Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the Phenolic Compound, Gallic Acid from Sansevieria roxburghiana Schult and Schult. f. Rhizomes and Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities Evaluation

Background: Sansevieria roxburghiana Schult. and Schult. f. (Asparagaceae) grows in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and tropical Africa. Even though the plant has been traditionally used for the treatment of many ailments, the antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of S. roxburghiana methanol extract and its fractions have not yet been explored. Materials and Methods: Quantitative estimation of phenols and different antioxidant assays were performed using standard methods. Anti-proliferative effect of the extract and fractions were evaluated in HCT-116, HeLa, MCF-7, HepG2, and A-549 cancer cell lines by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay methods. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint profiling were carried out for extract and different fractions. Results: Significant antioxidant and anti-proliferate activity were detected in ethyl acetate fraction. Ethyl acetate fraction showed prominent scavenging activity in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt, and nitric oxide antioxidant assays with an concentration yielding 50% inhibition (IC50) 15.33 ± 1.45, 45.3 ± 1.93 and 48.43 ± 0.46 μ g/ml, respectively. Cytotoxicity of ethyl acetate fraction was the highest among other fractions against HCT-116, HeLa, and MCF-7cancer cell lines with IC50values 16.55 ± 1.28, 12.38 ± 1.36, and 8.03 ± 1.9 μ g/ml, respectively, by MTT assay and 15.57 ± 0.70, 13.19 ± 0.49, and 10.34 ± 0.9 μ g/ml, respectively, by SRB assay. The presence of gallic acid in the ethyl acetate fraction of S. roxburghiana rhizomes was confirmed by HPLC and HPTLC analysis. Conclusion: Results suggested that ethyl acetate fraction exhibited effective antioxidant and antiproliferative activities. The phenolic compounds identified in ethyl acetate fraction could be responsible for the activities. Abbreviations used: %: Percent, °C: Celsius, μ g: Microgram, μ l-Microlitre, ANOVA: Analysis of variance, DMSO: Dimethyl sulfoxide, g: Grams, IC50: Concentration yielding 50% inhibition, Kg: Kilogram, mg: Milligram, min: Minutes, ml: Milliliter, HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography, HPTLC: High-performance thin layer chromatography, DPPH: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, ABTS: 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt, MTT: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, GAE: Gallic acid equivalents, SRME: Methanol extract of S. roxburghiana, ROS: Reactive oxygen species, SRPE: Petroleum ether fraction of S. roxburghiana, SREA: Ethyl acetate fraction of S. roxburghiana, SRAQ: Aqueous fraction of S. roxburghiana, DMEM: Dulbecco's Minimum Essential Medium, FBS: Fetal bovine serum, OD: Optical density, TPC: Total phenolic content, SRBU: Butanol fraction of S. roxburghiana.
Molecular basis of usher pore gating in Escherichia coli pilus biogenesis

