Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CHLORINATION AND CHLORAMINES FORMATION

Chlorination is the most important method of disinfection in Malaysia which aims at ensuring an acceptable and safe drinking water quality. The dosing of chlorine to surface water containing ammonia and nitrogen compounds may form chloramines in the treated water. During this reaction, inorganic and organic chloramines are formed. The recommended maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) for chloramines in drinking water is 3000 µ g/L. The production of monochloramine, dichloramine and trichloramine is highly dependent upon pH, contact time and the chlorine to ammonia molar ratio. The purpose of this study is to examine the formation of chloramines that occur upon the chlorination during the treatment process. Chloramines were determined using the N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPD) colorimetric method. The influences of ammonia, pH and chlorine dosage on the chloramines formation were also studied. This paper presents a modeling approach based on regression analysis which is designed to estimate the formation of chloramines. The correlation between the concentration of chloramines and the ammonia, pH and chlorine dosage was examined. In all cases, the quantity of chloramines formed depended linearly upon the amount of chlorine dosage. On the basis of this study it reveals that the concentration of chloramines is a function of chlorine dosage and the ammonia concentration to the chlorination process. pH seems to not significantly affect the formation of chloramines.
Restaurant Formality And Customer Service Dimensions In The Restaurant Industry: An Empirical Study

The purpose of the study was to examine the different customer service dimensions in the restaurant industry. Survey-based data collected from customers that dined regularly in restaurants classified as fast food, casual dining, and fine dining was used. Our study makes an imperative contribution by applying Resource-based view theory in the field of services marketing. The results show that restaurant formality has an adverse impact on customer loyalty, but this impact is positive when restaurant formality interacts with customer gratification. There are other important findings that lead to repeat sales and improved profits for restaurants. We conclude by discussing some limitations in our study as well as suggesting future research directions.
Selective arteriography of arteriovenous aneurysms of spinal cord.

Myelography is not entirely satisfactory for the preoperative diagnosis of spinal cord vascular malformations. The linear, serpiginous filling defects first described by Guillain and Alajouanine (1) are by no means constant or pathognomonic findings. Lombardi and Migliavacca (2) reported positive myelographic findings in 15 out of 18 spinal angiomas, Teng and Papatheodorou (3) in 6 out of 12 cases, and Verbiest and Calliauw (4) in only 3 of their 12 cases. Iodophendylate (Pantopaque) myelography may also lead to false-positive diagnoses, e.g., vascular malformations in cases of tumor or other lesions with dilated vessels. Nor is gas myelography of any use in the diagnosis of these malformations (5). Prior Investigatioks The diagnostic inadequacies in handling the spinal cord vascular malformations spurred this investigation. We believe, however, that some knowledge of the normal anatomy of the spinal cord vascularization is indispensable for a better understanding of the pathologic anatomy of the lesions.
Association of the yeast poly(A) tail binding protein with translation initiation factor eIF‐4G.

Although the cap structure and the poly(A) tail are on opposite ends of the mRNA molecule, previous work has suggested that they interact to enhance translation and inhibit mRNA degradation. Here we present biochemical data that show that the proteins bound to the mRNA cap (eIF‐4F) and poly(A) tail (Pab1p) are physically associated in extracts from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Specifically, we find that Pab1p co‐purifies and co‐immunoprecipitates with the eIF‐4G subunit of eIF‐4F. The Pab1p binding site on the recombinant yeast eIF‐4G protein Tif4632p was mapped to a 114‐amino‐acid region just proximal to its eIF‐4E binding site. Pab1p only bound to this region when complexed to poly(A). These data support the model that the Pablp‐poly(A) tail complex on mRNA can interact with the cap structure via eIF‐4G.
EVALUATION OF THE STATUS OF SALIVARY NITRIC OXIDE IN PATIENTS WITH DENTAL CARIES

