Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NagR Differentially Regulates the Expression of the glmS and nagAB Genes Required for Amino Sugar Metabolism by Streptococcus mutans

ABSTRACT The ability of bacteria to metabolize glucosamine (GlcN) and N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) is considered important for persistent colonization of the oral cavity. In the dental caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans, the NagR protein regulates the expression of glmS, which encodes a GlcN-6-P synthetase, and nagA (GlcNAc-6-P deacetylase) and nagB (GlcN-6-P deaminase), which are required for the catabolism of GlcNAc and GlcN. Two NagR-binding sites (dre) were identified in each of the promoter regions for nagB and glmS. Using promoter-reporter gene fusions, the role of each dre site was examined in the regulation of glmS and nagB promoter activities in cells grown with glucose, GlcNAc, or GlcN. A synergistic relationship between the two dre sites in the glmS promoter that required proper spacing was observed, but that was not the case for nagB. Binding of purified NagR to DNA fragments from both promoter regions, as well as to dre sites alone, was strongly influenced by particular sugar phosphates. Using a random mutagenesis approach that targeted the effector-binding domain of NagR, mutants that displayed aberrant regulation of both the glmS and nagAB genes were identified. Collectively, these findings provide evidence that NagR is essential for regulation of genes for both the synthesis and catabolism of GlcN and GlcNAc in S. mutans, and that NagR engages differently with the target promoter regions in response to specific metabolites interacting with the effector-binding domain of NagR. IMPORTANCE Glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine are among the most abundant naturally occurring sugars on the planet, and they are catabolized by many bacterial species as sources of carbon and nitrogen. Representing a group called lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the human dental caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans is shown to differ from known paradigm organisms in that it possesses a GntR/HutC-type regulator, NagR, that is required for the regulation of both catabolism of GlcN and biosynthesis. Results reported here reveal a simple and elegant mechanism whereby NagR differentially regulates two opposing biological processes by surveying metabolic intermediates. This study provides insights that may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic tools to combat dental caries and other infectious diseases.
Molecular Analysis of a Gene Encoding a Cell-Bound Esterase from Streptomyces chrysomallus

ABSTRACT A gene (estA) encoding a 42-kDa cell-bound esterase, EstA, was found to be located 75 bp upstream of the cyclophilin A gene (cypA) of Streptomyces chrysomallus. Western blot analysis revealed the presence of EstA (42 kDa) in cell extracts of S. chrysomallus X2 and Streptomyces lividans. EstA specifically hydrolyzes short-chainp-nitrophenyl esters. EstA formation starts at the end of growth phase, and its activity level remains constant throughout stationary phase. Expression of estA from the melanin (mel) promoter in plasmid pIJ702 led to a substantial increase of total esterase activity in streptomycetes.
Probabilistic EOQ model for deteriorating items under trade credit financing

In this article, a probabilistic inventory model is developed for items that deteriorate at a constant rate and the demand is a random variable. It is also assumed that the supplier will offer a delay period to the retailer for payment and the retailer also extends the trade credit policy to his\her customer. Under these assumptions, we have constructed two separate models: one for discrete cycle time and another for continuous cycle time. To determine the global optimal ordering policies for both the models, we have developed and proved three separate theorems. Some already published results (for probabilistic inventory models) are special cases of our article. Finally, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the developed models and the solution procedure.
Relationship between Corneal Biomechanical Properties and Optic Nerve Head Changes after Deep Sclerectomy

Purpose To evaluate corneal biomechanical properties and optic nerve head (ONH) changes following deep sclerectomy (DS) and the relation to each other. Methods Forty-nine eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma that underwent DS were studied. Corneal biomechanical properties were assessed using the Ocular Response Analyzer and the ONH was evaluated by Spectralis optical coherence tomography with enhanced depth imaging technology before surgery and 3 months postoperatively. Changes in corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), optic nerve cupping, prelaminar tissue thickness, and lamina cribrosa depth and thickness were registered. A correlation matrix and multiple linear regression models were used to determine predictors of ONH changes. Results At 3 months after surgery, mean corneal compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc) significantly decreased by 27.9% (p<00.001) and mean Goldmann-correlated IOP (IOPg) decreased by 30.52% (p<00.001). Mean CH increased and CRF decreased by 18.4% and 10.1%, respectively (p<00.001). There was a significant reversal of ONH cupping mainly due to a prelaminar tissue thickening (p<00.001). Significant associations were found between ONH cupping reversal and prelaminar tissue thickening with preoperative IOPcc (p = 0.046), IOPg (p = 0.02), and CRF (p = 0.002) and with changes in IOP, CH, and CRF (p<00.001, p = 0.004, p = 0.018, respectively) after surgery. Conclusions Corneal hysteresis increased and CRF decreased significantly 3 months after DS. Corneal resistance factor was the single largest preoperative factor influencing cupping reversal changes. Despite the influence of preoperative variables, postoperative IOP reduction was the only independent factor influencing changes observed in the ONH after surgery.
Neurobiological Basis of Speech: A Case for the Preeminence of Temporal Processing