Significance Gram-negative bacteria use chaperone-usher pathway (CUP) pili to colonize host tissues and mediate biofilm formation. CUP ushers are outer membrane (OM) pore proteins that catalyze pilus assembly and mediate pilus extrusion in a gated fashion to maintain OM homeostasis. Using antibiotic sensitivity and electrophysiology experiments, specific residues of two ushers, FimD of type 1 pili and PapC of P pili, were identified as crucial for proper usher gating. Further, deletion of the P pilus anchoring/terminator subunit resulted in an open usher conformation, indicating this subunit may be a target for antivirulence compounds to potentiate antibiotic treatment. Identification of mechanisms that can be used to increase bacterial sensitivity to antibiotics is crucial for development of novel compounds to fight infections. Extracellular fibers called chaperone-usher pathway pili are critical virulence factors in a wide range of Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria that facilitate binding and invasion into host tissues and mediate biofilm formation. Chaperone-usher pathway ushers, which catalyze pilus assembly, contain five functional domains: a 24-stranded transmembrane β-barrel translocation domain (TD), a β-sandwich plug domain (PLUG), an N-terminal periplasmic domain, and two C-terminal periplasmic domains (CTD1 and 2). Pore gating occurs by a mechanism whereby the PLUG resides stably within the TD pore when the usher is inactive and then upon activation is translocated into the periplasmic space, where it functions in pilus assembly. Using antibiotic sensitivity and electrophysiology experiments, a single salt bridge was shown to function in maintaining the PLUG in the TD channel of the P pilus usher PapC, and a loop between the 12th and 13th beta strands of the TD (β12–13 loop) was found to facilitate pore opening. Mutation of the β12–13 loop resulted in a closed PapC pore, which was unable to efficiently mediate pilus assembly. Deletion of the PapH terminator/anchor resulted in increased OM permeability, suggesting a role for the proper anchoring of pili in retaining OM integrity. Further, we introduced cysteine residues in the PLUG and N-terminal periplasmic domains that resulted in a FimD usher with a greater propensity to exist in an open conformation, resulting in increased OM permeability but no loss in type 1 pilus assembly. These studies provide insights into the molecular basis of usher pore gating and its roles in pilus biogenesis and OM permeability.
Analysis of causality network from interactions between nonlinear oscillator networks and musculoskeletal system

In order to understand the interactions between the body, brain and environment that generate various behaviours, it is necessary to consider the network structure that dynamically emerges from interactions among the brain regions even though the brain has a fixed anatomical structure (Bullmore and Sporns, 2009). Kuniyoshi and Suzuki (2004) proposed a model in which adaptive behaviours emerge through body constraints as chaotic itinerancy that is induced by coupled chaotic elements. Moreover, Yamada and Kuniyoshi (2012) revealed the influence of embodiment in nervous system by embodied network. They constructed an embodied network using transfer entropy based on motor information and found that the embodied network had the properties of a complex network. However, they did not specify the structures of the network and dynamic changes in the network structure caused by different movements. In this paper, we address the network structure relationship that dynamically emerges through interactions between the network, body and environment. We conducted a physical simulation using a snake-like robot with a nonlinear oscillator network (Mori et al., 2013) and estimated the network structure based on transfer entropy for each different movement. We defined a wired network for the physically embedded network and a causality network for the estimated network structure. In order to understand the relationships of the oscillators in the emergent casualty networks within the periodic behaviours by the robot, we extract the causality subnetworks by Infinite Relational Model (IRM) (Kemp et al., 2006) and analyze the networks by the complex network theory. Moreover, we measured average transfer entropy between body and network to know relationship between body and the causality networks.
What is “Phatic Communication”?

L'A. montre dans quelle mesure le modele inferentiel de la communication mis en relief par la theorie de la pertinence, ainsi que le principe cognitif et social de pertinence peuvent etre revelateurs dans l'etude de certaines questions sociolinguistiques. En se concentrant sur les echanges phatiques, une fonction du langage typiquement sociale, il suggere de considerer la communication phatique comme un cas de communication inferentielle ostensive dans la mesure ou celle-ci presente des aspects a la fois cognitifs et sociaux. Le caractere social des enonces phatiques est represente en termes de contenu et de source des implicatures auxquelles on aboutit lorsqu'on interprete de tels enonces selon le principe de pertinence. En outre, il explore la signification de la standardisation et de la conventionnalisation pour l'etude des echanges phatiques, et examine la relation entre phaticite et politesse du point de vue de la theorie de la pertinence
Using surrogate biomarkers to improve measurement error models in nutritional epidemiology

