Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early events in DNA replication require cyclin E and are blocked by p21CIP1

Using immunodepletion of cyclin E and the inhibitor protein p21WAF/CIP1, we demonstrate that the cyclin E protein, in association with Cdk2, is required for the elongation phase of replication on single-stranded substrates. Although cyclin E/Cdk2 is likely to be the major target by which p21 inhibits the initiation of sperm DNA replication, p21 can inhibit single-stranded replication through a mechanism dependent on PCNA. While the cyclin E/Cdk2 complex appears to have a role in the initiation of DNA replication, another Cdk kinase, possibly cyclin A/Cdk, may be involved in a later step controlling the switch from initiation to elongation. The provision of a large maternal pool of cyclin E protein shows that regulators of replication are constitutively present, which explains the lack of a protein synthesis requirement for replication in the early embryonic cell cycle.
Mechanisms Governing the Postural Response and Baroreceptor Abnormalities in Chronic Congestive Heart Failure: Effects of Acute and Long‐term Converting‐enzyme Inhibition

We assessed the hemodynamic and hormonal response to tilt and the baroreceptor response in 12 patients in sinus rhythm with severe chronic congestive heart failure. We also assessed the response to acute (n = 12) and chronic (n = 8) converting-enzyme inhibition with captopril. The control tilt was characterized by high cardiac filling pressures, absence of significant peripheral pooling and apparent absence of afferent stimuli for hemodynamic and hormonal response. After acute captopril, the hemodynamic response to tilt was improved, but not normalized. The chronic response was characterized by the absence of a reflex increase of systemic vascular resistance on tilt despite peripheral pooling. Five patients developed orthostatic hypotension, but responded to acute infusion of 0.9% sodium chloride. Efferent sympathetic activity (response to cold pressor) was abnormal during the control study, but indistinguishable from normal subjects by the time of chronic captopril therapy. This paralleled an improved responsiveness of plasma catecholamines during chronic tilt. The Valsalva maneuver remained abnormal. There was a distinct absence of the normally anticipated heart rate increase on tilt, suggesting a parasympathetic abnormality.
Discovery of the Central Excess Brightness in Hard X-Rays in the Cluster of Galaxies Abell 1795

Using the X-ray data from ASCA, spectral and spatial properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) of the cD cluster Abell 1795 are studied up to a radial distance of ~12' (~1.3 h50−1 kpc). The ICM temperature and abundance are spatially rather constant, although the cool emission component is reconfirmed in the central region. The azimuthally averaged radial X-ray surface brightness profiles are very similar between soft (0.7-3 keV) and hard (3-10 keV) energy bands, and neither can be fitted with a single-β model due to a strong data excess within ~5' of the cluster center. In contrast, double-β models can successfully reproduce the overall brightness profiles both in the soft and hard energy bands, as well as that derived with the ROSAT PSPC. Properties of the central excess brightness are very similar over the 0.2-10 keV energy range spanned by ROSAT and ASCA. Thus, the excess X-ray emission from the core region of this cluster is confirmed for the first time in hard X-rays above 3 keV. This indicates that the shape of the gravitational potential becomes deeper than the King-type one toward the cluster center. Radial profiles of the total gravitating matter, calculated using the double-β model, reveal an excess mass of ~3 × 1013 M☉ within ~150 h50−1 kpc of the cluster center. This suggests a hierarchy in the gravitational potential corresponding to the cD galaxy and the entire cluster.
Left Heart Growth, Function, and Reintervention After Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty for Neonatal Aortic Stenosis

