Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Modified Host Cell Reactivation Assay to Measure DNA Repair Capacity for Removing 4-Aminobiphenyl Adducts: A Pilot Study of Bladder Cancer

As DNA repair plays an important role in genetic susceptibility to bladder cancer, assessment of the DNA repair phenotype is critical for the molecular epidemiology of bladder cancer. In this study, we developed and applied an assay using the luciferase (luc) reporter gene in a host-cell reactivation assay to measure DNA repair capacity for DNA damage induced by 4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP), a well-studied aromatic amine and a known bladder carcinogen. We observed a dose-response relationship for 4-ABP dosage and DNA repair capacity (luc activity). We then applied this assay to measure DNA repair capacity in a pilot study of 89 pairs of bladder cancer patients and healthy controls matched by age, gender, and ethnicity, and we found that DNA repair capacity was significantly lower in cases than in controls (13.0% versus 14.4%; P = 0.006). Poor DNA repair capacity was associated with 3.42-fold increased bladder cancer risk. Further analysis revealed that intermediate and low levels of DNA repair capacity increased bladder cancer risk to 3.43-fold and 4.97-fold, respectively, compared with individuals with the most efficient DNA repair capacity. Moreover, ever smokers with suboptimal DNA repair capacity exhibited a 6.06-fold increased risk compared with never smokers with normal DNA repair capacity. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that deficient DNA repair capacity for 4-ABP induced DNA damage and increases bladder cancer risk. Our assay provides a new tool to specifically quantify DNA repair capacity in bladder cancer studies and, therefore, contributes to our goal of further elucidating bladder carcinogenesis.
Is one day off sufficient for re-adaptation to a daytime routine after two consecutive nights of work?

Abstract Fast rotation three-shift working schedules are common in the medical field in Taiwan. This study investigated whether 24 h off is sufficient for re-adaptation to a daytime routine after working two night shifts (NSs) by comparing changes in cognitive function, anxiety state and objectively measured sleep propensity between those working two NSs followed by 24 h off (n = 21, 2NS-off) and an off-duty group (n = 21, OD). The results showed that nurses in the 2NS-off group were less alert and had decreased visual attention performance and executive function ability than the OD group during the daytime. One day off appeared to be insufficient to adapt back to a daytime shift after two NSs. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether a longer sequence of consecutive NSs (e.g. four NSs) followed by two days off is suitable for a fast rotation three-shift work schedule to allow for optimal performance throughout the next daytime shift. Practitioner Summary: The medical field in Taiwan mandates at least 24 h off between night and day shifts, but this appears to be insufficient for re-adapting to a daytime shift after two night shifts. A longer sequence of consecutive night shifts followed by two days off may be more suitable.
(2,1)-Lagged Fibonacci Generators Using Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields

A novel pseudorandom sequence generator is presented in this paper. The genesis of this new generator is evolved from the concept of Lagged Fibonacci generator[1] applied to points on elliptic curves over a finite field. It is observed that the generator has a long period. Also a successful statistical testing of the randomness attributes of the given generator, in accordance with the National Institute of Standards and Technology test suite, admits to a key stream source that is in conformance with the Advanced Encryption Standard for data encryption
Biosynthesis of vitamins and enzymes in fermented foods by lactic acid bacteria and related genera - a promising approach.

Summary Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are widely employed in food fermentation processes for the biosynthesis of certain important products or metabolites. Fermented food provides plenty of vital nutrients and bioactive components that affect a number of functions of human body in a positive way. Fermented milks can be made more functional by incorporating probiotic strains and furthermore, if they are capable of synthesizing essential biomolecules such as vitamins, enzymes, exopolysaccharides, bacteriocins or bioactive peptides serve into the functional and technological properties of the products. Current paper reviews recent advances associated with biosynthesis of vitamins and enzymes by virtue of LAB and related genera. The outcomes of several studies indicate promising applications at commercial level; however adequate selection of strain is vital to increase the concentration and bioavailability of such biomolecules in fermented foods.
Pten loss promotes MAPK pathway dependency in HER2/neu breast carcinomas

