Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermoflavifilum aggregans gen. nov., sp. nov., a thermophilic and slightly halophilic filamentous bacterium from the phylum Bacteroidetes.

A strictly aerobic, thermophilic, moderately acidophilic, non-spore-forming bacterium, strain P373(T), was isolated from geothermally heated soil at Waikite, New Zealand. Cells were filamentous rods, 0.2-0.4 µm in diameter and grew in chains up to 80 µm in length. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain P373(T) was shown to belong to the family Chitinophagaceae (class Sphingobacteriia) of the phylum Bacteroidetes, with the most closely related cultivated strain, Chitinophaga pinensis UQM 2034(T), having 87.6 % sequence similarity. Cells stained Gram-negative, and were catalase- and oxidase-positive. The major fatty acids were i-15 : 0 (10.8 %), i-17 : 0 (24.5 %) and i-17 : 0 3-OH (35.2 %). Primary lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids and three other unidentified polar lipids. The presence of sulfonolipids (N-acyl-capnines) was observed in the total lipid extract by mass spectrometry. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 47.3 mol% and the primary respiratory quinone was MK-7. Strain P373(T) grew at 35-63 °C with an optimum temperature of 60 °C, and at pH 5.5-8.7 with an optimum growth pH of 7.3-7.4. NaCl tolerance was up to 5 % (w/v) with an optimum of 0.1-0.25 % (w/v). Cell colonies were non-translucent and pigmented vivid yellow-orange. Cells displayed an oxidative chemoheterotrophic metabolism. The distinct phylogenetic position and the phenotypic characteristics separate strain P373(T) from all other members of the phylum Bacteroidetes and indicate that it represents a novel species in a new genus, for which the name Thermoflavifilum aggregans gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is P373(T) ( = ICMP 20041(T) = DSM 27268(T)).
SURFACE TENSION AND BACTERIAL GROWTH

We have found only a few reports which bear directly on surface tension as a factor in bacterial growth. Larson, Cantwell, and Hartzell (1919), studied the effect of lowered surface tension on the growth and characteristics of certain organisms, and concluded that the growth of bacteria in ordinary broth was greatly influenced by the surface tension of the medium. The surface tension was lowered by additions of castor oil soap and measured by the drop weight method. The standard broth which was employed had a surface tension of 59 dynes per square centimeter. B. subtilis did not form a pellicle when the surface tension was reduced to 45 dynes, but grew down in the body of the medium. They concluded that all pellicle formers ceased to grow at the surface when the surface tension was below 45 dynes per centimeter. B. subtilis was found to form spores more slowly in a medium of lowered surface tension. Some anaerobes, particularly B. tetani, were found to grow aerobically in a medium of lowered surface tension. The authors suggest that the favorable action of the oil seal in anaerobiosis is probably due to the lowered surface tension. They are inclined to believe that the toxicity of the depressant is a factor of more or less importance. In a later report Larson (1921) found the surface tension of ordinary broth to be about
Desmosomal glycoproteins 2 and 3 (desmocollins) show N-terminal similarity to calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecules.

The N-terminal sequence of a mixture of desmosomal glycoproteins 2 and 3 (dg2/3, desmocollins) from bovine nasal epidermis, prepared by electro-elution from polyacrylamide gels, was determined by solid-phase Edman degradation. A sequence of 23 amino acids was obtained. This showed 43% identity with that of the N terminus of the calcium-dependent cell adhesion molecule, N-cadherin. A lesser degree of identity with other members of the cadherin-uvomorulin-L-CAM family was also found. In order to confirm that the sequence was derived from the dg2/3 molecules a rabbit antiserum was raised against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the sequence, conjugated to keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH). The antiserum obtained showed high (titre) activity against both the peptide and KLH in ELISA. Each activity could be specifically adsorbed with the appropriate ligand. The antiserum reacted specifically with both dg2 and dg3 of bovine nasal epidermis on immunoblots, this binding was blocked by the N-terminal peptide but was unaffected by KLH. The identity of dg2 and -3 in these preparations was confirmed by immunoblotting with two monoclonal antibodies and one polyclonal antiserum raised against the whole molecules. The N-terminal peptide antiserum was shown to bind to the intercellular space of desmosome profiles by immunoelectron microscopy on ultra-thin frozen sections. One of the two monoclonal antibodies (07-4D) also reacted with the desmosomal intercellular space. dg2 and -3 were shown by Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease digestion to have identical one-dimensional peptide maps. Both the N-terminal antiserum and 07-4D reacted with a V8 fragment of 19,000 Mr derived from dg2 and dg3. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Fixed Quality Layered Audio Based on Scalable Lossless Coding

