Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Western immunoblotting analysis of the antibody responses of patients with human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis to different strains of Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia canis

In order to evaluate the relative sensitivity of the detection of antibodies against various antigenic proteins of Ehrlichia chaffeensis for the diagnosis of the emerging infectious disease human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis, Western immunoblotting was performed with 27 serum samples from convalescent patients with antibodies, as demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence assay. Among 22 patients with antibodies reactive with the 120-kDa protein, 15 showed reactivity with the 29/28-kDa protein(s) and the proteins in the 44- to 88-kDa range. Two of the serum samples with this pattern reacted with the 29/28-kDa protein(s) of only the 91HE17 strain, and one sample reacted with only that of the Arkansas strain, indicating that the antibodies were stimulated by strain-specific epitopes. Overall, antibodies to the 29/28-kDa protein(s) were detected in only 16 patients' sera, suggesting that this protein is less sensitive than the 120-kDa protein. Two of 12 serum samples from healthy blood donors had antibodies reactive with the 120-kDa protein; one of these samples reacted also with the 29/28-kDa protein(s) of Ehrlichia canis, suggesting that unrecognized ehrlichial infection might have occurred, including human infection with E. canis. A high correlation between reactivity with the 120-kDa protein by Western immunoblotting and the recombinant 120-kDa protein by dot blot supports the potential usefulness of this recombinant antigen in diagnostic serology.
Effects of low dietary energy, with low and normal protein levels, on broiler performance and production characteristics

px; "> normal or narrow metabolizable energy to crude protein ratios (ME:CP) on performance,carcass characteristics, body composition and blood parameters in broilers fed from 1 to 42days of age. The chicks were divided into 7 groups. The birds were fed starter & grower diets.Seven experimental diets were formulated in each phase; one control and 6 tested diets. Thecontrol diet was formulated according to the NRC of poultry (1994) and the other six dietsfed three different levels of low energy diets (2900, 2700 & 2500 kcal/kg; one level for each 2groups). The first three tested groups named ''normal calorie-protein ratio” groups in whichthe CP decreased in proportion to the decrease in ME, keeping the normal NRC ratio. In thesecond three tested groups, termed “narrow calorie-protein ratio” groups, the dietaryprotein was kept at the NRC levels leading to ratios narrower than that of the NRC. Resultsshowed that chicks fed low ME diets with normal energy to protein ratio had lower bodyweight and feed utilization efficiency than the chicks fed the control diets. While, birds fedthe low ME diets with normal protein NRC-levels and narrow ratios had nearly equal weightand feed conversion to the control. The body composition and carcass characteristics werenot affected by the dietary treatments. Moreover, the blood parameters had no significantvariations among the groups, except for total protein, ALT and AST which had an increasedresponse to decreased dietary energy density. In conclusion, decreasing the dietary ME levelwithout decreasing the crude protein level was more efficient economically and had no anyadverse effect on the performance. However, decreasing of dietary ME with normal ME:CPratio resulted in decreased performance and low economic efficiency.
A Modified Bat Algorithm for Power Loss Reduction in Electrical Distribution System

Losses on Electric Distribution System lines represent a major challenge for electric distribution companies since those losses refer to the amount of electricity injected into the distribution grids that are not paid by users. Network Optimization by system reconfiguration is one of the solutions among many others used to solve this problem. In this paper a modified version of new Meta Heuristic algorithm based on Bat behavior is proposed to find the best system configuration with a low loss rate, we present two different approaches: reduction of search space and introduction of sigmoid function to fit the algorithm to the problem. The main advantages of the proposed methodology are: easy implementation and less computational efforts to find an optimal solution. To demonstrate its efficiency the proposed scheme is tested on 33 Bus distribution system and the results show loss reduction rate of 33%. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v14i1. 7629
Fibroblast growth factor: Structural and biological properties

Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and acidic FGF are two closely related peptides that are multifunctional. They control proliferation, differentiation, and various other cellular functions in cells derived from the mesoderm and the neuroectoderm. The structural properties, genomic organization, and biological functions of both peptides in vitro or in vivo are reviewed. Their marked ability to enhance formation of connective tissue and vascular capillaries, as well as their involvement in limb regeneration, suggest several possible therapeutic applications.
Thoughts on the validity of a New QAly Estimator

of life measurements. Stated preference methods have a structured and quantitative approach consistent with theory and can consider attributes related to both processes and outcomes. One study examining patient preferences in Crohn’s disease treatments found patients were more willing to accept higher side effects for improved outcomes [4]. This kind of information can have huge impacts on utilization, especially when trying to encourage preventative care. Dr. Deborah Marshall cited her colorectal screening study from Canada, which showed that screening uptake would increase if all testing modalities were offered to patients instead of one alternative [5]. In a separate study, she also illustrated how providers’ and patients’ preferences differ for colorectal screening tests. Patients were willing to pay somewhere between 1.5 and 4 times more for colorectal cancer screenings and were more concerned with test accuracy than physicians expected [6]. Dr. Marshall argued that if we want to maximize up-take of appropriate health care interventions, we need to better understand the choices patients make with stated-preference studies like these. These methods can also allow researchers to measure the rates of substitution between various attributes of a treatment process and calculate patients’ maximum acceptable risk or willingness-to-pay.
Defects in the barrier

more successful (8) but still predicted 16 transmembranous strands instead of 18. This model raises interesting questions. How does the helical path work? How do other sugars that appear to rely on LamB for growth in limiting conditions (13) diffuse? How would a filter work? Is it an early weak binding site? The notion that the general porins may generate a local electric field near the channel constriction, sufficient to orient small hydrophilic molecules and repel hydrophobic ones (2), suggests that there is only a quantitative difference between binding sites and filters. What is the role of the umbrella? Does it protect the channel and binding site from noxious agents or from phages (the loops of the umbrella are the parts of LamB that are the most variable between bacterial species)? Do the loops move in vivo and thus contribute to the motion of the sugar? Is there a structural connection between LamB and other components of the maltose transport system? What exactly is the phage receptor-a binding site for the phage or an accessibility gate to the real, possibly yet undetected, binding site (14)? How does this fast, tight interaction succeed in firmly attaching two large structures such as a bacteria and a phage? Is there a relation between the pathway followed by the phage DNA upon infection and LamB organization? As usual, a nice achievement in science provides at least as many questions as answers.
Recompression effects in iris segmentation

Rating a compression algorithm's performance is usually done in experimental studies, where researchers have frequently used JPEG pre-compressed data. It is not clear yet, whether results of such compression experiments are reliable if conducted from pre-compressed data. To investigate this issue, we study the impact of using pre-compressed data on iris segmentation and evaluate the relation between iris segmentation performance and general quality metrics. Furthermore we propose a method to overcome potential problems in case using pre-compressed data sets cannot be avoided, e.g. for reasons of ground-truth availability.
Suppression Subtractive Hybridization Identifies High Glucose Levels as a Stimulus for Expression of Connective Tissue Growth Factor and Other Genes in Human Mesangial Cells*

Accumulation of mesangial matrix is a pivotal event in the pathophysiology of diabetic nephropathy. The molecular triggers for matrix production are still being defined. Here, suppression subtractive hybridization identified 15 genes differentially induced when primary human mesangial cells are exposed to high glucose (30 mm versus 5 mm) in vitro. These genes included (a) known regulators of mesangial cell activation in diabetic nephropathy (fibronectin, caldesmon, thrombospondin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1), (b) novel genes, and (c) known genes whose induction by high glucose has not been reported. Prominent among the latter were genes encoding cytoskeleton-associated proteins and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a modulator of fibroblast matrix production. In parallel experiments, elevated CTGF mRNA levels were demonstrated in glomeruli of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy. Mannitol provoked less mesangial cell CTGF expression in vitro than high glucose, excluding hyperosmolality as the key stimulus. The addition of recombinant CTGF to cultured mesangial cells enhanced expression of extracellular matrix proteins. High glucose stimulated expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and addition of TGF-β1 to mesangial cells triggered CTGF expression. CTGF expression induced by high glucose was partially suppressed by anti-TGF-β1 antibody and by the protein kinase C inhibitor GF 109203X. Together, these data suggest that 1) high glucose stimulates mesangial CTGF expression by TGFβ1-dependent and protein kinase C dependent pathways, and 2) CTGF may be a mediator of TGFβ1-driven matrix production within a diabetic milieu.
Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers: An Overview

