Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene transfer in Mycoplasma arthritidis: transformation, conjugal transfer of Tn916, and evidence for a restriction system recognizing AGCT

Mycoplasma arthritidis is a rat pathogen causing a severe polyarthritis. The study of its pathogenic mechanisms has been hampered by the lack of genetic systems for use with M. arthritidis. Described here are procedures for genetic transformation of M. arthritidis and conjugal transfer of Tn916 from an enterococcal donor to M. arthritidis. The location of Tn916 insertion sites in the mycoplasmal chromosome was random, suggesting that Tn916 may be useful as an insertional mutagen in this organism. Additionally, a restriction and modification system was identified which presented a strong barrier to gene transfer. For transformation, the restriction system was circumvented by using DNA that was modified in vitro with the appropriate site-specific methylase (AluI).
Application of electrical resistance tomography to damage detection in concrete

With the advantages of non-invasion, non-radiation, low-cost and high-speed, electrical resistance tomography (ERT), is a promising measurement technique in industrial process imaging. In this paper, the Electrical Resistance Tomography is applied to damage detection in concrete. The current is injected into the concrete using an array of electrodes what attached to the concrete surface, and the boundary voltages are measured using the electrodes. The image of internal damage of concrete is obtained by the suitable reconstruction algorithm. The results indicate that ERT may be a feasible modality for non-destructive evaluation of concrete.
[Impact of PI3K /Akt /mdm2 signaling pathway on the sensitivity of gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 to doxorubicin].

OBJECTIVE To explore whether PI3K/Akt/mdm2 signalling pathway affect the sensitivity of gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 cells to doxorubicin. METHODS Gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 cells were exposed to doxorubicin and specific PI3K inhibitor wortmannin. Cell apoptosis was detected using flow cytometry. PI3K activity was detected by radioactive immunoprecipitation-kinase assay. Western blotting was employed to evaluate the expressions of PI3K-p85, pAkt-S473, Akt, pmdm2-S166 and p53. RESULTS The level of apoptosis in gastric cancer SGC7901 cells treated with doxorubicin was gradually increasing. wortmannin enhanced its effects significantly. PI3K activity and the expression of pAkt-S473 increased in a time-dependent manner, pmdm2-S166, p53 were also increased wortmannin inhibited phosphorylation of mdm2 and improved the p53 expression. CONCLUSION PI3K/Akt/mdm2 signalling pathway can be activated by doxorubicin and suppress apoptosis by promoting phosphorylation of mdm2. PI3K inhibitor wortmannin can enhance sensitivity of gastric cancer cells to chemotherapy.
Novel planar glucose biosensors for continuous monitoring use

Novel planar glucose biosensors to be used for continuous monitoring have been developed. The electrodes are produced with the “screen printing” technique, and present a high degree of reproducibility together with a low cost and the possibility of mass production. Prior to enzyme immobilisation, electrodes are chemically modified with ferric hexacyanoferrate (Prussian Blue). This allows the detection of the h a 1 t g
Índices fisiológicos associados com a "performance" aeróbia em corredores de "endurance": efeitos da duração da prova

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la validez del consumo maximo de oxigeno (VO2max), de la velocidad correspondiente al VO2max (vVO2max), del tiempo de exaustion en la vVO2max (Tlim), de la economia de la carrera (EC) y del umbral anaerobico (LAn) para predecir la performance de atletas de endurance. Catorce competidores de endurance (33,4 ± 4,4 anos; 62,7 ± 4,3kg; 166,1 ± 5,0cm; VO2max = 60,4 ± 5,9ml.kg-1.min-1) realizaron las siguientes pruebas: a) competicion simulada en las distancias de 1.500 y 5.000m. e; b) pruebas de laboratorio para la determinacion del VO2max, vVO2max, EC, LAn y Tlim en la intensidad del 100% vVO2max. Las velocidades (km/h) de la vVO2max (18,7 ± 0,8), LAn (17,3 ± 1,1) v1.500m (19,9 ± 0,8) y v5.000m (17,9 ± 0,9) fueron significantemente diferentes. La regresion multiple stepwise mostro que el LAn fue el unico elemento de prediccion de la performance de la v5.000m, explicando el 50% de la variacion de esta performance. Para la v1.500m, el Tlim y la vVO2max explicaron el 88% de la variacion de la performance. Con base en nuestros resultados, se puede concluir que la validez de los indices fisiologicos (VO2max, vVO2max, Tlim, EC y LAn), para la prediccion de la performance aerobia de atletas de endurance depende de la distancia de la prueba (1.500 x 5.000m) analizada.
Self-Ratings of Anger and Hostility in Borderline Personality Disorder

