Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stretch-induced Calcium Release in Smooth Muscle

Smooth muscle cells undergo substantial increases in length, passively stretching during increases in intraluminal pressure in vessels and hollow organs. Active contractile responses to counteract increased transmural pressure were first described almost a century ago (Bayliss, 1902) and several mechanisms have been advanced to explain this phenomenon. We report here that elongation of smooth muscle cells results in ryanodine receptor–mediated Ca2+ release in individual myocytes. Mechanical elongation of isolated, single urinary bladder myocytes to ∼120% of slack length (ΔL = 20) evoked Ca2+ release from intracellular stores in the form of single Ca2+ sparks and propagated Ca2+ waves. Ca2+ release was not due to calcium-induced calcium release, as release was observed in Ca2+-free extracellular solution and when free Ca2+ ions in the cytosol were strongly buffered to prevent increases in [Ca2+]i. Stretch-induced calcium release (SICR) was not affected by inhibition of InsP3R-mediated Ca2+ release, but was completely blocked by ryanodine. Release occurred in the absence of previously reported stretch-activated currents; however, SICR evoked calcium-activated chloride currents in the form of transient inward currents, suggesting a regulatory mechanism for the generation of spontaneous currents in smooth muscle. SICR was also observed in individual myocytes during stretch of intact urinary bladder smooth muscle segments. Thus, longitudinal stretch of smooth muscle cells induces Ca2+ release through gating of RYR. SICR may be an important component of the physiological response to increases in luminal pressure in smooth muscle tissues.
Characteristics of cement mortar with nano-SiO2 particles

The amorphous or glassy silica, which is the major component of a pozzolan, reacts with calcium hydroxide formed from calcium silicate hydration. The rate of the pozzolanic reaction is proportional to the amount of surface area available for reaction. Therefore, it is plausible to add nano-SiO 2 particles (NS) to make high-performance concrete. The compressive strengths of cement mortar were evaluated at various water-cementitious material ratios (w/cm). Five different w/cm were used, including 0.23, 0.25, 0.32, 0.35, and 0.48 and four contents of NS, 3, 6, 9, and 12% by weight of cement. The compressive strengths of cement mortar with the addition of silica fume were also evaluated at a w/cm of 0.35 to compare with mortar containing nano-SiO 2 particles and three contents of silica fume were: 5, 10, and 15% by weight of cement. The experimental results show that the compressive strengths of mortars with NS were all higher than those of mortars containing silica fume at 7 and 28 days. It was demonstrated that the nano-particles were more valuable in enhancing strength than silica fume. This paper also analyzes some available examinations to monitor the hydration progress continuously, such as SEM observation, residual quantity test for Ca(OH) 2 , and the rate of heat evolution. The results of the examinations indicate that the SiO 2 in nano scale behave not only as a filler to improve the microstructure, but also as an activator to promote pozzolanic reactions.
Automatic Photo Adjustment Using Deep Learning

Photo retouching enables photographers to invoke dramatic visual impressions by artistically enhancing their photos through stylistic color and tone adjustments. However, it is also a time-consuming and challenging task that requires advanced skills beyond the abilities of casual photographers. Using an automated algorithm is an appealing alternative to manual work but such an algorithm faces many hurdles. Many photographic styles rely on subtle adjustments that depend on the image content and even its semantics. Further, these adjustments are often spatially varying. Because of these characteristics, existing automatic algorithms are still limited and cover only a subset of these challenges. Recently, deep machine learning has shown unique abilities to address hard problems that resisted machine algorithms for long. This motivated us to explore the use of deep learning in the context of photo editing. In this paper, we explain how to formulate the automatic photo adjustment problem in a way suitable for this approach. We also introduce an image descriptor that accounts for the local semantics of an image. Our experiments demonstrate that our deep learning formulation applied using these descriptors successfully capture sophisticated photographic styles. In particular and unlike previous techniques, it can model local adjustments that depend on the image semantics. We show on several examples that this yields results that are qualitatively and quantitatively better than previous work.
Native Language Identification using Recurring n-grams – Investigating Abstraction and Domain Dependence

Native Language Identification tackles the problem of determining the native language of an author based on a text the author has written in a second language. In this paper, we discuss the systematic use of recurring n-grams of any length as features for training a native language classifier. Starting with surface n-grams, we investigate two degrees of abstraction incorporating parts-of-speech. The approach outperforms previous work employing a comparable data setup, reaching 89.71% accuracy for a task with seven native languages using data from the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). We then investigate the claim by Brooke and Hirst (2011) that a content bias in ICLE seems to result in an easy classification by topic instead of by native language characteristics. We show that training our model on ICLE and testing it on three other, independently compiled learner corpora dealing with other topics still results in high accuracy classification.
Cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) Are Stage-Dependent Prognostic Markers of Malignant Melanoma

