Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conformational characterization of a peptide mimetic of the third cytoplasmic loop of the G‐protein coupled parathyroid hormone/parathyroid hormone related protein receptor

The third‐cytoplasmic loop of the G‐protein coupled receptor responsible for the activity of parathyroid hormone and parathyroid hormone‐related protein has been structurally characterized in aqueous solution in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate and dodecylphosphocholine micelles. The high‐resolution conformation of the 29‐amino acid peptide containing the sequence of the cytoplasmic loop was obtained by CD and nmr. The structure was refined using a two‐step distance geometry based method that first includes the removal of all side chains to quickly locate the globular fold of the peptide. After a simulated annealing protocol, the side chains are added in a random fashion. The resulting conformation was further refined with nuclear Overhauser enhancement restrained molecular dynamics using a two‐phase simulation cell consisting of carbon tetrachloride and water as a mimetic of the biphasic, hydrophobic/hydrophilic character of the micelles in which the experimental measurements were carried out. The topological orientation of the cycloplasmic loop within the micelle was determined by addition of 5‐doxylstearate and monitoring the decrease of nmr signal intensities from the radical‐induced relaxation. The conformation and relative orientation of the peptide provided insight into the mechanism by which the cytoplasmic portion of the receptor activates the heterotrimeric, guanine nucleotide‐binding regulatory protein, one of the first steps in signal transduction. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 40: 653–666, 1996
Towards Optimizing MT for Post-Editing Effort: Can BLEU Still Be Useful?

Abstract We propose a simple, linear-combination automatic evaluation measure (AEM) to approximate post-editing (PE) effort. Effort is measured both as PE time and as the number of PE operations performed. The ultimate goal is to define an AEM that can be used to optimize machine translation (MT) systems to minimize PE effort, but without having to perform unfeasible repeated PE during optimization. As PE effort is expected to be an extensive magnitude (i.e., one growing linearly with the sentence length and which may be simply added to represent the effort for a set of sentences), we use a linear combination of extensive and pseudo-extensive features. One such pseudo-extensive feature, 1–BLEU times the length of the reference, proves to be almost as good a predictor of PE effort as the best combination of extensive features. Surprisingly, effort predictors computed using independently obtained reference translations perform reasonably close to those using actual post-edited references. In the early stage of this research and given the inherent complexity of carrying out experiments with professional post-editors, we decided to carry out an automatic evaluation of the AEMs proposed rather than a manual evaluation to measure the effort needed to post-edit the output of an MT system tuned on these AEMs. The results obtained seem to support current tuning practice using BLEU, yet pointing at some limitations. Apart from this intrinsic evaluation, an extrinsic evaluation was also carried out in which the AEMs proposed were used to build synthetic training corpora for MT quality estimation, with results comparable to those obtained when training with measured PE efforts.
Electric bicycles as a new active transportation modality to promote health.

UNLABELLED Electrically assisted bicycles (EAB) are an emerging transportation modality favored for environmental reasons. Some physical effort is required to activate the supporting engine, making it a potential active commuting option. PURPOSE We hypothesized that using an EAB in a hilly city allows sedentary subjects to commute comfortably, while providing a sufficient effort for health-enhancing purposes. METHODS Sedentary subjects performed four different trips at a self-selected pace: walking 1.7 km uphill from the train station to the hospital (WALK), biking 5.1 km from the lower part of town to the hospital with a regular bike (BIKE), or EAB at two different power assistance settings (EAB high, EAB std). HR, oxygen consumption, and need to shower were recorded. RESULTS Eighteen sedentary subjects (12 female, 6 male) age 36 ± 10 yr were included, with V·O 2max of 39.4 ± 5.4 mL·min(-1)·kg(-1). Time to complete the course was 22 (WALK), 19 (EAB high), 21 (EAB std), and 30 (BIKE) min. Mean %V·O 2max was 59.0%, 54.9%, 65.7%, and 72.8%. Mean %HRmax was 71.5%, 74.5%, 80.3%, and 84.0%. There was no significant difference between WALK and EAB high, but all other comparisons were different (P < 0.05). Two subjects needed to shower after EAB high, 3 needed to shower after WALK, 8 needed to shower after EAB std, and all 18 needed to shower after BIKE. WALK and EAB high elicited 6.5 and 6.1 METs (no difference), whereas it was 7.3 and 8.2 for EAB std and BIKE. CONCLUSIONS EAB is a comfortable and ecological transportation modality, helping sedentary people commute to work and meet physical activity guidelines. Subjects appreciated ease of use and mild effort needed to activate the engine support climbing hills, without the need to shower at work. EAB can be promoted in a challenging urban environment to promote physical activity and mitigate pollution issues.
Efficacy of topical 0.1% adapalene gel for use in the treatment of childhood acanthosis nigricans: a pilot study

