Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of the chloride conductance in muscle fibers of the rat diaphragm

In muscle fibers from the rat diaphragm, 85% of the resting membrane ion conductance is attributable to Cl-. At 37 degree C and pH 7.0, GCl averages 2.11 mmho/cm2 while residual conductance largely due to K+ averages 0.34 mmho/cm2. The resting GCl exhibits a biphasic temperature dependence with a Q10 of 1.6 between 6 degree C and 25 degree C and a Q10 of nearly 1 between 25 degree C and 40 degree C. Decreasing external pH reversibly reduced GCl; the apparent pK for groups mediating this decrease is 5.5. Increasing pH up to 10.0 had no effect on GCl. Anion conductance sequence and permeability sequence were both determined to be Cl-greater than Br-greater than or equal to I-greater than CH3SO4-. Lowering the pH below 5.5 reduced the magnitude of the measured conductance to all anions but did not alter the conductance sequence. The permeability sequence was likewise unchanged at low pH. Experiments with varying molar ratios of Cl- and I- indicated a marked interaction between these ions in their transmembrane movement. Similar but less striking interaction was seen between Cl- and Br-. Current- voltage relationships for GCl measured at early time-points in the presence of Rb+ were linear, but showed marked rectification with longer hyperpolarizing pulses (greater than 50ms) due to a slow time- and voltage-dependent change in membrane conductance to Cl-. This nonlinear behavior appeared to depend on the concentration of Cl- present but cannot be attributed to tubular ion accumulation. Tubular disruption with glycerol lowers apparent GCl but not GK, suggesting that the transverse tubule (T-tubule) system is permeable to Cl- in this species. Quantitative estimates indicate that up to 80% of GCl may be associated with the T tubules.
Retinol inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase induction and G1 progression in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Abstract Vitamin A inhibits ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) induction in G 1 phase of the cell cycle of synchronous cultures of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The retinol-promoted inhibition of ODC was not the result of an effect on general protein synthesis, was effective only in G 1 prior to the time an increase in ODC activity had begun, did not involve disruption of the G 1 -phase increase in cyclic adenosine 3′:5′-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase activity, and required transcription-dependent events for reversal. The inhibition of ODC induction was associated with a block of cell cycle progression in G 1 phase. In the presence of the vitamin, there was no incorporation of [ 3 H]thymidine, no induction of S-phase-dependent S -adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase, and no ultimate cell doubling. The inhibition of ODC and the inhibition of S-phase transition displayed a similar concentration dependence, with 60% inhibition occurring in the presence of 80 µm retinol, a similar dependence on cell locus in early G 1 phase for efficacy, and a similar reversal after removal of the vitamin, with the increase in ODC preceding the increase in S-phase transition in a parallel fashion. Arrest of the cells at the G 1 retinol-sensitive restriction point prior to ODC induction resulted in the inhibition of the G 1 -phase-dependent increase in RNA synthesis. Other naturally occurring retinoids also inhibit CHO cell growth (retinal > retinol > retinyl acetate > retinoic acid). Retinal, the most potent, displayed a paradoxical effect on CHO cells. At very low concentrations (1 to 5 µm), retinal stimulated CHO growth parameters; ODC activity was enhanced in a parallel fashion. At higher concentrations, retinal inhibited in a manner similar to that described for retinol.
Energy storing property of so-called energy-storing prosthetic feet.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the energy storing and releasing property of 14 different prosthetic feet, in which so-called energy storing prosthetic feet are included. The prostheses were fitted to a young male amputee who walked on a level and slope walkway. Gait-analysis data were obtained by an automatic gait measurement system from which the ankle moment and ankle angular velocity were calculated. From these values, the power and the energy at the ankle joint were calculated. The prosthetic feet were ranked according to the total amount of energy, that is the sum of energy being stored and released. Both of the stored and released energy are important feature of the prosthetic feet. According to these evaluation criteria, we ranked the feet into three groups. The high total energy feet were Flex-Walk,a SAFE II,b and High Functionc. The medium total energy feet were SAFE,b Greissinger,d Seattle,e Copy II,f and Dynamic.d The low total energy feet were Seattle Light,e Fore Joint,g Quantum,h SACH,dSTEN,i and Uniaxial.d As for the subjective feeling, our subject preferred higher energy absorbing feet, in which a somewhat high level of energy was stored but low level of energy was released.
Adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization for patients after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) after curative hepatectomy in improving the survival of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomized or nonrandomized studies comparing postoperative adjuvant TACE with curative resection alone. Meta-analysis was performed after converting time-event data into a hazard ratio (HR), using an inverse diversity model. Results: Eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 12 retrospective studies matched the selection criteria, thereby including 3191 patients (779 in RCT, 2412 in observational studies) for the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis showed that receiving adjuvant TACE was associated with improved overall survival (OS, ln[HR] = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.63–0.78, p < .001) and recurrence-free survival (RFS, ln[HR] = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.63–0.76, p < .001) after curative hepatectomies. The results of observational studies were consistent with those of RCTs. Furthermore, meta-regression was utilized to detect study-level factors associated with treatment outcome. It revealed that overall survival was similar among patients treated with various combinations of chemotherapeutic drugs. Subgroup analyses demonstrated that repeated TACE interventions do not provide a higher survival benefit compared with a single course, and patients with a single tumor or tumor size ≥5cm might stand to benefit the most from adjuvant TACE therapy. Conclusions: This meta-analysis demonstrated that postoperative adjuvant TACE could achieve higher OS and RFS than surgical resection alone. However, these results need to be validated through further high-quality clinical studies.
Content Based 3 D Shape Retrieval

