Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of structural polypeptides of purified human cytomegalovirus

Human cytomegalovirus strain C87 was purified by the following procedures. (i) Extracellular virus was concentrated by centrifugation at 100,000 X g for 90 min and passed through a Bio-Rad Bio-Gel A-15m column. Most of the virus was recovered in the void volume. (ii) After two consecutive isopycnic potassium tartrate gradient centrifugations (20 to 50%), coinciding peaks of plaque titer, protein, and radioactivity were found at a density of from 1.20 to 1.21 g/cm3. To characterize the structural polypeptides of human cytomegalovirus and to establish relative purification criteria, virus was purified from two mixtures: (i) [35S]methionine-labeled extracellular virus mixed with an equal volume of unlabeled normal culture fluid; (ii) unlabeled extracellular virus mixed with an equal volume of [357a1methionine-labeled normal culture fluid. The extent of purification, as judged by the ratio of cellular to viral radioactivity, was 39-fold; i.e. about 2.5% of the protein in the purified virus preparation could be accounted for by host protein contamination. Electrophoresis of purified [35S]methionine-labeled virus on a polyacrylamide gel slab showed that there were at least 33 viral structural polypeptides (VPs), and their molecular weights ranged from 11,000 to 290,000. Autoradiograms obtained from electropherograms of purified [14C]glucosamine labeled virus showed six bands. Four of these were so broad that several VPs corresponded to each of the glycosylated bands. When heavy (two fractions close to 1.21 g/cm3) and light (two fractions close to 1.20 g/cm3) fractions of the PFU peak from the second potassium tartrate gradient were analyzed separately, the number of polypeptides observed was the same, but the relative amounts of some polypeptides differed. The major polypeptide, VP17, was found in greater amounts in the heavy fraction (35%) than in the light fraction (22%). The amount of DNA as a percentage of the weight of protein was 2% for the light fraction and 1% for the heavy fraction.
The Tranquilizing Injection of Yersinia Proteins: A Pathogens Strategy to Resist Host Defense

Abstract Pathogenic bacteria of the genus Yersinia possess a type III secretion apparatus by which they can inject up to six effector proteins into host cells. These so-called effector Yops(Y̱ersinia) o̱uter; p̱roteins) disrupt cellular immune defense functions such as TNF-α release, O2− production or phagocytosis and thereby allow Yersinia to grow extracellularly. Recent findings indicate that the effector Yops are highly active proteins that engage in crucial eukaryotic signaling mechanisms. For instance, the translocated tyrosine phosphatase YopH dephosphorylates the focal adhesion proteins paxillin and p130Cas within target cells. Furthermore, the Yersinia effector YopP is able to induce apoptosis in macrophages presumably by blocking MAP kinase and NF κB mediated signaling events. Here we discuss recent advances concerning the intracellular targets and biochemical signaling mechanisms regulated by the translocated Yersinia effectors.
Computer-Generated Circulation Diagrams in MacroScale Design Investigation

This paper demonstrates an ongoing research investigation, which is the continuation of the author’s doctoral research on a computer-based design approach that is used for the generation of circulation diagrams, and the spatial organization of functional areas in macro-scale design level. The paper introduces a computer program that is based on the idea of particle behavior modeling. The program simulates the human movement behavior in real time and in parallel, based on simple rules of interaction between particles. The model is called a ‘virtual force’ model, since the interaction between particles, and hence human movement behavior modeling, is achieved by using various forces that are acting upon each particle. Any changes on the rules of interaction can produce different results, allowing architects to investigate various design possibilities and study the human movement behavior in different design case studies. In this paper the idea of modeling such movement behavior is investigated and developed further, in order for it to be used for the design of circulation systems, and to suggest solutions to problems that occur in public areas of cities.
Implementing Daily Dosing Rules Using a Commercial Rule Base

