Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A variety of gram-positive bacteria carry mobile mef genes.

The mefE gene codes for a membrane bound efflux protein, which confers resistance to macrolides, and has been identified in Streptococcus pneumoniae. A variety of gram-positive organisms were examined. Twenty-six isolates of S. pneumoniae carried mefE and were resistant to erythromycin (MIC of 2-16 mg/L). Two additional isolates of Emr S. pneumoniae carried both ermB and mefE(MIC of 16-128 mg/L). One Micrococcus luteus, one Corynebacterium jeikeium, three Corynebacterium spp. , two viridans streptococci and seven Enterocccus spp. also carried mef genes. It was possible to move the mef gene from all 11 S. pneumoniae tested to susceptible S. pneumoniae and/or Enterococcus faecalis recipients. The addition of DNase (1 g/L) did not affect the gene transfer. It was also possible to move the mef gene from donor Enterococcus spp. , viridans streptococci, M. luteus, C. jeikeium and Corynebacterium spp. to E. faecalis recipients. Transconjugant isolates were resistant to erythromycin (MIC = 16 mg/L). Hybridization with a labelled mef oligonucleotide probe against Southern blots and bacterial dot blots confirmed the presence of the mef genes. This is the first time that a mobile mef gene has been identified in four different genera, from three distinct geographical locations.
Structural properties of an engineered outer membrane protein G mutant, OmpG-16SL, investigated with infrared spectroscopy

Abstract The structural and functional differences between wild type (WT) outer membrane protein G and its two mutants are investigated with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Both mutants have a long extension to the primary sequence to increase the number of β-strands from 14 (wild type) to 16 in an attempt to enlarge the pore diameter. The comparison among proteins is made in terms of pH-dependent conformational changes and thermal stability. Results show that all proteins respond to pH change but at different degrees. At acidic environment, all proteins contain the same number of residues participated in β-sheet structure. However, at neutral pH, the mutants have less ordered structure compared to WT porin. Thermal stability tests show that mutants differ significantly from WT porin at neutral pH. Although the transition temperature is directly proportional with the amount of β-sheet content, the changes in the pre-transition phase that pave the way to structural breakdown are shown to involve interactions among charged residues by two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy analysis. Results of the analysis show that side chain interactions play an active role under increasing temperature. Both mutants have more unordered secondary structure but they respond to pH change in tertiary structure level. Findings of this study provided deeper insight on the active players in structural stability of the WT porin. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
Identification of the intracellular folate coenzymes of different cell types.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the identification of the intracellular folate coenzymes of different cell types. Folate polyglutamates occur within cells in low concentration. In two instances, it has been possible to isolate sufficient folate to carry out chemical analysis on the number of glutamate residues. Yeast had been shown to contain exclusively folate heptaglutamate and Clostridium acidi-urici only folate triglutamate. Two methods have been developed to examine folate polyglutamate distributions. One approach separates the intact folate polyglutamates by molecular size on sephadex G-25. This method has been shown to be unsatisfactory due to the adsorption to the gel. The other approach developed in the laboratory depends on cleavage of the C-9-N-10 bond and subsequent separation of the resulting p -aminobenzoylpolyglutamates, by anion-exchange chromatography, with suitable standards. The C-9-N-10 bond can be cleaved chemically by two main methods oxidatively with potassium permanganate or reductively with a zinc catalyst. In case of bacterial and yeast samples, the extraction procedures for folate monoglutamates and folate polyglutamates are the same.
Spreading depression‐induced preconditioning in the mouse cortex: differential changes in the protein expression of ionotropic nicotinic acetylcholine and glutamate receptors

