Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PKC‐ε‐dependent cytosol‐to‐membrane translocation of pendrin in rat thyroid PC Cl3 cells

We studied the expression and the hormonal regulation of the PDS gene product, pendrin, which is, in thyrocytes, responsible for the iodide transport out of the cell. We show that PC Cl3 cells, a fully differentiated thyroid cell line, grown without TSH and insulin, express very low level of PDS mRNA; such expression is greatly increased after stimulation with insulin or TSH. 125I pre‐loaded cells showed an 125I efflux accelerated in chloride‐containing buffer with respect to chloride‐free buffer, suggesting that this efflux is chloride dependent. By immunoblotting, pendrin was found in agonists‐stimulated cells, whereas it was barely detectable in un‐stimulated cells. An increase in both PDS mRNA and protein was also obtained using phorbol ester PMA, or using 8‐Br‐cAMP and forskolin. Stimulation with insulin (1 µg/ml; 0–40 min) provoked the cytosol‐to‐membrane translocation of pendrin and a decrease of intracellular I− content in 125I pre‐loaded cells. Insulin‐ or PMA‐treated cells also showed a cytosol‐to‐membrane translocation of PKC‐δ and ‐ε. Inhibition of both PKC‐δ and ‐ε activities by GF109203X blocked pendrin translocation, whilst the inhibition of PKA did not. The selective inhibition of PKC‐δ by rottlerin did not affect the insulin‐provoked translocation of pendrin whilst it was inhibited by a PKC‐ε translocation inhibitor peptide and also by PKC‐ε downregulation using the small interfering RNA, thus indicating that such translocation was due to PKC‐ε activity. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that, in PC Cl3 cells, pendrin expression and localisation are regulated by insulin and influenced by a PKC‐ε‐dependent intracellular pathway. J. Cell. Physiol. 217: 103–112, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ensemble of Patterns of Oriented Edge Magnitudes Descriptors For Face Recognition

In this work we propose an ensemble o f descriptors for face recognition. Starting from the base patterns o f the oriented edge magnitudes (POEM) descriptor, we developed different ensembles by varying the preprocessing techniques, the parameters for extracting the accumulated magnitude images (AM), and the parameters o f the local binary patterns (LBP) applied to AM. Our best proposed ensemble works well regardless o f whether dimensionality reduction by principal component analysis (PCA) is performed or not before the matching step. We validate our approach using the FERET datasets and the Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) dataset. We obtain very high performance rates in both datasets. To the best o f our knowledge, we obtain one o f the highest performances reported in the literature on the FERET datasets. We want to stress that our ensemble obtains these results without combining different texture descriptors and without any supervised approach or transform. Finally, two cloud use cases are proposed. The MATLAB source o f our best approach will be freely available: http://www. del unipd. it/wdyn/? IDsezione=3314& IDgruppo_pass=124
Inverse design of dispersion compensating optical fiber using topology optimization

We present a new numerical method for designing dispersion compensating optical fibers. The method is based on the solving of the Helmholtz wave equation with a finite-difference modesolver and uses topology optimization combined with a regularization filter for the design of the refractive index profile. We illustrate the applicability of the proposed method through numerical examples and, furthermore, address the problem of keeping the optimized design single moded by including a singlemode constraint in the optimization problem.
CyberCIEGE: Gaming for Information Assurance

CyberCIEGE is a high-end, commercial-quality video game developed jointly by Rivermind and the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research. This dynamic, extensible game adheres to information assurance principles to help teach key concepts and practices. CyberCIEGE is a resource management simulation in which the player assumes the role of a decision maker for an IT dependent organization. The objective is to keep the organization's virtual users happy and productive while providing the necessary security measures to protect valuable information assets.
Estimation of a k‐monotone density: characterizations, consistency and minimax lower bounds