We had previously developed and implemented a pharmacy expert system (DoseRanger) that examines drug orders for appropriate single dosage using a commercial rule base and patient specific information. A set of rule adjustments were described and evaluated in order to reduce clinically insignificant alerts. A similar analysis has been performed for daily dose rules provided by the commercial rule base which demonstrated that analogous techniques will be needed.
Determination of protein–ligand binding affinity by NMR: observations from serum albumin model systems

The usefulness of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein for testing NMR methods for the study of protein–ligand interactions is discussed. Isothermal titration calorimetry established the binding affinity and stoichiometry of the specific binding site for L‐tryptophan, D‐tryptophan, naproxen, ibuprofen, salicylic acid and warfarin. The binding affinities of the same ligands determined by NMR methods are universally weaker (larger KD). This is because the NMR methods are susceptible to interference from additional non‐specific binding. The L‐tryptophan–BSA and naproxen–BSA systems were the best behaved model systems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of the Impact of Alveolar Bone Resorption on the Root Formation of Molars in Transgenic Mice with RANK Over-expression

Las alteraciones en el balance de la actividad osteoblastica-osteoclastica (osteopetrosis, osteolisis) tienen un impacto en el desarrollo dental. La activacion de la via sobre la osteoclastogenesis RANK/RANKL/OPG en ratones RANKTg produce una aceleracion de la erupcion de los dientes y elongacion de las raices, lo que sugiere que esta via podria controlar la velocidad de formacion de los dientes. El objetivo de este estudio consiste en evaluar el efecto de la hiperactividad osteoclastica en la formacion de las raices de los molares en ratones RANKTg. Se realizo un estudio histologico descriptivo y comparativo del impacto de la hiper-reabsorcion del hueso alveolar sobre la vaina epitelial radicular (de Hertwig - HERS) de molares en ratones RANKTg y controles. Se realizo la inmuno-deteccion de la proliferacion matricial, epitelial y celular de proteinas, combinada con tecnicas histologicas, inmunohistoquimicas e histoenzimologicas. La hiperactividad osteoclastica en el hueso alveolar no altera la estructura de la raiz dentaria y la integridad de los molares en ratones RANKTg; la aceleracion de la formacion de la raiz no altera la integridad de la misma. Se encontro un area de hiper-proliferacion celular en el tejido folicular apical del HERS, que podria regular el crecimiento de la raiz en respuesta a la actividad osteoclastica. La sobreexpresion en los RANK produce una inhibicion de la expresion de amelogenina a los 5 dias de edad, lo que sugiere una regulacion indirecta de estas celulas por RANK/RANKL. La exploracion de otros factores moleculares expresados en HERS, y el engrama relacionado, haria posible el uso de nuevas terapias para el control de patologias oseas e inflamatorias durante la formacion de la raiz dentaria.
A twin study of specific bulimia nervosa symptoms

Background Twin studies have suggested that additive genetic factors significantly contribute to liability to bulimia nervosa (BN). However, the diagnostic criteria for BN remain controversial. In this study, an item-factor model was used to examine the BN diagnostic criteria and the genetic and environmental contributions to BN in a population-based twin sample. The validity of the equal environment assumption (EEA) for BN was also tested. Method Participants were 1024 female twins (MZ n=614, DZ n=410) from the population-based Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry. BN was assessed using symptom-level (self-report) items consistent with DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. Items assessing BN were included in an item-factor model. The EEA was measured by items assessing similarity of childhood and adolescent environment, which have demonstrated construct validity. Scores on the EEA factor were used to specify the degree to which twins shared environmental experiences in this model. Results The EEA was not violated for BN. Modeling results indicated that the majority of the variance in BN was due to additive genetic factors. There was substantial variability in additive genetic and environmental contributions to specific BN symptoms. Most notably, vomiting was very strongly influenced by additive genetic factors, while other symptoms were much less heritable, including the influence of weight on self-evaluation. These results highlight the importance of assessing eating disorders at the symptom level. Conclusions Refinement of eating disorder phenotypes could ultimately lead to improvements in treatment and targeted prevention, by clarifying sources of variation for specific components of symptomatology.
Knowledge , attitudes and practices in the use of herbal medicine : the case of urban and rural mothers in the philippines

