Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adsorption-Induced Changes in Ribonuclease A Structure and Enzymatic Activity on Solid Surfaces

Ribonuclease A (RNase A) is a small globular enzyme that lyses RNA. The remarkable solution stability of its structure and enzymatic activity has led to its investigation to develop a new class of drugs for cancer chemotherapeutics. However, the successful clinical application of RNase A has been reported to be limited by insufficient stability and loss of enzymatic activity when it was coupled with a biomaterial carrier for drug delivery. The objective of this study was to characterize the structural stability and enzymatic activity of RNase A when it was adsorbed on different surface chemistries (represented by fused silica glass, high-density polyethylene, and poly(methyl-methacrylate)). Changes in protein structure were measured by circular dichroism, amino acid labeling with mass spectrometry, and in vitro assays of its enzymatic activity. Our results indicated that the process of adsorption caused RNase A to undergo a substantial degree of unfolding with significant differences in its adsorbed structure on each material surface. Adsorption caused RNase A to lose about 60% of its native-state enzymatic activity independent of the material on which it was adsorbed. These results indicate that the native-state structure of RNase A is greatly altered when it is adsorbed on a wide range of surface chemistries, especially at the catalytic site. Therefore, drug delivery systems must focus on retaining the native structure of RNase A in order to maintain a high level of enzymatic activity for applications such as antitumor chemotherapy.
Cross-Protection against Challenge with Puumala Virus after Immunization with Nucleocapsid Proteins from Different Hantaviruses

ABSTRACT Hantaviruses are rodent-borne agents that cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. The nucleocapsid protein (N) is relatively conserved among hantaviruses and highly immunogenic in both laboratory animals and humans, and it has been shown to induce efficient protective immunity in animal models. To investigate the ability of recombinant N (rN) from different hantaviruses to elicit cross-protection, we immunized bank voles with rN from Puumala (PUUV), Topografov (TOPV), Andes (ANDV), and Dobrava (DOBV) viruses and subsequently challenged them with PUUV. All animals immunized with PUUV and TOPV rN were completely protected. In the group immunized with DOBV rN, 7 of 10 animals were protected, while only 3 of 8 animals were protected in the group immunized with ANDV rN, which is more closely related to PUUV rN than DOBV rN. Humoral and cellular immune responses after rN immunization were also investigated. The highest cross-reactive humoral responses against PUUV antigen were detected in sera from ANDV rN-immunized animals, followed by those from TOPV rN-immunized animals, and only very low antibody cross-reactivity was observed in sera from DOBV rN-immunized animals. In proliferation assays, T lymphocytes from animals immunized with all heterologous rNs were as efficiently recalled in vitro by PUUV rN as were T lymphocytes from animals immunized with homologous protein. In summary, this study has shown that hantavirus N can elicit cross-protective immune responses against PUUV, and the results suggest a more important role for the cellular arm of the immune response than for the humoral arm in cross-protection elicited by rN.
Wireless multi sensor bracelet with discreet feedback

A novel wireless multi sensor bracelet has been developed. The design choices of the bracelet - based on insights obtained with a predecessor sensor bracelet -, as well as the rationale for the choice of sensors, are presented. The hardware and software architecture are described. An example of obtained sensor data is shown. The limited battery life of the performance optimized product software fell short of the one week design target. A power optimization of the software has been made, which meets the battery life design target. It is based on current consumption measurements, and optimized sensor timing. The tradeoffs between high performance - short battery life, and low performance - long battery life are analyzed. The learnings from recent field studies on work-related stress and affective health are discussed.
Reflections on symmetry

Symmetry is routinely used in visual design, but in fact is not just a visual concept. This paper explores how deeper symmetries in user interface implementations can be 'reflected' in the design of the user interface, and make them easier to use. This deeper application of symmetry for user interface design is related to affordance, and therefore makes that concept constructively applicable. Recommendations for programming better user interfaces are suggested. "Symmetry, as wide or as narrow as you may define its meaning, is one idea by which man through the ages has tried to comprehend and create order, beauty, and perfection. " Hermann Weyl [16]
Subcarrier and power allocation with proportional fairness algorithm for LTE system

