Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of protective and damaging components of the cardiac renin-angiotensin system after myocardial infarction in experimental diabetes

Introduction. Diabetes is associated with prolonged apoptotic cell death of cardiac myocytes and adverse remodelling after myocardial infarction (MI). Because the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has a major role in the remodelling, we studied whether diabetes is associated with altered regulation of RAS after MI in rats. Methods. Male Wistar rats were randomised to receive either streptozotocin (diabetic group) or citrate buffer (control group) intravenously. MI was produced four weeks later by ligating the left descending coronary artery.The rats were sacrificed 1, 4 and 12 weeks after the operation. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2), angiotensin type 1 and 2 receptors (AT1-receptor, AT2-receptor), and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) mRNA expression were determined. Results. The expression of both protective and damaging components of RAS increased after MI. However, myocardial ACE 2 and AT2-receptor messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression levels were significantly lower in diabetic compared to non-diabetic rats 1 week after MI. In contrast, AT1-receptor, ACE and CTGF mRNA levels were up-regulated in diabetic as compared with non-diabetic rats 12 weeks after MI. Conclusion. The activation of the protective components of RAS (ACE 2 and AT2-receptor) was blunted early after MI in diabetic rats, whereas the levels of ACE, AT1-receptor and CTGF mRNA leading to adverse effects on myocardium, were elevated in diabetic as compared with non-diabetic rats.This unbalanced activation of the RAS may influence the pathophysiology of myocardial injury in diabetes after MI.
Southern Ocean Iron Enrichment Experiment: Carbon Cycling in High- and Low-Si Waters

The availability of iron is known to exert a controlling influence on biological productivity in surface waters over large areas of the ocean and may have been an important factor in the variation of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide over glacial cycles. The effect of iron in the Southern Ocean is particularly important because of its large area and abundant nitrate, yet iron-enhanced growth of phytoplankton may be differentially expressed between waters with high silicic acid in the south and low silicic acid in the north, where diatom growth may be limited by both silicic acid and iron. Two mesoscale experiments, designed to investigate the effects of iron enrichment in regions with high and low concentrations of silicic acid, were performed in the Southern Ocean. These experiments demonstrate iron's pivotal role in controlling carbon uptake and regulating atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide.
Drainage ditches, biodiversity hotspots for aquatic invertebrates : defining and assessing the ecological status of a man-made ecosystem based on macroinvertebrates

De effecten van extreme eutrofiering en organische belasting op de macrofauna in sloten zijn goed bekend. De kennis van de sturende factoren die de samenstelling van de fauna in de ‘standaard poldersloot’ (de eutrofe, vegetatierijke sloot) bepalen, is echter beperkt. In dit proefschrift is beschreven hoe de ruimtelijke configuratie van habitats en de daar heersende milieufactoren op verschillende hierarchische schaalniveaus binnen een landschap de samenstelling van macrofaunalevensgemeenschappen beinvloeden. Verder is beschreven hoe deze kennis kan worden geintegreerd in de monitoring van macrofauna en beoordeling van de ecologische kwaliteit van sloten.
WESTERN BLOTTING ANALYSIS OF THE PLUM POX VIRUS CAPSID PROTEIN

Immunoblotting using a polyclonal antiserum to Plum pox virus (PPV) was used to detect PPV capsid protein (CP) in different parts of mechanically infected Nicotiana benthamiana plants from 1 to 21 days post inoculation (dpi). The velocity of viral spread in infected plants depended only slightly on the inoculum concentration. Roots and tops of the plants became infected 5- 7 dpi. Systemic infection of non-inoculated leaves in the middle part of the plants was detected later (7-10 dpi), but infective viral RNA proved to be there 1 dpi. Comparing several isolates of PPV strains M, D and Rec, the fastest infection movement was detected for PPV-Rec, the slowest for PPV-D. Differences in the CP electrophoretic mobility among the strains M, D and Rec did not correspond to their amino acid sequences. Posttranslational CP glycosylation and phosphorylation was detected in six PPV isolates We presume the the nonamino acid compounds linked to the N termini are responsible for the electrophoretic pattern differences among the studied isolates.
The cultural self : experiments investigating self-awareness and self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication

