Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Draft Genome Sequence of Bacillus pumilus ku-bf1 Isolated from the Gut Contents of Wood Boring Mesomorphus sp.

The threat of climate change has intensified efforts toward the development of safer alternatives to depleting fossil fuels (Cox et al., 2000). Lignocellulosic bioethanol is considered to be a viable and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Though lignocellulosic biomass is available in massive quantities and is renewable (Dillon and Dillon, 2003; Lynd et al., 2008; Pauly and Keegstra, 2008; Kricka et al., 2015), the presence of certain barriers makes lignocellulosic bioethanol expensive. Discovery of proteins with novel specificities is necessary to break these barriers and make lignocellulosic bioethanol economically viable (Horn et al., 2012; Ulaganathan et al., 2015). Cellulolytic bacteria isolated from various environments have been explored for proteins of potential use in lignocellulosic bioethanol production (Badger, 2002; Wang et al., 2012; Pinheiro et al., 2015). Bacteria belonging to the genera Bacillus, Bacteroides, Butyrivibrio, Cellulosimicrobium, Citrobacter, Clostridium, Devosia, Dyadobacter, Ensifer, Kaistia, Labrys, Methanobrevibacter, Microbacterium, Ochrobactrum, Paracoccus, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, Ruminococcus, Shinella, Siphonobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Trichonympha, and Variovorax, were found to be cellulolytic (Saxena et al., 1993; Schwarz, 2001; Gupta et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2012; Yanga et al., 2014). Bacillus pumilus strains are known to produce cellulase enzyme up to a maximum of 11.4 mg/g of cell dry mass (Suzuki and Kaneko, 1976; Kotchoni and Shonukan, 2002; Ariffin et al., 2006). The cellulase enzyme produced by B. pumilus strain EB3 has been found to be superior to fungal cellulases due to its higher optimum pH and temperature (Ariffin et al., 2006). Further it has been shown that the B. pumilus cellulase enzyme could be mutated to remove the catabolite repression (Kotchoni et al., 2003). We have recently isolated bacterial strains from the gut contents of the wood boring Mesomorphus sp. These isolates were screened for cellulolytic and xylose isomerase activities and the isolate ku-bf1 which exhibited maximum cellulolytic and xylose isomerase activities was identified as B. pumilus by 16S rRNA sequencing. The whole genome of this strain has been sequenced. The dataset has been submitted to NCBI and is reported here.
Ethnic Pluralism under Siege: Popular and Partisan Opposition to Multiculturalsim

Since the mid-1980s, diverse criticisms of the federal multiculturalism policy have emerged from various sources. While ethnic minorities have faulted the policy for its inefficacy in redressing issues of racism, and for its ghettoizing of minority concerns, the Reform Party, the Conservative Party and the Citizens' Forum have all treated multiculturalism as a source of division in the national unity debate. This article examines the current critiques of multiculturalism policy by academics, the Spicer Commission, federal parties, and ethnic minorities. Factors accounting for attacks on the policy include the constitutional impasse, along with a shifting, though resistant ethnic power structure, and the fears linked to growing immigration and refugee pressures from Third World countries in a global context of economic decline.
Blood-brain barrier breakdown during cerebral malaria: Suicide or murder?

Summary Cerebral malaria, one of the most serious complicatiof ons Plasmodium falciparum infection, is characterized by the sequestration of parasitized red blood cells (PRBCs) in cerebral microvascular beds. The precise mechanisms involved in the onset of neuropathology remain unknown, but parasite sequestration in the brain, metabolic disturbances, and host immune responses all play a role. Sequestration of PRBCs is mediated by different endothelial cell surface receptors, mainly ICAM-1 and CD36. In vitro studies demonstrated that PRBC adhesion to endothelial cells induces over-expression of various adhesion molecules including ICAM-1, expression of iNOS, oxidative stress and finally apoptosis in endothelial cells. In vivo studies, in humans and in mice models of cerebral malaria brought striking evidence of the implication of brain infiltrating cytotoxic effector CD8T lymphocytes in the development of murine cerebral malaria pathogenesis. These cells probably act by direct cytotoxicity against endothelial cells. Cytotoxicity and apoptosis potentially lead blood-brain-barrier disruption and could contribute to the development of cerebral malaria. We propose a key role for endothelial cells in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria, both by suicide / apoptosis, and / or by murder / cytotoxicity.
Single port laparoscopic repair of paediatric inguinal hernias: Our experience at a secondary care centre