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the status of salivary nitric oxide in patients with dental caries. The study consisted of 80 individuals. According to DFMT index, the subjects were divided into control group (DMFT=0) and study group (DMFT>5). Saliva sample was collected from each subject. Nitric oxide concentration was measured as total nitrates and nitrites by the Griess reaction method. The results of this study show that the presence of NO and its metabolites in saliva of adults with natural healthy teeth is significantly higher compared to high risk group, suggesting the protective role of NO in relation to caries. From the study it can be concluded that highly significant increase of nitrates and nitrites in stimulated saliva of high caries risk group could be the host defense response opposing bacterial growth. The obtained results support the role of NO as modulator of bacterial proliferation and suggest that increased NO production might contribute to lower caries incidence in adults.
Placental Expression of Secreted Frizzled Related Protein-4 in the Rat and the Impact of Glucocorticoid-Induced Fetal and Placental Growth Restriction

Abstract Wnt genes regulate a diverse range of developmental processes, including placental formation. Activation of the WNT pathway results in translocation of beta-catenin (CTNNB1) into the nucleus and the subsequent activation of transcription factors that promote proliferation. The secreted frizzled related proteins (SFRPs) are thought to inhibit WNT signaling by binding to the WNT ligand or its frizzled receptor. In this study, we compared the expression patterns of one of these secreted molecules, SFRP4, in the two morphologically and functionally distinct regions of the rat placenta during the last third of pregnancy. In addition, we assessed whether placental SFRP4 expression is altered in a model of glucocorticoid-induced placental growth restriction. Temporal analyses of the rat placenta by quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry during the final third of pregnancy demonstrated elevated levels of Sfrp4 mRNA and SFRP4 protein near term, specifically in trophoblast cells of the basal zone. This increase in expression of SFRP4 in basal zone trophoblasts was associated with a reduction in CTNNB1 nuclear translocation, consistent with inhibition of the WNT pathway. Maternal dexamethasone treatment (1 μg/ml of drinking water, Days 13–22), which has previously been shown to reduce placental growth, further increased the expression of Sfrp4 mRNA in both the basal and labyrinth zones of the placenta at Day 22. Collectively, these data demonstrate that increased expression of SFRP4 is associated with reduced growth of placental regions in normal pregnancy and after glucocorticoid-induced growth retardation. These observations, together with associated changes in CTNNB1 localization, support the hypothesis that increased placental expression of SFRP4 inhibits the WNT pathway and thereby influences placental growth via effects on cell fate signaling.
Contribution of Adhesion to Bacterial Persistence in the Mouse Urinary Tract

The affinity of uropathogenic Escherichia coli to kidneys and bladders of experimentally infected mice was shown to be determined in part by the adhesive properties of the infecting bacteria. Mice were infected with various pairwise combinations of two homogeneic sets of bacteria: (i) mutants derived from a human pyelonephritis E. coli isolate which were selected to express either or both adhesins specific for globoseries glycolipid receptors or for “mannosides”; and (ii) transformants of a normal fecal isolate which harbored recombinant plasmids encoding the genes for one or the other adhesin or which harbored only the vector plasmid. The relative efficiency of survival of the strains to be compared was evaluated in each animal by plating on selective media of samples of homogenized kidneys and bladders taken 24 h after intravesical inoculation. The presence of adhesins specific for globoseries glycolipid receptors, which mediate the in vitro mannose-resistant attachment to human and mouse uroepithelial cells, enhanced bacterial recovery from both kidneys and bladders of infected animals. The addition to the infecting strain of adhesins binding mannoside residues further improved bacterial recovery from the bladder, but not from the kidney. The mutants and transformants with adhesins binding only mannosides were recovered in higher numbers from the bladder than those expressing adhesins specific for the globoseries glycolipids only. There was apparent selection in vivo decreasing expression of mannoside binding adhesins in the kidneys, but not in the bladders, of animals infected with the mutant expressing both types of adhesins. Regardless of adhesive properties, the mutants of the pyelonephritis isolate were recovered in significantly higher numbers than the fecal isolate with adhesins encoded on recombinant plasmids. We conclude that the adhesive properties in part determine the localization and retention of bacteria in the mouse urinary tract. However, the addition of adhesins to a commensal E. coli strain was not sufficient to confer colonization capacity comparable to that of a pyelonephritis strain.
Encapsulation and perfusion of mitochondria in agarose beads for functional studies with 31P‐NMR spectroscopy

