Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel agents for enzymatic and fungal hydrolysis of stevioside

A comparative study on the potential of some biological agents to perform the hydrolysis of stevioside was carried out, aiming at establishing an alternative methodology to achieve the aglycon steviol or its rearranged derivative isosteviol, in high yields to be used in the preparation of novel bioactive compounds. Hydrolysis reactions were performed by using filamentous fungi (Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer and Rhizopus arrhizus), a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and enzymes (pancreatin and lipases PL250 and VFL 8000). Pancreatin showed the best hydrolytic activity, furnishing isosteviol at 93.9% of yield, at pH 4.0, using toluene as a co-solvent. Steviol was produced using both pancreatin at pH 7.0 (20.2% yield) and A. niger at pH 7 (20.8% yield).
Inhibition of hepatic tumor cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo by taltobulin, a synthetic analogue of the tripeptide hemiasterlin.

AIM To investigate the inhibitory effects of taltobulin (HTI-286), a synthetic analogue of natural hemiasterlin derived from marine sponges, on hepatic tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. METHODS The potential anti-proliferative effects of HTI-286 on different hepatic tumor cell lines in vitro and in vivo were examined. RESULTS HTI-286 significantly inhibited proliferation of all three hepatic tumor cell lines (mean IC50 = 2 nmol/L +/- 1 nmol/L) in vitro. Interestingly, no decrease in viable primary human hepatocytes (PHH) was detected under HTI-286 exposure. Moreover, intravenous administration of HTI-286 significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo (rat allograft model). CONCLUSION HTI-286 might be considered a potent promising drug in treatment of liver malignancies. HTI-286 is currently undergoing clinical evaluation in cancer patients.
Comparision of two‐flow cytometry methods for basophil degranulation in patients sensitized to grass pollen

Background: Two‐flow cytometry methods for quantification of degranulated basophil after allergen‐specific activation were discussed. The methods are discerned by used membrane receptors – FcɛRI or IL‐3Rα Our goal was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the methods and to correlate them to allergen‐specific IgE detection and skin prick test (SPT).
Sleepwalking Through School: New Evidence on Sleep and Academic Performance

Policymakers advocating for later school starting times argue that increased sleep duration may generate important schooling benefits. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the relationship between sleep duration and academic performance, while carefully controlling for difficult-to-measure characteristics at the family- and individual-levels. We find that increased sleep time is associated with improvements in classroom concentration as well as increased educational attainment. However, we also find evidence of diminishing returns to increased sleep. We estimate an "academic optimum" number of sleep hours of, on average, 8.5 hours per night. Turning to sleep quality, we find that the onset of insomnia-like symptoms is associated with diminished contemporaneous academic concentration, but little change in longer-run educational attainment.
Research and design on wireless transmission of well depth counter

The well depth counter is the most important indicators to the drilling operation, however, it is installed on the end of main winch, data lines and power supply cable arrangement to driller control house, which causes the routing to be complex and goes against the drill machine's relocation and the well-site maintenance. It is energy-saving to the new-style well depth counters design by using self-powered and wireless transmission techniques, and that structure is simpler and more compacted, and it's more convenient to the installment and maintenance.
High Resolution SAR Interferometry: Influence of Local Topography in the Context of Glacier Monitoring

SAR interferometric data offers the opportunity to measure temperate glacier surface topography and displacement between the two acquisitions. Recently, reliable estimates of the phase gradient given by interferogram local frequencies become mandatory with the increase of the SAR resolution. In this paper, an original 2-step method for estimating local frequencies is proposed. The 2D phase signal is considered to have two deterministic components corresponding to low-resolution fringes and high-resolution patterns due for instance to the micro-relief. The first step of the proposed algorithm consists in the low-resolution phase flattening. In the second step the local high-resolution frequencies are estimated from the phase auto-correlation functions computed on adaptive neighborhoods using only the pixels which belong to the same HR spatial feature and respect the ”local stationarity” hypothesis. Results with both real ERS 1/2 tandem and simulated TerraSAR-X interferograms are presented to illustrate the potential of the proposed method.
Vertebral dysplasia in young fish exposed to the herbicide trifluralin.

