Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Based on the Metabolomic Approach the Energy Metabolism Responses of Oriental River Prawn Macrobrachium nipponense Hepatopancreas to Acute Hypoxia and Reoxygenation

Hypoxia represents a major physiological challenge for prawns and is a problem in aquaculture. Therefore, an understanding of the metabolic response mechanism of economically important prawn species to hypoxia and re-oxygenation is essential. However, little is known about the intrinsic mechanisms by which the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense copes with hypoxia at the metabolic level. In this study, we conducted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics studies and assays of energy metabolism-related parameters to investigate the metabolic mechanisms in the hepatopancreas of M. nipponense in response to 2.0 O2/L hypoxia for 6 and 24 h, and reoxygenation for 6 h following hypoxia for 24 h. Prawns under hypoxic stress displayed higher glycolysis-related enzyme activities and lower mRNA expression levels of aerobic respiratory enzymes than those in the normoxic control group, and those parameters returned to control levels in the reoxygenated group. Our results showed that hypoxia induced significant metabolomic alterations in the prawn hepatopancreas within 24 h. The main metabolic alterations were depletion of amino acids and 2-hydroxybutanoic acid and accumulation of lactate. Further, the findings indicated that hypoxia disturbed energy metabolism and induced antioxidant defense regulation in prawns. Surprisingly, recovery from hypoxia (i.e., reoxygenation) significantly affected 25 metabolites. Some amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, glutamate, and methionine) were markedly decreased compared to the control group, suggesting that increased degradation of amino acids occurred to provide energy in prawns at reoxygenation conditions. This study describes the acute metabolomic alterations that occur in prawns in response to hypoxia and demonstrates the potential of the altered metabolites as biomarkers of hypoxia.
The hybrid integration of arsenic trisulfide and lithium niobate optical waveguides by magnetron sputtering

The Hybrid Integration of Arsenic Trisulfide and Lithium Niobate Optical Waveguides by Magnetron Sputtering. (May 2011) Wee Chong Tan, B.Sc., University of Saskatchewan; M.Sc., University of Saskatchewan Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Christi K. Madsen It is well known that thermally evaporated a-As2S3 thin films are prone to oxidation when exposed to an ambient environment. These As2O3 crystals are a major source of scattering loss in sub-micron optical integrated circuits. Magnetron sputtering a-As2S3 not only produces films that have optical properties closer to their equilibrium state, the as-deposited films also show no signs of photo-decomposed As2O3. The TM propagation loss of the as-deposited As2S3-on-Ti:LiNbO3 waveguide is 0.20 ± 0.05 dB/cm, and it is the first low loss hybrid waveguide demonstration. Using the recipe developed for sputtering As2S3, a hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometer has been fabricated. This allows us to measure the group index of the integrated As2S3 waveguide and use it in the study of the group velocity dispersion in the sputtered film, as both material dispersion and waveguide dispersion may be present in the system. The average group index of the integrated As2S3 waveguide is 2.36 ± 0.01.
The effect of feeding wheat distillers dried grain with solubles on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weaned pigs

The effects of substituting soybean meal with wheat distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) as an energy and amino acid source on growth performance and dietary nutrient digestibility were evaluated in 240 weaned pigs with an initial body weight (BW) of 6.2 ± 1.2 kg. Five pelleted wheat-based diets containing 0, 50, 100, 150, or 200 g wheat DDGS/kg were formulated to contain 10.0 MJ/kg net energy (NE) and 1.15 g standardised ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys)/MJ NE and were fed for 4 wk. For d 0–28, increasing dietary inclusion of wheat DDGS quadratically reduced BW gain (P<0.001) mainly due to a quadratically reduced (P<0.001) feed intake but also a reduced (P<0.001) feed efficiency. At d 28, pigs fed 50, 100, 150 and 200 g wheat DDGS/kg were 0.1, 0.1, 0.4 and 5.5 kg lighter (P<0.001) than pigs fed 0 g wheat DDGS/kg. In conclusion, weaned pigs fed diets formulated to equal NE and SID amino acids can be fed up to 100 g wheat DDGS/kg without reducing final body weight (BW) and up to 150 g wheat DDGS/kg with limited reductions in growth performance. Despite similar DE content among diets, inclusion of 200 g wheat DDGS/kg of drastically reduced growth performance of weaned pigs. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
In vivo antimicrobial and antiviral activity of components in bovine milk and colostrum involved in non-specific defence

