Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Engineered, highly reactive substrates of microbial transglutaminase enable protein labeling within various secondary structure elements

Microbial transglutaminase (MTG) is a practical tool to enzymatically form isopeptide bonds between peptide or protein substrates. This natural approach to crosslinking the side‐chains of reactive glutamine and lysine residues is solidly rooted in food and textile processing. More recently, MTG's tolerance for various primary amines in lieu of lysine have revealed its potential for site‐specific protein labeling with aminated compounds, including fluorophores. Importantly, MTG can label glutamines at accessible positions in the body of a target protein, setting it apart from most labeling enzymes that react exclusively at protein termini. To expand its applicability as a labeling tool, we engineered the B1 domain of Protein G (GB1) to probe the selectivity and enhance the reactivity of MTG toward its glutamine substrate. We built a GB1 library where each variant contained a single glutamine at positions covering all secondary structure elements. The most reactive and selective variants displayed a >100‐fold increase in incorporation of a recently developed aminated benzo[a]imidazo[2,1,5‐cd]indolizine‐type fluorophore, relative to native GB1. None of the variants were destabilized. Our results demonstrate that MTG can react readily with glutamines in α‐helical, β‐sheet, and unstructured loop elements and does not favor one type of secondary structure. Introducing point mutations within MTG's active site further increased reactivity toward the most reactive substrate variant, I6Q‐GB1, enhancing MTG's capacity to fluorescently label an engineered, highly reactive glutamine substrate. This work demonstrates that MTG‐reactive glutamines can be readily introduced into a protein domain for fluorescent labeling.
Barriers to Social Participation in Caregivers of Older People: A Systematic Review

Some aspects of care contribute for decreased quality of life, health status and well-being among caregivers of older people. Care conditions may affect caregivers’ social participation increasing the odds of those negative outcomes. Then, to maintain a high level of social engagement configures a strategy to protect caregivers against burden and allow them to provide a better care. This study aimed at investigates what are the barriers to social participation in caregivers of older people. A systematic review of the literature was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Abstracts in Social Gerontology databases, using social participation, social involvement, social engagement, social activities, social relations, elderly, aged, aging, older people, seniors and caregivers as terms. Twenty-three articles fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The barriers to social participation were: characteristics and tasks related to care, caregiver’s mental health, low social support, sex, care receiver’s health, concurrent paid work, age, caregiver’s physical health, financial situation, education and quality of life. Those barriers need to be approached by professionals and politicians in order to prevent social isolation and promote better quality of life among caregivers.
A point mutation in the proteoiipid protein gene of the 'shaking pup' interrupts oiigodendrocyte development

Summary The differentiation of the oiigodendrocyte from its bipotential progenitor culminates in the production of the myelin-specific proteins and the elaboration of membrane processes that ensheath the axon. Mutations in proteoiipid protein (PLP) and its alternatively spliced isoform DM-20, the major protein constituents of central nervous system myelin, are characterized by a significant reduction in the number of mature oligodendrocytes, resulting in severe hypomyelination, tremor and early death. The canine shaking pup carries such a mutation, a single base change that substitutes a proline for a histidine near the first transmembrane region of PLP and DM-20. This mutation hinders oiigodendrocyte differentiation, as evidenced by a splicing pattern at the PLP locus characteristic of immature oligodendrocytes. The spliced transcript expressed earliest in development, DM-20, continues to be overexpressed in shaking pup oligodendrocytes. The disruption of the normal maturation schedule in these X-linked dysmyelinating disorders suggests that PLP or DM-20 plays a fundamental role in oiigodendrocyte development. We propose that, while the more abundant PLP is the primary structural component of myelin, DM-20 may be critical to oiigodendrocyte maturation. canine
The Rates and Characteristics of the Exposure of Palestinian Youth to Community Violence

