Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloning and Characterization of Xenopus Rsk2, the Predominant p90 Rsk Isozyme in Oocytes and Eggs*

The 90-kDa ribosomal S6 kinases, the p90 Rsks, are a family of intracellular serine/threonine protein kinases distinguished by two distinct kinase domains. Rsks are activated downstream of the ERK1 (p44) and ERK2 (p42) mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases in diverse biological contexts, including progression through meiotic and mitotic M phases in Xenopus oocytes and cycling Xenopus egg extracts, and are critical for the M phase functions of Xenopus p42 MAPK. Here we report the cloning and biochemical characterization of Xenopus Rsk2.Xenopus Rsk1 and Rsk2 are specifically recognized by commercially available RSK1 and RSK2 antisera on immunoblots, but both Rsk1 and Rsk2 are immunoprecipitated by RSK1, RSK2, and RSK3 sera. Rsk2 is about 20-fold more abundant than the previously describedXenopus Rsk1 protein; their concentrations are approximately 120 and 5 nm, respectively. Rsk2, like Rsk1, forms a heteromeric complex with p42 MAP kinase. This interaction depends on sequences at the extreme C terminus of Rsk2 and can be disrupted by a synthetic peptide derived from the C-terminal 20 amino acids of Rsk2. Finally, we demonstrate that p42 MAP kinase can activate recombinant Rsk2 in vitro to a specific activity comparable to that found in Rsk2 that has been activated maximally in vivo. These findings underscore the importance of the Rsk2 isozyme in the M phase functions of p42 MAP kinase and provide tools for further examining Rsk2 function.
Does the Health Impact of Exposure to Neighbourhood Green Space Differ between Population Groups? An Explorative Study in Four European Cities

It has been suggested that certain residents, such as those with a low socioeconomic status, the elderly, and women, may benefit more from the presence of neighbourhood green space than others. We tested this hypothesis for age, gender, educational level, and employment status in four European cities. Data were collected in Barcelona (Spain; n = 1002), Kaunas (Lithuania; n = 989), Doetinchem (The Netherlands; n = 847), and Stoke-on-Trent (UK; n = 933) as part of the EU-funded PHENOTYPE project. Surveys were used to measure mental and general health, individual characteristics, and perceived neighbourhood green space. Additionally, we used audit data about neighbourhood green space. In Barcelona, there were positive associations between neighbourhood green space and general health among low-educated residents. In the other cities and for the other population groups, there was little evidence that the association between health and neighbourhood green space differed between population groups. Overall, our study does not support the assumption that the elderly, women, and residents who are not employed full-time benefit more from neighbourhood green space than others. Only in the highly urbanised city of Barcelona did the low-educated group benefit from neighbourhood green spaces. Perhaps neighbourhood green spaces are more important for the health of low-educated residents in particularly highly urbanised areas.
Serum level of amylase and lipase in various stages of chronic renal insufficiency.

BACKGROUND Twenty percent of pancreatic enzymes is excreted by the kidneys. Thus, patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) have elevated levels of serum pancreatic enzymes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes of serum pancreatic enzyme levels in patients with various stages of ESRD undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) as well as those treated conservatively. METHODS Serum pancreatic enzyme levels were determined in 96 cases, including 19 healthy controls, 28 cases of ESRD treated conservatively and 49 uremic cases receiving dialytic treatment (37 hemodialysis and 12 CAPD). RESULTS The mean activity of serum pancreatic enzymes was significantly higher in patients with ESRD compared to that in the healthy controls (p < 0.0001). Out of 28 patients, ESRD patients had serum amylase and lipase levels higher than normal in 17 (60.7%) and 16 (57.1%) cases respectively. Eight out of 12 CAPD cases (66.7%) had higher levels of both enzymes. However, 31/37 (83.7%) and 32/37 (86.5%) HD patients had elevated levels of serum amylase and lipase, respectively. Only 1 (1.3%) and 4(5.2%) out of 77 ESRD cases had threefold elevated levels of amylase and lipase, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Serum pancreatic enzymes are often elevated within threefold normal in ESRD patients. Thus, acute pancreatitis must be considered if enzyme levels are more than threefold normal in association with clinical manifestiations.
Numerically exploring habitat fragmentation effects on populations using cell-based coupled map lattices.

