Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Co-administration of Grape Seed Extract and Exercise Training Improves Endothelial Dysfunction of Coronary Vascular Bed of STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats

Background One of the known complications of diabetes mellitus is vascular dysfunction. Inability of the coronary vascular response to cardiac hyperactivity might cause a higher incidence of ischemic heart disease in diabetic subjects. It has been indicated that regular exercise training and antioxidants could prevent diabetic cardiovascular problems enhanced by vascular damage. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the effects of grape seed extract (as antioxidant), with and without exercise training on coronary vascular function in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods Fifty male Wistar rats weighing 200 – 232 grams were randomly divided into five groups of 10 rats each: sedentary control, sedentary diabetic, trained diabetic, grape seed extract (200 mg/kg) treated sedentary diabetic and, grape seed extract treated trained diabetic. Diabetes was induced by one intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. After eight weeks, coronary vascular responses to vasoactive agents were determined. Results The endothelium dependent vasorelaxation to acetylcholine was reduced significantly in diabetic animals; exercise training or grape seed extract administration partially improves this response. However, exercise training in combination with grape seed extract restores endothelial function completely. The endothelium independent vasorelaxation to sodium nitroprusside was improved by combination of exercise training and grape seed extract. On the other hand, the basal perfusion pressure and vasoconstrictive response to phenylephrine did not change significantly. Conclusions The data indicated that co-administration of grape seed extract and exercise training had more significant effects than exercise training or grape seed extract alone; this may constitute a convenient and inexpensive therapeutic approach to diabetic vascular complications.
A global Laplacian smoothing approach with feature preservation

This paper presents a novel approach for surface smoothing with feature preservation on arbitrary meshes. Laplacian operator is performed in a global way over the mesh. The surface smoothing is formulated as a quadratic optimization problem, which is easily solved a sparse linear system. The cost function to be optimized penalizes deviations from the global Laplacian operator while maintaining the overall shape of the original mesh. The features of the original mesh can be preserved by adding feature constraints and barycenter constraints in the system. Our approach is simple, non-iterative, fast, and does not cause surface shrinkage and distortion. Many experimental results are presented to show the applicability and flexibility of the approach.
A Cluster of Compact Radio Sources in NGC 2024 (Orion B)

We present deep 3.6 cm radio continuum observations of the H II region NGC 2024 in Orion B obtained using the Very Large Array in its A configuration, with 0. ″2 angular resolution. We detect a total of 25 compact radio sources in a region of 4′ × 4′. We discuss the nature of these sources and its relation to the infrared and X-ray objects in the region. At least two of the radio sources are obscured proplyds whose morphology can be used to restrict the location of the main ionizing source of the region. This cluster of radio sources is compared with others that have been found in regions of recent star formation.
Adenovirus E4orf4 Protein Downregulates MYC Expression through Interaction with the PP2A-B55 Subunit

ABSTRACT The adenovirus E4 open reading frame 4 (E4orf4) protein is a multifunctional viral regulator that is involved in the temporal regulation of viral gene expression by modulating cellular and viral genes at the transcription and translation levels and by controlling alternative splicing of adenoviral late mRNAs. When expressed individually, E4orf4 induces apoptosis in transformed cells. Using oligonucleotide microarray analysis, validated by quantitative real time PCR, we found that MYC (also known as c-Myc) is downregulated early after the induction of E4orf4 expression. As a result, Myc protein levels are reduced in E4orf4-expressing cells. MYC downregulation is observed both when E4orf4 is expressed individually and within the context of viral infection. E4orf4 reduces MYC transcription but does not affect transcriptional elongation or RNA stability. An interaction with the PP2A-B55 subunit is required for the downregulation of MYC by E4orf4. Since Myc overexpression was previously shown to inhibit adenovirus replication, the downregulation of Myc by E4orf4 would contribute to efficient virus infection.
Sertindole: a review of clinical efficacy

