Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Natural Environments

The large majority of antibiotics currently used for treating infections and the antibiotic resistance genes acquired by human pathogens each have an environmental origin. Recent work indicates that the function of these elements in their environmental reservoirs may be very distinct from the “weapon-shield” role they play in clinical settings. Changes in natural ecosystems, including the release of large amounts of antimicrobials, might alter the population dynamics of microorganisms, including selection of resistance, with consequences for human health that are difficult to predict.
MICs and MBCs of clarithromycin against Mycobacterium avium within human macrophages

The inhibitory and bactericidal activities of clarithromycin were determined quantitatively against the intracellular populations of five Mycobacterium avium strains growing in monocyte-derived human macrophages. The MICs were 1.0 microgram/ml, and the MBCs ranged from 16.0 to 64.0 micrograms/ml; these values were similar to the MICs and MBCs found in broth cultures at pH 7.4 and were substantially lower than those found in broth cultures at pHs 6.8 and 5.0. Since the intracellular environment has a neutral or even an acidic pH, relatively low MICs and MBCs found in macrophage cultures can be associated with the fact that the drug concentrations in macrophages are substantially higher than those in the medium in which these cells are cultivated. Pretreatment of the macrophages 2 days prior to infection decreased the MICs twofold in comparison with results of experiments in which the drug was added to already infected macrophages.
Nuclear export of actin: a novel mechanism regulating the subcellular localization of a major cytoskeletal protein

Actin is a highly conserved, ubiquitous cytoskeletal protein, which is essential for multiple cellular functions. Despite its small size (Mr = 42 000), unpolymerized forms of actin, as well as polymerized forms, exist primarily in the cytoplasm, excluded from the nucleus. Although spatial control of actin is crucially important, the molecular mechanisms ensuring the cytoplasmic localization of unpolymerized actin have not been revealed so far. In this paper we report that actin contains two leucine‐rich type nuclear export signal (NES) sequences in the middle part of the molecule, which are both shown to be functional. Monomeric actin, when injected into the nucleus, was rapidly exported in a manner which was sensitive to leptomycin B (LMB), a specific inhibitor of NES‐dependent nuclear export. LMB treatment of cells prevented nuclear exclusion of endogenous actin, inducing its nuclear accumulation. Furthermore, actin mutants with disrupted NESs accumulated in the nucleus. Expression of these NES‐disrupted actin mutants, but not of wild‐type actin, induced a decrease in the proliferative potential of the cell. These results reveal a novel molecular mechanism controlling the subcellular distribution of actin.
Financial Liberalization and the Sensitivity of House Prices to Monetary Policy: Theory and Evidence

We analyse the impact of financial liberalization on the link between monetary policy and house prices. We present a simple model of a small open economy subjectto credit constraints. The model shows that the higher the degree of financial liberalizationis, the stronger is the impact of interest rate shocks on house prices. We then usevector autoregressions to study the role of monetary policy shocks in house price fluctuations in Finland, Sweden and the UK, characterized by financial liberalizationepisodes over the last 20 years. We find that the response of house prices to interestrate surprises is bigger and more persistent in periods characterized by more liberalized financial markets. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester 2003
Design of a Passive Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Macaque Monkeys

Integrating an exoskeleton as the external apparatus for a brain–machine interface (BMI) has the advantage of providing multiple contact points to determine body segment postures and allowing control to and feedback from each joint. When using macaques as subjects to study the neural control of movement, an upper limb exoskeleton design with unlikely singularity is required to guarantee safe and accurate tracking of joint angles over all possible range of motion (ROM). Additionally, the compactness of the design is of more importance considering macaques have signiﬁcantly smaller body dimensions than humans. This paper proposes a six degree-of-freedom (DOF) passive upper limb exoskeleton with 4DOFs at the shoulder complex. System kinematic analysis is investi- gated in terms of its singularity and manipulability. A real-time data acquisition system is set up, and system kinematic calibration is conducted. The effectiveness of the proposed exoskeleton system is ﬁnally demonstrated by a pilot animal test in the scenario of a reach and grasp task. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4033837]
Appendix A : Excerpt from the ECHP documentation on the PUNR adjustment procedure