Using tissue microarrays (TMAs) we studied COX2/PPARG immunoreactivity in a broad spectrum of tumors focussing on clinicopathological correlations and the outcome of patients with malignant melanoma (MM). TMA-1 contained normal and tumor tissues (n = 3448) from 47 organs including skin neoplasms (n = 323); TMA-2 88 primary MM, 101 metastases, and 161 benign nevi. Based on a biomodulatory approach combining COX/PPAR-targeting with metronomic low-dose chemotherapy metastases of 36 patients participating in a randomized trial with metastatic (stage IV) melanoma were investigated using TMA-3. COX2/PPARG immunoreactivity significantly increased from nevi to primary MM and metastases; COX2 positivity was associated with advanced Clark levels and shorter recurrence-free survival. Patients with PPARG-positive metastases and biomodulatory metronomic chemotherapy alone or combined with COX2/PPARG-targeting showed a significantly prolonged progression-free survival. Regarding primary MM, COX2 expression indicates an increased risk of tumor recurrence. In metastatic MM, PPARG expression may be a predicitive marker for response to biomodulatory stroma-targeted therapy.
Cognitive behavioural therapy for medically unexplained physical symptoms: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objective: To examine the additional effect of cognitive behavioural therapy for patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms in comparison with optimised medical care. Design: Randomised controlled trial with follow up assessments six and 12 months after the baseline evaluation. Setting: General medical outpatient clinic in a university hospital. Subjects: An intervention group of 39 patients and a control group of 40 patients. Interventions: The intervention group received between six and 16 sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy. Therapeutic techniques used included identification and modification of dysfunctional automatic thoughts and behavioural experiments aimed at breaking the vicious cycles of the symptoms and their consequences. The control group received optimised medical care. Main outcome measures: The degree of change, frequency and intensity of the presenting symptoms, psychological distress, functional impairment, hypochondriacal beliefs and attitudes, and (at 12 months of follow up) number of visits to the general practitioner. Results: At six months of follow up the intervention group reported a higher recovery rate (odds ratio 0.40; 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 1.00), a lower mean intensity of the physical symptoms (difference −1.2; −2.0 to −0.3), and less impairment of sleep (odds ratio 0.38; 0.15 to 0.94) than the controls. After adjustment for coincidental baseline differences the intervention and control groups also differed with regard to frequency of the symptoms (0.32; 0.13 to 0.77), limitations in social (0.35; 0.14 to 0.85) and leisure (0.36; 0.14 to 0.93) activities, and illness behaviour (difference −2.5; −4.6 to −0.5). At 12 months of follow up the differences between the groups were largely maintained. Conclusion: Cognitive behavioural therapy seems to be a feasible and effective treatment in general medical patients with unexplained physical symptoms.
Evidence for two schizophrenia susceptibility genes on chromosome 22q13

Objective Previous linkage scans and meta-analyses for schizophrenia susceptibility loci failed to include the most distal portion of chromosome 22q. Accordingly, 27 families having individuals affected with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were analyzed using a set of highly informative markers covering all of chromosome 22q. Methods Microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism markers were evaluated by nonparametric linkage, parametric linkage, and transmission disequilibrium testing of 22q. Results The maximum nonparametric logarithm of odd scores were 2.9 (P=0.0016) for schizophrenia and 2.7 (P=0.003) for a broader disease definition that included schizotypal personality disorder–both at 44.5 cM within the Sult4A1 locus. Parametric models assuming dominant modes of inheritance and genetic heterogeneity gave maximum multipoint logarithm of odd scores for the broader disease definition at the Sult4A1 locus of 3.3 (P=0.0006) and single point logarithm of odd scores of 3.1–4.8 for Sult4A1 markers (P=0.000015–0.0005). A distal locus, centered at 61 cM, shows a maximum nonparametric logarithm of odd scores of 1.5 (P=0.072) for the broader disease definition. Transmission disequilibrium testing for three adjacent microsatellite markers located near the distal linkage peak revealed significant values for marker D22s526 for schizophrenia (P=0.0016–0.14) and for broader disease definitions including schizotypal personality disorder (P=0.0002–0.0003), and both schizotypal personality disorder plus schizoaffective disorder (P=0.00001–0.000077). Conclusion At least two separable, but closely linked, loci within 22q13 influencing susceptibility to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, might be possible.
Nanomagnetic Gene Transfection for Non-Viral Gene Delivery in NIH 3T3 Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts

The objective of this work was to examine the potential of oscillating nanomagnetic gene transfection systems (magnefect-nano™) for improving the transfection efficiency of NIH3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in comparison to other non-viral transfection techniques—static magnetofection™ and the cationic lipid agent, Lipofectamine 2000™. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) associated with the plasmid coding for green fluorescent protein (GFP) were used to transfect NIH3T3 cells. The magnefect-nano system was evaluated for transfection efficiency, and any potential associated effects on cell viability were investigated. MNPs associated with the plasmid coding for GFP were efficiently delivered into NIH3T3 cells, and the magnefect-nano system significantly enhanced overall transfection efficiency in comparison to lipid-mediated gene delivery. MNP dosage used in this work was not found to affect the cell viability and/or morphology of the cells. Non-viral transfection using MNPs and the magnefect-nano system can be used to transfect NIH3T3 cells and direct reporter gene delivery, highlighting the wide potential of nanomagnetic gene transfection in gene therapy.
Field Evaluation of Warm-Mix Asphalt Technologies

AbstractWarm mix asphalt (WMA) has received considerable attention in the past few years to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions during hot mix asphalt (HMA) production and placement. However, many concerns and questions are still unanswered regarding the field performance and environmental benefits of WMA. In this study, WMA mixtures containing reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) were evaluated in a field project in Ohio. The project included using Aspha-min, Sasobit, and Evotherm in three test sections. Furthermore, a control section was also produced so that a side-by-side comparison could be made between WMA and HMA mixtures. Temperature and emissions were monitored during the production and placement of the considered WMA and HMA mixtures. In addition, core samples were obtained from the evaluated sections and tested in the laboratory. Roughness and rutting measurements were also conducted during the first 46 months of service. The results of this study showed that the emissions were signif.
PCA of PCA: Principal Component Analysis of Partial Covering Absorption in NGC 1365

We analyse 400 ks of XMM–Newton data on the active galactic nucleus NGC 1365 using principal component analysis (PCA) to identify model-independent spectral components. We find two significant components and demonstrate that they are qualitatively different from those found in MCG–6-30-15 using the same method. As the variability in NGC 1365 is known to be due to changes in the parameters of a partial covering neutral absorber, this shows that the same mechanism cannot be the driver of variability in MCG–6-30-15. By examining intervals where the spectrum shows relatively low absorption we separate the effects of intrinsic source variability, including signatures of relativistic reflection, from variations in the intervening absorption. We simulate the principal components produced by different physical variations, and show that PCA provides a clear distinction between absorption and reflection as the drivers of variability in AGN spectra. The simulations are shown to reproduce the PCA spectra of both NGC 1365 and MCG–6-30-15, and further demonstrate that the dominant cause of spectral variability in these two sources requires a qualitatively different mechanism.
A new tool for QT interval analysis during sleep in healthy and obstructive sleep apnea subjects: a study on women

By monitoring the Q wave/T wave (QT) interval computed from electrocardiography (ECG) signals during sleep, it is possible to create a link between the ventricular repolarization and sleep stages. In this study, we aimed to find a robust and simple approach to automatically determine the fiducials on each 30-s sleep epoch, such as the Q, R, and T-end points, on long sleep ECG recordings in order to statistically analyze the effect of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and sleep stages on QT intervals. This is a retrospective study in which the ECG data extracted from the polysomnography recordings of 7 healthy women and 5 women with OSA, acquired in a sleep laboratory, were used. Experts annotated the sleep stage and OSA presence information for each 30-s epoch. Later, we visually selected epochs with clean signals from a total of 8324 epochs. On the selected epochs, we determined R peaks on each heartbeat, and by aligning each ECG portion corresponding to a heartbeat using those R points, we computed an average ECG signal for each epoch. On the average ECG signals, we developed a novel approach to find the Q and T-end points. With the help of Bazzet's formula, we computed the corrected QT interval (QTc) values for each epoch using the QT and the median RR interval. Finally, we analyzed the QTc values for the different sleep stages and healthy or OSA groups. We employed statistical approaches such as the Mann--Whitney U test, Freidman's test, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. As a result of this study, we found that OSA has a prolongation effect on the total duration of the ventricular depolarization and repolarization. We also observed that the QTc values computed in each sleep stage were significantly different between the healthy and OSA groups. Additionally, we discovered that within the healthy group, the QTc values were distinctive in the different sleep stages.
FIXED POINT THEOREMS BY ALTERING DISTANCES FOR OCCASIONALLY WEAKLY COMPATIBLE HYBRID D-MAPPINGS AND APPLICATIONS

The purpose of this paper is to prove a general fixed point theorem by altering distance for two owc pairs hybrid mappings and to reduce the study of fixed points of pairs of mappings satisfying a contractive condition of integral type at the study of fixed point in metric spaces by altering distances satisfying an implicit relation, which generalize some results from [1], [6], [9], [21], [27] and other papers. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 54H25, 47H10.
Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use among People Diagnosed with Cancer