Significance PTEN mutations are associated with disease progression and therapy resistance in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu)-amplified breast cancer patients but the role of PTEN loss in breast cancer maintenance is unknown. Here, using a regulatable RNAi mouse model of HER2/neu-driven metastatic breast cancer, we show that Pten silencing accelerates disease progression and that restoration of endogenous Pten expression triggers marked disease regression. By comparing and contrasting how pharmacologic perturbations of various signaling pathways compare to genetic reactivation of Pten, we identify a requirement for Mek signaling in Pten-suppressed tumors. Our findings imply that even advanced tumors can remain dependent on Pten loss and provide a rationale for exploring the utility of MEK inhibitors in therapy-resistant breast cancer patients acquiring PTEN mutations. Loss of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN is implicated in breast cancer progression and resistance to targeted therapies, and is thought to promote tumorigenesis by activating PI3K signaling. In a transgenic model of breast cancer, Pten suppression using a tetracycline-regulatable short hairpin (sh)RNA cooperates with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu), leading to aggressive and metastatic disease with elevated signaling through PI3K and, surprisingly, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Restoring Pten function is sufficient to down-regulate both PI3K and MAPK signaling and triggers dramatic tumor regression. Pharmacologic inhibition of MAPK signaling produces similar effects to Pten restoration, suggesting that the MAPK pathway contributes to the maintenance of advanced breast cancers harboring Pten loss.
Buying cannabis in 'coffee shops'.

ISSUES The key objective of Dutch cannabis policy is to prevent and limit the risks of cannabis consumption for users, their direct environment and society ('harm reduction'). This paper will focus on the tolerated sale of cannabis in 'coffee shops'. APPROACH We give a brief overview of Dutch policy on coffee shops, its history and recent developments. Furthermore, we present epidemiological data that may be indicative of the effects of the coffee shop policy on cannabis and other drug use. KEY FINDINGS Dutch coffee shop policy has become more restrictive in recent years and the number of coffee shops has decreased. Cannabis prevalence rates in the adult population are somewhat below the European average; the rate is relatively high among adolescents; and age of first use appears to be low. On a European level, the use of hard drugs in both the Dutch adult and adolescent population is average to low (except for ecstasy among adults). IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS International comparisons do not suggest a strong, upward effect of the coffee shop system on levels of cannabis use, although prevalence rates among Dutch adolescents give rise to concern. Furthermore, the coffee shop system appears to be successful in separating the hard and soft drugs markets. Nevertheless, in recent years, issues concerning the involvement of organised crime and the public nuisance related to drug tourism have given rise to several restrictive measures on the local level and have sparked a political debate on the reform of Dutch drug policy.
Genetic differentiation in Fomitopsis pinicola (Schwarts: Fr.) Karst studied by means of arbitrary primed‐PCR

Generic variation within and among one Finnish and three Swedish populations of Fomitopsis pinicola (Schwarts: Fr.) Karst. were studied by amplifying DNA from hap‐loid isolates originating from single spore cultures using two arbitrary primers. Analysis offspring from single fruit bodies revealed only three pairs of codominant alleles among 42 variable genetic markers, the remaining 38 segregated independently. Genetic similarity was measured in terms of Euclidean distance. Individuals in the Finnish population tended to form a distinct cluster in the principal component analysis. Variation within and among populations/regions was partitioned by Analysis of Molecular Variance — AMOVA. Within population variation accounted for 91.6% of the total genetic variation. The remaining 7.68% was accounted for by variation between the Finnish population and each of the three Swedish ones. Variation among the Swedish populations accounted for only 0.72% of the total variation. Wright's Fst was 0.17 for all four populations and 0.13 for the three Swedish populations. These relatively low values indicate that there is gene flow among all populations or that they are derived from a common ancestral population. The observed pattern of genetic variation is probably the result of effective spore dispersal and the continuous distribution of this common early successional species.
Genetic characterization of a filament-forming, lipoprotein-deficient mutant of Escherichia coli

