Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotoxicity of Goji Berry ( Lyciumbarbarum ) In Vivo Mammalian Cells

Lyciumbarbarum (Gojji berry) belongs to family Salonaceae which is found in China and Himalayan. This herb is used to prevent various diseases and in medical treatments as an alternative medicine being widely used for its antioxidant and revitalizing potential effects. In recent years, Gojji has become increasingly popular in Europe and North America as a "superfruit" and dietary supplement. The belief that herbal products do not bring any risk to health, is part of popular culture. However the term "natural" assigned to many products cannot assure no health risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible genotoxic effects of aqueous extract of Lyciumbarbarum (Gojji berry) by micronucleus test and comet assay. Thirty Rattus norvegicus were divided into three equal groups: 1) experimental group, submitted to Gojji berry (200mg/kg orally); 2) positive control group (cyclophosphamide), and; 3) negative control group (distilled water). Micronucleus Tests were done by smear method of bone marrow cells performed after 48h for acute, and 72h for chronic exposure. The comet assay was performed on peripheral blood taken from the tail of each animal 4h, and 24h after intervention. Cytotoxicity was assessed by observing the DNA damage measuring the percentage of DNA in the tail (% DNAmeasurement of the proportion of the total DNA present in the tail) and the tail moment (TM-tail length times the percentage of DNA in the tail), calculated by 100 nucleoids per animal and the presence of micronuclei in 2,000 polychromatic erythrocytes per animal. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey test at 5% significance was used comparing the results. The data showed no significant difference in the frequency of DNA damage and the number of micronuclei between the experimental group and the negative control group. The results also suggest that the aqueous extract of Lyciumbarbarum (Gojji berry) at the dose of 200 mg/kg showed no genotoxic effect, which could, to a certain point, justifies its use.
Bionomic aspects of the Anopheles subpictus species complex in Sri Lanka

Abstract Anopheles subpictus Grassi s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) functions as a secondary malaria vector to Anopheles culicifacies Giles s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) in Sri Lanka. The taxon A. subpictus is reported to exist as a species complex comprising four sibling species (A–D) that can be differentiated through polytene chromosome banding patterns and stage-specific morphometric traits in India. Based on the morphological characteristics described for the Indian Subpictus Complex, the presence of all four sibling species has been described in Sri Lanka. As sibling species show distinct bio-ecological characteristics that are important for devising appropriate vector control measures, a study was carried out in six districts in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The results confirm the presence of all four sibling species, with species C predominating in inland areas and species B in coastal areas. Species C and D were indoor-resting and indoor-feeding, while species B was outdoor-resting with no significant preference for indoor- or outdoor-resting. Species B showed distinct morphological variation in the ornamentation of wings and palpi. Blood meal analysis revealed that species B, C, and D can feed on humans as well as cattle. The differential bio-ecological traits shown by the members of the Subpictus Complex are important for developing appropriate vector control measures in Sri Lanka.
Rule-Driven Object Tracking in Clutter and Partial Occlusion with Model-Based Snakes

In the last few years it has been made clear to the research community that further improvements in classic approaches for solving low-level computer vision and image/video understanding tasks are difficult to obtain. New approaches started evolving, employing knowledge-based processing, though transforming a priori knowledge to low-level models and rules are far from being straightforward. In this paper, we examine one of the most popular active contour models, snakes, and propose a snake model, modifying terms and introducing a model-based one that eliminates basic problems through the usage of prior shape knowledge in the model. A probabilistic rule-driven utilization of the proposed model follows, being able to handle (or cope with) objects of different shapes, contour complexities and motions; different environments, indoor and outdoor; cluttered sequences; and cases where background is complex (not smooth) and when moving objects get partially occluded. The proposed method has been tested in a variety of sequences and the experimental results verify its efficiency.
Further Issues and Conclusions

This chapter contains sections titled: multiple Outputs, Noise Models with Dependencies, Non-Gaussian Likelihoods, Derivative Observations, Prediction with Uncertain Inputs, Mixtures of Gaussian Processes, Global Optimization, Evaluation of Integrals, Student's t Process, Invariances, Latent Variable Models, Conclusions and Future Directions
The Arabidopsis Nitrate Transporter NRT1.7, Expressed in Phloem, Is Responsible for Source-to-Sink Remobilization of Nitrate[W][OA]

