Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protein intake and blood pressure in cardiovascular disease

Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major cause of CHD and the leading cause of stroke. Although BP rises with age in most populations, there are remote populations around the world where BP does not rise with age and where the high prevalence of high BP and frank hypertension seen in the UK and other Western countries in the older age-groups is not found. However, when such populations migrate to urban settings, their BPs rise, indicating that the population-wide BP problem is largely environmental in origin. Thus, a substantial body of evidence has accumulated on the importance of dietary factors in BP (Na and alcohol intakes (direct relationship) and K intake (inverse relationship)) as well as body weight (direct relationship). More recently, attention has shifted to other dietary factors that might affect BP. Data from studies of vegetarians (who tend to have lower BP than meat-eating populations) as well as clinical data on the adverse effects of protein intake in patients with renal insufficiency led to the view in Western countries that dietary (animal or total) protein had an adverse effect on BP. By contrast, studies in Japan and China suggested that dietary protein might be protective of high BP and stroke. Recent epidemiological studies have found inverse associations between dietary protein intake and BP, consistent with this view, and supported by some evidence from animal studies. Recent controlled clinical trials of soyabean supplementation have also suggested a BP-lowering effect of protein intake. Results of further large-scale epidemiological studies of protein and BP are awaited.
Cheap Children and the Persistence of Poverty

This Paper develops a theory of fertility and child educational choice that offers an explanation for the persistence of poverty within and across countries. The joint determination of the quality (education) and quantity of children in the household is studied under the key assumption that individuals' productivity as teachers increases with their own human capital. As a result, the poor choose high fertility rates with low education investment and therefore, their offspring are poor as well. Furthermore, the high fertility rates in poor economies dilute physical capital accumulation and amplify the effect of child quality choice on economic growth. The model generates multiple steady states even though the technologies employed in the production of human capital and output are convex and preferences are convex and homothetic.
Comparison of Proteolytic-Related Gene Expression in the Skeletal Muscles of Layer and Broiler Chickens

Previous studies have shown that the muscle protein degradation rates of broiler are lower than those of layer chickens. In this study, we assessed proteolytic-related gene expression in the pectoralis muscle of layer and broiler chickens. The mRNA levels of atrogin-1/MAFbx and proteasome C2 subunit, but not those of ubiquitin, m-calpain large subunit, cathepsin B, or caspase-3, were lower in the skeletal muscle of the broilers than in the layers at 7 and 14 d of age. We infer that the lower muscle protein degradation of broilers than of layers at least partly relates to lower mRNA expression of atrogin-1/MAFbx and proteasome C2 subunit in the skeletal muscle of broilers.
Directly modulated laser transmitter driven by DC-balanced line-coded signals

Directly modulated laser (DML) based optical transmitters provide cost-effectiveness, small footprint, high output power, and high reliability. However, the signal quality of the DML output is poorer than that of external modulator-based counterpart, mainly because of the frequency chirp accompanied by current modulation of DMLs. Especially, the large current modulation to achieve high extinction ratio of the output signals induces severe chirp and waveform distortion that the transmission distance is significantly limited in high data-rate systems. This can be overcome with frequency modulation of DMLs. By making good use of the frequency modulation of DMLs, not only can we reduce the driving voltage but we also substantially reduce the deleterious effects of chirped modulation. However, frequency modulation (FM)-based DML transmitters suffer from the non-uniform FM response of the laser at around 100 kHz to 10 MHz. It gives rise to severe pattern-dependent performance degradation to directly modulated baseband signals. In this paper, we investigate through experiment the use of line coding to deplete the low-frequency spectral contents of the signals and thus to alleviate the degradation. We measure the performance improvement of various line codes, including 8B/10B, 5B/6B, 7B/8B, 9B/10B, and 64B/66B, for continuous-phase frequency-shift keying (CPFSK)/amplitude-shift keying (ASK) signals generated by a DML and a delay interferometer. Experimental demonstrations are performed with a long pseudorandom bit sequence length of 220 −1 and the bandwidth expansion by the line coding is taken into consideration. We also propose and demonstrate DML-based transmitters driven by highly band-limited electrical signals to alleviate the modulation bandwidth limitation. By using duobinary coding together with DC-balanced line coding, we generate 10-Gbps signals using a DML driven by 3.5-GHz-bandwdith signals and transmit them over 20-km of standard single-mode fiber without any dispersion compensation.
Expression of Antimicrobial Peptides in Cecal Tonsils of Chickens Treated with Probiotics and Infected with Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

