Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation and Characterization of VceC Gain-of-Function Mutants That Can Function with the AcrAB Multiple-Drug-Resistant Efflux Pump of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT VceC is the outer membrane component of the major facilitator (MF) VceAB-VceC multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) efflux pump of Vibrio cholerae. TolC is the outer membrane component of the resistance-nodulation-division AcrAB-TolC efflux pump of Escherichia coli. Although these proteins share little amino acid sequence identity, their crystal structures can be readily superimposed upon one another. In this study, we have asked if TolC and VceC are interchangeable for the functioning of the AcrAB and VceAB pumps. We have found that TolC can replace VceC to form a functional VceAB-TolC MDR pump, but VceC cannot replace TolC to form a functional AcrAB-VceC pump. However, we have been able to isolate gain-of-function (gof) VceC mutants which can functionally interface with AcrAB. These mutations map to four different amino acids located at the periplasmic tip of VceC. Chemical cross-linkage experiments indicate that both wild-type and gof mutant VceC can physically interact with the AcrAB complex, suggesting that these gof mutations are not affecting the recruitment of VceC to the AcrAB complex but rather its ability to functionally interface with the AcrAB pump.
Valvular incompetence in the venous drainage of the udder

This work is the basis of the following paper (Linzell, 1960) on long-term measurement ofudder blood flow in conscious goats via the readily accessible caudal superficial epigastric or 'milk' vein (in front of the udder), which is the time-honoured source of mammary venous blood. The whole venous drainage of the udder has been re-examined because Linzell & Mount (1955) found valves in this vein pointing towards the udder and not away from it. Although valves (but not their direction) are mentioned by PaliE (1954) in the sheep and have been described in the cow (Becker & Arnold, 1942), the actual direction of blood flow has only been determined for the minor perineal vein joining the udder and vulva (Gracev, 1949; Gracev & Ivanov, 1955), where valves have been known for some time (Becker, 1937; Swett & Matthews, 1949). This has now been determined for all the major veins in conscious and anaesthetized goats of both sexes and various ages, and in some sheep and cattle in addition. The results show that the 'milk' vein carries blood towards the udder in virgin females and males. In lactating females some or all of the valves are incompetent, and when the animal is standing the direction of flow is reversed. Under these conditions the 'milk' vein may carry blood from the udder, the perineum and the abdominal wall or mixtures from all three sources. Conditions are described by which mainly mammary blood may be obtained and estimates made of blood flow over long periods in conscious goats. Of wider interest is the occurrence of valvular incompetence under physiological conditions. In multiparous females the vessels concerned have all the characteristics of varicose veins.
Extracytoplasmic prosthetic group ligation to apoproteins: maturation of c‐type cytochromes

In all organisms, haem is post‐translationally and covalently attached to c apocytochromes to produce c holocytochromes via a process called c‐type cytochromes maturation, which involves numerous components. In bacteria it was not clear which of these components catalyses the extracytoplasmic haem–apocytochrome ligation per se. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Feissner and colleagues report that a single polypeptide from Helicobacter pylori, corresponding to the fusion of two proteins found in other organisms, performs haem ligation to a coexpressed Bordetella pertussis apocytochrome c in an Escherichia coli mutant lacking its own cytochrome c maturation proteins. This simple experimental system pinpoints the components catalysing extracytoplasmic covalent haem ligation and raises intriguing issues about the requirements for delivery of haem and apocytochrome c substrates to produce c holocytochromes.
Quantification of Steroid Sex Hormones Using Solid‐Phase Extraction Followed by Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

