Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alternative Translation Initiation of Human Regulators of G-Protein Signaling-2 Yields a Set of Functionally Distinct Proteins

The regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS2) contains a characteristic RGS domain flanked by short amino and carboxyl terminal sequences. The RGS domain mediates inhibition of Gαq and Gαi signaling, whereas the amino terminal domain (NTD) directs interaction with adenylyl cyclases, G-protein-coupled receptors, and other signaling partners. Here, we identify a set of novel RGS2 protein products that differ with respect to their amino terminal architecture and functional characteristics. An RGS2 expression reporter cassette revealed four distinct open reading frames (ORFs) that can be expressed from the RGS2 NTD. We hypothesized that alternative translation initiation from four AUG codons corresponding to amino acid positions 1, 5, 16, and 33 could produce the observed RGS2 expression profile. Selective disruption of each AUG confirmed that alternate sites of translation initiation accounted for each of the observed products. Proteins derived from ORFs 1 to 4 showed no difference in Gαq inhibitory potential or recruitment from the nucleus in response to Gαq signaling. By contrast, RGS2 products initiating from methionines at positions 16 (ORF3) and 33 (ORF4) were impaired as inhibitors of type V adenylyl cyclase (ACV) compared with full-length RGS2. We predicted that regulation of the RGS2 expression profile would allow cells to adapt to changing signaling conditions. Consistent with this model, activation of Gαs/ACV but not Gαq signaling increased the relative abundance of the full-length RGS2 protein, suggesting that alternative translation initiation of RGS2 is part of a novel negative feedback control pathway for adenylyl cyclase signaling.
Design of a tone mapping operator for high-dynamic range images based upon psychophysical evaluation and preference mapping

A tone mapping algorithm for displaying high contrast scenes was designed on the basis of the results of experimental tests using human subjects. Systematic perceptual evaluation of several existing tone mapping techniques revealed that the most "natural" appearance was determined by the presence in the output image of detailed scenery features often made visible by limiting contrast and by properly reproducing brightness. Taking these results into account, we developed a system to produce images close to the ideal preference point for high dynamic range input image data. Of the algorithms that we tested, only the Retinex algorithm was capable of retrieving detailed scene features hidden in high luminance areas while still preserving a good contrast level. This paper presents changes made to Retinex algorithm for processing high dynamic range images, and a further integration of the Retinex with specialized tone mapping algorithms that enables the production of images that appear as similar as possible to the viewer's perception of actual scenes.
When Can the Market Identify Old News?

We document an "aggregation effect" in reactions to stale news. Using a novel dataset of news transmission through the Bloomberg terminal, we differentiate stale news into two types: "duplicate" stories that directly restate single previous articles and "aggregate" stories that combine content from several previous articles. We conjecture that duplicate stories are more immediately identifiable as stale than aggregate stories. The empirical results confirm this hypothesis: absolute abnormal returns for a firm are higher when it has more aggregate stories relative to duplicate ones, and these returns are more likely to reverse over the following week. Time trends in the estimated coefficients indicate that reactions to stale stories have decreased over time, but the differential reactions to aggregate versus duplicate stories have risen. Altogether, the results point to investors' increased sophistication in identifying stale information in duplicate stories, but continuing susceptibility to old news in the form of aggregate stories.
Microcellular foaming of impact‐modified rigid PVC/wood‐flour composites

Solid state microcellular foaming technology was employed to investigate the influence of impact modification on the foamability of neat rigid PVC and rigid PVC/wood‐flour composite samples. The effects of impact modifier types (crosslinked versus uncrosslinked) and concentrations on the void fraction of foamed samples were examined. The influence of impact modification on the sorption behavior of CO2 in the samples was also studied. The experimental results indicate that impact modification accelerates the rate of gas loss during the foaming process, which impedes the growth of nucleated cells, independent of modifier type. Because of this accelerated gas loss, impact modification inhibits the potential of producing foamed samples with void fractions similar to those achieved in unmodified samples.
miRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Despite improvements in HCC therapy, the prognosis for HCC patients remains poor due to a high incidence of recurrence. An improved understanding of the pathogenesis of HCC development would facilitate the development of more effective outcomes for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC at earlier stages. miRNA are small, endogenous, non‐coding, ssRNA that are 21–30 nucleotides in length and modulate the expression of various target genes at the post‐transcriptional and translational levels. Aberrant expression of miRNA is common in various human malignancies and modulates cancer‐associated genomic regions or fragile sites. As for the relationship between miRNA and HCC, several studies have demonstrated that the aberrant expression of specific miRNA can be detected in HCC cells and tissues. However, little is known about the mechanisms of miRNA‐related cell proliferation and development. In this review, we summarize the central and potential roles of miRNA in the pathogenesis of HCC and elucidate new possibilities that may be useful as diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as novel therapeutic targets in HCC.
Interactions of &bgr;-amyloid peptide with fibrinogen and coagulation factor XII may contribute to Alzheimer's disease

