Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Analysis of Toxic Responses of Organic Extracts from Diesel and Selected Alternative Fuels Engine Emissions in Human Lung BEAS-2B Cells

This study used toxicogenomics to identify the complex biological response of human lung BEAS-2B cells treated with organic components of particulate matter in the exhaust of a diesel engine. First, we characterized particles from standard diesel (B0), biodiesel (methylesters of rapeseed oil) in its neat form (B100) and 30% by volume blend with diesel fuel (B30), and neat hydrotreated vegetable oil (NEXBTL100). The concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivatives in organic extracts was the lowest for NEXBTL100 and higher for biodiesel. We further analyzed global gene expression changes in BEAS-2B cells following 4 h and 24 h treatment with extracts. The concentrations of 50 µg extract/mL induced a similar molecular response. The common processes induced after 4 h treatment included antioxidant defense, metabolism of xenobiotics and lipids, suppression of pro-apoptotic stimuli, or induction of plasminogen activating cascade; 24 h treatment affected fewer processes, particularly those involved in detoxification of xenobiotics, including PAHs. The majority of distinctively deregulated genes detected after both 4 h and 24 h treatment were induced by NEXBTL100; the deregulated genes included, e.g., those involved in antioxidant defense and cell cycle regulation and proliferation. B100 extract, with the highest PAH concentrations, additionally affected several cell cycle regulatory genes and p38 signaling.
An Integrated 0.6–4.6 GHz, 5–7 GHz, 10–14 GHz, and 20–28 GHz Frequency Synthesizer for Software-Defined Radio Applications

We present an integrated frequency synthesizer which is able to provide in-phase/quadrature phase signal over the frequency bands 0.6-4.6 GHz, 5-7 GHz, 10-14 GHz, and in-phase signal over 20-28 GHz for software-defined radio applications. An integrated voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with 34% tuning range and a set of high-speed dividers are used to accomplish all the frequencies. To achieve a wide tuning range while keeping a low gain and a low phase noise, the VCO employs digitally controlled sub-bands. The measured PLL phase noise is - 108 dBc/Hz, -121 dBc/Hz, and -135 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset for 24 GHz, 4 GHz, and 700 MHz, respectively. Fabricated in a 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS process, the synthesizer occupies a chip area of 4.8 mm2. The synthesizer was optimized for reconfigurable base station applications, but can also be used for cognitive radio, radar systems, satellite communication, and high-speed digital clock generation.
Defining the Optimal Response Criteria for the Crohn's Disease Activity Index for Induction Studies in Patients With Mildly to Moderately Active Crohn's Disease

OBJECTIVES:The Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) is used to judge efficacy in clinical trials. We explored the effect of CDAI response definitions for induction on study efficiency.METHODS:We analyzed primary CDAI data from induction studies in patients with mildly to moderately active Crohn's disease, not receiving concomitant aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, or immunomodulator therapy, and without fistulizing or stricturing complications. The 12 definitions of clinical response included: CDAI decrease from baseline by 50, 70, 100, or 150 points; decrease by 25% from baseline and by 70 or 100 points; CDAI <100 or 150 points; CDAI <150 points plus decrease by 70 or 100 points; CDAI <150 points at any time sustained for the duration of the trial; or decrease in the CDAI by 70 points for the last two consecutive visits. Response definitions were ranked according to ability to optimize the effect difference between treatment arms. The effect of time, baseline disease activity (CDAI 200–299 or ≥300 points), and previous surgical resections on response definitions were evaluated and ranked. Multivariate analysis on additional factors of age (<40 or ≥40 yr), gender and duration of disease (<2 or ≥2 yr) were performed to determine predictors of response when applied to these CDAI definitions.RESULTS:Treatment effect differences in placebo-controlled studies were maximized by response definitions that incorporated either a decrease CDAI ≥70 points for the last two consecutive visits or decrease in baseline CDAI ≥100 points, and remained optimal when evaluated for the composite effect of time, baseline activity, and prior resections. A decrease in baseline CDAI ≥100 points had some advantages over a decrease CDAI ≥70 points over two visits in terms of study efficiency, as it produced a lower control response rate and was not influenced by any of the baseline factors.CONCLUSION:Clinical trial efficiency for induction studies in patients with mildly to moderately active Crohn's disease can be improved by using either a decrease in CDAI by ≥70 points for the last two consecutive visits or a decrease in baseline CDAI by ≥100 points as the primary end point for the trial. These findings are valid for patients with ileocecal Crohn's disease not refractory to aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologics, and patients who do not have stricturing or penetrating complications. It is unclear if these CDAI response criteria would similarly increase study efficiency in trials that recruited patients with moderately to severely active disease, patients refractory to aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologics, and patients with stricturing or penetrating complications.
Therapeutic potential of Naja naja atra venom in a rat model of diabetic nephropathy.

