Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cutting Edge: The IκB Kinase (IKK) Inhibitor, NEMO-Binding Domain Peptide, Blocks Inflammatory Injury in Murine Colitis1

Inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1 are important in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and are regulated by the activation of NF-κB. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO)-binding domain (NBD) peptide, which has been shown to block the association of NEMO with the IκB kinaseβ subunit (IKKβ) and inhibit NF-κB activity, reduces inflammatory injury in mice with colitis. Two colitis models were established by the following: 1) inclusion of dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) in the drinking water of the mice; and 2) a trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid enema. Marked NF-κB activation and expression of proinflammatory cytokines were observed in colonic tissues. The NBD peptide ameliorated colonic inflammatory injury through the down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines mediated by NF-κB inhibition in both models. These results indicate that an IKKβ-targeted NF-κB blockade using the NBD peptide could be an attractive therapeutic approach for inflammatory bowel disease.
Soluble RAGE Treatment Delays Progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in SOD1 Mice

The etiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal motor neuron disorder characterized by progressive muscle weakness and spasticity, remains largely unknown. Approximately 5–10% of cases are familial, and of those, 15–20% are associated with mutations in the gene encoding Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1). Mutations of the SOD1 gene interrupt cellular homeostasis and contribute to cellular toxicity evoked by the presence of altered SOD1, along with other toxic species, such as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs trigger activation of their chief cell surface receptor, RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products), and induce RAGE-dependent cellular stress and inflammation in neurons, thereby affecting their function and leading to apoptosis. Here, we show for the first time that the expression of RAGE is higher in the SOD1 transgenic mouse model of ALS vs. wild-type mouse spinal cord. We tested whether pharmacological blockade of RAGE may delay the onset and progression of disease in this mouse model. Our findings reveal that treatment of SOD1 transgenic mice with soluble RAGE (sRAGE), a natural competitor of RAGE that sequesters RAGE ligands and blocks their interaction with cell surface RAGE, significantly delays the progression of ALS and prolongs life span compared to vehicle treatment. We demonstrate that in sRAGE-treated SOD1 transgenic animals at the final stage of the disease, a significantly higher number of neurons and lower number of astrocytes is detectable in the spinal cord. We conclude that RAGE antagonism may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for ALS intervention.
Ah Receptor Mediating Induction of Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylase : Detection in Human Lung by Binding of Z ^ ^ S-pHJTetrachlorodibenzo-. / J-dioxin 1

In laboratory animals and in mouse hepatoma cells in culture the Ah receptor previously has been shown to mediate induction of aryl hydro carbon hydroxylase (cytochrome Pi-450) by 3-methylcholanthrene, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related compounds. We examined human lung cytosols to determine whether the Ah receptor was present in human tissues. Cytosol was prepared from grossly normal lung tissue obtained at pulmonary lobectomy for presumed lung cancer from 53 consecutive adult patients including 32 males (42-77 years old) and 21 females (18-81 years old). Ah receptor in the cytosols was identified and quantitated by specific binding of [3H|TCDD after separation by ultracentrifugation on sucrose gradients. Specific binding of [3H]TCDD to a component which met the criteria for Ah receptor was detected in 10 of the 53 specimens. As previously established in tissues from laboratory animals, the specific [3H]TCDD-binding component sedimented ~9S. Binding of [3H|TCDD to the 9S component was competitively inhibited by incubation in the presence of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran, dibenz(a,A)anthracene, and nonradioactive TCDD, all known to be potent agonists for /4A-rcceptor-mcdiatcd induction of aryl hydrocarbon hydrox ylase. Specific Ah receptor also was detected in some specimens by direct binding of |3H)-3-methylcholanthrene. The human population studied exhibited striking heterogeneity in Ah receptor concentrations. Only 10 of the 53 individuals studied had detectable Ah receptor. In specimens with detectable specific binding, the mean concentration of binding sites was 6.9 Â±1.2 (SE) fmol/mg cytosolic protein. These concentrations are approximately 10-30% of the concentrations of Ah receptor found in lung cytosols from laboratory animals. Our experiments indicate that the Ah receptor can be detected in lung cytosol from some humans and suggest that the regulatory mechanism mediating human cytochrome IV 450 induction may be similar to that in the murine model. Aryl hydro carbon hydroxylase, the major enzyme induced under control of the Ah receptor, plays an important role in the metabolism of several carcinogens including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as ben/o(a)pyrene. It is possible that differences in the Ah receptor content within the human population may be genetically based and that variation at the Ah receptor level may be an important determinant of individual susceptibility to certain chemically induced cancers.
Prevalence of cystic echinococcosis in slaughtered sheep and goats in Ahar Abattoir, northwest part of Iran.

Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) of slaughtered sheep and goats in Ahar Abattoir, Northwest of Iran. Out of 7.868 slaughtered animals examined for CE (hydatidosis) in liver and lungs (7.654 sheep and 214 goats), 25.40% were infected. The rates of lungs and liver CE were 15.28% and 6.08% in sheep, respectively, and 19.15% and 10.28% in goats, respectively. The infection rate was higher in lungs and was more pronounced in goats. Existence of infected stray dogs in grassland and ruminant grazing on infected pasture are two main reasons for high infection rates in Arasbaran region.
The rheological properties of magnetic field excited magnetic powders sheared between two parallel plates

The rheological properties of magnetic powders (MPs) excited by magnetic fields under parallel-plate shear were experimentally studied. The results showed that the shear stress increased with increasing magnetic field strength and volume fraction. It was also influenced by the plate gap distance, and was independent of the shear rate. The shear stress could be ascribed to the contributions of magnetic force and friction force, dominated by the normal force, the shear strain and the friction coefficient. The ratio of shear stress to normal stress, a form of friction coefficient, was influenced by volume fraction, magnetic field strength and gap distance. These results provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of magnetic field excited magnetic powders under parallel-plate shear.
Large-area Coating and Patterning of Functional Nanocomposites: Design, Synthesis and Characterization

Polymer nanocomposite (NC) synthesis from processing of polymer/nanoparticle dispersions remains an active area of research today due to its ability to create nanomaterials using large-area techniques. The benefits of nanomaterials are well documented; however, specific applications remain limited due to their poor durability and scalability. Durability is the tendency of NCs to retain their desirable properties. Scalability is the ability of a given synthesis technique to be implemented at a manufacturing-level. So while large-area processing of superhydrophobic (SHPo) coatings from spray deposition of polymer/nanoparticle dispersions is well documented, most established processes require the use of organic solvents and fluorinated polymers, which raises issues of cost and safety, and in turn, limiting their commercial implementation and scalability. This thesis presents a methodology for generating a SHPo coating from a non-fluorinated, water-based dispersion, eliminating processing hazards. The durability of the SHPo NCs is a major problem impeding commercial implementation. Surfaces typically become compromised through fouling or mechanical failure. This thesis reports wettability studies on two classic, robust NCs. The effect of final composition of NCs on mechanical durability, wettability, and electrical conductivity is considered. The work also investigates failure modes of NCs undergoing mechanical strain and the associated effects on coating wettability. A methodology is presented for dramatically reducing the required filler concentration for achieving superhydrophobicity; ultimately, mechanical properties are enhanced. Surfaces with heterogeneous wettability—so-called patterned wettability (PW)—are also of importance. PW finds applications in pool boiling and lab-on-a-chip; however, previous work emphasized handling water (high surface tension). A methodology for synthesizing a PW coating capable of handling lower surface tension liquids is presented; applications are in combinatorial chemistry. Other PW surfaces—presented in this thesis—were also shown to play an important role in droplet impact and volumetric shaping. Finally, this thesis aims to develop large-area PW surfaces for pool boiling applications; previous work was non-scalable. The work demonstrates the potential of large-area wet processing of NCs for advancing many technologies that require efficient fluid management.
Efficacy of an Exercise Game Based on Kinect in Improving Physical Performances of Fall Risk Factors in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to demonstrate whether a 12-week program of training with dual-task Tai Chi (DTTC), which is a new concept game we developed using Kinect (Microsoft, Redmond, WA), would be effective in improving physical functions of fall risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study examined balance, muscle strength, locomotive ability, and dual-task ability in community-dwelling older adults (75.4±6.3 years) before and after 12 weeks of DTTC training (training group [TG]; n=32) or standardized training (control group [CG]; n=41). Primary end points were based on the difference in physical functions between the TG and the CG. RESULTS Significant differences were observed between the two groups with significant group×time interaction for the following physical function measures: timed up-and-go (TUG) (P<0.01), one-leg standing (OLS) (P<0.05), and 5 chair stand (5-CS) (P<0.05). There were no significant differences among the other measures: 10-m walking time under standard conditions, manual-task conditions, and cognitive-task conditions, 10-m maximal walking time, and Functional Reach test scores. Thus, the scores of TUG, OLS, and 5-CS in the TG improved significantly with DTTC training compared with the CG. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the DTTC training is effective in improving balance ability and mobility, which are risk factors for falls.
The Effect of Culture on the Sex Differences in Schizophrenia