Recent developments in techniques for modeling, digitizing and visualizing 3D shapes has led to an explosion in the number of available 3D models on the Internet and in domain-specific databases. Currently, large archives recording cultural heritage models like the David of Michelangelo [11], and the Minerva of Arezzo [7] are obtained by laser scanning projects. Also archives containing domain-specific shape models are now accessible on the Internet. Examples are the National Design Repository, an online repository of CAD models, and the Protein Data Bank, an online archive of structural data of biological macromolecules. These developments has led to the design of 3D shape retrieval systems that, given a query object, retrieve similar 3D objects. In visualization, 3D shapes are often represented as a surface, in particular polygonal meshes, for example in VRML format. Often these models contain holes, intersecting polygons, are not manifold, and do not enclose a volume unambiguously. By contrast, 3D volume models, such as solid models produced by CAD systems, or voxels models, enclose a volume properly. Unlike text documents, 3D models are not easily retrieved. Attempting to find a 3D model using textual annotation and a conventional text-based search engine would not work in many cases. The annotations added by human beings depend on language, culture, age, sex, and other factors. They may be too limited or ambiguous. In contrast, content based 3D shape retrieval methods, that use shape properties of the 3D models to search for similar models, work better than text based methods [14]. In content based shape retrieval, the following terminology is often used. Shape matching is the process of determining how similar two shapes are. This is often done by computing a distance. A complementary process is indexing. Here, indexing is understood to be the process of building a datastructure to speed up the search. Note that also " indexing " is also used as a term for the identification of features in models, or multimedia documents in general. Retrieval is the process of searching and delivering the query results. Matching and indexing are often part of the retrieval process. Recently, a lot of researchers have investigated the specific problem of content based 3D shape retrieval. Also, an extensive amount of literature can be found in the related fields of computer vision, object recognition, geometric modeling, computer-aided design and engineering. Survey papers to this literature have been provided by Besl and Jain …
The penultimate rotamer library

All published rotamer libraries contain some rotamers that exhibit impossible internal atomic overlaps if built in ideal geometry with all hydrogen atoms. Removal of uncertain residues (mainly those with B‐factors ≥40 or van der Waals overlaps ≥0.4 Å) greatly improves the clustering of rotamer populations. Asn, Gln, or His side chains additionally benefit from flipping of their planar terminal groups when required by atomic overlaps or H‐bonding. Sensitivity to skew and to the boundaries of χ angle bins is avoided by using modes rather than traditional mean values. Rotamer definitions are listed both as the modal values and in a preferred version that maximizes common atoms between related rotamers. The resulting library shows significant differences from previous ones, differences validated by considering the likelihood of systematic misfitting of models to electron density maps and by plotting changes in rotamer frequency with B‐factor. Few rotamers now show atomic overlaps in ideal geometry; those overlaps are relatively small and can be understood in terms of bond angle distortions compensated by favorable interactions. The new library covers 94.5% of examples in the highest quality protein data with 153 rotamers and can make a significant contribution to improving the accuracy of new structures. Proteins 2000;40:389–408. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
High Modulation Bandwidth Implant-Confined Photonic Crystal Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

High-speed implant-confined photonic crystal vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) diodes are fabricated and characterized. The maximum achievable 3-dB bandwidth is a function of both the index confinement provided by the etched pattern (which serves to reduce the diffraction loss and provide for stabilized fundamental mode operation) and the increased parasitic resistance caused by the removal of doped material. In optimized designs, the reduction in net loss provided by the etched pattern can more than offset the increased parasitics, resulting in a higher 3-dB bandwidth than possible in an unetched conventional implant VCSELs for both single- and multi transverse mode operation. A maximum 3-dB small-signal modulation bandwidth of 15 and 18 GHz is reported for an optimized single transverse-mode and multimode VCSEL, respectively.
Both base excision repair and O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase protect against methylation-induced colon carcinogenesis