OBJECTIVE To study the protective effects of naja naja atra venom (NNAV) in a rat model of diabetic nephropathy (DN). METHODS The rat diabetes model was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Thirty-two model rats were randomly divided into one DN group (n=8) and three treatment groups (n=8 each) that received NNAV at doses of 30, 90, or 270 μg/(kg·day) via oral gavage, another eight rats as normal controls. After 12 weeks, all rats were sacrificed and the changes in serum and urine biological index levels were determined by colorimetric assay. Microalbumin (mALB), N-acetyl-β- glucosaminidase (NAG) and cystatin C (CysC) concentrations were measured by ELISA. Renal tissues were sliced for pathological and immunohistochemical observations. RESULTS Comparied with the DN group, serum glucose was decreased by 31.04%, total cholesterol 21.96%, triglyceride 23.78%, serum creatinine 19.83%, blood urea nitrogen 31.28%, urinary protein excretion 45.42%, mALB 10.42%, NAG 20.65%, CysC 19.57%, whereas albumin increased by 5.55%, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol 59.09%, creatinine clearance 19.05% in the treatment group by NNAV administration at dose of 90 μg/(kg·day). NNAV also reduced the levels of malondialdehyde in serum (22.56%) and kidney tissue (9.79%), and increased superoxide dismutase concentration in serum (15%) and decreased it in renal tissue (8.85%). In addition, under light microscopy kidney structure was improved and glomerular hypertrophy decreased by 8.29%. As shown by immunohistochemistry, NNAV inhibited transforming growth factor-β1 by 6.70% and nuclear actor-κB by 5.15%. CONCLUSION NNAV improves biological indexes in DN, and it may exert renoprotective effects in rats with STZ-induced diabetes.
Effects of warm acupuncture on breast cancer-related chronic lymphedema: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Effective treatment for breast cancer-related chronic lymphedema (bcrl) remains a clinical challenge. Acupuncture and moxibustion treatments have been shown to be beneficial and safe for treating bcrl. In the present randomized controlled trial, we compared the effectiveness of combined acupuncture and moxibustion ("warm acupuncture") with that of diosmin in bcrl. METHODS Breast cancer patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria (n = 30) were randomized to experimental and control groups (15 per group). On alternate days, patients in the experimental group received 30 minutes of acupuncture at 6 acupoints, with 3 of the needles each being topped by a 3-cm moxa stick. The control treatment was diosmin 900 mg 3 times daily. The control and experimental treatments were administered for 30 days. Outcome measures included arm circumferences (index of effectiveness), range of motion [rom (shoulder joint function)], quality of life, clinical safety, and adverse events. RESULTS Measured by the index of effectiveness, bcrl improved by 51.46% in the experimental group and by 26.27% in the control group (p < 0.00001). Effects were greatest at 10 cm above the elbow and at the wrist, where the warm needling was provided. Impairments in shoulder joint rom were minimal at baseline in both treatment groups. However, the roms of rear protraction, abduction, intorsion, and extorsion in the experimental group improved significantly; they did not change in the control group. Self-reported quality of life was significantly better with warm acupuncture than with diosmin. No adverse effects were reported during the treatment period, and laboratory examinations for clinical safety fell within the normal ranges. CONCLUSIONS Compared with diosmin, warm acupuncture treatment can effectively reduce the degree of bcrl at the specific acupoints treated and can promote quality of life. Warm acupuncture showed good clinical safety, without any adverse effects on blood or the cardiovascular system.
Improving Parsing Accuracy by Combining Diverse Dependency Parsers

