Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypometabolism, antioxidant defenses and free radical metabolism in the pulmonate land snail Helix aspersa

SUMMARY The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of a cycle of estivation and awakening on free radical metabolism in selected organs of the land snail Helix aspersa. Estivation for 20 days induced a 4.9- and 1.8-fold increase in selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase activity (Se-GPX) and in total glutathione levels (GSH-eq), respectively, in hepatopancreas when compared to activity in active animals 24 h after awakening. Foot muscle Se-GPX activity was also increased 3.9-fold during estivation, whereas GSH-eq did not vary. The activities of other antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase and glutathione S-transferase) and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase were unchanged in both organs. After 15 min of awakening, the glutathione disulphide (GSSG)/GSH-eq ratio increased significantly by 55% in hepatopancreas, slowly returning to the levels observed during estivation. The higher GSSG/GSH-eq ratio may be caused by increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during awakening. The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) decreased from 49 to 30.7 nmol g-1 wet mass in hepatopancreas after 5 min arousal and, after 30 min, TBARS rose significantly to 39.6 nmol g-1 wet mass, gradually declining thereafter. The levels of lipid hydroperoxides in hepatopancreas and of carbonyl protein in foot muscle both decreased during awakening. The higher levels of products of free radical damage during estivation may have resulted from low levels of ROS formation associated with decreased rates of lipid hydroperoxide detoxification and oxidized protein turnover caused by metabolic depression. The regulation of the antioxidant system during hypometabolism may constitute a mechanism to minimize oxidative stress during cycles of estivation and awakening.
Interchannel soliton collisions in periodic dispersion maps in the presence of third order dispersion with loss and amplification

We study the effects of third-order dispersion in wavelength division multiplexed soliton transmission systems using periodic dispersion maps. For this purpose, loss and lumped amplification have been included in a previous ODE model obtained using the variational method and a Gaussian ansatz. We present a detailed analysis of how TOD affects the collision-induced frequency shifts of the transmitted pulses.
Isolation and Characterization of the Neutral Leucine Aminopeptidase (LapN) of Tomato1

Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) express two forms of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP-A and LAP-N) and two LAP-like proteins. The relatedness of LAP-N and LAP-A was determined using affinity-purified antibodies to four LAP-A protein domains. Antibodies to epitopes in the most N-terminal region were able to discriminate between LAP-A and LAP-N, whereas antibodies recognizing central and COOH-terminal regions recognized both LAP polypeptides. Two-dimensional immunoblots showed that LAP-N and the LAP-like proteins were detected in all vegetative (leaves, stems, roots, and cotyledons) and reproductive (pistils, sepals, petals, stamens, and floral buds) organs examined, whereas LAP-A exhibited a distinct expression program.LapN was a single-copy gene encoding a rare-class transcript. A full-length LapN cDNA clone was isolated, and the deduced sequence had 77% peptide sequence identity with the wound-induced LAP-A. Comparison of LAP-N with other plant LAPs identified 28 signature residues that classified LAP proteins as LAP-N or LAP-A like. Overexpression of a His6-LAP-N fusion protein in Escherichia coli demonstrated distinct differences in His6-LAP-N and His6-LAP-A activities. Similar to LapA, the LapN RNA encoded a precursor protein with a molecular mass of 60 kD. The 5-kD presequence had features similar to plastid transit peptides, and processing of the LAP-N presequence could generate the mature 55-kD LAP-N. Unlike LapA, the LapN transcript contained a second in-frame ATG, and utilization of this potential initiation codon would yield a 55-kD LAP-N protein. The localization of LAP-N could be controlled by the balance of translational initiation site utilization and LAP-N preprotein processing.
Global Ranking of Management- and Clinical-centered E-health Journals

: This study presents a ranking list of 35 management-and 28 clinical-centered e-health academic journals developed based on a survey of 398 active researchers from 46 countries. Among the management-centered journals, the researchers ranked Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and Journal of Medical Internet Research as A+ journals; among the clinical-focused journals, they ranked BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making and IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics as A+ journals. We found that journal longevity (years in print) had an effect on ranking scores such that longer standing journals had an advantage over their more recent counterparts, but this effect was only moderately significant and did not guarantee a favorable ranking position. Various stakeholders may use this list to advance the state of the e-health discipline. There are both similarities and differences between the present ranking and the one developed earlier in 2010.
Improving Search Algorithms by Using Intelligent Coordinates

