Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family Structure and Adolescent Alcohol Use Problems: Extending Popular Explanations to American Indiansc

Competing explanations of the relationship between family structure and alcohol use problems are examined using a sample of American Indian adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Living in a single-parent family is found to be a marker for the unequal distribution of stress exposure and parental alcohol use, but the effects of other family structures like non-parent families and the presence of under 21-year-old extended family or non-family members emerge or remain as risk or protective factors for alcohol use problems after a consideration of SES, family processes, peer socialization, and social stress. In particular, a nonparent family structure that has not been considered in prior research emerged as a protective family structure for American Indian adolescent alcohol use problems.
GIP plus xenin-25 indirectly increases pancreatic polypeptide release in humans with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus

, Abstract Xenin-25 (Xen) is a 25-amino acid neurotensin-related peptide that activates neurotensin receptor-1 (NTSR1). We previously showed that Xen increases the effect of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) on insulin release 1) in hyperglycemic mice via a cholinergic relay in the periphery independent from the central nervous system and 2) in humans with normal or impaired glucose tolerance, but not type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Since this blunted response to Xen defines a novel defect in T2DM, it is important understand how Xen regulates islet physiology. On separate visits, subjects received intravenous graded glucose infusions with vehicle, GIP, Xen, or GIP plus Xen. The pancreatic polypeptide response was used as an indirect measure of cholinergic input to islets. The graded glucose infusion itself had little effect on the pancreatic polypeptide response whereas administration of Xen equally increased the pancreatic polypeptide response in humans with normal glucose tolerance, impaired glucose tolerance, and T2DM. The pancreatic polypeptide response to Xen was similarly amplified by GIP in all 3 groups. Antibody staining of human pancreas showed that NTSR1 is not detectable on islet endocrine cells, sympathetic neurons, blood vessels, or endothelial cells but is expressed at high levels on PGP9.5-positive axons in the exocrine tissue and at low levels on ductal epithelial cells. PGP9.5 positive nerve fibers contacting beta cells in the islet periphery were also observed. Thus, a neural relay,
Tagging narrator’s names in Hadith text

Text document expresses enormous sort of information but it lacks the imposed structure of a traditional database. Unstructured data, particularly free running text data has to be transformed into a structured data. Extracting information from text is part of NLP process. The implementation of the NER algorithm for NLP is normally influenced by the domain of the studies. Besides, there is no existing system that is designed to detect the types of named entity in hadith text, develop POS tags and rule based extraction for narrator’s name in Hadith Text in the Malay language. The POS tags were developed from 1000 hadith texts. The POS tags were created involving a total of 256 words which is part of narrator’s names. The rule based was developed to determine five types of narrator’s chain. Further research will determine the relationship between each narrator and the construction of narration’s chain.
A critical investigation of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing: theoretical operationalisation framework

Abstract Increasing global competition on product quality and production costs, and the need for flexibility in production petition for transformed production processes which enable high level of connectivity and integration between business processes and systems. Much of the conventional computer- integrated efforts and advanced manufacturing technologies are limited in scope and restricted to only some organisational areas. Such limited scope, which stems from limited connectivity and integration between manufacturing and enterprise systems, confines the achievement of full potential of these systems within manufacturing. Industry 4.0, characterised by computing developments, can create a platform for addressing integration challenge through enabling comprehensive connectivity. Hence, this paper, through following deductive research paradigm and using systems theory as the theoretical base, aims to investigate recent academic research and industrial reports in the area of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing to provide detailed insights on execution of Industry 4.0, and to propose a theoretical framework for operationalisation of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing.
Infiltration during an unsteady rain

Infiltration during a rainfall event can be divided into two distinct stages: a stage with surface ponding and a stage without surface ponding. Few of the infiltration models in current use are suitable to describe infiltration for both stages. In this paper the Green and Ampt equation was applied to determine the time that separates these two stages so that infiltration for the different stages can be treated separately. To obtain an integrated form of the Green and Ampt equation, it is traditionally assumed that the cumulative infiltration is zero at the time when surface ponding starts. But in a rainfall event the cumulative infiltration equals the water infiltrated into the soil profile prior to the ponding time, which is usually not zero. Therefore a modification in the traditional Green and Ampt equation is needed to describe infiltration during a rainfall event. It is shown in this paper that this modification is equivalent to a shift of the time scale by an amount which is referred to as the pseudotime by the author. The modified version of the Green and Ampt equation was applied to determine rainfall excess and to predict total runoff for three major storms recorded by the Agricultural Research Service from 1957 to 1959 on a watershed near Oxford, Mississippi. A comparison of the prediction and the measured total runoff appeared to be promising.
Nucleic Acids Research

