Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LmTDRM Database: A Comprehensive Database on Thiol Metabolic Gene/Gene Products in Listeria monocytogenes EGDe

Summary There are a number of databases on the Listeria species and about their genome. However, these databases do not specifically address a set of network that is important in defence mechanism of the bacteria. Listeria monocytogenes EGDe is a well-established intracellular model organism to study host pathogenicity because of its versatility in the host environment. Here, we have focused on thiol disulphide redox metabolic network proteins, specifically in L. monocytogenes EGDe. The thiol redox metabolism is involved in oxidative stress mechanism and is found in all living cells. It functions to maintain the thiol disulphide balance required for protein folding by providing reducing power. Nevertheless, they are involved in the reversible oxidation of thiol groups in biomolecules by creating disulphide bonds; therefore, the term thiol disulphide redox metabolism (TDRM). TDRM network genes play an important role in oxidative stress mechanism and during host-pathogen interaction. Therefore, it is essential to have detailed information on these proteins with regard to other bacteria and its genome analysis to understand the presence of tRNA, transposons, and insertion elements for horizontal gene transfer. LmTDRM database is a new comprehensive web-based database on thiol proteins and their functions. It includes: Description, Search, TDRM analysis, and genome viewer. The quality of these data has been evaluated before they were aggregated to produce a final representation. The web interface allows for various queries to understand the protein function and their annotation with respect to their relationship with other bacteria. LmTDRM is a major step towards the development of databases on thiol disulphide redox proteins; it would definitely help researchers to understand the mechanism of these proteins and their interaction. Database URL: www.lmtdrm. com
Redistribution of 125I-Insulin on the Surface of Rat Hepatocytes as a Function of Dissociation Time

In the present experiments, we have correlated the distribution of 125I-insulin on the surface of rat hepatocytes with the dissociation of 125I-insulin from the cell. When 125I-insulin interacts with isolated rat hepatocytes at 15°C, an increasing proportion of the bound ligand becomes nondissociable under the influence of acid pH (6.0), trypsin (0.5 mg/ml), or an excess of unlabeled insulin (10−6 M). Under these conditions, only a small percentage of the labeled material is internalized as determined by quantitative electron microscope (EM) autoradiography. This progressive nondissociability of the ligand parallels its movement from microvilli to coated pits and its progressive concentration in these later surface specializations. These data suggest that receptors in different domains of the plasma membrane may have different dissociation rates for the ligand.
EnhanceMicroalgae: An European Interregional Project Stimulating Research, Innovation, Industrial Development and Transnational Cooperation within the Atlantic Area Microalgae Sector

Although microalgae comprise an estimated number of 30,000 to 1,000,000 species, few are grown commercially. This natural resource offers great industrial potential, exploiting its chemical composition or biotechnological potential through growth manipulations. At the same time, this complexity can overwhelm enterprises entering this sector due to the great number of variables affecting economic and environmental viability. The strategic objective of the INTERREG Atlantic Area EnhanceMicroalgae project EAPA_338/2016 (2017-2020) is to create a network of European scientific and industrial partners to stimulate innovation and competitiveness of the European Atlantic Area in high technology sectors related to microalgae (in particular pharma, food and nutraceuticals). The work program includes an in-depth review of the existing Atlantic Area microalgae sector (strengths and weaknesses, level of expertise, industrial development opportunities, regulatory and legal frameworks), innovative research activities and innovation transfer from laboratories/ research platforms to the industrial sector to promote the emergence of new products, services and processes. The EnhanceMicroalgae consortium offers a wide range of skills and interests, with strong track records for research, production and exploitation of microalgae throughout the Atlantic Area.
Phase I clinical study with 8-chloro-cAMP and evaluation of immunological effects in cancer patients

The site-selective cyclic AMP analogue 8-chloro-cAMP (8-Cl-cAMP) is able to inhibit the growth of a wide variety of cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo. 8-Cl-cAMP has been extensively investigated as a new potential anticancer agent and, more recently, preclinical Phase I studies have been conducted in animal models to study its toxicity. We have conducted the first Phase I trial with 8-Cl-cAMP to define the maximum tolerated dose, toxicity, plasma drug levels, and immunological effects in patients with cancers refractory to standard treatments. We have administered 36 courses of 8-Cl-cAMP to 17 patients by continous i.v. infusion of the drug for 5 days/week for 2 weeks followed by a 1-week rest period. Six increasing dose levels, from 0.01 to 0.25 mg/kg/h, were explored. Drug plasma levels were determined and the expression of interleukin 2 receptor alpha amount of natural killer cells, and cytolytic activity against K562 cells were measured in peripheral blood lymphocytes. A grade 4 and a grade 3 increase in serum creatinine and a grade 2 increase in blood urea nitrogen observed in two patients were the dose-limiting toxicity. The maximum tolerated dose (0.2 mg/kg/h) determined a grade 1 increase in serum creatinine. An increase in calcium levels was observed in several patients. The 8-Cl-cAMP plasma concentrations obtained at the steady state were in the range previously shown to be effective for cancer cell growth inhibition in vitro. Interleukin 2 receptor alpha expression, natural killer cell number, and cytolytic activity from peripheral blood lymphocytes were markedly increased after 8-Cl-cAMP administration at all dose levels. In conclusion, at doses below the maximum tolerated dose, 8-Cl-cAMP was not toxic but reached plasma concentrations in the potential therapeutic range for growth inhibition. Moreover, 8-Cl-cAMP determined a marked biomodulatory effect and showed antitumor activity.
Organic amorphous fluoropolymer membrane for variable optical attenuator applications

