Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitric oxide is inactivated by the bacterial pigment pyocyanin.

Pyocyanin is a phenazine pigment produced by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and found in human lung secretions. Micromolar concentrations of pyocyanin inhibited the bioactivity of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) generated from bovine pulmonary-artery endothelium in response to bradykinin. This inhibition was reversed by perfusing the EDRF-bioassay system with pyocyanin-free buffer for 15 min, but persisted in the presence of superoxide dismutase (20 units/ml). When nitric oxide, the major component of EDRF, was passed into an aqueous solution of pyocyanin in the absence of O2, a rapid colour change occurred from blue to pink; m.s. analysis of the products showed that the pyocyanin had been converted into a nitrosylated species.
Substrate specificity of an elongation‐specific peptidoglycan endopeptidase and its implications for cell wall architecture and growth of Vibrio cholerae

The bacterial cell wall consists of peptidoglycan (PG), a sturdy mesh of glycan strands cross‐linked by short peptides. This rigid structure constrains cell shape and size, yet is sufficiently dynamic to accommodate insertion of newly synthesized PG, which was long hypothesized, and recently demonstrated, to require cleavage of the covalent peptide cross‐links that couple previously inserted material. Here, we identify several genes in Vibrio cholerae that collectively are required for growth – particularly elongation – of this pathogen. V. cholerae encodes three putative periplasmic proteins, here denoted ShyA, ShyB, and ShyC, that contain both PG binding and M23 family peptidase domains. While none is essential individually, the absence of both ShyA and ShyC results in synthetic lethality, while the absence of ShyA and ShyB causes a significant growth deficiency. ShyA is a D,d‐endopeptidase able to cleave most peptide chain cross‐links in V. cholerae's PG. PG from a ∆shyA mutant has decreased average chain length, suggesting that ShyA may promote removal of short PG strands. Unexpectedly, ShyA has little activity against muropeptides containing pentapeptides, which typically characterize newly synthesized material. ShyA's substrate‐dependent activity may contribute to selection of cleavage sites in PG, whose implications for the process of side‐wall growth are discussed.
Immunohistochemical Correlation of Novel Biomarkers with Neurodegeneration in Rat Models of Brain Injury

Immunohistochemistry is an important technique used to visualize specific changes in tissues as part of both normal development and pathological conditions. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) combines antibody specificity with high resolution imaging techniques which, together, can provide reliable visual evidence of presumed physiological processes. The technique is amenable to rigorous experimental design. In controlled settings, with the appropriate constraints, and image acquisition settings, data obtained becomes reliable, quantifiable and reproducible. Through the numerous past and current explorations of IHC, novel, antibody-based, ‘point of care’ diagnostics as well as antibodybased therapeutics will and are becoming a valuable tool for clinicians and researchers. A field that really craves such new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies is that of traumatic brain injury.
The link between perceptions about the balanced scorecard approach and company performance an empirical study

This empirical research paper investigates the relationship between perceptions by an organisation's employees (the users of the BSC) about the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach and the financial performance of the company measured in terms of return on equity, return on total assets and profit margin on sales. Although the results do not provide support for all the perception variables used in the study, analysis of the data shows a positive relationship between perceptions of the use of the BSC and company performance. More investigation is needed in different settings, for example, in manufacturing or service industries, before the results can be generalised. Also, because of the sample size and the fact that only financial performance measures were considered, the study could be considered limited. Future research may be carried out on strategically linked long-term value creation using the BSC, specifically focusing on the motivational factors for the employees, who use and implement the BSC.
Early detection of isolated memory deficits in the elderly: the need for more sensitive neuropsychological tests

Background. Early detection of cognitive decline in the elderly is important because this may precede progression to Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this study was to see whether sensitive neuropsychological tests could identify pre-clinical cognitive deficits and to characterize the cognitive profile of a subgroup with poor memory. Methods. A neuropsychological test battery was administered to a community-dwelling sample of 155 elderly volunteers who were screened with CAMCOG at enrolment (mean age 74·7 years). The battery included tests of episodic memory, semantic and working memory, language and processing speed. Results. Episodic memory test z scores below 1 S.D. from the cohort mean identified 25 subjects with ‘non-robust’ memory performance. This group was compared to the remaining ‘robust memory’ group with a General Linear Model controlling for age, IQ, education and gender. Test performance was significantly different in all tests for episodic and semantic memory, but not in tests for working memory, processing speed and language. CANTAB paired associates learning and spatial recognition tests identified the highest percentages of those in the ‘non-robust memory’ group. Processing speed partialled out the age effect on memory performance for the whole cohort, but the ‘non-robust memory’ group's performance was not associated with age or processing speed. Conclusions. Sensitive neuropsychological tests can detect performance below the norm in elderly people whose performance on MMSE and CAMCOG tests is well within the normal range. Age-related decline in memory performance in a cohort of the elderly may be largely due to inclusion within the cohort of individuals with undetected pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease or isolated memory impairment.
Embryonic inner ear cells use migratory mechanisms to establish cell patterns in vitro

