Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alterations of Urine TGF-β1 and bFGF following Bladder Outlet Obstruction: A Predictor for Detrusor Contractibility?

Objectives: To investigate the alterations of urine transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) following bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) in rats and to determine their correlation with the impaired detrusor contractibility. Methods: Wistar rats were divided into control, 2-week BOO 6-week and BOO groups. Impaired detrusor contractibility was quantified by measuring detrusor contraction force (DCF) of detrusor strip stimulated by carbachol. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method was used to determine the urine levels of the 2 factors. Correlation analysis was conducted between DCF and urine levels of the 2 factors to see if there was an association between them after BOO. Results: DCF was found to be significantly lower in the 6-week BOO group than in the 2-week BOO and control groups. There is no significant difference regarding urine TGF-β1 between the 2-week BOO and control groups (p > 0.05). Urine TGF-β1 level in the 6-week BOO group was significantly higher than in the 2-week BOO (p < 0.05) and control groups (p < 0.05). There existed a negative correlation between DCF and urine TGF-β1 (p < 0.05). Conclusions: In an animal model, our results have suggested the potential role of urine TGF-β1 as a noninvasive biomarker to predict detrusor contractibility after BOO.
Origin of Intrinsic Direct Band Gap of Janus Group‐III Chalcogenide Monolayers

Using first‐principles calculations, the evolution of electronic properties of InSe based Janus structures has been investigated. The obtained results suggest that the In2SeTe Janus structure has an intrinsic direct band gap which is beneficial for optoelectronic applications. The direct band gap nature of In2SeTe Janus structure is due to the strong coupling of pz orbitals between the Se and Te sublayers, which emphasizes the importance of the intra‐layer interactions. In addition, the effective mass of the holes in In2SeTe is one order of magnitude smaller than that of intrinsic InSe monolayer, which makes it a good candidate for p‐type semiconductor. The broken mirror symmetry of the Janus structures induces out‐of‐plane dipolar polarization, yielding additional built‐in electric field and offering extra channel to tune its electronic band structure. The electric field has dominated effluences on the charge polarization on anions thus exhibiting stronger band tunability on the valence bands. These results indicate that the preparation of In2SeTe Janus structure provides a new way for the future use of two‐dimensional materials in optoelectronic nanodevices.
Deficiency of the mitochondrial transporter of aspartate/glutamate aralar/AGC1 causes hypomyelination and neuronal defects unrelated to myelin deficits in mouse brain

The aralar/AGC1 knockout (KO) mouse shows a drastic decrease in brain aspartate and N‐acetylaspartate levels and global hypomyelination, which are attributed to the lack of neuron‐produced NAA used by oligodendrocytes as precursor of myelin lipid synthesis. In addition, these mice have a gradual drop in brain glutamine synthesis. We show here that hypomyelination is more pronounced in gray than in white matter regions. We find a lack of neurofilament‐labelled processes in hypomyelinated fiber tracks from cerebral cortex but not from those of the cerebellar granule cell layer, which correspond to Purkinje neurons. Therefore, the impaired development or degeneration of neuronal processes in cerebral cortex is independent of hypomyelination. An increase in O4‐labelled, immature oligodendrocytes is observed in gray and white matter regions of the aralar KO brain, suggesting a block in maturation compatible with the lack of NAA supplied by neurons. However, no defects in oligodendrocyte maturation were observed in in‐vitro‐cultured mixed astroglial cultures. We conclude that the primary defect of pyramidal neurons in cerebral cortex is possibly associated with a progressive failure in glutamatergic neurotransmission and may be among the main causes of the pathology of aralar/AGC1 deficiency. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Rituximab in the treatment of acquired factor VIII inhibitors

Adedayo A. Onitilo1, Amy Skorupa2, Asheesh Lal5, Elizabeth Ronish3, Richard J. Mercier6, Rezwan Islam1, John Lazarchick4 1Department of Hematology/Oncology, Marshfield Clinic-Weston Center, Weston, Wisconsin, USA; 2Hematology/Oncology Division, 3Department of Internal Medicine, and 4Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA; 5Hematology/Oncology, Lexington Medical Center, West Columbia, South Carolina, USA; 6Department of Hematology/ Oncology, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA Case Report
The Role of Serious Games, Gamification and Industry 4.0 Tools in the Education 4.0 Paradigm

