Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exposure to Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) from Household Spray Products

Emission of volatile organic compounds from the use of household spray products has a negative impact on health and environment. Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) concentration levels emitted from forty –five registered consumer spray products in Nigeria were measured using MultiRAE TVOCs gas monitor. Human exposure to emitted TVOCs through inhalation, ingestion or through dermal route was evaluated using the ConsExpo spray model. The average TVOCs emission from all the investigated samples was in the range of 1664 and 560994.7 µg m-3 with an average of 63632.2 µg m-3. Generally for all the samples considered, the average released concentrations, inhaled dose, dermal doses, and average deposition rates were in the ranges of 1.83E+04 – 1.00E+06 µg m-3; 1.47E+03 – 8.01E+04 µg ; 3.41E+04 – 4.84E+05 µg; and 1.79E+01 – 1.01E+03 µg s-1, respectively. The results provide information that could be used to significantly improve human exposure and risk assessment to emitted aerosols from spray products.DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.erem. 73.4. 19316
Ancalomicrobiutm: New Prosthecate Freshwater Bacteria

Direct microscopic examination of natural freshwater samples reveals a variety of small microorganisms having elaborate cellular appendages. Several strains have been isolated from crude cultures containing low concentrations of organic nutrients. All of the isolates are procaryotic. They are aerobic chemoorganotrophs that require vitamins for growth. Because they cannot be assigned to any of the existing bacterial genera, two new genera are proposed: Ancalomicrobium for organisms which have several long appendages and which reproduce by budding; Prosthecomicrobium for organisms which have many short appendages tapering toward a blunt tip and which reproduce by binary fission. Gas vacuoles have been found in strains of each genus. The term prostheca is proposed for the rigid appendages of procaryotic cells bounded by the cell wall, and is defined to include the structures on these new bacteria, as well as the stalks of the caulobacters and the hyphae of the hyphomicrobia.
Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate Stimulation of Plasmid ColEl Replication

Addition of cyclic adenosine 3'-5'-monophosphate (c-AMP) to growing Escherichia coli cells, colicinogenic for the plasmid ColEl, results in a fourfold stimulation in the rate of synthesis of the plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The stimulation is transient (30 min) and is succeeded by a brief period (30 min) of cessation of plasmid DNA replication. The stimulation of ColEl DNA replication also occurs in chloramphenicol-treated cells. Rifampin inhibits ColEl DNA replication in the presence or absence of c-AMP. Employing thymine starvation conditions to stop ColEl DNA synthesis, it was found that c-AMP, added during the period of thymine starvation, effected a stimulation in the amount of subsequent replication which took place when replicating conditions were restored. The stimulatory effect of c-AMP under these conditions was not prevented by chloramphenicol but was completely eliminated when rifampin was present. Under these conditions, when rifampin was added after the effect of c-AMP was allowed to occur, subsequent replication of the plasmid could take place, but only one round of replication occurred. A model to account for the c-AMP effects is presented.
Effects of the toml Mutation ofArabidopsis thaliana

