Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prions

The prion hypothesis1-3 states that the prion and non-prion form of a protein differ only in their 3D conformation and that different strains of a prion differ by their 3D structure.4, 5 Recent technical developments have enabled solid-state NMR to address the atomic-resolution structures of full-length prions, and a first comparative study of two of them, HET-s and Ure2p, in fibrillar form, has recently appeared as a pair of companion papers.6, 7 Interestingly, the two structures are rather different: HET-s features an exceedingly well-ordered prion domain and a partially disordered globular domain. Ure2p in contrast features a very well ordered globular domain with a conserved fold, and – most probably - a partially ordered prion domain.6 For HET-s, the structure of the prion domain is characterized at atomic-resolution. For Ure2p, structure determination is under way, but the highly resolved spectra clearly show that information at atomic resolution should be achievable.
Clinical efficacy of ticagrelor combined with aspirin in patients with coronary heart disease angina pectoris and its effects on NT-ProBNP and CK-MB levels.

OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore the clinical efficacy of ticagrelor combined with aspirin in patients with coronary heart disease angina pectoris and the effects on N terminal pro B type natriuretic peptide (NT-ProBNP) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 150 patients with coronary heart disease angina pectoris were prospectively analyzed in this study. These patients were admitted to Huaiyin Hospital of Huai'an City from February 2017 to February 2019. The patients were divided into control group and research group according to different treatment methods. The following indicators before and after treatment were observed: therapeutic efficacy, prevalence of adverse reactions, duration and frequency of angina attack, NT-ProBNP and CK-MB levels. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the predictive value of NT-ProBNP and CK-MB for the curative effect of coronary heart disease angina pectoris. RESULTS The total effective rate in the research group was higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). The prevalence of adverse reactions in the research group was lower than that in the control group (p<0.05). The duration and frequency of seizures of the two groups after treatment were lower than those before treatment. The duration and frequency of seizures in the research group were lower than those in the control group (p<0.05). The physiological function, physical pain, vital energy score and general health status in the research group were higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). The NT-ProBNP and CK-MB levels in both groups after treatment were decreased. CONCLUSION Ticagrelor combined with aspirin has definite therapeutic effect on patients with coronary heart disease angina pectoris, with low prevalence of adverse reactions. It can significantly reduce the levels of NT-ProBNP and CK-MB, which is worthy of promotion.
Exploring the function and pharmacotherapeutic potential of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels with gene-knockout models

The importance of the intracellular free Ca^* concentration as a key cellular signal transduction mechanism requires a tight control of Ca^* homeostasis thus enabling the independent regulation of free cytosolic Ca * levels even within different cellular signaling compartments. In electrically excitable cells voltage-gated Ca^* channels (VGCCs) convert membrane potential changes into an intracellular Ca * signal by mediating Ca * ion entry along its electrochemical gradient during depolarization. ^ The resulting intracellular Ca^* transient controls essential Ca ^-dependent physiological processes. These include neurotrans­ mitter release from fast chemical synapses in nerve terminals and from sensory cells, hormone release from endocrine cells, excitation-contraction coupling in heart, skeletal and smooth muscle and control of pacemaker activity in heart and neurons. ^ Each of these specific tasks requires adjustment of Ca "*" channel fimction to its specific needs by targeting the channels to specific sites of the plasma membrane and by fine-tuning their opening and closing behaviour (gating). This explains why evolution generated a large number of different voltage-gated Ca^* channel types which can be distinguished based on their biophysical properties and the way they are regulated by second messenger pathways. ^'^ Until now drugs and toxins specifically blocking the activity of individual channel types represented the most important tool to dissect their individual role for specific cellular fiinctions and facilitated their biochemical isolation and cloning. ^' The different Ca^* channel types known to date, their specific modulators and proposed physiological roles are summarized in Table 1. Voltage-gated Ca^* channels form hetero-oligomeric complexes of several subunits (Fig. 1). This subunit structure is reviewed in detail in other articles in this body and therefore is not discussed in much detail here. Figure 1 illustrates that OLi subunits comprise the Ca^*-selective ion pore itself They determine most of the biophysical parameters (i.e. single channel conductance, activation and inactivation) and carry the drug and toxin interaction sites. So far ten different tti subunit isoforms, each of them undergoing fiirther fine-tuning by extensive alternative splicing, were identified in the human genome. Based on their different biophysical and pharmacological characteristics they give rise to 5 different Ca * channel types (Table 1). Both p and a2-8 subunits (and to some extent also y-subunits, see below) are also required for proper channel targeting to the plasma membrane and fine-tuning of the gating properties of most al subunits. At least
ICSI et signalisation calcique.

