Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urolithin A attenuates ox-LDL-induced endothelial dysfunction partly by modulating microRNA-27 and ERK/PPAR-γ pathway.

SCOPE Endothelial dysfunction and inflammation are both common events occurring during the development of atherosclerosis. Previous studies have shown that urolithins, the intestinal microflora metabolites of ellagitannin, exhibit anti-inflammation and antioxidative properties. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of urolithin A (UA) on ox-LDL-induced (where ox-LDL is oxidized low-density lipoprotein) endothelial dysfunction and possible modes of action. METHODS AND RESULTS Human artery endothelial cells were incubated with 50 μg/mL ox-LDL and various concentrations of UA for 24 h. UA improved the productions of nitric oxide and endothelial nitric oxide synthase in a dose-dependent manner. UA markedly reduced the expressions of ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1) and MCP-1 (monocyte chemotactic protein 1) and further attenuated THP-1 (human acute monocytic leukemia cell line) cell adhesion. In addition, UA suppressed expressions of tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 6, and endothelin 1, and increased PPAR-γ (peroxisome proliferators activated receptor gamma) mRNA expression. Moreover, UA decreased miR-27 expression, and overexpression of miR-27 by adding pre-miR-27 abolished the ability of UA to improve ox-LDL-induced PPAR-γ decrease. Furthermore, UA significantly downregulated phosphorylated ERK1/2 (where ERK is extracellular signal-regulated kinase) while decreasing interleukin 6 level and elevating PPAR-γ. CONCLUSIONS UA could alleviate endothelial dysfunction induced by ox-LDL partially through modulating miR-27 expression and ERK/PPAR-γ pathway.
Herschel : the first science highlights Special feature L E A search for debris disks in the Herschel-ATLAS ⋆

Aims. We aim to demonstrate that the Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) is suitable for a blind and unbiased survey for debris disks by identifying candidate debris disks associated with main sequence stars in the initial science demonstration field of the survey. We show that H-ATLAS reveals a population of far-infrared/sub-mm sources that are associated with stars or star-like objects on the SDSS main-sequence locus. We validate our approach by comparing the properties of the most likely candidate disks to those of the known population. Methods. We use a photometric selection technique to identify main sequence stars in the SDSS DR7 catalogue and a Bayesian Likelihood Ratio method to identify H-ATLAS catalogue sources associated with these main sequence stars. Following this photometric selection we apply distance cuts to identify the most likely candidate debris disks and rule out the presence of contaminating galaxies using UKIDSS LAS K-band images. Results. We identify 78 H-ATLAS sources associated with SDSS point sources on the main-sequence locus, of which two are the most likely debris disk candidates: H-ATLAS J090315.8 and H-ATLAS J090240.2. We show that they are plausible candidates by comparing their properties to the known population of debris disks. Our initial results indicate that bright debris disks are rare, with only 2 candidates identified in a search sample of 851 stars. We also show that H-ATLAS can derive useful upper limits for debris disks associated with Hipparcos stars in the field and outline the future prospects for our debris disk search programme.
Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes

Increased demand for corn grain as an ethanol feedstock is altering U.S. agricultural landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. From 2006 to 2007, corn acreage increased 19% nationally, resulting in reduced crop diversity in many areas. Biological control of insects is an ecosystem service that is strongly influenced by local landscape structure. Here, we estimate the value of natural biological control of the soybean aphid, a major pest in agricultural landscapes, and the economic impacts of reduced biocontrol caused by increased corn production in 4 U.S. states (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). For producers who use an integrated pest management strategy including insecticides as needed, natural suppression of soybean aphid in soybean is worth an average of $33 ha−1. At 2007–2008 prices these services are worth at least $239 million y−1 in these 4 states. Recent biofuel-driven growth in corn planting results in lower landscape diversity, altering the supply of aphid natural enemies to soybean fields and reducing biocontrol services by 24%. This loss of biocontrol services cost soybean producers in these states an estimated $58 million y−1 in reduced yield and increased pesticide use. For producers who rely solely on biological control, the value of lost services is much greater. These findings from a single pest in 1 crop suggest that the value of biocontrol services to the U.S. economy may be underestimated. Furthermore, we suggest that development of cellulosic ethanol production processes that use a variety of feedstocks could foster increased diversity in agricultural landscapes and enhance arthropod-mediated ecosystem services.
Investigation of the role of curcumin against the toxicity induced by bisphenol a on the reproductive system in male rats