This paper explores the possibilities of improving parsing results by combining outputs of several parsers. To some extent, we are porting the ideas of Henderson and Brill (1999) to the world of dependency structures. We differ from them in exploring context features more deeply. All our experiments were conducted on Czech but the method is language-independent. We were able to significantly improve over the best parsing result for the given setting, known so far. Moreover, our experiments show that even parsers far below the state of the art can contribute to the total improvement.
Perinatal Outcomes in Severe Preeclampsia-Eclampsia with and without HELLP Syndrome

Objective: Our purpose was to find out and compare perinatal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by severe preeclampsia-eclampsia with and without HELLP syndrome. Methods: Clinical and laboratory findings, and perinatal-neonatal outcomes of all pregnants with severe preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP have been prospectively recorded. Results were compared by means of Student’s t test, χ2 analysis and Fisher’s exact test as appropriate. Results: Among 367 consecutive severe preeclampsia, 106 (29%) had HELLP syndrome, 261 (71%) had severe preeclampsia and eclampsia. Mean gestational age and birth weight at delivery in severe preeclampsia without HELLP syndrome and in HELLP syndrome were 34.1 ± 6.1 vs. 33.0 ± 5.8 weeks (p = 0.119) and 1,886 ± 764 vs. 1,724 ± 776 g (p = 0.063), respectively. Comparing overall fetal mortality (4.6 vs. 10.3%, p = 0.009) and perinatal mortality (8.0% vs. 16.8%, p = 0.026) in severe preeclampsia-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome, respectively, there were statistically significant differences. But when analyses were performed according to gestational age before and after 32nd gestational week, the difference of perinatal mortality between the two groups was non-significant (p = 0.644 and p = 0.250), suggesting borderline difference. The most common contributing factor for fetal death after 32nd week was due to abruptio placenta without prenatal follow-up. Neonatal morbidity and neonatal mortality (4.8 vs. 6.3%, p = 0.905) in severe preeclampsia-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome respectively were similar and the difference was statistically nonsignificant. Conclusions: Perinatal mortality and neonatal morbidity-mortality according to gestational age before and after the 32nd week were similar in HELLP syndrome compared with severe preeclampsia-eclampsia without HELLP but overall fetal mortality was higher in HELLP syndrome with no regular prenatal care.
Variable-speed-of-light cosmology from the brane world scenario

We argue that the four-dimensional universe on the TeV brane of the Randall-Sundrum scenario takes the bimetric structure of Clayton and Moffat, with gravitons traveling faster than photons instead, while the radion varies with time. We show that such brane world bimetric model can thereby solve the flatness and the cosmological constant problems, provided the speed of a graviton decreases to the present day value rapidly enough. The resolution of other cosmological problems such as the horizon problem and the monopole problem requires supplementation by inflation, which may be achieved by the radion field provided the radion potential satisfies the slow-roll approximation.
Actions ~ Transformations

What defines an action like "kicking ball"? We argue that the true meaning of an action lies in the change or transformation an action brings to the environment. In this paper, we propose a novel representation for actions by modeling an action as a transformation which changes the state of the environment before the action happens (precondition) to the state after the action (effect). Motivated by recent advancements of video representation using deep learning, we design a Siamese network which models the action as a transformation on a high-level feature space. We show that our model gives improvements on standard action recognition datasets including UCF101 and HMDB51. More importantly, our approach is able to generalize beyond learned action categories and shows significant performance improvement on cross-category generalization on our new ACT dataset.
Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide Excites Medial Pontine Reticular Formation Neurons in the Brainstem Rapid Eye Movement Sleep-Induction Zone