The paper describes the design, fabrication and testing of a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) variable optical attenuator (VOA) made from an organic fluoropolymer thin film. The optical attenuation is achieved by changing the radius of curvature of the organic thin film by actuating a pneumatic force. The size of the organic polymer membrane is 4 mm × 4 mm and the measured centre displacement of the organic membrane is as large as 57 µm without any plastic deformation. The mechanical deformation of the fluoropolymer membrane can be simulated by finite element method (FEM) and the optical coupling efficiency is calculated based on the coherent optical transfer function (OTF) of the deformed membrane. The experimental results show that the attenuation range can achieve 25 dB at the wavelength of 1550 nm, which agrees well with the theoretical calculation. The measured wavelength dependence loss is less than 0.5 dB.
The effect of bevacizumab on tumour growth of malignant fibrous histiocytoma in an animal model.

BACKGROUND Bevacizumab is a specific inhibitor of angiogenesis and a neutralising antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The effect of bevacizumab was evaluated on malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) in vivo using an animal model. MATERIALS AND METHODS MFH cell line, NaraH, was implanted to athymic nude mice which were randomly divided into a treatment and a control group. The change in body weight and tumour volume were evaluated and immunohistochemical analysis was performed of microvessel density (MVD) and VEGF expression in the tumour tissue. RESULTS Bevacizumab significantly induced inhibition of tumour growth, reducing tumour volume to 48% at the end of experiment. Intratumoural MVD was significantly decreased in the bevacizumab treatment group compared to the control group. A positive correlation was found between tumour volume and MVD. CONCLUSION Bevacizumab suppressed MFH tumour growth by inhibiting tumoural angiogenesis. The current study suggests that bevacizumab may be a novel therapeutic agent for MFH.
Business Models Innovation and Venture Capital Intention of Technology Entrepreneurship Projects: Inverted U-moderating Role of Technological Innovation

This paper obtains relevant data set of 199 technology entrepreneurship projects from China domestic entrepreneurial reality show, and empirically analyzes the impact of business model innovation on venture capital intention and the moderating role that technological innovation plays between them in the process of technology entrepreneurship projects financing. The study found that: technological innovation plays an inverted Umoderating role in the relationship between business model innovation and venture capital intention.
Sympatho‐Adrenal Activity in Different Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy: A short review

Abstract. The sympathetic nervous system is involved in blood pressure regulation in normal and hypertensive man via postganglionic nerve transmission mediated by norepinephrine, acting mainly on the α‐receptor to cause vaso‐constriction, and also via adrenomedullary secretion by epinephrine, acting mainly on the β‐receptors which will give rise to increased cardiac output and vasodilation in the muscular beds. Conflicting results regarding the role of the sympathoadrenal system in hypertension of pregnancy have been reported. This may be attributed partly to the varying methods that have been used to study this system. Specific measurement of the the activity of the sympathetic nerves is difficult, although direct recording of their activity has been performed (15). At present, plasma norepinephrine is considered to be an index of sympathoneural activity, reflecting the rate of release at the postganglionic nerve endings (5, 11) and plasma epinephrine is considered to be a marker of adrenal activity, since it is derived almost exclusively from the adrenal glands (5).
A novel gate boosting circuit for 2-phase high voltage CMOS charge pump

A novel gate boosting circuit is proposed for general switched-capacitor charge pump. The proposed circuit only requires two small transistors to generate the necessary driving signal from a clock signal that swings between 0V to VDD for closing and opening the charge transfer switches in the charge pump. As a result, the proposed gate boosting circuit reduces the design complexity and silicon area. Moreover, the regular structure eases the layout and increases the reliability of the implemented charge pump. A 3× Makowski charge pump implemented by the proposed gate boosting element is simulated. An output voltage closed to the ideal one shows that the proposed gate boosting circuit is suitable to be used in designing high efficiency charge pumps.
Progress Report on the Early-Career Research Project : Energy-Efficient Parallel Graph and Data Mining Algorithms

