Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vivo and in vitro studies of a copy number mutation of the RepA replication protein of plasmid pSC101

The RepA replication protein of plasmid pSC101 binds as a monomer to three repeated sequences (RS1, RS2, and RS3) in the replication origin of the plasmid to initiate duplication and binds as a dimer to two inversely repeated sequences (IR1 and IR2) in its promoter region (D. Manen, L. C. Upegui-Gonzalez, and L. Caro, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:8923-8927, 1992). The binding to IR2 autoregulates repA transcription (P. Linder, G. Churchward, G. X. Xia, Y. Y. Yu, and L. Caro, J. Mol. Biol. 181:383-393, 1985). A mutation in the protein RepA(cop) that affects a single amino acid increases the plasmid copy number fourfold. In vivo experiments show that, when provided in trans under a foreign promoter, the RepA(cop) protein increases the replication of a plasmid containing the origin of replication without repA, whereas it decreases the repression of its own promoter. In vitro experiments show that the purified RepA(cop) protein binds more efficiently to the repeated sequences within the origin than does RepA and that its binding to these sequences is more specific than that of RepA. Binding to an inversely repeated sequence within the repA promoter gives opposite results: the wild-type protein binds efficiently to that sequence, whereas the mutated protein binds less efficiently and less specifically. Footprint experiments confirmed these results and, in addition, showed a difference in the pattern of protection of the inversely repeated sequences by the mutant protein. Equilibrium binding experiments showed that the formation of protein-probe complexes at increasing concentrations of protein had a sigmoidal shape for binding to RS sequences and a hyperbolic shape for binding to IR sequences. The results, together with earlier work (G.-X. Xia, D. Manen, T. Goebel, P. Linder, G. Churchward, and L. Caro, Mol. Microbiol. 5:631-640, 1991), confirm that the binding of RepA to RS sequences plays a crucial role in the regulation of plasmid replication and that its binding to IR sequences plays a role in the autoregulation of RepA expression. They also demonstrate that the two separate functions of the protein are effected by two different forms of binding to the target sites.
DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF 2-DOF ROBOTIC ARM

Robotic is a relatively young field of modern technology that exceeds traditional engineering boundaries. Control of the robots is important due to the fact that it has a usage area in many areas. In this study, modelling and control of two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) robotic arm were carried out. Lagrange-Euler method was used to obtain the dynamic equations of the robot. The system was controlled in the simulation environment. Sliding-Mode Control (SMC) and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control methods were proposed to control the 2 DOF robotic arm. The saturation function is used for the chattering problem of the sliding mode control method. Both process noise and measurement noise have been applied to control the robot in conditions close to the actual ambient conditions. The control methods applied according to the results of the simulation environment were compared and the results were examined.
A training programme for Taiwan nurses to improve child abuse reporting

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To design a training programme for nurses and evaluate the effectiveness of the training programme in improving the nurses' self-efficacy in reporting cases of child abuse and neglect. BACKGROUND The problem of child abuse and neglect cases has become prevalent throughout numerous countries. Previous studies have found that more than 70% of Taiwanese nurses considered that they required child abuse and neglect training. Moreover, a training programme for child abuse and neglect reporting based on self-efficacy theory in clinical practice has been developed previously. METHODS A quasi-experimental research design was implemented. The study participants comprised 80 clinical nurses: 40 in an experimental group and 40 in a control group; the pretest, post-test and follow-up results were compared between the groups. Moreover, an analysis of covariance was applied to test the effectiveness of a nurse child abuse and neglect training programme after controlling for the effects of age, marital status and working years. The experimental and control groups were compared according to their scores on each self-efficacy subscale. RESULTS The experimental and control groups differed significantly regarding the outcome measures of all six subscales of child abuse and neglect reporting self-efficacy between the pretest and post-test. Therefore, the results supported the hypothesis that nurse self-efficacy in reporting child abuse and neglect cases would improve after completing the Child Abuse and Neglect Training Program for Nurses. CONCLUSION The Child Abuse and Neglect Training Program for Nurses is an appropriate training programme for improving nurse competence and confidence in reporting suspected child abuse and neglect cases. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE This study is relevant to clinical practice because it clarifies a relationship between nurses' self-efficacy and reporting behaviour. It also highlights the importance and effectiveness of the training programme Child Abuse and Neglect Training Program for Nurses in improving nurses' reporting behaviour for child abuse and neglect cases.
Klebsiella pneumoniae genotype K1: an emerging pathogen that causes septic ocular or central nervous system complications from pyogenic liver abscess.

