Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The identification of a phospholipase B precursor in human neutrophils

A phospholipase B (PLB) precursor was purified from normal human granulocytes using Sephadex G‐75, Mono‐S cation‐exchange and hydroxyapatite columns. The molecular mass of the protein was estimated to be ∼ 130 kDa by gel filtration and 22 and 42 kDa by SDS/PAGE. Tryptic peptide and sequence analyses by MALDI‐TOF and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) identified the protein as a FLJ22662 (Homo sapiens) gene product, a homologue of the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum PLB. The native protein needed modifications to acquire deacylation activity against phospholipids including phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine and lysophospholipids. Enzyme activity was associated with fragments derived from the 42 kDa fragment. The enzyme revealed a PLB nature by removing fatty acids from both the sn‐1 and sn‐2 positions of phospholipids. The enzyme is active at a broad pH range with an optimum of 7.4. Immunoblotting of neutrophil postnuclear supernatant using antibodies against the 42 kDa fragment detected a band at a molecular mass of 42 kDa, indicating a neutrophil origin of the novel PLB precursor. The existence of the PLB precursor in neutrophils and its enzymatic activity against phospholipids suggest a role in the defence against invading microorganisms and in the generation of lipid mediators of inflammation.
Pre-school hyperactivity/attention problems and educational outcomes in adolescence: prospective longitudinal study

Background High levels of attentional and hyperactivity problems in school-aged children, even if subthreshold for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are associated with academic under-achievement. Few large-scale, community-based studies have investigated the relationship between pre-school and adolescence. Aims To investigate whether pre-school hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems are independently associated with academic outcomes at age 16. Method Data from the prospective, population-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were used. After adjusting for a broad range of confounder variables, the associations between parent-rated hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems measured at age 3 and academic outcomes at age 16 (national General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination results) were investigated (n = 11640). Results Both early hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems had negative effects on academic outcomes. In adjusted analyses, abnormal hyperactivity/inattention scores were associated with reductions of ten GCSE points in boys. Borderline and abnormal conduct problem scores were associated with reductions of 9–10 and 12–15 points respectively. Conclusions Pre-school hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems carry risk of worse academic outcomes at 16.
In Situ Heating Transmission Electron Microscopy

Temperature is one of the most important factors affecting the state and behavior of materials. In situ heating transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful tool for understanding such temperature effects, and recently in situ heating TEM has made significant progress in terms of temperature available and resolution attained. This article briefly describes newly developed specimen-heating holders, which are useful in carrying out in situ heating TEM experiments. It then focuses on three main applications of these specimen holders: solid–solid reactions, solid–liquid reactions (including highresolution observation of a solid–liquid interface, size dependence of the melting temperatures of one-, two- and three-dimensionally reduced systems, size dependence of the contact angle of fine metal liquid, and wetting of Si with liquid Au or Al) and solid–gas reactions. These results illustrate the benefit of in situ heating TEM for providing fundamental information on temperature effects on materials.
Integration of Syntactic, Semantic and Contextual Information in Processing Grammatically Ill-Formed Inputs

This paper describes an integrated method for processing grammatically ill formed inputs. We use partial parses of the input for recovering from parsing failure. In order to select partial parses appropriate for error recovery, cost and reward are assigned to them Cost and reward represent the badness and goodness of a partial parse, respectively. The most appropriate partial parse is selected on the basis of cost and reward trade off. The system contains three modules Module A handles local ill-formedness such as constraint violations Module B handles non-local ill formedness such as word order violations, and Module C handles non-local ill-formedness such as contextual ellipses. These three modules work in a uniform framework based on the notions of cost and reward.
Kyoto global consensus report on Helicobacter pylori gastritis

Objective To present results of the Kyoto Global Consensus Meeting, which was convened to develop global consensus on (1) classification of chronic gastritis and duodenitis, (2) clinical distinction of dyspepsia caused by Helicobacter pylori from functional dyspepsia, (3) appropriate diagnostic assessment of gastritis and (4) when, whom and how to treat H. pylori gastritis. Design Twenty-three clinical questions addressing the above-mentioned four domains were drafted for which expert panels were asked to formulate relevant statements. A Delphi method using an anonymous electronic system was adopted to develop the consensus, the level of which was predefined as ≥80%. Final modifications of clinical questions and consensus were achieved at the face-to-face meeting in Kyoto. Results All 24 statements for 22 clinical questions after extensive modifications and omission of one clinical question were achieved with a consensus level of >80%. To better organise classification of gastritis and duodenitis based on aetiology, a new classification of gastritis and duodenitis is recommended for the 11th international classification. A new category of H. pylori-associated dyspepsia together with a diagnostic algorithm was proposed. The adoption of grading systems for gastric cancer risk stratification, and modern image-enhancing endoscopy for the diagnosis of gastritis, were recommended. Treatment to eradicate H. pylori infection before preneoplastic changes develop, if feasible, was recommended to minimise the risk of more serious complications of the infection. Conclusions A global consensus for gastritis was developed for the first time, which will be the basis for an international classification system and for further research on the subject.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Arabidopsis