Dietary supplements are regulated in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). An amendment to the FFDCA, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), defines a dietary supplement as a product that is intended to supplement the diet and contains at least one or more of certain dietary ingredients, such as a vitamin, mineral, herb or other botanical, or an amino acid. These products may not be represented as conventional foods and are marketed in forms that include capsules, tablets, gelcaps, softgels, and powders. Although manufacturers are required to have evidence to support their claims of a dietary supplement’s safety and efficacy, FDA approval is not required before a product is marketed. The passage of DSHEA played a role in increasing the use of supplements in the United States by ensuring consumer access to a wide range of such products (U.S. Congress, 1994). The legislation also created the Office of Dietary Supplements within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the mission “to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, stimulating and supporting research, disseminating research results, and educating the public to foster an enhanced quality of life and health for the U.S. population” (Office of Dietary Supplements, 2004). Dietary supplements are commonly purchased and consumed in the United States even though they may not have proven benefits for the general population and, for some, may have harmful effects. However, the possibility that supplements help to prevent cancer development, progression, or reoccurrence attracts many people. A rigorous approach must be taken to determine the circumstances under which dietary supplements may have beneficial health effects on cancer or on any other disease or medical disorder. Special attention must be given to the circumstances that could influence the effects of dietary supplements, including the timing of supplement use, dose and dose–response, the role of specific supplement components, and the impact of interactive factors. This chapter addresses these issues with selected examples. Although it is beyond the scope of this chapter to address these issues for all supplements, the points made here are relevant to almost all categories of dietary supplements.
Preclinical and Early Clinical Evaluation of the Oral AKT Inhibitor, MK-2206, for the Treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia

Purpose: Recent studies suggested that AKT activation might confer poor prognosis in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), providing the rationale for therapeutic targeting of this signaling pathway. We, therefore, explored the preclinical and clinical anti-AML activity of an oral AKT inhibitor, MK-2206. Experimental Methods: We first studied the effects of MK-2206 in human AML cell lines and primary AML specimens in vitro. Subsequently, we conducted a phase II trial of MK-2206 (200 mg weekly) in adults requiring second salvage therapy for relapsed/refractory AML, and assessed target inhibition via reverse phase protein array (RPPA). Results: In preclinical studies, MK-2206 dose-dependently inhibited growth and induced apoptosis in AML cell lines and primary AML blasts. We then treated 19 patients with MK-2206 but, among 18 evaluable participants, observed only 1 (95% confidence interval, 0%–17%) response (complete remission with incomplete platelet count recovery), leading to early study termination. The most common grade 3/4 drug-related toxicity was a pruritic rash in 6 of 18 patients. Nevertheless, despite the use of MK-2206 at maximum tolerated doses, RPPA analyses indicated only modest decreases in Ser473 AKT (median 28%; range, 12%–45%) and limited inhibition of downstream targets. Conclusions: Although preclinical activity of MK-2206 can be demonstrated, this inhibitor has insufficient clinical antileukemia activity when given alone at tolerated doses, and alternative approaches to block AKT signaling should be explored. Clin Cancer Res; 20(8); 2226–35. ©2014 AACR.
Development of Isolated Hepatic Perfusion via the Operative and Percutaneous Techniques for Patients With Isolated and Unresectable Liver Metastases

The development of effective treatment strategies to provide durable control of isolated diffuse metastases to the liver is a major challenge in clinical oncology. The number of patients afflicted annually with isolated liver metastases is considerable; of the 156,000 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2009, it is estimated that up to 40,000 will develop liver metastases as the sole or dominant site of disease progression and of whom only 10% to 20% will have tumors amenable to resection. Patients with neuroendocrine cancers and ocular melanoma will frequently develop isolated and diffuse liver metastases as the dominant mode of tumor metastasis and, although less frequent, patients with other types of cancers such as cutaneous melanoma or breast cancer can occasionally develop isolated diffuse metastases to the liver. Isolated hepatic perfusion and percutaneous hepatic perfusion are under clinical evaluation for patients with diffuse isolated liver metastases from various solid organ cancers. Both share the advantages of intensifying treatment to the cancer-burdened organ of the body to improve efficacy and limit unnecessary systemic toxicity by selectively delivering high-dose therapeutic agents into the hepatic arterial system from which established metastases derive their predominant blood supply. In this article, we will review the history and early clinical development of isolated perfusion, the techniques of isolated hepatic perfusion and percutaneous hepatic perfusion, the current clinical results with isolation perfusion, and discuss the potential future clinical use of these approaches.