Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex-determinants and their distribution in various populations of Musca domestica L. of Western Europe.

The distribution of sex-determinants in field populations of Musca domestica domestica L. was studied in 62 samples of flies collected at 53 sites (animal farms) between 1975 and 1981 in an area stretching North–South from Denmark (+ Iceland) to Sicily. Karyological observations and genetic analyses demonstrated the existence of three types of population along a latitudinal cline. Populations of Northern Europe were of the standard type ( XX females and XY males) with the Y chromosome determining sex. Those of Central and Southern Italy from sites below 100 m.a.s.l. (metres above sea level) were autosomal ( XX females and males), sex in them being determined by autosomal sex-determinants for both femaleness and maleness. In the large intermediate zone the populations were mixed and had several karyotypes in both sexes. In this zone an altitudinal gradient was also observed, with autosomal determinants less common at higher altitudes. Genetic tests showed, in the autosomal and in the mixed populations, the presence of two autosomal male factors: M III, the most common, on autosome III and M II, on autosome II. The gradient in sex determinants found in flies of Western Europe appears to be a dynamic phenomenon of relatively recent origin. Both climatic influence and selective pressure with insecticides have probably contributed towards the micro-evolution of populations with different sex-determinants in the houseflies of the area studied.
Functional Impacts of the Intestinal Microbiome in the Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract:The human intestinal microbiome plays a critical role in human health and disease, including the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Numerous studies have identified altered bacterial diversity and abundance at varying taxonomic levels through biopsies and fecal samples of patients with IBD and diseased model animals. However, inconsistent observations regarding the microbial compositions of such patients have hindered the efforts in assessing the etiological role of specific bacterial species in the pathophysiology of IBD. These observations highlight the importance of minimizing the confounding factors associated with IBD and the need for a standardized methodology to analyze well-defined microbial sampling sources in early IBD diagnosis. Furthermore, establishing the linkage between microbiota compositions with their function within the host system can provide new insights on the pathogenesis of IBD. Such research has been greatly facilitated by technological advances that include functional metagenomics coupled with proteomic and metabolomic profiling. This review provides updates on the composition of the microbiome in IBD and emphasizes microbiota dysbiosis-involved mechanisms. We highlight functional roles of specific bacterial groups in the development and management of IBD. Functional analyses of the microbiome may be the key to understanding the role of microbiota in the development and chronicity of IBD and reveal new strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Intranasal antifungal treatment in 51 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

BACKGROUND Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is the most common chronic disease that is frequently refractory to treatment. OBJECTIVE We sought to establish the safety and demonstrate the clinical efficacy of intranasal antifungal drug therapy in patients with CRS in a pilot trial. METHODS A prospective open-label trial used amphotericin B as a medical treatment in 51 randomly selected patients with CRS. The antifungal agent was applied intranasally as 20 mL of a 100 microg/mL solution twice daily. The outcome was measured by using their symptoms and by using an endoscopic scoring system in all patients. In addition, pretreatment and posttreatment coronal computed tomographic scans of the nose and sinuses were available for evaluation in 13 patients. RESULTS By using amphotericin B, improvement of sinusitis symptoms was observed in 38 (75%) of 51 patients. Endoscopically, 18 (35%) of 51 patients became disease free, and an additional 20 (39%) of 51 had improvement of at least one stage (P <.001). No effect was seen in 13 (25%) of 51 patients. The available computed tomographic scans before and after treatment demonstrated a significant reduction in the inflammatory mucosa thickening that had occluded the paranasal sinuses (P <.0001 in maxillary sinus). CONCLUSION This open-label pilot trial demonstrates that direct mucoadministration of an antifungal drug appears to be both safe and effective in the treatment of patients with CRS. Therefore controlled and blinded trials are indicated to clarify the novel role of intranasal antifungal drugs in the treatment of CRS.
Colorectal Cancer Patient Characteristics, Treatment and Survival in Oman--a Single Center Study.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Oman with an increasing incidence. We here report the presenting features, treatment outcomes and survival in a University hospital in Oman and compare our data with regional and international studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS Medical records of patients with colorectal cancer were reviewed retrospectively between June 2000 and December 2013 and were followed until June 2014. RESULTS A total of 162 patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The majority were males (58.6%), with a median age of 56 years. Rectum was involved in 29.6% of patients, followed by ascending and sigmoid colon. The majority of patients had stage III (42.6%) and stage IV (32.7%) disease at presentation. K-Ras status was checked for 79 patients, and 41 (51.9%) featured the wild type. Median relapse free survival was 22 months. Median overall survival for all patients was 43 months. Observed 5 year overall survival (OS) for stages I, II and III was 100%, 60% and 60% respectively. On Log rank univariate analysis, age, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, metformin use, stage, clinical nodal status for rectal cancer, pathological T and nodal status, site of metastasis, surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy regimen, no of cycles of chemotherapy, response, RFS, site of recurrence and administration of 2nd line chemotherapy were significant factors affecting OS. On Cox regression multivariate analysis none of the factors independently affected the OS. CONCLUSIONS The majority of patients present with advanced disease and at young age. The survival rates are comparable to the published regional and international literature.
Using AHP to Assess a Plan of Training the Adolescent Golf Player