The fam-715 allele of Escherichia coli ST715, previously described as a temperature-sensitive filament former with reduced levels of lipoprotein at the nonpermissive temperature (S. V. Torti and J. T. Park, Nature [London] 263: 323--326, 1976), was mapped at 74 min. This mutation appears to be amber. It is recessive and can be complemented by F' plasmids carrying the wild-type allele or by an F' plasmid carrying an amber suppressor. Isotopic labeling experiments as well as map position differentiate the fam-715 allele from lipoprotein structural gene mutations.
Topical nitrogen mustard in the management of mycosis fungoides: update of the Stanford experience.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate and update the response and survival outcomes and toxic effects in patients treated with topical nitrogen mustard (mechlorethamine hydrochloride) as primary therapy. DESIGN A single-center, retrospective cohort analysis. SETTING Academic referral center for cutaneous lymphoma. PATIENTS A total of 203 patients with mycosis fungoides (clinical stages I-III) treated with topical nitrogen mustard as initial therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Long-term actuarial survival, freedom-from-relapse, and freedom-from-progression results as calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS The overall response rate for the 203 patients was 83%, with a complete response rate of 50%. The median time to achieve complete response was 12 months (T1, 10 months; T2, 19 months), and the median time to relapse was 12 months. The duration of complete response increased with longer maintenance therapy; however, after completion of therapy, the response duration or relapse rate was similar regardless of maintenance regimen. Patients with T1 disease had better response and survival outcomes than those with T2 disease, with overall and complete response rates in T1 of 93% and 65%, respectively, and in T2, 72% and 34%, respectively. A similar clinical response was seen for patients with stage IIA vs IB. Sixty-eight percent of 203 patients received only topical nitrogen mustard therapy throughout their follow-up course, including most of the patients who achieved an initial complete response. The clinical response to topical nitrogen mustard as salvage therapy was similar to initial response rates. The efficacy results were similar in patients treated with aqueous vs ointment preparations. Freedom-from-progression rates in T1 disease (no progression to higher T classification or worse clinical stage) at 5 and 10 years were 92% and 85%, respectively, and in T2, 83% at 5 and 10 years. Fewer than 10% of patients experienced contact hypersensitivity reactions when topical nitrogen mustard was used as an ointment preparation. Only 8 patients (4%) developed secondary cutaneous malignancy, none attributable to topical nitrogen mustard monotherapy. Pediatric patients experienced no significant toxic effects with topical nitrogen mustard therapy. CONCLUSIONS Topical nitrogen mustard remains an effective primary initial or salvage therapy in mycosis fungoides for patients with T1 and T2 disease. Long-term follow-up results confirm its safety.
Diffraction from Frequency Selective Surfaces for secure building applications

Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) can be used to control mobile phone signal propagation both in and out of buildings. When an FSS is to be designed to be attached to a building surface, such as a window, there are two main aspects to affect its performance. The common research interest is to design FSS that can increase the specular attenuation for a range of angles and polarizations. For secure buildings applications the level of attenuation needed to stop signals propagating into a room requires the need to investigate the level of diffraction scattering from the FSS. This paper introduces research into the diffraction issues associated with FSS for secure building applications.
FIRM'S LIFE CYCLE AND OHLSON VALUATION MODEL: EVIDENCE

