Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elucidation and identification of amino acid containing membrane lipids using liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE Intact polar lipids (IPLs) are the building blocks of cell membranes, and amino acid containing IPLs have been observed to be involved in response to changing environmental conditions in various species of bacteria. High-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) has become the primary method for analysis of IPLs. Many glycerol-free amino acid containing membrane lipids (AA-IPLs), which are structurally different than abundant aminophospholipids, have not been characterized using HPLC/MS. This results in many lipids remaining unrecognized in IPL analysis of microbial cultures and environmental samples, hampering the study of their occurrence and functionality. METHODS We analyzed the amino acid containing IPLs of a number of bacteria (i.e. Gluconobacter cerinus, Cyclobacterium marinus, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, and Pedobacter heparinus) in order to decipher fragmentation pathways, and explore potential novel lipid structures using HPLC/electrospray ionization ion trap MS (HPLC/ESI-IT-MS) and HPLC/high-resolution MS (HPLC/HRMS). RESULTS We report differentiation between glutamine and lysine lipids with the same nominal masses, novel MS fragmentation pathways of cytolipin, the lipopeptides cerilipin and flavolipin, head group hydroxylated ornithine lipids, and the novel identification of cerilipin with a hydroxylated fatty acid. CONCLUSIONS Non-glycerol AA lipids can be readily recognized as their fragmentation follows a clear pattern with initial dehydration or other loss from the head group, followed by fatty acid losses resulting in a diagnostic fragment ion. Higher level MSn and HRMS are valuable tools in characterizing AA lipid head group structural components.
Can an Educational Intervention Improve Compliance With Vaginal Dilator Use in Patients Treated With Radiation for a Gynecological Malignancy?

Objective To investigate whether an educational intervention would facilitate compliance with vaginal dilators and potentially reduce stenosis in women receiving radiotherapy as treatment for a gynecological malignancy. Methods From 2002 to 2009, all patients undergoing pelvic radiotherapy (either external beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy) at our center for treatment of gynecological malignancies were educated about the use of vaginal dilators. Sixty patients agreed to participate in a prospective 12-month study to evaluate use. The patients had a structured educational intervention regarding dilator use. Assessment was prospectively performed via questionnaires at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after completion of radiotherapy. Data collected included patients’ demographics, treatment, incidence of stenosis, and usage of and attitudes toward dilator use. Results The median age of the patients was 60 years. Primary disease site was the uterus (56.6%) and cervix (40.0%). At 12 months, 52% of patients were still using the dilators, and 35% were using the dilators at least 2 to 3 times per week. Frequency of dilator use was greater in those patients older than 50 years (P = 0.005), even after adjusting for sexual frequency, and in those experiencing pain on vaginal examination (P < 0.001). It was less frequent in those patients who were sexually active (P = 0.035). At 12 months, 11% of the patients had flimsy adhesions and 6.5% had partial stenosis. No patients had complete stenosis. The only independent predictor of stenosis was the treatment group with a hazard ratio of 0.200 (95% confidence interval, 0.059–0.685), favoring surgery and any radiotherapy reducing the risk of stenosis compared to definitive radiation therapy alone. Conclusions Our educational intervention facilitates compliance with vaginal dilators. Surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy (with or without cisplatin as a radiation sensitizer) may predict a lower risk of vaginal stenosis compared to definitive radiation therapy alone.
Tumor markers panel and tumor size of ovarian dermoid tumors in reproductive age.

OBJECTIVE To study whether there is any relationship between a serum tumor markers panel (CA19-9, CA 125, CEA, CA15-3 and AFP) and the tumor size in patients with ovarian dermoid cyst in reproductive age. BACKGROUND Between January 2006-2007, 160 patients were operated in the Department of Infertility, Zekai Tahir Burak Women Health Hospital due to ovarian dermoid cyst. METHODS The clinical data and serum tumor markers levels of operated patients were retrieved from the records of the department. This was a retrospective study. RESULTS Forty-four patients (37.6 %) had high levels of CA 19-9 , twenty-seven patients (19.3 %) had high CA 125 levels, eleven patients (9.4 %) had high levels of CEA, five patients (4 %) had high levels of CA 15-3 and one patient (0.9 %) had high AFP levels at the time of initial surgery. The bilaterality rate was 8.1 %. When grouping the tumor size as 10 cm, the mean serum levels of tumor markers had significantly increased by increasing the tumor size (p<0.05) for CA 19-9, CA 125, CEA. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that serum CA 19-9 is probably more accurate marker than other tumor markers in the ovarian dermoid cysts. Also, the most important parameter that affects CA 19-9 elevation in the dermoid cysts, is the tumor size. As the tumor becomes bigger, this relationship becomes more distinct (Tab. 2, Ref. 15).
Rahnella aquatilis, an unusual gram-negative rod isolated from the bronchial washing of a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Rahnella aquatilis, a rare enteric gram-negative rod which is usually found in fresh water, was isolated from the bronchial washing of a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Although few clinical isolates have been reported, this is the second isolation of R. aquatilis from a human in North Carolina. A case report and discussion of R. aquatilis is presented.
The effects of different types of music on perceived and physiological measures of stress.

