Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lethal Activity of Nonthermal Plasma Sterilization Against Microorganisms

Objective. To determine the range and the mode of germicidal activity of sterilants generated by a nonthermal plasma sterilization system for microorganisms. Methods. Representative bacteria, spores, viruses, bacteriophages, and fungi were exposed to the plasma cycle and the residual viability was measured in vitro. To assess the mode of lethal injury, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus atrophaeus, and bacteriophages were exposed to the plasma cycle, and the effects of the plasma-generated sterilants on the biological parameters were determined. Results. There were at least 4-6 log reductions in viability for all microorganisms after 10 minutes of exposure to the plasma cycle. Electron micrographs and studies of the inhibition of bacteriophage infectivity suggested that the primary injury is to the organisms' cell envelopes. The plasma cycle also denatured isolated bacterial proteins and inactivated bacteriophages, but it had no effect on isolated DNA and bacterial proteins within exposed bacteria. Conclusion. Nonthermal plasma, which is produced at atmospheric temperature and pressure, generates sterilants that kill high concentrations of microorganisms and inactivate viruses during a 10-minute exposure. The primary injury appears to be at the surface structures of the organisms. This suggests that nonthermal plasma has utility for sterilization of heat-sensitive medical materials and devices.
Robustness analysis of 10-dimensional cell cycle systems based on periodic sensitivity

This paper discusses a robustness analysis of a 10 dimensional cell cycle system and focuses on understanding functions of Cdc25 and Weel proteins. The robustness of the cell cycle is analyzed based on the sensitivity analysis for a mathematical model. From the first analysis result, it was shown that Cdc2 and Cyclin proteins have main roles for cell cycle in this model but the robustness is not high against perturbation on its parameters. By introducing Cdc25 and Weel proteins to the mathematical model, it was verified by the sensitivity analysis that the modified has higher level of robustnesses than the original model does. Numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the original model and the modified model have almost identical cell cycle behaviors leaving robustness as a salient difference.
Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation of VX2 Carcinoma in a Rabbit Model: Comparison of 1.0-M Gadobutrol and 0.5-M Gadopentetate Dimeglumine

Objectives:To compare the enhancement characteristics and diagnostic performance of 1.0-M gadobutrol with those of 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine in rabbit VX2 tumor models. Materials and Methods:Our study was approved by the Animal Care Committee of our hospital. VX2 carcinomas were implanted in both thighs of 14 rabbits 4 days before magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The animals underwent 2 identical MR examinations with 2 different contrast media separated by 8 hours with the use of a 3.0 T magnet. T2-, T1- weighted fast spin echo images were obtained. Sequential MR imaging with the 3-dimensional-SPGR sequence were performed before and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 minutes after injection of 0.05 mmol/kg of 1.0-M gadobutrol or 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine. Four rabbits without tumor implantation underwent the same MR examinations. Percentage enhancement of the tumor was assessed by 2 radiologists in consensus. Three different readers without knowledge of the histopathologic results interpreted both MR images in terms of presence of tumor. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted to compare the diagnostic value of both contrast agents. Sensitivities and specificities were also calculated. In addition, lesion-to-muscle contrast, degree of lesion delineation, and global preferences of the readers were determined using a scoring system. Results:A total of 56 VX2 tumors were identified by histopathologic review. For the VX2 tumors, the percentage enhancement at each time point was consistently higher with injection of 1.0-M gadobutrol than with injection of 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine (P < 0.01). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az) values for the use of 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging were 0.937, 0.886, and 0.938 for readers 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The Az values for the use of 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging were 0.908, 0.903, and 0.947. Sensitivities were 89.3%, 85.7%, and 89.3% for 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging and 87.5%, 85.7%, and 89.3% for 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging. Specificities were 87.5%, 75.0%, and 87.5% for 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging and 100%, 81.3%, and 100% for 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging. No significant differences were noted for the Az values, sensitivities, and specificities with the use of the 2 contrast agents. Lesion-to-muscle contrast, degree of lesion delineation, and global preferences of the readers were ranked significantly higher for 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging in all readers (P < 0.001). Conclusion:Using a 3.0-T magnet, equivalent doses of 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging showed a superior degree of enhancement for a VX2 tumor than 0.5-M gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging, and a significant preference for readers was noted for 1.0-M gadobutrol-enhanced MR imaging.
Analysis and implementation of low-cost FPGA-based digital pulse-width modulators

