Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hal Is a Bacillus anthracis Heme Acquisition Protein

ABSTRACT The metal iron is a limiting nutrient for bacteria during infection. Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax and a potential weapon of bioterrorism, grows rapidly in mammalian hosts, which suggests that it efficiently attains iron during infection. Recent studies have uncovered both heme (isd) and siderophore-mediated (asb) iron transport pathways in this pathogen. Whereas deletion of the asb genes results in reduced virulence, the loss of three surface components from isd had no effect, thereby leaving open the question of what additional factors in B. anthracis are responsible for iron uptake from the most abundant iron source for mammals, heme. Here, we describe the first functional characterization of bas0520, a gene recently implicated in anthrax disease progression. bas0520 encodes a single near-iron transporter (NEAT) domain and several leucine-rich repeats. The NEAT domain binds heme, despite lacking a stabilizing tyrosine common to the NEAT superfamily of hemoproteins. The NEAT domain also binds hemoglobin and can acquire heme from hemoglobin in solution. Finally, deletion of bas0520 resulted in bacilli unable to grow efficiently on heme or hemoglobin as an iron source and yielded the most significant phenotype relative to that for other putative heme uptake systems, a result that suggests that this protein plays a prominent role in the replication of B. anthracis in hematogenous environments. Thus, we have assigned the name of Hal (heme-acquisition leucine-rich repeat protein) to BAS0520. These studies advance our understanding of heme acquisition by this dangerous pathogen and justify efforts to determine the mechanistic function of this novel protein for vaccine or inhibitor development.
An Efficient supplier selection Model for Hospital Pharmacy through Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS

This article investigates the significance of supplier selection process in hospital pharmacy. Normally, high quality services, inventory and customer satisfaction is influenced mostly by the supplier selection criteria such as cost, delivery of the product, service, flexibility with the consumer, etc. The uncertainty during supplier selection could be handled by MCDM techniques. A methodology is developed to analyze the qualitative and quantitative variables involved in the supplier selection process and it is illustrated with the case study of a hospital pharmacy. This paper analyze the alternatives, criteria and sub criteria of the supplier selection process by multi criteria decision making approach of fuzzy analytic heuristic process (FAHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) methods. Finally compare the results obtained by FAHP and FTOPSIS methods and select the appropriate supplier which helps to improve the efficiency of the pharmacy.
An adaptive sectoring and cluster head selection based multi-hop routing algorithm for WSN

Minimization of energy consumption is an important parameter to be considered in mind when designing an algorithm for WSN. In this paper an advance algorithm for energy efficient clustering and multi-hop routing is proposed in WSN. The sensor network is constructed in the form of a circular area. The base station is at the centre of this circle. The sensor nodes will be deployed in concentric circular rings. An adaptive cluster selection strategy which selects the cluster heads on the basis of not only residual energy but also the distance from the base station. A key point of the algorithm is that CH selection is done after each round and multiple times within the same round. This is done since the CH near the BS is involved in most of the communications so it may get exhausted early due to which the network is down early. But we have planned to select the near CH more frequently than the CH in the farther levels.
An Investigation on Factors that Influence the Customer Decision Making to Attend Sport Event and Product Differentiation Strategies Employed by Event Organizers

Product differentiation is a unique marketing strategy for attracting consumers to a particular product. Therefore, managers are promoting a special characteristic of their product. The Sport products are deferent from other consumer products and it has special features. Therefore, the purpose of this study in general terms, is to explore the unique selling points of sporting events. Also, this study investigates, as a research problem, what unique selling points influence the sport spectators’ decision to attend a sport event as well as what unique selling points used by sport event organizers differentiate their sport events. The study was consistent with both qualitative and quantitative research approached and was adapted to a purposive sampling method for collecting data. Structured questionnaires and semistructured interviews were used for collecting data from a sample of University students at Northumbria University; to take part in the study, the participants had to be level six sport management students. The study used statistical tools such as T-test, and correlation for quantitative data analysis and thematic analysis used for qualitative data analysis. Results show that the age of the sport spectators does not render the event atmosphere significantly deferent, it means that the unique selling point of atmosphere holds equal importance for all age levels according to their purpose. Thus, the event profile, core product and hosing facility are very important factors for deciding whether or not to attend a sport event. In addition, in the sport organizers’ point of view, the event atmosphere is their unique selling point for differentiating an event. And the core product has been used as their event differentiating strategy. Furthermore, researchers suggest that future studies could be done using deferent sample and unique selling point to measure the perception of spectators’ decision to attend a sport event.
An Enhanced Approach for Reliable Bulk Data Transmission Based on Erasure-Resilient Codes in Wireless Sensor Networks