Ohlson prediction and valuation models Ohlson (1995) are based on firm book value, accounting profit and the assumption of "randomized, balanced and stabilized abnormal earnings". On the other hand, the significance of risk and performance indicators during the firm’s life cycle is different according to the life cycle theory. This literature represents the linkage of these indicators with the firm’s value in different life cycle stages. In this study which is aimed to review the ability to improve the Ohlson valuation model considering the firm’s life cycle variable, a sample of 110 firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange between 2003 and 2013 was selected. Using Anthony and Ramesh (1992) variables and Park and Chen (2006) methodology, the life cycle was divided into three stages and then, considering the firm’s place in the life cycle, prediction models of abnormal earnings and Ohlson firm’s valuation Ohlson (1995) were adjusted and afterward the adjusted models were compared with the initial model in two short-term and long-term estimation periods of 5 and 10 years, respectively. The results show that during both estimation periods, the adjusted model has a better performance in predicting abnormal earnings and firm’s valuation compared to the initial model. During the 10-year estimation period, the two models’ estimated values were significantly less than actual values. The probable reason for this difference is the sharp rise in the value of stocks during the final years of the period especially between 2012 and 2013.
Circular permutation of a synthetic eukaryotic chromosome with the telomerator

Significance The ability to design and build nonnative DNA sequences conferring specific and useful engineered functions on cells defines the field of synthetic biology. Here, we describe a synthetic biology device built for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The telomerator inducibly and precisely linearizes circular DNA molecules in vivo, yielding derivatives that encode functional telomeres at each end. The telomerator provides the means to engineer artificial chromosomes, typically constructed as circular molecules, because telomerator-mediated linearization permits specific positioning of genes to modulate their expression. The telomerator also provides a tool to probe spatial relationships between functional elements on chromosomes such as telomeres, centromeres, and replication origins. In the future, the telomerator may be applied to engineer artificial chromosomes in other organisms. Chromosome engineering is a major focus in the fields of systems biology, genetics, synthetic biology, and the functional analysis of genomes. Here, we describe the “telomerator,” a new synthetic biology device for use in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The telomerator is designed to inducibly convert circular DNA molecules into mitotically stable, linear chromosomes replete with functional telomeres in vivo. The telomerator cassette encodes convergent yeast telomere seed sequences flanking the I-SceI homing endonuclease recognition site in the center of an intron artificially transplanted into the URA3 selectable/counterselectable auxotrophic marker. We show that inducible expression of the homing endonuclease efficiently generates linear molecules, identified by using a simple plate-based screening method. To showcase its functionality and utility, we use the telomerator to circularly permute a synthetic yeast chromosome originally constructed as a circular molecule, synIXR, to generate 51 linear variants. Many of the derived linear chromosomes confer unexpected phenotypic properties. This finding indicates that the telomerator offers a new way to study the effects of gene placement on chromosomes (i.e., telomere proximity). However, that the majority of synIXR linear derivatives support viability highlights inherent tolerance of S. cerevisiae to changes in gene order and overall chromosome structure. The telomerator serves as an important tool to construct artificial linear chromosomes in yeast; the concept can be extended to other eukaryotes.
Mathematical Model for Motion Control of Redundant Robot Arms

Motion planning is an essential activity in executing manipulation tasks with robot arms like weld-ing, painting or simple “pick-and-place” operations. A typical requirement for such tasks is to achieve flexibil-ity of the robot arm motion similar to that of a human hand. The objective of the here proposed mathematical model is to satisfy this requirement in path planning a robot arm motion with redundant degrees of freedom. This model provides an efficient procedure for the computation of the motion in the joints that makes the end- effector motion to trace a given geometrical curve with prescribed linear and angular velocity. The novelty of the mathematical model is the clear separation of concerns related to planning the geometrical path in task space on the one hand and on the other hand, the control of motion along this path. This guiding design princi-ple is implemented through vector space methods. It enables a new insight about identifying and processing Jacobian singularities by means of the Continuity principle. The application of the model is enabled through a detailed algorithm for computing the Jacobian, equations for kinematic path control and a heuristic procedure for handling the singularities of the Jacobian. The obtained results can be extended to non- redundant robot arms.
Comparison of the safety and efficacy of loteprednol 0.5%/tobramycin 0.3% withdexamethasone 0.1%/tobramycin0.3% in the treatment of blepharokeratoconjunctivitis