In this study, the occurrence of trace amounts of natural and synthetic steroid estrogens in the aquatic environment was studied using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry, following solid‐phase extraction (SPE). The SPE was performed with C18 and NH2 cartridges. The first objective was to develop a reliable method for analyzing steroid estrogens (resulting from human and animal excretions) in different matrices. The method developed was then applied to quantify the occurrence of natural and synthetic hormones (estrone [E1], 17β‐estradiol [βE2], 17α‐estradiol [αE2], estriol [E3], and 17α‐ethinylestradiol [EE2]) in environmental samples in surface water and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influent and effluent. In the WWTP influents, βE2, αE2, and E3 were identified as ranging up to 72.6 ng/L in WWTP influent and to 16 ng/L in WWTP effluent. Analysis of surface water sampled upstream from the WWTP revealed the presence of all five estrogens, at levels up to 19.8 ng/L. These concentrations of estrogens pose an issue for large and small communities, because they are higher than the recommended guidelines for estrogen‐active compounds and because a lot of communities use surface water as drinking‐water sources.
IL-27/IFN-γ Induce MyD88-Dependent Steroid-Resistant Airway Hyperresponsiveness by Inhibiting Glucocorticoid Signaling in Macrophages

Inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) are hallmark features of asthma and often correlate with the severity of clinical disease. Although these features of asthma can be effectively managed with glucocorticoid therapy, a subgroup of patients, typically with severe asthma, remains refractory to therapy. The mechanisms leading to steroid resistance in severe asthmatics are poorly understood but may be related to the activation of innate host defense pathways. Previously, we have shown that IFN-γ–producing cells and LPS, two factors that are associated with severe asthma, induce steroid-resistant AHR in a mouse model. We now demonstrate that cooperative signaling induced by IFN-γ and LPS results in the production of IL-27 by mouse pulmonary macrophages. IL-27 and IFN-γ uniquely cooperate to induce glucocorticoid-resistant AHR through a previously unknown MyD88-dependent mechanism in pulmonary macrophages. Importantly, integrated signaling by IL-27/IFN-γ inhibits glucocorticoid-induced translocation of the glucocorticoid receptor to the nucleus of macrophages. Furthermore, expression of both IL-27 and IFN-γ was increased in the induced sputum of steroid-refractory asthmatics. These results suggest that a potential mechanism for steroid resistance in asthma is the activation of MyD88-dependent pathways in macrophages that are triggered by IL-27 and IFN-γ, and that manipulation of these pathways may be a therapeutic target.
Analyzing and summarizing the web server detection technology based on HTTP

The identification of Web servers has great significance for assessing security of Web system, researching market share and forecasting the scope of influence on a network security incident. This paper introduces the principle of the Web server detection technology based on HTTP, and analyzes how to identify Web servers from aspects of the Banner information, HTTP response characteristics and special HTTP requests. Finally, we summarize their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Gestational Exposure to Silymarin Increases Susceptibility of BALB/c Mice Fetuses to Apoptosis

Background: Silymarin is a flavonolignan that has been the subject of research to evaluate the beneficial properties for decades. Silymarin has been known for its potent cytoprotective, hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities. The goal of the present study was to gain a deeper understanding of possible molecular mechanisms of apoptosis of the injuries induced by silymarin on BALB/c mice fetuses. Methods: The present experimental study was carried out in virgin female BALB/c mice. The animals were divided randomly into 4 groups. Three test groups were injected intraperitoneally with silymarin at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day during gestational days 6–15. The control group received the solvent by the same route at equivalent volume. Western blot analysis was conducted to determine the levels of caspase-3 and caspase-8 in fetal heart, kidney, lungs and brain tissue. Results: The results of this study showed that silymarin administration during organogenesis at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg can significantly increase the protein levels of caspase-3 and 8 in heart, kidneys and brain tissues of mice fetuses compared with control group (p<0.001). Silymarin exposure could not change the level of apoptotic markers in fetal lung tissue. Conclusion: According to the results, programmed cell death, especially via the intrinsic pathway, plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of silymarin-induced malformations in some tissue including heart, kidneys and brain. More studies are needed to determine other molecular mechanisms underlying silymarin- induced embryo toxicity.
Flashover Performance of Pre-contaminated and Ice-covered Composite Insulators to be Used in 1000 kV UHV AC Transmission Lines