The in vivo evidence of the antimicrobial and antiviral activity of bovine milk and colostrum derived components are reviewed with special emphasis on lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase. Their mode of action and the rationale for their application in efficacy trials with rodents, farm animals, fish and humans, to give protection against infectious agents, are described. A distinction is made between efficacy obtained by oral and non-oral administration of these non-specific defence factors which can be commercially applied in large quantities due to major achievements in dairy technology. From the in vivo studies one can infer that lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase are very promising, naturally occurring antimicrobials for use in fish farming, husbandry, oral hygiene and functional foods. Other promising milk-derived compounds include lipids, from which anti-infective degradation products are generated during digestion, and antimicrobial peptides hidden in the casein molecules.
Sonic Hedgehog Dependent Phosphorylation by CK1α and GRK2 Is Required for Ciliary Accumulation and Activation of Smoothened

Hedgehog (Hh) signaling regulates embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis through the GPCR-like protein Smoothened (Smo), but how vertebrate Smo is activated remains poorly understood. In Drosophila, Hh dependent phosphorylation activates Smo. Whether this is also the case in vertebrates is unclear, owing to the marked sequence divergence between vertebrate and Drosophila Smo (dSmo) and the involvement of primary cilia in vertebrate Hh signaling. Here we demonstrate that mammalian Smo (mSmo) is activated through multi-site phosphorylation of its carboxyl-terminal tail by CK1α and GRK2. Phosphorylation of mSmo induces its active conformation and simultaneously promotes its ciliary accumulation. We demonstrate that graded Hh signals induce increasing levels of mSmo phosphorylation that fine-tune its ciliary localization, conformation, and activity. We show that mSmo phosphorylation is induced by its agonists and oncogenic mutations but is blocked by its antagonist cyclopamine, and efficient mSmo phosphorylation depends on the kinesin-II ciliary motor. Furthermore, we provide evidence that Hh signaling recruits CK1α to initiate mSmo phosphorylation, and phosphorylation further increases the binding of CK1α and GRK2 to mSmo, forming a positive feedback loop that amplifies and/or sustains mSmo phosphorylation. Hence, despite divergence in their primary sequences and their subcellular trafficking, mSmo and dSmo employ analogous mechanisms for their activation.
Lagrangian Trajectory Modeling of Lunar Dust Particles

Apollo landing videos shot from inside the right LEM window, provide a quantitative measure of the characteristics and dynamics of the ejecta spray of lunar regolith particles beneath the Lander during the final 10 [m] or so of descent. Photogrammetry analysis gives an estimate of the thickness of the dust layer and angle of trajectory. In addition, Apollo landing video analysis divulges valuable information on the regolith ejecta interactions with lunar surface topography. For example, dense dust streaks are seen to originate at the outer rims of craters within a critical radius of the Lander during descent. The primary intent of this work was to develop a mathematical model and software implementation for the trajectory simulation of lunar dust particles acted on by gas jets originating from the nozzle of a lunar Lander, where the particle sizes typically range from 10 micron to 500 micron. The high temperature, supersonic jet of gas that is exhausted from a rocket engine can propel dust, soil, gravel, as well as small rocks to high velocities. The lunar vacuum allows ejected particles to travel great distances unimpeded, and in the case of smaller particles, escape velocities may be reached. The particle size distributions and kinetic energies of ejected particles can lead to damage to the landing spacecraft or to other hardware that has previously been deployed in the vicinity. Thus the primary motivation behind this work is to seek a better understanding for the purpose of modeling and predicting the behavior of regolith dust particle trajectories during powered rocket descent and ascent.
Electromagnetic power and momentum in N-body Hamiltonian approach to wave-particle dynamics in a periodic structure

To model momentum exchange in nonlinear wave-particle interaction, as in amplification devices like traveling-wave tubes, we use an N-body self-consistent Hamiltonian description based on Kuznetsov's discrete model, and we provide new formulations for the electromagnetic power and field momentum in media. This approach leads to fast and accurate numerical simulations in time domain and in one-dimensional space.
Seasonal and daily fluctuation of diatoms during spring tide periods in Kerkennah Islands

Diatoms are considered as a euryhaline and eurythermal phytoplankton group, which inhabit and dominate the phytoplankton community in shallow, turbulent and upwelling region as coastal area. They are generally adapted to low light levels and are, therefore, able to survive in the turbid conditions[1]. Phytoplankton distribution patterns reflect the interplay between phytoplankton growth rates, commonly regulated by light, inorganic nutrients, temperature, light availability, nutrient inputs, residence times and turbulence[2,3]. These controlling factors depend on the spatial and temporal variability of physical parameters such as depth, flow velocity, and turbidity[4,5]. Diatoms tend to have significantly higher maximum uptake rates of nutrients than any other group[6]. Indeed, diatoms are the preferred food of many grazers and organisms in the upper trophic levels and thus form the basis for many of the productive fisheries. Changes in the diatom community can be related to corresponding fluctuations in water chemistry. Factors known to affect diatom distribution include salinity and trace metal levels, pH, total nitrogen and total phosphorus[7,8]. Hydrodynamism in coastal waters induces major changes in physic (depth, turbulence etc.) and chemical (pH, salinity, nutrients etc.) characteristics and in turn influence the community structure of biota in general and especially phytoplankton, as these conditions profoundly influence production of phytoplankton. The purpose of this study was to investigate the seasonal and the daily distribution of diatoms in the three tidal periods (flood, slack and ebb period) during the spring tide in Kerkennah Islands in Southern Tunisia. In fact, on a time scale of hours, advection of water during ebb and flood determine strong changes of several fundamental parameters of the water column, such as salinity, nutrients and suspended particulate matter[9] and phytoplankton distribution[10]. The extent of such variations will vary significantly ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Forskolin attenuates retinal inflammation in diabetic mice

