Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assembly and Topography of the Prepore Complex in Cholesterol-dependent Cytolysins*

Cholesterol-dependent cytolysins are a family of poreforming proteins that have been shown to be virulence factors for a large number of pathogenic bacteria. The mechanism of pore formation for these toxins involves a complex series of events that are known to include binding, oligomerization, and insertion of a transmembrane β-barrel. Several features of this mechanism remain poorly understood and controversial. Whereas a prepore mechanism has been proposed for perfringolysin O, a very different mechanism has been proposed for the homologous member of the family, streptolysin O. To distinguish between the two models, a novel approach that directly measures the dimension of transmembranes pores was used. Pore formation itself was examined for both cytolysins by encapsulating fluorescein-labeled peptides and proteins of different sizes into liposomes. When these liposomes were re-suspended in a solution containing anti-fluorescein antibodies, toxin-mediated pore formation was monitored directly by the quenching of fluorescein emission as the encapsulated molecules were released, and the dyes were bound by the antibodies. The analysis of pore formation determined using this approach reveals that only large pores are produced by perfringolysin O and streptolysin O during insertion (and not small pores that grow in size). These results are consistent only with the formation of a prepore complex intermediate prior to insertion of the transmembrane β-barrel into the bilayer. Fluorescence quenching experiments also revealed that PFO in the prepore complex contacts the membrane via domain 4, and that the individual transmembrane β-hairpins in domain 3 are not exposed to the nonpolar core of the bilayer at this intermediate stage.
A behavior mining based hybrid recommender system

Recommender systems are mostly well known for their applications in e-commerce sites and are mostly static models. Classical personalized recommender algorithm include collaborative filtering method applied in Amazon, matrix factorization algorithm from Netflix, etc. In this article, we hope to combine traditional model with behavior pattern extraction method. We use desensitized mobile transaction record provided by T-mall, Alibaba to build a hybrid dynamic recommender system. The sequential pattern mining aims to find frequent sequential pattern in sequence database and is applied in this hybrid model to predict customers' payment behavior thus contributing to the accuracy of the model.
Description of continuous data using bar graphs: a misleading approach.

INTRODUCTION With the ease provided by current computational programs, medical and scientific journals use bar graphs to describe continuous data. METHODS This manuscript discusses the inadequacy of bars graphs to present continuous data. RESULTS Simulated data show that box plots and dot plots are more-feasible tools to describe continuous data. CONCLUSIONS These plots are preferred to represent continuous variables since they effectively describe the range, shape, and variability of observations and clearly identify outliers. By contrast, bar graphs address only measures of central tendency. Bar graphs should be used only to describe qualitative data.
Evaluation of Maternal Health Service Indicators in Urban Slum of Bangladesh

Background A continuous influx of poor people to urban slums poses a challenge to Bangladesh’s health system as it has failed to tackle maternal morbidity and mortality. BRAC is the largest non-governmental organisation in Bangladesh. BRAC has been working to reduce maternal, neonatal and under-five children morbidity and mortality of slum dwellers in cities. BRAC has been doing this work for a decade through a programme called MANOSHI. This programme provides door-to-door services to its beneficiaries through community health workers (CHWs) and normal delivery service through its delivery and maternity centres. BRAC started the ‘MANOSHI’ programme in Narayanganj City Corporation during 2011 to address maternal, neonatal and child health problems facing slum dwellers. We investigated the existing maternal health-service indicators in the slums of Narayanganj City Corporation and compared the findings with a non-intervention area. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2012, in 47 slums of Narayanganj City Corporation as intervention and 10 slums of Narsingdi Sadar Municipality as comparison area. A total of 1206 married women, aged 15–49 years, with a pregnancy outcome in the previous year were included for interview. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, reproductive and maternal health-care practices like use of contraceptive methods, antenatal care (ANC), delivery care, postnatal care (PNC) were collected through a structured questionnaire. The chi-square test, Student t test, Mann Whitney U-test, factor analysis and log-binominal test were performed by using STATA statistical software for analysing data. Results The activities of BRAC CHWs significantly improved four or more ANC (47% vs. 21%; p<0.000) and PNC (48% vs. 39%; p<0.01) coverage in the intervention slums compared to comparison slums. Still, about half of the deliveries in both areas were attended at home by unskilled birth attendants, of which a very few received PNC within 48 hours after delivery. The poorest and illiterate women received fewer maternal health services from medically trained providers (MTPs). The poorest had a lower likelihood of receiving services from MTPs during delivery complications. Conclusion The MANOSHI programme service coverage for delivery care and PNC-checkup for women who prefer home delivery needs to be improved. For sustainable improvement of maternal health outcomes in urban slums, the programme needs to facilitate access to services for poor and illiterate women.
Functional Interaction of a β-Adrenergic Agonist and Cyclic GMP Phosphodiesterase Inhibitor in Control and Hypertrophic Cardiomyocytes