Several quantitative trait locus analyses have suggested that grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency are well correlated with nitrate storage capacity and efficient remobilization. This study of the Arabidopsis thaliana nitrate transporter NRT1.7 provides new insights into nitrate remobilization. Immunoblots, quantitative RT-PCR, β-glucuronidase reporter analysis, and immunolocalization indicated that NRT1.7 is expressed in the phloem of the leaf minor vein and that its expression levels increase coincidentally with the source strength of the leaf. In nrt1.7 mutants, more nitrate was present in the older leaves, less 15NO3− spotted on old leaves was remobilized into N-demanding tissues, and less nitrate was detected in the phloem exudates of old leaves. These data indicate that NRT1.7 is responsible for phloem loading of nitrate in the source leaf to allow nitrate transport out of older leaves and into younger leaves. Interestingly, nrt1.7 mutants showed growth retardation when external nitrogen was depleted. We conclude that (1) nitrate itself, in addition to organic forms of nitrogen, is remobilized, (2) nitrate remobilization is important to sustain vigorous growth during nitrogen deficiency, and (3) source-to-sink remobilization of nitrate is mediated by phloem.
The incidence chromatic number of some graph

Throughout the paper, all graphs dealt with are finite, simple, undirected, and loopless. Let G be a graph, and let V(G), E(G), ∆(G), respectively, denote vertex set, edge set, and maximum degree of G. In 1993, Brualdi and Massey [3] introduced the concept of incidence coloring. The order of G is the cardinality |v(G)|. The size of G is the cardinality |E(G)|. Let I(G)= {(v,e) | v ∈V , e ∈ E, v is incident with e} (1.1)
An Empirical Study on Economic Prosperity and Peace

Given that the world is a more integrated global system than ever before, trad­ ing is recognized as a fundamentally important component of economic prosperity. However, economic prosperity of a particular country can also de­ pend heavily on the peacefulness of a given country. Peacefulness may only serve as the key component that permits a country to achieve economic prosperity. Moreover, it is possible that peacefulness has a mechanical impact on econom­ ic prosperity. The motivation of this research was to investigate the permissive and the potential mechanical influence of peacefulness in economic prosperity. Economic prosperity and peacefulness were measured quantitatively using the Multiple-Variable Log-Linear Regression Model and the Discrimination Analysis statistical methods. The first approach showed an overall trend asserting a sig­ nificant positive correlation between economic prosperity and peace. The second approach was an attempt to classify countries into groups. Further examination of shared characteristics within each group affirmed the classification results of this approach and the positive correlation from the Multiple-Variable Log-Linear Regression Model. The results generated by the two methods were integrated by combining the residuals generated by the first approach and the colored labels generated by the second approach. The integration stated a fair challenge to the Neoclassical Modem Growth Theory's assumption that exogenous forces do not have any mechanical impact on economic development.
Bond dilution in the 3 D Ising model : a Monte Carlo study

We study by Monte Carlo simulations the influence of bond dilution on the three-dimensional Ising model. This paradigmatic model in its pure version displays a second-order phase transition with a positive specific heat critical exponent α. According to the Harris criterion disorder should hence lead to a new fixed point characterized by new critical exponents. We have determined the phase diagram of the diluted model, between the pure model limit and the percolation threshold. For the estimation of critical exponents, we have first performed a finite-size scaling study, where we concentrated on three different dilutions. We emphasize in this work the great influence of the cross-over phenomena between the pure, disorder and percolation fixed points which lead to effective critical exponents dependent on the concentration. In a second set of simulations, the temperature behaviour of physical quantities has been studied in order to characterize the disorder fixed point more accurately. In particular this allowed us to estimate ratios of some critical amplitudes. In accord with previous observations for other models this provides stronger evidence for the existence of the disorder fixed point since the amplitude ratios are more sensitive to the universality class than the critical exponents. Moreover, the question of non-self-averaging at the disorder fixed point is investigated and compared with recent results for the bond-diluted q = 4 Potts model. Overall our numerical results provide evidence that, as expected on theoretical grounds, the critical behaviour of the bond-diluted model is governed by the same universality class as the site-diluted model.
Moving Away from Traditional Elements to Build Trust in E-Commerce

This paper investigates the evolution in variables that lead customers to trust an online shop or not. On the basis of samples taken in 2004 and in 2008 in Seoul (South Korea), it is shown that website visitors tend to trust online shops of generally well known companies. Certification marks granted by trusted third parties to online shops do not seem to induce trust, although a small positive trend seems noticeable. Offering accurate, easy to find product information on the website induced trust in 2004, but did no longer do so in 2008. All in all, the 2004 South Korean customer seemed to do business on the Internet like in the real world. However, by 2008 he seemed to be slowly moving away from that traditional way of buying things on the Internet to an Internet-specific way where other elements are considered to decide whether an online shop can be trusted.
Identification and characterization of human taste receptor genes belonging to the TAS2R family