Schizophrenia is the most serious and disabling form of psychiatric disorder, and affects 1% of people worldwide. Until recently, treatment has relied heavily on the use of conventional antipsychotk drugs. These drugs do help schizophrenic patients, but have severe limitations. Conventional antipsychotic drugs are not effective in all patients, and even in patients who respond to treatment, the improvement in negative symptoms is often minimal. In fact, these drugs can increase negative symptoms through the production of severe neurological side effects. In recent years, novel antipsychotics have been developed which have superior efficacy and safety profiles. Sertindole is a novel antipsychotic which has been tested in large clinical trials in North America and Europe; the results showed that this drug has efficacy against both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, while causing adverse neurological events at a similar level to that observed in patients taking placebo. The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale used in these trials showed that sertindole was as effective as haloperidol in controlling positive symptoms, and was superior to placebo in reducing negative symptoms, whereas haloperidol was not. These trials also confirmed that sertindole does not cause the neurological side effects Common to the Conventional antipsychotics.
Parallel fiber to Purkinje cell synaptic impairment in a mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia type 27

Genetically inherited mutations in the fibroblast growth factor 14 (FGF14) gene lead to spinocerebellar ataxia type 27 (SCA27), an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by heterogeneous motor and cognitive impairments. Consistently, genetic deletion of Fgf14 in Fgf14−/− mice recapitulates salient features of the SCA27 human disease. In vitro molecular studies in cultured neurons indicate that the FGF14F145S SCA27 allele acts as a dominant negative mutant suppressing the FGF14 wild type function and resulting in inhibition of voltage-gated Na+ and Ca2+ channels. To gain insights in the cerebellar deficits in the animal model of the human disease, we applied whole-cell voltage-clamp in the acute cerebellar slice preparation to examine the properties of parallel fibers (PF) to Purkinje neuron synapses in Fgf14−/− mice and wild type littermates. We found that the AMPA receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents evoked by PF stimulation (PF-EPSCs) were significantly reduced in Fgf14−/− animals, while short-term plasticity, measured as paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), was enhanced. Measuring Sr2+-induced release of quanta from stimulated synapses, we found that the size of the PF-EPSCs was unchanged, ruling out a postsynaptic deficit. This phenotype was corroborated by decreased expression of VGLUT1, a specific presynaptic marker at PF-Purkinje neuron synapses. We next examined the mGluR1 receptor-induced response (mGluR1-EPSC) that under normal conditions requires a gradual build-up of glutamate concentration in the synaptic cleft, and found no changes in these responses in Fgf14−/− mice. These results provide evidence of a critical role of FGF14 in maintaining presynaptic function at PF-Purkinje neuron synapses highlighting critical target mechanisms to recapitulate the complexity of the SCA27 disease.
Copper-dependent formation of disulfide-linked dimer of S100B protein.

Previous cell biological studies demonstrated that S100B protein enhances neurite extension of cortical neurons and stimulates proliferation of glial cells. Although these activities of the protein are ascribed to its disulfide-linked dimeric form, there have been no indications as to how the dimer is formed in vivo. We have found by an in vitro study that it is produced by copper-dependent oxidation of noncovalent S100B dimer. The disulfide-linked dimer markedly stimulated nitric oxide production in a microglial cell line, BV2. Interestingly, the disulfide-linked dimer formation was found to be prevented by ascorbic acid. The copper-dependent formation of the dimer may not happen in vivo under normal conditions; however, under pathological conditions where copper is likely to be released from tissues and catalyze autoxidation of ascorbic acid, the dimer formation may proceed, resulting in the stimulated production of nitric oxide that would induce toxic signaling pathways.
HARP: a practical projected clustering algorithm