We consider algorithms that maximize a global function G in a distributed manner, using a different adaptive computational agent to set each variable of the underlying space. Each agent eta is self-interested; it sets its variable to maximize its own function g(eta). Three factors govern such a distributed algorithm's performance, related to exploration/exploitation, game theory, and machine learning. We demonstrate how to exploit all three factors by modifying a search algorithm's exploration stage: rather than random exploration, each coordinate of the search space is now controlled by a separate machine-learning-based "player" engaged in a noncooperative game. Experiments demonstrate that this modification improves simulated annealing (SA) by up to an order of magnitude for bin packing and for a model of an economic process run over an underlying network. These experiments also reveal interesting small-world phenomena.
Toughness of an interface along a thin ductile layer joining elastic solids

Abstract The contribution of plastic deformation to the effective work of fracture is computed for a crack lying along one of the interfaces of a thin ductile layer joining two elastic solids. A model is proposed for the joint whose major parameters are the layer thickness, the elastic-plastic properties of material in the layer, and the work of separation and peak separation stress of the local interface fracture process. A symmetric mode I loading of the joint is considered under conditions where the thickness of the layer and the extent of the plastic zone are small compared with the crack length. The crack growth resistance behaviour is computed, with special emphasis on the steady-state work of fracture. The role of the layer thickness in the development of the plasticity contribution to toughness is detailed. Plastic dissipation is fully realized for layers above a certain thickness, characteristic of a plastic zone dimension, and is negligible when the layer is thin relative to this dimension. Othe.
Sesamol, a lipid lowering agent, ameliorates aluminium chloride induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in rats

Background: Sesame oil from the seeds of Sesamum indicum Linn. (Pedaliaceae) has been used traditionally in Indian medical practice of Ayurveda in the treatment of central nervous system disorders and insomnia. A few published reports favor the anti-dementia effect of sesamol (SML), an active constituent of sesame oil. Objective: Thus, the present study was aimed to explore the anti-dementia effect and possible mechanism (s) of SML in aluminium chloride (AlCl3)-induced cognitive dysfunction model in rodents with special emphasis on memory centers viz., hippocampus and frontal cortex. Methods: Male Wistar rats were exposed to AlCl3 (175 mg/kg p.o.) for 60 days. SML (10 and 20 mg/kg) and rivastigmine (1 mg/kg) were administered orally 45 min before administration of AlCl3 for 60 days. Spatial memory was assessed using Morris water maze test. After 60 days of treatment animals were sacrificed, hippocampus and frontal cortex were collected and analyzed for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) level, antioxidant enzymes (Glutathione, catalase), lipid peroxidation, and nitrite level. The circulating triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels were also analyzed. Results: SML significantly prevented behavioral impairments in aluminium-exposed rats. Treatment with SML reversed the increased cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL while raised the HDL levels. SML significantly corrected the effect of AlCl3 on AChE activity. Further, SML reversed the elevated nitric oxide, TNF-α and reduced antioxidant enzymes in hippocampus and frontal cortex. Conclusion: The present study suggests the neuro-protection by SML against cognitive dysfunction induced by environmental toxin (AlCl3) in hippocampus and frontal cortex.
Investor Overreaction, Cross-Sectional Dispersion of Firm Valuations, and Expected Stock Returns

I develop and test the theoretical predictions that when investor overreaction to market-wide news is larger, firm valuations in the cross section become more dispersed and stocks earn lower expected returns. Consistent with these predictions, measures of cross-sectional dispersion of firm valuations are negatively related to subsequent market and portfolio excess returns, especially for sets of firms with highly subjective valuations and significant limits to arbitrage. Further, these firms underperform those with the opposite characteristics in periods when beginning-of-period firm valuation dispersion is high. In contrast, they overperform when beginning-of-period firm valuation dispersion is low.
Abnormal crowd behavior detection based on local pressure model

Abnormal crowd behavior detection is an important issue in crowd surveillance. In this paper, a novel local pressure model is proposed to detect the abnormality in large-scale crowd scene based on local crowd characteristics. These characteristics include the local density and velocity which are very significant parameters for measuring the dynamic of crowd. A grid of particles is placed over the image to reduce the computation of the local crowd parameters. Local pressure is generated by applying these local characteristics in pressure model. Histogram is utilized to extract the statistical property of the magnitude and direction of the pressure. The crowd feature vector of the whole frame is obtained through the analysis of Histogram of Oriented Pressure (HOP). SVM and median filter are then adopted to detect the anomaly. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on publicly available datasets from UMN. The experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve a higher accuracy than that of the previous methods on detecting abnormal crowd behavior.
Antibacterial Activity and Membrane-Disruptive Mechanism of 3-p-trans-Coumaroyl-2-hydroxyquinic Acid, a Novel Phenolic Compound from Pine Needles of Cedrus deodara, against Staphylococcus aureus