Abstract Arabidopsis thaliana is now widely used as a model system in molecular and developmental biology, as well as in physiology and cell biology. However, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have turned their attention to the mouse ear cress only much more recently and almost reluctantly. The reason for this is the perception that A. thaliana is not particularly interesting ecologically and that it represents an oddity from an evolutionary standpoint. While there is some truth in both these attitudes, similar criticisms apply to other model systems such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which has been extensively studied from an organismal perspective. Furthermore, the shortcomings of A. thaliana in terms of its restricted ecological niche are counterbalanced by the wealth of information on the molecular and developmental biology of this species, which makes possible to address evolutionary questions that can rarely be pursued in other species. This chapter reviews the history of the use of A. thaliana in organismal biology and discusses some of the recent work and future perspectives of research on a variety of field including life history evolution, phenotypic plasticity, natural selection and quantitative genetics. I suggest that the future of both molecular and especially organismal biology lies into expanding our knowledge from limited and idiosyncratic model systems to their phylogenetic neighborhood, which is bound to be more varied and biologically interesting.
Design and Development of a Gastrointestinal Simulator System with Software That Allows to Find the Anatomical Location and a Flexible Endoscope Emulator

The aim of this paper is to design a simulator system for veterinary gastroscopy. A non-virtual system which consists of a canine gastrointestinal model is proposed. This prototype system design includes a mechanism that emulates a gastroscope and software which allows determining the anatomical location in which the endoscope is located and help to improve the skills in spatial location.
Particles of Coffee Wastes as Reinforcement in Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) Based Composites

The objective of the present study was to evaluate lignocellulosic particles from sub-products of the coffee industry (coffee parchment - CP and husk - CH) into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as a promising reinforcing filler in the biocomposites. The effects of type (CP or CH) and content (neat, 10% and 20%) of coffee wastes on the thermal, mechanical, microstructural and physical properties of the ensuing composites were evaluated. Thermal stability of the composites was improved by the coffee residues at different contents, while degree of crystallinity was decreased with the inclusion of CP. The addition of 10% of CP has not influenced significantly the tensile strength (TS) and Izod strength (IS), in relation to the neat PHB. Tensile strength (TS), MOE and Izod strength (IS) of the composites have increased significantly with the inclusion of 20% of CP. The increase in the content of coffee waste particles increased the water absorption of the composites.
The Yin-Yang of Rigidity Sensing: How Forces and Mechanical Properties Regulate the Cellular Response to Materials

According to the Chinese yin-yang concept, seemingly opposing forces give rise and respond to each other. Opposing forces, whether passive or active, are also at work when cells adhere to a substrate or extracellular matrix, sense environmental properties, and finally respond to them. In this review, we describe molecular elements inside and outside of the cell that establish labile physical connections, and how forces regulate their interplay, namely formation, reinforcement, breakage, and reconfiguration of these elements. What a cell locally feels thus depends not only on the displacement of materials, but also on the stability of molecular interactions, on the conversion of mechanical forces to biochemical signals by stretching proteins into structural intermediates (mechano-chemical signal conversion), and on the micro- and nanoscopic features of the extracellular material. Current methodologies for quantifying forces in the cellular context at different length scales are also critically assessed.
Benchmarking graph-processing platforms: a vision

Processing graphs, especially at large scale, is an increasingly useful activity in a variety of business, engineering, and scientific domains. Already, there are tens of graph-processing platforms, such as Hadoop, Giraph, GraphLab, etc., each with a different design and functionality. For graph-processing to continue to evolve, users have to find it easy to select a graph-processing platform, and developers and system integrators have to find it easy to quantify the performance and other non-functional aspects of interest. However, the state of performance analysis of graph-processing platforms is still immature: there are few studies and, for the few that exist, there are few similarities, and relatively little understanding of the impact of dataset and algorithm diversity on performance. Our vision is to develop, with the help of the performance-savvy community, a comprehensive benchmarking suite for graph-processing platforms. In this work, we take a step in this direction, by proposing a set of seven challenges, summarizing our previous work on performance evaluation of distributed graph-processing platforms, and introducing our on-going work within the SPEC Research Group's Cloud Working Group.
Preparation and characterization of steel surfaces for adhesive bonding