We examine habitat size, shape, and arrangement effects on populations using a discrete reaction-diffusion model. Diffusion is modeled passively and applied to a cellular grid of territories forming a coupled map lattice. Dispersal mortality is proportional to the amount of nonhabitat and fully occupied habitat surrounding a given cell, with distance decay. After verifying that our model produces the results expected for single patches of uniform habitat, we investigate heterogeneous and fragmented model landscapes. In heterogeneous single-patch systems near critical patch size, populations approach Gaussian spatial distributions with total population constrained by the capacity of the most limiting cell. In fragmented habitat landscapes, threshold effects are more complex and parametrically sensitive. The results from our experiments suggest the following: the ability to achieve persistence in hyperdispersed patchy habitats by adding similarly fragmented patches requires meeting threshold reproduction rates; persistent metapopulations in which no local population is individually persistent appear when dispersal distances and reproduction rates are both high, but only within narrow parameter ranges that are close to extinction thresholds; successful use of stepping-stone patches to support metapopulation systems appears unlikely for passively diffusing species; elongated patches offer early colonization advantages, but blocky patches offer greater population resilience near extinction thresholds. A common theme running through our findings is that population viability estimates may depend on our ability to determine when population and habitat systems are approaching extinction threshold conditions.
Morphine withdrawal‐induced abnormalities in the VTA: confocal laser scanning microscopy

Morphine withdrawal is characterized by functional alterations at the level of the ventrotegmental area. We investigated the effects of chronic morphine administration and withdrawal on the morphological properties of immuno-labelled tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons of the rat ventrotegmental area with a confocal laser scanning microscope. Morphological evaluation revealed a reduction in the area and perimeter of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive somata in morphine-withdrawn rats. Conversely, the number of cells per field was found to have increased in the naloxone group. Collectively, the present results indicate that withdrawal from a chronic morphine treatment, and not chronic morphine per se, modifies cellular morphology of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive, presumably dopamine-containing, neurons of the rat VTA. This is consistent with the idea that withdrawal from morphine alters functioning of the mesolimbic dopamine system and provides a direct morphological correlate for the functional abnormalities typical of morphine withdrawal.
Enhanced Watermarking Scheme for 3D Mesh Models

In this paper we present a new non-blind watermarking scheme for 3D graphical o b j e c t s (meshes). Non-blind watermarking scheme is known to be more secure than blind ones, since the original and watermarked models are needed for extraction. In our scheme we use the model's prominent feature points to divide the model into separate segments, these feature segments are then projected from 3D representation to the 3 main 2D-Planes. The watermark embedding is done in frequency domain of these projections. The experimental results showed the robustness of this scheme against various mesh attacks (mesh simplification, subdivision, smoothing, cropping, etc). T his scheme also allows quite large payload to embed. The results of the proposed scheme showed average of 50 percent improvement in robustness against geometry attacks, and up to 70 percent against
Addressing Gender Quotas in South Africa: Women Employment and Gender Equality Legislation

A significant development in the area of gender quota legislation is driven by South Africa’s latest National Policy Framework for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) legislation. This legislation expands on the values and principles that need to be integrated into policies, practices and programs of the private sector and government to ensure gender equality and quotas. The legislation strives for 50 per cent female representation on the executive bodies of all organisations. Another unique feature of diversity in South Africa is achieved through the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Program. South Africa’s BEE Scorecard Policies and Empowerment Strategies are unique, affecting quota decisions and behaviour.
Overall perceived value of a tourism service: Analysing the spillover effect between electronic channel and consumption of the hotel service

This study aims to investigate the key antecedents and consequences of the overall perceived value of the online purchase decision-making process for a tourism service. To this end, the spillover effect of the tourist’s perceptions of the purchasing channel on their evaluation of tourism service quality and on overall perceived value is analysed. A questionnaire was administered to 150 tourists who had purchased hotel accommodation via the Internet. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was then used to analyse the formation of overall perceived value. It was found that the tourist’s overall assessment of a tourism service is not only influenced by their perceptions of the establishment itself but also by their impressions of the medium they used for information and booking purposes. This paper breaks new ground in the study of overall perceived value formation, by jointly analysing the purchase, consumption, and post-experience assessment phases, whilst addressing both online and offline media. These aspects are reflected in the spillover effect provoked by the interaction between the online purchasing channel and consumption of the service.
A High-Accuracy Adaptive Conditional-Probability Estimator for Fixed-Width Booth Multipliers

