Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Jmjd6, a JmjC Dioxygenase with Many Interaction Partners and Pleiotropic Functions

Lysyl hydroxylation and arginyl demethylation are post-translational events that are important for many cellular processes. The jumonji domain containing protein 6 (JMJD6) has been reported to catalyze both lysyl hydroxylation and arginyl demethylation on diverse protein substrates. It also interacts directly with RNA. This review summarizes knowledge of JMJD6 functions that have emerged in the last 15 years and considers how a single Jumonji C (JmjC) domain-containing enzyme can target so many different substrates. New links and synergies between the three main proposed functions of Jmjd6 in histone demethylation, promoter proximal pause release of polymerase II and RNA splicing are discussed. The physiological context of the described molecular functions is considered and recently described novel roles for JMJD6 in cancer and immune biology are reviewed. The increased knowledge of JMJD6 functions has wider implications for our general understanding of the JmjC protein family of which JMJD6 is a member.
The Effect of the Hall Term on the Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetorotational Instability. I. Local Axisymmetric Simulations

The effect of the Hall term on the evolution of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in weakly ionized accretion disks is investigated using local axisymmetric simulations. First, we show that the Hall term has important effects on the MRI when the temperature and density in the disk is below a few thousand K and between 1013 and 1018 cm-3, respectively. Such conditions can occur in the quiescent phase of dwarf nova disks, or in the inner part (inside 10-100 AU) of protoplanetary disks. When the Hall term is important, the properties of the MRI are dependent on the direction of the magnetic field with respect to the angular velocity vector 𝛀. If the disk is threaded by a uniform vertical field oriented in the same sense as 𝛀, the axisymmetric evolution of the MRI is an exponentially growing two-channel flow without saturation. When the field is oppositely directed to 𝛀, however, small scale fluctuations prevent the nonlinear growth of the channel flow and the MRI evolves into MHD turbulence. These results are anticipated from the characteristics of the linear dispersion relation. In axisymmetry on a field with zero-net flux, the evolution of the MRI is independent of the size of the Hall term relative to the inductive term. The evolution in this case is determined mostly by the effect of ohmic dissipation.
A survey of condition monitoring and protection methods for medium voltage induction motors

Medium voltage induction motors are widely used in industry and are essential to industrial processes. The breakdown of these medium voltage motors not only leads to high repair expenses, but also causes extraordinary financial losses due to unexpected downtime. To provide reliable condition monitoring and protection for medium voltage motors, this paper presents a comprehensive survey of the existing condition monitoring and protection methods in the following five areas: thermal protection and temperature estimation, stator insulation monitoring and fault detection, bearing fault detection, broken rotor bar/end-ring detection, and air-gap eccentricity detection. For each category, the related features of medium voltage motors are discussed; the effectiveness of the existing methods are discussed in terms of their robustness, accuracy and implementation complexity; recommendations for the future research in these areas are also presented.
Control of traffic lights in intersection: A new branch and bound approach

Nowadays, traffic signal control is becoming an important part of urban traffic control system, and providing an effective traffic signal control system for a large complex traffic network is becoming more and more challenging. In this paper, we propose a new approach to manage the urban traffic system. It is based on new technologies of recognizing vehicles and traffic lights. With this, we can treat each vehiclepsilas movement individually and it allows us to distinguish different kinds of vehicles such as public and emergency vehicles. Then we propose a Branch and Bound approach to control traffic lights in a simple intersection with the objective of minimizing the evacuation time of the intersection, and for a further step, improving the service quality of urban traffic.
Reciprocal regulation of plasma apelin and vasopressin by osmotic stimuli.

Apelin is a neuropeptide that co-localizes with vasopressin (AVP) in magnocellular neurons and is involved in body fluid homeostasis. Osmotic stimuli have opposite effects on the regulation of apelin and AVP secretion in animal models, but whether this is true in humans is unknown. This study investigated the relationship among osmolality, apelin, and AVP in 10 healthy men after infusion of hypertonic saline or loading with water to increase and decrease plasma osmolality, respectively. Increasing plasma osmolality was accompanied by a parallel, linear increase in plasma AVP concentration and by a decrease in plasma apelin concentration. In contrast, decreasing plasma osmolality by water loading reduced plasma AVP concentration and rapidly increased plasma apelin concentration. These findings suggest that regulation of apelin secretion contributes to the maintenance of body fluid homeostasis.
Disease Risks from Foods, England and Wales, 1996–2000

