Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of a CD3-like rat T cell surface antigen recognized by a monoclonal antibody.

A mouse mAb, which recognized a rat T cell surface Ag responsible for the T cell activation, was produced by a regular hybridoma method using F344 rat T cells stimulated with PMA and a calcium ionophore, as the Ag. The mAb termed 1F4 (kappa-IgM) was reactive with rat T cells but not with B cells and immunohistochemically it stained rat thymus tissues strongly at medulla and weakly rat cortex. Addition of 1F4 mAb to a culture of T cells resulted in the proliferation of T cells by a help of PMA or a solid support. 1F4 mAb also caused the modulation of the corresponding Ag but not other T cell markers such as CD5, CD2, and OX-52-defined Ag. The 1F4 mAb immunoprecipitated a cell surface component having an apparent m.w. of 25,000 from rat T cells which could be associated with a disulfide-linked heterodimer (m.w. 92,000) consists of subunits having m.w. of about 52,000 and 43,000. These results strongly suggest that the 1F4 mAb recognizes a rat T cell Ag homologous to the human and mouse CD3.
Multimodal Assessment of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetic Vascular Complications

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a debilitating complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) that leads to thousands of injuries, amputations, and deaths each year. The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a regenerative therapy holds the promise of regrowing injured vasculature, helping DM patients live healthier and longer lives. We report the use of muscle-derived MSCs to treat surgically-induced hindlimb ischemia in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes (DM-1). We serially evaluate several facets of the recovery process, including αVβ3-integrin expression (a marker of angiogenesis), blood perfusion, and muscle function. We also perform microarray transcriptomics experiments to characterize the gene expression states of the MSC-treated is- chemic tissues, and compare the results with those of non-ischemic tissues, as well as ischemic tissues from a saline-treated control group. The results show a multifaceted impact of mMSCs on hindlimb ischemia. We determined that the angiogenic activity one week after mMSC treatment was enhanced by approximately 80% relative to the saline group, which resulted in relative increases in blood perfusion and muscle strength of approximately 42% and 1.7-fold, respectively. At the transcriptomics level, we found that several classes of genes were affected by mMSC treatment. The mMSCs appeared to enhance both pro-angiogenic and metabolic genes, while suppressing anti-angiogenic genes and certain genes involved in the inflammatory response. All told, mMSC treatment appears to exert far-reaching effects on the microenvironment of ischemic tissue, enabling faster and more complete recovery from vascular occlusion.
Intervening sequences in 23S rRNA genes and 23S rRNA fragmentation in Taylorella asinigenitalis UCD‐1T strain

PCR was performed with Taylorella asinigenitalis UCD‐1T using two primer pairs constructed in silico for the amplification of the intervening sequences (IVSs) in the first quarter and central regions of the 23S rRNA gene. Following TA cloning and sequencing, the strain was identified to carry heterogeneous and multiple IVSs. Two similar tandem repeat units of 25 and 24 base pairs (bp) with unknown function(s) were identified within the two IVSs in the central region. Secondary structure models of IVSs, containing stem and loop structures, were demonstrated. Although 16S rRNA and 4–5S RNA species were identified in the purified RNA fraction, no 23S rRNAs were evident, resulting in the occurrence of some smaller RNA fragments from approximately 500 to 1600 bp, in length. Thus, the 23S rRNA primary transcripts may be cleaved into some smaller fragments and IVSs. No IVS transcript was detected by northern blot hybridization analysis. The present and previous results strongly demonstrate the occurrence of heterogeneous and multiple IVSs in 23S rRNA gene sequences and 23S rRNA fragmentation, in T. asinigenitalis. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Dissociation kinetics of RepA dimers: implications for mechanisms of activation of DNA binding by chaperones

Background: The replication initiator of plasmid P1, RepA, binds DNA as monomer. The binding is stimulated by the chaperones DnaJ, DnaK and GrpE of Escherichia coli. Two models of chaperone action have been proposed. (i) Chaperones dissociate RepA dimers, which are inactive in DNA binding, into active monomers. (ii) The dissociation occurs spontaneously but the monomeric products require the chaperones for refolding into the active form. The latter model was based on the observation that RepA diluted 1000‐fold below the KD for dimer dissociation, still required the chaperones for DNA binding.
Group recommendation method combining short-term interest and long-term preference

Based on self-attention and outer product-based neural collaborative filtering,this paper proposed a SLAR model.The model uses the recent interaction information of each user in the group and self-attention mechanism to obtain the short-term interest vector of the group.The attention mechanism and self-attention mechanism are used to calculate the influence of each user and the influence between members during the interaction between the target group and item, so as to aggregate them into the long-term preference vector of the group, and then the sum of short-term interest and long-term preference is input into ONCF model as the embedding vector of the group to mine the interaction between the group and the project from the data, and finally complete the group recommendation. Compared with the traditional group fusion strategy on CAMR2011 data set, the experimental results show that SLGR model achieves better results.
From the Common Agricultural Policy to the Eurozone Crisis: Bilateral Disputes in the Australia–EU Relationship

