Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chromosomal copy number changes in patients with non-syndromic X linked mental retardation detected by array CGH

Several studies have shown that array based comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) is a powerful tool for the detection of copy number changes in the genome of individuals with a congenital disorder. In this study, 40 patients with non-specific X linked mental retardation were analysed with full coverage, X chromosomal, bacterial artificial chromosome arrays. Copy number changes were validated by multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification as a fast method to detect duplications and deletions in patient and control DNA. This approach has the capacity to detect copy number changes as small as 100 kb. We identified three causative duplications: one family with a 7 Mb duplication in Xp22.2 and two families with a 500 kb duplication in Xq28 encompassing the MECP2 gene. In addition, we detected four regions with copy number changes that were frequently identified in our group of patients and therefore most likely represent genomic polymorphisms. These results confirm the power of array CGH as a diagnostic tool, but also emphasise the necessity to perform proper validation experiments by an independent technique.
Interventional Treatment of Traumatic Priapism

Purpose: To describe the effectiveness of transarterial embolization of traumatic priapism. Methods: Six patients ranging in age from 6 to 37 years with traumatic high-flow priapism underwent superselective embolization with gelatin sponges (n=3) or minicoils (n=3). Embolization was repeated up to 3 times. Results: Embolization was successful in all cases. In 2 patients, repeated embolization led to a flow reduction in the fistula, which spontaneously occluded a few days later. All patients experienced normal erections after intervention, and no side effects were observed. Conclusions: Transarterial superselective embolization is an effective and well-tolerated therapy in patients with traumatic priapism.
Susceptibility to Boredom and Deviant Behavior at School

The relationship between susceptibility to boredom and deviant behavior at school was examined in this study. Subjects were 483 high school students enrolled in Grades 9 through 13 in three public high schools. The significant Pearson correlation between susceptibility to boredom and deviant behavior at school for males was 0.36 and for females 0.26, corroborating the hypothesis that those who score high on Susceptibility to Boredom are more likely to engage in deviant behavior at school than those who score low.
Relational benefits in services industries: The customer’s perspective

This research examines the benefits customers receive as a result of engaging in long-term relational exchanges with service firms. Findings from two studies indicate that consumer relational benefits can be categorized into three distinct benefit types: confidence, social, and special treatment benefits. Confidence benefits are received more and rated as more important than the other relational benefits by consumers, followed by social and special treatment benefits, respectively. Responses segmented by type of service business show a consistent pattern with respect to customer rankings of benefit importance. Management implications for relational strategies and future research implications of the findings are discussed.
Have we seen all structures corresponding to short protein fragments in the Protein Data Bank? An update.

Assembling short fragments from known structures has been a widely used approach to construct novel protein structures. To what extent there exist structurally similar fragments in the database of known structures for short fragments of a novel protein is a question that is fundamental to this approach. This work addresses that question for seven-, nine- and 15-residue fragments. For each fragment size, two databases, a query database and a template database of fragments from high-quality protein structures in SCOP20 and SCOP90, respectively, were constructed. For each fragment in the query database, the template database was scanned to find the lowest r.m.s.d. fragment among non-homologous structures. For seven-residue fragments, there is a 99% probability that there exists such a fragment within 0.7 A r.m.s.d. for each loop fragment. For nine-residue fragments there is a 96% probability of a fragment within 1 A r.m.s.d. , while for 15-residue fragments there is a 91% probability of a fragment within 2 A r.m.s.d. These results, which update previous studies, show that there exists sufficient coverage to model even a novel fold using fragments from the Protein Data Bank, as the current database of known structures has increased enormously in the last few years. We have also explored the use of a grid search method for loop homology modeling and make some observations about the use of a grid search compared with a database search for the loop modeling problem.
SELF-REGULATION OF ADVERTISING IN TURKEY:THE ROLE OF CHANGING INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

It is the recognition of the advertising industry that ethics in advertising require an overall responsibility of all stakeholders of industry. There are a number of laws in many developed countries that clearly define rules and regulations in regards to placement, timing and content of the advertising. Self-regulatory organizations (SROs) also exert some regulatory authority over the industry. This study serves an important up to date analysis of these challenges, transformations, and evaluates reflections through the self-regulatory mechanism of advertising in Turkey. In order to address these challenges, our paper provides first a comprehensive review of the literature on advertising ethics and analyzes the distribution of complaints submitted to the Turkish Advertising Self Regulatory Board (TASRB). The analysis is based on a content analysis of the complaints received by TASRB among various industries over regulation codes, between the years 2006-2010. Complaints were coded for 19 industries over 26 codes for advertising practice and categorized for the complaint submitting party, as consumer or competitor. The results revealed an increase in the number of complaints. When the most complaint receiving industries; telecommunication, cosmetics/personal care, cleaning supplies, and IT were analyzed, findings reveal that complaints received by TASRB consistently placed under the codes of truthfulness, substantiation, and denigration.
Simulation of damage in materials subject to radiation by energetic ions