Childhood acanthosis nigricans is common and increasing in Thailand and other countries, because of the epidemic of obesity (1, 2). As such, acanthosis nigricans is a marker for increased risk of diabetes and hypertension. Acanthosis nigricans is particularly evident as neck hyperpigmentation. In this Thai split comparison, randomized blinded controlled trial of 16 children at least 12 years of age were given a month of both unlabeled topical 0.1% adapalene gel and an unlabeled gel placebo in an effort supported by the Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand (2). Each gel was applied to one side of the neck alone with no other treatments allowed. Results were assessed using the Felix von Luschan skin color chart. The 0.1% adapalene gel proved well tolerated with little or no skin irritation and was found to minimize darkening. This therapeutic effect was attributed to altered epidermal keratinization. Thus, topical 0.1% adapalene gel may be a useful agent for treating childhood acanthosis nigricans. This medication’s beneficial effects and an overweight child’s health might be enhanced with a program leading to weight loss. Commentary: Topical 0.1% adapalene gel may be beneficial in the treatment of hyperpigmentation associated with childhood acanthosis nigricans.
Laparoscopic radical cystectomy with orthotopic ileal neobladder: a report of 85 cases.

PURPOSE The preliminary results of laparoscopic radical cystectomy in 85 patients are presented in this study. The functional and oncologic outcomes of this procedure in these patients are discussed. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between December 2002 and May 2006, we performed 85 laparoscopic radical cystectomies with orthotopic ileal neobladder for bladder cancer in 77 men and 8 women. A 5-port transperitoneal approach was applied. The standard bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed first, then radical cystectomy was completed laparoscopically. The construction of the ileal neobladder and the anastomosis of ureter-neobladder were performed extracorporeally. The neobladder was anastomosed to the urethral stump under laparoscopy. A nerve-sparing procedure was performed for eight patients. RESULTS The median operative time was 320 min, and the median blood loss was 280 mL. Conversion to open surgery was not necessary in any of the patients. The average time to oral intake after operation was 3.9 days. There were no perioperative mortalities. The complication rate was 14.1% (12/85), including such complications as three uretero-pouch anastomotic strictures, one vesicourethral anastomotic stricture, one pouch-vaginal fistula, one colonic pouch fistula, one ileo-pouch fistula, three ileus, one pneumonia, and one pyelonephritis. The daytime continence rate was 91.2%, and the nighttime continence rate was 82.4% at 6 months postoperatively. The neobladder capacity was about 343 mL. Surgical margins were tumor free for all patients. Of the eight patients who underwent a nerve-sparing procedure, four patients had potency for intercourse. During a follow-up period of 1 to 41 months (average 21.3 months), three patients had local recurrence, one patient had trocar site seeding, and five patients had distant metastasis, of whom four died. CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopic radical cystectomy with extracorporeal formation of a neobladder is a feasible procedure with low morbidity and acceptable neobladder function. Long-term follow-up is needed to confirm the oncologic outcomes.
Archaeal Homologs of Human RNase P Protein Pairs Pop5 with Rpp30 and Rpp21 with Rpp29 Work on Distinct Functional Domains of the RNA Subunit