A method is introduced for testing insulators under icing conditions. The method is based on and developed from those described in the standard of IEC60-1, IEC 60507 and IEEE Task Force on Insulator Icing Test Methods, which give instructions to test insulators under pollution. Then, the paper explores the effects of various factors, including ice thickness, pollution severity on the surface of insulators before ice accretion, atmospheric pressure, and shed profiles, on the flashover performance of short samples of two different types of silicone rubber (SIR) composite long rod insulators intended for ultra high voltage (UHV) ac transmission lines. The experiments were carried out in the multi-function artificial climate chamber in the High Voltage and Insulation Technological Laboratory of Chongqing University, China. The experimental results reveal the regularity of the effects of ice thickness, pollution severity and atmospheric pressure on the average flashover voltage of two types of composite insulators. Those can provide reference for the outdoor insulation design for UHV ac transmission lines.
Theoretical modeling and FEA simulation of a CMOS-MEMS resonator

Relative humidity sensing is crucial in many applications. However, hysteresis, lack of stability and low accuracy still exist in some of the available humidity sensors. This paper studies the effect of changing the supported beams' length and width on the resonance frequency and mass sensitivity of a CMOS-MEMS resonator proposed for relative humidity sensing applications. The resonator is designed based on 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The resonance frequency and mass sensitivity were found to be in a range of 6.195 kHz–17.852 kHz and 1.498 mHz/pg–4.301 mHz/pg, respectively, when the length of the beams was changed from 500 μm to 300 μm, while decreasing the beams' width was found to decrease the resonance frequency and subsequently the mass sensitivity. FEA simulation using 2008 CoventorWare software was used to confirm the analytical results, in which the analytical and simulation results of frequencies and mass sensitivities showed good agreement within a percentage error of 0.80 % for both of them.
Targeting of interleukin-2 to human MK-1-expressing carcinoma by fusion with a single-chain Fv of anti-MK-1 antibody.

BACKGROUND Targeting of cytokines into the tumor sites using antibody-cytokine fission proteins represents a novel approach in cancer immunotherapy. We previously reported a novel monoclonal antibody, FU-MK-1, which recognizes a glycoprotein antigen (termed MK-1 antigen) that is overexpressed on the surface of a majority of carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS To target IL-2 and cytotoxicity of effector cells to MK-1-expressing tumor cells, we genetically fused recombinant human interleukin-2 (rhIL-2) to a single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody derived from FU-MK-1. The resulting fission protein, designated FUscFv/IL-2 was expressed in Pichia pastoris, purified by Ni-affinity chromatography, and characterized for the MK-1-binding specificity and the IL-2 biological activity. RESULTS The FUscFv/IL-2 fusion protein effectively introduced a specific cytotoxicity of lymphokine-activated killer cells to the tumor cells and consequently suppressed the tumor growth in a SCID mouse xenograft model. CONCLUSION This approach may be used for in vivo administration to localize IL-2 to tumor tissues, enhancing the immune response to human MK-1-expressing tumors while reducing systemic side-effects.
Dipsacussaponin C from Dipsacus asper Reduces the Risk of Gastritis and Gastric Ulcer in Rats

The roots of Dipsacus asper (DA) have been used as a tonic and analgesic agent in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis, low back pain, knee pain, and as an anti-inflammatory agent. Few studies have reported pharmacological gastric activities. In this study, we investigated the effects of dipsacussaponin C (DSC) and 70% ethanol and water extracts of DA on gastritis and gastric ulcer in rat. First, we examined the free radical scavenging effect by the 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assay. Second, we examined the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonization inhibitory effect and found that DSC has a mild anti-H. pylori effect. Third, the cytotoxicity was assessed by measuring the cell viability of human gastric cancer cells (SNU638 and AGS). Also, we observed the acid-neutralizing capacity by measuring NaOH consumption volume and found that DSC is effective as an antacid agent. For these reasons, we observed the effect of DSC on HCl? ethanol-induced gastritis and indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rat. In pylorus-ligated rats, DSC (200 mg/kg) also decreased the volume of gastric secretion (approximately 2.2 mL) and gastric acid output (0.16 mEq/4 hrs). From these results, we suggest that DSC isolated from DA may be useful for the treatment and/or protection of gastritis and gastric ulcer.
Consumer's attitude to brand spokesperson: A perspective of balance theory

