Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crystal structure of glycosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Sulfolobus solfataricus.

The crystal structure of glycosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Sulfolobus solfataricus KM1 has been solved by multiple isomorphous replacement. The enzyme is an alpha-amylase (family 13) with unique exo-amylolytic activity for glycosyltrehalosides. It cleaves the alpha-1,4 glycosidic bond adjacent to the trehalose moiety to release trehalose and maltooligo saccharide. Unlike most other family 13 glycosidases, the enzyme does not require Ca(2+) for activity, and it contains an N-terminal extension of approximately 100 amino acid residues that is homologous to N-terminal domains found in many glycosidases that recognize branched oligosaccharides. Crystallography revealed the enzyme to exist as a homodimer covalently linked by an intermolecular disulfide bond at residue C298. The existence of the intermolecular disulfide bond was confirmed by biochemical analysis and mutagenesis. The N-terminal extension forms an independent domain connected to the catalytic domain by an extended linker. The functionally essential Ca(2+) binding site found in the B domain of alpha-amylases and many other family 13 glycosidases was found to be replaced by hydrophobic packing interactions. The enzyme also contains a very unusual excursion in the (beta/alpha)(8) barrel structure of the catalytic domain. This excursion originates from the bottom of the (beta/alpha)(8) barrel between helix 6 and strand 7, but folds upward in a distorted alpha-hairpin structure to form a part of the substrate binding cleft wall that is possibly critical for the enzyme's unique substrate selectivity. Participation of an alpha-beta loop in the formation of the substrate binding cleft is a novel feature that is not observed in other known (beta/alpha)(8) enzymes.
Effect of Homocysteine-lowering Treatment with Folic Acid and B Vitamins on Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women : A Randomized Controlled Trial Running title : B vitamin supplementation and diabetes in women

This is an uncopyedited electronic version of an article accepted for publication in Diabetes. The American Diabetes Association, publisher of Diabetes, is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it by third parties. The definitive publisher-authenticated version will be available in a future issue of Diabetes in print and online at http://diabetes.diabetesjournals. org. Diabetes Publish Ahead of Print, published online June 2, 2009
Leveraging MWEs in practical TAG parsing : towards the best of the two worlds

Dans ce memoire, nous nous penchons sur les expressions polylexicales (EP) et leurs relations avec l’analyse syntaxique, la tâche qui consiste a determiner les relations syntaxiques entre les mots dans une phrase donnee. Le defi que posent les EP dans ce contexte, par rapport aux expressions linguistiques regulieres, provient de leurs proprietes parfois inattendues qui les rendent difficiles a gerer dans te traitement automatique des langues. Dans nos travaux, nous montrons qu’il est pourtant possible de profiter de ce cette caracteristique des EP afin d’ameliorer les resultats d’analyse syntaxique. Notamment, avec les grammaires d’arbres adjoints (TAGs), qui fournissent un cadre naturel et puissant pour la modelisation des EP, ainsi qu’avec des strategies de recherche basees sur l’algorithme A* , il est possible d’obtenir des gains importants au niveau de la vitesse sans pour autant deteriorer la qualite de l’analyse syntaxique. Cela contraste avec des methodes purement statistiques qui, malgre l’efficacite, ne fournissent pas de solutions satisfaisantes en ce qui concerne les EP. Nous proposons un analyseur syntaxique novateur qui combine les grammaires TAG avec La technique A*, axe sur la prediction des EP, dont les fonctionnalites permettent des applications a grande echelle, facilement extensible au contexte probabiliste.
Emotional Expressions in Antismoking Television Advertisements: Consequences of Anger and Sadness Framing on Pathways to Persuasion