Purpose of review To review the evidence that the Alzheimer peptide &bgr;-amyloid interacts with the blood coagulation system and influences the pathophysiology of the disease. Recent findings &bgr;-amyloid can interact with fibrinogen and blood coagulation factor XII and trigger ischemia and inflammation. Summary &bgr;-amyloid interacts with fibrinogen and factor XII. These interactions can lead to increased clotting, abnormal clot formation, persistent fibrin deposition, and generation of proinflammatory molecules. These events can damage neurons and could contribute to the cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease patients.
The Vestibular Implant: Hearing Preservation during Intralabyrinthine Electrode Insertion—A Case Report

Objective The vestibular implant seems feasible as a clinically useful device in the near future. However, hearing preservation during intralabyrinthine implantation remains a challenge. It should be preserved to be able to treat patients with bilateral vestibulopathy and (partially) intact hearing. This case study investigated the feasibility of hearing preservation during the acute phase after electrode insertion in the semicircular canals. Methods A 40-year-old woman with normal hearing underwent a translabyrinthine approach for a vestibular schwannoma Koos Grade IV. Hearing was monitored using auditory brainstem response audiometry (ABR). ABR signals were recorded synchronously to video recordings of the surgery. Following the principles of soft surgery, a conventional dummy electrode was inserted in the lateral semicircular canal for several minutes and subsequently removed. The same procedure was then applied for the posterior canal. Finally, the labyrinthectomy was completed, and the schwannoma was removed. Results Surgery was performed without complications. No leakage of endolymph and no significant reduction of ABR response were observed during insertion and after removal of the electrodes from the semicircular canals, indicting no damage to the peripheral auditory function. The ABR response significantly changed when the semicircular canals were completely opened during the labyrinthectomy. This was indicated by a change in the morphology and latency of peak V of the ABR signal. Conclusion Electrode insertion in the semicircular canals is possible without acutely damaging the peripheral auditory function measured with ABR, as shown in this proof-of-principle clinical investigation.
Sparse signal recovery with OMP algorithm using sensing measurement matrix

Orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm with random measurement matrix (RMM), often selects an incorrect variable due to the induced coherent interference between the columns of RMM. In this paper, we propose a sensing measurement matrix (SMM)-OMP which mitigates the coherent interference and thus improves the successful recovery probability of signal. It is shown that the SMM-OMP selects all the significant variables of the sparse signal before selecting the incorrect ones. We present a mutual incoherent property (MIP) based theoretical analysis to verify that the proposed method has a better performance than RMM-OMP. Various simulation results confirm our proposed method efficiency.
Effect of Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation on the Participation of Vasodilator Factors in Aorta from Orchidectomized Rats

Benefits of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) against cardiovascular diseases have been reported. Vascular tone regulation is largely mediated by endothelial factors whose release is modulated by sex hormones. Since the incidence of cardiovascular pathologies has been correlated with decreased levels of sex hormones, the aim of this study was to analyze whether a diet supplemented with the specific PUFA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) could prevent vascular changes induced by an impaired gonadal function. For this purpose, control and orchidectomized rats were fed with a standard diet supplemented with 5% (w/w) sunflower oil or with 3% (w/w) sunflower oil plus 2% (w/w) DHA. The lipid profile, the blood pressure, the production of prostanoids and nitric oxide (NO), and the redox status of biological samples from control and orchidectomized rats, fed control or DHA-supplemented diet, were analyzed. The vasodilator response and the contribution of NO, prostanoids and hyperpolarizing mechanisms were also studied. The results showed that orchidectomy negatively affected the lipid profile, increased the production of prostanoids and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and decreased NO production and the antioxidant capacity, as well as the participation of hyperpolarizing mechanisms in the vasodilator responses. The DHA-supplemented diet of the orchidectomized rats decreased the release of prostanoids and ROS, while increasing NO production and the antioxidant capacity, and it also improved the lipid profile. Additionally, it restored the participation of hyperpolarizing mechanisms by activating potassium. Since the modifications induced by the DHA-supplemented diet were observed in the orchidectomized, but not in the healthy group, DHA seems to exert cardioprotective effects in physiopathological situations in which vascular dysfunction exists.
Convex solutions to integral inequalities in two-dimensional domains