We examined the functional equivalency between Escherichia coli RNase P protein (C5) and Pyrococcus horikoshii RNase P proteins (PhoPop5, PhoRpp21, PhoRpp29, PhoRpp30, and PhoRpp38) for RNase P activity. The C5 protein and P. horikoshii RNase P proteins were unable to activate non-congnate RNase P RNAs, P. horikoshii RNase P RNA (PhopRNA) and E. coli RNase P RNA (M1 RNA) respectively. Two chimeric RNAs, in which functional C- and S-domains of M1 RNA and PhopRNA were exchanged, were prepared and characterized with respect to the cleavage of P. horikoshii pre-tRNATyr in the presence of C5 or P. horikoshii proteins. The results suggest that PhoPop5 and PhoRpp30 function equivalently to the C5 protein in the E. coli RNase P, being involved in activation of the PhopRNA C-domain. On the other hand, PhoRpp21 and PhoRpp29 are implicated in stabilization of the PhopRNA S-domain.
Intracellular inducer Hg2+ concentration is rate determining for the expression of the mercury-resistance operon in cells

Experiments involving mercury resistance mer operon-lacZ fusions, point mutations in the mercuric ion reductase merA gene, and transcomplementation have revealed that in Hg2+-resistant cells, the inducer Hg2+ concentration is rate determining for activation of transcription. mer operon expression is activated by the presence of nanomolar concentrations of Hg2+ in liquid media only when the mercuric ion reductase function is artificially inactivated in cells, whereas cells with active mercuric ion reductase require micromolar concentrations of Hg2+ for effective induction of the operon.
Audiovisual resources to enhance listening comprehension of EFL third graders

El presente trabajo se centra en la implementacion de recursos audiovisuales para desarrollar la comprension auditiva a traves del Enfoque Comunicativo y el aprendizaje basado en tareas. Los estudios en el aprendizaje de idiomas han abordado la necesidad de mejorar la comprension auditiva y la necesidad de encontrar la manera mas efectiva de lograr este objetivo. Sin embargo, hacer que los estudiantes respondan de manera activa y usar un idioma extranjero en el aula es un problema que enfrentan la mayoria de los profesores de idiomas. Este documento sugiere algunas soluciones a la tranquilidad de los estudiantes de idiomas, utilizando los recursos audiovisuales como una manera efectiva de involucrar a los estudiantes como participantes en el proceso de comprension auditiva. La comunicacion en el aula puede aumentar la participacion oral de los estudiantes en la clase, y conducir a la mejora de la capacidad de hablar y escuchar de los estudiantes; Ambas hipotesis son apoyadas por los datos del estudio.
Uncertainty management in expert systems

Basic expert system terminology is reviewed, and several uncertainty management paradigms are surveyed. The focus is on subjective probability theory, Dempster-Shafer theory, and possibility theory, although a number of other methods are mentioned. The benefits and limitations of the various schemes are examined, examples of expert systems within each school are presented, and some relevant open problems are discussed. <<ETX>>
A parallel implementation of JPEG2000 encoder on multi-GPU system

There has been an increase in the demand for a high-quality video codec that supports 4K (3,840 × 2,160) or more. JPEG2000 is an important technique for data compression, which has been successfully used in digital cinema and medical application. To process the high workload of JPEG2000 coding for large-scale video data, hybrid CPU/GPU platform is used to obtain high computing power. In this paper, we develop and implementation of the JPEG2000 compression standard in hybrid CPU/GPU platforms. Specifically, we develop multi-GPU implementations of the JPEG2000 encode to obtain high computing power and balance the load between cores and GPUs in the hybrid architecture. In out experiments with multi-GPU, we couple the JPEG2000 codec optimized for multicores and multi-GPUs and achieve high performance of the JPEG2000 compression.
Comparison of Skin Carotenoid Content and Dietary Carotenoid Intake