ABSTRACTThis thesis presents a series of cross-cultural experiments, which investigate the role of self-awareness on self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication (CMC). The thesis is split into two parts, detailing the results of four separate experiments. In Part 1, the two experiments focus specifically on British participants who are considered to be from an individualistic culture. Experiment 1 investigates how private and public self-awareness affects their breadth, depth and accuracy of self-disclosure in CMC. Experiment 2 then attempts to simplify Experiment 1 to try and focus more specifically on personal motivations of self-disclosure. The results of the first two experiments clearly illustrate the importance of both private and public self-awareness in intimate self-disclosure in CMC. More specifically, they indicate that increasing private self-awareness increases depth of self-disclosure, whilst increasing public self-awareness reduces the accuracy of the self-disclosure. In Part 2 of the thesis Experiments 1 and 2 are replicated on Singaporean participants, who are considered to be from a collectivist culture. Members of collectivist cultures are consistently reported to self-disclose less than members of individualistic cultures. It is however found in Experiment 3 that in a typical ? real-time? interaction the Singaporeans report themselves to self-disclose to a greater depth than the British participants. Cultural differences are also found in the participants? reactions to certain manipulations of self-awareness. More specifically, a manipulation that increases public self-awareness greatly reduces the British participants? self-disclosure. Whilst the Singaporeans are more affected by a manipulation that increases their private self-awareness, which greatly increases their depth of self-disclosure. It is concluded that there are cultural differences in the way that people react to manipulations of self-awareness in CMC and this raises philosophical discussion about how culture drives self-disclosure which, in turn, drives the pursuit of self-knowledge, and ultimately the construction of the cultural self. Finally it is concluded that CMC may allow an exploration of the self outside of cultural norms, and that this could potentially change the boundaries of the private and public self in the future.
Optimality of Beamforming for MIMO Multiple Access Channels Via Virtual Representation

In this correspondence, we consider the optimality of beamforming for achieving the ergodic capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) multiple access channel (MAC) via virtual representation (VR) model. We assume that the receiver knows the channel state information (CSI) perfectly but that the transmitter knows only partial CSI, i.e., the channel statistics. For the single-user case, we prove that the capacity-achieving beamforming angle (c.b.a.) is unique, and there exists a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold below which beamforming is optimal and above which beamforming is strictly suboptimal. For the multi-user case, we show that the c.b. a is not unique and we obtain explicit conditions that determine the beamforming angles for a special class of correlated MAC-VR models. Under mild conditions, we show that a large class of power allocation schemes can achieve the sum-capacity within a constant as the number of users in the system becomes large. The beamforming scheme, in particular, is shown to be asymptotically capacity-achieving only for certain MAC-VR models.
Decoding Size Distribution Patterns in Marine and Transitional Water Phytoplankton: From Community to Species Level

Understanding the mechanisms of phytoplankton community assembly is a fundamental issue of aquatic ecology. Here, we use field data from transitional (e.g. coastal lagoons) and coastal water environments to decode patterns of phytoplankton size distribution into organization and adaptive mechanisms. Transitional waters are characterized by higher resource availability and shallower well-mixed water column than coastal marine environments. Differences in physico-chemical regime between the two environments have been hypothesized to exert contrasting selective pressures on phytoplankton cell morphology (size and shape). We tested the hypothesis focusing on resource availability (nutrients and light) and mixed layer depth as ecological axes that define ecological niches of phytoplankton. We report fundamental differences in size distributions of marine and freshwater diatoms, with transitional water phytoplankton significantly smaller and with higher surface to volume ratio than marine species. Here, we hypothesize that mixing condition affecting size-dependent sinking may drive phytoplankton size and shape distributions. The interplay between shallow mixed layer depth and frequent and complete mixing of transitional waters may likely increase the competitive advantage of small phytoplankton limiting large cell fitness. The nutrient regime appears to explain the size distribution within both marine and transitional water environments, while it seem does not explain the pattern observed across the two environments. In addition, difference in light availability across the two environments appear do not explain the occurrence of asymmetric size distribution at each hierarchical level. We hypothesize that such competitive equilibria and adaptive strategies in resource exploitation may drive by organism’s behavior which exploring patch resources in transitional and marine phytoplankton communities.
Alignment by the numbers: sequence assembly using reduced dimensionality numerical representations

DNA sequencing instruments are enabling genomic analyses of unprecedented scope and scale, widening the gap between our abilities to generate and interpret sequence data. Established methods for computational sequence analysis generally consider the nucleotide-level resolution of sequences, and while these approaches are sufficiently accurate, increasingly ambitious and data-intensive analyses are rendering them impractical for demanding applications such as genome and metagenome assembly. Comparable analytical challenges are encountered in other data-intensive fields involving sequential data such as signal processing and time series analysis. By representing nucleic acid composition numerically it is possible to apply dimensionality reduction methods from these fields to sequences of nucleotides, enabling their approximate representation. To explore the applicability of signal decomposition methods in sequence assembly, we implemented a short read aligner and evaluated its performance against simulated high diversity viral sequences alongside four existing aligners. Using our prototype implementation, approximate sequence representations reduced overall alignment time by up to 14-fold compared to that of uncompressed sequences, and without any reduction in alignment accuracy. Despite using heavily approximated sequence representations, our implementation yielded alignments of similar overall accuracy to existing aligners, outperforming all other tools tested at high levels of sequence variation. Our approach was also applied to the de novo assembly of a simulated diverse viral population. We have demonstrated that full sequence resolution is not a prerequisite of accurate sequence alignment and that analytical performance may be retained or even enhanced through appropriate dimensionality reduction of sequences.
Water Extractable Arabinoxylan Aerogels Prepared by Supercritical CO2 Drying

