Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frontiers in structured illumination microscopy

At the start of this millennium, the principles of structured illumination microscopy (SIM) had been established and the concept of resolution doubling demonstrated experimentally in two dimensions. Breathtaking advances have since taken place, making SIM one of the most powerful and versatile superresolution methods available today, routinely used in the study of biochemical processes in laboratories around the world. In theory there is no inherent limit to the resolution obtainable with certain modalities of SIM, and new variants have the potential to operate at even higher speeds and sensitivity than currently realized. In this review, we focus on the very latest innovations in SIM theory and practice, which are set to continue the revolution of this method into the future. Examples include confocal implementations of the SIM principle, which can be used in combination with two-photon excitation and adaptive optics. We present recent applications of such approaches in the life sciences, which illustrate their potential to revolutionize intravital research, by providing the ability to watch life at the molecular scale, at high speeds, and deep within living organisms. A different variant makes use of standing plasmonic waves or localized surface plasmons to confer performance enhancements to 2D SIM modalities. Research on these latter techniques is in its infancy but already shows great potential for their development into powerful in vitro probes for chemical processes at solid/liquid interfaces. Physical concepts are reviewed in detail, and future directions are presented along which the field might fruitfully develop, holding promise for new discoveries on the molecular scale.
Rod Shape Determination by the Bacillus subtilis Class B Penicillin-Binding Proteins Encoded by pbpA and pbpH

ABSTRACT The peptidoglycan cell wall determines the shape and structural integrity of a bacterial cell. Class B penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) carry a transpeptidase activity that cross-links peptidoglycan strands via their peptide side chains, and some of these proteins are directly involved in cell shape determination. No Bacillus subtilis PBP with a clear role in rod shape maintenance has been identified. However, previous studies showed that during outgrowth of pbpA mutant spores, the cells grew in an ovoid shape for several hours before they recovered and took on a normal rod shape. It was postulated that another PBP, expressed later during outgrowth, was able to compensate for the lack of the pbpA product, PBP2a, and to guide the formation of a rod shape. The B. subtilis pbpH (ykuA) gene product is predicted to be a class B PBP with greatest sequence similarity to PBP2a. We found that a pbpH-lacZ fusion was expressed at very low levels in early log phase and increased in late log phase. A pbpH null mutant was indistinguishable from the wild-type, but a pbpA pbpH double mutant was nonviable. When pbpH was placed under the control of an inducible promoter in a pbpA mutant, viability was dependent on pbpH expression. Growth of this strain in the absence of inducer resulted in conversion of the cells from rods to ovoid/round shapes and lysis. We conclude that PBP2a and PbpH play redundant roles in formation of a rod-shaped peptidoglycan cell wall.
What are Investors Willing to Pay to Customize Their Investment Product?

Even though buy-and-hold (B&H) investment strategies can take the risk tolerance of an investor into account by specifying a suitable stock proportion, the outcome profiles of B&H strategies are restricted to a specific class of return distributions. For investors with particular risk preferences, further customization should thus provide additional value. The objective of this paper is to investigate the strength of preference for such customized distributions and to draw conclusions about the demand for personalized investment products. In two experimental studies, 256 participants could adjust the return distribution of an initially chosen B&H investment by using an interactive software program. Our main finding is that most investors make extensive use of the customization option and many are willing to pay a substantial fee for this additional flexibility. We further find that the willingness to pay for customization is lower if the fee is integrated into the display of the return distribution, making its impact on final returns more obvious. We also observe that investors can be clustered into distinct subgroups via their adjustment patterns, but individually elicited prospect theory parameters are barely able to explain and predict these adjustments. As a robustness check, we also survey real investors at an investors fair to compare their preferences with those of our main pool of student subjects. We find that the willingness to pay for customization is slightly lower for these real investors and the main effect of fee integration is also less pronounced. In summary, we observe a strong willingness to pay for additional flexibility even though the actual benefits of customization vary markedly according to the individual. In many cases the accepted fees are so high that standard B&H strategies stochastically dominate the customized distributions after fee integration. This paper was accepted by Peter Wakker, decision analysis.
The local structure factor near an interface; beyond extended capillary-wave models