In this paper, a single compensation formula of adaptive conditional-probability estimator (ACPE) applied to fixed-width Booth multiplier is proposed. Based on the conditional-probability theory, the ACPE can be easily applied to large length Booth multipliers (such as 32-bit or larger) for achieving a higher accuracy performance. To consider the trade-off between accuracy and area cost, the ACPE provides varying column information to adjust the accuracy with respect to system requirements. The 16-bit ACPE Booth multiplier with w = 3 reduces 28.9% silicon area with only 0.39 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss when compared with post-truncated (P-T) Booth multiplier. Furthermore, the ACPE Booth multipliers are applied to two-dimensional (2-D) discrete cosine transform (DCT) to evaluate the system performance. Implemented in a TSMC 0.18 CMOS process, the DCT core with ACPE (w = 3) can save 14.3% area cost with only 0.48 dB peak-signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) penalty compared to P-T method.
Upstream stimulatory factor regulates expression of the cell cycle-dependent cyclin B1 gene promoter

Progression through the somatic cell cycle requires the temporal regulation of cyclin gene expression and cyclin protein turnover. One of the best-characterized examples of this regulation is seen for the B-type cyclins. These cyclins and their catalytic component, cdc2, have been shown to mediate both the entry into and maintenance of mitosis. The cyclin B1 gene has been shown to be expressed between the late S and G2 phases of the cell cycle, while the protein is degraded specifically at interphase via ubiquitination. To understand the molecular basis for transcriptional regulation of the cyclin B1 gene, we cloned the human cyclin B1 gene promoter region. Using a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter system and both stable and transient assays, we have shown that the cyclin B1 gene promoter (extending to -3800 bp relative to the cap site) can confer G2-enhanced promoter activity. Further analysis revealed that an upstream stimulatory factor (USF)-binding site and its cognate transcription factor(s) are critical for expression from the cyclin B1 promoter in cycling HeLa cells. Interestingly, USF DNA-binding activity appears to be regulated in a G2-specific fashion, supporting the idea that USF may play some role in cyclin B1 gene activation. These studies suggest an important link between USF and the cyclin B1 gene, which in part explains how maturation promoting factor complex formation is regulated.
Peritoneal Cell-Derived Mast Cells: An In Vitro Model of Mature Serosal-Type Mouse Mast Cells1

Bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC) have been used extensively as a mast cell model. BMMC, however, are immature cells that have no known physiological equivalent in tissues. They do not respond to IgG immune complexes. They may therefore not be appropriate for studying the physiopathology of IgE-induced allergies or IgG-induced tissue-specific inflammatory diseases which both depend on mature mast cells. Resident peritoneal mast cells are a minor population of differentiated cells that are not readily purified. They, however, can be expanded in culture to generate large numbers of homogeneous cells. We show here that these peritoneal cell-derived mast cells (PCMC) are mature serosal-type mouse mast cells which retain most morphological, phenotypic, and functional features of peritoneal mast cells. Like peritoneal mast cells, PCMC respond to IgG Abs. IgG immune complex-induced responses depended on FcγRIIIA and were negatively regulated by FcγRIIB. We found that a moderate FcγRIIB-dependent negative regulation, due not to a higher FcγRIIIA/FcγRIIB ratio, but to a relatively inefficient use of the lipid phosphatase SHIP1, determines this property of PCMC. PCMC also respond to IgE Abs. IgE-induced PCMC responses, however, differed quantitatively and qualitatively from BMMC responses. PCMC secreted no or much lower amounts of lipid mediators, chemokines, and cytokines, but they contained and released much higher amounts of preformed granular mediators. PCMC, but not BMMC, also contained and, upon degranulation, released molecules with a potent proteolytic activity. These properties make PCMC a useful new model for understanding the physiopathology of mast cells in IgE- and IgG-dependent tissue inflammation.
Low-Power, High-Gain V-Band CMOS Low Noise Amplifier for Microwave Radiometer Applications

A low power and high gain V-band CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed in this letter with a three-stage cascode topology. Using the gate-inductive gain-peaking technique to boost the gain, the proposed LNA achieves a good figure of merit (FOM) with less power consumption. This proposed LNA is fabricated in a 0.13 μm RF CMOS process, which achieves a peak gain of 21 dB at 53 GHz, a noise figure (NF) of 7.6 dB at 53 GHz, a 3 dB frequency bandwidth ranging from 51.3 to 55.8 GHz, an input 1 dB compression point (P1 dB) of - 25 dBm at 53 GHz, and an input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of -16 dBm. Also, the LNA consumes only 15.1 mW at a supply voltage of 1.5 V. The calculated FOM is 0.81 in average. Such a V-band LNA design is applicable to the cost-efficiency integration of a microwave radiometer front-end circuit over the operation frequency band of 52 to 56 GHz.
Experimental characterization of an autofocus algorithm based on liquid lens objective for in-focus imaging in the macro range

