Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three-Dimensional Structure of the Human Myeloma IgG2

Human immunoglobulin G, subclass 2 (hIgG2), plays an important role in immunity to bacterial pathogens and in numerous pathological conditions. However, there is a lack of information regarding the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the hIgG2 molecule. We used electron microscopy (EM), differential scanning microcalorimetry (DSC) and fluorescence for structural analysis of the hIgG2. DSC and fluorescence indicated two types of interaction between CH1 domain of Fab (antigen-binding fragment/subunit) and CH2 domain of Fc (complement fixation fragment/subunit) simultaneously present in the sample: close interaction, which increases the thermostability of both, CH1 and CH2 domains, and weak (or no) interaction, which is typical for most IgGs but not hIgG2. Thermodynamics could not determine if both types of interactions are present within a single molecule. To address this question, EM was used. We employed a single-particle reconstruction and negative staining approach to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the hIgG2. A three-dimensional model of hIgG2 was created at 1.78 nm resolution. The hIgG2 is asymmetrical: one Fab subunit is in close proximity to the upper portion of the Fc subunit (CH2 domain) and the other Fab is distant from Fc. The plane of Fab subunits is nearly perpendicular to Fc. EM structure of the hIgG2 is in good agreement with thermodynamic data: a Fab distant from Fc should exhibit a lower melting temperature while a Fab interacting with Fc should exhibit a higher melting temperature. Both types of Fab subunits exist within one molecule resembling an A/B hIgG2 isoform introduced earlier on physicochemical level by Dillon et al. (2008). In such an arrangement, the access to the upper portion of Fc subunit is partially blocked by a Fab subunit. That might explain for instance why hIgG2 mildly activates complement and binds poorly to Fc receptors. Understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the hIgG2 should lead to better design of antibody-based therapeutics.
Motivation for change as a predictor of treatment response for dysthymia.

OBJECTIVE Dysthymia constitutes a chronic, mild affective disorder characterized by heterogeneous treatment effects. Several predictors of clinical response and attendance have been postulated, although research on the role of the psychological variables involved in this mental disorder is still scarce. METHOD Fifty-four adult patients, who met criteria for dysthymia completed an ongoing naturalistic treatment based on the brief interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-B), which was delivered bimonthly over 16 months. As potential predictor variables, the therapeutic alliance, coping strategies, perceived self-efficacy, and motivation for change were measured at baseline. Outcome variables were response to treatment (Clinical Global Impression and Beck’s Depression Inventory) and treatment attendance. RESULTS Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses revealed that higher motivation for change predicted better response to treatment. Moreover, higher motivation for change also predicted treatment attendance. Therapeutic alliance was not a predictor variable of neither clinical response nor treatment attendance. CONCLUSIONS These preliminary findings support the adjunctive use of motivational interviewing (MI) techniques in the treatment of dysthymia. Further research with larger sample size and follow-up assessment is warranted.
Organizational support for the workforce and employee safety citizenship behaviors: A social exchange relationship

Employee safety citizenship behaviors are crucial to risk management in safety-critical industries, and identifying ways to encourage them is a priority. This study examines (i) whether safety citizenship behaviors are a product of social exchanges between employees and organizations, and (ii) the organizational exchanges (i.e. actual activities to support employees) that underlie this relationship. We studied this in the offshore oil and gas industry, and investigated whether organizational activities for supporting workforce health are a signal to employees that the organization supports them, and an antecedent to safety citizenship behaviors. Using questionnaires, we collected data from employees (n = 820) and medics (n = 30) on 22 offshore installations. Multi-level path analysis found that where activities to support workforce health were greater, offshore employees were more likely to perceive their organization to support them, and in turn report more commitment to the organization and safety citizenship behaviors. This indicates safety citizenship behaviors are a product of social exchange, and provides insight on how organizations can influence employee engagement in them. It also suggests social exchange theory as a useful framework for investigating how organizational safety is influenced by workforce relations. We contributed to the social exchange literature through conceptualizing and demonstrating how organizational exchanges lead to reciprocal employee citizenship behaviors.
Field evaluations of a forestry version of drainmod-nii model