The sense of taste is a chemosensory system responsible for basic food appraisal. Humans distinguish between five primary tastes: bitter, sweet, sour, salty and umami. The molecular events in the perception of bitter taste are believed to start with the binding of specific water-soluble molecules to G-protein-coupled receptors encoded by the TAS2R/T2R family of taste receptor genes. TAS2R receptors are expressed at the surface of taste receptor cells and are coupled to G proteins and second messenger pathways. We have identified, cloned and characterized 11 new bitter taste receptor genes and four new pseudogenes that belong to the human TAS2R family. Their encoded proteins have between 298 and 333 amino acids and share between 23 and 86% identity with other human TAS2R proteins. Screening of a mono-chromosomal somatic cell hybrid panel to assign the identified bitter taste receptor genes to human chromosomes demonstrated that they are located in chromosomes 7 and 12. Including the 15 sequences identified, the human TAS2R family is composed of 28 full-length genes and 16 pseudogenes. Phylogenetic analyses suggest a classification of the TAS2R genes in five groups that may reflect a specialization in the detection of specific types of bitter chemicals.
The subfornical organ and relaxin-induced inhibition of reflex milk ejection in lactating rats.

Experiments were carried out on anaesthetized, lactating rats to investigate the possible role of the subfornical organ in mediating relaxin-induced inhibition of reflex milk ejection. Milk ejection was judged by the behavioural response of the sucklings and by transient rises in intramammary pressure. Radiofrequency lesions of the subfornical organ, or control lesions in adjacent areas of the cerebrum, did not affect the pattern or the magnitude of intramammary pressure changes at reflex milk ejection. Purified porcine relaxin given by either i.v. (5 micrograms) or intracerebroventricular (50 ng) injection suppressed reflex milk ejection in intact, sham-lesioned and control-lesioned rats, but had no effect on either the pattern or magnitude of reflex milk ejection in rats with lesions of the subfornical organ. The subfornical organ, which is situated at the interface between the blood, brain and the cerebrospinal fluid appears to mediate, at least in part, the relaxin-induced inhibition of reflex milk ejection in the rat.
FAST - A Research Project in Electronic Commerce

FAST involves both the creation of an EDI-based prototype parts broker and the operation of an actual procurement service utilizing the prototype broker. FAST's intention is not so much to create a new distribution channel for participating vendors as to create a procurement tool for customers. The FAST project is therefore unusual among EDI efforts in that it looks at procurement from the customer's/buyer's perspective. FAST's procurement service invites customers to request quotes and place orders via EDI (using FAST's proprietary format or X12/EDIFACT). FAST acquires curement commodity, because an electronic parts broker was regarded as key to promoting fast prototyping of new computer architectures and electronic systems. In addition, it was expected to be easy to find an EDI-capable customer community for the chosen commodity. The availability of the MOSIS fabrication service at USC/ISI (an electronic silicon broker) pointed FAST to an email-liter-and returns (via EDI) competing quotes from multiple online vendors. When ordered , merchandise is drop shipped to FAST's customers and FAST is invoiced for the goods. FAST pays the vendor and invoices the customer. The broker currently serves about 120 registered customer accounts and has acquired off-the-shelf parts from more than 2'000 suppliers. To date, FAST has delivered more than 30'000 quotes and sold over 13'000 line items worth more than $5 million. Over the last few years, the commodities supplied by the broker have been expanded from electronic items to practically any type of off-the-shelf item. FAST is unusual among EDI efforts in that it looks at procurement from the customer's/buy-er's perspective. It concentrates on automating the total procurement process while recognizing that human intervention cannot be fully excluded from the process. As a result, much attention is currently focussed on how to efficiently integrate the manual and automated components involved in the total process. stead, most larger distributors used proprietary software (" inplant terminals ") that allowed larger customers access via modem to the vendors' on-site inventory databases. Therefore FAST decided to redefine its original X12/EDIFACT communications criteria and interact with the vendor community via multiple channels (see below). This support for heteroge-neity has since grown to be one of FAST's special and unique strengths. The original motivation behind the FAST project was to explore, in an actual electronic brokerage setting, the issues involved in automating the total procurement process. This motivation sets FAST apart from most contemporary electronic commerce efforts that focus on …
Structural changes accompanying phosphorylation of tarantula muscle myosin filaments

Electron microscopy has been used to study the structural changes that occur in the myosin filaments of tarantula striated muscle when they are phosphorylated. Myosin filaments in muscle homogenates maintained in relaxing conditions (ATP, EGTA) are found to have nonphosphorylated regulatory light chains as shown by urea/glycerol gel electrophoresis and [32P]phosphate autoradiography. Negative staining reveals an ordered, helical arrangement of crossbridges in these filaments, in which the heads from axially neighboring myosin molecules appear to interact with each other. When the free Ca2+ concentration in a homogenate is raised to 10(-4) M, or when a Ca2+-insensitive myosin light chain kinase is added at low Ca2+ (10(-8) M), the regulatory light chains of myosin become rapidly phosphorylated. Phosphorylation is accompanied by potentiation of the actin activation of the myosin Mg- ATPase activity and by loss of order of the helical crossbridge arrangement characteristic of the relaxed filament. We suggest that in the relaxed state, when the regulatory light chains are not phosphorylated, the myosin heads are held down on the filament backbone by head-head interactions or by interactions of the heads with the filament backbone. Phosphorylation of the light chains may alter these interactions so that the crossbridges become more loosely associated with the filament backbone giving rise to the observed changes and facilitating crossbridge interaction with actin.
EIGEN : A SPECTRAL APPROACH TO THE INTEGRATION OF FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS ANNOTATIONS FOR BOTH CODING AND NONCODING SEQUENCE VARIANTS