Background—Transcatheter balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAVP) has become the first-line treatment for critical aortic stenosis (AS) in neonates. However, little is known about the growth and function of left heart structures or about patterns of reintervention on the left heart after neonatal BAVP. Methods and Results—Between 1985 and 2002, 113 patients underwent neonatal BAVP at ≤60 days of age. There were 16 early deaths (14%), with a significant decrease from 1985 to 1993 (22%) to 1994 to 2002 (4%), and 6 patients had successful early conversion to a univentricular circulation. In the short term, the mean relative gradient reduction was 54±26%, and significant aortic regurgitation (AR) developed in 15% of patients. The 91 early survivors with a biventricular circulation were followed up for 6.3±5.3 years, during which time there was a steady increase in the frequency of significant AR. Freedom from moderate or severe AR was 65% at 5 years. In almost all patients with a baseline aortic annulus z score less than −1, the annulus diameter increased to within the normal range within 1 to 2 years. Similarly, left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic dimension z scores, which ranged from −5 to 7.5 before BAVP, normalized within 1 to 2 years in nearly all patients with a predilation z score less than −1. Among early survivors with a biventricular circulation, reintervention-free survival on the LV outflow tract was 65% at 1 year and 48% at 5 years, with younger age, higher pre- and post-BAVP gradients, and a larger balloon-annulus diameter ratio associated with decreased reintervention-free survival (P<0.01). Seventeen surgical interventions were performed on the aortic valve in 15 patients, including replacement in 7. Survival free from aortic valve replacement was 84% at 5 years. Conclusions—BAVP for AS during the first 60 days of life results in short-term relief of AS in the majority of patients. Among early survivors, initially small left heart structures may be associated with worse subacute outcomes but typically normalize within 1 year. Reintervention for residual/recurrent AS or iatrogenic AR is relatively common, particularly during the first year after BAVP, but aortic valve replacement during early childhood is seldom necessary.
Face tracking and hand gesture recognition for human-robot interaction

The interaction between man and machines has become an important topic for the robotic community as it can generalise the use of robots. For active H/R interaction scheme, the robot needs to detect human faces in its vicinity and then interpret canonical gestures of the tracked person assuming this interlocutor has been beforehand identified. In this context, we depict functions suitable to detect and recognise faces in video stream and then focus on face or hand tracking functions. An efficient colour segmentation based on a watershed on the skin-like coloured pixels is proposed. A new measurement model is proposed to take into account both shape and colour cues in the particle filter to track face or hand silhouettes in video stream. An extension of the basic condensation algorithm is proposed to achieve recognition of the current hand posture and automatic switching between multiple templates in the tracking loop. Results of tracking and recognition using are illustrated in the paper and show the process robustness in cluttered environments and in various light conditions. The limits of the method and future works are also discussed.
Robust and illumination invariant change detection based on linear dependence for surveillance application

The subject of this paper is to provide an illumination invariant moving object detector for indoor surveillance applications. Furthermore we want to treat the illumination change as a mathematical/physical transformation procedure on images. Therefore the intention to this paper could also be defined as to provide an operator, which is invariant to transformations. The proposed detector relies on a model assigning a vector to every pixel location of the reference and the current image. The vector represents information on the neighborhood region of that pixel. Based on the above definition, the theorem of linear dependence of vectors is used to describe an operator for the detection of objects. For the purpose of an objective evaluation, the proposed technique is compared to the state-of-the-art Statistical Change Detection method. The proposed operator proved to be robust to noise as well as global illumination changes and local shadows and reflections.
Infections after CD34‐selected or unmanipulated autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract: Immune reconstitution may be delayed after CD34‐selected compared with unmanipulated autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT), resulting in a theoretically increased risk of infections. In a case–control matched study we compared the incidence of infection in 25 recipients of CD34‐selected PBSC (CD34 group) and 75 recipients of unmanipulated PBSC (PBSC group) transplants. The population included 52 males and 48 females suffering from non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (n = 32), Hodgkin's disease (n = 8), multiple myeloma (n = 40) or breast cancer (n = 20). Neutrophil engraftment was comparable in the two groups. The actuarial incidence of infection was similar in the two groups (56% vs. 49% at day 30, and 70% vs. 64% at 1 yr respectively). The proportion of patients with 1, 2 or 3 infections, the number of infectious event per patient (1.32 vs. 1.04; NS), the number of infections before day 15 or 30, between days 31 and 100 or after day 100, the risk of varicella‐zoster virus or cytomegalovirus infection or disease, or the use of antibiotic or antifungal therapy, were not increased in the CD34 compared with the PBSC group. The main agents responsible for infection were bacteria, particularly gram‐positive cocci, in both groups. Bacteremia accounted for 33% of all infectious events in the CD34 group vs. 16% in the PBSC group (P < 0.05). Fungal infections were rare. In conclusion, our results do not support the notion that CD34‐selection of the graft is associated with an increased rate of infection after autologous PBSC transplantation. The role of extended infection prophylaxis should be evaluated.
The General Amino Acid Permease FfGap1 of Fusarium fujikuroi Is Sorted to the Vacuole in a Nitrogen-Dependent, but Npr1 Kinase-Independent Manner

