Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cellular localization of choline‐utilization proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae using novel fluorescent reporter systems

The molecular mechanisms underlying cell growth, cell division and pathogenesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae are still not fully understood. Single‐cell methodologies are potentially of great value to investigate S. pneumoniae cell biology. Here, we report the construction of novel plasmids for single and double cross‐over integration of functional fusions to the gene encoding a fast folding variant of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the S. pneumoniae chromosome. We have also established a zinc‐inducible system for the fine control of gfp‐fusion gene expression and for protein depletion experiments in S. pneumoniae. Using this novel single cell toolkit, we have examined the cellular localization of the proteins involved in the essential process of choline decoration of S. pneumoniae teichoic acid. GFP fusions to LicA and LicC, enzymes involved in the activation of choline, showed a cytoplasmic distribution, as predicted from their primary sequences. A GFP fusion to the choline importer protein LicB showed clear membrane localization. GFP fusions to LicD1 and LicD2, enzymes responsible for loading of teichoic acid subunits with choline, are also membrane‐associated, even though both proteins lack any obvious membrane spanning domain. These results indicate that the decoration of teichoic acid by the LicD enzymes is a membrane‐associated process presumably occurring at lipid‐linked teichoic acid precursors.
Brachymyrmex species with tumuliform metathoracic spiracles: description of three new species and discussion of dimorphism in the genus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Abstract Brachymyrmex is a taxonomically challenging ant genus that is badly in need of review. Most species are very small and soft bodied and current descriptions regularly lack clarity making species identification a daunting task. Furthermore, the monophyly of Brachymyrmex has not been established and the relationships among its species and with closely related genera are poorly understood. Most species of Brachymyrmex are monomorphic, but two dimorphic species have been assigned to the genus before. Here, we redescribe these dimorphic taxa, B. pilipes and B. micromegas, and describe three new monomorphic species, B. brasiliensis sp. n. , B. delabiei sp. n. and B. feitosai sp. n. All five species occur in Brazil and have tumuliform metathoracic spiracles, which are lacking in other Brachymyrmex species. We discuss dimorphism and its evolution in the genus and provide a distribution map, illustrations and a species identification key based on workers.
Novel MF-TDMA/SCPC switching algorithm for DVB-RCS/RCS2 return link in railway scenario

This work focuses on the return channel resource allocation in the DVB-RCS/RCS2 system for mobile terminals. A continuous carrier (CC) operation mode based on DVB-S2/S2X is considered and investigated. The paper focuses on the possibility of transmitting simultaneously in multifrequency-time division multiple access (MF-TDMA) or single channel per carrier (SCPC) medium access techniques, as suggested by a previous DVB-RCS+M standard. The introduction of this capability has also been analyzed for a new DVB-RCS2 standard that gives the possibility of using both return link (RL) modalities. Moreover, we propose a detailed study of the RL channel in a satellite platform in order to understand the operative range of SCPC and MF-TDMA techniques. The contribution seeks to provide some threshold indications to network operators for dynamically managing satellite resources.We considered the railway market, which is characterized by an N-LOS condition due to blockage caused by tunnels, vegetation, and buildings, as the reference scenario. Furthermore, we introduced a transparent gap filler (GF) solution to overcome this issue. Simulation campaigns are shown, in order to give satellite operators some guidelines, when they want to make use of this hybrid channel modality.
FATHERHOOD AND DEPRESSION: A REVIEW OF RISKS, EFFECTS, AND CLINICAL APPLICATION