The classes of monotone or convex (and necessarily monotone) densities on can be viewed as special cases of the classes of k‐monotone densities on . These classes bridge the gap between the classes of monotone (1‐monotone) and convex decreasing (2‐monotone) densities for which asymptotic results are known, and the class of completely monotone (∞‐monotone) densities on . In this paper we consider non‐parametric maximum likelihood and least squares estimators of a k‐monotone density g0. We prove existence of the estimators and give characterizations. We also establish consistency properties, and show that the estimators are splines of degree k−1 with simple knots. We further provide asymptotic minimax risk lower bounds for estimating the derivatives , at a fixed point x0 under the assumption that .
[Cardiovascular emergencies in Subsaharan Africa].

BACKGROUND The increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in subsaharan Africa and their related mortality and morbidity have been established. A large number of them present as emergencies. The purpose of this first multicentric study was to assess the causes, management and outcome of cardiovascular emergencies in savannah and forest environments. METHODS A total of 665 patients were included from seven participating centers in seven countries: 417 were classified as belonging to the savannah zone (Dakar, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, N'djamena) whereas 248 patients were from the forest zone (Abidjan, Libreville, Yaounde). Patients were examinated by one or several cardiologists. Statistical analysis was performed by the Medical Statistic Unit of the Hopital Nord, Marseille (France). RESULTS There were more men (53.4%) than women (46.6%). 77.7% of the patients lived in urban areas. Most of them had low or very low incomes. Patients reached the hospitals in ambulances only in 6.2% of cases. The remaining others were transported by routine urban vehicle or bicycle or ambulation. The mean delay between the onset of symptoms and the arrival to the emergency unit was 6.8 days. Three immediate situations were preponderant: severe hypertension (32.2%), heart failures NYHA IV (27.5%), stroke (20.3%). Underlying conditions were: mainly chronic hypertension (52.3%), cardiomyopathies (20.6%), valvular heart diseases (11.1%). Coronary heart diseases were rare (6.1%). The observed mortality was 21.2% without any differences in age groups. The most common emergencies resulting in death included: stroke (31.9%), vascular collapses (18.4%), pulmonary embolism (9.2%). The patients from the savannah zone were younger, more often classified in the low or average socioeconomic level. Hypertension was more frequent in forest zones. Valvular heart diseases were more frequent in savannah. Cardiomyopathies were comparable in both zones. Coronary heart disease was slightly more common in the savannah area. DISCUSSION Compared with patients from western countries, the African patients are younger because some diseases affect young people like rheumatic heart disease or postpartum and infectious cardiomyopathies. The difficulties to reach health care facilities made the outcome more severe. Hypertension and valvular heart disease deserve priority in preventive strategy. Cardiomyopathies have to be studied to precise their causes. Finally, the management of cardiovascular emergencies needs a special care in the hospitals owing to their increasing frequency and their severity.
Cell envelope composition of Escherichia coli K12: a comparison of the cell poles and the lateral wall.

Minicells and filaments of Escherichia coli strain P678–54 provide a convenient means of preparing cell-envelope fractions that are, respectively, greatly enriched or reduced in material derived from the cell poles. The inner (cytoplasmic) membrane, outer membrane, and sacculus were prepared both from minicells and from filaments purified from a single culture. One protein component and phosphatidylglycerol were found to be enriched in minicell inner membrane.
Adipokines in Human Milk and Risk of Overweight in Early Childhood: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Multiple studies have suggested that breast-feeding can prevent obesity, but the evidence remains inconclusive. The concentrations of specific constituents of human milk, such as adipokines, may play a role in this relationship, and these have rarely been considered. We assessed the role of adiponectin and leptin in human milk in childhood overweight. Methods: Between November 2000 and November 2001 all women delivering at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of Ulm, Germany were invited to participate in the study together with their healthy newborns. Milk samples were collected 6 weeks postpartum. Adiponectin and leptin levels were determined by commercially available ELISA. Active follow-up was performed at age 12 and 24 months. Results: Of the 674 breast-fed children, 56 (8%) were overweight at the age of 2 years. Median adiponectin and leptin levels in milk were 10.9 ng/mL and 174.5 pg/mL, respectively. Adjusted odds ratio for overweight at the age of 2 was 1.6 (95% confidence interval = 1.0–2.6) per unit increase of log adiponectin and 1.1 (0.8–1.5) per unit increase of log leptin. Among children who were breast-fed for at least 6 months, adjusted odds ratios were 2.1 (1.1–4.2) per unit increase of log adiponectin, and 1.1 (0.7–1.6) per unit increase of log leptin. Conclusion: High levels of adiponectin in maternal milk may be a risk factor for childhood overweight.
Sea Ice Solidification: The Physical Origin of Macroscopic Properties

