Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Genetically Matched Isolates of Campylobacter jejuni Reveals that Mutations in Genes Involved in Flagellar Biosynthesis Alter the Organism's Virulence Potential

ABSTRACT Phenotypic and genotypic evidence suggests that not all Campylobacter jejuni isolates are pathogenic for humans. We hypothesized that differences in gene content or gene expression alter the degree of pathogenicity of C. jejuni isolates. A C. jejuni isolate (Turkey) recovered from a turkey and a second C. jejuni isolate (CS) recovered from a chicken differed in their degrees of in vitro and in vivo virulence. The C. jejuni Turkey isolate invaded INT 407 human epithelial cells and secreted the Cia (Campylobacter invasion antigen) proteins, while the C. jejuni CS isolate was noninvasive for human epithelial cells and did not secrete the Cia proteins. Newborn piglets inoculated with the C. jejuni Turkey isolate developed more severe clinical signs of campylobacteriosis than piglets inoculated with the C. jejuni CS isolate. Additional work revealed that flagellin was not expressed in the C. jejuni CS isolate. Microarray and real-time reverse transcription-PCR analyses revealed that all flagellar class II genes were significantly downregulated in the C. jejuni CS isolate compared to the C. jejuni Turkey isolate. Finally, nucleotide sequencing of the flgR gene revealed the presence of a single residue that was different in the FlgR proteins of the C. jejuni Turkey and CS isolates. Complementation of the C. jejuni CS isolate with a wild-type copy of the flgR gene restored the isolate's motility. Collectively, these findings support the hypothesis that critical differences in gene content or gene expression can alter the pathogenic potential of C. jejuni isolates.
Artificial Nucleus Replacement: Clinical Experience

The prosthetic disc nucleus is designed to help treat patients suffering from degenerative disc disease. The device consists of a hydrogel core that is encased in a polyethylene jacket and is intended to restore disc height while permitting normal range of motion. Clinical trials for the prosthetic disc nucleus were first conducted in 1996, and the device was found to be effective in most of the patients that were implanted. Additional trials in 1997–1998 were less successful, with 38% of patients requiring revision surgery because of device migration. Subsequent changes were made to device shapes and to the surgical protocol to facilitate implantation, thereby eliminating the high device migration rates. Following these modifications, the success rate for the device has improved significantly. Clinical data show excellent results with marked improvements in Oswestry and Prolo scores. Overall, disc height measurements have been well maintained within normal physiologic ranges. The prosthetic disc nucleus device is currently undergoing clinical trials in Canada, and an IDE application to the Food and Drug Administration was expected in the fall, 2001.
Efficacy of inactivated whole HIV‐2 vaccines with various adjuvants in cynomolgus monkeys

Twenty‐one cynomolgus monkeys were immunized with whole inactivated HIV‐2 preparations administered with various adjuvants (incomplete Freund's adjuvant, Alum, Ribi, MDP, or Iscoms) and challenged with 10 or 100 MID50 of a homologous monkey‐cell grown, cell‐free HIV‐2. Seven animals were completely protected against infection, three showed reduced virus replication. The vaccines elicited neutralizing and ADCC antibodies; the titers did not correlate with protection. Immunization with a whole inactivated vaccine can protect primates from intravenous challenge with a monkey‐cell grown cell‐free human immunodeficiency virus type 2.
An Information Theory-Based Feature Selection Framework for Big Data Under Apache Spark

With the advent of extremely high dimensional datasets, dimensionality reduction techniques are becoming mandatory. Of the many techniques available, feature selection (FS) is of growing interest for its ability to identify both relevant features and frequently repeated instances in huge datasets. We aim to demonstrate that standard FS methods can be parallelized in big data platforms like Apache Spark so as to boost both performance and accuracy. We propose a distributed implementation of a generic FS framework that includes a broad group of well-known information theory-based methods. Experimental results for a broad set of real-world datasets show that our distributed framework is capable of rapidly dealing with ultrahigh-dimensional datasets as well as those with a huge number of samples, outperforming the sequential version in all the cases studied.
Molecular characterization of novel reciprocal translocation t(6;14) in an Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell precursor

