Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cost-effective Amino-acid-type Selective Isotope Labeling of Proteins Expressed in Leishmania tarentolae

Abstract We report a cost efficient approach for amino-acid-type selective isotope labeling of proteins expressed in Leishmania tarentolae. The method provides an economically advantageous alternative to recently established protocol for isotopic labeling using expensive synthetic media. The method is based on cultivation of the L. tarentolae expression strain in a cheap complex medium supplemented with labeled amino acid(s). In this protocol, a labeled amino acid is deliberately diluted in the medium of undefined composition, which leads to a low-level isotope enrichment upon protein over-expression. The economic advantage of the protocol is achieved by avoiding large volumes of expensive synthetic medium. Decreased sensitivity of a NMR experiment due to low-level isotope enrichment is compensated by a five- to seven-fold increase of the yield of the recombinant protein in complex medium as compared to that in the synthetic medium. In addition, the decreased sensitivity can be compensated by using a higher magnetic field, cryo-detection system or higher number of transients during the NMR data acquisition. We show that enrichment as low as 5% does not compromise a NMR experiment and makes preparation of the recombinant proteins over- expressed in L. tarentolae economically viable. The method is demonstrated by selective labeling of the ∼27 kDa enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) with 15N-labeled valine.
Developmental expression of c-kit, a proto-oncogene encoded by the W locus.

Developmental expression of the c-kit proto-oncogene, a receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by the W locus, was investigated by in situ hybridization in normal mouse embryos. Early after implantation transcripts were detectable only in the maternal placenta (6 1/2-7 1/2 days p.c.). Subsequently (8 1/2 days p.c.) numerous ectodermal (neural tube, sensory placodes) and endodermal (embryonic gut) derivatives expressed c-kit. Later transcripts were detected also in the blood islands of the yolk sac and in the embryonic liver, the main sites of embryonic hemopoiesis. Around midgestation, transcripts accumulated in the branchial pouches and also in primordial germ cells of the genital ridges. This complex pattern of expression remained characteristic also later in gestation, when c-kit was expressed in highly differentiated structures of the craniofacial area, in presumptive melanoblasts and in the CNS. In the adult ovary, maternal c-kit transcripts were detected. They were present in the oocytes of both immature and mature ovarian follicles, but not in the male germ line, where c-kit expression may be down regulated. Thus, c-kit activity is complex and appears in multiple tissues including those that also display defects in mutations at the W locus where c-kit is encoded. Correlation between W phenotypes and c-kit expression, as well as the regulation of the complex and multiple expression of polypeptide growth factors and receptors, is discussed.
First generation college students' access to engineering social capital: Towards developing a richer understanding of important alters

The overarching goal of our collective body of work is to develop a conceptual model of engineering students' development and utilization of social capital based on mixed-methods research. This paper makes a significant contribution to this long-term goal by utilizing qualitative methods to achieve a deeper understanding of first generation college students' engineering-related academic and career choices. This paper presents results from interviews with eleven first generation college students attending five institutions in the United States. The interviews focused on important individuals (alters) in the students' social networks who provided resources and information pertinent to participants' decisions to enter and persist in engineering. Additionally, our findings describe the types of resources provided by the alters. Our current findings from this qualitative analysis identify additional important alters that were previously unexplored by our quantitative results. The results of this work are applicable to engineering educators and administration for the recruitment and retention of first generation college students.
Reliability assessment for electromagnetic relay based on time parameters degradation

The traditional reliability assessment methods for electromagnetic relay (EMR) are based on censored failure-time data, which provides very little reliability information. Furthermore, this method may be unavailable in applications with few or no failures. Actually, many time parameters of electromagnetic relay, such as closing time, over-travel time provide an obvious degradation process during the life test. By testing time parameters of EMR during its life circle, this paper presents a novel reliability assessment method of EMR based on multiple time parameters degradation and multiple failure mechanism. Considering the difference of EMR degradation, regression analysis method and time series method are employed to build the degradation model of time parameters for EMR. Then, multiple degradation parameters reliability assessment model which can evaluate the reliability of all failure mechanisms is developed with stochastic theory.
Association of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs with Lung Cancer: Results from a Large Cohort Study