This research uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and analysis level procedural law to assess adolescent golf player's skills and inform the coaches of the training they should take. The adolescent golf player's attributes are analyzed-through an interview of famous teachers Lu Xijun, Gao Chunde, Song Dingheng, and Coaches Lu Jiaqi, Ye Xingqun, Chen Zhihong to determine their ability level. Then the interview results are Cross-Referenced using the AHP to sort the players into groups and create an individualized training regiment for each player.The findings are as follows: 1. players are trained to have 5 skills, A. the golf skills, B. physical fitness, C. psychological fortitude, D. intelligence, and E. sportsmanship; 2. the 5 most important ability targets are A. putting-green success ratio, B. putting success ratio, C. shot precision, D. muscle fitness, and E. explosive force.The AHP model helps make training more meaningful for each player and thereby, cultivating a favorable outcome for each player. Thus enables golf movement to gain global status level.
The effects of tigecycline on human osteoblasts in vitro

osteomyelitis (bone tissue infection), is a very serious disease affecting many patients by destroying large portions of bone tissue. tigecycline is a recently available antibiotic to overcome bacteria resistance phenomena in bone tissue infections. no information is available regarding its direct effects on bone cells. We have demonstrated deleterious effects of high tigecycline concentrations on viability and proliferation of osteoblasts in vitro. this finding should be carefully taken into account when a local antibiotic application is used. However, at lower concentrations tigecycline this effect was not observed. KEy-WORDS: osteomyelitis; tigecycline; osteoblasts; cell culture.
Release of ADP from the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A: A molecular dynamics simulation study

Substrate phosphorylation by cAMP‐dependent‐protein kinase A (protein kinase A, PKA) has been studied extensively. Phosphoryl transfer was found to be fast, whereas ADP release was found to be the slow, rate‐limiting step. There is also evidence that ADP release may be preceded by a partially rate‐limiting conformational change. However, the atomic details of the conformational change and the mode of ADP release are difficult to obtain experimentally. In this work, we studied ADP release from PKA by carrying out molecular dynamics simulations with different pulling forces applied to the ligand. The detailed ADP release pathway and the associated conformational changes were analyzed. The ADP release process was found to involve a swinging motion with the phosphate of ADP anchored to the Gly‐rich loop, so that the more buried adenine base and ribose ring came out before the phosphate. In contrast to the common belief that a hinge‐bending motion was responsible for the opening of the ligand‐binding cleft, our simulations showed that the small lobe exhibited a large amplitude “rocking” motion when the ligand came out. The largest conformational change of the protein was observed at about the first quarter time point along the release pathway. Two prominent intermediate states were observed in the release process.
Reciprocity in parent-child relations over the adult life course.

