Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prophylactic Role of Averrhoa carambola (Star Fruit) Extract against Chemically Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Swiss Albino Mice

Liver cancer remains one of the severe lethal malignancies worldwide and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form. The current study was designed to evaluate the prophylactic role of the fruit of Averrhoa carambola (star fruit or Kamrak) on diethylnitrosamine- (DENA-) induced (15 mg/kg b.wt.; single i.p. injection) and CCl4-promoted (1.6 g/kg b.wt. in corn oil thrice a week for 24 weeks) liver cancer in Swiss albino mice. Administration of ACE was made orally at a dose of 25 mg/kg b.wt/day for 5 consecutive days and it was withdrawn 48 hrs before the first administration of DENA (preinitiational stage). CCl4 was given after 2 weeks of DENA administration. A cent percent tumor incidence was noted in carcinogen treated animals while ACE administration resulted in a considerable reduction in tumor incidence, tumor yield, and tumor burden. Further, ACE treatment brings out a significant reduction in lipid peroxidation (P < 0.001) along with an elevation in the activities of enzymatic antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, P < 0.001, and catalase, P < 0.001), nonenzymatic antioxidant (reduced glutathione, P < 0.001), and total proteins (P < 0.001) when compared to the carcinogen treated control. These results demonstrate that ACE prevents the DENA/CCl4 induced adverse physical and biochemical alterations during hepatic carcinogenesis in mice. This study suggests the prophylactic role of Averrhoa carambola against hepatocellular carcinoma in mice; therefore, it could be employed for the further screening as a good chemopreventive natural supplement against cancer.
Application of MODIS Products for Air Quality Studies Over Southeastern Italy

Aerosol optical thicknesses (AOTs) by the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spetroradiometer (MODIS) on-board Aqua and Terra satellites, and ground-based measurements of PM10 mass concentrations, collected over three years (2006–2008) at two suburban sites which are 20 km apart, are correlated to assess the use of satellite data for regional air quality studies over Southeastern Italy, in the central Mediterranean. Due to the geographical location, this area is affected by local and long-range transported marine, desert (from Sahara), and anthropogenic (from continental Europe) aerosols. 24-hour averaged PM10 mass concentrations span the 1.6–152 µg/m 3 range. Yearly means of PM10 mass concentrations decrease from 2006 to 2008 and vary within the 26–36 µg/m 3 range. Daily mean values of MODIS AOTs vary up to 0.8 at 550 nm, while yearly means span the 0.15–0.17 range. A first assessment of the regression relationship between daily averaged PM10 mass concentrations and MODIS-AOTs shows that linear correlation coefficients ( R ) vary within the 0.20–0.35 range and are affected by the sampling year and the site location. The PM10-AOT correlation becomes stronger (0.34 ≤ R ≤ 0.57) when the analysis is restricted to clear-sky MODIS measurements. The cloud screening procedure adopted within the AERONET network is used in this study to select clear-sky MODIS measurements, since it allows obtaining larger R values than the ones obtained using the cloud fraction MODIS product to select clear-sky MODIS measurements. Using three years of clear-sky measurements to estimate PM10 mass concentrations from MODIS-AOTs, the empirical relation we have found is: PM10 ( m g/m 3 ) = 25 ( m g/m 3 ) + 65 ( m g/m 3 ) × AOT. Over 80% of the differences between the measured and satellite estimated PM10 mass concentrations over the three years are within ±1 standard deviation of the yearly means. The differences between yearly means of calculated and measured mass concentrations that are close to zero in 2006, increase up to 4 m g/m 3 at one siteand 8 m g/m 3 at the other site in 2008. The PM10 mass concentration decrease from 2006 to 2008 contributes to this last result. Our results demonstrate the potential of MODIS data for deriving indirect estimates of PM10 over Southeastern Italy. It is also shown that a stronger relationship between PM10 and MODIS-AOTs is obtained when the AOT is divided by the product of the mixing layer height with the ground wind speed and the analysis restricted to clear sky MODIS measurements. However, we have found that the stronger correlation (0.52 ≤ R ≤ 0.66) does not allow a significant improvement of MODIS-based-estimates of PM10 mass concentrations.
Frequency-influenced Choice of L2 Sound Realization and Perception: Evidence from Two Chinese Dialects