Although it has long been known that microinjection of the cholinergic agonist carbachol into the medial pontine reticular formation (mPRF) induces a state that resembles rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, it is likely that other transmitters contribute to mPRF regulation of behavioral states. A key candidate is the peptide vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), which innervates the mPRF and induces REM sleep when injected into this region of the brainstem. To begin understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, we examined the effects of VIP on mPRF cells using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in the in vitro rat brainstem slice. VIP directly depolarized cells via activation of an inward current; these effects were attenuated and potentiated in low-sodium and low-calcium medium, respectively. The depolarization induced by VIP was slower in onset and longer-lived than that evoked by carbachol. The VIP-induced depolarization was reduced in a dose-dependent manner by a competitive antagonist of VIP receptors. Effects of VIP were attenuated in the presence of guanosine 5′-O-(2-thiodiphosphate, 2′5′dideoxyadenosine, and PKI15–24 and were nonadditive in the presence of 8-bromo-cAMP. We conclude that VIP excites mPRF neurons by activation of a sodium current. This effect is mediated at least in part by G-protein stimulation of adenylyl cyclase, cAMP, and protein kinase A. These data suggest that VIP may play a physiological role in REM induction by its actions on mPRF neurons.
Prevalence of Extended-Spectrum and Metallo β-Lactamase Production in AmpC β-Lactamase Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates From Burns

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most common causes of nosocomial infections. Resistance of P. aeruginosa to β-lactam antibiotics may be the result of acquired resistance through mutation and over production of various antibiotic inactivating enzymes. This research aimed to determine the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) and metallo β-lactamase (MBL) production as well as the presence of their related genes among AmpC β-lactamase producing P. aeruginosa isolated from burns. Objectives: The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of class A ESBL and MBL production in relation to the presence of their related genes among AmpC β-lactamase producing P. aeruginosa isolated from burns. Materials and Methods: The antimicrobial susceptibility of 51 P. aeruginosa isolates from patients with burns was examined against 13 antibiotics by the disc diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for imipenem and ceftazidime were measured by the microdilution method. AmpC production was detected by AmpC disc and the modified three-dimensional extract tests. ESBL phenotype was confirmed by the double disc synergy test (DDST). Presence of β-lactamase genes was detected by specific primers and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: All isolates were multidrug resistant. AmpC, ESBL and MBL production were observed in 35 (68.6%), 20 (39.2%) and 19 (37.3%) isolates, respectively. Overall, 43 isolates (84.3%) carried β-lactamase genes, out of which 31 (60.8%) harbored blaAmpC, 20 (39.2%) had blaTEM and 11 (21.6%) carried blaPER-1 genes. Among the AmpC producers, two isolates (6.5%) carried blaAmpC + blaESBL, 13 (41.9%) had blaAmpC + blaMBL and six (19.4%) produced the three enzymes. Conclusions: A high prevalence of multiple β-lactamase production was observed among the AmpC producers (60%), of which the majority co-produced AmpC and MBL. The current study results showed correlation between β-lactamase production and the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in the isolates.
Role of p53 in the progression of gastric cancer

Intestinal metaplasia (IM) is a premalignant lesion associated with gastric cancer (GC) but is poorly described in terms of molecular changes. Here, we explored the role of TP53, a commonly mutated gene in GC, to determine if p53 protein expression and/or the presence of somatic mutations in TP53 can be used as a predictive marker for patients at risk of progressing to GC from IM. Immunohistochemistry and high resolution melting were used to determine p53 protein expression and TP53 mutation status respectively in normal gastric mucosa, IM without concurrent GC (IM-GC), IM with concurrent GC (IM+GC) and GC. This comparative study revealed an incremental increase in p53 expression levels with progression of disease from normal mucosa, via an IM intermediate to GC. TP53 mutations however, were not detected in IM but occurred frequently in GC. Further, we identified increased protein expression of Mdm2/x, both powerful regulators of p53, in 100% of the IM+GC cohort with these samples also exhibiting high levels of wild-type p53 protein. Our data suggests that TP53 mutations occur late in gastric carcinogenesis contributing to the final transition to cancer. We also demonstrated involvement of Mdmx in GC.
Suture Anchor Fixation of Unstable Bony Mallet Injuries of the Hallux