The article presents the results of a study that explored the rates and characteristics of exposure to community violence (CV) and its relevance to several sociodemographic factors among a sample of 1,930 Palestinian youth (1,018 girls and 912 boys), aged 12 to 19 years residing in diverse residential areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. The frequency of boys’ exposure to CV during the previous 12 months was significantly higher than among girls. The frequency of witnessing CV during that period was higher than the frequency of personally experiencing CV, and exposure to mild CV incidents during that period was higher than the frequency of exposure to severe CV incidents during the same period, with no significant relationship to sociodemographic factors. Participants reported higher rates of witnessing most CV incidents outside of the neighborhood. Nonetheless, they reported higher rates of experiencing most incidents of CV inside the participants’ neighborhood. The implications of the results for theory development and future research are discussed.
The Oncoprotein HBXIP Modulates the Feedback Loop of MDM2/p53 to Enhance the Growth of Breast Cancer*

Background: MDM2 and p53 form a negative feedback loop in regulation. Results: HBXIP up-regulates MDM2 by recruiting p300 to activate transcription factor p53. Conclusion: HBXIP is involved in the MDM2/p53 feedback loop to promote the growth of breast cancer. Significance: Our finding provides a new insight into the mechanism of MDM2/p53 circuit involved in HBXIP in the development of breast cancer. MDM2 and p53 form a negative feedback loop, in which p53 as a transcription factor positively regulates MDM2 and MDM2 negatively regulates tumor suppressor p53 through promoting its degradation. However, the mechanism of the feedback loop is poorly understood in cancers. We had reported previously that the oncoprotein hepatitis B X-interacting protein (HBXIP) is a key oncoprotein in the development of cancer. Thus, we supposed that HBXIP might be involved in the event. Here, we observed that the expression levels of HBXIP were positively correlated to those of MDM2 in clinical breast cancer tissues. Interestingly, HBXIP was able to up-regulate MDM2 at the levels of mRNA and protein in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Mechanically, HBXIP increased the promoter activities of MDM2 through directly binding to p53 in the P2 promoter of MDM2. Strikingly, we identified that the acetyltransferase p300 was recruited by HBXIP to p53 in the promoter of MDM2. Moreover, we validated that HBXIP enhanced the p53 degradation mediated by MDM2. Functionally, the knockdown of HBXIP or/and p300 inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells in vitro, and the depletion of MDM2 or overexpression of p53 significantly blocked the HBXIP-promoted growth of breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. Thus, we concluded that highly expressed HBXIP accelerates the MDM2-mediated degradation of p53 in breast cancer through modulating the feedback loop of MDM2/p53, resulting in the fast growth of breast cancer cells. Our findings provide new insights into the mechanism of the acceleration of the MDM2/p53 feedback loop in the development of cancer.
Poster: APIs for IPAs? Towards End-User Tailoring of Intelligent Personal Assistants

Integrated into smartphones or smart speakers, Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) have grown into the most prevalent example of speech-based interfaces today. Enabling hands-free completion of tasks such as checking the weather, playing music, or controlling smart devices, IPAs have become a central feature of millions of homes. Yet, end-users are faced with barriers to understanding their ‘black box’ devices, and a lack of opportunity to engage in end-user development (EUD) activities. Our current work considers the state of existing tools and platforms for development of IPAs, the key challenges to be overcome, and the potential benefits of doing so.
Secure Transmission in Spectrum Sharing Relaying Networks With Multiple Antennas

In this letter, we design a novel secure transmission scheme for dual-hop multiantenna spectrum sharing relaying systems over Rayleigh fading channels. To exploit the benefit of available multiple antennas, maximum ratio combining/zeroforcing beamforming (MRC/ZFB) scheme at the relay is proposed to enhance the secrecy performance. In doing so, we derive a novel exact closed-form expression of the secrecy outage probability, which enables us to evaluate the impact of system parameters on the secrecy performance. Moreover, we look into the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime, and present simple secrecy outage approximation for the proposed scheme, which reveals that the secrecy diversity order is NR - NP - NE, where NR, NP, and NE are the number of antennas at relay, primary receiver, and eavesdropper, respectively.
Intradialytic amino acids supplementation in hemodialysis patients with malnutrition: results of a multicenter cohort study.

