Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An integrated ecosystem approach for assessing the potential role of cultivated bivalve shells as part of the carbon trading system

The role of bivalve mariculture in the CO2 cycle has been commonly evaluated as the balance between respiration, shell calcium carbonate sequestration and CO2 release during bio- genic calcification. However, this approach neglects the ecosystem implications of cultivating bi- valves at high densities, e.g. the impact on phytoplankton dynamics and benthicpelagic coupling, which can significantly contribute to the CO2 cycle. Therefore, an ecosystem approach that accounts for the trophic interactions of bivalve aquaculture, including dissolved and particulate or- ganic and inorganic carbon cycling, is needed to provide a rigorous assessment of the role of bivalve mariculture in the CO2 cycle. On the other hand, the discussion about the inclusion of shells of cultured bivalves into the carbon trading system should be framed within the context of ecosystem goods and services. Humans culture bivalves with the aim of producing food, not se- questering CO2 in their shells, therefore the main ecosystem good provided by bivalve aquaculture is meat production, and shells should be considered as by-products of this human activity. This reasoning provides justification for dividing up respired CO2 between meat and shell when con- structing a specific bivalve CO2 budget for potential use of bivalve shells in the carbon trading sys- tem. Thus, an integrated ecosystem approach, as well as an understanding of the ecosystems goods and services of bivalve aquaculture, are 2 essential requisites for providing a reliable assessment of the role of bivalve shells in the CO2 cycle.
Age-related changes in conventional, magnetization transfer, and diffusion-tensor MR imaging findings: study with whole-brain tissue histogram analysis.

PURPOSE To investigate the influence of aging on conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-, magnetization transfer MR imaging-, and diffusion-tensor MR imaging-derived measurements. MATERIALS AND METHODS Dual-echo T1-weighted magnetization transfer and diffusion-tensor MR images of the brain were obtained in 89 healthy subjects. Normalized brain parenchymal volume (NBV) was measured by using a fully automated technique. Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and fractional anisotropy (FA) histograms were created for the whole brain (MTR values) or for a large representative portion of it (ADC and FA values). Bivariate correlations were assessed by using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. A stepwise selection procedure was used to identify the combination of variables that were most influenced by subject age in a multivariate regression model. RESULTS Significant correlations were found between subject age and the following variables: number of hyperintense areas in the brain at T2-weighted MR imaging (r = 0.63, P <.001), NBV (r = -0.79, P <.001), mean ADC (r = 0.34, P =.001), ADC peak height (r = -0.34, P =.001), and FA peak height (r = -0.57, P <.001). NBV correlated significantly with number of hyperintense areas (P <.001), MTR peak height (P <.001), mean ADC (P =.001), ADC peak height (P =.001), and FA peak height (P <.001). The final multivariable regression model included NBV and number of hyperintense areas at T2-weighted MR imaging as independent predictors of subject age. CONCLUSION In addition to the extent of T2-weighted MR imaging hyperintense areas and the measurement of NBV, diffusion-tensor MR imaging provides additional in vivo information about microstructural age-related brain tissue changes.
Self-Renewal and Differentiation Capacity of Urine-Derived Stem Cells after Urine Preservation for 24 Hours

Despite successful approaches to preserve organs, tissues, and isolated cells, the maintenance of stem cell viability and function in body fluids during storage for cell distribution and transportation remains unexplored. The aim of this study was to characterize urine-derived stem cells (USCs) after optimal preservation of urine specimens for up to 24 hours. A total of 415 urine specimens were collected from 12 healthy men (age range 20–54 years old). About 6×104 cells shed off from the urinary tract system in 24 hours. At least 100 USC clones were obtained from the stored urine specimens after 24 hours and maintained similar biological features to fresh USCs. The stored USCs had a “rice grain” shape in primary culture, and expressed mesenchymal stem cell surface markers, high telomerase activity, and normal karyotypes. Importantly, the preserved cells retained bipotent differentiation capacity. Differentiated USCs expressed myogenic specific proteins and contractile function when exposed to myogenic differentiation medium, and they expressed urothelial cell-specific markers and barrier function when exposed to urothelial differentiation medium. These data demonstrated that up to 75% of fresh USCs can be safely persevered in urine for 24 hours and that these cells stored in urine retain their original stem cell properties, indicating that preserved USCs could be available for potential use in cell-based therapy or clinical diagnosis.
Biodegradation of Chlorpyrifos and Its Hydrolysis Product 3,5,6-Trichloro-2-Pyridinol by a New Fungal Strain Cladosporium cladosporioides Hu-01