AbstractIn fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) strengthened steel structures, debonding of the bonded FRP reinforcement from the steel substrate may result from adhesion failure at the steel/adhesive interface or the FRP/adhesive interface, cohesion failure in the adhesive, or a combination of these two modes. Of these failure modes, cohesion failure in the adhesive is the preferred mode of failure as it facilitates the development of a design theory based on the adhesive properties; the other two failure modes should be avoided if at all possible. This paper presents a systematic experimental study to identify a surface-adhesive combination that will avoid adhesion failure at the steel/adhesive interface. Different steel surface preparation methods, including solvent cleaning, hand grinding, and grit blasting, and different commonly used adhesives were examined in the study. Surface characterization using three key parameters (namely surface energy, surface chemical composition, and surface roughness and topo.
Soluble Carbohydrates Regulate Auxin Biosynthesis via PIF Proteins in Arabidopsis[W][OA]

Plants adjust growth to suit opportunities and limitations in their environment. Sugars from photosynthesis, the hormone auxin, and members of the PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR (PIF) family of proteins have all been shown individually to regulate growth. This work shows that sugars regulate auxin biosynthesis via PIF proteins, indicating that the three in fact act together in growth regulation. Plants are necessarily highly competitive and have finely tuned mechanisms to adjust growth and development in accordance with opportunities and limitations in their environment. Sugars from photosynthesis form an integral part of this growth control process, acting as both an energy source and as signaling molecules in areas targeted for growth. The plant hormone auxin similarly functions as a signaling molecule and a driver of growth and developmental processes. Here, we show that not only do the two act in concert but that auxin metabolism is itself regulated by the availability of free sugars. The regulation of the biosynthesis and degradation of the main auxin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), by sugars requires changes in the expression of multiple genes and metabolites linked to several IAA biosynthetic pathways. The induction also involves members of the recently described central regulator PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR transcription factor family. Linking these three known regulators of growth provides a model for the dynamic coordination of responses to a changing environment.
How could ULS systems achieve architecture benefits?

ULS systems have been introduced as a kind of future systems. They advent by increasing scale of systems from different dimensions. The scale causes essential differences between these systems and conventional software systems. Geographical distribution in development and deployment is one of them which bring problems in the growth of these systems. However these systems would become so complex and we have to encounter them. Today, software architecture is considered in developing large scale systems. It gives some benefits that are significant to overcome complexity effects. Since ULS systems are greater than large scale systems, considering their architecture could be more vital. In this position paper, we investigate how to architect ULS systems and also how to obtain their architecture.
Sustainable Development: Social Dimension and Limitation of Material Needs Request

In this study, the main emphasis is put on social issues of sustainable development. The inclusion of the concept of “the necessity tosatisfy the basic needs” within the concept of sustainable development is considered as an important transition from mere discussions on sustainable development to particular actions aimed at achieving sustainability and conservation of the natural resource capacity. Therefore, in essence, it is not possible to create a model of sustainable development within one particular country, it is also not possible to divide the world's biological systems and disregard the exchange of goods and resources between countries.
iPhone's Digital Marketplace: Characterizing the Big Spenders

With mobile shopping surging in popularity, people are spending ever more money on digital purchases through their mobile devices and phones. However, few large-scale studies of mobile shopping exist. In this paper we analyze a large data set consisting of more than 776M digital purchases made on Apple mobile devices that include songs, apps, and in-app purchases. We find that 61% of all the spending is on in-app purchases and that the top 1% of users are responsible for 59% of all the spending. These big spenders are more likely to be male and older, and less likely to be from the US. We study how they adopt and abandon individual app, and find that, after an initial phase of increased daily spending, users gradually lose interest: the delay between their purchases increases and the spending decreases with a sharp drop toward the end. Finally, we model the in-app purchasing behavior in multiple steps: 1) we model the time between purchases; 2) we train a classifier to predict whether the user will make a purchase from a new app or continue purchasing from the existing app; and 3) based on the outcome of the previous step, we attempt to predict the exact app, new or existing, from which the next purchase will come. The results yield new insights into spending habits in the mobile digital marketplace.
Prediction of microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma: preoperative CT and histopathologic correlation.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to prospectively investigate whether nonsmooth margins detected on multiphasic CT images correlate with the presence and location of microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). SUBJECTS AND METHODS A total of 102 patients with preoperative CT findings of solitary HCC were prospectively enrolled. Tumor size, tumor capsule, tumor margins, and peritumoral enhancement on preoperative CT images were assessed. Histopathologic results including the following were also recorded: tumor differentiation; liver fibrosis score; presence or absence of MVI; and, if present, the location of MVI. Correlation between tumor margin on preoperative CT images and histopathologic location of MVI was determined. RESULTS Pathologic examination revealed MVI in 60 of the 102 HCC specimens. Although the results of the univariate analysis showed that tumor size, higher Edmondson-Steiner grade, and nonsmooth tumor margins were associated with MVI, multivariate analysis revealed that only nonsmooth margins correlated with the presence of MVI in HCC (p < 0.001). Of the 60 HCC specimens with histopathologic evidence of MVI, 40 exhibited focal nonsmooth margins. In addition, the locations of the nonsmooth margins and MVI were similar in 36 of the 40 specimens. CONCLUSION Nonsmooth tumor margins correlated with the histopathologic presence and location of MVI. Therefore, nonsmooth margins detected on multiphasic CT may be predictive of MVI in HCC.
Humoral Immune Responses CD4 T Cells and Their Relevance for CXCR5 Expressing Human Central Memory