Education 4.0 is a new educational paradigm that intends to address the needs and potentialities of the fourth industrial revolution. Education 4.0 builds on the concept of learning by doing, in which students are encouraged to learn and discover different things in singular ways based on experimentation. This study intends to analyze the role of emerging technologies like serious games and industry 4.0 in the transformation of education 4.0 in higher education. A qualitative methodology was employed based on 25 case studies of innovative projects in Portuguese higher education institutions. The results indicate a residual adoption of serious games and gamification approaches only appear in less than 20% of the projects. It was also possible to identify that most projects involve several stakeholders such as teachers, students and university managers, and typically involve multidisciplinary competencies fields. The main benefits brought to the education context include greater involvement of students in projects, development of their skills and its application in a real context. On the other hand, the main challenges are the simplification of the real world made by these applications, the difficulties inherent to their inclusion in the didactical system and the limited capacities to offer greater interactivity without predefined external stimuli.
A Manifold Alignment Approach for Hyperspectral Image Visualization With Natural Color

The trichromatic visualization of hundreds of bands in a hyperspectral image (HSI) has been an active research topic. The visualized image shall convey as much information as possible from the original data and facilitate easy image interpretation. However, most existing methods display HSIs in false color, which contradicts with user experience and expectation. In this paper, we propose a new framework for visualizing an HSI with natural color by the fusion of an HSI and a high-resolution color image via manifold alignment. Manifold alignment projects several data sets to a shared embedding space where the matching points between them are pairwise aligned. The embedding space bridges the gap between the high-dimensional spectral space of the HSI and the RGB space of the color image, making it possible to transfer natural color and spatial information in the color image to the HSI. In this way, a visualized image with natural color distribution and fine spatial details can be generated. Another advantage of the proposed method is its flexible data setting for various scenarios. As our approach only needs to search a limited number of matching pixel pairs that present the same object, the HSI and the color image can be captured from the same or semantically similar sites. Moreover, the learned projection function from the hyperspectral data space to the RGB space can be directly applied to other HSIs acquired by the same sensor to achieve a quick overview. Our method is also able to visualize user-specified bands as natural color images, which is very helpful for users to scan bands of interest.
Non-Invasive Evaluation Method for Cartilage Tissue Regeneration Using Quantitative-MRI

Articular cartilage is an avascular tissue covering articulating surfaces of bones and it functions to bear loads and reduce friction in diarthrodial joints. The cartilage can be regarded as a porous gel, mainly composed of large proteoglycan (PG) aggregates having a negative fixed-charge density (nFCD), a water-swollen network of collagen fibrils, and interstitial water, all of which play important roles in load-bearing properties (Lee et al., 1981; Mow et al., 1980).
Estrogen Receptor-α Is Developmentally Regulated during Osteoblast Differentiation and Contributes to Selective Responsiveness of Gene Expression.

Estrogen responsiveness of bone is a fundamental regulatory mechanism operative in skeletal homeostasis. We examined the expression of estrogen receptor-α (ER) messenger RNA (mRNA) in cultured rat calvarial-derived osteoblasts during progressive development of the osteoblast phenotype. Levels of ER message were compared with the expression of traditional osteoblastic markers that have been mapped throughout the differentiation process of these cells. ER transcripts, measured using semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis, were expressed at low levels in early stage proliferating osteoblasts and increased at confluence upon initial expression of bone cell phenotypic genes. A 23-fold up-regulation of ER mRNA expression coincided with the initiation of alkaline phosphatase activity (day 8). ER mRNA levels progressively increased 70-fold, reaching a maximum level on days 22–25 in fully differentiated osteoblasts when osteocalcin expression peaked, but declined precipitously by day 32 in osteocytic cells. Analysis of .
Estimating peer effects in networks with peer encouragement designs

Peer effects, in which the behavior of an individual is affected by the behavior of their peers, are central to social science. Because peer effects are often confounded with homophily and common external causes, recent work has used randomized experiments to estimate effects of specific peer behaviors. These experiments have often relied on the experimenter being able to randomly modulate mechanisms by which peer behavior is transmitted to a focal individual. We describe experimental designs that instead randomly assign individuals’ peers to encouragements to behaviors that directly affect those individuals. We illustrate this method with a large peer encouragement design on Facebook for estimating the effects of receiving feedback from peers on posts shared by focal individuals. We find evidence for substantial effects of receiving marginal feedback on multiple behaviors, including giving feedback to others and continued posting. These findings provide experimental evidence for the role of behaviors directed at specific individuals in the adoption and continued use of communication technologies. In comparison, observational estimates differ substantially, both underestimating and overestimating effects, suggesting that researchers and policy makers should be cautious in relying on them.
Ethanol induces hyperprolactinemia by increasing prolactin release and lactotrope growth in female rats.

