1,016 research outputs found
Automatically extracting functionally equivalent proteins from SwissProt
In summary, FOSTA provides an automated analysis of annotations in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot to enable groups of proteins already annotated as functionally equivalent, to be extracted. Our results demonstrate that the vast majority of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot functional annotations are of high quality, and that FOSTA can interpret annotations successfully. Where FOSTA is not successful, we are able to highlight inconsistencies in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot annotation. Most of these would have presented equal difficulties for manual interpretation of annotations. We discuss limitations and possible future extensions to FOSTA, and recommend changes to the UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot format, which would facilitate text-mining of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot
Inspiratory muscle warm-up does not improve cycling time-trial performance
Purpose: This study examined the effects of an active cycling warm-up, with and without the addition of an inspiratory muscle warm-up (IMW), on 10-km cycling time-trial performance
An Investigation to Validate the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) Test to Identify Children with Specific Language Impairment
The extraordinarily high incidence of grammatical language impairments in developmental disorders suggests that this uniquely human cognitive function is "fragile". Yet our understanding of the neurobiology of grammatical impairments is limited. Furthermore, there is no "gold-standard" to identify grammatical impairments and routine screening is not undertaken. An accurate screening test to identify grammatical abilities would serve the research, health and education communities, further our understanding of developmental disorders, and identify children who need remediation, many of whom are currently un-diagnosed. A potential realistic screening tool that could be widely administered is the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test--a 10 minute test that can be administered by professionals and non-professionals alike. Here we provide a further step in evaluating the validity and accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the GAPS test in identifying children who have Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
An optically stimulated superconducting-like phase in K3C60 far above equilibrium Tc
The control of non-equilibrium phenomena in complex solids is an important
research frontier, encompassing new effects like light induced
superconductivity. Here, we show that coherent optical excitation of molecular
vibrations in the organic conductor K3C60 can induce a non-equilibrium state
with the optical properties of a superconductor. A transient gap in the real
part of the optical conductivity and a low-frequency divergence of the
imaginary part are measured for base temperatures far above equilibrium Tc=20
K. These findings underscore the role of coherent light fields in inducing
emergent order.Comment: 40 pages, 23 figure
Aggregation Bias: A Proposal to Raise Awareness Regarding Inclusion in Visual Analytics
Data is a powerful tool to make informed decisions. They can be
used to design products, to segment the market, and to design policies. However,
trusting so much in data can have its drawbacks. Sometimes a set of
indicators can conceal the reality behind them, leading to biased decisions that
could be very harmful to underrepresented individuals, for example. It is challenging
to ensure unbiased decision-making processes because people have their
own beliefs and characteristics and be unaware of them. However, visual tools
can assist decision-making processes and raise awareness regarding potential
data issues. This work describes a proposal to fight biases related to aggregated
data by detecting issues during visual analysis and highlighting them, trying to
avoid drawing inaccurate conclusions
Asymmetric triplex metallohelices with high and selective activity against cancer cells
Small cationic amphiphilic α-helical peptides are emerging as agents for the treatment of cancer and infection, but they are costly and display unfavourable pharmacokinetics. Helical coordination complexes may offer a three-dimensional scaffold for the synthesis of mimetic architectures. However, the high symmetry and modest functionality of current systems offer little scope to tailor the structure to interact with specific biomolecular targets, or to create libraries for phenotypic screens. Here, we report the highly stereoselective asymmetric self-assembly of very stable, functionalized metallohelices. Their anti-parallel head-to-head-to-tail ‘triplex’ strand arrangement creates an amphipathic functional topology akin to that of the active sub-units of, for example, host-defence peptides and p53. The metallohelices display high, structure-dependent toxicity to the human colon carcinoma cell-line HCT116 p53++, causing dramatic changes in the cell cycle without DNA damage. They have lower toxicity to human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MDA-MB-468) and, most remarkably, they show no significant toxicity to the bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
At a glanc
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