This study tested the hypothesis that the positive inotropic effect of β-adrenoceptor stimulation would be inhibited by increases in cyclic GMP in control cardiomyocytes and that this response would be modified in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes. Cell functional data as well as GMP and cyclic AMP data were collected from 7 control and 7 1K1C (one-kidney-one-clip) renal hypertensive hypertrophic rabbits. Using isolated control and IKIC ventricular myocytes, data were obtained at baseline and after treatment with the β-adrenoceptor agonist isoproterenol (10–8, –6 mol/l) or the cyclic GMP-phosphodiesterase inhibitor zaprinast (10–5 mol/l) followed by isoproterenol (10–8, –6 mol/l). We found that in control rabbits, isoproterenol (10–6 mol/l) increased percent shortening (4.8 ± 0.2 to 6.4 ± 0.3%) and cyclic AMP (2.3 ± 0.3 to 5.0 ± 0.7 pmol/105 cells). Zaprinast 10–5 mol/l increased cyclic GMP (150 ± 20 to 209 ± 14 fmol/105 cells) and decreased percent shortening (6.2 ± 0.4 to 5.2 ± 0.3). Zaprinast 10–5 mol/l prevented the functional response to isoproterenol in control (5.2 ± 0.3 to 4.7 ± 0.3), without changing cyclic AMP levels. In 1K1C rabbits, isoproterenol (10–6 mol/l) increased cyclic AMP (4.9 ± 0.8 to 7.6 ± 1.4 pmol/105 cells) without changing function. Zaprinast 10–5 mol/l increased cyclic GMP (182 ± 23 to 233 ± 24 fmol/105 cells) and decreased percent shortening (6.6 ± 0.9 to 4.7 ± 0.5), but did not alter the lack of effect of isoproterenol in 1K1C. In control cardiomyocytes, cyclic GMP blunted the isoproterenol contraction response without changing cyclic AMP levels, but isoproterenol’s functional effect was not seen in 1K1C cardiomyocytes.
A case study of the development of a design enabler tool to support frame analysis for Wright Metal Products, a US SME

This paper introduces a design tool that provides customised engineering analysis functionalities for a manufacturer of metal frames. This work is motivated by the need for supporting small to medium scale enterprises (SMEs) with affordable computer aided analysis tools. The design process followed by a SME, Wright Metal Products of Simpsonville, SC, primarily depends on special expertise of a few key individuals who design products based on past experience, augmented by trial and error. Recognising that this is an inefficient, time consuming, and expensive way of designing products and evaluating their performance, a specialised, simple, and affordable design enabler for engineering analysis is developed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the design process.
Rate of Ankle‐Brachial Index Decline Predicts Cardiovascular Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients

Chronic kidney disease is a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity of cardiovascular events (CVEs). We obtained baseline data regarding blood biochemistry, ankle‐brachial index (ABI), brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and echocardiographic parameters from 300 patients on hemodialysis in 2005. We also measured ABI and baPWV annually from June 2005 until June 2012 and calculated rates of changes in ABI and baPWV to identify factors associated with CVEs. Seventy‐three patients died of cardiovascular disease and 199 CVEs occurred in 164 patients during the study period. Cardiac, cerebrovascular and peripheral artery disease (PAD) events occurred in 124, 43 and 32 patients, respectively, and 30 patients had more than two types of CVEs. Analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model showed that a higher rate of decline in ABI (hazard ratio [HR], 4.034; P < 0.001) was the most significant risk factor for decreased patient survival. Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that a higher rate of ABI decline (HR, 2.342; P < 0.001) was a significant risk factor for cardiac events, and that a lower baseline ABI was a risk factor for cerebrovascular (HR, 0.793; P = 0.03) and PAD (HR, 0.595; P < 0.0001) events. Our findings suggested that the rate of a decline in ABI and the baseline ABI value are potent correlation factors for survival and CVE morbidity among patients on hemodialysis in Japan.
Inexact designs for approximate low power addition by cell replacement

This paper proposes three designs of an inexact adder cell for approximate computing. These cells require a substantially smaller number of transistors compared to an exact full adder cell as well as known inexact designs. These inexact cells are simulated at 45 nm and compared with respect to circuit based metrics (such as energy consumption, delay, complexity and energy delay product) as well as error metrics (such as error rate). The replacement of exact cells with inexact cells such as the ones proposed in this manuscript in a ripple carry adder is evaluated to assess by exhaustive simulation different metrics for approximate computing; image addition is then pursued as application. These results show that among existing inexact cells found in the technical literature, the proposed designs consume the least power and have superior performance in terms of delay, switching capacitance and error measures for image quality and processing.
Risk of hip fractures in soft protected, hard protected, and unprotected falls

Objective: To compare hip fracture risk in soft and hard protected falls with the risk in unprotected falls and to compare the incidence of hip fractures in nursing homes providing soft and hard hip protectors. Methods: An observational study conducted within the framework of a cluster randomized trial in 18 nursing homes. Nursing homes were randomized to offer either soft or hard hip protectors. Individual participants were followed for falls for 18 months. Results: Of 1236 participating residents, 607 suffered 2926 falls; 590 of the 2926 falls were categorized as soft protected, 852 as hard protected, and 1388 as unprotected falls. Sixty-six verified hip fractures occurred: eight in soft protected falls, 11 in hard protected falls, and 45 in unprotected falls. The hip fracture risk in soft and hard protected falls was almost 60% lower than in unprotected falls (OR (soft) 0.36, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.77; OR (hard) 0.41, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.89). The incidence of hip fracture was 4.6 and 6.2 per 100 person-years in nursing homes providing soft and hard hip protectors, respectively (p = 0.212). Conclusion: Both types of hip protector have the potential, when worn correctly, to reduce the risk of a hip fracture in falls by nearly 60%. Both can be recommended to nursing-home residents as a means of preventing hip fractures.
Opportunities in mobile crowd sensing

Mobile crowd sensing is a new paradigm that takes advantage of pervasive mobile devices to efficiently collect data, enabling numerous largescale applications. Human involvement is one of the most important features, and human mobility offers unprecedented opportunities for both sensing coverage and data transmission. In this article, we investigate the opportunistic characteristics of human mobility from the perspectives of both sensing and transmission, and discuss how to exploit these opportunities to collect data efficiently and effectively. We also outline various open issues brought by human involvement in this emerging research area.
Iron absorption from infant formula and iron-fortified cow's milk: experimental model in weanling rats.