ABSTRACT Australia has historically focused on areas of disagreement with the European Union (EU) at the expense of establishing a more broad-based relationship. These areas of disagreement are the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), historically, and, to a lesser extent, the eurozone crisis. Criticism of the EU indicated the historical tendency of Australian governments to frame Europe as an actor behaving contrary to Australian interests. Australia’s historical antagonism towards the EU, however, runs counter to the current state of bilateral relations which are no longer focused on issues of disagreement. Evidence of this development is the recent completion of the treaty-level Framework Agreement in 2016 and the opening of free trade agreement negotiations in 2018. The Framework Agreement indicates Australia’s increased acknowledgement of the shared interests with the EU in areas such as foreign and security policy, trade, aid delivery, research and innovation, education and migration. Furthermore, a notable development has been that the EU is becoming an increasingly important interlocutor on issues relevant to Australian interests in the Asia-Pacific region. This article argues that although issues such as the CAP and the eurozone crisis still receive publicity they are not indicative of a bilateral relationship based on substantive broad-based cooperation.
Between Grassroots Collective Action and State Mandates: The Hybridity of Multi-Level Forest Associations in Mexico

Multi-level collective actions and institutions play an important role in natural resource governance and rural development; however, the origins and transformations of these institutions have only recently begun to receive systematic research attention. To address this gap, we trace and analyse the historical processes driving formation and change of Mexican inter-community forestry associations over time, drawing on survey data and in-depth case studies from two Mexican states, contextualised within the national and international political-economic landscapes over time. While we initially categorise whether an association is grassroots (‘bottoms-up’) or state-mandated (‘top-down’), the fifty-year historical review reveals a contested dynamic over political, economic and technical changes in multi-level commons governance. In this political-economic process, the line between self-organised and top-down is blurred, hybrid and continually evolving on multiple scales, driven by both cooperation and conflict across governance levels from the local to the global, and embedded in broader struggles over land, democratic institutions and market participation. Mexican forestry associations mediate between social movements; member needs such as political representation, economic cooperation and forestry services; conflicting political interest from a diversity of community and non-community actors including foresters, political party leaders and timber corporations; and state mandates and market forces. These findings fill a gap in institutional commons theory and practice, elucidating the political dynamics of polycentric and multi-level governance.
Assessment of Combat-Related Stress and Physical Symptoms of Gulf War Veterans: Criterion Validity of Selected Hand Test Variables

We examined the utility of selected Hand Test (Wagner, 1983) variables in relation to posttraumatic stress and physical symptoms in Gulf War (GW) veterans. In this study, we sought to replicate and expand on prior empirical findings that have demonstrated efficacy of the Hand Test in the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Walter, Hilsenroth, Arsenault, Sloan, & Harvill, 1998). Based on this previous research, Hand Test variables were selected a priori and examined across three groups of veterans: (a) a control group of participants who were in a reserve unit not deployed to the GW theater of operations, (b) a subclinical group of deployed GW veterans who reported 1 to 5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for PTSD, and (c) a group of deployed GW veterans who met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. Analyses demonstrated significant differences across the three groups and significant relationships among selected Hand Test variables with the number of DSM-IV symptoms of PTSD reported in the interviews as well as with the number of physical problems reported by these veterans. We discuss these findings in relation to the assessment and treatment of posttraumatic stress symptomatology.
Dietary Intake among American Indians with Metabolic Syndrome - Comparison to Dietary Recommendations: the Balance Study.

BACKGROUND American Indians have a very high prevalence of metabolic syndrome that increases their risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Dietary habits are of central importance in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this article was to describe dietary intake among American Indians with metabolic syndrome and compare it to several dietary recommendations. A secondary objective was to identify certain barriers to dietary adherence experienced by this population. METHODS A total of 213 participants with metabolic syndrome were enrolled in the Balance Study, a randomized controlled trial with two intervention groups: Guided Group and Self-Managed Group. Dietary intake was assessed using the Block Food Frequency questionnaire. Dietary intakes were evaluated against the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. RESULTS Intakes of saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium were higher and intakes of dietary fiber, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E were lower than recommended. Additionally, intake of many food groups was noticeably low. Economic factors seem to be related to low adherence to dietary recommendations. CONCLUSION Results showed low adherence by the participants to dietary recommendations for key nutrients and food groups related to risk factors for metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Economic factors are related to this low adherence. These findings illustrate a need to develop innovative, focused, and perhaps individualized health promotion strategies that can improve dietary habits of American Indians with metabolic syndrome.
Bioinspired Nanocomposite Hydrogels with Highly Ordered Structures