The hair cells of the sensory epithelium in the inner ear are among the most precisely organized cells in vertebrates. The mechanisms that lead to this orderly arrangement are only beginning to be understood. It has been suggested that hair cells use migratory mechanisms to help achieve their final position in the organ of Corti. The small size and complex organization of the intact inner ear have made it difficult to monitor changes in hair cell location over time in vivo. In the present study, an established in vitro assay of dissociated, embryonic inner ear cells was used to monitor how hair cells reorganize over time. The hair cell specific marker myosin‐VI demonstrated that hair cell precursors from both cochlear and vestibular regions reorganized into specific patterns between 3–24 hr in vitro. In contrast to the unlabeled cells, the myosin‐VI‐positive cells extended processes while establishing the hair cell patterning within an aggregate. These studies support the hypothesis that hair cell precursors actively migrate to help achieve final patterning within the inner ear sensory epithelium. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Similarity and Dissimilarity in Treebank Grammars

To uncover rules in a treebank grammar which are of dubious quality, we investigate two methods for detecting problematic structures, both based on the same notion of similarity. The first is based on the notion that similar rules should receive the same annotation. The second is based on the idea that rules which are dissimilar to other rules are likely problematic. We show these two methods to be effective in detecting erroneous rules, rules used for ungrammatical or otherwise non-standard constructions, and rules which reveal non-uniform decisions made in the annotation scheme.
Male-Specific Cardiac Dysfunction in CTP:Phosphoethanolamine Cytidylyltransferase (Pcyt2)-Deficient Mice

ABSTRACT Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is the most abundant inner membrane phospholipid. PE synthesis from ethanolamine and diacylglycerol is regulated primarily by CTP:phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase (Pcyt2). Pcyt2+/− mice have reduced PE synthesis and, as a consequence, perturbed glucose and fatty acid metabolism, which gradually leads to the development of hyperlipidemia, obesity, and insulin resistance. Glucose and fatty acid uptake and the corresponding transporters Glut4 and Cd36 are similarly impaired in male and female Pcyt2+/− hearts. These mice also have similarly reduced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt1 signaling and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the heart. However, only Pcyt2+/− males develop hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy. Pcyt2+/− males have upregulated heart AceI expression, heart phospholipids enriched in arachidonic acid and other n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and dramatically increased ROS production in the aorta. In contrast, Pcyt2+/− females have unmodified heart phospholipids but have reduced heart triglyceride levels and altered expression of the structural genes Acta (low) and Myh7 (high). These changes together protect Pcyt2+/− females from cardiac dysfunction under conditions of reduced glucose and fatty acid uptake and heart insulin resistance. Our data identify Pcyt2 and membrane PE biogenesis as important determinants of gender-specific differences in cardiac lipids and heart function.
DSC: Scheduling Parallel Tasks on an Unbounded Number of Processors

We present a low-complexity heuristic, named the dominant sequence clustering algorithm (DSC), for scheduling parallel tasks on an unbounded number of completely connected processors. The performance of DSC is on average, comparable to, or even better than, other higher-complexity algorithms. We assume no task duplication and nonzero communication overhead between processors. Finding the optimum solution for arbitrary directed acyclic task graphs (DAG's) is NP-complete. DSC finds optimal schedules for special classes of DAG's, such as fork, join, coarse-grain trees, and some fine-grain trees. It guarantees a performance within a factor of 2 of the optimum for general coarse-grain DAG's. We compare DSC with three higher-complexity general scheduling algorithms: the ETF by J.J. Hwang, Y.C. Chow, F.D. Anger, and C.Y. Lee (1989); V. Sarkar's (1989) clustering algorithm; and the MD by M.Y. Wu and D. Gajski (1990). We also give a sample of important practical applications where DSC has been found useful. >
Nanosheet controlled epitaxial growth of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 thin films on glass substrates

Integration of PbZr0.52Ti0. 48O3 (PZT) films on glass substrates is of high importance for device applications. However, to make use of the superior ferro- and piezoelectric properties of PZT, well-oriented crystalline or epitaxial growth with control of the crystal orientation is a prerequisite. In this article, we report on epitaxial growth of PZT films with (100)- and (110)-orientation achieved by utilizing Ca2Nb3O10 (CNO) and Ti0.87O2 (TO) nanosheets as crystalline buffer layers. Fatigue measurements demonstrated stable ferroelectric properties of these films up to 5 × 109 cycles. (100)-oriented PZT films on CNO nanosheets show a large remnant polarization of 21 μC/cm2 that is the highest remnant polarization value compared to (110)-oriented and polycrystalline films reported in this work. A piezoelectric response of 98 pm/V is observed for (100)-oriented PZT film which is higher than the values reported in the literature on Si substrates.
Reliable change and practice effects: Outcomes of various indices compared