The rice pathogenic fungus Fusarium fujikuroi is well known for the production of a broad spectrum of secondary metabolites (SMs) such as gibberellic acids (GAs), mycotoxins and pigments. The biosynthesis of most of these SMs strictly depends on nitrogen availability and of the activity of permeases of nitrogen sources, e.g. the ammonium and amino acid permeases. One of the three ammonium permeases, MepB, was recently shown to act not only as a transporter but also as a nitrogen sensor affecting the production of nitrogen-repressed SMs. Here we describe the identification of a general amino acid permease, FfGap1, among the 99 putative amino acid permeases (AAPs) in the genome of F. fujikuroi. FfGap1 is able to fully restore growth of the yeast gap1∆ mutant on several amino acids including citrulline and tryptophane. In S. cerevisiae, Gap1 activity is regulated by shuttling between the plasma membrane (nitrogen limiting conditions) and the vacuole (nitrogen sufficiency), which we also show for FfGap1. In yeast, the Npr1 serine/threonine kinase stabilizes the Gap1 position at the plasma membrane. Here, we identified and characterized three NPR1-homologous genes, encoding the putative protein kinases FfNpr1-1, FfNpr1-2 and FfNpr1-3 with significant similarity to yeast Npr1. Complementation of the yeast npr1Δ mutant with each of the three F. fujikuroi NPR1 homologues, resulted in partial restoration of ammonium, arginine and proline uptake by FfNPR1-1 while none of the three kinases affect growth on different nitrogen sources and nitrogen-dependent sorting of FfGap1 in F. fujikuroi. However, exchange of the putative ubiquitin-target lysine 9 (K9A) and 15 (K15A) residues of FfGap1 resulted in extended localization to the plasma membrane and increased protein stability independently of nitrogen availability. These data suggest a similar regulation of FfGap1 by nitrogen-dependent ubiquitination, but differences regarding the role of Fusarium Npr1 homologues compared to yeast.
Quality of life and psychological well being in polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with poor quality of life (QoL) and high levels of depression. Existing research is confounded by small sample sizes and inconsistent use of control groups. METHODS Depression and QoL were assessed in women with PCOS and healthy controls (n = 1359). The polycystic ovary syndrome health-related QoL questionnaire (PCOSQ) was modified to include an acne subscale. RESULTS Seventy-one percentage of women with PCOS who were taking anti-androgen (AA) medication and 67% not taking AA medication were classified as depressed. Women with PCOS had lower QoL on all seven factors of the modified PCOSQ (emotional disturbance, weight, infertility, acne, menstrual symptoms, menstrual predictability and hirsutism). Weight was the largest contributor to poor QoL for women taking and not taking AA medication. Women taking AA medications, independent of diagnosis, generally had better QoL than women not taking them. CONCLUSIONS This large study refines our understanding of depression and QoL in PCOS and demonstrates the need to regularly review the psychological health of women with PCOS.
Screening of mercury‐resistant and indole‐3‐acetic acid producing bacterial‐consortium for growth promotion of Cicer arietinum L.