Skin Carotenoid Content (SCC) is a validated biomarker of vegetable intake. The objective of this study is to compare SCC to self-reported diet and supplement intake. This cross-sectional study used baseline data from 61 participants in an ongoing intervention trial (Nutrition Interventions for Cognitive Enhancement). Participants were cognitively normal older adults (≥65 years, MMSE score >25). SCC was determined non-invasively by Resonance Raman spectroscopy (VEGGIE METER®; Longevity Link Corporation). Three measurements were taken on the fingertip and averaged. Dietary intake was obtained by 3-day diet records. A dietitian reviewed the diet records and entered the records into the Nutrition Data System for Research (version 2019). Linear regression was used to assess relationships between self-reported carotenoid intake and SCC measurement. The mean SCC was 279 ± 72.1. Correlations for self-reported individual carotenoid intake and SCC scores were beta-carotene (r2 = 0.15, β̞ = 0.38, P = 0.002), alpha-carotene (r2 = 0.10, β̞ = 0.32, P = 0.01), and lutein + zeaxanthin (r2 = 0.16, β̞ = 0.41, P = 0.001). Correlations for self-reported combined diet and supplement intake and SCC scores were beta-carotene (r2 = 0.15, β̞ = 0.38, P = 0.002), alpha carotene (r2 = 0.10, β̞ = 0.32, P = 0.01), and lutein + zeaxanthin (r2 = 0.07, β̞ = 0.26, P = 0.04). Neither reported diet nor diet and supplement intakes of beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and retinol were related to SCC scores. Correlations for food group and SCC scores were dark vegetables (r2 = 0.15, β̞ = 0.39, P = 0.002), deep yellow vegetables (r2 = 0.09, β̞ = 0.30, P = 0.02), and total vegetable intake (r2 = 0.16, β̞ = 0.40, P = 0.001). Within older adults, the SCC is a good indicator of dietary lutein + zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, and alpha-carotene intake. The finding that lutein + zeaxanthin relationship decreases when accounting for combined diet and supplement intake suggests need to investigate bioavailability of supplemental lutein + zeaxanthin. National Institutes of Health.
Bone and cartilage resorption in relation to tooth development in the anterior part of the mandible in cichlid fish: A light and TEM study

This paper presents ultrastructural features of the contact region between particular tooth germs and Meckel's cartilage prior to, during, and after initial resorption of the perichondral bone and of the cartilage in the cichlids Hemichromis bimaculatus and Astatotilapia burtoni. Imminent resorption opposite such teeth is announced by the presence, in this region, of a particular cell type, considered to be a stage in the cytodifferentiation of osteoclasts. Slightly later, an osteoclast with typical ruffled border is seen to open a fenestra in the perichondral bone which surrounds Meckel's cartilage. Although the action of the osteoclast is directed primarily towards the bone, it may also affect, to a much lesser extent, the underlying uncalcified cartilage. Typically, fibroblast‐like cells invade the resorption cavity along with the osteoclast; the tooth germ soon follows. Capillaries are seen to invade the cartilage only at a later stage when a large cavity has been established. It is proposed that the fibroblast‐like cells may have a dual function: degradation of cartilage and deposition of new bone. Although these processes are normally limited to the area surrounding tooth germs at specific loci, tooth germs in other positions may sometimes be seen to invade the cartilage. They do so either passively, because of the existence of such a cavity, or as a result of their own resorption‐inducing activity. Whatever the mechanism, attachment bone is being deposited within the erosion cavity and on the surface of the exposed perichondral bone. The stimuli possibly eliciting resorption of Meckel's cartilage are discussed. It is hypothesized that pressure exerted by the growing tooth germ may stimulate the osteoblasts covering the bone surface and, in this way, provoke osteoclastic bone resorption. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Supervised and semi-supervised speech enhancement using weighted nonnegative matrix factorization

According to the prior knowledge used in the algorithms, NMF-based speech enhancement can be categorized into supervised (NMF) one and semi-supervised (SNMF) one. In the supervised version, speech is estimated with the prior knowledge of both speech and noise. For the semi-supervised version, speech bases are learned on clean speech data in advance and adapted to different noise conditions. With the probabilistic estimation of whether the speech is present or not in a certain frame, this paper presents an extension to both NMF- and SNMF-based speech enhancement techniques by incorporating the speech presence probability (SPP) into their multiplicative update process. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated on three metrics (PESQ, LSD and SDR) by making experiments on TIMIT with 20 noise types at various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. All the proposed algorithms show the superiority over the conventional NMF, SNMF-based speech enhancement techniques, and also obtain better performance than some unsupervised state-of-the-art algorithms.
Cell Surface Heterogeneity of Human Blood Neutrophils and Monocytes

Summary. Until recently, human blood neutrophils (PMN) and monocytes have been considered to be homogeneous cell populations. However, much evidence has accumulated on their functional heterogeneity. This functional heterogeneity suggests the existence of different subsets of myeloid cells analogous to T and B subsets of lymphoid cells. The goal of this study was to investigate this question of myeloid subsets by examining myeloid cells for cell surface reactivity for IgG and complement (C).
Time-resolved microscopy reveals the driving mechanism of particle formation during ultrashort pulse laser ablation of dentin-like ivory

