Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Topological characterization of nucleic acid G-quadruplexes by UV absorption and circular dichroism.

The emergence of nucleic acid four-stranded architectures, denominated G-quadruplexes as a prolific area of research, has led to an interest in the development of inexpensive methods for the rapid assessment of their structural characterization in solution. Research in this area is motivated by their potential impact in regulation of biological mechanisms and technological applications. For many applications, light absorption techniques, such as circular dichroism (CD) and UV, have been sufficient to discriminate the quadruplex fold from other architectures. CD is also useful to discriminate a single quadruplex topology from all other 25 generic folding topologies. Here we demonstrate the use of these techniques for characterizing three different types of G-quadruplex topologies classified through the sequence of glycosidic bond angles (GBA) adopted by guanosines of the G-quadruplex stem.
Chemokines in myocardial infarction: translating basic research into clinical medicine.

Marcin Dobaczewski & Nikolaos G Frangogiannis† †Author for correspondence Baylor College of Medicine, Section of Cardiovascular Sciences, One Baylor Plaza M/S F-602, Houston, TX 77030, USA Tel. : +1 713 798 4188; Fax: +1 713 796 0015; ngf@bcm.tmc. edu ‘Our goal is no longer to nonspecifically inhibit inflammation in order to reduce ‘inflammatory injury’, but rather to modulate carefully selected cellular and molecular mediators of inflammation in order to promote optimal cardiac repair. ’
ICTs and Human Rights Practice: A Report Prepared for the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is creating a wealth of new opportunities as well as a variety of new risks for human rights practice. Given the pace of innovation in the development and use of ICTs, our understanding of their impact on human rights lags. This report provides a crucial and in depth look at ICT initiatives and trends across the key human rights practices of prevention, fact-finding, and advocacy, identifying both risks and opportunities. In prevention, ICTs can be harnessed to protect human rights defenders, to prevent violations in police-civilian interactions, and in data-driven early warning systems and communication-based conflict prevention. That said, ICTs also create new security risks for human rights defenders and can violate the right to privacy. In fact-finding, ICTs afford the spontaneous and solicited participation of civilian witnesses in the production of human rights evidence. Of course, a greater volume and variety of information from unknown and untrained sources creates problems of misinformation and verification, which technology only goes so far to mitigate. In advocacy, ICTs provide new channels for quickly and visibly mobilizing publics, for directly engaging with advocacy targets, and for spreading awareness of human rights. That said, the effects of these new advocacy channels are unclear, and they may imperil categories of human rights and the reputations of human rights organizations. The report also considers how digital divides and the political economy of ICTs influence the nature, extent, and distribution of these opportunities and risks. In doing so, it outlines a research framework for understanding ICTs and human rights practice to underpin academics’ and practitioners’ assessment, development, and deployment of ICTs for and in the spirit of human rights. An earlier version of this report, prepared for an expert meeting ahead of the June 2015 session of the UN Human Rights Council, informed the thematic report on ICTs and the right to life presented at that session by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions. As such, the projects profiled represent a snapshot of that timeframe; this report is therefore accompanied by a regularly updated, student-run Tumblr blog, ictandhr.tumblr. com, which welcomes submissions on new initiatives.
One-step analysis of ten functional haplotype combinations of the basic RET promoter with a LightCycler assay.

The RET protooncogene is expressed in human tissues of neural crest origin and has been recognized as a susceptibility gene for several autosomal inherited diseases, such as the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 syndromes, familial medullary thyroid carcinoma, and Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) (1). In addition to RET germline mutations, associations of several polymorphisms of the RET protooncogene with HSCR have been reported previously, and in particular, the c.135A RET variant has been shown to be strongly associated with the HSCR phenotype (2)(3). In addition to the mutation-independent effect of the c.135A allele in the etiology of HSCR, we have been reporting a HSCR-phenotype-modifying effect of the RET c.135G>A alleles (rs1800858) that result from a within-gene interaction in patients harboring RET germline mutations (4). We have demonstrated (5) that variants of two RET promoter polymorphisms, −5G>A (rs10900296) and −1C>A (rs10900297), from the transcription start site are associated with HSCR and that the −5G>A polymorphism is in strong linkage disequilibrium with the c.135G>A polymorphism. Because the promoter haplotype −5/−1AC associated with HSCR has a significantly lower activity in an in vitro dual-luciferase expression assay than do those haplotypes identified in the majority of healthy controls, we thus provided evidence that the c.135G>A polymorphism is a marker for a functional variant in the RET promoter (5). Our findings support the concept that the involvement of both RET gene copies occurs in a dose-dependent fashion …
Genetics of Tracking of Body Mass Index from Birth to Late Middle Age: Evidence from Twin and Family Studies