Over the past few years, substantial effort has been put into the functional annotation of variation in human genome sequence. Indeed, for any genetic variant, whether protein coding or noncoding, a diverse set of functional annotations is available from projects such as Ensembl, ENCODE and Roadmap Epigenomics. Such annotations can play a critical role in identifying putatively causal variants among the abundant natural variation that occurs at a locus of interest. The main challenges in using these various annotations include their large numbers, and their diversity. In particular, it is not clear a priori which annotation is better at predicting functionally relevant variants. It is therefore desirable to integrate these different annotations into a single measure of functional importance for a variant. Here we develop an unsupervised approach to derive such a meta-score (Eigen), that, unlike most existing methods, is not based on any labelled training data. Furthermore, the proposed method produces estimates of predictive accuracy for each functional annotation score, and subsequently uses these estimates of accuracy to derive the aggregate functional score for variants of interest as a weighted linear combination of individual annotations. We show that the resulting meta-score has better discriminatory ability using disease associated and putatively benign variants from published studies (for both Mendelian and complex diseases) compared with the recently proposed CADD score. In particular, we show that the proposed meta-score outperforms the CADD score on noncoding variants from GWAS and eQTL studies, noncoding somatic mutations in the COSMIC database, and on de novo coding mutations in epilepsy and autism studies. Across varied scenarios, the Eigen score performs generally better than any single individual annotation, representing a powerful single functional score that can be incorporated in fine-mapping studies.
Scaffold Hopping in Drug Discovery Using Inductive Logic Programming

In chemoinformatics, searching for compounds which are structurally diverse and share a biological activity is called scaffold hopping. Scaffold hopping is important since it can be used to obtain alternative structures when the compound under development has unexpected side-effects. Pharmaceutical companies use scaffold hopping when they wish to circumvent prior patents for targets of interest. We propose a new method for scaffold hopping using inductive logic programming (ILP). ILP uses the observed spatial relationships between pharmacophore types in pretested active and inactive compounds and learns human-readable rules describing the diverse structures of active compounds. The ILP-based scaffold hopping method is compared to two previous algorithms (chemically advanced template search, CATS, and CATS3D) on 10 data sets with diverse scaffolds. The comparison shows that the ILP-based method is significantly better than random selection while the other two algorithms are not. In addition, the ILP-based method retrieves new active scaffolds which were not found by CATS and CATS3D. The results show that the ILP-based method is at least as good as the other methods in this study. ILP produces human-readable rules, which makes it possible to identify the three-dimensional features that lead to scaffold hopping. A minor variant of a rule learnt by ILP for scaffold hopping was subsequently found to cover an inhibitor identified by an independent study. This provides a successful result in a blind trial of the effectiveness of ILP to generate rules for scaffold hopping. We conclude that ILP provides a valuable new approach for scaffold hopping.
Measurement of skin and proximity effects in circular conductors

Power-frequency measurements are reported on both a single-phase and 3-phase grouping of 1300 mm2 solid rods to establish a.c. /d.c. resistance-ratio techniques that may be used with confidence under normal laboratory conditions. A distinction is made between skin and proximity losses for the optimum location of potential leads. Thermal measurements enable the distribution of loss in the 3-phase grouping to be resolved.
Discovery of the Inhibitory Effect of a Phosphatidylinositol Derivative on P-Glycoprotein by Virtual Screening Followed by In Vitro Cellular Studies

P-glycoprotein is capable of effluxing a broad range of cytosolic and membrane penetrating xenobiotic substrates, thus leading to multi-drug resistance and posing a threat for the therapeutic treatment of several diseases, including cancer and central nervous disorders. Herein, a virtual screening campaign followed by experimental validation in Caco-2, MDKCII, and MDKCII mdr1 transfected cell lines has been conducted for the identification of novel phospholipids with P-gp transportation inhibitory activity. Phosphatidylinositol-(1,2-dioctanoyl)-sodium salt (8∶0 PI) was found to significantly inhibit transmembrane P-gp transportation in vitro in a reproducible-, cell line-, and substrate-independent manner. Further tests are needed to determine whether this and other phosphatidylinositols could be co-administered with oral drugs to successfully increase their bioavailability. Moreover, as phosphatidylinositols and phosphoinositides are present in the human diet and are known to play an important role in signal transduction and cell motility, our finding could be of substantial interest for nutrition science as well.