Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro reproductive toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls: Effects on oocyte maturation and developmental competence in cattle

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are one of the most persistent and widespread group of endocrine disrupting compounds in the ecosystem. High concentrations of these substances are known to be present in sewage sludge from industrial, agricultural, and domestic origin that is spread in increasing amounts on arable land and pasture as fertilizer and is found in water, representing an increasing risk for the reproductive health of farm animals. Objective of this study was to determine the impact of PCBs on maturation and developmental competence of cattle oocytes. Since PCBs are a family of 209 molecules present in the environment as a mixture, Aroclor‐1254, a pool of more than 60 congeners, was used in these experiments as its composition is considered to be environmentally relevant. Cumulus–oocytes complexes were exposed during IVM to serial concentrations of Aroclor‐1254 (between 1 μg/ml and 0.0001 μg/ml) and compared with control groups. Aroclor decreased the percentage of oocytes that reached metaphase II stage after 24 hr, at doses as low as 0.01 μg/ml. Groups treated with 0.001 μg/ml or above, showed an impaired fertilization rate and a dramatic increase of polyspermy. Moreover, exposure during maturation resulted in a reduced proportion of oocytes that cleaved and developed until blastocyst stage although no differences in embryo cell numbers were observed. The present study indicates that very low PCBs concentrations are sufficient to disrupt bovine oocyte maturation, its fertilization, and developmental competence. These results also provide a set of reference data for the assessment of the risk posed by these substances to animal reproductive health, though further work will be necessary to equate in vitro doses to in vivo exposures. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 58:411–416, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Leishmania donovani depletes labile iron pool to exploit iron uptake capacity of macrophage for its intracellular growth

Intracellular pathogens employ several strategies for iron acquisition from host macrophages for survival and growth, whereas macrophage resists infection by actively sequestering iron. Here, we show that instead of allowing macrophage to sequester iron, protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani (LD) uses a novel strategy to manipulate iron uptake mechanisms of the host and utilizes the taken up iron for its intracellular growth. To do so, intracellular LD directly scavenges iron from labile iron pool of macrophages. Depleted labile iron pool activates iron sensors iron‐regulatory proteins IRP1 and IRP2. IRPs then bind to iron‐responsive elements present in the 3′ UTR of iron uptake gene transferrin receptor 1 by a post‐transcriptional mRNA stability mechanism. Increased iron‐responsive element–IRP interaction and transferrin receptor 1 expressions in spleen‐derived macrophages from LD‐infected mice confirm that LD employs similar mechanism to acquire iron during infection into mammalian hosts. Increased intracellular LD growth by holo‐transferrin supplementation and inhibited growth by iron chelator treatment confirm the significance of this modulated iron uptake pathway of host in favour of the parasite.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Open Access Signaling Mechanisms in Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-induced Death of Microvascular Endothelial Cells of the Corpus Luteum

The microvasculature of the corpus luteum (CL), which comprises greater than 50% of the total number of cells in the CL, is thought to be the first structure to undergo degeneration via apoptosis during luteolysis. These studies compared the apoptotic potential of various cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α, TNFα; interferon gamma, IFNγ; soluble Fas ligand, sFasL), a FAS activating antibody (FasAb), and the luteolytic hormone prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α) on CL-derived endothelial (CLENDO) cells. Neither sFasL, FasAb nor PGF 2α had any effect on CLENDO cell viability. Utilizing morphological and biochemical parameters it was evident that TNFα and IFNγ initiated apoptosis in long-term cultures. However, TNFα was the most potent stimulus for CLENDO cell apoptosis at early time points. Unlike many other studies described in non-reproductive cell types, TNFα induced apoptosis of CLENDO cells occurs in the absence of inhibitors of protein synthesis. TNFα-induced death is typically associated with acute activation of distinct intracellular signaling pathways (e.g. MAPK and sphingomyelin pathways). Treatment with TNFα for 5–30 min activated MAPKs (ERK, p38, and JNK), and increased ceramide accumulation. Ceramide, a product of sphingomyelin hydrolysis, can serve as an upstream activator of members of the MAPK family independently in numerous cell types, and is a well-established pro-apoptotic second messenger. Like TNFα, treatment of CLENDO cells with exogenous ceramide significantly induced endothelial apoptosis. Ceramide also activated the JNK pathway, but had no effect on ERK and p38 MAPKs. Pretreatment of CLENDO cells with glutathione (GSH), an intracellular reducing agent and known inhibitor of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or TNFα-induced apoptosis, significantly attenuated TNFα-induced apoptosis. It is hypothesized that TNFα kills CLENDO cells through elevation of reactive oxygen species, and intracellular signals that promote apoptosis.
A hierarchical resource reservation algorithm for network enabled servers