Transdermal drug delivery is the controlled release of drugs through the skin to obtain therapeutic levels systematically. Several technological advances have been made in the recent decades to enhance percutaneous drug penetration. This overview focuses on the physical, biochemical, and chemical means of penetration enhancement, as well as the classification and mechanisms of chemical penetration enhancers, their application in transdermal drug delivery, and trends and development in penetration enhancement.
Structure-Based Object Classification and Recognition for 3D Scenes in Point Clouds

Scene understanding is a critical issue in the advances of intelligent space. Given a 3D point cloud captured for a static scene by laser scanning, we propose a structure-based scene representation and object recognition method. Our method consists of three steps: (1) the scene is segmented and all of the segmented objects in scanned scene are described respectively by features, including size, location, shape, relationship and constraints between multiple-objects which make it easier to construct the logic representation of geometric and semantic features in scene. (2) Those features are represented by first-order logic and corresponding inference rules are designed to different objects, which could provide prior knowledge for scene understanding and recognition. (3) Then concrete knowledge reasoning rules is used to realize objects recognition including scene structure and details of single objects. Experimental results have shown that our proposed method is simple and effective, and can be applied to different outdoor scenes.
Multicenter study of decitabine administered daily for 5 days every 4 weeks to adults with myelodysplastic syndromes: the alternative dosing for outpatient treatment (ADOPT) trial.

PURPOSE Decitabine, a DNA-targeted hypomethylating agent, is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) on a schedule of 15 mg/m(2) administered via intravenous (IV) infusion every 8 hours for 3 days. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of an alternative dosing regimen administered on an outpatient basis in academic and community-based practices. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were treated with decitabine 20 mg/m(2) by IV infusion daily for 5 consecutive days every 4 weeks. Eligible patients were > or = 18 years of age and had MDS (de novo or secondary) of any French-American-British (FAB) subtype and an International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score > or = 0.5. The primary end point was the overall response rate (ORR) by International Working Group (IWG 2006) criteria; secondary end points included cytogenetic responses, hematologic improvement (HI), response duration, survival, and safety. RESULTS Ninety-nine patients were enrolled; the ORR was 32% (17 complete responses [CR] plus 15 marrow CRs [mCRs]), and the overall improvement rate was 51%, which included 18% HI. Similar response rates were observed in all FAB subtypes and IPSS risk categories. Among patients who improved, 82% demonstrated responses by the end of cycle 2. Among 33 patients assessable for a cytogenetic response, 17 (52%) experienced cytogenetic CR (n = 11) or partial response (n = 6). CONCLUSION Decitabine given on a 5-day schedule provided meaningful clinical benefit for patients with MDS, with more than half demonstrating improvement. This suggests that decitabine can be administered in an outpatient setting with comparable efficacy and safety to the United States Food and Drug Administration-approved inpatient regimen.
Incidence and follow‐up of asymptomatic multiple myeloma.

Abstract: During a general population follow‐up study in Health Region I in Norway, 162 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) were diagnosed. 71 of these (44%) were asymptomatic, and were observed without chemotherapy. The great majority (90%) were in stage I, and there were only 2 with light chain disease. 45 of the 71 asymptomatic patients developed progressive disease during the 4–5 year follow‐up period. Estimated median time to disease progression was 26 months. The presence at diagnosis of osteolytic lesions and/or at least 20% plasma cells in the bone marrow defined a group with significantly shorter time to progression (median 10 vs 39 months). Median survival from diagnosis for the asymptomatic patients was 45 months, which is significantly longer than the 26 months of the symptomatic group. However, when estimated from the start of treatment, the survival was similar for the two groups.
Search for Hepatitis C Virus Negative-Strand RNA Sequences and Analysis of Viral Sequences in the Central Nervous System: Evidence of Replication