BACKGROUND Alcohol drinking is known to cause hyperprolactinemia in both humans and laboratory animals. The mechanism by which alcoholism causes hyperprolactinemia is not known. This study investigated whether increased pituitary production of prolactin, which leads to alcohol-induced hyperprolactinemia, results from an increase in cell number and/or cell production of prolactin in the pituitary. METHODS The effects of ethanol on lactotropes were determined in vivo using female rats as an animal model and in vitro using primary cultures of mixed rat anterior pituitary cells and enriched lactotropes. In vivo experiments involved administration of ethanol for 2 and 4 weeks using a liquid diet containing 8.7% ethanol (v/v), which provides 37% of the calories in cyclic, ovariectomized, and estradiol-17beta-treated ovariectomized Fischer-344 rats. The control group was pair-fed an isocaloric diet minus the ethanol or fed a normal diet ad libitum. These animals were used to determine ethanol's effects on plasma prolactin levels, pituitary wet weights, pituitary total protein levels, and the number of mitotic lactotropes. In vitro studies determined ethanol's effects in the presence and absence of estradiol on prolactin release and lactotropic cell proliferation. Prolactin levels in plasma and media samples were measured using radioimmunoassay. Mitotic lactotropes were determined using bromodeoxyuridine incorporation assay. RESULTS Ethanol treatment increased in a time-dependent manner the plasma levels of prolactin in cyclic, ovariectomized, and estradiol-treated ovariectomized rats. Ethanol treatment also increased pituitary wet weight and/or pituitary total protein levels and DNA synthesis in lactotropes. Determination of ethanol's action on lactotropic cell proliferation and hormone secretion in vitro using primary cultures of mixed pituitary cells revealed that ethanol stimulated both basal and estradiol-induced prolactin secretion and lactotropic cell proliferation. When ethanol's actions were studied in isolated lactotropes, ethanol alone or in combination with estradiol stimulated prolactin secretion but failed to increase lactotropic cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that ethanol causes hyperprolactinemia by elevating prolactin release from lactotropes and by increasing the number of lactotropes in the anterior pituitary gland. The mitotic action of ethanol requires cell-cell communication between lactotropes and other pituitary cells. Furthermore, ethanol's mode of action on prolactin release and lactotrope growth is similar to that observed for estradiol.
Duration related phase realignment of Thai tones

When Thai contour tones sit on long and short vowels followed by a nasal consonant, different portions of the tone are superimposed on the vowel and the nasal: more of the contour on a long vowel and less on the shorter following sonorant and vice-versa with a short vowel. This change, which we call ‘phase realignment’, presents some complexities because overall the tone is shorter on the rhyme with the short vowel and in other situations the strategy of fitting tones to segmental sequences of varying duration involve truncating one end of the contour. We report here our attempt to quantify this variation and to validate that the modification is just a realignment of different parts of the tonal contour with the segmental sequences it sits on.
A Study of End-Users' Attitudes towards Digital Media Approach: The Experience of a Public University in Uganda.

University students in Uganda had been confined to use of traditional educational technologies such as chalkboards, papers and text books. Digital Media Approach recently found its way in the academia at public universities in Uganda. Information and communication technology (ICT) have become popular means of surfing, downloading and obtaining electronic materials among students. The approach has globally facilitated the seeking of academic information at institutions of higher learning in Uganda. However, little research has been conducted in regard to students who are the key users of Digital Media. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ attitudes towards Digital Media Approach at a public university in Uganda. The study specifically sought to establish whether university students’ attitudes towards digital technology were dependent on computer ownership, field of study and previous computer hands-on experience. A survey research was employed to establish students’ attitudes in regard to digital media. Questionnaires and interviews were used as tools for data collection while data was analyzed using a t-test. The findings showed that students who had their own computers as well as previous computer hands-on experience had more positive attitudes towards using the media than their counterparts without previous computer hands-on experience.
How the Taxonomy of Products Drives the Economic Development of Countries

We introduce an algorithm able to reconstruct the relevant network structure on which the time evolution of country-product bipartite networks takes place. The significant links are obtained by selecting the largest values of the projected matrix. We first perform a number of tests of this filtering procedure on synthetic cases and a toy model. Then we analyze the bipartite network constituted by countries and exported products, using two databases for a total of almost 50 years. It is then possible to build a hierarchically directed network, in which the taxonomy of products emerges in a natural way. We study the influence of the structure of this taxonomy network on countries' development; in particular, guided by an example taken from the industrialization of South Korea, we link the structure of the taxonomy network to the empirical temporal connections between product activations, finding that the most relevant edges for countries' development are the ones suggested by our network. These results suggest paths in the product space which are easier to achieve, and so can drive countries' policies in the industrialization process.
Expression of Kidney Injury Molecule-1 in Healthy and Diseased Feline Kidney Tissue