Sheepshead minnows, Cyprinodon variegatus Lacepede, exposed to 5.5 to 31 μg/1 of the herbicide trifluralin, throughout their first 28 days of life, developed a heretofore undescribed vertebral dysplasia. This dysplasia consisted of semi-symmetrical hypertrophy of vertebrae (three to 20 times normal), characterized by foci of osteoblast and fibroblasts actively laying down bone and bone precursors. Effects of the abnormal vertebral development were dorsal vertebral growth into the neural canal, ventral compression of renal ducts, and longitudinal fusion of vertebrae. Pish, exposed for 51 days to 16.6 μg/1 trifluralin and thereafter depurated for 41 days, showed no increase in vertebral dysplasia during depuration; however, residual spinal column damage was evident. Serum calcium concentrations were elevated in adult fish exposed for 4 days to 16.6 μg/1 trifluralin. Fluorosis or mimicry of hypervitaminosis A are considered possible mechanisms for the osseous effect, but are not considered to be the only possible causes. The highly predictable nature of this disorder in experimental exposures strengthens the probability that young fish may serve as experimental models for determining effects of chemicals on early vertebrate ontogeny, particularly in regard to skeletal development.
The Role of Continuous Peripheral Nerve Blocks

A continuous peripheral nerve block (cPNB) is provided in the hospital and ambulatory setting. The most common use of CPNBs is in the peri- and postoperative period but different indications have been described like the treatment of chronic pain such as cancer-induced pain, complex regional pain syndrome or phantom limb pain. The documented benefits strongly depend on the analgesia quality and include decreasing baseline/dynamic pain, reducing additional analgesic requirements, decrease of postoperative joint inflammation and inflammatory markers, sleep disturbances and opioid-related side effects, increase of patient satisfaction and ambulation/functioning improvement, an accelerated resumption of passive joint range-of-motion, reducing time until discharge readiness, decrease in blood loss/blood transfusions, potential reduction of the incidence of postsurgical chronic pain and reduction of costs. Evidence deriving from randomized controlled trials suggests that in some situations there are also prolonged benefits of regional anesthesia after catheter removal in addition to the immediate postoperative effects. Unfortunately, there are only few data demonstrating benefits after catheter removal and the evidence of medium- or long-term improvements in health-related quality of life measures is still lacking. This review will give an overview of the advantages and adverse effects of cPNBs.
An interrupted time series analysis of the differential impact of New Jersey’s BAC legislation on driver and passenger crash fatalities

Abstract Most research, drawing on deterrence and rational choice models of social action, examines the effects of reductions of blood alcohol concentration [BAC] limits to secure drunk driving convictions on the total volume of crash fatalities. This paper extends this work by investigating the impact of New Jersey’s BAC legislation on total and disaggregated crash fatalities. The results from the interrupted times series analyses show that reducing the BAC limit to 0.8 has no effect on total or driver fatalities, but has a negative and lasting effect on passenger fatalities. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
Genomics and Physiology of a Marine Flavobacterium Encoding a Proteorhodopsin and a Xanthorhodopsin-Like Protein

