Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Phospho enol pyruvate Carboxylase Phosphorylation by Metabolites and Abscisic Acid during the Development and Germination of Barley Seeds 1 [ C ]

During barley (Hordeum vulgare) seed development, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity increased and PEPCspecific antibodies revealed housekeeping (103-kD) and inducible (108-kD) subunits. Bacterial-type PEPC fragments were immunologically detected in denatured protein extracts from dry and imbibed conditions; however, on nondenaturing gels, the activity of the recently reported octameric PEPC (in castor [Ricinus communis] oil seeds) was not detected. The phosphorylation state of the PEPC, as judged by L-malate 50% inhibition of initial activity values, phosphoprotein chromatography, and immunodetection of the phosphorylated N terminus, was found to be high between 8 and 18 d postanthesis (DPA) and during imbibition. In contrast, the enzyme appeared to be in a low phosphorylation state from 20 DPA up to dry seed. The time course of 32/36-kD, Ca-independent PEPC kinase activity exhibited a substantial increase after 30 DPA that did not coincide with the PEPC phosphorylation profile. This kinase was found to be inhibited by L-malate and not by putative protein inhibitors, and the PEPC phosphorylation status correlated with high glucose-6-phosphate to malate ratios, thereby suggesting an in vivo metabolic control of the kinase. PEPC phosphorylation was also regulated by photosynthate supply at 11 DPA. In addition, when fed exogenously to imbibing seeds, abscisic acid significantly increased PEPC kinase activity. This was further enhanced by the cytosolic protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide but blocked by protease inhibitors, thereby suggesting that the phytohormone acts on the stability of the kinase. We propose that a similar abscisic acid-dependent effect may contribute to produce the increase in PEPC kinase activity during desiccation stages.
Vitamin D dependent rickets type II and normal vitamin D receptor cDNA sequence. A cluster in a rural area of Cauca, Colombia, with more than 200 affected children

Vitamin D dependent rickets type II is an autosomal recessive disease caused by the vitamin D defective receptor. More than 200 patients with different types of lower limb deformities were detected in a rural area of the Cauca department in the southwest part of Colombia. Patients were well nourished and in good physical condition in spite of their deformities. None of them presented alopecia, myopathy, seizures or aminoaciduria. Serum analysis showed significantly lower serum calcium as compared to normal relatives, though in the normal low range, normal phosphorus, high alkaline phosphatase, normal 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 and high 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3, indicating target organ resistance. The cDNA analysis showed normal nucleotide sequence. We suggest that our patients represent a distinct form of receptor‐positive resistance to vitamin D. This report is the first extensive study on this class of patients.
Sub-Nyquist collocated MIMO radar in time and space

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar exhibits several advantages with respect to traditional monostatic radar by exploiting transmit waveform diversity. Achieving high resolution requires a large number of transmit and receive antennas. In addition, the digital processing is performed on samples of the received signal at its Nyquist rate, which can be high. Overcoming the rate bottleneck, sub-Nyquist sampling methods have been proposed that break the link between monostatic radar signal bandwidth and sampling rate. In this work, we extend theses methods to MIMO radar and apply the Xampling framework both in the time and spatial domains, achieving reduction in the number of deployed antennas and the number of samples per receiver, without degrading the time and spatial resolutions.
The possible role of antimicrobial proteins in obesity-associated immunologic alterations

Currently, obesity-associated metabolic disturbances are envisioned as chronic inflammatory processes, characterized by activation of both innate and adaptive immunity. Although the features of chronic inflammation in obese subjects are clearly defined, the signals and mechanisms that trigger chronic inflammation are not well understood. Recent studies suggest an imbalance in circulating antimicrobial proteins as a possible cause of obesity-associated metabolic disturbances and insulin resistance. This imbalance promotes a relative failure in the capacity of buffering external insults and might cause the onset of chronic inflammation and immunologic alterations in obesity. Here, we review the current literature on the possible role of circulating antimicrobial proteins in obesity-associated immunologic alterations.
A comparative study of citrate efflux from mitochondria of oleaginous and non-oleaginous yeasts.

