Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structure and properties of α-synuclein and other amyloids determined at the amino acid level

The structure of α-synuclein (α-syn) amyloid was studied by hydrogen-deuterium exchange by using a fragment separation–MS analysis. The conditions used made it possible to distinguish the exchange of unprotected and protected amide hydrogens and to define the order/disorder boundaries at close to amino acid resolution. The soluble α-syn monomer exchanges its amide hydrogens with water hydrogens at random coil rates, consistent with its natively unstructured condition. In assembled amyloid, long N-terminal and C-terminal segments remain unprotected (residues 1–≈38 and 102–140), although the N-terminal segment shows some heterogeneity. A continuous middle segment (residues ≈39–101) is strongly protected by systematically H-bonded cross-β structure. This segment is much too long to fit the amyloid ribbon width, but non-H-bonded amides expected for direction-changing loops are not apparent. These results and other known constraints specify that α-syn amyloid adopts a chain fold like that suggested before for amyloid-β [Petkova et al. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA 99, 16742–16747] but with a short, H-bonded interlamina turn. More generally, we suggest that the prevalence of accidental amyloid formation derives mainly from the exceptional ability of the main chain in a structurally relaxed β-conformation to adapt to and energy-minimize side-chain mismatching. Seeding specificity, strain variability, and species barriers then arise because newly added parallel in-register chains must faithfully reproduce the same set of adaptations.
Langkawi , MALAYSIA Convenience or Nuisance ? : The ‘ WhatsApp ’ D ilemma

WhatsApp sends real-time messages and is one of the world’s most popular communication applications in the 21st century. While this study extends the current knowledge on the use of WhatsApp, it also highlights the challenges of WhatsApp use by young people. The purpose of this study is to examine the domestication of WhatsApp among young people, specifically the undergraduates at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Results showed how young people perceive WhatsApp as a ‘convenient’ communication application in their everyday lives. Some of the critical issues arising from the use of WhatsApp included distractions and exposure to unregulated messages or information. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of School of Multimedia Technology & Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Nuclear Receptor-Dependent Bile Acid Signaling Is Required for Normal Liver Regeneration

Liver mass depends on one or more unidentified humoral signals that drive regeneration when liver functional capacity is diminished. Bile acids are important liver products, and their levels are tightly regulated. Here, we identify a role for nuclear receptor–dependent bile acid signaling in normal liver regeneration. Elevated bile acid levels accelerate regeneration, and decreased levels inhibit liver regrowth, as does the absence of the primary nuclear bile acid receptor FXR. We propose that FXR activation by increased bile acid flux is a signal of decreased functional capacity of the liver. FXR, and possibly other nuclear receptors, may promote homeostasis not only by regulating expression of appropriate metabolic target genes but also by driving homeotrophic liver growth.
One‐step transvaginal three‐dimensional hysterosalpingo‐foam sonography (3D‐HyFoSy) confirmation test for Essure® follow‐up: a multicenter study

To evaluate, in patients who underwent Fallopian‐tube sterilization by hysteroscopic insertion of an Essure® device, the feasibility and accuracy of three‐dimensional (3D) transvaginal sonography (TVS) to check the position of the device and 3D hysterosalpingo‐foam sonography (3D‐HyFoSy) using contrast‐enhanced gel foam to assess consequent tubal occlusion.
A new generation of high voltage MOSFETs breaks the limit line of silicon

For the first time a new device concept for high voltage power devices has been realized in silicon. Our 600 V-COOLMOS/sup TM/ reaches an area specific on-resistance of typically 3.5 /spl Omega//spl middot/mm/sup 2/. Our technology thus offers a shrink factor of 5 versus the actual state of the art in power MOSFETs. The device concept is based on charge compensation in the drift region of the transistor. We increase the doping of the vertical drift region roughly by one order of magnitude and counterbalance this additional charge by the implementation of fine structured columns of the opposite doping type. The blocking voltage of the transistor remains thus unaltered. The charge compensating columns do not contribute to the current conduction during the turn-on state. Nevertheless the drastically increased doping of the drift region allows the above mentioned reduction of the on-resistance.
Generalization Decrement in Human Contingency Learning

