Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antagonistic Donor Density Effect Conserved in Multiple Enterococcal Conjugative Plasmids

ABSTRACT Enterococcus faecalis, a common causative agent of hospital-acquired infections, is resistant to many known antibiotics. Its ability to acquire and transfer resistance genes and virulence determinants through conjugative plasmids poses a serious concern for public health. In some cases, induction of transfer of E. faecalis plasmids results from peptide pheromones produced by plasmid-free recipient cells, which are sensed by the plasmid-bearing donor cells. These plasmids generally encode an inhibitory peptide that competes with the pheromone and suppresses self-induction of donors. We recently demonstrated that the inhibitor peptide encoded on plasmid pCF10 is part of a unique quorum-sensing system in which it functions as a “self-sensing signal,” reducing the response to the pheromone in a density-dependent fashion. Based on the similarities between regulatory features controlling conjugation in pAD1 and pAM373 and those controlling conjugation in pCF10, we hypothesized that these plasmids are likely to exhibit similar quorum-sensing behaviors. Experimental findings indicate that for both pAD1 and pAM373, high donor densities indeed resulted in decreased induction of the conjugation operon and reduced conjugation frequencies. This effect was restored by the addition of exogenous inhibitor, confirming that the inhibitor serves as an indicator for donor density. Donor density also affects cross-species conjugative plasmid transfer. Based on our experimental results, we propose models for induction and shutdown of the conjugation operon in pAD1 and pAM373. IMPORTANCE Enterococcus faecalis is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. Its ability to transfer antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants by sharing its genetic material with other bacteria through direct cell-cell contact via conjugation poses a serious threat. Two antagonistic signaling peptides control the transfer of plasmids pAD1 and pAM373: a peptide pheromone produced by plasmid-free recipients triggers the conjugative transfer in plasmid-containing donors, and an inhibitor peptide encoded on the plasmid and produced by donor cells serves to modulate the donor response in accordance with the relative abundance of donors and recipients. We demonstrate that high donor density reduces the conjugation frequency of both of these plasmids, which is a consequence of increased inhibitor concentration in high-donor-density cultures. While most antibiotic strategies end up selecting resistant strains and disrupting the community balance, manipulating bacterial signaling mechanisms can serve as an alternate strategy to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Fronto-Ethmoidal Mucocele after Coronal Orbital Decompression

A patient who underwent coronal orbital decompression for Graves' orbitopathy eight years earlier presented with left-sided proptosis without signs of periorbital inflammation. Computed tomography imaging showed a fronto-ethmoidal mucocele. It is suggested that this mucocele may be a late complication of decompression surgery.
Factors limiting song acquisition in adult zebra finches

Song learning takes place in two separate or partially overlapping periods, a sensory phase in which a tutor song is memorized and a sensorimotor phase in which a copy of the model is produced. The stage of song development where song becomes stable and stereotyped is called crystallization. Adult birds usually do not learn new song in many species including the zebra finch. However, it is not known whether song crystallization as such or aging impedes adult learning. Exposure to loud noises prevents birds from developing and crystallizing their song, because they cannot control their voice by auditory feedback. Zebra finches even without previous experience of hearing or singing a song failed to learn a song model provided in adulthood. Thus, neither the absence of a tutor song nor the lack of song crystallization enables new song learning in adulthood, but age per se limits the ability or motivation to learn song. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 2009
A p53 genetic polymorphism of gastric cancer: difference between early gastric cancer and advanced gastric cancer.

