Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of TRH on TSH Glycosylation and Biological Action

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is a glycoprotein comprised of two noncovalently linked subunits, or and p. The structure of TSH from a variety of species has been elucidated, including the amino acid sequence and carbohydrate composition. 'Y2 Bovine TSH has been particularly well characterized and its a subunit has a molecular weight of 14,000, of which 11,000 is composed of a protein core of 96 amino acids and 3,000 represents two oligosaccharide units linked to asparagine residues. Bovine TSHP has a molecular weight of 15,000 of which 13,000 is comprised of a protein core of 113 amino acids and 2,000 represents one asparagine-linked oligosaccharide unit. TSH is structurally related to the pituitary gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), as well to the placental hormone chorionic gonadotropin (CG). Within a single species the a subunits from each of these glycoprotein hormones are virtually identical, whereas the p subunits are unique and confer immunologic, receptorbinding, and biologic specificity. Attainment of the conformation necessary for hormonal activity is dependent on proper assembly and carbohydrate processing of the TSH subunits, whereas the free subunits are essentially devoid of receptor binding and biologic activity.2
Human activities change marine ecosystems by altering predation risk

In ocean ecosystems, many of the changes in predation risk – both increases and decreases – are human‐induced. These changes are occurring at scales ranging from global to local and across variable temporal scales. Indirect, risk‐based effects of human activity are known to be important in structuring some terrestrial ecosystems, but these impacts have largely been neglected in oceans. Here, we synthesize existing literature and data to explore multiple lines of evidence that collectively suggest diverse human activities are changing marine ecosystems, including carbon storage capacity, in myriad ways by altering predation risk. We provide novel, compelling evidence that at least one key human activity, overfishing, can lead to distinct, cascading risk effects in natural ecosystems whose magnitude exceeds that of presumed lethal effects and may account for previously unexplained findings. We further discuss the conservation implications of human‐caused indirect risk effects. Finally, we provide a predictive framework for when human alterations of risk in oceans should lead to cascading effects and outline a prospectus for future research. Given the speed and extent with which human activities are altering marine risk landscapes, it is crucial that conservation and management policy considers the indirect effects of these activities in order to increase the likelihood of success and avoid unfortunate surprises.
Verification of the findings of acrylamide in heated foods

We report here the first confirmation of the recent Swedish findings of acrylamide in heated foods. The verification exercise used an LC-MS/MS method developed for the purpose as well as an established GCMS method for acrylamide analysis. LC-MS/MS was suitable for the direct determination of acrylamide in aqueous extracts of foods by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) using triply deuterated acrylamide. Some food matrices were not suited to the new method and mixed-mode solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used to clean these extracts. The foods tested included UK versions of some of the key food groups analysed in Sweden. Also tested were some foods heated under home-cooking conditions. There was good agreement between the LC-MS/MS results and the GC-MS results and the levels of acrylamide found here were similar to those reported for the corresponding foods analysed in the Swedish study. The analyses confirmed that acrylamide is absent from the raw or boiled foods but present at significant levels in fried, grilled, baked and toasted foods. The highest result was 12000 μg kg-1 acrylamide in overcooked oil-fried chips.
Handling Uncertainties in Object Placement using Drop Regions

This paper addresses the challenge of pose uncertainties when placing an object onto both planar and complex support structures. The subset of SE(3) inside which an object can be dropped, while still satisfying the application constraints, is defined as its drop region. This paper presents a method for computing drop regions and two methods for determining the optimal drop pose within a region. The first method is based on a largest enclosing ellipsoid; the second method relies on kernel density estimation and also provides an estimate of the success probability of the placement.
VDM - Vienna Development Method