Abstract : The long term goals of this project are to construct a quantitative understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for the creation and evolution of the volumetric phase fraction of sea ice. In parallel with the development of solidification research, we aim to advance the coupling and interaction with electromagnetic signature modeling. It should be stressed that the approach is entirely general so that the results are broadly applicable and useful in understanding the phase evolution of any binary alloy undergoing unidirectional solidification. Therefore, although we emphasize the saltwater system, the implications for the mechanical and thermophysical properties span fields from metallurgy to geophysics.
Families of IIB duals for nonrelativistic CFTs

We show that the recent string theory embedding of a spacetime with nonrelativistic Schrodinger symmetry can be generalised to a twenty one dimensional family of solutions with that symmetry. Our solutions include IIB backgrounds with no three form flux turned on, and arise as near horizon limits of branewave spacetimes. We show that there is a hypersurface in the space of these theories where an instability appears in the gravitational description, indicating a phase transition in the nonrelativistic field theory dual. We also present simple embeddings of duals for nonrelativistic critical points where the dynamical critical exponent can take many values z ≠ 2.
Decreased sensitivity to long-distance dependencies in children with a history of specific language impairment: electrophysiological evidence.

PURPOSE One possible source of tense and agreement limitations in children with specific language impairment (SLI) is a weakness in appreciating structural dependencies that occur in many sentences in the input. This possibility was tested in the present study. METHOD Children with a history of SLI (H-SLI; n = 12; M = 9;7 [years;months]) and typically developing same-age peers (TD; n = 12; M = 9;7) listened to and made grammaticality judgments about grammatical and ungrammatical sentences involving either a local agreement error (e.g., "Every night they talks on the phone") or a long-distance finiteness error (e.g., "He makes the quiet boy talks a little louder"). Electrophysiological (ERP) and behavioral (accuracy) measures were obtained. RESULTS Local agreement errors elicited the expected anterior negativity and P600 components in both groups of children. However, relative to the TD group, the P600 effect for the long-distance finiteness errors was delayed, reduced in amplitude, and shorter in duration for the H-SLI group. The children's grammaticality judgments were consistent with the ERP findings. CONCLUSION Children with H-SLI seem to be relatively insensitive to the finiteness constraints that matrix verbs place on subject-verb clauses that appear later in the sentence.
Towards the Industrial Application of Spark Ablation for Nanostructured Functional Materials