An NMR method to study on‐line mitochondrial function was developed. Mitochondria were maintained in a stable physiologic state in agarose beads that were continuously superfused with oxygenated buffer at 28°C. Oxidative function of both heart and liver mitochondria was evaluated with 31P NMR at 9.4 T using pyruvate plus malate as substrate. This method allows clear resolution of adenosine triphosphate‐γ (ATPγ) and adenosine diphosphate‐β (ADPβ) phosphate signals, whereas a signals of ATP and ADP overlap. ATP production by mitochondria was documented to be very sensitive to different interventions (hypoxia, ischemia, carbonyl cyanide p‐(tri‐fluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP)) and depended on the ADP concentration in supervision medium. These data demonstrate that the new application of NMR to study mitochondrial function can discriminate, on‐line, between several physiologic and biochemical processes in intact physiologically stable mitochondria.
Stroke prevention in the high-risk patient

Strokes are increasing in number due to an ageing population and are largely preventable. In the highest risk patients, a 90% relative risk reduction for stroke is attainable by appropriately using all the measures proven to reduce stroke: smoking cessation, a Mediterranean diet, control of hypertension, anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents, lipid lowering drugs and appropriate carotid endarterectomy. Vitamin therapy to lower homocysteine and carotid stenting are additional measures that may yet prove beneficial. Diet, smoking cessation and appropriate carotid endarterectomy reduce stroke by more than do pharmacotherapies. Blood pressure control depends more on selecting appropriate therapy individualised for the patient, than on using any particular drug class. This review, therefore, places pharmacotherapy in perspective as part of, but not all of, stroke prevention.
The Escherichia coli cmlA Gene Encodes the Multidrug Efflux Pump Cmr/MdfA and Is Responsible for Isopropyl-β-d-Thiogalactopyranoside Exclusion and Spectinomycin Sensitivity

ABSTRACT Expression of cloned genes from isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-regulated promoters is lowered when the Escherichia coliCmlA/Cmr/MdfA efflux pump is overexpressed, probably due to IPTG exclusion from the cytoplasm. The previously reported cmlA1mutation confers a similar phenotype. cmlA1 contains an IS30 insertion upstream of cmr/mdfA, which creates a putative promoter. CmlA overproduction also causes spectinomycin hypersensitivity.
Europe Costs and quality of life in multiple sclerosis in

Online First articles must include the digital object identifier (DOIs) and date of initial publication. establish publication priority; they are indexed by PubMed from initial publication. Citations to may be posted when available prior to final publication). Online First articles are citable and accepted for publication but have not yet appeared in the paper journal (edited, typeset versions contains unedited articles in manuscript form that have been peer reviewed and Online First
Phase-locked loop techniques. A survey

Phase-locked loop (PLL) is a technique which has contributed significantly toward the technology advancement in communication and motor servo control systems in the past 30 years. Inventions in PLL schemes combined with novel integrated circuit (IC) technology have made PLL devices important system components. The development of better modular PLL ICs is continuing. As a result, it is expected that they will contribute to the improvement in performance and reliability of future communication systems. They will also contribute to the development of higher accuracy and higher reliability servo control systems, such as those involved in machine tools. This paper provides a concise review of the basic PLL principles applicable to communication and servo control systems, gives the configurations of PLL applications and reports a number of popular PLL chips.
Compact Differential Band-Notched Stepped-Slot UWB-MIMO Antenna With Common-Mode Suppression