An association between a cue and an outcome will generalize to a similar novel cue to some extent, but not completely. Learning theorists refer to the discrepancy between responding elicited by the original cue and the novel cue as a generalization decrement. Two experiments used a contingency learning task with human participants to compare the size of a generalization decrement between configurations of cues that were altered by adding or subtracting compositional elements. The results suggest that adding elements to a configuration can produce a generalization decrement, but removing elements produces a more robust generalization decrement. Furthermore, the generalization decrement caused by adding elements was not likely to be caused by competing orienting responses. The results are used to contrast Pearce's (1987, 1994) and Wagner's (2003) models of stimulus generalization.
Notice of RetractionThe performances of smallcap initial public offerings evidence in New Zealand

This paper investigates the performance of smallcap IPOs in New Zealand from 2000–2009, and find it is underpricing in short term, but overperform in long term. Moreover, the industry effect is significantly in initial returns for the smallcap firms, and aftermarket performance is not strongly impacted by industry. Further, Tobin's Q and Average adjusted returns (AAR) are employed as firm performance measurements to find the relationship with corporate governance characteristics used by small firms after going public. The evidence shows the firm size has a significant effect on performance of smallcap IPOs firms; in other words, the smaller firms have better performance.
Low serum level of 1,25(OH)2 D is associated with chronic periodontitis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Vitamin D has been studied primarily for its involvement in calcium and phosphate absorption and bone metabolism. The active form of vitamin D-1,25(OH)2 D-has also been investigated for its immune modulatory properties. We explored associations between serum levels of 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2 D and periodontal health. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This case-control study included 55 subjects with chronic periodontitis (cases) and 30 periodontally healthy subjects (controls). Their serum levels of 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2 D, ultrasensitive C-reactive protein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were determined. Associations between vitamin D and periodontal health status were studied using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS A statistically significant association was found between serum 1,25(OH)2 D level and periodontal health status; in that subjects with a low 1,25(OH)2 D were more likely to belong to the periodontitis group (OR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.95-1.00). There was practically no association between 25(OH)D level and periodontal health status. CONCLUSION In this case-control study low serum 1,25(OH)2 D level appeared to be associated with periodontitis, which was in line with the previously reported associations between serum 1,25(OH)2 D levels and other inflammatory diseases. Whether this association is causal in nature, remains to be confirmed in future studies.
Infection and disease in lymphatic filariasis: an epidemiological approach

A major question in the study of any parasitic disease is the relationship between infection and clinical disease. The public health importance of lymphatic filariasis has generated a large body of research in this area, both in laboratory studies (Ottesen, 1984,1989; Maizels & Lawrence, 1991) and in the field (Hayashi, 1962; Hairston & Jachowski, 1968; Denham & McGreevy, 1977; Vanamail et al. 1989 b; Bundy, Grenfell & Rajagopalan, 1991; Srividya et al. 1991 b). Despite this, there is still no conclusive explanation for the apparently complex relationship between infection and clinical disease observed in human communities. At least part of the problem may lie in the current impossibility of measuring adult worm burden in vivo (Pichon et al. 1980; Denham & Fletcher, 1987; Das et al. 1990; Grenfell et al. 1990). Although there has recently been significant progress in the development of immuno logical markers for infection status in humans (Ottesen, 1989; Day et al. 1991 a), microfilaraemia is still the most reliable measure of current infection in the field. Studies in endemic areas indicate that, far from there being any simple direct relationship between microfilaraemia and disease status, it is possible to find some individuals with microfilariae in their blood but no disease, and indeed with all other combinations of infection and disease status (Hairston & de-Meillon, 1968; Hairston & Jachowski, 1968; Beaver, 1970; Bryan & Southgate, 1976; Denham & McGreevy, 1977; Pani et al. 1991). Furthermore, the proportions of people in different categories are often observed to vary between endemic areas (Denham & McGreevy, 1977; Day et al. 1991 a).
Genotypic Resistance of Archived and Circulating Viral Strains in the Blood of Treated HIV-Infected Individuals