The Vienna Development Method is a formal language developed at the IBM laboratories in Vienna. First we give a short overview of the history of VDM from programming language description to VDM++. The language and its syntax are described in the following. Since the invention of VDM lots of tools have been developed. One of them is mural, a proof framework for VDM. We explain the basic features of mural and give a short example proof. The most important tool for VDM today is VDMTools which is still beeing developed. We give an overview of VDMTools features and present a detailed example of a VDM++ model in VDMTools. The example includes Java code generation from VDM. Name: Andreas Müller Matr.Nr. : 0555284 StKz. : 201 E-mail: a m@gmx.at
Screening of polyphenolic plant extracts for anti-obesity properties in Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND Polyphenols have been reported to prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. The objective of the study was to conduct a screening for potential anti-obesity polyphenolic plant extracts using a diet-induced animal model. Rats were fed a high-fat-sucrose (HFS) diet with or without supplementation of different polyphenolic plant extracts (almond, apple, cinnamon, orange blossom, hamamelis, lime blossom, grape vine, and birch) for 56-64 days. RESULTS Body weight gain was lower in rats supplemented with apple, cinnamon, hamamelis and birch extracts as compared to HFS non-supplemented group. Moreover, apple and cinnamon extracts prevented the increase in fat mass promoted by the HFS diet. Insulin resistance, estimated by the homostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, was reduced in rats fed apple, cinnamon, hamamelis and birch extracts. Apple extract also prevented the HFS-induced hyperglycaemia and hyperleptinaemia. CONCLUSION Only apple and cinnamon extracts were finally considered as potentially important anti-obesogenic extracts, due to their body fat-lowering effects, while the improvement of obesity-related metabolic complications by apple polyphenols highlights this extract as a promising functional food ingredient for the management of obesity and its metabolic complications.
Analyzing and Improving Table Space Allocation

Space allocation is a fundamental operation performed by a database management system (DBMS) when it inserts a record into a table. A good space allocation algorithm quickly locates and reserves enough space for a record, places it closer to its related records, and utilizes the available space. Satisfying these conflicting requirements is challenging and trade-offs are carefully balanced by well-chosen heuristics. As a DBMS evolves over time, especially a commercial DBMS, its space allocation algorithm gets more sophisticated and complex and relies on many heuristics. Technological changes, new applications, and greater data volumes render many legacy heuristics ineffective. These factors hinder understanding of space allocation behavior under many workload conditions and make it difficult to enhance the algorithm without causing performance regressions for some of the workloads. To facilitate research and study the performance of a table space allocation algorithm of a modern DBMS in real-world workload scenarios, we build an extensible simulation framework. We analyze algorithm behavior and make surprising observations. We use the findings to further improve the existing algorithm by proposing algorithm enhancements and showing their benefits with respect to key performance metrics. In conclusion, the proposed framework has been effective in research to understand the performance, improve the space allocation algorithms, and to guide the developers of a commercial DBMS.
Reflection spectroscopy on solutions of biological materials in millimeter wave frequency

We attempted to analyze a solution of biological matter of sugars, amino-acids, and electrolytes using a millimeter-wave reflection spectroscopy. The sensitivity for the concentration of solutes was improved markedly, when an adequate dielectric layer was inserted at the interface of incident side of the solution as impedance matched layer. The sensitivity was covered fully in the range of adequate blood sugar level of human as 0.07-0.16 g/100ml H2O in the case of glucose solution.
Mission profile optimized modularization of hybrid vehicle DC/DC converter systems

Vehicles based on electrical drive trains become more and more attractive due to rising oil prizes and environmental reasons. In these vehicles usually different and/or varying voltage levels for the drive and the energy storage elements are employed in order to fully utilise the components and increase the system efficiency. The DC-links with different voltage levels are interconnected by bidirectional DC-DC converters. Due to the high power levels the converters are often realised by interleaved smaller units for increasing part load efficiency and power density.
What is the true role of surfactant in the lung?