For the multiplication of RNA viruses, specific host factors are considered essential, but as of yet little is known about this aspect of virus multiplication. To identify such host factors, we previously isolated PD114, a mutant ofArabidopsis thaliana, in which the accumulation of the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in uninoculated leaves of an infected plant was reduced to low levels. The causal mutation, designated toml, was single, nuclear, and recessive. Here, we demonstrate that the toml mutation affects the amplification of TMV-related RNAs in a single cell. When protoplasts were inoculated with TMV RNA by electroporation, the percentage of TMV-positive protoplasts (detected by indirect immunofluorescence staining with anti-TMV antibodies) was lower (about 1/5 to 1/10) among PD114 protoplasts than among wild-type protoplasts. In TMV-positive PD114 protoplasts, the amounts of the positive-strand RNAs (the genomic RNA and subgenomic mRNAs) and coat protein reached levels similar to, or slightly lower than, those reached in TMV-positive wild-type protoplasts, but the accumulation of the positive-strand RNAs and coat protein occurred more slowly than with the wild-type protoplasts. The parallel decrease in the amounts of the coat protein and its mRNA suggests that the coat protein is translated from its mRNA with normal efficiency. These observations support the idea that the TOM) gene encodes a host factor necessary for the efficient amplification ofTMV RNA in an infected cell. Furthermore, we show that TMV multiplication in PD114 protoplasts is severely affected by the coinoculation of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) RNA. When PD114 protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture ofTMV and CMV RNAs by electroporation, the accumulation of TMV-related molecules was approximately one-fifth of that in PD114 protoplasts inoculated with TMV RNA alone. No such reduction in the accumulation of TMV-related molecules was observed when wild-type protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture of TMV and CMV RNAs or when wild-type and PD114 protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture ofTMV and turnip crinkle virus RNAs. These observations are compatible with a hypothetical model in which a gene(s) that is distinct from the TOM) gene is involved in both TMV and CMV multiplication.
Which Multiplies Efficiently in Simian Cells

In a previous report (Klessig, J. Virol. 21:1243-1246, 1977), the isolation of a variant (H2hr400) of adenovirus serotype 2 (Ad2) that overcomes the block to multiplication of wild-type Ad2 in simian cells was described. H2hr400 replicates efficiently on both human and simian cells, resulting in virus yields that are comparable to those found when wild-type Ad2 infects permissive, human cells. An extensive comparison of the genome of H2hr400 with that of its parent by restriction endonuclease, electron microscopic, and hybridization analyses failed to detect any differences and excludes the possibility that simian virus 40 sequences, which in certain Ad2-simian virus 40 hybrid viruses (e.g., Ad2+ND1) allow adenovirus to multiply efficiently in simian cells, are present in H2hr400. In contrast to Ad2, H2hr400 can fully express its late genes in both simian and human cells. The mutation has been mapped by a modified marker rescue technique to the segment of the viral genome located between coordinates 59 and 80.
Binds with Low Cooperativity to Two Flanking Sites and Represses the E6 Promoter through Displacement of Spl and TFIID

The E6 promoters of all genital human papillomaviruses have a characteristic alignment of transcription factor binding sites. Activation of the basic transcription complex at the TATA box depends upon a sequence-aberrant Spl site. Repression of E6 promoters is achieved by two binding sites for the viral E2 protein positioned between the Spl site and the TATA box. We have purified the human papillomavirus type 16 E2 protein after expression in Escherichia coli and studied its binding and repression properties with oligonucleotides representing the homologous promoter sequences. A Kd value of 3 x 10-10 M indicated binding properties expected for a native protein. We found low cooperativity in the binding of two E2 dimers to flanking sites, both when these sites were separated by 3 nucleotides, as in the natural promoter, and when they were further apart. E2 protein, bound close to the distal Spl site, displaced the Spl factor even when the aberrant sequence was replaced by a typical Spl core recognition site. The high affinity of E2 protein for its binding site even led to Spl displacement at concentrations of E2 protein nearly 2 orders of magnitude lower than those of Spl. Functional analyses of mutated E6 promoter sequences showed repression by this distal E2 binding site in the complete absence of binding to the proximal E2 binding site. From our findings and observations published by others, we conclude that each of the E2 binding sites in the E6 promoter of genital human papillomaviruses plays a separate role by displacing the transcription factors Spl and TFIID.
Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis: to investigate the association of adherence to plant-based diets with cardiovascular disease risk