Intensive use of chlorpyrifos has resulted in its ubiquitous presence as a contaminant in surface streams and soils. It is thus critically essential to develop bioremediation methods to degrade and eliminate this pollutant from environments. We present here that a new fungal strain Hu-01 with high chlorpyrifos-degradation activity was isolated and identified as Cladosporium cladosporioides based on the morphology and 5.8S rDNA gene analysis. Strain Hu-01 utilized 50 mg·L−1 of chlorpyrifos as the sole carbon of source, and tolerated high concentration of chlorpyrifos up to 500 mg·L−1. The optimum degradation conditions were determined to be 26.8°C and pH 6.5 based on the response surface methodology (RSM). Under these conditions, strain Hu-01 completely metabolized the supplemented chlorpyrifos (50 mg·L−1) within 5 d. During the biodegradation process, transient accumulation of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP) was observed. However, this intermediate product did not accumulate in the medium and disappeared quickly. No persistent accumulative metabolite was detected by gas chromatopraphy-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis at the end of experiment. Furthermore, degradation kinetics of chlorpyrifos and TCP followed the first-order model. Compared to the non-inoculated controls, the half-lives (t 1/2) of chlorpyrifos and TCP significantly reduced by 688.0 and 986.9 h with the inoculum, respectively. The isolate harbors the metabolic pathway for the complete detoxification of chlorpyrifos and its hydrolysis product TCP, thus suggesting the fungus may be a promising candidate for bioremediation of chlorpyrifos-contaminated water, soil or crop.
Human resource practices and innovation activity in Malaysian SMEs

Although the literature suggests human resource practices stimulate innovation in organizations, limited studies have investigated the relationships between human resource practices and innovation activity in organizations, particularly in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study attempts to address this issue by examining the relationships between human resource practices and innovation activity of 48 small and medium-sized enterprises in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. The findings of the empirical research indicate significant positive relationships between human resource practices and the innovation activity of the SMEs.
Single Pass Spectral Sparsification in Dynamic Streams

We present the first single pass algorithm for computing spectral sparsifiers of graphs in the dynamic semi-streaming model. Given a single pass over a stream containing insertions and deletions of edges to a graph, G, our algorithm maintains a randomized linear sketch of the incidence matrix into dimension O(1/∈2npolylog(n)). Using this sketch, the algorithm can output a (1±∈) spectral sparsifier for G with high probability. While O(1/∈2n polylog(n)) space algorithms are known for computing cut sparsifiers in dynamic streams [1], [2] and spectral sparsifiers in insertion-only streams [3], prior to our work, the best known single pass algorithm for maintaining spectral sparsifiers in dynamic streams required sketches of dimension Ω(1/∈2n5/3). To achieve our result, we show that, using a coarse sparsifier of G and a linear sketch of G's incidence matrix, it is possible to sample edges by effective resistance, obtaining a spectral sparsifier of arbitrary precision. Sampling from the sketch requires a novel application of ℓ2/ℓ2 sparse recovery, a natural extension of the ℓ0 methods used for cut sparsifiers in [1]. Recent work of [2] on row sampling for matrix approximation gives a recursive approach for obtaining the required coarse sparsifiers. Under certain restrictions, our approach also extends to the problem of maintaining a spectral approximation for a general matrix AT A given a stream of updates to rows in A.
XNoC: A non-intrusive TDM circuit-switched Network-on-Chip

