Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PorA Represents the Major Cell Wall Channel of the Gram-Positive Bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum

ABSTRACT The cell wall of the gram-positive bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum contains a channel (porin) for the passage of hydrophilic solutes. The channel-forming polypeptide PorA is a 45-amino-acid acidic polypeptide with an excess of four negatively charged amino acids, which is encoded by the 138-bp gene porA. porA was deleted from the chromosome of C.glutamicum wild-type strain ATCC 13032 to obtain mutant ATCC 13032ΔporA. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that porA was deleted. Lipid bilayer experiments revealed that PorA was not present in the cell wall of the mutant strain. Searches within the known chromosome of C. glutamicum by using National Center for Biotechnology Information BLAST and reverse transcription-PCR showed that no other PorA-like protein is encoded on the chromosome or is expressed in the deletion strain. The porA deletion strain exhibited slower growth and longer growth times than the C. glutamicum wild-type strain. Experiments with different antibiotics revealed that the susceptibility of the mutant strain was much lower than that of the wild-type C. glutamicum strain. The results presented here suggest that PorA represents a major hydrophilic pathway through the cell wall and that C. glutamicum contains cell wall channels which are not related to PorA.
Screening young adult cancer survivors for distress with the Distress Thermometer: Comparisons with a structured clinical diagnostic interview

The validity of the Distress Thermometer (DT) as a screen for psychological distress in young adult cancer survivors was assessed by comparing it with the results of a psychiatric diagnostic interview, the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM‐IV) (SCID), to evaluate the accuracy of the DT and identify optimal cutoff scores for this population.
Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is required for the enhancement of hippocampal neurogenesis following environmental enrichment

Neurogenesis continues to occur in the adult mammalian hippocampus and is regulated by both genetic and environmental factors. It is known that exposure to an enriched environment enhances the number of newly generated neurons in the dentate gyrus. However, the mechanisms by which enriched housing produces these effects are poorly understood. To test a role for neurotrophins, we used heterozygous knockout mice for brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF+/–) and mice lacking neurotrophin‐4 (NT‐4–/–) together with their wild‐type littermates. Mice were either reared in standard laboratory conditions or placed in an enriched environment for 8 weeks. Animals received injections of the mitotic marker bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to label newborn cells. Enriched wild‐type and enriched NT‐4–/– mice showed a two‐fold increase in hippocampal neurogenesis as assessed by stereological counting of BrdU‐positive cells in the dentate gyrus and double labelling for BrdU and the neuronal marker NeuN. Remarkably, this enhancement of hippocampal neurogenesis was not seen in enriched BDNF+/– mice. Failure to up‐regulate BDNF accompanied the lack of a neurogenic response in enriched BDNF heterozygous mice. We conclude that BDNF but not NT‐4 is required for the environmental induction of neurogenesis.
The Nationalization of Japanese Elections

The postwar electoral dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was founded on (1) strong incumbency advantage, which insulated its legislators from declining party popularity, and (2) the malapportionment of districts, which overvalued the electoral clout of the party’s rural base. The LDP’s demise in 2009 was due to the reversal of both factors, each of which was related to electoral reforms in the 1990s. First, I demonstrate that elections are becoming more “nationalized,” due to the growing weight that voters attach to the attractiveness of party leaders. Past performance has become a poorer predictor of incumbent reelection, giving way to large partisan swings that are increasingly correlated across districts. Second, malapportionment was reduced by almost half in 1994, meaning that rural votes are now worth fewer seats. As a result, parties that can attract swing voters nationally are better positioned for victory than those with a narrow regional base.
Large Eddy Simulation of Compressible Parallel Jet Flow and Comparison of
 Four Subgrid-Scale Models