Water extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) aerogels were prepared by extracting the solvent from the alcogels (WEAX hydrogels with an alcohol as the solvent) with carbon dioxide under supercritical conditions. WEAX aerogels were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and adsorption and desorption nitrogen isotherms. The micrographs indicate a heterogeneous porous network structure in WEAX aerogel. Adsorption/desorption nitrogen isotherms of this material were type IV, which confirm that this material possess a mesoporous structure. WEAX aerogels rehydration capability was evaluated and the water absorption mechanism was determined. The WEAX aerogels water absorption mechanism was non-Fickian (n = 0.54).
Heme Oxygenase-1-derived Carbon Monoxide Induces the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Dormancy Regulon*

The mechanisms that allow Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to persist in human tissue for decades and to then abruptly cause disease are not clearly understood. Regulatory elements thought to assist Mtb to enter such a state include the heme two-component sensor kinases DosS and DosT and the cognate response regulator DosR. We have demonstrated previously that O2, nitric oxide (NO), and carbon monoxide (CO) are regulatory ligands of DosS and DosT. Here, we show that in addition to O2 and NO, CO induces the complete Mtb dormancy (Dos) regulon. Notably, we demonstrate that CO is primarily sensed through DosS to induce the Dos regulon, whereas DosT plays a less prominent role. We also show that Mtb infection of macrophage cells significantly increases the expression, protein levels, and enzymatic activity of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1, the enzyme that produces CO), in an NO-independent manner. Furthermore, exploiting HO-1+/+ and HO-1-/- bone marrow-derived macrophages, we demonstrate that physiologically relevant levels of CO induce the Dos regulon. Finally, we demonstrate that increased HO-1 mRNA and protein levels are produced in the lungs of Mtb-infected mice. Our data suggest that during infection, O2, NO, and CO are being sensed concurrently rather than independently via DosS and DosT. We conclude that CO, a previously unrecognized host factor, is a physiologically relevant Mtb signal capable of inducing the Dos regulon, which introduces a new paradigm for understanding the molecular basis of Mtb persistence.
Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) as observed by MIPAS/Envisat: temporal development and spatial distribution at 15–45 km altitude

Abstract. We present a climatology of monthly and 10° zonal mean profiles of sulfur dioxide (SO2) volume mixing ratios (vmr) derived from MIPAS/Envisat measurements in the altitude range 15–45 km from July 2002 until April 2012. The vertical resolution varies from 3.5–4 km in the lower stratosphere up to 6–10 km at the upper end of the profiles, with estimated total errors of 5–20 pptv for single profiles of SO2. Comparisons with the few available observations of SO2 up to high altitudes from ATMOS for a volcanically perturbed situation from ACE-FTS and, at the lowest altitudes, with stratospheric in situ observations reveal general consistency of the datasets. The observations are the first empirical confirmation of features of the stratospheric SO2 distribution, which have only been shown by models up to now: (1) the local maximum of SO2 at around 25–30 km altitude, which is explained by the conversion of carbonyl sulfide (COS) as the precursor of the Junge layer; and (2) the downwelling of SO2-rich air to altitudes of 25–30 km at high latitudes during winter and its subsequent depletion on availability of sunlight. This has been proposed as the reason for the sudden appearance of enhanced concentrations of condensation nuclei during Arctic and Antarctic spring. Further, the strong increase of SO2 to values of 80–100 pptv in the upper stratosphere through photolysis of H2SO4 has been confirmed. Lower stratospheric variability of SO2 could mainly be explained by volcanic activity, and no hints of a strong anthropogenic influence have been found. Regression analysis revealed a QBO (quasi-biennial oscillation) signal of the SO2 time series in the tropics at about 30–35 km, an SAO (semi-annual oscillation) signal at tropical and subtropical latitudes above 32 km and annual periodics predominantly at high latitudes. Further, the analysis indicates a correlation with the solar cycle in the tropics and southern subtropics above 30 km. Significant negative linear trends are found in the tropical lower stratosphere, probably due to reduced tropical volcanic activity and at southern mid-latitudes above 35 km. A positive trend is visible in the lower and middle stratosphere at polar to subtropical southern latitudes.
Dyslexia and Classic Pathognomic Signs