Cultural influences on sex differences in clinical characteristics and symptomatology of schizophrenia were studied among 369 schizophrenic patients from the United States and Turkey. Mate schizophrenics were more likely to be single, and were younger than female schizophrenics at onset of symptoms and when first diagnosed, treated and hospitalised in both cultures. Turkish male and female schizophrenics were more ambivalent, inappropriate, "silly", euphoric, depersonalised, dissociated, mute, conceptually disorganised, and exhibiting more flight of ideas and thought paucity than American male and female schizophrenics. Irrelevant thought and stereotypic behaviour were most severe in Turkish male and American female schizophrenics. Hallucinatory behaviour was most intense in Turkish separated, divorced, or widowed female schizophrenics and American married male schizophrenics. Turkish married female and Turkish separated, divorced, or widowed male schizophrenics were most disoriented. Turkish single female schizophrenics were most mute. Turkish separated, divorced, or widowed male schizophrenics showed most intense stupor behaviour.
Infiltration into an Analog Fracture: Experimental Observations of Gravity‐Driven Fingering

The infiltration of water into unsaturated geologic media is an immiscible displacement process that is unstable with respect to gravity and can thus lead to the formation of gravity‐driven fingers. Where the geologic media (e.g., rock, soil) is fractured, gravity‐driven fingers within the fractures may lead to extremely rapid vertical migration of waterborne contaminants. We designed analog fractures to facilitate the competition between viscous, gravity, and capillary forces that is expected to control finger behavior, then conducted an extended experimental investigation to observe and measure finger behavior. Results show that the spatially variant two‐dimensional nature of fracture geometry leads to different behavior than is reported for the related problem of gravity‐driven fingers in porous media. Observations of finger behavior are presented, along with a simple scale analysis used to relate the key measures of finger velocity, finger width, and fingertip length. We also present a series of illustrative experiments designed to guide future research.
Mutation of a major CG methylase in rice causes genome-wide hypomethylation, dysregulated genome expression, and seedling lethality