J.P. Wolf, A. Ziyyat : Universite Paris 13, Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction, UPRES 3410, UFR SMBH, Bobigny, France. AP-HP, Hopital Jean Verdier, Service d’Histologie, Embryologie et Cytogenetique, Bondy, France. B. Ciapa : UMR CNRS 8080, Developpement et Evolution, Universite Paris XI, bâtiment 445, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France et GDR 2688. brigitte.ciapa@u-psud.fr ICSI et signalisation calcique
Cytochemical Aspects of the Plant–Rust Fungus Interface during the Compatible Interaction Coffea arabica (cv. Caturra)–Hemileiavastatrix (race III)

The infection process of Hemileia vastatrix within leaf tissues of susceptible Coffea arabica plants was investigated ultrastructurally and cytochemically and also by light microscopy. An exoglucanase‐gold complex, anti–galacturonic acid monoclonal antibodies (JIM7), anti‐β‐1,3‐glucans polyclonal antibodies, and a WGA‐ovomucoid‐gold complex were used to localize β‐1,4‐glucans, pectins, callose, and chitin, respectively. After urediospore germination and appressoria differentiation on leaf stomata, the fungus penetrated and colonized the mesophyll tissues inter‐ and intracellularly. The intercellular hyphae, including haustorial mother cells and haustoria, contained β‐1,3‐glucans and chitin in their walls. The interface of the pathogen with the host cell wall was characterized by the occurrence of adhesive material that was labeled for pectin. Also, labeled plant cell wall fragments for β‐1,4‐glucans were detected close to the intercellular fungal cell wall. Plant cell wall degradation during haustorium formation was restricted only to the site of host cell penetration as judged by the use of the exoglucanase‐gold complex. In advanced stages of the infection process, haustoria were encased by a material that positively reacted for callose and β‐1,4‐glucans. Pectins were not detected in the encasement material around the haustorial body but only in the encasement material around the penetration peg. This haustorium encasement is a plant defense response but occurred too late to be efficient in preventing fungal growth and sporulation.
Genetic Diversity among North American Spring Wheat Cultivars: III. Cluster Analysis Based on Quantitative Morphological Traits

Quantification and classification of diversity in germplasm collections is important for both plant breeders and germplasm curators. Distance measures between collection entries can be based on morphological or biochemical marker traits, pedigree information, or quantitative morphological traits. The objectives of this study were to group spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars into clusters according to their distance as measured by quantitative morphological traits, and to assess the relationship between distance based on quantitative morphological traits and distance based on coefficients of parentage. A broad collection of 289 spring wheat cultivars from the USA, Canada, and Mexico was grown in Minnesota during 1990 and 1991 and evaluated in three environments (two field and one greenhouse). A total of 35 different quantitative morphological traits were scored in one, two, or all three environments, resulting in a data set of 56 variables. This data set was reduced to 16 significant principle components (PCs) that cumulatively explained 80% of the variance. Squared Euclidean Distances based on PC-scores were used as input for cluster analysis. All but six cultivars could be grouped into 17 major clusters. Major clusters grouped cultivars of common origin, parentage, and/ or era of release. Partial agreement with the pedigree data was evident. Many clusters were recognizable across both methods from their most similar subgroups. Regression of the morphological distance on pedigree distance gave an R 2 = 0.46 (P < 0.01) when the entire range of pedigree distances was sampled systematically. Quantitative morphological data provided valuable distance measures, and the quality of such measures increased with the number of traits evaluated regardless of whether selected or unselected traits were used. Combinations of distance measures based on pedigree and morphology can provide useful measures of genetic distance, but measurement of morphological traits requires considerable resources.
Periportal fields cause stronger cooling effects than veins in hepatic microwave ablation: an in vivo porcine study