In this article the outcomes of three indices for the assessment of reliable change (RCIs) are compared: the null hypothesis method of Chelune, Naugle, Lüders, Sedlak, and Awad (1993), the regression-based method of McSweeny, Naugle, Chelune, and Lüders (1993), and a recently proposed adjustment to the latter procedure (Maassen, 2003). Simulated data demonstrated the importance of using large control samples. The regression-based method proved to be the most lenient in designating individuals as reliably changed, resulting in the most correct and the most incorrect designations. The adjusted procedure resulted in fewer correct designations and the lowest numbers of incorrect designations. Real-world data showed the same patterns.
Day-ahead scheduling of a photovoltaic plant by the energy management of a storage system

The paper discusses and describes a system for energy management of a 10 kW PV plant coupled with a 15 kW-190 kWh storage system. The overall idea is, by knowing the meteorological forecast for the next 24h, to dispatch the PV system and to be able to grant the scheduled hourly energy profile by a proper management of the storage. Due to forecast inaccuracies, the energy manager controls the storage in order to ensure that the plan for hourly energy production is respected, minimizing the storage itself usage. The experimental study is carried out in SYSLAB, a distributed power system test facility at DTU Riso Campus and part of PowerLabDK. Both the PV and the storage are connected to the local network and are fully controllable through the SCADA system. The control management and the models are implemented in Matlab-Simulink, which can be interfaced with SYSLAB.
A Randomized, 1-Year Follow-up Study of Olanzapine and Risperidone in the Treatment of Negative Symptoms in Outpatients with Schizophrenia

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of olanzapine compared with risperidone in negative symptoms, after 1 year of treatment, in schizophrenic outpatients with prominent negative symptoms. Methods: This was a multicenter, randomized, monitored, open-label, parallel, dose-flexible, 1-year study of outpatients with schizophrenia (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria) with prominent negative symptoms (Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS] summary score >10) previously treated with conventional antipsychotics. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with an initial dose of olanzapine 10 mg/d or more (n = 120) or risperidone 3 mg/d or more (n = 115). The primary efficacy measure was the SANS summary score. Secondary efficacy measures included Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, Clinical Global Impression of Severity Scale, Calgary Depression Scale, and Social Functioning Scale. The response rate was defined as 30% or more of improvement in the SANS summary score. Results: The mean dose throughout the study was 12.2 mg/d (±5.8 mg/d) for olanzapine and 4.9 mg/d (±2.0 mg/d) for risperidone. At 1 year, olanzapine patients showed significantly higher improvement than risperidone patients on the SANS summary (P = 0.015) and on the affective flattening (P = 0.007) and avolition/apathy (P = 0.028) SANS subscales. There were also significant improvements in favor of olanzapine in the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms summary (P = 0.021), Clinical Global Impression of Severity (P = 0.008), and Social Functioning Scale total (P < 0.001) scores. The response rate was greater (P = 0.001) in the olanzapine cohort (69.2%) than in the risperidone cohort (48.7%). Olanzapine patients reported less extrapyramidal side effects but a higher incidence of clinically important body weight increase than risperidone patients. Conclusions: Long-term treatment with olanzapine was associated with significantly better improvement in negative symptoms as compared with risperidone-treated schizophrenic outpatients with prominent negative symptoms.
Are neuropsychological changes relevant in subclinical hypothyroidism?

INTRODUCTION Neuropsychological changes are still controversial in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH). The objective of this study is to assess these changes. METHOD Cross-sectional study comparing the results of the neurocognitive evaluation of 65 SH patients and 31 individuals without thyroid disease. Subclinical hypothyroidism was defined as at least two elevated serum TSH levels (> 4 microUI/ml) with normal serum free T4 levels (0.9-1.8 ng/dl). The participants underwent the following neuropsychological assessment: Buschkes Selective Reminding Procedure, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Warrington's Recognition Memory Test for Words and Faces, and the Vocabulary subtest of the WAIS-R. RESULTS The groups were similar in regard to mean age, sex and educational level. No neuropsychological change was found in patients with SH when compared with euthyroid individuals. CONCLUSION No difference was observed in the performance of the neuropsychological tests between both groups in regard to the functions studied.
Emergency access for online personally controlled health records system

