Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alendronate Can Improve Bone Alterations in Experimental Diabetes by Preventing Antiosteogenic, Antichondrogenic, and Proadipocytic Effects of AGEs on Bone Marrow Progenitor Cells

Bisphosphonates such as alendronate are antiosteoporotic drugs that inhibit the activity of bone-resorbing osteoclasts and secondarily promote osteoblastic function. Diabetes increases bone-matrix-associated advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that impair bone marrow progenitor cell (BMPC) osteogenic potential and decrease bone quality. Here we investigated the in vitro effect of alendronate and/or AGEs on the osteoblastogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic potential of BMPC isolated from nondiabetic untreated rats. We also evaluated the in vivo effect of alendronate (administered orally to rats with insulin-deficient Diabetes) on long-bone microarchitecture and BMPC multilineage potential. In vitro, the osteogenesis (Runx2, alkaline phosphatase, type 1 collagen, and mineralization) and chondrogenesis (glycosaminoglycan production) of BMPC were both decreased by AGEs, while coincubation with alendronate prevented these effects. The adipogenesis of BMPC (PPARγ, intracellular triglycerides, and lipase) was increased by AGEs, and this was prevented by coincubation with alendronate. In vivo, experimental Diabetes (a) decreased femoral trabecular bone area, osteocyte density, and osteoclastic TRAP activity; (b) increased bone marrow adiposity; and (c) deregulated BMPC phenotypic potential (increasing adipogenesis and decreasing osteogenesis and chondrogenesis). Orally administered alendronate prevented all these Diabetes-induced effects on bone. Thus, alendronate could improve bone alterations in diabetic rats by preventing the antiosteogenic, antichondrogenic, and proadipocytic effects of AGEs on BMPC.
Just-In-Time Push Prefetching: Accelerating the Mobile Web

Web pages take noticeably longer to load when accessing the Internet using high latency wide-area wireless networks like 3G. This delay can result in lower user satisfaction and lost revenue for web site operators. By locating a just-in-time prefetching push proxy in the cloud and routing mobile client web requests through it, web page load times can be perceivably reduced. Our analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the use of a push proxy results in a much smaller dependency on the mobile client to network latency than seen in environments where no proxy is used, in particular, only one full round trip from client to server is necessary regardless of the number of resources referenced by a web page. In addition, we find that the ideal location for a push proxy minimizes the latency between the proxy and the servers that the mobile client accesses through it, in contrast to traditional proxies which are best deployed in a manner that minimizes the latency between client and proxy.
SOPRAN: Integrative Workload Modeling and Proactive Reoptimization for Virtual Machine Management

For a data center to operate effectively (i.e., meeting customers’ Service Level Agreements (SLAs)) and efficiently (i.e., minimizing resource consumption), the virtual machines (VMs) must be carefully managed. In particular, as the resource demands of VMs change, the assignment of VMs to physical machines becomes sub-optimal. VM replication and migration provide a solution for dealing with dynamic workloads. However, as migrations are costly, an effective control policy is critical to avoid frequent migrations. Moreover, an agile decision making component is also important to reduce feedback latencies. In this paper we propose SOPRAN, a virtual machine management system leveraging an integrative workload model for the data center, that can dynamically adapt the assignment of VMs to physical machines to minimize resource consumption without sacrificing the SLAs. Different from existing trace-based methods for this problem, SOPRAN characterizes the dynamic workloads in the system using an integrative risk cube model, and approximates the workload demands with a representative state set. The optimal plan for each representative state is incrementally generated, forming the switchable plan set. At runtime, a two-phase re-optimization strategy matches the current system demand to the closest representative state and actuates the corresponding plan in the switchable plan set. At the same time, online monitors profile the actual demands and refine the risk cube to guarantee the model’s accuracy. This modeling technique and optimization procedure based on it brings the great savings in optimization cost and migration opportunities, and enables the high scalability of SOPRAN. We evaluated SOPRAN against the state-of-the-art IBM MFR algorithm. The results show that, with comparable resource consumptions, SOPRAN can achieve more stable SLA violation rate of no more than 4%, 80% lower migration rate, and save up to 90% reoptimization overhead.
The antifibrogenic effect of etanercept on development of liver cirrhosis induced by thioacetamide in rats