Preconditioning of the cerebral cortex was induced in mice by repeated cortical spreading depression (CSD), and the major ionotropic glutamate (GluRs) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChRs) subunits were compared by quantitative immunoblotting between sham‐ and preconditioned cortex, 24 h after treatment. A 30% reduction in α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐iso‐ xazolepropionate (AMPA) GluR1 and 2 subunit immunoreactivities was observed in the preconditioned cortex (p < 0.03), but there was no significant change in the NMDA receptor subunits, NR1, NR2A and NR2B. A 12–15‐fold increase in α7 nAChR subunit expression following in vivo CSD (p < 0.001) was by far the most remarkable change associated with preconditioning. In contrast, the α4 nAChR subunit was not altered. These data point to the α7 nAChR as a potential new target for neuroprotection because preconditioning increases consistently the tolerance of the brain to acute insults such as ischaemia. These data complement recent studies implicating α7 nAChR overexpression in the amelioration of chronic neuropathologies, notably Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Integration of Clinical Information and Gene Expression Profiles for Prediction of Chemo-Response for Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States and western Europe. Platinum drugs are the most active agents in epithelial ovarian cancer therapy. In order to improve the prediction of response to platinum-based chemotherapy for advanced-stage ovarian cancers, we describe an integrated model which combines clinical information tumor and treatment information, with gene expression profile. This integrated modeling framework is based on the support vector machine classifier that evaluates the contributions of both clinical and gene expression data. The results show that the integrated model combining clinical information and gene expression profiles improve the prediction accuracy compared to those made by using gene expression predictor alone
Anthocyanins ameliorate palmitate‐induced inflammation and insulin resistance in 3T3‐L1 adipocytes

Increased adiposity has been associated with adipose tissue low‐grade inflammation leading to insulin resistance. Adipocyte differentiation inhibitors are expected to be effective in preventing obesity and related diseases. Anthocyanins (ACNs) are associated to enhanced adipocyte function and protection from metabolic stress. Herein, we evaluated the in vitro protective effects of an ACN rich extract against palmitic acid (PA)‐induced hypertrophy, inflammation, and insulin resistance in 3T3‐L1 adipocytes. ACN extract pretreatment reduces lipid accumulation and peroxisome proliferators‐activated receptor‐γ protein levels induced by PA. In addition, PA induces inflammation with activation of NF‐κB pathway, whereas ACN extract pretreatment dose‐dependently inhibited this pathway. Furthermore, adipocyte dysfunction associated with hypertrophy induces insulin resistance by affecting phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase‐protein kinase B/Akt axis, GLUT‐1, and adiponectin mRNA levels. ACN extract pretreatment reverts these effects induced by PA and moreover was able to induce insulin pathway with levels higher than insulin control cells, supporting an insulin sensitizer role for ACNs. This study demonstrates a prevention potential of ACNs against obesity comorbidities, due to their protective effects against inflammation/insulin resistance in adipocytes. In addition, these results contribute to the knowledge and strategies on the evaluation of the mechanism of action of ACNs from a food source under basal and insulin resistance conditions related to obesity.
CK1 inhibitor affects in vitro maturation and developmental competence of bovine oocytes.

The objectives of present study were to evaluate the effect of casein kinase 1 (CK1) inhibition D4476 on in vitro maturation (IVM) and developmental competence of bovine oocytes. The cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in maturation medium with D4476 (0, 2, 5, 10, 20 μM) for 24 hr. After IVM and in vitro fertilization, through expansion average scores of cumulus cells (CCs), oocyte maturation efficiency, cleavage rate and blastocyst rate of zygote, we found 5 μM D4476 could increase the development potential of oocytes. After the COCs were treated with 5 μM D4476, the results of quantitative real-time PCR analysis, Lichen red staining and PI staining showed that under without affecting germinal vesicle breakdown and nuclear morphology, D4476 could significantly decrease CK1 and upregulate TCF-4 in oocytes. Furthermore, without influencing the level of Bad and CTSB, D4476 could significantly increase the expression of β-catenin, TCF-4, Cx43, MAPK, PTGS-2, PTX-3, TGS-6, Bax and Bcl-2 in CCs. Western blot analysis revealed that the addition of 5 μM D4476 during the maturation of COCs resulted in a lower level of Cx43 protein at 12 hr and a higher expression of Cx43 protein at 24 hr compared to the group without D4476. These results indicate that adding optimum D4476 (5 μM) to maturation medium is beneficial to maturity efficiency and development competence of bovine oocytes.
Extraction from Medical Records