Background: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Smoking cessation is crucial to decrease risk, but additional prevention modalities are needed. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) may be promising. Methods: The study was a prospective cohort of 77,125 men and women, ages 50 to 76 years, from Washington state recruited in 2000 to 2002 (the VITamin And Lifestyle study). Lung cancer cases were identified through the Seattle-Puget Sound Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registry during 5 years of follow-up. Hazard ratios (HR) associated with 10-year average use of total NSAIDs (excluding low-dose aspirin) and specific categories of NSAIDs were calculated for total incident lung cancer and specific morphologies. Results: A total of 665 lung cancer cases were identified. After adjusting for smoking, age, gender, and acetaminophen use, there was a borderline-significant inverse trend with total NSAID use [>4.2 d/wk for >10 years versus none: HR, 0.82; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.64-1.04; P for trend = 0.05]. The association was strongest for adenocarcinoma (HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37-0.94; P for trend = 0.01) and seemed to be limited to men (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.47-0.92; P for trend = 0.01) and to long-term (≥10 years) former smokers (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.44-0.96; P for trend = 0.04). There were no appreciable differences by NSAID type. Conclusions: Total NSAID use was associated with a small reduced risk of lung cancer, which was strongest for adenocarcinoma, men, and long-term former smokers. These findings are supported by known lung carcinogenesis mechanisms and suggest that NSAIDS may be useful for chemoprevention. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(4):1203–7)
Impact of foreign direct investment inflows on tax revenues in OECD countries: A panel cointegration and causality analysis

Globalization process has led considerable increases in the global foreign direct investment flows especially as of mid-1980s. Foreign direct investment inflows have potential to affect economic growth, capital accumulation, human capital, competitiveness, development of finance sector and technological progress in the host country and in turn affects the tax revenues. In this study, we analyzed the relationship among foreign direct investment inflows, economic growth and total tax revenues in 33 OECD countries during 1995-2014 period using Westerlund- Durbin-Hausmann (2008) panel cointegration test and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) panel causality test. We revealed a cointegrating relationship among foreign direct investment inflows, economic growth and total tax revenues Furthermore, there was one-way causality from foreign direct investment inflows to total revenues and bidirectional causality between economic growth and foreign direct investment inflows.
Striving for balance in daily life: experiences of Swedish women and men shortly after a myocardial infarction.

AIM The aim is to describe experiences of daily life of women and men during the first four to six months after a myocardial infarction. The focus is on problems, managing problems and support from their network. BACKGROUND A cardiac event is traumatic and may influence well-being during a significant period of time. Few qualitative studies have investigated experiences of both women and men after a myocardial infarction and remarkably little research has been conducted on men's experiences. DESIGN The study design was descriptive, retrospective and qualitative. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women and 19 men from January 2000 to November 2001. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS Three themes were generated from the analysis: 'Threatening ordinary life', 'Struggling for control' and 'The ambiguous network'. Physical symptoms and emotional distress were the most commonly described problems during the first months after a myocardial infarction. The informants manage the problems by negotiating with themselves, relying on their own capabilities, changing attitudes and behaviours and taking their own decisions and actions. The network was generally supportive but rather often the informants also experienced communication problems when they interacted with their network. CONCLUSIONS Women and men strive for balance between problems and resources in daily life after a myocardial infarction. How well they succeeded depends on how secure they feel how well they communicate their needs to their network and how sensitive their network is to their spoken and unspoken needs. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The findings provide an insight into what kind of problems women and men may experience after myocardial infarction and how caregivers can aid them to increase security in their daily life. Some risk characteristics that may have increased their problems in daily life are suggested, for women and men respectively.
Hydrolysed wheat proteins present in cosmetics can induce immediate hypersensitivities

Cosmetics containing hydrolysed wheat proteins (HWP) can induce rare but severe allergic reactions. 9 patients, all females without common wheat allergy, but with contact urticaria to such cosmetics, were studied. 6 of them also experienced generalized urticaria or anaphylaxis to foods containing HWP. All patients had low to moderate levels of immunoglobulin (Ig)E specific of wheat flour (f4) or gluten (f79). Their sensitivity to HWP and their tolerance to unmodified wheat proteins extracted from grains were confirmed using skin tests. Immunoblotting analyses showed that IgE from all patients reacted with almost all HWP tested. Reactions generally occurred with large random peptide aggregates. IgE reacted also with unmodified grain proteins, which contrasted with skin tests results. They reacted always with salt soluble proteins but variably with gluten proteins. No reaction occurred with gliadins in patients without associated immediate hypersensitivity to food containing HWP. These results show the role of hydrolysis on the allergenicity of wheat proteins, both through skin or digestive routes. At least part of the epitopes involved is pre‐existing in unmodified wheat proteins. The aggregation of peptide bearing these epitopes and others created by hydrolysis, along with the increased solubility and the route of exposure, are possible factors of the allergenicity of HWP.
Social Media Use and Social Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Germany: A New Interdisciplinary Framework

