Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zebrafish as model organisms for studying drug‐induced liver injury

Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is a major challenge in clinical medicine and drug development. New models are needed for predicting which potential therapeutic compounds will cause DILI in humans, and new markers and mediators of DILI still need to be identified. This review highlights the strengths and weaknesses of using zebrafish as a high‐throughput in vivo model for studying DILI. Although the zebrafish liver architecture is different from that of the mammalian liver, the main physiological processes remain similar. Zebrafish metabolize drugs using similar pathways to those in humans; they possess a wide range of cytochrome P450 enzymes that enable metabolic reactions including hydroxylation, conjugation, oxidation, demethylation and de‐ethylation. Following exposure to a range of hepatotoxic drugs, the zebrafish liver develops histological patterns of injury comparable to those of mammalian liver, and biomarkers for liver injury can be quantified in the zebrafish circulation. The zebrafish immune system is similar to that of mammals, but the zebrafish inflammatory response to DILI is not yet defined. In order to quantify DILI in zebrafish, a wide variety of methods can be used, including visual assessment, quantification of serum enzymes and experimental serum biomarkers and scoring of histopathology. With further development, the zebrafish may be a model that complements rodents and may have value for the discovery of new disease pathways and translational biomarkers.
Isolation of the mite Myocoptes musculinus Koch from the Spinifex Hopping mouse (Notomys alexis)

This paper reports on the isolation and identification of the fur-clasping mite, Myocoptes musculinus, from the faeces of the Spinifex Hopping mouse (Notomys alexis). This investigation adds to the sparse records of ectoparasites collected from native Australian murids.
Vicarious Trauma, Secondary Traumatic Stress or Simply Burnout? Effect of Trauma Therapy on Mental Health Professionals

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to perform an assessment for secondary traumatic stress (STS), vicarious trauma (VT) and workplace burnout for Australian mental health professionals involved in clinical practice. Methods: Recruited directly by mail, randomly selected participants were invited to submit a questionnaire by post or online. Of the 480 participants contacted, 152 mental health professionals completed the questionnaire, which contained measures of STS, VT and burnout. Results: Exposure to patients’ traumatic material did not affect STS, VT or burnout, contradicting the theory of the originators of STS and VT. Rather, it was found that work-related stressors best predicted therapist distress. Conclusions: These findings have significant implications for the direction of research and theory development in traumatic stress studies, calling into question the existence of secondary trauma-related phenomena and enterprises aimed at treating the consultants.
Recognition of the laminin E8 cell-binding site by an integrin possessing the alpha 6 subunit is essential for epithelial polarization in developing kidney tubules

It has been previously shown that A-chain and domain(E8)-specific antibodies to laminin that inhibit cell adhesion also interfere with the establishment of epithelial cell polarity during kidney tubule development (Klein, G., M. Langegger, R. Timpl, and P. Ekblom. 1988. Cell. 55:331-341). A monoclonal antibody specific for the integrin alpha 6 subunit, which selectively blocks cell binding to E8, was used to study the receptors involved. Immunofluorescence staining of embryonic kidneys and of organ cultures of metanephric mesenchyme demonstrated coappearance of the integrin alpha 6 subunit and the laminin A-chain in regions where nonpolarized mesenchymal cells convert into polarized epithelial cells. Both epitopes showed marked colocalization in basal areas of tubules, while an exclusive immunostaining for alpha 6 was observed in lateral and apical cell surfaces of the tubular epithelial cells. Organ culture studies demonstrated a consistent inhibition of kidney epithelium development by antibodies against the alpha 6 subunit. The data suggest that the recognition of E8 cell-binding site of laminin by a specific integrin is crucial for the formation of kidney tubule epithelium from undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells. In some other cell types (endothelium, some ureter cells) an exclusive expression of alpha 6 with no apparent colocalization of laminin A-chain in the corresponding basement membrane was seen. Thus, in these cells, integrins possessing the alpha 6 subunit may bind to laminin isoforms that differ from those synthesized by developing tubules.
Preparation and Characterization of Sg. Sayong Clay Material for Biocatalyst Immobilization

This study was conducted to characterize Sg. Sayong clay so that it can be applied as a supporting material for the immobilization of biocatalyst in the bioconversion of wastewater into biofuel. The clay sample was physically and chemically characterized using Nitrogen Adsorption, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The results obtained showed that the clay composed of SiO2 (57.4%), followed by Al2O3 (32.5%), K2O (4.9%), Fe2O3 (3.8%) and traces amount of Ca, Mg, Ma, and Ti. The results also showed the clay type was kaolinite with some presence of quartz, illite, montmorillonite and microcline. The clay was also successfully coated onto the wire-mesh and immobilized with biocatalyst for further bioconversion study.
Evaluation of plasma lactate concentration and base excess at the time of hospital admission as predictors of gastric necrosis and outcome and correlation between those variables in dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus: 78 cases (2004-2009).