Abstract. In dental health care, the application of ultrashort laser pulses enables dental tissue ablation free from thermal side effects, such as melting and cracking. However, these laser types create undesired micro- and nanoparticles, which might cause a health risk for the patient or surgeon. The aim of this study was to investigate the driving mechanisms of micro- and nanoparticle formation during ultrashort pulse laser ablation of dental tissue. Time-resolved microscopy was chosen to observe the ablation dynamics of mammoth ivory after irradiation with 660 fs laser pulses. The results suggest that nanoparticles might arise in the excited region. The thermal expansion of the excited material induces high pressure in the surrounding bulk tissue, generating a pressure wave. The rarefaction wave behind this pressure wave causes spallation, leading to ejection of microparticles.
High-Speed Operation of Random-Access-Memory-Embedded Microprocessor With Minimal Instruction Set Architecture Based on Rapid Single-Flux-Quantum Logic

We present design and experimental results of a rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) bit-serial microprocessor with reduced-size embedded random access memories (RAMs) and with a minimal instruction set, called CORE e2h. The microprocessors called CORE e series have been developed for demonstrating small-scale program execution, such as loop calculation and sorting, in order to show the first prototype of a stored-program computer using the RSFQ technology. The CORE e2h is the most simplified variation of the CORE e series, which is equipped with only two registers, and can execute 13 instructions. The target clock frequency for bit-serial operation is 50 GHz, while the designed system clock cycle is 2 GHz. We carefully designed every component, implementing functionality using a small number of Josephson junctions with a small footprint. We fabricated several chips of the CORE e2h microprocessor integrated with two 128-bit shift-register-based RAMs on the same die. We experimentally obtained correct operations for all the instructions, and confirmed high-speed transfer between the instruction memory and controller unit and between the data memory and datapath at around 50 GHz.
Methyl 3′-(2,5-dimethylbenzyl)-1′-methyl-2-oxo-4′-phenylspiro[indoline-3,2′-pyrrolidine]-3′-carboxylate chloroform monosolvate

In the title solvate, C29H30N2O3·CHCl3, the dihedral angle between the indole ring system (r.m.s. deviation = 0.050 Å) and the 4-methylpyrrolidine ring is 88.88 (8)°. The latter ring adopts an envelope conformation with the N atom as the flap. Its mean plane makes dihedral angles of 86.94 (11) and 42.08 (9)° with the phenyl and dimethylbenzene rings, respectively. The molecular conformation is stabilized by intramolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which generate S(6) and S(9) ring motifs. The chloroform solvent molecule is linked to the organic molecule by a C—H⋯O hydrogen bond involving the carbonyl O atom of the carboxylate group. In the crystal, molecules are linked via bifurcated N—H⋯(N,O) and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains propagating along [001].
Secrecy outage performance of MISO wiretap channels with outdated CSI

In this paper, the secrecy outage performance of a multiple-input single-output (MISO) wiretap channel is investigated. Different from previous works, we assume that the legitimate transmitter employs maximal-ratio transmission (MRT) beamforming scheme with outdated channel state information (CSI) of the main channel. A closed-form expression for the secrecy outage probability is derived, from which an asymptotic secrecy analysis is carried out. Furthermore, a closed-form expression for the probability of non-zero secrecy rate is derived. Our results are corroborated by Monte Carlo simulations and show that full diversity gain cannot be realized in the presence of outdated CSI. In addition, the MRT scheme is analytically compared with a transmit antenna selection scheme and the secrecy outage improvement is quantified.
Determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceuticals using direct ultraviolet spectrophotometry.

A simple, rapid and accurate direct ultraviolet spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceuticals. The sample blank is produced by the copper(II)-catalysed oxidation of the acid at room temperature. The absorbance measurements were made at 267 nm and pH 6. The proposed method is selective and many of the ingredients commonly found in ascorbic acid tablets and multi-vitamin preparations do not interfere. The method was utilised to determine ascorbic acid in vitamin C tablets, multi-vitamin preparations, calcium tablets and two cold-relief tablets, and the results obtained were compared with those from a BP method.