This literature review attempted to compile a complete evaluation of the presentation, risks, and subsequent effects upon a family in relation to paternal depression. Clinical applications are reviewed as well. As with women, fathers will present with a dysphoric mood, but unlike their female counterparts, depressed men often experience a change in social behavior. Withdrawal from social situations, indecisiveness, cynicism, and an irritable mood are often found as hallmark signs of depression in the adult male. Life stress, or family stress and low social support, are risk factors associated with depression among fathers. Marital difficulties may be the most common trigger for first-time depression in husbands just as divorce amplifies depressive episodes, especially when children are involved. A variety of treatments have proven effective for depressed fathers including traditional psycho-dynamic, CBT, and group therapy. Therapy is effective when it can be initiated and continued but research repeatedly showed that men seek it out far less than women. Effective outreach programs to encourage treatment among depressed fathers are recommended.
Physiologic management of diabetic ketoacidemia. A 5-year prospective pediatric experience in 231 episodes.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether gradual rehydration in moderate and severe diabetic ketoacidemia (DKA) can safely prevent untoward declines in calculated effective osmolality (Eosm) early in treatment and, hence, help prevent major central nervous system complications. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Three tertiary care hospitals. PATIENTS Two hundred thirty-one consecutive episodes of DKA in 149 patients aged 10 months to 20 years admitted during a 5-year period. INTERVENTIONS Insulin therapy in addition to rehydration using an estimated volume of deficit with planned administration over 48 hours; initial administration of rehydration solutions with an osmolality approximating that of the patient; and intensive patient monitoring. MEASUREMENTS Mean lowest calculated Eosm (EosmL) during the first 24 hours of treatment; trend of the concentration of sodium in serum in the first 12 hours of treatment; comparison of pretreatment serum concentrations of glucose, urea nitrogen, and corrected sodium between mildly and very severely dehydrated patients; and patient outcome. RESULTS A mean (+/- SD) EosmL of 285.8 +/- 10.5 mOsm/kg Nater and an increase in the concentration of sodium in serum in 90% of episodes were documented. There were statistically significant differences in serum concentrations of glucose, urea nitrogen, and corrected sodium in mildly vs very severely dehydrated patients. There were no deaths or near-death episodes. CONCLUSIONS Management of moderate and severe DKA with a 48-hour planned rehydration is safe and prevents untoward declines in Eosm. Coupled with intensive monitoring, gradual rehydration can protect against life-threatening increases in intracranial pressure and brain herniation.
Effects of high hydrostatic pressure on color of spinach purée and related properties.

BACKGROUND Changes in instrumental color parameters, chlorophyll a and b, activity of chlorophyllase, Mg-dechelatase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase, total phenolic compounds and pH of spinach purée were assessed after high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) (200, 400 and 600 MPa for 5, 15 and 25 min) treatments at room temperature. RESULTS HHP treatments induced a better retention of visual green color (-a* and L* values) and chlorophyll contents of spinach purée. As for chlorophyll degradation-related enzymes, the results indicated that chlorophyllase activity decreased at all pressures; however, Mg-dechelatase activity was dramatically activated after HHP treatment at 400 and 600 MPa. Peroxidase exhibited higher resistance to HHP; however, polyphenol oxidase, which is responsible for enzymatic browning, was suppressed progressively with increase in pressure level from 200 to 600 MPa. In addition, the pH value of HHP-treated spinach purée was increased to be close to neutral pH, which could effectively inhibit chlorophyll degradation. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found after extending the treatment times at the same level of pressure. CONCLUSION HHP treatments effectively prevent chlorophyll degradation and enzymatic browning in spinach purée and retain a better original fresh green color of spinach compared with conventional thermal treatment.
Biological and Nutritional Aspects of Human Milk in Feeding of Preterm Infants

Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standards for feeding and nutrition of both term and pre-term infants. Fresh mother’s own milk is recognized as the optimal choice for feeding all newborns, including preterm and very low birth weight infants. Evidence documents short and long-term metabolic, immunologic and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding when compared to formula. Moreover, benefits of breastfeeding on psychological and relational aspects have to be considered. Currently, human milk supplementation is usually performed to meet the specific nutritional requirements of preterm infants. When mother’s milk is unavailable or in short supply, donor milk represents the best alternative, although some nutritional elements are inactivated by the necessary pasteurization process. Aim of this review is to briefly summarize the main biological and nutritional factors that contribute to the beneficial effects of human milk feeding for preterm infants.
Reference index and reduction in physical fitness tests proposed by PROESP-BR