We suggest an enhanced approach for reliable bulk data transmission of image files, multimedia video files, and successive log files for monitoring systems over wireless sensor networks. Recently, some approaches have been proposed that use multiple blocks in a frame. These approaches simply drop the block that contains the error and the error-free blocks are transmitted to other nodes. This paper proposes an enhanced FEC scheme, called M-FEC, which reduces the overhead and the total number of transmissions. M-FEC fragments bulk data into many small blocks and these blocks are encoded using rateless codes. Only the erroneous blocks that are detected in a frame are dropped and a relay node waits for other incoming blocks in order to construct a full-sized frame. This simple approach can improve the performance of the FEC scheme over WSNs. Our experiments show that M-FEC reduces the number of received frames at the sink node by almost half compared to the previous approach. We compared our results for different degrees of Wi-Fi interference by choosing particular IEEE 802.15. 4 channels and running our experiments for three different types of Wi-Fi interference.
Imaging of prehospital stroke therapeutics

Despite significant quality improvement efforts to streamline in-hospital acute stroke care in the conventional model, there remain inherent layers of treatment delays, which could be eliminated with prehospital diagnostics and therapeutics administered in a mobile stroke unit. Early diagnosis using telestroke and neuroimaging while in the ambulance may enable targeted routing to hospitals with specialized care, which will likely improve patient outcomes. Key clinical trials in telestroke, mobile stroke units with prehospital neuroimaging capability, prehospital ultrasound and co-administration of various classes of neuroprotectives, antiplatelets and antithrombin agents with intravenous thrombolysis are discussed in this article.
Biochemical, Biophysical and Cellular Techniques to Study the Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor, GIV/Girdin

Canonical signal transduction via heterotrimeric G proteins is spatiotemporally restricted, i.e., triggered exclusively at the plasma membrane, only by agonist activation of G protein‐coupled receptors via a finite process that is terminated within a few hundred milliseconds. Recently, a rapidly emerging paradigm has revealed a noncanonical pathway for activation of heterotrimeric G proteins via the nonreceptor guanidine‐nucleotide exchange factor, GIV/Girdin. Biochemical, biophysical, and functional studies evaluating this pathway have unraveled its unique properties and distinctive spatiotemporal features. As in the case of any new pathway/paradigm, these studies first required an in‐depth optimization of tools/techniques and protocols, governed by rationale and fundamentals unique to the pathway, and more specifically to the large multimodular GIV protein. Here we provide the most up‐to‐date overview of protocols that have generated most of what we know today about noncanonical G protein activation by GIV and its relevance in health and disease. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Dual task interference in estimating the risk of falls and measuring change: a comparative, psychometric study of four measurements