We investigate the local structure factor S (z;q) at a free liquid–gas interface in systems with short-ranged intermolecular forces and determine the corrections to the leading-order, capillary-wave-like, Goldstone mode divergence of S (z;q) known to occur for parallel (i.e. measured along the interface) wavevectors q→0. We show from explicit solution of the inhomogeneous Ornstein–Zernike equation that for distances z far from the interface, where the profile decays exponentially, S (z;q) splits unambiguously into bulk and interfacial contributions. On each side of the interface, the interfacial contributions can be characterised by distinct liquid and gas wavevector dependent surface tensions, σ l (q) and σg (q), which are determined solely by the bulk two-body and three-body direct correlation functions. At high temperatures, the wavevector dependence simplifies and is determined almost entirely by the appropriate bulk structure factor, leading to positive rigidity coefficients. Our predictions are confirmed by explicit calculation of S (z;q) within square-gradient theory and the Sullivan model. The results for the latter predict a striking temperature dependence for σ l (q) and σg (q), and have implications for fluctuation effects. Our results account quantitatively for the findings of a recent very extensive simulation study by Höfling and Dietrich of the total structure factor in the interfacial region, in a system with a cut-off Lennard-Jones potential, in sharp contrast to extended capillary-wave models which failed completely to describe the simulation results.
A Scoping Review of the Photovoice Method: Implications for Occupational Therapy Research

Background. Photovoice is a participatory action research method combining photography and group work to give people an opportunity to record and reflect on their daily lives. Purpose. To review the use of Photovoice in health research and consider the implications for occupational therapy research. Methods. Literature review, guided by a scoping framework, reveals the purposes, rationales and populations with whom Photovoice has been used. Findings. From 351 documents retrieved, 191 original studies were surveyed; 68% were peer-reviewed. The majority of studies (76%) occurred within the public health domain and a smaller percentage (24%) with individuals experiencing a specific illness and/or disability, with very few (2%) documented in the occupational therapy literature. Implications. Photovoice provides a useful framework to apply a participant-centred research approach on occupational participation. It is important to consider and further examine ethical and methodological issues related to stigma, physical and cognitive capacities, mobility and technical accessibility related to using this method.
Effects of social-psychological factors on creative performance: the role of informational and controlling expected evaluation and modeling experience.

The impact of two social-psychological factors, expected evaluation and modeling, on creativity was investigated in a laboratory study. The controlling and informational aspects of expected evaluation were manipulated and individuals were provided no example, a standard example, or a creative example of a solution to a representative management problem. As expected, individuals had significantly higher creativity and intrinsic motivation when anticipating an informational rather than a controlling evaluation. In addition, individuals given a creative example had higher creative performance than those given no example. The lowest levels of intrinsic motivation and creativity were found when expected evaluation was of a controlling nature and a standard model was given. Additionally, we tested and found support for Cognitive Evaluation Theory's primary intervening cognitive process of locus of causality mediating the relationship between evaluation and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation was not found to mediate the relationship between evaluation and creativity, and possible explanations for this result are discussed.
La importancia de la Gestión de la Configuración del Software, en una Empresa de Desarrollo.

La Gestion de la Configuracion del Software (GCS) es un proceso de ingenieria, que indica procedimientos tecnicos para el control y mejora de la calidad del software. Los subprocesos o fases que lo conforman son: Identificacion de la Configuracion, Control de Cambios, Control de Versiones, Informes de Estado, Auditoria de la Configuracion. Cada una de las fases tiene parametros para procesos de control que buscan la integracion de las actividades relacionadas con el desarrollo del software desde las primeras fases, asignando roles y responsabilidades al personal de trabajo, para llegar a obtener un producto software de calidad; de esta manera se puede realizar un cambio o mantenimiento de una manera eficiente. Como contribucion, el presente trabajo muestra el diseno de una metodologia personalizada de GCS para una empresa, la cual fue realizada en base a un analisis comparativo entre el estandar ISO/IEC 12207, la metodologia Metrica Version 3, y el proceso RUP. Como resultado se han obtenido procesos claramente definidos para la identificacion de los elementos de configuracion, control de cambios y el control de versiones mediante herramientas software.
Bis(2,6-diaminopyridinium) tartrate monohydrate

In the title compound, 2C5H8N3 +·C4H4O6 2−·H2O, the two cations are essentially planar [maximum deviations = 0.023 (1) and 0.026 (1) Å]. In one of the cations, the protonated N atom and one of the amino group H atoms are hydrogen bonded to one of the carboxyl groups of the dianion through a pair of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming an R 2 2(8) ring motif. In the crystal structure, the tartrate anions and water molecules are linked into chains along the c axis by intermolecular O—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The cations further link the anions and water molecules into a three-dimensional extended structure by a network of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The crystal structure is also stabilized by weak intermolecular π–π interactions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.6950 (6) Å].
ATP-sensitive K 1 channel blocker glibenclamide and diaphragm fatigue during normoxia and hypoxia