Faced with an increasingly diverse society, Germany is challenged with the integration of different ethnic minorities. Previous studies have shown that mass media can play a crucial role in the integration process. However, what has not been extensively researched in this context yet are social media in particular. What is missing in research is a conceptual framework to better understand the interplay between social media use and integration. Therefore, this paper focuses on social media use and the integration of ethnic minorities into German society from a conceptual perspective. What is proposed here is a new interdisciplinary conceptual framework which clearly distinguishes between integration that happens in society ("offline") and integration that happens in virtual communities ("online"). The aim of this paper is to expand integration research to social media use as well as to offer a new interdisciplinary conceptual framework for further empirical research.
Detection of numerical chromosomal abnormalities in malignant cells on body fluids by fluorescence in situ hybridization of interphase cell nuclei with chromosome‐specific probes

To detect numerical chromosomal abnormalities (NCA) in malignant cells on body fluids, Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique was tested in clinical specimens from patients with metastatic disease. Directly labeled DNA probes specific for chromosomes 8, 12, X, and Y (Imagenetics, Naperville, IL) were used for in situ hybridization to interphase cell nuclei. Fifteen body fluids (BF) from various sites were studied. Based initially on the Papanicolaou‐stained slides, there were seven malignant and eight benign samples. Blind analysis (200 cells/sample) showed that all benign samples had a normal number of chromosomes, whereas six of seven malignant samples showed different NCA comprising 5‐60% of the cell population ranging from three to 10 chromosome signals per cell. We conclude that interphase cytogenetic cell analysis of BF by FISH is: (1) feasible and gives superior signals for detection of NCA, (2) helpful in detecting malignant cells, (3) relatively simple with a turnaround time of less than 24 hr. This method may have diagnostic and prognostic application in the study of the biologic behavior of malignant neoplasms. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Arms races and the evolution of big fierce societies

The causes of biological gigantism have received much attention, but only for individual organisms. What selection pressures might favour the evolution of gigantic societies? Here we consider the largest single–queen insect societies, those of the Old World army ant Dorylus, single colonies of which can have 20 million workers. We propose that colony gigantism in Dorylus arises as a result of an arms race and test this prediction by developing a size–structured mathematical model. We use this model for exploring and potentially explaining differences in colony size, colony aggression and colony propagation strategies in populations of New World army ants Eciton and Old World army ants Dorylus. The model shows that, by determining evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs), differences in the trophic levels at which these army ants live feed forwards into differences in their densities and collision rates and, hence, into different strategies of growth, aggression and propagation. The model predicts large colony size and the occurrence of battles and a colony–propagation strategy involving highly asymmetrical divisions in Dorylus and that Eciton colonies should be smaller, non–combative and exhibit equitable binary fission. These ESSs are in excellent agreement with field observations and demonstrate that gargantuan societies can arise through arms races.
The cytomegalovirus protein UL138 induces apoptosis of gastric cancer cells by binding to heat shock protein 70

It has been hypothesized that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) could act as a tumor promoter and play an “oncomodulatory” role in the neoplastic process of several human malignancies. However, we demonstrate for the first time that UL138, a HCMV latency-associated gene, could act as a tumor inhibitor in gastric cancer (GC). The expression of UL138 is down-regulated in HCMV positive gastric adenocarcinoma tissues, especially in poorly or none differentiated tumors. Overexpression of UL138 in several human GC cell lines inhibits cell viability and induces apoptosis, in association with the reduction of an anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein and the induction of cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-9. Moreover, protein array analysis reveals that UL138 interacts with a chaperone protein, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). This interaction is confirmed by immunoprecipitation and immunostaining in situ in GC cell lines. In addition, this UL138-mediated cancer cell death could efficiently lead to suppression of human tumor growth in a xenograft animal model of GC. In conclusion, these results uncover a previously unknown role of the cytomegalovirus protein UL138 in inducing GC cells apoptosis, which might imply a general mechanism that viral proteins inhibit cancer growth in interactions with both chaperones and apoptosis-related proteins. Our findings might provide a potential target for new therapeutic strategies of GC treatment.
Efficient signature based malware detection on mobile devices