Objective: The aim is to examine the validity and reliability of the Timed Up and Go Test with dual task for predicting the risk of falls. Standard values for the TUG with dual task were determined, taking account of age and gender. Design: Validation study Setting: Data was recorded for 120 volunteers in an outpatient physiotherapy centre. Subjects: The sample comprised 120 healthy men and women aged 60 to 87 years living at home. Twenty-three subjects selected at random were tested again, after one day and after one week, in order to ascertain the retest reliability. Main measures: Berg Balance Scale, times for Timed Up and Go Test with manual dual task (TUGman) and with cognitive dual task (TUGcog). Results: Strong correlations between the TUGman and the BBS (r = -0.72) and between the TUGcog and the BBS (r = -0.66) indicate high criterion validity. The retest reliability of the TUGman (rT1-T2 = 0.97 and rT1-T3 = 0.98) and TUGcog (rT1-T2 = 0.98 and rT1-T3 = 0.98) is very good. The intra-rater reliability is very high with an ICC = 0.99 for the TUGman and an ICC = 0.94 for the TUGcog. The mean time needed to perform the TUGman is 11.6 s (95% CI 11.2—11.9); the mean time needed to perform the TUGcog is 9.8 s (95% CI 9.5—10.2). Conclusions: The tests with dual task can be recommended because they possess high criterion validity and very good retest reliability. Faster and simpler performance of the TUG-DT is another factor in its favour.
Innovation and Market Orientation Model in Improving the Performance of BRI

Contradictions are still found in the research about innovation and market orientation towards performance, most of the researchers stated that both innovation and market orientation have positive effect on innovation, while others argue that they negatively affects performance. This research presents a market orientation and innovation model toward performance of Bank Rakyat Indonesia. This research aims to examine how the bank implements the innovation and market orientation. The results show that a higher innovation will also increase the performance, as well as the better a bank focused on market orientation, the better the performance.
Abnormal WT1 expression in the CD34‐negative compartment in myelodysplastic bone marrow

Summary. In normal bone marrow, WT1 expression is restricted to CD34+ cells. We assessed WT1 mRNA expression levels with quantitative, real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in normal, myelodysplastic (MDS) and secondary acute myeloid leukaemia (sAML) bone marrow subfractions, based on differentiation status. The highest WT1 expression was observed in the primitive CD34+ rhodamine‐123 (rho) dull cells, both in healthy donors and MDS or sAML patients. In contrast to normal CD34‐negative bone marrow cells, WT1 was present in CD34‐negative bone marrow cells in 12 out of 13 MDS patients and two sAML samples. Further analysis of this aberrant WT1 expression was performed in the CD34‐negative subfractions of three MDS patients. In one of these, WT1 expression was found exclusively in the erythroid cells. This patient was completely transfusion dependent and showed morphological dyserythropoiesis. In another MDS patient, WT1 expression was found in a non‐erythroid compartment. We conclude that abnormal WT1 expression may contribute to the disturbed differentiation of haematopoietic cells in MDS patients.
Core loss models in electrical steel sheets with different orientation

Classical core loss models such as two components model or modified Steinmetz model are still popular and used by engineers to loss prediction in electrical machines. They may carry to increase discrepancy between calculated and measured values. This discrepancy increases with grain-orientation and with increasing discrepancy from sinusoidal magnetisation conditions. Statistical loss model shows better applicability for loss calculation however, it requires many measurements in frequency domain what is troublesome. The paper presents the frequency behaviour of classical and statistical loss models in grain and non-oriented electrical steel sheets. Streszczenie. Klasyczne modele strat są wciąz popularne i wykorzystywane przez inzynierow do przewidywania strat maszyn elektrycznych. Mogą one prowadzic do niezgodności pomiedzy obliczonymi i zmierzonymi wartościami strat. Niezgodnośc wzrasta ze zwiekszeniem orientacji ziaren i odksztalceniem od sinusoidalnego ksztaltu strumienia magnetycznego. Statystyczny model strat wykazuje lepszą stosowalnośc do obliczenia strat jednak wymaga czasochlonnych pomiarow w dziedzinie czestotliwości. Artykul przedstawia wlaściwości czestotliwościowe klasycznych i statystycznych modeli strat w zorientowanych i niezorientowanych blachach elektrotechnicznych. (Model strat w blachach elektrotechnicznych o roznym zorientowaniu)
Effect of Lipid Infusion on Metabolism and Force of Rat Skeletal Muscles During Intense Contractions