Citrate efflux from mitochondria of 10 different yeasts was investigated. 1 Isolated mitochondria of all the yeasts show the possession of a carrier system for dicarboxylic and tricarboxylic anions, phosphate and pyruvate. 2 The tricarboxylate carrier is also specific for l-malate in all 10 yeasts. 3 In citrate-loaded mitochondria, citrate efflux and l-malate uptake are directly proportional to the concentration of extramitochondrial l-malate until the translocator becomes saturated (> 8 mM l-malate in Candida curvata D). 4 Rates of citrate efflux in the presence of l-malate are linear for a period of 2 min and are approximately 2.5-times greater in oleaginous than in non-oleaginous yeasts. 5 The malate-citrate translocator has a significantly lower Km for l-malate in oleaginous yeasts (∼ 4.0 mM) than in non-oleaginous yeasts (∼ 8.4 mM). 6 Both pyruvate and phosphate appear to stimulate the malate-citrate exchange in mitochondria of C. curvata D. 7 Oleginous yeast mitochondria contain 3—4-times higher intramitochondrial citrate levels than non-oleaginous yeast. In all these yeasts the enzymes for synthesis and metabolism of citrate were exclusively mitochondrial, the only exception being the possession of a cytosolic ATP; citrate lyase by oleaginous yeasts. 8 In metabolically active mitochondria, once the malate-citrate carrie is saturated with l-malate, efflux of citrate is directly proportional to the concentration of extramitochondrial pyruvate (as acetyl donor). 9 The rates of efflux of newly synthesised citrate from metabolically active mitochondria, in the presence of saturating l-malate and pyruvate, are 6–8-times greater in oleaginous yeasts and the citric-acid-producing yeast. 10 The inhibition of aconitase by fluorocitrate produced a ninefold increase in citrate efflux from non-oleaginous yeast mitochondria but only a slight increase in oleaginous yeasts. 11 It is concluded that in fully functional yeast mitochondria, citrate efflux is limited by the amount of intra-mitochondrial citrate made available to the citrate translocator for exchange.
Robotic graphics: a new approach to force feedback for virtual reality

A new conceptual solution is presented for the problem of providing force feedback for virtual reality, concentrating on potential CAD/CAM applications. The essential concept is that force feedback is provided by interactions between the human operator and specialized external (as opposed to worn) robots. This is called "robotic graphics" to express the analogy between robots simulating the feel of an object, and graphics displays simulating its appearance. This is illustrated by introducing the derivative concepts of "robotic shape displays" and "roboxels. ". <<ETX>>
Isolation and characterization of cadmium-binding protein from rat testes.

In order to elucidate the nature of the binding of cadmium to rat testis a detailed study of the isolation and characterization of cadmium-binding protein from this organ was undertaken. Cadmium-109 was injected intraperitoneally into rats which were killed after 24 hr. The protein labelled with cadmium-109 was isolated using Sephadex gel filtration with G-75 and G-25. The cadmium bound selectively in vivo to a low molecular weight protein and cadmium-109 remained bound to the cadmium-binding protein at pH 7 but dissociated from it at pH 2. The ultraviolet absorption spectra were characteristically different at the 2 pH values. The molecular weight of the protein was 15000 as determined by Sephadex G-75 gel filtration. Disc-gel electrophoresis showed 1 major and 2 minor bands. All these observations suggest that rat testis cadmium-binding protein though similar in some respects differs from cadmium-binding protein of liver and kidney in absorption spectra molecular weight and disc-gel electrophoresis.
Combination therapy with etanercept and anakinra in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have been treated unsuccessfully with methotrexate.

OBJECTIVE To determine the potential for additive or synergistic effects of combination therapy with the selective anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha agent etanercept and the anti-interleukin-1 agent anakinra. METHODS Two hundred forty-four patients in whom rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was active despite methotrexate therapy were treated with subcutaneous etanercept only (25 mg twice weekly), full-dosage etanercept (25 mg twice weekly) plus anakinra (100 mg/day), or half-dosage etanercept (25 mg once weekly) plus anakinra (100 mg/day) for 6 months in a double-blind study at 41 centers in the US. Patients had never previously received anticytokine therapy. Patient response was measured with the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) core set criteria, a health-related quality-of-life questionnaire, and the Disease Activity Score. Safety was assessed by the number of adverse events and clinical laboratory values. Plasma concentrations of both agents and antibody formation against both agents were also assessed. RESULTS Combination therapy with etanercept plus anakinra provided no treatment benefit over etanercept alone, regardless of the regimen, but was associated with an increased safety risk. Thirty-one percent of the patients treated with full-dosage etanercept plus anakinra achieved an ACR 50% response, compared with 41% of the patients treated with etanercept only. This result was not statistically significant (P = 0.914). The incidence of serious infections (0% for etanercept alone, 3.7-7.4% for combination therapy), injection-site reactions, and neutropenia was increased with combination therapy. Combination therapy had no effect on the pharmacokinetics or immunogenicity of either agent. CONCLUSION Combination therapy with etanercept and anakinra provides no added benefit and an increased risk compared with etanercept alone and is not recommended for the treatment of patients with RA.
Expression of antioxidant defense and poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 in rat developing Sertoli cells

