Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Homology among arsenate resistance determinants of R factors in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli bearing R factors R773 or R46 or hybrid recombinant plasmids carrying the arsenic resistance determinants derived from these plasmids synthesized inducible polypeptides of similar apparent molecular weights when exposed to arsenite salts (R773 derivative, 64,000 and 16,000; R46 derivative, 62,000, 16,500, and 13,500). In addition, both plasmids encoded energy-dependent arsenate efflux systems and demonstrated DNA sequence homology by filter blot hybridization. Human isolates of arsenate- and arsenite-resistant enterobacteria were tested for homology with the arsenate operon of R773 by colony blot hybridization. Approximately one-third of the isolates hybridized strongly, and two-thirds showed little or no evidence of homology, suggesting the presence of two or more genetically distinct arsenate resistant determinants.
Relationship between urinary bisphenol A levels and diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used chemical in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Recent animal studies have suggested that BPA exposure may have a role in the development of weight gain, insulin resistance, pancreatic endocrine dysfunction, thyroid hormone disruption, and several other mechanisms involved in the development of diabetes. However, few human studies have examined the association between markers of BPA exposure and diabetes mellitus. METHODS We examined the association between urinary BPA levels and diabetes mellitus in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2008. Urinary BPA levels were examined in quartiles. The main outcome of interest was diabetes mellitus defined according the latest American Diabetes Association guidelines. RESULTS Overall, we observed a positive association between increasing levels of urinary BPA and diabetes mellitus, independent of confounding factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and serum cholesterol levels. Compared to quartile 1 (referent), the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of diabetes associated with quartile 4 was 1.68 (1.22-2.30) (p-trend = 0.002). The association was present among normal-weight as well as overweight and obese subjects. CONCLUSIONS Urinary BPA levels are found to be associated with diabetes mellitus independent of traditional diabetes risk factors. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm or disprove this finding.
ESMO Minimum Clinical Recommendations for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of pancreatic cancer.

Staging consists of complete history and physical examination, blood counts, liver enzymes, chest X-ray, imaging of the abdomen by sonography and CT scan or magnetic resonance, and possibly by endosonography. Patients with pancreatic cancer may be staged according to the TNM system and can be grouped as in Table 1. However, the distinction of whether or not a tumor remains resectable is not well reflected in the TNM system and survival is more dependent on age than on TNM stage, as demonstrated by the wide range of survival figures given for each stage. Evaluation of resectability often requires surgery, preferably by staging laparoscopy to exclude clinically occult intraabdominal and lymph node metastases. To be resectable, tumors must show no evidence of extrapancreatic disease or direct tumor extension to the celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery nor evidence of nonobstructive invasion of the superior mesenteric-portal vein confluence. Less than 20% of all patients have resectable disease.
Compact novel coaxial fed planar metamaterial antenna

In this paper, a compact novel coaxial fed planar metamaterial antenna is proposed. The proposed structure shows compact nature having an antenna size of 0. 29λ<sub>0</sub> × 0. 14λ<sub>0</sub> × 0. 02λ<sub>0</sub> and radiating element size of 0. 22λ<sub>0</sub> × 0. 09λ<sub>0</sub> × 0. 02λ<sub>0</sub> with an impedance bandwidth of 118.6 MHz (at centre frequency of 4.32 GHz). The proposed antenna shows excellent monopole-like radiation pattern in H-plane at frequency of 4.32 GHz with low cross polar component in E-plane as well.
Monitoring of tissue oxygenation in shock: an experimental study in pigs.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate different methods and markers for assessing adequacy of tissue oxygenation in shock. DESIGN Prospective, controlled animal trial. Two groups of six pigs, subjected to either a superior mesenteric artery occlusion shock or a hemorrhagic shock. A third group of five pigs served as controls. SETTING Hospital animal research laboratory. SUBJECTS Anesthetized, ventilated, juvenile, domestic pigs. INTERVENTIONS Clamping of the superior mesenteric artery for 5 hrs, followed by reperfusion or withdrawal of blood to achieve a mean arterial pressure of 50 mm Hg for 3 hrs was performed, followed by resuscitation using the withdrawn whole blood. Invasive hemodynamic monitoring with arterial and pulmonary artery catheters was done. A tonometer was placed in the terminal ileum. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Ileal intramucosal pH, systemic base excess (or deficit), lactate concentration in systemic venous and arterial blood as well as in portal blood, ascitic fluid, and thoracic duct lymph, hemodynamics, and oxygen-related variables were measured. Five hours of intestinal ischemia caused no significant changes compared with the control group with regard to base excess or any of the hemodynamic or oxygen-related variables measured. However, lactate concentrations in the ascitic fluid and intramucosal pH were significantly altered within 1 hr of regional ischemia. Lactate concentration in the thoracic duct lymph was significantly increased after 2 hrs of ischemia, while lactate concentrations in the portal, systemic, and arterial blood were significantly increased after 2 hrs of regional ischemia. Reperfusion was associated with a high mortality rate, and only one animal survived the reperfusion period. In the hemorrhagic shock group, cardiac output and mean arterial pressure were significantly (intentionally) decreased 60 mins after the hemorrhage, while the heart rate, base excess, and systemic and portal blood lactate concentrations were significantly increased after 2 hrs of general hypoperfusion compared with those values in the control group. Ileal intramucosal pH, mixed venous oxygen saturation, oxygen delivery, oxygen extraction, and lactate concentrations in the arterial blood and thoracic duct lymph were significantly different from those values in the control group 3 hrs after the onset of hemorrhagic shock. Reperfusion induced a normalization of the hemodynamic and metabolic status of the animals. CONCLUSION Many conventional markers of tissue hypoxia are useful when assessing general hypoperfusion, whereas intestinal intramucosal pH is the only reliable and clinically useful indicator of inadequate regional intestinal tissue oxygenation.
Intraventricular hemorrhage in the premature infant—current concepts. Part I

