Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review article: epidemiology of gall‐bladder disease – role of intestinal transit

Recent epidemiological studies have suggested that hyperinsulinaemia may be a central factor in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstones, explaining a probable link with physical inactivity as well as abdominal adiposity. There is also increasing evidence for the hypothesis that enrichment of bile with DCA, ‘the colonic bile acid', leads to enrichment of bile with cholesterol. Biliary DCA can be raised and lowered by slowing down and speeding up colonic transit, respectively. Slow transit is characteristic of non‐obese British women with gallstones and of non‐obese peasants in a gallstone‐prone mountain community. High biliary DCA predicts recurrence of gallstones and so does laxative usage, a pointer to constipation and therefore to slow transit. In some studies, at least, a high fibre intake is protective against gallstones. Much else besides fibre influences colonic function. Future studies of gallstone aetiology should include measurements of colonic function. Measures that speed up colonic transit should be tested for their ability to prevent gallstone formation in high‐risk individuals.
Sensitivity of economic criteria on selecting transmission upgrades in a competitive electricity market

In economic valuation - cost-benefit analysis - of transmission upgrades under competitive market environment, cost of transmission facilities is determined based on the annual carrying charge and benefit is defined based on the concept of ‘social welfare maximization’. A transmission upgrade is chosen to be built when its benefit exceeds its cost plus some percentage adder to account for future uncertainty. In this paper, we show that the choice of economic criteria, particularly the economic benefit, will affect the value of maximum social welfare which in turn will affect the choice of the transmission upgrade. We provide various definitions of economic benefit. Based on these definitions, we further look at the cost-benefit analysis (criteria) for transmission upgrades considered in a competitive market system. We illustrate the importance of these concepts and methodology by applying them to two potential transmission upgrades in PJM electricity market.
Ectopic Expression of Pumpkin Gibberellin Oxidases Alters Gibberellin Biosynthesis and Development of Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants1

Immature pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) seeds contain gibberellin (GA) oxidases with unique catalytic properties resulting in GAs of unknown function for plant growth and development. Overexpression of pumpkin GA 7-oxidase (CmGA7ox) in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) resulted in seedlings with elongated roots, taller plants that flower earlier with only a little increase in bioactive GA4 levels compared to control plants. In the same way, overexpression of the pumpkin GA 3-oxidase1 (CmGA3ox1) resulted in a GA overdose phenotype with increased levels of endogenous GA4. This indicates that, in Arabidopsis, 7-oxidation and 3-oxidation are rate-limiting steps in GA plant hormone biosynthesis that control plant development. With an opposite effect, overexpression of pumpkin seed-specific GA 20-oxidase1 (CmGA20ox1) in Arabidopsis resulted in dwarfed plants that flower late with reduced levels of GA4 and increased levels of physiological inactive GA17 and GA25 and unexpected GA34 levels. Severe dwarfed plants were obtained by overexpression of the pumpkin GA 2-oxidase1 (CmGA2ox1) in Arabidopsis. This dramatic change in phenotype was accompanied by a considerable decrease in the levels of bioactive GA4 and an increase in the corresponding inactivation product GA34 in comparison to control plants. In this study, we demonstrate the potential of four pumpkin GA oxidase-encoding genes to modulate the GA plant hormone pool and alter plant stature and development.
Privacy Preserving C4.5 Algorithm Over Horizontally Partitioned Data

Privacy preserving decision tree classification algorithm is to solve such a distributed computation problem that the participant parties jointly build a decision tree over the data set distributed among them, and they do not want their private sensitive data to be revealed to others during the tree-building process. The existing privacy preserving decision tree classification algorithms over the data set horizontally partitioned and distributed among different parties only can cope with the data with discrete attribute values. This paper propose a solution to privacy preserving C4.5 algorithm based on secure multi-party computation techniques, which can securely build a decision tree over the horizontally partitioned data with both discrete and continuous attribute values. Moreover, we propose a secure two-party bubble sort algorithm to solve the privacy preserving sort problem in our solution
Structure-activity relationship of alpha-galactosylceramides against B16-bearing mice.