Network-on-Chip (NoC) is known as a scalable and high performance interconnect in Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) with multiple processing elements (PEs). Recently, the design paradigm of SoCs has shifted from static to dynamic runtime reconfigurable system. In these systems, the PEs can be loaded/unloaded on demand. Therefore, the NoC should be able to adapt as quickly as possible to the changes to maintain the performance of the systems. In this work, we present a non-intrusive runtime reconfigurable time-division-multiplexed circuit-switched NoC, XNoC, which offers the following benefits (1) it switches between different routes within a predictable latency that is strictly determined by the length of the route and the number of time slots; (2) the configuration process can be masked effectively by overlapping with communication and (3) the multi-cast service is supported with aggregate feedback from sink nodes. We propose an XSwitch which requires 3.5X less resource than the conventional switch with similar features. The overall resource cost of XNoC is also smaller than the most known NoC and the clock timing is up to 50% better. We also propose a novel distributed control plane to accelerate the reconfiguration process and to improve the scalability of NoC. The achieved reconfiguration speedup compared to the centralized control unit is up to 7.6X in certain conditions. On average, it takes only 74 clock cycles to activate a 12-hop connection.
Evaluation of Bone Mineral Density of the Lumbar Spine in Patients With β-Thalassemia Major With Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry and Quantitative Computed Tomography: A Comparison Study

Osteoporosis is a common, multifactorial cause of morbidity in patients with β-thalassemia. The present study was performed to compare bone mineral density (BMD) results in the lumbar spine of thalassemic patients measured by both dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and quantitative computed tomography (QCT), and to determine their correlations with the markers of bone turnover. BMD was measured in the lumbar spine of 13 regularly transfused patients with β-thalassemia major by both DEXA and QCT. Blood and urine samples were obtained for the determination of biochemical and hormonal profiles. Both T-scores and Z-scores were higher when measured by QCT (T-score = -0.41 ± 1.31, Z-score = -0.56 ± 1.08, mean ± SD) compared with the values given by DEXA (T-score = -2.57 ± 0.88, Z-score = -2.32 ± 1.11, P = 0.0005). In comparison to DEXA, QCT T-scores were more closely correlated with age (r = -0.19 vs. r = -0.70, P = 0.0068). Strong negative correlation was found between QCT values and age (r = -0.67, P = 0.01). In comparison to DEXA T-scores, QCT T-scores were more closely correlated with osteocalcin, urine N-telopeptide cross-links of type I collagen, and deoxypyridinoline, but without statistical significance. DEXA T-scores were better correlated only with urine C-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen, but again without statistical significance. These results imply that the two methods cannot be used interchangeably in assessing BMD in thalassemic patients. However, which one of these two techniques more precisely determines the overall strength of vertebrae in patients with β-thalassemia remains to be investigated.
FRESHWATER DROWNING AND NEAR–DROWNING ACCIDENTS INVOLVING CHILDREN: A FIVE–YEAR TOTAL POPULATION STUDY

A large total population study of childhood fresh water immersion accidents is reported. The study was undertaken in the City of Brisbane over the five‐year period 1971 to 1975 inclusive, and 111 fresh water immersion accidents involving children were studied and analysed. The childhood fresh water immersion accident rate, including drowning and near‐drownings, of 10.43 per year per 100,000 at risk (fatality rate of 5.17) is the highest reported. If an unsupervised child gets into difficulties in fresh water and loses consciousness he has a 50% chance of dying. The immersion accident rate has doubled over the last six years. Age‐specific immersion accident rates have been calculated, and have revealed that, in the toddler group (12 months to 23 months), the fresh water immersion accident rate is 50.01 per 100,000 (fatality rate of 22.55). Rates for drowning and near‐drowning accidents after a fresh water immersion, by site, age and outcome (survival versus fatality), are also presented for the first time. Swimming pools produce 6.20 immersion accidents per year per 100,000 children at risk, and the domestic family bath tub produces 1.78. Possible factors explaining the high incidence are discussed, and comparisons of drowning rates from other centres are made.
Credible Granger-Causality Inference with Modest Sample Lengths: A Cross-Sample Validation Approach