OBJECTIVE To determine the correlation between plasma lactate concentration and base excess at the time of hospital admission and evaluate each variable as a predictor of gastric necrosis or outcome in dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV). DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 78 dogs. PROCEDURES For each dog, various data, including plasma lactate concentration and base excess at the time of hospital admission, surgical or necropsy findings, and outcome, were collected from medical records. RESULTS Gastric necrosis was identified in 12 dogs at the time of surgery and in 4 dogs at necropsy. Sixty-five (83%) dogs survived to hospital discharge, whereas 13 (17%) dogs died or were euthanized. Of the 65 survivors and 8 nonsurvivors that underwent surgery, gastric necrosis was detected in 8 and 4 dogs, respectively. Via receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, an initial plasma lactate concentration cutoff of 7.4 mmol/L was 82% accurate for predicting gastric necrosis (sensitivity, 50%; specificity, 88%) and 88% accurate for predicting outcome (sensitivity, 75%; specificity, 89%). Among all dogs, the correlation between initial plasma lactate concentration and base excess was significant, although base excess was a poor discriminator for predicting gastric necrosis or outcome (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.571 and 0.565, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE In dogs with GDV, plasma lactate concentration at the time of hospital admission was a good predictor of gastric necrosis and outcome. However, despite the correlation between initial base excess and plasma lactate concentration, base excess should not be used for prediction of gastric necrosis or outcome in those patients.
On the statistics of cognitive radio capacity in shadowing and fast fading environments

In this paper we consider the capacity of the cognitive radio (CR) channel in a fading environment under a “low interference regime”. This capacity depends critically on a power loss parameter, α, which governs how much transmit power the CR dedicates to relaying the primary message. We derive a simple, accurate approximation to α which gives considerable insight into system capacity. We also investigate the effects of system parameters and propagation environment on α and the CR capacity. In all cases, the use of the approximation is shown to be extremely accurate. Finally, we derive the probability that the “low interference regime” holds and demonstrate that this is the dominant case, especially in practical CR deployment scenarios.
Vectorial transport of bile salts across MDCK cells expressing both rat Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide and rat bile salt export pump.

Bile salts are predominantly taken up by hepatocytes via the basolateral Na(+)-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP/SLC10A1) and secreted into the bile by the bile salt export pump (BSEP/ABCB11). In the present study, we transfected rat Ntcp and rat Bsep into polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and characterized the transport properties of these cells for eight bile salts. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that Ntcp was expressed at the basolateral domains, whereas Bsep was expressed at the apical domains. Basal-to-apical transport of taurocholate across the monolayer expressing only Ntcp and that coexpressing Ntcp/Bsep was observed, whereas the flux across the monolayer of control and Bsep-expressing cells was symmetrical. Basal-to-apical transport of taurocholate across Ntcp/Bsep-coexpressing monolayers was significantly higher than that across monolayers expressing only Ntcp. Kinetic analysis of this vectorial transport of taurocholate gave an apparent K(m) value of 13.9 +/- 4.7 microM for cells expressing Ntcp alone, which is comparable with 22.2 +/- 4.5 microM for cells expressing both Ntcp and Bsep and V(max) values of 15.8 +/- 4.2 and 60.8 +/- 9.0 pmol.min(-1). mg protein(-1) for Ntcp alone and Ntcp and Bsep-coexpressing cells, respectively. Transcellular transport of cholate, glycocholate, taurochenodeoxycholate, chenodeoxycholate, glycochenodeoxycholate, tauroursodeoxycholate, ursodeoxycholate, and glycoursodeoxycholate, but not that of lithocholate was also observed across the double transfectant. This double-expressing system can be used as a model to clarify vectorial transport of bile salts across hepatocytes under physiological conditions.
Analysis of Vibrio cholierae ToxR function by construction of novel fusion proteins

The ToxR protein is a transmembrane protein that regulates the expression of several virulence factors of Vibrio cholerae. Previous analysis of fusion proteins between ToxR and alkaline phosphatase (ToxR‐PhoA) suggested that ToxR was active as a dimer. In order to determine whether dimerization of the ToxR periplasmic domain was essential for activity, this domain was replaced by monomeric and dimeric protein domains. Surprisingly, PhoA (dimeric), β‐lactamase (monomeric, ToxR–Bla), or the leucine zipper of GCN4 (dimeric, ToxR‐GCN4‐M) could substitute functionally for the ToxR periplasmic domain. ToxR‐GCN4 fusion proteins, in which the ToxR trans‐membrane domain was eliminated (ToxR‐GCN4‐C), were inactive, but an additional fusion protein that contained a heterologous membrane‐spanning domain retained activity. Strains containing each of these ToxR fusion proteins were analysed for in vivo colonization properties and response to in vitro growth conditions that are known to affect expression of the ToxR regulon. Strains containing ToxR‐GCN4‐M and ToxR‐Bla responded like wild‐type strains to in vitro growth conditions. In the infant‐mouse colonization model, strains containing ToxR fusion proteins were all deficient in colonization relative to strains containing wild‐type ToxR, and strains containing monomeric ToxR‐Bla were most severely outcompeted. These results suggest that, under in vitro conditions, ToxR does not require a dimerized periplasmic domain, but that, under in vivo conditions, the correct conformation of the ToxR periplasmic domain may be more important for function.
Harmonics monitoring survey on office LV appliances