Data from population-based studies and national surveillance systems were collated and analyzed to estimate the impact of disease and risks associated with eating different foods in England and Wales. From 1996 to 2000, an estimated 1,724,315 cases of indigenous foodborne disease per year resulted in 21,997 hospitalizations and 687 deaths. The greatest impact on the healthcare sector arose from foodborne Campylobacter infection (160,788 primary care visits and 15,918 hospitalizations), while salmonellosis caused the most deaths (209). The most important cause of indigenous foodborne disease was contaminated chicken (398,420 cases, risk [cases/million servings] = 111; case-fatality rate [deaths/100,000 cases] = 35, deaths = 141). Red meat (beef, lamb, and pork) contributed heavily to deaths, despite lower levels of risk (287,485 cases, risk = 24, case-fatality rate = 57, deaths = 164). Reducing the impact of indigenous foodborne disease is mainly dependent on controlling the contamination of chicken.
A learning approach to semantic image analysis

In this paper, a learning approach coupling Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is presented for knowledge-assisted semantic image analysis in specific domains. Explicitly defined domain knowledge under the proposed approach includes objects of the domain of interest and their spatial relations. SVMs are employed using low-level features to extract implicit information for each object of interest via training in order to provide an initial annotation of the image regions based solely on visual features. To account for the inherent visual information ambiguity, fuzzy spatial relations along with the previously computed initial annotations are supplied to a genetic algorithm, which decides on the globally most plausible annotation. Experiments with images of the beach vacation domain demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.
Effect of Age and Sex on the QTc Interval in Children and Adolescents With Type 1 and 2 Long-QT Syndrome

Background— In congenital long-QT syndrome, age, sex, and genotype have been associated with cardiac events, but their effect on the trend in QTc interval has never been established. We, therefore, aimed to assess the effect of age and sex on the QTc interval in children and adolescents with type 1 (LQT1) and type 2 (LQT2) long-QT syndrome. Methods and Results— QTc intervals of 12-lead resting electrocardiograms were determined, and trends over time were analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model. The study included 278 patients with a median follow-up of 4 years (interquartile range, 1–9) and a median number of 6 (interquartile range, 2–10) electrocardiograms per patient. Both LQT1 and LQT2 male patients showed QTc interval shortening after the onset of puberty. In LQT2 male patients, this was preceded by a progressive QTc interval prolongation. In LQT1, after the age of 12 years, male patients had a significantly shorter QTc interval than female patients. In LQT2, during the first years of life and from 14 to 26 years, male patients had a significantly shorter QTc interval than female patients. On the contrary, between 5 and 14 years, LQT2 male patients had significantly longer QTc interval than LQT2 female patients. Conclusions— There is a significant effect of age and sex on the QTc interval in long-QT syndrome, with a unique pattern per genotype. The age of 12 to 14 years is an important transitional period. In the risk stratification and management of long-QT syndrome patients, clinicians should be aware of these age-, sex-, and genotype-related trends in QTc interval and especially the important role of the onset of puberty.
Preferential Osmolyte Accumulation: a Mechanism of Osmotic Stress Adaptation in Diazotrophic Bacteria

A common cellular mechanism of osmotic-stress adaptation is the intracellular accumulation of organic solutes (osmolytes). We investigated the mechanism of osmotic adaptation in the diazotrophic bacteria Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum brasilense, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are adversely affected by high osmotic strength (i.e., soil salinity and/or drought). We used natural-abundance 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify all the osmolytes accumulating in these strains during osmotic stress generated by 0.5 M NaCl. Evidence is presented for the accumulation of trehalose and glutamate in Azotobacter chroococcum ZSM4, proline and glutamate in Azospirillum brasilense SHS6, and trehalose and proline in K. pneumoniae. Glycine betaine was accumulated in all strains grown in culture media containing yeast extract as the sole nitrogen source. Alternative nitrogen sources (e.g., NH4Cl or casamino acids) in the culture medium did not result in measurable glycine betaine accumulation. We suggest that the mechanism of osmotic adaptation in these organisms entails the accumulation of osmolytes in hyperosmotically stressed cells resulting from either enhanced uptake from the medium (of glycine betaine, proline, and glutamate) or increased net biosynthesis (of trehalose, proline, and glutamate) or both. The preferred osmolyte in Azotobacter chroococcum ZSM4 shifted from glutamate to trehalose as a consequence of a prolonged osmotic stress. Also, the dominant osmolyte in Azospirillum brasilense SHS6 shifted from glutamate to proline accumulation as the osmotic strength of the medium increased.
Induction of apoptosis and non-apoptosis in human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) by cisplatin and caffeine.