Although the incidence of periventricular‐intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) has decreased in recent years, the increasing survival rates for the smallest premature infants indicate that the lesion will continue to be a major problem in neonatal intensive care facilities. The neuropathology is characterized by an elemental lesion, bleeding into the subependymal germinal matrix, with subsequent rupture into the lateral ventricle. Important neuropathological consequences are germinal matrix destruction, posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus, and periventricular hemorrhagic infarction. The last of these appears to be a venous infarction and is a critical determinant of neurological outcome. Neuropathological accompaniments, not caused by the IVH, include periventricular leukomalacia and pontine neuronal necrosis. The pathogenesis of IVHs is related to intravascular, vascular, and extravascular factors. Intravascular factors involve primarily control of blood flow and pressure in the microcirculation of the germinal matrix. Particular pathogenetic importance can be attached to fluctuations in cerebral blood flow, abrupt increases in flow, decreases in flow with injury to matrix vessels, increases in cerebral venous pressure, and, in selected infants, disturbances of platelet function and coagulation. Vascular factors relate to the microcirculation of the matrix, the site of the initial bleeding. A maturation‐dependent alteration in vascular integrity and a vulnerability of matrix vessels to ischemic injury appear important. Extravascular factors include those relevant to mesenchymal and glial support for matrix vessels and to local fibrinolytic activity in the germinal matrix. The latter may be a manifestation of the proteolytic activity now recognized to be of general importance in developmental remodeling of the mammalian central nervous system.
Is there any clinical advantage of increasing the pre-emptive dose of morphine or combining pre-incisional with postoperative morphine administration?

Pre-emptive treatment with an i.v. infusion of morphine 10 mg at induction reduces postoperative analgesic requirement and wound hypersensitivity compared with the same dose administered at the end of operation. Increasing the dose of preemptive morphine may potentially reduce postoperative pain further, while administering morphine at the end of operation, in addition to the beginning, may reduce pain generated by the sensory activity elicited from the wound in the immediate postoperative period. To examine this we have conducted a randomized, double-blind study in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy to compare the effect of morphine 20 mg administered before operation with 10 mg at induction and 10 mg on closure of the peritoneum. Postoperative pain was assessed by visual analogue score (VAS) at rest and on movement and by total morphine consumption administered by patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). Wound sensitivity was assessed by von Frey pain thresholds. Both groups had similar morphine consumption, VAS scores and touch and pain thresholds, and in both, secondary hyperalgesia was prevented. Nausea and vomiting scores were higher in the 20-mg group. There was no significant difference between the two groups and neither regimen appeared to offer obvious clinical advantages compared with a lower dose (10 mg) morphine analgesic strategy. Therefore, there may be a ceiling effect to the production of pre-emptive analgesia by morphine.
Current concepts of PLP and its role in the nervous system

Proteolipid protein (PLP) and its smaller isoform DM20 constitute the major myelin proteins of the CNS. Mutations of the X‐linked Plp gene cause the heterogeneous syndromes of Pelizaeus‐Merzbacher disease (PMD) and spastic paraplegia (SPG) in man and similar dysmyelinating disorders in a range of animal species. A variety of mutations including missense mutations, deletions, and duplications are responsible. Missense mutations cause a predicted alteration in primary structure of the encoded protein(s) and are generally associated with early onset of signs and generalised dysmyelination. The severity of the phenotype varies according to the particular codon involved and the influence of uncharacterised modifying genes. There is some evidence that the dysmyelination results from the altered protein acquiring a novel function deleterious to the oligodendrocyte's function. Transgenic mice carrying extra copies of the Plp gene provide a valid model of PMD/SPG due to gene duplication. Depending on the gene dosage, the phenotype can vary from early onset of severe and lethal dysmyelination through to a very late onset of a tract‐specific demyelination and axonal degeneration. Mice with a null mutation of the Plp gene assemble and maintain normal amounts of myelin but develop a progressive axonopathy, again demonstrating tract specificity. The results indicate that the functions of PLP are far from clear. There is good evidence that it is involved in the formation of the intraperiod line of myelin, and the results from the knockout and transgenic mice suggest a role in the interaction of oligodendrocyte and axon. Microsc. Res. Tech. 41:344–358, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Impairment of fast axonal transport in the proximal axons of anterior horn neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