This study evaluated the performance of the newly developed forestry version of DRAINMOD-NII model using a long term (21-year) data set collected from an artificially drained loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation in eastern North Carolina, U.S.A. The model simulates the main hydrological and biogeochemical processes in drained forested lands. The model was calibrated using observed data during 1988-1997 and validated during 1998-2008. Predicted subsurface drainage, water table fluctuation, annual net primary production, leaf area index, and nitrate export were compared with measured values. Goodness-of-fit statistics include Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE), degree of agreement (d) and mean absolute error (MAE). Both annual and monthly drainage predictions were in very good agreement with measured values (NSE = 0.95, d = 0.95, and MAE = 53 mm yr-1 for yearly predictions and NSE = 0.91, d = 0.96 and MAE = 8.8 mm mo-1 for monthly predictions). Predicted daily water table depths closely followed observed values with goodness-of-fit statistics: NSE = 0.90, d = 0.96 and MAE = 0.10m. Predicted mean annual NPP was 18.7 t DM ha-1, which was very close to estimated value of 18.6 t DM ha-1. The goodness-of-fit statistics of the annual NPP predictions were: NSE =0.66, d = 0.78, and MAE =1.46 t ha-1yr-1. The model well predicted both the magnitude and dynamics of LAI. Predicted mean annual nitrate loss was 2.59±1.64kg ha-1, which was very close to observed value of 2.64±1.50kg ha-1. The goodness-of-fit statistics for predicted annual nitrate loss were: NSE = 0.88, MAE = 0.46kg ha-1 yr-1 and d = 0.93. The goodness-of-fit statistics for monthly nitrate export were: NSE = 0.76, MAE = 0.09 kg ha-1 mo-1and d = 0.81, all of which indicated a good performance of the model in predicting monthly nitrate export. These overall accurate predictions clearly demonstrate the capabilities of the forestry version of DRAINMOD-N II as a model for simulating the hydrology, biogeochemistry, and forest growth for drained forested lands.
Associations between cognitive function and naturally occurring daily cortisol during middle adulthood: timing is everything.

OBJECTIVES We examined associations between cognitive function (CF) and the naturally occurring daily cortisol levels using data from the Midlife in the United States survey and the National Study of Daily Experiences. METHODS A national sample of 1,500 (mean age = 57 years; range = 33-84, 56% female) completed a phone-based battery of cognitive tasks and 3-6 months later provided saliva samples upon waking, 30 min after waking, at lunch time, and at bedtime on 4 consecutive days. RESULTS Higher CF, particularly executive function, was associated with healthier daily cortisol profiles, including a steeper diurnal cortisol slope, higher morning cortisol levels, and lower afternoon and evening cortisol levels. DISCUSSION The results indicate that better CF is associated with healthier profiles of naturally occurring cortisol and underscore the importance of the timing of cortisol sampling.
Effects of Gametophytes of Ecklonia Kurome on the Levels of Glucose and Triacylglycerol in db/db, Prediabetic C57BL/6J and IFN-γ KO Mice

We have studied edible algae that have the potential to down-regulate blood glucose. In Japan, Ecklonia species have been believed to improve the circulation of blood. In this study, we used leptin receptor deficient type 2 diabetes model mice (db/db) and prediabetic C57BL/6J mice. We also focused on the role of IFN-γ in the control of blood levels of triacylglycerol and glucose, because it is reportedly engaged in the regulation of energy consumption together with leptin. We report that gametophytes of Ecklonia kurome down-regulate the blood level of glucose and serum level of triacylglycerol in db/db. We also report that gametophytes of Ecklonia kurome down-regulate the level of glucose but not the level of triacylglycerol in prediabetic C57BL/6J mice induced by a high fat diet. They increased the level of triacylglycerol compared to that of control group in C57BL/6J, but not in IFN-γ KO mice. Gametophytes of Ecklonia kurome were administered orally to prediabetic C57BL/6J and IFN-γ KO mice and oral glucose tolerance tests were performed to evaluate the effects of algae. During the administration of the normal diet, we found a higher level of blood glucose in a glucose tolerance test of IFN-γ KO mice compared with that of C57BL/6J. Although a high fat diet induced a higher level of blood glucose compared with a normal diet group in a glucose tolerance test of C57BL/6J mice, this effect of high fat diet was not observed clearly at first but appeared three hours after glucose administration in IFN-γ KO mice. Gametophytes of Ecklonia kurome down-regulated the level of blood glucose in both C57BL/6J and IFN-γ KO mice, when administered a normal diet after making them prediabetic. These results suggest that Ecklonia kurome are effective to down-regulate the blood glucose and IFN-γ is involved in the regulation of blood glucose and triacylglycerol.
IntelliAd: Assisting Mobile App Developers in Measuring Ad Costs Automatically

In-app mobile advertising serves as a primary source of revenue for most free apps. Such apps are embedded with third-party SDKs for ads displaying and are monetized by user impressions. However, ad placement can sometimes spoil user experience, for example, by too much memory consumption and battery drainage, thus leading to app uninstalling and unfavorable user feedback. Therefore, ensuring user perceptions of mobile ads can be greatly beneficial to app developers. Furthermore, various ad networks and formats make ads selection a great challenge. To achieve this, we design a tool named IntelliAd to automatically measure the ads-related consumption on mobile phones. Based on the measured costs, developers can optimize the ad-embedding schemes for their apps.
A model-view separation architecture for GUI application components

