Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of whole green tea infusion on mouse urinary bladder chemical carcinogenesis

Objective(s): Green tea (GT) is one of the most popular beverages worldwide whose beneficial effects on health have been demonstrated. Recent studies suggest that GT may contribute to reduction of cancer risk and progression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of whole GT on urinary bladder chemical carcinogenesis in male and female ICR mice. Materials and Methods: The GT characterization was performed using spectrophotometric methods. Urinary bladder lesions were induced using N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) by gavage during 10 weeks and whole GT (0.5%) was provided ad libitum during 20 weeks. Results: Animals from groups BBN+GT and BBN only developed preneoplastic lesions. Conclusion: We did not observe any effects by GT infusion administration on urinary bladder cancer development.
Pterostilbene Acts through Metastasis-Associated Protein 1 to Inhibit Tumor Growth, Progression and Metastasis in Prostate Cancer

The development of natural product agents with targeted strategies holds promise for enhanced anticancer therapy with reduced drug-associated side effects. Resveratrol found in red wine, has anticancer activity in various tumor types. We reported earlier on a new molecular target of resveratrol, the metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1), which is a part of nucleosome remodeling and deacetylation (NuRD) co-repressor complex that mediates gene silencing. We identified resveratrol as a regulator of MTA1/NuRD complex and re-activator of p53 acetylation in prostate cancer (PCa). In the current study, we addressed whether resveratrol analogues also possess the ability to inhibit MTA1 and to reverse p53 deacetylation. We demonstrated that pterostilbene (PTER), found in blueberries, had greater increase in MTA1-mediated p53 acetylation, confirming superior potency over resveratrol as dietary epigenetic agent. In orthotopic PCa xenografts, resveratrol and PTER significantly inhibited tumor growth, progression, local invasion and spontaneous metastasis. Furthermore, MTA1-knockdown sensitized cells to these agents resulting in additional reduction of tumor progression and metastasis. The reduction was dependent on MTA1 signaling showing increased p53 acetylation, higher apoptotic index and less angiogenesis in vivo in all xenografts treated with the compounds, and particularly with PTER. Altogether, our results indicate MTA1 as a major contributor in prostate tumor malignant progression, and support the use of strategies targeting MTA1. Our strong pre-clinical data indicate PTER as a potent, selective and pharmacologically safe natural product that may be tested in advanced PCa.
Resilience through Sleep

Copyright: © 2012 Poulin J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The functions of sleep have been an ongoing question for clinicians and researchers interested in the sleeping brain. Historically, sleep was considered as a general restorative process where the brain and the body were mostly inactive. This concept had to be revised first when “paradoxical sleep”, also known as rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep was discovered with the surprising observation of an intense activation in the polysomnographic signal while the sleeper appeared completely inactive physically, a sleep stage also named rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM) [1]. Subsequent studies have shown that REM and non-REM sleep states contribute to the homeostasis in functions such as emotion regulation and learning and memory, as well as cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune functions [2]. An interesting suggestion about the possible function of REM sleep has been proposed by Crick and Mitchison in 1983 [3]. Using a computer model, these authors suggest that one mechanism of REM sleep is to remove certain mode of interactions between neurons, a process they named “reverse learning” or “unlearning”. These authors discussed that one function of REM sleep could be to “forget” irrelevant information as well as to remember relevant information for survival and adaptation. Using polysomnography in humans [4,5], Feinberg and Campbell proposed that slowwave-sleep (SWS) is important for cortical pruning, a process essential to neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the molecular and cellular changes in neuronal networks occurring in response to inputs from the environment. Such a neurophysiologic process is an important part of learning, memory and adaptation mechanisms.
Study on Model of Material Remove Rate During Ultrasonic Vibration Assisted Electrical Discharge Machining in Gas Medium

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is widely used for manufacturing various kinds of dies and molds. While it can bring some disadvantages such as environmental pollution. EDM in gas is a new technology and based on which a new EDM method called ultrasonic vibration assisted EDM in gas medium is proposed in this paper. The principle of ultrasonic vibration assisted electrical discharge machining in gas medium was introduced in this work and relevant experimental equipment was designed by which a serious of experiments was carried out. The model of MRR (material remove rate) taking the effect of ultrasonic cavitation during ultrasonic vibration assisted electrical discharge machining in gas medium was deduced. Experimental results showed that the MRR increases with the increase of peak discharge voltage, discharge pulse-on time, discharge peak current and gas pressure, but decreases with the increase of pulse-off time, which accord with the model of MRR.
Effect of Inhibiting Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein on the Kinetics of High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesteryl Ester Transport in Plasma: In Vivo Studies in Rabbits