Proteorhodopsin (PR) photoheterotrophy in the marine flavobacterium Dokdonia sp. PRO95 has previously been investigated, showing no growth stimulation in the light at intermediate carbon concentrations. Here we report the genome sequence of strain PRO95 and compare it to two other PR encoding Dokdonia genomes: that of strain 4H-3-7-5 which shows the most similar genome, and that of strain MED134 which grows better in the light under oligotrophic conditions. Our genome analysis revealed that the PRO95 genome as well as the 4H-3-7-5 genome encode a protein related to xanthorhodopsins. The genomic environment and phylogenetic distribution of this gene suggest that it may have frequently been recruited by lateral gene transfer. Expression analyses by RT-PCR and direct mRNA-sequencing showed that both rhodopsins and the complete β-carotene pathway necessary for retinal production are transcribed in PRO95. Proton translocation measurements showed enhanced proton pump activity in response to light, supporting that one or both rhodopsins are functional. Genomic information and carbon source respiration data were used to develop a defined cultivation medium for PRO95, but reproducible growth always required small amounts of yeast extract. Although PRO95 contains and expresses two rhodopsin genes, light did not stimulate its growth as determined by cell numbers in a nutrient poor seawater medium that mimics its natural environment, confirming previous experiments at intermediate carbon concentrations. Starvation or stress conditions might be needed to observe the physiological effect of light induced energy acquisition.
Evaluating search in personal social media collections

The prevalence of social media applications is generating potentially large personal archives of posts, tweets, and other communications. The existence of these archives creates a need for search tools, which can be seen as an extension of current desktop search services. Little is currently known about the best search techniques for personal archives of social data, because of the difficulty of creating test collections. In this paper, we describe how test collections for personal social data can be created by using games to collect queries. We then compare a range of retrieval models that exploit the semi-structured nature of social data. Our results show that a mixture of language models with field distribution estimation can be effective for this type of data, with certain fields, such as the name of the poster, being particularly important. We also analyze the properties of the queries that were generated by users with two versions of the games.
Co-occurrence and comorbidities in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disorders: an exploration using US healthcare claims data, 2001–2002

ABSTRACT Objective: Research in immune-mediatedinflammatory disorders (IMIDs) suggests that several diseases share disruptions in key cytokines. A common pathogenesis may present as similar patterns of disease co-occurrence and comorbidity, which could be observed through the analysis of healthcare claims datasets. Methods: Adult patients continuously enrolled from 2001–2002 were identified in two US healthcare datasets containing medical and drug claims from health plans and self-insured employers. Patients with treatment records indicating an IMID were selected (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease); controls for each disorder were matched 3:1 based on age, gender, region, and previous insurance coverage. IMID cohorts and comorbidities were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision codes. Prevalence relative risk was used to assess co-occurrence and comorbidity rates in IMID cohorts and controls. Medical and drug utilization patterns were also explored. Results: Findings were similar across the two datasets. IMID patients represented about 4% of the population; specific IMID prevalence matched the epidemiology literature. Patients with at least one IMID had a higher risk for another IMID when compared to controls. The risk for infectious, renal, liver, and ulcerative comorbidities was also elevated. Selected drug utilization patterns confirmed comorbidity findings. IMID patients used more healthcare resources compared to controls; findings were robust under sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: IMID patients were generally more likely than controls to have another IMID, supporting the concept that the diseases are related. These patients also had higher comorbidity rates. Findings may be limited by the nature of claims datasets and the confounding effect of current treatments. Prospective studies are needed to determine whether IMIDs have a common pathogenesis.
Critiquing contemporary suicidology

How can we best understand what suicide and suicide prevention are now? By this I mean, how can we think about the ways we have come to conceptualize suicide, the assumptions we make about what it is, what should be done, and by whom? I do not think these are idle, abstract, academic questions, for the truths constructed in language about suicide (in defining what it is, and its causes and solutions, for example) produce many material effects in terms of national and international policies, research priorities and funding, and prevention practices. More subtly, a whole field of experience is formed in relation to authoritative knowledge of suicide – for suicidal people, attempt survivors, and their families and friends, as well as professionals involved in prevention and research.
Evaluation of the impact of the different charging algorithms on the lead-acid batteries lifetime