The effects of different types of music on perceived and physiological measures of stress were evaluated. Sixty undergraduate psychology students, 31 males and 29 females, rated their level of relaxation and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) after they were told that they would be taking a stressful, mental test. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to different types of music or silence while skin temperature, frontalis muscle activity, and heart rate were recorded. Participants rated their relaxation and anxiety levels after listening to music or silence and completed the Mental Rotations Task Test. MANOVA's resulted in significant differences between groups for trait anxiety, F(57, 3) = 3.058, p =. 036, and postmusic phase heart rate, F(57, 3) = 3.522, p =. 021. Significant differences were also found between groups on state anxiety when trait anxiety was used as a covariate, F(57, 3) = 3.95, p =. 024. The results of the research suggest that music may have an effect on the cognitive component of the stress response.
Multicasting: Will It Transform the Internet?

Multicasting is a way to send a set of data to multiple recipients. Compared to traditional IP unicasting and IP broadcasting, multicasting is more efficient and economical, consumes less bandwidth and processing power, scales better, and does not as readily lead to network congestion as the number of clients grows. Businesses are using multicasting to distribute software and data updates to branch offices and stores throughout the world. In addition, media companies are using multicasting to transmit real-time audio and video simultaneously to thousands of consumers. And ISPs have already begun rolling out content-distribution services that use multicasting technology. Proponents say multicasting could eventually turn the Internet into a true broadcast medium. However, multicasting will require a few years to be widely adopted because it requires infrastructure changes (to the kernels on routers' operating systems), as well as deployment and activation by vendors and ISPs. Many ISPs have not even begun enabling multicasting on their networks yet because of unresolved questions about its immaturity and about the best economic model to use with the technology. Nonetheless, these problems will be solved and multicasting will have a bright future because the technology will provide organizations with a more functional Internet and the capability to stretch bandwidth and more efficiently distribute content.
Optimal control of vibrations of a dynamic Gao beam in contact with a reactive foundation

ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate the optimal control of vibrations of a nonlinear viscoelastic beam, which is acted upon by a horizontal traction, that may come in contact with a reactive foundation underneath it. By the Dubovitskii and Milyutin functional analytical approach, we derive the Pontryagin maximum principle of the system governed by the Gao beam equation. And the first-order necessary optimality condition is presented for the optimal control problem in fixed final horizon case. Finally, we also sketch the numerical solution based on the obtained theoretical results.
A 210‐min solid phase cytometry test for the enumeration of Escherichia coli in drinking water

A 210‐min‐test for the enumeration of Escherichia coli in drinking water is described, based on solid phase cytometry (SPC) and a two‐step enzymatic procedure for fluorescence labelling of single cells and small microcolonies. The test involves membrane filtration through a 25‐mm black polyester filter, induction of β‐glucuronidase in the retained target cells, fluorescence labelling with fluorescein‐di‐β‐ d‐glucuronide as an enzyme substrate and laser scanning of the membrane filter. Scan results can be confirmed on‐line by epifluorescence microscopy. Application to 149 naturally contaminated and uncontaminated well, tap, out‐of‐pump centre (distribution), surface and sewage‐spiked water samples indicated ≥ 90% agreement and equivalence with plate count methods, including Chromocult Coliform agar and m FC agar. In 5·4% of all samples examined, SPC detected between 1 and 11 E. coli per 100 ml, while the two plate methods yielded negative results. Cases of a negative SPC result but a positive E. coli count on both reference media were not observed. This test would primarily be useful for ‘emergency’ monitoring of drinking water when rapid results are crucial.
Advances in vertebrate aging research 2007

Among this year's highlights in vertebrate aging research, we find a study in which, contrary to the oxidative stress hypothesis of aging, reduced expression of a major cellular antioxidant, glutathione peroxidase 4, led to a small increase in mouse lifespan. By contrast, a large comparative proteomic analysis discovered a remarkably robust and previous unsuspected inverse association between species lifespan and relative frequency of cysteine residues in mitochondrially encoded respiratory chain proteins only, which the authors attribute to cysteine's ease of oxidation. Another study evaluated more cleanly than any previous work the hypothesis that blood glucose concentration is a key mediator of aging, and concluded that it wasn't. Several new mouse longevity mutants were also reported this year, some (PAPP‐A, IRS‐1, and IRS‐2 knockouts) supporting previous work on the importance of insulin/insulin‐like growth factor‐1 signaling and aging. However, there were inconsistencies between laboratories in some of the results, which merit further investigation. Also, somewhat inconsistent with these findings, over‐expression of insulin‐like growth factor‐1 in heart only lengthened life. From a completely new direction, type 5 adenylyl cyclase knockout mice were observed to live more than 30% longer than controls. Finally, a new program for evaluating potential pharmaceutical interventions in aging and longevity made its appearance, and is notable at this point chiefly for the excellence of its experimental design. A similar program for the disinterested evaluation of reported longevity mutations in mice would be a service to the community of vertebrate aging researchers.
CK2 Protein Kinase Is Stimulated and Redistributed by Functional Herpes Simplex Virus ICP27 Protein