ABSTRACT Patients with chronic hepatitis C are more likely to have significant changes in their physical and mental well-being than patients with liver disease of other etiology, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been occasionally implicated in diseases of the central nervous system. We analyzed the presence of the HCV negative-strand RNA sequence, which is the viral replicative intermediary, in autopsy brain tissue samples from six HCV-infected patients. Negative-strand HCV RNA was searched for by a strand-specific Tth-based reverse transcriptase PCR, and viral sequences amplified from brain tissue and serum were compared by single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis and direct sequencing. HCV RNA negative strands were detected in brain tissue in three patients. In two of these patients, serum- and brain-derived viral sequences were different and classified as belonging to different genotypes. In one of the latter patients, HCV RNA negative strands were detected in lymph node and, while being different from serum-derived sequences, were identical to those present in the brain. The results of the present study suggest that HCV can replicate in the central nervous system, probably in cells of the macrophage/monocyte lineage.
Ergonomie et sociologie du travail: de quelques fausses similarités, gros malentendus et vrais terrains d'entente

Dans un retour sur son experience personnelle, Anni Borzeix evoque les apports et les limites d'une cooperation entre ergonomes et sociologues a laquelle elle a participe. Elle analyse les obstacles rencontres, les motifs d'incomprehension mutuelle tant au niveau theorique, que methodologique, et le nouveau terrain commun que constitue l'activite, objet d'etude de l'ergonomie, a partir de l'etude de la « part langagiere du travail ». Celle-ci constitue une matiere privilegiee pour analyser le travail collectif et les nouvelles formes de cooperation dans le travail
Advertising's Effect on the Product Evolutionary Cycle

Criticism of the product life cycle (PLC) concept centers on problems with theory, empirical validation, and practical use. The product evolutionary cycle (PEC), an alternative concept based on the field of biology, has been suggested to provide a more complete picture of the effects of marketing mix and competition on product sales. The authors assess the PEC framework empirically in the U.S. cigarette industry. Advertising-sales causation is tested on three levels of segment competition: (1) individual brand, (2) intracategory, and (3) intercategory. The findings indicate that more distantly related “organisms” compete as well as those closely related in terms of background. Specifically, the authors demonstrate a gradual but marked decrease in the effect of advertising on sales as products with more distant lineage coexist and compete. The PEC is demonstrated to be an information-laden framework to use in making marketing mix decisions.
Erwerbsbeteiligung und ErwerbsintensitÃ¤t Ã„lterer in Deutschland vor und nach dem Renteneintritt

Dieses Papier untersucht die Erwerbsneigung im Rentenalter in Deutschland sowohl von Personen, die ihr Rentenalter noch nicht erreicht haben, als auch von Individuen, die sich bereits im Ruhestand befinden und ein Alterseinkommen beziehen. Der als flexibel gedachte Ausstieg vor Erreichen der Regelaltersgrenze ist recht populA¤r, findet aber mit A¼ber 400.000 Inanspruchnahmen zurzeit fast ausschlieAŸlich in Form der Altersteilzeit statt und diese wiederum zu 90% im Blockmodell. Teilrente nutzen dagegen lediglich 1.600 Personen. Ein gradueller Aœbergang in den Ruhestand findet also im Wesentlichen nur auf dem Papier statt. Die Kombination von Erwerbs- und Renteneinkommen nach Erreichen der Regelaltersgrenze ist hingegen trotz groAŸer FlexibilitA¤t recht unpopulA¤r. Dies mag vor allem an den starren Regelungen vor der Regelaltersgrenze liegen, da einmal getroffene Entscheidungen, in diesem Altersfenster aus dem Erwerbsleben auszuscheiden, in aller Regel nicht revidiert werden. Um ein genaueres Bild darA¼ber zu erhalten, wer welche FlexibilisierungsmA¶glichkeiten wA¤hlt, werten wir die am MEA koordinierten DatensA¤tze SHARE und SAVE aus. Bei groAŸer HeterogenitA¤t dominieren tendenziell persA¶nliche GrA¼nde die rein finanziellen Motive fA¼r eine ErwerbstA¤tigkeit im Ruhestand.
Communication : A full solution of the annihilation reaction A + B → ∅ based on time-subordination