This paper describes the architecture and operating principles of two digital pulse-width modulator (DPWM) implementations for low-cost field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Both architectures are based on a counter-comparator block to process the most significant bits (MSB) portion of the reference input, enriched with additional elements to enhance duty-cycle resolution according to the less significant bits (LSB). The first architecture described has already been reported in the literature, it uses the on-chip PLL blocks to generate fixed delays and a selector to choose the one corresponding with the desired duty-cycle. Post-fitting adjustments of PLL delays are required to compensate delay differences between the diverse signal paths across the selector. In the second architecture described, a serializer-deserializer (SERDES) module is used to serialize a thermometer-coded representation of the LSB portion of the input. This serialization technique is commonly used for data transmission on high-speed serial I/O data transmission standards like LVDS and is extensively supported by FPGA providers. Experimental results are presented for both architectures synthesized on standard low-cost FPGA chips, showing very good linearity and resolutions up to 1ns. The first architecture provides a moderately better resolution. The second architecture, on the other hand, is a much more robust solution as it requires no post-fitting delay adjustments.
Posttranslational regulation of nitrogenase activity in Azospirillum brasilense ntrBC mutants: ammonium and anaerobic switch-off occurs through independent signal transduction pathways

Nitrogenase activity is regulated by reversible ADP-ribosylation in response to NH4+ and anaerobic conditions in Azospirillum brasilense. The effect of mutations in ntrBC on this regulation was examined. While NH4+ addition to ntrBC mutants caused a partial loss of nitrogenase activity, the effect was substantially smaller than that seen in ntr+ strains. In contrast, nitrogenase activity in these mutants was normally regulated in response to anaerobic conditions. The analysis of mutants lacking both the ntrBC gene products and dinitrogenase reductase activating glycohydrolase (DRAG) suggested that the primary effect of the ntrBC mutations was to alter the regulation of DRAG activity. Although nif expression in the ntr mutants appeared normal, as judged by activity, glutamine synthetase activity was significantly lower in ntrBC mutants than in the wild type. We hypothesize that this lower glutamine synthetase activity may delay the transduction of the NH4+ signal necessary for the inactivation of DRAG, resulting in a reduced response of nitrogenase activity to NH4+. Finally, data presented here suggest that different environmental stimuli use independent signal pathways to affect this reversible ADP-ribosylation system.
Leptin Assessment in Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Survivors: Role of Cranial Radiotherapy?

Leptin has been hypothesized to play a role in the development of obesity in leukemia survivors, particularly those who have received cranial radiotherapy. This cross-sectional study evaluated the relationship between leptin levels and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of 26 acute lymphocytic leukemia survivors of both sexes, treated with and without cranial irradiation, aged 7.6 to 17 years, at a mean 3.4±2.0 years off treatment. There were significantly more males among the irradiated group (P<0.001), even though no differences were encountered in pubertal stage (P=1.000), BMI standard deviation score (mean±SD) (0.68±1.00 vs. 1.19±0.78; P=0.164), or leptin concentrations (17.01±17.04 vs. 23.3±13.4; P=0.309). Nonetheless, there was a positive correlation between the natural logarithm of leptin and BMI standard deviation score [t(22)=2.348, P=0.028], however, no differences were recorded among irradiated and nonirradiated patients [F(2,22)=0.384, P=0.685]. When this relationship was compared between sexes, a significant difference was encountered [F(2,22)=4.907, P=0.017], with males having the strongest association (R2males=65.5%, R2females=34.7%). Leptin is a reliable adiposity index as it strongly correlates with BMI. Overall, the current data suggest that cranial irradiation did not play a role upon this relationship; however, sex differences influenced positively this correlation.
Public Childcare and Maternal Employment — New Evidence for Germany

This study explores the linkage between five policy indicators of public childcare provision for below threes and maternal employment in terms of employment propensity and (conditional) working hours based on German microcensus data 2006–14. Our two‐way fixed effects estimations with individual and macro‐level confounders as well as year‐ and state‐fixed effects show that raising the coverage rate by 1 percentage point and the existence of a legal childcare claim from the age of one relates to an increase of weekly working hours by 0.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively. Regarding the employment propensity, correlations with policy indicators are rather weak.
Clinical significance in self-rated HRQoL among survivors after childhood cancer – demonstrated by anchor-based thresholds

Abstract Background. There is a need to establish clinically relevant thresholds (anchors) for identification of differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and thereby provide stronger evidence regarding the HRQoL of childhood cancer survivors. Aim. To investigate HRQoL in childhood cancer survivors with a standardised instrument and to establish thresholds for clinically significant differences by using qualitative interviews as anchors. An additional aim was to investigate survivors’ HRQoL in relation to an age-matched comparison group without cancer experience. Material and methods. Self-rated HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-27) was assessed in a national cohort of survivors (n = 63, aged 12–22) and a comparison group (n = 257, aged 11–23). Findings from qualitative interview data were also used (n = 61); three subgroups (“Feeling like anyone else”; “Feeling almost like others”; “Feeling different”) were identified based on survivors own perception of influence on daily life. Effect size calculations based on means from the KIDSCREEN-27 dimensions were performed using the subgroups as anchors to indicate clinical importance. Furthermore, standard multiple regression analyses were performed. Results. Effect sizes between the subgroups “Feeling like anyone else” and “Feeling almost like others” and the group “Feeling different” were large for all dimensions (1.04–2.07). The multiple regression models showed that being a survivor was significantly associated with one of the dimensions, School Environment, where survivors scored higher HRQoL. Furthermore, female sex and older age (17–23 years) significantly contributed to lower self-rated HRQoL. Conclusion. In clinical practice the KIDSCREEN-27 could be a useful screening tool to identify survivors of childhood cancer in need of extra support, using KIDSCREEN dimension mean values of 45 or less as thresholds. Larger scale studies are recommended to identify and test thresholds with regard to different age groups and time since diagnosis.
Nanoparticle-Induced Changes in Resistance and Resilience of Sensitive Microbial Indicators towards Heat Stress in Soil

