Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of mechanical and functional properties by continuous vertical cast NiTi rod

Ale{ Stamboli}1,2, Monika Jenko1,2, Aleksandra Kocijan1, Borut @u`ek1, Damjana Drobne3, Rebeka Rudolf4,5 1Institute of Metals and Technology, Lepi pot 11, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 2Jo`ef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 3Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, Ve~na pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 4University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia 5Zlatarna Celje d.o. o. , Kersnikova ulica 19, 3000 Celje, Slovenia ales.stambolic@imt.si
THIS JOB IS KILLING ME: THE IMPACT OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS ON CORRECTIONAL STAFF JOB STRESS

Working in a correctional institute is often a demanding and stressful job. This study examined the impact of job characteristics and job involvement on correctional staff job stress. Specifically, the effects of supervision, perceived dangerousness of the job, job variety, feedback, role stress, and job involvement were studied, while controlling for the effects of the personal characteristics of gender, educational level, race, age, and tenure. Using Ordinary Least Squared regression, it was observed that gender, age, perceived dangerousness of the job, feedback, role stress, and job involvement had statistically significant effects on correctional staff job stress. Tenure, educational level, race, supervision, and job variety had non-significant effects.
Mast Cells Contribute to Radiation-Induced Vascular Hyperpermeability

Induction of vascular hyperpermeability is one of the early vascular responses to radiation exposure and is considered to contribute to subsequent fibrosis and tissue injuries. However, the mechanism underlying radiation-induced hyperpermeability has not yet been clearly elucidated. Here, we provide experimental evidence indicating that mast cells contribute to the increase in vascular permeability for albumin in normal mouse skin after irradiation. Vascular permeability in the skin of C3H mice increased after 2, 15 and 50 Gy irradiation, peaked at 24 h after irradiation and gradually decreased thereafter to the baseline level within 3–10 days. Both the extent and duration of hyperpermeability were dose dependent. We found significant degranulation of mast cells in the skin after 15 Gy irradiation. To further investigate the role of mast cells in the radiation-induced increase in vascular permeability, we measured vascular permeability in the skin of mast cell-deficient mice (WWv) and their wild-type littermates at 24 h after irradiation. Vascular permeability in WWv mice did not change, whereas that in wild-type mice significantly increased after irradiation. There were no appreciable changes in the total tissue levels of vascular endothelial growth factor or endothelial nitric oxide synthase after 15 Gy irradiation and there was no detectable expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase. Collectively, these results show that exposure to radiation induces vascular hyperpermeability in a dose-dependent manner and that mast cells contribute to this process.
E47 and Id1 Interplay in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

E12/E47 proteins (encoded by E2A gene) are members of the class I basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (also known as E proteins). E47 has been described as repressor of E-cadherin and inducer of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We reported previously that EMT mediated by E47 in MDCK cells occurs with a concomitant overexpression of Id1 and Id3 proteins. Id proteins belong to class V of HLH factors that lack the basic domain; they dimerise with E proteins and prevent their DNA interaction, thus, acting as dominant negative of E proteins. Here, we show that E47 interacts with Id1 in E47 overexpressing MDCK cells that underwent a full EMT as well as in mesenchymal breast carcinoma and melanoma cell lines. By conducting chromatin immunoprecipitation assays we demonstrate that E47 binds directly to the endogenous E-cadherin promoter of mesenchymal MDCK-E47 cells in a complex devoid of Id1. Importantly, our data suggest that both E47 and Id1 are required to maintain the mesenchymal phenotype of MDCK-E47 cells. These data support the collaboration between E47 and Id1 in the maintenance of EMT by mechanisms independent of the dominant negative action of Id1 on E47 binding to E-cadherin promoter. Finally, the analysis of several N0 breast tumour series indicates that the expression of E47 and ID1 is significantly associated with the basal-like phenotype supporting the biological significance of the present findings.
What is new and promising with drug-eluting stents in sinus surgery?

Purpose of reviewIn the surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis, medical therapy is often used to prevent postoperative complications such as adhesions. These complications often require painful debridements in the clinic or revision surgery. Systemic steroids are not without risk and topical steroids are not ideal, as the duration of mucosal contact and exact dosage are unknown and penetration into gravity-dependent sinuses is suboptimal. Therefore, we reviewed the literature assessing the use of drug-eluting stents in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis. Recent findingsThree randomized controlled trials and a meta-analysis support the efficacy and safety of the use of steroid-eluting implants in chronic rhinosinusitis. Implants placed in the ethmoid sinuses at the time of surgery have been found to significantly reduce postoperative adhesions, recurrence of polyposis, middle turbinate lateralization, the need for postoperative oral steroids and the need for postoperative interventions. Studies also support the ocular safety of steroid-eluting implants. SummarySteroid-eluting implants are well tolerated and an effective addition to the armamentarium utilized in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis. Future developments for the use of drug-eluting implants in chronic rhinosinusitis are discussed.
An Approach to Software Product Testing