The surfactant identified' in the lung has been accorded two major roles. Firstly, it is believed that surfactant "reduces the work of expanding the lung with each breath" by reducing surface tension at the air-alveolar interface and secondly, in so doing, it also tends to "keep alveoli dry" by reducing the tendency to "suck fluid into the alveolar spaces from the capillaries. " Since these roles are now widely accepted to the point where they are quoted in standard medical textbooks, including the most recent in Respiratory Physiology,2 it would seem appropriate to start by assessing their validity in the light of recent experimental evidence. The "mechanical" advantages attributed to surfactant have been based upon the assumption that anything which can reduce the pressure needed to inflate the excised lung is going to make breathing easier. 3 Since von Neergaard4 first showed that the pressure differential needed to inflate an excised lung with air is reduced about tenfold when using saline for inflation-that is, when the interface between the air and aqueous hypophase is eliminated-there has been no doubt that the. interface itself provides the predominant contribution to lung recoil. Hence it is argued that any factor which can reduce surface forces should make breathing easier and this would include surfactants, especially if they reduce the interfacial tension at the alveolar surface from 50 dynes/cm for plasma to the very low value of 2 dynes/cm recorded in vitro for synthetic dipalmitoyl lecithin (DPL) and even for lung extracts.5 Dipalmitoyl lecithin has been identified as one of the most surface active substances present. ' While this may offer a plausible explanation for the presence of DPL and other surfactants, it must be remembered that, in normal breathing, the lung is not excised but is located within the thoracic cavity. Hence it is mechanically coupled to the chest wall and diaphragm-also elastic structures-with no opportunity for independent
Suppressors of a UGG missense mutation in Escherichia coli

As part of our investigation of tRNA structure-function relationships, we isolated and preliminarily characterized translational suppressors of the tryptophan codon UGG in a trpA missense mutant of Escherichia coli. the parent strain also contained two other mutant alleles relevant to the suppressor search; these were supD, which codes for a serine-inserting amber suppressor tRNA, and gly V55, the gene for a GGA/G-reading mutationally altered glycine tRNA. On the basis of map location, reversed-phase (RPC-5) column chromatography of glycyl-tRNA, and codon response, several classes have been distinguished so far. The number of suppressors in each class, their codon responses, and their apparent genic identities, respectively, are as follows: class 1--4 suppressors, UGG, supD; class 2--12 suppressors, UGG, glyU; class 3--9 suppressors, UGA and UGG, glyT; class 4--2 suppressors, UGG, glyT; class 5--7 suppressors, UGG, gly V55. Besides these, one suppressor retains supD activity, but so far its map location has not been distinguished from that of supD. Another suppressor clearly does not map near supD or any of the glycine tRNA genes mentioned. These last two suppressors may represent novel missense suppressors such as misacylated tRNA's or mutationally altered aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, tRNA modification enzymes, or ribosomes. Finally, three other suppressors were obtained from a strain containing glyT56, the gene for an AGA/G-reading form of glyT tRNA. All three occurred at the expense of glyT56 activity and exhibited the the transductional linkage to argH that is characteristic of glyT.
Testing for bias in the evolution of coloniality: a demonstration in cyclostome bryozoans

Abstract Colonial organisms vary in the degree to which they are individuated at the colony level, i.e., in the degree to which the colony constitutes a unified whole, as opposed to a group of independent lower-level entities. Various arguments have been offered suggesting that evolutionary change along this continuum may be biased, that increases may be more probable than decreases. However, counterarguments can be devised, and the existing evidence is meager and inconclusive. In this paper, we demonstrate how the question can be addressed empirically by conducting a test for bias in a group of stenolaemate bryozoans, the cyclostomes. More specifically, we suggest three criteria for colony individuation: degree of connectedness among lower-level entities (in this case, zooids), degree of differentiation among lower-level entities, and number of intermediate-level parts. And we show how these criteria can be used together with a phylogeny and ancestral-state reconstruction methods to test for bias. In this case, results do not unambiguously support any single interpretation but are somewhat supportive of a null hypothesis of no bias in favor of increase. As part of the demonstration, we also show how results can be transformed into a quantitative estimate of an upper limit on bias. Finally, we place the question of bias in a larger context, arguing that the same criteria and methods we employ here can be used to test for bias in other colonial taxa, and also at other hierarchical levels, for example, in the transitions from free-living eukaryotic cells to multicellular organisms.
Comprehensive Numerical Modeling of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Water Resource Recovery Facilities