The purpose of this study was to create an unifying index of the PROESP-BR tests for school aged teenagers and propose a reduction in the physical fitness tests. A total of 414 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 years old, representative of the public school population in the city of Cuiaba were evaluated. The tests include general physical fitness, proposed by PROESP-BR. Multivariate factorial analysis was used, observing the commonality/representativeness of each test with regard to the set, and the index was created for girls and boys. With this analysis we can choose to use the following tests: female - throwing medicine ball, horizontal jump and run 20 meters; male - throwing medicine ball, representing the overall performance. The created index was divided into quintiles and allowed you to view the whole performance of the six tests, as well as their distribution within the group and away from the ideal reference.
[Public reporting on individual hospitals' quality: the risk of misinformation].

OBJECTIVE increasingly information on individual hospital' clinical performance is disclosed to the general public through lay mass media. Usually the explicit goal of those initiatives is to guide citizens' choice identifying the "best", centres. However, these efforts rely either on simplistic approaches in comparing the clinical performance of individual hospitals or on inadequate quality indicators. Therefore, this information may easily misguide the general public. In this paper, in order to highlight the problems implied, we consider two recent cases of mass media reporting on hospitals' quality. METHODS Two recent cases of mass media reporting on cardiac surgery centres' quality are considered: the BPAC study "Esiti a breve termine di interventi di by-pass coronarico nelle cardiochirurgie italiane" coordinated by the Italian Institute of Health, and the publication by the news magazine Panorama of the list of the "best" Italian cardiac surgery centres based on a reputational index. RESULTS The first example points out the problems implied by presenting hospitals' clinical performance through league tables. Using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, this study shows how the conclusions merely based on ranking--even when these are based on a sensible quality indicator--can be potentially misleading. As for the second case study, it is shown the inadequacy of the quality indicator (the reputation index) adopted. CONCLUSION despite the growing awareness in the health services community of the technical problems implied by describing and comparing the quality of care provided by individual hospitals, "real life" examples of provision of information on quality of care by the mass media to the general public appear to be largely unsatisfactory and potentially misleading.
Childhood leukaemia, polymorphisms of metabolism enzyme genes, and interactions with maternal tobacco, coffee and alcohol consumption during pregnancy

Metabolic polymorphisms may influence the risk of childhood leukaemia related to maternal tobacco, coffee or alcohol consumption. The data were extracted from a case-control study including 280 cases of acute leukaemia and 288 controls. Blood sampling was obtained for a representative subset of 219 cases and 105 controls. Gene–environment interactions were estimated using both case–control and case-only analyses. The polymorphisms of CYP1A1, GSTM1, GSTP1, GSTT1 and NQO1 were not associated with the risk of leukaemia. The slow EPHX1 allele was negatively associated with childhood leukaemia while an inverse non-significant association was observed with the fast EPHX1 allele. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was not related to leukaemia, but an interaction was observed in the case-only analysis with CYP1A1*2A variant allele (odds ratio (OR) 2.2 [1.0–4.9]) and with GSTM1 deletion (OR 2.3 [1.2–4.4]). Conversely, coffee drinking interacted negatively with NQO1 polymorphism in the case-only analysis (OR 0.6 [0.3–1.2] and 0.4 [0.1–1.0] for light and heavy coffee consumptions, respectively). This study suggests that maternal smoking may be a risk factor for leukaemia in children who carry CYP1A1 or GSTM1 genotypes, which might increase reactive metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
First head-to-head comparison of effective radiation dose from low-dose 64-slice CT with prospective ECG-triggering versus invasive coronary angiography

