Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PMT family of Candida albicans: five protein mannosyltransferase isoforms affect growth, morphogenesis and antifungal resistance

Protein O‐mannosyltransferases (Pmt proteins) initiate O‐mannosylation of secretory proteins. The PMT gene family of the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans consists of PMT1 and PMT6, as well as three additional PMT genes encoding Pmt2, Pmt4 and Pmt5 isoforms described here. Both PMT2 alleles could not be deleted and growth of conditional strains, containing PMT2 controlled by the MET3‐ or tetOScHOP1‐promoters, was blocked in non‐permissive conditions, indicating that PMT2 is essential for growth. A homozygous pmt4 mutant was viable, but synthetic lethality of pmt4 was observed in combination with pmt1 mutations. Hyphal morphogenesis of a pmt4 mutant was defective under aerobic induction conditions, yet increased in embedded or hypoxic conditions, suggesting a role of Pmt4p‐mediated O‐glycosylation for environment‐specific morphogenetic signalling. Although a PMT5 transcript was detected, a homozygous pmt5 mutant was phenotypically silent. All other pmt mutants showed variable degrees of supersensitivity to antifungals and to cell wall‐destabilizing agents. Cell wall composition was markedly affected in pmt1 and pmt4 mutants, showing a significant decrease in wall mannoproteins. In a mouse model of haematogenously disseminated infection, PMT4 was required for full virulence of C. albicans. Functional analysis of the first complete PMT gene family in a fungal pathogen indicates that Pmt isoforms have variable and specific roles for in vitro and in vivo growth, morphogenesis and antifungal resistance.
Economic Conditions at School Leaving and Sleep Patterns Across the Life Course

Abstract We use data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort to study the effects of leaving school in an economic downturn on sleep quality and quantity. We account for the potential endogeneity of economic conditions at school leaving using instrumental variables based on birth year and early state of residence. We find that men who leave school in an economic downturn initially experience lower quality sleep, but these men are able to experience improved sleep quality over time. Women who leave school in an economic downturn experience better sleep quality, although the effect emerges over time. We find that leaving school in an economic downturn increases sleep quantity among men and women. We document heterogeneity by work type.
Red cell distribution width ( RDW ) in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anaemia in children between 6 months to 2 years

Objective:To compare the usefulness of RDW in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) with other blood indices and peripheral smear Methods:Hundred children between the age group of 6 months to 2 years with hemoglobin less than 11 g/dl were included in the study. Complete Blood Counts and serum ferritin were performed in all children. Those with serum ferritin less than 12 ng/ml were taken as IDA group and those with more than 12ng/ml were taken as non IDA group. Sensitivity and specificity of RDW in detection of IDA was compared with other red cell indices and peripheral smear (PS). Results:Out of hundred children studied, serum ferritin was less than 12ng/ml in 70 cases and remaining 30 cases had more than 12ng/ml. RDW had the highest sensitivity of 90 per cent followed by MCH (84.28%), PS (77.14%) MCV (72%) and MCHC (64.28%). The specificity of RDW was highest (76.66%) followed by MCHC (53.3%), PS (50%), MCV (36.67%) and MCH (16.66%). Conclusion:1. RDW is more sensitive and specific parameter in the diagnosis of IDA compared to blood indices and peripheral smear examination 2. RDW can be used as an effective tool for the diagnosis of IDA where facilities for serum ferritin are not available.
Memristive devices: Technology, design automation and computing frontiers

The memristor is an emerging technology which is triggering intense interdisciplinary activity. It has the potential of providing many benefits, such as energy efficiency, density, reconfigurability, nonvolatile memory, novel computational structures and approaches, massive parallelism, etc. These characteristics may lead to deeply revise existing computing and storage paradigms. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of memristor technology and its potential to design a new computational paradigm.
Schwann cell remyelination of demyelinated axons in spinal cord multiple sclerosis lesions

To investigate remyelination in multiple sclerosis lesions, we immunostained spinal cord sections from patients with multiple sclerosis and neurologically normal (control) patients with antisera to P0 protein, a major constituent of peripheral nervous system myelin, and myelin basic protein, which is found in both central and peripheral nervous system myelin. In sections from five of the eight patients with no clinical or pathological evidence of neurological disease, P0 immunostaining was confined to peripheral myelin sheaths in dorsal and ventral roots. They were intensely stained, and peripheral‐central nervous system transition zones were clearly demarcated. Sections from the other three control patients contained a few P0‐stained sheaths in the central nervous system near root entry zones or among marginal glia near the dorsal sulcus. Spinal cord sections from six of the ten patients with multiple sclerosis contained clusters of myelin sheaths immunostained by P0 antiserum. These regenerating sheaths of peripheral nervous system origin were most numerous in large lesions and were commonly located in central areas or peripherally near root entry zones. The sheaths were observed frequently in areas of active demyelination and appeared morphologically normal even when surrounded by debris‐filled macrophages. Near margins of small inactive plaques were a few basic protein‐stained oligodendroglia extending processes to thin basic protein‐stained sheaths. These regenerating sheaths of central origin were relatively uncommon and were not observed in areas of active myelin breakdown. Our observations suggest that Schwann cell remyelination is more extensive in spinal multiple sclerosis lesions than previously thought. In very large spinal cord plaques, Schwann cells also apparently have a more important role in myelin sheath regeneration than do oligodendroglia.
Early Endoscopic Ventricular Irrigation for the Treatment of Neonatal Posthemorrhagic Hydrocephalus: A Feasible Treatment Option or Not? A Multicenter Study.