The study of second language speech perception usually put L1-L2 phonological mapping as the rule of thumb in predicting learning outcome, and seldom included more fine-grained aspects such as frequency. This study examines how frequency of sounds in L1 may influence L2 segmental production and perception, with examples from English learners native to two Chinese dialects, Cantonese and Sichuanese. Although these two dialects (L1s) have very similar phonological inventory, they produce certain L2 sounds in drastic difference. Productions of English voiceless interdental fricative and central liquid in the onset position were obtained in free speech from the two dialects’ speakers in vast phonological environments. Then, perception tests, including AX and oddity tasks, were done for these two groups of speakers as well. Results showed that the two English sounds were respectively realized as different sounds in Cantonese and Sichuanese L1, which was reflected by both production and perception data. Findings suggest that L2 category formation is frequency-motivated instead of markedness-motivated, and is significantly influenced by the functional load of L1 sound input. Findings further imply that a quantitative and frequency-sensitive learning model is more suitable for L2 sound acquisition.
Bradykinin Contracts Rat Urinary Bladder Largely Independently of Phospholipase C

Several receptor systems in the bladder causing detrusor smooth muscle contraction stimulate phospholipase C (PLC). PLC inhibition abolishes bladder contraction via P2Y6 but not that via M3 muscarinic receptors, indicating a receptor-dependent role of PLC. Therefore, we explored the role of PLC in rat bladder contraction by bradykinin. The PLC inhibitor U 73,122 [1-(6-[([17β]-3-methoxyestra-1,3,5[10]-trien-17-yl)-amino]hexyl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione] did not affect the bradykinin response to a significantly greater degree than its inactive analog U 73,343 [10 μM each; 1-(6-[-([17β]-3-methoxyestra-1,3,5[10]-trien-17-yl)-amino]hexyl)-2,5-pyrrolidinedione], whereas the phospholipase D inhibitor butan-1-ol relative to its inactive control butan-2-ol caused a weak but significant inhibition (0.3% each). The cytosolic phospholipase A2 inhibitor arachidonyltrifluoromethyl ketone (300 μM) and the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (10 μM) caused strong inhibition of the bradykinin response. The L-type Ca2+ channel blocker nifedipine (10–100 nM) concentration-dependently caused strong inhibition, whereas only a small but significant inhibition was seen with SK&F 96,365 [10 μM; 1-[β-[3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propoxy]-4-methoxyphenethyl]-1H-imidazole HCl], an inhibitor of receptor-operated Ca2+ channels. Several protein kinase C inhibitors yielded an equivocal picture (inhibition by 10 μM bisindolylmaleimide I and 1 μM calphostin but not by 10 μM chelerythrine). The rho kinase inhibitor Y 27,632 [1–10 μM; trans-4-[(1R)-1-aminoethyl]-N-4-pyridinylcyclohexanecarboxamide] caused a strong and concentration-dependent inhibition of the bradykinin response. Our data support that not only M3 but also bradykinin receptors cause bladder contraction by a largely PLC-independent mechanism. Both responses strongly involve L-type Ca2+ channels and rho kinase, whereas only the bradykinin response additionally involves the phospholipase A2/cyclooxygenase pathway.
Scalable and Cost-Effective Interconnection of Data-Center Servers Using Dual Server Ports

The goal of data-center networking is to interconnect a large number of server machines with low equipment cost while providing high network capacity and high bisection width. It is well understood that the current practice where servers are connected by a tree hierarchy of network switches cannot meet these requirements. In this paper, we explore a new server-interconnection structure. We observe that the commodity server machines used in today's data centers usually come with two built-in Ethernet ports, one for network connection and the other left for backup purposes. We believe that if both ports are actively used in network connections, we can build a scalable, cost-effective interconnection structure without either the expensive higher-level large switches or any additional hardware on servers. We design such a networking structure called FiConn. Although the server node degree is only 2 in this structure, we have proven that FiConn is highly scalable to encompass hundreds of thousands of servers with low diameter and high bisection width. We have developed a low-overhead traffic-aware routing mechanism to improve effective link utilization based on dynamic traffic state. We have also proposed how to incrementally deploy FiConn.
Echo State Networks for Self-Organizing Resource Allocation in LTE-U With Uplink–Downlink Decoupling

