Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytohesin-1, a cytosolic guanine nucleotide-exchange protein for ADP-ribosylation factor.

Cytohesin-1, a protein abundant in cells of the immune system, has been proposed to be a human homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sec7 gene product, which is crucial in protein transport. More recently, the same protein has been reported to be a regulatory factor for the alphaLbeta2 integrin in lymphocytes. Overexpression of human or yeast ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) genes rescues yeast with Sec7 defects, restoring secretory pathway function. ARFs, 20-kDa guanine nucleotide-binding proteins initially identified by their ability to stimulate cholera toxin ADP-ribosyltransferase activity and now recognized as critical components in intracellular vesicular transport, exist in an inactive cytosolic form with GDP bound (ARF-GDP). Interaction with a guanine nucleotide-exchange protein (GEP) accelerates exchange of GDP for GTP, producing the active ARF-GTP. Both soluble and particulate GEPs have been described. To define better the interaction between ARF and Sec7-related proteins, effects of cytohesin-1, synthesized in Escherichia coli, on ARF activity were evaluated. Cytohesin-1 enhanced binding of 35S-labeled guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate [35S]GTP[gammaS] or [3H]GDP to ARF purified from bovine brain (i.e., it appeared to function as an ARF-GEP). Addition of cytohesin-1 to ARF3 with [35S]GTP[gammaS] bound, accelerated [35S]GTP[gammaS] release to a similar degree in the presence of unlabeled GDP or GTP[gammaS] and to a lesser degree with GDP[betaS]; release was negligible without added nucleotide. Cytohesin-1 also increased ARF1 binding to a Golgi fraction, but its effect was not inhibited by brefeldin A (BFA), a drug that reversibly inhibits Golgi function. In this regard, it differs from a recently reported BFA-sensitive ARF-GEP that contains a Sec7 domain.
Prostaglandin E2 contracts vascular smooth muscle and inhibits potassium currents in vascular smooth muscle cells of rat tail artery.

There is evidence to suggest that PGE2 plays an important role in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle tone. To determine the cellular basis of this action, we studied the effect of PGE2 on force in helical muscle strips from rat tail artery. PGE2 evoked a sustained contractile response. The contractile response was concentration-dependent, with an EC50 value of 9.6 microM. Patch-clamp studies were conducted to investigate the effects of PGE2 on K channels in isolated vascular smooth muscle cells from rat tail artery. Current-clamp studies showed that PGE2 (1 microM) depolarized the membrane by 15.9 +/- 1.3 mV. Under voltage-clamp conditions, a voltage-dependent, delayed outward rectifier K current was generated by stepwise depolarization from a holding potential of -80 mV. The current, which was activated at -45 to -40 mV and showed almost no inactivation, was inhibited by 45% using 10 mM TEA. PGE2 inhibited the outward K current in a concentration-dependent manner, with EC50 values of 3.5 microM and 4.9 microM in primary and subcultured cells, respectively. The PGE2 receptor antagonist sodium meclofenamate abolished the PGE2-induced K current inhibition. Furthermore, the intracellular application of guanosine 5'-O(-)[2-thiodiphosphate] (GDP beta S), a G protein inhibitor, and pretreatment of the cells with cholera toxin prevented the PGE2-induced inhibition, whereas application of pertussis toxin did not. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism.

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) is a cause of autism. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in Denmark from January 1991 through December 1998. The cohort was selected on the basis of data from the Danish Civil Registration System, which assigns a unique identification number to every live-born infant and new resident in Denmark. MMR-vaccination status was obtained from the Danish National Board of Health. Information on the children's autism status was obtained from the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, which contains information on all diagnoses received by patients in psychiatric hospitals and outpatient clinics in Denmark. We obtained information on potential confounders from the Danish Medical Birth Registry, the National Hospital Registry, and Statistics Denmark. RESULTS Of the 537,303 children in the cohort (representing 2,129,864 person-years), 440,655 (82.0 percent) had received the MMR vaccine. We identified 316 children with a diagnosis of autistic disorder and 422 with a diagnosis of other autistic-spectrum disorders. After adjustment for potential confounders, the relative risk of autistic disorder in the group of vaccinated children, as compared with the unvaccinated group, was 0.92 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.24), and the relative risk of another autistic-spectrum disorder was 0.83 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.07). There was no association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autistic disorder. CONCLUSIONS This study provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism.
Physical Layer Security With RF Energy Harvesting in AF Multi-Antenna Relaying Networks