We have cloned a Bacillus subtilis DNA fragment that could correct the defect in a constitutive 06-methylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (Datl). This fragment also corrected the hypersensitivity of the strain TKJ6951(ada-i dat-1) to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). In the fragment, the gene activity resides in a region of about 850 bp which contains an open reading frame capable of coding for a protein of 165 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of this protein exhibits striking similarity to those of E. coli 06-methylguanine-DNA alkyltransferases (Ogt and Ada proteins). We conclude that this is a structural gene for the Datl protein, which is distinct from inducible DNA alkyltransferases involved in the adaptive response. The dat-i mutation was shown to be caused by a structural rearrangement affecting the coding region, and the 0.8 kb transcripts of this gene were detected in dat+ cells but not in dat mutant cells. INTRODUCTION 06-Methylguanine residues are highly mutagenic and possibly carcinogenic lesions produced by methylating agents such as N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) (1, 2). We have shown that Bacillus subtilis cells contain two species of 06-methylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase which collect methyl groups from 06-methylguanine residues in DNA (3). The 20 Kd protein (Datl) is synthesized constitutively, whereas the 22 Kd protein (Dat2) is synthesized inducibly by cells cultured in the presence of low concentrations of methylating agents (termed 'adaptive treatment'). Adaptive treatment also induces the synthesis of a 27 Kd protein (Dat3) with the methylphosphotriester-DNA alkyltransferase activity (3). We have isolated six mutant strains (ada) sensitive to the lethal and mutagenic effects of methyl and ethyl nitroso compounds (4). None of them show an adaptive response to MNNG or MNU or inducible synthesis of Dat2. However, all these mutant cells have almost the same level of the Datl activity as wild-type cells (3). Furthermore, we have recently isolated a double-mutant strain, TKJ6951 (ada-i dat-i), defective in both Datl and Dat2, and supersensitive to MNNG. From this strain, a dat-i single-mutant strain has been constructed (submitted for publication). These results are consistent with the notion that Datl and Dat2 are coded by separate genes that are regulated in different ways; one constitutively and one inducibly on adaptive treatment. Recent studies suggested that Escherichia coli cells also have a similar dual defense system against DNA 0-alkylation. The 37 Kd Ada protein, which has alkyltransferase activities on 06-methylguanine and methylphosphotriester and is synthesized upon adaptive treatment (5), was considered to be the sole DNA alkyltransferase, but recently another © IRL Press Volume 17 Number 16 1989
0-Thalassemia Disease Prevention: Genetic Medicine Applied

We report here an evaluation of a program for thalassemia-disease prevention, comprising education, population screening for heterozygotes, and reproductive counseling; the evaluation includes cost analysis. A preprogram survey in 1978 of 3,247 citizens in the high-risk communities (85% were high-school students) showed that 88% favored a program but that only 31% considered fetal diagnosis as an acceptable option. Screening in high school or before marriage was preferred by 56%. In a 25-month period (December 1979-December 1982), we screened 6,748 persons, including 5,117 senior high-school students, using MCV/HbA2 indices. The participation rate was 80% in the high-school group. The frequency for 13-thalassemia heterozygosity was 4.7% with 10-fold vari-ation among ethnic groups at risk; the overall frequency for all variants found was 5.4%. We surveyed 60 carriers and 120 noncarriers after screening high-school students (response rate 77%): most carriers told parents (95%) and friends (67%) the test result; and 38% of the carriers' parents (vs. 18% of the noncarriers' parents) were also screened. Carriers would ascertain their spouses' genotype (91%) and approved uniformly (95%) the high-school screening experience and its goal. We performed 11 fetal diagnoses in a 25-month interval (> 75% participation in target population) either by fetoscopy and globin-chain analysis or by amniocentesis and genomic DNA analysis; two of three affected fetuses were aborted at parental request, there was one spontaneous abortion (after fetoscopy), and seven live births. The at-risk couples claimed pregnancy would not be contemplated without the fetal-diagnosis option. We analyzed economic costs of the program: cost per case prevented is =$6,700, slightly less than cost-per-patient-treatment-year or about 4% of undis-counted treatment cost incurred in the first 25 years of life for an affected individual. These findings indicate: collective acceptance of the program, appropriate attitudes among carriers, general acceptance and efficacy of fetal diagnosis, and global cost-effectiveness.
Cloning and functional characterization of LOR-Fi: a bZIP transcription factor that activates erythroid-specific, human globin gene expression

DNase I hypersensitive site 2 (HS 2) of the human ,B-globin Locus Control Region (LCR) directs high level expression of the f-globin gene located 50 kilobases downstream. Experiments in cultured cells and in transgenic mice demonstrate that duplicated APl -like sites in HS 2 are required for this powerful enhancer activity. A cDNA clone encoding a basic, leucine-zipper protein that binds to these sites was isolated and designated Locus Control Region-Factor 1 (LCR-F1). This protein is a member of a new family of regulatory factors that contain a 63 amino acid 'CNC domain' overlapping the basic region. This domain is approximately 70% identical in the Drosophila Cap N Collar (CNC) protein, NF-E2 and LCR-F1. LCR-F1 transactivates an HS 2/y-globin reporter gene over 170-fold in transient transfection experiments specifically in erythroid cells. These results suggest that LCR-F1 may be a critical factor involved in LCR-mediated, human globin gene expression.
Salmonella enterica MTAN at 1.36 Å resolution. Structure-based design of new transition state analogues