ABSTRACT Several strategies currently exist for control of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium colonization in the chicken intestine, among which the use of probiotics is of note. Little is known about the underlying mechanisms of probiotic-mediated reduction of Salmonella colonization. In this study, we asked whether the effect of probiotics is mediated by antimicrobial peptides, including avian beta-defensins (also called gallinacins) and cathelicidins. Four treatment groups were included in this study: a negative-control group, a probiotic-treated group, a Salmonella-infected group, and a probiotic-treated and Salmonella-infected group. On days 1, 3, and 5 postinfection (p.i.), the cecal tonsils were removed, and RNA was extracted and used for measurement of avian beta-defensin 1 (AvBD1), AvBD2, AvBD4, AvBD6, and cathelicidin gene expression by real-time PCR. The expressions of all avian beta-defensins and cathelicidin were detectable in all groups, irrespective of treatment and time point. Probiotic treatment and Salmonella infection did not affect the expression of any of the investigated genes on day 1 p.i. Furthermore, probiotic treatment had no significant effect on the expression of the genes at either 3 or 5 days p.i. However, the expression levels of all five genes were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in response to Salmonella infection at 3 and 5 days p.i. However, administration of probiotics eliminated the effect of Salmonella infection on the expression of antimicrobial genes. These findings indicate that the expression of antimicrobial peptides may be repressed by probiotics in combination with Salmonella infection or, alternatively, point to the possibility that, due to a reduction in Salmonella load in the intestine, these genes may not be induced.
Peripheral skeletal muscles and exercise performance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Impaired exercise capacity is a common finding in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. This reduction is not a simple consequence of airflow limitation. Peripheral muscle weakness, deconditioning and impaired gas exchange, were recognized as important contributors to exercise intolerance. In this overview, the contribution of peripheral muscle function and muscle training to exercise performance is discussed by means of three questions: 1) Is peripheral muscle dysfunction contributing to exercise limitation in COPD? 2) How do we measure peripheral muscle function? 3) Are peripheral muscle training modalities effective? At present, there is substantial evidence for peripheral muscle dysfunction. Both reduced force generating capacity as well as impaired muscle metabolism were observed and these findings contributed substantially to the reduced exercise capacity in COPD. Peripheral muscle strength measurements are feasible with mechanical or electronic devices and revealed muscle weakness in COPD patients. However, this weakness is not uniform for all muscle groups. Upper arm and leg muscles were more affected than hand muscles. This may, at least in part, be related to differences in the levels of inactivity between leg and hand muscles. In addition, muscle weakness is associated with impaired exercise capacity and symptoms of increased exertion during exercise. Endurance exercise training, i.e. cycling and treadmill walking, improved exercise capacity and was associated with alterations in muscle metabolism. Strength training of peripheral muscles showed increases in submaximal exercise performance and quality of life measures. These improvements were observed independently of the degree of airflow obstruction. The optimal training regimen (strength or endurance), and the muscle groups to be trained, remain to be determined.
Native and naturalized plant diversity are positively correlated in scrub communities of California and Chile