An in vitro culture of FLEB14 cells, an Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell precursor containing the germ line immunoglobulin genes, gave rise to a uniclonally expanded variant, FLEB14 delta 3, which was rearranged at the immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene locus. Cytogenetic analysis showed that FLEB14 delta 3 had a novel reciprocal translocation, t(6;14)(q15;q32). Molecular cloning of the rearranged DNA fragments and determination of their nucleotide sequence revealed that the recombination event was reciprocal, imprecise, and nonhomologous and took place in the S mu region, like those found in Burkitt's lymphoma cells. We propose a molecular model to explain this genetic event which may be relevant to class switch recombination. The translocated sequence of chromosome 6 did not contain any known oncogenes, although the sequence is conserved among mammals. FLEB14 delta 3 did not show tumorigenicity.
Use of Provider-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Adult Smokers in the United States: Comparison from the 2002 and 2007 NHIS Survey

Purpose. To provide a snapshot of provider-based complementary and alternative medicine (pbCAM) use among adult smokers and assess the opportunity for these providers to deliver tobacco cessation interventions. Design. Cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2002 and 2007 National Health Interview Surveys. Setting. Nationally representative sample. Subjects. A total of 54,437 (31,044 from 2002; 23,393 from 2007) adults 18 years and older. Measures. The analysis focuses on 10 types of pbCAM, including acupuncture, Ayurveda, biofeedback, chelation therapy, chiropractic care, energy therapy, folk medicine, hypnosis, massage, and naturopathy. Analysis. The proportions of current smokers using any pbCAM as well as specific types of pbCAM in 2002 and 2007 are compared using SAS SURVEYLOGISTIC. Results. Between 2002 and 2007, the percentage of recent users of any pbCAM therapy increased from 12.5% to 15.4% (p = .001). The largest increases occurred in massage, chiropractic, and acupuncture. Despite a decrease in the national average of current smokers (22.0% to 19.4%; p = .001), proportions of smokers within specific pbCAM disciplines remained consistent. Conclusion. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners, particularly those in chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage, represent new cohorts in the health care community to promote tobacco cessation. There is an opportunity to provide brief tobacco intervention training to CAM practitioners and engage them in public health efforts to reduce the burden of tobacco use in the United States.
Design and characteristic analysis of a novel axial field SRM with single teeth stator and segmental rotor

A novel axial field disk type switched reluctance motor (AF-SRM) with single teeth stator and segmental rotor is introduced in this paper. The proposed stator poles are composed of excitation poles and auxiliary poles, the rotor is made up of a series of discrete segments. Because of the axial field structure and novel excitation source, the proposed motor can provide much higher output torque within reducing the copper loss. The basic design concepts are introduced and in order to calculate the characteristics of the proposed structure detailed, the finite element model is established base on the software of Maxwell 12-3D and Matlab/Simulink. Compared with the conventional 12/8 SRM in the same parameters, the proposed motor can provide higher output torque and more efficient, which is much suitable for the low speed and high torque application.
Relative Activities of Organosulfur Compounds Derived From Onions and Garlic in Increasing Tissue Activities of Quinone Reductase and Glutathione Transferase in Rat Tissues

There is evidence that onions and garlic protect against cancer in humans. It has been suggested that this effect is due to the organosulfur compounds in these vegetables and that these substances act through induction of phase II detoxification enzymes. In the present studies, we have compared the ability of diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide, and diallyl trisulfide, compounds that are derived from garlic, to increase the activity of the phase II enzymes quinone reductase and glutathione transferase in a variety of rat tissues. We have also examined the onion-derived substances, dipropyl sulfide, dipropyl disulfide, dipropenyl sulfide, and dipropenyl disulfide, under identical conditions. Diallyl trisulfide and diallyl disulfide were potent inducers of the phase II enzymes. Dipropenyl disulfide was much less active, while little effect on enzyme activity was seen in animals dosed with dipropyl disulfide. Diallyl sulfide and dipropyl sulfide were weak inducers of quinone reductase and glutathione transferase, but dipropenyl sulfide was very active, with an effect similar to that of diallyl disulfide. It is possible that diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide are important in the anticancer action of garlic, while dipropenyl sulfide could be involved in the beneficial action of onions.
Interaction of a bacterial flagellar chaperone FlgN with FlhA is required for efficient export of its cognate substrates