Significance CG cytosine methylation (mCG) is an important epigenetic marker present in most eukaryotic genomes that is maintained by an evolutionarily conserved DNA methyltransferase dubbed DNMT1 in mammals and MET1 in plants. Null mutation of DNMT1 or MET1 results in global loss of mCG and leads to embryonic death in mouse, inviability in human cancer cells, and wide-ranging developmental abnormality in Arabidopsis thaliana. This study characterizes global effects of null mutation of a MET1 gene in rice, a model plant for monocotyledons, through methylome, transcriptome, and small RNAome analyses. The findings of this study have implications for improving our understanding of the biological roles of cytosine methylation in monocots and, from an applied point of view, in epigenetic manipulation of cereal crops. Cytosine methylation at CG sites (mCG) plays critical roles in development, epigenetic inheritance, and genome stability in mammals and plants. In the dicot model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, methyltransferase 1 (MET1), a principal CG methylase, functions to maintain mCG during DNA replication, with its null mutation resulting in global hypomethylation and pleiotropic developmental defects. Null mutation of a critical CG methylase has not been characterized at a whole-genome level in other higher eukaryotes, leaving the generality of the Arabidopsis findings largely speculative. Rice is a model plant of monocots, to which many of our important crops belong. Here we have characterized a null mutant of OsMet1-2, the major CG methylase in rice. We found that seeds homozygous for OsMet1-2 gene mutation (OsMET1-2−/−), which directly segregated from normal heterozygote plants (OsMET1-2+/−), were seriously maldeveloped, and all germinated seedlings underwent swift necrotic death. Compared with wild type, genome-wide loss of mCG occurred in the mutant methylome, which was accompanied by a plethora of quantitative molecular phenotypes including dysregulated expression of diverse protein-coding genes, activation and repression of transposable elements, and altered small RNA profiles. Our results have revealed conservation but also distinct functional differences in CG methylases between rice and Arabidopsis.
Online robot introspection via wrench-based action grammars

Robotic failure is all too common in unstructured robot tasks. Despite well-designed controllers, robots often fail due to unexpected events. Robots under a sense-plan-act paradigm do not have an additional loop to check their actions. In this work, we present a principled methodology to bootstrap online robot introspection for contact tasks. In effect, we seek to enable the robot to recognize and expect its behavior, else detect anomalies. We postulated that noisy wrench data inherently contains patterns that can be effectively represented by a vocabulary. The vocabulary is obtained by segmenting and encoding data. And when wrench information represents a sequence of sub-tasks, the vocabulary represents a set of words or sentence and provides a unique identifier. The grammar, which can also include unexpected events, was classified both offline and online for simulated and real robot experiments. Multi-class Support Vector Machines (SVMs) were used offline, while online probabilistic SVMs were used to give temporal confidence to the introspection result. Our work's contribution is the presentation of a generalizable online semantic scheme that enables a robot to understand its high-level state whether nominal or anomalous. It is shown to work in offline and online scenarios for a particularly challenging contact task: snap assemblies. We perform the snap assembly in one-arm simulated and real one-arm experiments and a simulated two-arm experiment. The data set itself is also fully available online and provides a valuable resource by itself for this type of contact task. Our verification mechanism can be used by high-level planners or reasoning systems to enable intelligent failure recovery or determine the next most optimal manipulation skill to be used. Supplemental information, code, data, and other supporting documentation can be found at [1].
SINR Constrained Beamforming for a MIMO Multi-User Downlink System: Algorithms and Convergence Analysis

Consider a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink multi-user channel. A well-studied problem in such a system is the design of linear beamformers for power minimization with the quality of service (QoS) constraints. The most representative algorithms for solving this class of problems are the so-called minimum mean square error (MMSE)-second-order cone programming (SOCP) algorithm [Visotksy and Madhow, “Optimum Beamforming Using Transmit Antenna Arrays,” Proc. IEEE Veh. Technol. Conf. , May 1999, vol. 1, pp. 851-856] , [Wong, Zheng, and Ng, “Convergence Analysis of Downlink MIMO Antenna System Using Second-Order Cone Programming,” Proc. 62nd IEEE Veh. Technol. Conf. , Sep. 2005, pp. 492-496] and the uplink-downlink duality (UDD) algorithm [Codreanu, Tolli, Juntti, and Latva-Aho, “Joint Design of Tx-Rx Beamformers in MIMO Downlink Channel,” IEEE Trans. Signal Process. , vol. 55, no. 9, pp. 4639-4655, Sep. 2007]. The former is based on alternating optimization of the transmit and receive beamformers; while the latter is based on the well-known uplink-dowlink duality theory. Despite their wide applicability, the convergence to Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) solutions of both algorithms is still open in the literature. In this paper, we rigorously establish the convergence of these algorithms for QoS-constrained power minimization (QCPM) problem with both single stream and multiple streams per user cases. Key to our analysis is the development and analysis of a new MMSE-DUAL algorithm, which connects the MMSE-SOCP and the UDD algorithm. Our numerical experiments show that 1) all these algorithms can almost always reach points with the same objective value irrespective of initialization and 2) the MMSE-SOCP/MMSE-DUAL algorithm works well while the UDD algorithm may fail with an infeasible initialization.
The Out-of-the-Loop Performance Problem and Level of Control in Automation