Abstract. An emerging body of literature suggests that the richness of native and naturalized plant species are often positively correlated. It is unclear, however, whether this relationship is robust across spatial scales, and how a disturbance regime may affect it. Here, I examine the relationships of both richness and abundance between native and naturalized species of plants in two mediterranean scrub communities: coastal sage scrub (CSS) in California and xeric‐sloped matorral (XSM) in Chile. In each vegetation type I surveyed multiple sites, where I identified vascular plant species and estimated their relative cover. Herbaceous species richness was higher in XSM, while cover of woody species was higher in CSS, where woody species have a strong impact upon herbaceous species. As there were few naturalized species with a woody growth form, the analyses performed here relate primarily to herbaceous species. Relationships between the herbaceous cover of native and naturalized species were not significant in CSS, but were nearly significant in XSM. The herbaceous species richness of native and naturalized plants were not significantly correlated on sites that had burned less than one year prior to sampling in CSS, and too few sites were available to examine this relationship in XSM. In post 1‐year burn sites, however, herbaceous richness of native and naturalized species were positively correlated in both CSS and XSM. This relationship occurred at all spatial scales, from 400 m2 to 1 m2 plots. The consistency of this relationship in this study, together with its reported occurrence in the literature, suggests that this relationship may be general. Finally, the residuals from the correlations between native and naturalized species richness and cover, when plotted against site age (i.e. time since the last fire), show that richness and cover of naturalized species are strongly favoured on recently burned sites in XSM; this suggests that herbaceous species native to Chile are relatively poorly adapted to fire.
Analysis of polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor‐α and polymorphic xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes in inflammatory bowel disease: Study from northern India

Background: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α is a proinflammatory cytokine associated with inflammatory diseases, while GSTM1 and T1 enzymes catalyze detoxification of products of oxidative stress and hence reduce inflammation. Thus, both may play important roles in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of polymorphism of the TNF‐α promoter at the −308 site, GSTM1 and GSTT1 in patients with IBD and healthy controls from northern India.
Complementation of transformed fibroblasts from patients with combined xeroderma pigmentosum-Cockayne syndrome.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) are human hereditary disorders characterized at the cellular level by an inability to repair certain types of DNA damage. Usually, XP and CS are clinically and genetically distinct. However, in rare cases, CS patients have been shown to have mutations in genes that were previously linked to the development of XP. The linkage between XP and CS has been difficult to study because few permanent cell lines have been established from XP/CS patients. To generate permanent cell lines, primary fibroblast cultures from two patients, displaying characteristics associated with CS and belonging to XP complementation group G, were transformed with anorigin-of-replication-deficient simian virus 40 (SV40). The new cell lines, summation operatorXPCS1LVo- and summation operatorXPCS1ROo-,were characterized phenotypically and genotypically to verify that properties of the primary cells are preserved after transformation. The cell lines exhibited rapid growth in culture and were shown, by immunostaining, to express the SV40 T antigen. The summation operatorXPCS1LVo- and summation operatorXPCS1ROo- cell lines were hypersensitive to UV light and had an impaired ability to reactivate a UV-irradiated reporter gene. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and restriction enzyme cleavage, the summation operatorXPCS1ROo- cells were shown to retain the homozygous T deletion at XPG position 2972. This mutation also characterizes the parental primary cells and was evident in the XPG RNA. Finally, to characterize the XPG DNA repair deficiency in these cell lines, an episomal expression vector containing wild-type XPG cDNA was used to correct UV-induced damage in a beta-galactosidase reporter gene.
A Model of Global Cerebral Ischemia in C57 BL/6 Mice

A reproducible model of global cerebral ischemia in mice is essential for elucidating the molecular mechanism of ischemic neuronal injury. Such a model is particularly important in the mouse because many genetically engineered mutant animals are available. In C57BL/6 and SV129/EMS mice, we evaluated a three-vessel occlusion model. Occlusion of the basilar artery with a miniature clip was followed by bilateral carotid occlusion. The mean cortical cerebral blood flow was reduced to less than 10% of the preischemic value, and the mean anoxic depolarization was attained within 1 minute. In C57BL/6 mice, there was CA1 hippocampal neuronal degeneration 4 days after ischemia. Neuronal damage depended upon ischemic duration: the surviving neuronal count was 78.5 ± 8.5% after 8-minute ischemia and 8.4 ± 12.7% after 14-minute ischemia. In SV129/EMS mice, similar neuronal degeneration was not observed after 14-minute ischemia. The global ischemia model in C57BL/6 mice showed high reproducibility and consistent neuronal injury in the CA1 sector, indicating that comparison of ischemic outcome between wild-type and mutant mice could provide meaningful data using the C57BL/6 genetic background. Strain differences in this study highlight the need for consideration of genetic background when evaluating ischemia experiments in mice.
Protein Diversity Confers Specificity in Plasmid Segregation