SUMMARY Accumulation of 5 ′ -methylthioadenosine (MTA) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) in bacteria disrupts the S-adenosylmethionine pool to alter biological methylations, synthesis of polyamines and production of quorum sensing molecules. Bacterial metabolism of MTA and SAH depends on MTA/SAH nucleosidase (MTAN), an enzyme not present in humans, and a target for quorum sensing since MTAN activity is essential for synthesis of autoinducer-2 molecules. Crystals of Salmonella enterica MTAN with product and transition state analogues of MTA and SAH explain the pM binding affinity and reveal ‘water-wire’ channel for the catalytic nucleophile. The crystal structure shows an extension of the binding pocket filled with polyethylene glycol. We exploited that discovery by the design and synthesis of new modifications of the currently existing transition state analogues to fill this site. This site was previously unknown in MTANs and reveals powerful inhibitors with solvent access. Novel inhibitors with dissociation constants of 5 to 15 pM are characterized.
An improved method for the small scale preparation of bacteriophage DNA based on phage precipitation by zinc chloride

Procedures which allow the rapid extraction of small amounts of phage DNA in a sufficiently pure form as to be digested with restriction enzymes are an important tool in the analysis of recombinant clones. This communication describes an alternative procedure to the current method of polyethylene glycol (PEG) sedimentation followed by phenol extractions (1), which is based on the precipitating action of zinc chloride (ZnCl2). Precipitation by ZnCl2 has first been observed in experiments with B.subtilis phage SPPl. Suspensions of SPPl in LB (Tryptone, 10 Ag/l; Yeast Extract, 5 g/l and NaCl, 5 g/l) were incubated at 37°C for 30 min in the presence of increasing concentrations of ZnCl2. After centrifugation (8000 rpm, 2 min) phages present in pellets and supernatants were separately titrated. More than 90% of the recovered phages were found in pellets when the ZnCl2 concentration was in excess of 20 mM. This observation was then extended to several B. subtilis (SPO1, SPO2, PBS1, SPf and Q 11) and E. coli bacteriophages (X, T4 and M13) indicating that the phenomenon was not phage specific. Total phage recovery (pelleted plus free in supernatant) in different experiments was in the range of 60-80% of the initial titer. Precipitation by ZnCl2 (40 mM final concentration) was further characterized using SPP1 and X as model phages. While 90 to 98% of the recovered phages were precipitated at 37°C in media containing less than 6g/l NaCl ( 0. 1 M), these values dropped to about 20% either by incubating the suspensions on
Adult chicken a-globin gene expression in transfected QT6 quail cells: evidence for a negative regulatory element in the ceD gene region

The chicken adult a-globin genes, aA and aD, are closely linked in chromosomal DNA and are coordinately expressed in vivo in an approximate 3:1 ratio, respectively. When subcloned DNAs containing one or the other gene are stably transfected into QT6 quail fibroblasts, the aA-globin gene is expressed at measurable RNA levels, but the aD gene is not. The aA gene expression can be considerably increased by the presence of a linked Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat enhancer, but that of the aD gene remains undetectable. Transfection with subclones containing both genes, either in cis or in trans, leads to considerably reduced aA RNA levels and still no observable aD gene expression. Transfection with deleted subclones suggests that maximal expression levels in this system require the aA-globin gene promoter, as opposed to that of the aD gene, but that such expression is greatly reduced by one or more DNA sequences which lie approximately 2,000 base pairs upstream of the aA gene, within the body of the aD gene.
Two-Stage Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in AC Microgrids with Balanced State-of-Charge and Guaranteed Small-Signal Stability

In this paper, a two-stage battery energy storage system (BESS) is implemented to enhance the operation condition of conventional battery storage systems in a microgrid. Particularly, the designed BESS is composed of two stages, i.e., Stage I: integration of dispersed energy storage units (ESUs) using parallel DC/DC converters, and Stage II: aggregated ESUs in grid-connected operation. Different from a conventional BESS consisting of a battery management system (BMS) and power conditioning system (PCS), the developed two-stage architecture enables additional operation and control flexibility in balancing the state-of-charge (SoC) of each ESU and ensures the guaranteed small-signal stability, especially in extremely weak grid conditions. The above benefits are achieved by separating the control functions between the two stages. In Stage I, a localized power sharing scheme based on the SoC of each particular ESU is developed to manage the SoC and avoid over-charge or over-discharge issues; on the other hand, in Stage II, an additional virtual impedance loop is implemented in the grid-interactive DC/AC inverters to enhance the stability margin with multiple parallel-connected inverters integrating at the point of common coupling (PCC) simultaneously. A simulation model based on MATLAB/Simulink is established, and simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed BESS architecture and the corresponding control diagram.
Orientation Determination of Interfacial β -sheet Structures in Situ