ABSTRACT Liver cirrhosis is an elevating cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. TNF-α/TNF-R1 signal is implicated in progression of many liver diseases. This study provides histological and ultrastructural view that clarifies the effect of etanercept, a TNF-α inhibitor, on development of thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver cirrhosis and the accompanied hemosiderosis in rats, highlighting the implication and distribution pattern of hepatic TNF-R1. Sixty male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) were equally randomized into three groups. Group I served as the control. Liver cirrhosis was triggered in the other two groups by intraperitoneal injection of TAA twice a week for five months. Group II received TAA only, while group III subcutaneously injected with etanercept one hour before TAA, along five months. At the end of the experiment, blood was collected for biochemical analysis and livers were excised for histological, immunohistochemical, and electron microscopical preparations. Rats treated with TAA only developed hepatic cirrhosis accompanied by massive deposition of hemosiderin; strong and widespread expression of hepatic TNF-R1 in sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs), Kupffer cells (KCs), and many hepatocytes; and frequent appearance of fibrogenic, plasma, and mast cells, at the ultrastructural level. By contrast, administration of etanercept diminished the expression of TNF-R1, attenuated the accumulation of collagen and hemosiderin, and preserved the hepatic histoarchitecture. In conclusion, TNF-α signal via TNF-R1 may be implicated in the mechanism of fibrogenesis and the associated hemosiderosis. Etanercept may provide a promising therapeutic approach not only for attenuating the progression of fibrogenesis, but also for hepatic iron overload-associated disorders.
Alternative Procedures for the Three-Minute All-Out Exercise Test

Abstract Clark, IE, Murray, SR, and Pettitt, RW. Alternative procedures for the three-minute all-out exercise test. J Strength Cond Res 27(8): 2104–2112, 2013—The cycling 3-minute all-out exercise test (3 MT) provides the measures of critical power (CP) and the curvature constant (W′) for the relationship between power and time limit to exhaustion in the severe exercise domain. The original procedures for the 3 MT required a preliminary graded exercise test (GXT) to establish the linear factor and the fixed load for the test. We evaluated a new procedure of establishing the load for the 3 MT using a percentage of body mass (% BM). Fifteen subjects of varied fitness levels completed a custom GXT-verification protocol to establish the gas exchange threshold and V[Combining Dot Above]O2max, a 3 MT using a load derived with the linear factor, and a 3 MT using a % BM. The subjects also completed a subsequent exhaustive bout at 10% above CP. The CP and W′ estimated from either protocol did not differ. The CP estimates were consistent (&agr; = 0.97, SEM = 7.1 W, coefficient of variation = 4%); however, W′ was less reliable, a finding true of any method of measuring W′. The V[Combining Dot Above]O2 evoked during the 3 MT was lower than the values evoked by the exhaustive GXT-verification bouts and the 10% above CP bout after the 3 MT. All individual V[Combining Dot Above]O2 values in the 10% above CP bout were “≥” values measured in the 3 MT. Our findings indicate that several viable procedures for administering the 3 MT are plausible.
A Test of the Martingale Hypothesis

This paper proposes a statistical test of the martingale hypothesis. It can be used to test whether a given time series is a martingale process against certain non-martingale alternatives. The class of alternative processes against which our test has power is very general and it encompasses many nonlinear non-martingale processes which may not be detected using traditional spectrum-based or variance-ratio tests. We look at the hypothesis of martingale, in contrast with other existing methods which test for the hypothesis of martingale difference. Two different types of test are considered: one is a generalized Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the other is a Cramer-von Mises type test. For the processes that are first-order Markovian in mean, in particular, our approach yields the test statistics that neither depend upon any smoothing parameter nor require any resampling procedure to simulate the null distributions. Their null limiting distributions are nicely characterized as functionals of a continuous stochastic process so that the critical values are easily tabulated. We prove consistency of our tests and further investigate their finite sample properties via simulation. Our tests are found to be rather powerful in moderate size samples against a wide variety of non-martingales including exponential autoregressive, threshold autoregressive, markov switching, chaotic, and some of nonstationary processes.
Does the Milky Way Have a Maximal Disk?