FlgN chaperone acts as a bodyguard to protect its cognate substrates, FlgK and FlgL, from proteolysis in the cytoplasm. Docking of the FlgN–FlgK complex with the FliI ATPase of the flagellar type III export apparatus is key to the protein export process. However, a ΔfliH‐fliI flhB(P28T) mutant forms some flagella even in the absence of FliH and FliI, raising the question of how FlgN promotes the export of its cognate substrates. Here, we report that the interaction of FlgN with an integral membrane export protein, FlhA, is directly involved in efficient protein export. A ΔfliH‐fliI flhB(P28T) ΔflgN mutant caused extragenic suppressor mutations in the C‐terminal domain of FlhA (FlhAC). Pull‐down assays using GST affinity chromatography showed an interaction between FlgN and FlhAC. The FlgN–FlgK complex bound to FlhAC and FliJ to form the FlgN–FlgK–FliJ–FlhAC complex. The FlgN–FlhAC interaction was enhanced by FlgK but not by FliJ. FlgN120 missing the last 20 residues still bound to FlgK and FliJ but not to FlhAC. A highly conserved Tyr‐122 residue was required for the interaction with FlhAC. These results suggest that FlgN efficiently transfers FlgK/L subunits to FlhAC to promote their export.
Application of neural network combined genetic algorithm to rank the development priority of heavy oil reservoirs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach for selecting the good heavy oil reservoirs to develop preferentially, which can avoid the huge economical loss resulted from wrong decision.Design/methodology/approach – A new method of ranking the development priority of heavy oil reservoir is present, in which the neural network is applied for the first time to acquire reservoir parameters' weights through training samples and the genetic algorithm is used to optimize the joint weighs of neurons in case that neural network falling into local minimum. Additionally, the paper establishes subordinate function of every parameter. Eventually, comprehensive evaluation values of all heavy oil reservoirs are obtained.Findings – The method can ensure the veracity and creditability of the parameters' weights, avoid the randomicity brought by experts.Research limitations/implications – Accessibility of the data of many heavy oil reservoirs is the main limitation.Practical implications – A very usefu.
Biosynthesis, targeting and processing of oleosin-like proteins, which are major pollen coat components in Brassica napus.

The purpose of this study is to characterise the biosynthesis, targeting and processing of some of the major protein components of the pollen coat, or tryphine, of Brassica napus. The authors have N-terminally sequenced 11 of the most abundant pollen coat polypeptides, and nine of these sequences correspond to proteolytically cleaved products of seven oleosin-like genes, i.e. Oln B;1 to Oln B;6 and Oln B;11. The Oln B;11 gene product is co- or post-translationally targeted in vitro to canine microsomal membranes. This implies that the oleosin-like protein is targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum in tapetal cells in vivo. Affinity-purified antibodies raised against a 20-residue domain of Oln B;3 and B;4 gene products cross-reacted with full-length proteins of 45-48 kDa in early developing (< 2 mm to 5 mm) buds and anthers, but recognised truncated proteins of 32-38 kDa at later (4 mm to 7 mm) stages of development. The 45-48 kDa immunoreactive proteins were associated with a floating lipid body fraction obtained from a tapetal/locular fluid extract from maturing anthers and a major 48 kDa polypeptide from this fraction was confirmed by N-terminal sequencing to be a full length product of the Oln B;3 gene. Quantitative immunocytochemical studies showed that the full length 45-48 kDa oleosin-like proteins were specifically localised in the interior of tapetal cytoplasmic lipid bodies where they were associated with a regular hexagonal-like fibrous reticulum. No significant labelling of elaioplasts was observed. The same antibodies specifically labelled 32-38 kDa oleosin-like proteins on the extracellular pollen coat of maturing pollen grains. These results demonstrate for the first time that many of the major pollen coat proteins are derived from an endoproteolytic cleavage of precursor oleosin-like proteins that originally accumulate within the large cytoplasmic lipid bodies of tapetal cells.
Effect of Ultrasound on Transdermal Permeation of Diclofenac