Background: Reduction of radiation burden of multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) has remained an important task. Objective: To compare effective radiation dose of low-dose 64-slice CTCA using prospective ECG-triggering versus diagnostic invasive coronary angiography (CA). Methods: 42 patients referred for elective invasive CA owing to suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) were prospectively enrolled to undergo a low-dose CTCA without calcium scoring within the same day before CA. Dose-area product of diagnostic invasive CA and dose-length product of CTCA were measured, converted into effective radiation dose and compared using Mann-Whitney U tests. In addition, accuracy of CTCA to detect CAD (coronary artery narrowing ⩾50%) was assessed using invasive CA as standard of reference. On an intention-to-diagnose basis all non-evaluative vessels were included in the analysis and censored as positive. Results: The estimated mean effective radiation dose was 8.5 (4.4) mSv (range 1.4–20.5 mSv) for diagnostic invasive CA, and 2.1 (0.7) mSv (range 1.0–3.3 mSv) for CTCA (p<0.001). 19 patients (42.9%) had no CAD by invasive CA. 40 (95.2%) patients have been correctly classified as having CAD (23/23) or no CAD (17/19). Over 97% (551/567) of segments were evaluable. Vessel-based analysis revealed sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of 94.2% (CI 0.8% to 1.0%), 94.8% (CI 09% to 1.0%), 89.0% (CI 0.8% to 1.0%), 97.4% (CI 09% to 1.0%) and an accuracy of 94.6%. Conclusions: Low dose CTCA allows evaluation of CAD with high accuracy, but delivers a significantly less effective radiation dose to patients compared to diagnostic invasive CA.
Perceptual and Physiological Responses during Exercise in Cool and Cold Water

This investigation examined the interaction of exposure to cold water stress with both perceived exertion and thermal sensation during exercise. Eight male volunteers performed arm, leg, and combined arm and leg exercise for 45 min. in water at 20 and 26°C. Exercise was performed at a low (n = 7) and a high (n = 8) intensity relative to the ergometer specific peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak). In general, percent VOz peak did not differ between types of exercise in either 20 or 26°C water. During low intensity exercise when power output was matched across water temperatures (Tw), percent VO2 peak was greater in 20°C water (52%) compared to 26°C water (42%). Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) did not differ between Tw. During high intensity exercise when percent VO2 peak was matched across Tw, RPE was lower during exercise in 20°C compared to 26°C. Multiple correlation analyses comparing both final RPE and thermal sensation (TS) with physiological and thermal measures were performed across type of exercise and Tw. RPE was moderately correlated with heart rate (r = 0.68) and ventilation (r = 0.61), whereas very slight relationships were established with TS (r = 0.16), skin and rectal temperatures (r = 0.10 and r = 0.20). TS was moderately correlated with skin and rectal temperatures (r = 0.64 and r = 0.73), whereas low correlations existed between TS and both heart rate (r = 0.32) and ventilation (r = —0.12). These data suggest that the change in oxygen uptake associated with exercise in cold water does not add to the over-all perception of exertion. This perception appears to be related to cardiopulmonary variables rather than thermal measures, whereas thermal sensation is related to thermal measures and not cardiopulmonary variables.
The Effect of Number of Perceptual Categories on Identification Functions of Non-Speech Stimuli and the Relationship to Categorization of Hebrew Voicing

Category boundary (CB) of Hebrew voicing on voice-onset time (VOT) continuum was found to be different from non-speech stimuli on tone-onset time (TOT) continuum. This is in contrast to data in English, thus suggesting that CB for speech stimuli may be determined not only by general auditory sensitivities but by additional factors that may be speech specific. The data in Hebrew voicing, however, can also be explained by the fact that in Hebrew voicing, two categories were available to the listener, whereas for the TOT stimuli there were three: leading, simultaneous and lagging temporal events. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of number of perceptual categories on CB of non-speech analogs of voicing in Hebrew-speaking subjects and compare them to those obtained on a VOT continuum. Twenty-four Hebrew-speaking adults participated in this study. Stimuli consisted of (a) a two-tone complex continuum that varied in the relative onset time of the lower frequency tone, and (b) a /ba-pa/ continuum which varied in VOT values similar to (a). The same TOT continuum was tested twice. In one, subjects identified TOT stimuli as belonging to one of three categories (TOT3): leading, simultaneous, or lagging; and in the other to two categories of TOT (TOT2): leading or lagging. VOT stimuli were labeled as /ba/ or /pa/. Results show that (1) when listeners were offered only two perceptual categories of temporal events, the pattern of identification functions matched one of the two functions shown for TOT3, and (2) the category boundary of VOT stimuli was similar for all subjects regarding the value calculated for TOT2. The present study supports the hypotheses that (1) CB of non-speech stimuli is not influenced by the number of perceptual categories available to the listener, and (2) different mechanisms may underlie the categorical perception of speech versus non-speech stimuli.
Development and progression of urothelial carcinoma

