Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epigenetics in Health and Disease Modern approaches for investigating epigenetic signaling pathways

Evertts AG, Zee BM, Garcia BA. Modern approaches for investigating epigenetic signaling pathways. J Appl Physiol 109: 927–933, 2010. First published January 28, 2010; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00007. 2010. —Epigenetics is increasingly being recognized as a central component of physiological processes as diverse as obesity and circadian rhythms. Primarily acting through DNA methylation and histone posttranslational modifications, epigenetic pathways enable both shortand long-term transcriptional activation and silencing, independently of the underlying genetic sequence. To more quantitatively study the molecular basis of epigenetic regulation in physiological processes, the present review informs the latest techniques to identify and compare novel DNA methylation marks and combinatorial histone modifications across different experimental conditions, and to localize both DNA methylation and histone modifications over specific genomic regions.
Carbachol‐induced oscillations in membrane potential and [Ca2+]i in guinea‐pig ileal smooth muscle cells

1 Cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and membrane potential were simultaneously recorded from single smooth muscle cells of guinea‐pig ileum, using a combination of nystatin‐perforated patch clamp and fura‐2 fluorimetry techniques. 2 Carbachol (CCh, 2 μM) produced oscillatory changes in [Ca2+]i and membrane potential which coincided well in time with each other, and peaks of membrane potential oscillations reached a saturated level of around −7 mV. Thapsigargin (1 μM) abolished these effects of 2 μM CCh. La3+ (3 μM) immediately prevented the discharge of spike potentials, but allowed both on‐going oscillatory responses to persist for a while. 3 CCh (0.25‐0.75 μM) caused membrane potential and [Ca2+]i to oscillate in some 20 % of cells studied. Every membrane potential oscillation was preceded by the discharge of single or multiple spike potentials. The effects of CCh were readily abolished by La3+ (3 μM). 4 In cells exhibiting no oscillatory response to 0.25‐0.75 μM CCh, an electrically evoked action potential usually generated changes in [Ca2+]i and membrane potential similar to those following spontaneously evoked action potentials, and sometimes it did so only after [Ca2+]i or InsP3 had been slightly elevated by repeatedly evoking action potentials or by increasing CCh concentration in the bath medium. 5 The results suggest that in ileal smooth muscle cells, the oscillations of [Ca2+]i and membrane potential arising from muscarinic stimulation result from release of Ca2+ from internal stores and that there is a Ca2+‐induced potentiation of coincidently elicited cation channel openings. Under weak muscarinic stimulation, Ca2+ entry upon action potential discharge can trigger such a release of stored Ca2+, resulting in synchronous generation of a large rise in [Ca2+]i and a slow, large membrane depolarization.
Overexpression of an ADP-ribosylation Factor-Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor, BIG2, Uncouples Brefeldin A-induced Adaptor Protein-1 Coat Dissociation and Membrane Tubulation*

BIG2 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTPases, which regulate membrane association of COPI and adaptor protein (AP)-1 coat protein complexes. A fungal metabolite, brefeldin A (BFA), inhibits ARF-GEFs and leads to redistribution of coat proteins from membranes to the cytoplasm and membrane tubulation of the Golgi complex and the trans-Golgi network (TGN). To investigate the function of BIG2, we examined the effects of BIG2-overexpression on the BFA-induced redistribution of ARF, coat proteins, and organelle markers. The BIG2 overexpression blocked BFA-induced redistribution from membranes of ARF1 and the AP-1 complex but not that of the COPI complex. These observations indicate that BIG2 is implicated in membrane association of AP-1, but not that of COPI, through activating ARF. Furthermore, not only BIG2 but also ARF1 and AP-1 were found as queues of spherical swellings along the BFA-induced membrane tubules emanating from the TGN. These observations indicate that BFA-induced AP-1 dissociation from TGN membranes and tubulation of TGN membranes are not coupled events and suggest that a BFA target other than ARF-GEFs exists in the cell.
Physiology of the fuel ethanol strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae PE-2 at low pH indicates a context-dependent performance relevant for industrial applications.

Selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains are used in Brazil to produce the hitherto most energetically efficient first-generation fuel ethanol. Although genome and some transcriptome data are available for some of these strains, quantitative physiological data are lacking. This study investigates the physiology of S. cerevisiae strain PE-2, widely used in the Brazilian fuel ethanol industry, in comparison with CEN.PK113-7D, a reference laboratory strain, focusing on tolerance to low pH and acetic acid stress. Both strains were grown in anaerobic bioreactors, operated as batch, chemostat or dynamic continuous cultures. Despite their different backgrounds, biomass and product formation by the two strains were similar under a range of conditions (pH 5 or pH < 3, with or without 105 mM acetic acid added). PE-2 displayed a remarkably higher fitness than CEN.PK113-7D during batch cultivation on complex Yeast extract - Peptone - Dextrose medium at low pH (2.7). Kinetics of viability loss of non-growing cells, incubated at pH 1.5, indicated a superior survival of glucose-depleted PE-2 cells, when compared with either CEN.PK113-7D or a commercial bakers' strain. These results indicate that the sulfuric acid washing step, used in the fuel ethanol industry to decrease bacterial contamination due to non-aseptic operation, might have exerted an important selective pressure on the microbial populations present in such environments.
A study of a noninvasive method for measuring central venous pressure during general anesthesia.

Central venous pressure (CVP) monitoring is indicated in major surgery in which massive bleeding or left ventricular failure may occur. The methods of CVP monitoring by direct catheterization may not only be associated with complications, but they may also be contraindicated or difficult if not impossible (1). The present study evaluated the validity of noninvasive CVP monitoring combining a Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter with measurement of intrapleural pressure as reflected in either airway pressure or esophageal pressure during general anesthesia in artificially ventilated patients in the supine position.
SUCCESSION ISSUES WITHIN FAMILY ENTERPRISES IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES

In countries with a long history of entrepreneurship and market economy, significant research efforts have been devoted to family business succession. Such studies are rare in former communist countries, mainly because private enterprises were outlawed during the socialist economy era. Considering reports on the importance and complexity of succession issues, and taking into account the ageing of owners-managers of family enterprises, it is expected that an increasing number of family enterprises are going to face succession problems in transition countries in the near future. This paper reports on the rebirth of family enterprises in transition countries, and on results of a survey among 350 Slovenian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Family enterprises are still controlled mainly by the founding generation with no succession experiences, no role-models, and almost no possibility of sharing succession experiences with others, since the majority of their colleagues’ owners-managers are the founders (not successors). Besides raising owners-managers’ awareness, also providing information on support available for facilitating business transfers, offering special training programs on business transfers, including succession topics in study programs, special counseling on business transfers, and the creation of a business sellers and buyers database/market place are urgently needed in transition economies.
Cryptographic coprocessor for data integrity algorithms

In cryptography, for message/data integrity assurances, that are vital for a security product, are used Hash functions. The Hash algorithm is based on a one-way-function that maps an arbitrary-length data to a fixed-length output. This paper will present the usage of the newest hash algorithm SHA-3 - Keccak into an electronic module based on FPGA. This will work, along with an ARM Cortex-A9 microprocessor, as a cryptographic coprocessor. The implemented hardware solution significantly increased the computational speed of the signal data processing.
Crystal structure of human SH3BGRL protein: The first structure of the human SH3BGR family representing a novel class of thioredoxin fold proteins