The authors conducted an experiment among U.S. college students (N = 115) to assess the effects of anger- and sadness-framed television antismoking advertisements on viewers' emotional response, impressions of the speaker, source likability, and empathy toward the speaker. The study was based on the fundamental assumptions of discrete emotions and was operationalized using the principles of universal facial expressions. The authors also constructed a path model to investigate how these variables predicted one's attitude toward smoking, attitude toward the tobacco industry, and intentions to smoke. Supporting study hypotheses, the anger-framed message increased the perceived dominance of the speaker relative to the other conditions. Perceived dominance, in turn, was negatively associated with smoking attitudes and, indirectly, smoking intentions. Contrary to study hypotheses, the sadness-framed message did not increase sad emotional responses, source likability, or empathy relative to the no emotion-framed message. The anger-framed message unexpectedly appeared to decrease these outcomes. Empathy and source likability were associated with positive attitudes toward the tobacco industry, but these attitudes did not predict intentions to smoke. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.
A Security Enhanced Remote Password Authentication Scheme Using Smart Card

Remote user authentication is a critical component of accessing remote services in distributed applications. In this paper we investigate the security vulnerabilities of a previously proposed remote user authentication scheme. After that we propose a security enhanced remote user password authentication scheme, which effectively prevents the adversary's attacks. The proposed authentication scheme is shown to be secure against password guessing attack, masquerade attack and replay attack. By performance analysis, the proposed scheme is shown to be very efficient, both in the computation and the storage cost. The proposed password authentication scheme is very suitable for providing remote authentication in distributed applications.
18F-FDG PET/CT for identifying the potential causes and extent of secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate the value of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for identifying the possible causes of secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). METHODS Forty-five cases (17 female, 28 male; age, 17-79 years) with secondary HLH were included. The standard of reference for diagnosis in all patients was a combination of histology, clinical results (medical history, physical examination, and laboratory test results), and follow-up imaging for at least 12 months. All cases underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT to identify the possible trigger in HLH. RESULTS Of 45 secondary HLH cases 10 (22.2%) were associated with infection, seven (15.6%) with rheumatic disease, and 28 (62.2%) with lymphoma. PET/CT images of 22 secondary HLH cases (48.9%) showed true positive results. PET/CT images demonstrated obvious tracer uptake in five of 10 secondary HLH cases with infection, one of three cases with lupus, two of two cases with rheumatoid arthritis, one of two cases with adult-onset Still disease, and 13 of 28 cases with lymphoma. CONCLUSION PET/CT is helpful for identifying the possible trigger (infection or malignant disease) and extent of secondary HLH. However, PET/CT alone is not sufficient to make a correct differential diagnosis.
Constrained creation of poetic forms during theme-driven exploration of a domain defined by an N-gram model