Nutritional epidemiology relies largely on self‐reported measures of dietary intake, errors in which give biased estimated diet–disease associations. Self‐reported measurements come from questionnaires and food records. Unbiased biomarkers are scarce; however, surrogate biomarkers, which are correlated with intake but not unbiased, can also be useful. It is important to quantify and correct for the effects of measurement error on diet–disease associations. Challenges arise because there is no gold standard, and errors in self‐reported measurements are correlated with true intake and each other. We describe an extended model for error in questionnaire, food record, and surrogate biomarker measurements. The focus is on estimating the degree of bias in estimated diet–disease associations due to measurement error. In particular, we propose using sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of changes in values of model parameters which are usually assumed fixed. The methods are motivated by and applied to measures of fruit and vegetable intake from questionnaires, 7‐day diet diaries, and surrogate biomarker (plasma vitamin C) from over 25000 participants in the Norfolk cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Our results show that the estimated effects of error in self‐reported measurements are highly sensitive to model assumptions, resulting in anything from a large attenuation to a small amplification in the diet–disease association. Commonly made assumptions could result in a large overcorrection for the effects of measurement error. Increased understanding of relationships between potential surrogate biomarkers and true dietary intake is essential for obtaining good estimates of the effects of measurement error in self‐reported measurements on observed diet–disease associations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Silicon Monolithic Millimeter Wave Impatt Oscillators

The good efficiency of silicon IMPATT diodes in the upper frequency range and the relatively high thermal conductivity of silicon lead to the concept of a monolithically integrated coplanar IMPATT oscillator. This concept is realized in a prototype for W-band frequencies in CW operation. First measurements indicate oscillations at a frequency of 76 GHz with a continuous wave output power of about 1 mW.
Testing Xilinx XC4000 configurable logic blocks with carry logic-modules

This paper presents a novel built-in self-test (BIST) scheme for configurable logic blocks (CLBs) of Xilinx XC4000 field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The test of the dedicated carry logic module (CLM) within a CLB is included for the first time. A minimum of eight CLB test configurations is given. A centralized BIST architecture supports the single stuck-at fault test of the CLM and the whole CLB. The scheme is also capable of locating any faulty CLBs with the maximum diagnostic resolution, two adjacent CLBs.
Not broken but strengthened : stories of resilience by persons with acquired physical disability and their families

This study seeks to understand the processes in families of resilient individuals with an acquired physical disability. Specifically, we were interested in getting to know more about the role of the family in the individuals’ resilience, and in turn, the impact on the family of the individuals’ disability and resilience. A multiple-case narrative methodology with three families was adopted. In total 19 family members participated in the construction of three stories. This described how the families were transformed and how family members continually moved and energised one another in virtuous circles of support. Empathy and altruism were motivators for these virtuous circles whilst adequate amounts of support contained the experience of each family member. Identifying, strengthening, and building on these relational processes was found to be vital in enabling both the individuals affected by disability and their families to grow following their adversity.
Structural and Functional Roles of Glycosylation in Fungal Laccase from Lentinus sp.

Laccases are multi-copper oxidases that catalyze the oxidation of various organic and inorganic compounds by reducing O2 to water. Here we report the crystal structure at 1.8 Å resolution of a native laccase (designated nLcc4) isolated from a white-rot fungus Lentinus sp. nLcc4 is composed of three cupredoxin-like domains D1-D3 each folded into a Greek key β-barrel topology. T1 and T2/T3 copper binding sites and three N-glycosylated sites at Asn75, Asn238, and Asn458 were elucidated. Initial rate kinetic analysis revealed that the k cat, K m, and k cat/K m of nLcc4 with substrate ABTS were 3,382 s -1, 65.0 ± 6.5 μM, and 52 s -1μM-1, respectively; and the values with lignosulfonic acid determined using isothermal titration calorimetry were 0.234 s -1, 56.7 ± 3.2 μM, and 0.004 s -1μM-1, respectively. Endo H-deglycosylated nLcc4 (dLcc4), with only one GlcNAc residue remaining at each of the three N-glycosylation sites in the enzyme, exhibited similar kinetic efficiency and thermal stability to that of nLcc4. The isolated Lcc4 gene contains an open reading frame of 1563 bp with a deduced polypeptide of 521 amino acid residues including a predicted signaling peptide of 21 residues at the N-terminus. Recombinant wild-type Lcc4 and mutant enzymes N75D, N238D and N458D were expressed in Pichia pastoris cells to evaluate the effect on enzyme activity by single glycosylation site deficiency. The mutant enzymes secreted in the cultural media of P. pastoris cells were observed to maintain only 4-50% of the activity of the wild-type laccase. Molecular dynamics simulations analyses of various states of (de-)glycosylation in nLcc support the kinetic results and suggest that the local H-bond networks between the domain connecting loop D2-D3 and the glycan moieties play a crucial role in the laccase activity. This study provides new insights into the role of glycosylation in the structure and function of a Basidiomycete fungal laccase.
Paracrine factors from mesenchymal stem cells: a proposed therapeutic tool for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome

Despite extensive researches in acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), current pharmacological therapies and respiratory support are still the main methods to treat patients with ALI and ARDS and the effects remain limited. Hence, innovative therapies are needed to decrease the morbidity and mortality. Because of the proven therapeutic effects in other fields, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) might be considered as a promising alternative to treat ALI and ARDS. Numerous documents demonstrate that MSCs can exert multiple functions, such as engraftment, differentiation and immunoregulation, but now the key researches are concentrated on paracrine factors secreted by MSCs that can mediate endothelial and epithelial permeability, increase alveolar fluid clearance and other potential mechanisms. This review aimed to review the current researches in terms of the effects of MSCs on ALI and ARDS and to analyse these paracrine factors, as well as to predict the potential directions and challenges of the application in this field.
The Dynamics Of Equity Prices In Fallible Markets

In an efficient securities market, prices correctly re ect news about future payoffs. This paper argues that there are two aspects to correctness: (i) correct updating of beliefs from news, (ii) correct prior beliefs. Traditionally, empirical research has implicitly insisted on both. Lucas' rational expectations equilibrium theory also assumes both, explicitly. Nevertheless, rationality requires only the former, but not the latter. This paper develops restrictions on the random behavior of prices of equity-like contracts when (i) is maintained, but the market may have mistaken priors about the likelihood of the bankruptcy state, in violation of (ii). The restrictions are cast in the form of familiar martingale difference results. They do not necessarily restrict returns as traditionally computed, however. Most importantly, the restrictions appear only when the empiricist deliberately imposes a selection bias. In particular, the price histories of securities that are in the money at the terminal date are to be separated from those of securities that end out of the money (i.e., in the bankruptcy state). As a result, this paper also demonstrates that something can be learned about market efficiency from samples subject to survivorship bias or the Peso problem.
Human metapneumovirus and human coronavirus infection and pathogenicity in Saudi children hospitalized with acute respiratory illness

Background and Objectives: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and the Netherlands human coronavirus (HCoV-NL63) have been isolated from children with respiratory tract infection. The prevalence of these viruses has not been reported from Saudi Arabia. We sought to determine whether hMPV and HCoV-NL63 are responsible for acute respiratory illness and also to determine clinical features and severity of illness in the hospitalized pediatric patient population. Design and Setting: Prospective hospital-based study from July 2007 to November 2008. Patients and Methods: Nasopharyngeal specimens from children less than 16 years old who were suffering from acute respiratory diseases were tested for hMPV and HCoV-NL63 by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Samples were collected from July 2007 to November 2008. Results : Both viruses were found among Saudi children with upper and lower respiratory tract diseases during the autumn and winter of 2007 and 2008, contributing to 11.1% of all viral diagnoses, with individual incidences of 8.3% (hMPV) and 2.8% (HCoV-NL63) among 489 specimens. Initial symptoms included fever, cough, and nasal congestion. Lower respiratory tract disease occurs in immunocompromised individuals and those with underlying conditions. Clinical findings of respiratory failure and culture-negative shock were established in 7 children infected with hMPV and having hematologic malignancies, myelofibrosis, Gaucher disease, and congenital immunodeficiency; 2 of the 7 patients died with acute respiratory failure. All children infected with HCoV-NL63 had underlying conditions; 1 of the 4 patients developed respiratory failure. Conclusion : hMPV and HCoV-NL63 are important causes of acute respiratory illness among hospitalized Saudi children. hMPV infection in the lower respiratory tract is associated with morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised children. HCoV-NL63 may cause severe lower respiratory disease with underlying conditions.
Combining Cost and Reliability for Rough Terrain Navigation