Uplink–downlink decoupling in which users can be associated to different base stations in the uplink and downlink of heterogeneous small cell networks (SCNs) has attracted significant attention recently. However, most existing works focus on simple association mechanisms in LTE SCNs that operate only in the licensed band. In contrast, in this paper, the problem of resource allocation with uplink–downlink decoupling is studied for an SCN that incorporates LTE in the unlicensed band. Here, the users can access both licensed and unlicensed bands while being associated to different base stations. This problem is formulated as a noncooperative game that incorporates user association, spectrum allocation, and load balancing. To solve this problem, a distributed algorithm based on the machine learning framework of echo state networks (ESNs) is proposed. This proposed algorithm allows the small base stations to autonomously choose their optimal resource allocation strategies given only limited information on the network’s and users’ states. It is shown that the proposed algorithm converges to a stationary mixed-strategy distribution, which constitutes a mixed strategy Nash equilibrium for their studied game. Simulation results show that the proposed approach yields significant gain, in terms of the sum-rate of the 50th percentile of users, that reaches up to 167% compared with a Q-learning algorithm. The results also show that the ESN significantly provides a considerable reduction of information exchange for the wireless network.
What do you say after you say "hello".

Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing what do you say after you say hello as the reading material.
Transformation of Global Agri-Food Systems: Trends, Driving Forces, and Implications for Developing Countries

Global poverty rates have declined considerably, but the number of people living in extreme poverty remains high. Many of the poor are smallholder farmers. Agricultural commercialization – meaning a shift from subsistence to more market-oriented farming – can play a central role in improving smallholder welfare. Previous studies evaluated the impact of agricultural commercialization on income poverty, but whether income gains from commercialization are really used for satisfying basic needs was hardly analyzed up till now. Here, we evaluate the effect of commercialization on income poverty, as well as on the multidimensional poverty index that looks at deprivations in terms of education, nutrition, health, and other dimensions of living standard. Using data from 805 farm households in Kenya, we estimate average treatment effects. We also analyze impact heterogeneity with quantile regressions. Results show that commercialization significantly reduces both income poverty and multidimensional poverty. The magnitude of the income gains is positively correlated with income level, meaning that special market-linkage support for marginalized farms may be required to avoid rising income inequality. However, the effect in terms of reducing basic needs deprivations is strongest among the poorest households, suggesting that agricultural commercialization contributes effectively to achieving the sustainable development goals.
Electron Microscopic and Peroxidase Cytochemical Analysis of Pink Pseudo-Chediak-Higashi Granules in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia 1

Giant round pink inclusions (=2 jam)were seen in neutrophilic myeloblasts, promyelocytes, and myelocytes from three pa tients with acute myelogenous leukemia. On preliminary ex amination of the bone marrow smears, these inclusions looked like ingested red blood cells in that they were pink and not azurophilic. The bone marrow specimens were processed for the electron microscopic demonstration of peroxidase with 3,3'-diaminobenzidine and H2C>2at pH 7.6. In all three cases, the inclusions were determined to be large peroxidase-positive granules since they were limited by a single unit membrane and, unlike endocytized red blood cells, were not contained within phagocytic vacuoles. The granules were homogeneously dense for peroxidase and showed no obvious crystalline struc ture when examined stained or unstained on grid. We believe that they correspond to the giant pink round granules Van Slyck and Rebuck observed in immature leukemic granulocytes in 1974 and termed the pseudo-Chediak-Higashi anomaly. Like the giant purple granules seen in leukemia with this anomaly, these granules also appear to be an abnormal variant of per oxidase-positive azurophil (primary) granules. Their lack of azurophilia is due to the absence of sulfated glycoaminogly-
Sensitization of Radioresistant Prostate Cancer Cells by Resveratrol Isolated from Arachis hypogaea Stems