An approach is presented that uses the following techniques: automatic test case generation, self-checking test cases, black box test cases, random test cases, sampling, a form of exhaustive testing, correctness measurements, and the correction of defects in the test cases instead of in the product (defect circumvention). The techniques are cost-effective and have been applied to very large products. >
Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies

Various theories have been proposed to explain momentum in stock returns. We test the gradual-information-diffusion model of Hong and Stein ~1999! and establish three key results. First, once one moves past the very smallest stocks, the profitability of momentum strategies declines sharply with firm size. Second, holding size fixed, momentum strategies work better among stocks with low analyst coverage. Finally, the effect of analyst coverage is greater for stocks that are past losers than for past winners. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that firm-specific information, especially negative information, diffuses only gradually across the investing public.
The use of Polarimetric AIRSAR ( POLSAR ) data for characterising mangrove communities

INTRODUCTION Mougin et al. (1999) and Proisy et al. (2001, 2002) demonstrated, through observation and simulation, the capacity of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for quantifying the biomass and structure of mangroves in French Guiana. In this preliminary study, we aimed to establish whether similar backscatter characteristics were observed for mangroves in northern Australia. AIRSAR data were acquired for the French Guiana and northern Australian mangroves in 1993 and 1996 respectively.
Genetic and Morphological Differentiation of the Semiterrestrial Crab Armases angustipes (Brachyura: Sesarmidae) along the Brazilian Coast

The genetic and morphometric population structures of the semiterrestrial crab Armases angustipes from along the Brazilian coast were examined. The influence of the Central South Equatorial Current on larval dispersal of A. angustipes also was evaluated. Six populations were sampled from estuarine areas in São Luis do Maranhão, Maranhão; Natal, Rio Grande do Norte; Maceió, Alagoas; Ilhéus, Bahia; Aracruz, Espírito Santo; and Guaratuba, Paraná. Patterns of genetic differentiation were assessed using DNA sequence data corresponding to parts of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1. Geometric morphometric techniques were used to evaluate morphological variation in shape and size of the carapace and right cheliped propodus. Our results revealed low genetic variability and lack of phylogeographic structure; geometric morphometrics showed statistically significant morphological differentiation and geographic structuring. Our data indicate the absence of possible barriers to gene flow for this mobile species, and no clear correlation of morphological or genetic variation with ocean currents and/or geographic distance. Our results also suggest that historical geological and climatological events and/or possible bottleneck effects influenced the current low genetic variability among the populations of A. angustipes.
Evaluation of free-stall mattress bedding treatments to reduce mastitis bacterial growth.

Bacterial counts were compared in free-stall mattresses and teat ends exposed to 5 treatments in a factorial study design on 1 dairy farm. Mattresses in five 30-cow groups were subjected to 1 of 5 bedding treatments every other day: 0.5 kg of hydrated limestone, 120 mL of commercial acidic conditioner, 1 kg of coal fly ash, 1 kg of kiln-dried wood shavings, and control (no bedding). Counts of coliforms, Klebsiella spp. , Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus spp. were lowest on mattresses bedded with lime. Mattresses bedded with the commercial acidic conditioner had the next lowest counts for coliforms, Klebsiella spp. , and Streptococcus spp. Wood shavings and the no-bedding control had the highest counts for coliform and Klebsiella spp. Compared with wood shavings or control, fly ash reduced the counts of coliforms, whereas for the other 3 bacterial groups, the reduction was not always significant. Streptococcus spp. counts were greatest in the control group and did not differ among the shavings and fly ash groups. Teat swab results indicated that hydrated lime was the only bedding treatment that significantly decreased the counts of both coliforms and Klebsiella spp. There were no differences in Streptococcus spp. numbers on the teats between any of the bedding treatments. Bacterial populations grew steadily on mattresses and were generally higher at 36 to 48 h than at 12 to 24 h, whereas bacterial populations on teats grew rapidly by 12 h and then remained constant. Hydrated lime was the only treatment that significantly reduced bacterial counts on both mattresses and teat ends, but it caused some skin irritation.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Cancer: An Epidemiological Assessment