Graphical user interface (GUI) application component is a compound component, which consists of fine-grained components (such as GUI widgets) and specific logic. GUI application components fabricated by conventional techniques expose low extensibility because of the incomplete separation between the application logic part and GUI part inside the components. In this paper, we propose a new component architecture, "BeaM", which realizes complete separation between both parts inside the GUI application components. We have implemented a development environment corresponding to the proposed architecture in Java language. As a result of experimental evaluations, it is found that BeaM is useful to develop GUI application components as JavaBeans components with high extensibility.
Mapping of Kisspeptin Fibres in the Brain of the Pro‐Oestrous Rat

Kisspeptins are a family of small peptides that play a key role in the neuroendocrine regulation of the reproductive function through neural pathways that have not yet been completely identified. The present study aimed to investigate the distribution of kisspeptin neurone fibres in the female rat brain by comparing precisely the immunoreactive pattern obtained with two antibodies: one specifically directed against kisspeptin‐52 (Kp‐52), the longest isoform, and the other directed against kisspeptin‐10 (Kp‐10), whose sequence is common to all putative mature isoforms. With both antibodies, immunoreactive cell bodies were exclusively observed in the arcuate nucleus, and immunoreactive fibres were confined to the septo‐preoptico‐hypothalamic continuum of the brain. Fibres were observed in the preoptic area, the diagonal band of Broca, the septohypothalamic area, the anteroventral periventricular, suprachiasmatic, supraoptic, paraventricular and periventricular nuclei, the dorsal border of the ventromedian nucleus, the dorsomedial and arcuate nuclei, and the median eminence. In the latter structure, varicose fibres were mainly distributed in the internal layer and were detected to a lesser extent throughout the external layer, including around the deeper part of the infundibular recess. Most regions of immunoreactive cells and fibres matched perfectly for the two antibodies. However, fibres in the dorsolateral septum, anterior fornix, accumbens nucleus and the lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis were only recognised by antibody anti‐Kp‐10, suggesting that anti‐Kp‐10 may recognise a wider range of kisspeptin isoforms than anti‐Kp‐52 or cross‐react with molecules other than kisspeptin in rat tissue. Overall, these results illustrate the variety of projection sites of kisspeptin neurones in the rat and suggest that these peptides play a role in different functions.
Blasting in Chord

This paper studies the problem of “blasting” attacks in the Chord P2P network. Blasting is an application-layer denial-of-service (DoS) attack in which malicious nodes generate excessive numbers of queries. To deal with the problem, we develop a simple traffic model that captures query flows in Chord, and we use the model to determine how to maximize system throughput. We then propose traffic management schemes and derive traffic limits that can be imposed on query flows. We evaluate our proposed traffic management schemes and limits via simulation. We find that our techniques recover system throughput in the face of blasting attacks and virtually eliminate damage due to excess queries injected by malicious nodes.
High-surface-area silica nanospheres (KCC-1) with a fibrous morphology.

The past decade has seen significant advances in the ability to fabricate new porous solids with ordered structures from a wide range of different materials, with silica being the most common. Porous materials and their nanoscopic version now seem set to contribute to the developments in areas ranging from microelectronics to medical diagnosis or targeting of drugs. The realm of mesoporous materials was extended after the emergence of Kresge s innovative method for the preparation of mesoporous silica materials (MCM-41) through the use of surfactants as organizing agents. After the inception of template-directed synthesis of silica, extensive research was conducted to control their morphologies, pore sizes, and structures. These templated techniques led to the synthesis of a variety of mesoporous and nanoscale silica materials with a wide range of morphologies that have been successfully used as supports in heterogeneous catalysis. The effectiveness of these materials as catalyst supports is mainly due to their microstructures, which allow active catalytic sites to disperse on the large internal surfaces and pores, which in turn improve the activity of the catalyst system. However, poor accessibility to these active sites inside the pores sometimes limits their applications for which significant mass transport is essential. Silica supports with easily accessible high surface areas (that is, not in the pores) are therefore needed. In quest of nanocatalysis by surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC), herein we present the synthesis of fibrous silica nanospheres (KCC-1) with high surface areas. To the best of our knowledge, silica nanospheres with this type of fibrous morphology (Figures 1 and 2) is unprecedented. The high surface area is due to the presence
Novel regions of acquired uniparental disomy discovered in acute myeloid leukemia