Population surveys around the world face the problem of declining cooperation and participation rates of respondents. Not only can item nonresponse and unit nonresponse impair important outcome measures for inequality research such as total household disposable income; there is also a further case of missingness confronting household panel surveys that potentially biases results. The approach commonly used in such surveys of interviewing all adult household members and aggregating their individual incomes to yield a final outcome measure for welfare analyses often suffers from partial unit non-response (PUNR), i.e., the non-response of at least one unit, or member, of an otherwise participating household. In these cases, the aggregate income of all household members lacks at least one individual’s income. These processes are typically not random and require appropriate correction. Using data from more than twenty waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we evaluate four different strategies to deal with this phenomenon: (a) Ignorance, i.e., assuming the missing individual’s income to be zero. (b) Adjustment of the equivalence scale to account for differences in household size and composition. (c) Elimination of all households observed to suffer PUNR, and re-weighting of households observed to be at risk of but not affected by PUNR. (d) Longitudinal imputation of the missing income components. The aim of this paper is to show how the choice of technique affects substantive results in the inequality research. We find indications of substantial bias on income inequality and poverty as well as on income mobility. These findings are obviously even more important in crossnational comparative analyses if the data providers in the individual countries deal differently with PUNR in the underlying data.
Cross-binding of factors to functionally different promoter elements in c-fos and skeletal actin genes

A conserved 28-base-pair element in the skeletal actin promoter was sufficient to activate muscle-specific expression when placed upstream of a TATA element. This muscle regulatory element (MRE) is similar in structure to the serum response element (SRE), which is present in the promoters of the c-fos proto-oncogene and the nonmuscle actin genes. The SRE can function as a constitutive promoter element. Though the MRE and SRE differed in their tissue-specific expression properties, both elements bound to the same protein factors in vitro. These proteins are the serum response factor (SRF) and the muscle actin promoter factors 1 and 2 (MAPF1 and MAPF2). The SRF and MAPF proteins were resolved by chromatographic procedures, and they differed in their relative affinities for each element. The factors were further distinguished by their distinct, but overlapping, methylation interference footprint patterns on each element. These data indicate that the differences in tissue-specific expression may be due to a complex interaction of protein factors with these sequences.
Modeling and Simulation of Axial Fan Using CFD

Axial flow fans, while incapable of developing high pressures, they are well suitable for handling large volumes of air at relatively low pressures. In general, they are low in cost and possess good efficiency, and can have blades of airfoil shape. Axial flow fans show good efficiencies, and can operate at high static pressures if such operation is necessary. Our objective is to model and analyze the flow through AXIAL FANS using CFD Software and draw inference from the obtained results, so as to get maximum efficiency. The performance of an axial fan was simulated using CFD and the effect of variation of different parameters such as the blade number, noise level, velocity, temperature and pressure distribution on the blade surface was studied. This paper aims to present a final 3D CAD model of axial flow fan. Adapting this model to the available components in the market, the first optimization was done. After this step, CFX flow solver is used to do the necessary numerical analyses on the aerodynamic performance of this model. This analysis results in a final optimization of the proposed 3D model which is presented in this article. Keywords—ANSYS CFX, Axial Fan, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Optimization.
Preclinical Development Inhibiting Aurora Kinases Reduces Tumor Growth and Suppresses Tumor Recurrence after Chemotherapy in Patient-Derived Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Xenografts

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) have an aggressive phenotype with a relatively high rate of recurrence and poor overall survival. To date, there is no approved targeted therapy for TNBCs. Aurora kinases act as regulators of mammalian cell division. They are important for cell-cycle progression and are frequently overexpressed ormutated in human tumors, including breast cancer. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of targetingAurora kinases inpreclinicalmodels of humanbreast cancers using apaninhibitor ofAurora kinases, AS703569. In vitro, AS703569was tested in 15 human breast cancer cell lines. TNBC cell lines were more sensitive to AS703569 than were other types of breast cancer cells. Inhibition of proliferation was associated with cell-cycle arrest, aneuploidy, and apoptosis. In vivo, AS703569 administered alone significantly inhibited tumor growth in seven of 11 patient-derived breast cancer xenografts. Treatment withAS703569was associatedwith a decrease of phospho-histoneH3 expression. Finally, AS703569 combined to doxorubicin–cyclophosphamide significantly inhibited in vivo tumor recurrence, suggesting that Aurora kinase inhibitors could be used both in monotherapy and in combination settings. In conclusion, these data indicate that targeting Aurora kinases could represent a new effective approach for TNBC treatment. Mol Cancer Ther; 11(12); 2693–703. 2012 AACR.
Evidence-based perinatal and paediatric health care: The contribution of the Cochrane Collaboration and the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre.

s health care professionals and consumers of healthcare, paediatricians are overwhelmed by an exponen-tially increasing amount of information (1,2). We are facedwith challenges on how to assess critically and implementthe best available evidence in our efforts to improve clinicaloutcomes, reduce costs and increase satisfaction with carefor our clients and/or ourselves in a timely fashion (3,4). In1987, Cindy Mulrow (5) reported that medical reviews didnot routinely use scientific methods to identify, assess andsynthesize information, and she proposed the systematicassessment of reviews to improve their quality in the future.Later, she provided the rationale for systematic reviews (2).
The Role of III-V Substrate Roughness and Deoxidation Induced by Digital Etch in Achieving Low Resistance Metal Contacts