Sertoli cells play an essential role in the development of a functional testis. ROS (reactive oxygen species) are normally produced by the developing testicular cells and may be dangerous to spermatogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the developmental expression of genes involved in antioxidant defense as well as in the DNA damage response in rat Sertoli cells. As revealed by quantitative RT‐PCR analysis, the expression pattern of the antioxidant enzymes GST (glutathione‐S‐transferase), CAT (catalase) and SOD (superoxide dismutase) showed a progressive decrease from birth to puberty. The expression level of the oncosuppressor p53 revealed a net reduction as well. We next focused on PARP‐1 [poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1], a ‘guardian of the genome’ that combats stress conditions. At both the mRNA and protein level, PARP‐1 expression was low at the early stage of development and increased later on. Maximal PARP‐1 expression was preceded by a rise in the transcript level for MTs (metallothioneins), which provide zinc to zinc‐dependent enzymes and proteins, including PARP‐1. Our results showed an increased expression of PARP‐1 during Sertoli cell development, together with a decrease in the expression of antioxidant enzymes. In conclusion, a role of PARP‐1 in protecting the testicular differentiation is suggested.
Network Navigation With Scheduling: Error Evolution

Network navigation is a promising paradigm for providing location awareness in wireless environments, where nodes estimate their locations based on sensor measurements and prior knowledge. In the presence of limited wireless resources, only a subset rather than all of the node pairs can perform inter-node measurements. The procedure of selecting node pairs at different times for inter-node measurements, referred to as network scheduling, affects the evolution of the localization errors. Thus, it is crucial to design efficient scheduling strategies for network navigation. This paper introduces situation-aware scheduling that exploits network states to select measurement pairs, and develops a framework to characterize the effects of scheduling strategies and of network settings on the error evolution. In particular, both sufficient and necessary conditions for the boundedness of the error evolution are provided. Furthermore, opportunistic and random situation-aware scheduling strategies are proposed, and bounds on the corresponding time-averaged network localization errors are derived. These strategies are shown to be optimal in terms of the error scaling with the number of agents. Finally, the reduction of the error scaling by increasing the number of simultaneous measurement pairs is quantified.
Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants: difficult to diagnose and difficult to treat.

Received 29 June 2006; accepted 5 July 2006; electronically published 8 September 2006. Reprints or corespondence: Dr. Pierre Vaudaux, Service of Infectious Diseases, Dept. of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, CH-1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland (Pierre.Vaudaux@hcuge.ch). Clinical Infectious Diseases 2006; 43:968–7
Electron microscopic observation of cytoskeletal frame structures and detection of tubulin on the apical region of Cryptosporidium parvum sporozoites

SUMMARY Cryptosporidium parvum is an intracellular protozoan parasite belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa, and a major cause of waterborne gastroenteritis throughout the world. Invasive zoites of apicomplexan parasites, including C. parvum, are thought to have characteristic organelles on the apical apex; however, compared with other parasites, the cytoskeletal ultrastructure of C. parvum zoites is poorly understood. Thus, in the present study, we ultrastructurally examined C. parvum sporozoites using electron microscopy to clarify the framework of invasive stages. Consequently, at the apical end of sporozoites, 3 apical rings and an electron-dense collar were seen. Two thick central microtubules were seen further inside sporozoites and extended to the posterior region. Using anti-α and -β tubulin antibodies generated from sea urchin and rat brain, both antibodies cross-reacted at the apical region of sporozoites in immunofluorescent morphology. The molecular mass of C. parvum α tubulin antigen was 50 kDa by Western blotting and the observed apical cytoskeletal structures were shown to be composed of α tubulin by immunoelectron microscopy. These results suggested that C. parvum sporozoites were clearly different in their cytoskeletal structure from those of other apicomplexan parasites.
Contributions of Norbert Wiener to communication theory

Information theory, communication theory, detection theory are terms now commonly used by engineers who are concerned with radio or telephone communications, electromagnetic and sonic measurements, seismic measurements, and indeed the transformation, storage and transmittal of data from any source by electronic or mechanical devices. They are terms also used by scientists concerned with the function of the human brain and nervous system, the behavior of small groups of people, the interplay between men and machines, and the behavior of whole societies. Coupled with the study of transmittal of information is the study of use of information in mechanisms, and at least one direction this latter study leads is toward the modern theory of control. Norbert Wiener was interested, as is well known, in this whole broad expanse of problems; he made this interest completely explicit in his invention of the word cybernetics, and his explication of its meaning in the book Cybernetics [138]. * One of Professor Wiener's contributions to the scientific society was his recognition and insistence that communication and control problems which occur in very different contexts often have the same essentials; or, stated differently, tha t there was potentially a science of communication and control. However, it is beyond the scope of these remarks, and beyond my competence, to talk about his work from such a general point of view; so the comments here shall refer only to communication theory as it applies to electrical engineering technology. In I am a mathematician [177] Wiener says "One interesting problem which we attacked together was that of the conditions restricting the Fourier transform of a function vanishing on the half line. This is a sound mathematical problem on its own merits, and Paley attacked it with vigor, but what helped me and did not help Paley was that it is essentially a problem of electrical engineering. " The solution to this problem for functions of class L2 is contained in Theorem XII of Fourier transforms in the complex domain [92], where it ostensibly plays the role of a key result in the theory of quasi-analytic functions. This theorem was explicitly pointed out to engineers, and its implica-
Prevention of intubation-induced mucosal damage using a tube coated with 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer

Background and objective Tracheal intubation is associated with various complications that include epithelial injury. Abrasion of the fragile tracheal epithelium can occur at the points of contact between the tube and mucosa subject to respiratory movement. In this original experiment, we examined the mucosal protective effect of coating endotracheal tubes with poly[2-methacryloyloxyethl phosphorylcholine (MPC)-co-n-butyl methacrylate] (PMB). Methods We prepared four types of tubes: tube A (control, no coating), tube B (two coats, 0.5% PMB), tube C (10 coats, 0.5% PMB) or tube D (one coat, 5% PMB). Twenty-nine beagle dogs were divided into four groups and orally intubated with tube A, B, C or D for 4 ± 0.5 h. The cuffs of extubated tubes were stained with haematoxylin. Paraffin sections from tracheal walls in contact with the inflated cuff were stained with haematoxylin/eosin and periodic acid-Schiff. Results Cuffs of tubes A and B were strongly stained with haematoxylin because of attached epithelial cells. Stained areas in those of tubes C and D were significantly reduced. Histological analysis showed that a single coat of 5% PMB prevented epithelial abrasion and proliferation of goblet cells. Excess tracheal mucus was observed in the tube A group, but not in the tube D group. Conclusion Tracheal epithelial damage caused by intubation was greatly reduced or eliminated by PMB coating on the surface of the tracheal tube.
Global assessment for quality and safety of control in type 2 diabetic patients

Background HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin) suffers from obvious limitations in type 2 diabetic patients at risk of hypoglycaemia or requiring rapid therapeutic adjustments. This study was conducted to discern whether the monitoring of one particular plasma glucose (PG) value of the diurnal profile can be used in such situations.
Influential factors on physicians' behaviour towards the medical web messaging board: a qualitative exploration

In the past, researches showed that patients expected to communicate with physicians through the internet, but physicians presented conservative attitudes. In this research, researchers interview 20 physicians who have communicated with patients through the medical web messaging board. The results reveal some factors that influence physicians' behaviour towards adopting it: in the personal aspect, physicians' slow typing skills in Chinese and patients' insufficient medical knowledge are factors. In the medical aspect, diseases changing with time, and the complexity of the medical knowledge are factors. In technological aspects, lack of instant response device and physical examination are factors. Thus, physicians avoid diagnosing through the online board. Physicians use the online board to educate and comfort patients.
Fast forward projection and backward projection algorithm using SIMD

Recent developments in PET scanners such as the HRRT (High Resolution Research Tomograph) developed by Siemens greatly enhanced their resolution as well as sensitivity, but they increased coincidence lines of response more than 4.5 times 10 generated by as many nuclear detectors as 120,000. This formidable amount of data poses a real problem in the image reconstruction and its applications. It also has been the major bottleneck in further developments of the higher resolution PET scanners. To remedy this problem in the image reconstruction, we developed a new algorithm based on the SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) technique incorporated with the symmetry properties of the projection and backprojection processes, especially in the 3D OSEM algorithm. We refer to this technique as the SSP (Symmetry and SIMD based Projection-backprojection) algorithm. As a demonstration, the algorithm was applied to the OSEM (Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization) 3D algorithm with HRRT data and it effectively reduced the total image reconstruction time to 80 folds.
Ranking many-objective Evolutionary Algorithms using performance metrics ensemble

In this study, we have compared six state-of-the-art Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) designed specifically for many-objective optimization problems under a number of carefully crafted benchmark problems. Using the performance metrics ensemble, we aim at providing a comprehensive measure and more importantly revealing insight pertaining to specific problem characteristics that the underlying MOEA could perform the best. The experimental results confirm the finding from the No Free Lunch theorem: any algorithm's elevated performance over one class of problems is exactly paid for in loss over another class. In addition, the experimental results show that the performance of MOEA to solve many-objective optimization problems depends on two distinct aspects: the ability of MOEA to tackle the specific characteristics of the problem and the ability of MOEA to handle high-dimensional objective space.
HYPOTHESIS: ALDOSTERONE IS SYNTHESIZED BY AN ALTERNATIVE PATHWAY DURING SEVERE SODIUM DEPLETION. ‘A NEW WINE IN AN OLD BOTTLE’

1. The last three steps of aldosterone biosynthesis, 11β‐hydroxylation, 18‐hydroxylation and 18‐oxidation, have been demonstrated to be catalysed by one enzyme, which is the cytochrome P450np (CYP11B) in cow, pig, sheep and bullfrog or cytochrome P450aldo (CYP11B2) in rat, human, mouse and hamster.