We studied the possible impairment of fast axonal transport in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to gain some insight into the pathogenesis of the disease.We carried out an ultrastructural investigation of the proximal axons (axon hillock and initial segment) of the anterior horn neurons on samples from 11 ALS patients; specimens from 12 age-matched individuals who died of nonneurological diseases served as controls. Eighty-seven proximal axons that emanated directly from normal-appearing neurons were examined in each group of subjects. Increased smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) and the formation of bundles of fibrillary SER with a single unit membrane were not uncommonly observed in the initial segment of the patients with ALS. In some instances, there was loss of the parallel SER arrangement along the longitudinal axis. When viewed in transverse sections, the bundles had a tubular appearance. These morphologic changes of SER were exclusively demonstrated in patients with ALS. A marked increase or accumulation of mitochondria and lysosomes was more common in the proximal axons, particularly in the axon hillock, of ALS patients than of control subjects. The accumulation of these membrane-bounded cytoplasmic organelles suggests that fast axonal transport is impaired in the proximal axons of individuals with ALS. In addition, there were Lewy body-like hyaline inclusions, lipofuscin granules, and multiple membranous structures in the proximal axons. The presence of these unusual structures may also be a reflection of axonal transport dysfunction. By contrast, in the central chromatolytic neurons, there was not only a decrease in the number of neurofilaments in the axon hillock and initial segment, but also of mitochondria, lysosomes, and SER. In some instances, none of these cytoplasmic organelles was seen. These findings support the notion that the outflow of cytoplasmic constituents from the anterior horn cell body into the proximal axon may be impaired in central chromatolytic neurons. NEUROLOGY 1996;47: 535-540
Structure and stability of protein H and the M1 protein from Streptococcus pyogenes. Implications for other surface proteins of gram-positive bacteria.

M proteins and other members of the M protein family, expressed on the surface of Streptococcus pyogenes, bind host proteins such as immunoglobulins, albumin, and fibrinogen. Protein H and the M1 protein are expressed by adjacent genes and both belong to the M protein family. In this work, the structure and stability of these two proteins have been investigated. As judged from sequence analysis and circular dichroism spectroscopy, the proteins are almost entirely in an alpha-helix conformation. The amino acids are arranged in a seven-residue (heptad) repeat pattern along the greater part of the proteins. These observations support the previously accepted model of M proteins as coiled-coil dimers. However, it was also found that the structures of both proteins were thermally unstable; i.e., the content of helix conformation was greatly reduced at 37 degrees C as compared to 25 degrees C or below. Together with previous findings that these proteins appear as monomers at 37 degrees C and dimers at low temperatures, the results suggest that the coiled-coil dimers are unfolded at 37 degrees C. The heptad patterns of protein H and the M1 protein showed a nonoptimal distribution of residues expected for a coiled-coil conformation. This is a possible explanation for the low thermal stability of the proteins. It was also demonstrated that the proteins were stabilized in the presence of the ligands IgG and/or albumin. Protein H and M1 protein show a high degree of sequence similarity in their C-terminal regions, and a fragment from this region displayed a high content of helix conformation, whereas fragments from the nonsimilar N-terminal parts did not adopt any stable folded structure. Thus, the C-terminal parts, which are conserved within the M protein family, may constitute a framework for the formation of the parallel helical coiled-coil structure, and we propose that the less stable N-terminal part may also participate in antiparallel interaction with M proteins on adjacent bacteria. The results suggest that temperature fluctuations in the environment could change the properties of bacterial surface proteins, thereby affecting the molecular interactions between the bacterium and its host.
Antibiotic production and biocontrol activity by Bacillus subtilis CL27 and Bacillus pumilus CL45.