In wireless communication systems which uses OFDM as modulation technique, the prevailing trend is the dynamic assignment of resources like subcarrier and number of bits per subcarrier. In multiuser scenario, received signal strength of each user varies with the distance from the base station. The algorithms which target to maximize throughput, assigns more resources to the better channel conditioned user which may result into unfair distribution of resources. Attempts to achieve fairness sacrifice system throughput. The proportional fairness algorithm nicely handles this trade off. We have examined performance of the proportional fairness algorithm in realistic conditions with large numbers of users with scattered locations throughout the cell. Furthermore, this algorithm is examined with appropriate power allocation on each subcarrier along with subcarrier allocation. Comparison of proportional fairness algorithm is carried out with sum rate maximization algorithm. We have considered realistic conditions with variable distance from base station and LTE standard.
Building Characters: A Form of Knowledge Acquisition

While computer games have become more sophisticated, most computer characters follow a limited static script in their interaction with the user. We advocate a knowledge acquisition approach to building characters and use modelbased classification techniques as our learning mechanism. Model-based classifiers can be readily integrated with existing rule-based approaches for building computer characters. We demonstrate our idea using a simple simulated game of predator and prey, examine the types of rules created by the classifier and discuss how to develop adaptable characters. This approach facilitates creating and debugging characters and we believe it will lead to more interesting games.
Regulation of Ryanodine Receptor Opening by Lumenal Ca2+ Underlies Quantal Ca2+ Release in PC12 Cells*

Graded or “quantal” Ca2+release from intracellular stores has been observed in various cell types following activation of either ryanodine receptors (RyR) or inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (InsP3R). The mechanism causing the release of Ca2+ stores in direct proportion to the strength of stimulation is unresolved. We investigated the properties of quantal Ca2+ release evoked by activation of RyR in PC12 cells, and in particular whether the sensitivity of RyR to the agonist caffeine was altered by lumenal Ca2+. Quantal Ca2+ release was observed in cells stimulated with 1 to 40 mm caffeine, a range of caffeine concentrations giving a >10-fold change in lumenal Ca2+ content. The Ca2+ load of the caffeine-sensitive stores was modulated by allowing them to refill for varying times after complete discharge with maximal caffeine, or by depolarizing the cells with K+ to enhance their normal steady-state loading. The threshold for RyR activation was sensitized ∼10-fold as the Ca2+ load increased from a minimal to a maximal loading. In addition, the fraction of Ca2+ released by low caffeine concentrations increased. Our data suggest that RyR are sensitive to lumenal Ca2+ over the full range of Ca2+ loads that can be achieved in an intact PC12 cell, and that changes in RyR sensitivity may be responsible for the termination of Ca2+ release underlying the quantal effect.
Self-Image as a Moderator of Change in Psychotherapy

Abstract This study used the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) introject model to investigate the relationship between patients’ self-image at pretreatment and change during psychotherapy. Data were obtained from the Norwegian Multisite Study of Process and Outcome in Psychotherapy, including 233 completed therapies. The patients were classified into four self-image profile groups (i.e., self-attack, self-control, intermediate attack–control, and self-love) based on their initial SASB pattern coefficients. Overall, the results indicated that response to treatment was contingent on self-image at pretreatment. Patients with a self-attacking self-image showed larger reductions in symptoms and sum criteria on Axis II during psychotherapy than those with less pathological self-images. As expected, the primary change in self-image was along the affiliation dimension, although patients with elevated pretreatment levels of self-control revealed substantial changes along the interdependence dimension as well.
Artistic Self-Perceptions: Sociocultural Learning in the Elementary School