Methylating agents are widely distributed environmental carcinogens. Moreover, they are being used in cancer chemotherapy. The primary target of methylating agents is DNA, and therefore, DNA repair is the first-line barrier in defense against their toxic and carcinogenic effects. Methylating agents induce in the DNA O6-methylguanine (O6MeG) and methylations of the ring nitrogens of purines. The lesions are repaired by O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (Mgmt) and by enzymes of the base excision repair (BER) pathway, respectively. Whereas O6MeG is well established as a pre-carcinogenic lesion, little is known about the carcinogenic potency of base N-alkylation products such as N3-methyladenine and N3-methylguanine. To determine their role in cancer formation and the role of BER in cancer protection, we checked the response of mice with a targeted gene disruption of Mgmt or N-alkylpurine-DNA glycosylase (Aag) or both Mgmt and Aag, to azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon carcinogenesis, using non-invasive mini-colonoscopy. We demonstrate that both Mgmt- and Aag-null mice show a higher colon cancer frequency than the wild-type. With a single low dose of AOM (3 mg/kg) Aag-null mice showed an even stronger tumor response than Mgmt-null mice. The data provide evidence that both BER initiated by Aag and O6MeG reversal by Mgmt are required for protection against alkylation-induced colon carcinogenesis. Further, the data indicate that non-repaired N-methylpurines are not only pre-toxic but also pre-carcinogenic DNA lesions.
AN OPTICAL GROUP CATALOG TO z = 1 FROM THE zCOSMOS 10 k SAMPLE

We present a galaxy group catalog spanning the redshift range 0.1 ≲ z ≲ 1 in the ∼ 1.7 deg2 COSMOS field, based on the first ∼10,000 zCOSMOS spectra. The performance of both the Friends-of-Friends (FOF) and Voronoi–Delaunay method (VDM) approaches to group identification has been extensively explored and compared using realistic mock catalogs. We find that the performance improves substantially if groups are found by progressively optimizing the group-finding parameters for successively smaller groups, and that the highest fidelity catalog, in terms of completeness and purity, is obtained by combining the independently created FOF and VDM catalogs. The final completeness and purity of this catalog, both in terms of the groups and of individual members, compares favorably with recent results in the literature. The current group catalog contains 102 groups with N ⩾ 5 spectroscopically confirmed members, with a further ∼700 groups with 2 ⩽ N ⩽ 4. Most of the groups can be assigned a velocity dispersion and a dark-matter mass derived from the mock catalogs, with quantifiable uncertainties. The fraction of zCOSMOS galaxies in groups is about 25% at low redshift and decreases toward ∼15% at z ∼ 0.8. The zCOSMOS group catalog is broadly consistent with that expected from the semianalytic evolution model underlying the mock catalogs. Not least, we show that the number density of groups with a given intrinsic richness increases from redshift z ∼ 0.8 to the present, consistent with the hierarchical growth of structure.
A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of In Virtuo and In Vivo Exposure for Spider Phobia

The present study compared the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) in virtuo exposure and in vivo exposure in the treatment of spider phobia. Two treatment conditions were compared to a waiting-list condition. A 3-month follow-up evaluation was conducted in order to assess the durability of the treatment effects. Participants were randomly assigned to the treatment groups. A total of 16 participants received the in virtuo treatment, and 16 received the in vivo treatment. The waiting-list condition included 11 participants. Participants received eight 1.5-hour treatment sessions. Efficacy was measured with the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire, the Spider Beliefs Questionnaire (SBQ-F), and a Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT). In addition, a clinician administered the Structured Interview for DSM-IV to assess DSM-IV's criteria for specific phobia and severity. Clinical and statistically significant improvements were found for both groups. Differences in treatment groups were found on one of five measures of fear: greater improvement on the SBQ-F beliefs subscale was associated with in vivo exposure.
Incorporating the Irrelevant: Anchors in Judgments of Belief and Value

Imagine walking down a supermarket aisle and passing an end-of-aisle display of canned tomato soup. A sign on the display says, “Limit 12 per customer. ” Would such a sign influence the number of cans you would buy? Would you buy more cans than if the sign said “No limit per customer”? Our intuitions say no, but empirical evidence indicates that purchase behaviors are influenced by such a sign (Wansink, Kent, & Hoch, 1998). Consider another example: A wheel of fortune is spun and stops at the number 65. You are then asked if the percentage of African countries in the United Nations is above or below that number. Could this exercise influence your estimate of the relevant percentage? Although it may seem unlikely, the evidence is that such anchors have an effect: Groups who received larger numbers determined by a wheel of fortune gave higher estimates than groups who received lower numbers, demonstrating that irrelevant anchors influenced these estimates (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). “Anchoring and adjustment” is one of three well-known heuristics described by Tversky and Kahneman (1974) in a classic paper that also describes the representativeness and availability heuristics. Like the other heuristics, anchoring and adjustment can be a useful way of making judgments. Imagine that you are trying to set a value on an antique chair that you have inherited from a distant aunt. You might recall seeing a very similar chair in slightly better condition at a local antique dealer.
Seasonal variations in photosynthesis, intrinsic water-use efficiency and stable isotope composition of poplar leaves in a short-rotation plantation