The paper reports some experimental measurement results concerning current harmonics and power consumptions associated to some single phase non-linear loads supplied in low voltage. In particular some office equipments and florescent lamps have been monitored during their typical operation phases. For the purpose a custom monitoring system has been used. The harmonic monitoring survey has permitted an interesting characterization of harmonic spectrum variability that is very useful for penetration studies based upon a bottom-up approach.
Using Remote Sensing Products to Identify Marine Association Patterns in Factors Relating to ENSO in the Pacific Ocean

El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its relationships with marine environmental parameters comprise a very complicated and interrelated system. Traditional spatiotemporal techniques face great challenges in dealing with which, how, and where the marine environmental parameters in different zones help to drive, and respond to, ENSO events. Remote sensing products covering a 15-year period from 1998 to 2012 were used to quantitatively explore these patterns in the Pacific Ocean (PO) by a prevail quantitative association rule mining algorithm, that is, a priori, within a mining framework. The marine environmental parameters considered were monthly anomaly of sea surface chlorophyll-a (CHLA), monthly anomaly of sea surface temperature (SSTA), monthly anomaly of sea level anomaly (SLAA), monthly anomaly of sea surface precipitation (SSPA), and monthly anomaly of sea surface wind speed (WSA). Four significant discoveries are found, namely: (1) Association patterns among marine environmental parameters and ENSO events were found primarily in five sub-regions of the PO: the western PO, the central and eastern tropical PO, the middle of the northern subtropical PO, offshore of the California coast, and the southern PO; (2) In the western and the middle and east of the equatorial PO, the association patterns are more complicated than other regions; (3) The following factors were found to be predicators of and responses to La Nina events: abnormal decrease of SLAA and WSA in the east of the equatorial PO, abnormal decrease of SSPA and WSA in the middle of the equatorial PO, abnormal decrease of SSTA in the eastern and central tropical PO, and abnormal increase of SLAA in the western PO; (4) Only abnormal decrease of CHLA in the middle of the equatorial PO was found to be a predicator of and response to El Nino events. These findings will help to improve our abilities to identify the marine association patterns in factors relating to ENSO events.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for World Trade Center Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Report

Done properly by experienced therapists, re-exposure to memories of traumatic events via imaginal exposure therapy can lead to a reduction of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Exposure helps the patient process and habituate to memories and strong emotions associated with the traumatic event: memories and emotions they have been carefully avoiding. But many patients are unwilling or unable to self-generate and re-experience painful emotional images. The present case study describes the treatment of a survivor of the World Trade Center (WTC) attack of 9-11-01 who had developed acute PTSD. After she failed to improve with traditional imaginal exposure therapy, we sought to increase emotional engagement and treatment success using virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy. Over the course of six 1-h VR exposure therapy sessions, we gradually and systematically exposed the PTSD patient to virtual planes flying over the World Trade Center, jets crashing into the World Trade Center with animated explosions and sound effects, virtual people jumping to their deaths from the burning buildings, towers collapsing, and dust clouds. VR graded exposure therapy was successful for reducing acute PTSD symptoms. Depression and PTSD symptoms as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory and the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale indicated a large (83%) reduction in depression, and large (90%) reduction in PTSD symptoms after completing VR exposure therapy. Although case reports are scientifically inconclusive by nature, these strong preliminary results suggest that VR exposure therapy is a promising new medium for treating acute PTSD. This study may be examined in more detail at www.vrpain. com.
Approximating the Permanent