A compact printed differential multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is presented for ultrawideband system applications with band-notched characteristic. The proposed MIMO antenna element consists of a differential U-shaped microstrip feedline and a stepped-shaped slot, printed on the bottom and top of the substrate, respectively. A half-wavelength resonant stub embedded in the stepped-shaped slot is exploited to obtain notched band, whose center frequency can be adjusted by the length of the stub. The staged slots among antenna elements are introduced to enhance the differential isolation. The final antenna has a compact size of $44 \times 44\; \text{mm}^{2}$. Measured results show that the proposed MIMO antenna achieves −10-dB impedance bandwidth from 2.95 to 10.8 GHz, isolation better than 15.5 dB over the whole operating band, and a notched band from 5.10 to 5.95 GHz.
Hybrid Population-based Incremental Learning to Assign Terminals to Concentrators

In the last decade, we have seen a significant growth in communication networks. In centralised communication networks, a central computer serves several terminals or workstations. In large networks, some concentrators are used to increase the network efficiency. A collection of terminals is connected to a concentrator and each concentrator is connected to the central computer. In this paper we propose a Hybrid Population-based Incremental Learning (HPBIL) to assign terminals to concentrators. We use this algorithm to determine the minimum cost to form a network by connecting a given collection of terminals to a given collection of concentrators. We show that HPBIL is able to achieve good solutions, improving the results obtained by previous approaches.
The PDBbind database: methodologies and updates.

We have developed the PDBbind database to provide a comprehensive collection of binding affinities for the protein-ligand complexes in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). This paper gives a full description of the latest version, i.e., version 2003, which is an update to our recently reported work. Out of 23 790 entries in the PDB release No.107 (January 2004), 5897 entries were identified as protein-ligand complexes that meet our definition. Experimentally determined binding affinities (K(d), K(i), and IC(50)) for 1622 of these were retrieved from the references associated with these complexes. A total of 900 complexes were selected to form a "refined set", which is of particular value as a standard data set for docking and scoring studies. All of the final data, including binding affinity data, reference citations, and processed structural files, have been incorporated into the PDBbind database accessible on-line at http:// www.pdbbind. org/.
A Case Against Justified Non-Voluntary Active Euthanasia (The Groningen Protocol)

The Groningen Protocol allows active euthanasia of severely ill newborns with unbearable suffering. Defenders of the protocol insist that the protocol refers to terminally ill infants and that quality of life should not be a factor in the decision to euthanize an infant. They also argue that there should be no ethical difference between active and passive euthanasia of these infants. However, nowhere in the protocol does it refer to terminally ill infants; on the contrary, the developers of the protocol take into account the future quality of life of the infant. We also note how the Nazi Euthanasie Programm started with the premise that there is some life not worthy of living. Therefore, in our opinion, the protocol violates the traditional ethical codes of physicians and the moral values of the overwhelming majority of the citizens of the world.
Automatic Detection of Glaucoma Using Disc Optic Segmentation and Feature Extraction

Digital image processing is highlighted in the medical setting for automatic diagnosis of diseases. Glaucoma has no cure, and is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Currently there are treatments to prevent vision loss, but the disease will be discovered still in the early stages. Thus, this study aims to develop an automatic detection method of Glaucoma in retinal images. The methodology used in the study was: image acquisition, segmentation of the optic disc area (DO) in retinal images, color feature extraction and entropy in the targeted area and shortly after the selection of attributes. Finally, classification of images was conducted for identifying glaucoma.
The serotonin transporter promotor polymorphism 5-HTTLPR is not associated with alcoholism or severe forms of alcohol withdrawal in a German sample.