The Milky Way is often considered to be the best example of a spiral for which the dark matter not only dominates the outer kinematics but also plays a major dynamical role in the inner galaxy: the Galactic disk is therefore said to be “submaximal. ” This conclusion is important to the understanding of the evolution of galaxies and the viability of particular dark matter models. The Galactic evidence rests on a number of structural and kinematic measurements, many of which have recently been revised. The new constraints not only indicate that the Galaxy is a more typical member of its class (Sb to Sc spirals) than previously thought but also require a reexamination of the question of whether the Milky Way disk is maximal. By applying to the Milky Way the same definition of “maximal disk” that is applied to external galaxies, it is shown that the new observational constraints are consistent with a Galactic maximal disk of reasonable M/L. In particular, the local disk column can be substantially less than the oft-quoted required Σ☉ ≈ 100 M☉ pc-2—as low as 40 M☉ pc-2 in the extreme case—and still be maximal, in the sense that the dark halo provides negligible rotation support in the inner Galaxy. This result has possible implications for any conclusion that rests on assumptions about the potential of the Galactic disk or dark halo and, in particular, for the interpretation of microlensing results along both LMC and bulge lines of sight.
Improved Detection of Silent Atrial Fibrillation Using 72-Hour Holter ECG in Patients With Ischemic Stroke: A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study

Background and Purpose— Adequate diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF), including paroxysmal AF, is an important part of stroke workup. Prolonged ECG monitoring may improve the detection of paroxysmal, previously undiagnosed AF (unknown AF). Therefore, we evaluated systematic 72-hour Holter ECG monitoring to detect unknown AF for the workup of patients with stroke. Methods— Unselected survivors of a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) without known AF were enrolled in a prospective, multicenter cohort study of 72-hour Holter ECG monitoring in 9 German secondary and tertiary stroke centers between May 2010 and January 2011. In addition to standardized workup of stroke pathogenesis according to the German Stroke Unit protocol, all patients underwent 72-hour Holter ECG monitoring directly after admission. All ECGs were centrally analyzed by 2 independent observers. We determined the proportion of unknown AF and compared the detection rates of 72- and 24-hour monitoring. Results— A total of 1135 patients were enrolled (mean age, 67 years [SD, 13.1 years], 45% women, 29% TIA). Unknown AF was detected in 49 out of 1135 patients (4.3%, [95% confidence interval, 3.4–5.2%]) by 72-hour ECG monitoring. Unknown AF was diagnosed in 29 patients (2.6%) within the first 24 hours of ECG monitoring, and in 20 more patients only by 72 hours of ECG monitoring. The number needed to screen by 72-hour ECG was 55 patients (95% confidence interval [35–123]) for each additional AF diagnosis. Patients with unknown AF were significantly older and had more often a history of previous stroke. Patients with unknown AF were equally distributed within categories of pathogenesis according to Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification. Conclusions— In unselected survivors of stroke or TIA, 72-hour ECG monitoring is feasible and improves the detection rate of silent paroxysmal AF.
Dietary fat and breast cancer: comparison of results from food diaries and food-frequency questionnaires in the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium.

