Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identiﬁcation and characterization of riproximin, a new type II ribosome-inactivating protein with antineoplastic activity from Ximenia americana

The aim of this study was to identify and characterize the active component(s) of Ximenia americana plant material used to treat cancer in African traditional medicine. By a combination of preextraction, extraction, ion exchange and afﬁnity chromatography, a mixture of two cytotoxic proteins was isolated. Using degenerated primers designed on the de novo sequence of two tryptic peptides from one of these proteins, a DNA fragment was ampliﬁed and the sequence obtained was used to determine the complete cDNA sequence by the RACE method. Sequence analysis and molecular modeling showed that the new protein, riproximin, belongs to the family of type II ribosome inactivating proteins. These results are in good agreement with the ability of riproximin to inhibit protein synthesis in a cell-free system, as well as with the cytotoxicity of riproximin, as demonstrated by its IC 50 value of 0.5 pM in MCF7, 1.1 pM in HELA and 0.6 pM in CC531-lacZ cells. To assess the antineoplastic efﬁcacy of the puriﬁed riproximin in vivo , the CC531-lacZ colorectal cancer rat metastasis model was used. Signif-icant anticancer activity was found after administration of total dosages of 100 (perorally) and 10 (intraperito-neally) pmol riproximin/kg. These results suggest that riproximin has distinct potential for cancer treatment. starting structure. For the MD simulation the GROMACS software (www.gromacs .org) was used (GROMOS 96 force ﬁeld, 300 K, 1 ns simula- tion time, integration step 2 fs, particle-mesh Ewald electro-statics, explicit water molecules as solvent, ions added to counterbalance charges of protein). For the rigid protein 100 AUTODOCK jobs were started each performing 256 GA-LS runs giving rise to 20510 docked (cid:2) -Gal structures. The docking protocol with ﬂexible protein implied 1000 starting structures derived from the MD simulation and 20 GA-LS runs were performed for each of them resulting in 27631 docked solutions. CAT was used to merge the output data of the AUTODOCK runs to perform the analysis of the entire dataset and organize the results in such a way that areas on the protein surface exhibiting a strong binding afﬁnity can be easily visualized using standard display programs.
Breakfast Eating and Weight Change in a 5-Year Prospective Analysis of Adolescents: Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)

OBJECTIVE. Breakfast-eating frequency declines through adolescence and has been inversely associated with body weight in cross-sectional studies, with few prospective studies on this topic. This study was conducted to examine the association between breakfast frequency and 5-year body weight change in 2216 adolescents. PATIENTS AND METHODS. Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) was a 5-year longitudinal study of eating patterns and weight concerns among adolescents. Surveys were completed in 1998–1999 (time 1) and 2003–2004 (time 2). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between breakfast frequency and change in BMI, with adjustment for age, socioeconomic status, race, physical activity, time 1 BMI and breakfast category, and time 1 dietary and weight-related variables. RESULTS. At time 1, frequency of breakfast was directly associated with intake of carbohydrate and fiber, socioeconomic status, white race, and physical activity and inversely associated with smoking and alcohol consumption and dieting and weight-control behaviors. In cross-sectional analyses at times 1 and 2, inverse associations between breakfast frequency and BMI remained largely independent of all of the confounding and dietary factors. Weight-related factors (concerns, behaviors, and pressures) explained little of the breakfast-BMI association. In prospective analyses, frequency of breakfast was inversely associated with BMI in a dose-response manner. Further adjustment for confounding and dietary factors did not seem to explain the association, but adjustment for weight-related variables seemed to partly explain this finding. CONCLUSIONS. Although experimental studies are needed to verify whether the association between breakfast and body weight is of a causal nature, our findings support the importance of promoting regular breakfast consumption among adolescents. Future studies should further examine the role of breakfast habits among youth who are particularly concerned about their weight.
Conformational analysis of putative regulatory subunit D of the toluene/o‐xylene‐monooxygenase complex from Pseudomonas stutzeri OX1

A gene cluster isolated from Pseudomonas stutzeri OX1 genomic DNA and containing six ORFs codes for toluene/o‐xylene‐monooxygenase. The putative regulatory D subunit was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Its protein sequence was verified by mass spectrometry mapping and found to be identical to the sequence predicted on the basis of the DNA sequence. The surface topology of subunit D in solution was probed by limited proteolysis carried out under strictly controlled conditions using several proteases as proteolytic probes. The same experiments were carried out on the homologous P2 component of the multicomponent phenol hydroxylase from Pseudomonas putida CF600. The proteolytic fragments released from both proteins in their native state were analyzed by electrospray mass spectrometry, and the preferential cleavage sites were assessed.
Development of a Low-Metal Adhesive Tape to Detect and Localize Metals in or on the Stratum corneum at Parts per Million Levels

