Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of CaMKII regulation of phospholamban activity in heart disease

Phospholamban (PLN) is a phosphoprotein in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) that is a reversible regulator of the Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) activity and cardiac contractility. Dephosphorylated PLN inhibits SERCA2a and PLN phosphorylation, at either Ser16 by PKA or Thr17 by Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII), reverses this inhibition. Through this mechanism, PLN is a key modulator of SR Ca2+ uptake, Ca2+ load, contractility, and relaxation. PLN phosphorylation is also the main determinant of β1-adrenergic responses in the heart. Although phosphorylation of Thr17 by CaMKII contributes to this effect, its role is subordinate to the PKA-dependent increase in cytosolic Ca2+, necessary to activate CaMKII. Furthermore, the effects of PLN and its phosphorylation on cardiac function are subject to additional regulation by its interacting partners, the anti-apoptotic HAX-1 protein and Gm or the anchoring unit of protein phosphatase 1. Regulation of PLN activity by this multimeric complex becomes even more important in pathological conditions, characterized by aberrant Ca2+-cycling. In this scenario, CaMKII-dependent PLN phosphorylation has been associated with protective effects in both acidosis and ischemia/reperfusion. However, the beneficial effects of increasing SR Ca2+ uptake through PLN phosphorylation may be lost or even become deleterious, when these occur in association with alterations in SR Ca2+ leak. Moreover, a major characteristic in human and experimental heart failure (HF) is depressed SR Ca2+ uptake, associated with decreased SERCA2a levels and dephosphorylation of PLN, leading to decreased SR Ca2+ load and impaired contractility. Thus, the strategy of altering SERCA2a and/or PLN levels or activity to restore perturbed SR Ca2+ uptake is a potential therapeutic tool for HF treatment. We will review here the role of CaMKII-dependent phosphorylation of PLN at Thr17 on cardiac function under physiological and pathological conditions.
Send Orders of Reprints at Bspsaif@emirates.net.ae Osteoarthritis: New Insights in Animal Models

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent and symptomatic health problem in the middle-aged and elderly population, with over one-half of all people over the age of 65 showing radiographic changes in painful knees. The aim of the present study was to perform an overview on the available animal models used in the research field on the OA. Discrepancies between the animal models and the human disease are present. As regards human 'idiopathic' OA, with late onset and slow progression, it is perhaps wise not to be overly enthusiastic about animal models that show severe chondrodysplasia and very early OA. Advantage by using genetically engineered mouse models, in comparison with other surgically induced models, is that molecular etiology is known. Find potential molecular markers for the onset of the disease and pay attention to the role of gender and environmental factors should be very helpful in the study of mice that acquire premature OA. Surgically induced destabilization of joint is the most widely used induction method. These models allow the temporal control of disease induction and follow predictable progression of the disease. In animals, ACL transection and meniscectomy show a speed of onset and severity of disease higher than in humans after same injury.
What Do We Learn from Country Narratives

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The Kinematics of Intermediate-Redshift Mg II Absorbers

We present 23 quasar absorption-line systems selected by the Mg II λλ2796, 2803 doublet with Wr(2796) > 0.3 Å over the redshift range 0.4 ≤ z ≤ 1.2. The kinematics and "profile morphologies" are studied at ≃6 km s-1 resolution to a 5 σ equivalent width detection threshold of Wr(2796) = 0.015 Å. We are thus sensitive to very weak "clouds" isolated in velocity. The absorption profiles were segregated into "kinematic subsystems," and the properties (velocities, velocity widths, column densities, etc.) were measured directly from the data and by Voigt profile modeling. Most absorbers are characterized by a dominant kinematic subsystem with Wr(2796) > 0.2 Å and velocity spreads ranging from 10 to 50 km s-1 in proportion to the system equivalent width. Additional kinematic subsystems have velocities separations as large as 400 km s-1 relative to the dominant subsystem. The equivalent widths and velocity spreads of these weaker subsystems are anticorrelated with their velocities, and their equivalent width distribution turns down from a power law below Wr(2796) ≃ 0.08 Å. These "moderate"- and "high"-velocity subsystems are inferred to have sub-Lyman limit H I, and therefore are probably not higher redshift analogs to Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs). Weak subsystems are asymmetrically distributed in velocity such that they are either all blueshifted or all redshifted with respect to the dominant subsystem. This implies, that although the "kinematic morphologies" vary greatly on a case-by-case basis, a given line of sight is apparently probing a well-defined spatial and kinematic structure. We investigate a simple kinematic model that relies on a rotating disk to explain the observed asymmetries. There are systematic differences, or trends, in both the subsystem-to-subsystem velocity clustering and in the overall kinematic morphologies with increasing equivalent width; we discuss how these may provide clues to the observed differential evolution in the equivalent width distribution of Mg II absorbers.
Which is more important for the intensity of intra-amniotic inflammation between total grade or involved anatomical region in preterm gestations with acute histologic chorioamnionitis?