The spokesperson refers to the person who spreads information for firm's profit or nonprofit goals. Firm uses spokesperson to present its product or brand in order to enhance the reputation or consumer's purchase intention. It is very important to know how consumer's attitude to brand spokesperson. But most of the existing literatures study brand spokesperson in perspective of firms, not consumers. They focus on how to match spokesperson with brand, product and firm's image, while Balance effect claims that the consumer's attitude to spokesperson is also so important that it can change her or his attitude to brand. Our study analyzes the issue from consumer perspective and figures out that attractiveness, reliability and professiona are three main dimensions of the consumer's valuation for brand spokesperson. And we give managerial implement.
Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer of flat membrane with boosted transmitting performance

We report a new piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) with a perfectly flat membrane, i.e. zero-bending membrane, in this paper. Leveraging on the pressure difference between atmosphere and vacuum, the initial deflection of membrane is significantly suppressed to 0.005% only for the pMUT integrated with vacuum cavity. Transmitting sensitivity of the zero-bending pMUT is boosted to 450% of the reference pMUT with slightly non-zero initial deflection.
The Processor Working Set and Its Use in Scheduling Multiprocessor Systems

The concept of a processor working set (PWS) as a single value parameter for characterizing the parallel program behavior is introduced. Through detailed experimental studies of different algorithms on a transputer-based multiprocessor machine, it is shown that the PWS is a robust measure for characterizing the workload of a multiprocessor system. It is shown that processor allocation strategies based on the PWS provide significantly better throughput-delay characteristics. The robustness of PWS is further demonstrated by showing that allocation policies that allocate processors more than the PWS are inferior in performance to those that never allocate more than the PWS-even at a moderately low load. Based on the results, a simple static allocation policy that allocates the PWS at low load and adaptively fragments at high load to one processor per job is proposed. >
Loneliness, isolation and the health of older adults: do we need a new research agenda?

From Greek mythology and the Bible to modern critiques of the digital age, loneliness has been portrayed as part of the human condition. Recognition of the significant adverse consequences for health has come more recently, with much of the interest triggered by a rise in the death rate in Europe in 2003. Unusually high temperatures in the summer of that year were linked with the deaths of more than 40,000 mainly elderly people throughout mainland Europe. Proportionately fewer deaths were recorded among frail and sick older people living in institutions, compared with more able, but less well-supported people living in the community. These deaths stimulated much discussion and reflection on the treatment of elders in society. In France, and later the UK, non-governmental organizations instigated campaigns to address loneliness and isolation among the aged. Such campaigns, along with research from different disciplines linking loneliness and isolation with adverse health outcomes and premature mortality, have focused attention on the problems. But despite acknowledgement of isolation in the UK National Service Framework for Older People in relation to falls and depression,1 concern among care providers and commissioners has never matched the breadth and severity of the consequences of isolation and loneliness. In this article, we present an overview of current evidence and suggest that a renewed research agenda is required for a growing older population.
Experimental and theoretical studies of artificial microbial symbiosis