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor and an environmental pollutant; it can produce free radicals, which cause damage in various tissues. Curcumin has been demonstrated to help with a variety of male reproductive diseases, as well as to scavenge free radicals and function as an antioxidant. The aim is to estimate the protective role of Curcumin against the toxic effect of BPA in male rats by determining the levels of antioxidants and sexual hormones, before and after treatment with this herb. The effect of curcumin as a protective role against BPA on the oxidative stress parameters showed that Curcumin could decrease MDA concentration and at the same time increase the concentration of both catalase and SOD. Also, the results revealed that Curcumin could increase the concentration of LH, FSH, and testosterone as compared to the BPA-treated group.
Narcolepsy: Clinical Decision Making for the Primary Care Physician

Narcolepsy is a serious neurological condition in which patients are overcome by persistent, excessive feelings of fatigue and drowsiness. In addition to chronic fatigue, patients with narcolepsy often succumb to intermittent, uncontrollable periods where they abruptly fall asleep during waking hours. In addition to episodic bouts of daytime sleeping, narcoleptics also exhibit cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. Unfortunately, many individuals with narcolepsy remain undiagnosed and therefore, untreated, posing a risk to themselves and those around them. There is currently no cure for this lifelong disease. Nonetheless, narcolepsy can be effectively managed with medications, lifestyle changes, and the peripheral support of individuals such as family members, coworkers, and other casual relations.
RESPONSE OF OAT (Avena sativa L.) TO NITROGEN LEVELS UNDER DIFFERENT CUTTING MANAGEMENT

A field experiment was conducted at Main Forage Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand to find out the “Response of Oat (Avena sativa L.) to Nitrogen levels under Different Cutting Management " during rabi season of 2011. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with four replications. Twelve treatment combinations comprised three levels of cutting managements C1 (Single cut at 50% flowering), C2 (first cut at 50 DAS & second cut at 50% flowering), C3 (first cut at 60 DAS & second cut at 50% flowering) and four levels of Nitrogen (60, 80, 100 and 120 kg N ha). The results revealed that the cutting management showed significant influence on growth and yield attributes viz., plant height . Abstract at harvest, number of tillers per metre row length at harvest and leaf: stem ratio. Single cut at 50 % flowering (C1) recorded significantly the highest plant height and number of tillers per metre row length of 139.30 cm and 74.60, respectively. At first cut and mean of both the cuts, C2 recorded significantly the highest leaf: stem ratio i.e. 4.70 and 3.40, respectively. Green forage, dry matter and crude protein yields of forage oat were significantly influenced by cutting management in first and second cut, as well as in total yield of both the cuts. The treatment C2 of first cut at 50 DAS & second cut at 50%flowering recorded significantly the highest green forage, dry matter and crude protein yields of 752.37and 119.51 and 17.78 q ha, respectively in total yield of both the cuts. In first cut and mean of both the cuts, treatment C2 (first cut at 50 DAS & second cut at 50%flowering) recorded significantly the highest crude protein content of 16.45 and 14.85 percent, respectively. The higher NDF content of 59.00 per cent was recorded in treatment C1 (Single cut at 50% flowering) in first cut. Nitrogen levels significantly influenced the growth and yield attributes viz., plant height at harvest, number of tillers per
A New Method for Temperature Spatial Interpolation Based on Sparse Historical Stations

AbstractLong-term grid historical temperature datasets are the foundation of climate change research. Datasets developed by traditional interpolation methods usually contain data for a period of less than 50 yr, with a relatively low spatial resolution owing to the sparse distribution of stations in the historical period. In this study, the point interpolation based on Biased Sentinel Hospitals Areal Disease Estimation (P-BSHADE) method has been used to interpolate 1-km grids of monthly surface air temperatures in the historical period of 1900–50 in China. The method can be used to remedy the station bias resulting from sparse coverage, and it considers the characteristics of spatial autocorrelation and nonhomogeneity of the temperature distribution to obtain unbiased and minimum error variance estimates. The results have been compared with those from widely used methods such as kriging, inverse distance weighting (IDW), and a combined spline with kriging (TPS-KRG) method, both theoretically and empirical.
Hippocampal Lesion Patterns in Acute Posterior Cerebral Artery Stroke: Clinical and MRI Findings

Background and Purpose— Reports of ischemic stroke affecting the hippocampus are rare. In this study we used diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) to characterize patients with posterior circulation stroke involving the hippocampus. Methods— Fifty-seven consecutive acute stroke patients with hippocampal infarct (HI) on DWI were analyzed with regard to clinical features and ischemic lesion patterns. The last 20 of these underwent additional neuropsychological testing of short-term, working, and episodic long-term memory. Results— We found unilateral HI in 54 and bilateral HI in 3 patients. Visual analysis identified 4 patterns of DWI lesion affecting (1) the complete hippocampus (15/60), (2) the lateral (19/60) or (3) dorsal (22/60) parts of the hippocampal body and tail, and (4) circumscribed lesions in the lateral hippocampus (4/60), corresponding well to hippocampal vascular anatomy. In all cases DWI showed further ischemic lesions in the posterior circulation. Symptoms from lesions outside the hippocampus were the common leading clinical signs. Whereas mnestic deficits were prominent in only 11/57 patients, neuropsychological examination in 20 patients showed deficits of verbal episodic long-term memory in left and of nonverbal episodic long-term memory in right HI. Conclusion— Several phenotypic lesion patterns can be distinguished in HI that usually occur as part of multifocal PCA ischemia. A careful neuropsychological examination is necessary to detect resulting memory deficits.
Antitumorigenic Effect of Wnt 7a and Fzd 9 in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cells Is Mediated through ERK-5-dependent Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ*