This study was conducted to assess the differences in terms of general knowledge, attitudes and practices in the use of herbal medicine among mothers in urban and rural areas. This aims to determine whether the demographics variables such as age, length of stay, number of children, income, and educational attainment play a significant role in their differences. It also includes determination of factors that encourage the participants to use herbal medicines and to supply data on the most commonly used plants for the treatment of various health conditions. The respondents were identified using the snow ball and convenience sampling method. A total of 30 respondents were interviewed specifically mothers from 3 different Barangays(or villages) in Makati City (n = 15) and 4 Barangays in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur, Philippines (n = 15). The survey composed of demography and types of herbal medicines used by the respondents, indications for their use, the sources, the influences, benefits, and adverse effects of the herbal medicine. Safety use of herbal remedies, general attitudes and practices of the participating mothers were also included in the questionnaire. Independent sample t-test showed that the mothers residing in the rural areas are generally more knowledgeable particularly on 7 (Akapulko, Bawang, Lagundi, Sambong, Tsaang-gubat, Yerba-buena, and Pansit-pansitan) out of the 10 Herbal Medicines approved by the Philippine’s Department of Health (DOH) compared to mothers in the urban area. However, based on the average mean difference of 0.457 and t-valueof 2.94 with the corresponding p-value of 0.089 of the 10 herbal medicines, there is no significant difference (α = 0.05). There is no enough evidence to show that urban and rural mothers have different level of knowledge on herbal products. However, it was also observed that rural mothers showed more favorable responses towards the scaled items on safety, attitude, and practices as depicted by the higher number of “strongly agree” responses. The respondents chose the specific herbal medicines among the most commonly used herbal medicines because of the availability. Keyword: Herbal medicine, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Health condition.
Omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid. A new treatment for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases: a review of clinical investigations

Decreased n-3 fatty acid levels have been reported in patients with depression, schizophrenia or Alzheimer's disease. Recently, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has been used to treat several psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases due to its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. A total of six out of seven clinical trials have shown that EPA significantly improved depressive symptoms when compared with the placebo-treated populations. Several investigations have also reported that EPA could effectively treat schizophrenia. A case report and a clinical trial have shown that EPA was beneficial for the management of most symptoms of Huntington's disease, while a more extensive clinical investigation has demonstrated that EPA could only improve motor functions. Further clinical studies are required to fully explore the effects of EPA on other neurodegenerative diseases. The limitations of previous studies and further research directions have also been discussed.
Effects Of The Inquiry Based Learning Method On Students

The effectiveness of inquiry-based learning method was discussed for a long time. However, inquirybased learning method was not discussed and compared with traditional learning before in terms of students’ academic achievement, science process skills and attitudes towards science in a meta-analysis study. This study aimed to cover the effects of the inquiry-based science education on students’ academic achievement, science process skills and attitudes towards science comparing with traditional learning. The study reviews the findings of the studies on the effectiveness of the inquiry-based science education comparing with traditional learning. In other words, meta-analysis method was used to combine statistically the numerical data of the studies and to reach a general conclusion using the results of these studies. The study reviewed a total of nineteen studies (37 comparisons in terms of achievement, science process skills and attitudes towards science) about the effects of the inquiry-based science education on the students’ academic achievement, science process skills and attitudes towards science comparing with traditional learning carried out in Turkey between 2005 and 2015. Meta-analysis results showed that the inquiry-based science education had a positive and higher levels of effects of students’ academic achievement (Cohen’s d=1.029). It was also found that this specific teaching and learning method had a positive and medium level of effect on their science process skills (Cohen’s d=0.742) and attitudes towards science (Cohen’s d=0.558). It was found that the inquiry-based learning method used in science education had much more significant effects on student achievement rather than on their science process skills and their attitudes towards science in contrast to the traditional teaching method.
Gene tree reconciliation with soft multifurcations