Resveratrol (RV, 3,4ʹ,5-trihydroxystilbene) is naturally produced by a wide variety of plants including grapes and peanuts (Arachis hypogaea). However, the yield of RV from peanut stem and its potential radiosensitizing effects in prostate cancer (PCa) have not been well investigated. In this study, we characterized RV in peanut stem extract (PSE) for the first time and showed that both RV and PSE dose-dependently induced cell death in DOC-2/DAB2 interactive protein (DAB2IP)-deficient PCa cells with the radioresistant phenotype. Furthermore, the combination of radiation with either RV or PSE induced the death of radioresistant PCa cells through delayed repair of radiation-induced DNA double-strand break (DSB) and prolonged G2/M arrest, which induced apoptosis. The administration of RV and PSE effectively enhanced radiation therapy in the shDAB2IP PCa xenograft mouse model. These results demonstrate the promising synergistic effect of RV and PSE combined with radiation in the treatment of radioresistant PCa.
COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HERITABLE HAPTOGLOBIN GROUPS OF HUMAN SERUM

Ultracentrifugal studies of the α2-proteins of normal human serum before and after the addition of hemoglobin have revealed three separate and clearly distinguishable patterns based on the three major serum haptoglobin groups. Isolation of the three haptoglobin hemoglobin complexes disclosed characteristic patterns for each group. The heterozygote was found to possess electrophoretic and ultracentrifugal components not seen in either homozygote. Separation of normal human serum, to which hemoglobin had been added, by conventional starch zone electrophoresis resulted in three characteristic patterns which also permitted the ready identification of the serum haptoglobin group. The haptoglobin hemoglobin complex from Group 1-1 had the fastest mobility and that of Group 2-2 the slowest. The heterozygote Group 2-1 had an intermediate mobility. Immunologic differences between the haptoglobin hemoglobin complexes of the three groups could not be detected. Some of the variations in the reported electrophoretic and ultracentrifugal patterns of normal human serum could be reasonably ascribed to the group variation of the haptoglobins in man. The physical studies imply that the proteins characteristic of the heterozygote differ in size and charge from those present in either of the two homozygotes and indicate that the genetic control of the synthesis of the serum haptoglobins is probably exceedingly complex.
Ill-defined causes of death in Brazil: a redistribution method based on the investigation of such causes

OBJECTIVE To propose a method of redistributing ill-defined causes of death (IDCD) based on the investigation of such causes. METHODS In 2010, an evaluation of the results of investigating the causes of death classified as IDCD in accordance with chapter 18 of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) by the Mortality Information System was performed. The redistribution coefficients were calculated according to the proportional distribution of ill-defined causes reclassified after investigation in any chapter of the ICD-10, except for chapter 18, and used to redistribute the ill-defined causes not investigated and remaining by sex and age. The IDCD redistribution coefficient was compared with two usual methods of redistribution: a) Total redistribution coefficient, based on the proportional distribution of all the defined causes originally notified and b) Non-external redistribution coefficient, similar to the previous, but excluding external causes. RESULTS Of the 97,314 deaths by ill-defined causes reported in 2010, 30.3% were investigated, and 65.5% of those were reclassified as defined causes after the investigation. Endocrine diseases, mental disorders, and maternal causes had a higher representation among the reclassified ill-defined causes, contrary to infectious diseases, neoplasms, and genitourinary diseases, with higher proportions among the defined causes reported. External causes represented 9.3% of the ill-defined causes reclassified. The correction of mortality rates by the total redistribution coefficient and non-external redistribution coefficient increased the magnitude of the rates by a relatively similar factor for most causes, contrary to the IDCD redistribution coefficient that corrected the different causes of death with differentiated weights. CONCLUSIONS The proportional distribution of causes among the ill-defined causes reclassified after investigation was not similar to the original distribution of defined causes. Therefore, the redistribution of the remaining ill-defined causes based on the investigation allows for more appropriate estimates of the mortality risk due to specific causes.
Changes of flow stress and microstructure during hot deformation of Al–1Mg–1Mn