The Wnt pathway is critical for normal development, and mutation of specific components is seen in carcinomas of diverse origins. The role of this pathway in lung tumorigenesis has not been clearly established. Recent studies from our laboratory indicate that combined expression of the combination of Wnt 7a and Frizzled 9 (Fzd 9) in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) cell lines inhibits transformed growth. We have also shown that increased expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) inhibits transformed growth of NSCLC and promotes epithelial differentiation of these cells. The goal of this study was to determine whether the effects of Wnt 7a/Fzd 9 were mediated through PPARγ. We found that Wnt 7a and Fzd 9 expression led to increased PPARγ activity. This effect was not mediated by altered expression of the protein. Wnt 7a and Fzd 9 expression resulted in activation of ERK5, which was required for PPARγ activation in NSCLC. SR 202, a known PPARγ inhibitor, blocked the increase in PPARγ activity and restored anchorage-independent growth in NSCLC expressing Wnt 7a and Fzd 9. SR 202 also reversed the increase in E-cadherin expression mediated by Wnt 7a and Fzd 9. These data suggest that ERK5-dependent activation of PPARγ represents a major effector pathway mediating the anti-tumorigenic effects of Wnt 7a and Fzd 9 in NSCLC.
Evidence for inbreeding depression in a species with limited opportunity for maternal effects

It is often assumed that mating with close relatives reduces offspring fitness. In such cases, reduced offspring fitness may arise from inbreeding depression (i.e., genetic effects of elevated homozygosity) or from post-mating maternal investment. This can be due to a reduction in female investment after mating with genetically incompatible males (“differential allocation”) or compensation for incompatibility (“reproductive compensation”). Here, we looked at the effects of mating with relatives on offspring fitness in mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki. In this species, females are assumed to be nonplacental and to allocate resources to eggs before fertilization, limiting differential allocation. We looked at the effects of mating with a brother or with an unrelated male on brood size, offspring size, gestation period, and early offspring growth. Mating with a relative reduced the number of offspring at birth, but there was no difference in the likelihood of breeding, gestation time, nor in the size or growth of these offspring. We suggest that due to limited potential for maternal effects to influence these traits that any reduction in offspring fitness, or lack thereof, can be explained by inbreeding depression rather than by maternal effects. We highlight the importance of considering the potential role of maternal effects when studying inbreeding depression and encourage further studies in other Poeciliid species with different degrees of placentation to test whether maternal effects mask or amplify any genetic effects of mating with relatives.
Utilization of screening and preventive surgery among unaffected carriers of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation.

OBJECTIVE Women who are carriers of BRCA gene mutations have an elevated lifetime risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Although a number of risk-reducing options are currently available to mutation carriers, uncertainty exists in terms of their efficacy. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to describe the utilization of screening and preventive surgery among unaffected mutation carriers in the face of uncertainty. METHODS MEDLINE, PubMed, and CANCERLIT, English-only computerized literature searches were done to identify articles pertaining to decisions made by unaffected BRCA mutation carriers to reduce risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Studies were required to include information on choices taken by at-risk women following disclosure of a positive BRCA test. RESULTS Only seven studies (5 American and 2 Dutch studies) were identified. The proportion of mutation carriers who chose preventive surgery over screening varied widely across the studies, ranging from 0% to 54% for prophylactic mastectomy and from 13% to 53% for prophylactic oophorectomy. Furthermore, a significant minority of women who chose surveillance failed to comply with the recommended schedule. CONCLUSION There is considerable variability within and between countries in risk reduction strategies utilized by healthy mutation carriers. This variability may relate to differences in (1) population characteristics; (2) recommendations for follow-up care of unaffected carriers; (3) prevailing values towards body integrity, femininity, and preventive surgery; and (4) health care funding systems. Future research needs to provide further insight into factors influencing women's decisions to adopt various risk reduction strategies.
Hantavirus infections in Europe and their impact on public health