Nanostructuring of functional materials is an essential part in the design of energy related devices – but the industrial tools we have to make these materials are lacking. This dissertation explores the green, flexible, and scalable spark discharge process for the fabrication of complex nanostructured materials, and the application of said materials in energy devices. A novel spark generator concept with a 60-fold increased mass production rate was developed, where spark energy and spark repetition rate have been decoupled from gas and material properties. The application of spark discharge materials in two types of energy storage and conversion devices was studied: amorphous-Si photovoltaic cells, MgH2-based hydrogen storage. The possibility of using spark discharge to functionalize nanoparticles with metal coatings was investigated using two spark generators in series. The new spark generator provides true scaling: it produces materials identical to that of the old designs, and the mass production rate – about a gram per day – scales linearly with the spark repetition rate. Arrays of ? 100 nm high-purity silver nanospheres were deposited as scattering agents in solar cells, improving their external quantum efficiency by 30 %. A method for synthesizing MgH2 nanoparticles was developed, which show promising hydrogen storage properties. Nanocomposites of Mg with NbOx catalyst nanoparticles were synthesized using two sparks in series, increasing the H2 desorption rate of MgH2. Using a hollow electrode spark, 40 nm gold nanoparticles were coated with silver, and vice versa. The possibility to make useful quantities of high-quality nanomaterials – e.g. high-purity metals or light metal hydrides – from nearly any element makes spark discharge a powerful tool in materials design. The new spark generator provides sufficient quantities to make it economical to develop an industrial nanoparticle facility using multiple sparks in parallel.
Effect of lumbar support on vibration transmission of a car seat with occupant exposed to fore-and-aft whole-body vibration

Modern car seats are often equipped with adjustable lumbar supports for reducing fatigue and improving ride comfort in different driving conditions. Studies on the effect of lumbar support on seat dynamic performance and ride comfort are not often seen. This experimental study was designed to investigate how lumbar support affects static and dynamic characteristics of the driver seat of a sport utility vehicle. The load-deflection curves of the backrest cushion of the car seat were measured in three extra lumbar support conditions (regarded as “No”, “Half” and “Full” lumbar supports). The acceleration transmissibilities to the backrest and to the seat pan in the fore-and-aft direction with different lumbar support conditions were measured with 8 male subjects exposed to random fore-and-aft vibration from 1 to 30 Hz with three magnitudes (0.25, 0.5, 1.0 ms-2 r.m.s), using a Multi-Axis Simulation Table. It was found that the lumbar area of the backrest became stiffer with increased extra lumbar support. The peak at the resonance of the acceleration transmissibility from the seat base to the backrest decreased, while that in the transmissibility from the seat base to the seat pan increased, when increasing the lumbar support. The softening effect was also apparent with increasing vibration magnitude. It is anticipated that changing the lumbar support will affect the static comfort of the seat and also the vibration transmission through the seat to occupant.
ARSENIC TRIOXIDE INHIBITS CELL GROWTH IN SH-SY5Y AND SK-N-AS NEUROBLASTOMA CELL LINES BY A DIFFERENT MECHANISM

Neuroblastoma, characterized by heterogeneous cell population, is a common solid tumor in childhood and some malignant neuroblastomas are refractory to conventional chemotherapy. Recently, treatment with arsenic trioxide (As2O3) was found effective in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia as well as neuroblastoma cells by inducing apoptosis. To define the mechanism contributing to cell death in those heterogenous cell populations, the authors used two different types of neuroblastoma cells, SH-SY5Y and SK-N-AS, to compare the pathways that mediate death response to arsenic trioxide. With arsenic trioxide exposure, both cell lines were arrested at the S-G2/M phase with the increase of cyclin B expression and CDK1 activity. Although caspase 3 was activated in both cell lines, the NF-κB activity and the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E, and p27 were different. Therefore, arsenic trioxide could be an effective cytotoxic drug for the treatment of heterogeneous cellular population of neuroblastoma.
Effect of lifestyle, education and socioeconomic status on periodontal health

Background: The health model which forms the basis is knowledge, attitude, temporary, and permanent behaviors. Currently, more emphasis has been directed towards the combined influence of lifestyle, education, levels and socioeconomic factors, instead of regular risk factors in dealing with chronic illnesses. The present study is conducted to correlate the periodontal health of people with reference to lifestyle, education level, and socioeconomic status. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Periodontics, Narayana Dental College and Hospital, Nellore. A total of 1350 subjects were examined and 948 patients were randomly selected from out patient department. Information about their lifestyle, education level, and socioeconomic status were recorded using a questionnaire and correlated with the periodontal status. Results: The statistical analysis showed significant decrease in periodontitis when income and education levels increased. Also the prevalence of periodontitis associated with a healthy lifestyle is significantly lower when compared to an unhealthy lifestyle. Conclusions: There is a strong association of lifestyle, education level, and socioeconomic status with periodontal health.
Preliminary Studies on the Relevance of Antibodies and Bioassay to Experimental Infection with Toxoplasma gondii In Ducks