The paper addresses a bitstream scalable coder based on the MPEG-4 scalable lossless (SLS) coding system where, in contrast to SLS, the bitrate of the enhancement layer is not fixed but instead an attempt is made to create a quality-fixed enhancement layer. With a PCM audio input, the proposed structure is able to produce an audio version with near-transparent quality on top of the existing low-quality version. In particular, the proposed fixed quality enhancing process with checking procedures is able to provide the minimum amount of enhancement for the low-quality version to obtain a near-transparent quality that is almost indistinguishable from the CD quality. In addition, a bitrate estimation model is proposed. The model enables the direct estimation of the enhancing bitrate from two parameters extracted from the encoding process of the low-quality version. Evaluation results indicate that a better defined quality level is guaranteed compared to a fixed bitrate setting and that in the mean a lower (approximately 20%) bitrate is attained. It is also shown that the estimation model proposed is able to accurately predict the necessary enhancing bitrate and at the same time, reduce the complexity by around 17%.
A New Determinant of H 5 N 1 Influenza Virus Pathogenesis in Mammals

Terence S. Dermody, Editor, Journal of Virology, Rozanne M. Sandri-Goldin, Editor in Chief, Journal of Virology, Thomas Shenk, Chairman, ASM Journals Board Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology and Elizabeth B. Lamb Center for Pediatric Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Irvine, California, USA; Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
In vivo detection of snRNP‐rich organelles in the nuclei of mammalian cells.

The in vivo distribution of snRNPs has been analysed by microinjecting fluorochrome‐labelled antisense probes into the nuclei of live HeLa and 3T3 cells. Probes for U2 and U5 snRNAs specifically label the same discrete nuclear foci while a probe for U1 snRNA shows widespread nucleoplasmic labelling, excluding nucleoli, in addition to labelling foci. A probe for U3 snRNA specifically labels nucleoli. These in vivo data confirm that mammalian cells have nuclear foci which contain spliceosomal snRNPs. Co‐localization studies, both in vivo and in situ, demonstrate that the spliceosomal snRNAs are present in the same nuclear foci. These foci are also stained by antibodies which recognize snRNP proteins, m3G‐cap structures and the splicing factor U2AF but are not stained by anti‐SC‐35 or anti‐La antibodies. U1 snRNP and the splicing factor U2AF closely co‐localize in the nucleus, both before and after actinomycin D treatment, suggesting that they may both be part of the same complex in vivo.
Modeling Vanilla Option prices: A simulation study by an implicit method

Option contracts can be valued by using the Black-Scholes equation, a partial differential equation with initial conditions. An exact solution for European style options is known. The computation time and the error need to be minimized simultaneously. In this paper, the authors have solved the Black-Scholes equation by employing a reasonably accurate implicit method. Options with known analytic solutions have been evaluated. Furthermore, an overall second order accurate space and time discretization is proposed in this paper Keywords: Computational finance, implicit methods, finite differences, call/put options.
Determination of reference values for elevated fasting and random insulin levels and their associations with metabolic risk factors among rural Pakistanis from Sindh Province.

AIM To assess insulin levels and their association with metabolic risk factors (family history of diabetes, abnormal glucose tolerance, hypertension, overweight and android obesity) among a representative group of Pakistan. METHODS The study data was taken from the database of a population-based survey conducted in Sindh Province, Pakistan, in 1994 to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Through stratified random sampling; oral glucose tolerance tests were performed in 967 adults; every fifth sample was estimated for fasting and random (2-hour post-75 gm glucose load) insulin levels. The total number of metabolic risk factors was counted for each subject, and their association with insulin levels studied. RESULTS Of the 130 subjects, 56.1% were females and 95.4% were Sindhi. The mean age of males and females was 43.84 and 40.61 years, respectively. Family history for diabetes and frequency of overweight had significant positive associations with both fasting and random insulin levels (P < 0.05). Association between hypertension and insulin levels was significant only for random insulin levels, and between android obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance, or male gender and insulin levels only for fasting insulin levels (P < 0.05). Metabolic risk factors had significant positive associations with both fasting (r = 0.351 P = 0.000) as well as random insulin levels (r = 0.364 P = 0.000). CONCLUSION This paper provides baseline pioneering information applicable to the Pakistani population. Furthermore, the observations made in this study about differences in association of fasting or random insulin levels with various metabolic risk factors highlight the possibility of using either of them for risk assessment. This finding needs to be assessed in a larger and nationally representative sample.
Full Step Cycle Kinematic and Kinetic Comparison of Barefoot Walking and a Traditional Shoe Walking in Healthy Youth: Insights for Barefoot Technology