Data are fundamental sources of insight for experimental and computational sciences. The Department of Energy acknowledges the challenges posed by fast-growing scientific data sets and more complex data. The graph abstraction provides a natural way to represent relationships among complex fast-growing scientific data sets. On future exascale systems, power consumption is of primary concern yet existing graph algorithms consume too much energy per useful operation due to their high communication costs, lack of locality, and inability to exploit hierarchy. This project explores methods to increase the energy efficiency of parallel graph algorithms and data mining tasks. A new family of algorithms will be developed to drastically reduce the energy footprint and running time of the graph and sparse matrix computations that form the basis of various data mining techniques. This project will also exploit the well-known duality between graph and sparse matrices to develop communication-avoiding graph algorithms that consume significantly less power. This project is relevant to DOE mission-critical science including bioinformatics and genomics with particular emphasis on plant genomics that can result in better biofuels through efficient genetic mapping, climate science where recent graph-based methods show increased accuracy in hurricane predictions, and combustion science where graph search techniques are used to analyze extreme-scale simulation data.
Prevalence of Listeria species in raw milk from farm bulk tanks in Nagano prefecture.

Raw milk samples from bulk tanks of a total of 943 farms, which corresponded to approximately 60% of all dairy farms in Nagano Prefecture were examined for Listeria species between December 1990 and April 1991. Listeria spp. were isolated from 29 (3.1%) of 943 milk specimens. In the southern, central, eastern and northern areas of the prefecture, Listeria spp. were isolated from 6.1% (22/362), 1.5% (4/272), 1.4% (2/143) and 0.6% (1/166) of samples, respectively. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from three (0.3%) bulk tanks in the southern area: two of the strains isolated from two different farm bulk tanks were serovar 4b, and the other one was 1/2a. Besides, between February 1991 and January 1992, 504 samples of raw milk from farm bulk tanks were collected nine times from 56 farms in the southern area, where the prevalence of Listeria spp. was the highest, and examined for the seasonal variation in the presence of Listeria spp. The prevalence of Listeria spp. was higher in spring (14.3%) than in autumn (4.8%). The 56 farms were divided into three groups according to the prevalence of Listeria spp. , namely, three farms in Group 1 gave a high contamination rate (50% < or =), 14 farms in Group 2 a low contamination rate and the remaining 39 farms in Group 3 no recovering of Listeria spp. Sixteen strains of L. monocytogenes serovar 4b were isolated from four farms.
Evaluation of MR cisternography in diagnosis of cerebrospinal fluid fistula.

PURPOSE To study the clinical usefulness and sensitivity of MR cisternography as noninvasive study in the diagnosis of CSF fistula in patients with clinical diagnosis CSF rhinorrhea or otorrhea. METHOD Thirty-five patients with clinically diagnosed CSF leakage were examined for site of dural tear with MR cisternography with additional plain high-resolution CT in some cases from Jan. 1999 to Dec.2002. The MR imaging technique was performed as a heavily T2 weighted fast spin echo study with fat suppression in axial, coronal and sagittal projections. Criteria for positive results were demonstrable fistular tract connecting subarachnoid space to paranasal sinus/petrous bone, and/or dural discontinuity, and/or bone defect with pneumocephalus, and/or presence of brain herniation. Eighteen of the patients subsequently had exploratory surgery for fistula. Sensitivity analysis of the surgical results was compared with the findings at MR cisternography. RESULT MR cisternography showed significant correlation with surgical findings with sensitivity of 89%. Additional high resolution CT were complete agreement with site of fistular tract. The pathogenesis of CSF leakage was related to trauma (86%). The commonly found dural/bony defect and location of connecting fislular tract were cribriform plate and ethmoid sinus of 58%, 55% respectively. CONCLUSION In the presence of clinically diagnosed CSF leakage, the combination of MR cisternography and plain high-resolution CT are highly accurate in locating the site and extent of CSF fistula and should be considered a viable noninvasive alternative to CT cisternography and Tc-99m-DTPA cisternography.
A rare repigmentation pattern in a vitiligo patient: a clue to an epidermal stem‐cell reservoir of melanocytes?

dema, morphoea and fibromatosis. NSF is a rare, acquired, chronic, progressive skin eruption of unknown cause, often affecting patients receiving dialysis for renal failure. It was first described by Cowper et al. as scleromyxoedema-like cutaneous disease in patients on renal-dialysis. Most cases of NSF have been reported in Europe and in the USA, and it was not reported in the Chinese population until July 2007. To our knowledge, our patient is only the second case of NFD in a Chinese patient.
On Approximating Strongly Dispersion-Managed Solitons