Forty-six patients with borderline personality disorder with and without major depression and 27 normal volunteers completed the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, a self-rating scale of anger and hostility. The patients with borderline personality had significantly higher scores than the normal volunteers. The scores of the patients with borderline personality disorders were not related to gender, treatment or research setting, the degree of acute distress, or the presence of major depression. These findings suggest that a proneness to anger and hostility are enduring characteristics of borderline personality disorder and that anger and depression may represent independent clinical conditions with independent biological mechanisms regulating these two affective states.
Estimating lingual constriction location in high vowels: a comparison of EMA- and EPG-based measures

Abstract EMA and EPG offer complementary information about tongue articulation. In this paper, comparisons are made of lingual constriction location estimates for high vowel continua, based on EMA and EPG data simultaneously recorded for one speaker. These data pertain to an experiment which correlated articulatory estimates of constriction location with formant measurements for comparison with Fant’s (1970) model-based nomograms. A circle model was used to estimate the constriction location from two dorsally located EMA sensors. The center of the constriction was deemed to be where the circle was closest to the roof of the mouth. Those estimates are compared to three types of EPG-based estimates of lingual constriction. The first is the row of narrowest constriction in a scaled vertical view of the EPG palate. The second is a “center of gravity” estimate. The third is an approximate side view of the tongue contour, drawn on the basis of the innermost activated electrode on each EPG row. Results suggest a broad agreement as well as consistent discrepancies between EMA and each EPG estimate. Likely reasons for discrepancies are discussed, and it is suggested that some of these may offer new insights into three-dimensional aspects of articulation that might be exploited in research.
Alternative formulation of three dimensional frequency dependent ADI-FDTD method

An alternative formulation for a frequency dependent (FD) ADI-FDTD method is proposed, based on an electric flux field D tridiagonal matrix rather than an electric field matrix. The procedure for D source excitation is explained. Results show that the accuracy of the method is unaffected by the inclusion of frequency dependency in the model, compared with FD-FDTD.
Brd4 Recruits P-TEFb to Chromosomes at Late Mitosis To Promote G1 Gene Expression and Cell Cycle Progression

ABSTRACT Brd4, a bromodomain protein capable of interacting with acetylated histones, is implicated in transmitting epigenetic memory through mitosis. It also functions as an associated factor and positive regulator of P-TEFb, a Cdk9-cyclin T1 heterodimer that stimulates transcriptional elongation by phosphorylating RNA polymerase II. In the present study, experiments were performed to determine whether these two functions of Brd4 are interrelated and, if so, how they may impact cell cycle progression. Our data demonstrate that while the P-TEFb level remains constant, the Brd4-P-TEFb interaction increases dramatically in cells progressing from late mitosis to early G1. Concurrently, P-TEFb is recruited to chromosomes, beginning around mid- to late anaphase and before nuclear envelope/lamina formation and nuclear import of other general transcription factors. Importantly, the recruitment of P-TEFb depends on Brd4. Abrogation of this process through Brd4 knockdown reduces the binding of P-TEFb to and expression of key G1 and growth-associated genes, leading to G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Because P-TEFb is synonymous with productive elongation, its recruitment by Brd4 to chromosomes at late mitosis may indicate those genes whose active transcription status must be preserved across cell division.
Improved subthreshold characteristics of n-channel SOI transistors

It has been found that certain n-channel MOSFET's fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates formed by oxygen implantation can have\log (I_{d}): V_{gs}, characteristics with very steep slopes in the subthreshold region. In contradiction to normal models for short-channel transistors on bulk silicon, the slope becomes steeper for shorter gate lengths or higher drain voltages. This effect is shown to be related to the kink in the output characteristics of transistors with floating islands.
A Teoria do Desenvolvimento Regiono e 0 popel do Estado

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo e apresentar uma visao sobre a economia re­ gional, principalmente focando a Teoria do Desenvolvimento Regional, de fomia a, como conclusao, realcar o papel e a importância da intervencao do estado no sentido de mitigar as desigualdades regionais. Alem disso, a existencia de muitas teorias ajuda a explicar a evolucao retrospectiva do desenvolvimento regional, mas o caminho para o futuro necessita de uma conjuncao de politicas estrategicas regionais com metodos pragmaticos, visando o crescimento eco­ nomico e social. Palavras-chave: economia regional. Teoria do Desenvolvimento Regional, desigualdades regionais.
Fetal development of primate chemosensory corpuscles. II. Synaptic relationships in early gestation