Van Lunteren, Erik, Michelle Moyer, and Augusto Torres. ATP-sensitive K1 channel blocker glibenclamide and diaphragm fatigue during normoxia and hypoxia. J. Appl. Physiol. 85(2): 601–608, 1998. —The role of ATP-sensitive K1 channels in skeletal muscle contractile performance is controversial: blockers of these channels have been found to not alter, accelerate, or attenuate fatigue. The present study reexamined whether glibenclamide affects contractile performance during repetitive contraction. Experiments systematically assessed the effects of stimulation paradigm, temperature, and presence of hypoxia and in addition compared intertrain with intratrain fatigue.Adult rat diaphragm muscle strips were studied in vitro. At 37°C and normoxia, glibenclamide did not significantly affect any measure of fatigue during continuous 5or 100-Hz or intermittent 20-Hz stimulation but progressively prolonged relaxation time during 20-Hz stimulation. At 20°C and normoxia, neither force nor relaxation rate was affected significantly by glibenclamide during 20-Hz stimulation. At 37°C and hypoxia, glibenclamide did not significantly affect fatigue at 5-Hz or intertrain fatigue during 20-Hz stimulation but reduced intratrain fatigue and prolonged relaxation time during 20-Hz stimulation. These findings indicate that, although ATP-sensitive K1 channels may be activated during repetitive contraction, their activation has only a modest effect on the rate of fatigue development.
Flexible Ammonia Sensor Based on PEDOT:PSS/Silver Nanowire Composite Film for Meat Freshness Monitoring

Flexible ammonia (NH3) sensors were fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate substrate using poly(3, 4-ethylene-dioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/silver nanowire (AgNW) composite film as the active layer. With the AgNWs of optimized concentration being incorporated into the PEDOT:PSS film, the sensitivity of the devices was significantly improved. Even with simple digitally dispensed parallel structure electrodes, the device achieved excellent sensing performance, and was shown to be able to detect very low NH3 concentration below 500 ppb. The mechanism for the sensing performance improvement was revealed. The sensor also showed considerable selectivity with respect to water and common organic vapors. Finally, the sensor was integrated with a self-designed portable data acquisition system to monitor the freshness of pork, demonstrating its feasibility for inspecting the meat quality in the early stage.
Caspase‐3 Expression by Cerebellar Granule Neurons Is Regulated by Calcium and Cyclic AMP

Abstract : Caspase‐3 enzyme activity is induced, and cell death follows, when cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) from 8‐day‐old rats are transferred from an extracellular concentration of 25 mM K+ (25 mM [K+]e) to 5 mM [K+]e. Death of these neurons is diminished by an inhibitor of caspase‐3 but not by an inhibitor of caspase‐1. Actinomycin D and cycloheximide inhibit induction of caspase‐3 and prevent death. Experiments in which CGN intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was manipulated by either changing [K+]e or adding a voltage‐gated Ca2+ channel antagonist or a Ca2+ ionophore to the medium showed that caspase‐3 mRNA rises 2.5‐fold when [Ca2+]i is diminished from 300 to 150 nM, with a corresponding rise in peak caspase enzyme activity. Whereas the caspase‐3 mRNA level does not rise further with a still greater diminution in [Ca2+]i, peak caspase enzyme activity continues to increase, reaching sevenfold induction when [Ca2+]i is reduced to 55 nM. In CGNs in which [Ca2+]i is set at 55 nM by incubation in 5 mM [K+]e, treatment with forskolin or dibutyryl 3′,5′‐cyclic adenosine‐5′‐monophosphate delays caspase‐3 induction and diminishes death but does not alter [Ca2+]i. We conclude that, in immature CGNs, both caspase‐3 transcription and the subsequent processing of caspase‐3 are induced by a fall in [Ca2+]i. Elevating cyclic AMP content delays caspase‐3 induction by a mechanism that does not require an increase in [Ca2+]i.
RF Building Blocks and Entertainment SoCs for Mobile Telecommunication Platforms

Both for system-in-a-package (SiP) and systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) solutions for applications on mobile telecommunication platforms, power dissipation, size and cost are of prime importance. Advanced CMOS processes allow the introduction of intelligence on chip creating so-called smart SoCs. The vision for these "smart" SoCs is to re-use programmable resources on-chip for calibration purposes to enhance performance or reduce power consumption. After calibration these resources, e.g. FPGAs, can be re-used for normal system operation. In cheaper main-stream BiCMOS processes complete integration and smartness can be achieved by taking revolutionary choices on the architectural level. Two examples of novel RF architectures are highlighted, which resulted in the first "no-external components" FM radio and TV tuner for mobile telecommunication platforms. Both SoCs make use of resources that are generally available on mobile platforms like a reference clock and a microprocessor to make them "smart". Key RF building blocks of the entertainment SoCs are discussed in detail. In particular, a wideband LNA, high precision filters and an octave tunable quadrature oscillator
[A method for obtaining the normalized cDNA libraries based on the effect of suppression of polymerase chain reaction].

