientists.
Role of protein kinase C in the induction of homosynaptic long‐term depression by brief low frequency stimulation in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus in vitro

1 Enhancement of the induction of long‐term depression (LTD) of excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) by a priming stimulus was investigated in the medial perforant pathway of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in vitro. 2 In control, LTD could be induced by a conditioning low frequency stimulation (LFS) consisting of sixty, although not thirty or fewer, stimuli at 1 Hz applied at a holding potential of −40 mV. 3 A conditioning LFS of just five stimuli at 1 Hz was found to induce LTD if preceded 1–5 min, but not 15 min, by a priming LFS of five stimuli at 1 Hz, −40 mV, which did not by itself induce LTD. 4 A low concentration of the protein kinase C (PKC) activator (−)‐indolactam V, which did not itself induce LTD, reduced the threshold for the number of stimuli inducing LTD following the priming stimulus, while a high concentration of (−)‐indolactam V directly induced a depression of the test excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), which occluded LFS‐induced LTD. This suggests that the priming of LTD and also the direct induction of LTD involves the activation of PKC. 5 The pseudosubstrate peptide inhibitor PKC19–36 inhibited the induction of LTD by the priming protocol and by the control induction conditioning protocol. 6 These experiments demonstrate that a covert synaptic change involving generation of PKC is very effective in producing conditions whereby LTD is induced by very brief synaptic stimulation.
Major depressive disorder in Parkinson's disease: a register‐based study

Nilsson FM, Kessing LV, Sørensen TM, Andersen PK, Bolwig TG. Major depressive disorder in Parkinson's disease: a register‐based study. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2002: 106: 202–211. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2002.
Phase transitions in classical two-dimensional lattice Coulomb gases.

We carry out Monte Carlo simulations of the two-dimensional classical neutral Coulomb gas of integer charges on a square and a triangular lattice, and find rich phase diagramsas a function of temperature and chemical potential. At high densities, the ground state becomes a periodic charge lattice, and we find evidence suggesting that the melting transitions of these charge lattices are not always in the universality class expected from symmetry analysis. We compute the inverse dielectric constant ∈ -1 , which vanishes at the «metal-insulator» transition of the Coulomb gas
Seksualizacja dzieci i młodzieży – przyczyny, przejawy, konsekwencje i propozycje przeciwdziałania

Celem artykulu jest przedstawienie najwazniejszych zagadnien dotyczących zjawiska seksualizacji dzieci i mlodziezy. Omowiono w nim takie przyczyny tego fenomenu, jak nowa rola dziecka we wspolczesnej kulturze polegająca na byciu konsumentem i odbiorcą mediow oraz powszechne wystepowanie seksu w środkach masowego przekazu. Na podstawie raportu Amerykanskiego Towarzystwa Psychologicznego, jak rowniez wynikow badan polskich i zagranicznych ekspertow, przedstawiono przejawy seksualizacji we wspolczesnej kulturze – widoczne w muzyce, czasopismach mlodziezowych, internecie i produktach, takich jak lalki. Ponadto zaprezentowano jej konsekwencje oraz mozliwości przeciwdzialania. W artykule, ze wzgledu na wiekszą ilośc dostepnych danych, polozono nacisk na sytuacje dziewczyn w kontekście zjawiska seksualizacji.
Linear finite elements may be only first-order pointwise accurate on anisotropic triangulations

We give a counterexample of an anisotropic triangulation on which the exact solution has a second-order error of linear interpolation, while the computed solution obtained using linear finite elements is only first-order pointwise accurate. Our example is given in the context of a singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion equation, whose exact solution exhibits a sharp boundary layer. Furthermore, we give a theoretical justification of the observed numerical phenomena using a finite-difference representation of the considered finite element methods. Both standard and lumped-mass cases are addressed.
Altered Ca2+ mobilization during excitation-contraction in cultured cardiac myocytes exposed to antimony.