This paper presents the application of the PIF algorithm for resource reservation in a network enabled server environment with distributed scheduling agents. Hierarchical scheduling is applied to improve the scalability of the overall architecture. Fault tolerance problems are also addressed using timers. The simulation shows that gains can be obtained using such a platform over single scheduler approaches.
Height and drinking status in relation to risk of anemia in rural adult healthy Japanese men: the Nagasaki Islands study

Abstract Background: Several studies have reported that height is inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease but positively associated with cancer risk. On the other hand, evidence has been accumulating that anemia reflects poor health and increased vulnerability to poor outcomes in older persons. Moreover, alcohol consumption has also been reported to be associated with mortality. However, no studies have reported on a possible association between height and risk of anemia in relation to drinking status. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1287 men aged 40–89 years undergoing general health check-ups. Results: Independent from classic cardiovascular risk factors, we found a significant inverse association between height and anemia for non-drinkers and a J-shaped association for drinkers. The multivariable odds ratio (ORs) of an increment of 1 SD (standard deviation) in height (6.68 cm) for anemia for non-drinkers was 0.59 (0.45–0.77). For drinkers, with the second quartile of height (Q2) as the reference group, the multivariable OR of anemia was 2.68(0.90–7.96) (p = 0.075) for the lowest height quartile (Q1), 2.73(0.92–8.08) for the third quartile (Q3) and 4.82(1.65–14.10) for the highest quartile (Q4) (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Height was found to be associated with anemia for rural Japanese men and drinking status is likely to affect those associations.
A benchmark implementation for evaluating the performance of power-aware routing algorithms in practical Software-Defined Networks

The increase in demand for high network bandwidth has significantly increased the network power consumption and hence, capital expenditure and operational expenditure costs. Service providers are investigating various approaches to reduce operational and management costs, while delivering richer services across their networks. Recently, several centralized power-aware routing heuristic algorithms have been proposed leveraging the centralized control of the Software Defined Networking (SDN) architecture. However, a base solution for benchmarking the performance of these algorithms has not been developed yet. In this paper we propose an implementation of the centralized power-aware routing problem for SDN in GAMS. This implementation facilitates solving the problem using commercial packages and hence serves as a benchmark for accessing the performance of centralized power-aware routing algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the developed implementation.
Classifying Three-way Seismic Volcanic Data by Dissimilarity Representation

Multi-way data analysis is a multivariate data analysis technique having a wide application in some fields. Nevertheless, the development of classification tools for this type of representation is incipient yet. In this paper we study the dissimilarity representation for the classification of three-way data, as dissimilarities allow the representation of multi-dimensional objects in a natural way. As an example, the classification of seismic volcanic events is used. It is shown that in this application classification based on 2D spectrograms, dissimilarities perform better than on 1D spectral features.
Interictal EEG, Hippocampal Atrophy, and Cell Densities in Hippocampal Sclerosis and Hippocampal Sclerosis Associated With Microscopic Cortical Dysplasia

Summary The EEG characteristics of isolated hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and HS associated with other types of temporal lobe pathology are not well defined. The pathologic substrate may be an important variable in determining seizure-free outcome. The objective of this study was to define the distribution of epileptiform discharges in patients with HS and HS associated with microscopic dysplasia, and to examine their relationship with hippocampal atrophy and cell loss. Thirty-four patients (15 women and 19 men; mean age, 30.6 ± 11.2 years), all with good outcomes after temporal lobectomy (Engel classes I and II), were included. The characteristics studied were frequency and distribution of spikes, MRI-based hippocampal volume ratios, and quantitative hippocampal cell density in various subregions. The isolated HS group showed a trend to a higher percentage of epileptiform discharges maximal at the anterior temporal electrodes (89.87 ± 17.0%; 79.5 ± 28.2% in the dual-pathology group). The isolated HS group had, on average, significantly more cell loss (P < 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between the amount of cell loss in the CA1 area and both anterior temporal spikes and hippocampal ratios (P < 0.05). Isolated HS and dual pathology show minimal differences in interictal spike distribution and frequency. More widespread spike distributions in severe isolated HS compared with patients with less cell loss is probably the result of less organized limbic circuitry.
Application of MALDI-TOF MS for requalification of a Candida clinical isolates culture collection