In this paper we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that a basic temporal processing impairment in language-impaired children underlies their inability to integrate sensory information that converges in rapid succession in the central nervous system. We provide data showing that this deficit is pansensory; that is, affects processing in multiple sensory modalities, and also affects motor output within the millisecond time frame. We also provide data that links these basic temporal integration deficits to specific patterns of speech perception and speech production deficits in language-impaired children. We suggest that these basic temporal deficits cause a cascade of effects starting with disruption of the normal development of an otherwise effective and efficient phonological system. We propose further that these phonological processing deficits result in subsequent failure to learn to speak and to read normally. That is, both the language and reading problems have their basis in deficiently esta.
Gain selection effect of reference modification in PID control for digitally controlled DC-DC converter

The aim of this paper is to give a comparative study on the effect of neural network based reference modification method for a digitally controlled dc-dc converter when circuit parameters and PID control parameters are changed. In general, the parameters of PID control are selected to satisfy both stable regulation of static state and followability of transient state. The selection of parameter values is also restricted due to the circuit parameter such as the output smoothing capacitor to maintain the stable operation. On the other hand, the reference modification without changing the PID parameters can improve transient characteristics by modifying the reference value of PID control. Therefore, the reference modification can effectively improve the transient characteristics under the restricted parameter selection of PID control. In this paper, the effect of reference modification is studied when the designing condition of circuit is changed PID control parameters and circuit parameters are varied. From evaluation results, it is confirmed that the reference modification can improve transient characteristics when the parameter condition is changed. It means that the reference modification can contribute stable operation and effective improvement of transient characteristics under the restricted parameter condition.
Overproduced rho factor from p39AS has lysine replacing glutamic acid at residue 155 in the linker region between its RNA and ATP binding domains.

Rho protein is an important factor affecting transcription termination in E. coli (1). Studies of rho have been facilitated by cloning the structural portion of the rho gene into a vector, p39AS, permitting induced expression at very high levels (2). At that time, we noted 'a very slight mobility difference between rho protein produced in the strain containing the original rho clone and that purified from W31 10', located within the amino terminal fl fragment, and suggested that 'this simply reflects an allelic difference between strains that has no functional significance' (2). Subsequently, tryptic peptides of rho protein isolated from a strain carrying the overproducing vector p39AS were separated on a reverse phase C8 column, and then sequenced. Among the fragments analyzed was one whose alignment indicated a tryptic cleavage after amino acid 155, thought to be glutamic acid. Sequence analysis of the rho gene carried by p39AS confirmed that the GAA codon at position 155 had become AAA, encoding lysine, which also explained the shifted isoelectric point of p39AS protein relative to rho from a strain not carrying the vector (C.Burns and J.P.Richardson, unpublished). Many of the major activities of rho and a large number of rho mutants have been analyzed using this lysine-containing variant, now termed EK155, obtained from the overproduction vector p39AS. We have corrected the error in the p39AS vector, reintroducing a lysine at position 155 by site-directed mutagenesis and confirming by sequence analysis the integrity of the entire coding region, and have compared the properties
Customer Relationship Evaluation System Based on BP Neural Network in Electronic Commerce

Customer relationship management is one of the most concerned marketing and managing strategies in management and research fields. Effective evaluation of customer relationship is the precondition and indemnification to achieve the objective of customer relationship management. The BP neural network is applied in this paper to research the models of customer relationship evaluation, which has great advantages and feasibility. A customer relationship evaluation criteria system based on customer loyalty and customer satisfaction is discussed. This paper also describes analysis of a customer relationship evaluation system based on neural network technology that is implemented using ASP.NET 2.0, SQL Server 2005 and MATLAB, conceptual design of the system, and implementation of the system. The functions of this system include customer evaluation, query, sample data maintenance etc. The better practicability of the customer relationship evaluating method based on the BP neural network is showed by the final results of evaluation.
Mechanisms of resistance to imatinib mesylate in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and activity of the PKC412 inhibitor against imatinib-resistant mutants.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Resistance is a major challenge in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). We investigated the mechanisms of resistance in patients with progressive GISTs with primary KIT mutations and the efficacy of the kinase inhibitor PKC412 for the inhibition of imatinib-resistant mutants. METHODS We performed a cytogenetic analysis and screened for mutations of the KIT and PDGFRA kinase domains in 26 resistant GISTs. KIT autophosphorylation status was assessed by Western immunoblotting. Imatinib-resistant GIST cells and Ba/F3 cells expressing these mutant proteins were tested for sensitivity to imatinib and PKC412. RESULTS Six distinct secondary mutations in KIT were detected in 12 progressive tumors, with V654A and T670I found to be recurrent. One progressive tumor showed acquired PDGFRA -D842V mutation. Amplification of KIT or KIT / PDGFRA was found in 2 patients. Eight of 10 progressive tumors available for analysis showed phosphorylated KIT. Two remaining progressive tumors lost KIT protein expression. GIST cells carrying KIT -del557-558/T670I or KIT -InsAY502-503/V654A mutations were resistant to imatinib, while PKC412 significantly inhibited autophosporylation of these mutants. Resistance to imatinib and sensitivity to PKC412 of KIT -T670I and PDGFRA -D842V mutants was confirmed using Ba/F3 cells. CONCLUSIONS This study shows the high frequency of KIT/PDGFRA kinase domain mutations in patients with secondary resistance and defines genomic amplification of KIT / PDGFRA as an alternative cause of resistance to the drug. In a subset of patients, cancer cells lost their dependence on the targeted tyrosine kinase. Our findings show the sensitivity of the imatinib-resistant KIT -T670I and KIT -V654A and of PDGFRA -D842V mutants to PKC412.
Development of a New Psychosocial Treatment for Adult ADHD