In the human body, many soft tissues with hierarchically ordered composite structures, such as cartilage, skeletal muscle, the corneas, and blood vessels, exhibit highly anisotropic mechanical strength and functionality to adapt to complex environments. In artificial soft materials, hydrogels are analogous to these biological soft tissues due to their “soft and wet” properties, their biocompatibility, and their elastic performance. However, conventional hydrogel materials with unordered homogeneous structures inevitably lack high mechanical properties and anisotropic functional performances; thus, their further application is limited. Inspired by biological soft tissues with well‐ordered structures, researchers have increasingly investigated highly ordered nanocomposite hydrogels as functional biological engineering soft materials with unique mechanical, optical, and biological properties. These hydrogels incorporate long‐range ordered nanocomposite structures within hydrogel network matrixes. Here, the critical design criteria and the state‐of‐the‐art fabrication strategies of nanocomposite hydrogels with highly ordered structures are systemically reviewed. Then, recent progress in applications in the fields of soft actuators, tissue engineering, and sensors is highlighted. The future development and prospective application of highly ordered nanocomposite hydrogels are also discussed.
Multifractal analysis as an aid in the diagnostics of mental disorders

The digitalization of EEGs (electroencephalogram) has showed new possibilities for analyzing electrical activity of brain. This has offered new methods, e.g. multifractal analysis of 1/fβ EEG rhythms fluctuations. It is one of highly mathematical methods feasible in routine practice now that modern personal computers (PCs) have reached sufficient computing power. In this study, we applied the multifractal analysis of 1/fβ EEG rhythms fluctuations in 33 patients suffering from schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like syndromes, and we had 23 healthy controls. Our results indicated that the patients suffering from schizophrenia have statistically different values compared with the controls. This method is rather easy and quick to perform when using a standard PC. It may have the potential to become an important tool in the diagnostics and analysis of the patients with schizophrenia and schizophreniformic psychoses. It can help to understand the quasi-chaotic processes in neural processing and narrow the gap between the phenomenological psychiatry and bio-psychiatry.
Molecular characterization of type III secretion signals via analysis of synthetic N‐terminal amino acid sequences

Yersinia species utilize a type III secretion system to inject toxins, called Yops (Yersinia outer proteins), into eukaryotic cells. The N‐termini of the Yops serve as type III secretion signals, but they do not share a consensus sequence. To simplify the analysis of type III secretion signals, we replaced amino acids 2–8 of the secreted protein YopE with all permutations (27 or 128) of synthetic serine/isoleucine sequences. The results demonstrate that amphipathic N‐terminal sequences, containing four or five serine residues, have a much greater probability than hydrophobic or hydrophilic sequences to target YopE for secretion. Multiple linear regression analysis of the synthetic sequences was used to obtain a model for N‐terminal secretion signals. The model accurately classifies the N‐terminal sequences of native type III substrates as efficient secretion signals.
OPHI W ORKING P APER N O . 105 Growth and Poverty Revisited from a Multidimensional Perspective

The actual impact of economic growth on poverty reduction is of fundamental importance to the development agenda, especially in view of the Sustainable Development Goals. So far, studies have focused on income poverty. This paper offers new empirical evidence on growth and poverty measured from a multidimensional perspective using the global Multidimensional Poverty Index. Results from a first difference estimator model suggest that while economic growth reduces multidimensional poverty, this impact is well below a one-to-one relationship. We also find that economic growth has a far bigger impact on reducing income poverty than on reducing multidimensional poverty. Results from an alternative cross-section model also support this result and additionally suggest that countries with higher levels of exports, a higher share of industry and services in their GDPs, and higher control of corruption have lower multidimensional poverty. All in all, the results highlight the need for countries to grow in order to reduce poverty, but they simultaneously suggest the limited power of economic growth per se to achieve grand reductions in poverty.
Characteristics of Corporate Contributions to the Recovery of Regional Society from the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster

Municipalities in areas along the northeast coast of Japan were severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was difficult for these municipalities to provide support to all devastated areas. It is important for communities in devastated areas to be resilient in order to autonomously and efficiently recover from natural disasters. This study focused on corporations, since they have various resources that can support disaster recovery. A postal questionnaire was sent to 1,020 corporations that included various industry types and small corporations located in Iwanuma and Natori, which were damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The response rate was 39.22%. We analyzed the data using a logistic regression model. The study findings are as follows: (1) a total of 32.75% of corporations provided support for recovery after the disaster; (2) the ratio of corporations that provided actual support was lower than that of those that only had awareness of contributions; (3) the strongest characteristic was having not only awareness but also the opportunity to conduct support activities before the occurrence of disasters to enhance the efficient recovery of regional society; and (4) the characteristics of support differed according to industry type, location, and number of employees under certain conditions.
A Minimal Supervisory Structure to Optimally Enforce Liveness on Petri Net Models for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