ABSTRACT Objective: This study compared the safety and efficacy of loteprednol etabonate 0.5%/tobramycin 0.3% (LE/T; Zylet*) with dexamethasone 0.1%/tobramycin 0.3% (DM/T; Tobradex†) in the treatment of ocular inflammation associated with blepharokeratoconjunctivitis. Research design and methods: This was a multicenter, randomized, investigator-masked, parallel-group study. Subjects with clinically diagnosed blepharokeratoconjunctivitis in at least one eye were randomized to LE/T (n = 138) or DM/T (n = 138) administered four times per day, for 14 days. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change from baseline to Day 15 (± 1 day) in the signs and symptoms composite score using a non-inferiority metric to compare LE/T to DM/T. Safety endpoints included visual acuity (VA), biomicroscopy, intraocular pressure (IOP) assessments, and adverse events. Results: At Day 15, the mean (SD) change from baseline in the signs and symptoms composite score was −15.2 (7.3) for LE/T-treated subjects and −15.6 (7.7) for DM/T-treated subjects. The upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for the difference in change from baseline was less than the non-inferiority margin not only at Day 15 but also at Day 7 and Day 3 for both the intent-to-treat and per protocol populations. Subjects treated with DM/T experienced a significant increase in IOP versus those treated with LE/T at Day 7, Day 15, and overall (mean [SD] of 0.6 [2.3] vs, −0.1 [2.2], p = 0.03, 1.0 [3.0] vs. −0.1 [2.4], p = 0.01, and 2.3 [2.3] vs. 1.6 [1.7], p = 0.02, respectively). Conclusions: LE/T satisfied the condition of non-inferiority to DM/T in decreasing the signs and symptoms of ocular inflammation associated with blepharokeratoconjunctivitis. Subjects treated with DM/T experienced more of an increase in IOP. Limitation: Although the single-masked design of this study could be considered a limitation, care was taken to ensure that the investigator was masked.
A reversed-routing tree with self-reconfiguration for body sensor networks

This paper aims at constructing a reversed-routing tree (RRT) with self-reconfiguration for body sensor networks (BSN). There are two purposes of building the RRT: (i) to reduce packet collisions, a multi-hop tree structure is adopted to replace traditional single-hop star structure; (ii) to decrease packet loss ratio (PLR), the RRT selects the routes based on the link quality indicator (LQI). Moreover, once there is a sudden human body movement, the RRT can reconfigure itself such that a disconnected sensor node can reconnect to another parent node. However, reconfiguration time may increase if human body moves too quickly, which prevents a sensor node from reconnecting to a new parent, consequently no collected data can be forwarded. To improve the throughput degradation under fast moving body, an optimal LQI threshold and measurement interval is adequately determined.
Inorganic thin films self-assembled from lamellar TiO/sub 2/ and layered double hydroxide and their electrochemical behaviour

Inorganic thin films composed of nanoplatelets of Ni and Co containing layered double hydroxides (LDH) and exfoliated TiO2 have been fabricated onto various substrates via the electrostatic self-assembly technique. Dense coverage of the substrate surface by the nanoplatelets was visualized confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. UV-vis absorption spectroscopy provided evidence for the subsequent growth of multilayer, exhibiting progressive enhancement of the optical absorption due to exfoliated TiO2. Evolution of a Bragg peak also supported the growth of nanostructured film of TiO2/Ni(Co)Al-LDH. Cyclic voltammogram measurements revealed both reduction and oxidation peaks from the film, which are attributable to the electrochemical conversion between the different valence states of transition metals in the films.
Interaction between the TolC and AcrA Proteins of a Multidrug Efflux System of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT This paper provides the biochemical evidence for physical interactions between the outer membrane component, TolC, and the membrane fusion protein component, AcrA, of the major antibiotic efflux pump of Escherichia coli. Cross-linking between TolC and AcrA was independent of the presence of any externally added substrate of the efflux pump or of the pump protein, AcrB. The biochemical demonstration of a TolC-AcrA interaction is consistent with genetic studies in which extragenic suppressors of a mutant TolC strain were found in the acrA gene.