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a new manualized group Meta-Cognitive Therapy (MCT) for adults with ADHD that extends the principles and practices of cognitive-behavioral therapy to the development of executive self-management skills. Method: Thirty adults diagnosed with ADHD completed an 8- or 12-week program designed to target impairments in time management, organization, and planning skills. Treatment efficacy was measured using pre- and posttreatment self-report standardized measures (CAARS-S:L & Brown ADD Scales). Results: General linear modeling revealed a robust significant posttreatment decline on the CAARS DSM-IV Inattentive symptom scale (p < .001) as well as improvement on the Brown ADD Scales (p < .001). Conclusion: The findings indicate that participants in the MCT program showed marked improvement with respect to core ADHD symptoms of inattention, as well as executive functioning skills, suggesting that this program has promise as a treatment for meta-cognitive deficits in adults with ADHD. (J. of Att. Dis. 2008; 11(6) 728-736)
Chlamydia pneumoniae and possible relationship to asthma

Chlamydia pneumoniae (C.pn.) is claimed to be of importance for the development of bronchial asthma in previously healthy individuals. This is a new and speculative theory. Earlier studies have mainly focused on C.pn. and exacerbation of asthma. If this new theory were true, one would expect titres of C.pn. ‐specific IgG to be higher or more common in patients compared with controls. It would also seem probable that pathobiological mechanisms as found in connection with other microorganisms could be demonstrated, i.e. presence of C.pn. ‐specific IgE and the capability of C.pn. to induce or enhance histamine release from basophil leukocytes. We therefore examined C.pn. ‐specific IgE, IgG and IgM in sera from 22 adults with bronchial asthma and 25 healthy controls. IgE was verified by passive sensitization of basophils from umbilical cord blood. The prevalence of IgE was approx. 69% and IgG approx. 23% in both groups. IgG‐titres were between 1:16 and 1:64 in both groups. No IgM was found. Further, C.pn. could neither induce nor enhance histamine release from basophil leukocytes of patients or controls. We conclude that patients with bronchial asthma and healthy controls do not differ in relation to 1) C.pn. ‐specific IgE in sera, 2) the capability of C.pn. to induce or enhance histamine release from basophil leukocytes, since no such effect was found, or 3) previous C.pn. infection judged by the presence of specific IgG antibodies. Our results cannot support the theory that C.pn. is a cause of adult‐onset asthma.
Immunotherapy for Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion and its Analogies to Treatment for Cancer

An immunologic etiology for recurrent spontaneous abortion has been proposed for many couples with otherwise unexplained reproductive wastage.l" Since the first reports of successful pregnancy following leukocyte transfusions in 1981,3.4 interest in the possibility that immunotherapy might prevent recurrent spontaneous abortions has been generated. Therapy is based on the concept that successful pregnancy requires or is markedly enhanced by maternal allogeneic recognition. " However, skepticism toward immunotherapy has been growing because evidence supporting the rationale for treatment has been lacking. Data providing such support is now rapidly accumulating. It is the purpose of this paper to present the evidence supporting the rationale for immunotherapy in the treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion, to summarize the literature describing results of immunotherapy for treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion, and to describe the potential application of the understanding of such pathologic response to pregnancy to the treatment of cancer.
Relative risk of malignant tumors in analgesic abusers. Effects of long-term intake of aspirin.