Large eddy simulations of a three-dimensional (3D) compressible parallel jet flow at Mach number of 0.9 and Reynolds number 2000 are carried out. Four subgrid-scale (SGS) models, namely, the standard Smagorinsky model (SM), the selective mixed scale model (SMSM), the coherent-structure Smagorinsky model (CSM) and the coherent-structure kinetic-energy model (CKM) are employed, respectively, and compared. The purpose of the study is to compare the SGS models and to find their suitability of predicting the flow transition in the potential core of the jet, and so as to provide a reference for selecting SGS models in simulating compressible jet flows, which is a kind of proto-type flow in fluid dynamics and aeroacoustics. A finite difference code with fourth-order spatial and very low storage third-order explicit Runge-Kutta temporal schemes is introduced and employed for calculation. The code, which was previously designed for simulating shock/boundary-layer interactions and had been widely validated in simulating a variety of compressible flows, is rewritten and changed into parallelized using the OpenMP protocol so that it can be run on memory-shared multi-core workstations. The computational domain size and the index of LES resolution quality are checked to validate the simulations. Detailed comparisons of the four SGS models are carried out. The results of averaged flow-field including the velocity profiles and the developments of shearlayer, the instantaneous vortical flows and the viscous dissipation, the predicted turbulence statistics and the balances of momentum equation are studied and compared. The results show that although the normalized developed velocity profiles are well predicted by the four SGS models, the length of the potential core and the development of the shear-layer reveal that the SM has excessive SGS viscosity and is therefore too dissipative to correctly predict the flow transition and shear-layer expansion. The model smears small vortical scales and lowers down the effective Reynolds number of the flow because of the over-predicted SGS viscosity and dissipation. The turbulence statistics and the balances of momentum equation have also confirmed the excessive dissipation of the SM. The CKM is also found to over-predict the SGS viscosity. Compared with these two models, the SMSM and the CSM have performed well in predicting both the averaged and the instantaneous flow-fields of the compressible jet. And they are localized models which are computationally efficient and easy for coding. Therefore, the SMSM and the CSM are recommended for the LES of the compressible Jet.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal validation of a 13-item fatigue scale among Japanese postpartum mothers.

This study examined the psychometric properties of a 13-item fatigue scale for postpartum mothers. Japanese mothers (n = 2026) from a cohort study completed questionnaires (e.g. fatigue scale, Japanese version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, demographics) during their hospital stay after childbirth (baseline) and at 1, 2, 4 and 6 months postpartum. Initial factor analysis of baseline data revealed that the fatigue scale had three factors or subscales (physical, emotional and cognitive). Within-group analysis across each measurement time revealed the same three-factor structure with acceptable fit. Between-group analysis also showed longitudinal factorial invariance across time. The fatigue subscales had acceptable divergent and convergent validities with the depression scale. The subscale scores differed significantly based on participant background. The Japanese Fatigue Scale is a concise and informative tool for assessing aspects of fatigue in clinical settings and in the community.
R&D Expenditure and Economic Growth: New Empirical Evidence

This article provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between research and development (R&D) expenditures and economic growth, and determines whether this relationship differs with respect to the degree of development. In this regard, the study utilises data from 52 countries from 1996 to 2010 and employs a dynamic panel data model. The research finds that R&D expenditure has a positive and significant effect on economic growth for all countries in the long run, which is consistent with the relevant literature. For developing countries, the effect is weak in the short run but strong in the long run, as expected. The study adds new empirical evidence to the literature. JEL Classifications: E24, O11, O32, O47
Phase transitions in neutron stars and their links to gravitational waves

The recent direct observation of gravitational wave event $GW170817$ and its $GRB170817A$ signal has opened up a new window to study neutron stars and heralds a new era of Astronomy referred to as the Multimessenger Astronomy. Both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from a single astrophysical source have been detected for the first time. This combined detection offers an unprecedented opportunity to place constraints on the neutron star matter equation of state. The existence of a possible hadron-quark phase transition in the central regions of neutron stars is associated with the appearance of g-modes, which are extremely important as they could signal the presence of a pure quark matter core in the centers of neutron stars. Observations of g-modes with frequencies between 1 kHz and 1.5 kHz could be interpreted as evidence of a sharp hadron-quark phase transition in the cores of neutron stars. In this article, we shall review the description of the dense matter composing neutron stars, the determination of the equation of state of such matter, and the constraints imposed by astrophysical observations of these fascinating compact objects.
Prediction of Air Pollution Concentration Based on mRMR and Echo State Network