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic studies of dietary fat and breast cancer risk are inconsistent, and it has been suggested that a true relation may have been obscured by the imprecise measurement of fat intake. OBJECTIVE We examined associations of fat with breast cancer risk by using estimates of fat intake from food diaries and food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs) pooled from 4 prospective studies in the United Kingdom. DESIGN A total of 657 cases of breast cancer in premenopausal and postmenopausal women were matched on study, age, and recruitment date with 1911 control subjects. Nutrient intakes were estimated from food diaries and FFQs. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate ORs for breast cancer associated with total, saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat intakes with adjustment for relevant covariates. RESULTS Neither the food diaries nor the FFQs showed any positive associations between fat intake and overall breast cancer risk. ORs (95% CIs) for the highest compared with lowest quintiles of percentage of energy from total fat were 0.90 (0.66, 1.23) for food diaries and 0.80 (0.59, 1.09) for FFQs. CONCLUSION In this study, breast cancer risk was not associated with fat intake in middle-aged women in the United Kingdom, irrespective of whether diet was measured by food diaries or by FFQs.
The yhhP Gene Encoding a Small Ubiquitous Protein Is Fundamental for Normal Cell Growth ofEscherichia coli

ABSTRACT H-NS is a major constituent of the Escherichia colinucleoid, whereas ςS is a stress-induced sigma factor. Anhns null mutation affects the cellular content of ςS in such a way that a remarkable accumulation of ςS is observed in the logarithmic growth phase, which results in enhanced expression of a number of ςS-dependent genes, including the katE gene. We isolated an extragenic mutation that affects the expression of thekatE-lacZ fusion gene in the Δhns background. The relevant gene was identified as yhhP, which encodes a small polypeptide of 81 amino acids. Lesion of this gene seemed to affect the stability of ςS. A deletion analysis ofyhhP revealed that this small protein plays a fundamental role in the general physiology of E. coli. TheyhhP-deficient cell is not capable of growing in standard laboratory rich medium (i.e., Luria broth), resulting in the formation of filamentous cells. Homologs of this intriguing protein occur in a wide variety of bacterial species, including archaeal species.
Front-camera video recordings as emotion responses to mobile photos shared within close-knit groups

People use social-photography services to tell stories about themselves and to solicit responses from viewers. State of the-art services concentrate on textual comments, "Like" buttons, or similar means for viewers to give explicit feedback, but they overlook other, non-textual means. This paper investigates how emotion responses--as video clips captured by the front camera of a cell phone and used as tags for the individual photo viewed--can enhance photo-sharing experiences for close-knit groups. Our exploration was carried out with a mobile social-photography service called Social Camera. Four user groups (N=19) used the application for two to four weeks. The study's results support the value of using front-camera video recordings to glean emotion response. It supports lightweight phatic social interactions not possible with comments and "Like" buttons. Most users kept sharing emotion responses throughout the study. They typically shared the responses right after they saw a just taken photo received from a remote partner. They used the responses to share their current contexts with others just as much as to convey nuanced feelings about a photo. We discuss the implications for future design and research.
Feature-Fused SAR Target Discrimination Using Multiple Convolutional Neural Networks

Target discrimination has been one of the hottest issues in the interpretation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. However, the presence of speckle noise and the absence of robust features make SAR discrimination difficult to deal with. Recently, convolutional neural network has obtained state-of-the-art results in pattern recognition. In this letter, we propose a target discrimination framework that jointly uses intensity and edge information of SAR images. This framework contains three parts, namely, feature extraction block, feature fusion block, and final classification block. In addition, a novel feature fusion method that can preserve the spatial relationship of different features is introduced. Experimental results on the miniSAR data demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
HMGA2/TET1/HOXA9 signaling pathway regulates breast cancer growth and metastasis