BACKGROUND Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) e.g. aspirin, indomethacin are reported in epidemiological and experimental studies to reduce the risk for colo-rectal cancer and potentially other malignant tumors. METHODS We examined the effect of NSAIDs on tumor prevalence in abusers of mixed analgesics containing aspirin, phenacetine, caffeine or codein. 618 analgesic abusers who were autopsied between 1968-1983 were compared with a control group without evidence of analgesic abuse matched for sex, age and year autopsy was performed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Abusers were found to have an overall risk of 0.40 fold of having developed a malignancy as compared with the controls. Excluding patients with urinary tract tumors which are increased in analgesic abusers the risk was further decreased to 0.28. No statistically significant effect was found for patients with prostate cancer. The results encourage prospective control studies in high risk patients.
Viruses and Interactomes in Translation*

A decade of high-throughput screenings for intraviral and virus-host protein-protein interactions led to the accumulation of data and to the development of theories on laws governing interactome organization for many viruses. We present here a computational analysis of intraviral protein networks (EBV, FLUAV, HCV, HSV-1, KSHV, SARS-CoV, VACV, and VZV) and virus-host protein networks (DENV, EBV, FLUAV, HCV, and VACV) from up-to-date interaction data, using various mathematical approaches. If intraviral networks seem to behave similarly, they are clearly different from the human interactome. Viral proteins target highly central human proteins, which are precisely the Achilles' heel of the human interactome. The intrinsic structural disorder is a distinctive feature of viral hubs in virus-host interactomes. Overlaps between virus-host data sets identify a core of human proteins involved in the cellular response to viral infection and in the viral capacity to hijack the cell machinery for viral replication. Host proteins that are strongly targeted by a virus seem to be particularly attractive for other viruses. Such protein-protein interaction networks and their analysis represent a powerful resource from a therapeutic perspective.
Art of reading a journal article: Methodically and effectively

Background: Reading scientific literature is mandatory for researchers and clinicians. With an overflow of medical and dental journals, it is essential to develop a method to choose and read the right articles. Objective: To outline a logical and orderly approach to reading a scientific manuscript. By breaking down the task into smaller, step-by-step components, one should be able to attain the skills to read a scientific article with ease. Methods: The reader should begin by reading the title, abstract and conclusions first. If a decision is made to read the entire article, the key elements of the article can be perused in a systematic manner effectively and efficiently. A cogent and organized method is presented to read articles published in scientific journals. Conclusion: One can read and appreciate a scientific manuscript if a systematic approach is followed in a simple and logical manner.
A Keyphrase-Based Approach to Text Summarization for English and Bengali Documents

With the rapid growth of the World Wide Web, information overload is becoming a problem for an increasingly large number of people. Since summarization helps human to digest the main contents of a text document very rapidly, there is a need for an effective and powerful tool that can automatically summarize text. In this paper, we present a keyphrase based approach to single document summarization that extracts first a set of keyphrases from a document, use the extracted keyphrases to choose sentences from the document and finally form an extractive summary with the chosen sentences. We view keyphrases single or multi-word as the important concepts and we assume that an extractive summary of a document is an elaboration of the important concepts contained in the document to some permissible extent and it is controlled by the given summary length. We have tested our proposed keyphrase-based summarization approach on two different datasets: one for English and another for Bengali. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed system is comparable to some state-of-the art summarization systems.
[Possible oral transmission of Chagas disease among hydrocarbons sector workers in Casanare, Colombia, 2014].

INTRODUCTION Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas disease, can be transmitted by oral intake of contaminated food or drinks. During epidemiological week 14 of 2014, two cases of acute Chagas disease were notified among hydrocarbons sector workers in Paz de Ariporo, Casanare. OBJECTIVE To characterize the affected population, to establish control and prevention measures and to confirm the outbreak. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted an outbreak investigation that included the following components: a) Search for symptomatic people compatible with Chagas disease according to the case definition for their referral to medical services; b) entomological survey (192/197 houses); c) sanitary inspection and microbiological analysis of food samples; and d) study of reservoirs. Data management and analysis were done with Epi-Info 7.1. 5 using descriptive statistics. We also calculated intradomicile and peridomicile triatomine infestation indexes. RESULTS We detected 552 exposed people; 40 had the disease (7.2%), of whom seven were women (17,5%) and 33, men (82.5%), i.e., a male-female ratio of 5:1. The mean age was 39.1 ± 10.8 years; the attack rate was 7.2% and lethality, 5% (2/40). Symptoms included fever (100% of cases), headache (80%), myalgia and arthralgia (65%), facial edema (55%), and abdominal pain (37.5%). The mean incubation time was 17 days (range: 3-21). Rhodnius prolixus domiciliary infestation index was 3.3 % and 2.2% in the peridomicile. In the five restaurants inspected sanitary conditions were deficient and food samples were microbiologically non-conforming. We found a dog and two opossums positive for IgG antibodies by ELISA. CONCLUSIONS Environmental, sanitary and epidemiological conditions at the place confirmed an outbreak of Chagas diseases related to occupational exposure, possibly by oral transmission, which may be the largest to date in Colombia.