Recently, we reported that a novel phenolic compound isolated from Cedrus deodara, 3-p-trans-coumaroyl-2-hydroxyquinic acid (CHQA), exhibits a potent antioxidant activity. The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of CHQA against eleven food-borne pathogens and to elucidate its mechanism of action against Staphylococcus aureus. The results from minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determinations showed that CHQA exhibited moderate inhibitory effects on all of the tested pathogens with MIC values ranging from 2.5–10 mg/mL. Membrane potential measurements and flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that CHQA damaged the cytoplasmic membrane of S. aureus, causing a significant membrane hyperpolarization with a loss of membrane integrity. Moreover, CHQA induced an increase in membrane fluidity and conformational changes in membrane protein of S. aureus, suggesting that CHQA probably acts on the cell membrane by interactions with membrane lipid and protein. Transmission electron microscopic observations further confirmed that CHQA disrupted the cell membrane of S. aureus and caused severe morphological changes, which even led to leakage of intracellular constituents. These findings indicated that CHQA could have the potential to serve as a natural antibacterial agent to control and prevent the growth of pathogens in food and in food-processing environments.
Long-term use of fluticasone propionate/salmeterol fixed-dose combination and incidence of cataracts and glaucoma among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in the UK General Practice Research Database

Objectives Some large population-based studies have reported a dose-related increased risk of cataracts and glaucoma associated with use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We evaluated the association between use of ICS-containing products, specifically fluticasone propionate/salmeterol fixed-dose combination (FSC), and incidence of cataracts and glaucoma among patients with COPD in a large electronic medical record database in the United Kingdom. Methods We identified a cohort of patients aged 45 years and over with COPD in the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) between 2003 and 2006. Cases of incident cataracts or glaucoma were defined based on diagnosis and procedure codes and matched to controls from the risk set to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The association with FSC or ICS exposure was modeled using conditional logistic regression. Medication exposure was assessed with respect to recency, duration, and number of prescriptions prior to the index date. Average daily dose was defined as none, low (1–250 mcg), medium (251–500 mcg), high (501–1000 mcg), or very high (1001+ mcg) using fluticasone propionate (FP) equivalents. Results We identified 2941 incident cataract cases and 327 incident glaucoma cases in the COPD cohort (n = 53,191). FSC or ICS prescriptions were not associated with risk of incident cataracts or glaucoma for any exposure category, after adjusting for confounders. We observed a lack of a dose response in all analyses, where low dose was the reference group. The odds of cataracts associated with FSC dose were medium OR: 1.1 (95% CI: 0.9–1.4); high OR: 1.2 (95% CI: 0.9–1.5); and very high OR: 1.2 (95% CI: 0.9–1.7). The odds of glaucoma associated with FSC dose: medium OR: 1.0 (95% CI: 0.5–2.1); high OR: 1.0 (95% CI: 0.5–2.0); and very high OR: 1.0 (95% CI: 0.4–2.8). Conclusions FSC or other ICS exposure was not associated with an increased odds of cataracts or glaucoma, nor was a dose–response relationship observed in this population-based nested case-control study of COPD patients in the United Kingdom.
The Phytoestrogen Genistein Affects Zebrafish Development through Two Different Pathways

Background Endocrine disrupting chemicals are widely distributed in the environment and derive from many different human activities or can also be natural products synthesized by plants or microorganisms. The phytoestrogen, genistein (4′, 5, 7-trihydroxy-isoflavone), is a naturally occurring compound found in soy products. Genistein has been the subject of numerous studies because of its known estrogenic activity. Methodology/Principal Findings We report that genistein exposure of zebrafish embryos induces apoptosis, mainly in the hindbrain and the anterior spinal cord. Timing experiments demonstrate that apoptosis is induced during a precise developmental window. Since adding ICI 182,780, an ER antagonist, does not rescue the genistein-induced apoptosis and since there is no synergistic effect between genistein and estradiol, we conclude that this apoptotic effect elicited by genistein is estrogen-receptors independent. However, we show in vitro, that genistein binds and activates the three zebrafish estrogen receptors ERα, ERβ-A and ERβ-B. Furthermore using transgenic ERE-Luciferase fish we show that genistein is able to activate the estrogen pathway in vivo during larval stages. Finally we show that genistein is able to induce ectopic expression of the aromatase-B gene in an ER-dependent manner in the anterior brain in pattern highly similar to the one resulting from estrogen treatment at low concentration. Conclusion/Significance Taken together these results indicate that genistein acts through at least two different pathways in zebrafish embryos: (i) it induces apoptosis in an ER-independent manner and (ii) it regulates aromatase-B expression in the brain in an ER-dependent manner. Our results thus highlight the multiplicity of possible actions of phytoestrogens, such as genistein. This suggests that the use of standardized endpoints to study the effect of a given compound, even when this compound has well known targets, may carry the risk of overlooking interesting effects of this compound.
Nuclear Sterol Regulatory Element-binding Proteins Activate Genes Responsible for the Entire Program of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Transgenic Mouse Liver*