We use a generalized scaling invariance of the dispersion-managed nonlinear Schrodinger equation to derive an approximate function for strongly dispersionmanaged solitons. We then analyze the regime in which the approximation is valid. Finally, we present a method for extracting the underlying soliton part from a noisy pulse, using the resulting approximate formula. PACS: 42.65. Tg, 42.65. Sf
The Study of Mixed Storage Scheme of Private Cloud Platform Based on Ceph

Ceph is a unique unified system that supports object storage, block storage, and file storage with the characteristic of high available, manageable, and free. To build a distributed storage system based on Ceph in a private cloud environment with a high level of data privacy, it can support object storage, block storage, and file storage simultaneously. Ceph FS and MDS in the current community version are friendlier to ecological environment of OpenStack. However, community versions of Ceph have many problems with their actual use. This article discusses a hybrid storage solution that can be used in a real environment. Based on Ceph's original framework, it adds some extensions to make the native Ceph more suitable for the enterprise's production environment. There is a very attractive solution by using Ceph as a back-end storage for a private cloud platform whether consider about cost and business considerations.
Reconfigurable patch antenna for wireless applications

This paper presents a new reconfigurable microstrip feed patch antenna. The reconfigurability allows the antenna to carry communications over different WLAN band frequencies (2.4 GHz, 3.6 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.9 GHz). It mainly consists of microstrip feed-line and a circular radiating element that is divided into three patches, which are being reconfigured / switched, by the use of silicon PIN diodes. PIN diodes are chosen for achieving reconfigurability as being more practical due to their high switching capabilities. A DC bias tee is used to control the PIN diodes. A prototype of the antenna was manufactured and tested to verify the results.
Transplantation of bone marrow as compared with peripheral-blood cells from HLA-identical relatives in patients with hematologic cancers.

BACKGROUND In recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic-cell transplants, peripheral-blood cells mobilized with the use of filgrastim (recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) engraft more rapidly than bone marrow. However, the relative effects of these techniques on the rates of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease, overall survival, and disease-free survival have not been determined in randomized studies. METHODS Between March 1996 and July 1999, 172 patients (12 to 55 years of age) with hematologic cancer were randomly assigned to receive either bone marrow or filgrastim-mobilized peripheral-blood cells from HLA-identical relatives for hematopoietic rescue after the treatment of hematologic cancer with high doses of chemotherapy, with or without radiation. RESULTS The recovery of both neutrophils and platelets was faster with peripheral-blood cells than with marrow (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The cumulative incidence of grade II, III, or IV acute graft-versus-host disease at 100 days was 64 percent with peripheral-blood cells and 57 percent with marrow (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.81; P=0.35). The cumulative incidence of chronic graft-versus-host disease was 46 percent with peripheral-blood cells and 35 percent with marrow (hazard ratio, 1.16; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.71 to 1.90; P=0.54). The estimated overall probability of survival at two years was 66 percent with peripheral-blood cells and 54 percent with marrow (hazard ratio for death, 0.62; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.38 to 1.02; P=0.06). The rate of disease-free survival at two years was 65 percent with peripheral-blood cells and 45 percent with marrow (hazard ratio for relapse or death, 0.60; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.38 to 0.95; P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS In patients given high-dose chemotherapy, with or without radiation, for the treatment of hematologic cancer, allogeneic peripheral-blood cells used for hematopoietic rescue restore blood counts faster than allogeneic bone marrow, without increasing the risk of graft-versus-host disease.
Characterization of Opioid Receptor Subtypes in Solution

Abstract: Stable opioid receptor binding activity that retains distinct subtype specificities (μ, 6, and K) has been obtained in high yields in digitonin extracts of rat brain membranes that had been preincubated with Mg2+ prior to solubilization. The dependence on Mg2+ ions for receptor activity is also expressed in the soluble state, where the presence of Mg2+ leads to high‐affinity and high‐capacity opioid peptide binding to the δ, μ, and K sites (the latter subtype measured by the binding of [3H]dynorphin1–8). Binding of opiate alkaloids to soluble receptor sites is less dependent on Mg2+ than is opioid peptide binding. Soluble opioid binding activity shows the same sensitivity to Na+ ions and guanine nucleotides as the membrane‐bound receptor. The ligand‐receptor interactions give evidence of strong positive cooperativity, which is interpreted in terms of association‐dissociation of receptor subunits on ligand binding in solution. Binding of enkephalin peptides is associated with the large macromolecules present (apparent Stokes radii > 60 Å), whereas both those and several small species present (< 60 Å) bind opiate alkaloids and dynorphin1–8.