The aim of this study was to evaluate patterns of antiretroviral resistance of HIV-1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in the plasma of patients whose therapeutic regimen is failing. Plasma and PBMC samples were collected from 95 HIV-infected patients undergoing long-term treatment. Genotyping of the reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease genes of HIV-1 was undertaken using the fluorescent dideoxy-terminator method. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of the RT and protease genes in cell-associated variants of HIV-1 with that of the plasma revealed that 62 of the 95 patients' samples tested exhibited different genotypic resistance patterns (discordant samples [DSs]). In 27% of samples, the patterns of resistance detected were concordant in both compartments. In 51% of DSs, the greatest number of mutations was found in plasma; however, in 37% of DSs, greater numbers of mutations were found in PBMC DNA. The HIV mutation patterns detected in plasma do not necessarily reflect those found in the cell-associated compartment. The observation that the cellular compartment may contain an archive of the resistance variant makes this reservoir an interesting substrate for analysis of the “resistance potential” in a given patient.
Coupling between Cyclooxygenase, Terminal Prostanoid Synthase, and Phospholipase A2 *

We have recently shown that two distinct prostaglandin (PG) E2 synthases show preferential functional coupling with upstream cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and COX-2 in PGE2 biosynthesis. To investigate whether other lineage-specific PG synthases also show preferential coupling with either COX isozyme, we introduced these enzymes alone or in combination into 293 cells to reconstitute their functional interrelationship. As did the membrane-bound PGE2 synthase, the perinuclear enzymes thromboxane synthase and PGI2 synthase generated their respective products via COX-2 in preference to COX-1 in both theA23187-induced immediate and interleukin-1-induced delayed responses. Hematopoietic PGD2 synthase preferentially used COX-1 and COX-2 in the A23187-induced immediate and interleukin-1-induced delayed PGD2-biosynthetic responses, respectively. This enzyme underwent stimulus-dependent translocation from the cytosol to perinuclear compartments, where COX-1 or COX-2 exists. COX selectivity of these lineage-specific PG synthases was also significantly affected by the concentrations of arachidonate, which was added exogenously to the cells or supplied endogenously by the action of cytosolic or secretory phospholipase A2. Collectively, the efficiency of coupling between COXs and specific PG synthases may be crucially influenced by their spatial and temporal compartmentalization and by the amount of arachidonate supplied by PLA2s at a moment when PG production takes place.
Economic and clinical impact of alternative disease management strategies for secondary prevention in type 2 diabetes in the Swiss setting.

PRINCIPLES Different intervention strategies for the optimisation of disease management of diabetes exist and have been shown to increase the proportion of patients receiving screening and examinations and to improve risk factors such as HbA1c, lipids, and blood pressure. Thus, in the long-term, a decrease in diabetic complications and the associated costs could be expected. To address this question, the current analysis used a published diabetes simulation model to analyse the long-term clinical and economic implications of implementing various interventions in the Swiss setting. METHODS Based on data from the literature, the short-term effects on clinical variables of multifactorial interventions, including screening for nephropathy and retinopathy, educational programmes and control of cardiovascular risk profile were assessed, and a cost-effectiveness analysis in comparison to standard care was performed. Life expectancy (LE) and total lifetime costs (TC) from the perspective of the health insurance payer were calculated using a long-term Markov simulation model. RESULTS The multifactorial intervention led to an improvement in undiscounted LE of 0.56 years (LE = 10.73 and 11.29 years for standard care and multifactorial intervention respectively), and a reduction in 3%-discounted TC of CHF 7313 (10.7%) per patient compared to current standard practice. Extrapolation to the whole Swiss type 2 diabetes population (285,000) showed yearly cost savings of CHF 194 million from the multifactorial intervention. CONCLUSIONS The implementation of multifactorial interventions, including improved control of cardiovascular risk factors, combined with early diagnosis and treatment of diabetic complications, could be both cost- and life-saving in the Swiss setting.
Specific Alterations of Coxsackievirus B3 Eluted from Hela Cells