In this paper, we analyze the secrecy capacity of a half-duplex energy harvesting (EH)-based multi-antenna amplify-and-forward relay network in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. During the first phase, while the source is in the transmission mode, the legitimate destination transmits an auxiliary artificial noise (AN) signal which has two distinct purposes: 1) to transfer power to the relay and 2) to improve system security. Since the AN is known at the legitimate destination, it is easily cancelled at the intended destination, which is not the case at the eavesdropper. In this respect, we derive new exact analytical expressions for the ergodic secrecy capacity for various well-known EH relaying protocols, namely, time switching relaying (TSR), power splitting relaying (PSR), and ideal relaying receiver (IRR). Monte Carlo simulations are also provided throughout our investigations to validate the analysis. The impacts of some important system parameters, such as EH time, power splitting ratio, relay location, AN power, EH efficiency, and the number of relay antennas, on the system performance are investigated. The results reveal that the PSR protocol generally outperforms the TSR approach in terms of the secrecy capacity.
Growth of Enterobacter cloacae in the presence of 25% sodium dodecyl sulfate

The growth of Enterobacter cloacae in 25% sodium dodecyl sulfate is described. The bacteria appeared to tolerate sodium dodecyl sulfate rather than metabolize it. The process was energy dependent, and cell lysis occurred during stationary phase. Extreme detergent resistance may be characteristic of the genus Enterobacter.
Shape Recovery Using Extended Superquadrics

Reverse engineering of accurate 3D models and 2D contours of real objects from surface measurements is recognized as an important research goal in various communities. Currently the application domains include industrial product design and computer generated imagery for film and multimedia and potential application now also extends to the life sciences realm. Despite the large body of work on 3D modeling, most models of shape lack the descriptive power to bridge the gap between reconstruction, recognition, and analysis due, mostly, to conflicting requirements. To obtain meaningful information from noisy sensor data reconstruction models, researchers have traditionally used large numbers of parameters. In contrast searching and recognition techniques use shape abstractions, which drastically reduce information. Analysis models require the inclusion of physics, in the form of kinematics, dynamics and FEA, preferably in parametric form to support simulation-based refinement processes. Thus the goal of our effort is to develop a class of hybrid models whose underlying geometric and computational data structure intimately combines implicit, explicit and parameterized surface representations with volumetric solid representations that are well suited for transitioning to analysis and at the same time enjoy a low order parameterization. This thesis proposes a new shape parameterization for smoothly deformable two and three dimensional objects, such as those found in biomedical images, whose diversity and irregularity make them difficult to represent in terms of fixed features or high fidelity models which are capable for any analysis. iii The proposed representation strategy can then represent 3D medical data obtained as point clouds from sources such range imaging devices. To achieve this we have utilized extended-superquadric models which are well-suited for shape representation but require the development of the concomitant methods and benchmarking prior to widespread acceptance. Furthermore, such models are well suited for transitioning to analysis, as for example, in model-based non rigid structure and motion recovery or for mesh generation and simplified volumetric-FEA applications.
Fixed Mode Elimination by Minimum Communication Within an Estimator-Based Framework for Distributed Control

A distributed control scheme is considered, where each subsystem estimates a part of the state space and uses a state feedback-based controller to actuate a subset of the system’s inputs. The estimated parts of the state space are overlapping and thus provide some information about the neighboring subsystems to the local controllers. The number of communication links which are added to improve performance is a design choice. However, a minimum of communication is needed if there are fixed modes (FMs), which are eigenvalues of the closed-loop system that cannot be changed under the given structural constraints. Mild conditions on the overlapping structure are given under which there exists a communication topology of measurements or estimates to eliminate all FMs. The problem of finding the minimum communication to eliminate all FMs is formulated as a minimum cost coverage problem with submodular constraints. Based on this result, an algorithm for the FM elimination is proposed and compared to the greedy algorithm. A numerical example illustrates the results.
The influence of negative stimulus features on conflict adaption: evidence from fluency of processing