Variations in the central serotonin system modulate alcohol consumption (Kranzler and Anton, 1994). Prior studies have shown that allelic variations of the serotonin transporter promotor polymorphism 5-HTTLPR on chromosome17q11.2 contribute to the risk for alcohol dependence, especially in subgroups of patients with psychiatric comorbidity or severe withdrawal symptoms (Feinn et al., 2005).
Neural network approach to firm grip in the presence of small slips

This paper presents a two stage method for constructing a firm grip that can tolerate small slips of the fingertips. The fingers are assumed to be of frictionless contact type. The first stage was to formulate the interaction in the gripper–object system as a linear complementarity problem (LCP). Then it was solved using a special neural network to find minimal fingers forces. The second stage was to use the obtained results in the first stage as a static mapping in training another neural network. The second neural network training included emulating the slips by random noise in the form of changes in the positions of the contact points relative to the reference coordinate system. This noisy training increased robustness against unexpected changes in fingers positions. Genetic algorithms were used in training the second neural network as global optimization techniques. The resulting neural network is a robust, reliable, and stable controller for rigid bodies that can be handled by a robot gripper. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Effect of herparin on bovine epithelial lens cell proliferation induced by heparin affin regulatory peptide

HARP (heparin affin regultory peptide) is an 18 kDa heparin binding protein, also known as HB‐GAM or pleiotrophin (PTN) which has been primarily isolated from brain and uterus, and displays neurite outgrowth, angiogenic and mitogenic activities. Previously, we have expressed the human cDNA encoding human HARP in NIH 3T3 cells. Purified recombinant HARP displayed mitogenic activity for endothelial cells. Its NH2‐terminal sequence indicates that the HARP molecule possesses a three amino acid extension from the signal peptide more than the NH2‐terminal described. For HB‐GAM or PTN, these three amino acids may be essential for the stability and the mitogenic activity of this growth factor. In an attempt to further study the mode of action of this growth factor, we have investigated the mitogenic effect of HARP on various cell types. In contrast to FGF‐2, HARP failed to induce stimulation of DNA synthesis on a CCL39 cell line. However, we found that in quiescent bovine epithelial lens (BEL) cells, the stimulation of DNA synthesis induced by HARP is dose‐dependent (EC50: 2.5 ng/ml) and maximal stimulation is as potent as that induced by FGF‐2 (EC50: 25 pg/ml). Interestingly, when BEL cells were allowed to quiesce in the presence of serum, the stimulation induced by HARP is considerably less potent. In this highly responsive cell system, heparin could potentiate the mitogenic activity of HARP at very low doses (0.1‐1 m̈g/ml) and inhibit this activity at concentrations of 10 m̈g/ml. In contrast to its protective effect on FGF‐1 and ‐2, heparin was unable to preserve HARP from tryptic and chymotryptic degradations. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Exogenous administration of thiosulfate, a donor of hydrogen sulfide, attenuates angiotensin II‐induced hypertensive heart disease in rats

Hypertension is an important mediator of cardiac damage and remodelling. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced gasotransmitter with cardioprotective properties. However, it is not yet in clinical use. We, therefore, investigated the protective effects of sodium thiosulfate (STS), a clinically applicable H2S donor substance, in angiotensin II (Ang II)‐induced hypertensive cardiac disease in rats.
Clinical Reasoning Guideline for Home Modification Interventions.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to develop and validate a clinical reasoning tool to describe an occupational therapist's clinical reasoning process while delivering home modification interventions. METHOD We used a two-phase, mixed-methods approach. In Phase 1, we developed a personal factors guideline to support clinical reasoning in home modification interventions based on in-depth interviews, a focus group, and field observations of 6 home modification experts. In Phase 2, the guideline was validated by a second group of 6 home modification experts. RESULTS During analysis, 16 personal and environmental factors with a corresponding set of conditions and strategies for each factor emerged to form a clinical reasoning guideline, which was validated by a second group of experts. CONCLUSION Unpacking the "black box" of the clinical reasoning process has yielded a useful clinical reasoning tool that will allow occupational therapists to deliver complex interventions with fidelity.