BACKGROUND Molecular targeted therapy by different cell death inducers are recently considered in cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of cisplatin and inositol trisphosphate kinase inhibitor (caffeine) on human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). The pattern of cell death in MCF-7 cells following the exposure to cisplatin and caffeine in individual and combination forms was characterized. METHODS MCF-7 cells at late exponential phase were divided into two groups: control and experimental groups. Experimental group was exposed to cisplatin, caffeine and combination of them and control group was treated by vehicle. Forty-eight hours after incubation, floating and attached cells were collected separately. Flow cytometry analysis and electron microscopy were carried out on both attached and floating cells. RESULTS Two types of apoptotic and non-apoptotic cells were observed in the floating cells as well as in sub G1 cells of both experimental and control groups by electron microscopy. Both early and late stages of apoptosis were characterized and the attached cells remained unaffected. CONCLUSION Although two different forms of cell death (apoptosis and non-apoptosis) were appeared in MCF-7 following exposure to cisplatin and caffeine, apoptosis was the major mechanism of cell death. The combination form of anti-cancer drugs with different mechanisms could decrease the dosage of employed anti-cancer drugs.
Provider perceptions of the assessment and rehabilitation of sexual functioning after Traumatic Brain Injury

ABSTRACT Objective: To explore how health care professionals who work with individuals with TBI address issues related to the assessment and treatment of sexuality after TBI. Methods: A survey composed of 53 questions was developed to evaluate professional training, assessment of sexuality in individuals with TBI and attitudes towards sexuality. The sample consisted of 324 self-identified TBI health care professionals. Results: Ninety seven per cent of participants believed that sexuality should be discussed during rehabilitation; however, 36% reported talking about it. Seventy nine per cent reported that their patients have asked about sexuality after TBI, with 60% feeling calm and competent addressing the topic. The main reason for not discussing the topic was that patients do not ask for information (42%). Assessment (87%) and treatment of sexuality (82%) in individuals with TBI are considered a part of their professional responsibility. Conclusion: Despite recognition of the importance of addressing the topic and the belief of it being their professional responsibility, many professionals reported lack of training. Working to increase comfort with the topic and providing comprehensive education on treating sexuality may be beneficial.
Delay-dependent state-feedback ℌ∞ control for nonlinear stochastic systems with time-varying delays

This paper is concerned with the state-feedback H∞ control problem for a class of stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying state delays, where both the disturbance and the white noise are considered. To synthesize the investigated system, the parameter-dependent storage functional is firstly constructed. By means of completing the square, the delay-dependent controller is designed such that the closed-loop system is exponentially stable in mean square and the prescribed disturbance attenuation level is achieved. Finally, the developed delay-dependent conditions are further specialized to synthesize a type of special delayed nonlinear systems by solving several linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and a bilinear matrix inequality (BMI).
Lipid lowering and recurrent stroke: another stroke paradox?

This editorial refers to ‘Plasma lipids predict myocardial infarction, but not stroke, in patients with established cerebrovascular disease’† by A. Patel et al., on page 1910 The meta-analysis of over 90 000 patients included in statin tria ls shows a significant 21% reduction of stroke with no heterogeneity between trials and no increase in haemorrhagic stroke.1 Because the link between total cholesterol and incident stroke has never been clearly established in epidemiological studies,2 it is surprising to see, in the meta-analysis, that the larger the between-group LDL level difference the greater the stroke risk reduction.1 Indeed, we calculated that LDL reduction could explain 35–80% of the benefit of statins on stroke risk reduction, leaving room for other non-lipid lowering effects of statins, the so-called pleiotropic effects, but the main effect is through LDL reduction.1 New results from randomized trials since this meta-analysis, have confirmed that LDL lowering decreased the risk of stroke in diabetics with ‘normal’ LDL cholesterol at baseline3 and in patients with coronary artery disease4 (CAD), with 48 and 25% reduction in stroke incidence, respectively. In the Treat to New Target trial, the benefit was observed in the group of patients with a mean LDL cholesterol of 70 mg/dL when compared with the group of patients with a mean LDL level of 1.02 mg/dL.4 Hence, the lack of a relationship between cholesterol and stroke in epidemiologic studies2 is paradoxical because the association between carotid atherosclerosis and blood cholesterol has been well established in other … *Corresponding author. Tel: +33 1 4025 8725; fax: +33 1 4025 7198. E-mail address : pierre.amarenco{at}bch.ap-hop-paris.fr
Hepatic hemangiomas with arterioportal shunt: findings at two-phase CT.