Cognitive control enables adaptive behavior in a dynamically changing environment. In this context, one prominent adaptation effect is the sequential conflict adjustment, i.e., the observation of reduced response interference on trials following conflict trials. Increasing evidence suggests that such response conflicts are registered as aversive signals. So far, however, the functional role of this aversive signal for conflict adaptation to occur has not been put to test directly. In two experiments, the affective valence of conflict stimuli was manipulated by fluency of processing (stimulus contrast). Experiment 1 used a flanker interference task, Experiment 2 a color-word Stroop task. In both experiments, conflict adaptation effects were only present in fluent, but absent in disfluent trials. Results thus speak against the simple idea that any aversive stimulus feature is suited to promote specific conflict adjustments. Two alternative but not mutually exclusive accounts, namely resource competition and adaptation-by-motivation, will be discussed.
A National Study of Physician Recommendations to Initiate and Discontinue Growth Hormone for Short Stature

OBJECTIVES: Overall growth hormone (GH) use depends on decisions to both initiate treatment and continue treatment. The determinants of both are unclear. We studied how physicians decided to begin GH in idiopathic short stature and how, after an initial course of treatment, they decided to continue, intensify (increase the dose), or terminate treatment. METHODS: We used a national census study of 727 pediatric endocrinologists involving a structured questionnaires with a factorial experimental design. Main outcome measures were GH recommendations for previously untreated children and those children who were treated with GH for 1 year. RESULTS: The response rate was 90%. In previously untreated children, recommendations to initiate GH were consistent with guidelines and also influenced by family preferences and physician attitudes (P < .001). In children treated with GH, recommendations on whether to continue GH were influenced by the growth response to therapy (P < .01) but were divided regarding course of action. With identical growth responses to treatment, physician decisions diverged (intensify versus discontinue GH) and were driven by independent, nonphysiologic, and contextual factors (eg, physician attitudes, family preferences, and GH-initiation recommendation; each P < .001). Together, attitudinal and contextual factors exerted more influence on continuation decisions than did the growth response to therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Physician decisions to initiate GH are largely consistent with evidence-based medicine. However, decisions about continuing GH vary and are strongly influenced by factors other than response to treatment. With a potential market of 500 000 US children and costs exceeding $10 billion per year, changes in GH use may depend on potentially modifiable physician attitudes and family preferences as much as physiologic evidence.
Analysis of the controller and identification algorithm gains for closed-loop identification applied to a perturbed DC servomechanism working under PD control

Usually, when an identification algorithm is applied to a given system, it is normal to pay attention only to the gains of the matrix related with the identification algorithm. However, it can be shown that, for some closed- loop identification structures, as the one studied in this paper, the gains of the controller employed for closing the loop of the system play an important role in the identification procedure and affect the region where the parameter estimates are supposed to converge to. In this situation it is important to consider the behavior that the parameter estimates have when varying not only the identification matrix gains, but also the controller gains. This paper analyses the behavior of the parameter estimates for a closed-loop identification methodology applied to a DC servomechanism with a bounded perturbation signal. Some properties of the region where the parameter estimates converge to are shown through the variation of both the PD controller gains and the identification matrix gains.
Mid-air interactive display using modulated display light

A low cost solution is presented for transforming a regular display into an interactive display. The display light is modulated using frequencies invisible to human eye. A camera captures images and the known light modulation is used to isolate the display generated light. The resulting demodulated images do not depend on the ambient light conditions. Furthermore, the objects close to the display are clearly visible and easy to detect/track. Touch-screen like mid-air interaction with the display can be realized by robustly detecting human hands when they are close to the display.
Improving the discovery potential of charged Higgs bosons at Tevatron Run 2

By exploiting the full process p" p ! t " i , in place of the standard Monte Carlo procedure of factorising production and decay, p" p ! t" followed by " t ! " i , we show how to improve the discovery reach of the Tevatron (Run 2) in charged Higgs boson searches, in the large tanfl region. This is achieved in conjunction with dedicated cuts on a 'transverse mass' distribution sensitive to the Higgs boson mass and to 'polarisation' efiects in the H i ! i " "? decay channel.
Fast Volume Reconstruction from Motion Corrupted Stacks of 2D Slices