Air pollution has become a global environmental problem, because it has a great adverse impact on human health and the climate. One way to explore this problem is to monitor and predict air quality index in an economical way. Accurate monitoring and prediction of air quality index (AQI), e.g., PM2.5 concentration, is a challenging task. In order to accurately predict the PM2.5 time series, we propose a supplementary leaky integrator echo state network (SLI-ESN) in this paper. It adds the historical state term of the historical moment to the calculation of leaky integrator reservoir, which improves the influence of historical evolution state on the current state. Considering the redundancy and correlation between multivariable time series, minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR) feature selection method is introduced to reduce redundant and irrelevant information, and increase computation speed. A variety of evaluation indicators are used to assess the overall performance of the proposed method. The effectiveness of the proposed model is verified by the experiment of Beijing PM2.5 time series prediction. The comparison of learning time also shows the efficiency of the algorithm.
Efficiency of Islamic and Conventional Banks in Bangladesh : Comparative Study Using DEA Approach

This study involves comparing the efficiency between Islamic and conventional banks in Bangladesh using the Data Envelopment Analysis. It considers 25 commercial banks, of which seven are Islamic, while eighteen are conventional, covering the period from 2009 to 2013.The study finds that the Islamic banks have been pure technically efficient but their scale efficiency is not satisfactory, suggesting that scale inefficiency is the main source of inefficiency of the Islamic banks. In contrast, the conventional banks are found to be pure technically inefficient, but their scale efficiency is satisfactory. The study hopes to contribute towards providing important inputs for the betterment of the banking industry in Bangladesh.
Epidemiology and prognostic significance of chronic kidney disease in the elderly--the Three-City prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND Little is known about normal kidney function level and the prognostic significance of low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the elderly. METHODS We determined age and sex distribution of eGFR with both the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study and the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equations in 8705 community-dwelling elderly aged ≥ 65 years and studied its relation to 6-year mortality. In a subsample of 1298 subjects examined at 4 years, we assessed annual eGFR decline and clinically relevant markers including microalbuminuria (3-30 mg/mmol creatinine) with diabetes, proteinuria ≥ 50 mg/mmol, haemoglobin <11 g/L or resistant hypertension despite three drugs. RESULTS Median (interquartile range) MDRD eGFR was 78 (68-89) mL/min/1.73 m(2) in men and 74 (65-83) in women; there were 79 (68-87) and 77 (67-85) for CKD-EPI eGFR, respectively. Prevalence of MDRD eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) was 13.7% and of CKD-EPI eGFR was 12.9%. After adjustment for several confounders, only those with an eGFR <45 mL/min/1.73 m(2) had significantly higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than those with an eGFR of 75-89 mL/min/1.73 m(2) whatever the equation. In the subsample men and women with an MDRD eGFR of 45-59 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 15 and 13% had at least one clinical marker and 15 and 3% had microalbuminuria without diabetes, respectively; these percentages were 41 and 21% and 23 and 10% in men and women with eGFR <45, respectively. Mean MDRD eGFR decline rate was steeper in men than in women, 1.75 versus 1.41 mL/min/1.73 m(2)/year. CONCLUSIONS Moderately decreased eGFR is more often associated with clinical markers in men than in women. In both sexes, eGFR <45 mL/min/1.73 m(2) is related to poor outcomes. The CKD-EPI and the MDRD equations provide very similar prevalence and long-term risk estimates in this elderly population.
Perception of Physician Empathy Varies With Educational Level and Gender of Patients Undergoing Low-Yield Computerized Tomographic Imaging