BACKGROUND: Congenital inguinal hernias are a common paediatric surgical problem and herniotomy through a groin incision is the gold standard. Over the last 2 decades minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has challenged this conventional surgery. Over a period, MIS techniques have evolved to making it more minimally invasive – from 3 to 2 and now single port technique. All studies using single port technique are from tertiary care centres. We used a modification of the technique described by Ozgediz et al. and reviewed the clinical outcome of this novel procedure and put forth our experience at a secondary level hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective review of 37 hernias in 31 children (29 male and 2 female) (8 months - 13 years) performed laparoscopically by a single surgeon at a single centre between September 2007 and June 2010. Under laparoscopic guidance, the internal ring was encircled extraperitoneally using a 2-0 non-absorbable suture and knotted extraperitoneally. Data analyzed included operating time, ease of procedure, occult patent processus vaginalis (PPV), complications, and cosmesis. RESULTS: Sixteen right (52%), 14 left (45%) and 1 bilateral hernia (3%) were repaired. Five unilateral hernias (16.66%), all left, had a contralateral PPV that was repaired (P = 0.033). Mean operative time for a unilateral and bilateral repair were 13.20 (8–25) and 20.66 min (17 -27 min) respectively. Only one of the repairs (2.7%) recurred and another had a post operative hydrocoele (2.7%). One case (2.7%) needed an additional port placement due to inability to reduce the contents of hernia completely. There were no stitch abscess/granulomas, obvious spermatic cord injuries, testicular atrophy, or nerve injuries. CONCLUSION: Single port laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair can be safely done in the paediatric population. It permits extension of benefits of minimal access surgery to patients being managed at secondary level hospitals with limited resources. The advantage of minimal instrumentation and avoidance of intracorporeal knotting makes it a feasible technique for a secondary care centre.
Viewing (p)leasure, viewer pain: black audiences and British television

This essay explores the views which black audiences hold towards the representations of their various selves on British television and is informed by the findings from a qualitative research study carried out in 1995 and undertaken for BBC TV Equal Opportunities. It argues that black audiences are both irritated and worried by the largely stereotypical construction of different 'ethnic' identities which regularly pervade and persuade TV narratives and suggests that the limited repertoire of black characterizations are a direct consequence of (white) writers' ignorance of black communities in real life and their (perhaps unconscious) racist assumptions about what black people are like. The tacit assumption that the mainstream audience is 'white' results in a disregard for cultural authenticity - that is, at least getting the details right- which viewers interpret as a disregard for themselves. These derogatory images not only affect self-esteem amongst black viewers and, in particular, children, but also i.
Outcomes and Prognostic Factors for Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia that Requires Mechanical Ventilation

Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a common and serious condition worldwide. The mortality from severe CAP remains high, and this has reached 50% in some series. This study was conducted to determine the mortality and predictors that contribute to in-hospital mortality for patients who exhibit CAP and acute respiratory failure that requires mechanical ventilation. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 85 patients with severe CAP as a primary cause of acute respiratory failure, and this required mechanical ventilation in a setting of the medical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary university hospital between 2000 and 2003. Results The overall in-hospital mortality was 56% (48/85). A Cox-proportional hazard model revealed that the independent predictive factors of in-hospital mortality included a PaCO2 of less than 45 mmHg (p<0.001, relative risk [RR]: 4.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.16-10.33), a first 24-hour urine output of less than 1.5 L (p=0.006, RR: 2.46, 95% CI: 1.29-4.66) and a high APACHE II score (p=0.004, RR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03-1.16). Conclusions Acute respiratory failure caused by severe CAP and that necessitates mechanical ventilation is associated with a high mortality rate. Initial hypercapnia and a large urine output favored survival, whereas a high APACHE II score predicted mortality.
Loss of 6 q or 8 p 23 is associated with the total number of DNA copy number aberrations in adenoid cystic carcinoma