Objective Barefoot technology shoes are becoming increasingly popular, yet modifications are still needed. The present study aims to gain valuable insights by comparing barefoot walking to neutral shoe walking in a healthy youth population. Methods 28 healthy university students (22 females and 6 males) were recruited to walk on a 10-meter walkway both barefoot and in neutral running shoes at their comfortable walking speed. Full step cycle kinematic and kinetic data were collected using an 8-camera motion capture system. Results In the early stance phase, the knee extension moment (MK1), the first peak absorbed joint power at the knee joint (PK1), and the flexion angle of knee/dorsiflexion angle of the ankle were significantly reduced when walking in neutral running shoes. However, in the late stance, barefoot walking resulted in decreased hip joint flexion moment (MH2), second peak extension knee moment (MK3), hip flexors absorbed power (PH2), hip flexors generated power (PH3), second peak absorbed power by knee flexors (PK2), and second peak anterior-posterior component of joint force at the hip (APFH2), knee (APFK2), and ankle (APFA2). Conclusions These results indicate that it should be cautious to discard conventional elements from future running shoe designs and rush to embrace the barefoot technology fashion.
Element-Free AMGe: General Algorithms for Computing Interpolation Weights in AMG

We propose a new general algorithm for constructing interpolation weights in algebraic multigrid (AMG). It exploits a proper extension mapping outside a neighborhood about a fine degree of freedom (dof) to be interpolated. The extension mapping provides boundary values (based on the coarse dofs used to perform the interpolation) at the boundary of the neighborhood. The interpolation value is then obtained by matrix dependent harmonic extension of the boundary values into the interior of the neighborhood. We describe the method, present examples of useful extension operators, provide a two-grid analysis of model problems, and, by way of numerical experiments, demonstrate the successful application of the method to discretized elliptic problems.
National cross sectional survey to determine whether the decision to delivery interval is critical in emergency caesarean section

Abstract Objective To examine the association between decision to delivery interval and maternal and baby outcomes. Design National cross sectional survey. Setting Maternity units in England and Wales. Subjects reviewed 17 780 singleton births (99% of all births) delivered by emergency caesarean section in England and Wales between 1 May 2000 and 31 July 2000. Main outcome measures Association between decision to delivery interval and baby outcomes (Apgar scores of < 7 and < 4 at five minutes and stillbirth) and maternal outcomes (requirement for special care additional to routine care after caesarean section and where care was provided). Results Compared with babies delivered within 15 minutes, there was no difference in maternal or baby outcome for decision to delivery interval between 16 and 75 minutes. After 75 minutes, however, there was a significantly higher odds of a five minute Apgar score of < 7 (odds ratio 1.7, 95% confidence interval 1.2 to 2.4), and 50% increase in odds of special care additional to routine care for mothers. Conclusion A decision to delivery interval of 30 minutes is not an absolute threshold for influencing baby outcome. Decision to delivery intervals of more than 75 minutes are associated with poorer maternal and baby outcomes and should be avoided.
Lens Subluxation and Retinal Dysfunction in a Girl with Homozygous VSX2 Mutation

Abstract Objective: To describe a unique lens subluxation phenotype in a child from a consanguineous family and to determine its genetic basis. Methods: Ophthalmologic examination (including ocular biometry and electroretinography [ERG] for the proband) and autozygosity-analysis-guided exome sequencing for the family; confirmatory candidate gene sequencing in the family and ethnically matched controls. Results: An otherwise healthy 3-year-old Saudi Arabian girl with poor vision since birth had smooth irides, lens subluxation, cone-rod dysfunction, and high myopia – features resembling Knobloch syndrome but differing in regard to direction of lens subluxation (superior rather than temporal) and the pattern of chorioretinal atrophy (without vitreous condensations or distinct macular atrophy). Autozygome-guided exome sequencing revealed the girl to harbor a homozygous exon 5 mutation in the ocular transcription factor gene visual homeobox 2 (VSX2) [c.773delA; p.Lys258SerfsX44] that was heterozygous in the unaffected brother and parents and absent in 100 healthy ethnically matched controls and on-line databases. Previously reported VSX2 mutations have affected the DNA-binding domains and only been associated with microphthalmia. Unlike previously reported mutations, the current VSX2 mutation is downstream to the protein’s DNA binding domains. Conclusions: The phenotype of this girl is unique and suggests a normal regulatory role for VSX2 in iris, zonule, and cone-rod development. For a consanguineous family with suspected recessive ocular disease but without a clear candidate gene, autozygome-guided exome analysis is a powerful technique, even when only a single patient is affected.
Mature Cystic Teratoma: A Clinicopathologic Evaluation of 517 Cases and Review of the Literature