AbstractPlane strain compression tests have been carried out at strain rates between 0·5 and 10 s−1 and temperatures in the range 275–510°C, both under nominally isothermal conditions and with temperature decreasing. Also, temperature or strain rate have been changed in the interval between two deformations. In all cases, the stress–strain curves obeyed a mechanical equation of state, described by constitutive relationships in terms of strain and instantaneous value of Zener–Hollomon parameter Z. When the value of Z varies slowly during deformation, flow stress is uniquely related to subgrain size and to dislocation density within subgrains, but these relationships break down in transition structures developed after a change of Z between two deformations. The existence of an equation of state for mechanical behaviour, but not for microstructure, is considered to result from important contributions of both dislocation velocity and density to hot strength.MST/1066
Analysis of adaptive filters using normalized signed regressor LMS algorithm

In this paper, adaptive filters using the normalized signed regressor LMS algorithm (NSRA) with Gaussian reference inputs are proposed and analyzed to yield difference equations for theoretically calculating expected convergence of the filters. A simple difference equation for mean squared error (MSE) is derived when the filter input is a white and Gaussian process, whereas approximate difference equations for colored Gaussian inputs are proposed and tested. Stability conditions and residual MSE after convergence are also obtained. Agreement of theoretical results with those of simulation in the experiment with some examples of filter convergence shows sufficient accuracy of the theory and assures the usefulness of the difference equations in estimating filter performances, thus facilitating the design of adaptive filters using the NSRA.
Comparison of the Pharmacological Effects of Paricalcitol and Doxercalciferol on the Factors Involved in Mineral Homeostasis

Vitamin D receptor agonists (VDRAs) directly suppress parathyroid hormone (PTH) mRNA expression. Different VDRAs are known to have differential effects on serum calcium (Ca), which may also affect serum PTH levels since serum Ca regulates PTH secretion mediated by the Ca-sensing receptor (CaSR). In this study, we compared the effects of paricalcitol and doxercalciferol on regulating serum Ca and PTH, and also the expression of PTH, VDR, and CaSR mRNA. The 5/6 nephrectomized (NX) Sprague-Dawley rats on a normal or hyperphosphatemia-inducing diet were treated with vehicle, paricalcitol, or doxercalciferol for two weeks. Both drugs at the tested doses (0.042–0.33 μg/kg) suppressed PTH mRNA expression and serum PTH effectively in the 5/6 NX rats, but paricalcitol was less potent in raising serum Ca than doxercalciferol. In pig parathyroid cells, paricalcitol and the active form of doxercalciferol induced VDR translocation from the cytoplasm into the nucleus, suppressed PTH mRNA expression and inhibited cell proliferation in a similar manner, although paricalcitol induced the expression of CaSR mRNA more effectively. The multiple effects of VDRAs on modulating serum Ca, parathyroid cell proliferation, and the expression of CaSR and PTH mRNA reflect the complex involvement of the vitamin D axis in regulating the mineral homeostasis system.
Cell replication and redundancy elimination during placement for cycle time optimization

Presents a new timing-driven approach for cell replication tailored to the practical needs of standard cell layout design. Cell replication methods have been studied extensively in the context of generic partitioning problems. However, until now, it has remained unclear what practical benefit can be obtained from this concept in a realistic environment for timing-driven layout synthesis. Therefore, this paper presents a timing-driven cell replication procedure, demonstrates its incorporation into a standard cell placement and routing tool, and examines its benefit on the final circuit performance in comparison with conventional gate or transistor sizing techniques. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cell replication can deteriorate the stuck-at fault testability of circuits and show that stuck-at redundancy elimination must be integrated into the placement procedure. Experimental results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed methodology and suggest that cell replication should be an integral part of the physical design flow complementing traditional gate sizing techniques.