We analyzed 10 adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACCs) of the salivary glands by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (a-CGH) using DNA chips spotted with 4,030 bacterial artificial chromosome clones. After the data smoothing procedure was applied, a total of 88 DNA copy number aberrations (DCNAs) were detected. The frequent (≥30%) DCNAs were loss of 6q23-27 and 8p23, and gains of 6p, 6q23, 8p23 and 22q13. High-level gains were detected on 12q15, including MDM2 in two cases. These two cases showed an immunohistochemically high-level (>50%) expression of MDM2 and a low-level expression of p53 (<20%). Furthermore, the total number of DCNAs was significantly greater in ACCs with loss of 6q compared to other ACCs, and in ACCs without the loss of 8p23 compared to other ACCs, respectively. Although limitations exist, a-CGH detected several candidate chromosomal imbalances associated with accumulation of DCNAs in ACCs.
Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Palate Development

Development of the mammalian secondary palate involves highly dynamic morphogenetic processes, including outgrowth of palatal shelves from the oral side of the embryonic maxillary prominences, elevation of the initially vertically oriented palatal shelves to the horizontal position above the embryonic tongue, and subsequently adhesion and fusion of the paired palatal shelves at the midline to separate the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. Perturbation of any of these processes could cause cleft palate, a common birth defect that significantly affects patients’ quality of life even after surgical treatment. In addition to identifying a large number of genes required for palate development, recent studies have begun to unravel the extensive cross-regulation of multiple signaling pathways, including Sonic hedgehog, bone morphogenetic protein, fibroblast growth factor, transforming growth factor β, and Wnt signaling, and multiple transcription factors during palatal shelf growth and patterning. Multiple studies also provide new insights into the gene regulatory networks and/or dynamic cellular processes underlying palatal shelf elevation, adhesion, and fusion. Here we summarize major recent advances and integrate the genes and molecular pathways with the cellular and morphogenetic processes of palatal shelf growth, patterning, elevation, adhesion, and fusion.
The Local Rademacher Complexity of Lp-Norm Multiple Kernel Learning

We derive an upper bound on the local Rademacher complexity of lp-norm multiple kernel learning, which yields a tighter excess risk bound than global approaches. Previous local approaches analyzed the case p = 1 only while our analysis covers all cases 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, assuming the different feature mappings corresponding to the different kernels to be uncorrelated. We also show a lower bound that shows that the bound is tight, and derive consequences regarding excess loss, namely fast convergence rates of the order $O(n^{-\frac{\alpha}{1+\alpha}})$, where α is the minimum eigenvalue decay rate of the individual kernels.
To See and be Seen: The heteroscopia of Hindi film posters