Objective To evaluate the clinical and pathologic presentation of mature cystic teratomas and the trends in management over a 14-year study period. Methods Tumor registry data and medical records between January 1, 1975 and December 31, 1989 were analyzed with respect to patient age, tumor size, bilaterality, malignant transformation, and treatment. Results Five hundred seventy-three tumors were removed from 517 patients. The median and mean (± standard deviation) age was found to be 30 and 32 ± 11.3 years, respectively. Three hundred ten (60%) of the patients were asymptomatic. The mean tumor size was 6.4 ± 3.5 cm. The bilaterality rate was 10.8%. The rate of torsion was 3.5%; larger tumors underwent torsion more frequently than smaller tumors (P = .029). The rate of malignant transformation was 0.17%. The mean cyst diameter for patients undergoing cystectomy was 5.7 ± 2.4 cm; for oophorectomy, 8.0 ± 4.1 cm; and for hysterectomy, 6.1 ± 3.8 cm. Oophorectomies were performed for larger tumors when compared to cystectomies (P = .01). The number of hysterectomies was stable throughout the study period, whereas the number of oophorectomies decreased and the number of cystectomies increased markedly. Contralateral ovarian biopsy was common (48.5%) early in the study period. By 1989, the biopsy rate was less than 1%. Conclusions We found the prevalence rates of symptomatic tumors, torsion, and malignant degeneration to be less than those previously reported by most other investigators. In addition, there has been an important change over the past 14 years in the management of these neoplasms, with an increased tendency for ovarian preservation, as evidenced by the more frequent use of cystectomy and a decrease in contralateral ovarian biopsy.
Integrated residential gateway controller for home energy management system

A low cost and highly reliable residential gateway controller (residential G/W) with plug & play mechanism has been developed for home energy management system (HEMS). Residential G/W is integrated on a small embedded H/W with Java, GUI-OS and the latest Internet technologies. HEMS equipped with residential G/W is also developed and installed in 20 houses in Tokyo for evaluation.
NK gene complex haplotype variability and host resistance alleles to murine cytomegalovirus in wild mouse populations

The NK gene complex (NKC) on mouse chromosome 6 encodes receptors that are expressed on NK cells, such as Ly49H, and is involved in regulating NK cell control of virus infections, such as murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). In the present study, we investigated the level of allelic heterogeneity in NKC loci in populations of outbred wild mice. This work revealed extensive levels of heterogeneity within two wild mouse populations. Analysis of MCMV replication in a population of specific pathogen‐free outbred wild mice revealed that low viral titres, which are normally associated with the Cmv1 r allele of the Cmv1 host resistance locus, were not prevalent in the mice tested. Hence, NKC‐mediated resistance associated with Cmv1 r/Ly49H‐like effects was rare in this population. Overall, these data indicate that the NKC region is highly polymorphic and thus it is very likely that it confers on mice sufficient variability to cope with infection by a range of pathogens.
Polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) recruitment in a 2-front murine injury model: triage of PMNs to competing stimuli of recruitment.

BACKGROUND Intensive care unit patients as a group have the highest rate of nosocomial infections, such as pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections. The triage of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) during an acute inflammatory response was investigated to determine if the severity of injury or infection contributes to PMN delivery. METHODS A murine cecal ligation and puncture-induced peritonitis model with polyvinyl sponge discs were used to collect the PMNs in the abdomen (primary site) and in the subcutaneous tissue of the dorsum (remote site). Eighty CD1 male mice--20 in each of 4 groups--were assigned to the following: cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), sham laparotomy with cecal manipulation (CM), polyvinyl sponge placement in the abdomen and back only (SP), and sponge placement in the back alone (CON [control]). After 24 hours, the sponges were harvested, and the PMNs were collected and counted on a hemocytometer. RESULTS These data, reported as mean PMN cells x 10(5) +/- SEM, demonstrated that back sponges contained significantly fewer PMNs in the CLP group (3.29 +/- 1.1) than in the CM group (7.77 +/- 1.61, P = .04), the SP group (8.69 +/- 1.67, P = .01), and the CON group (11.04 +/- 1.91, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that PMN delivery to sites of secondary injury are inversely correlated to the severity of the primary injury or peritonitis.
The influence of the amount of sunscreen applied and its sun protection factor (SPF): evaluation of two sunscreens including the same ingredients at different concentrations

Background: To estimate labeled sun protection factor (SPF) for sunscreen, the amount of product applied on volunteers, according to food and drug administration (FDA) and International protocols, is 2 mg/cm2. However, different studies have shown that consumers actually apply much less product when exposed to the sun. Previous studies have reported contradictory findings in an attempt to correlate the amount applied in relation to SPF. The objective of the present study was to estimate the influence of the quantity of sunscreen applied in the determination of SPF, according to the FDA methodology.