To achieve low contact resistance between metal and III-V material, transmission-line-model (TLM) structures of molybdenum (Mo) were fabricated on indium phosphide (InP) substrate on the top of an indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The contact layer was prepared using a digital etch procedure before metal deposition. The contact resistivity was found to decrease significantly with the cleaning process. High Resolution Transmission & Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRTEM & HRSTEM) investigations revealed that the surface roughness of treated samples was increased. Further analysis of the metal-semiconductor interface using Energy Electron Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) showed that the amount of oxides (InxOy, GaxOy or AsxOy) was significantly decreased for the etched samples. These results suggest that the low contact resistance obtained after digital etching is attributed to the combined effects of the induced surface roughness and oxides removal during the digital etch process.
Influence of dissolved ions on determination of oxygen isotope composition of aqueous solutions using the CO2-H2O equilibration method.

RATIONALE Stable isotope compositions of natural waters, such as seawater, glaciers and basinal brines, can provide valuable information about Earth's hydrological cycle and its evolutionary history. However, a high concentration of dissolved ions in some natural waters hinders an accurate analysis of their oxygen isotope composition. A laboratory study was carried out in order to provide guidelines on how to resolve this analytical difficulty. METHODS CO(2) gas was equilibrated with saline aqueous solutions of various chemical compositions at 25 °C. Subsequently, the oxygen isotope composition of the CO(2) was determined at different equilibration times using a dual-inlet isotope ratio mass spectrometer in order to evaluate the oxygen isotope salt effect and the rate of oxygen isotope exchange between CO(2) and the saline solution. RESULTS Using the experimentally determined oxygen isotope salt effects of aqueous chloride and sulfate solutions, an empirical method for the prediction of the oxygen isotope salt effect of a 1.0 molal chloride or sulfate solution was proposed. The rates of oxygen isotope exchange between CO(2) and saline solutions were also examined. Our experimental data indicates that the sequence of the oxygen isotope exchange time is as: MgSO(4) > CaCl(2) ≈ Na(2)SO(4) > NaCl > MgCl(2) > KCl > H(2)O. CONCLUSIONS The isotope salt effect and the kinetics of isotope exchange must be taken into account when the oxygen isotope composition of a saline aqueous solution is determined using the CO(2)-H(2)O equilibration method. Our experimental data and the proposed prediction method provide essential guidelines for the accurate δ(18)O analysis of saline aqueous solutions.
Quantification of Bias Related to the Extraction of DNA Directly from Soils

ABSTRACT In recent years, several protocols based on the extraction of nucleic acids directly from the soil matrix after lysis treatment have been developed for the detection of microorganisms in soil. Extraction efficiency has often been evaluated based on the recovery of a specific gene sequence from an organism inoculated into the soil. The aim of the present investigation was to improve the extraction, purification, and quantification of DNA derived from as large a portion of the soil microbial community as possible, with special emphasis placed on obtaining DNA from gram-positive bacteria, which form structures that are difficult to disrupt. Furthermore, we wanted to identify and minimize the biases related to each step in the procedure. Six soils, covering a range of pHs, clay contents, and organic matter contents, were studied. Lysis was carried out by soil grinding, sonication, thermal shocks, and chemical treatments. DNA was extracted from the indigenous microflora as well as from inoculated bacterial cells, spores, and hyphae, and the quality and quantity of the DNA were determined by gel electrophoresis and dot blot hybridization. Lysis efficiency was also estimated by microscopy and viable cell counts. Grinding increased the extracellular DNA yield compared with the yield obtained without any lysis treatment, but none of the subsequent treatments clearly increased the DNA yield. Phage λ DNA was inoculated into the soils to mimic the fate of extracellular DNA. No more than 6% of this DNA could be recovered from the different soils. The clay content strongly influenced the recovery of DNA. The adsorption of DNA to clay particles decreased when the soil was pretreated with RNA in order to saturate the adsorption sites. We also investigated different purification techniques and optimized the PCR methods in order to develop a protocol based on hybridization of the PCR products and quantification by phosphorimaging.
Global Localization of Mobile Robot using an Omni-Directional Camera