In August last year I went to India to see my mother who lives in Dehra Doon, a town not far from Mussorie, the famous Himalayan hill resort created by the white sahibs. In the evening I went to see a Hindi movie. However, what caught my attention was a small movie-rickshaw parked near the entrance. Such rickshaws were very popular in the 1960s, and I remember how we as kids used to chase them dancing to the tune of Hindi songs imitating our favourite stars of tinsel town. Usually, the rickshaw had a small box-like carriage, the walls of which were pasted with colourful posters. A man with a gramophone sat inside and played records. Often he interrupted the songs with simple but catchy one-line jingles advertising the latest  lm. If in India cinema seems to be visible everywhere,  lm posters can claim some credit for its overwhelming presence. A plethora of  lm magazines, video parlours, cable and satellite TV, and a large music industry have turned cinema into one of the most visible forms of public culture. In this paper, I want to focus on the visuality of  lm posters and explore the scopic regimes within which they are made, shown and seen. I also want to discuss their role in bringing cinematic visuality onto Indian streets and in turning cinema into a vibrant form of public culture. The  lm posters re-present fragments of cinema, its visuality, and come into existence because of cinema, but once they enter the public space they attain a certain degree of autonomy. In order to understand the visuality of  lm posters I shall invoke the Bakhtinian notion of heteroglossia/heteroscopia and demonstrate how the presence of heteroscopia enables them to become meaningful.
Multicast Routing in Wireless Mesh Networks: Minimum Cost Trees or Shortest Path Trees?

There exist two fundamental approaches to multicast routing: shortest path trees (SPTs) and minimum cost trees (MCTs). The SPT algorithms minimize the distance (or cost) from the sender to each receiver, whereas the MCT algorithms minimize the overall cost of the multicast tree. Due to the very large scale and unknown topology of the Internet, computing MCTs for multicast routing in the Internet is a very complex problem. As a result, the SPT approach is the more commonly used method for multicast routing in the Internet, because it is easy to implement and gives minimum delay from the sender to each receiver, a property favored by many real-life applications. Unlike the Internet, a wireless mesh network (WMN) has a much smaller size, and its topology can be made known to all nodes in the network. This makes the MCT approach an equally viable candidate for multicast routing in WMNs. However, it is not clear how the two types of trees compare when used in WMNs. In this article we present a simulation-based performance comparison of SPTs and MCTs in WMNs, using performance metrics, such as packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and traffic impacts on unicast flows in the same network.
Active site inhibited factor VIIa attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice

Summary. Background: Inhibition of specific coagulation pathways such as the factor VIIa‐tissue factor complex has been shown to attenuate ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, but the cellular mechanisms have not been explored. Objectives: To determine the cellular mechanisms involved in the working mechanism of active site inhibited factor VIIa (ASIS) in the protection against myocardial I/R injury. Methods: We investigated the effects of a specific mouse recombinant in a mouse model of myocardial I/R injury. One hour of ischemia was followed by 2, 6 or 24 h of reperfusion. Mouse ASIS or placebo was administered before and after induction of reperfusion. Results: ASIS administration reduced myocardial I/R injury by more than 40% at three reperfusion times. Multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis showed reduced mRNA expression in the ischemic myocardium of CD14, TLR‐4, interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) receptor‐associated kinase (IRAK) and IκBα upon ASIS administration, indicative of inhibition of toll‐like receptor‐4 (TLR‐4) and subsequent nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) mediated cell signaling. Levels of nuclear activated NF‐κB and proteins influenced by the NF‐κB pathway including tissue factor (TF) and IL‐6 that were increased after I/R, were attenuated upon ASIS administration. After 6 and 24 h of reperfusion, neutrophil infiltration into the area of infarction was decreased upon ASIS administration. There was, however, no evidence of an effect of ASIS on apoptosis (Tunel staining and MLPA analysis). Conclusions: We conclude that the diminished amount of myocardial I/R injury after ASIS administration is primarily due to attenuated inflammation‐related lethal I/R injury, probably mediated through the NF‐κB mechanism.
Text dependent speaker recognition using discrete stationary wavelet transform and PCA

In this paper we present an effective and robust method for speaker identification based on discrete stationary wavelet transform and principal component analysis techniques. The time invariant characteristic of SWT is particularly used in this paper for Speaker recognition. We have selected PCA as it is a core of modern data analysis. For classification purpose we have used Artificial Neural Network. One hundred and fifty samples are collected from 10 different people at various time intervals for the initial study. Data base is created from a spoken language Malayalam.
First-line Treatment of Advanced Biliary Ducts Carcinoma: A Randomized Phase II Study Evaluating 5-FU/LV Plus Oxaliplatin (Folfox 4) Versus 5-FU/LV (de Gramont Regimen).