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of forskolin on retinal inflammation under diabetic conditions. C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal control, diabetic control and forskolin treatment groups. The diabetic model was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The forskolin treatment group received intragastrical administration of forskolin for 12 weeks, the other two groups received an equal amount of PBS. At 21 weeks following diabetic induction, an immunoblotting test was conducted to investigate the expression of two inflammatory factors: Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Glucose concentration was additionally calculated. A leukostasis assay was utilized to compare microvasculature pathological alterations. It was demonstrated that retinal glucose concentration of diabetic control and forskolin treatment were both increased compared with normal control, however the forskolin treatment group was only ~68.06% of the diabetic control due to downregulated glucose transporter 1 expression. The expression of ICAM-1 and TNF-α were upregulated in the forskolin treatment and diabetic control groups compared with the normal control, however these two inflammatory factor expression levels in the forskolin treatment group were ~68.75 and 75.37% of diabetic control. It was additionally observed that there were less adherent leukocytes in retinal microvasculature in the forskolin treatment group compared with diabetic control. All the differences observed were significant. Overall, by means of limiting glucose transport into the retina via forskolin, the retinal environment with lower glucose concentration alleviates the inflammatory response under diabetic conditions.
Oxygen-induced retinopathy in the rat: relationship of retinal nonperfusion to subsequent neovascularization.

PURPOSE To confirm a relationship between oxygen-induced retinal vasoattenuation and subsequent abnormal neovascularization in the newborn rat. METHODS Beginning at birth, some litters of Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 80% constant oxygen while others received oxygen varying between 40% and 80% in a cyclic fashion. The frequency of the change in inspired oxygen (FiO2) was either 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours. The exposures periods lasted for 14 days, at which time some rats from each exposure group were sacrificed and assessed for retinal vasoattenuation with injection of fluorescein-labeled dextran. The remaining rats from each group were transferred at day 14 from the hyperoxic atmosphere to room air for an additional 4 days. These animals were then killed and assessed for retinal neovascularization by staining for vascular ADPase activity. RESULTS Of all rats raised in variable oxygen, 62% exhibited abnormal retinal neovascularization after 4 days in room air. Only 18% of the rats exposed to constant oxygen responded with abnormal neovascularization. Among the four groups of variable oxygen-exposed rats, there was a direct correlation (R2 = 0.96) between degree of retinal avascularity upon removal from oxygen and the propensity for subsequent abnormal neovascularization. Constant oxygen-exposed rats did not exhibit this relationship. This exposure produced the greatest retinal avascularity upon removal from oxygen but the lowest incidence of abnormal neovascularization after 4 days in room air. CONCLUSIONS Retinal avascularity may not be the single overriding stimulus for neovascularization in oxygen-induced retinopathy. Other hypotheses bear consideration, including the possibility that variable oxygen leads directly to vascular endothelial cell mitosis, a common retinal manifestation of ischemia-reperfusion.
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PAIN THRESHOLD, SELF-REGULATION, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING, AND AUTONOMIC ACTIVITY: A GENERAL INHIBITORY SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

OF THESIS RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PAIN THRESHOLD, SELF-REGULATION, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING, AND AUTONOMIC ACTIVITY: A GENERAL INHIBITORY SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE Chronic pain patients have poorer pain inhibition, self-regulatory ability, executive functioning and autonomic inhibition than those without pain, supporting the view that suppressing pain is mentally taxing. In the current study, an alternate explanation was proposed; namely, that pain inhibition, self-regulation, executive functions, and heart rate variability (HRV) are all controlled by the same general inhibitory system. To test this hypothesis, participants came into the laboratory for three sessions. At the first session, individual differences in pain thresholds, self-regulatory strength, executive functioning, and HRV were measured. At the second and third sessions, self-regulatory persistence and within-session changes in pain thresholds were measured under conditions of high and low self-regulatory fatigue. Results revealed that those low in inhibitory strength, operationalized as the aggregate of pain inhibition, selfregulation, executive functioning, and HRV, became more sensitive to pain under conditions of self-regulatory fatigue, whereas no significant changes in pain threshold were found for those high in inhibitory strength. Additional analyses revealed that high baseline pain threshold marginally protected against the effects of self-regulatory fatigue. The findings provide some support for a general inhibitory system and suggest that physiological inhibition of pain and autonomic activity may be influenced by phasic selfregulatory fatigue.
A Procedure for Determining Tire-Road Friction Characteristics Using a Modification of the Magic Formula Based on Experimental Results