The classic pathognomic signs of dyslexia, such as reversals and rotations, appear to be associated with poor reading, not diagnosed developmental dyslexia. 26 8th and 9th grade dyslexics with poor perceptual/attentional ability were matched with 19 reading-retarded subjects with age-equivalent perceptual/attentional test scores for age, IQ, and degree of reading retardation and compared both with each other and with 96 adequate readers for reversals, rotations, insertions, substitutions, omissions, poor handwriting and visual ability on the Gray test, the WRAT Spelling Test, a writing task, and the star-tracing mirror test. On 46 of 49 variables, the dyslexics and retarded readers performed comparably. Together they made more classic errors and had lower achievement scores than the adequate readers on 44 of 49 variables. Classic errors clustered with poor reading but not diagnosed dyslexia. The hypothesis that reading acquisition trains perceptual test-taking ability is advanced.
Deterioration in premorbid functioning in schizophrenia: a developmental model of negative symptoms in drug-free patients.

OBJECTIVE The authors examined the relationship between negative symptoms and premorbid variables in drug-free schizophrenic patients. METHOD The authors studied 63 clinically stable male schizophrenic inpatients who were not receiving any psychoactive medication. The patients were classified as having negative, positive, or mixed symptoms, and their premorbid functioning during childhood, early adolescence, and late adolescence was assessed by using the Premorbid Adjustment Scale. Correlational analyses were applied to the classification and developmental models. RESULTS Patients with negative symptoms had significantly lower levels of premorbid functioning during late adolescence and significantly greater premorbid deterioration between childhood and early adolescence. Correlational analysis revealed significant positive relationships between premorbid variables and negative symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The data suggest that a deterioration in social and intellectual functioning between childhood and adolescence is associated with the development of a negative symptom syndrome in schizophrenia. The premorbid deterioration appears to be an early prodrome of the disorder. Whether this residual negative symptom syndrome is in some way related to the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia awaits a prospective study.
Cognitive profiles in bilingual children born to immigrant parents and Italian monolingual native children with specific learning disorders

Purpose The aim of this study is to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® – fourth edition IV (WISC IV) intellectual profile of two groups of children with specific learning disorder, a group of bilingual children and a group of monolingual Italian children, in order to identify possible significant differences between them. Patients and methods A group of 48 bilingual children and a group of 48 Italian monolingual children were included in this study. A preliminary comparison showed the homogeneity of the two groups regarding learning disorder typology and sociodemographic characteristics (age at WISC IV assessment, sex and years of education in Italy) with the exception of socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status was then used as a covariate in the analysis. Results Even if the two groups were comparable in specific learning disorder severity and, in particular, in the text comprehension performance, our findings showed that the WISC IV performances of the bilingual group were significantly worse than the Italian group in Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (P=0.03), in General Ability Index (P=0.03), in Working Memory Index (P=0.009) and in some subtests and clusters requiring advanced linguistic abilities. Conclusion These results support the hypothesis of a weakness in metalinguistic abilities in bilingual children with specific learning disorders than monolinguals. If confirmed, this result must be considered in the rehabilitation treatment.
Impact of classes of development coordination tools on software development performance: A multinational empirical study

Although a diverse variety of software development coordination tools are widely used in practice, considerable debate surrounds their impact on software development performance. No large-scale field research has systematically examined their impact on software development performance. This paper reports the results of a multinational field study of software projects in 209 software development organizations to empirically examine the influence of six key classes of development coordination tools on the efficiency (reduction of development rework, budget compliance) and effectiveness (defect reduction) of software development performance. Based on an in-depth field study, the article conceptualizes six holistic classes of development coordination tools. The results provide nuanced insights—some counter to prevailing beliefs—into the relationships between the use of various classes of development coordination tools and software development performance. The overarching finding is that the performance benefits of development coordination tools are contingent on the salient types of novelty in a project. The dimension of development performance—efficiency or effectiveness—that each class of tools is associated with varies systematically with whether a project involves conceptual novelty, process novelty, multidimensional novelty (both process and conceptual novelty), or neither. Another noteworthy insight is that the use of some classes of tools introduces an efficiency-effectiveness tradeoff. Collectively, the findings are among the first to offer empirical support for the varied performance impacts of various classes of development coordination tools and have important implications for software development practice. The paper also identifies several promising areas for future research.