The gene duplication model has been used to explain the incongruence between a gene phylogeny and a species phylogeny. This well studied model is extended in the thesis work by focusing on multifurcated gene phylogenies and relaxing the embedding (mapping) condition. The resulting extended model provides a better reconciliation when input data is not able to clarify the ambiguity (soft multifurcations). With a formal framework and theoretical analyses , optimal solutions are provided under parsimony assumption. The result can be further utilized in a heuristic search to find an optimal species phylogeny from a set of given gene phylogenies.
The deleterious effect of high concentrations of D-glucose requires pro-inflammatory preconditioning

Objectives The present study investigated whether high concentrations of D-glucose can trigger pro-inflammatory mechanisms in human aortic smooth muscle cells. Methods The expression and/or the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 and nuclear factor (NF)-κB were studied in cultured human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMC) in response to increasing concentrations of D-glucose and/or the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β. Results Increasing D-glucose in the medium from 5.5 to 22 mmol/l had no effect on any of these parameters. However, the high concentration of D-glucose did increase iNOS expression in response to low concentrations of IL-1β (2.5 and 5 ng/ml), as well as the IL-1β-induced activation of both ERK 1/2 and NF-κB. D-glucose also enhanced, concentration-dependently, the expression and activity of iNOS induced by co-incubation with IL-1β (10 ng/ml). Pretreatment with IL-1β sensitized the cells to the subsequent effects of high D-glucose. Conclusions The results indicate that high concentrations of D-glucose exacerbate the pro-inflammatory effects of IL-1β. We suggest that the observed association between inflammation and diabetes is the result of elevated D-glucose enhancing a pre-existing inflammatory condition, rather than a direct effect of D-glucose on the production of inflammatory mediators.
Depolarization of the membrane potential by hyaluronan

The membrane potential is mainly maintained by the K+ concentration gradient across the cell membrane between the cytosol and the extracellular matrix. Here, we show that extracellular addition of high‐molecular weight hyaluronan depolarized the membrane potential of human fibroblasts, human embryonic kidney cells (HEK), and central nervous system neurons in a concentration‐dependent manner, whereas digestion of cell surface hyaluronan by hyaluronidase caused hyperpolarization. This effect could not be achieved by other glycosaminoglycans or hyaluronan oligosaccharides, chondroitin sulfate, and heparin which did not affect the membrane potential. Mixtures of high‐molecular weight hyaluronan and bovine serum albumin had a larger depolarization effect than expected as the sum of both individual components. The different behavior of high‐molecular weight hyaluronan versus hyaluronan oligosaccharides and other glycosaminoglycans can be explained by a Donnan effect combined with a steric exclusion of other molecules from the water solvated chains of high‐molecular weight hyaluronan. Depolarization of the plasma membrane by hyaluronan represents an additional pathway of signal transduction to the classical CD44 signal transduction pathway, which links the extracellular matrix to intracellular metabolism. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 858–864, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Phase Transitions in Small / Nano Systems

We report here some general advances made in phase transitions in small/nano systems which may also be utilized in analysis and understanding of phytonanotechnology systems. Experimental, simulation and theoretical methods for identification and prediction of solid-liquid and liquidvapor phase transitions in simple molecular nano systems are reported. Through experimental and simulation studies it is shown that phase transition points (transition temperatures) by going from one phase to another and reverse differ and there is a hysteresis in nano systems phase transitions. The phenomena of fragmentation during phase transition from liquid to vapor phase is discussed and an experimental example is presented. Computer simulation has shown that the two-phase and critical regions in vapor-liquid transitions of nano systems differ from those of macroscopic systems. Van der Waals equation of state, which is already shown to be valid for nano systems through statistical mechanical derivation. Application of the van der Waals equation of state for nano systems can qualitatively predict the same phase behavior as observed by the computer simulation.
Atomic matter of nonzero-momentum Bose-Einstein condensation and orbital current order