Objective There is no data on which is more important for the intensity of intra-amniotic inflammation (IAI) between total grade or involved anatomical region in acute histologic chorioamnionitis (acute-HCA) of preterm-gestations. The objective of current study is to examine this issue. Methods The intensity of IAI was measured by amniotic fluid (AF) white blood cell (WBC) count and matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) concentration in 225 singleton preterm-gestations (<36 weeks) who had acute-HCA including chorio-decidua involvement and delivered within 5 days of amniocentesis. Acute-HCA was defined in the presence of acute inflammatory changes in each anatomical region (i.e., chorio-decidua, amnion or chorionic plate). Patients were divided into 6 groups according to total grade (i.e., 1-6) and the presence or absence of chorio-decidua restriction (i.e., chorio-decidua restriction vs. extension beyond chorio-decidua) of acute-HCA. Results There was no significant difference in a median AF WBC and MMP-8 between the two groups (group-1, cases with total grade 1 vs. group-2, cases with total grade 2) among cases with chorio-decidua restriction (each for P>0.05) and between the four groups (group-3, cases with total grade 2 vs. group-4, cases with total grade 3 vs. group-5, cases with total grade 4 vs. group-6, cases with total grade 5-6) among cases with extension beyond chorio-decidua (each for P>0.05). However, group-3 (cases with extension beyond chorio-decidua) had a significantly higher median AF WBC and MMP-8 than group-2 (cases with chorio-decidua restriction) among cases with total grade 2 (each for P<0.05). Conclusion Involved anatomical region is more important than total grade for the intensity of IAI in acute-HCA of preterm-gestations.
A Survey of Virtualization Performance in Cloud Computing

Virtualization is an important resource of cloud computing. Many virtualization technologies allow workload consolidation, multiple operating systems, and fault tolerance mechanisms. The number of applications moving to the cloud is increasing, and cloud computing is becoming a prominent distributed computing framework. Virtual machines provide many benefits to these applications. Thus, it is critically important to examine and review the performance effects of virtualization in cloud computing environments. This survey outlines research and experiments that have been done to test the effects virtual machines in cloud computing environments. Applications such as Web 2.0 and high performance computing are considered. Benchmarking and experimental tools are introduced. Results from studies have show that CPU sharing in Amazon EC2 small instances degrades network performance. Live server migration may affect Web 2.0 technologies if operating at peak workloads. HPC benchmarking tools show Xen may have significant variance in performance compared to KVM and VirtualBox.
The Minority Game Unpacked: Coordination and Competition in a Team-Based Experiment

In minority games, players in a group must decide at each round which of two available options to choose, knowing that only subjects who picked the minority option obtain a positive reward. Previous experiments on the minority and similar congestion games have shown that players interacting repeatedly are remarkably able to coordinate efficiently, despite not conforming to Nash equilibrium behavior. We conduct an experiment on a minority-of-three game in which each player is a team composed by three subjects. Each team can freely discuss its strategies in the game and decisions must be made via a majority rule. Team discussions are recorded and their content analyzed to detect evidence of strategy co-evolution among teams playing together. Our main results of team discussion analysis show no evidence supporting the mixed strategy Nash equilibrium solution, and support a low-rationality, backward-looking approach to model behavior in the game, more consistent with reinforcement learning models than with belief-based models. Showing level-2 rationality (i.e., reasoning about others' beliefs) is positively and significantly correlated with higher than average earnings in the game, showing that a mildly sophisticated approach pays off. In addition, teams that are more successful tend to become more egocentric over time, paying more attention to their own past successes than to the behavior of other teams. Finally, we find evidence of mutual adaptation over time, as teams that are more strategic (i.e., they pay more attention to other teams' moves) induce competing teams to be more egocentric instead. Our results contribute to the understanding of coordination dynamics resting on heterogeneity and co-evolution of decision rules rather than on conformity to equilibrium behavior. In addition, they provide support at the decision process level to the validity of modeling behavior using low-rationality reinforcement learning models.
Functional Foveal Splitting: Evidence from Neuropsychological and Multimodal MRI Investigations in a Chinese Patient with a Splenium Lesion