Urothelial carcinomas are well known to feature multifocal development in the urinary tract, both synchronously and asynchronously. This phenomenon can be explained by either seeding of cancer cells in the urinary tract or field cancerization. As there are two characteristic morphological patterns of urothelial carinomas, papillary and nodular, published papers were here reviewed to understand the development and progression of urothelial carcinoma regarding multifocality due to seeding or field changes with reference to the type of urothelial carcinoma. From animal experiments using rats, mice and dogs treated with N‐butyl‐N‐(4‐hydoroxybutyl) nitrosamine, and from pathological observation of human cystectomy specimens on step‐sectioning and molecular analysis, nodular carcinomas appear to either develop via papillary carcinomas or de novo. Clinical aspects of multifocal tumor development are outside of the scope of this review, although an understanding of the mechanisms underlying multifocality and the papillary/nodular morphological relationship is important to determine follow‐up strategies for patients treated for primary urothelial carcinomas and for reconstruction of the urinary tract after cystectomy. (Cancer Sci 2006; 97: 821–828)
Autoimmunity to deltaNp63alpha in Chronic Ulcerative Stomatitis

Chronic ulcerative stomatitis (CUS) is a recently described mucocutaneous condition in which patients experience chronic, painful, ulcerative lesions of the oral mucosa. CUS is diagnosed by immunofluorescence studies that demonstrate antinuclear antibodies. These autoantibodies are specific for a protein, deltaNp63alpha, which is normally expressed in basal cell nuclei of stratified squamous epithelia. The purpose of this study was to characterize the autoimmune response in CUS. Protein antigens were produced by in vitro transcription/translation of polymerase chain-reaction (PCR)-amplified cDNAs. We used immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation experiments with serum from CUS patients to examine the (1) antibody isotype, (2) immunogenic functional domains of the deltaNp63alpha antigen, and (3) cross-reactivity with homologous p53, p73, and p63 proteins. Results demonstrate CUS patient antibodies to deltaNp63alpha, and 52% of cases have circulating IgA isotype antibodies. The N-terminal and DNA-binding domains are the immunodominant regions, and antibody cross-reactivity with p53, p63, and p73 isoforms is limited.
Does lymphoma ‘cure’ rheumatoid arthritis?

Endotoxin has long been known to be an important virulence factor for Gram negative bacteria. It is chemically classified as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and it is one of the major constituents of the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria. This molecule is also known to be responsible for many injurious effects of Gram negative bacterial infections and thus is clinically important.1 The pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is still unknown. A microbial aetiology has been suggested, as increased faecal carriage of Klebsiella spp, as well as increased antibody values, particularily against the LPS part of K pneumoniae have been reported in AS patients.2 3 Furthermore, Wagener et al 4 have reported that the plasma endotoxin concentrations were increased in approximately …
Congestion avoidance with the aid of stochastic control

The dynamic control model for access and service rate is considered for data transmission systems with active users. The novelty of the problem statement is that the random input flow is determined by active behavior of users, who choose the sending rate by taking into account their own utility functions and the cost of service. The problem has been solved with the aid of stochastic control of Markov chains. The results are illustrated by numerical examples.