Credible Granger-causality analysis appears to require post-sample inference, as it is well-known that in-sample fit can be a poor guide to actual forecasting effectiveness. However, post-sample model testing requires an often-consequential a priori partitioning of the data into an “in-sample” period – purportedly utilized only for model specification/estimation – and a “post-sample” period, purportedly utilized (only at the end of the analysis) for model validation/testing purposes. This partitioning is usually infeasible, however, with samples of modest length – e.g., T ≤ 150 – as is common in both quarterly data sets and/or in monthly data sets where institutional arrangements vary over time, simply because there is in such cases insufficient data available to credibly accomplish both purposes separately. A cross-sample validation (CSV) testing procedure is proposed below which both eliminates the aforementioned a priori partitioning and which also substantially ameliorates this power versus credibility predicament – preserving most of the power of in-sample testing (by utilizing all of the sample data in the test), while also retaining most of the credibility of post-sample testing (by always basing model forecasts on data not utilized in estimating that particular model’s coefficients). Simulations show that the price paid, in terms of power relative to the in-sample Granger-causality F test, is manageable. An illustrative application is given, to a re-analysis of the Engel andWest [1] study of the causal relationship between macroeconomic fundamentals and the exchange rate; several of their conclusions are changed by our analysis.
Long-Term Gene Therapy with Thrombospondin 2 Inhibits TGF-β Activation, Inflammation and Angiogenesis in Chronic Allograft Nephropathy

We recently identified Thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) as a regulator of matrix remodelling and inflammation in experimental kidney disease by using TSP-2 null mice and successfully proved TSP-2 overexpression as a therapeutic concept in a short term glomerulonephritis model in the rat. In this current study, we investigated if long-term TSP-2 overexpression is also capable to ameliorate the progression of chronic kidney disease in the setting of the chronic allograft nephropathy F344-Lewis model in the rat. Two weeks after renal transplantation, two rat thigh muscles were transfected once only with either a TSP-2 overexpressing plasmid (n = 8) or a luciferase-expressing plasmid as control (n = 8). Rats were monitored for renal function, histological changes and gene expression in the graft for up to 30 weeks after transplantation. Unexpectedly, only in the TSP-2 treated group 2 rats died before the end of the experiment and renal function tended to be worsened in the TSP-2 group compared to the luciferase-treated controls. In addition, glomerular sclerosis and tubular interstitial injury as well as cortical fibronectin deposition was significantly increased in the TSP-2 treated kidneys despite reduced TGF-β activation and marked anti-inflammatory (macrophages, T-cells and B-cells) effects in this group. Long-term TSP-2 therapy impaired repair of renal endothelium, as demonstrated by significant higher glomerular and peritubular endothelial rarefaction and reduced endothelial cell proliferation in the transplanted kidneys from TSP-2 treated rats compared to controls. This TSP-2 effect was associated with decreased levels of renal VEGF but not VEGF1 receptor. In conclusion, despite its anti-inflammatory and TGF-β activation blocking effects, TSP-2 gene therapy did not ameliorate but rather worsened experimental chronic allograft nephropathy most likely via its anti-angiogenic properties on the renal microvasculature.
Telomerase Activity and Telomerase Subunit Gene Expression Levels Are Not Related in Prostate Cancer: A Real-Time Quantification and In Situ Hybridization Study

Because the mechanisms of telomerase activation in prostate cancer are mainly unknown, we investigated the relationships between telomerase activity and expression levels of human telomerase RNA (hTR) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA in benign and malignant alterations of the human prostate gland. Using the LightCycler technology, hTERT mRNA expression was quantified in 46 radical prostatectomy and 10 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) cases; hTR expression was quantified in a subset of these tissue samples. Telomerase activity was measured using a quantitative telomeric repeat amplification protocol ELISA assay. Similar to hTR, which was expressed in all tissue samples tested, hTERT mRNA was detected in 98% of the prostate cancer samples and in 30% of the BPH samples. Regarding clinicopathologic variables, telomerase activity was significantly correlated with Gleason score (<7 vs ≥7, p = 0.02). No relationships emerged between normalized hTR or hTERT expression levels and tumor stage, Gleason score, lymph node status, or preoperative serum prostate-specific antigen. Remarkably, one third of all cancer and BPH tissue samples with hTR and hTERT expression lack telomerase activity. Quantitative analyses contradict the assumption that a certain threshold level of hTR or hTERT mRNA is required for telomerase activation, thus indicating that telomerase regulation in prostate cancer occurs more likely on a posttranscriptional level. Nevertheless, the observation that hTR and hTERT mRNA levels are significantly (p < 0.002) correlated suggests some common mechanisms in the up-regulation of hTR and hTERT expression. Because in situ hybridization revealed strong hTERT expression in all cells of the tumor glands but also in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia foci, this up-regulation seems to occur early in prostate carcinogenesis.
Molecular Cloning, Carbohydrate Specificity and the Crystal Structure of Two Sclerotium rolfsii Lectin Variants