Photosynthetic carbon assimilation and transpirational water loss play an important role in the yield and the carbon sequestration potential of bioenergy-devoted cultures of fast-growing trees. For six poplar (Populus) genotypes in a short-rotation plantation, we observed significant seasonal and genotypic variation in photosynthetic parameters, intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi) and leaf stable isotope composition (δ13C and δ18O). The poplars maintained high photosynthetic rates (between 17.8 and 26.9 μmol m−2 s−1 depending on genotypes) until late in the season, in line with their fast-growth habit. Seasonal fluctuations were mainly explained by variations in soil water availability and by stomatal limitation upon photosynthesis. Stomatal rather than biochemical limitation was confirmed by the constant intrinsic photosynthetic capacity (Vcmax) during the growing season, closely related to leaf nitrogen (N) content. Intrinsic water-use efficiency scaled negatively with carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13Cbl) and positively with the ratio between mesophyll diffusion conductance (gm) and stomatal conductance. The WUEi – Δ13Cbl relationship was partly influenced by gm. There was a trade-off between WUEi and photosynthetic N-use efficiency, but only when soil water availability was limiting. Our results suggest that seasonal fluctuations in relation to soil water availability should be accounted for in future modelling studies assessing the carbon sequestration potential and the water-use efficiency of woody energy crops.
The essential work of fracture of thermoplastic orthodontic retainer materials.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether oral cleansing agents affect the essential work of fracture (EWF) and plastic work of fracture (PWF) for two types of orthodontic thermoplastic retainer materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS Polyethylene-terephthalate-glycol (PETG; Tru-Tain Splint) and polypropylene/ethylene-propylene rubber (PP-EPR) blend (Essix-C+) sheets were compared. For each material, six sets of 25 sheets were thermoformed into double-edge-notched-tension specimens; subsets of five specimens were formed with internotch distances (L) equal to 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14 mm, respectively. Sets were stored (160 hours, 25 degrees C) in air (DRY), distilled water (DW), Original Listerine (LIS), mint Crest ProHealth (CPH), 3% hydrogen peroxide (HP), or Polident solution (POL). Specimens were fractured in tension at 2.54 mm/min. Areas under load-elongation curves were measured to determine total work of fracture (W(f)). Linear regressions (W(f) vs L [n = 25]) yielded intercepts (EWF) and slopes (PWF). Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were used to evaluate differences in EWF and PWF estimates. RESULTS PP-EPR blends showed higher EWFs after storage in HP vs storage in DW. PP-EPR blend showed higher EWFs after storage in CPH vs PETG. After HP storage, PP-EPR exhibited lower PWFs than with any other storage conditions. PP-EPR exhibited higher PWFs than PETG after storage in DRY, DW, and LIS. CONCLUSIONS Compared with DW, none of the cleansers decreased the energy to initiate fracture. With one exception, no cleanser decreased the energy to continue plastic fracture extension. In PP-EPR blend, increased resistance to fracture initiation was observed with CPH and HP, yet, surprisingly, HP decreased resistance to plastic fracture growth.
hp-Approximation Theory for BDFM and RT Finite Elements on Quadrilaterals

We study approximation properties of hp-finite element subspaces of $oldsymbol{mathsf{H}}(mathop{{ m div}},Omega)$ and $oldsymbol{mathsf{H}}(mathop{{ m rot}},Omega)$ on a polygonal domain $Omega$ using Brezzi--Douglas--Fortin--Marini (BDFM) or Raviart--Thomas (RT) elements. Approximation theoretic results are derived for the hp-version finite element method on non-quasi-uniform meshes of quadrilateral elements with hanging nodes for functions belonging to weighted Sobolev spaces ${oldsymbol{mathsf{H}}}_{omega}^{s,ell}(Omega)$ and the countably normed spaces $pmb{{cal B}}_{w}^{ell}(Omega)$. These results culminate in a proof of the characteristic exponential convergence property of the hp-version finite element method on suitably designed meshes under similar conditions needed for the analysis of the ${oldsymbol{mathsf{H}}}^{1}(Omega)$ case. By way of illustration, exponential convergence rates are deduced for mixed hp-approximation of flow in porous media.
Robust fault reconstruction using multiple sliding mode observers in cascade: Development and design

This paper presents new results in observer-based robust fault reconstruction for uncertain systems using cascaded sliding mode observers. Signals from an observer are used as the output of a fictitious system whose input is the fault. Then an observer is implemented for the fictitious system. This process is repeated until the first Markov parameter of the fictitious system is full rank. The result is that robust fault reconstruction can be carried out for a wider class of systems. An example verifies the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.