AIM Neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) usually results in posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH). This multicenter study describes the approach of early neuroendoscopic ventricular irrigation for the treatment of IVH/PHH and compares the results with the cases that have been initially treated only with conventional temporary cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion techniques. MATERIAL AND METHODS The data of 74 neonatal PHH cases, that have been treated at three pediatric neurosurgery centers, were retrospectively analyzed. 23 neonates with PHH underwent early endoscopic ventricular irrigation (Group-A). 29 neonates were initially treated with conventional methods (Group-B). 22 neonates underwent ventriculosubgaleal shunt placement (Group-C). Complications, shunt dependency rates, incidence of multiloculated hydrocephalus and incidence of CSF infection were evaluated and compared retrospectively. RESULTS Group-A, Group-B and Group-C cases did not differ significantly regarding gestational age and birth weight. In Group-A, 60.8% of the patients required a later shunt insertion, as compared with 93.1% of the cases in Group-B and 77.2% of the cases in Group-C. Group-A patients were also associated with significantly fewer CSF infections as well as significantly lower incidence for multiloculated hydrocephalus development as compared with Group-B and Group-C. CONCLUSION Early removal of intraventricular blood degradation products and residual hematoma via neuroendoscopic ventricular irrigation is feasible and safe for the treatment of PHH in neonates with IVH. Neuroendoscopic technique seems to offer significantly lower shunt rates and fewer complications such as infection and development of multiloculated hydrocephalus in those cases.
Eighteen years experience of granulocyte donations—acceptable donor safety?

Background: Granulocyte transfusions are given to patients with life‐threatening infections, refractory to treatment. The donors are stimulated with corticosteroids ± granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF). However, data regarding the donors' safety is sparse. The objective was therefore to evaluate short‐ and long‐term adverse events (AE) in G‐CSF stimulated donors. Study design and methods: All consecutive granulocyte donors from 1994 to 2012 were identified through our registry. From the donation records, the number of aphereses, stimulation therapy, AE, blood values post donation, and recent status were evaluated. Results: One hundred fifty‐four volunteer donors were mobilized for 359 collections. Age at first granulocyte donation was 43 years (median; range 19–64 years). Follow‐up was 60 months (median; range 0–229 months). The dose of G‐CSF per collection was 3.8 ug/kg body weight (median; range 1.6–6.0 ug/kg). Sedimentation agent was HES. Short‐term AE were mild. Blood values 4 weeks post donation with minor reductions/elevations mostly resolved in later donations. Fourteen donors were excluded from the registry due to hypertension (4), diabetes (2), atrial flutter (1), breast carcinoma (1), urethral carcinoma in situ (1), MGUS (1), thrombosis (1), anaphylaxis (1), primary biliary cirrhosis (1), and unknown (1). Three donors are deceased due to diabetes, acute myocardial infarction, and unknown cause. All excluded/deceased donors except one were excluded/died at least 6 months after first granulocyte donation. Conclusion: No serious short‐term AE were observed. Due to the variability of diagnoses among excluded/deceased donors, we propose that it is less likely that granulocyte donations have a causative impact on these donors' exclusion or death. J. Clin. Apheresis 30:265–272, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Comparative Study of Cultural Differences of Slovak Inbound Tourists: A Need of Innovations

The aim of this article was to identify the cause of the negative attitude of Slovak population towards visitors by comparing the differences in national cultures on six primary Hofstede’s dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence and provide comparison with Slovakia. The results revealed high score on power distance and masculinity. The high score of this two dimensions′ correlates with elements of expressions of superiority and negatively affects not only the way of communication between people from the same cultural and linguistic group, but also with individuals that come from a different cultural environment. Based on these results, it is necessary to develop a smarter marketing approach - strive for innovation and unique marketing activities for a more efficient communication.
An Importance Sampling Method for TDOA-Based Source Localization