Objective—Inhibitors of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) have been developed as potential anti-atherogenic agents. Theoretically, however, they may be pro-atherogenic by blocking one of the pathways for removing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesteryl esters (CE) from plasma in the final step of reverse cholesterol transport. Here we describe how CETP inhibition in rabbits impacts on the kinetics of HDL CE transport in plasma. Methods and Results—Administration of a CETP inhibitor reduced CETP activity by 80% to 90% and doubled the HDL cholesteryl ester concentration. Multi-compartmental analysis was used to determine HDL CE kinetics in CETP-inhibited and control rabbits after injection of tracer amounts of both native and reconstituted HDL labeled with 3H in the CE moiety. In control rabbits, HDL CE was removed from plasma by both a direct pathway and an indirect pathway after transfer of HDL CE to the very-low-density lipoprotein/low-density lipoprotein fraction. In CETP-inhibited rabbits there was an almost complete block in removal via the indirect pathway. This did not compromise the overall removal of HDL CE from plasma, which was not different in control and inhibited animals. Conclusion—Inhibiting CETP in rabbits does not compromise the removal of HDL CE from plasma.
Access to Barrier Perches Improves Behavior Repertoire in Broilers

Restriction of behavioral opportunities and uneven use of space are considerable welfare concerns in modern broiler production, particularly when birds are kept at high densities. We hypothesized that increased environmental complexity by provision of barrier perches would help address these issues by encouraging perching and enhancing use of the pen space across a range of stocking densities. 2,088 day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of the following barrier and density treatment combinations over four replications: simple barrier, complex barrier, or control (no barrier) and low (8 birds/m2), moderate (13 birds/m2), or high (18 birds/m2) density. Data were collected on focal birds via instantaneous scan sampling from 2 to 6 weeks of age. Mean estimates per pen for percent of observations seen performing each behavior, as well as percent of observations in the pen periphery vs. center, were quantified and submitted to an analysis of variance with week as the repeated measure. Barrier perches, density and age affected the behavioral time budget of broilers. Both simple and complex barrier perches effectively stimulated high perching rates. Aggression and disturbances were lower in both barrier treatments compared to controls (P<0.05). Increasing density to 18 birds/m2 compared to the lower densities suppressed activity levels, with lower foraging (P<0.005), decreased perching (P<0.0001) and increased sitting (P = 0.001) earlier in the rearing period. Disturbances also increased at higher densities (P<0.05). Use of the central pen area was higher in simple barrier pens compared to controls (P<0.001), while increasing density above 8 birds/m2 suppressed use of the central space (P<0.05). This work confirms some negative effects of increasing density and suggests that barrier perches have the potential to improve broiler welfare by encouraging activity (notably by providing accessible opportunities to perch), decreasing aggression and disturbances, and promoting more even distribution of birds throughout the pen space.
Investigating the Interaction of Graphic Organizers and Seductive Details: Can a Graphic Organizer Mitigate the Seductive-Details Effect?.

To increase learners’ interest, educators and authors may include interesting but not always relevant details (i.e., seductive details). Students often learn the seductive details, but often at the expense of learning important or target material. The well-documented phenomenon has been termed the seductive-details effect (Garner, Brown, Sanders, & Menke, 1992; Garner, Gillingham, & White, 1989; Harp & Maslich, 2005; Harp & Mayer, 1997, 1998; Schraw, 1998; Wade, Schraw, Buxton, & Hayes, 1993). The distraction hypothesis suggests that including seductive details in the text might cause learners to focus too much of their selective attention on the seductive details, as opposed to the target material (Garner et al., 1989; Garner et al., 1992; Sweller & Chandler, 1991). However, research on placement and type of seductive details supports other causal mechanisms.
High TNF-alpha plasma levels and macrophages iNOS and TNF-alpha expression as risk factors for painful diabetic neuropathy

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus. Recently it has become clear that nitric oxide (NO) and proinflammatory cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of PDN. We investigated whether the cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and NO play a role in PDN pathogenesis by performing a cross-sectional and a case–control study in 110 type 2 diabetic patients. Of 110 subjects, 59 patients suffered from PDN (cases) and the remaining were painless DN (controls). Cross-sectionally, plasma TNF-α levels and immunoreactivity for inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and TNF-α were higher in patients with more severe pain on the visual analog scale. There were statistically significant differences between mild and severe pain for TNF-α levels, iNOS immunoreactivity, and TNF-α immunoreactivity. There were statistically significant differences between mild and severe pain for TNF-α levels (mean 15.24 pg/mL ± 5.42 vs 20.44 ± 10.34), iNOS immunoreactivity (9.76% ± 8.60% vs 15.48% ± 11.56%), and TNF-α immunoreactivity (13.0% ± 9.48% vs 20.44% ± 11.75%). The case–control study showed that TNF-α had an odds ratio of 5.053 (P < 0.001), TNF-α immunoreactivity of 4.125 (P < 0.001), and iNOS immunoreactivity of 3.546 (P = 0.002). DN patients with high TNF-α levels, and high iNOS and TNF-α expression in macrophages are at risk of suffering from pain. The higher the TNF-α level, and iNOS and TNF-α immunoreactivity, the more severe the pain. These findings could form the basis of further research into better management of PDN.
Effect of Periodontal Therapy on Crevicular Fluid Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 Levels in Chronic Periodontitis