Despite using electronic medical records, free narrative text is still widely used for medical records. Such text cannot be analyzed by statistical tools and be proceed by decision support systems. To make data from texts available for such tasks a supervised machine learning algorithms might be successfully applied. In this work, we develop and compare a prototype of a medical data extraction system based on different artificial neuron networks architectures to process free medical texts in Russian language. The best F-score (0.9763) achieved on a combination of CNN prediction model and large pre-trained word2vec model. The very close result (0.9741) has shown by the MLP model with the same embedding.
Diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in testicular pathologies: Single-center results.

BACKGROUND Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has been used as an additional imaging technique in order to clarify testicular findings. CEUS is easy and fast to perform, overcomes the limitations of B-mode US. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the assessment of unclear testicular pathologies. METHODS CEUS examinations of 45 patients with unclear testicular pathologies between 2012 and 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. Examinations were performed using B-mode, colour Doppler (CCDS) and CEUS after injection of contrast agent (SonoVue®, Bracco) and interpreted by an experienced radiologist (EFSUMB level 3). Reference standard was defined as histopathological report and clinical course. RESULTS Overall 19 patients presented with a neoplastic lesion, whereas 14 were malignant. Matched to the histopathological report and clinical follow up, CEUS represented a sensitivity of 93% (95% -CI, 69-99), a specificity of 94% (95% -CI, 80-98), a positive predictive value (PPV) of 87% (95% -CI, 62-96) and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 97% (95% -CI, 83-99). CONCLUSION CEUS is an accurate additional tool to differentiate between testicular alterations when B-mode US and CCDS are uncertain. CEUS may provide additional information and detect early enhancement in small tumor lesions when CCDS comes to its limit.
Radar Target Recognition Using A Modified Kernel Direct Discriminant Analysis Algorithm

The small sample size (SSS) problem is one of the major problems encountered when traditional kernel discriminant analysis methods are applied to high-dimensional pattern recognition tasks. Different methods have been proposed to solve this problem. In this paper, we introduce a new kernel discriminant analysis algorithm, which is able to effectively address the SSS problem and extract a set of optimal discriminant vectors without any lose of useful discriminant information. Experiments performed on radar target recognition using range profiles indicate that the proposed method outperforms some existing kernel discriminant algorithms, such as generalized discriminant analysis and kernel direct discriminant analysis, in terms of recognition rate.
Using Machine Learning for Personalized Patient Adherence Level Determination

The paper deals with using a machine-learning algorithm for patient adherence level determination. For this purpose, we developed a neural network using the Python language, Keras library, and PyCharm platform. We analyzed different medical data collected from medical staff, patient interviews, and measurements preprocessed using a fuzzy Mamdani algorithm. After analysing 369 records we received 79.4% of accuracy.
The Study's Chemical Interaction of the Sodium Silicate Solution with Extender Pigments to Investigate High Heat Resistance Silicate Coating