The persistence of obesity from early childhood to late middle age is well known. We reviewed the results from existing genetic studies on tracking of BMI to discover how much genetic and environmental factors contribute to this tracking of obesity. In total, we found 5 genetic longitudinal studies on childhood obesity and 8 on obesity in adulthood. One was an adoption study, 3 were family studies, and 9 were twin studies. All were based on Caucasian populations, and one included genetic level information (the FTOgene). Strong genetic continuity in BMI was found from early childhood to onset of adulthood. Although new genetic factors started to affect BMI during the growth period, genetic correlations remained high. Evidence of the effect of common environment on the tracking of BMI during childhood was also found. The heritability estimates reported in twin studies ranged from 0.57 to 0.86 for the trend of BMI from early adulthood to late middle age. The three family studies gave lower estimates. Important unresolved questions are the genetics of BMI change in old age, the genetics of body composition change, the genetic architecture of tracking of obesity in ethnic groups other than Caucasians, and the interplay between genes and environment underlying the development and tracking of obesity.
Source Reconstruction and Synchrony Measurements for Revealing Functional Brain Networks and Classifying Mental States

We classified performance-related mental states from EEG-derived measurements. We investigated the usefulness of massively distributed source reconstruction, comparing scalp and cortical scales. This approach provides a more detailed picture of the functional brain networks underlying the changes related to the mental state of interest. Local and distant synchrony measurements (coherence, phase locking value) were used for both scalp measurements and cortical current density sources, and were fed into a SVM-based classifier. We designed two simulations where classification scores increased when our 60-electrode scalp measurements were reconstructed on 60 sources and on a 500-source cortex. Source reconstruction appeared to be most useful in these simulations, in particular, when distant synchronies were involved and local synchronies did not prevail. Despite the simplicity of the model used, certain flaws in accuracy were observed in the localization of informative activities, due to the relationship between amplitude and phase for mixed signals. Our results with real EEG data suggested that the phenomenon of interest was characterized merely by modulations in local amplitudes, but also in strength of distant couplings. After source reconstruction, classification rates also increased for real EEG data when seeking distant phase-related couplings. When reconstructing a large number of sources, the regularization coefficient should be carefully selected on a subject-by-subject basis. We showed that training classifiers using such high-dimension data is useful for localizing discriminating patterns of activity.
Trend Pie

Trend Pie LLC is a fast growing digital influence-marketing company started by a college student who recognized an opportunity to leverage his following on social media to create a business. It is an exciting case for students both because it is a real story and because it concerns a student who established a million dollar company from his dorm room. The case follows the start-up and growth of the venture, discussing how the founder developed a successful business model and overcame his first challenges. The case ends with a dilemma about what the founder should do with the business once he graduated from the university.
Current and Projected Burden of Disease From High Ambient Temperature in Korea

Background: The objective of the present study was to estimate the current and projected burden of disease from high ambient temperature using population-based data sources of nationwide mortality and morbidity in Korea. Methods: Disability-adjusted life years (DALY) were estimated using noninjury-related deaths, and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases from recently released nationwide health and mortality databases. Years of life lost and years lost due to disability were measured based on the point prevalence and number of deaths during the study period. Future DALY attributable to heat waves were estimated from projected populations, and temperature predictions for the years 2030 and 2050 were under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 with summertime temperatures above threshold. Results: Relative risks (RR) of total mortality and of cardiovascular disease were 1.02 (95% CI, 1.01, 1.02) and 1.08 (95% CI, 1.06, 1.09) for each 1°C increase in temperature above threshold, respectively. The morbidity of heat-related disease was RR 1.67 (95% CI, 1.64, 1.68) for each 1°C increase in temperature above threshold. DALY for all-cause death were 0.49 DALY/1000 in 2011, 0.71 (0.71) DALY/1000 in 2030 and 0.77 (1.72) DALY/1000 in 2050 based on RCP 4.5 (RCP 8.5). DALY for cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases were 1.24 DALY/1000 in 2011, 1.63 (1.82) DALY/1000 in 2030, and 1.76 (3.66) DALY/1000 in 2050 based on RCP 4.5 (RCP 8.5). Conclusions: Future excess mortality due to high ambient temperature is expected to be profound in Korea. Efforts to mitigate climate change can provide substantial health benefits via reducing heat-related mortality.
High‐speed 3T MR spectroscopic imaging of prostate with flyback echo‐planar encoding