Introduction. The humanSH3BGRL (h-SH3BGRL) gene is a member of the human SH3BGR family. The human SH3BGR (SH3 binding glutamic acid-rich) gene was cloned and characterized in 1997 in an effort to identify new genes located to chromosome 21. After the characterization of SH3BGR, three novel human genes, h-SH3BGRL, h-SH3BGRL2, and h-SH3BGRL3, were identified, showing a high homology to the N-terminal region of the h-SH3BGR protein. They are therefore believed to be a new family of human gene, the h-SH3BGR gene family. The h-SH3BGRL gene located to chromosome Xq13.3 encodes for a small protein of 114 amino acids, which is apparently widely expressed in many tissues including liver and blood. The h-SH3BGRLprotein features a prolinerich sequence (PLPPQIF), which contains both the SH3 binding (PXXP) and the Homer EVH1 binding (PPXXF) motif. This proline-rich region is highly conserved in h-SH3BGR family and was expected to be functionally important. Although it is known that the SH3BGRL gene is missing in a mentally retarded male patient, the exact functional role of h-SH3BGRL is still needed to be defined. Here we report the crystal structure of h-SH3BGRL protein determined by the SIRAS method. The structure indicates that SH3BGRL can not bind to the SH3 or Homer EVH1 domain as previously expected due to our finding that the binding motif (PLPPQIF) is buried in the tertiary structure. As the first structure of the human SH3BGR protein family, the tertiary structure of h-SH3BGRL shows a typical thioredoxin fold at the Nterminal part and a helix-loop-helix motif at the Cterminal lobe. Sequence and structure comparisons show that h-SH3BGRL belongs to the thioredoxin fold protein family but it is distinct from all five classes of the thioredoxin fold proteins identified thus far. According to the unique structural and functional characterizations, h-SH3BGRL represents a novel class of the thioredoxin fold proteins.
4-Cycle Free LDPC Codes Based on Difference Sets

Difference sets are used to give a novel method for constructing structured regular quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check codes. Let F<sub>q</sub> be a field with q elements and assume that D={d<sub>1</sub>,. , d<sub>k</sub>} is a (v,k,1)-difference set for Z<sub>v</sub> with d<sub>1</sub><;d<sub>2</sub><;. <;d<sub>k</sub>. Depending on v=q-1, v≥ 2d<sub>k</sub> or v≥ 2d<sub>k-1</sub>, three code construction methods are given that produce regular 4-cycle free codes, that is codes with girth at least 6. Simulation results show that the constructed codes perform well over the AWGN channel with an iterative sum-product message-passing decoding algorithm.
Cre/lox recombination in the lower urinary tract

Tbx18 is a T‐Box transcription factor that has specific expression and indispensible function in the lower urinary tract. Here, we report the generation and characterization of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgene expressing Cre under the control of Tbx18 regulatory elements. When crossed to the ROSA26R‐lacZ reporter mice, the Tbx18‐Cre transgene mediates loxP recombination in the mesenchymal derivatives in the lower urinary tract, especially in the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and the stromal cells. There is no expression of this transgene in the urothelium or in the kidney. This Tbx18‐Cre transgene recapitulates the endogenous Tbx18 expression in the urinary system and can be used for the study of the development, physiology, and diseases in the urinary tract. Its additional expression in the epicardium, limb, vibrissae, and other structures would be useful for studies in the relevant fields. genesis 47:409–413, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
M-Payments Issues and Concepts

The paper has four sections. First section has an intro for the mobile payments requirements for a reliable service. Second section shows types and models of mobile payment service but not taking into account the service patterns and the electronic money systems. In section three as a case study is shown an author solution may be improved taking into account the security and ergonomic issues presented in the first two sections. The last section presents a summary of technologies available for improvement of the mobile payment services.
Blind single channel deconvolution using nonstationary signal processing

Blind deconvolution is fundamental in signal processing applications and, in particular, the single channel case remains a challenging and formidable problem. This paper considers single channel blind deconvolution in the case where the degraded observed signal may be modeled as the convolution of a nonstationary source signal with a stationary distortion operator. The important feature that the source is nonstationary while the channel is stationary facilitates the unambiguous identification of either the source or channel, and deconvolution is possible, whereas if the source and channel are both stationary, identification is ambiguous. The parameters for the channel are estimated by modeling the source as a time-varyng AR process and the distortion by an all-pole filter, and using the Bayesian framework for parameter estimation. This estimate can then be used to deconvolve the observed signal. In contrast to the classical histogram approach for estimating the channel poles, where the technique merely relies on the fact that the channel is actually stationary rather than modeling it as so, the proposed Bayesian method does take account for the channel's stationarity in the model and, consequently, is more robust. The properties of this model are investigated, and the advantage of utilizing the nonstationarity of a system rather than considering it as a curse is discussed.
Evolving Readable Perl