Agelasphin-9b, (2S,3S,4R)-1-O-(alpha-D-galactopyranosyl)-16-methyl-2- [N-((R)-2- hydroxytetracosanoyl)-amino]- 1,3,4-heptadecanetriol, is a potent antitumor agent isolated from the marine sponge Agelas mauritianus. Various analogues of agelasphin-9b (a lead compound) were synthesized, and the relationship between their structures and biological activities was examined using several assay systems. From the results, KRN7000, (2S,3S,4R)-1-O-(alpha-D- galactopyranosyl)-2-(N-hexacosanoylamino)-1,3,4-octadecanetriol , was selected as a candidate for clinical application.
Changes in nuclear structure during binary fission in the ciliate Nassula.

During binary fission intranuclear spindles are formed in the three micronuclei and in the macronucleus. The nuclear envelopes remain intact throughout nuclear division. At one stage all the nuclei are linked together by the formation of membrane bridges in continuity with the outer membranes of their envelopes. Three types of filamentous structure have been distinguished in the spindles: microtubules of diameter 210-240 A, fine branching filaments, and filaments which have a C-shaped transverse profile and a diameter of about 240 A, for which the term C-filament is suggested. At metaphase a polar vesicle is situated at each pole of the micronuclei but centrioles are absent. During late anaphase a long central spindle, called here a separation spindle, is situated inside each micronucleus and elongates between the separating chromosomes. The nuclear pores of both types of nuclei are partly filled with dense material. In long, late anaphase micronuclei, pores are abundant in the parts of the envelope surrounding the ends of the nuclei but are rarely found elsewhere. Large numbers of ribosome-like granules are attached to the outer surfaces of the micronuclear envelopes where they sheathe the separation spindles.
Quantitative analysis of trace gases of breath during exercise using the new SIFT–MS technique

Abstract We show how the concentration of the breath gases ammonia, acetone, and isoprene vary with time during exercise using the new selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT–MS) technique. The expired breath concentrations of ammonia, acetone and isoprene were observed within the range of 50–500, 100–1400 and 5–400 ppb, respectively. Increasing acetone levels were observed for most subjects during the exercise period. However, isoprene levels decreased with time during exercise. Older subjects showed higher levels of isoprene compared with younger subjects. The ammonia time profile with exercise showed both decreasing and increasing patterns for different subjects.
Image Denoising Based on Fuzzy and Intra-scale Dependency in Wavelet Transform Domain Conference

In this paper, we propose a new wavelet shrinkage algorithm based on fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is used for taking neighbor dependency and uncorrelated nature of noise into account in wavelet-based image denoising. For this reason, we use a fuzzy feature for enhancing wavelet coefficients information in the shrinkage step. Then a fuzzy membership function shrinks wavelet coefficients based on the fuzzy feature. We examine our image denoising algorithm in the dual-tree discrete wavelet transform, which is the new shiftable and modified version of discrete wavelet transform. Extensive comparisons with the state-of-theart image denoising algorithm indicate that our image denoising algorithm has a better performance in noise suppression and edge preservation.
The induced 2-tuple linguistic generalized OWA operator and its application in linguistic decision making

We present the induced 2-tuple linguistic generalized ordered weighted averaging (2-TILGOWA) operator. This new aggregation operator extends previous approaches by using generalized means, order-inducing variables in the reordering of the arguments and linguistic information represented with the 2-tuple linguistic approach. Its main advantage is that it includes a wide range of linguistic aggregation operators. Thus, its analyses can be seen from different perspectives and we obtain a much more complete picture of the situation considered and are able to select the alternative that best fits with with our interests or beliefs. We further generalize the operator by using quasi-arithmetic means, and obtain the Quasi-2-TILOWA operator. We conclude this paper by analysing the applicability of this new approach in a decision-making problem concerning product management.
Search for loss of heterozygosity and mutation analysis of KRIT1 gene in CCM patients

Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a vascular disorder of the brain characterized by dilated capillary-like sinusoid chambers lined by a single layer of endothelium and thin fibrous adventitia but lacking other vessel wall components and intervening neural structures [Clatterbuck et al., 2001]. Spinal, cutaneous, retinal, and vertebral cavernous angiomas have also been observed. Both sporadic and familial forms have been identified. The familial form exhibits autosomal dominant inheritance with variable clinical expression and incomplete penetrance with three known loci on chromosomes 7q21.2 (CCM1), 7p15-p13 (CCM2), and 3q25.2-q27 (CCM3). The first gene identified on CCM1 locus is KRIT1 encoding KREV-1/RAP1 interaction trapped 1 protein (KRIT1), which is responsible for 40% or more of familial cases. Recently a novel gene MGC4607 has been isolated on the CCM2 locus [Liquori et al., 2003]. The KRIT1 gene has been reported to include 16 coding exons [Sahoo et al., 2001]. KRIT1 is a protein of 736 aminoacids and a molecular mass of 81 kDa containing N-terminal ankyrin repeats, one FERM domain, one trans-membrane domain, and a region at the C-terminal interacting with RAP1A [Sahoo et al., 2001; Marini et al., 2003]. The combina-
Chemical sensing using microcantilever without sensitive coating

Chemical sensors based on vibrating silicon microcantilevers without sensitive coating are investigated herein. The sensor signal is the relative variation of the microcantilever resonant frequency which depends on both the viscosity and the density of the fluid surrounding the microcantilever. This principle has been applied to the detection of binary gas mixtures. Experimental data for He/N2 and CO2/N2 environments are presented and compared to results of theoretical modeling. The advantages of such a gas sensor based on changes of physical properties are discussed.
DnaA Protein Is Sensitive to a Soluble Factor and Is Specifically Inactivated for Initiation of in Vitro Replication of the Escherichia coli Minichromosome (*)

DnaA protein loses the capacity to initiate chromosomal replication when treated with a soluble cell extract. This inactivation depends upon DNA and hydrolyzable ribonucleoside triphosphate. The extract does not affect the activities of other replicative proteins or the ability of DnaA to initiate replication of single-stranded DNA that contains a DnaA-binding hairpin, indicating that the inhibitory effect is specific for the action of DnaA at oriC. Gel filtration experiments implicate a 150-kDa factor as being responsible. Mutant DnaAcos protein, which causes overinitiation in vivo, is insensitive to the inactivating factor, suggesting a requirement for this negative control in vivo. We propose that a soluble factor controls initiation through down-regulation of DnaA protein.
Teorija komparativnih prednosti i gospodarski rast: argumenti pro et contra (moguce pouke za Republiku Hrvatsku)

Neoklasicna teorija rasta, na njoj utemeljena hands free varijanta ekonomske politike, te teorija komparativnih prednosti cinili su se zemljama u tranziciji kao carobni stapic za proces konvergencije s razvijenim zemljama na putu u EU. Nove teorije rasta i nove teorije vanjske trgovine razvijaju se u uvjetima imperfektne konkurencije. U takvim uvjetima egzistiraju i ocekuju konvergenciju zemlje u tranziciji i zemlje kandidatkinje za ulazak u EU. Kandidatkinje za EU moraju se pripremiti za konkurenciju otvorenog tržista EU-a. U tom kontekstu pitanje izbora ekonomske politike i koncepcije gospodarskog rasta i razvoja od izuzetne je važnosti. Mislimo da ekonomska politika hrvatskoga gospodarstva, pretežito utemeljena na neoklasicnom konceptu rasta, uz teoriju komparativnih prednosti, mora biti revidirana kao preduvjet za ubrzani gospodarski rast Hrvatske.
Cocaine and apoptosis in myocardial cells