Silicate coating is water-based paint with many advantages and wide applications in many different industries. However, there are still some problems with silicate coating: how to increase its resistance to heat at high temperatures and prolong the life of the coating. Silicate paints have high durability and longevity dependent mainly on the chemical interaction of the silicate binder with extender pigments. Therefore, our groups have studied the geopolymerization process of the sodium silicate solution with extender pigments to investigate high heat resistance silicate coating. The effect of curing time on the chemical interaction between sodium silicate solution and extender pigments (ZnO, TiO2, Fe2O3, CaCO3, and Na2SiF6) was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The shift of antisymmetric stretching vibration of the Si-O-Si bond (1060 cm−1) to low frequency and increase of the intensity of the Si-O-Si stretching as curing time increases from 1 to 20 days are due to the increased chemical interaction between extender pigments (ZnO, TiO2, Fe2O3, CaCO3, and Na2SiF6) and sodium silicate solution. Moreover, TG results of ZnO-silicate, TiO2-silicate, CaCO3-silicate, Na2SiF6-silicate, and Fe2O3-silicate coating at 1 and 20 days of curing show high residual geopolymer about 69–90% at 800°C. Thus, we proposed that the geopolymerization process between sodium silicate solution and extender pigments (ZnO, TiO2, Fe2O3, CaCO3, and Na2SiF6) increases when the curing time from 1 to 20 days leads to forming geopolymer silicate with high thermal stability. In addition, the optimal mixing ratio between sodium silicate solution and extender pigments (ZnO, TiO2, Fe2O3, CaCO3, and Na2SiF6) is as follows: 25% binder (sodium silicate solution), 8% ZnO; 5% TiO2, 5% Fe2O3, 1% Na2SiF6, 21% CaCO3, 34% H2O, and 1% additives to make high heat resistance silicate coating with temperature resistance at 1000°C.
Estimation of river discharge, propagation speed, and hydraulic geometry from space: Lena River, Siberia

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)–derived measurements of Lena River effective width (We) display a high predictive capacity (r2 = 0.81, mean absolute error < 25%) to forecast downstream discharge conditions at Kusur station, some 8 d and ∼700 km later. Satellite‐derived mean flow propagation speed (88 km d−1 or 1.01 m s−1) compares well with that estimated from ground data (84 km d−1 or 0.97 m s−1). Scaling analysis of a ∼300 km heavily braided study reach suggests that at length scales > 60–90 km (∼2–3 time valley width), satellite‐derived We − Q rating curves and hydraulic geometry (b exponents) converge upon stable values (b = 0.48), indicating transferability of the discharge retrieval method between different locations. Put another way, at length scales exceeding ∼60–90 km all subreaches display similar behavior everywhere. At finer reach length scales (e.g., 0.25–1 km), longitudinal extraction of b exponents represents the first continuous mapping of a classical hydraulic geometry parameter from space. While at least one gauging station is required for calibration, results suggest that multitemporal satellite data can powerfully enhance our understanding of water discharge and flow conveyance in remote river systems.
Dispatch Model of Combined Heat and Power Plant Considering Heat Transfer Process

Due to the coupling of its heat and power output, combined heat and power (CHP) has limited flexibility, which is one of the main reasons for variable renewable energy source (RES) curtailment problem in Northern China. Almost all the existing studies have modelled the CHP's output characteristics as a feasible operation region of electric power and heat power. However, only the extraction steam of a CHP unit that used for district heating can be controlled directly, without considering the extraction steam's heat transfer process, the actual heat power output cannot be precisely decided. Thus this paper proposes a detailed CHP dispatch model based on the principles of heat transfer. A three-stage heat transfer model of the extraction steam is used to describe the heating process. Then, a joint dispatch model concerning CHP units, conventional thermal power units, and RESs is given. Finally, the impacts of different factors on the extraction steam's heat transfer process and its influence for RES accommodation are analyzed. Results show that considering heat transfer process is essential in modelling the CHP plant that used for district heating, especially when the CHP plant is working at a status that deviates from the rated one significantly.
Generating complex surfaces for robot milling and engraving tasks: Using images for robot task definition

The paper presents a software system created to allow to use a user-friendly interface in order to describe complex surfaces which a robot system will follow, with applications in robot milling or engraving. The experimental system used for testing is composed by a 6 degree of freedom IRB 140 ABB robot with tools for engraving of milling, having the PC Interface option for communication and a PC which is executing a CAD application used to define the surface needed by the robot in order to execute the desired task. The robot task is defined using STL 3D objects or images in order to obtain the trajectory of the robot depending on the surface designed in the application. This task can be accomplished using multiple methods which are described in the paper. The algorithm which generates the trajectory is presented, and the paper present also the preliminary results obtained.
Density of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Current Marijuana Use among Young Adult Marijuana Users in Los Angeles