Capturing an enclosing volume of moving subjects and organs using fast individual image slice acquisition has shown promise in dealing with motion artefacts. Motion between slice acquisitions results in spatial inconsistencies that can be resolved by slice-to-volume reconstruction (SVR) methods to provide high quality 3D image data. Existing algorithms are, however, typically very slow, specialised to specific applications and rely on approximations, which impedes their potential clinical use. In this paper, we present a fast multi-GPU accelerated framework for slice-to-volume reconstruction. It is based on optimised 2D/3D registration, super-resolution with automatic outlier rejection and an additional (optional) intensity bias correction. We introduce a novel and fully automatic procedure for selecting the image stack with least motion to serve as an initial registration target. We evaluate the proposed method using artificial motion corrupted phantom data as well as clinical data, including tracked freehand ultrasound of the liver and fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We achieve speed-up factors greater than 30 compared to a single CPU system and greater than 10 compared to currently available state-of-the-art multi-core CPU methods. We ensure high reconstruction accuracy by exact computation of the point-spread function for every input data point, which has not previously been possible due to computational limitations. Our framework and its implementation is scalable for available computational infrastructures and tests show a speed-up factor of 1.70 for each additional GPU. This paves the way for the online application of image based reconstruction methods during clinical examinations. The source code for the proposed approach is publicly available.
A Study of Information Systems in Human Resource Management 'HRM'

today's organizations Human Resource is considered as one of the key resources of business organizations. The transaction processing layer of MIS in human resource function deals with routine activities like attendance recording and payroll calculations. The operational level activities also include maintaining the employee records which is used as a basis for strategic layers. With the growing importance of human resource management and increasing size of the organizations, maintenance of employee related data and generating appropriate reports are the crucial aspects of any organization. Therefore more and more organizations are adopting computer based human resource management systems (HRMS). This paper is an attempt to highlights the role of information systems in Human Resource Management and show how it helps in taking management decisions related to management function especially for the top management.
Corneal Changes in the Dislipoproteinaemias

The corneal changes in the hyper- and hypoproteinaemias may affect vision and/or provide a diagnostic clue to a systemic disorder. This article describes the structure and function of the major lipoprotein classes and the means by which dietary lipid is absorbed and by which exogenous and endogenous lipid is distributed to and cleared from the tissues. In hyper-beta-lipoproteinaemia, lipid arcus formation may be related to the duration and height of the raised cholesterol levels. The peripheral location of the lipid deposit is presumed to be related to peripheral trapping of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by glycosaminoglycan binding and tight stromal packing with maintained central clearing by high-density lipoprotein (HDL), whose smaller molecular diameter should allow freer stromal diffusion. In the hypolipoproteinaemias, e.g., Tangier disease, generalised (α and β) lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) deficiency, and α-LCAT deficiency (fish-eye disease), the absence or abnormality of HDL may impair clearance of endogenous and possibly exogenous stromal lipid. The hyperlipoproteinaemia that sometimes accompanies Schnyder's crystralline corneal dystrophy is thought to modify the effects of a primary failure of corneal stromal lipid metabolism.
Indoor fungal composition is geographically patterned and more diverse in temperate zones than in the tropics

Fungi are ubiquitous components of indoor human environments, where most contact between humans and microbes occurs. The majority of these organisms apparently play a neutral role, but some are detrimental to human lifestyles and health. Recent studies that used culture-independent sampling methods demonstrated a high diversity of indoor fungi distinct from that of outdoor environments. Others have shown temporal fluctuations of fungal assemblages in human environments and modest correlations with human activity, but global-scale patterns have not been examined, despite the manifest significance of biogeography in other microbial systems. Here we present a global survey of fungi from indoor environments (n = 72), using both taxonomic and phylogeny-informative molecular markers to determine whether global or local indoor factors determine indoor fungal composition. Contrary to common ecological patterns, we show that fungal diversity is significantly higher in temperate zones than in the tropics, with distance from the equator being the best predictor of phylogenetic community similarity. Fungal composition is significantly auto-correlated at the national and hemispheric spatial scales. Remarkably, building function has no significant effect on indoor fungal composition, despite stark contrasts between architecture and materials of some buildings in close proximity. Distribution of individual taxa is significantly range- and latitude-limited compared with a null model of randomized distribution. Our results suggest that factors driving fungal composition are primarily global rather than mediated by building design or function.
Internet-Based Embedded System Architectures - End-User Development Support for Embedded System Applications

This paper presents an approach to industrial embedded system networking that offers a reusable design pattern for the class of Internet-based applications. It deals with an integrated networking framework stemming (1) from the IEEE 1451.1 smart transducer interface standard, which is an object-based networking model supporting among others publish-subscribe approach to group messaging, and (2) from the Internet Protocol (IP) multicast communication, mediating efficient and unified access to smart sensors through Internet. The kernel of this paper focuses on adaptations and tuning of those concepts and on their utilization for a gas pipes pressure measurement system as an application example. Furthermore, the contribution brings this scheme in form suitable not only for framework builders, but also for end-user