OBJECTIVE Prospective evaluation of the effect of 6-month-long intradialytic amino acids (AA) supplementation on selected nutritional variables in malnourished hemodialysis (HD) patients. DESIGN Multicenter, prospective, (nonrandomized, noncontrolled) observational study. SETTING Thirty-one HD units affiliated with academic centers and tertiary-care hospitals. PATIENTS Adult patients treated by HD for at least 6 months. Inclusion criteria were: serum albumin concentration < or =39 g/L and at least 4% loss of body weight during the last 6 months in otherwise stable HD patients. From a cohort of 133 patients who were enrolled, 97 (54 men and 43 women) were eligible for the analysis. INTERVENTION Intradialytic AA supplementation with 500 mL 10% solution per HD session for a period of 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Serum albumin concentration, modified Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) score, body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), and total lymphocyte count. Measurements were recorded at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of AA supplementation. RESULTS Serum albumin concentration increased significantly from the mean 32.5 +/- 4.6g/L at baseline to 36.4 +/- 4.8 g/L at 3 months (P <.001) and 37.1 +/- 4.8 g/L at final observation (P <.001 versus baseline). Significant correlation was observed between frequency of AA supplementation and serum albumin increase (r = 0.41; P <.0001). Rate of improvement negatively correlated significantly with baseline concentration of serum albumin (r = - 0.42; P <.0001). SGA score significantly improved from median of 16 points at baseline to 12 points at 3 months (P <.01) and 11 points at 6 months (P <.01 versus baseline), and this improvement also correlated with the frequency of AA supplementation. Small yet significant increase of MAC was observed at 6 months (from baseline 24.1 +/- 4.3 to 24.8 +/- 4.8 cm; P <.01), whereas BMI remained unchanged. CONCLUSION Intradialytic AA supplementation improves selected nutritional parameters of HD patients with malnutrition. The improvement depends on the intensity of supplementation.
Biomechanical Model and Evaluation of a Linear Motion Squat Type Exercise

A biomechanical model of a squat exercise performed on a device using a bar that is restricted to a linear motion was developed. Hip and knee moments were evaluated at varying foot positions. The range of motion of the exercise was limited by the knee joint angle beginning at an 80° angle (flexed) to a 179° joint angle (extended). Variations in foot placement were evaluated for differences in torque applied about the transverse axes of the user's knee and hip joints. Because the user's feet were positioned farther forward (anterior), the moment about the knee decreased whereas the moment about the hip increased. Positive moments were those that resulted in forces to flex the knee and hip joints. Positive knee moments were determined in all conditions when the knee was flexed and became negative when the knee was at or near full extension. The model always produced positive moments about the hip. Thus, foot position is a critical factor in hip and knee moments, and therefore in the muscle groups stressed, in a linear motion squat type exercise.
Air pollution and general practice consultations for respiratory illnesses

Associations between air pollution and hospital admissions and mortalities have been demonstrated in many studies.1 By contrast, few studies have reported the relation between air pollution and respiratory morbidity in general practice (GP). In these studies, associations have been reported between air pollution and GP consultations for asthma, lower respiratory tract infections, and allergic rhinitis.2,3 To further explore these associations, we prospectively collected daily numbers of GP consultations from seven clinics in various districts of Hong Kong and performed a time series analysis to examine their relations with daily concentrations of PM10, NO2 , SO2, and O3 measured in stations within or nearest to each district. Seven GP clinics located in different districts in Hong Kong were recruited to provide data on daily patient consultations throughout the year 2000 using a standard format that captured information on age, gender, and …
Disease transmission by inefficiently sanitized anesthetizing apparatus.