Tape-stripping is a well-established method for sampling the stratum corneum (SC). We have developed a tape with low-metal content suitable for use with particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), an analytical technique based on X-ray spectrometry. PIXE analysis of tape-stripped samples of SC is a reliable and minimally invasive means of identifying and quantifying metals present at parts per million levels. Assay feasibility and reproducibility was demonstrated using human volunteers. This new tape-strip technique has potential applications in exposure and decontamination assessment, diagnosis of metal dermatitis, forensics, and in environmental research.
Humeral epiphyseal shape in the felidae: The influence of phylogeny, allometry, and locomotion

Bone morphology of the cats (Mammalia: Felidae) is influenced by many factors, including locomotor mode, body size, hunting methods, prey size and phylogeny. Here, we investigate the shape of the proximal and distal humeral epiphyses in extant species of the felids, based on two‐dimensional landmark configurations. Geometric morphometric techniques were used to describe shape differences in the context of phylogeny, allometry and locomotion. The influence of these factors on epiphyseal shape was assessed using Principal Component Analysis, Linear Discriminant functions and multivariate regression. Phylogenetic Generalised Least Squares was used to examine the association between size or locomotion and humeral epiphyseal shape, after taking a phylogenetic error term into account. Results show marked differences in epiphyseal shape between felid lineages, with a relatively large phylogenetic influence. Additionally, the adaptive influences of size and locomotion are demonstrated, and their influence is independent of phylogeny in most, but not all, cases. Several features of epiphyseal shape are common to the largest terrestrial felids, including a relative reduction in the surface area of the humeral head and increased robusticity of structures that provide attachment for joint‐stabilising muscles, including the medial epicondyle and the greater and lesser tubercles. This increased robusticity is a functional response to the increased loading forces placed on the joints due to large body mass. J. Morphol. , 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
On the Complexity of Life Cycle Inventory Networks: Role of Life Cycle Processes with Network Analysis

Determining the relevance and importance of a technosphere process or a cluster of processes in relation to the rest of the industrial network can provide insights into the sustainability of supply chains: those that need to be optimized or controlled/safeguarded. Network analysis (NA) can offer a broad framework of indicators to tackle this problem. In this article, we present a detailed analysis of a life cycle inventory (LCI) model from an NA perspective. Specifically, the network is represented as a directed graph and the “emergy” numeraire is used as the weight associated with the arcs of the network. The case study of a technological system for drinking water production is presented. We investigate the topological and structural characteristics of the network representation of this system and compare properties of its weighted and unweighted network, as well as the importance of nodes (i.e., life cycle unit processes). By identifying a number of advantages and limitations linked to the modeling complexity of such emergy‐LCI networks, we classify the LCI technosphere network of our case study as a complex network belonging to the scale‐free network family. The salient feature of this network family is represented by the presence of “hubs”: nodes that connect with many other nodes. Hub failures may imply relevant changes, decreases, or even breaks in the connectedness with other smaller hubs and nodes of the network. Hence, by identifying node centralities, we can rank and interpret the relevance of each node for its special role in the life cycle network.
Remote vs. local ischaemic preconditioning in the rat heart: infarct limitation, suppression of ischaemic arrhythmia and the role of reactive oxygen species

The unmet clinical need for myocardial salvage during ischaemia–reperfusion injury requires the development of new techniques for myocardial protection. In this study the protective effect of different local ischaemic preconditioning (LIPC) and remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) protocols was compared in the rat model of myocardial ischaemia–reperfusion, using infarct size and ischaemic tachyarrhythmias as end‐points. In addition, the hypothesis that there is involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the protective signalling by RIPC was tested, again in comparison with LIPC. The animals were subjected to 30‐min coronary occlusion and 90‐min reperfusion. RIPC protocol included either transient infrarenal aortic occlusion (for 5, 15 and 30 min followed by 15‐min reperfusion) or 15‐min mesenteric artery occlusion with 15‐min reperfusion. Ventricular tachyarrhythmias during test ischaemia were quantified according to Lambeth Conventions. It was found that the infarct‐limiting effect of RIPC critically depends on the duration of a single episode of remote ischaemia, which fails to protect the heart from infarction when it is too short or, instead, too prolonged. It was also shown that RIPC is ineffective in reducing the incidence and severity of ischaemia‐induced ventricular tachyarrhythmias. According to our data, the infarct‐limiting effect of LIPC could be partially eliminated by the administration of ROS scavenger N‐2‐mercaptopropionylglycine (90 mg/kg), whereas the same effect of RIPC seems to be independent of ROS signalling.
On the welfare gain from stabilizing cyclical fluctuations