This study considers the possible impact of children’s artistic self-perceptions This four-year study focused on afterschool visual arts instruction in an inner city school with third, fourth, and fifth grade students who were mentored weekly by college-age students on a one-on-one basis. Through the theoretical lens of social learning theory (Vygotsky, 1934/78; Bandura, 1977; Noddings, 1995), the program’s impact on children’s sense of agency was analyzed. The researcher enlisted the use of a measurement survey each spring semester over the course of the study. Utilizing the dependent means t -test, it was determined that students showed important gains (significant at the .05 level) on a self-perception scale. The significance is attributed largely to the children’s active engagement in art, to the social organization of the art classroom, and to collaborative instruction. These sociocultural dynamics were cultivated, developed, and reinforced by the collaboration between the college-aged mentor and the elementary-aged student.
Konrad-zuse-zentrum F ¨ Ur Informationstechnik Berlin Safe Separators for Treewidth Safe Separators for Treewidth *

A set of vertices S ⊆ V is called a safe separator for treewidth, if S is a separator of G, and the treewidth of G equals the maximum of the treewidth over all connected components W of G − S of the graph, obtained by making S a clique in the subgraph of G, induced by W ∪ S. We show that such safe separators are a very powerful tool for preprocessing graphs when we want to compute their treewidth. We give several sufficient conditions for separators to be safe, allowing such separators, if existing, to be found in polynomial time. In particular, every minimal separator of size one or two is safe, every minimal separator of size three that does not split off a component with only one vertex is safe, and every minimal separator that is an almost clique is safe; an almost clique is a set of vertices W such that there is a v ∈ W with W − {v} a clique. We report on experiments that show significant reductions of instance sizes for graphs from probabilistic networks and frequency assignment.
Bis[μ-1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane-κ2 P:P′]bis[(η2-ethene)nickel(0)] toluene disolvate

In the title compound, [Ni2(C2H4)2(C25H22P2)2]·2C7H8, each Ni atom is coordinated in a trigonal-planar geometry by two P atoms of the bridging 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) ligands and by the centroid of the double bond of an ethene ligand. An eight-membered ring comprising the two Ni atoms, four P atoms and the CH2 groups of the two dppm ligands is thus formed. The methyl group in one of the solvent toluene molecules is disordered over two positions with equal occupancies.
Towards a Scalable, Distributed Metadata Service for Causal Consistency under Partial Geo-replication

Causal consistency is a consistency criteria of practical relevance in geo-replicated settings because it provides well-defined semantics in a scalable manner. In fact, it has been proved that causal consistency is the strongest consistency model that can be enforced in an always-available system. Previous approaches to provide causal consistency, which successfully tackle the problem under full geo-replication, have unveiled the inherent tradeoff between the concurrency that the system allows and the size of the metadata needed to enforce causality. When the metadata is compressed, information about concurrency may be lost, creating false dependencies, i.e., the encoding may suggest a causal relation that does not exist in reality. False dependencies may cause artificial delays when processing requests, and decrease the quality of service experienced by the clients. Nevertheless, whether is possible to design a scalable solution that only uses an almost negligible amount of metadata and it is still capable of achieving high levels of concurrency under partial geo-replication, an increasingly relevant setting, remains as a challenging and interesting open research question. This position paper reports on the on-going development of Saturn, a metadata service for geo-replicated systems, that aims at mitigating the effects of false dependencies while keeping the metadata size small (even for challenging settings as partial geo-replication).
Phosphorylation of 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylic Acid Synthase by MPK6, a Stress-Responsive Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase, Induces Ethylene Biosynthesis in Arabidopsisw⃞