Hantaviruses (genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae) are enveloped tri‐segmented negative‐stranded RNA viruses each carried by a specific rodent or insectivore host species. Several different hantaviruses known to infect humans circulate in Europe. The most common is Puumala (PUUV) carried by the bank vole; another two important, genetically closely related ones are Dobrava–Belgrade (DOBV) and Saaremaa viruses (SAAV) carried by Apodemus mice (species names follow the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses nomenclature). Of the two hantaviral diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantaviral cardiopulmonary syndrome, the European viruses cause only HFRS: DOBV with often severe symptoms and a high case fatality rate, and PUUV and SAAV more often mild disease. More than 10,000 HFRS cases are diagnosed annually in Europe and in increasing numbers. Whether this is because of increasing recognition by the medical community or due to environmental factors such as climate change, or both, is not known. Nevertheless, in large areas of Europe, the population has a considerable seroprevalence but only relatively few HFRS cases are reported. Moreover, no epidemiological data are available from many countries. We know now that cardiac, pulmonary, ocular and hormonal disorders are, besides renal changes, common during the acute stage of PUUV and DOBV infection. About 5% of hospitalized PUUV and 16%–48% of DOBV patients require dialysis and some prolonged intensive‐care treatment. Although PUUV–HFRS has a low case fatality rate, complications and long‐term hormonal, renal, and cardiovascular consequences commonly occur. No vaccine or specific therapy is in general use in Europe. We conclude that hantaviruses have a significant impact on public health in Europe. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Performance Comparison of OLSR Protocol by Experiments and Simulations for Different TC Packet Intervals

Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) have an increased interest in applications for covering rural areas due to the possibility of usage of low-cost and high-performance mobile terminals, without having to depend on the network infrastructure. MANET terminals are mobile and routes change dynamically, so routing algorithms are an important issue for operation of MANETs. Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) is a widely-used proactive routing protocol for MANET. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of OLSR Protocol for different values of TC packet interval time by experiments and simulations. We conduct experiments in a MANET test bed and simulations in QualNet environment. The performance is investigated for different number of hops, different TC interval values and two scenarios. From results we found that the low value of TC packet interval increases the throughput performance. While in case of experiments, the throughput is decreased because the route changes very often.
Geostatistical Solutions for Super-Resolution Land Cover Mapping

Super-resolution land cover mapping aims at producing fine spatial resolution maps of land cover classes from a set of coarse-resolution class fractions derived from satellite information via, for example, spectral unmixing procedures. Based on a prior model of spatial structure or texture that encodes the expected patterns of classes at the fine (target) resolution, this paper presents a sequential simulation framework for generating alternative super-resolution maps of class labels that are consistent with the coarse class fractions. Two modes of encapsulating the prior structural information are investigated-one uses a set of indicator variogram models, and the other uses training images. A case study illustrates that both approaches lead to super-resolution class maps that exhibit a variety of spatial patterns ranging from simple to complex. Using four different examples, it is demonstrated that the structural model controls the patterns seen on the super-resolution maps, even for cases where the coarse fraction data are highly constraining.
Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Skills (AKAS) of Telemedicine and Its Use by Primary Healthcare Providers

Background This study aimed to determine the rate of telemedicine (TM) use and the levels of awareness, knowledge, attitude, and skills of TM among primary healthcare (PHC) providers. Methods In a cross-sectional study, 104 PHC providers were subjected to a validated AKAS scale via Survey Monkey. The tool consists of 4 parameters that users can respond to using a 4-point Likert scale to assess their awareness (12 statements), knowledge (11 statements), attitude (11 statements), and skills (13 statements) on TM. Total and percentage mean scores (PMS) were calculated for each parameter. Participants were categorized in each parameter into three categories: low (≤ 49% score), average (50–70% score), and high (≥ 71% score) levels. The association of AKAS levels with personal characteristics and TM use was investigated. The significance was set at p<0.05. Results One-half of participants (51%) reported current use of TM, and two-thirds (63.5%) reported a high level of AKAS, with a PMS of 72.9±14.7, 95% CI: 70.1–75.7. There were significant associations between the following: years of experience and levels of knowledge (Χ2LT = 6.77, p= 0.009) and skills (Χ2LT = 4.85, p = 0.028), respectively; and total household income and levels of skills (Χ2LT = 6.91, p= 0.009). The rate of TM use was significantly associated with awareness levels (Χ2LT = 6.14, p = 0.013). Lack of training ranked as the first barrier (45.5%), followed by connection problems and tools’ unavailability (35.1% each). The participants recommended providing TM training (41.1%) and stabilization of connection and networking signals (30.1%). Conclusion Despite their high level of TM awareness, the rate of TM use by PHC providers is less than satisfactory. Establishing standardized TM training and supporting the network signals are recommended. A large-scale study on the impact of TM integration with PHC services is necessary.