This paper presents a new method of computing a minimal supervisory structure that optimally enforces liveness on the Petri net models for flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). The proposed method utilizes the structural properties of a Petri net model to avoid the computation of its reachability graph, which in general leads to the state explosion problem. This paper aims to design a single control place for each concurrent process of a Petri net model or a sub-net model, which thus provides a constant number of control places in a supervisor regardless of the number of resource places in a Petri net or sub-net model. It is shown that the structural size of a supervisor is minimal as the number of control places depends on the number of concurrent processes in the Petri net model. Precisely, two algorithms are developed in this paper. The first aims to compute active uncontrolled transitions and the second is concerned with a method to compute the generalized mutual exclusion constraints (GMECs) for each process of the Petri net model of an FMS. Furthermore, it provides an approach to design control places for each computed GMEC without solving integer linear programming problems, which greatly reduces the computational costs. When the computed control places are coupled with the uncontrolled Petri net model for an FMS, it optimally enforces liveness behavior of the Petri net model, and hence ensures the high utilization of resources in a considered system.
1H NMR study of the base-pairing reactions of d(GGAATTCC): salt effects on the equilibria and kinetics of strand association.

Previously, we examined the imino proton relaxation of d(GGAATTCC) in order to characterize salt and polyamine effects on the base-pair opening kinetics of this oligonucleotide [Braunlin, W. H. , & Bloomfield, V. A. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 1184-1191]. Here, we report salt-dependent measurements of the NMR behavior of the nonexchangeable base proton resonances of d(GGAATTCC). From chemical shift measurements, we find an unexpectedly large salt dependence of Ka, the equilibrium constant for helix association. A total of 1.8 +/- 0.3 sodium ions are thermodynamically released upon dissociation of the octamer duplex. Most of the salt dependence of the equilibrium constant can be traced to a large salt dependence of the association rate. Thus, 1.4 +/- 0.2 sodium ions associate during the rate-limiting step of helix association. In agreement with our previous imino proton results, we also find a significant salt dependence of the duplex dissociation rate. Activation energies for helix association are very small, and possibly negative; most of the temperature dependence of the association equilibrium can be traced to a large activation energy (approximately 50 kcal/mol) for duplex dissociation.
Fetoscopic Open Neural Tube Defect Repair: Development and Refinement of a Two-Port, Carbon Dioxide Insufflation Technique.

OBJECTIVE To describe development of a two-port fetoscopic technique for spina bifida repair in the exteriorized, carbon dioxide-filled uterus and report early results of two cohorts of patients: the first 15 treated with an iterative technique and the latter 13 with a standardized technique. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study (2014-2016). All patients met Management of Myelomeningocele Study selection criteria. The intraoperative approach was iterative in the first 15 patients and was then standardized. Obstetric, maternal, fetal, and early neonatal outcomes were compared. Standard parametric and nonparametric tests were used as appropriate. RESULTS Data for 28 patients (22 endoscopic only, four hybrid, two abandoned) are reported, but only those with a complete fetoscopic repair were analyzed (iterative technique [n=10] compared with standardized technique [n=12]). Maternal demographics and gestational age (median [range]) at fetal surgery (25.4 [22.9-25.9] compared with 24.8 [24-25.6] weeks) were similar, but delivery occurred at 35.9 (26-39) weeks of gestation with the iterative technique compared with 39 (35.9-40) weeks of gestation with the standardized technique (P<.01). Duration of surgery (267 [107-434] compared with 246 [206-333] minutes), complication rates, preterm prelabor rupture of membranes rates (4/12 [33%] compared with 1/10 [10%]), and vaginal delivery rates (5/12 [42%] compared with 6/10 [60%]) were not statistically different in the iterative and standardized techniques, respectively. In 6 of 12 (50%) compared with 1 of 10 (10%), respectively (P=.07), there was leakage of cerebrospinal fluid from the repair site at birth. Management of Myelomeningocele Study criteria for hydrocephalus-death at discharge were met in 9 of 12 (75%) and 3 of 10 (30%), respectively, and 7 of 12 (58%) compared with 2 of 10 (20%) have been treated for hydrocephalus to date. These latter differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION Fetoscopic open neural tube defect repair does not appear to increase maternal-fetal complications as compared with repair by hysterotomy, allows for vaginal delivery, and may reduce long-term maternal risks. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02230072.