OBJECTIVE To compare iron absorption from infant formula and iron-fortified cow's milk. METHODS Twenty-four weanling Wistar rats were maintained in metabolic cages during the whole experiment (10 days). On the first day, the animals were divided into three similar groups according to their weight, length, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels: 1) infant formula; 2) powdered whole cow's milk fortified with iron in the same quantity and type as the formula; 3) control--powdered whole cow's milk not fortified with iron. Deionized water and diet were offered ad libitum and the volume consumed was measured. Weight, hematocrit, and hemoglobin levels were measured on the fifth and 10th days when length, fecal occult blood, and hepatic iron levels were also analyzed. RESULTS Group 1 consumed less diet (450.5+/-26.50 mL) than group 2 (658.8+/-53.73 mL) and control group (532.7+/-19.06 mL, p < 0.001). Hemoglobin levels were higher (p < 0.001) in group 1 (12.1+/-1.13 g/dL) than in group 2 (9.6+/-1.59 g/dL) and in control group (6.2+/-0.97 g/dL). Hepatic iron level showed the same pattern as hemoglobin (p < 0.001). There was no difference in weight and length between the three groups (p = 0.342). There was no fecal occult blood in the any of the animals. CONCLUSIONS Despite the lower volume consumed, the group that received formula presented higher iron absorption and hemoglobin levels than the group fed with fortified whole cow's milk. Growth was similar in the three groups.
Guidance on Good Cell Culture Practice

The maintenance of high standards is fundamental to all good scientific practice, and is essential for maximising the reproducibility, reliability, credibility, acceptance and proper application of any results produced. The aim of this Guidance on Good Cell Culture Practice (GCCP) is to promote the maintenance of these standards and to reduce uncertainty in the development and application of animal and human cell and tissue culture procedures and products, by encouraging greater international harmonisation, rationalisation and standardisation of laboratory practices, quality control systems, safety procedures, recording and reporting, and compliance with laws, regulations and ethical principles. The scope of the document has deliberately been broadly defined, to include systems based on cells and tissues obtained from humans and animals, and issues related to the characterisation and maintenance of essential characteristics, as well as quality assurance, recording and reporting, safety, education and training, and ethics.
Role of PKC isoforms in the FcγR‐mediated inhibition of LPS‐stimulated IL‐12 secretion by macrophages

Ligation of Fc receptors for immunoglobulin G (FcγRs) inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated secretion of interleukin (IL)‐12 by macrophages. FcγR activation of protein kinase C (PKC) contributes to several functions of this receptor including phagocytosis, activation of the reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, and secretion of certain cytokines. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that PKC mediates the FcγR inhibition of IL‐12 secretion by macrophages. In murine macrophages, FcγR ligation augmented LPS‐stimulated activation of PKC‐α and PKC‐δ but reduced IL‐12p40 secretion. Similarly, activation of PKC with phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA) depressed LPS‐stimulated IL‐12p40 secretion, and depletion of PKC augmented LPS‐stimulated IL‐12p40 secretion. Antisense down‐regulation of PKC‐δ increased LPS‐stimulated IL‐12p40 secretion and fully prevented the effects of FcγR ligation or PMA on IL‐12p40 secretion. In contrast, down‐regulation of PKC‐ε blocked LPS‐stimulated secretion of IL‐12p40. Down‐regulation of PKC‐α had no effect on LPS‐stimulated IL‐12p40 secretion. The results suggest a negative role for PKC‐δ and a positive role for PKC‐ε in the regulation of LPS‐stimulated IL‐12p40 secretion.
Identifying gendered trajectories of offending for a panel of first time youth offenders: Exploring the influence of time-stable covariates

Gendered trajectories of juvenile offending over an eight year observation period are specified for a retrospective longitudinal sample of 15,959 female and male first time offenders up to age 18 in a southeastern state. Semiparametric group modeling is used to specify offending trajectories for a response variable operationalized as a frequency count of unique complaints by age. Time-stable psychosocial and systems-level covariates are also investigated as predictors of likely trajectory group membership. The probability of trajectory group membership is investigated as a predictor for secure incarceration. Results specify a three-solution model for juvenile females and a six-solution model for juvenile males. Prior child maltreatment – substantiated as well as alleged but dismissed is a predictor of moderateto higher-level offending across all gendered trajectories (with the exception of one higher-level but decreasing male trajectory). Living in a blended family (mother plus stepfather or father plus stepmother), living with grandparents, and living with relatives at first offense are all correlated with moderate -level offending for male juveniles. Living in foster care at first offense is a predictor for both lower-level and higher-level female offending. Both the three-solution female model and the six-solution male model predict incarceration. Further research is warranted to investigate severity of offending as a response variable for the juvenile offending trajectories identified in the dissertation study. ii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
A flexible real-time SAR processing platform for high resolution airborne image generation