The ten–eleven translocation (TET) family of methylcytosine dioxygenases initiates demethylation of DNA and is associated with tumorigenesis in many cancers; however, the mechanism is mostly unknown. Here we identify upstream activators and downstream effectors of TET1 in breast cancer using human breast cancer cells and a genetically engineered mouse model. We show that depleting the architectural transcription factor high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) induces TET1. TET1 binds and demethylates its own promoter and the promoter of homeobox A (HOXA) genes, enhancing its own expression and stimulating expression of HOXA genes including HOXA7 and HOXA9. Both TET1 and HOXA9 suppress breast tumor growth and metastasis in mouse xenografts. The genes comprising the HMGA2–TET1–HOXA9 pathway are coordinately regulated in breast cancer and together encompass a prognostic signature for patient survival. These results implicate the HMGA2–TET1–HOX signaling pathway in the epigenetic regulation of human breast cancer and highlight the importance of targeting methylation in specific subpopulations as a potential therapeutic strategy.
VON: a scalable peer-to-peer network for virtual environments

The scalability of large-scale networked virtual environments (NVEs) such as today's massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) faces inherent limits imposed by client-server architectures. We identify an emerging research direction that applies peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in order to realize more scalable and affordable NVEs. The central issue for P2P-based NVE (P2P-NVE) systems is to correctly and efficiently maintain the topology of all participating peers by solving the neighbor discovery problem. We also propose the Voronoi-based overlay network (VON), a simple and efficient design that maintains the P2P topology in a fully-distributed, low-latency, and message-efficient manner. Simulation results show that by bounding the per-node resource consumption, VON can be fundamentally more scalable than existing methods while achieving high topology consistency and reliability
Comparison of proteolytic activities in various lactobacilli

SUMMARY A total of 169 Lactobacillus strains from 12 species (Lb. acidophilus, Lb. brevis, Lb. buchneri, Lb. casei, Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lb. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii, Lb. delbrueckii subsp. lactis, Lb. fermentum, Lb. helveticus, Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei, Lb. plantarum and Lb. rhamnosus), isolated from raw milk and various milk products, and 9 Lactococcus lactis strains were evaluated for peptidase activities with five chromogenic substrates and a tryptic digest of casein. Within each species, the peptidase activity of the cell-free extracts of the strains varied. Furthermore, differences were observed between the Lactobacilhis species and Lc. lactis. Lb. helveticus had by far the highest hydrolysing activities towards all substrates, indicating the presence of powerful aminopeptidases, X-prolyl-dipeptidyl aminopeptidases and proline iminopeptidases. Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus possessed high hydrolysing activities towards substrates containing proline, alanylprolyl–p–nitroanilide and prolyl–p–nitroanilide. On the other hand, Lb. fermentum and Lb. brevis could be considered as weakly proteolytic species. A more detailed study with highly proteolytic Lactobacillus strains indicated that at least three different proteinases or endopeptidases were present. Compared with Lc. lactis, the Lactobacillus strains had a much lower hydrolytic action on glutamyl-glutamic acid, suggesting that glutamyl aminopeptidase was absent in lactobacilli.
Antioxidant activities of the standardized water extract from fruit of phyllanthus emblica linn

Phyllanthus emblica Linn. is widely used in Thai traditional medicine for treatment of various diseases. The fruit of P. emblica is known as a rich source of vitamin C, and also contains a mixture of phenolic compounds. In this study, the standardized water extract of P. emblica fruit was prepared according to Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia. Total polyphenol contents of the extract were equivalent to 34.22±1.74 g gallic acid/100g extract. Antioxidant activities of the P. emblica extract were evaluated by several methods, including DPPH and ABTS •+ radical scavenging assays and FRAP assays. The results showed that the extract has an ability of scavenging radicals generated by both DPPH and ABTS •+ . Similar to Trolox, the water extract of P. emblica fruit also had a ferric reducing property. Additionally, the extract effectively inhibited H 2 O 2 - induced free radical production in human myeloleukemic U937 cells as measured by 2,7-DCF-DA. The results imply that the fruits of P. emblica are potential sources of natural antioxidants, which have free radical scavenging activity and might be useful for hepato-, cyto-, and radio- protection, as well as reducing oxidative stress in many pathological conditions.