Background Vascular cooling effects are a well-known source for tumor recurrence in thermal in situ ablation techniques for hepatic malignancies. Microwave ablation (MWA) is an ablation technique to be considered in the treatment of malignant liver tumors. The impact of vascular cooling in MWA is still controversial. Purpose To evaluate the influence of different intrahepatic vessel types, vessel sizes, and vessel-to-antenna-distances on MWA geometry in vivo. Material and Methods Five MWAs (902–928 MHz) were performed with an energy input of 24.0 kJ in three porcine livers in vivo. MWA lesions were cut into 2-mm slices. The minimum and maximum radius of the ablation area was measured for each slice. Distances were measured from ablation center toward all adjacent hepatic vessels with a diameter of ≥1 mm and within a perimeter of 20 mm around the antenna. The respective vascular cooling effect relative to the maximum ablation radius was calculated. Results In total, 707 vessels (489 veins, 218 portal fields) were detected; 370 (76%) hepatic veins and 185 (85%) portal fields caused a cooling effect. Portal fields resulted in higher cooling effects (37%) than hepatic veins (26%, P < 0.01). No cooling effect could be observed in close proximity of vessels within the central ablation zone. Conclusion Hepatic vessels influenced MWA zones and caused a distinct cooling effect. Portal fields resulted in more pronounced cooling effect than hepatic veins. No cooling effect was observed around vessels situated within the central white zone.
A Model Predictive Control-Based Energy Management Scheme for Hybrid Storage System in Islanded Microgrids

Model predictive control (MPC) facilitates online optimal resource scheduling in electrical networks, thermal systems, water networks, process industry to name a few. In electrical systems, the capability of MPC can be used not only to minimise operating costs but also to improve renewable energy utilisation and energy storage system degradation. This work assesses the application of MPC for energy management in an islanded microgrid with PV generation and hybrid storage system composed of battery, supercapacitor and regenerative fuel cell. The objective is to improve the utilisation of renewable generation, the operational efficiency of the microgrid and the reduction in rate of degradation of storage systems. The improvements in energy scheduling, achieved with MPC, are highlighted through comparison with a heuristic based method, like Fuzzy inference. Simulated behaviour of an islanded microgrid with the MPC and fuzzy based energy management schemes will be studied for the same. Apart from this, the study also carries out an analysis of the computational demand resulting from the use of MPC in the energy management stage. It is concluded that, compared to heuristic methods, MPC ensures improved performance in an islanded microgrid.
A 36dB Gain Range, 0.5dB Gain Step Variable Gain Amplifier with 10 to 25MHz Bandwidth Third-Order Filter for Portable Ultrasound Systems

This paper describes a variable gain amplifier(VGA) and an anti-alias filter(AAF) used for low-power ultrasound imaging applications. The VGA has a digitally programmable gain from -12 dB to 24dB in 0.5dB steps for time gain compensation(TGC). The opamp used in the VGA consists of a two-stage opamp with an added pre-amplifier stage which increases the loop gain for signal frequencies without altering the unity-gain bandwidth. Improved loop gain results in lower harmonic distortion without a significant overhead in power consumption. The VGA has a first-order roll-off whose bandwidth is invariant with the gain setting. The AAF is a second-order Rauch filter which, together with the first-order roll-off in the VGA, implements a third-order Butterworth filter whose bandwidth is programmable from 10 to 25MHz in 5MHz steps. The VGA and the AAF, with a low noise amplifier(LNA) preceding them, are used in an ultrasound receive channel analog front-end(AFE) fabricated in a 180nm process. The power consumption and area are 3.6mW and 0.32mm2. The second and third harmonic distortion are -64 dBc and -56 dBc across VGA gain settings.
Drought-tolerant gene screening in wheat using rice microarray