Fungiform papillae contained well‐developed chemosensory corpuscles in macaque monkey fetuses with crown‐rump lengths of 5.0‐9.0 cm. These fetuses corresponded to stages from the last part of the first and beginning of the second trimester of gestation. Chemosensory cells extended from the epithelial basal lamina to the taste pore anlage at the apex of the corpuscle and had typical afferent synaptic contacts with presumptive gustatory axons. Apical secretory granules, the distinctive cytologic feature of sustentacular cells, were absent. Cells with cytologic characteristics intermediate between chemosensory cells and basal extragemmal cells were considered to be differentiating chemosensory (DC) cells and appeared to arise from existing basal cells as well as undifferentiated postmitotic cells. Although extragemmal cells were extensively coupled by gap junctions which are apparent in electron micrographs of thin sections, similar junctions were absent from chemosensory and DC cells. While having minimal structural requirements for transduction and transmission of sapid stimuli (i.e., an intraoral surface and afferent synaptic contacts) chemosensory cells lacked efferent synapses and subsurface cisternae, which can be observed at later stages of gestation. Axoaxonic synapses, present between gustatory axons in the intragemmal and extragemmal epithelium and in the subgemmal connective tissue, were observed with greater frequency than at later stages of gestation. We conclude that the differentiation of chemosensory cells precedes the differentiation of sustentacular cells by several weeks. This fact lends support to the concept that chemosensory cells are a unique identifiable cell type in all chemosensory corpuscles.
A Multi-Objective Technique to Prioritize Test Cases

While performing regression testing, an appropriate choice for test case ordering allows the tester to early discover faults in source code. To this end, test case prioritization techniques can be used. Several existing test case prioritization techniques leave out the execution cost of test cases and exploit a single objective function (e.g., code or requirements coverage). In this paper, we present a multi-objective test case prioritization technique that determines the ordering of test cases that maximize the number of discovered faults that are both technical and business critical. In other words, our new technique aims at both early discovering faults and reducing the execution cost of test cases. To this end, we automatically recover links among software artifacts (i.e., requirements specifications, test cases, and source code) and apply a metric-based approach to automatically identify critical and fault-prone portions of software artifacts, thus becoming able to give them more importance during test case prioritization. We experimentally evaluated our technique on 21 Java applications. The obtained results support our hypotheses on efficiency and effectiveness of our new technique and on the use of automatic artifacts analysis and weighting in test case prioritization.
Results of an Internet survey of myoelectric prosthetic hand users

The results of a survey of 54 persons with upper limb amputations who anonymously completed a questionnaire on an Internet homepage are presented. The survey ran for four years and the participants were divided into groups of females, males, and children. It was found that the most individuals employ their myoelectric hand prosthesis for 8 hours or more. However, the survey also revealed a high level of dissatisfaction with the weight and the grasping speed of the devices. Activities for which prostheses should be useful were stated to include handicrafts, personal hygiene, using cutlery, operation of electronic and domestic devices, and dressing/undressing. Moreover, additional functions, e.g., a force feedback system, independent movements of the thumb, the index finger, and the wrist, and a better glove material are priorities that were identified by the users as being important improvements the users would like to see in myoelectric prostheses.
Losses Associated with Secondary Effects in Earthquakes

The number of earthquakes with high damage and high losses has been limited to around 100 events since 1900. Looking at historical losses from 1900 onwards, we see that around 100 key earthquakes (or around 1% of damaging earthquakes) have caused around 93% of losses. What is indeed interesting about this statistic is that within these events, secondary effects have played a major role, causing around 40% of economic losses and fatalities as compared to shaking effects. Disaggregation of secondary effect economic losses and fatalities demonstrating the relative influence of historical losses from direct earthquake shaking in comparison to tsunami, fire, landslides, liquefaction, fault rupture and other type losses is important if we are to understand the key causes post-earthquake. The trends and major event impacts of secondary effects are explored in terms of their historic impact as well as looking to improved ways to disaggregate them through two case studies of the Tohoku 2011 event for earthquake, tsunami, liquefaction, fire and the nuclear impact; as well as the Chilean 1960 earthquake and tsunami event.
- ANTHRACENE INDUCED HAMSTER BUCCAL POUCH CARCINOGENESIS

Aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of Clerodendron inerme on cellular integrity by measuring the status of glycoconjugates, lipids, osmotic fragility, and membrane bound enzyme activity in 7, 12-dimethylbenz (a) anthracene (DMBA)-induced oral carcinogenesis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma was induced in the buccal pouch of Syrian golden hamsters by painting with 0.5% DMBA in liquid paraffin thrice a week for 14 weeks. The levels of glycoconjugates, lipids, osmotic fragility and membrane bound enzyme activity were analyzed by using specific colorimetric methods. We observed 100% tumor formation in DMBA painted hamsters. Altered glycoconjugates and lipid pattern were observed in DMBA painted hamsters as compared to control hamsters. Erythrocytes from DMBA painted hamsters were more fragile than those from control hamsters. The activity of membrane bound enzyme (Na K ATPase) decreased in DMBA painted hamsters as compared to control hamsters. Oral administration of aqueous leaf extract of Clerodendron inerme (CiALet) at a dose of 500mg/kg body weight significantly prevented the tumor formation and histopathological abnormalities as well as normalized the above said biochemical variables in DMBA painted hamsters. Our results thus demonstrate the protective effect of Clerodendron inerme on cellular integrity during DMBA induced oral carcinogenesis.
Using Multimedia Instructional Materials in MIS Classrooms: A Tutorial