High expression of CXCR5 is one of the deﬁning hallmarks of T follicular helper cells (T FH ), a CD4 Th cell subset that promotes germinal center reactions and the selection and afﬁnity maturation of B cells. CXCR5 is also expressed on 20–25% of peripheral blood human central memory CD4 T cells (T CM ), although the deﬁnitive function of these cells is not fully understood. The constitutive expression of CXCR5 on T FH cells and a fraction of circulating T CM suggests that CXCR5 + T CM may represent a specialized subset of memory-type T FH cells programmed for homing to follicles and providing B cell help. To verify this assumption, we analyzed this cell population and show its specialized function in supporting humoral immune responses. Compared with their CXCR5 2 T CM counterparts, CXCR5 + T CM expressed high levels of the chemokine CXCL13 and efﬁciently induced plasma cell differentiation and Ig secretion. We found that the distinct B cell helper qualities of CXCR5 + T CM were mainly due to high ICOS expression and pronounced responsiveness to ICOS ligand costimulation together with large IL-10 secretion. Furthermore, B cell helper attributes of CXCR5 + T CM were almost exclusively acquired on cognate interaction with B cells, but not with dendritic cells. This implies that a preferential recruitment of circulating CXCR5 + T CM to CXCL13-rich B cell follicles is required for the promotion of a quick and efﬁcient protective secondary humoral immune response. Taken together, we propose that CXCR5 + T CM represent a distinct memory cell subset specialized in supporting Ab-mediated immune responses. The Journal of Immunology , 2011, 186: 5556–5568.
A study on the behaviour of the server breakdown without interruption in a M [ X ] / G ( a , b ) / 1 queueing system with Multiple vacations , Accessible batches and Closedown time Karpagam

In this paper we consider M[X]/G(a, b)/1 queueing system with accessible service, server breakdown without interruption, multiple vacation and closedown time. The service rule is as follows: the server starts service only when a minimum number of customers ′a′ is available in the queue and the maximum service capacity is ′b′ units such that late entries are allowed to join a service batch, without affecting the service time, if the size of the batch being served is less than ′d′ (maximum accessible limit). After completing a batch of service, if the server is breakdown with probability (π) then the renovation of service station will be considered. After completing the renovation of service station or if there is no breakdown of the server with probability (1− π), if the queue length δ < a, then the server performs a closedown work. Following closedown work, the server leaves for a vacation of random length irrespective of queue length. When the server returns from a vacation and if the queue length is still less than ′a′ he leaves for another vacation and so on until he finds minimum ′a′ customers waiting for service in the queue. The probability generating function of the queue size at an arbitrary time, some important characteristic of the queueing system and cost model are derived.
Orientation Characteristics of a Slit Carbon Plate Used as an RF Electric Shield

Recently, the contamination of electromagnetic environment has become more serious due to the widespread use of electronic devices, namely those used for communication, computation, and automation, among others. Therefore, with the rapid development in these technologies, there has been an increased need for electromagnetic shielding in the radio frequency (RF) region. As one of the basic areas of research for improving the electromagnetic environment, the present authors have developed a slit carbon plate as an RF electric shield that displays orientation characteristics in the shielding results. Little is known, however, about the orientation characteristics found in the RF electric shielding degree SDE of the slit carbon plate. The present authors examine and clarify the orientation characteristics found in the RF electric shielding effects of the slit carbon plate. Experimental results show the dependencies of the orientation characteristics on the length and width of the slit. For reference, the orientation characteristics found in the RF magnetic shielding are also shown.