Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 36-kilodalton Brucella abortus cell envelope protein is encoded by repeated sequences closely linked in the genomic DNA

Recombinant bacteriophage expressing Brucella abortus antigens have been isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library by using antibody raised against a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-purified cell envelope protein of 36 kilodaltons. Fusion products expressed by these recombinants vary in apparent molecular mass by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis but only slightly exceed the size of beta-galactosidase. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis of crude lysates derived from lambda gt11 lysogens indicates that the fusion products react specifically with the original antisera used for recombinant selection and selectively bind antibody directed against the 36-kilodalton cell envelope protein. Analysis of the DNA inserts from 11 independently selected recombinants reveals similar-size EcoRI fragments which range in size from 150 to 300 base pairs (bp), all of which cross-hybridize via Southern blot analysis. Three independently selected EcoRI inserts ranging in size from 200 to 270 bp have been subcloned into M13mp18 and sequenced; all three contain a common region of about 200 bp. Southern blot analysis of B. abortus genomic DNAs digested with EcoRI, PstI, or DdeI indicates the presence of two fragments which hybridize to these DNA probes while single BamHI and HindIII fragments hybridize. The absence of these sites from the internal DNA sequence of the cloned probes suggests the presence of more than one copy of these sequences within the B. abortus genome. The same DNA probes have been used to select genomic clones of approximately 20 kbp from a lambda 2001 library. The lambda 2001 recombinants contain single BamHI fragments and two PstI fragments which hybridize to these oligonucleotide probe constructed on the basis of the amino-terminal sequence of the mature gene product hybridizes to the same BamHI and PstI fragments as the lambda gt11-derived DNA probe. Although the relative positions of the oligonucleotide sequences and the lambda gt11 insert within the genes is not known, the two sequences flank a region which corresponds to at least 40% of the size of the predicted gene. Additional experimentation must be performed to determine whether these sequences represent either two complete structural genes encoding major cell envelope proteins or repetitive sequences within a single structural gene.
Strategies for neonatal developmental care and family-centered neonatal care.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate neonatal developmental care and family-centered care in a neonatal unit. METHODS Participatory action research with a purposive sample of health personnel and parents of hospitalized newborn in a Neonatal Unit in Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Five focal groups were conducted with seven mothers and 40 professionals of the unit team, and additionally, 24 non-participant observations were conducted about neonatal developmental care and family-centered care. Three strategies for promotion were implemented for both approaches and subsequently, results were evaluated in terms of practices that take place during neonatal care, after the intervention. A quantitative analysis with descriptive statistics and a qualitative content analysis were done to process the data. Three strategies were implemented: continuing education for professionals, allocation of materials for the positioning of the babies and an informative video for the parents about how the unit operates. RESULTS The focus groups and the initial observation showed the necessity to enhance knowledge and practices of the personnel regarding neonatal developmental care and family-centered care. CONCLUSION The promotion of neonatal developmental care and family-centered care generated positive changes in care practices of the professionals in the neonatal unit, through the use of education strategies, communication and the provision of positioning materials.
DEFINABLE HENSELIAN VALUATIONS

Abstract In this note we investigate the question when a henselian valued field carries a nontrivial ∅-definable henselian valuation (in the language of rings). This is clearly not possible when the field is either separably or real closed, and, by the work of Prestel and Ziegler, there are further examples of henselian valued fields which do not admit a ∅-definable nontrivial henselian valuation. We give conditions on the residue field which ensure the existence of a parameter-free definition. In particular, we show that a henselian valued field admits a nontrivial henselian ∅-definable valuation when the residue field is separably closed or sufficiently nonhenselian, or when the absolute Galois group of the (residue) field is nonuniversal.
To print or not to print: hybrid learning with METIS learning platform

As part of the explosion in educational software, online tools, and open educational resources there has been a rapid devaluation of printed textbooks. While digital texts have advantages, printed textbooks still provide irreplaceable value over online media. Therefore technology should enhance, rather than eliminate printed text. To this end, this paper presents METIS, a hybrid learning software/service platform that is designed to support active reading. METIS provides easy digital-to-print-to-digital usage, simple creation of Cheat Sheets & FlexNotes for personal note taking and organization, and a custom flexible rendering & publishing engine for education called Aero. METIS was designed based on lessons learned from a formative study of 523 students at SJSU, and validated through focus groups involving 32 educators and students at both high school and college levels.
Conditional β‐catenin loss in mice promotes chemical hepatocarcinogenesis: Role of oxidative stress and platelet‐derived growth factor receptor α/phosphoinositide 3‐kinase signaling