A program is informally deemed readable, for the purpose of this experiment, if it is easy for a person to follow the steps that the program takes to solve the problem. In this experiment, readability is achieved by constraining the available syntax for generating solutions. The Genetic Programming (GP) system created uses the target language Perl because it is an interpreted, untyped, robust procedural language which has good error handling and recovery.
TRANSMISSION CHANNEL AND EFFECTIVENESS OF DUAL MONETARY POLICY IN INDONESIA

This paper investigates the transmission mechanism of dual monetary system from conventional and Islamic policy rates to inflation and output. We apply Granger Causality and VAR methods on monthly data of Indonesian banking, during the period of January 2003 to December 2009. The result shows that conventional policy rate is transmitted to output and inflation, while Islamic policy rate are not. In addition, the shock of conventional interest rate, credit and interbank rate give a negative and permanent impacts on inflation and output, except for SBI (Certificate of Bank Indonesia) with positive impact to inflation though negatively affect the output. On the other hand, the shock of PLS, financing and Islamic interbank PLS, as well as SBIS (Central Bank Shariah Certificate) give positive and permanent impacts on inflation and output. Keywords : Monetary transmission mechanism, Interest rate pass through, Conventional Banking, Islamic Banking JEL Classification : E43, E52, G21, G28
Oligomerization Is Required for p53 to be Efficiently Ubiquitinated by MDM2*

Wild-type p53 is degraded in part through the ubiquitin proteolysis pathway. Recent studies indicate that MDM2 can bind p53 and promote its rapid degradation although the molecular basis for this degradation has not been clarified. This report demonstrates that MDM2 can promote the ubiquitination of wild-type p53 and cancer-derived p53 mutants in transiently transfected cells. Deletion mutants that disrupted the oligomerization domain of p53 displayed low binding affinity for MDM2 and were poor substrates for ubiquitination. However, efficient MDM2 binding and ubiquitination were restored when an oligomerization-deficient p53 mutant was fused to the dimerization domain from another protein. These results indicate that oligomerization is required for p53 to efficiently bind and be ubiquitinated by MDM2. p53 ubiquitination was inhibited in cells exposed to UV radiation, and this inhibition coincided with a decrease in MDM2 protein levels and p53·MDM2 complex formation. In contrast, p53 dimerization was unaffected following UV treatment. These results suggest that UV radiation may stabilize p53 by blocking the ubiquitination and degradation of p53 mediated by MDM2.
The Gerasene Exorcism and Jesus’ Eschatological Expulsion of Cosmic Powers: Echoes of Second Temple Scapegoat Traditions in Mark 5.1-20

In this article, I argue that ancient expulsion rites and early Jewish scapegoat traditions have inﬂuenced the composition of Mk 5.1-20. These rites and traditions inform Mark’s portrayal of Jesus’ transfer of the demons into the swine and their disposal into the sea, which heals the Gentile man. Jesus’ scapegoat-like expulsion of Legion signals God’s banishment of hostile spiritual powers from their positions of authority over the nations and augurs God’s kingdom reign, in which Gentiles are released from bondage to cosmic forces, and their earthly counterparts, cleansed and welcomed into the family of God.
AGaR: A VR Serious Game to Support the Recovery of Post-Stroke Patients

Games can make training procedures more engaging for patients. Considering the complexity of the process for upper limb function rehabilitation, this paper presents the development and an initial evaluation of the AGaR &#x2013; a serious game with virtual reality and natural interaction, both to aid patients to execute repetitive exercises and to aid physiotherapists to follow the rehabilitation process. Additionally, we obtain and analyze data about patients' engagement as a differential in relation to others games developed for similar goals. In this game, the patient has to associate two different images with complementary meanings, using a movement sensor to drag the image to the target. To evaluate the game, an initial experiment was conducted with patients. The results show that, within the rounds played by the participants of the experiment, the number of wrong associations made by them varies according to patient, with no standard found. The engagement tends to increase during use of the game, throughout the rounds.
Modélisation multi-échelle des instabilités à l'aide d'une formulation tridimensionnelle de coque mince