ABSTRACT The ParG segregation protein (8.6 kDa) of multidrug resistance plasmid TP228 is a homodimeric DNA-binding factor. The ParG dimer consists of intertwined C-terminal domains that adopt a ribbon-helix-helix architecture and a pair of flexible, unstructured N-terminal tails. A variety of plasmids possess partition loci with similar organizations to that of TP228, but instead of ParG homologs, these plasmids specify a diversity of unrelated, but similarly sized, partition proteins. These include the proteobacterial pTAR, pVT745, and pB171 plasmids. The ParG analogs of these plasmids were characterized in parallel with the ParG homolog encoded by the pseudomonal plasmid pVS1. Like ParG, the four proteins are dimeric. No heterodimerization was detectable in vivo among the proteins nor with the prototypical ParG protein, suggesting that monomer-monomer interactions are specific among the five proteins. Nevertheless, as with ParG, the ParG analogs all possess significant amounts of unordered amino acid residues, potentially highlighting a common structural link among the proteins. Furthermore, the ParG analogs bind specifically to the DNA regions located upstream of their homologous parF-like genes. These nucleoprotein interactions are largely restricted to cognate protein-DNA pairs. The results reveal that the partition complexes of these and related plasmids have recruited disparate DNA-binding factors that provide a layer of specificity to the macromolecular interactions that mediate plasmid segregation.
Varactor-Tuned Compact Dual-Mode Tunable Filter With Constant Passband Characteristics

This paper presents a second-order Chebyshev constant fractional bandwidth (CFBW) tunable bandpass filter with compact size and frequency invariant-passband characteristics using tunable external quality factors. The filter is designed using a stub loaded dual-mode resonator and two sets of varactors for tuning the center frequency and the return loss level. The design is featured with the net-type filter of a short grounded-stub so that the CFBW property can be assured. In addition to the conventional design, a pair of varactors is included at the ends of feeding transmission lines to keep the external quality factors constant while tuning. Within the tunable range of the varactors, the proposed filter is tunable from 1.7 to 2.1 GHz with a 5% CFBW. The measurement results show a 20-dB return loss and insertion loss below 2.9 dB over the entire tuning range.
A novel associative classification algorithm: A combination of LAC and CMAR with new measure of weighted effect of each rule group

In recent, Association Classification not only has widely adopted but also has performed well in data mining. The literatures have been argued that the small disjunction and using multiple class-association rules have significant effect on classification accuracy. This paper is based on CMAR (Classification based on Multiple Class-Association Rules) and Adriano Veloso proposed Lazy Associative Classifier algorithm for Small Disjunction mining. In addition, we collocate with a new weight calculation method in our algorithm to solve weight bias problem of CMAR. This paper uses UCI 26 data set for experiment on our proposed algorithm. The finally results convincingly demonstrated that our proposed algorithm is high accuracy.
PO/PTD ray tracing for arbitrary metallic and dielectric objects

A new, efficient and very accurate simulation approach based on a hybrid ray tracing technique is presented. The unique combination of a ray-density normalization (RDN) with Physical Optics (PO) and the Physical Theory of Diffraction (PTD) makes the algorithm almost universally applicable to arbitrary simulations of large and complex objects. This paper gives an overview on simulation results obtained at highly complex objects and focuses on the implementation of PO for dielectric objects.
The luminous B[e] binary AS 381