To investigate the wheat transcriptional profile under drought stress, a drought-tolerant variety of wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), Hanxuan 10, was treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000 ) and samples were collected at 0, 1, 6 and 24 h. Complementary DNA was labelled with fluorescent dye and hybridized with the BGI-RiceChip, a whole genome rice gene chip platform, which contains over 60 000 oligos based on the rice genome sequence. Data analysis detected 166, 207 and 328 differentially expressed genes (DGs), respectively, at 1, 6 and 24 h, indicating that the number of DGs increased with the length of the PEG treatment. Functional category analysis showed that the number of DGs related to energy metabolism pathways increased – 4.2%, 8.2% and 16.8%, respectively, as a proportion of the total number of DGs. Most of the photosynthesis-related genes were up-regulated. It is interesting to note that Psbr and ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco)-coding genes were down-regulated, suggesting their potential role in the response to drought tolerance.
Design and Control of Quadruped Robot along with Machine Vision based Path Planning

The invention of Walking Robots has fascinated mankind over a long time. In today’s technological world we are able to build dynamic legged machines. These machines have upper hand to wheeled vehicles during mobility on rough terrain. Most of the quadruped robots have been actuated by motors, which are popular for their small size, ease of use and accuracy in control. However, electric motors produce less torque relative to their size and weight, thereby making reduction drives with high ratios essential to increase output torque. Unfortunately, this results in reduced speed capability of robot. So, to overcome these drawbacks of torque and speed, we have used lead screw driven by Brush-less DC motor, which in turn drives joints of quadruped robot with the help of linkages. Lead screw have various major advantages over directly using motor, like it has large load carrying capacity, self-locking property, cheap and reliable, smooth and noiseless operation and it also provides very precise and accurate motion which is essential for accurate positioning of robot.
Enhancing Neuraminidase Immunogenicity of Influenza A Viruses by Rewiring RNA Packaging Signals

Influenza virus infections are a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Increasing evidence highlights neuraminidase as a potential vaccination target. This report demonstrates the efficacy of rewiring influenza virus packaging signals for creating vaccines with more neuraminidase content which provide better neuraminidase (NA)-based protection. ABSTRACT Humoral immune protection against influenza virus infection is mediated largely by antibodies against hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), the two major glycoproteins on the virus surface. While influenza virus vaccination efforts have focused mainly on HA, NA-based immunity has been shown to reduce disease severity and provide heterologous protection. Current seasonal vaccines do not elicit strong anti-NA responses—in part due to the immunodominance of the HA protein. Here, we demonstrate that by swapping the 5′ and 3′ terminal packaging signals of the HA and NA genomic segments, which contain the RNA promoters, we are able to rescue influenza viruses that express more NA and less HA. Vaccination with formalin-inactivated “rewired” viruses significantly enhances the anti-NA antibody response compared to vaccination with unmodified viruses. Passive transfer of sera from mice immunized with rewired virus vaccines shows better protection against influenza virus challenge. Our results provide evidence that the immunodominance of HA stems in part from its abundance on the viral surface, and that rewiring viral packaging signals—thereby increasing the NA content on viral particles—is a viable strategy for improving the immunogenicity of NA in an influenza virus vaccine. IMPORTANCE Influenza virus infections are a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Increasing evidence highlights neuraminidase as a potential vaccination target. This report demonstrates the efficacy of rewiring influenza virus packaging signals for creating vaccines with more neuraminidase content which provide better neuraminidase (NA)-based protection.
Clinical Values of Nitric Oxide Parameters from the Respiratory System.