The threat of malware on mobile devices is gaining attention recently. It is important to provide security solutions to these devices before these threats cause widespread damage. However, mobile devices have severe resource constraints in terms of memory and power. Hence, even though there are well developed techniques for malware detection on the PC domain, it requires considerable effort to adapt these techniques for mobile devices. In this paper, we outline the considerations for malware detection on mobile devices and propose a signature based malware detection method. Specifically, we detail a signature matching algorithm that is well suited for use in mobile device scanning due to its low memory requirements. Additionally, the matching algorithm is shown to have high scanning speed which makes it unobtrusive to users. Our evaluation and comparison study with the well known Clam-AV scanner shows that our solution consumes less than 50% of the memory used by Clam-AV while maintaining a fast scanning rate.
Homicide, Schizophrenia and Substance Abuse or Dependency

Few studies have extensively studied the aggressive behaviours of mentally disordered offenders. This investigation compared 14 schizophrenics found not guilty of homicide by reason of insanity (NGRI) with 12 schizophrenics convicted of homicide. A comparison group of 15 homicide offenders with no major mental disorder was used. Drug and alcohol consumption, previous history of aggression against others as well as mental health were assessed using standardized, reliable, valid instruments. Significantly more of the inmates with no major mental disorder were diagnosed as having a history of drug or alcohol abuse or dependency (60%) than the NGRI schizophrenics (35.7%). In addition, both groups of convicted homicide offenders were more likely to have committed homicide under the influence of drugs or alcohol than the NGRI group. No significant difference distinguished the groups for the mean number of aggressive incidents. The subjects found NGRI assaulted more often during an acute phase of mental illness than the convicted schizophrenics. Although both groups appeared to have a similar number of hospitalizations, most of the hospitalizations of the convicted schizophrenics occurred after the crime.
Demographic and Health Characteristics of Transgender Adults in California: Findings from the 2015-2016 California Health Interview Survey.

This report provides the first look at demographics, health, and health care access among transgender adults in California who participated in the 2015-2016 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). In California, about 92,000 (0.35 percent) adults ages 18 to 70 are transgender. Transgender adults are similar to cisgender1 adults in many ways but experience disparities in mental health, disability status, and health care access. Compared to cisgender adults, transgender adults are more than three times more likely to have ever thought about suicide, nearly six times more likely to have ever attempted suicide, nearly four times more likely to have experienced serious psychological distress, and more than three times more likely to have emotions that interfere with their relationships, social life, ability to do chores, and work performance. In regard to health care access, transgender adults are nearly three times more likely than cisgender adults to delay getting medicine prescribed to them by a doctor or to not get the medicine at all. There are no statistically significant differences between transgender and cisgender adults in some demographic characteristics, such as education and U.S. citizenship, and in reports of various physical health conditions, such as diabetes and asthma. However, transgender adults appear more likely to be living with HIV. These and other findings call for future research to explain existing disparities and similarities, as well as for the creation of structural and clinical interventions that will improve health care access and mental and physical health outcomes for the transgender population.
Mechanical Response of a Lumbar Motion Segment in Axial Torque Alone and Combined with Compression

In the current study, a nonlinear three-dimensional finite element program has been used to analyze the response of a lumbar L2-3 motion segment subjected to axial torque alone and combined with compression. The analysis accounts both for material and geometric nonlinearities and treats the facet articulation as a general moving-contact problem. The disc nucleus has been considered as an incompressible inviscid fluid and the annulus as a composite of collagenous fibers embedded in a matrix of ground substance. The spinal ligaments have been modeled as a collection of nonlinear axial elements. Effects of loss of intradiscal pressure and removal of the facets on the joint response have been analyzed as well. Torsion is primarily resisted by the articular facets that are in contact and the disc annulus. The ligaments play an insignificant role in this respect. For the intact segment, with an increase in torque, the axis of rotation shifts posteriorly in the disc so that under maximum torque it is located posterior to the disc itself. Loss of disc pressure increases this posterior shift whereas removal of the facets decreases it. Torque, by itself, cannot cause the failure of disc fibers, but can enhance the vulnerability of those fibers located at the posterolateral and posterior locations when the torque acts in combination with other types of loading, such as flexion. The most vulnerable element of the segment in torque is the posterior bony structure.
The Role of Market Expectations in Commodity Price Dynamics: Evidence from Oil Data

This paper examines the contribution of market expectations to commodity price dynamics. It proposes a dynamic competitive storage framework with an explicit expectations shock along with concurrent shocks to study the commodity price movements. This allows for a refined analysis of the expectations’ effect on price and inventory and the estimation of the expectations. Applied to the world crude oil market, it finds that the contribution of market expectations to the crude oil spot price movements is limited from 1987 to 2014.