Objective: Lack of empathic communication between providers and patients may contribute to low value diagnostic testing in emergency care. Accordingly, we measured the perception of physician empathy and trust in patients undergoing low-value computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department (ED). Methods: Multicenter study of ED patients undergoing CT scanning, acknowledged by ordering physicians as unlikely to show an emergent condition. Near the end of their visit, patients completed the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perception of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE), Trust in Physicians Survey (TIPS), and the Group Based Medical Mistrust Scale (GBMMS). We stratified results by patient demographics including gender, race, and education. Results: We enrolled 305 participants across 9 sites with diverse geographic, racial, and ethnic representation. The median scores (interquartile ranges) for the JSPPPE, TIPS, and GBMMS for all patients were 29 (24-33.5), 55 (47-62), and 18 (12-29). Compared with white patients, nonwhite patients had similar JSPPPE and TIPS scores but had higher (worse) GBMMS scores. Females had significantly lower JSPPPE and TIPS scores than males, and scores were lower (worse) in females with college degrees. Patients in the lowest tier of educational status had the highest (better) JSPPPE and TIPS scores. Scores were invariant with physician characteristics. Conclusion: Among patients undergoing low-value CT scanning in the ED, the degree of patient perception of physician empathy and trust varied based on the patients’ level of education and gender. Given this variation, an intervention to increase patient perception of physician empathy should contain individualized strategies to address these subgroups, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
The Problem of Furred Pets in Childhood Atopic Disease Failure of an Information Program

This epidemiological study is based on all schoolchildren (n= 40,010)) in a Swedish county (population: 270,000) and analyses by questionnaire, 1) the prevalence of regular direct contact with furred animals, 2) the prevalence of allergy to animal danders, 3) the prevalence among child asthmatics of regular direct contacts with furred animals correlated to the efforts made to impart information on allergy. 4) A comparison between levels of medical care/medicine‐intake in dander‐allergic and non‐dander‐allergic child asthmatics. This method gave the following results: 1) 52% of schoolchildren have furred pets in their homes (urban area: 39%, rural area: 77%), and 24% ride and/or have contact with animals in barns and stables, 2) The overall prevalence of dander allergy was 5.3%, in child asthmatics 57%; and in children with allergic rhinitis 30%, 3) Non‐dander‐allergic child asthmatics have more regular direct contact with furred animals than non‐asthmatics. The incidence of domestic pet‐keeping by dander‐allergic child‐asthmatics is less than half that of non‐asthmatics, 4) Dander‐allergic child‐asthmatics have a higher level of medical care/medicine‐intake, than the non‐allergic.
Protected Areas in Europe

Systematic conservation planning provides a structured, target‐driven approach to ensuring the long‐term maintenance of biodiversity. However, reviews of how well the steps of such a planning process are applied in different regions are scant; some steps may be implemented although there is no formal systematic conservation planning process taking place. Here we conduct such a review for Europe. Taking in turn the six recognized steps of systematic conservation planning, for this region: (i) The availability of data on biodiversity remains a significant constraint on conservation planning because, although species occurrences have often been better mapped in Europe than elsewhere, there is a continuing mismatch between the spatial resolution at which data coverage is adequate and that of habitat fragmentation. (ii) Although there are important legal frameworks for conservation planning, explicit quantitative goals for the representation and persistence of biodiversity are largely lacking. (iii) Assessment of the effectiveness of existing protected area systems is patchy and rather ill developed, with a substantial gulf between the work being conducted in more academic and policy‐oriented arenas. (iv) Nonetheless, particularly through the Natura 2000 process, there has been an extraordinary program to select additional protected areas. (v) Although it has taken longer than originally envisaged, this program is resulting in a substantial expansion of the protected area system. (vi) There are significant concerns over the extent to which existing protected area systems can maintain their biodiversity values, particularly given the small size of many of these areas and likely impacts of climate change.
Entwicklung klimasensitiver Wachstumsfunktionen für das Szenariomodell «Massimo»