In high-dimensional data, clusters can exist in subspaces that hide themselves from traditional clustering methods. A number of algorithms have been proposed to identify such projected clusters, but most of them rely on some user parameters to guide the clustering process. The clustering accuracy can be seriously degraded if incorrect values are used. Unfortunately, in real situations, it is rarely possible for users to supply the parameter values accurately, which causes practical difficulties in applying these algorithms to real data. In this paper, we analyze the major challenges of projected clustering and suggest why these algorithms need to depend heavily on user parameters. Based on the analysis, we propose a new algorithm that exploits the clustering status to adjust the internal thresholds dynamically without the assistance of user parameters. According to the results of extensive experiments on real and synthetic data, the new method has excellent accuracy and usability. It outperformed the other algorithms even when correct parameter values were artificially supplied to them. The encouraging results suggest that projected clustering can be a practical tool for various kinds of real applications.
Mortality After First Myocardial Infarction in Greek Patients: A 4-Year Follow-Up Study

Background: Death associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) depends in part on the time since the myocardial infarction (MI) and modification of risk factors. Methods: This observational, retrospective 4-year follow-up study consisted of 804 patients (628 men). The participants completed a questionnaire reporting diet, demographic factors, personal behavior (smoking, physical activity), anthropometry, prior medical conditions (hypertension, diabetes mellitus), and recent medication. Results: During 48 months of follow-up, 12% of men and 15% of women died. Older age, longer duration of smoking, and frequency of exercise were significantly different between survivors and the deceased (P = .014, P = .014, P = .001, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed associations with years of smoking (odds ratio, OR: 1.10, P = .025), treatment with nitrates (OR: 4.81, P = .024), and increased frequency of exercise (OR: 0.42, P = .013), adjusting for age and gender. Conclusions: We should emphasize cessation of smoking and increased physical activity in MI survivors. Antismoking programs should start at an early age.
Two-Tier Labor Markets in the Great Recession: France vs. Spain

This paper analyzes the strikingly different response of unemployment to the Great Recession in France and Spain. Their labor market institutions are similar and their unemployment rates just before the crisis were both around 8%. Yet, in France, unemployment rate has increased by 2 percentage points, whereas in Spain it has shot up to 19% by the end of 2009. We assess what part of this differential is due to the larger gap between the dismissal costs of permanent and temporary contracts and the less restrictive rules regarding the use of the latter contracts in Spain. Using a calibrated search and matching model, we estimate that about 45% of the surge in Spanish unemployment could have been avoided had Spain adopted French employment protection legislation before the crisis started.
The Reset Hypothesis: Lactation and Maternal Metabolism

For maternal metabolism, pregnancy ends not with delivery, but with weaning. In several recent epidemiological studies, authors have reported an association between duration of breast-feeding and reduced maternal risk of metabolic disease. These findings parallel data from animal models showing favorable changes in metabolism associated with lactation. During gestation, visceral fat accumulates, and insulin resistance and lipid and triglyceride levels increase. These changes appear to reverse more quickly, and more completely, with lactation. In this article, we review animal and human studies regarding the effects of lactation on adiposity, lipid, and glucose homeostasis. We hypothesize that lactation plays an important role in "resetting" maternal metabolism after pregnancy.
Improved SAT-based ATPG: More constraints, better compaction

Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG) based on Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) is a robust alternative to classical structural ATPG. Due to the powerful reasoning engines of modern SAT solvers, SAT-based algorithms typically provide a high test coverage because of the ability to reliably classify hard-to-detect faults. However, a drawback of SAT-based ATPG is the test compaction ability. In this paper, we propose an enhanced dynamic test compaction approach which leverages the high implicative power of modern SAT solvers. Fault detection constraints are encoded into the SAT instance and a formal optimization procedure is applied to increase the detection ability of the generated tests. Experiments show that the proposed approach is able to achieve high compaction - for certain benchmarks even smaller test sets than the currently best known results are obtained.
A correctness result for online robust PCA