Instructors typically communicate technical concepts to information systems (IS) students via lectures and textbooks. In some cases, instructors supplement this traditional approach with written case studies and projects. In this tutorial, we present a non-traditional approach that could be used to communicate technical, as well as non-technical, concepts to IS students – use of multimedia instructional materials. This article also provides practical advice on how to adapt and implement pedagogy that includes multimedia instructional materials in MIS classrooms. The instructional materials include multimedia case studies that communicate concepts such as choosing appropriate operating systems for specific purposes; understanding Internet and satellite technologies; and decision support and expert systems used to solve real-world problems. The purpose of this article is to present a step-by-step tutorial on using multimedia instructional materials in a typical IS class.
Variations in genes involved in regulation of the nuclear factor – κB pathway and the risk of acute myeloid leukaemia

Genes involved in regulation of the nuclear factor – kappa B (NF‐κB) pathway are suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The present study aimed to assess the association between the NF‐κB1, TRAF3 and TLRs genes single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and disease susceptibility as well as progression in patients with AML. For this purpose 62 patients and 126 healthy individuals were genotyped for NF‐κB1 (rs28362491), TRAF3 (rs11160707; rs12147254), TLR2 (rs201786064), TLR4 (rs4986790; rs4986791) and TLR9 (rs5743836; rs187084) alleles. Three SNPs were found to be associated with the risk for the AML development. The TRAF3 (rs12147254) AA homozygosity (RR = 2.770, P = 0.0392), TLR9 (rs5743836) C wild‐type allele (RR = 2.542, P = 0.0096) as well as TLR9 (rs187084) T allele (RR = 13.396, P < 0.0001) and its homozygosity (RR = 11.805, P < 0.0001) were more frequent among patients with AML than healthy individuals. The associations of the rs187084 SNP were significant for both sexes. Moreover, patients who relapsed were more frequently characterized with the presence of the rs187084 TLR9 TT genotype (P = 0.045) or the rs12147254 TRAF3 A variant (P = 0.066). In conclusion, polymorphisms within the TLR9 and TRAF3 genes are associated with predisposition to AML and may affect the progression of the disease in the Polish population.
Biological characterization of glutaraldehyde‐modified Parietaria judaica pollen extracts

Background Allergoids are widely used in specific immunotherapy (SIT) for the treatment of IgE‐mediated allergic diseases, but all techniques for standardization of conventional allergic extracts may not be appropriate for standardization of a glutaraldehyde (GA)‐modified extract because of the unique characteristics of these extracts.
Occurrence, metabolism, metabolic role, and industrial uses of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), of which polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is the most abundant, are bacterial carbon and energy reserve materials of widespread occurrence. They are composed of 3-hydroxyacid monomer units and exist as a small number of cytoplasmic granules per cell. The properties of the C4 homopolymer PHB as a biodegradable thermoplastic first attracted industrial attention more than 20 years ago. Copolymers of C4 (3-hydroxybutyrate [3HB]) and C5 (3-hydroxyvalerate [3HV]) monomer units have modified physical properties; e.g., the plastic is less brittle than PHB, whereas PHAs containing C8 to C12 monomers behave as elastomers. This family of materials is the centre of considerable commercial interest, and 3HB-co-3HV copolymers have been marketed by ICI plc as Biopol. The known polymers exist as 2(1) helices with the fiber repeat decreasing from 0.596 nm for PHB to about 0.45 nm for C8 to C10 polymers. Novel copolymers with a backbone of 3HB and 4HB have been obtained. The native granules contain noncrystalline polymer, and water may possibly act as a plasticizer. Although the biosynthesis and regulation of PHB are generally well understood, the corresponding information for the synthesis of long-side-chain PHAs from alkanes, alcohols, and organic acids is still incomplete. The precise mechanisms of action of the polymerizing and depolymerizing enzymes also remain to be established. The structural genes for the three key enzymes of PHB synthesis from acetyl coenzyme A in Alcaligenes eutrophus have been cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. Polymer molecular weights appear to be species specific. The factors influencing the commercial choice of organism, substrate, and isolation process are discussed. The physiological functions of PHB as a reserve material and in symbiotic nitrogen fixation and its presence in bacterial plasma membranes and putative role in transformability and calcium signaling are also considered.