Modern agricultural innovations with nanomaterials are now being applied in every sphere of agriculture. However, their interaction with soil microbial processes is not being explored in detail. This initiative was undertaken to understand the effect of metal-oxide nanoparticles with heat stress in soil. Metal-oxide nanoparticles, zinc oxide (ZnO), and iron oxide (Fe2O3) (each at 10 and 40 mg kg−1 w/w) were mixed into uncontaminated soil and subjected to heat stress of 48 °C for 24 hours to assess their effect on soil biological indicators. The resistance indices for the acid (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolyzing (FDA) activity (0.58 to 0.73, 0.58 to 0.66, and 0.42 to 0.48, respectively) were higher in the presence of ZnO nanoparticles as compared to Fe2O3 nanomaterials, following an unpredictable pattern at either 10 or 40 mg kg−1 in soils, except dehydrogenase activity (DHA), for which the activity did not change with ZnO nanomaterial. An explicit role of ZnO nanomaterial in the revival pattern of the enzymes was observed (0.20 for DHA, 0.39 for ACP, and 0.43 for AKP), except FDA, which showed comparable values with Fe2O3 nanomaterials for the following 90 day (d) after stress. Microbial count exhibiting higher resistance values were associated with Fe2O3 nanoparticles as compared to ZnO nanomaterials, except Pseudomonas. The recovery indices for the microbial counts were higher with the application of Fe2O3 nanomaterials (0.34 for Actinobacteria, 0.38 for fungi, 0.33 for Pseudomonas and 0.28 for Azotobacter). Our study emphasizes the fact that sensitive microbial indicators in soil might be hampered by external stress initially but do have the competency to recover with time, thereby reinstating the resistance and resilience of soil systems.
Life Cycle Assessment Contribution in the Product Development Process: Case Study of Wood Aluminum-Laminated Panel

The benefits of aluminum lamination in improving the physical and mechanical properties of wood-based composites is now well documented. This paper shows the contribution of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess and compare the environmental footprint in the development of laminated panels. SimaPro 9.0 software, using Ecoinvent database was used to analyze the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of wood aluminum-laminated (WAL) panels and aluminum honeycomb panel (AHP). The impact 2002+ method was used to estimate environmental impacts. The LCA results show that the WAL panels manufacturing had a lower environmental impact than AHP manufacturing. In term of product, wood-based composites were the best choice as a core in laminated panel manufacturing. Wood-based composite manufacturing showed environmental advantages in all damage categories except in ecosystem quality. Aluminum alloy sheets manufacturing played an important role in the generation of environmental impacts for laminated panel development.
Momentum returns, market states and fi nancial crises: evidence from China and Hong Kong

This chapter investigates the profitability of the momentum trading strategy in the stock exchanges of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong over the period 1994 to 2010. Our results show that there are significantly large momentum returns for Shanghai and Hong Kong but small and insignificant momentum returns for Shenzhen. However, the momentum trading strategy generates negative returns for all markets during the Global Financial Crisis; it appears that the momentum trading strategy fails during a financial or stock market crisis and especially in the months when the market conditions improve. We find no significant relationship between momentum returns and market states, which contradicts the results of an earlier study conducted in the U.S. market. Instead of market state it appears that it is economic activity that explains momentum returns.
Is laparoscopic surgery acceptable for advanced colon cancer?