Purpose. The aim of this study was to analyse the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of patients with chronic periodontitis prior to and following surgical and/or nonsurgical periodontal therapy for a period of 32 weeks. Methods. GCF samples were obtained from 24 nondiseased and 72 diseased sites of 12 periodontal patients prior to as well as at 6, 16, and 32 weeks following non-surgical and surgical periodontal therapy. IL-6 and IL-8 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results. Periodontal treatment improved all clinical parameters. Both treatment modalities resulted in similar IL-6 as well as IL-8 levels. Mean IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations were significantly higher in non-diseased compared to diseased sites and increased significantly following treatment in diseased sites. Mean total amounts of IL-6 and IL-8 (TAIL-6, TAIL-8) did not differ significantly between diseased and nondiseased sites, while following therapy TAIL-8 levels decreased significantly. Conclusions. The data suggest that periodontal therapy reduced the levels of IL-8 in GCF. However, a strong relationship between IL-6, IL-8 amounts in GCF and periodontal destruction and inflammation was not found.
A prospective study of the factors affecting outcomes of nonsurgical root canal treatment: part 1: periapical health.

AIM To investigate the probability of and factors influencing periapical status of teeth following primary (1°RCTx) or secondary (2°RCTx) root canal treatment. METHODOLOGY This prospective study involved annual clinical and radiographic follow-up of 1°RCTx (1170 roots, 702 teeth and 534 patients) or 2°RCTx (1314 roots, 750 teeth and 559 patients) carried out by Endodontic postgraduate students for 2-4 (50%) years. Pre-, intra- and postoperative data were collected prospectively on customized forms. The proportion of roots with complete periapical healing was estimated, and prognostic factors were investigated using multiple logistic regression models. Clustering effects within patients were adjusted in all models using robust standard error. RESULTS proportion of roots with complete periapical healing after 1°RCTx (83%; 95% CI: 81%, 85%) or 2°RCTx (80%; 95% CI: 78%, 82%) were similar. Eleven prognostic factors were identified. The conditions that were found to improve periapical healing significantly were: the preoperative absence of a periapical lesion (P = 0.003); in presence of a periapical lesion, the smaller its size (P ≤ 0.001), the better the treatment prognosis; the absence of a preoperative sinus tract (P = 0.001); achievement of patency at the canal terminus (P = 0.001); extension of canal cleaning as close as possible to its apical terminus (P = 0.001); the use of ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) solution as a penultimate wash followed by final rinse with NaOCl solution in 2°RCTx cases (P = 0.002); abstaining from using 2% chlorexidine as an adjunct irrigant to NaOCl solution (P = 0.01); absence of tooth/root perforation (P = 0.06); absence of interappointment flare-up (pain or swelling) (P =0.002); absence of root-filling extrusion (P ≤ 0.001); and presence of a satisfactory coronal restoration (P ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Success based on periapical health associated with roots following 1°RCTx (83%) or 2°RCTx (80%) was similar, with 10 factors having a common effect on both, whilst the 11th factor 'EDTA as an additional irrigant' had different effects on the two treatments.
Induction of sporulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to the formation of N6-methyladenosine in mRNA: a potential mechanism for the activity of the IME4 gene.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is present at internal sites in mRNA isolated from all higher eukaryotes, but has not previously been detected in the mRNA of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This nucleoside modification occurs only in a sequence- specific context that appears to be conserved across diverse species. The function of this modification is not fully established, but there is some indirect evidence that m6A may play a role in the efficiency of mRNA splicing, transport or translation. The S.cerevisiae gene IME4, which is important for induction of sporulation, is very similar to the human gene MT-A70, which has been shown to be a critical subunit of the human mRNA [N6-adenosine]-methyltransferase. This observation led to the hypothesis that yeast sporulation may be dependent upon methylation of yeast mRNA, mediated by Ime4p. In this study we show that induction of sporulation leads to the appearance of low levels of m6A in yeast mRNA and that this modification requires IME4. Moreover, single amino acid substitutions in the putative catalytic residues of Ime4p lead to severe sporulation defects in a strain whose sporulation ability is completely dependent on this protein. Collectively, these data suggest very strongly that the activation of sporulation by Ime4p is the result of its proposed methyltransferase activity and provide the most direct evidence to date of a physiologic role of m6A in a gene regulatory pathway.
Strengthening Agricultural Innovation Capacity: Are Innovation Brokers the Answer?