It remains controversial and hotly debated whether foveal information is double-projected to both hemispheres or split at the midline between the two hemispheres. We investigated this issue in a unique patient with lesions in the splenium of the corpus callosum and the left medial occipitotemporal region, through a series of neuropsychological tests and multimodal MRI scans. Behavioral experiments showed that (1) the patient had difficulties in reading simple and compound Chinese characters when they were presented in the foveal but left to the fixation, (2) he failed to recognize the left component of compound characters when the compound characters were presented in the central foveal field, (3) his judgments of the gender of centrally presented chimeric faces were exclusively based on the left half-face and he was unaware that the faces were chimeric. Functional MRI data showed that Chinese characters, only when presented in the right foveal field but not in the left foveal field, activated a region in the left occipitotemporal sulcus in the mid-fusiform, which is recognized as visual word form area. Together with existing evidence in the literature, results of the current study suggest that the representation of foveal stimuli is functionally split at object processing levels.
Assessing the Effect of Genetic Mutation - A Bayesian Framework for Determining Population History from DNA Sequence Data.

In cases where genetic sequence data are collected together with associated physical traits it is natural to want to link patterns observed in the trait values to the underlying genealogy of the individuals. If the traits correspond to specific phenotypes, we may wish to associate specific mutations with changes observed in phenotype distributions, whereas if the traits concern spatial information, we may use the genealogy to look at population movement over time.
A Two-stage Approach for Extending Event Detection to New Types via Neural Networks

We study the event detection problem in the new type extension setting. In particular, our task involves identifying the event instances of a target type that is only speci-ﬁed by a small set of seed instances in text. We want to exploit the large amount of training data available for the other event types to improve the performance of this task. We compare the convolutional neural network model and the feature-based method in this type extension setting to investigate their effectiveness. In addition, we propose a two-stage training algorithm for neural networks that effectively transfers knowledge from the other event types to the target type. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms strong baselines for this task.
Stack-less SIMT reconvergence at low cost

Parallel architectures following the SIMT model such as GPUs benefit from application regularity by issuing concurrent threads running in lockstep on SIMD units. As threads take different paths across the control-flow graph, lockstep execution is partially lost, and must be regained whenever possible in order to maximize the occupancy of SIMD units. In this paper, we propose a technique to handle SIMT control divergence that operates in constant space and handles indirect jumps and recursion. We describe a possible implementation which leverage the existing memory divergence management unit, ensuring a low hardware cost. In terms of performance, this solution is at least as efficient as existing techniques.
Psychosocial Determinants of Health Behaviour Change in an E-Counseling Intervention for Hypertension

We evaluated the influence of psychological stress and depression on motivation to adhere to recommended guidelines for exercise and diet. This study was conducted within a larger e-counseling trial. Subjects diagnosed with hypertension (n = 387, age = 44–74 years, 59% female) completed assessments at baseline and within 2 weeks after a 4-month intervention period. Outcomes included mean level of readiness to change diet and exercise and symptoms of depression and stress. Per protocol analysis defined e-counseling support as follows: ≥8 e-mails = therapeutic dose, 1–7 e-mails = subtherapeutic dose, and 0 e-mails = Controls. Baseline adjusted symptoms of depression and stress were inversely correlated with improvement in exercise (partial R = −.14, P = .01, and partial R = −.17, P = .01, resp.) but not diet or e-counseling. Subjects who received a therapeutic dose of e-counseling demonstrated greater readiness for diet adherence versus Controls (P = .02). Similarly, subjects receiving a therapeutic level of e-counseling demonstrated significantly greater readiness for exercise adherence versus Controls (P = .04). In sum, e-counseling is associated with improved motivation to adhere to exercise and diet among patients with hypertension, independent of symptoms of psychological stress and depression.
Promoting or protecting my brand: the identity-expression and fear-of-imitation conflict

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the conflict between consumers’ need to spread word-of-mouth about brands to express identity and the motivation to protect identity-linked brands from outside adoption that could dilute the brand’s symbolic associations. Current studies examine the interactive effects of self-brand connection (SBC) and consumer need for uniqueness (cNFU) on intentions to engage in brand-promoting and brand-protecting word-of-mouth behavior to in-group and out-group recipients. Design/methodology/approach Experimental scenario stimulus-based survey research was conducted, including scales measuring intentions to engage in promoting and protecting word-of-mouth, SBC and cNFU. Data for four studies were collected via online surveys and were analyzed using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS macro and the Johnson–Neyman technique in SPSS 21.0. Findings The results of four studies demonstrate that the interaction between SBC and cNFU tempers intentions to engage in brand-promoting word-of-mouth and amplifies intentions to engage in brand-protecting word-of-mouth, when the recipient of the word-of-mouth communication is an out-group, but not an in-group, member. Originality/value This work exposes the conflict between identity-expression and fear-of-imitation by demonstrating that consumers’ tempered intentions to spread brand-promoting word-of-mouth and amplified intentions to spread brand-protective word-of-mouth are deliberate strategic mechanisms used to protect brand meaning. In doing so, this research exposes cNFU as a factor that influences self-brand-connected consumers to engage in a negative brand behavior and qualifies work in identity-expressive word-of-mouth that suggests that self-presentational concerns lead consumers to avoid spreading negatively valenced word-of-mouth about identity-linked brands.
Friend or Foe? Perceptions of Qatar in the Israeli Online General and Sports Press