From observing the construction of an anesthetizing apparatus one would conclude that the soda lime tower is adequate for the removal of bacteria-laden droplets from the patient under treatment. Such is not the case, however, as was indicated in the study of the source of several cases of follicular tonsillitis in patients administered an anesthetic for surgical purposes; the anesthetizing apparatus was the disseminating agent. In addition to the dissipation of disease, the administration of anesthetics will contribute to the invasiveness and production of disease by microorganisms. Dubin 1 found it easier to produce influenza virus pneumonia in anesthetized ferrets and mice than in similar animals that had not been anesthetized with ether. Andrews, Laidlaw, and Smith 2 noted that of six mice inoculated intranasally with human influenza virus without previous anesthetization only two showed gross pulmonary lesions while eight inoculated with the same suspension after ether anesthetization all showed
Endoscopic treatment of refractory filarial chyluria: a preliminary report.

PURPOSE We report our experiences treating 5 patients who had filarial chyluria using an endoscopic approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two men and 3 women 47 to 83 years old with chyluria were treated with endoscopic coagulation using guide tube methods. Intrarenal pelvic instillation of silver nitrate was not effective in 4 patients and catheterization was impossible in 1. RESULTS The responsible lesion was successfully coagulated in all 5 patients. Because the lesion was in the ruptured portion of the caliceal fornix, we thought that chyluria had arisen in the fragile portion of the fornix (fistulization). After endoscopic treatment there was no recurrence in any patient. CONCLUSIONS Endoscopy is effective and minimally invasive therapy for filarial chyluria.
Virtual Network Embedding for Collaborative Edge Computing in Optical-Wireless Networks

As an open integrated environment deployed with wired and wireless infrastructures, the smart city heavily relies on the wireless-optical broadband access network. Smart home data are usually sent to neighbor optical network units (ONUs) through front-end wireless mesh networks (WMNs) and finally reach the optical line terminal (OLT) for decision making via the passive optical network (PON) backhaul. To reduce backhaul bandwidth saturated by this conventional approach, smart edge devices (EDs) should be deployed at sensors and ONUs so that collaborative edge computing can be performed in front-end WMNs. Moreover, the cooperation of EDs at different ONUs is also promising for computing tasks that cannot be handled within front-end WMNs due to the local bottleneck, leading to collaborative edge computing in the PON backhaul. In this paper, network virtualization is utilized to support the coordination of computing and network resources. We also describe the relationship between virtual networks and requirements of computing tasks for substrate resources. First, a graph-cutting algorithm is employed to embed as many virtual networks as possible onto the common network infrastructure in front-end WMNs, aiming at minimizing the total transmitting power. Next, we transform impossibly embedded virtual networks into new ones that must be processed through the PON backhaul where the wavelength consumption will be optimized. Simulations results demonstrate that 1) the total transmitting power assigned for nodes is effectively reduced using the graph-cutting algorithm if all computing tasks can be solved by front-end WMNs; 2) otherwise, our method accepts more virtual networks with the improvement ratio of 77%, through the PON backhaul. In addition, there is a good match between the algorithm result and the optimal number of consumed wavelengths per optical fiber cable.
RASSF1A promoter is highly methylated in primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the central nervous system

Although cancer is rare in children, primary brain tumors constitute the most frequent location of solid tumors in childhood. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) of the central nervous system can be divided into infratentorial PNET or medulloblastoma (MB), and supratentorial (sPNET) tumors. Although MB and sPNET are histologically similar, clinical evolution differs, sPNET being more aggressive than MB. Some studies have suggested that MB and sPNET present different molecular genetic aberrations. The RASSF1A (Ras Association Domain Family Protein 1) gene, located at 3p21.3, is highly methylated in multiple primary tumor samples, including neuroblastoma. In order to define whether there are genetic differences in the methylation frequency of RASSF1A between MB and sPNET, we analyzed 32 PNET paraffin‐embedded samples (23 MB and 9 sPNET) by methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). We also analyzed RASSF1A expression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in five PNET cell lines. All PNET cell lines showed lack of RASSF1A expression that was correlated with RASSF1A promoter hypermethylation. RASSF1A methylation was detected in 19 of 21 MB cases (91%) and in five of six sPNET samples (83%). Although the methylation frequency found in MB was slightly higher than in sPNET, no statistical differences were found for the RASSF1A hypermethylation frequency (P > 0.05) presented at MB versus sPNET. Therefore, the inactivation of the RASSF1A gene seems to be an important step in the tumorigenesis of PNET of the central nervous sytem. More studies should be performed in order to determine genetic differences between MB and sPNET.
Curve-skeleton Extraction from Visual Hull