Laparoscopic surgery is widespread in the treatment of colorectal cancer. In Japan, a nationwide survey has shown that the rate of advanced colorectal cancer has increased gradually to 65% of total laparoscopic surgeries in 2007. Many randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that in the short term, laparoscopic surgery is feasible, safe, and has many benefits, including reduction of peri‐operative mortality. In terms of long‐term outcomes, four randomized controlled trials suggest that there are no differences in laparosupic and open surgery for colon cancer. However, important issues, including long‐term oncological outcome, cost effectiveness, and the impact on the quality of life of patients, should be addressed in well‐designed large‐scale trials. In Japan, a retrospective multicenter study has demonstrated that the short‐term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery are beneficial, and the long‐term outcomes are the same as for open surgery. In 2004, a prospective large‐scale randomized controlled trial (JCOG0404) to compare laparoscopic surgery with open surgery was started to evaluate oncological outcomes for advanced colon cancer. This trial is supported in part by a Grant‐in‐Aid for Cancer Research from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. In the present study, laparoscopic surgery is found to be acceptable for stage I disease of colon cancer, whereas it is controversial for stage II/III disease because of inadequate clinical evidence. Whether laparoscopic surgery is acceptable for advanced colon cancer or not should be confirmed by the Japanese large‐scale prospective randomized controlled trial (JCOG0404) in the near future. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 567–571)
Separation and identification of mouse brain tissue microproteins using top‐down method with high resolution nanocapillary liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

Microproteins and endogenous peptides in the brain contain important substances that have critical roles in diverse biological processes, contributing to signal transduction and intercellular signaling. However, variability in their physical or chemical characteristics, such as molecule size, hydrophobicity, and charge states, complicate the simultaneous analysis of these compounds, although this would be highly beneficial for the field of neuroscience research. Here, we present a top‐down analytical method for simultaneous analysis of microproteins and endogenous peptides using high‐resolution nanocapillary LC‐MS/MS. This method is detergent‐free and digestion‐free, which allows for extracting and preserving intact microproteins and peptides for direct LC‐MS analysis. Both higher energy collision dissociation and electron‐transfer dissociation fragmentations were used in the LC‐MS analysis to increase the identification rate, and bioinformatics tools ProteinGoggle and PEAKS Studio software were utilized for database search. In total, we identified 471 microproteins containing 736 proteoforms, including brain‐derived neurotrophic factor and a number of fibroblast growth factors. In addition, we identified 599 peptides containing 151 known or potential neuropeptides such as somatostatin‐28 and neuropeptide Y. Our approach bridges the gap for the characterization of brain microproteins and peptides, which permits quantification of a diversity of signaling molecules for biomarker discovery or therapy diagnosis in the future.
Estimating Common Parameters of Lognormally Distributed Environmental and Biomonitoring Data: Harmonizing Disparate Statistics from Publications

The progression of science is driven by the accumulation of knowledge and builds upon published work of others. Another important feature is to place current results into the context of previous observations. The published literature, however, often does not provide sufficient direct information for the reader to interpret the results beyond the scope of that particular article. Authors tend to provide only summary statistics in various forms, such as means and standard deviations, median and range, quartiles, 95% confidence intervals, and so on, rather than providing measurement data. Second, essentially all environmental and biomonitoring measurements have an underlying lognormal distribution, so certain published statistical characterizations may be inappropriate for comparisons. The aim of this study was to review and develop direct conversions of different descriptions of data into a standard format comprised of the geometric mean (GM) and the geometric standard deviation (GSD) and then demonstrate how, under the assumption of lognormal distribution, these parameters are used to answer questions of confidence intervals, exceedance levels, and statistical differences among distributions. A wide variety of real-world measurement data sets was reviewed, and it was demonstrated that these data sets are indeed of lognormal character, thus making them amenable to these methods. Potential errors incurred from making retrospective estimates from disparate summary statistics are described. In addition to providing tools to interpret “other people’s data,” this review should also be seen as a cautionary tale for publishing one’s own data to make it as useful as possible for other researchers.
Abundance and Characterization of Perfect Microsatellites on the Cattle Y Chromosome

ABSTRACT Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are found in most organisms and play an important role in genomic organization and function. To characterize the abundance of SSRs (1-6 base-pairs [bp]) on the cattle Y chromsome, the relative frequency and density of perfect or uninterrupted SSRs based on the published Y chromosome sequence were examined. A total of 17,273 perfect SSRs were found, with total length of 324.78 kb, indicating that approximately 0.75% of the cattle Y chromosome sequence (43.30 Mb) comprises perfect SSRs, with an average length of 18.80 bp. The relative frequency and density were 398.92 loci/Mb and 7500.62 bp/Mb, respectively. The proportions of the six classes of perfect SSRs were highly variable on the cattle Y chromosome. Mononucleotide repeats had a total number of 8073 (46.74%) and an average length of 15.45 bp, and were the most abundant SSRs class, while the percentages of di-, tetra-, tri-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide repeats were 22.86%, 11.98%, 11.58%, 6.65%, and 0.19%, respectively. Different classes of SSRs varied in their repeat number, with the highest being 42 for dinucleotides. Results reveal that repeat categories A, AC, AT, AAC, AGC, GTTT, CTTT, ATTT, and AACTG predominate on the Y chromosome. This study provides insight into the organization of cattle Y chromosome repetitive DNA, as well as information useful for developing more polymorphic cattle Y-chromosome-specific SSRs.