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are implicated in regulating plant growth, development, and response to the environment. However, the underlying mechanisms are unknown because of the lack of information about their substrates. Using a conditional gain-of-function transgenic system, we demonstrated that the activation of SIPK, a tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) stress-responsive MAPK, induces the biosynthesis of ethylene. Here, we report that MPK6, the Arabidopsis thaliana ortholog of tobacco SIPK, is required for ethylene induction in this transgenic system. Furthermore, we found that selected isoforms of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase (ACS), the rate-limiting enzyme of ethylene biosynthesis, are substrates of MPK6. Phosphorylation of ACS2 and ACS6 by MPK6 leads to the accumulation of ACS protein and, thus, elevated levels of cellular ACS activity and ethylene production. Expression of ACS6DDD, a gain-of-function ACS6 mutant that mimics the phosphorylated form of ACS6, confers constitutive ethylene production and ethylene-induced phenotypes. Increasing numbers of stress stimuli have been shown to activate Arabidopsis MPK6 or its orthologs in other plant species. The identification of the first plant MAPK substrate in this report reveals one mechanism by which MPK6/SIPK regulates plant stress responses. Equally important, this study uncovers a signaling pathway that modulates the biosynthesis of ethylene, an important plant hormone, in plants under stress.
Cellulose crystallinity – a key predictor of the enzymatic hydrolysis rate

The enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose encounters various limitations that are both substrate‐ and enzyme‐related. Although the crystallinity of pure cellulosic Avicel plays a major role in determining the rate of hydrolysis by cellulases from Trichoderma reesei, we show that it stays constant during enzymatic conversion. The mode of action of cellulases was investigated by studying their kinetics on cellulose samples. A convenient method for reaching intermediate degrees of crystallinity with Avicel was therefore developed and the initial rate of the cellulase‐catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose was demonstrated to be linearly proportional to the crystallinity index of Avicel. Despite correlation with the adsorption capacity of cellulases onto cellulose, at a given enzyme loading, the initial enzymatic rate continued to increase with a decreasing crystallinity index, even though the bound enzyme concentration stayed constant. This finding supports the determinant role of crystallinity rather than adsorption on the enzymatic rate. Thus, the cellulase activity and initial rate data obtained from various samples may provide valuable information about the details of the mechanistic action of cellulase and the hydrolysable/reactive fractions of cellulose chains. X‐ray diffraction provides insight into the mode of action of Cel7A from T. reesei. In the conversion of cellulose, the (021) face of the cellulose crystal was shown to be preferentially attacked by Cel7A from T. reesei.
Current concepts in the surgical management of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 pancreatic‐duodenal disease. Results in the treatment of 40 patients with Zollinger–Ellison syndrome, hypoglycaemia or both

Thompson NW (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA). Current concepts in the surgical management of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 pancreatic‐duodenal disease. Results in the treatment of 40 patients with Zollinger– Ellison syndrome, hypoglycaemia or both (Minisymposium: MEN & VHL). J Intern Med 1998; 243: 495–500.
Dietary Cholesterol Modulates Pathogen Blocking by Wolbachia

The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis protects its hosts from a range of pathogens by limiting their ability to form infections inside the insect. This “pathogen blocking” could be explained by innate immune priming by the symbiont, competition for host-derived resources between pathogens and Wolbachia, or the direct modification of the cell or cellular environment by Wolbachia. Recent comparative work in Drosophila and the mosquito Aedes aegypti has shown that an immune response is not required for pathogen blocking, implying that there must be an additional component to the mechanism. Here we have examined the involvement of cholesterol in pathogen blocking using a system of dietary manipulation in Drosophila melanogaster in combination with challenge by Drosophila C virus (DCV), a common fly pathogen. We observed that flies reared on cholesterol-enriched diets infected with the Wolbachia strains wMelPop and wMelCS exhibited reduced pathogen blocking, with viral-induced mortality occurring 2–5 days earlier than flies reared on Standard diet. This shift toward greater virulence in the presence of cholesterol also corresponded to higher viral copy numbers in the host. Interestingly, an increase in dietary cholesterol did not have an effect on Wolbachia density except in one case, but this did not directly affect the strength of pathogen blocking. Our results indicate that host cholesterol levels are involved with the ability of Wolbachia-infected flies to resist DCV infections, suggesting that cholesterol contributes to the underlying mechanism of pathogen blocking.
Homozygosity at the MTL locus in clinical strains of Candida albicans: karyotypic rearrangements and tetraploid formation †