We study the problem of sequentially recovering a sparse vector x<sub>t</sub> and a vector from a low-dimensional subspace ℓ<sub>t</sub> from knowledge of their sum m<sub>t</sub> = x<sub>t</sub> + ℓ<sub>t</sub>. If the primary goal is to recover the low-dimensional subspace where the ℓ<sub>t</sub>'s lie, then the problem is one of online or recursive robust principal components analysis (PCA). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first correctness result for this problem. We prove that if a good estimate of the initial subspace is available; the ℓ<sub>t</sub>'s obey certain denseness and slow subspace change assumptions; and the support of x<sub>t</sub> changes either at every frame or at least every so often, then with high probability, the support of x<sub>t</sub> will be recovered exactly, and the error made in estimating x<sub>t</sub> and ℓ<sub>t</sub> will be small. An example where this problem occurs is in separating a sparse foreground and a slowly changing dense background from surveillance videos.
Maxillomandibular arch width differences at estimated centers of resistance: Comparison between normal occlusion and skeletal Class III malocclusion

Objective To evaluate the differences in maxillomandibular transverse measurements at either the crown or the estimated center of resistance (CR), and to compare values between normal occlusion and Class III malocclusion groups. Methods Dental casts and computed tomography (CT) data from 30 individuals with normal occlusion and 30 with skeletal Class III malocclusions were evaluated. Using the casts, dental arch widths (DAWs) were measured from the cusp tips, and basal arch widths (BAWs-cast) were measured as the distance between the points at the mucogingival junction adjacent to the respective cusp tips. The BAWs determined from CT (BAWs-CT) images were measured from the estimated CRs of the teeth. Results None of the DAW measurements or maxillomandibular DAW differences showed statistically significant intergroup differences. In contrast, the maxillary BAWs-CT and BAWs-cast were lesser in the Class III malocclusion group than in the normal occlusion group. The mandibular BAWs-CT were significantly greater in the Class III malocclusion group than in the normal occlusion group. Moreover, the maxillomandibular BAW differences on both CT and cast showed significant intergroup differences in all transverse measurements. Conclusions The maxillomandibular DAW differences showed no significant intergroup differences. In contrast, the maxillomandibular BAW differences on both CT and cast showed significant intergroup differences in all transverse measurements. The maxillomandibular BAW differences at the estimated CRs, measured using CT or casts, can reveal underlying transverse maxillary basal arch deficiencies in patients with skeletal Class III malocclusions.
Essential Role for Schizosaccharomyces pombe pik1 in Septation

Background Schizosaccharomyces pombe pik1 encodes a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase, reported to bind Cdc4, but not Cdc4G107S. Principal Findings Gene deletion revealed that pik1 is essential. In cells with pik1 deleted, ectopic expression of a loss-of-function allele, created by fusion to a temperature-sensitive dihydrofolate reductase, allowed normal cell proliferation at 25°C. At 36°C, cells arrested with abnormally thick, misplaced or supernumerary septa, indicating a defect late in septation. In addition to being Golgi associated, ectopically expressed GFP-tagged Pik1 was observed at the medial cell plane late in cytokinesis. New alleles, created by site-directed mutagenesis, were expressed ectopically. Lipid kinase and Cdc4-binding activity assays were performed. Pik1D709A was kinase-dead, but bound Cdc4. Pik1R838A did not bind Cdc4, but was an active kinase. Genomic integration of these substitutions in S. pombe and complementation studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae pik1-101 cells revealed that D709 is essential in both cases while R838 is dispensable. In S. pombe, ectopic expression of pik1 was dominantly lethal; while, pik1D709A,R838A was innocuous, pik1R838A was almost innocuous, and pik1D709A produced partial lethality and septation defects. The pik1 ectopic expression lethal phenotype was suppressed in cdc4G107S. Thus, D709 is essential for kinase activity and septation. Conclusions Pik1 kinase activity is required for septation. The Pik1 R838 residue is required for important protein-protein interactions, possibly with Cdc4.
Does the Anopheles blood meal-fecundity curve, curve?