In this paper, we propose a method for global localization using an omni-directional camera. A robot position and angle are estimated by correlation coefficient between topological node-map images and input images. Near-node has the largest correlation coefficient in topological map images. The calculated correlation coefficient makes the mixtures of Gaussians density map. The highest value of mixtures of Gaussians density map is the estimated robot position. The angle of the robot is estimated using KLT method between near-node image and input image. The experiment is practiced in the lobby at Bucheon RoboPark building. The proposed algorithm is proved by the experimental results.
Hyperspectral imaging of breakdown in InAlAs/InGaAs HEMTs: a comparative study

Although InAlAs/InGaAs HEMTs offer promise for high-speed, high power applications, both offstate and on-state breakdown voltages in this material system tend to be poor. One promising avenue for understanding breakdown is the study of photon emission. Previous examinations of emission in this material system and in the AlGaAs material system have generally been limited to investigations of a single device. In this work we will present a comparative investigation of emission at breakdown in a set of InAlAs/InGaAs HEMTs that includes devices with a wide range of doping levels. Such a comparison allows us to understand better the tradeoffs in device design, as well as helping us to identify when/if different breakdown mechanisms may be at play.
Event Clusters Detection on Flickr Images Using a Suffix-Tree Structure

Image clustering is a problem that has been treated extensively in both Content-Based (CBIR) and Text-Based (TBIR) Image Retrieval Systems. In this paper, we propose a new image clustering approach that takes both annotation, time and geographical position into account. Our goal is to develop a clustering method that allows an image to be part of an event cluster. We extend a well-known clustering algorithm called Suffix Tree Clustering (STC), which was originally developed to cluster text documents using a document snippet. To be able to use this algorithm, we consider an image with annotation as a document. Then, we extend it to also include time and geographical position. This appears to be particularly useful on the images gathered from online photo-sharing applications such as Flickr. Here image tags are often subjective and incomplete. For this reason, clustering based on textual annotations alone is not enough to capture all context information related to an image. Our approach has been suggested to address this challenge. In addition, we propose a novel algorithm to extract event clusters. The algorithm is evaluated using an annotated dataset from Flickr, and a comparison between different granularity of time and space is provided.
Prevalence and subtypes of BK virus in pediatric renal transplant recipients in Russia

Momynaliev KT, Gorbatenko EV, Shevtsov AB, Gribanov OG, Babenko NN, Kaabak MM. Prevalence and subtypes of BK virus in pediatric renal transplant recipients in Russia. Pediatr Transplantation 2012: 16: 151–159. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Perceived subject outcomes and impact on health-related quality of life associated with diet using the new Food Benefits Assessment (FBA©) questionnaire: development and psychometric validation

Abstract Objective To assess the perceived outcomes associated with diet/food intake in the general adult population. Design and subjects The Food Benefits Assessment (FBA©) questionnaire was developed from subjects’ verbatim transcripts (n 18) and after comprehension tests (n 5). Normal-weight (n 130) and overweight (n 67) subjects then completed the final questionnaire twice, 7 d apart. Psychometric properties were assessed, including construct validity by principal components analysis (PCA), concurrent validity (Spearman coefficient) with the Short Form-36 scale (SF-36), known-group validity by comparing FBA dimension scores according to lifestyle and clinical variables, internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α) and test–retest reproducibility in stable subjects over 1 week (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC). Results PCA and Multitrait analysis confirmed the final version of the FBA comprising forty-one items split into seven dimensions (vitality; digestive comfort; physical appearance; well-being; snacking; disease prevention; aesthetics). All dimensions displayed good item convergent validity (0·44 to 0·80), good concurrent validity (highest correlation between well-being dimension of FBA and mental health scale of SF-36, r = 0·83) and good known-group validity and reproducibility (ICC ≥ 0·76); internal consistency reliability was good to excellent (Cronbach’s α = 0·79 to 0·91). Conclusion The FBA is the first valid and reliable questionnaire that allows the assessment of diet effects and impact as perceived by subjects. It is a good candidate in the nutrition field for further use in specific population settings and with a particular food or daily diet. Linguistically validated English (UK and US) and German versions of the questionnaire are available.
Employing Power Allocation to Enhance Zero Forcing Scheme Advantages over Multi-Antenna Multiple Relay Networks

A multi-antenna multiple relay (MAMR) network is considered and a variation of two-hop zero-forcing amplify-forward relaying method is proposed. Deploying ZF method together with application of diagonal power allocation matrices at the relays, it is shown that the overall MAMR network is simplified to M independent single antenna multiple relay (SAMR) networks, where M is the number of source and destination antennas. This enables to incorporate network beamforming proposed for SAMR networks. Accordingly, using the BER as the performance metric, we present simulation results to show the proposed approach outperforms the common ZF method addressed in the literature.