A numerical model was developed to comprehensively predict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from water resource recovery facilities. An existing activated sludge model was extended to include a nitrifier‐denitrification process and carbon dioxide (CO2) as a state variable. The bioreactor model was coupled to a process‐based digester model and an empirical model of indirect CO2 emissions. Direct emissions were approximately 90% of total GHG emissions for a plantwide simulation using the Modified Ludzack–Ettinger process. Biogenic CO2, nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) represented 10, 43, and 34% of total emissions. Simulating a dissolved oxygen controlled closed‐loop system reduced both sensitivity and uncertainty of GHG emissions. Nitrous oxide emissions were much more sensitive under different design and operating conditions compared to CH4 and CO2, indicating a significant mitigation potential. An uncertainty analysis found that the uncertainty in GHGs emissions estimates could be significant. Nitrous oxide emissions dominated in both magnitude and uncertainty.
Identification and evaluation of immunogenic Salmonella Typhi proteins in sera of acute typhoid fever patients using two protein separation methods

Pooled sera from typhoid fever patients and normal subjects were subjected to protein fractionation using 2 different methods: 1) affinity chromatography by removing albumin and immunoglobulin, or 2) ultrafiltration membrane by removing proteins above 100 kDa; in order to unmask low abundance and low molecular weight proteins. Protein preparations from both separation methods were subjected to Western blot analysis. The results showed that different separation methods gave different antigenantibody binding profiles inherent of the technology used. A total of five immunoprecipitin bands were found to be specific for typhoid fever. Mass spectrometry and bioinformatic analyses indicated the presence of Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi) proteins in bands 12, 15 and 50 kDa; and bands 18, 25 and 50 kDa contained human proteins. S. Typhi proteins, namely: blue copper oxidase (CueO), outer membrane protein C (OmpC), and flagellar hook-associated protein 1 (HAP1), were selected and cloned using Escherichia coli expression system. Using indirect ELISA, the individual recombinant proteins gave diagnostic sensitivities of <50%, whereas combining all 3 proteins in a single test gave a higher sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 93%. This study has shown that serum fractionation can uncover immunogenic proteins unique to the pathogen, which can be used as biomarkers for specific diagnosis of the disease.
Relationship of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells to immune status in HIV-infected patients

Objective:To determine whether the frequencies of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (T Reg) were related to immune status in HIV-infected patients. Methods:Peripheral blood CD4 T-cell populations were examined for T-helper 1 cells (Th1), T-helper 2 cells (Th2), and T Reg by intracellular staining for interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-4, and surface staining for CD25, respectively. The immunoregulatory properties of T Reg were assessed by measurement of the inhibitory effects of isolated CD4+CD25+ T Reg on CD4+CD25− T-cell proliferation. Results:Isolated CD4+CD25+ T Reg from both HIV-infected patients and healthy controls strongly expressed CD45RO, HLA-DR, and FoxP3. HIV-infected patients with detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA showed a statistically significant increase in CD4+CD25high T Reg frequencies (P < 0.05) compared to healthy controls, with T Reg frequency inversely proportional to CD4 T-cell count (P < 0.01). However, in HIV-infected patients with undetectable plasma HIV-1 RNA, CD4+CD25high T Reg frequencies were not increased and were not related to CD4 T-cell counts. In both HIV-infected patient groups, T Reg frequency was inversely related to Th1 frequency (detectable HIV-1 RNA: P < 0.05; undetectable: P < 0.001), but positively related to Th2 frequency (detectable HIV-1 RNA: P < 0.01; undetectable: P < 0.001). T Reg activity was lower in patients with detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA than in patients with undetectable plasma HIV-1 RNA. Conclusions:Increased T Reg frequencies in peripheral blood were related to low peripheral blood CD4 T-cell counts and polarization toward Th2 immune responses in HIV-infected patients.
Human response to controlled levels of sulfur dioxide.