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic and persistent chemicals produced between 1930s and 1980s primarily for insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment in power plants, industries, and large buildings. They persist in the environment and accumulate in plants and animals, and have been classified as probable carcinogens to humans. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of scientific literature on the relationship between PCB exposure and human cancer. Two cohorts of people highly exposed to PCBs through ingestion of contaminated rice oil and some cohorts of occupationally exposed workers failed to show a definite increase in total cancer mortality and provided inconsistent results regarding single cancers. Several cohort and case-control studies investigated the association between PCBs and specific cancers, showing an association between PCB serum levels and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), with a summary odds ratio of 1.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.1–1.7), but no consistent results for the other cancer sites and types. In conclusion, this review provides some evidence for the role of PCBs in the development of NHL, although the inconsistent results of studies performed on highly polluted people and occupationally exposed workers do not allow a firm conclusion to be drawn.
Epithelial and Mesenchymal Cell Biology Small Cytoskeleton-Associated Molecule , Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1 Oncogene Partner 2 / Wound Inducible Transcript-3 . 0 ( FGFR 1 OP 2 / wit 3 . 0 ) , Facilitates Fibroblast-Driven Wound Closure

Wounds created in the oral cavity heal rapidly and leave minimal scarring. We have examined a role of a previously isolated cDNA from oral wounds encoding wound inducible transcript-3.0 (wit3.0), also known as fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 oncogene partner 2 (FGFR1OP2). FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 was highly expressed in oral wound fibroblasts without noticeable up-regulation of -smooth muscle actin. In silico analyses, denaturing and nondenaturing gel Western blot, and immunocytology together demonstrated that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 were able to dimerize and oligomerize through coiled-coil structures and appeared to associate with cytoskeleton networks in oral wound fibroblasts. Overexpression of FGFR1OP2/ wit3.0 increased the floating collagen gel contraction of naïve oral fibroblasts to the level of oral wound fibroblasts, which was in turn attenuated by smallinterfering RNA knockdown. The FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 synthesis did not affect the expression of collagen I as well as procontractile peptides such as -smooth muscle actin, and transforming growth factor1 had no effect on FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 expression. Fibroblastic cells derived from embryonic stem cells carrying FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 ( / ) mutation showed significant retardation in cell migration. Thus, we postulate that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 may regulate cell motility and stimulate wound closure. FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 was not upregulated during skin wound healing; however, when treated with FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 -expression vector, the skin wound closure was significantly accelerated, resulting in the limited granulation tissue formation. Our data suggest that FGFR1OP2/wit3.0 may possess a therapeutic potential for wound management. (Am J Pathol 2010, 176:108–121; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2010.090256)
Anti-cancer potency of tasquinimod is enhanced via albumin-binding facilitating increased uptake in the tumor microenvironment

Tasquinimod, an orally active quinoline-3-carboxamide, binds with high affinity to HDAC4 and S100A9 in cancer and infiltrating host cells within compromised tumor microenvironment inhibiting adaptive survival pathways needed for an angiogenic response. Clinical trials document that as low as 0.5-1mg tasquinimod/day is therapeutic against castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer. Tasquinimod is metabolized via cytochrome P4503A4, but ketoconazole at a dose which completely inhibits CYP3A metabolism does not affect tasquinimod's ability to inhibit endothelial "sprouting" in vitro or anti-cancer efficacy against human prostate cancer xenografts in vivo. Tasquinimod's potency is facilitated by its reversible binding (Kd < 35 μM) to the IIA subdomain of albumin (Sudlow's site I). As blood vessels within the compromised cancer microenvironment are characterized by a higher degree of leakiness than those in normal tissues, this results in an enhanced uptake of tasquinimod bound to albumin in cancer tissue via a tumor specific process known as the "enhanced permeability and retention" (i.e., EPR) effect. Thus, despite plasma levels of < 1 µM, the EPR effect results in intracellular drug concentrations of 2-3 µM, levels several-fold higher than needed for inhibition of endothelial sprouting (IC50 ~ 0.5 µM) or for inhibition of HDAC4 and S100A9 mediated tumor growth.
Mechanism-based resource allocation for multimedia transmission over spectrum agile wireless networks

We propose to add a new dimension to existing wireless multimedia systems by enabling autonomous stations to dynamically compete for communication resources through adjustment of their internal strategies and sharing their private information. We focus on emerging spectrum agile wireless networks, where developing an efficient strategy for managing available communication resources is of high importance. The proposed dynamic resource management approach for wireless multimedia changes the passive way stations are currently adapting their joint source-channel coding strategies according to available wireless resources. Each wireless station can play the resource management game by adapting its multimedia transmission strategy depending on the experienced channel conditions and user requirements. The resource allocation game is coordinated by a network moderator, which deploys mechanism-based resource management to determine the amount of transmission time to be allocated to various users on different frequency bands such that certain global system metrics are optimized. Subsequently, the moderator charges the various users based on the amount of resources it has allocated to them, in order to discourage them from being dishonest about their resource requirements. We investigate and quantify both the users' and the system performance when different cross-layer strategies, and hence users' levels of smartness, are deployed by wireless stations. Our simulations show that mechanism-based resource management outperforms conventional techniques such as air-fair time and equal time resource allocation in terms of the obtained system utility. They also provide insights that can guide the design of emerging spectrum agile network protocols and applications
Crypt cell development in newborn rat small intestine