Entwicklung klimasensitiver Wachstumsfunktionen fur das Szenariomodell «Massimo» Das Baumwachstum wird massgeblich von klimatischen Faktoren beeinflusst. Angesichts des Klimawandels sollten daher in die Abschatzungen der zukunftigen Produktivitat des Schweizer Waldes Klimaeinflusse miteinbezogen werden. Um Klimaeffekte in die Wachstumsfunktion des in der Schweiz fur Potenzialanalysen oft verwendeten Modells «Massimo» zu integrieren, wurden in dieser Studie Klimaeinflusse gemeinsam mit weiteren Einflussen auf den Einzelbaumzuwachs reprasentativ fur die ganze Schweiz statistisch modelliert. In einem ersten Schritt wurden Jahrringdaten verwendet, um zu ermitteln, wie die klimatischen Einflussgrossen definiert werden sollen. Diese Jahrringanalyse ergab, dass fur die Modellierung von mehrjahrigen Einzelbaumzuwachsen Mittelwerte von Ganzjahresgrossen berucksichtigt werden sollten. In einem zweiten Schritt wurden Zuwachsdaten aus dem Schweizerischen Landesforstinventar mittels nichtlinearer gemischter Modelle se.
Effector Mechanisms of Neutrophils within the Innate Immune System in Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Neutrophils have a significant yet controversial role in the innate immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) infection, which is not yet fully understood. In addition to neutrophils’ well-known effector mechanisms, they may also help control infection of M. tb through the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which are thought to further promote the killing of M. tb by resident alveolar macrophages. Cytokines such as IFN-γ have now been shown to serve an immunomodulatory role in neutrophil functioning in conjunction to its pro-inflammatory function. Additionally, the unique transcriptional changes of neutrophils may be used to differentiate between infection with M. tb and other bacterial and chronic rheumatological diseases such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Adversely, during the innate immune response to M. tb, inappropriate phagocytosis of spent neutrophils can result in nonspecific damage to host cells due to necrotic lysis. Furthermore, some individuals have been shown to be more genetically susceptible to tuberculosis (TB) due to a “Trojan Horse” phenomenon whereby neutrophils block the ability of resident macrophages to kill M. tb. Despite these aforementioned negative consequences, through the scope of this review we will provide evidence to support the idea that neutrophils, while sometimes damaging, can also be an important component in warding off M. tb infection. This is exemplified in immunocompromised individuals, such as those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or Type 2 diabetes mellitus. These individuals are at an increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) due to a diminished innate immune response associated with decreased levels of glutathione. Consequently, there has been a worldwide effort to limit and contain M. tb infection through the use of antibiotics and vaccinations. However, due to several significant limitations, the current bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine (BCG, vaccine against TB) does not meet the criteria for universal utilization for all ages and populations across the globe. New research involving neutrophils has yielded a new vaccine called M. smegmatis-Ag85C-MPT51-HspX (mc2-CMX) that has been shown to elicit a humoral and cellular response against M. tb in mice that is superior to the BCG vaccine.
Social Costs of Morbidity Impacts of Air Pollution

Outdoor air pollution is a major determinant of health worldwide. The greatest public health effects are from increased mortality in adults. However, both PM and O3 also cause a wide range of other, less serious, health outcomes; and there are effects on mortality and morbidity of other pollutants also, e.g. nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). These adverse health effects have economic consequences; OECD (2014) suggests that the social costs of the health impact of outdoor air pollution in OECD countries, China and India was approximately USD 1.7 trillion and USD 1.9 trillion, respectively, in 2010. However, the study highlights that though the social costs of premature mortality account for the majority of these totals, the social costs of morbidity remain poorly estimated. The objective of this paper is to inform the development of improved estimates of the social costs of human morbidity impacts resulting from outdoor air pollution in two components; namely to develop a core set of pollutant-health end-points to be covered when estimating the costs of morbidity, and to review current estimates of the cost of morbidity from air pollution.