Industrial exposure and pharmaceutical use of antimony compounds have been linked to altered cardiovascular function and pathology. Antimony compounds induce hypotension, bradycardia, and cardiac arrhythmias, all of which can arise from aberrations in myocyte regulation of intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i). To determine if trivalent antimony affects [Ca2+]i during excitation-contraction, we developed an in vitro cardiac myocyte model that was exposed for 24 hr to potassium antimonyl tartrate (PAT) at 0-10 microM. Control myocytes received sodium potassium tartrate. Concentrations of up to 10 microM PAT were without effect on total DNA and protein content of cultures, indicating that PAT exposures were not overtly toxic. However, spontaneous beating rates of myocytes were significantly reduced by 5 and 10 microM PAT. Myocytes were paced by electric field stimulation at 0.5 Hz, and the effect of PAT on [Ca2+]i transients during excitation-contraction was monitored with fura-2. PAT (2-8 microM) significantly reduced systolic [Ca2+]i in a concentration-dependent fashion, but was without effect on diastolic [Ca2+]i or on the first derivative of the transient rise (d[Ca2+]i/dt). Myocytes from control cells responded to epinephrine (10(-8)-10(-5) m) in concentration-dependent fashion with elevated systolic [Ca2+]i and an increase in the rate of decay of transients. In PAT-exposed myocytes, the systolic response was blunted while the decay rate was enhanced. PAT-exposed cells also exhibited a reduced basal [Ca2+]i when depolarized by 90 mm KCl and a reduced caffeine-releasable Ca2+ pool of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Both control and PAT-treated cells responded to ryanodine in a comparable fashion. Results indicate that a nonlethal exposure to PAT reduces Ca2+ availability during excitation-contraction. Decreased influx of Ca2+ across the sarcolemma and enhanced removal of Ca2+ appear to be responsible.
Diagnostic and prognostic value of peritoneal immunocytology in gastric cancer.

PURPOSE Among the clinical factors with a pivotal role in the prediction of outcome for patients with gastric cancer, intraperitoneal (i.p.) microscopic dissemination may represent an important cause of recurrences, even in the early stages of the disease. In this context, the cytologic examination of intraoperative peritoneal washings may be essential to identify metastatic free cells, although a number of false-negative cases may be encountered. PATIENTS AND METHODS To determine whether immunocytochemical (ICC) methods that used a panel of three monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), B72.3, AR3, and BD5, directed to gastric cancer-associated antigens can improve peritoneal cytology by providing more accurate prognostic indications, we immunocytochemically and morphologically evaluated 144 peritoneal washings sampled from patients surgically treated for gastric cancer. RESULTS The ICC analysis allowed the identification of metastatic free peritoneal cells in 35% of the patients, with a 14% improvement over routine cytopathology (P < .0001). Furthermore, a 54-month survival analysis by Kaplan-Meier curves showed a statistically significant decrease in overall survival (OS) in patients with stages I through III disease with peritoneal microscopic disease detected morphologically and/or by ICC at the time of the primary surgery. CONCLUSION Our data indicate that the use of a combination of selected MoAbs may allow the identification of cytologically false-negative cases that provide valuable prognostic information. This may be useful to stratify patients on more adequate therapeutic trials.
Conditioned satiety in the rat.

In 3 experiments with a total of 72 male albino Wistar or Sprague-Dawley rats, liquid or solid diets differing in carbohydrate or triglyceride content were presented 1 at a time to each S once or twice a day. For a given S, each caloric density consistently had a particular odor and/or taste. Results show the size of the feeding bout on the dilute nutrient became larger than that on the more concentrated nutrient after several pairs of presentations. This differentiation was at least partly controlled by the oral cues which had been paired with nutrient differences. Results were attributable to acquired differences in the development of feeding inhibition during the meal, and not to original or acquired differences in initial rate of feeding or in the preference for 1 diet over the other in 2 stimulus tests.
1 1 CCL 2 and CCL 3 are essential mediators of pelvic pain in experimental autoimmune 2 prostatitis 3 4

27 Experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) is a murine model of chronic 28 prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) in men, a syndrome characterized by 29 chronic pelvic pain. We have demonstrated that CCL2 and CCL3 are biomarkers that 30 correlate with pelvic pain symptoms. We postulated that CCL2 and CCL3 play a 31 functional role in CPPS and therefore examined their expression in EAP. Upon 32 examination of the prostate five days after induction of EAP, CCL2 mRNA was elevated 33 2-3 fold, CCL8 by 15 fold, CCL12 by 12-13 fold and CXCL9 by 2-4 fold compared to 34 control mice. At 10 days the major chemokines were CXCL13 and CXCL2; at 20 days 35 CCL2 (1-2 fold), CCL3 (2-3 fold) and CCL11 (2-3 fold); and at 30 days, CCL12 (20-35 36 fold) and smaller increases in CCL2, CCL3 and XCL1. Chemokine elevations were 37 accompanied by increases in mast cells and B cells at 5 days, monocytes and neutrophils 38 at day 10, CD4+ T cells at day 20 and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells at day 30. Anti-CCL2 and 39 anti-CCL3 neutralizing antibodies administered at EAP onset attenuated pelvic pain 40 development but only anti-CCL2 antibodies were effective therapeutically. CCL2and 41 its cognate receptor CCR2-deficient mice were completely protected from development 42 of pain symptoms but assumed susceptibility after reconstitution with wild-type bone 43 marrow. CCL3-deficient mice showed resistance to the maintenance of pelvic pain 44 while CCR5-deficient mice did not show any lessening of pelvic pain severity. These 45 results suggest that the CCL2-CCR2 axis and CCL3 are important mediators of chronic 46 pelvic pain in EAP. 47