ABSTRACT It has been shown previously (S. Wadd, H. Bryant, O. Filhol, J. E. Scott, T.-T. Hsieh, R. D. Everett, and J. B. Clements, J. Biol. Chem. 274:28991-28998, 2000) that ICP27, an essential and multifunctional herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) protein, interacts with CK2 and with heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K). CK2 is a pleiotropic and ubiquitous protein kinase, and the tetrameric holoenzyme consists of two catalytic α or α′ subunits and two regulatory β subunits. We show here that HSV-1 infection stimulates CK2 activity. CK2 stimulation occurs at early times after infection and correlates with redistribution of the holoenzyme from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Both CK2 stimulation and redistribution require expression and cytoplasmic accumulation of ICP27. In HSV-1-infected cells, CK2 phosphorylates ICP27 and affects its cytoplasmic accumulation while it also phosphorylates hnRNP K, which is not ordinarily phosphorylated by this kinase, suggesting an alteration of hnRNP K activities. This is the first example of CK2 stimulation by a viral protein in vivo, and we propose that it might facilitate the HSV-1 lytic cycle by, for example, regulating trafficking of ICP27 protein and/or viral RNAs.
e#: Sharper Expertise Detection from Microblogs

textabstractMicroblogging platforms such as Twitter provide low cost access to an immense reserve of authoritative professionals, opinion leaders and hobbyists for a wide range of topics. Yet, as microposts are short and incredibly diverse, many of these experts are hidden. In this paper, we present e#, a system to retrieve experts automatically for a given set of keywords. Our design targets exhaustivity: e# can detect previously undetectable experts. The core idea is to enhance a state-ofthe-art expert detection algorithm with a graph of expertise domains. Our system produces this graph from hundreds of Gigabytes of Web search query logs and behavioral data, processed in a distributed, parallel fashion. We provide a detailed description of our architecture, including an original SQL-based community detection algorithm. We then benchmark our system with 750 queries, using crowdsourcing. We observe that e# finds many more experts than a state-of-the-art baseline.
Conventional identification characteristics, mycolate and fatty acid composition, and clinical significance of MAIX AccuProbe-positive isolates of Mycobacterium avium complex

A total of 145 isolates belonging to the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) were tested with commercial acridinium ester-labeled DNA probes (AccuProbe, Gen-Probe). M. avium and M. intracellulare probes reacted with 102 and 36 isolates, respectively. The remaining seven isolates were clearly positive with the new probe, designated MAIX. Thus, the combined sensitivity of M. avium and M. intracellulare probes was 95.2%. The MAIX probe improved the sensitivity up to 100%. The MAIX probe also reacted with all M. avium (n = 20) and M. intracellulare (n = 20) isolates tested. Three of the seven MAIX-positive isolates were considered clinically significant. We conclude that the new MAIX probe should be used, in addition to M. avium and M. intracellulare probes, for the identification of MAC isolates. Our results also suggest that the probe may be used alone to cover the whole MAC when species differentiation is not required.
Potato Psyllid (Hemiptera: Triozidae) Response to Insecticides Under Controlled Greenhouse Conditions

Abstract Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc) is a common pest of solanaceous crops largely known for vectoring “psyllid yellows” in potatoes. In recent years, however, this pest has attracted considerable attention for vectoring Zebra Chip, a devastating bacterial disease that was first reported in the United States in 2004 and has spread across the southern and northwestern states, causing significant economic losses to potato growers and the industry. Management of the disease is mainly achieved by reducing the psyllid population using insecticides, including pyrethroids and neonicotinoids; however, new insecticides with different modes of action are needed to avoid the acquisition of resistance. In the current study, the immediate and residual effects of conventional and new materials were tested under greenhouse conditions against adults and nymphs. Cyantraniliprole at a high rate and spinetoram showed the highest immediate and residual activity against adults, whereas cyantraniliprole and oxamyl (low and high rates) were effective against nymphs, with no differences between rates. Soil applications of cyantraniliprole, oxamyl, and imidacloprid were still toxic to adults and nymphs 7 and 14 d after treatment. Also, cyantraniliprole and tolfenpyrad were detrimental to psyllid reproduction. The incorporation of new chemistry in rotation programs may provide a useful management tool against this pest.
NTRU Cryptosystem with Companion Matrix