A personally controlled health records (PCHR) system allows a patient user to share his/her health records with trusted physicians by manually granting them the access privilege to his/her online records. However, it presents the problem of emergency access in situations where the user is physically unable to grant the access and the access is required by an Emergency Room (ER) physician who does not have the privilege at that moment. To deal with such a problem, we introduce an online polling system to provide the emergency access control to PCHR systems. For each emergency access request, the access privilege is controlled according to the combined opinions of the patient's preset emergency contacts and other online registered physicians. Because our system is based on the demographic number of the physician community nationwide, it provides a stable emergency access control at all times.
Experimental verification of loss reduction in diode-clamped multilevel inverters

Recently, power converters with lower power loss and lower electromagnetic interference (EMI) are required in many applications. To satisfy these requirements, diode-clamped multilevel inverters are investigated. In this case, the voltage balancing circuit must be connected to the DC capacitors because the DC voltages tend to unbalance when the number of the output level exceeds three. For this purpose, a voltage balancing circuit based on a RSCC is expected to be a practical solution. So far, the experimental investigations of the loss reduction in diode-clamped multilevel inverters with a voltage balancing circuit have hardly been carried out. In this paper, an experimental investigation employing prototype diode-clamped multilevel inverters of several different numbers of levels is presented. From these results, the effectiveness in the loss reduction by the increase of the number of level in diode-clamped multilevel inverters and the quality improvements of the output waveforms without deteriorating the efficiency are demonstrated.
Antisense Expression and Overexpression of Biotin Carboxylase in Tobacco Leaves

The plastid acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) catalyzes the first committed step of fatty acid synthesis and in most plants is present as a heteromeric complex of at least four different protein subunits: the biotin carboxylase (BC), the biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and the [alpha] and [beta] subunits of the carboxyltransferase. To gain insight into the subunit organization of this heteromeric enzyme complex and to further evaluate the role of ACCase in regulating fatty acid synthesis, BC expression was altered in transgenic plants. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was transformed with antisense-expression and overexpression tobacco BC constructs, which resulted in the generation of plants with BC levels ranging from 20 to 500% of wild-type levels. Tobacco plants containing elevated or moderate decreases in leaf BC were phenotypically indistinguishable from wild-type plants. However, plants with less than 25% of wild-type BC levels showed severely retarded growth when grown under low-light conditions and a 26% lower leaf fatty acid content than wild-type plants. A comparison of leaf BC and biotin carboxyl carrier protein levels in plants with elevated and decreased BC expression revealed that these two subunits of the plastid ACCase are not maintained in a strict stoichiometric ratio.
Robust and real-time communication on heterogeneous networks for smart distribution grid

In the power distribution domain, the increasing penetration of Distributed Generation (DG) requires reliable, real-time and cost effective communication in order to manage the grid safely and securely. To achieve this goal, a heterogeneous network (mixing the public Internet and private networks) is a promising solution due to its cost effectiveness. However, the current Internet infrastructure does not support reliable real time communication. To cope with these challenges, we propose QoS routing based on a novel overlay network protocol. Moreover, the protocol provides fault-tolerant communication for critical applications by applying multi-path routing over disjoint paths. Simulation results demonstrates that the proposed overlay network and algorithms perform well in obtaining QoS-aware overlay routing service in scalable manner as well as fault-tolerance for the critical application.
Distributed consensus control for networks of second-order agents with switching topology and time-delay

In this paper, distributed consensus control is investigated for networks of agents with double integrator dynamics. Two network cases are considered, undirected networks with switching topology and undirected networks with switching topology and time-delay. Two linear consensus protocols with and without time-delay are introduced to solve the consensus problem, which includes two aspects, the agreement of the position states and the synchronization of the speed states. Moreover, the convergence analysis is proved for both cases and in each case sufficient conditions are given. Finally, numerical simulation examples are included to illustrate the obtained theoretical results.
Generation of 3D Texture Using Multiple 2D Models Analysis

Solid (30) texturing is commonly used in computer graphics for producing more realistic images. It is often more attractive than the conventional 20 texture mapping but remains more complex on some points. Its major difficulty concerns the generation of 30 texture in a general and efficient way. The well‐known traditional procedural methods use generally a simplified mathematical model of a natural texture. No reliable way for the choice of the mathematical model parameters, which characterise directly the produced 30 texture, is given. Therefore, 30 texture generation becomes a more or less experimental process with these methods.
Immune System Multiobjective Optimization Algorithm for DTLZ Problems

Based on Artificial Immune System, a novel Immune System Multiobjective Optimization Algorithm (ISMOA) is proposed. ISMOA presents nondominated sorting clonal selection operation, preserving the diversity of the population and more uniformly distributing global Pareto optimal solutions. The comparisons of ISMOA with NSGAII in DTLZ problems suggest that ISMOA clearly outperforms in converging towards the true front coverage and finding the spread of solutions.