Mercury resistant (HgR) bacteria were screened from industrial effluents and effluents‐polluted rhizosphere soils near to districts Kasur and Sheikhupura, Pakistan. Out of 60 isolates, three bacterial strains, Bacillus sp. AZ‐1, Bacillus cereus AZ‐2, and Enterobacter cloacae AZ‐3 showed Hg‐resistance as 20 μg ml−1 of HgCl2 and indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA) production as 8–38 μg ml−1. Biochemical and molecular characterization of selected bacteria was confirmed by 16S ribotyping. Mercury resistant genes merA, merB, and merE of mer operon in Bacillus spp. were checked by PCR amplification. The merE gene involved in the transportation of elemental mercury (Hg0) via cell membrane was first time cloned into pHLV vector and transformed in C43(DE3) Escherichia coli cells. The recombinant plasmid (pHLMerE) was expressed and purified by nickel (Ni+2) affinity chromatography. Chromatographic techniques viz. thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) confirmed the presence of Indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA) in supernatant of selected bacteria. The strain E. cloacae AZ‐3 detoxified 88% of mercury (Hg+2) from industrial effluent (p < 0.05) after immobilization in Na‐alginate beads. Finally, Hg‐resistant and IAA producing bacterial consortium of two strains, Bacillus sp. AZ‐1 and E. cloacae AZ‐3, inoculated in mercury amended soil with 20 μg ml−1 HgCl2 resulted 80, 22, 64, 116, 50, 75, 30, and 100% increase as compared to control plants in seed germination, shoot and root length, shoot and root fresh weight, number of pods per plant, number of seeds and weight of seeds, respectively, of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in pot experiments (p < 0.05).
Micromechanical Damage and Fracture in Elastomeric Polymers

This thesis aims at a simple one-parameter macroscopic model of distributed damage and fracture of polymers that is amenable to a straightforward and efficient numerical implementation. The failure model is motivated by post-mortem fractographic observations of void nucleation, growth and coalescence in polyurea stretched to failure, and accounts for the specific fracture energy per unit area attendant to rupture of the material. Furthermore, it is shown that the macroscopic model can be rigorously derived, in the sense of optimal scaling, from a micromechanical model of chain elasticity and failure regularized by means of fractional strain-gradient elasticity. Optimal scaling laws that supply a link between the single parameter of the macroscopic model, namely the critical energy-release rate of the material, and micromechanical parameters pertaining to the elasticity and strength of the polymer chains, and to the strain-gradient elasticity regularization, are derived. Based on optimal scaling laws, it is shown how the critical energy-release rate of specific materials can be determined from test data. In addition, the scope and fidelity of the model is demonstrated by means of an example of application, namely Taylor-impact experiments of polyurea rods. Hereby, optimal transportation meshfree approximation schemes using maximum-entropy interpolation functions are employed. Finally, a different crazing model using full derivatives of the deformation gradient and a core cut-off is presented, along with a numerical non-local regularization model. The numerical model takes into account higher-order deformation gradients in a finite element framework. It is shown how the introduction of non-locality into the model stabilizes the effect of strain localization to small volumes in materials undergoing softening. From an investigation of craze formation in the limit of large deformations, convergence studies verifying scaling properties of both local- and non-local energy contributions are presented.
Semantically enhanced enforcement of mobile consumer's privacy preferences

In such applications as location-based advertising, merchants use consumers' information to send them personalized advertisements. These applications provide convenience to consumers and competitive advantage to merchants. However, the improper use of consumers' information presents a serious threat to their privacy. It is also important to observe that among the motives for the consumers to accept advertisements is the incentive offered by the merchant. Therefore, such incentive should become a criterion upon which consumers decide to grant or deny access to their information. We propose modeling mobile consumer preferences including incentive-related preferences in an ontology using the Ontology Web Language (OWL) and enforcing these preferences using reasoning techniques. We present modeling of consumer preferences and merchant queries in that ontology and describe how to match them. Moreover, we present a prototype implementation and an evaluation study that shows that query size is more significant than the ontology size.
A Model of Glucose-insulin Homeostasis in Man that Incorporates the Heterogeneous Fast Pool Theory of Pancreatic Insulin Release