Background: Plant-based diets (PBDs) are characterised as healthy dietary patterns that emphasise the intake of plant foods and limit the intake of animal foods. The Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets are common examples of healthy dietary patterns that are mainly plant based. There are different dietary pattern analysis approaches and scoring systems available to construct indices that measure adherence to a dietary pattern. Nutritional epidemiology studies necessitate the use of appropriate dietary indices when investigating diet-disease associations. Methods: This systematic review protocol was developed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines. PubMed–Medline, Scopus and relevant biomedical databases within EBSCOhost will be searched up to August 2021 using relevant key words. Two reviewers will independently screen the identified records and review the eligible full texts for inclusion. Discrepancies will be resolved by consensus or through discussion with a third reviewer. Appropriate meta-analysis will be performed where possible and consistency of the findings checked through subgroup analysis. Heterogeneity across studies will be assessed and quantified, and publication bias investigated. Relevant sensitivity analyses will be performed to substantiate the robustness of the study findings. Conclusion: Currently, there is some inconsistency in defining and measuring adherence to a PBD across study populations. In addition to this, a lack of global data on the association between adherence to a PBD and CVD risk. This systematic review could aid in promoting the worldwide uptake of these findings for policy and practice purposes. This research will use previously published studies; and therefore, will not require ethical approval.
Fixation in Rhizobiumjaponicum

The addition of exogenous cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) at a concentration of 0.1 mM to a free-living culture ofRhizobiumjaponicum 311bllO was found to completely inhibit the expression of nitrogenase activity and markedly inhibit the expression of hydrogenase and nitrate reductase activities. The effect was specific for cGMP. Experiments on the in vivo incorporation of radioactive methionine and subsequent analysis of the labeled proteins on polyacrylamide gels showed that the biosynthesis of nitrogenase polypeptides was inhibited. It appears that the time of addition of cGMP is important since the effect was only seen during the early stages of nif gene expression. The intracellular level of cGMP was found to respond to physiological changes in the cell, and there was a fall in cGMP concentrations when nitrogenase was induced. Microaerophilic-aerobic shift experiments showed that intracellular levels increased from 0.25 pmol/mg of cell protein under microaerophilic conditions to 2.6 pmol/mg of cell protein under aerobic conditions, suggesting that the cellular pool size of cGMP may be under redox control.
Vaccinia Virus A17L Genet

The mechanism by which the 14-kDa fusion protein of vaccinia virus (VV) is anchored in the envelope of intracellular naked virions (INV) is not understood. In this investigation, we demonstrate that the 14-kDa protein interacts with another virus protein with an apparent molecular mass of 21 kDa. Microsequence analysis of the N terminus of the 21-kDa protein revealed that this protein is encoded by theW A17L gene. The 21-kDa protein is processed from a 23-kDa precursor, by cleavage at amino acid position 16, at the consensus motif Ala-Gly-Ala, previously identified as a cleavage site for severalW structural proteins. The 21-kDa protein contains two large internal hydrophobic domains characteristic of membrane proteins. Pulse-chase analysis showed that within 1 h after synthesis, the 14-kDa protein forms a stable complex with the 21-kDa protein. Formation of the complex was not inhibited by rifampin, indicating that the interaction between these two proteins occurs prior to virion morphogenesis. Immunoprecipitation analysis of disrupted virions showed the presence of the 21-kDa protein in the viral particle. Release of the 14-kDa-21-kDa protein complex from INV required treatment with the nonionic detergent Nonidet P-40 and a reducing agent. The protein complex consisted of 14-kDa trimers and of 21-kDa dimers. Since the 14-kDa fusion protein lacks a signal sequence and a large hydrophobic domain characteristic ofmembrane proteins, our findings suggest that the 21-kDa protein serves to anchor the 14-kDa protein to the envelope of INW.
Construction of Viable Deletion and Insertion Strain of Type 1 Poliovirus: Function of the 5' in Viral Replication Mutants of the Sabin Noncoding Sequence