Microbial culture collections underpin biotechnology applications and are important resources for clinical microbiology by supplying reference strains and/or performing microbial identifications as a service. Proteomic profiles by MALDI-TOF MS have been used for Candida spp. identification in clinical laboratories and demonstrated to be a fast and reliable technique for the routine identification of pathogenic yeasts. The main aim of this study was to apply MALDI-TOF MS combined with classical phenotypic and molecular approaches to identify Candida clinical isolates preserved from 1 up to 52 years in a Brazilian culture collection and assess its value for the identification of yeasts preserved in this type of collections. Forty Candida spp. clinical isolates were identified by morphological and biochemical analyses. Identifications were also performed by the new proteomic approach based on MALDI-TOF MS. Results demonstrated 15% discordance when compared with morphological and biochemical analyses. Discordant isolates were analysed by ITS sequencing, which confirmed the MALDI-TOF MS identifications and these strains were renamed in the culture collection catalogue. In conclusion, proteomic profiles by MALDI-TOF MS represents a rapid and reliable method for identifying clinical Candida species preserved in culture collections and may present clear benefits when compared with the performance of existing daily routine methods applied at health centres and hospitals.
Selective expression of connective tissue growth factor in fibroblasts in vivo promotes systemic tissue fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a cysteine-rich secreted matricellular protein involved in wound healing and tissue repair. Enhanced and prolonged expression of CTGF has been associated with tissue fibrosis in humans. However, questions remain as to whether CTGF expression alone is sufficient to drive fibrosis. This study was undertaken to investigate whether CTGF alone is sufficient to cause fibrosis in intact animals and whether its effects are mediated through activation of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) signaling or through distinct signal transduction pathways. METHODS We generated mice overexpressing CTGF in fibroblasts under the control of the fibroblast-specific collagen alpha2(I) promoter enhancer. Tissues such as skin, lung, and kidney were harvested for histologic analysis. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts were prepared from embryos (14.5 days postcoitum) for biochemical analysis. RESULTS Mice overexpressing CTGF in fibroblasts were susceptible to accelerated tissue fibrosis affecting the skin, lung, kidney, and vasculature, most notably the small arteries. We identified a marked expansion of the myofibroblast cell population in the dermis. RNA analysis of transgenic dermal fibroblasts revealed elevated expression of key matrix genes, consistent with a fibrogenic response. CTGF induced phosphorylation of p38, ERK-1/2, JNK, and Akt, but not Smad3, in transgenic mouse fibroblasts compared with wild-type mouse fibroblasts. Transfection experiments showed significantly increased basal activity of the CTGF and serum response element promoters, and enhanced induction of the CTGF promoter in the presence of TGFbeta. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that selective expression of CTGF in fibroblasts alone causes tissue fibrosis in vivo through specific signaling pathways, integrating cues from the extracellular matrix into signal transduction pathways to orchestrate pivotal biologic responses relevant to tissue repair and fibrosis.
Estimation and experimental study of the density and specific heat for alumina nanofluid

This study analyses the density and specific heat of alumina (Al2O3)/water nanofluid to determine the feasibility of relative calculations. The Al2O3/water nanofluid was produced by the direct-synthesis method with cationic chitosan dispersant served as the experimental sample, and was dispersed into three concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt. %. This experiment measures the density and specific heat of nanofluid with weight fractions and sample temperatures with a liquid density meter and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). To assess the availability of these equations, it then compares the experimental data with the calculated results according to the concepts of mixing theory and statistical mechanism. Comparing the calculated results of density and specific heat with the experimental data, the deviation of density fell within the range of −1.50% to 0.06% and 0.25% to 2.53%, whereas the deviation of specific heat fell within the range of −0.07% to 5.88% and −0.35% to 4.94%, respectively. Calculated results of density and specific heat show a trend of greater deviation with an increased concentration of nanofluid. However, two kinds of density and specific heat of the calculated results fall within an acceptable deviation range in this study.
Self-Interest versus Group-Interest in Antiviral Control

Antiviral agents have been hailed to hold considerable promise for the treatment and prevention of emerging viral diseases like H5N1 avian influenza and SARS. However, antiviral drugs are not completely harmless, and the conditions under which individuals are willing to participate in a large-scale antiviral drug treatment program are as yet unknown. We provide population dynamical and game theoretical analyses of large-scale prophylactic antiviral treatment programs. Throughout we compare the antiviral control strategy that is optimal from the public health perspective with the control strategy that would evolve if individuals make their own, rational decisions. To this end we investigate the conditions under which a large-scale antiviral control program can prevent an epidemic, and we analyze at what point in an unfolding epidemic the risk of infection starts to outweigh the cost of antiviral treatment. This enables investigation of how the optimal control strategy is moulded by the efficacy of antiviral drugs, the risk of mortality by antiviral prophylaxis, and the transmissibility of the pathogen. Our analyses show that there can be a strong incentive for an individual to take less antiviral drugs than is optimal from the public health perspective. In particular, when public health asks for early and aggressive control to prevent or curb an emerging pathogen, for the individual antiviral drug treatment is attractive only when the risk of infection has become non-negligible. It is even possible that from a public health perspective a situation in which everybody takes antiviral drugs is optimal, while the process of individual choice leads to a situation where nobody is willing to take antiviral drugs.
Population Kinetics of Tobramycin in Neonates