OBJECTIVES This research assessed how parents' transfers of sentiment, time, and financial assets to their adolescent/young adult children affect the children's propensity in middle age to provide social support to their aging parents. We tested whether the mechanism of long-term intergenerational exchange is better modeled as a return on investment, an insurance policy triggered by the longevity or physical frailty of parents, or the result of altruistic (or other nonreciprocal) motivations on the part of adult children. METHODS Models were examined with 6 waves of data from the University of Southern California Longitudinal Study of Generations. The sample consisted of 501 children who participated in the 1971 survey and who had at least 1 parent surviving in 1985. Growth curve modeling was applied to predict average levels and rates of change in social support provided to mothers and fathers between 1985 and 1997 as a function of early parental transfers of affection, association, and tangible resources to their children. RESULTS Children who spent more time in shared activities with their mothers and fathers in 1971 provided more support to them on average. Receiving greater financial support from parents in 1971 raised the marginal rate at which support provided by children increased over time. Maternal health operated synergistically with early affection to produce greater levels of support. Both levels and rates of increase in support from children were positive, even for children who received no early transfers from their parents. DISCUSSION The results offer some support for investment, insurance, and altruistic models of intergenerational exchange. Sharing time in activities provides a direct return to the parent that is characteristic of an investment strategy, whereas financial transfers provide a time-contingent return that is characteristic of an insurance mechanism. That affection triggers greater support to more functionally impaired mothers suggests that emotionally investing in children as a health insurance mechanism may be based on the greater moral equity accorded to mothers. The motivation of adult children to provide social support to their older parents is partially rooted in earlier family experiences and guided by an implicit social contract that ensures long-term reciprocity.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillator specific rehabilitation improves health cost outcomes: Findings from the COPE-ICD randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE The Copenhagen Outpatient ProgrammE - implantable cardioverter defibrillator (COPE-ICD) trial included patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators in a randomized controlled trial of rehabilitation. After 6-12 months significant differences were found in favour of the rehabilitation group for exercise capacity, general and mental health. The aim of this paper is to explore the long-term health effects and cost implications associated with the rehabilitation programme; more specifically, (i) to compare implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy history and mortality between rehabilitation and usual care groups; (ii) to examine the difference between rehabilitation and usual care groups in terms of time to first admission; and (iii) to determine attributable direct costs. METHODS Patients with first-time implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation (n = 196) were randomized (1:1) to comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation or usual care. Outcomes were measured by implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy history from patient records and national register follow-up on mortality, hospital admissions and costs. RESULTS No significant differences were found after 3 years for implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy or mortality between rehabilitation and usual care. Time to first admission did not differ. The cost of rehabilitation was 335 USD/276 Euro per patient enrolled in rehabilitation. The total attributable cost of rehabilitation after 3 years was -6,789 USD/-5,593 Euro in favour of rehabilitation. CONCLUSION No long-term health outcome benefits were found for the rehabilitation programme. However, the rehabilitation programme resulted in a reduction in total attributable direct costs.
Predicting Software Defects Using Bayesian Network Approach

--------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------------Software defects are very predominant especially in large software these days because programmers do not take the pain to properly debug and test their software before releasing them to customers and users. When these software are put into use, the defects manifest themselves especially if they are dormant or inactive at the time the software is being developed. As a result, they do cause errors and eventually failure if not quickly handled thereby causing serious damages in terms of human and material loss. This paper proposed the Bayesian network model for predicting software defects. In the model, certain software inputs are tested to determine the number of defects in them. Therefore, our program which is developed in Java programming language is able to count the number of inputs and outputs using certain parameters and expressions. This is possible when we input query into the network. The program is able to determine that a query has been supplied, the query type, the various events that takes place at each stage of the query determination, the choices made and the probability of defects being found or not being found in the software.
Detection of Heme Oxygenase Activity by Measurement of CO

Heme oxygenase (HO) is the first and rate‐limiting step in degradation of heme, and in the presence of NADPH‐cytochrome P‐450 reductase it produces equimolar amounts of biliverdin and CO. CO produced in a closed system can be quantified as described in this unit by gas chromatography as a measure of HO activity in tissue slices, tissue homogenates, and tissue fractions.
Secure communications via chaotic synchronization in Chua's circuit and Bonhoeffer-Van der Pol equation: numerical analysis of the errors of the recovered signal

The signal recovered from the first reported experimental secure communication system via chaotic synchronization contains some inevitable noise which degrades the fidelity of the original message. By cascading the output of the receiver in the original system into an identical copy of this receiver, it had be shown by computer experiments that this noise can be significantly reduced. We discuss the heuristic laws governing the errors of the recovered signal which are observed in a new series of very careful computer experiments. This discussion is done comparing these laws to the results obtained using the linear filtering theory. Some discrepancy appears. In order to understand the origin of the discrepancy we consider another simpler model based on the Bonhoeffer-Van der Pol equation where no chaos occurs. In this case both two heuristic laws are in good agreement with the linear filtering theory.
Activase Region on Chloroplast Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase

In the active form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco, EC 4.1.1.39), a carbamate at lysine 201 binds Mg2+, which then interacts with the carboxylation transition state. Rubisco activase facilitates this spontaneous carbamylation/metal-binding process by removing phosphorylated inhibitors from the Rubisco active site. Activase from Solanaceae plants (e.g. tobacco) fails to activate Rubisco from non-Solanaceae plants (e.g. spinach andChlamydomonas reinhardtii), and non-Solanaceae activase fails to activate Solanaceae Rubisco. Directed mutagenesis and chloroplast transformation previously showed that a proline 89 to arginine substitution on the surface of the large subunit ofChlamydomonas Rubisco switched its specificity from non-Solanaceae to Solanaceae activase activation. To define the size and function of this putative activase binding region, substitutions were created at positions flanking residue 89. As in the past, these substitutions changed the identities of Chlamydomonasresidues to those of tobacco. Whereas an aspartate 86 to arginine substitution had little effect, aspartate 94 to lysine Rubisco was only partially activated by spinach activase but now fully activated by tobacco activase. In an attempt to eliminate the activase/Rubisco interaction, proline 89 was changed to alanine, which is not present in either non-Solanaceae or Solanaceae Rubisco. This substitution also caused reversal of activase specificity, indicating that amino acid identity alone does not determine the specificity of the interaction.
The theoretical backround of operational risk management