Current physiologic knowledge about glucose-insulin homeostasis in liver, brain, pancreas, kidney, peripheral tissues, and central vascular organs has been synthesized to form a whole-system mathematical model of glucose metabolism in normal, ideal man. In addition to data of other workers, results from more than 100 intravenous glucose tolerance tests, including variable dosage, variable duration of infusion, and double pulse studies, were used to determine model structure and parameters. Model and clinical testing have focused particularly on the fast phase of insulin response to vascular glucose. The model incorporates blood circulation and equilibration of substances between vascular and interstitial spaces, and it assumes constant fractional clearance of insulin by liver and kidney. Studies using a double pulse of glucose suggest that the time derivative of glucose level is not the sole or predominant influence on fast phase insulin release, but that preinfusion glucose level and/or previous glucose exposure of the pancreas are also important. Variable dosage glucose studies suggest that the amount of insulin released during the fast phase rather than the insulin release rate is regulated by the glucose level. A two-pool, heterogeneous threshold mechanism for beta cell response to glucose is presented that is compatible with the clinical results.
Black hole growth in hierarchical galaxy formation

We incorporate a model for black hole growth during galaxy mergers into the semi-analytical galaxy formation model based on ΛCDM proposed by Baugh et al. Our black hole model has one free parameter, which we set by matching the observed zero-point of the local correlation between black hole mass and bulge luminosity. We present predictions for the evolution with redshift of the relationships between black hole mass and bulge properties. Our simulations reproduce the evolution of the optical luminosity function of quasars. We study the demographics of the black hole population and address the issue of how black holes acquire their mass. We find that the direct accretion of cold gas during starbursts is an important growth mechanism for lower mass black holes and at high redshift. On the other hand, the re-assembly of pre-existing black hole mass into larger units via merging dominates the growth of more massive black holes at low redshift. This prediction could be tested by future gravitational wave experiments. As redshift decreases, progressively less massive black holes have the highest fractional growth rates, in line with recent claims of ‘downsizing’ in quasar activity.
The Evolution of Iron Chelators for the Treatment of Iron Overload Disease and Cancer

The evolution of iron chelators from a range of primordial siderophores and aromatic heterocyclic ligands has lead to the formation of a new generation of potent and efficient iron chelators. For example, various siderophore analogs and synthetic ligands, including ICL670A [4-[3,5-bis-(hydroxyphenyl)-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]-benzoic acid], 4′-hydroxydesazadesferrithiocin, and Triapine, have been developed from predecessors and illustrate potent iron-mobilizing or antineoplastic activities. This review focuses on the evolution of iron chelators from initial lead compounds through to the development of novel chelating agents, many of which show great potential to be clinically applied in the treatment of iron overload disease and cancer.
Revising midlatitude summer temperatures back to A.D. 600 based on a wood density network

Annually resolved and millennium‐long reconstructions of large‐scale temperature variability are primarily composed of tree ring width (TRW) chronologies. Changes in ring width, however, have recently been shown to bias the ratio between low‐ and high‐frequency signals. To overcome limitations in capturing the full spectrum of past temperature variability, we present a network of 15 maximum latewood density (MXD) chronologies distributed across the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. Independent subsets of continental‐scale records consistently reveal high MXD before 1580 and after 1910, with below average values between these periods. Reconstructed extratropical summer temperatures reflect not only these long‐term trends but also distinct cooling pulses after large volcanic eruptions. In contrast to TRW‐dominated reconstructions, this MXD‐based record indicates a delayed onset of the Little Ice Age by almost two centuries. The reduced memory inherent in MXD is likely responsible for the rapid recovery from volcanic‐induced cooling in the fourteenth century and the continuation of warmer temperatures until ~1600.