Activation of β‐catenin, the central effector of the canonical Wnt pathway and a recognized oncogene, has been implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. We examined N‐nitrosodiethylamine (DEN)‐induced tumorigenesis in hepatic β‐catenin conditional knockout mice (β‐cat KO). Male β‐cat KO and age‐ and sex‐matched littermate controls were given a single intraperitoneal DEN injection and followed for 6‐12 months for hepatic tumors. Hepatic tumors were characterized for histology, proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and specific proteins by way of western blot, immunohistochemistry, and coprecipitation studies. For in vivo tumor intervention studies, specific inhibitors were administered intraperitoneally or through drinking water. Intriguingly, β‐cat KO mice showed a paradoxical increase in susceptibility to DEN‐induced tumorigenesis. This accelerated tumorigenesis is due to increased injury and inflammation, unrestricted oxidative stress, fibrosis, and compensatory increase in hepatocyte proliferation secondary to platelet‐derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRα)/phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PIK3CA)/Akt activation and c‐Myc overexpression. In vitro suppression of β‐catenin expression in hepatoma cells led to enhanced PDGFRα expression, which was abrogated in the presence of nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) inhibitor. Daily treatment of 6‐month‐old DEN‐exposed β‐cat KO with PDGFRα inhibitor dramatically reduced tumor numbers and size. Inclusion of N‐acetyl‐L‐cysteine, a known antioxidant and NF‐κB inhibitor, in the drinking water led to complete abolition of tumorigenesis in DEN‐exposed β‐cat KO. Conclusion: Loss of β‐catenin impairs the liver's ability to counteract DEN‐induced oxidative stress and enhances tumorigenesis through PDGFRα/PIK3CA/Akt signaling. Blockade of PDGFRα or oxidative stress dramatically affects β‐catenin–deficient tumorigenesis. Also, hepatoma cells use PDGFRα/PIK3CA signaling as an escape mechanism following β‐catenin suppression, and their sequential suppression profoundly impedes tumor proliferation. HEPATOLOGY 2010
Imbalances in the Development of Muscle and Tendon as Risk Factor for Tendinopathies in Youth Athletes: A Review of Current Evidence and Concepts of Prevention

Tendons feature the crucial role to transmit the forces exerted by the muscles to the skeleton. Thus, an increase of the force generating capacity of a muscle needs to go in line with a corresponding modulation of the mechanical properties of the associated tendon to avoid potential harm to the integrity of the tendinous tissue. However, as summarized in the present narrative review, muscle and tendon differ with regard to both the time course of adaptation to mechanical loading as well as the responsiveness to certain types of mechanical stimulation. Plyometric loading, for example, seems to be a more potent stimulus for muscle compared to tendon adaptation. In growing athletes, the increased levels of circulating sex hormones might additionally augment an imbalanced development of muscle strength and tendon mechanical properties, which could potentially relate to the increasing incidence of tendon overload injuries that has been indicated for adolescence. In fact, increased tendon stress and strain due to a non-uniform musculotendinous development has been observed recently in adolescent volleyball athletes, a high-risk group for tendinopathy. These findings highlight the importance to deepen the current understanding of the interaction of loading and maturation and demonstrate the need for the development of preventive strategies. Therefore, this review concludes with an evidence-based concept for a specific loading program for increasing tendon stiffness, which could be implemented in the training regimen of young athletes at risk for tendinopathy. This program incorporates five sets of four contractions with an intensity of 85–90% of the isometric voluntary maximum and a movement/contraction duration that provides 3 s of high magnitude tendon strain.
Vitreous levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and stromal-derived factor 1 in patients with diabetic retinopathy and cystoid macular edema before and after intraocular injection of triamcinolone.

BACKGROUND Diffuse macular edema (DME) and/or aberrant neovascularization (NV) can cause vision loss in diabetic retinopathy (DR) and may be modulated by growth factors and chemokines. The chemokine stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) is a potent stimulator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, the main effector of NV, and the key inducer of vascular permeability associated with DME. Circulating endothelial cell precursors migrating in response to SDF-1 participate in NV. OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between SDF-1 and (VEGF) in vitreous of patients with varying degrees of DR and DME before and after intraocular injection of triamcinolone acetonide, used to treat refractory DME. METHODS In this prospective study, 36 patients were included and observed for 6 months. Vitreous VEGF and SDF-1 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in samples obtained immediately before and 1 month after injection of triamcinolone. RESULTS Both VEGF and SDF-1 were significantly higher (P<.01) in patients with proliferative DR than in patients with nonproliferative DR. Levels of SDF-1 were markedly increased in patients with DME compared with those without DME. Vascular endothelial growth factor correlated with SDF-1 levels and disease severity (r(2) = 0.88). CONCLUSIONS Triamcinolone administration resulted in dramatic reductions of VEGF and SDF-1 to nearly undetectable levels, eliminated DME, and caused regression of active NV. Our results support a role for SDF-1 and VEGF in the pathogenesis of the adverse visual consequences of DR and suggest that the elimination of DME with regression and/or initiation of fibrosis of NV after triamcinolone injection may be due to the suppression of VEGF and SDF-1.
Hepatic lesions classification by ensemble of SVMs using statistical features based on co-occurrence matrix