Abstract Background: While tobacco and alcohol studies have focused on density of outlets as a determinant of consumption, research has begun examining the effects of medical marijuana (MM) dispensaries on marijuana use. Objectives: Examine the relationship between density of MM dispensaries and frequency of marijuana use among young adult medical marijuana patients (MMP) and nonpatient users (NPU). Methods: Young adult marijuana users (n = 329) aged 18- to 26-year old were sampled in Los Angeles in 2014–2015 and separated into MMP (n = 198) and NPU (n = 131). In 2014, 425 operational MM dispensaries were identified within the City of Los Angeles. Sequential multilevel Poisson random effect models examined density of MM dispensaries per square mile and 90 d marijuana use among MMP and NUP at the ZIP code level while controlling for demographic, behavioral, and community characteristics. Results: Density of MM dispensaries was not related to 90 d use of marijuana (days of use or hits per day) among either MMP or NPU. MMP reported significantly greater days of marijuana use in the past 90 d compared to NPU but no differences were found for hits per day. African–Americans reported significantly greater hits per day compared to whites. Hispanics reported significantly fewer hits per day compared to non-Hispanics. Conclusion: Concentration of MM dispensaries surrounding young adult marijuana users in Los Angeles was unrelated to days of marijuana use irrespective of having a MM recommendation or not. Rather, individual factors related to consumer choices and behaviors were more important in determining recent marijuana use among MMP and NPU.
High-Performance Sensor Based on Thin-Film Metallic Glass/Ultrananocrystalline diamond/ZnO Nanorod Heterostructures for Detection of Hydrogen Gas at Room Temperature.

This article outlines a novel material to enable the detection of hydrogen gas, combining thin-film metallic glass (TFMG), ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD), and ZnO nanorods (ZNRs) used as a device for effective hydrogen gas sensing has been proposed. Three sensors were respectively fabricated using structures of pure ZNRs (Z), UNCD/ZNRs (DZ), and TFMG/UNCD/ZNRs (MDZ). The MDZ device exhibited performance superior to the other configurations, with a sensing response of 34% under very low hydrogen gas concentrations (10 ppm) at room temperature. Remarkably, the MDZ based sensor exhibits the ultra-high sensitive of 60.5% under 500 ppm H2 concentrations. The MDZ sensor proved very fast in terms of response time (20 s) and recovery time (35 s). In terms of selectivity, the sensors were particularly suited to hydrogen gas. The sensor achieved the same response performance even after two months, thereby demonstrating the superior stability. We postulate that the superior performance of MDZ can be attributed to defect-related adsorption as well as charge carrier density. This paper also discusses the respective energy band model of this heterostructures and also the interface effect on the gas sensing enhancements. Our results indicate that the proposed hybrid TFMG/UNCD/ZNR nanostructures could be utilized in high-performance hydrogen gas sensors.
Effect of mosapride on ruminal motility in cattle

This study aimed to assess the effects of mosapride at various dosages on ruminal motility in cattle and the absorption kinetics of mosapride in cattle. Mosapride was rapidly absorbed after oral administration in cattle. Oral administration at dosages of 1, 3, and 10 mg/kg resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the detection time. At the 1 mg/kg dose, the motility index of rumen in cattle significantly increased at 60, 70, and 80 min (134 ± 20, 168 ± 37, 173 ± 45%, respectively), compared with that of the control. The administration of mosapride in cattle did not cause any subsequent adverse clinical signs or blood test abnormalities. It was suggested that mosapride enhanced ruminal motility without adverse effects in cattle.