A three-dimensional computer simulation of the interaction of various heavy ion cosmic rays with silicon is presented. The initial ion strike is modeled by the classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) algorithm. Primary electrons produced by the CTMC code, along with their position and momenta, are entered into a nonrelativistic Monte Carlo electron transport program. Both elastic and inelastic scattering events are considered in the simulation of the secondary electron cascade. Inelastic collisions include ionization of all shells. A prediction is made of the quantity and distribution of charge generated within silicon due to the cosmic ray ion strike. <<ETX>>
EFFECT OF ALLIUM SATIVUM ON EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED HYPERLIPIDEMIA IN GUINEA PIGS

Background: Garlic (Allium sativum) is naturally occurring sulphur containing dietary agent belongs to family liliaceace. Members of this family like garlic and onions are found to have beneficial effect on atherosclerosis and ischemic heart diseases in experimental animals and humans. The objective of this study was to find out the effect of Allium sativum on experimentally induced hyperlipidemia in guinea pigs. Methods: Twenty-five guinea pigs were fed cholesterol (0.5 g/Kg body weight/day) for an initial period of 4 weeks. Cholesterol was then discontinued and the animals were divided into 3 groups. Group-I (control, n=7) was now fed normal diet with 1 ml normal saline. Group-II (n=9) was given 1 ml of aqueous extract with normal diet, and Group-III (n=9) was fed normal diet with 1 ml of alcoholic extract of garlic daily for 4 weeks. The garlic contents of both extracts were 2 g/ml. Fasting blood samples were collected at the end of 4 weeks after induced hyperlipidemia and finally at the end of the study (i.e., 8 weeks) for estimation of total serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, HDLc, LDLc, VLDLc and atherogenic index was calculated in all 3 groups. Results: The aqueous and alcoholic extracts of garlic showed a significant hypolipidemic activity as they reduced significantly serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, LDLc, VLDLc and atheriogenic index in hyperlipidemic guinea pigs (p<0.001) as compared to control group. The significant rise in HDLc was observed in group II but not in group I and III animals. On comparison between the two extracts, aqueous extract of garlic was found to be more potent hypolipidemic agent than to the alcoholic extract. Conclusion: Both extracts have hypolipidemic activity but aqueous extract of Allium sativum is more potent than alcoholic extract. Pak J Physiol 2013;9(2):38â€“40
Voltage‐gated sodium channel genes hscp and hDSC1 of Heliothis virescens F. genomic organization

We report the genomic sequence of hscp, a sodium channel α subunit gene for Heliothis virescens. A 32‐kb genomic clone and six independent RT‐PCR products covering almost the entire coding region of the gene, contained thirty‐one deduced exons with a translation of 1695 residues. Overall amino acid similarity to the para locus of Drosophila melanogaster was 86%. The transcription of the gene was complex. Alternate splicing was evident for five optional exons and a pair of mutually exclusive exons. A number of alternatively spliced mRNA revealed a deduced translation product that included only the first homology domain. We also report the first partial sequence for hDSC1, a presumed orthologous of the DSC1 sodium channel α subunit gene of D. melanogaster.
Sympathetic activation triggers endogenous opioid release and analgesia within peripheral inflamed tissue

Stress induces analgesia by mechanisms within and outside the brain. Here we show that the sympathetic nervous system is an essential trigger of intrinsic opioid analgesia within peripheral injured tissue. Noradrenaline, injected directly into inflamed hind paws of male Wistar rats, produced dose‐dependent antinociception, reversible by α1‐, α2‐ and β2‐antagonists. α1‐, α2‐ and β2‐adrenergic receptors were demonstrated on β‐endorphin‐containing immune cells and noradrenaline induced adrenergic receptor‐specific release of β‐endorphin from immune cell suspensions. This antinociceptive effect of noradrenaline was reversed by µ‐ and δ‐opioid antagonists as well as by anti‐β‐endorphin. Stress‐induced peripheral analgesia was abolished by chemical sympathectomy and by adrenergic antagonists. These findings indicate that sympathetic neuron‐derived noradrenaline stimulates adrenergic receptors on inflammatory cells to release β‐endorphin, which induces analgesia via activation of peripheral opioid receptors.
STABILITY ENHANCEMENT OF LOVASTATIN BY LIQUISOLID COMPACTION TECHNIQUE