One hundred and twenty Candida albicans clinical isolates from the late 1980s and early 1990s were examined for homozygosity at the MTL locus. Of these, 108 were heterozygous (MTLa/MTLα), whereas seven were MTLa and five were MTLα. Five of the homozygous isolates were able to switch to the opaque cell morphology, while opaque cells were not detectable among the remaining seven. Nevertheless, all but one of the isolates homozygous at the MTL locus were shown to mate and to yield cells containing markers from both parents; the non‐mater was found to have a frameshift in the MTLα1 gene. In contrast to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, C. albicans homozygotes with no active MTL allele failed to mate rather than mating as a cells. There was no correlation between homozygosity and fluconazole resistance, mating and fluconazole resistance or switching and fluconazole resistance, in part because most of the strains were isolated before the widespread use of this antifungal agent, and only three were in fact drug resistant. Ten of the 12 homozygotes had rearranged karyotypes involving one or more homologue of chromosomes 4, 5, 6 and 7. We suggest that karyotypic rearrangement, drug resistance and homozygosity come about as the result of induction of hyper‐recombination during the infection process; hence, they tend to occur together, but each is the independent result of the same event. Furthermore, as clinical strains can mate and form tetraploids, mating and marker exchange are likely to be a significant part of the life cycle of C. albicans in vivo.
Clinical use of electrode differentiation to enhance programming of cochlear implants

Abstract The effect of deactivating indiscriminable cochlear implant (CI) electrodes for unilaterally implanted adults was evaluated using the BKB (Bamford-Kowal-Bench) sentence test in quiet and in pink noise (signal-to-noise ratio of +10dBA) and the adaptive Coordinate Response Measure (CRM). Each CI recipient who failed electrode differentiation (ED) in at least one electrode-pair, based on results of a pure-tone pitch-ranking task received two research programmes to try out in a cross-over study. Research programmes (RP) either employed discriminable electrodes only or the most discriminable two-thirds of the electrodes in the electrode array for CI recipients failing ED for more than a third of the electrodes. The participants were also asked to subjectively report improvement of or decline in sound quality in everyday listening situations. There was significant improvement in CRM speech reception thresholds (SRTs) (Z = -3.24, N = 15, P = 0.001), BKB sentence scores in quiet (t = 3.17, df = 24, P < 0.005) and also in pink noise (t = 2.26, df = 19, P < 0.005) after deactivating indiscriminable electrodes.
TOXICOKINETICS AND METABOLISM

The present study used a rapid and single-step method for genotyping of NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) codon 609 polymorphism using realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-analysis and subsequent melting curve analysis for the analysis of allelic distribution of NQO1. The design was a case control study of 323 Caucasians with colorectal cancer and 205 healthy controls. There was no dierence in the frequencies of the mutated NQO1 allele (NQO1*2): 0.190 for control individuals and 0.195 for cancer patients, respectively (P  0.947). When this allelic distribution was further compared between non-smoking and smoking colorectal cancer patients, it appeared that the frequency of the wild-type allele NQO1*1 was higher in the smoking than in the non-smoking group [Odds ratio (OR), 0.434; 95% con®dence interval (CI), 0.13±1.42]. This observation may suggest a protective role of the NQO1 wild-type allele in colon cancer susceptibility of individuals exposed to NQO1-inducing chemicals.
A Model-Driven Safety Certification Method for Process Compliance

A safety case is a contextualized structured argument constituted of process and product-based sub-arguments to show that a system is acceptably safe. The creation of a safety case is an extremely time-consuming and costly activity needed for certification purposes. To reduce time and cost, reuse as well as automatic generation possibilities represent urgent research directions. In this paper, we focus on safety processes mandated by prescriptive standards and we identify process-related structures from which process-based arguments (those aimed at showing that a required development process has been applied according to the standard) can be generated and more easily reused. Then, we propose a model-driven safety certification method to derive those arguments as goal structures given in Goal Structuring Notation from process models given in compliance with Software Process Engineering Meta-model 2.0. The method is illustrated by generating process-based arguments in the context of ISO 26262.