This paper presents an improved method for planetary rover path planning in very rough terrain, based on the particle-based Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (pRRT) algorithm. It inherits the benefits of pRRT, an improvement over the conventional RRT algorithm that explicitly considers uncertainty in sensing, modeling, and actuation by treating each addition to the tree as a stochastic process. Although pRRT is well-suited to planning under uncertainty, it has limitations in minimizing the cost of path plans. Our approach addresses these limitations by considering the relevant cost functions explicitly. Such cost functions depend on the application and can include time or distance of traversal, and energy consumption of the rover. The paper demonstrates the planner performance using a specific cost function defined in terms of the energy expenditure. The improved pRRT algorithm has been experimentally validated in simulation, and it has been shown to produce lower-cost plans than the standard pRRT algorithm. The proposed approach is likely to benefit the present and future space missions as an onboard motion planner and as a ground-based tool for plan validation.
The Influences of Disabilities Acceptance, Knowledge about Inclusive and Interaction with Disabilities Peoples on Trainee Students' Attitudes to Educate Intellectual Disabilities in Regular Settings.

The study was conducted in Jazan University- Faculty of Education during academic year 2014-2015. Objectives: to identify to what extent that impact of disabilities acceptance, knowledge about inclusion and interaction with disabilities Children on Attitudes of Trainee Students to educate individuals with intellectual disabilities in regular settings. Method: Descriptive statistic methods was adopted. Researchers used the Trainee Students scale to measure trainee students' attitudes toward include students with disabilities in general classes. Study group included 420 Trainee Students. 72 Trainee Students were selected randomly as study sample. Results: the results of study show that disabilities acceptance, knowledge about inclusion, and Interaction with disabilities influenced on trainee students' attitudes to educate individuals with intellectual disabilities in regular settings. Therefore, all trainee students need to be more aware of the inclusive options through training courses and workshop.
A comparison of coronary angioplasty with fibrinolytic therapy in acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND For the treatment of myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation, primary angioplasty is considered superior to fibrinolysis for patients who are admitted to hospitals with angioplasty facilities. Whether this benefit is maintained for patients who require transportation from a community hospital to a center where invasive treatment is available is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 1572 patients with acute myocardial infarction to treatment with angioplasty or accelerated treatment with intravenous alteplase; 1129 patients were enrolled at 24 referral hospitals and 443 patients at 5 invasive-treatment centers. The primary study end point was a composite of death, clinical evidence of reinfarction, or disabling stroke at 30 days. RESULTS Among patients who underwent randomization at referral hospitals, the primary end point was reached in 8.5 percent of the patients in the angioplasty group, as compared with 14.2 percent of those in the fibrinolysis group (P=0.002). The results were similar among patients who were enrolled at invasive-treatment centers: 6.7 percent of the patients in the angioplasty group reached the primary end point, as compared with 12.3 percent in the fibrinolysis group (P=0.05). Among all patients, the better outcome after angioplasty was driven primarily by a reduction in the rate of reinfarction (1.6 percent in the angioplasty group vs. 6.3 percent in the fibrinolysis group, P<0.001); no significant differences were observed in the rate of death (6.6 percent vs. 7.8 percent, P=0.35) or the rate of stroke (1.1 percent vs. 2.0 percent, P=0.15). Ninety-six percent of patients were transferred from referral hospitals to an invasive-treatment center within two hours. CONCLUSIONS A strategy for reperfusion involving the transfer of patients to an invasive-treatment center for primary angioplasty is superior to on-site fibrinolysis, provided that the transfer takes two hours or less.