This paper presents a method to verify integral inequalities on two-dimensional domains. The integral expressions are given by line integrals on the boundaries and by surface integrals: both are quadratic on the dependent variables and their derivatives. The proposed approach can verify the inequalities for a set of the dependent variables defined by their boundary values. We apply the results to solve integral inequalities related to Lyapunov stability conditions for exponential stability of Partial Differential Equations.
Effect of Changing Work Stressors and Coping Resources on the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: The OHSPIW Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the relationship between changing psychosocial work conditions and type 2 diabetes. We determined whether changing work stressors and coping resources affect the risk of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In this prospective cohort (2003–2014) of 3,740 workers without diabetes (OHSPIW [Occupational Health Study of Petroleum Industry Workers]), participants completed an evaluation of work-related stress and coping resources and type 2 diabetes diagnosis at baseline and 12 years follow-up (two waves). The changes in work stressors and coping resources were measured with the Occupation Stress Inventory–Revised and the Instrument for Stress-Related Job Analysis (Version 6.0). Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed on the basis of an oral glucose tolerance test supplemented by physician report. RESULTS Increased task stressors (relative risk [RR] 1.57 [95% CI 1.03–2.63]) and decreased coping resources (RR 1.68 [95% CI 1.02–2.83]) were associated with risk of type 2 diabetes. The main risk factors were increased role overload, increased role insufficiency, increased physical environment stressors, decreased self-care, and decreased rational coping. Increased coping resources also had a buffering effect on increased task stressors and type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Changes in work stressors and coping resources have an influence on the risk for type 2 diabetes, highlighting the importance of preventive measures against adverse psychosocial work conditions and reduced coping resources for diabetes prevention in the workplace.
The Coactivator-associated Arginine Methyltransferase Is Necessary for Muscle Differentiation

Studies with the myogenic basic helix-loop-helix and MADS box factors suggest that efficient transactivation is dependent on the recruitment of the steroid receptor coactivator (SRC) and the cofactors p300 and p300/CBP-associated factor. SRCs have been demonstrated to recruit CARM1 (coactivator-associated argininemethyltransferase-1), a member of theS-adenosyl-l-methionine-dependent PRMT1–5 (protein-arginineN-methyltransferase-1–5) family, which catalyzes the methylation of arginine residues. This prompted us to investigate the functional role of CARM1/PRMT4 during skeletal myogenesis. We demonstrate that CARM1 and the SRC cofactor GRIP-1 cooperatively stimulate the activity of myocyte enhancer factor-2C (MEF2C). Moreover, there are direct interactions among MEF2C, GRIP-1, and CARM1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated thein vivo recruitment of MEF2 and CARM1 to the endogenous muscle creatine kinase promoter in a differentiation-dependent manner. Furthermore, CARM1 is expressed in somites during embryogenesis and in the nuclei of muscle cells. Treatment of myogenic cells with the methylation inhibitor adenosine dialdehyde or tet-regulated CARM1 “antisense” expression did not affect expression of MyoD. However, inhibition of CARM1 inhibited differentiation and abrogated the expression of the key transcription factors (myogenin and MEF2) that initiate the differentiation cascade. This work clearly demonstrates that the arginine methyltransferase CARM1 potentiates myogenesis and supports the positive role of arginine methylation in mammalian differentiation.
Should health care money in South Africa be spent on drotrecogin alfa?

D ro t recogin alfa (or recombinant activated protein C) has re c e n t l y been approved in most parts of the world for the treatment of s e v e re sepsis associated with acute organ failure. Considering the poor prognosis associated with severe sepsis and the dearth of e ffective pharmacological interventions, such developments should be embraced. However, critical review of this drug suggests that enthusiasm for this new agent is pre m a t u re.
Methodological issues in therapeutic trials of COPD

To the Editors: I read with great interest the paper by Suissa et al. 1, which has shed some light on the pitfalls when evaluating the effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations. Indeed, they conclude, “various methodological shortcomings …the effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroids in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains doubtful” 1. The controversy about the role of ICS in COPD exacerbations is becoming even more complex, with the VIVACE 2 study reporting that pneumonia is associated with ICS use in COPD, a possible effect also reported in several more recent studies 3–5. Moreover, the considerable cost of ICS treatment should also be taken into account. Several other issues have been raised Aaron et al. 6 and some, but not all, of the aspects were already reflected 7. The observed differences between former ICS users and ICS naive COPD patients in the …
Double Hexamer Disruption and Biochemical Activities of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum MCM*

Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum MCM (mtMCM) is a helicase required for DNA replication. Previous electron microscopy studies have shown mtMCM in several oligomeric forms. However, biochemical studies suggest that mtMCM is a dodecamer, likely a double hexamer (dHex). The crystal structure of the N-terminal fragment of mtMCM reveals a stable dHex architecture. To further confirm that the dHex is not an artifact of crystal packing of two hexamers, we investigated the relevance of the dHex by disrupting the hexamer-hexamer interactions seen in the crystal structure via site-directed mutagenesis and examining various biochemical activities of the mutants in vitro. Using a combination of biochemical and structural assays, we demonstrated that changing arginine to alanine at amino acid position 161 or the insertion of a six-aminoacid peptide at the hexamer-hexamer interface disrupted dHex formation and produced stable single hexamers (sHex). Furthermore, we showed that the sHex mutants retained wild-type level of ATPase and DNA binding activities but had decreased helicase activity when compared with the wild type dHex protein. These biochemical properties of mtMCM are reminiscent of those of SV40 large T antigen, suggesting that the dHex form of mtMCM may be the active helicase for DNA unwinding during the bidirectional DNA replication.
Feature-Interaction Visualisation and Resolution in an Agent Environment

Our project is concerned with how dynamic agencies (sets of collaborating agents that vary their composition and collective behaviour over time) may be used to resolve demanding telecom problems in a flexible manner. Feature interaction (FI) is being studied as an instance of such problems for which dynamic agencies may be an appropriate solution. In our approach, Use Case Maps (UCMs) provide system-wide “behaviour structures” that enable people to get a global understanding of dynamic situations. Feature interactions can be seen visually in the UCMs and then be reasoned about and resolved by people at the UCM level. Tables generated from these behaviour structures provide a framework for humans to add information that will enable executable prototypes to be generated. These executable prototypes are FI-avoidant systems where features are modelled as competing rule engines and interactions are detected and resolved at run time by coordinating through a blackboard. The approach offers the promise of being scalable to practical numbers of features and is being considered for use in future commercial systems.
Analyzing epileptic network dynamics via time-variant partial directed coherence

Epilepsy is growingly considered as a brain network disorder. In this study, epileptiform discharges were induced by low-Mg2+ in mouse entorhinal cortex-hippocampal slices, and recorded with a micro-electrode array. Dynamic effective network connectivity was constructed by calculating the time-variant partial directed coherence (tvPDC) of signals. We proposed a novel approach to track the state transitions of epileptic networks over time, and characterized the network topology by using graphical measures. We found that the hub nodes with high degrees in the network coincided with the epileptogenic zone in previous electrophysiological findings. Two consecutive states with distinct network topologies were identified during the ictal-like discharges. The small-worldness remained at a low level at the first state but increased significantly at the second state. Our results indicate the ability of tvPDC to capture the causal interaction between multi-channel signals important in indentifying the epileptogenetic zone. Moreover, the evolution of network states extends our knowledge of the network drivers for the initiation and maintenance of ical activity, and suggests the practical value of our network clustering approach.
Silicon Integrated Dual-Mode Interferometer with Differential Outputs

The dual-mode interferometer (DMI) is an attractive alternative to Mach-Zehnder interferometers for sensor purposes, achieving sensitivities to refractive index changes close to state-of-the-art. Modern designs on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platforms offer thermally stable and compact devices with insertion losses of less than 1 dB and high extinction ratios. Compact arrays of multiple DMIs in parallel are easy to fabricate due to the simple structure of the DMI. In this work, the principle of operation of an integrated DMI with differential outputs is presented which allows the unambiguous phase shift detection with a single wavelength measurement, rather than using a wavelength sweep and evaluating the optical output power spectrum. Fluctuating optical input power or varying attenuation due to different analyte concentrations can be compensated by observing the sum of the optical powers at the differential outputs. DMIs with two differential single-mode outputs are fabricated in a 250 nm SOI platform, and corresponding measurements are shown to explain the principle of operation in detail. A comparison of DMIs with the conventional Mach-Zehnder interferometer using the same technology concludes this work.
Large beam damage experiments in fused silica optics at 351nm

Laser damage growth on the exit surface of fused silica optics is considered as exponential, the growth coefficient depending essentially on fluence. In this presentation, experiments with large beams have been carried out at 351 nm under nanosecond pulses. A statistical analysis has then been conducted leading to a refined representation of the growth. The effect of several parameters has also been taken into account to describe precisely the growth phenomenon. Finally, the two main parameters reporting the growth are the mean fluence and the size of the damage sites. Contributions of other parameters have been estimated too: the number of neighbors around the damage site, the shot number. From experimental results, a model based on a statistical approach has been developed that permits the description of a complete sequence of growth. At the end, the knowledge of damage initiation and damage growth permit the determination of the lifetime of optical components illuminated with successive shots.