After the attachment of radioactive coxsackievirus B3 to HeLa cells at 0 C and subsequent incubation at 37 C, 50 to 80% of attached virus radioactivity was eluted from the cells within 1 hr. Eluted virus had a buoyant density of 1.21 in a potassium tartrate gradient, sedimented more slowly than native virus in sucrose gradients, was resistant to ribonuclease, was unstable in CsCl centrifugation, and did not reattach to uninfected cells. Electrophoretic studies of sodium dodecyl sulfate-disrupted B3 virus in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels revealed four radioactive virus polypeptides (VP 1 to 4), of which the three largest migrated slightly faster than their poliovirus T1 counterparts. In contrast, electrophoretic analysis of eluted virus, after banding in a tartrate gradient or pelleting by centrifugation, showed the absence of the fastest migrating polypeptide, VP 4. VP 4 was recovered in the supernatant fluid when the eluted virions were removed by high-speed centrifugation. The results indicate that VP 4 is located at the surface of the native virion, and its dissociation from the capsid may represent the first specific alteration of the virion after virus-receptor interaction at the cell surface.
Bereavement and the Brain: Invitation to a Conversation between Bereavement Researchers and Neuroscientists

ABSTRACT A recent development by neuroscience is neuroimaging, a method of looking into the “black box” of the brain while people are feeling, doing, and thinking in real time. The first fMRI study of bereavement has recently been published, and the present article summarizes it in non-specialist language, focusing on its theoretical and clinical applications. In an attempt to bridge the gap between bereavement researchers and neuroscientists, the author discusses how these two fields could assist each other in forwarding both fields. Three current debates in the field of bereavement research are outlined, including (a) adaptation in the normal grief process, (b) complicated grief vs. resilience, and (c) meaning-making vs. return-to-baseline models of bereavement. The potential contribution of neuroscientific data to these debates is discussed in several hypothetical examples. These examples stimulate thinking about the reciprocity between 2 questions: What can bereavement teach us about the brain? and What can the brain tell us about bereavement? This article is designed to provide enough background for investigators who are primarily concerned with the brain and those primarily concerned with bereavement to open a dialogue between both of these fields.
High-Throughput Microfluidic Mixing and Multiparametric Cell Sorting for Bioactive Compound Screening

HyperCyt®, an automated sample handling system for flow cytometry that uses air bubbles to separate samples sequentially introduced from multiwell plates by an autosampler. In a previously documented HyperCyt® configuration, air bubble separated compounds in one sample line and a continuous stream of cells in another are mixed in-line for serial flow cytometric cell response analysis. To expand capabilities for high-throughput bioactive compound screening, the authors investigated using this system configuration in combination with automated cell sorting. Peptide ligands were sampled from a 96-well plate, mixed in-line with fluo-4-loaded, formyl peptide receptor-transfected U937 cells, and screened at a rate of 3 peptide reactions per minute with ~ 10,000 cells analyzed per reaction. Cell Ca 2+ responses were detected to as little as 10-11 Mpeptide with no detectable carryover between samples at up to 10-7 M peptide. After expansion in culture, cells sort-purified from the 10% highest responders exhibited enhanced sensitivity and more sustained responses to peptide. Thus, a highly responsive cell subset was isolated under high-throughput mixing and sorting conditions in which response detection capability spanned a 1000-fold range of peptide concentration. With single-cell readout systems for protein expression libraries, this technology offers the promise of screening millions of discrete compound interactions per day. (Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2004:103-111)
Intussusception secondary to isolated heterotopic pancreas of the ileum: case report and review of the literature.