Abstract The current paper is looking into the way in which Qatar’s investment in sport, both directly and indirectly, is being perceived by the Israeli press. In order to accomplish the task set above, a content analysis of Qatar’s media coverage in the Israeli online press was conducted. Our analysis includes 1199 articles appearing in the mainstream online Israeli press and the findings point out to an interesting trend; there are significant differences between sport related stories, which present a political context and those who do not deal with politics which are significantly more supportive of Qatar.
Human Lung Epithelial Cells Progressed to Malignancy through Specific Oncogenic Manipulations

We used CDK4/hTERT–immortalized normal human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC) from several individuals to study lung cancer pathogenesis by introducing combinations of common lung cancer oncogenic changes (p53, KRAS, and MYC) and followed the stepwise transformation of HBECs to full malignancy. This model showed that: (i) the combination of five genetic alterations (CDK4, hTERT, sh-p53, KRASV12, and c-MYC) is sufficient for full tumorigenic conversion of HBECs; (ii) genetically identical clones of transformed HBECs exhibit pronounced differences in tumor growth, histology, and differentiation; (iii) HBECs from different individuals vary in their sensitivity to transformation by these oncogenic manipulations; (iv) high levels of KRASV12 are required for full malignant transformation of HBECs, however, prior loss of p53 function is required to prevent oncogene-induced senescence; (v) overexpression of c-MYC greatly enhances malignancy but only in the context of sh-p53+KRASV12; (vi) growth of parental HBECs in serum-containing medium induces differentiation, whereas growth of oncogenically manipulated HBECs in serum increases in vivo tumorigenicity, decreases tumor latency, produces more undifferentiated tumors, and induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT); (vii) oncogenic transformation of HBECs leads to increased sensitivity to standard chemotherapy doublets; (viii) an mRNA signature derived by comparing tumorigenic versus nontumorigenic clones was predictive of outcome in patients with lung cancer. Collectively, our findings show that this HBEC model system can be used to study the effect of oncogenic mutations, their expression levels, and serum-derived environmental effects in malignant transformation, while also providing clinically translatable applications such as development of prognostic signatures and drug response phenotypes. Visual Overview: http://mcr.aacrjournals. org/content/11/6/638/F1.large. jpg. Mol Cancer Res; 11(6); 638–50. ©2013 AACR. Visual Overview
H.L.A. Hart's secondary rules: what do ‘officials’ really think?

Abstract The impact of H.L. A. Hart's The Concept of Law on modern legal thinking is undisputed. But does it reflect the reality of the way British institutions work? In Concept, Hart argued, amongst other things, that one of two ‘minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system’ was that ‘its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behaviour by its officials’. In this paper, we begin the process of testing that statement empirically. Specifically, we ask whether non-judicial UK officials have a uniform view of what the rules of recognition, change and adjudication are, and whether they uniformly take an internal point of view towards them (i.e. whether they accept the rules and do not merely obey them). By way of a pilot study, thirty non-judicial UK officials were interviewed. Those officials comprised currently serving and retired senior civil servants, senior military officials, chief constables and local authority chief executives. The findings of the pilot study are presented in this paper. They allow us to deduce that Hart's statement might well be an inaccurate and incomplete description of the modern British constitution, and to comment on the implications of that conclusion.
A quantitative analysis of survey data for software design patterns

Software design patterns are largely concerned with improving the practices and products of software development. However, there has been no systematic analysis how users' profiles influence the effectiveness of design patterns. The aim of this paper is to investigate the links between the respondents' demographic data from our previous online survey and the design patterns. In this paper we employ a statistical approach to analyse the quantitative data collected from the respondents of our previous online survey. Through analysing the demographic data from the 206 responses of the questionnaire, we find that the positive assessment percentage of using patterns increases with greater experience with design patterns. The results show that the functions of design patterns are influenced by users' experiences rather than users' roles.