BACKGROUND Since 1986, researchers have noted a syndrome of Klebsiella pneumoniae pyogenic liver abscess that is complicated by endophthalmitis or central nervous system infections. There are limited data regarding the role of bacterial genotype in the pathogenesis of this syndrome. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 177 cases of K. pneumoniae pyogenic liver abscess treated during 1997-2005 at a tertiary university hospital in Taiwan. We performed bacterial cps genotyping by polymerase chain reaction detection of serotype-specific alleles at wzy and wzx loci and used an in vitro serum assay to evaluate the virulence of bacterial strains. RESULTS Septic ocular or central nervous system complications developed in 23 patients (13%). Logistic regression analysis showed that genotype K1 was the only significant risk factor (adjusted odds ratio, 4.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-15.7, P=.009). The serum resistance assay indicated that, on average, K1 strains (n=100) were significantly more virulent than were strains of K2 (n=36), K20/K5/K54 (n=21), or other genotypes (n=20) (P<.001 for each comparison). In addition to the serotype-specific cps region, the genomic background of K1 strains also differed significantly from that of non-K1 strains (20-kb kfu/PTS region, 97/100 vs. 13/77; P<.001). Of the 19 cases in which genotype K1 strains caused complications, 8 patients (42%) did not have identifiable underlying medical diseases. CONCLUSIONS K. pneumoniae genotype K1 is an emerging pathogen capable of causing catastrophic septic ocular or central nervous system complications from pyogenic liver abscess independent of underlying diseases in the host.
Evaluation of clinical parameters to predict Mycobacterium tuberculosis in inpatients.

BACKGROUND Respiratory isolation has been recommended for all patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB) to avoid transmission to other patients and health care personnel. In implementing these guidelines, patients with and without TB are frequently isolated, significantly increasing hospital costs. The objective of this study was to derive a clinical rule to predict the need for respiratory isolation of patients with suspected TB. METHODS To identify potential predictors of the need for isolation, 56 inpatients with sputum cultures positive for TB were retrospectively compared with 56 controls who were isolated on admission to the hospital based on clinically suspected TB but whose sputum cultures tested negative for TB. Variables analyzed included TB risk factors, clinical symptoms, and findings from physical examination and chest radiography. RESULTS Multivariate analysis revealed that the following factors were significantly associated with a culture positive for TB: presence of TB risk factors or symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 7.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 4.4-24.2]), a positive purified protein derivative tuberculin test result (OR, 13.2 [95% CI, 4.4-40.7]), high temperature (OR, 2.8 [95% CI, 1.1-8.3]), and upper-lobe disease on chest radiograph (OR, 14.6 [95% CI, 3.7-57.5]). Shortness of breath (OR, 0.2 [95% CI, 0.12-0.53]) and crackles noted during the physical examination (OR, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.15-0.57]) were negative predictors of TB. A scoring system was developed using these variables. A patient's total score of 1 or higher indicated the need for respiratory isolation, accurately predicting a culture positive for TB (98% sensitivity [95% CI, 95%-100%]; 46% specificity [95% CI, 33%-59%]). CONCLUSION Among inpatients with suspected active pulmonary TB, a prediction rule based on clinical and chest radiographic findings accurately identified patients requiring respiratory isolation.
Behavioral Disturbance, Cognitive Dysfunction, and Functional Skill

The nature and severity of behavioral problems, and their relationship to cognitive and functional abilities, was investigated in 56 community‐residing patients with Alzheimer's disease. Measures evaluated three domains of function: behavior, cognition and activities of daily living. Problems of cognitive functioning, such as memory loss, confusion, and disorientation were most prevalent, reported to occur in 84%, 82%, and 64% of the sample, respectively. Problems with activity and emotional distress were next, affecting 20 to 43% of the sample. The mean number of problems reported was 10 per patient. Twenty‐two percent of caregivers reported a minimum of 15 problems occurring at least twice a week and no caregiver reported an absence of problems. Male patients were reported to have more behavioral difficulties. Level of behavioral disturbance was largely unrelated to cognitive or functional ability. Age was unrelated to cognitive or behavioral disturbance but significantly related to activities of daily living. Results indicated that behavioral problems are prevalent and pervasive in even moderately impaired community‐residing Alzheimer disease patients, and that age may be more important than level of cognitive dysfunction in predicting difficulties with activities of daily living.
Analysis of Carrier Transport in Carbon Nanotube FET Devices

We discuss models to describe the carrier transport in axial and lateral type carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNT-FET). Operation is controlled by the electric field from the gate contact, which can lead to strong band bending allowing carriers to tunnel through the interface barrier. The simulated output and transfer characteristics show reasonable agreement with experimental data for both lateral and axial CNT-FET devices. Physics of Semiconductor Devices (IWPSD-2003) Editors K N Bhat and A DasGupta Copyright c © 2004 Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India
Application of diffusion tensor tractography in pediatric optic pathway glioma.