We present the results of optical and near-IR spectroscopic and broadband multicolour photometric observations of the emission-line star AS 381. Its properties were found to be similar to those of Be stars with warm dust, a group of galactic objects recently defined by Sheikina et al. (2000). The spectrum of AS 381 indicates the presence of both a hot (early B-type) and a cool (K-type) star in the system.
Development of a Panel of Multiplex Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays for Simultaneous Detection of Major Agents Causing Calf Diarrhea in Feces

Calf diarrhea is a major economic burden to the bovine industry. Since multiple infectious agents can be involved in calf diarrhea, and the detection of each of the causative agents by traditional methods is laborious and expensive, a panel of 2 multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays was developed for rapid and simultaneous detection of the 5 major bovine enteric pathogens (i.e., Bovine coronavirus [BCoV; formally known as Betacoronavirus 1], group A Bovine rotavirus [BRV], Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli K99+, and Cryptosporidium parvum). The estimated detection limit (i.e., analytic sensitivity) of the panel was 0.1 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infective dose) for BCoV and group A BRV; 5 and 0.5 colony-forming units for E. coli K99+ and Salmonella, respectively; and 50 oocysts for Cryptosporidium per reaction. In testing 243 fecal samples obtained from submissions to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory or from experimental animals with known infection status, the newly developed multiplex realtime PCR panel simultaneously detected all 5 pathogens directly from fecal samples and was more rapid and sensitive than the traditional diagnostic tests. The PCR panel showed 89%–97% agreement with those conventional diagnostic tests, demonstrating diagnostic sensitivity equal to or better than that of the conventional tests. In conclusion, the multiplex real-time PCR panel can be a tool for a timely and accurate diagnosis of calf diarrhea associated with BCoV, group A BRV, E. coli K99+, Salmonella, and/or Cryptosporidium.
Balaning Explorations with Exploitations in the Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Numerical Function Optimization

This paper introduces a variant of Artificial Bee Colony algorithm and compares its results with a number of swarm intelligence and population based optimization algorithms. The Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) is an optimization algorithm based on the intelligent food foraging behavior of honey bees. The proposed variant, Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Balanced Explorations and Exploitations (ABC-BEE) makes attempts to dynamically balance the mutation step size with which the artificial bees explore the search space. Mutation with small step size produces small variations of existing solutions which is better for exploitations, while large mutation steps are likely to produce large variations that facilitate better explorations of the search space. ABC-BEE fosters both large and small mutation steps as well as adaptively controls the step lengths based on their effectiveness to produce better solutions. ABC-BEE has been evaluated and compared on a number of benchmark functions with the original ABC algorithm, Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Particle Swarm Inspired Evolutionary Algorithm (PS-EA). Results indicate that the proposed scheme facilitates more effective mutations and performs better optimization outperforming all the other algorithms in comparison.
Cohnella lupini sp. nov., an endophytic bacterium isolated from root nodules of Lupinus albus.

A bacterial strain designated RLAHU4B(T) was isolated from root nodules of Lupinus albus in León (Spain). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain showed similarities lower than 97 % with respect to species of the genus Cohnella. The strain was a Gram-variable, sporulating rod, motile by means of peritrichous flagella, and facultatively anaerobic. It was positive for oxidase, catalase and β-galactosidase production but negative for urease, amylase and gelatinase. Strain RLAHU4B(T) grew in the presence of 5 % NaCl. MK-7 was the predominant menaquinone and meso-diaminopimelic acid was present in the peptidoglycan. anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and C16 : 0 were the major fatty acids. Major polar lipids of strain RLAHU4B(T) were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unknown phospholipids, two unknown aminophospholipids and one unknown lipid. The DNA G+C content was 57.8 mol%. Strain RLAHU4B(T) presented phenotypic differences from all recognized species of the genus Cohnella. The phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data indicated that strain RLAHU4B(T) belongs to a novel species of the genus Cohnella, for which the name Cohnella lupini sp. nov. is proposed, with strain RLAHU4B(T) ( = LMG 27416(T) = CECT 8236(T)) as the type strain.