Liver diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide. The most useful approach for controlling the growth of diseases to reach at severe condition is to treat these diseases at the early stages. Early treatment requires early diagnosis, which needs an accurate and reliable diagnostic procedure. The aim of this study is to develop a computer-aided diagnostic system to achieve aforementioned objective. Computed tomography is one of the most common and robust imaging techniques for the detection of liver lesions. Although in recent years the quality of CT images has been significantly improved, however in some cases image interpretation by human beings is often limited. We developed an automated system to detect and classify liver anomalies using CT images. Region of interest from CT images is segmented using active contours (snakes) algorithm and segmented image is used to extract statistical features based on co-occurrence matrix. To facilitate the classification of hepatic lesions, support vector machine is used. The results show that it is possible to automatically identify patients with liver lesions like hemangioma, hepatoma or cirrhosis based on texture features and that the machine performance is satisfactory and can assist human experts.
Crystal structure of 9-butyl-6-[2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethenyl]carbazol-3-amine

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C23H23N3, consists of two molecules, A and B, with different conformations. In molecule A, the dihedral angle between the carbazole ring system (r.m.s. deviation = 0.028 Å) and the pyridine ring is 20.28 (9)° and the N—C—C—C torsion angle of the butyl side chain is −63.4 (3)°. The equivalent data for molecule B are 0.065 Å, 48.28 (11)° and 61.0 (3)°, respectively. In the crystal, the components are connected by weak N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, generating [030] C(14) chains of alternating A and B molecules.
ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR DETECTION OF NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS FROM AN IMPORTED MEAT SAMPLE

Infected poultry meat plays an important role in the spread of Newcastle Disease (ND). In this study, an imported meat product was found to be positive for ND by both virus isolation and molecular characterization. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences of the F protein cleavage site showed that the isolate was virulent as indicated by the sequence RRQKR for the Cterminus of the F2 protein and phenylanine (F) at the N-terminus of the F1 protein, residue 117. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis showed the isolate was 98% identical with China Hebei ND strain. Though the regulations for the importation of poultry meat for human consumption into Malaysia are strict, the possibility of the persistence of ND virus in imported meat is prevalent. Strict enforcement of importing regulations and screening the disease in imported poultry meat is important to ensure food safety and prevent introducing ND strain from other countries into Malaysia.
Planning for human robot interaction

Les avancees recentes en robotique inspirent des visions de robots domestiques et de service rendant nos vies plus faciles et plus confortables. De tels robots pourront executer differentes tâches de manipulation d'objets necessaires pour des travaux de menage, de facon autonome ou en cooperation avec des humains. Dans ce role de compagnon humain, le robot doit repondre a de nombreuses exigences additionnelles comparees aux domaines bien etablis de la robotique industrielle. Le but de la planification pour les robots est de parvenir a elaborer un comportement visant a satisfaire un but et qui obtient des resultats desires et dans de bonnes conditions d'efficacite. Mais dans l'interaction homme-robot (HRI), le comportement robot ne peut pas simplement etre juge en termes de resultats corrects, mais il doit etre agreable aux acteurs humains. Cela signifie que le comportement du robot doit obeir a des criteres de qualite supplementaire. Il doit etre sur, confortable pour l'homme, et etre intuitivement compris. Il existe des pratiques pour assurer la securite et offrir un confort en gardant des distances suffisantes entre le robot et des personnes a proximite. Toutefois fournir un comportement qui est intuitivement compris reste un defi. Ce defi augmente considerablement dans les situations d'interaction homme-robot dynamique, ou les actions de la personne sont imprevisibles, le robot devant adapter en permanence ses plans aux changements. Cette these propose une approche nouvelle et des methodes pour ameliorer la lisibilite du comportement du robot dans des situations dynamiques. Cette approche ne considere pas seulement la qualite d'un seul plan, mais le comportement du robot qui est parfois le resultat de replanifications repetees au cours d'une interaction. Pour ce qui concerne les tâches de navigation, cette these presente des fonctions de couts directionnels qui evitent les problemes dans des situations de conflit. Pour la planification d'action en general, cette these propose une approche de replanification locale des actions de transport base sur les couts de navigation, pour elaborer un comportement opportuniste adaptatif. Les deux approches, complementaires, facilitent la comprehension, par les acteurs et observateurs humains, des intentions du robot et permettent de reduire leur confusion.
Silicon-based microcantilevers for multiple biological sample deposition