ABSTRACT Most poetry-generation systems apply opportunistic approaches where algorithmic procedures are applied to explore the conceptual space defined by a given knowledge resource in search of solutions that might be aesthetically valuable. Aesthetical value is assumed to arise from compliance to a given poetic form – such as rhyme or metrical regularity – or from evidence of semantic relations between the words in the resulting poems that can be interpreted as rhetorical tropes – such as similes, analogies, or metaphors. This approach tends to fix a priori the aesthetic parameters of the results, and imposes no constraints on the message to be conveyed. The present paper describes an attempt to initiate a shift in this balance, introducing means for constraining the output to certain topics and allowing a looser mechanism for constraining form. This goal arose as a result of the need to produce poems for a themed collection commissioned to be included in a book. The solution adopted explores an approach to creativity where the goals are not solely aesthetic and where the results may be surprising in their poetic form. An existing computer poet, originally developed to produce poems in a given form but with no specific constraints on their content, is put to the task of producing a set of poems with explicit restrictions on content, and allowing for an exploration of poetic form. Alternative generation methods are devised to overcome the difficulties, and the various insights arising from these new methods and the impact they have on the set of resulting poems are discussed in terms of their potential contribution to better poetry-generation systems.
[Association of cadherin CDH23 gene polymorphisms with noise induced hearing loss in Chinese workers].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of cadherin 23 gene (CDH23) polymorphisms with the development of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). METHODS 194 workers exposed to occupational noise were drawn as the subjects in the cross-sectional epidemiology study. According to the result of audiometry, they were divided into two groups: the NIHL group and the normal group. The genotypes of 93 workers with NIHL and 101 normal workers were tested by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP). RESULTS There were no significant difference in the distribution of genotypes and alleles frequencies of the rs1227049 and rs1227051 positions between NIHL group and normal group (P > 0.05), there were significant differences between the two groups in the rs3802711 position and the terminal position of exon 7 (P < 0.01). After adjusted for age, sex, smoking, history of explosive noise exposure and cumulative noise exposure (CNE) with multiple logistic regression analysis, the risk of rs1227049 CC genotype was found significantly increased than that of the GG genotype, the OR value of which was 3.865 (95% CI 1.076 - 13.886), the risk of rs3802711 TT genotype was significantly higher than that of the CT genotype, the OR value of which was 6.088 (95% CI 2.485 - 14.917). GG genotype in the terminal position of exon 7 was also found a significantly higher risk than the AG genotype, the OR value of which was 5.769 (95% CI 2.745 - 12.121). CONCLUSION It was suggested that genetic polymorphism in cadherin CDH23 gene might play an important role in the development of NIHL in Chinese workers. The individuals with the rs1227049 CC genotype, rs3802711 TT genotype and GG genotype in the terminal position of exon 7 might be more susceptible to NIHL.
Patterns of T‐cell reconstitution by assessment of T‐cell receptor excision circle and T‐cell receptor clonal repertoire after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in leukemia patients – a study in Chinese patients

Objective: Successful allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) requires reconstitution normal T‐cell immunity. Measurement of T‐cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) and T‐cell receptor β (TCRBV) CDR3 repertoire is a means of quantifying recent thymic T‐cell production and reflecting antigen‐specific T‐cell clones proliferation.
Orthodox Science Versus Alternative Philosophies: A Clash of Cultures

In Australia, orthodox soil scientists and alternative practitioners who promote ‘regenerative agriculture’ have not been communicating and engaging effectively with each other. Over many years scientists in CSIRO, state departments and universities have made significant achievements in mapping soil distribution, describing soil behaviour and identifying key soil properties and processes that are fundamental to healthy soil function. However, many alternative practitioners are dismissive of these achievements and highly critical of orthodox soil science. Yet many of the tools of soil science are essential to conduct evidence-based research towards elucidating how and why the exceptional results claimed by some alternative practitioners are achieved. We stress the importance of effective engagement and communication among all parties to resolve this ‘clash of cultures’.
Prospective randomized controlled trial of a micronized flavonidic fraction to reduce bleeding after haemorrhoidectomy

A prospective randomized controlled trial was carried out on the effects of Daflon 500 mg (a micronized flavonidic fraction containing diosmin 450 mg and hesperidin 50 mg) on bleeding after haemorrhoidectomy. In all, 228 consecutive patients with prolapsed irreducible piles were recruited. Elective haemorrhoidectomy was performed with a standardized diathermy excision method. Some 114 patients were randomized to receive Daflon 500 mg for 1 week after operation (group 1), and there were 114 controls (group 2). Postoperative analgesia and laxative prescription as well as hospital stay were otherwise the same. One patient (0·9 per cent) from group 1 and seven (6·1 per cent) from group 2 had postoperative bleeding (P=0·03). All bleeding occurred from 6 to 15 days after haemorrhoidectomy. There were no side‐effects from the use of Daflon 500 mg. The risk of secondary bleeding from haemorrhoidectomy is reduced with postoperative Daflon.
Predialysis education helps patients choose dialysis modality and increases disease-specific knowledge.