Toxic effects of cocaine on the heart muscle have been known for many years. Cardiovascular complications related to cocaine abuse include myocardial ischemia and infarction, inflammation, and disease of the heart muscle, rhythm disturbances, and sudden cardiac death. Cocaine toxicity‐related cardiac morbidity and mortality are often due to several interacting mechanisms. Cocaine also has a potent pharmacological effect, indirectly stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, and it has a direct toxic effect on the heart. Although apoptosis (also called programmed cell death) has been shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of several diseases in the heart, including heart failure and ischemic myocardial infarction, the role of apoptosis in the toxic effect of cocaine on the heart has not been explored. Recent studies indicated that cocaine causes apoptotic cell death in both adult and fetal heart muscles. Increased oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species, and the subsequent activation of a “stress responsive” enzyme (p38‐mitogen‐activated protein kinase) in the heart may play an important role in cocaine‐induced apoptosis in the heart muscle. These findings suggest a new way to understand the cardiotoxic effects of cocaine, and may have potential clinical implications in the better management of cocaine‐induced heart diseases. Anat Rec (New Anat): 257:208–216, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Finite Element Analysis of Tunable Composite Tubes Reinforced with Auxetic Structures

A tubular composite structure that is built of two materials, characterized by different Young moduli, is analysed in this paper. The Young’s modulus of one of these materials can be controlled by external conditions e.g., magnetic or electric field, temperature etc. The geometry of the reinforcement is based on typical auxetic re-entrant honeycomb cellular structure. The influence of this external factor on the behaviour of the stretched tube is analysed in this paper. Also, the possibility of creating a tubular composite structure whose cross-section is either shrinking or expanding, while stretching the tube is presented.
Increased Rab35 expression is a potential biomarker and implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second common neurodegenerative disease. Identification of biomarkers for early diagnosis and prediction of disease progression is important. The present comparative proteomic study of serum samples using two-dimensional fluorescence differential gel electrophoresis followed by ELISA confirmation demonstrated that protein expression of Rab35 was increased in PD patients compared with matched control subjects and other parkinsonian disorders, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The serum level of Rab35 was significantly correlated with the age at onset of PD. The median age of onset in patients with higher Rab35 serum level was 5 years younger than those with lower Rab35 serum level. There was a positive correlation between the Rab35 level and disease duration of PD. Moreover, the protein expression of Rab35 was increased in the substantia nigra but not in the striatum of mouse models of PD, including MPTP-treated mice, rotenone-treated mice, (R1441C) LRRK2 or (G2019S) LRRK2 transgenic mice. Furthermore, overexpression of Rab35 increased the aggregation and secretion of mutant A53T α-synuclein in dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cells. Co-expression of Rab35 with wild-type or A53T α-synuclein in SH-SY5Y cells deteriorated cell death. Our results suggest that Rab35 is potentially useful in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders and is implicated in the pathogenesis of PD.
Diagnostic test strategies in children at increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease in primary care

Background In children with symptoms suggestive of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who present in primary care, the optimal test strategy for identifying those who require specialist care is unclear. We evaluated the following three test strategies to determine which was optimal for referring children with suspected IBD to specialist care: 1) alarm symptoms alone, 2) alarm symptoms plus c-reactive protein, and 3) alarm symptoms plus fecal calprotectin. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted, including children with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms referred to pediatric gastroenterology. Outcome was defined as IBD confirmed by endoscopy, or IBD ruled out by either endoscopy or unremarkable clinical 12 month follow-up with no indication for endoscopy. Test strategy probabilities were generated by logistic regression analyses and compared by area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) and decision curves. Results We included 90 children, of whom 17 (19%) had IBD (n = 65 from primary care physicians, n = 25 from general pediatricians). Adding fecal calprotectin to alarm symptoms increased the AUC significantly from 0.80 (0.67–0.92) to 0.97 (0.93–1.00), but adding c-reactive protein to alarm symptoms did not increase the AUC significantly (p > 0.05). Decision curves confirmed these patterns, showing that alarm symptoms combined with fecal calprotectin produced the diagnostic test strategy with the highest net benefit at reasonable threshold probabilities. Conclusion In primary care, when children are identified as being at high risk for IBD, adding fecal calprotectin testing to alarm symptoms was the optimal strategy for improving risk stratification.
T‐cell epitope‐containing hypoallergenic β‐lactoglobulin for oral immunotherapy in milk allergy