A compact RISC/FPGA based hardware architecture for high resolution SAR signal processing is presented. Sensor data rates above 300 Mbit/s and image dimensions of 8k × 4k pixels are processed in real-time. A maximum power consumption of less than 16 W enables for usage on small UAVs.
Design and implementation of online fuzzy logic controller on FPGA

Intelligent controllers are widely used in industries to control non-linear plants, for which mathematical models are difficult to obtain. Fuzzy logic controllers (FLCs) are often used for the same purpose as they operate on linguistic rules and estimation of uncertainty, which represents the core essence of non-linear systems. However, realization of FLCs on hardware platform is quite an arduous task in lieu of it high complexity and number of input parameters. In this paper, we have implemented an online FLC which can be operated remotely on a Virtex V LX110T FPGA hardware. The proposed FLC hardware is fed with fuzzy parameters over Ethernet on the fly. This system is tested extensively for water level control of a tank.
Biochemical characteristics of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas spp

Biotypes of Aeromonas spp. correlated well with enterotoxin production in a study of 174 strains. Using biochemical characteristics determined by conventional methods and multitest systems, we correctly classified 93% of the strains with regard to enterotoxin production. Most of the enterotoxigenic strains were Voges-Proskauer (VP) positive and did not hydrolyze arabinose, but VP-positive strains which hydrolyzed arabinose were mainly non-enterotoxigenic. Aeromonas punctata subsp. caviae, which is VP negative and does not oxidize gluconate or produce gas from glucose, was non-enterotoxigenic. Although the number of other VP-negative strains was small, most were enterotoxigenic. Discrimination was improved so that 97% of the strains were correctly classified if the hemolysin assay was used either for all strains or for only the VP-positive, arabinose-positive and VP-negative, non-A. punctata subsp. caviae strains. Because the proposed classification system does not require facilities for carrying out in vivo assays such as suckling mouse or ileal loop methods, the identification of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas strains should be possible in diagnostic laboratories and will facilitate epidemiological studies of the role of these organisms in acute diarrhea.
Diseases Detection Through Smartphone.

In this paper, aspects of the design of an intelligent medical system for diagnosis of Common disease that can be detected by patient data. A number of patient cases are selected as prototype and stored in a separate database which is present in that Smartphone application. The knowledge is acquired from literature review and human experts of the specific domain and is used as a base for analysis, diagnosis and recommendations. In this Research paper is based on artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence means learn by knowledge. In this research mechanism for artificial doctor that based on knowledge based. This artificial doctor has the capability to give possibilities of all diseases on the basis of symptoms of patient. This mechanism asks the patient about the symptoms according to their disease. On the basis of those symptoms it will suggest about the possibilities of diseases. This mechanism helps to doctor to identify the disease of the patient.
Online Aggregation of Unbounded Signed Losses Using Shifting Experts

For the decision theoretic online (DTOL) setting, we consider methods to construct algorithms that suffer loss not much more than of any sequence of experts distributed along a time interval (shifting experts setting). We present a modified version of the method of Mixing Past Posteriors which uses as basic algorithm AdaHedge with adaptive learning rate. Due to this, we combine the advantages of both algorithms: regret bounds are valid in the case of signed unbounded losses of the experts, also, we use the shifting regret which is a more optimal characteristic of the algorithm. All results are obtained in the adversarial setting – no assumptions are made about the nature of data source. We present results of numerical experiments for the case where losses of the experts cannot be bounded in advance.