The out-of-the-loop performance problem, a major potential consequence of automation, leaves operators of automated systems handicapped in their ability to take over manual operations in the event of automation failure. This is attributed to a possible loss of skills and of situation awareness (SA) arising from vigilance and complacency problems, a shift from active to passive information processing, and change in feedback provided to the operator. We studied the automation of a navigation task using an expert system and demonstrated that low SA corresponded with out-of-the-loop performance decrements in decision time following a failure of the expert system. Level of operator control in interacting with automation is a major factor in moderating this loss of SA. Results indicated that the shift from active to passive processing was most likely responsible for decreased SA under automated conditions.
Dynamic Feedback Synchronization of Lur'e Networks via Incremental Sector Boundedness

In this note, we generalize our results on synchronization of homogeneous Lur'e networks by static, relative state information based protocols from Zhang et al to the case that for each agent only relative measurements are available. We establish sufficient conditions under which a linear dynamic synchronization protocol exists for such networks. These conditions involve feasibility of two LMI's together with a coupling inequality, reminiscent of the well-known LMI conditions in H∞ control by measurement feedback. We show that, regardless of the number of agents in the network, only the three inequalities are involved. In the computation of the protocol matrices, the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of the interconnection graph occur. In particular, the matrices representing the protocol depend on the smallest nonzero eigenvalue and the largest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix. We validate our results by means of a numerical simulation example.
AT1 Receptor Mediated Augmentation of Intrarenal Angiotensinogen in Angiotensin II-Dependent Hypertension

Abstract—Angiotensin (Ang) II-infused hypertensive rats exhibit increases in renal angiotensinogen mRNA and protein, as well as urinary angiotensinogen excretion in association with increased intrarenal Ang II content. The present study was performed to determine if the augmentation of intrarenal angiotensinogen requires activation of Ang II type 1 (AT1) receptors. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (200 to 220 g) were divided into 3 groups: sham surgery (n=10), subcutaneous infusion of Ang II (80 ng/min, n=11), and Ang II infusion plus AT1 blocker (ARB), olmesartan (5 mg/d, n=12). Ang II infusion progressively increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) compared with sham (178±8 mm Hg versus119±4 at day 11). ARB treatment prevented hypertension (113±6 at day 11). Twenty-four-hour urine collections were taken at day 12, and plasma and tissue samples were harvested at day 13. The Ang II+ARB group had a significant increase in plasma Ang II compared with Ang II and sham groups (365±46 fmol/mL versus 76±9 and 45±14, respectively). Nevertheless, ARB treatment markedly limited the enhancement of kidney Ang II by Ang II infusion (65±17 fmol/g in sham, 606±147 in Ang II group, and 288±28 in Ang II+ARB group). Ang II infusion significantly increased kidney angiotensinogen compared with sham (1.69±0.21 densitometric units versus 1.00±0.17). This change was reflected by increased angiotensinogen immunostaining in proximal tubules. ARB treatment prevented this increase (1.14±0.12). Urinary angiotensinogen excretion rates were enhanced 4.7× in Ang II group (4.67±0.41 densitometric units versus 1.00±0.21) but ARB treatment prevented the augmentation of urinary angiotensinogen (0.96±0.23). These data demonstrate that augmentation of intrarenal angiotensinogen in Ang II-infused rats is AT1-dependent and provide further evidence that urinary angiotensinogen is closely linked to intrarenal Ang II in Ang II-dependent hypertension.