INTRODUCTION: Tablets are a solid dosage form containing ingredients with/without suitable diluents and prepared by either by moulding or compression technique. Tablets are most widely used solid dosage forms of medicament. Because of their advantages they are most widely used day by day. Although it is, the formulation of the poorly soluble drugs for the oral delivery presents challenge to the formulation scientists. In order for a drug to be absorbed into the systemic circulation following oral administration, the drug must be dissolved into gastric fluids. For hydrophobic drugs the dissolution acts as a rate controlling step which determines the rate and extent of absorption. Thus one of the major challenges in the drug development today is poor solubility. It is estimated that 40% of the newly developed drugs show poor solubility or insoluble in water and 50% of the orally administered drugs suffer from the formulation problems related to their low solubility and high lipophilicity. Due to their poor solubility the bioavailability of the drug will also gets decreased. So to prevent this problem and to enhance the solubility the drugs are converted to nano, microparticles by decrease in their particle size. The method of increasing the dissolution rate is adsorption of the drug onto a high surface area carrier. In this technique, the drug is dissolved in an organic solvent followed by soaking of the solution by a high surface area carrier such as silica. Here the agglomeration of the drug to the carrier is prevented and due to the presence of residual solvents the usage of toxic solvents is also prevented.
The quality of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting: empirical evidence and critical points

The aim of the article is to investigate the quality of stakeholder engagement (SE) in sustainability reporting (SR). The first part analyses the role of SE in SR according to the literature: SE is a fundamental step of the reporting process because of its role in defining materiality and relevance of the information communicated. The second part of the paper is dedicated to an empirical analysis of a sample of sustainability reports. The analysis showed that what is really applied in a wide majority of the cases is a stakeholder management approach rather than an SE approach. In the light of the above, questions for the future are if SE is moving from being a simple way to consult and influence stakeholders to an effective instrument for involving them in the company's decision making, through a mutual commitment. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Design of terahertz filters using a modified bisection method

When THz filters are designed, several geometric/material parameters (variables) can affect its properties. In this context, one often meets the task of having to reconstruct a multivariable response-surface in order to determine how the different parameters affect the filter response, which often requires substantial computation time. In this work, we develop a modified bisection method to choose a set of data-points at which to perform the numerical simulations and thus decrease the computational effort of this task. We applied this method in the design and simulation of a THz metamaterial filter. Although the discussion is centered in the effect of two variables on the filter response, the proposed methodology can be extended to N variables.
Predictive current control of back-to-back converter

Three-phase current source rectifier (CSR) is becoming more popular in industry as front-end converter because its four-quadrant work and low electromagnetic interferences. However, it includes LC filter on the input side, which lowers efficiency and enhances distortions of grid currents. Impact of those disadvantages can be reduced by proper control algorithm. The purpose of this paper is to present a new predictive control strategy of the CSR providing low grid currents distortions and unity power factor. The algorithm chooses proper space vector of the rectifier according to the predicted value of the DC current and predicted value of the capacitor voltage. Proposed method is analysed for different reference values. Simulation results confirm good performance of the system, distortions are reduced and unity power factor is obtained. The method is useful in many applications, including low voltage DC loads feeding and active power filtering.
Evaluating end-user computing competency in an organizational computing environment

This study presents an evaluation model that can appraise end-user computing competency in an organizational computing environment. Through factor analysis and reliability analysis on a pilot test of 328 respondents, this study designed a 16-item evaluation model with evaluation system, procedure and method. The validity and application of the model is confirmed by applying it to a case study and presenting its results.
Recombination and the molecular clock.

Much recent work focuses on the study of sequence evolution of fast-evolving RNA-based viruses such as HIV, influenza, and foot-and-mouth disease. From both an evolutionary and an epidemiological point of view, it is of interest to know whether sequences evolve according to a molecular clock or whether evolutionary rates vary among evolutionary lineages or over time. Present phylogenetic analyses based on the likelihood ratio test (Felsenstein 1981; Huelsenbeck and Rannala 1997) often reject a molecular clock (Elena, Gonzalezcandelas, and Moya 1992; Holmes, Pybus, and Harvey 1999, Kelsey, Crandall, and Voevodin 1999), which, in turn, is often taken as evidence for rate variation caused by varying selection pressures (Holmes, Pybus, and Harvey 1999). However, many viruses readily recombine (Robertson et al. 1995; Holmes, Worobey, and Rambaut 1999; Santti et al. 1999), which implies that no single phylogenetic tree describes the genealogy of the sampled sequences. We have found that very small levels of recombination invalidate the likelihood ratio test of the molecular clock. Data sets were simulated under the coalescent model with recombination (Hudson 1983) with the scaled recombination rate r 5 4Nr, where N is the effective population size and r is the recombination rate per gene per generation. For each value of r, 1,600–2,000 replicates were used. The simulation program was written in C and can be accessed through http://www.daimi. au.dk/ ;compbio/. To mimic an average viral data set, we simulated 1,000-bp sequences evolving according to a Jukes-Cantor model of substitution with constant rate (i.e., a molecular clock) and an average distance between sequences of 20% divergence. From the simulated data sets, the maximum-likelihood values of the most likely phylogenies with and without the assumption of a molecular clock were compared using the DNAml and DNAmlk programs of PHYLIP (Felsenstein 1995), assuming the Jukes-Cantor model under which the sequences were simulated. We restricted analysis to cases in which the two methods returned the same tree topology. This was done because use of the x2 distribution for likelihood ratio tests assumes that hypotheses are nested (Huelsenbeck and Rannala 1997; Whelan and Goldman 1999). In this case, d 5 22Dln(likelihood) is approximately x2 distributed with n 2 2 degrees of free-
Estimation of antecedent wetness conditions for flood modelling in northern Morocco