The acquisition of uniparental disomy (aUPD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) results in homozygosity for known gene mutations. Uncovering novel regions of aUPD has the potential to identify previously unknown mutational targets. We therefore aimed to develop a map of the regions of aUPD in AML. Here, we have analyzed a large set of diagnostic AML samples (n = 454) from young adults (age: 15–55 years) using genotype arrays. Acquired UPD was found in 17% of the samples with a nonrandom distribution particularly affecting chromosome arms 13q, 11p, and 11q. Novel recurrent regions of aUPD were uncovered at 2p, 17p, 2q, 17q, 1p, and Xq. Overall, aUPDs were observed across all cytogenetic risk groups, although samples with aUPD13q (5.4% of samples) belonged exclusively to the intermediate‐risk group as defined by cytogenetics. All cases with a high FLT3‐ITD level, measured previously, had aUPD13q covering the FLT3 gene. Significantly, none of the samples with FLT3‐ITD‐/FLT3‐TKD+ mutation exhibited aUPD13q. Of the 119 aUPDs observed, the majority (87%) were due to mitotic recombination while only 13% were due to nondisjunction. This study demonstrates aUPD is a frequent and significant finding in AML and pinpoints regions that may contain novel mutational targets. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Role of Microbial Enzymes in the Bioremediation of Pollutants: A Review

A large number of enzymes from bacteria, fungi, and plants have been reported to be involved in the biodegradation of toxic organic pollutants. Bioremediation is a cost effective and nature friendly biotechnology that is powered by microbial enzymes. The research activity in this area would contribute towards developing advanced bioprocess technology to reduce the toxicity of the pollutants and also to obtain novel useful substances. The information on the mechanisms of bioremediation-related enzymes such as oxido-reductases and hydrolases have been extensively studied. This review attempts to provide descriptive information on the enzymes from various microorganisms involved in the biodegradation of wide range of pollutants, applications, and suggestions required to overcome the limitations of their efficient use.
Evaluation of a soluble tetrazolium/formazan assay for cell growth and drug sensitivity in culture using human and other tumor cell lines.

We have previously described the application of an automated microculture tetrazolium assay (MTA) involving dimethyl sulfoxide solubilization of cellular-generated 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)-formazan to the in vitro assessment of drug effects on cell growth (M.C. Alley et al., Proc. Am. Assoc. Cancer Res., 27:389, 1986; M.C. Alley et al., Cancer Res. 48:589-601, 1988). There are several inherent disadvantages of this assay, including the safety hazard of personnel exposure to large quantities of dimethyl sulfoxide, the deleterious effects of this solvent on laboratory equipment, and the inefficient metabolism of MTT by some human cell lines. Recognition of these limitations prompted development of possible alternative MTAs utilizing a different tetrazolium reagent, 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino)carbonyl] -2H- tetrazolium hydroxide (XTT), which is metabolically reduced in viable cells to a water-soluble formazan product. This reagent allows direct absorbance readings, therefore eliminating a solubilization step and shortening the microculture growth assay procedure. Most human tumor cell lines examined metabolized XTT less efficiently than MTT; however, the addition of phenazine methosulfate (PMS) markedly enhanced cellular reduction of XTT. In the presence of PMS, the XTT reagent yielded usable absorbance values for growth and drug sensitivity evaluations with a variety of cell lines. Depending on the metabolic reductive capacity of a given cell line, the optimal conditions for a 4-h XTT incubation assay were 50 micrograms of XTT and 0.15 to 0.4 microgram of PMS per well. Drug profiles obtained with representative human tumor cell lines for several standard compounds utilizing the XTT-PMS methodology were similar to the profiles obtained with MTT. Addition of PMS appeared to have little effect on the metabolism of MTT. The new XTT reagent thus provides for a simplified, in vitro cell growth assay with possible applicability to a variety of problems in cellular pharmacology and biology. However, the MTA using the XTT reagent still shares many of the limitations and potential pitfalls of MTT or other tetrazolium-based assays.
Two Stages of New Learnings of Wang Anshi and Their Theoretical Characteristics

The new learnings of Wang Anshi is one of the Confucian School in the middle of North Song Dynasty.It can be divided into two stages with different theorical characteristics.In the first stage,it focused on the subject of rejuvenating three cardinal guides and five constant virtues of confucianism,paid attention to seeking the principle of man's nature and Heaven.In the second stage,it paid attention to guiding idcology and theoretic basis for social reform.
A model for rhythm and timbre similarity in electronic dance music

Music similarity is a multidimensional concept to which so-called “sub-similarities”, such as timbre and rhythm similarity, contribute. In this study, two models are presented: one for timbre similarity, and one for rhythm similarity. The musical domain for which the models were established is Electronic Dance Music (EDM). The models extract feature values from segments of audio and calculate a distance between two segments based on their feature vectors. The models are evaluated on perceptual data using linear regression. The accuracy of the rhythm similarity model reaches an empirically established upper bound to model performance. The accuracy of the timbre model is moderate, possibly due to insufficient data. From the selection of features and their weights resulting from the regression analysis, periodicity of rhythmic elements turned out to be the most important feature group for rhythm similarity in EDM.