A number of deletion and insertion sequences were introduced into the 5' noncoding sequence (742 nucleotides long) of the genome of the Sabin strain of type 1 poliovirus by using an infectious cDNA clone of the virus strain. The genomes of all three poliovirus serotypes contained highly homologous sequences (nucleotide positions 509 to 639) as well as highly variable sequences (positions 640 to 742) in the 5' noncoding region. The viability of mutant viruses was tested by transfecting mutant cDNA clones into African green monkey kidney cells and then estimating the plaque sizes displayed on the cells. The results suggested that the highly variable sequence next to the VP4 coding region did not play an important role, at least in the in vitro culture system used, that the loci of highly conserved nucleotide sequences were not always expected to be the genome regions essential for viral replication, that the sequence between positions 564 and 599 carried genetic information to maintain the efficiency of certain steps in viral replication, and that the sequence between positions 551 to 563 might play an essential role in viral replication. Four-base deletion or insertion mutations were introduced into relatively variable sequences in the genome region upstream of position 509. The results suggest that variable sequences do not always indicate that the corresponding genome regions are less important. Apparent revertants (large-plaque variants) were easily generated from one of the viable mutants with the small-plaque phenotype. The determination of nucleotide sequences of the revertant genomes revealed the second mutation site. The results suggested that the different loci at around positions 200 and 500 might specifically interact with each other. This interaction may result in the formation of a functional structure that influences the efficiency of certain steps in the viral replication.
Synthesis and Surface Modification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles for Functional Nanocomposite and Thin Film Applications

In this work the use of ZrO2 and BaTiO3 nanoparticles for the fabrication of thin films and nanocomposites is reported. The nanoparticles were synthesized through the non-aqueous benzyl alcohol route. It is shown that for ZrO2 nanoparticles the material of the reaction vessel and the reaction temperature have a strong influence on their crystal phase composition. Also, the effect of the use of co-solvents during the synthesis of BaTiO3 nanoparticles is shown. Here, the selected co-solvents have a strong influence on their crystallite size. Subsequently to the synthesis, the preparation of stable dispersions through surface modification of the nanoparticles is investigated. It is shown that by using minor amounts of ligand highly stable dispersions of ZrO2 and BaTiO3 can be achieved. Additionally, it is shown that the surface modified nanoparticles could be simply redispersed after induced precipitation. The dispersions were then successfully employed for the fabrication of nanocomposites and thin films. For the nanocomposites, the influence of the change in the surface chemistry on the particle-polymer interface and the properties of the nanocomposites are examined. It is shown that the surface chemistry as well as the embedding procedure of the modified nanoparticles has a strong impact on the mechanical properties of the composite, inducing an increase of up to 12 % for the maximum tensile strength and 11 % for the Young’s modulus, at a particle loading of only 2 wt% ZrO2. As for the thin films, the effect of the choice of ligand, its concentration and the drying procedure on the structure of the thin films is briefly investigated. Furthermore, the implementation of these thin films as a dielectric for capacitors, which are integratable into printed circuit boards, is shown. These capacitors exhibited outstanding dielectric properties, much better than the state of the art integratable capacitor solutions.
The Chicken Skeletal ot-Actin Gene Promoter Region Exhibits

The chicken skeletal a-actin gene promoter region (-202 to -12) provides myogenic transcriptional specificity. This promoter contains partial dyad symmetry about an axis at nucleotide -108 and in transfection experiments is capable of directing transcription in a bidirectional manner. At least three different transcription initiation start sites, oriented toward upstream sequences, were mapped 25 to 30 base pairs from TATA-like regions. The opposing transcriptional activity was potentiated upon the deletion of sequences proximal to the a-actin transcription start site. Thus, sequences which serve to position RNA polymerase for a-actin transcription may allow, in their absence, the selection of alternative and reverse-oriented start sites. Nuclear runoff transcription assays of embryonic muscle indicated that divergent transcription may occur in vivo but with rapid turnover of nuclear transcripts. Divergent transcriptional activity enabled us to define the 3' regulatory boundary of the skeletal a-actin promoter which retains a high level of myogenic transcriptional activity. The 3' regulatory border was detected when serial 3' deletions bisected the element (-91 CCAAA TATGG -82) which reduced transcriptional activity by 80%. Previously we showed that disruption of its upstream counterpart (-127 CCAAAGAAGG -136) resulted in about a 90% decrease in activity. These element pairs, which we describe as CCAAT box-associated repeats, are conserved in all sequenced vertebrate sarcomeric actin genes and may act in a cooperative manner to facilitate transcription in myogenic cells.
Research on Visual Image Texture Rendering for Artistic Aided Design