The population kinetics of tobramycin were studied in 140 neonates (100/40 patients for the index/validation groups, respectively) of 30 to 42 weeks' gestational age and 0.8 to 4.25 kg current body weight in their first 2 weeks of life, undergoing routine therapeutic drug monitoring of their tobramycin serum levels. The 365 tobramycin concentration measurements obtained were analyzed by use of NONMEM according to a one-compartment open model with zero-order absorption and first-order elimination. The effect of a variety of demographic, developmental, and clinical factors (gender, height, birth weight, current weight, gestational age, postnatal age, postconceptional age, and serum creatinine concentration) on clearance and volume of distribution was investigated. Forward selection and backward elimination regression identified significant covariates. The final pharmacostatistical model with influential covariates was as follows (full population): clearance (L/h) = 0.0508 × current weight (kg), multiplied by 0.843 if birth weight was 2.5 kg or less (low-birthweight infants), and volume of distribution (L) = 0.533 × current weight (kg). Using the proportional error model for the random-effects parameters, interindividual variability for clearance and for volume of distribution was determined to be 25.8% and 21.9%, respectively, and the residual variability was 19.2%. In this study, the use of the NONMEM gave significant and consistent information on the pharmacokinetics and the determinants of the pharmacokinetic variability of tobramycin in neonates when compared with available bibliographic information. Moreover, the final population pharmacokinetic model may be used to design a priori recommendations for tobramycin and to improve the dosing readjustments through Bayesian estimation.
Pristimerin inhibits breast cancer cell migration by up- regulating regulator of G protein signaling 4 expression.

BACKGROUND/AIM Pristimerin isolated from Celastrus and Maytenus spp can inhibit proteasome activity. However, whether pristimerin can modulate cancer metastasis is unknown. METHODS The impacts of pristimerin on the purified and intracellular chymotrypsin proteasomal activity, the levels of regulator of G protein signaling 4 (RGS 4) expression and breast cancer cell lamellipodia formation, and the migration and invasion were determined by enzymatic, Western blot, immunofluorescent, and transwell assays, respectively. RESULTS We found that pristimerin inhibited human chymotrypsin proteasomal activity in MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Pristimerin also inhibited breast cancer cell lamellipodia formation, migration, and invasion in vitro by up-regulating RGS4 expression. Thus, knockdown of RGS4 attenuated pristimerin-mediated inhibition of breast cancer cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, pristimerin inhibited growth and invasion of implanted breast tumors in mice. CONCLUSION Pristmerin inhibits proteasomal activity and increases the levels of RGS4, inhibiting the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells.
Gerrit Metabolism Criteria − − Revascularization Using Different Perfusion Prediction of Improvement of Regional Left Ventricular Function After

J Nucl Med. W. Sloof, Paolo M. Fioretti and Cees A. Visser Jeroen J. Bax, Frans C. Visser, Abdou Elhendy, Don Poldermans, Jan H. Cornel, Arthur van Lingen, Eric Boersma, Gerrit Metabolism Criteria −− Revascularization Using Different Perfusion Prediction of Improvement of Regional Left Ventricular Function After http://jnm.snmjournals. org/content/40/11/1866 This article and updated information are available at: http://jnm.snmjournals. org/site/subscriptions/online.xhtml Information about subscriptions to JNM can be found at: http://jnm.snmjournals. org/site/misc/permission.xhtml Information about reproducing figures, tables, or other portions of this article can be found online at:
IGFBP2 is a biomarker for predicting longitudinal deterioration in renal function in type 2 diabetes

Objective Insulin-like growth factors are implicated in the development of diabetic nephropathy. IGF-binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) and IGF2 are expressed in the kidney, but their associations with diabetic nephropathy are unclear. We therefore tested the hypothesis that circulating levels of IGF2 and IGFBP2 predict longitudinal renal function in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Design and methods IGFBP2 and IGF2 measurements were performed in 436 individuals (263 males) with type 2 diabetes. Linear mixed-effect regression analysis was used to model the relationship between plasma IGFBP2 concentration and longitudinal changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over an 8-year period. Analyses were also performed for IGF1, IGF2, IGFBP1 and IGFBP3 concentrations as predictors of longitudinal renal outcomes. Results High IGFBP2 concentration at baseline was associated with a decreased eGFR over an 8-year period (β=−0.02, (95% confidence interval −0.03 to −0.01), P<0.001). High IGFBP1, IGFBP2 and IGFBP3 were also associated with low baseline eGFR concentration. Conclusion This study demonstrates that IGFBP2 is a predictor of longitudinal deterioration of renal function in type 2 diabetes.
Symmetrization of L\'evy processes and applications

It is shown that many of the classical generalized isoperimetric inequalities for the Laplacian when viewed in terms of Brownian motion extend to a wide class of Levy processes. The results are derived from the multiple integral inequalities of Brascamp, Lieb and Luttinger but the probabilistic structure of the processes plays a crucial role in the proofs.