SRL is a cell wall associated developmental-stage specific lectin secreted by Sclerotium rolfsii, a soil-born pathogenic fungus. SRL displays specificity for TF antigen (Galβ1→3GalNAc-α-Ser//Thr) expressed in all cancer types and has tumour suppressing effects in vivo. Considering the immense potential of SRL in cancer research, we have generated two variant gene constructs of SRL and expressed in E. coli to refine the sugar specificity and solubility by altering the surface charge. SSR1 and SSR2 are two different recombinant variants of SRL, both of which recognize TF antigen but only SSR1 binds to Tn antigen (GalNAcα-Ser/Thr). The glycan array analysis of the variants demonstrated that SSR1 recognizes TF antigen and their derivative with high affinity similar to SRL but showed highest affinity towards the sialylated Tn antigen, unlike SRL. The carbohydrate binding property of SSR2 remains unaltered compared to SRL. The crystal structures of the two variants were determined in free form and in complex with N-acetylglucosamine at 1.7 Å and 1.6 Å resolution, respectively. Structural analysis highlighted the structural basis of the fine carbohydrate specificity of the two SRL variants and results are in agreement with glycan array analysis.
EFFECTS OF A NEUTRAL ENDOPROTEASE ENZYME INHIBITOR, THIORPHAN, ON HEMODYNAMICS AND RENAL EXCRETORY FUNCTION IN FOUR MODELS OF EXPERIMENTAL HYPERTENSION

Thiorphan, a neutral endoprotease (NEP) enzyme inhibitor, has been shown to enhance the effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in vivo. In this study, we examined the effects of an intravenous (iv) infusion of thiorphan on cardiovascular hemodynamics and excretion of urine volume (UV), sodium (UNaV) and potassium (UKV) in four different models of experimental hypertension, namely: 1) SHR, 2) two-kidney, one clip (2K1C), 3) one-kidney, 1 clip (1K1C) and, 4) 70% reduced renal mass-salt (RRM-S) hypertensive rats. SHR has normal plasma renin activity, 2K1C is renin dependent, and 1K1C and RRM-S are low renin volume dependent models of hypertension. Rats were divided into experimental and control groups. Under inactin (120 mg/kg, body weight) anesthesia, rats were instrumented to record blood pressure and dP/dt (Millar catheter) and urine was collected through a suprapubic urinary bladder catheter. Experimental animals received an iv infusion of thiorphan, 0.5 mg/kg/min for 120 minutes. Control animals received vehicle only. In some animals, vascular smooth muscle cell membrane potentials (Em) was measured in vivo. In another series of experiments, using the identical protocol, cardiac output was recorded. The thiorphan infusion produced a similar progressive decrease in blood pressure in all models of hypertension. Cardiac output did not change relative to vehicle infused control animals. Thus pressure decreased because of a decrease in total peripheral resistance. The contractility index (dP/dt/P, where P = left ventricular pressure) did not change but vascular smooth muscle cells in tail arteries hyperpolarized in all four models. In spite of a significant decrease in blood pressure, thiorphan infusion either increased or produced no change in urinary volume (UV) and sodium (UNaV) excretion. These data show that thiorphan, an NEP inhibitor, decreases the blood pressure of hypertensive rats due to a decrease in total peripheral resistance, perhaps by hyperpolarizing vascular smooth muscle cells. These effects are independent of the mechanism of the hypertension. Increased UV and UNaV in the face of decreased pressure suggests a direct renal effect.