A randomised approximation scheme for the permanent of a 0–1s presented. The task of estimating a permanent is reduced to that of almost uniformly generating perfect matchings in a graph; the latter is accomplished by simulating a Markov chain whose states are the matchings in the graph. For a wide class of 0–1 matrices the approximation scheme is fully-polynomial, i.e., runs in time polynomial in the size of the matrix and a parameter that controls the accuracy of the output. This class includes all dense matrices (those that contain sufficiently many 1’s) and almost all sparse matrices in some reasonable probabilistic model for 0–1 matrices of given density.For the approach sketched above to be computationally efficient, the Markov chain must be rapidly mixing: informally, it must converge in a short time to its stationary distribution. A major portion of the paper is devoted to demonstrating that the matchings chain is rapidly mixing, apparently the first such result for a Markov chain with genuinely c.
Biological markers and the cholinergic hypothesis in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease, senile dementia of Alzheimer type (AD / SDAT) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which early reliable markers must be considered of utmost importance for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Most research has been focused on the brain but there is growing evidence that AD/SDAT is not exclusively confined to the brain. Neurochemical data for AD/SDAT have mostly been obtained from in vitro analysis of transmitter levels, enzyme activities and receptor densities in brain tissues obtained at autopsy or neurosurgery. Deficits in more than one transmitter has been described (1,2, 3). The most consistent and pronounced changes have been found for the cholinergic system in brain and those changes correlate with cognitive function (4). The cholinergic hypothesis of AD/SDAT emerged from the findings of a reduced activity of the enzyme choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in postmortem AD/ SDAT brain tissues ( 5 , 6, 7). Deficits in several presynaptic markers such as the high affinity choline uptake, (8) the synthesis (9) and release (10) of acetylcholine (ACh) and high affinity nicotinic receptors (11, 12) have later been detected in cortical areas of AD/SDAT brains (for review see Table 1). The cholinergic muscarinic receptors, mainly postsynaptically located, are preserved in AD / SDAT. Receptor binding studies have shown unchanged or increased number of muscarinic receptors in AD/SDAT brain tissue compared to control tissue (13, 14). Recent molecular biology studies confirm these observations by showing increased synthesis of mRNA in cortical AD/SDAT tissue (15). The cholinergic deficits in AD/SDAT brains are localized to cortical and hippocampal areas although biochemical deficits have also been observed in other areas such as the putamen, caudate nucleus and amygdala. The nerve terminals in the cortex and hippocampus originate from deeper regions such as the medial forebrain nucleus basalis of Meynert and the medial septum. A loss of cell has been found in these nuclei of AD/SDAT paDepartment of Pharmacology, Uppsala UniverI sity, Box 591, S-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden
Thick and thin points for random recursive fractals

We consider random recursive fractals and prove fine results about their local behaviour. We show that for a class of random recursive fractals the usual multifractal spectrum is trivial in that all points have the same local dimension. However, by examining the local behaviour of the measure at typical points in the set, we establish the size of fine fluctuations in the measure. The results are proved using a large deviation principle for a class of general branching processes which extends the known large deviation estimates for the supercritical Galton-Watson process.
Population mixing promotes arms race host–parasite coevolution

The consequences of host–parasite coevolution are highly contingent on the qualitative coevolutionary dynamics: whether selection fluctuates (fluctuating selection dynamic; FSD), or is directional towards increasing infectivity/resistance (arms race dynamic; ARD). Both genetics and ecology can play an important role in determining whether coevolution follows FSD or ARD, but the ecological conditions under which FSD shifts to ARD, and vice versa, are not well understood. The degree of population mixing is thought to increase host exposure to parasites, hence selecting for greater resistance and infectivity ranges, and we hypothesize this promotes ARD. We tested this by coevolving bacteria and viruses in soil microcosms and found that population mixing shifted bacteria–virus coevolution from FSD to ARD. A simple theoretical model produced qualitatively similar results, showing that mechanisms that increase host exposure to parasites tend to push dynamics towards ARD. The shift from FSD to ARD with increased population mixing may help to explain variation in coevolutionary dynamics between different host–parasite systems, and more specifically the observed discrepancies between laboratory and field bacteria–virus coevolutionary studies.
LXI Perceptual Theories of Middle Ear Muscle Function

As an example of anthropocentr ic th inking , this will do nicely— but we would err if we thought such fallacies confined to the "old days. " Take as an example the cur ren t status of middle ear muscle function theory. In t ra tympan ic muscles have been demonstrated to exist in whales, bats, cats, etc. , as well as in man . I t is tacit ly assumed that since these muscles cont rac t when the ear is presented wi th loud sound (whose intensity is subsequently reduced by a reflex contract ion) their function is protection of the cochlea from sound damage. * The Darwinian question which never seems to have been asked loudly enough is. Where in na ture does one find these loud sounds?
Target-Dependent Sentiment Classification with Long Short Term Memory

Target-dependent sentiment classification remains a challenge: modeling the semantic relatedness of a target with its context words in a sentence. Different context words have different influences on determining the sentiment polarity of a sentence towards the target. Therefore, it is desirable to integrate the connections between target word and context words when building a learning system. In this paper, we develop two target dependent long short-term memory (LSTM) models, where target information is automatically taken into account. We evaluate our methods on a benchmark dataset from Twitter. Empirical results show that modeling sentence representation with standard LSTM does not perform well. Incorporating target information into LSTM can significantly boost the classification accuracy. The target-dependent LSTM models achieve state-of-the-art performances without using syntactic parser or external sentiment lexicons.