Bony extensor avulsion fracture of the distal phalanx is an extremely uncommon injury of the hallux. There is a paucity of data regarding the incidence of such injury and the treatment for such injury has only been described in isolated single case reports. It is usually from a hyperflexion injury to the extended interphalangeal (IP) joint. The treatment options are divided into conservative treatment with a splint to prevent hyperflexion of the hallux or open surgical treatment. There is no agreed method of fixation and the fixation techniques described have been modeled after fixation of mallet finger injuries. To the authors knowledge, only 5 isolated single case reports have been reported on this injury in which 2 of them described conservative management using splints and rigid soled sandal while the other 3 performed surgical treatment using closed reduction and percutaneous pinning techniques, extension block method and open reduction with Kirschner wire fixation. All these surgical techniques involved transarticular fixation of the IP joint with a Kirschner wire. These isolated surgical fixation case reports showed good extensor function postoperatively but lacked report on the range of motion of the IP joint. We present 2 patients with bony extensor avulsion injury of the distal phalanx of the hallux and the surgical fixation performed with suture anchors without transarticular immobilization of the IP joint and early postoperative mobilization of the IP joint. We believe that this may be a more effective technique to gain articular reduction, restore extensor function, and optimize IP joint range of motion.
Eye-rima oris distance and its relation to the vertical dimension of occlusion measured by two methods: Anthropometric study in a sample of Yemeni dental students

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the distance measured from the distal outer of the eye to the parting line of the lips and the occlusal vertical dimension (OVD) measured by two methods. Methods: One hundred and fourteen dental students (76 males and 38 females) were recruited for this study with mean age (22.34 ± 1.83) years. The distance from distal canthus of the eye to rima oris (eye-RO) was compared with two different measurements of the OVD (nasal [N] to gnathion [Gn], and subnasal [Sn] to menton [Me]). All distances were measured using modified digital caliper.Results: Pearson correlation coefficient test for correlations and paired samples t-test for differences were used with a significant level of (P < 0.05). There was a positive significant correlation between the eye-RO distance and the two measurements of the OVD. However, this correlation was stronger between eye-RO and the distance from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin than that between eye-RO and the distance from the septum of the nose to the under of the chin (r = 0.313 with P = 0.0007, r = 0.296 with P = 0.0014), respectively. Conclusion: The distance from the outer canthus of the eye to the parting of the lips seems to be a reliable method in predicting the OVD and should relate to the distance from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin.
Genomic Sequence Is Highly Predictive of Local Nucleosome Depletion

The regulation of DNA accessibility through nucleosome positioning is important for transcription control. Computational models have been developed to predict genome-wide nucleosome positions from DNA sequences, but these models consider only nucleosome sequences, which may have limited their power. We developed a statistical multi-resolution approach to identify a sequence signature, called the N-score, that distinguishes nucleosome binding DNA from non-nucleosome DNA. This new approach has significantly improved the prediction accuracy. The sequence information is highly predictive for local nucleosome enrichment or depletion, whereas predictions of the exact positions are only modestly more accurate than a null model, suggesting the importance of other regulatory factors in fine-tuning the nucleosome positions. The N-score in promoter regions is negatively correlated with gene expression levels. Regulatory elements are enriched in low N-score regions. While our model is derived from yeast data, the N-score pattern computed from this model agrees well with recent high-resolution protein-binding data in human.
The conceptualization of trust, risk and their electronic commerce: the need for clarifications

In recent years, significant advances have been made in the understanding of trust and risk in electronic commerce. However, in examining the published research, some troublesome trends surface. These trends include: (a) the tendency to treat conceptualizations of trust and risk as unidimensional constructs, ignoring the large body of literature suggesting that they are complex, multidimensional constructs; (b) the tendency to ignore whether trustworthiness is part of trust or a possibly different construct; and (c) the tendency to articulate relationships between trust and risk idiosyncratically without attention to prior articulations. These trends are troublesome because they have the potential to hamper the field's ability to do cumulative research in the long run. The goal of this article is to highlight these trends and call for greater attention to the issues raised in future research.