Three monoclonal antibodies were prepared against luminal membranes from small intestinal cells of 3-d-old rats (YBB 1/27, YBB 3/10) and crypt cell membranes from adult rats (CC 4/80). The antibodies were shown to define specific stages of development of the intestinal crypt cells. The YBB 1/27 antigen was first detected at the luminal membrane of the epithelial cells in fetal intestine at day 20 of gestation; it was confined to the crypt cells and lower villus cells between 1 and 20- 22 d after birth, and could not be detected in any region of the intestine in older animals. The YBB 3/10 antigen, identified as a set of high Mr proteins, was localized over the entire surface membrane of fetal intestinal cells and of crypt and villus cells after birth; after weaning (20-22 d after birth) it gradually disappeared from the villus cells and became confined to the region of the crypts. The CC 4/80 antigen, identified as a protein (or a set of related proteins) of molecular mass 28-34 kD, was shown to appear in the crypt cells 10-14 d after birth. Its distribution changed after weaning, when it disappeared from the crypts, and was localized in the absorptive lower villus cells. This change in pattern could, in part, be prematurely elicited by cortisone injection in younger animals. These results have demonstrated the presence of specific surface membrane components on the intestinal crypt cells, and suggested that fetal antigens may be retained in these cells after birth.
Spatially resolved spectroscopy of planetary nebulae and their halos - I. Five galactic disk objects

Strong mass loss off stars at the tip of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) profoundly affects properties of these stars and their surroundings, including the subsequent planetary nebula (PN) stage. With this study we wanted to determine physical properties of mass loss by studying weakly emitting halos, focusing on objects in the galactic disk. Halos surround the, up to several thousand times, brighter central regions of PNe. Young halos, specifically, still contain information of the preceeding final mass loss stage on the AGB. In the observations we used the method of integral field spectroscopy with the PMAS instrument. This is the first committed study of halos of PNe that uses this technique. We improved our data analysis by a number of steps. In a study of the influence of scattered light we found that a moderate fraction of intensities in the inner halo originate in adjacent regions. As we combine line intensities of distant wavelengths, and because radial intensity gradients are steep, we corrected for effects of differential atmospheric refraction. In order to increase the signal-to-noise of weak emission lines we introduced a dedicated method to bin spectra of individual spatial elements. We also developed a general technique to part the temperature-sensitive oxygen line [O iii] λ4363 from the adjacent telluric mercury line Hg λ4358 – without using separate sky exposures. By these steps we avoided introducing errors of several thousand Kelvin to our temperature measurements in the halo. For IC 3568 we detected a halo. For M 2–2 we found a halo radius that is 2.5 times larger than reported earlier. We derived radially densely sampled temperature and density structures for four nebulae, which all extend from the central regions and out into the halo. NGC 7662, IC 3568, and NGC 6826 show steep radially increasing temperatures and a hot halo, indicating that the gas in the halo is not in thermal equilibrium. M 2–2 shows a larger temperature in the central region and an otherwise constant value. From the density structures we made estimates of core and halo masses and – for the first time reliable – mass loss rates at the tip of the AGB. All four objects show inwards radially increasing mass loss rate structures, which represent a rise by a factor of about 4–7, during the final mass loss phase, that covers a time period of approximately 10 4 years. Within a factor of two, the average of the maximum mass loss rates, which are distance dependent, is u [%]
An investigation of the variation of dielectric properties of ovine lung tissue with temperature

Presently, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Microwave thermal ablation is commonly used for the treatment of lung cancer. During microwave ablation treatment, changing temperatures (up to 100 °C) cause variations in the dielectric properties of the tissue under treatment. This study investigates the temperature dependence of dielectric properties of ex-vivo ovine lung tissue. The frequency spectrum investigated was from 0.5 GHz to 8 GHz over a total of 201 points. In this study, a microwave ablator (MWA) and a microwave oven (MWO) were used to warm up the samples under investigation. Initially, the spectral variation of the dielectric properties with temperature are presented. The results show that both the real part of the permittivity and the conductivity decrease with temperature for both heating methodologies. The study also investigates the effect of the heating methodology on the measurements. In this case, MWA heating results in a wider range in the measured dielectric parameters compared to MWO. However, the average values for both methodologies are within experimental uncertainty. Finally, the study also presents the temperature coefficients for both the MWA and the MWO tissue heating methods. These results are useful in treatment planning of thermal ablation procedures in order to minimise thermal damage to peripheral tissue.