Prostate MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) at 3T may provide two‐fold higher spatial resolution over 1.5T, but this can result in longer acquisition times to cover the entire gland using conventional phase‐encoding. In this study, flyback echo‐planar readout trajectories were incorporated into a Malcolm Levitt's composite‐pulse decoupling sequence (MLEV)–point‐resolved spectroscopy sequence (PRESS) to accelerate the acquisition of large array (16 × 16 × 8), high spatial (0.154 cm3) resolution MRSI data by eight‐fold to just 8.5 minutes. Artifact free, high‐quality MRSI data was obtained in nine prostate cancer patients. Easy data reconstruction and the robustness of the flyback echo‐planar encoding make this technique particularly suitable for the clinical setting. The short acquisition time provided by this method reduces the 3T prostate MRI/MRSI exam time, allows longer repetition times, and/or allows the acquisition of additional MR acquisitions within the same exam. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;25:1288–1292. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
First 1000 Days Fixed Deposit -Towards Healthy Life

c We are at the end of year 2015, last year of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); we must look back and reflect. Are we on the right track? To plan post 2015 agenda it is necessary to brainstorm and review the progress in respect to maternal and child health nutrition. The 1993 National Nutrition Policy of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India has brought out some major nutrition issues like undernutrition, deficiencies of iron, iodine, and vitamin A, prevalence of low birth weight, urbanization, and nutrition problems related to natural calamities and disasters. These issues do affect infant and young child feeding practices.
Obesity in Libya: a review

Obesity is a global epidemic resulting in major morbidity and premature death. About 64% of Libyan adults are either overweight or obese, obesity progressively increasing with age, and two times more common among Libyan women than men. Cases of obesity and overweight are increasing in Libya as well as all over the world, with genetic and environmental factors playing a contributory role. With its known significant morbidity and mortality, obesity should draw the attention of the healthcare community, researchers, and policy makers in Libya.
An overview of Enterprise Social Software adoption in large companies in Finland - Focus on implementation

Objectives of the Study Globally, the Enterprise Social phenomenon is gaining footage in organizations, transforming them more transparent, communicative and collaborative. In Finland the Enterprise Social Software (ESS) tools behind this transformation are not yet that common, and many companies are currently working on the selection and implementation of these tools. At the same time the ESS implementations in other countries have often failed due to lack of proper implementation efforts. The objectives of this study are two-fold: to form an understanding on the state of ESS in large companies in Finland, and to present a framework on how to best implement these tools within this target group. The intentions on a larger scale are to encourage companies to start the journey to Enterprise Social, and to provide tools and knowledge of ESS implementations overall. Academic background and methodology The academic base on the research is founded on Enterprise Social literature, which has gained popularity recently. The terminology and Enterprise Social background are covered first more broadly to form an understanding on the Enterprise Social field. The main part of the research is based on a literature review on ESS and the best practices for their implementation, synthesizing the results as a preliminary implementation framework. The empirical part consists of 18 interviews and an online survey, and is aimed at comparing the findings from the literature review against the interview insights. A revised framework is developed from the results. Findings and conclusions The findings of this thesis are two-fold; the state of ESS in large companies Finland and the best practices for its implementation. The ESS tools are now at implementation or recently implemented level in many large companies, but the process overall is still at the very beginning concerning the cultural change it requires. As a main derivative, the implementation framework and the necessary steps were formed, combining the results from both the empirical research and the literature review. The key success factors of ESS implementation were identified. The results regarding implementation best practices emphasize the importance of concrete management support, real business cases for the tools, and community manager’s as well as product champions’ efforts in the implementation process.
Control of Protein Synthesis in Escherichia coli: Analysis of an Energy Source Shift-Down

The energy source shift-down described in the preceding paper (Molin et al., J. Bacteriol. 131: 7–17, 1977) was used to study the effects of shift-down on protein synthesis. The overall rate of protein synthesis was reduced immediately, and to the same extent, in stringent and relaxed strains. The primary effect of the shift was a slowing down of the polypeptide chain growth rate, a finding not previously reported. In stringent strains the normal, preshift rate was reestablished within 2 to 3 min, whereas in relaxed strains the chain growth rate remained low for about 20 min before slowly returning to the normal value, which was reestablished some 50 to 60 min after the shift. Throughout this transition, the stability of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) remained unchanged in both strains. We interpret these findings as evidence of the more rapid reduction of the mRNA pool in the stringent strain after shift-down: we believe that very soon after the shift, the stringent strain reduces its pool of mRNA and with it the number of ribosomes engaged in protein synthesis. In this manner the number of active ribosomes is adjusted to the availability of energy and carbon. The relaxed strain cannot rapidly reduce its mRNA pool, which thus remains large enough to engage a near-preshift number of ribosomes during a prolonged period; as a consequence its ribosomes must work at a reduced rate. The possibility that ppGpp is involved in the control of mRNA production is discussed. After shift-down, the initial part of β-galactosidase (the auto-α fragment) was produced at a higher rate than complete β-galactosidase in the relaxed strain, as expected when translation is impeded.
Amplitude de movimento após artroplastia total do joelho