We consider the source localization problem using time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements in sensor networks. The maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of the source location can be cast as a nonlinear/nonconvex optimization problem, and its global solution is hardly obtained. In this paper, we resort to the Monte Carlo importance sampling (MCIS) technique to find an approximate global solution to this problem. To obtain an efficient importance function that is used in the technique, we construct a Gaussian distribution and choose its probability density function (pdf) as the importance function. In this process, an initial estimate of the source location is required. We reformulate the problem as a nonlinear robust least squares (LS) problem, and relax it as a second-order cone programming (SOCP), the solution of which is used as the initial estimate. Simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) accuracy and outperforms several existing methods.
Applying quality by design (QbD) concept for fabrication of chitosan coated nanoliposomes

Abstract In the present investigation, a quality by design (QbD) strategy was successfully applied to the fabrication of chitosan-coated nanoliposomes (CH-NLPs) encapsulating a hydrophilic drug. The effects of the processing variables on the particle size, encapsulation efficiency (%EE) and coating efficiency (%CE) of CH-NLPs (prepared using a modified ethanol injection method) were investigated. The concentrations of lipid, cholesterol, drug and chitosan; stirring speed, sonication time; organic:aqueous phase ratio; and temperature were identified as the key factors after risk analysis for conducting a screening design study. A separate study was designed to investigate the robustness of the predicted design space. The particle size, %EE and %CE of the optimized CH-NLPs were 111.3 nm, 33.4% and 35.2%, respectively. The observed responses were in accordance with the predicted response, which confirms the suitability and robustness of the design space for CH-NLP formulation. In conclusion, optimization of the selected key variables will help minimize the problems related to size, %EE and %CE that are generally encountered when scaling up processes for NLP formulations. The robustness of the design space will help minimize both intra-batch and inter-batch variations, which are quite common in the pharmaceutical industry.
Cloud computing as technological solutions for higher education institutions: Adoption readiness assessment model: Reseach in-progress

Cloud computing recently offers immense benefits. But higher education institutions (HEIs) are hesitating to adopt. As a result, they are not benefited more from such technology. This is because key adoption capabilities are not explored in detail in HEIs context. In addition to this, there is no comprehensive empirically validated adoption readiness assessment model which helps them to adopt Cloud solutions efficiently. Hence, to fill this gap this study identifies the critical capabilities and develops a model to assess Cloud computing adoption readiness of higher education institutions before initiating the adoption. Resource based view theory was used as theoretical lens to identify capabilities and to build the model. The conceptual model considers adoption readiness and adoption success from technological, human, organizational, financial and external environment dimensions. The model proposes that the degree to which an organization holds these capabilities is related to the degree to which they are ready to deploy and use computing resources, thereby increasing the possibility of adoption success. Further empirical research will be used to validate and refine the conceptual model.
Searching on the Campus? Marriage Market Effects of the Student Gender Composition by Field of Study

This paper examines the effect of the student sex ratio on marriage market outcomes of university graduates in Germany. Using Microcensus data combined with administrative information on the gender composition of students, I exploit substantial variation in gender imbalances by field of study experienced by individuals holding a tertiary degree at the time of education. The main findings show that a higher share of the own gender among fellow students negatively affects marriage market opportunities for women and significantly decreases the probability of living with a partner from the same field for both men and women. Moreover, when the own gender is abundant men are more likely to marry down with respect to educational status, while women rather have a partner with the same level of education.
New type of power converter for common-ground DC bus sharing to increase the energy efficiency in drive systems

This paper proposes a new type of power converter for drive systems to enable the exchange of recuperated energy within an independent DC subgrid having one centralized energy storage element. Many industrial applications that require rapid cyclic starts and stops are subject to significant energy waste at the brake chopper of the DC bus due to over voltage during motor deceleration. The proposed solution allows the brake chopper to be eliminated and the otherwise wasted energy to be stored externally. The solution does not require identical hardware or exact synchronization between the drive rectifiers. Experimental results in industrial robotics show savings of up to 20%.
Clinical significance of common cold treatment: professionals' opinions.

BACKGROUND Little is known about professionals' knowledge and attitudes regarding the clinical significance of treatments for common cold (upper respiratory infection, presumed viral). METHODS We surveyed university-associated family physicians and published common cold researchers ("experts") regarding evidence-of-benefit and magnitude-of-benefit for 8 treatments: antihistamine, oral decongestant, nasal decongestant, nasal steroid, zinc lozenge, zinc nasal spray, vitamin C, and the herbal echinacea. RESULTS Responding family physicians (N = 89) and experts (N = 45) agreed that cold remedies do not reduce illness duration. There was substantial disagreement, however, regarding the evidence for severity reduction. Decongestants were rated most favorably. Alternative therapies (zinc, vitamin C, and echinacea) were rated approximately as favorably as the other conventional treatments (antihistamine, decongestant, nasal steroid). Published experts and family physicians responded similarly, as did men (N = 84) and women (N = 49). Older respondents (age > or = 45; N = 67) were less likely to rate treatments as justifiable than were their younger counterparts (P-values ranged from 0.001 to 0.078). CONCLUSIONS Family physicians and common cold experts tend to agree that available cold remedies offer limited benefit, with conventional and alternative therapies rated similarly. Substantive disagreements exist, however, regarding strength-of-evidence, and over whether current evidence justifies treatment. Older professionals appear more skeptical.
Alzheimer's in 3D culture: Challenges and perspectives