The connection between the governing equations of chemical reaction and the underlying stochastic processes of particle collision and transformation have been developed previously along two end-member conditions: perfectly mixed and maximally diffusion-limited. The complete governing equation recognizes that in the perfectly mixed case, the particle (i.e., molecular or macro-particle) number state evolution is Markovian, but that spatial self-organization of reactants decreases the probability of reactant pairs finding themselves co-located. This decreased probability manifests itself as a subordination of the clock time: as reactant concentrations become spatially variable (unmixed), the time required for reactants to find each other increases and the random operational time that particles spend in the active reaction process is less than the clock time. For example, in the system A + B → ∅, a simple approximate calculation for the return time of a Brownian motion to a moving boundary allows a calculation of the operational time density, and the total solution is a subordination integral of the perfectly-mixed solution with a modified inverse Gaussian subordinator. The system transitions from the well-mixed solution to the asymptotic diffusion-limited solution that decays as t−d/4 in d-dimensions. © 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi. org/10.1063/1.4800799]
Caspase Activation of Mammalian Sterile 20-like Kinase 3 (Mst3)

Mammalian Sterile 20-like kinase 3 (Mst3), the physiological functions of which are unknown, is a member of the germinal center kinase-III family. It contains a conserved kinase domain at its NH2 terminus, whereas there is a regulatory domain at its COOH terminus. In this study we demonstrate that endogenous Mst3 is specifically cleaved when Jurkat cells were treated with anti-Fas antibody or staurosporine and that this cleavage is inhibited by the caspase inhibitor, Ac-DEVD-CHO. Using apoptotic Jurkat cell extracts and recombinant caspases, we mapped the caspase cleavage site, AETD313, which is at the junction of the NH2-terminal kinase domain and the COOH-terminal regulatory domain. Caspase-mediated cleavage of Mst3 activates its intrinsic kinase activity, suggesting that the COOH-terminal domain of Mst3 negatively regulates the kinase domain. Furthermore, proteolytic removal of the Mst3 COOH-terminal domain by caspases promotes nuclear translocation. Ectopic expression of either wild-type or COOH-terminal truncated Mst3 in cells results in DNA fragmentation and morphological changes characteristic of apoptosis. By contrast, no such changes were exhibited for catalytically inactive Mst3, implicating the involvement of Mst3 kinase activity for mediation of these effects. Collectively, these results support the notion that caspase-mediated proteolytic activation of Mst3 contributes to apoptosis.
Enzyme replacement therapy in fibroblasts from a patient with cholesteryl ester storage disease

Enzyme replacement has long been considered only a remote possibility in the treatment of a wide range of genetic disorders, many manifested as lysosomal storage diseases. The complexity of having a particular enzyme gain access to the lysosomal compartment in a specific cell seemed insurmountable. We report here on an attempt to introduce the enzyme cholesteryl esterase into fibroblasts from a patient with cholesteryl ester storage disease (CESD). The enzyme gains access to the lysosomal compartment and the accumulating cholesteryl ester by virtue of being carried into the cell conjugated to a ligand (insulin or apoprotein B [apoB]) that binds to its own specific receptor and is internalized by the well‐described process of receptor‐mediated endocytosis. Regardless of whether the enzyme enters the cell via the insulin receptor or via the low‐density lipoprotein (ApoB) receptor, it can be found associated with a lysosomal fraction and is effective in lowering levels of accumulated substrate, cholesteryl ester. The time course of the substrate degradation and the dependence on the receptor density and receptor‐ligand interaction indicate that the enzyme is simply being carried to the site of substrate accumulation by virtue of the fact that that is the destination of the ligand (along with its conjugated enzyme) following internalization. — Poznansky, M. J.; Hutchison, S. K. ; Davis, P. J. Enzyme replacement therapy in fibroblasts from a patient with cholesteryl ester storage disease. FASEB J. 3: 152‐156; 1989.