We present a new algorithm of curve-skeleton extraction from a wide variety of objects. The algorithm uses visuall hull object approximation, which gives us an ability to work with the model in its silhouettes domain. We propose an efficient algorithm for 3D distance transform computation for the inner voxels of visual hull. Using that 3D distance transform we backproject continuous medial axes of visual hull silhouettes that form a first approximation for a curve-skeleton. Then we use a set of filtering techniques to denoise that point cloud to form a thinner approximation. We believe that a resulting approximation is usefull in its own. The described method shows a great improvement in computational time comparing to existing ones. The method shows good extraction results for models with complex geometry and topology. Resulting curve-skeletons conform with most requirements to universal curve-skeletons.
Research for Peste des Petits Ruminants ( PPR ) Virus Antibodies in Goats , Sheep and Gazelle from Bauchi and Gombe States , North Eastern Nigeria

1 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, P.M. B 1069, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, P.M. B 1069, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. 3 Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, P.M. B 1069, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. 4 Ministry of Nomadic Affairs and Animal Husbandry, Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria. *Corresponding author E-mail: rabanajallailudeen@yahoo.com
Detection Of Lean Blowout In A PremixedGas-turbine Model Combustor Based OnNonlinear Dynamics

A detection method of lean blowout in a laboratory-scale premixed gas-turbine model combustor has been proposed from a view point of nonlinear dynamics. The translation error, which quantifies the degree of the parallelism of trajectories in the phase space constructed from the time-series data of the combustion-chamber pressure fluctuations, is used as a detector in this work. The dynamic behavior in the complex combustion instability close to lean blowout is successfully characterized by the translation error. The obtained results show that the translation error has a potential use for detecting the lean blowout in a lean premixed gas-turbine combustor.
Chronic Proliferative Rhinitis Associated with Salmonella arizonae in Sheep

matrix associated with AHSV and other orbivirus replication.i-> Within this matrix in some cells were mature virus particles (Fig. I, inset). These particles were 78 nm in diameter with an electron-dense core surrounded by a less dense outer capsid, morphology typical of intracellular AHSV (Fig. I, inset). I The viral matrix and particles tended to be located in the perinuclear and Golgi regions ofthe endothelial cells (Fig. 2). Tubular structures associated with orbivirus replication were not recognized in pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells infected with AHSV.u In this experiment, the changes seen in the pulmonary microvasculature of horses infected with AHSV are quite similar to those seen in other significant orbiviral diseases of animals, such as bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease of deer.2. 3.5·! o A previous study failed to detect any AHS-related changes in pulmonary vascular endothelium, lymph nodes, or spleen from infected horses. " Possible reasons for the failure of other investigators to identify endotheliallesions in AHS include differences in the virulence of virus isolates and irregular distribution of the lesions within the lung. However, the accumulations of viral matrix are quite small and only a small percentage of capillary endothelial cells contained viral matrix in quantities sufficient for ultrastructural identification. Even fewer cells contained identifiable viral particles. ' The changes described in the lungs ofAHSV-infected horses may account for the severe pulmonary edema associated with acute AHS; however, the presence of direct virus infection of some endothelial cells, loss of junctional integrity in other endothelial cells without evidence ofdirect infection, and the presence of microthrombi suggest that multiple mechanisms may be involved in the development of pulmonary microvascular leakage. Whichever mechanism predominates in a given animal may determine the rapidity of