A new efficient method for obtaining cDNA libraries with equal representation of all cDNA types (equalized libraries) in a single round of equalization was developed. The method is based on differences in the renaturation kinetics of double-stranded cDNAs of different genes and allow the selection of the equalized single-stranded fraction resulted from the incomplete reassociation of the total cDNA without laborious and inefficient physical separation. The equalized single-stranded fractions are selectively amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplification of other DNA molecules is inhibited due to PCR suppression, i.e. the suppression of amplification of the DNA molecules flanked with long interval terminal repeats in PCR with a primer corresponding to the external moiety of the repeat. The efficiency of the developed method was estimated in obtaining an equalized cDNA library based on mRNA from the activated human T lymphocyte Jurkat cell line.
Electrophysiologic Changes in Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons and Behavioral Changes in a Lumbar Radiculopathy Model

Study Design. The DRG neuron was electrophysiologically investigated using a rat model with constriction of the proximal site of the DRG. Objectives. To investigate the pathomechanisms of lumbar radiculopathy, we established a rat model with constriction of the proximal site of the DRG. And to characterize the DRG neurons in the rat model of lumbar radiculopathy, the physiologic properties regarding action potential, Na+, and K+ current of the DRG neurons were analyzed through the use of patch clamp recordings. Summary of Background Data. In lumbar root constriction models, properties of secondary afferent neurons in the dorsal horn have been investigated. However, the electrical properties of DRG neuron have not been well investigated. Methods. To compare the excitability of DRG neurons between root constriction models and sham, we examined the threshold current, action potential (AP) threshold, resting membrane potential (RMP), afterhyperpolarization (AHP), action potential duration 50 (APD50), action potential amplitude, maximum rise time of AP, and pattern of discharges evoked by depolarizing current. We also examined the peak Na+ current and steady-state Na+ and K+ currents with the voltage clamp technique. Results. The rats in the root constriction group demonstrated mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. In measurement of the action potential, lower threshold current, more depolarized RMP, larger AHP, and prolonged APD50 were measured in the root constriction neurons compared with the sham group. The incidence of sustained burst was significantly higher in root constriction neurons. The Na+ current in root constriction neurons was markedly larger. There were no significant differences in K+ current density and voltage dependency. Conclusions. The constriction of lumbar root increased excitability and Na+ current amplitude of DRG neurons. These findings indicate that lumbar radicular pain may be associated with increased excitability of involved DRG neurons.
Efficacy and safety of adalimumab in Chinese adults with active ankylosing spondylitis: results of a randomised, controlled trial

Background and objectives Efficacy of adalimumab for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has been established for Western populations but not in the Chinese population. This study is the first to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adalimumab in Chinese patients with AS. Methods Chinese adults with active AS who had an inadequate response or were intolerant to ≥1 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were randomised to adalimumab 40 mg (N=229) or matching placebo (N=115) subcutaneously every other week (EOW) for 12 weeks, followed by a 12-week open-label adalimumab 40 mg EOW phase. The primary efficacy endpoint was the percentage of patients meeting the Assessment in Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS20) response criteria at week 12. The recently developed AS Disease Activity Score (ASDAS), as well as efficacy measures of spinal mobility, disease activity, physical function and quality of life were evaluated. Results At week 12, adalimumab treatment resulted in a significantly greater percentage of ASAS20 responders than placebo (67.2% versus 30.4%, respectively; p<0.001). Differences in ASAS20 were observed as early as week 2 (42.8% vs 6.1%, respectively; p<0.001). The percentages of patients achieving ASAS40, ASAS 5/6 and ASDAS inactive disease were significantly greater with adalimumab than placebo at week 12 (all p<0.001). Tuberculosis was reported in one patient. No cases of malignancy, lymphoma, demyelinating disease or lupus-like syndrome were reported during the study. Conclusions Adalimumab significantly reduced the signs and symptoms, improved physical function and quality of life of Chinese patients with active AS, and was generally safe and well tolerated in this population.
Determination of Free Fatty Acids: A Comparative Study of the Enzymatic Versus the Gas Chromatographic and the Colorimetric Method

We determined the concentration of free fatty acids in 51 plasma samples by three different methods: a gas-liquid chromatographic, a colorimetric and an enzymatic method. Values obtained by the three methods show a good correlation. The gas-liquid chromatographic method was used as the reference method. The results of the enzymatic method are about 5% too high and the colorimetric results have a bias of +27%. The coefficients of variation of the three assays are 4, 7 and 5% respectively. Storage of the samples at -18 degrees C gives no change in the total amount of free fatty acids, enzymatically determined. Because of low costs (time, reagents and apparatus), combined with a sufficient accuracy and precision, the enzymatic method for the determination of total free fatty acids is the method of choice.