Nasal mucus flow rate, airway resistance, and subjective response was studied in 15 young men during six-hour exposures to 1, 5, and 25 ppm sulfur dioxide (SO2). A significant decrease in nasal mucus flow rate during 5- and 25-ppm exposures was observed. This decrease was greatest in the anterior nose and in subjects with an initially slow mucus flow rate. Pharyngeal air samples yielded less than 1% of the SO2 inhaled, even after a six-hour exposure to 25 ppm SO2. An increased nasal airflow resistance and a fall in forced expiratory volume in one second and forced expiratory flow during the middle half of expired volume was found at all exposure levels, but there was no change in “closing volume. ” Discomfort was proportional to SO2 concentration, but never excessive. Subjects with initially slow nasal mucus flow rates experienced the greatest discomfort. The acute effects of SO2 exposure appear to justify reduction of the present threshold limit value of 5 ppm to 1 ppm, and provide support for a nasobronc.
On recombinant human erythropoietin preventing the death of mice during cerebral malaria.

died during the period during which mice usually succumb to CM in the PbA model. The other 8 mice (53.3%) survived at least until day 18. This percentage is different from the mentioned protection rate of 190%. Furthermore, Kaiser et al. measured the mRNA expression of caspase-3 and caspase-8 in the brains of their mice. They found no difference in mRNA levels of these cystein proteases between rHuEPO- and vehicle-treated mice. In addition, TUNEL staining was performed where diffuse neuronal staining was seen in several areas of brain sections of salinetreated mice, in contrast to the very limited but intense focal staining in rHuEPOtreated mice. Kaiser et al. argued that the observed beneficial effect of rHuEPO on survival might be mediated by an antiinflammatory, rather than by an antiapoptotic, effect. It should be noted that there is evidence that the neuroprotective effect of rHuEPO is signaled by signal transducer and activator of transcription 5, which mediates the induction of antiapoptotic BCL-XL [4]. With respect to these data, an antiapoptotic effect of rHuEPO could possibly be overlooked if mRNA levels of cystein proteases, which are produced as inactive proenzymes and are activated by proteolytic cleavage, are analyzed. Furthermore, erythropoietin-related preferential inhibition of apoptosis mediated by the intrinsic pathway could be a putative explanation for the differential staining pattern observed in the TUNEL staining.
Reproduction of inflectional markers in French-speaking children with reading impairment.

PURPOSE Children with reading impairment (RI) experience difficulties in oral and written production of inflectional markers. The origin of these difficulties is not well documented in French. According to some authors, acquisition of irregular items by typically developing children is predicted by token frequency, whereas acquisition of regular items is predicted by type frequency. The authors hypothesized that acquisition of inflectional markers in French depends on the distribution of irregular, invariable, and regular (transparent) items within a grammatical category. METHOD Fifteen children with RI age matched with 15 children with typical reading development repeated and read aloud sentences containing adjectives inflected for gender and verbs inflected for number. Inflected adjectives and verbs were matched for token frequency and phonological complexity, whereas distribution of invariable, transparent, and irregular items differed within each grammatical category. RESULTS Results show higher error rates in the RI group, who produced more errors in reading than repetition, and more errors on inflected verbs than adjectives. Error distribution varied with the proportion of invariable, irregular, and transparent items within each grammatical category, confirming the authors' hypothesis. CONCLUSION The authors concluded that morphological difficulties of children with RI group originated from a delay in extracting systematicity in verb and adjective inflectional marking.
A New ICA Algorithm Based on CDF Estimation

The technique of Independent component analysis can be applied in image processing, communication processing, data mining and many others. By research on score function of informax algorithm and the performance of Ext-informax algorithm while the sources include impulse signals and Gaussian signals. The results show these algorithms are not stably in these instances. A new score function according to cumulative probability distribution function of signal is proposed. All simulations show better performance than Ext-Informax algorithm under above instances.