Mutualistic symbiosis describes a cooperative relationship between two or more different organisms from which each partner benefits [4]. Symbiotic relationships exist widely in nature, for example, between plants and fungi in nutrient-poor soils, and between aphids and their endosymbiotic bacteria [3]. In this work, we are interested in investigating the evolutionary adaptation of a cross-feeding E. coli co-culture comprised of two different auxotrophic strains grown in serial batch culture on abundant glucose. We view this as a simplified experimental model of the much more complicated mutualistic ecosystems observed in nature that are often refractory to straightforward experimental analysis. One of the simplest manifestations of mutualistic growth is metabolite cross-feeding, whereby species A provides metabolite M required for the growth of species B, which in turn provides metabolite N required for the growth of species A. We artificially engineered such a system in vitro by co-culturing pairs of E. coli amino acid auxotrophs, each of which on its own is incapable of growth in minimal medium due to the absence of the required amino acid, but when grown with a partner can thereby obtain the needed nutrient. We hypothesized that upon evolving such a cross-feeding system by repeatedly passaging to fresh minimal medium, we could select for adaptive mutations in each strain that would increase the growth of the system as a whole, e.g. those enhancing amino acid export/import and/or biosynthesis. Apart from its significance to ecology and evolution, syntrophy (cross-feeding) is also of potential use for the engineering of microorganisms, for example, as an approach to select and/or maintain secretion of valuable biochemical products or biosensors.
Low-energy BIST design: impact of the LFSR TPG parameters on the weighted switching activity

Low-power design looks for low-energy BIST. This paper considers the problem of minimizing the energy required to test a BISTed combinational circuit without modifying the stuck-at fault coverage and with no extra area or delay overhead over the classical LFSR architectures. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, is to analyze the impact of the polynomial and seed selection of the LFSR used as TPG on the energy consumed by the circuit. It is shown that appropriately selecting the seed of the LFSR can lead to an important energy reduction. Second, is to propose a method to significantly decrease the energy consumption of BIST sessions. For this purpose, a heuristic method based on a simulated annealing algorithm is briefly described in this paper. Experimental results using the ISCAS benchmark circuits are reported, showing variations of the weighted switching activity ranging from 147% to 889% according to the seed selected for the LFSR. Note that these results are always obtained with no loss of stuck-at fault coverage.
Factors associated with female condom use among HIV-seropositive women

Female condoms are an effective option for preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV transmission. Little is known, however, about female condom use in women living with HIV/AIDS. Ninety HIV-positive women completed measures of demographic characteristics, exposure and use of female condoms, attitudes toward female and male condoms, sexual behaviours, and substance use. Most women (77%) had been exposed to female condoms, however only 30% reported lifetime use, 16% reported recent use, and only 6% of the sample used female condoms as much or more than they used male condoms. The only factors consistently associated with female condom use were positive attitudes toward female condoms. Women who recently used female condoms were also more likely to have multiple male sex partners and reported fewer unprotected intercourse occasions. Female condoms are therefore used by a small number of HIV-infected women, particularly those with more than one male sex partner. Female condom use may be enhanced by removing barriers to their use, increasing cooperation of male partners, and enhancing proficiency of use.
Skew reduction for synchronous OE-VLSI receiver applications

A dc photocurrent rejection technique for optically differential receivers is proposed to reduce the sensitivity of receiver latency to variations in average input photocurrent. This is particularly attractive in optoelectronic very large scale integration applications, where array-scale nonuniformity is significant. Using optically enabled ring oscillator experiments, we demonstrate that the technique is capable of removing between 50%-75% of the skew in large synchronously operated arrays of common-gate amplifier- and transimpedance amplifier-based optical receivers.
A Survey on Datacenter Placement and Replication Approach for Cloud

Cloud computing is a trending technology due to its high availability and services. Cloud provides a platform for the large set of users to put their data and host for their processing requirements. But the main challenge is to provide a reliable storage for the users. To provide reliability cloud uses concept of replication in datacenters. But in case of natural calamity it is critical to save at least one replica of data; which will not be possible if all replicas are made in disaster prone locations. Apart from this network usage, energy consumption and service level agreement (SLA) should also be kept in mind. In this paper a survey is done on intelligent replication techniques which will keep all performance parameters in consideration. There is SLA violation and service can be improved considerably if data placement and replication algorithms are better.