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and there is currently no cure. The “β‐amyloid cascade hypothesis” of AD is the basis of current understanding of AD pathogenesis and drug discovery. However, no AD models have fully validated this hypothesis. We recently developed a human stem cell culture model of AD by cultivating genetically modified human neural stem cells in a three‐dimensional (3D) cell culture system. These cells were able to recapitulate key events of AD pathology including β‐amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. In this review, we will discuss the progress and current limitations of AD mouse models and human stem cell models as well as explore the breakthroughs of 3D cell culture systems. We will also share our perspective on the potential of dish models of neurodegenerative diseases for studying pathogenic cascades and therapeutic drug discovery.
PERCEIVED IMPACT OF THE YOUTH ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND ON THE YOUTH TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SMALL SCALE RURAL ENTERPRISES IN TURBO DIVISION, UASIN-GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

The inception of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund has seen the rise of youth groups in rural areas. This paper is thus aimed at understanding the impact of the fund towards the youth establishment of small scale enterprises in Turbo Division. A descriptive research design was used in this paper. Data was collected using focused group discussion and self-administered questionnaires thus they were administered to the selected youth groups found in selected parts of the Turbo Division. Purposive technique was used in the specific youth of aged bracket 18 year to 35 years. Further, purposive and stratified sampling techniques were used in targeted youth groups. The sample size used was 147 drawn from Turbo Division. The salient findings of the study are that indeed the youth joined the small scale enterprises to obtain benefits through collaborative efforts, to gain and obtain skills and experiences, obtaining start-up capital and finally due to the unemployment. Moreover, impact made by the fund on individual life included; promoting togetherness, promoting income and sustained livelihoods thus improved economic statues, and eventually enhanced skills and experience that led to acquiring of more skills by joining polytechnics. Furthermore the fund had enhanced group development and participation. It is recommended that there should be enhanced youth group sustainability towards proper utilization of the fund.
VaR Model Measure Exchange Rate Risk Based on GARCH Approach and EVT Theory

In recent years, financial disasters have emphasized the importance of effective risk management for financial regulators and market practitioners who have become particularly sensitive to changes in the assets value. The use of quantitative risk measures has become an essential management tool to be placed in parallel with the models of returns. In this paper, we introduce all kinds of GARCH models and EVT theory and apply those method to measure exchange rate risk of Chinese exchange market. Firstly, we examine the the heteroscedasticity of the return series of USD/RMB and EUR/RMB data, the results suggest that there is obvious heteroscedasticity. Secondly, we choose the best GARCH model to filter the return series to i.i. d residual series and employ extreme value theory to estimate the tails of those i.i. d series, we find the degree of fitting of GPD is very high. Finally, we calculate corresponding VaR estimates, which can help investor to measure exchange risk accurately. Keywords—VaR; GARCH; EVT; Exchange rate; Market Risk Measurement
The Mannose-Sensitive Hemagglutinin ofVibrio cholerae Promotes Adherence to Zooplankton

ABSTRACT The bacterium Vibrio cholerae, the etiological agent of cholera, is often found attached to plankton, a property that is thought to contribute to its environmental persistence in aquatic habitats. The V. cholerae O1 El Tor biotype andV. cholerae O139 strains produce a surface pilus termed the mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin (MSHA), whereas V. cholerae O1 classical biotype strains do not. AlthoughV. cholerae O1 classical does not elaborate MSHA, the gene is present and expressed at a level comparable to that of the other strains. Since V. cholerae O1 El Tor and V. cholerae O139 have displaced V. cholerae O1 classical as the major epidemic strains over the last fifteen years, we investigated the potential role of MSHA in mediating adherence to plankton. We found that mutation of mshA in V. cholerae O1 El Tor significantly diminished, but did not eliminate, adherence to exoskeletons of the planktonic crustaceanDaphnia pulex. The effect of the mutation was more pronounced for V. cholerae O139, essentially eliminating adherence. Adherence of the V. cholerae O1 classicalmshA mutant was unaffected. The results suggest that MSHA is a factor contributing to the ability of V. cholerae to adhere to plankton. The results also showed that both biotypes of V. cholerae O1 utilize factors in addition to MSHA for zooplankton adherence. The expression of MSHA and these additional, yet to be defined, adherence factors differ in a serogroup- and biotype-specific manner.