UNLABELLED The aims of this study were first, to evaluate the effects of a patient-education programme for a group of 28 uraemic patients (the Experimental (EG) group) with regard to their knowledge and perceived amount of information and to relate these effects to their sense of coherence and secondly, to study the patients' perception of their dialysis treatment. The results were compared with a comparison group (the Companion (CG) group, n = 28) which had received routine information only. The education programme seemed to have covered what the EG wanted to know. Significantly more patients in the EG group stated that they had acquired sufficient knowledge to enable them to participate in choosing dialysis modality compared with the CG group. The EG patients were significantly more informed in the post-educational evaluation compared with the pre-educational evaluation. In the EG, there was a significant relationship between the scores for knowledge and perceived amount of information. Men and younger patients perceived that they had received a greater amount of information than women and older patients. After having started dialysis treatment, there were no differences in the scores for knowledge and information between the EG and the CG. This indicates that other sources of knowledge and information were available to the CG patients. There was no significant correlation between the score of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale and the knowledge and information scores. Kidney transplantation, progression of renal failure, other patients' experiences of dialysis, dependence - independence, present and future wellbeing, how to cope with physical and psycho-social demands and continuity in their contacts with doctors and other health professionals were predominant concerns for the two groups of patients. CONCLUSION the predialysis group education programme enabled patients to choose dialysis modality to achieve an understanding of their illness and its treatment. It also provided the possibility of informal support by fellow patients and health professionals. The study emphasizes the special needs of elderly patients and we recommend that education programmes are tailored to their requirements.
Induction of aneuploidy by single‐walled carbon nanotubes

Engineered carbon nanotubes are newly emerging manufactured particles with potential applications in electronics, computers, aerospace, and medicine. The low density and small size of these biologically persistent particles makes respiratory exposures to workers likely during the production or use of commercial products. The narrow diameter and great length of single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) suggest the potential to interact with critical biological structures. To examine the potential of nanotubes to induce genetic damage in normal lung cells, cultured primary and immortalized human airway epithelial cells were exposed to SWCNT or a positive control, vanadium pentoxide. After 24 hr of exposure to either SWCNT or vanadium pentoxide, fragmented centrosomes, multiple mitotic spindle poles, anaphase bridges, and aneuploid chromosome number were observed. Confocal microscopy demonstrated nanotubes within the nucleus that were in association with cellular and mitotic tubulin as well as the chromatin. Our results are the first to report disruption of the mitotic spindle by SWCNT. The nanotube bundles are similar to the size of microtubules that form the mitotic spindle and may be incorporated into the mitotic spindle apparatus. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2009. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ground-based assessment of JAXA mouse habitat cage unit by mouse phenotypic studies

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency developed the mouse Habitat Cage Unit (HCU) for installation in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) onboard the Japanese Experimental Module (“Kibo”) on the International Space Station. The CBEF provides “space-based controls” by generating artificial gravity in the HCU through a centrifuge, enabling a comparison of the biological consequences of microgravity and artificial gravity of 1 g on mice housed in space. Therefore, prior to the space experiment, a ground-based study to validate the habitability of the HCU is necessary to conduct space experiments using the HCU in the CBEF. Here, we investigated the ground-based effect of a 32-day housing period in the HCU breadboard model on male mice in comparison with the control cage mice. Morphology of skeletal muscle, the thymus, heart, and kidney, and the sperm function showed no critical abnormalities between the control mice and HCU mice. Slight but significant changes caused by the HCU itself were observed, including decreased body weight, increased weights of the thymus and gastrocnemius, reduced thickness of cortical bone of the femur, and several gene expressions from 11 tissues. Results suggest that the HCU provides acceptable conditions for mouse phenotypic analysis using CBEF in space, as long as its characteristic features are considered. Thus, the HCU is a feasible device for future space experiments.
Communication and TOA Estimation with Differential Impulse Radio UWB systems