Nous proposons dans cet article une approche multi-echelle dans le cadre de l'homogenei-sation numerique des structures minces. Dans la methode proposee, la solution des problemes a conditions aux limites au niveau de la microstructure permet de construire un milieu continu equivalent, que l'on modelise par l'utilisation d'un element de coque tridimensionnelle. La precision de la methode est etudiee en prenant pour reference des modeles complets en presence de grands deplacements et de grandes rotations, pour lesquels toutes les heterogeneites sont maillees.
An active gate drive circuit for high power inverter system to reduce turn-off spike voltage of IGBT

This paper presents a new gate drive method for high power IGBT to reduce the turn-off spike voltage which is appeared between collector and emitter. In the power circuit of inverter, there is a commutation loop stray inductance between the dc-link capacitors and IGBTs. It affects the turn-off spike voltage of IGBT. In general, snubber circuits are used to control the spike voltage but they are consists of passive components result in the limitation to reduce the spike voltage. In this paper, a new active method is proposed and based on the saturation voltage characteristics of IGBT which is related with collector current and collector-emitter voltage. In order to reduce the spike voltage, gate current is controlled in the active region during the turn-off. The proposed method is implemented with 220 kW inverter and verified by the experimental results.
Serum immunoglobulin A/C3 ratio predicts progression of immunoglobulin A nephropathy

The serum immunoglobulin A (IgA)/C3 ratio has been shown to be a good predictor of histological lesions and prognosis for patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) in Japanese. But its validity in the Chinese population is unclear. We sought to explore the long‐term outcomes of IgAN, its clinical and histopathological predictors in Chinese patients. In particular, the role of serum IgA/C3 ratio in the course of IgAN was addressed.
A novel regulatory role of HrpD6 in regulating hrp-hrc-hpa genes in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola.

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, the causal agent of bacterial leaf streak in the model plant rice, possesses a hypersensitive response and pathogenicity (hrp), hrp-conserved (hrc), hrp-associated (hpa) cluster (hrp-hrc-hpa) that encodes a type III secretion system (T3SS) through which T3SS effectors are injected into host cells to cause disease or trigger plant defenses. Mutations in this cluster usually abolish the bacterial ability to cause hypersensitive response in nonhost tobacco and pathogenicity in host rice. In Xanthomonas spp. , these genes are generally assumed to be regulated by the key master regulators HrpG and HrpX. However, we present evidence that, apart from HrpG and HrpX, HrpD6 is also involved in regulating the expression of hrp genes. Interestingly, the expression of hpa2, hpa1, hpaB, hrcC, and hrcT is positively controlled by HrpD6. Transcriptional expression assays demonstrated that the expression of the hrcC, hrpD5, hrpE, and hpa3 genes was not completely abolished by hrpG and hrpX mutations. As observed in analysis of their corresponding mutants, HrpG and HrpX exhibit contrasting gene regulation, particularly for hpa2 and hrcT. Other two-component system regulators (Zur, LrpX, ColR/S, and Trh) did not completely inhibit the expression of hrcC, hrpD5, hrpE, and hpa3. Immunoblotting assays showed that the secretion of HrpF, which is an HpaB-independent translocator, is not affected by the mutation in hrpD6. However, the mutation in hrpD6 affects the secretion of an HpaB-dependent TAL effector, AvrXa27. These novel findings suggest that, apart from HrpG and HrpX, HrpD6 plays important roles not only in the regulation of hrp genes but also in the secretion of TAL effectors.
The EGEE-II Project: Evolution Towards a Permanent European Grid Initiative

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE represents the worlds' largest multidisciplinary grid infrastructure today. Co-funded by the European Commission, it brings together more than 90 partners in 32 countries to produce a reliable and scalable computing resource available to the European and global research community. At present, it consists of more than 200 sites in over 40 countries and makes more than 35,000 CPUs available to users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This article provides an overview of EGEE, its infrastructure, middleware, applications and support structures. From this experience, the current state of future plans will be explained, which is summarized under the term European Grid Initiative (EGI), and represents an emerging federated model for sustainable future grid infrastructures.