In the case of a drive for a male-die-side ejector slidably disposed in a slide of a mechanical metal-forming press having an angle lever which is pivotably disposed at the slide, one leg of the lever acting upon the end of the ejector facing way from the male die and the other leg thereof being acted upon by a control cam which is driven in a timed manner and being held in contact with this control cam, a free adjustability of the moving characteristics of the ejector is achieved in that the control cam is provided at a control carriage which is slidable in a guide fixed at the frame in parallel to the moving direction of the slide, and at which a control connecting rod is applied in a bearing, this control connecting rod, at one end, being disposed eccentrically on a shaft serving also as the drive of the slide.
Secure Data Mining in Cloud Using Homomorphic Encryption

With the advancement in technology, industry, e-commerce and research a large amount of complex and pervasive digital data is being generated which is increasing at an exponential rate and often termed as big data. Traditional Data Storage systems are not able to handle Big Data and also analyzing the Big Data becomes a challenge and thus it cannot be handled by traditional analytic tools. Cloud Computing can resolve the problem of handling, storage and analyzing the Big Data as it distributes the big data within the cloudlets. No doubt, Cloud Computing is the best answer available to the problem of Big Data storage and its analyses but having said that, there is always a potential risk to the security of Big Data storage in Cloud Computing, which needs to be addressed. Data Privacy is one of the major issues while storing the Big Data in a Cloud environment. Data Mining based attacks, a major threat to the data, allows an adversary or an unauthorized user to infer valuable and sensitive information by analyzing the results generated from computation performed on the raw data. This thesis proposes a secure k-means data mining approach assuming the data to be distributed among different hosts preserving the privacy of the data. The approach is able to maintain the correctness and validity of the existing k-means to generate the final results even in the distributed environment.
ON NON-COERCIVE VARIATIONAL INEQUALITIES

We consider variational inequalities with different trial and test spaces and a possibly non-coercive bilinear form. Well-posedness is shown under general conditions that are e.g. valid for the space-time variational formulation of parabolic variational inequalities. Moreover, we prove an estimate for the error of a Petrov-Galerkin approximation in terms of the residual. For parabolic variational inequalities the arising estimate is independent of the final time.
Global Alliance Partition in Trees

Let G be a connected graph with vertex set V (G) and edge set E(G). A (defensive) alliance in G is a subset S of V (G) such that for every vertex v ∈ S, |N [v]∩S| ≥ |N(v)∩(V (G)− S)|. The alliance partition number, ψa(G), was defined (and further studied in [11]) to be the maximum number of sets in a partition of V (G) such that each set is a (defensive) alliance. Similarly, ψg(G) is the maximum number of sets in a partition of V (G) such that each set is a global alliance, i.e. each set is an alliance and a dominating set. In this paper, we give bounds for the global alliance partition number in terms of the minimum degree, which gives exactly two values for ψg(G) in trees. We concentrate on conditions that classify trees to have ψg(G) = i (i = 1, 2), presenting a characterization for binary trees.
Extrovert and Lonely Individuals’ Social TV Viewing Experiences: A Mediating and Moderating Role of Social Presence

Social TV viewing is generally understood as a simultaneous act of watching TV and engaging in communication about the TV program with other TV viewers connected online. In response to the increasing popularity of this new TV viewing practice, the current study examined how individuals’ extrovert personality and loneliness influence social TV viewing experiences through the theoretical notion of social presence. An online survey was completed by 330 individuals. Results demonstrated that extrovert personality positively influenced social TV viewing experiences; it is important to note that this relationship was mediated by social presence. Loneliness itself was negatively related to social TV viewing experiences; however, this relationship was moderated by social presence. Specifically, when lonely people felt strong social presence, they enjoyed social TV viewing experiences. The findings provide theoretical implications for social TV research, the dynamic role of social presence, social enhancement model, and social compensation model.
Wind Erosion Monitoring and Modeling Techniques in Australia

John Leys, Centre for Natural Resources, Department of Land and Water Conservation, PO Box 462, Gunnedah, NSW, 2380 Australia; Grant McTainsh, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Griffith University, Brisbane 4111, Australia; Yaping Shao, School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Kensington 2052, Australia. *Corresponding author: jleys@dlwc.nsw. gov.au ABSTRACT Wind erosion is a part of the natural environment in Australia; however, since European settlement the extent and magnitude of wind erosion has increased. A mixture of monitoring and modeling is seen as the only way of undertaking environmental auditing as required by national and international conventions and treaties. Methods of measuring and monitoring wind erosion from plot to continental scale are discussed. Two modeling systems that are currently used in Australia for environmental audits are presented. One uses an empirical climate model and dust storm index to report the location of areas that are eroding at higher than climatic conditions would suggest. The other is an integrated climate, wind erosion, and geographical information system that uses process-based models to predict the location and intensity of wind erosion. The limitations and advantages of each model are presented.