In northern Morocco are located most of the dams and reservoirs of the country, while this region is affected by severe rainfall events causing floods. To improve the management of the water regulation structures, there is a need to develop rainfall–runoff models to both maximize the storage capacity and reduce the risks caused by floods. In this study, a model is developed to reproduce the flood events for a 655 km 2 catchment located upstream of the 6th largest dam in Morocco. Constrained by data availability, a standard event-based model combining a SCS-CN (Soil Conservation Service Curve Number) loss model and a Clark unit hydrograph was developed for hourly discharge simulation using 16 flood events that occurred between 1984 and 2008. The model was found satisfactory to reproduce the runoff and the temporal evolution of floods, even with limited rainfall data. Several antecedent wetness conditions estimators for the catchment were compared with the initial condition of the model. Theses estimators include an antecedent discharge index, an antecedent precipitation index and a continuous daily soil moisture accounting model (SMA), based on precipitation and evapotranspiration. The SMA model performed the best to estimate the initial conditions of the event-based hydrological model ( R 2 = 0.9). Its daily output has been compared with ASCAT and AMSR-E remote sensing data products, which were both able to reproduce with accuracy the daily simulated soil moisture dynamics at the catchment scale. This same approach could be implemented in other catchments of this region for operational purposes. The results of this study suggest that remote sensing data are potentially useful to estimate the soil moisture conditions in the case of ungauged catchments in Northern Africa.
Design and Delivery of New Product Preannouncement Messages

This study shows that the amount of message cues in the new product preannouncements influences the extent of message clarity, which in turn determines the consistency in messages. A firm is more likely to communicate more clearly new product preannouncement messages with more cues for a strongly branded product. If the product is newer, the firm would tend to convey less uniform messages. Large firms are more likely to convey more abundant and ambiguous messages. Market-oriented firms are more likely to deliver consistent messages with sufficient cues. Firms in technologically turbulent environments are less likely to consistently unveil new product-related messages, while those operating in markets subjected to network externalities tend to send abundant message content.
Pronominal Anaphora in Machine Translation Master Thesis of

State-of-the-art machine translation systems use strong assumptions of independence. Following these assumptions language is split into small segments such as sentences and phrases which are translated independently. Natural language, however, is not independent: many concepts depend on context. One such case is reference introduced by pronominal anaphora. In pronominal anaphora a pronoun word (anaphor) refers to a concept mentioned earlier in the text (antecedent). This type of reference can refer to something in the same sentence, but it can also span many sentences. Pronominal anaphora pose a challenge for translators since the anaphor has to fulfil some grammatical agreement with the antecedent. This means that the reference has to be detected in the source text before translation and the translator needs to ensure that this reference still holds true in the translation. The independence assumptions of current machine translation systems do not allow for this. We study pronominal anaphora in two tasks of English–German machine translation. We analyse occurrence of pronominal anaphora and their current translation performance. In this analysis we find that the implicit handling of pronominal anaphora in our baseline translation system is not sufficient. Therefore we develop four approaches to handle pronominal anaphora explicitly. Two of these approaches are based on post-processing. In the first one we correct pronouns directly and in the second one we select a hypothesis with correct pronouns from the translation system’s n-best list. Both of these approaches improve the translation accuracy of the pronouns but hardly change the translation quality measured in BLEU. The other two approaches predict translations of pronoun words and can be used in the decoder. The Discriminative Word Lexicon (DWL) predicts the probability of a target word to be used in the translation and the Source DWL (SDWL) directly predicts the translation of a source language pronoun. However, these predictions do not improve the quality already achieved by the translation system.