Operational risk has become one of the most discussed topics by both academics and practitioners in the financial industry in the recent years. The reasons for this attention can be attributed to higher investments in information systems and technology, the increasing wave of mergers and acquisitions, emergence of new financial instruments and the growth of electronic dealing. In addition, the New Basel Capital Accord (known as Basel II) demands a capital requirement for operational risk and further motivates financial institutions to more precisely measure and manage this type of risk. The aim of this paper is to shed light on main characteristics of operational risk management and common applied methods: scenario analysis, key risk indicators, risk control self assessment and loss distribution approach.
Structural and evolutionary relationships of “AT-less” type I polyketide synthase ketosynthases

Significance There are many differences in the sequences of ketosynthase (KS) domains from the well-studied type I polyketide synthases (PKSs) and the more recently discovered acyltransferase (AT)-less type I PKSs. The AT-less type I PKSs generate polyketides with a high degree of structural diversity, which stems from their evolution by horizontal gene transfer. In comparison, canonical type I PKSs evolve by gene duplication. The seven structures of AT-less type I PKS KSs reveal the molecular details surrounding the evolution of substrate specificity and structural diversity, and their overall differences with canonical type I PKS KSs. Understanding the mechanism of substrate specificity will allow reprogramming of the KS active sites to generate polyketide analogues by PKS and polyketide biosynthetic pathway engineering. Acyltransferase (AT)-less type I polyketide synthases (PKSs) break the type I PKS paradigm. They lack the integrated AT domains within their modules and instead use a discrete AT that acts in trans, whereas a type I PKS module minimally contains AT, acyl carrier protein (ACP), and ketosynthase (KS) domains. Structures of canonical type I PKS KS-AT didomains reveal structured linkers that connect the two domains. AT-less type I PKS KSs have remnants of these linkers, which have been hypothesized to be AT docking domains. Natural products produced by AT-less type I PKSs are very complex because of an increased representation of unique modifying domains. AT-less type I PKS KSs possess substrate specificity and fall into phylogenetic clades that correlate with their substrates, whereas canonical type I PKS KSs are monophyletic. We have solved crystal structures of seven AT-less type I PKS KS domains that represent various sequence clusters, revealing insight into the large structural and subtle amino acid residue differences that lead to unique active site topologies and substrate specificities. One set of structures represents a larger group of KS domains from both canonical and AT-less type I PKSs that accept amino acid-containing substrates. One structure has a partial AT-domain, revealing the structural consequences of a type I PKS KS evolving into an AT-less type I PKS KS. These structures highlight the structural diversity within the AT-less type I PKS KS family, and most important, provide a unique opportunity to study the molecular evolution of substrate specificity within the type I PKSs.
Reactive nitrogen species‐dependent DNA damage in EBV‐associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma: The relation to STAT3 activation and EGFR expression

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is strongly associated with Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) infection. Recently, reactive nitrogen and oxygen species are considered to participate in inflammation‐related carcinogenesis through DNA damage. In our study, we obtained biopsy and surgical specimens of nasopharyngeal tissues from NPC patients in southern China, and performed double immunofluorescent staining to examine the formation of 8‐nitroguanine, a nitrative DNA lesion and 8‐oxo‐7,8‐dihydro‐2′‐deoxyguanosine, an oxidative DNA lesion, in these specimens. Strong DNA lesions were observed in cancer cells and inflammatory cells in stroma of NPC patients. Intensive immunoreactivity of iNOS was detected in the cytoplasm of 8‐nitroguanine‐positive cancer cells. DNA lesions and iNOS expression were also observed in epithelial cells of EBV‐positive patients with chronic nasopharyngitis, although their intensities were significantly weaker than those in NPC patients. In EBV‐negative subjects, no or little DNA lesions and iNOS expression were observed. EGFR and phosphorylated STAT3 were strongly expressed in cancer cells of NPC patients, but NF‐κB was not expressed, suggesting that STAT3‐dependent mechanism is important for NPC carcinogenesis. IL‐6 was expressed mainly in inflammatory cells of nasopharyngeal tissues of EBV‐infected patients. EBV‐encoded RNAs (EBERs) and latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) were detected in cancer cells from all EBV‐infected patients. In vitro cell system, nuclear accumulation of EGFR was observed in LMP1‐expressing cells, and IL‐6 induced phosphorylated STAT3 and iNOS. These data suggest that nuclear accumulation of EGFR and STAT3 activation byIL‐6 play the key role in iNOS expression and resultant DNA damage, leading to EBV‐mediated NPC. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.