Knowledge of tire-road friction characteristics is essential for the proper performance of most relevant vehicle active safety systems. Therefore, its determination is necessary to improve the effectiveness of these systems and to avoid or reduce the consequences of traffic accidents. For this reason, there is a great deal of literature concerning methods and devices for measuring and modeling tire-road friction. Most of these methods have focused on determining the road friction resistance, taking only road composition and making measurements in wet conditions into account. However, friction forces are also dependent on the tire type, since the contact is established between the tire and the road in real driving conditions. Thus, the type and characteristics of the tire have to be considered in the study of the interaction between the vehicle and the road. The aim of this work is to unify the study of the friction coefficient, taking into consideration the two existing bodies involved in the contact, i.e., the tire and road and the main factors that influence the forces in the contact. To this end, a modification of the Pacejka Magic Formula is proposed to include the effects of the main parameters that influence the contact, such as road composition and its state, tire type, vehicle speed, and slip between the tire and the road. To do so, real tests have been conducted on several roads and with different operating conditions. As a result, a more accurate tire-road friction model has been obtained.
Systematic Decision Making in Security Management Modelling Password Usage and Support

We demonstrate the use of a systematic decision-making methodology to support an informed choice of a password policy. Our approach uses an executable system model, grounded in empirical data, to compare, using simulations, two different policy options. The problem is framed economically, with the basis of the comparison being a notion of organizational utility. We quantify utility in this case by considering breaches of system security, users productivity, and investment in support operations. Using our results, we are able to explore trade-offs between these factors and thus determine the optimal policy configuration given the initial conditions.
CARAVAN: Congestion Avoidance and Route Allocation Using Virtual Agent Negotiation

Traffic congestion becomes a cascading phenomenon when vehicles from a road segment chaotically spill on to successive road segments. Such uncontrolled dispersion of vehicles can be avoided by evenly distributing vehicles along alternative routes. This paper proposes a practical multiagent-based approach, which is designed to achieve acceptable route allocation within a short time frame and with low communication overheads. In the proposed approach, which is called Congestion Avoidance and Route Allocation using Virtual Agent Negotiation (CARAVAN), vehicle agents (VAs) in the local vicinity communicate with each other before designated decision points (junctions) along their route. Cooperative route-allocation decisions are performed at these junctions. VAs use intervehicular communication to propagate key traffic information and undertake its distributed processing. Every VA exchanges its autonomously calculated route preference information to arrive at an initial allocation of routes. The allocation is improved using a number of successive virtual negotiation “deals. ” The virtual nature of these deals requires no physical communication and, thereby, reduces communication requirements. In addition to the theory and concept, this paper presents the design and implementation methodology of CARAVAN, including experimental results for synthetic and real-world road networks. Results show that when compared against the shortest path algorithm for travel time improvements, CARAVAN offers 21%-43% gain (when traffic demand is below network capacity) and 13%-17% gain (when traffic demand exceeds network capacity), demonstrating its ability to regulate overall system traffic using local coordination strategies.
The Effect of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists on Recruitment and Function of Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND Circulating endothelial progenitor cells have an important role in the process of vascular repair. Impaired recruitment and function of endothelial progenitor cells is related to the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure. Endothelial progenitor cells have been shown to express the mineralocorticoid receptor. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists on endothelial progenitor cells in patients with heart failure. METHODS Twenty-four patients with compensated heart failure, who were not under mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist therapy, were recruited. Either eplerenone (n=8) or spironolactone (n=16) therapy was initiated. Circulating endothelial progenitor cell level, identified as the proportion of mononuclear cells expressing vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), CD133, and CD34, was evaluated by flow cytometry at baseline and after 8 weeks. Following 7 days of culture, colonies were counted by microscopy and MTT assay was performed on randomly selected patients (n=12) to estimate viability. RESULTS Both median CD34+/VEGFR2+ and median CD133+/VEGFR2+ increased significantly (P = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively). However, the number of colonies and viability of the cells after therapy (as assessed by the MTT assay) was not significantly different compared with the baseline. CONCLUSIONS These preliminary results suggest that mineralocorticoid receptor blockade may enhance endothelial progenitor cells recruitment in patients with compensated heart failure.