Bacillus subtilis CL27 and B. pumilus CL45 showed similar activity against Botrytis cinerea in in vitro plate assays. In a seedling bioassay, however, B. subtilis CL27 had activity similar to a commercial fungicide while B. pumilus CL45 failed completely to prevent seedling damping-off caused by Bot. cinerea. Antibiotic production by the two Bacillus strains was found to depend on the growth substrate and highest antibiotic production was found on media based on homogenized cabbage tissue. Antibiotic activity was found to depend on the pH and nutrient concentration in the assay medium. Antifungal antibiotics produced by B. subtilis CL27 and B. pumilus CL45 in different fermentation media were separated by thin layer chromatography. As suspected from the activity spectrum, three antibiotics (one with activity against Alternaria brassicicola, one with activity against Botrytis cinerea and one with activity against both fungi) could be detected in the fermentation broth of CL27, but only one in the fermentation broth of CL45. The two antibiotics produced by strain CL27 with activity against A. brassicicola were identified as peptides since their bands on the TLC plates developed a green to blue/green colour after treatment with 4,4'-tetramethyldiamino-diphenylmethane (TDM) reagent. The third antibiotics produced by strain CL27 and antibiotic produced by CL45 had a similar Rf-value and appeared not to be peptides based on the reaction with TDM. However, they showed a slightly different activity spectrum when tested against a range of different fungi. Antibiotic production was clearly indicated as the mode of action of in vivo biocontrol by strain CL27 against damping off caused by Bot. cinerea of Astilbe micro-plants, because a u.v. -induced antibiotic negative mutant strain CL27b showed no activity in seedling bioassays in vivo. Also the mutant strain CL27a which produced the two peptide antibiotics but had lost the ability to produce the non-peptide antibiotic, showed greatly reduced in vivo activity.
Modeling and Estimation of Gravity Equation in the Presence of Zero Trade: A Validation of Hypotheses Using Africa's Trade Data

Gravity model of trade has emerged as an important and popular model in explaining and predicting bilateral trade flows. While the theoretical justification is no longer in doubt, nonetheless, its empirical application has however generated several unresolved controversies in the literature. These specifically concerns estimation challenges which revolve around the validity of the log linear transformation of the gravity equation in the presence of heteroscedasticity and zero trade observations. These two issues generate several challenges concerning the appropriate choice of the estimation techniques. This paper evaluates the performance of alternative estimation techniques in the presence of zero trade observations, checks for the validation of their assumptions and their behaviour in cases of departure from their assumptions, particularly the departure from the heteroscedasticity assumption. Analysis was based on a dataset of Africa's fish exports to the European Union, which contains about 70% zero observations. Given our dataset and the gravity equation specified, our results show that there is no one general best performing model, although most of the linear estimators outperform the GLM estimators in many of the robust checks performed. In essence, we find that choosing the best model depends on the dataset, and a lot of robust tests and advocate an encompassing toolkit approach of the methods so as to establish robustness. We concur with Head and Mayer (2013) that the gravity equation is indeed just a toolkit and cookbook in the estimation of bilateral trade flows.
Genetic optimisation of control parameters of a neural network

One of the shortcomings of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is the difficulty in predicting the best control parameters for a certain application. The number of combinations of parameters is very large. This makes it very inefficient and expensive to search manually by trial and error. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are an excellent and effective search technique suitable for this task. This paper describes an investigation into the use of GAs to automate the choice of parameters in both a standard backpropagation (SBP) and a fuzzy backpropagation (FBP) network for different applications.
Risk of venous thromboembolism among users of third generation oral contraceptives compared with users of oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel before and after 1995: cohort and case-control analysis

Abstract Objective: To compare the risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism among women taking third generation oral contraceptives (with gestodene or desogestrel) with that among women taking oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel. Design: Cohort and case-control analyses derived from the General Practice Research Database. Setting: UK general practices, January 1993 to December 1999. Participants: Women aged 15-39 taking third generation oral contraceptives or oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel. Main outcome measures: Relative incidence (cohort study) and odds ratios (case-control study) as measures of the relative risk of venous thromboembolism. Results: The adjusted estimates of relative risk for venous thromboembolism associated with third generation oral contraceptives compared with oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel was 1.9 (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 2.8) in the cohort analysis and 2.3 (1.3 to 3.9) in the case-control study. The estimates for the two types of oral contraceptives were similar before and after the warning issued by the Committee on Safety of Medicines in October 1995. A shift away from the use of third generation oral contraceptives after the scare was more pronounced among younger women (who have a lower risk of venous thromboembolism) than among older women. Fewer cases of venous thromboembolism occurred in 1996 and later than would have been expected if the use of oral contraceptives had remained unchanged. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with previously reported studies, which found that compared with oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel, third generation oral contraceptives are associated with around twice the risk of venous thromboembolism.
Executive functions, categorization of probabilities, and learning from feedback: What does really matter for decision making under explicit risk conditions?

In two experiments with healthy subjects, we used the Game of Dice Task (GDT), the Probability-Associated Gambling (PAG) task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and executive-function and logical thinking tasks to shed light on the underlying processes of decision making under risk. Results indicate that handling probabilities, as in the PAG task, is an important ingredient of GDT performance. Executive functions and logical thinking also play major roles in deciding in the GDT. Implicit feedback learning, as measured by the IGT, has little impact. Results suggest that good probability handling may compensate for the effects of weak executive functions in decisions under risk.