Sensitive markers to detect acute kidney injury (AKI) in cats are lacking. Kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) is a promising marker of acute tubular injury in humans, and sequence and structure of feline KIM-1 have been determined. KIM-1 is shed into urine of cats with natural AKI. The objectives of this study were to characterize temporal and cellular expression of KIM-1 in kidneys from cats without and with experimental and natural AKI using histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Tissue sections from 8 cats without kidney disease, 3 to 4 cats with experimentally induced AKI on each day 1, 3, 6, and 12 after unilateral ischemia/reperfusion, and 9 cats with natural AKI were assessed. In sections from cats without kidney disease, patterns of periodic acid–Schiff and aquaporin-1 staining allowed identification of 3 distinct segments of the proximal tubule. KIM-1 staining was absent in segments 1 (S1) and S2, and faint in S3. Injury of S3 in cats with experimental and natural AKI was characterized by cell loss and necrosis, and remaining intact cells had cytoplasmic blebs and reduced brush borders. In experimental AKI, intensity of KIM-1 expression increased in proportion to the severity of injury and was consistently present in S3 but only transiently in other segments. Vimentin was absent in proximal tubules of healthy cats but expressed in injured S3. These findings indicate that S3 is the proximal tubular segment most susceptible to ischemic injury and that KIM-1 is a sensitive tissue indicator of AKI in cats.
NK Cells Delay Allograft Rejection in Lymphopenic Hosts by Downregulating the Homeostatic Proliferation of CD8+ T Cells

T cells present in lymphopenic environments undergo spontaneous (homeostatic) proliferation resulting in expansion of the memory T cell pool. Homeostatically generated memory T cells protect the host against infection but can cause autoimmunity and allograft rejection. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that regulate homeostatic T cell proliferation is germane to clinical settings in which lymphodepletion is used. In this study, we asked whether NK cells, which regulate immune responses in lymphocyte-replete hosts, also regulate homeostatic T cell proliferation under lymphopenic conditions. We found that T cells transferred into genetically lymphocyte-deficient RAG−/− mice proliferate faster and generate more CD8+ memory T cells if NK cells were absent. CD8+ T cells that underwent homeostatic proliferation in the presence of NK cells generated mostly effector memory (CD44highCD62Llow) lymphocytes, whereas those that divided in the absence of NK cells were skewed toward central memory (CD44highCD62Lhigh). The latter originated predominantly from proliferation of the “natural” central memory CD8+ T cell pool. Regulation of homeostatic proliferation by NK cells occurred independent of perforin but was reversed by excess IL-15. Importantly, NK depletion enhanced CD8+ T cell recovery in T cell-depleted wild-type mice and accelerated rejection of skin allografts, indicating that regulation of homeostatic proliferation by NK cells is not restricted to genetically lymphocyte-deficient animals. These results demonstrate that NK cells downregulate homeostatic CD8+ T cell proliferation in lymphopenic environments by competing for IL-15. Concomitant NK and T cell depletion may be undesirable in transplant recipients because of enhanced expansion of memory CD8+ T cells that increase the risk of rejection.
Load Balancing and Workstation Autonomy on Amoeba

This paper presents the results of a load balancing study carried out on the distributed operating system Amoeba. The study is intended to investigate the e ectiveness of di erent load balancing methodologies on a workstation-based system, specifying job initiation vs. process migration. The results indicate that both methods can improve system performance, such as response time. The results also show that job initiation plays a more important role in a load balancing scheme than process migration for the process migration mechanism used in this work. A number of load balancing algorithms, both centralized and distributed, have been studied in this work. The results of our experiments show that a centralized algorithm outperforms a distributed one in performance and scalability. We also discuss the trading technique used in this study, which allows the owner of a workstation to decide whether join or leave load balancing dynamically. We conclude with a summary of our experiences and suggestions for
The safety and efficacy of dabrafenib and trametinib for the treatment of melanoma

ABSTRACT Introduction: The introduction of BRAF and MEK inhibitors into clinical practice improved the prognosis of metastatic melanoma patients. The combination of BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib with MEK inhibitor trametinib has shown its superiority to single agent therapy and is characterized by a tolerable spectrum of adverse events which shows a decrease in incidence over time on treatment. Areas covered: The current scientific literature on safety and adverse events (AEs) related to BRAF and MEK-inhibition has been investigated with special focus on the large phase 3 studies (COMBI-v, COMBI-d and CoBRIM) as well as recent updates presented at oncology and melanoma meetings. Additionally, published case series/case reports were screened for information on AEs. Expert opinion: Even though almost every patient (98%) under combination therapy with dabrafenib and trametinib experiences at least one adverse event, these are generally mild to moderate, reversible and can be managed with dose reductions or interruptions. However, due to an increased life expectancy, there is a substantial need to prevent and treat also mild adverse events, as they play a central role for the quality of life of patients. Ongoing clinical trials will have to demonstrate the efficacy as well as safety of triple combination with anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 antibodies.