The hypothesis that during intense muscle contraction induced by electrical stimulation, long chain fatty acids (LCFA) might reduce mitochondrial ATP/ADP ratio, raising the contribution of glycolysis for ATP production was examined. The effect of a lipid infusion (Lipovenus emulsion) on UCP-3 mRNA level, lactate, glucose-6-phosphate (G-6P) and glycogen content was investigated in rat. Blood samples for determination of free fatty acids and lactate were collected at 0, 30 and 60 min during rest and at 0, 10 and 20 min during muscle contraction. The content of lactate, glycogen and G-6P was also determined in soleus (SO), red gastrocnemius (RG) and white gastrocnemius (WG) muscles collected immediately after muscle contraction period. In addition, the force level was determined during muscle contractions. The effect of Lipovenus emulsion on respiration of mitochondria isolated from rat skeletal muscle, and content of UCP-3 and lactate in cultured skeletal muscle cells was also determined. The in vivo experiments showed that Lipovenus induced a significant increase of UCP-3 mRNA levels. After Lipovenus infusion, lactate level was increased in RG muscle only, whereas the contents of glycogen and G-6P were decreased in both RG and WG muscles (P < 0.05). Lipovenus infusion failed to exert any effect on muscle force performance (P > 0.05). The in vitro experiments showed that Lipovenus infusion induced a significant increase in mitochondrial respiration, but had no effect on UCP-3 content. Lactate concentration was significantly increased in the culture medium of stimulated cells in the control and Lipovenus groups compared with the respective not-stimulated cells (P< 0.05). We concluded that as mitochondrial function becomes limited by the FFA-uncoupling effect, the ATP demand is mainly supplied by anaerobic glucose metabolism preventing an expected decrease in muscle contraction performance.
Kwazulu-Natal minibus taxi drivers' perceptions on HIV and AIDS: Transmission, prevention, support and effects on the industry

In South Africa, the minibus taxi drivers are largely becoming another high-risk category in the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Although previous studies have shown that knowledge of HIV and AIDS is relatively high among the taxi drivers it is still not clear how this sub-population perceive the support rendered to them with regard to HIV and AIDS prevention strategies. This study aimed to focus on this atypical workplace and explore the KwaZulu-Natal, minibus taxi drivers' perceptions on HIV and AIDS. In this study, qualitative methods were utilized to determine the minibus taxi drivers' understanding of HIV and AIDS infection, HIV prevention strategies, existing support strategies and effects of HIV and AIDS on the taxi industry. Focus-group discussions were conducted, to collect data. The results showed that even though the taxi drivers had some understanding on HIV and AIDS there was still a dire need for interventions that were geared towards addressing HIV-related needs of the drivers in this industry.
Running Head: CAR AND YOUTH DEPRESSION 1 Cortisol Awakening Response and Youth Depression: The Impact of Anxiety, Age, and Sex

Though the link between dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and depression is well documented in adults, research with depressed youth is more inconsistent, which may be due to inattention to comorbid anxiety, age and sex. Therefore, this study examined the link between HPA-axis functioning, indexed by the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and depression, examining potential moderation by these covariates. The sample included 109 participants (46% male) between 9 and 16 years, who were administered clinically diagnostic interviews. Out of total sample, 13% (n = 14) had a current or past diagnosis of depression only, and 14% (n = 15) of the sample was comorbid for depression and current anxiety. CAR was measured via salivary cortisol collected by the participants upon waking, and 45 minutes later, across two consecutive weekdays. Results showed that although depression only was linked to heightened CAR, the link was fully mediated through time of cortisol collection. Post Hoc analyses revealed that depressed children woke significantly earlier (M = 6:55am) than any other diagnostic group (comorbid M = 8:39am; controls M = 7:38am). Although main effects of age, sex, and comorbid anxiety were not significantly associated with CAR, there was a significant interaction between age and sex such that age is positively linked to CAR in boys only. Results raise questions as to whether heightened CAR is linked directly to depression or is simply a byproduct of abnormal sleep among depressed youth and suggest that age and sex continue to be examined as covariates in pubertal samples.
Estimating Family Preferences for Elder-care Services: A conjoint-survey experiment in Japan

The paper provides a preference evaluation for elderly-care services, based on a conjoint survey and a rational-choice framework. For the empirical section, we conducted a conjoint survey with Japanese respondents to estimate preferences of elderly-care services. Our findings show that room sharing is the most important for both demand and consumer surplus, and it is justified to assist households in using elderly-care facilities at a middle distance with additional health-care services.
Do risk disclosures in annual reports improve analyst forecast accuracy?