Welfare gains of optimal cyclical fiscal policies as computed from previous dynamic general equilibrium models seem to be small and generally do not exceed 1% of total consumption if preferences are described by a standard isoelastic utility function. It is demonstrated that the assumption of certainty equivalence and the negligence of binding constraints results in the underestimation of the magnitude of potential welfare effects from stabilization.
The Offshore Renminbi Exchange Rate: Microstructure and Links to the Onshore Market

The offshore renminbi (CNH) exchange rate is the exchange rate of the Chinese currency transacted outside China. We study the CNH exchange rate dynamics and its links with onshore exchange rates. Using a specialized microstructure dataset, we find that CNH is significantly affected by its order flow and limit-order imbalance. The offshore CNH exchange rate has an increasing impact on the onshore rate, and significant predictive power for the official RMB central parity rate. The CNH order flow also affects the onshore RMB exchange rate and the central parity rate. The interactions between variables are likely to be time-varying.
Efficient Location-Aware Web Search

Mobile search is quickly becoming the most common mode of search on the internet. This shift is driving changes in user behaviour, and search engine behaviour. Just over half of all search queries from mobile devices have local intent, making location-aware search an increasingly important problem. In this work, we compare the efficiency and effectiveness of two general types of geographical search queries, range queries and k nearest neighbor queries, for common web search tasks. We test state-of-the-art spatial-textual indexing and search algorithms for both query types on two large datasets. Finally, we present a rank-safe dynamic pruning algorithm that is simple to implement and use with current inverted indexing techniques. Our algorithm is more efficient than the tightly coupled best-in-breed hybrid indexing algorithms that are commonly used for top-k spatial textual queries, and more likely to find relevant documents than techniques derived from range queries.
Frequency of upward lightning from tall structures in winter in Japan

In Japan, transmission lines or wind turbines in the coastal area of the Sea of Japan have suffered from higher frequencies of serious troubles by lightning in winter than those in summer. The thunderstorm days in this area are comparable in winter to those of summer; however, the number of lightning strokes observed by lightning location systems (LLS) in winter is much smaller. In winter, concentration of lightning hits to tall structures is observed by LLS in the coastal area of the Sea of Japan. Out of the observation by LLS, the authors propose an experimental formula to estimate the frequency of upward lightning occurring on tall structures in winter in Japan.
A Partial-differential Approximation for Spatial Stochastic Process Algebra

We study a spatial framework for process algebra with ordinary differential equation (ODE) semantics. We consider an explicit mobility model over a 2D lattice where processes may walk to neighbouring regions independently, and interact with each other when they are in same region. The ODE system size will grow linearly with the number of regions, hindering the analysis in practice. Assuming an unbiased random walk, we introduce an approximation in terms of a system of reaction-diffusion partial differential equations, of size independent of the lattice granularity. Numerical tests on a spatial version of the generalised Lotka-Volterra model show high accuracy and very competitive runtimes against ODE solutions for fine-grained lattices.
The systematic risk of futures contracts

Because futures contracts require no investment, the question is whether their returns exhibit and reward systematic risk. Earlier studies using limited data provide mixed answers. Kolb uses a comprehensive database to test (1) whether returns on futures differ significantly from zero, (2) whether systematic risk in the context of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) exists in commodity futures, and (3) whether systematic risk is rewarded. Data include 33 nonfinancial and 12 financial commodities covering 4,735 contracts and almost 600,000 daily observations during the 1969–92 period.
The Cyclical Properties of Unemployment and Vacancies in Taiwan

This paper examines the quantitative performance of the standard search and matching model in explaining the cyclical behaviour of Taiwan's labour market. Although the model accounts well for the data in some dimensions, simulated volatility is counterfactually very low, as pointed out in Shimer (2005) for the US labour market. Nevertheless, calibrated to Taiwan's data, the model explains a higher proportion of the observed volatility than the Shimer (2005) results, due to a higher parameter value for leisure; if an extremely high value is assumed, the model explains substantially better, but still partially, the volatility in Taiwan.
Long-term effects of sevelamer hydrochloride on the calcium x phosphate product and lipid profile of haemodialysis patients