OBJECT Magnetic resonance imaging is commonly used in diagnosis and surveillance for optic pathway glioma (OPG). The authors investigated the role of diffusion tensor (DT) tractography in assessing the location of visual pathway fibers in the presence of tumor. METHODS Data in 10 children with OPG were acquired using a 3T MRI generalized autocalibrating parallel acquisitions DT-echo planar imaging sequence (25 isotropic directions with a b value of 1000 seconds/mm(2), slice thickness 3 mm). Fiber tractography was performed, with seed regions placed within the optic chiasm and bilateral nerves on the coronal plane, including the tumor and surrounding normal-appearing tissue. Tracking was performed with a curvature threshold of 30°. RESULTS For prechiasmatic lesions, fibers either stopped abruptly at the tumor or traversed abnormally dilated nerve segments. Similar findings were seen with chiasmatic lesions, with an additional arrangement in which fibers diverged around the tumor. For each patient, DT tractography provided additional information about visual fiber arrangement in relation to the tumor that was not evident by using conventional MRI methods. Retrospective reconstruction of visual fibers in 1 patient with new postoperative hemianopia revealed an unexpected superior displacement of the optic tract that might have been helpful information had it been applied to preoperative planning or surgical navigation. CONCLUSIONS Optic pathway DT tractography is feasible in patients with OPG and provides new information about the arrangement of visual fibers in relation to tumors that could be incorporated into surgical navigation for tumor biopsy or debulking procedures.
Comparison of simplified methods for quantitative analysis of [18F]FDDNP PET data

Positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-(1-{6- [(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)(methyl)amino]-2-naphthyl}ethylidene)malo-nonitrile ([18F]FDDNP) has been used for in vivo imaging of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the neuopathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The purpose of this study was to assess seven noninvasive methods for the estimation of the distribution volume ratio (DVR), as a measure of binding density of [18F]FDDNP in human brain, using a reference input (cerebellum). Imaging studies were performed on 20 AD and 13 normal control subjects. The image data were analyzed using two reference tissue modeling approaches with and without a physiological constraint on the efflux rate constant from reference tissue, Logan graphical analysis with and without a population efflux rate constant from reference tissue, and a simple concentration ratio between target and reference regions, to derive the DVR parameter. Highly linear correlations were observed among the DVR estimates except those by the tissue ratio approach which varied considerably. Reference tissue modeling approaches provided reliable estimation of DVR and gave further insight in the delivery of [18F]FDDNP to regions known to be affected by amyloid deposition. The efflux rate constant of cerebellum had minor effect on the DVR derived by Logan analysis. The [18F]FDDNP retention in subcortical white matter was similar between controls and ADs. Our results suggest that (1) Logan graphical analysis is the most robust method for quantitative analysis of [18F]FDDNP PET data without blood sampling, (2) reference tissue modeling approaches can provide further insight in helping to understand the transport properties of [18F]FDDNP and to aid model construction for kinetic analysis using the arterial input function, (3) efflux rate constant of the reference tissue can be derived with higher reliability by model fitting with physiological constraint, and (4) white matter may potentially be used as a reference region for analyzing [18F]FDDNP PET data.
Action detection in office scene based on deep convolutional neural networks

In many scenarios, a persons behavior in office environment needs to be monitored and some predefined abnormal actions or activities should be detected and recognized. In this paper, we attempted towards the solution starting from a persons pose with poselets as the basic building blocks. The existed powerful pose representation, i.e., poselets, together with deep convolutional neural networks, are exploited to implement an efficient action recognition system from still images. The system extends poselets detector to region proposal, cascaded with R∗CNN for final action detection. Unlike many published work which only emphases on action classification, our system implements multi-task learning with classification and localization of person and the corresponding actions simultaneously, To facilitate our studies, a specially designed action dataset was created. Preliminary experiments demonstrate promising results.
Everyday activity patterns and sensory functioning in old age.