During the last two decades the effects of ultrasound on the transdermal permeability to a wide variety of drugs have been extensively investigated. There is still some uncertainty regarding the mechanisms involved in ultrasonic permeation enhancement, thus we investigated the effect of ultrasonic treatment on the transdermal permeation of the NSAID, diclofenac. Experiments were conducted over two phases, consisting of different time periods, using a continuous flow-through diffusion system. It is clear from the present study that ultrasound enhanced the permeability of human skin to diclofenac released from a commercially available gel. These results were in contrast to those obtained for ibuprofen in an in vitro study across human skin, but in agreement with those obtained in two in vivo studies of the latter NSAID. Steady state flux values of diclofenac remained approximately 1.26 times higher than those of controls during the 24 h of the experiment. These observations concurred with those made in two previous in vivo studies. It was concluded that the enhancement of diclofenac permeation by sonication could not be adequately explained primarily on a thermal basis. Furthermore, the in vitro flow-through diffusion model was shown to have predictive value as an in vivo method for sonophoresis.
HPLC STUDIES ON THE DEGRADATION PROFILES OF GLUCOSE 5% SOLUTIONS SUBJECTED TO HEAT STERILIZATION IN A MICROPROCESSOR‐CONTROLLED AUTOCLAVE

A practically useful relationship between degradation and F0 at various temperatures is given. This may be of value for identifying the most suitable sterilization conditions for a number of glucose products and other pharmaceuticals. It was found that autoclaving at a high temperature to a low final F0 value gave the maximum product integrity.
Development of a server to support the formal semantic web query language OWL-QL

In this abstract we present a server that supports OWL-QL query-answering dialogues by making use of the reasoning capabilities of the DL reasoner Racer. Currently, users can use Racer to query an OWL knowledge base using nRQL or DIG. Our primary goal in developing an OWL-QL server is to oer as many as possible reasoning functions of Racer in the standard query language OWL-QL. This rst version of our implementation is aimed to support signicant OWL-QL features that can easily be translated into the native Racer Query Language nRQL. Currently, it supports queries for ABox retrieval with distinguished variables (must-binds) and conjunctive queries. Further important OWL-QL features , such as may-bind variables, can be expressed in nRQL through reformu-lation and will be supported in the future. The response collections returned by the server contain no duplicate answers. Moreover the server provides non-redundant answers. In order to develop such a server we enhanced the existing Racer proxy to oer OWL-QL support as a web service. The existing Racer proxy is a standalone java application that serves as a Racer front-end for clients. They can communicate with the Racer proxy in nRQL or DIG. We integrated standard open source software components and frameworks into the architecture, such as Tomcat, Apache Axis, the XMLBeans Framework and the Jena Semantic Web Framework, so that the solution gets more transparent and will benet from further component evolution. Our solution oers OWL-QL support as a web service in order to enable the interaction of clients and server, which are loosely coupled. A pivotal feature of our solution is a caching mechanism that operates at two dierent layers of the architecture: At the bottom layer of the architecture the iterative query answering support of the new Racer version (tuple-at-a-time mode) is used to cache results. Secondly, at the top layer we implemented a caching mechanism in OWL-QL dialogues that caches queries, answers and client session information.
Bring-your-own-encryption: How far are we?