Various charging algorithms are employed in commercialized battery chargers. This study was to undergo charging tests of four various chargers dedicated to 12-V lead-acid batteries. Our previous work on the Extended Kalman Filter based State-of-charge estimation in this comparison to make sure all batteries were charged/discharged to the same level. State-of-Health (SOH) is employed to determine the battery performance. The impact of the charging algorithms on the battery life time was evaluated. Experimental results show that the medium-speed charging when SOC is low with pulse charging at the high SOC keeps the longest life time of the battery.
CKM Glu83Gly Is Associated With Blunted Creatine Kinase Variation, but Not With Myalgia

Background— To test the association of a recently reported variant in the creatine kinase (CK) muscle gene, CKM Glu83Gly (rs11559024) with constitutive creatine phosphokinase (CK) levels, CK variation, and inducibility. Given the diagnostic importance of CK in determining muscle damage, we tested the association of the variant with myalgia. Methods and Results— Meta-analysis between longitudinal cohort GoDARTS (Genetics of Diabetes Audit and Research, Tayside Scotland), minor allele frequency (=0.02), and randomized clinical trial (JUPITER [Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin], minor allele frequency=0.018) was used to replicate the association with baseline CK measures. GoDARTS was used to study the relationship with CK variability. Myalgia was studied in JUPITER trial participants. Baseline and SDs of CK were on average 18% (P value=6×10−63) and 24% (P value=2×10−5) lower for carriers of the variant, respectively. The variant was not associated with myalgia (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.52–1.38). Conclusions— This study highlights that a genetic factor known to be associated with constitutive CK levels is also associated with CK variability and inducibility. This is discussed in the context of evidence to suggest that the variant has an impact on inducibility of CK by trauma through a previously reported case of a homozygous carrier. However, the lack of association between the variant and myalgia suggests that it cannot reliably be used as a biomarker for muscle symptoms.
Factor neurotrófico derivado del cerebro en el trastorno depresivo mayor

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of 10-25% in women, and 5-12% in men. Neurotrophins are required for neurogenesis, maintenance of neuronal function, and for neural structure integrity. Being so, Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a promising molecule for study, since it is associated with neuronal structural changes on animal models of depression, and it is a potential target for antidepressants. It has been found that BDNF serum levels are decreased in patients with MDD, as compared with healthy controls, and its levels increase after treatment with antidepressives. Evidence from several studies indicate that exogenous administration of BDNF increases synaptic force, as well as branching of cortical and hippocampal neurons.
Personal Characteristics and the Affective Process at Work: An Experience Sampling Study

Based on Affective Events Theory, this experience-sampling study investigated dynamic relationships between discrete affective events and discrete affective states at work (i.e., serenity, vigor, fatigue, and anger). Four classes of affective events were differentiated, namely positive task and social events, and negative task and social events. Additionally, this study examined main effects of focus on opportunities – an age-related construct that describes how many possibilities employees perceive in their occupational future – and general workplace affect. A sample of 106 employees answered surveys at four measurement occasions per day at three subsequent workdays. Multilevel modeling revealed that both positive task and social events were related to both serenity and vigor. However, negative task events were exclusively related to fatigue while negative social events exclusively related to anger. Moreover, both focus on opportunities and general workplace affect were related to affective states. These.
Non-Psychotic Psychiatric Disorder After Childbirth