AIM To investigate the role of the polymorphism of p53 codon 72 in early gastric cancer (EGC) and advanced gastric cancer (AGC) in Korean patients. METHODS DNA was extracted from blood samples of gastric cancer patients (n=291) and controls (n=216). In the p53 codon 72 genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP. RESULTS Patients with gastric cancer had a significantly higher frequency of the homozygous proline (Pro) allele than the control (P=0.032). Patients with AGC had a significantly higher frequency of the Arg/Arg (arginine) allele (P=0.038) than EGC and a similar Pro/Pro allele. The signet ring cell type had a higher frequency of the Pro/Pro allele than other types (P=0.031). The Pro/Pro genotype carries a 3.9-fold increased risk of developing gastric cancer (95% CI, 1.3-15.4, P=0.039) when compared to Arg/Arg and Arg/Pro genotypes and to develop EGC is a 5.25 fold increased risk (95% CI, 1.8-19.6, P=0.021). CONCLUSION The Pro/Pro genotype of the p53 codon 72 polymorphism carries a higher risk for gastric cancer in general and is also associated with a much higher risk for EGC than AGC.
Active middle ear implant coupled bilaterally to the round window despite bilateral implanted stapes prostheses

After stapes surgery, patients with mixed or moderate hearing loss have limited possibilities for hearing improvement. We are reporting on a patient who underwent stapedotomy bilaterally 20 years ago and had sensorineural and mixed hearing loss. Recurrent otitis externa prevented the use of hearing aids. This patient was treated bilaterally with the Vibrant Soundbridge (Med‐El, Innsbruck, Austria) successively. The Schuknecht piston stapes prostheses remained in situ. The Floating Mass Transducer (FMT; Med‐El) was coupled to the round window (RW) and provided good acoustic reinforcement bilaterally. In conclusion, for patients with otosclerosis and stapes surgery, the FMT–RW coupling (Bess AG, Berlin, DE) is a safe procedure with good acoustic amplification. Laryngoscope, 2016 127:500–503, 2017
Gestion optimale de bilan de compagnie d'assurance

Dans le cadre du projet Omega de l'INRIA et de l'action Amazone du G. I. E Dyade (collaboration Bull et INRIA), on s'interesse au probleme de la gestion du bilan d'un contrat financier de type assurance-vie. On utilise un modele elabore par Mireille Bossy, Nathalie Pistre et Denis Talay, construit sur un modele simple de marche financier stochastique. On cherche a calculer la strategie optimale de gestion du portefeuille boursier d'une compagnie proposant ce type de contrat, etant donnees certaines contraintes : principalement, on suppose que l'assure qui a souscrit ce contrat peut le quitter au moment ou il le decide, et percevoir une somme qui depend des benefices de la compagnie sur ses placements financiers. La presence de cette option de retrait anticipe empeche l'application des methodes de couverture habituelles. Afin d'obtenir un algorithme de calcul rapide, on souhaite utiliser une methode deterministe. Cependant pour ce type de probleme ou la variance depend fortement de la strategie choisie, un schema classique de type differences finies peut ne pas etre efficace. En se basant sur des idees de Harold J. Kushner, on met au point un algorithme de type differences finies generalisees. On justifie la convergence de notre algorithme en utilisant des techniques similaires a celles utilisees par Guy Barles et Elisabeth Rouy dans leurs travaux recents sur le probleme de Dirichlet generalise au cas d'EDP non-lineaires du second ordre degenerees. En collaboration avec Christophe Berthelot de l'INRIA Sophia Antipolis, nous avons programme et mis en oeuvre cet algorithme rapide qui permet d'approcher la solution d'une large classe d'equations d'HJB avec condition au bord de type Dirichlet. On presente quelques illustrations des resultats obtenus et leur interpretation en termes de gestion de bilan.
Survival of the older patient compared with the younger patient with hodgkin's disease. Influence of histologic type, staging, and treatment