We determined the blood meal size-fecundity relationship in Anopheles gambiae in the laboratory. Our primary interest was to determine whether the fecundity curve has a non-linear component, i.e. does it decelerate towards an asymptote? Small and large adult females in their second gonotrophic cycle were fed on human hosts for predetermined lengths of time. Blood meal size was ascertained by weight and subsequent fecundity was determined by the number of eggs laid on filter paper. In both small and large-bodied females there was a significant curvilinear component. We used this relationship to show that marginal returns from feeding decline as a function of current blood load. This means that further fecundity payoff for continued feeding declines over time.
Generation of broadband and multiple-peak terahertz radiation in aperiodically poled lithium niobate

We report a theoretical analysis of the generation of broadband and multiple-peak terahertz radiation in aperiodically poled lithium niobate, whose sequence of opposite domains is optimized by simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the broadband terahertz radiation in our simulation is 0.26 THz. Both of the center wavelength and FWHM can be easily tuned by choosing proper objective functions. Terahertz radiation with wider and flatter FWHM can be achieved by increasing the length of the lithium niobate crystal. The two-peak terahertz generation is also provided as an example of multiple-peak with the central wavelength at 1.68 and 1.80 THz, respectively
Field Theory of Tachyon Matter

We propose a field theory for describing the tachyon on a brane-antibrane system near the minimum of the potential. This field theory realizes two known properties of the tachyon effective action: 1) absence of plane-wave solutions around the minimum, and 2) exponential fall off of the pressure at late time as the tachyon field evolves from any spatially homogeneous initial configuration towards the minimum of the potential. Classical solutions in this field theory include non-relativistic matter with arbitrary spatial distribution of energy.
Exploring manual and automatic query formulation in patent IR: Initial query construction and query generation process

Purpose – This study aims to examine manually formulated queries and automatic query generation in an early phase of a patent “prior art” search. Design/methodology/approach – The study was performed partly within a patent domain setting, involving three professional patent examiners, and partly in the context of the CLEF 2009 Intellectual Property (CLEF-IP) track. For the exploratory study of user-based query formulation, three patent examiners performed the same three simulated real-life patent tasks. For the automatic query generation, a simple term-weighting algorithm based on the RATF formula was used. The manually and automatically created queries were compared to analyse what kinds of keywords and from which parts of the patent documents were selected. Findings – For user-formulated queries, it was found that patent documents were read in a specific order of importance and that the time varied. Annotations and collaboration were made while reading and selecting/ranking terms. Ranking terms was expe.
Biochemical, Radiologic, Ultrastructural, and Genetic Evaluation of Iron Overload in Acute Leukemia and Iron-chelation Therapy

Iron overload in hereditary hemochromatosis and hematologic malignancy has unfavorable effects on morbidity. Herein, 53 children (age 108.4±58.3 mo, 25 girls and 28 boys) with acute myeloblastic and lymphoblastic leukemia, who received 4 different chemotherapy protocols, were evaluated for iron overload throughout chemotherapy. Iron overload arose: (1) before chemotherapy, which was dependent on neither chemotherapy nor packed red blood cell transfusions and (2) after chemotherapy, which was dependent on the duration and nature of chemotherapy and partially on transfusion of packed red blood cells. Iron overload was documented in 75% of patients with a ferritin level >1000 ng/mL, by liver and heart magnetic resonance imaging, and they were administered iron-chelation therapy with success. Three of 10 radiologically iron-overloaded patients were heterozygous for H63D mutation. Aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen levels were normal. Light microscopic examination of the bone marrow revealed increased iron granules in erythroblasts, platelets, and megakaryocytes, iron-laden macrophages, free iron in the matrix, dyshematopoiesis, and apoptotic cells. Electron microscopic examination revealed iron-laden secondary lysosomes and autolysosomes in normoblasts and iron-laden primary granules in promyelocytes, irrelevant to the ferritin level, implying autophagia due to chemotherapy as a source of the excess iron. We think that iron overload, which is an important complication of acute leukemia, should be evaluated separately from “transfusion overload,” and the management principles specific to leukemia should be implemented.