The NTRU public key cryptosystem was first presented by J. Hoffstein, J. H. Silverman and J. Pipher in 1996. This system is based on shortest and closest vector problem in a lattice and its operations is based on objects of a truncated polynomial ring. In this paper, we have shown that applying Companion matrix for the matrix formulation algorithm in NTRU public key cryptosystem substantially increases its efficiency as compared to other matrix formutation for NTRU cryptosystem with invertible matrix, such as Nayak et al. [8].
Impact of Y143 HIV-1 Integrase Mutations on Resistance to Raltegravir In Vitro and In Vivo

ABSTRACT Integrase (IN), the HIV-1 enzyme responsible for the integration of the viral genome into the chromosomes of infected cells, is the target of the recently approved antiviral raltegravir (RAL). Despite this drug's activity against viruses resistant to other antiretrovirals, failures of raltegravir therapy were observed, in association with the emergence of resistance due to mutations in the integrase coding region. Two pathways involving primary mutations on residues N155 and Q148 have been characterized. It was suggested that mutations at residue Y143 might constitute a third primary pathway for resistance. The aims of this study were to investigate the susceptibility of HIV-1 Y143R/C mutants to raltegravir and to determine the effects of these mutations on the IN-mediated reactions. Our observations demonstrate that Y143R/C mutants are strongly impaired for both of these activities in vitro. However, Y143R/C activity can be kinetically restored, thereby reproducing the effect of the secondary G140S mutation that rescues the defect associated with the Q148R/H mutants. A molecular modeling study confirmed that Y143R/C mutations play a role similar to that determined for Q148R/H mutations. In the viral replicative context, this defect leads to a partial block of integration responsible for a weak replicative capacity. Nevertheless, the Y143 mutant presented a high level of resistance to raltegravir. Furthermore, the 50% effective concentration (EC50) determined for Y143R/C mutants was significantly higher than that obtained with G140S/Q148R mutants. Altogether our results not only show that the mutation at position Y143 is one of the mechanisms conferring resistance to RAL but also explain the delayed emergence of this mutation.
A Comparative Study on the Performance of HZR+ Trees on Query Processing

Data is being produced in new forms and unimaginable quantities. Researches and other scientific and commercial applications are engrossing the scientific community for their size and need of faster accessibility. The conventional access methods previously available in multidimensional databases are no longer suitable for the new form of data produced. In traditional databases, multicolumn index is created using B-tree [5]. This indexing cannot slide over columns, so the primary index column must be in the WHERE clause filters of the query. The R-tree [3], an extension of the B-tree, is a hierarchical, height balanced multidimensional indexing structure that guarantees space utilization above a certain threshold. But the data produced in most of the cases are not spatial in nature. Therefore, the data should be restructured in order to map the non-spatial data to geometric space. Thus, the multidimensional accessibility of spatial access methods, experimented on non spatial data for the first time and the analysis of which has produced interesting results forms the major contributions of this paper. The sequence of procedures followed to arrive at the analytical study is as follows: 1. The packing of non spatial data converts the data into a form that paves the way for multidimensional access, similar to using spatial access methods for spatial data. 2. The proposal of reduction of overlap of data using Hilbert curves for ordering the data before insertion into the proposed indexing structure 3. The proposal of a new index structure, Hilbert ZR+ Tree [HZR+ Tree]. 4. A collection of experiments and analysis which validates and proves the efficiency of the proposed data model.
Making poverty history in Sandwell the co-operative way

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a financial co-operative, owned and managed at a local level, can have a positive impact on financial exclusion. Member-owners of the co-operative are able to access easy saving products, take advantage of affordable loans, and develop transferable skills working as volunteers at the strategic and community level.
Srf Theory Revisited” To Control Self-Supported Dynamic Voltage Restorer (Dvr) For Unbalanced And Nonlinear Loads

In this paper a fuzzy controller based DVR is proposed for the protection of the sensitive unbalanced nonlinear loads from sag/swell, distortion, and unbalance in supply voltage is achieved. A simple generalized algorithm based on basic synchronous reference frame theory has been developed for the generation of instantaneous reference compensating voltages for controlling a DVR. This novel algorithm makes use of the fundamental positive sequence phase voltages extracted by sensing only two unbalanced and/or distorted line voltages. In addition to this a fuzzy logic controller have been developed to reduce the % THD compared with the conventional method. The compensating voltages when injected in series with a distribution feeder by three single-phase H-bridge voltage-source converters A capacitor-supported DVR does not need any active power during steady-state operation because the injected voltage is in quadrature with the feeder current. The proposed control strategy is validated through simulation results with the help of MATLAB/SIMULINK software.