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate knee range of motion (ROM) after at least six months postoperatively in total knee arthroplasty, by comparing it to baseline value. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ranges of motion of eighty arthroplasties were analyzed within an average follow-up of 21.9 months. RESULTS: No significant differences between pre- and postoperative averages for extension (p=0.09) and flexion (p=0.47) were found. By dividing the patients into two groups, a significant flexion improvement was seen in those with pre-op flexion equal or smaller than 90o (n=17) (p=0.000037). In the other group, a significant decrease in flexion was seen in those with pre-op flexion equal or greater than 120o (n=31) (p=0.000068). Four patients have been submitted to knee manipulations within an average of 2.1 months postoperatively. The mean flexion rate before manipulation and after six months was significantly different (p=0.0068). The mean pre-op flexion and after six months postoperatively was similar (p=0.28). CONCLUSION: Preoperative flexion significantly influences the post-op flexion in total knee arthroplasty. Its measurement provides the surgeon with a good parameter for previewing this.
Internet Banking Security Guideline Model for Banking Business in Thailand

The purpose of this research is to study the Internet banking security guideline model for banking business in Thailand. At the present, the uses of the Internet have grown rapidly, but there are not many customers who use the Internet banking services because they do not trust the bank security systems. As a result, the study of the Internet banking security guideline model and tools development as well as information technology were conducted to ensure the security of the Internet banking services by using the concept of reliability, innovation adoption theory, the quality of the Internet connection and e-commerce law. The collected data were taken to form the Internet banking services security model by using innovation adoption theory, trust of the system, the quality of the Internet connection, e-commerce legal support, authentication theory, key locker security, and one time password (OTP). The results of the research showed that the customers paid attention to the security, risk awareness, ease of use, and quality of Internet connection, respectively. Furthermore, it can also be concluded that a comparative study between the Internet banking and mobile banking should be studied as well as the study of social factors, and security factors to ensure the security and in order to meet with the customers' needs.
4.2 A fully integrated CMOS fluorescence biochip for multiplex polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) processes

Integration and miniaturization of bio-molecular detection systems into electronic biosensors and lab-on-chip platforms is of great importance. One widely recognized application area for such devices is nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) detection, specifically, nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT), which relies on enzymatic processes such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to increase the copy number of target sequences and detecting them spectroscopically [1,2].
Laryngeal voice quality in the expression of focus

Prominence relations in speech are signaled by various ways including such phonetic means as voice fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. A less studied acoustic feature affecting prominence is the so called voice quality which is de-termined by changes in the airﬂow caused by different laryngeal settings. We investigated the changes in voice quality with respect to linguistic prosodic signaling of focus in simple three word utterances. We used inverse ﬁltering based methods for calculating and parametrizing the glottal ﬂow in several different vowels and focus conditions. The results supported our hypothesis – formed by an earlier study of voice quality changes in running speech – that more prominent syllables are produced with a less tense voice quality and less prominent ones with a more tense phonation. We provide both physiological and linguistic explanations for the phenomena.
A novel sequential power-flow model for hybrid AC-DC systems

This paper represents the study of integrated AC-DC Newton Raphson power flow modelling of Multi-terminal HVDC (M-HVDC) systems. Some electrical parameters are specified to control the HVDC system in Power Flow Modelling. A set of specified parameters is known as the control strategy. The number of control strategies increases with the increase in the number of DC terminals. It is observed that the power flow convergence is affected by the control strategy. In this paper, sequential method is used for integrated AC-MTDC power flow analysis. Numerous case studies are conducted with the IEEE-30 bus test system in MATLAB software.
Two‐component system VraSR positively modulates the regulation of cell‐wall biosynthesis pathway in Staphylococcus aureus

DNA microarray covering the whole genome of Staphylococcus aureus strain N315 was prepared to investigate transcription profiles. The microarray analyses revealed that vancomycin induces transcription of 139 genes. Forty‐six genes among them failed to be induced in the vraSR null mutant KVR. Part of the genes regulated by VraSR system is associated with cell‐wall biosynthesis, such as PBP2, SgtB and MurZ. Other cell‐wall synthesis inhibitors also induced VraSR, suggesting that the sensor kinase VraS responds to the damage of cell‐wall structure or inhibition of cell‐wall biosynthesis. Additionally, the vraSR null mutants derived from hetero‐ and homo‐methicillin‐resistant S. aureus showed significant decrease of resistance against teicoplanin, β‐lactam, bacitracin and fosfomycin but not of d‐cycloserine and levofloxacin. The observation strongly indicates that VraSR constitutes a positive regulator of cell‐wall peptidoglycan synthesis, and that is deeply involved in the expression of β‐lactam and glycopeptide resistance in S. aureus.