Differential Transmitted Reference (DTR) ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radio (IR) system is one of the most attractive solutions for realizing non-coherent low data rate and low complexity UWB systems. Indeed, Transmitted Reference (TR) signaling, in combination with an Autocorrelation Receiver(AcR), allows a lower design complexity compared to coherent receivers. In this paper, the design of DTR-UWB radio modules for wireless sensor networks (WSN), capable of communication and localization, is addressed. Bit error rate (BER) performance of the DTR-UWB receivers conditioned on a channel realization is analyzed. The modelling of low complexity DTR-UWB systems using equivalent system models is presented. The average BER is verified through simulation for different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values, and is also compared to the average BER derived using the equivalent system model. We suggest a data-aided time of arrival (TOA) estimator for DTR-UWB systems, using least squares estimation technique and the equivalent system model.
AUDIT-C as a brief screen for alcohol misuse in primary care.

BACKGROUND The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption (AUDIT-C) questions have been previously validated as a 3-item screen for alcohol misuse and implemented nationwide in Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient clinics. However, the AUDIT-C's validity and optimal screening threshold(s) in other clinical populations are unknown. METHODS This cross-sectional validation study compared screening questionnaires with standardized interviews in 392 male and 927 female adult outpatients at an academic family practice clinic from 1993 to 1994. The AUDIT-C, full AUDIT, self-reported risky drinking, AUDIT question #3, and an augmented CAGE questionnaire were compared with an interview primary reference standard of alcohol misuse, defined as a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th ed. alcohol use disorder and/or drinking above recommended limits in the past year. RESULTS Based on interviews with 92% of eligible patients, 128 (33%) men and 177 (19%) women met the criteria for alcohol misuse. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) for the AUDIT-C were 0.94 (0.91, 0.96) and 0.90 (0.87, 0.93) in men and women, respectively (p=0.04). Based on AUROC curves, the AUDIT-C performed as well as the full AUDIT and significantly better than self-reported risky drinking, AUDIT question #3, or the augmented CAGE questionnaire (p-values <0.001). The AUDIT-C screening thresholds that simultaneously maximized sensitivity and specificity were > or =4 in men (sensitivity 0.86, specificity 0.89) and > or =3 in women (sensitivity 0.73, specificity 0.91). CONCLUSIONS The AUDIT-C was an effective screening test for alcohol misuse in this primary care sample. Optimal screening thresholds for alcohol misuse among men (> or =4) and women (> or =3) were the same as in previously published VA studies.
Selective Lesioning of the Basal Forebrain Cholinergic System by Intraventricular 192 IgG–saporin: Behavioural, Biochemical and Stereological Studies in the Rat

The elucidation of the functional role of the basal forebrain cholinergic system will require access to a highly specific and efficient cholinergic neurotoxin. Recently, selective depletion of the nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor‐bearing cholinergic neurons in the rat basal forebrain and a dramatic loss of cholinergic innervation in the related cortical regions have been obtained following intraventricular injection of a newly introduced immunotoxin, 192 IgG‐saporin. Here we extend these initial findings and report that administration of increasing doses (1.25, 2.5, 5.0 or 10 μg) of the 192 IgG‐saporin conjugate into the lateral ventricles of adult rats induced dose‐dependent impairments in the water maze task and passive avoidance retention, but only weak and inconsistent effects on locomotor activity. These behavioural changes were paralleled by a reduction in choline acetyltransferase activity in hippocampus and several cortical areas (up to 97%) and selective depletions of NGF receptor‐positive cholinergic neurons in the septal‐diagonal band area and nucleus basalis magnocellularis (up to 99%). By contrast, the non‐cholinergic parvalbumin‐containing neurons in the septum were completely spared, and other cholinergic projection systems (such as in the striatum, thalamus, brainstem and spinal cord) were unaffected even at the highest dose. The observed changes in the water maze and passive avoidance tasks, as well as the cholinergic cell loss, were maintained up to at least 8 months following the intraventricular injection of a single dose (5 μg) of the immunotoxin. The results confirm the usefulness of the 192 IgG‐saporin toxin for selective and profound lesions of the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons and provide further support for a role of the basal forebrain cholinergic system in cognitive functions.