Structural information such as orientations of interfacial proteins and peptides is important for understanding properties and functions of such biological molecules, which play crucial roles in biological applications and processes such as antimicrobial selectivity, membrane protein activity, biocompatibility, and biosensing performance. The α -helical and β -sheet structures are the most widely encountered secondary structures in peptides and proteins. In this paper, for the first time, a method to quantify the orientation of the interfacial β -sheet structure using a combined Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopic (ATR-FTIR) and Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopic study was developed. As an illustration of the methodology, the orientation of tachyplesin I, a 17-amino acid peptide with an anti-parallel β -sheet, adsorbed to polymer surfaces as well as associated with a lipid bilayer was determined using the regular and chiral SFG spectra, together with polarized ATR-FTIR amide I signals. Both the tilt angle ( θ ) and the twist angle ( ψ ) of the β -sheet at interfaces are determined. The developed method in this paper can be used to obtain in situ structural information of β -sheet components in complex molecules. The combination of this method and the existing methodology that is currently used to investigate α -helical structures will greatly broaden the application of optical spectroscopy in physical chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology.
Interleukin-1 β -mediated inhibition of the processes of angiogenesis in cardiac microvascular endothelial cells

Angiogenesis, the formation of new capillaries from preexisting vessels, plays an essential role revascularization of the myocardium following myocardial infarction (MI). Interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β ), a proinflammatory cytokine increased in the heart following MI, is shown to be essential for angiogenesis in the invasiveness of tumor cells, the progression of arthritic conditions and endometriosis, and the promotion of wound healing. Here we studied the steps of angiogenesis in response to IL-1 β in cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) and aortic tissue. Cell cycle progression analysis using flow cytometry indicated a G 0 /G 1 phase cell cycle arrest in IL-1 β stimulated cells. IL-1 β significantly reduced levels of fibrillar actin in the cytoskeleton, a pre-requisite for tube formation, as indicated by phalloidin-FITC staining. Wound healing assays demonstrated IL-1 β prevents cell-to-cell contact formation. On the other hand, vascular endothelial growth factor-D (VEGF-D) initiated restoration of the cell monolayer. IL-1 β significantly inhibited in vitro tube formation as analyzed by three-dimensional collagen matrix assay. Aortic ring assay demonstrated that IL-1 β inhibits basal and VEGF-D-stimulated microvessel sprouting from aortic rings. The data presented here are novel and of significant interest, providing evidence that IL-1 β impedes the process of angiogenesis in myocardial endothelial cells.
Factors Associated With Smoking Behavior Among Operating Engineers

Although disparities in smoking prevalence between white collar workers and blue collar workers have been documented, reasons for these disparities have not been well studied. The objective of this study was to determine variables associated with smoking among Operating Engineers, using the Health Promotion Model as a guide. With cross-sectional data from a convenience sample of 498 Operating Engineers, logistic regression was used to determine personal and health behaviors associated with smoking. Approximately 29% of Operating Engineers currently smoked cigarettes. Multivariate analyses showed that younger age, unmarried, problem drinking, physical inactivity, and a lower body mass index were associated with smoking. Operating Engineers were at high risk of smoking, and smokers were more likely to engage in other risky health behaviors, which supports bundled health behavior interventions.
Expression and purification of Class 7 Semaphorin and its receptor PlexinC1 using baculovirus-mediated mammalian cell gene transduction

Semaphorins and their receptor Plexins are large glycoproteins that are difficult to express using regular recombinant methods, and the widely used E. coli and baculovirus-insect cell systems have been inadequate for Semaphorins and Plexins which contain a large number of domains and are heavily modified by glycosylation. Here, we describe the expression of class 7 Semaphorin (Sema7A) and the extracellular domain of its receptors PlexinC1, using the baculovirus-mediated mammalian cell gene transduction (BacMam) method. A robust mammalian cell expression gene cassette, including a highly efficient secretion signal peptide, is introduced into the baculovirus which subsequently enters mammalian cells for efficient expression in suspension cell culture. Large amount of high-infectivity BacMam viruses are needed for infecting suspended mammalian cells in large scale, to generate Semaphorin and Plexin proteins at an amount sufficient for binding experiments and crystallographic studies. The inclusion of serum in expression ensure the robustness of cell culture, but introduces substantial amount of contaminant proteins interfering with immobilized metal ion affinity purification, which can be overcome with a two-step purification scheme.