The paradigm of Bose-Einstein condensation has been associated with zero momentum to which a macroscopic fraction of bosons condense. Here we propose a new quantum state where bosonic alkali-metal atoms condense at nonzero momenta, defying the paradigm. This becomes possible when the atoms are confined in the p-orbital Bloch band of an optical lattice rather than the usual s-orbital band. The new condensate simultaneously forms an order of transversely staggered orbital currents, reminiscent of orbital antiferromagnetism or d-density wave in correlated electronic systems but different in fundamental ways. We discuss several approaches of preparing atoms to the p-orbital band and propose an 'energy blocking' mechanism by Feshbach resonance to protect them from decaying to the lowest s-orbital band. Such a model system seems very unique and novel to atomic gases. It suggests a new concept of quantum collective phenomena of no prior example from solid state materials.
A test of the feasibility of pneumococcal vaccination in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVE To test the feasibility of pneumococcal immunization in an ED. METHODS Cook County Hospital has an annual ED census of 120,000. Patients are 75% black and 15% Hispanic. Eighty-two percent of patients are uninsured. Seventy-three percent report no primary physician. Between May 27, 1997, and July 26, 1997, nurses had standing orders that patients meeting CDC-recommended criteria were to be offered pneumococcal immunization. Immunization was recorded in the system-wide registration computer. RESULTS During the study period, 1,833 patient screenings encounters (13% of all patients) identified 1,493 high-risk patients. Only 10% of screened high-risk patients reported previous pneumococcal immunization. 1,173 were immunized against pneumococcus. Median number of immunizations per nurse per shift was 1.62. Patient through-put was not altered. CONCLUSION Pneumococcal immunization is both necessary and feasible in a busy ED serving patients with little access to other immunization services.
From Penguins to Parakeets : a Developmental Approach to Modelling Conceptual Prototypes

The use of concepts is a fundamental capacity underlying complex, human-level cognition. A number of theories have explored the means of concept representation and their links to lower-level features, with one notable example being the Conceptual Spaces theory. While these provide an account for such essential functional processes as prototypes and typicality, it is not entirely clear how these aspects of human cognition can arise in a system undergoing continuous development postulated to be a necessity from the developmental systems perspective. This paper seeks to establish the foundation of an approach to this question by showing that a distributed, associative and continuous development mechanism, founded on principles of biological memory, can achieve classification performance comparable to the Conceptual Spaces model. We show how qualitatively similar prototypes are formed by both systems when exposed to the same dataset, which illustrates how both models can account for the development of conceptual primitives.
1 EX / P 8-24 Evidence of thermo-diffusive pinch in particle transport

In presence of large MARFE in Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU), density and temperature profiles undergo to a strong modification as consequence of the temperature drop at edge. The edge temperature drop drives a collapse of the whole temperature profile, in a self-consistency way. A large cold annular area is formed at the end of the process. Density profile in particular starts to increase in the central region, while periphery density remains almost unchanged, with a consequent increase of the density profile peaking. A region with strong density gradient appears close to the cold plasma region. In order to reproduce such profile evolution by a diffusion code a thermo-diffusive pinch has been introduced. This single term, in addition to usual diffusion term, can describe the radial and temporal change of profiles with good approximation, without requiring any change in diffusion coefficients. Source term has also been estimated by using a neutral diffusion code, finding that its role remains limited to the plasma periphery even though the presence of the extended cold plasma region. The time evolution of source term cannot account for the change of the density gradient, which requires a strong increase of the particle pinch term. The necessary variation of the pinch term is compatible with the modification of the characteristic length observed in the temperature profile, which has suggested the introduction of the thermo-diffusive term.