In order to enhance adaption of Cloud computing, the concerns surrounding the security of data residing in Cloud needs to be addressed properly. In 2014, Bring-your-own-key and encryption emerged as a possible key management solution to problem of securing data at rest in Cloud. It is yet far from being practically implemented. At present, all available literature provides the consumer perspective of BYOK techniques. Very few have analyzed the research aspects in this field. This paper discusses the implementation issues of BYOE; challenges open for research and the technical requirements of a practitioner wishing to develop such methods. Also, this paper proposes how useful fully Homomorphic encryption is for implementation of BYOK/E. Thus, this paper aims to serve as a primer to BYOK/E for scholars and practitioners; and a record of state-of-art in the field.
Selective skin tone reproduction using preferred skin colors

People in a color image, particularly facial patterns are important and interesting visual object. Thus, color reproduction for skin tone becomes the foremost treatment, because skin color is a key memory color in color application systems. Previous studies suggested skin color reproduction by mapping only to the center value of preferred skin region. However, it is not suitable to determine one preference color because preference color from the observer's preference test is not dominant. In this paper, selective skin color reproduction using preferred skin colors is proposed. The proposed method first defines preferred skin colors according to their luminance level. Next skin color is detected by using skin and feature map. After that, each corresponding preferred skin color is determined for each skin region. Finally, input skin color is proportionally mapped toward preferred skin color according to the difference between input skin color and preferred skin color, smoothly reproducing skin color. Through the experimental results, the proposed method achieves preferred skin color reproduction.
HITS: a short domestic violence screening tool for use in a family practice setting.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Domestic violence is an important problem that is often not recognized by physicians. We designed a short instrument for domestic violence screening that could be easily remembered and administered by family physicians. METHODS In phase one of the study, 160 adult female family practice office patients living with a partner for at least 12 months completed two questionnaires. One questionnaire was the verbal and physical aggression items of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). The other was a new four-item questionnaire that asked respondents how often their partner physically Hurt, Insulted, Threatened with harm, and Screamed at them. These four items make the acronym HITS. In phase two, 99 women, who were self-identified victims of domestic violence, completed the HITS. RESULTS For phase one, Cronbach's alpha was . 80 for the HITS scale. The correlation of HITS and CTS scores was . 85. For phase two, the mean HITS scores for office patients and abuse victims were 6.13 and 15.15, respectively. Optimal data analysis revealed that a cut score of 10.5 on the HITS reliably differentiated respondents in the two groups. Using this cut score, 91% of patients and 96% of abuse victims were accurately classified. CONCLUSIONS The HITS scale showed good internal consistency and concurrent validity with the CTS verbal and physical aggression items. The HITS scale also showed good construct validity in its ability to differentiate family practice patients from abuse victims. The HITS scale is promising as a domestic violence screening mnemonic for family practice physicians and residents.
Influence of cyclic AMP, agmatine, and a novel protein encoded by a flanking gene on speB (agmatine ureohydrolase) in Escherichia coli

The speB gene of Escherichia coli encodes agmatine ureohydrolase (AUH), a putrescine biosynthetic enzyme. The speB gene is transcribed either from its own promoter or as a polycistronic message from the promoter of the speA gene encoding arginine decarboxylase. Two open reading frames (ORF1 and ORF2) are present on the strand complementary to speB; approximately 90% of ORF2 overlaps the speB coding region. Analysis of transcriptional and translational fusions of ORF1 or ORF2 to lacZ revealed that ORF1 encoded a novel protein while ORF2 was not transcribed. Deletion of ORF1 from a plasmid containing ORF1, ORF2, and speB reduced the activity of AUH by 83%. In contrast, the presence of plasmid-encoded ORF1 caused an 86% increase in chromosomally encoded AUH activity. ORF1 did not stimulate alkaline phosphatase expressed from a phi(speB-phoA) transcriptional fusion encoded on the same plasmid. Western analysis (immunoblot) of a phi(ORF1-lacZ) translational fusion revealed that ORF1 encodes a 25.3-kDa protein. Agmatine induced transcription of phi(speB-phoA) but not phi(speA-phoA) fusions. Consequently, agmatine affects selection between the monocistronic and the polycistronic modes of speB transcription. In contrast, cyclic AMP (cAMP) repressed AUH activity of chromosomally encoded AUH but had no effect on plasmid-borne speB nor phi(speB-phoA). It is concluded that ORF1 encodes a protein which is a posttranscriptional regulator of speB, agmatine induces speB independent of speA, and cAMP regulates speB indirectly.