In the present study the authors investigated the relationship between visual and auditory acuity and everyday activity functioning. Participants were 516 older adults (70-103 years; equal numbers of men and women) who were members of the age-stratified Berlin Aging Study. Two categories of everyday activity functioning, perceived competence with basic activities of daily living (BaCo; basic competence) and amount of participation in discretionary social and leisure tasks (ExCo; expanded competence), were examined. The results revealed that sensory acuity, particularly vision, was a significant predictor of both BaCo and ExCo (rs ranging from .32 to .47). Indeed, hearing and vision could explain most of the age-related variance in everyday activities. At the same time, in the context of a broader model, evidence for the differential prediction of BaCo and ExCo was found, although there was also evidence for strong general age-related predictive variance that was common to both measures. Discussion focuses on the role of sensory acuity constructs as mediators of age-related variance in psychological and behavioral outcomes and the potential causal implications of this mediation.
Proliferative and morphologic characterization of buccal mucosal fibroblasts in areca nut chewers: a cell culture study.

OBJECTIVE To isolate, culture and characterize fibroblasts from the buccal mucosa of areca nut chewers with and without oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). MATERIALS AND METHODS Primary fibroblast cultures were established by the collagenase disaggregation technique and the phenotypic and growth characteristics were studied. RESULTS Cells cultured from OSF showed a statistically significant increase in both the post-mitotic fibroblast subpopulation and the population doubling time when compared with controls. CONCLUSION There was a significant increase in the pro-fibrotic, post-mitotic subpopulation of fibroblasts in areca nut chewers with OSF.
On the effects of molecular composition, morphology and ageing on the electrical properties of polyethylene

Polyethylene is widely used as the basis for the insulation in high voltage cables, commonly, in the form of cross linked low density polyethylene (XLPE). With time, the chemical and electrical properties of the pristine polymer begin to change, depending on the molecular architecture, morphology and ageing processes. In this work, thermal treatment, based on accelerated ageing in air was performed on the exposed surface of polyethylene blend films (HDPE/LDPE) at temperatures above the melting point for various treatment times. The ageing degrees were quantified by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, while dielectric spectroscopy was used to investigate the dielectric response. Space charge dynamics were measured using the pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) technique. It was found that the dielectric loss after long treatment times was significantly increased, corresponding with the carbonyl index. Furthermore, space charge results show that homocharge was increased at short treatment time; however, it is noticeable that, after long treatment times, charge injection appeared to be affected by surface oxidation and, in this way ageing has a marked effect on the electrical behaviour of the blend.
Canine prostate models in preclinical studies of minimally invasive interventions: part I, canine prostate anatomy and prostate cancer models

The high prevalence of prostate cancer (PCa) in elderly men and technical advances in early detection of localized PCa have led to continued efforts to develop new therapeutic options of minimally invasive nature in current urologic oncology community. Increasing newly emerging therapies are undergoing preclinical tests on the technical feasibility, efficacy and safety in animal experiments. The dog is an ideal large animal because of its similar anatomy to human and the capability allowing the use of the same medical devices applied in future clinical trials. Awareness of the local anatomy, microvascular structure, and histological features of the prostate in dogs is essential to experimental design and performance of the tested procedures and techniques. Although dogs with spontaneous PCa may be used in preclinical investigation, the low incidence and pathological features limit its utility. Alternatively, canine orthotopic PCa models have a great potential in preclinical research for this purpose. The goal of this review is to provide detailed anatomic and histological information of the canine prostate, outline the pathological and clinical characteristics of spontaneous PCa in dogs and discuss the current status of canine orthotopic PCa models.
THE GOULD’S BELT DISTANCES SURVEY (GOBELINS). I. TRIGONOMETRIC PARALLAX DISTANCES AND DEPTH OF THE OPHIUCHUS COMPLEX

We present the first results of the Gould’s Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS), a project aimed at measuring the proper motion and trigonometric parallax of a large sample of young stars in nearby regions using multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio observations. Enough VLBA detections have now been obtained for 16 stellar systems in Ophiuchus to derive their parallax and proper motion. This leads to distance determinations for individual stars with an accuracy of 0.3 to a few percent. In addition, the orbits of six multiple systems were modelled by combining absolute positions with VLBA (and, in some cases, near-infrared) angular separations. Twelve stellar systems are located in the dark cloud Lynds 1688; the individual distances for this sample are highly consistent with one another and yield a mean parallax for Lynds 1688 of mas, corresponding to a distance pc. This represents an accuracy greater than 1%. Three systems for which astrometric elements could be measured are located in the eastern streamer (Lynds 1689) and yield an estimate of mas, corresponding to a distance pc. This suggests that the eastern streamer is located about 10 pc farther than the core, but this conclusion needs to be confirmed by observations of additional sources in the eastern streamer (currently being collected). From the measured proper motions, we estimate the one-dimensional velocity dispersion in Lynds 1688 to be 2.8 ± 1.8 and 3.0 ± 2.0 km s−1, in R.A. and decl. , respectively; these are larger than, but still consistent within of, those found in other studies.