BACKGROUND Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) concentration reliably reflects central airway inflammation, but it is not sensitive to changes in the NO dynamics in the lung periphery. By measuring FENO at several different flow rates one can estimate alveolar NO concentration (CANO), bronchial NO flux (JawNO), bronchial wall NO concentration (CawNO) and the bronchial diffusivity of NO (DawNO). OBJECTIVE We aimed to describe the current knowledge and clinical relevance of NO parameters in different pulmonary diseases. METHODS We conducted a systematic literature search to identify publications reporting NO parameters in subjects with pulmonary or systemic diseases affecting the respiratory tract. A narrative review was created for those with clinical relevance. RESULTS Estimation of pulmonary NO parameters allows for differentiation between central and peripheral inflammation and a more precise analysis of central airway NO output. CANO seems to be a promising marker of parenchymal inflammation in interstitial lung diseases and also a marker of tissue damage and altered gas diffusion in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and systemic diseases affecting the lung. In asthma, CANO can detect small airway involvement left undetected by ordinary FENO measurement. Additionally, CawNO and DawNO can be used in asthma to assess if FENO is increased due to enhanced inflammatory activity (increased CawNO) or tissue changes related to bronchial remodelling (altered DawNO). CONCLUSION NO parameters may be useful for diagnosis, prediction of disease progression and prediction of treatment responses in different parenchymal lung and airway diseases. Formal trials to test the added clinical value of NO parameters are needed.
Exercise Electrocardiography and Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography for Patients With Suspected Stable Angina Pectoris: A Post Hoc Analysis of the Randomized SCOT-HEART Trial.

Importance Recent European guidance supports a diminished role for exercise electrocardiography (ECG) in the assessment of suspected stable angina. Objective To evaluate the utility of exercise ECG in contemporary practice and assess the value of combined functional and anatomical testing. Design, Setting, and Participants This is a post hoc analysis of the Scottish Computed Tomography of the Heart (SCOT-HEART) open-label randomized clinical trial, conducted in 12 cardiology chest pain clinics across Scotland for patients with suspected angina secondary to coronary heart disease. Between November 18, 2010, and September 24, 2014, 4146 patients aged 18 to 75 years with stable angina underwent clinical evaluation and 1417 of 1651 (86%) underwent exercise ECG prior to randomization. Statistical analysis was conducted from October 10 to November 5, 2019. Interventions Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive standard care plus coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography or to receive standard care alone. The present analysis was limited to the 3283 patients who underwent exercise ECG alone or in combination with coronary CT angiography. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary clinical end point was death from coronary heart disease or nonfatal myocardial infarction at 5 years. Results Among the 3283 patients (1889 men; median age, 57.0 years [interquartile range, 50.0-64.0 years]), exercise ECG had a sensitivity of 39% and a specificity of 91% for detecting any obstructive coronary artery disease in those who underwent subsequent invasive angiography. Abnormal results of exercise ECG were associated with a 14.47-fold (95% CI, 10.00-20.41; P < .001) increase in coronary revascularization at 1 year and a 2.57-fold (95% CI, 1.38-4.63; P < .001) increase in mortality from coronary heart disease death at 5 years or in cases of nonfatal myocardial infarction at 5 years. Compared with exercise ECG alone, results of coronary CT angiography had a stronger association with 5-year coronary heart disease death or nonfatal myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 10.63; 95% CI, 2.32-48.70; P = .002). The greatest numerical difference in outcome with CT angiography compared with exercise ECG alone was observed for those with inconclusive results of exercise ECG (6 of 283 [2%] vs 18 of 283 [6%]), although this was not statistically significant (log-rank P = .05). Conclusions and Relevance This study suggests that abnormal results of exercise ECG are associated with coronary revascularization and the future risk of adverse coronary events. However, coronary CT angiography more accurately detects coronary artery disease and is more strongly associated with future risk compared with exercise ECG. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01149590.