Age as an independent risk factor for survival of Hodgkin's disease (HD) was investigated using data for the 6345 patients in the American College of Surgeons, Patterns of Care Study. Patients were divided into those 15 to 34 years of age, and those older than 50 years. Older patients had higher rates of advanced stage and B symptoms (e.g., Stage IVB, 19.7% compared with 7.7%) and significantly higher rates of poor prognosis histologic types, odds ratio (OR) = 3.7. The older population with clinical stage (CS) I and II disease was also less likely to have received any of the selected staging procedures, bone marrow biopsy, lymphogram, or laparotomy (OR = 4.48). The two populations were equivalently understaged when CS was compared with pathologic stage (PS). In each category the older patients were more likely to have received no therapy; for PS I and II disease the OR for older patients compared with the younger patient was 2.14. When stratified by PS, B symptom status, histologic type, and treatment the older patients continued to show poorer 5‐year survival by the life‐table method. The authors' hypothesis–that older patients equivalently staged and treated would have no significant difference in long‐term survival–was not substantiated by the data. However, in the analyses in which corrections for the known risk factors were made, the difference in survival was not as great as that in the crude, unstratified data. This study, as well as other recent studies utilizing smaller numbers of patients, finds age an independent predictor of poorer survival in HD patients.
INTIMATE'96. A shallow water tomography experiment devoted to the study of internal tides

: The INTIMATE (INternal Tide Investigation by Means of Acoustic Tomography Experiment) project is devoted to the study of internal tides by use of acoustic tomography. The first exploratory experiment was carried out in June 1996 on the continental shelf off the west coast of Portugal. A towed broadband acoustic source and a 4-hydrophone vertical array were used. Acoustic data were collected for 5 days, including legs where the source ship was moving and legs with the ship on station. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss some effects of the environment on acoustic fluctuations.
Association of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidal Ideation With High-Risk Behaviors Among Men Who Inject Drugs in Delhi, India

Background:Sharing of needles and syringes and unprotected sex remain a common practice among people who inject drugs (PWID) in India and are important drivers of new HIV infections. Whether engagement in risk behaviors among PWID is associated with symptoms of common mental disorders in India is unknown. Methods:We analyzed the data collected in April and May of 2012 from a community-based sample of 420 PWID in Delhi using time location sampling. Self-report symptom scales were used to measure the severity of symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale 2) within the preceding 2 weeks. We assessed the presence of suicidal thoughts within the past 12 months. Results:PWID with severe depressive symptoms and those with suicidal thoughts were 4 and 2 times more likely to share needles/syringes, respectively. PWID experiencing suicidal thoughts had 82% more female sexual partners and were 5 times more likely to have had unprotected sex at last sex with a paid female partner. Conversely, symptoms of anxiety were associated with a 30% decrease in the likelihood of needle/syringe sharing and a 70% decrease in the likelihood of unprotected sex at last sex with a paid female partner. Conclusions:We found a high prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among men who inject drugs in Delhi and that depression and suicidal ideation are independently positively associated with HIV risk behaviors, whereas anxiety is associated with a reduction in such behaviors. Ameliorating mental health problems among PWID in India may aid in reducing HIV infections.
Light-directed generation of the actin-activated ATPase activity of caged heavy meromyosin.

An understanding of the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction will require a complete description of the kinetics of the myosin motor in vitro and in vivo. To this end chemical relaxation studies employing light-directed generation of ATP from caged ATP have provided detailed kinetic information in muscle fibers. A more direct approach would be to trigger the actin-activated ATPase activity from a caged myosin, i.e., myosin whose activity is blocked upon derivatization with a photolabile protection group. Herein we report that a new type of caged reagent can be used to prepare a caged heavy meromyosin by modification of critical thiol groups, i.e., a chemically modified motor without activity that can be reactivated at will using a pulse of near-ultraviolet light. Heavy meromyosin modified at Cys-707 with the thiol reactive reagent 1-(bromomethyl)-2-nitro-4,5-dimethoxybenzene does not exhibit an actin-activated ATPase activity and may be viewed as a caged protein. Absorption spectroscopy showed that the thioether bond linking the cage group to Cys-707 is cleaved following irradiation (340-400 nm) via a transient aci-nitro intermediate which has an absorption maximum at 440 nm and decays with a rate constant of 45.6 s(-1). The in vitro motility assay showed that caged heavy meromyosin cannot generate the force necessary to move actin filaments although following irradiation of the image field with a 30 ms pulse of 340-400 nm light the caged group was removed with the concomitant movement of most filaments at a velocity of 0.5-2 micron/s compared to 3-4 micron/s for unmodified HMM. The specificity and simplicity of labeling myosin with the caged reagent should prove useful in studies of muscle contraction in vivo.
A Simple Angle of Arrival Estimation System