The rendering effect of known visual image texture is poor and the output image is not always clear. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a visual image rendering based on scene visual understanding algorithm. In this approach, the color segmentation of known visual scene is carried out according to a predefined threshold, and the segmented image is processed by morphology. For this purpose, the extraction rules are formulated to screen the candidate regions. The color image is fused and filtered in the neighborhood, the pixels of the image are extracted, and the 2D texture recognition is realized by multilevel fusion and visual feature reconstruction. Using compact sampling to extract more target features, feature points are matched, the coordinate system of known image information are integrated into a unified coordinate system, and design images are generated to complete art-aided design. Simulation results show that the proposed method is more accurate than the original method for extracting the information of known images, which helps to solve the problem of clearly visible output images and improves the overall design effect.
Necessary for Efficient Down Regulation of the ICPO Promoter

The herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP4 and ICPO polypeptides are immediate-early proteins that positively and negatively regulate expression of other viral genes in trans. ICP4 has recently been shown to bind DNA bearing the consensus sequence 5'-ATCGTCNNNN(T/C)CG(A/G)C-3', present upstream of a number of viral genes. To test the hypothesis that this DNA-binding activity is involved in ICP4-mediated gene regulation, site-specific mutagenesis was employed to mutate the version of this sequence in the promoter of the ICPO gene. The mutation eliminated detectable binding of ICP4 to the promoter as measured in vitro by a gel electrophoresis band shift assay. The ability of the mutated ICPO promoter to direct synthesis of a reporter gene was also investigated in a transient transfection assay. Whereas ICP4 was found to transactivate the wild-type ICPO promoter twoto threefold, the mutated promoter was transactivated sevento ninefold. In assays containing the ICPO transactivator gene, ICP4 down regulated the wild-type promoter far more efficiently than the mutated promoter. Finally, both the wild-type and mutated ICPO promoters exhibited a similar response to ICP4 in transfections that included a vector expressing the viral transactivator protein VP16. These experiments suggest that the sequence-specific DNA-binding activity of ICP4 is an essential element of its role
pp60vsrc Function

The Rous sarcoma virus mutant tsLA29 encodes a pp6ov-src molecule that is temperature sensitive for both tyrosine kinase activity and its ability to locate at the cell periphery. The defect in localization appears to be due to a perturbation in events following complex dissociation, since the mutant enzyme shows a rapidly reversible association with the cytoskeleton when shifted between permissive and restrictive temperatures. Although tsLA29 pp60v-s'c differs from the wild type at three amino acid residues, studies with chimeric proteins show that only one of the mutations, an alanine-for-proline substitution at residue 507, accounts for all the temperature-sensitive characteristics. Moreover, a single second site mutation, at residue 427, can restore the wild phenotype. Cells infected with a chimeric virus encoding only the alanine substitution at position 507 have
Specific DNA Sequences in C3H 1OT1/2 Cells

The present study indicates that the transient exposure of C3H 1OT1/2 mouse embryo fibroblasts to 5azacytidine leads to extensive loss of methylation of the protooncogene c-mos and the P-globin locus at the cell population level and in at least 40 isolated subclones. These changes persisted, even when the cells were serially passaged for many generations without further exposure to the drug. Even though the amount of demethylation, assessed through differential digestion by the restriction enzymes HpaII and MspI, was quite extensive, neither locus was transcribed at a detectable level. This nonselective analysis suggests, therefore, that loss of DNA methylation is not sufficient per se to induce the expression of certain loci. Presumably, the expression of these loci requires additional factors, some of which may be related to cell lineage and differentiation.
Soluble CD4-gpl20 Complex Preferentially Induces Neutralizing Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus

IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation, San Diego, Califomia 921211; Virus Biology Unit, National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, Maryland 217012; Division ofHuman Retrovirology, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Cancer Biology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 021153; and The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 100164