Intussusception in the pediatric age group is usually idiopathic in origin, and in a small number of patients ranging from 2% to 12%, a pathological lesion as a leading point is identifiable. Of the variety of pathologcial lesions identified as leading points for intussusception, Meckel’s diverticulum is the most common, and very rarely, isolated heterotopic pancreas of the ileum. This is a case report of intussusception in an infant caused by an isolated heterotopic pancreas of the ileum. The literature on the subject is also reviewed.
Performance of the craniocervical flexion test in subjects with and without chronic neck pain.

STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional comparative study. OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of the deep cervical flexor muscles on the craniocervical flexion test (CCFT) in individuals with and without neck pain. BACKGROUND Significant weakness of the superficial neck muscles is often found in patients with neck pain. However, there is scant work on deep cervical flexors performance in subjects with chronic nonspecific neck pain. METHODS AND MEASURES Twenty asymptomatic subjects and 20 subjects with chronic neck pain (duration, > 3 months) were recruited. The CCFT was performed with the subject supine and required performing a gentle head-nodding action of craniocervical flexion (indicating yes) for 5 incremental stages of increasing difficulty. Each stage was held for 10 seconds, as guided by the pressure biofeedback unit. The data used for analysis were the highest pressure level that each subject was able to hold for 10 seconds, up to a maximum of 30 mmHg. RESULTS Reliability data obtained on 10 asymptomatic subjects indicated that the CCFT was reliable, with a kappa coefficient equal to 0.72. Subjects with chronic neck pain had significantly poorer (P < .001) performance on the CCFT (median pressure achieved, 24 mmHg) when compared with those in the asymptomatic group (median pressure achieved, 28 mmHg). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study demonstrated that patients with chronic neck pain had a poorer ability to perform the CCFT when compared with asymptomatic subjects. The study adds to the evidence that poor ability to perform the CCFT may be clinical evidence of an impairment that characterizes neck pain, regardless of origin.
Associations of protein C and protein S with serum lipid concentrations

Difficulties in the laboratory measurement of protein C and protein S levels cause problems in the diagnosis of deficiency states in individual patients and may complicate estimation of the prevalence of these states in the general population. Some difficulties may be due to unappreciated influences affecting the measured levels of proteins C and S. We measured protein C activity and antigen, total and free protein S antigen, and serum total cholesterol, high‐density cholesterol and triglyceride in a community‐based study of 150 adults (73 male, 77 female), age range 23–80 years. Participants were identified from the list of a single general practice by stratified random sampling within sex and decade of age. Protein C activity and antigen were strongly associated with serum lipids, mean levels increasing by approximately 0.25 u/ml as total cholesterol and triglyceride concentration each rose from the 5th to 95th centile. Total protein S antigen concentration was associated with total cholesterol, the mean rising by over 0.1 u/ml as total cholesterol increased from the 5th to the 95th centile, whilst a similar rise in triglyceride was associated with an increase in mean free protein S of more than 0.3 u/ml. Overall, physiological variation in total cholesterol and triglyceride concentration was associated with significant variation in protein C and protein S levels, independent of age and sex, suggesting that it is important to take serum lipids into account when investigating patients for protein C or protein S deficiency. Failure to do so may be misleading in some circumstances.
Context-dependent type-level models for unsupervised morpho-syntactic induction

This thesis improves unsupervised methods for part-of-speech (POS) induction and morphological word segmentation by modeling linguistic phenomena previously not used. For both tasks, we realize these linguistic intuitions with Bayesian generative models that first create a latent lexicon before generating unannotated tokens in the input corpus. Our POS induction model explicitly incorporates properties of POS tags at the type-level which is not parameterized by existing token-based approaches. This enables our model to outperform previous approaches on a range of languages that exhibit substantial syntactic variation. In our morphological segmentation model, we exploit the fact that affixes are correlated within a word and between adjacent words. We surpass previous unsupervised segmentation systems on the Modern Standard Arabic Treebank data set. Finally, we showcase the utility of our unsupervised segmentation model for machine translation of the Levantine dialectal Arabic for which there is no known segmenter. We demonstrate that our segmenter outperforms supervised and knowledge-based alternatives. Thesis Supervisor: Regina Barzilay Title: Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science