We propose a practical, simple and hardware friendly, yet novel and very efficient, angle of arrival (AoA) estimation system. Our intuitive, two-phases cross-correlation based system requires a switched beam antenna array with a single radio frequency chain. Our system cross correlates a reference omni-directional signal with a set of received directed signals to determine the AoA. Practicality and high efficiency of our system are demonstrated through performance and complexity comparisons with multiple signal classification algorithm.
Adsorption and diffusion of water on graphene from first principles

Water monomer adsorption on graphene is examined with state-of-the- art electronic structure approaches. The adsorption energy determinations on this system from quantum Monte Carlo and the random-phase approximation yield small values of <100 meV. These benchmarks provide a deeper understanding of the reactivity of graphene that may underpin the development of improved more approximate methods enabling the accurate treatment of more complex processes at wet-carbon interfaces. As an example, we show how dispersion-corrected density functional theory, which we show gives a satisfactory description of this adsorption system, predicts that water undergoes ultra-fast diffusion on graphene at low temperatures.
Antigen-specific proliferation responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes to Trichomonas vaginalis antigen in patients with Trichomonas vaginitis

This report describes the development of an assay system which overcomes the difficulty of detecting immune responses of patients with Trichomonas vaginitis by making use of peripheral blood leukocytes obtained from such patients. When peripheral blood leukocytes from the patient were stimulated in microcultures with the soluble antigen extracted from Trichomonas vaginalis, significant degrees of proliferation ensued, as measured by the incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine 4 to 5 days after initiation. The antigen-induced proliferation response of peripheral blood leukocytes is specific for T. vaginalis antigen. The T. vaginalis-specific [methyl-3H]thymidine incorporation is mediated by Leu-1-positive cells, namely, T lymphocytes, in the peripheral blood leukocyte population. This assay system should prove useful for the analysis of the immune response to the protozoa in patients with Trichomonas vaginitis.
The Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions of 2-, 6- or 8-Halopurines with Boronic Acids Leading to 2-, 6- or 8-Aryl- and -Alkenylpurine Derivatives

The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of 9-ben- zyl-6-chloropurine, 9- or 3-benzyl-8-bromoadenine and 2,6-diha- lopurines with boronic acids gave the corresponding 6-, 8- or 2-aryl- or -alkenylpurines in good yields. Anhydrous conditions in toluene were superior for coupling of electron-rich boronic acids, while aqueous DME was used for electron-poor arylboronic acids as well as for alkenylboronic acids. A good regioselectivity was observed for the coupling of 2,6-dihalopurines: 9-benzyl-2,6-dichloropurine reacted with one equivalent of phenyl boronic acid to give 9-benzyl- 2-chloro-6-phenylpurine, while an analogous reaction of 9-benzyl- 6-chloro-2-iodopurine gave selectively 9-benzyl-6-chloro-2-phe- nylpurine.
Novel Statistical Classification Model of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients for Tailor-made Prevention Using Data Mining Algorithm

To estimate the usefulness of data mining algorithms for extracting risk predictors of diabetic vascular complications in proper order in the future, we tried applying the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) method to the prevalence data of 165 type 2 diabetic outpatients and already known risk factors. Among the 6 categorical and 15 continuous risk factors, age (cutoff: 65.4) was the best predictor for classifying patients into groups with and without macroangiopathy (p=0.000). Body weight (cutoff: 53.9) was the best predictor (p=0.006) in the older group (age >65.4), whereas systolic blood pressure (cutoff: 144.5) was the best predictor in the remaining group (p=0.002). Age (cutoff: 64.8) was also the best predictor for categorizing them into groups with and without microangiopathy (p=0.000). In the older group (age >64.8), BMI (cutoff: 21.5) was the best predictor (p=0.001), whereas morbidity term (cutoff: 15.5) was the best predictor in the other group (p=0.010). Because the orders and values of all risk factors and cutoff points mined were reasonable clinically, this method may have the potential to highlight predictors in order of importance to apply tailor-made prevention of diabetic vascular complications.
Stock Options for Undiversified Executives