Background. Short-term studies have suggested that sevelamer hydrochloride, a non-aluminium- and non-calcium-containing hydrogel, is an effective phosphate binder in haemodialysis patients, and may produce favourable changes in the lipid profile. Methods. To determine the long-term effectiveness of sevelamer hydrochloride, we performed an open-label clinical trial in 192 adult patients with end-stage renal disease on haemodialysis. Drug-related changes in the concentrations of serum phosphorus, calcium, calcium × phosphate product, parathyroid hormone, and low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were the major outcomes of interest. Results. Treatment with sevelamer was associated with a mean change in serum phosphorus of -0.71±0.77 mmol/l, serum calcium of 0.08±0.22 mmol/l, and calcium × phosphate product of -1.46±1.78 mmol/l (P<0.0001 for all comparisons). There were no significant overall treatment-related changes in parathyroid hormone. Serum levels of LDL cholesterol decreased by 0.81±0.75 mmol/l (mean -30%, P<0.0001) and HDL cholesterol increased by a mean of 0.15±0.29 mmol/l (mean +18%, P<0.0001). Drug-related adverse events were infrequent and most were of mild intensity. Conclusion. Sevelamer is a safe and effective phosphate binder that leads to significant improvements in the calcium × phosphate product and lipid profile of haemodialysis patients.
Disentangling rebalancing return

The use of portfolio rebalancing as a profitable strategy (or ‘volatility harvesting’) is a hot topic. Indeed, it is interesting to know what the impact of periodic rebalancing is on the growth rate of a portfolio. Unfortunately, the terminology used in the literature is confusing. Terms such as ‘diversification return’ and ‘rebalancing return’ are used interchangeably to indicate the growth rate that a rebalanced portfolio can earn in excess of a buy-and-hold portfolio. The literature is also confused in specifying this excess growth rate from rebalancing. In this article, we investigate the full return from rebalancing and decompose it into the volatility return and the dispersion discount. We prove some general results regarding these components and present some simple approximations that provide direct insight into the driving forces behind these building blocks. We consider a pro forma US asset portfolio over the period 1974–2013, which allows us to investigate the relative magnitude of the discussed effects and their time variation.
The Political Economy of Privatization: Empirical Evidence from Transition Economies

La presente etude donne une preuve systematique de l'aptitude de l'economie politique a expliquer les solutions nationales du droit de la propriete, independamment des pays et des secteurs. Un modele politico-economique de la privatisation est developpe et teste en se servant des progres avec les privatisations petites et grandessimportantes dans les 14 pays de transition du centre et est europeen dans un laps de temps allant de 1994a 2000. Il est prouve que les progres divergents dans les grandes privatisations sont dus largement a des limitations structurelles et financieres des decideurs politiques ainsi qu'a des constellations diverses de groupes d'interet nationaux. La petite privatisation par contre n'est pas affectee de maniere decisive par les limitations politiques et les groupes d'interet. Ce resultat renforce l'hypothese que l'aptitude de differentes theories a expliquer les changements de structures du droit de propriete depend de maniere decisive de la nature specifique des structures initiales. Copyright WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG 2004.
Perceived importance of retail store image attributes to the female large-size apparel consumer in a multicultural society

An opportunity currently exists for retailers to develop store image strategies to target the female large-size apparel consumer market within the multicultural South African consumer society. This exploratory study set out to generate and describe retail store image attributes perceived as important to the female large-size apparel consumer within the South African context, as well as identifying differences and similarities in the perception of these attributes based on race and age group. The study also aimed to determine if the existing store image attribute groupings by Lindquist (1974-1975:31) is applicable when studying the female largesize apparel consumer. Focus groups were used as method of data collection in this study. The sample population (n=37) consisted of account holders who purchased apparel from a specific large-size apparel retail store during a specific time period. Three race groups, namely Africans, Coloureds, and Whites, as well as three age groups i.e. 20-29, 30-39, and 40-54 year age groups were included. Each focus group was homogenous in race and age composition. A facilitator conducted group discussions by following a focus group schedule. The first part of the discussion generated retail store image attributes deemed important by the focus group participants, followed by the rating of the perceived importance of these attributes using the Schutte Visual Scale. The second part of the discussion generated participants' description of Lindquist's nine identified store image attribute groupings, followed by the rating of the perceived importance of each of these attribute groupings using the Schutte Visual Scale. Transcriptions of all the focus group discussions were made. For the first part of the study the transcriptions were compiled into composite lists and refined based on Lindquist's nine attribute groupings. The aggregate ratings for each specific attribute and attribute grouping were calculated. For the second part of the study's results, the descriptions of each of Lindquist's nine attribute groupings was compiled into a single list of descriptive attributes. The aggregate ratings for each of these attributes groupings were calculated. Respondents perceived Merchandise and Clientele the most important attribute groupings in the analysis of all race and age groups, followed by Service, Post-transaction satisfaction, Promotion and Store atmosphere. Institutional factors and Physical facilities were perceived as the least important attribute groupings. No attributes relating to Convenience were generated. In the analysis of race and age groups, Merchandise and Service, followed by Store atmosphere, were perceived as the most important attribute groupings by most of the focus groups. The specific attributes generated by the different groups showed similarities, whereas the rating and definition of these attributes differed. iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za