Optimally hydrolyzed β‐Lactoglobulin (βLg) is a promising milk oral immunotherapy (OIT) candidate with respect to showing reduced B‐cell reactivity but retaining the T‐cell epitope. To demonstrate that an edible hypoallergenic βLg hydrolysate containing the T‐cell epitope is suitable for OIT. We tested how chymotrypsin affected the retention of the T‐cell epitope of βLg when preparing βLg hydrolysates using food‐grade trypsin.
Isolation, molecular and functional properties of the C‐terminal domain of colicin A.

Partial proteolytic digestion of colicin A with bromelain allowed the isolation of a 20‐kd fragment. This fragment has been purified to homogeneity and its molecular properties have been studied. The sequence of the 54 N‐terminal amino acid residues has been determined by automated Edman degradation. This sequence is identical to that of the predicted amino acid sequence of the 20‐kd C‐terminal part of the colicin A polypeptide deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the caa gene. This polypeptide can produce channels in phospholipid planar bilayers of the same size as those formed by colicin A. However, the voltage‐dependence for opening and closing was drastically altered in the peptide fragment channels. The latter, in contrast to colicin A channels, remained open over a wide range of voltage. Large negative potentials were required to close the peptide fragment channels although opening took place in the same voltage range as for colicin A ionic pores.
Incremental RBF network models for nonlinear approximation and classification

In this paper a multistep learning algorithm for creating a novel incremental Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN) Model is presented and analyzed. The proposed incremental RBFN model has a composite structure that consists of one initial linear sub-model and a number of incremental sub-models, each of them being able to gradually decrease the overall approximation error of the model, until a desired accuracy is achieved. The identification of the entire incremental RBFN model is divided into a series of identifications steps applied to smaller size sub-models. At each identification step the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) with constraints is used to optimize the small number of parameters of the respective sub-model. A synthetic nonlinear test example is used in the paper to analyze the performance of the proposed multistep learning algorithm for the incremental RBFN model. A real wine quality data set is also used to illustrate the usage of the proposed incremental model for solving nonlinear classification problems. A brief comparison with the classical single RBFN model with large number of parameters is conducted in the paper and shows the merits of the incremental RBFN model in terms of efficiency and accuracy.
Sensitive detection of chemical‐induced genotoxicity by the Cypridina secretory luciferase reporter assay, using DNA repair‐deficient strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast‐based reporter assays are useful for detecting various genotoxic chemicals. We established a genotoxicity assay using recombinant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, each containing a reporter plasmid with the secretory luciferase gene from Cypridina noctiluca, driven by a DNA damage‐responsive promoter of the yeast RNR3 gene. This system detected the genotoxicity of methyl methanesulphonate (MMS) as sensitively as conventional yeast‐based reporter assays, using the β‐galactosidase gene in a concentration‐dependent manner; it also detects four other genotoxic chemicals, allowing us to monitor DNA damage easily by skipping the cell extraction process for the assay. We examined Cypridina luciferase levels induced by MMS and three antitumour agents using a set of BY4741‐derived deletion mutants, each defective in a DNA repair pathway or DNA damage checkpoint. Luciferase activities were particularly enhanced in mutant strains with mms2Δ and mag1Δ by exposure to MMS, rad59Δ and mlh1Δ to camptothecin and mms2Δ and mlh1Δ to mitomycin C, respectively, compared with their parent strains. Enhanced reporter activities were also found in some DNA repair mutants with cisplatin. These observations suggest that this Cypridina secretory luciferase reporter assay using yeast DNA repair mutants offers convenient and sensitive detection of the potential genotoxicity of numerous compounds, including antitumour drugs and studying the mechanisms of DNA damage response in yeast. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.