We employ a certainty-equivalence framework to analyze the cost and value of, and pay/performance incentives provided by, non-tradable options held by undiversified, risk-averse executives. We derive Executive Value' lines, the risk-adjusted analogues to Black-Scholes lines, and distinguish between executive value' and company cost. ' We demonstrate that the divergence between the value and cost of options explains, or provides insight into, virtually every major issue regarding stock option practice including: executive views about Black-Scholes measures of options; tradeoffs between options, stock and cash; exercise price policies; connections between the pay-setting process and exercise price policies; institutional investor views regarding options and restricted stock; option repricings; early exercise policies and decisions; and the length of vesting periods. It also leads to reinterpretations of both cross-sectional facts and longitudinal trends in the level of executive compensation.
P53 AND MDM2 ISOFORMS IN BLOOD FROM LUNG CANCER PATIENTS

The present study was designed to detect changes in p53 and MDM2 protein expression patterns in plasma from lung cancer patients. The largest p53 protein expression was observed in adenocarcinoma patients; however, mutant p53 was not increased in any cancer sample. A significant increase in the 57-kDa MDM2 isoform was observed in adenocarcinoma patients with low protein expression of the 90-kDa isoform. Our findings suggest that p53 accumulation could be due to a decrease in full-length MDM2 isoform together with an increase of the 57-kDa MDM2 isoform that was unable to stimulate p53 degradation.
PRACTICAS EVALUATIVAS DEL PROCESO DE ATENCIÓN DE ENFERMERÍA: UNA VISIÓN DE DOCENTES Y ESTUDIANTES

Introduccion: La evaluacion requiere analisis y reflexion sistemica sobre la accion docente-estudiante, su objetivo maximo es aportar elementos para comprender bajo que condiciones ocurren los fenomenos educativos; el objetivo fue caracterizar las practicas evaluativas docentes del programa de Enfermeria. Materiales y Metodos: Estudio descriptivo, combina metodos, tecnicas, enfoques y conceptos (cualitativo y cuantitativo) para profundizar la comprension del objeto estudiado, poblacion: 6 docentes, 86 estudiantes. Resultados: La concepcion de docentes es una evaluacion procesual, orientada a medir objetivos, vista al final del proceso; segun los estudiantes, 59% de los docentes aplica la heteroevaluacion, 51% la evaluacion sumativa, la prueba escrita es la mas aplicada como instrumentos 93%, la evaluacion constata resultados. Discusion: Los resultados de este estudio son una aproximacion de como los estudiantes y docentes estan percibiendo las practicas evaluativas en el programa. Conclusiones: Se destaca en la concepcion predominante de docentes la corriente positiva y postura Tyleriana, reflejada en la evaluacion orientada al logro de objetivos; se privilegia la evaluacion sumativa y de resultados mas que la del proceso, las practicas evaluativas estan al margen de la valoracion del Proceso de Atencion en Enfermeria, no hay articulacion entre la evaluacion teorica y practica; se requiere un cambio en las concepciones del docente, que permita comprender la complejidad del proceso de evaluacion, su dinamica y la dialectica de sus componentes en la valoracion del Proceso de Atencion de Enfermeria; que propicie la resignificacion de las practicas evaluativas de tal manera que favorezcan el aprendizaje efectivo y contribuya a mejorar el desempeno del estudiante. Como citar este articulo: Martinez JC. Practicas evaluativas del proceso de atencion de enfermeria: una vision de docentes y estudiantes. Rev Cuid. 2017; 8(1):1459-75. http://dx.doi. org/10.15649/cuidarte.v8i1. 351