The experimental characterization of an autofocus algorithm using a liquid lens objective is presented. The objective embeds an electro-wetting based lens whose focal length is voltage controlled. Two sharpness indexes are used to measure the image focus condition in the algorithm allowing a very robust and accurate setting of the focus. The algorithm has been characterized using target images differing both in the contrast and in the spatial frequency along measurement depth range from 70 to 2 mm. both static and dynamic tests were performed revealing the ability of the algorithm to follow rapid variations of the target position.
Towards a HPV Vaccine Knowledgebase for Patient Education Content

Human papillomavirus is a widespread sexually transmitted infection that can be prevented with vaccination. However, HPV vaccination rates in the United States are disappointingly low. This paper will introduce a patient oriented web ontology intended to provide an interactive way to educate patients about HPV and the HPV vaccine that will to empower patients to make the right vaccination decision. The information gathered for this initial draft of the ontology was primarily taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Information Statements. The ontology currently consists of 160 triples, 141 classes, 52 properties and 55 individuals. For future iterations, we aim to incorporate more information as well as obtain subject matter expert feedback to improve the overall quality of the ontology.
Automated measurement of microaneurysm turnover.

PURPOSE An automated system for the measurement of microaneurysm (MA) turnover was developed and compared with manual measurement. The system analyses serial fluorescein angiogram (FA) or red-free (RF) fundus images; fluorescein angiography was used in this study because it is the more sensitive test for MAs. Previous studies have shown that the absolute number of MAs observed does not reflect the dynamic temporal nature of the MA population. In this study, almost half of the MAs present at baseline had regressed after a year and been replaced by new lesions elsewhere. METHODS Two clinical datasets were used to evaluate the performance of the automated turnover measurement system. The first consisted of 10 patients who had two fluorescein angiograms acquired a year apart. These data were analyzed, both manually and using the automated system, to investigate the inter- and intraobserver variations associated with manual measurement and to assess the performance of the automated system. The second dataset contained FAs from a further 25 patients. This dataset was analyzed only with the automated system to investigate some properties of microaneurysm turnover, in particular the differing detection sensitivities of new, static and regressed microaneurysms. RESULTS Manual measurements exhibited large inter- and intraobserver variation. The sensitivity and specificity of the automated system were similar to those of the human observers. However, the automated measurements were more consistent-an important condition for accurate turnover quantification. Regressed MAs were more difficult to detect reliably than new MAs, which were themselves more difficult to detect reliably than static MAs. CONCLUSIONS The automated system was shown to be fast, reliable, and repeatable, making it suitable for processing large numbers of images. Performance was similar to that of trained manual observers.
Effects of testosterone on cardiomyocyte calcium homeostasis and contractile function in female rats

• What is the central question of this study? Androgen excess in women is associated with an elevated risk for heart disease. Whether some portion of this elevated risk is related to an effect of androgens on cariomyoctye function, however, has not been examined. To our knowledge, this is the first study to directly address the role of androgens in regulating cardiomyocyte contractile dynamics and calcium homeostasis. • What is the main finding and its importance? Our results suggest minimal acute or chronic effects of testosterone on cardiomyocyte shortening dynamics, calcium homeostasis or myosin heavy chain expression, suggesting that the detrimental effect of androgen excess on cardiovascular risk is not mediated through alterations in cardiomyocyte biology.
The Influence of Embedded Social Media Channels on Travelers’ Gratifications, Satisfaction, and Purchase Intentions

Considering the strong influence of social media on internet users, it is important to understand its role for hotel businesses, particularly the online aspect of lodging operations. Although several social media studies have been done, very few studies have focused on travelers’ needs and the specific gratifications they seek when using embedded social media channels on hotel websites, and how those channels would influence their purchasing behavior. The main purpose of the current research is to examine the effectiveness of embedded social media channels on hotel websites and their influence on traveler behavior. Applying the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach, we examined relationships among traveler gratifications, satisfaction, and purchase intentions by comparing user experience with hotel websites that used embedded social media channels to those without embedded social media channels. The results indicated that travelers exposed to the hotel website with embedded social media channels had higher levels of perceived informativeness, perceived enjoyment, and perceived social interaction that directly influenced traveler satisfaction. In the context of embedded social media channels, the gratification factors, such as perceived enjoyment and perceived social interaction, directly influenced traveler satisfaction and purchase intentions, and indirectly influenced purchase intentions through traveler satisfaction. Meanwhile, perceived informativeness did not influence purchase intentions directly in either sample, but it did influence purchase intentions indirectly through travelers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, for the group who used the hotel website without embedded social media channels, perceived social interaction was found to have no significant effect on travelers’ satisfaction and purchase intentions.