PURPOSE To determine the prevalence of arterioportal shunt associated with hepatic hemangiomas, describe the two-phase spiral computed tomographic (CT) findings, and correlate the presence of arterioportal shunt with the size and rapidity of enhancement of hemangiomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study group consisted of 109 hepatic hemangiomas in 69 patients who underwent two-phase spiral CT during 1 year. CT scans were obtained during the hepatic arterial (30-second delay) and portal venous (65-second delay) phases after injection of 120 mL of contrast material (3 mL/sec). Arterioportal shunts were diagnosed when hepatic arterial phase CT scans showed a wedge-shaped or irregularly shaped homogeneous enhancement in the liver parenchyma adjacent to the tumor and when portal venous phase CT scans showed isoattenuation or slight hyperattenuation, compared with normal liver in that area, and when there was no demonstrable cause of these attenuation differences. The presence of arterioportal shunt in hemangioma was correlated with the size of the tumor and the rapidity of intratumoral enhancement. RESULTS Arterioportal shunt was found in 28 (25.7%) of 109 hemangiomas. There was no statistically significant relationship between lesion size and presence of the arterioportal shunt (P =.653). Arterioportal shunt was more frequently found in hemangiomas with rapid enhancement (P <.01). CONCLUSION Arterioportal shunts are not uncommonly seen in hepatic hemangiomas at two-phase spiral CT. Hemangiomas with arterioportal shunts tend to show rapid enhancement.
Development of the Road Aggregate Test Specifications for the Modified Ethylene Glycol Durability Index for Basic Crystalline Materials

AbstractMany basic igneous rocks contain smectite clays as a result of deuteric alteration during their formation or subsequent chemical decomposition. This has resulted in numerous failures when such materials are used in road construction due to inadequate durability. Various methods for assessing material durability have been developed and those using ethylene glycol (EG) to expand smectite clays appear to be the most effective. Protocols have been developed for a number of tests using EG, but it can be difficult to quantify the results in terms of unique values and develop specification limits for use in road construction. A simple new protocol for an EG soaking test, the modified ethylene glycol durability index (mEGDI), has been developed and the proposed interpretation of results is compared with existing specifications in this paper. The mEGDI is suitable for use as a screening test to identify poor-durability materials. However, inconsistent correlations with existing specifications exist for mat.
The free radical scavenger Trolox dampens neuronal hyperexcitability, reinstates synaptic plasticity, and improves hypoxia tolerance in a mouse model of Rett syndrome

Rett syndrome (RS) causes severe cognitive impairment, loss of speech, epilepsy, and breathing disturbances with intermittent hypoxia. Also mitochondria are affected; a subunit of respiratory complex III is dysregulated, the inner mitochondrial membrane is leaking protons, and brain ATP levels seem reduced. Our recent assessment of mitochondrial function in MeCP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2)-deficient mouse (Mecp2-/y) hippocampus confirmed early metabolic alterations, an increased oxidative burden, and a more vulnerable cellular redox balance. As these changes may contribute to the manifestation of symptoms and disease progression, we now evaluated whether free radical scavengers are capable of improving neuronal and mitochondrial function in RS. Acute hippocampal slices of adult mice were incubated with the vitamin E derivative Trolox for 3–5 h. In Mecp2-/y slices this treatment dampened neuronal hyperexcitability, improved synaptic short-term plasticity, and fully restored synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP). Furthermore, Trolox specifically attenuated the increased hypoxia susceptibility of Mecp2-/y slices. Also, the anticonvulsive effects of Trolox were assessed, but the severity of 4-aminopyridine provoked seizure-like discharges was not significantly affected. Adverse side effects of Trolox on mitochondria can be excluded, but clear indications for an improvement of mitochondrial function were not found. Since several ion-channels and neurotransmitter receptors are redox modulated, the mitochondrial alterations and the associated oxidative burden may contribute to the neuronal dysfunction in RS. We confirmed in Mecp2-/y hippocampus that Trolox dampens neuronal hyperexcitability, reinstates synaptic plasticity, and improves the hypoxia tolerance. Therefore, radical scavengers are promising compounds for the treatment of neuronal dysfunction in RS and deserve further detailed evaluation.
The costs of depression

Depression is one of the commonest conditions seen by general practitioners. Conventional treatments are typically drug based, and usually involve one of the tricylic preparations. The evaluation of new treatments requires an understanding of the costs and benefits of existing alternatives, to provide a comparative framework for general practitioners and others concerned with the treatment and management of depressed patients. This paper presents estimates of the direct costs associated with the treatment of patients in England and Wales. These amount to some £420 million annually. Pharmaceutical costs represent a relatively small proportion of this total. Substantial indirect costs are generated through lost productivity, and these may exceed £3 billion.
Targeted inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma

Clinical trials have validated the importance of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) as a targeted mechanism in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Temsirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor that is approved for treatment of advanced RCC, has demonstrated both overall survival benefits and progression‐free survival benefits versus interferon‒α as first‐line treatment for patients with poor prognostic features. Exploratory subset analyses indicated that temsirolimus benefits patients with RCC regardless of tumor histology or nephrectomy status. Everolimus, the second mTOR inhibitor to demonstrate activity in RCC, improved progression‐free survival versus placebo in patients whose disease progressed after treatment with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (sunitinib, sorafenib, or both); benefit was observed for all risk groups. Deforolimus also exhibited antitumor activity against RCC in early clinical studies. There is now compelling clinical evidence for the effectiveness of targeting mTOR in the treatment of RCC. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.