Abstract Risk information disclosed in annual reports may have positive impacts on analyst earnings forecast by improving information quality, or may have negative impacts by increasing the risk perception of analysts. In this paper, we quantify risk information disclosures in annual reports using textual analysis, and examine the impact on analyst forecast accuracy. The results at firm-level show that (1) collectively analyst forecast accuracy increases with more risk disclosures; (2) this effect is more significant in the group of non-SOEs, higher auditing quality, higher earnings quality, or better corporate governance, suggesting that good internal and external governance mechanisms provide a guarantee for the information function of risk disclosures and for analyst forecast accuracy; (3) the conclusion are robust to firm inherent risks, and they are favourable for increasing forecast accuracy when disclosing risks higher than the inherent risks. The results at analyst individual-level show that (1) individually, analyst forecast accuracy increases with more risk disclosures; (2) this effect is more significant in the group of non-star, less industrial expertise and less follow experience. It suggests that the weak heterogeneity of risk disclosures in annual reports is favourable to increase analyst forecast accuracy in China. The conclusions support the information argument, and contribute to the emerging risk disclosure literature and the literature on analyst forecasts.
Extremely Low Priming Doses of X Radiation Induce an Adaptive Response for Chromosomal Inversions in pKZ1 Mouse Prostate

Abstract Day, T. K. , Zeng, G. , Hooker, A. M. , Bhat, M. , Scott, B. R. , Turner, D. R. and Sykes, P. J. Extremely Low Priming Doses of X Radiation Induce an Adaptive Response for Chromosomal Inversions in pKZ1 Mouse Prostate. Radiat. Res. 166, 757– 766 (2006). An adaptive response is a response to a stress such as radiation exposure that results in a lower than expected biological response. We describe an adaptive response to X radiation in mouse prostate using the pKZ1 chromosomal inversion assay. pKZ1 mice were treated with a priming dose of 0.001, 0.01, 1 or 10 mGy followed 4 h later by a 1000-mGy challenge dose. All priming doses caused a similar reduction in inversions compared to the 1000-mGy group, supporting the hypothesis that the adaptive response is the result of an on/off mechanism. The adaptive response was induced by a priming dose of 0.001 mGy, which is three orders of magnitude lower than has been reported previously. The adaptive responses completely protected against the inversions that would have been induced by a single 1000-mGy dose as well as against a proportion of spontaneous background inversions. The distribution of inversions across prostate gland cross sections after priming plus challenge irradiation suggested that adaptive responses were predominantly due to reduced low-dose radiation-induced inversions rather than to reduced high-dose radiation-induced inversions. This study used radiation doses relevant to human exposure.
Nursery outbreak of staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. Rapid identification of the epidemic bacterial strain.

Within a seven-day period, three infants born at Harbor General Hospital were readmitted at ages 5 to 13 days with signs of the staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (two with toxic epidermal necrolysis and one with bullous impetigo). From all three infants, isolates ofStaphylococcus aureusdemonstrated bacteriocin-like activity againstStaphylococcus502A. A nurse in the newborn area was found to be a persistent nasal carrier of aStaphylococcuswith bacteriocin-like activity. All strains with this activity were subsequently phage-typed as type 71. Because she was a possible source of the outbreak, the nurse-carrier was removed from the nursery and no subsequent cases occurred. The use of bacteriocin-like activity proved a simple and reliable marker of the epidemic staphylococcal strain in screening staphylococci from cases and carriers and in management of the outbreak.