BACKGROUND/AIM Few clinical trials are available for advanced biliary tract carcinoma (BTC). We conducted this randomized phase II clinical trial to explore efficacy and safety of 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV - de Gramont) or the same regimen plus oxaliplatin (Folfox 4) as first-line treatment of advanced BTC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), response and toxicity. RESULTS A total of 48 patients were enrolled, 23 in de Gramont arm and 25 in the Folfox arm. Disease control rate was 56.5% for de Gramont vs. 72% for Folfox. RR was 21.7% for de Gramont arm and 28% for Folfox arm (p=0.12). PFS was in favor of Folfox (5.2 vs. 2.8 months; p=0.031). OS was 7.5 and 13.0 months for de Gramont and Folfox arm respectively (p=0.0010). Toxicity was generally mild in both arms. CONCLUSION Folfox 4 could be considered a valid option as first-line treatment of BTC due to its efficacy and tolerability.
MOS interface-state density measurements using transient capacitance spectroscopy

The use of a deep-level transient capacitance technique for characterizing the interface properties of an MOS transistor (MOSFET) is discussed. A formulation to calculate interface-state densities is extended from the previous work. Experimental results done with both MOSFET's and MOS capacitors are shown to illustrate the advantages of using a transistor-type structure. The use of MOSFET's provides not only the capability of probing the interface-state densities throughout the bandgap but also eliminates the effects of minority-carrier generation at the interface. The interface-state densities for variously processed MOS structures were investigated. For hydrogen-annealed MOSFET's and MOS capacitors on and orientations of n-type substrates, the interface-state densities were shown to peak near the energies close to the band edges, these corresponding to the measurement temperature where the freeze-out of bull majority carriers occurs. The ability to measure mobile-ion-induced interface states was discussed. The present technique, being a direct differential measurement, has several advantages over the conventionalC(V)technique. It may provide a higher sensitivity and more reliable data on the densities of states. Moreover, the measurement of the densities of states does not necessarily require a determination of surface potential.
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever among adults: clinical outcomes related to viremia, serotypes, and antibody response.

BACKGROUND Clinical manifestations of dengue vary in different areas of endemicity and between specific age groups, whereas predictors of outcome have remained controversial. In Brazil, the disease burden predominantly affects adults, with an increasing trend toward progression to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) noted. METHODS A cohort of adults with confirmed cases of dengue was recruited in central Brazil in 2005. Patients were classified according to the severity of their disease. Associations of antibody responses, viremia levels (as determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction [PCR]), and serotypes (as determined by multiplex PCR) with disease severity were evaluated. RESULTS Of the 185 symptomatic patients >14 years of age who had a confirmed case of dengue, 26.5% and 23.2% were classified as having intermediate dengue fever (DF)/DHF (defined as internal hemorrhage, plasma leakage, manifested signs of shock, and/or thrombocytopenia [platelet count, < or =50,000 platelets/mm3]) and DHF, respectively. The onset of intermediate DF/DHF and DHF occurred at a late stage of disease, around the period of defervescence. Patients with DHF had abnormal liver enzyme levels, with a >3-fold increase in aspartate aminotransferase level, compared with the range of values considered to be normal. Overall, 65% of patients presented with secondary infections with dengue virus, with such infection occurring in similar proportions of patients in each of the 3 disease category groups. Dengue virus serotype 3 (DV3) was the predominant serotype, and viremia was detected during and after defervescence among patients with DHF or intermediate DF/DHF. CONCLUSIONS Viremia was detected after defervescence in adult patients classified as having DHF or intermediate DF/DHF. Secondary infection was not a predictor of severe clinical manifestation in adults with infected with the DV3 serotype.