SIR:I would like to follow Dr Pelosi's lead (Journal, October 1988, 153, 570) in breaking the deafening silence surrounding the ethical implications of the new genetics. Psychiatry stands on the threshold of its most exciting era. The chance to increase under standing of our most devastating mental disorders and perhaps to develop new treatments is open to us. This exists alongside possibilities for serious misuses by clinicians with the most laudable of motives, who may be tempted to step beyond their duty to relieve the suffering of the individual into the realm of attempting to alter the composition of society by applying eugenic principles. When scientists in the first half of the century discovered atomic energy many were immediately aware of its potential for both good and ill. Molecular genetic technology is no less awesome, and it behoves our profession to use some foresight in considering its potential. Dr Pelosi raises Huntington's disease as a case in point: a condition whose gene acts with ruthless inevitability quite unlike the gene or genes under lying commoner psychiatric disorders. Those ethical dilemmas which may arise in relation to the latter will be magnified and even more complicated. Open debate on this topic is therefore mandatory. Further more, we should not make the mistake of equating the diagnostic clarity promised by genetic research with moral certainty. Aubrey Lewis, the most influential British psychiatrist of recent times, was himself rather sympathetic to the eugenic movement. He argued: â€œ¿ Not only eugenists but all compassion ate and reflective people must surely be concerned at an increase in the number of children born to parents who are themselves affected by a prolonged mental illness or who are destined to become mentally ill. â€• (Lewis, 1958). In summary, he warned: â€œ¿ We do not know enough to warrant our making firm predic tions or advocating celibacy and childlessness to outwardly healthy people who seem predisposed to mental illness. â€• We may soon know enough to make much firmer predictions than was hitherto imaginable. History will judge if we use this knowledge wisely. ANTHONYS. DAVID Institute ofPsychiatry De CrespignyPark London SE5 8AF
Activity-Dependent Regulation of MEF2 Transcription Factors Suppresses Excitatory Synapse Number

In the mammalian nervous system, neuronal activity regulates the strength and number of synapses formed. The genetic program that coordinates this process is poorly understood. We show that myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) transcription factors suppressed excitatory synapse number in a neuronal activity- and calcineurin-dependent manner as hippocampal neurons formed synapses. In response to increased neuronal activity, calcium influx into neurons induced the activation of the calcium/calmodulin-regulated phosphatase calcineurin, which dephosphorylated and activated MEF2. When activated, MEF2 promoted the transcription of a set of genes, including arc and synGAP, that restrict synapse number. These findings define an activity-dependent transcriptional program that may control synapse number during development.
Towards Logic Programs with Ordered and Unordered Disjunction ?

Logic Programming paradigms that allow for expressing preferences have drawn a lot of research interest over the last years. Among them, the principle of ordered disjunction was developed to express totally ordered preferences for alternatives in rule heads. In this paper we introduce an extension of this approach called Disjunctive Logic Programs with Ordered Disjunction (DLPOD) that combines ordered disjunction with common disjunction in rule heads. By this extension, we enhance the preference notions expressible with totally ordered disjunctions to partially ordered preferences. Furthermore, we show that computing optimal stable models for DLPODs still stays in Σ 2 for head-cycle free programs and establish Σ 3 upper bounds for the general case.
Mobilization of nitrogen reserves during regrowth of defoliated Trifolium repens L. and identification of potential vegetative storage proteins

Although it is well established that carbon reserves contribute to shoot regrowth of leguminous forage species, little information is available on nitrogen reserves except in Medicago sativa L. and Trifolium subterraneum L. In this study, reserves were labelled with 15N to demonstrate the mobilization of endogenous nitrogen from roots and stolons to regrowing leaves and new stolons during 24 d of regrowth in white clover [Trifolium repens L. ). About 55% and 70%, respectively, of the nitrogen contents of these organs were mobilized to support the regrowth of leaves. During the first 6 d, nitrogen in regrowing leaves came mainly from N reserves of organs remaining after defoliation. After these first 6 d of regrowth, most of the shoot nitrogen was derived from exogenous nitrogen taken up while the contribution of nitrogen reserves decreased. After defoliation, the buffer-soluble protein content of roots and stolons decreased by 32% during the first 6 d of regrowth. To identify putative vegetative storage proteins, soluble proteins were separated using SDS-PAGE or two-dimension al electrophores is. One protein of 17.3 kDa in stolons and two proteins of 15 kDa in roots seemed to behave as vegetative storage proteins. These three polypeptides, initially found at high concentrations, decreased in relative abundance to a large extent during early regrowth and then were accumulated again in roots and stolons once normal growth was re-established.