Little is known about the relationship between antibody dynamics and positive bioassay with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in ducks. In this study, 42 ducks were allocated randomly into groups A, B and C with 14 birds of 14 days of age in each group. Three groups were infected intravenously with 10 5 , 10 6 and 10 8 of T. gondii tachyzoites, respectively. Blood samples were collected on day 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 56, 70 postinfection (p.i.). Sera was prepared from each group to evaluate the anti-T. gondii antibodies by the modified agglutination test (MAT); from each group 2 duck samples were used to bioassay T. gondii in mice. The T. gondii were identified by PCR and nucleic acids sequencing. In group A, the parasite was successfully bioassayed from day 7, 14 and 21 in post-infected ducks, with the MAT titers of 1:2, 1:5 and 1:80, respectively. However, in ducks with MAT titers 1:80, 1:40, 1:20 and 1:4 on the following days 28, 42, 56 and 70 p.i. , the bioassay was negative. In group B, T. gondii was successfully biossayed at all the time points, regardless of the seropositivity or seronegativity for T. gondii antibodies. All birds of group C died before day 4 p.i, and therefore they were not bioassayed. PCR and sequencing results confirmed that all the isolates belong to T. gondii. This study demonstrated that successful bioassay does not completely correlate with positive MAT diagnosis. The existence of T. gondii and the concentration of the parasite may be the key parameters during the bioassay studies.
Essential Oils and Their Constituents as Anticancer Agents: A Mechanistic View

Exploring natural plant products as an option to find new chemical entities as anticancer agents is one of the fastest growing areas of research. Recently, in the last decade, essential oils (EOs) have been under study for their use in cancer therapy and the present review is an attempt to collect and document the available studies indicating EOs and their constituents as anticancer agents. This review enlists nearly 130 studies of EOs from various plant species and their constituents that have been studied so far for their anticancer potential and these studies have been classified as in vitro and in vivo studies for EOs and their constituents. This review also highlights in-depth various mechanisms of action of different EOs and their constituents reported in the treatment strategies for different types of cancer. The current review indicates that EOs and their constituents act by multiple pathways and mechanisms involving apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, antimetastatic and antiangiogenic, increased levels of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS), DNA repair modulation, and others to demonstrate their antiproliferative activity in the cancer cell. The effect of EOs and their constituents on tumour suppressor proteins (p53 and Akt), transcription factors (NF-κB and AP-1), MAPK-pathway, and detoxification enzymes like SOD, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase has also been discussed.
Accepted for Publication in Ieee Transactions on Robotics 1 Vision-based, Distributed Control Laws for Motion Coordination of Nonholonomic Robots

— We study the problem of distributed motion coordination among a group of planar nonholonomic agents. Inspired by social aggregation phenomena such as flocking and schooling in birds and fish, we develop vision-based control laws for parallel and circular formations using a consensus approach. The proposed control laws are distributed, in the sense that only information from neighboring agents are included. Furthermore, the control laws are coordinate-free and do not rely on measurement or communication of heading information among neighbors, but instead require measurements of bearing, optical flow and time-to-collision, all of which can be measured using vision. Collision avoidance capabilities are added to the team members and the effectiveness of the control laws are demonstrated on a group of mobile robots.
Chebyshev constants for the unit circle

It is proven that for any system of n points z1, …, zn on the (complex) unit circle, there exists another point z of norm 1, such that ∑1|zk−z|2 ⩽ n24. Two proofs are presented: one uses a characterization of equioscillating rational functions, while the other is based on Bernstein's inequality.