Arrays of silicon-based microcantilevers with passivated aluminum electrodes properly designed have been used to generate microarrays by depositing microspots of biological samples using a direct contact deposition technique. Using this approach, with a single loading, arrays of more than a hundred spots, from the femtoliter to the picoliter range, containing fluorescent-labelled oligonucleotides (15 mers) and proteins were directly patterned on a glass slide. The aim here was to check whether our system could be used for depositing various biological samples with the same cantilevers without the need to replace them for each sample. The strategy was to adapt the conventional cleaning and drying procedures used with a commercial DNA or protein microspotter. All the results presented demonstrate that our system perfectly matches the need for generating high-density DNA and protein chips in terms of size, density and the capacity of depositing different samples without cross-contamination.
Swarm Intelligence Based Particle Filter for Alternating Talker Localization and Tracking Using Microphone Arrays

We address the problem of localizing and tracking alternating (moving or stationary) talkers using microphone arrays in a room environment. One of the main challenges is the frequent (and possibly abrupt) change of talker positions, which requires the algorithm to capture the active talker rapidly. In addition, the presence of interference, background noise, and room reverberation degrades the tracking performance. We propose a new algorithm that jointly exploits the advantages of the particle filter (PF) and particle swarm intelligence. The PF is used as a general tracking framework, which incorporates a proposed alternating source-dynamic model for recursive estimation of talker position. Unlike the conventional PF, where particles operate independently in the particle sampling stage, the use of swarm intelligence allows particles to interact with each other, thereby improving convergence toward the active talker location. In addition, the memory mechanism in swarm intelligence allows particles to remain at their previous best-fit state estimate when signals are corrupted by interference, noise, and/or reverberation. Simulations and experiments were conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
An Effective Approach to Deembed the Complex Propagation Constant of Half-Mode SIW and Its Application

In this paper, a numerical short-open calibration (SOC) method is presented to numerically deembed the complex propagation constant of half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW). After three distinctive equivalent circuit networks are described for SOC deembedding procedures, the propagation characteristics of HMSIW can be extracted. The numerical stability and convergence are illustrated. Two examples designed with the application of our method are given. An HMSIW leaky wave antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured. The radiation pattern calculated from the deembedded complex propagation constant is well verified by the simulated and measured ones. The scattering parameters of two classes of single microstrip-to-SIW transitions are extracted and they are used to validate the numerically deembedded complex propagation constant of SIW.
[Our ultrasound-guided paravertebral block experiences in thoracic surgery].

OBJECTIVES Ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) may be employed for postoperative analgesia in thoracic surgery. In application of TPVB, single injections, multiple injections or catheter techniques may be used. In this paper we present our experiences with ultrasound-guided TPVB in thoracic surgery patients for postoperative analgesia. METHODS Patients undergoing thoracic surgery and on whom ultrasound-guided TPVB was performed for postoperative analgesia from January 2012 to March 2013 in our clinic were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic data, block technique, complications and 1st, 6th, 12th and 24th hour VAS scores were recorded. RESULTS A total of 18 patients had TPVB. Single injection was administered to 9 patients, multiple injections to 5, and catheters to 4. While statistically insignificant, 1st hour VAS scores were found to be greater than 3 in the single injection and catheter groups. CONCLUSION Similarly to multiple injection and continuous TPVB administration, ultrasound-guided single injection TPVB provides effective 24-hour postoperative analgesia.
Wide distribution of homologs of Escherichia coli Kdp K+-ATPase among gram-negative bacteria

We used Southern blotting to screen a variety of bacterial genes for homology to the kdp genes of Escherichia coli, genes that encode an ATP-driven K+ transport system. We found that most enterobacteria have sequences homologous to those of the three kdp structural genes and the kdpD regulatory gene. A number of distantly related species, including some cyanobacteria, have sequences homologous to those of the structural genes but not the regulatory gene. In all cases only a single region of homology was found. These results suggest that ATP-driven transport systems similar to the Kdp system in structure and regulation are found in many enteric organisms. In other gram-negative organisms, the ATPase is more divergent, retaining good homology at the DNA level only to the highly conserved phosphorylated subunit of the ATPase.
Japanese news simplification: tak design, data set construction, and analysis of simplified text

In this paper we explore a Japanese news simpliﬁcation task. We designed a Japanese news simpliﬁcation task, constructed the data set for the task, and analyzed the manual simpliﬁca-tion process. We designed the task focusing on sentence-level simpliﬁcation, which is part of the process of manual simpliﬁcation of Japanese news for non-native speakers. We constructed the data set consisting of Japanese news sentences and their corresponding simpliﬁed Japanese news sentences, and veriﬁed the effectiveness of the data set for automatic simpliﬁcation by conducting preliminary experiments using phrase-based statistical machine translation. To reveal the processes behind manual simpliﬁcation, such as simpliﬁcation associated with word order (syntactic structure), we analyzed manually simpliﬁed Japanese news sentences.