Previous studies have shown that the rate of fatty acid synthesis is elevated by more than 20-fold in livers of transgenic mice that express truncated nuclear forms of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs). This was explained in part by an increase in the levels of mRNA for the two major enzymes of fatty acid synthesis, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase, whose transcription is stimulated by SREBPs. Fatty acid synthesis also requires a source of acetyl-CoA and NADPH. In the current studies we show that the levels of mRNA for ATP citrate lyase, the enzyme that produces acetyl-CoA, are also elevated in the transgenic livers. In addition, we found marked elevations in the mRNAs for malic enzyme, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, all of which produce NADPH. Finally, we found that overexpressing two of the SREBPs (1a and 2) led to elevated mRNAs for stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), an isoform that is detectable in nontransgenic livers, and SCD2, an isoform that is not detected in nontransgenic livers. This stimulation led to an increase in total SCD activity in liver microsomes. Together, all of these changes would be expected to lead to a marked increase in the concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids in the transgenic livers, and this was confirmed chromatographically. We conclude that expression of nuclear SREBPs is capable of activating the entire coordinated program of unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in mouse liver.
Targeting N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors for treatment of neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain remains a major clinical problem and a therapeutic challenge because existing analgesics are often ineffective and can cause serious side effects. Increased N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity contributes to central sensitization in certain types of neuropathic pain. NMDAR antagonists can reduce hyperalgesia and allodynia in animal models of neuropathic pain induced by nerve injury and diabetic neuropathy. Clinically used NMDAR antagonists, such as ketamine and dextromethorphan, are generally effective in patients with neuropathic pain, such as complex regional pain syndrome and painful diabetic neuropathy. However, patients with postherpetic neuralgia respond poorly to NMDAR antagonists. Recent studies on identifying NMDAR-interacting proteins and molecular mechanisms of increased NMDAR activity in neuropathic pain could facilitate the development of new drugs to attenuate abnormal NMDAR activity with minimal impairment of the physiological function of NMDARs. Combining NMDAR antagonists with other analgesics could also lead to better management of neuropathic pain without causing serious side effects.
Capacity is the wrong paradigm

At present, "capacity" is the prevailing paradigm for covert channels. With respect to steganography, however, capacity is at best insufficient, and at worst, is incorrect. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm called "capability" which gauges the effectiveness of a steganographic method. It includes payload carrying ability, detectability, and robustness components. We also discuss the use of zero-error capacity for channel analysis and demonstrate that a JPEG compressed image always has the potential to carry hidden information.
Noninvasive iPhone Measurement of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Using Intrinsic Frequency Methodology*

Objective: The study is based on previously reported mathematical analysis of arterial waveform that extracts hidden oscillations in the waveform that we called intrinsic frequencies. The goal of this clinical study was to compare the accuracy of left ventricular ejection fraction derived from intrinsic frequencies noninvasively versus left ventricular ejection fraction obtained with cardiac MRI, the most accurate method for left ventricular ejection fraction measurement. Design: After informed consent, in one visit, subjects underwent cardiac MRI examination and noninvasive capture of a carotid waveform using an iPhone camera (The waveform is captured using a custom app that constructs the waveform from skin displacement images during the cardiac cycle.). The waveform was analyzed using intrinsic frequency algorithm. Setting: Outpatient MRI facility. Subjects: Adults able to undergo MRI were referred by local physicians or self-referred in response to local advertisement and included patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction diagnosed by a cardiologist. Interventions: Standard cardiac MRI sequences were used, with periodic breath holding for image stabilization. To minimize motion artifact, the iPhone camera was held in a cradle over the carotid artery during iPhone measurements. Measurements and Main Results: Regardless of neck morphology, carotid waveforms were captured in all subjects, within seconds to minutes. Seventy-two patients were studied, ranging in age from 20 to 92 years old. The main endpoint of analysis was left ventricular ejection fraction; overall, the correlation between ejection fraction–iPhone and ejection fraction–MRI was 0.74 (r = 0.74; p < 0.0001; ejection fraction–MRI = 0.93 × [ejection fraction–iPhone] + 1.9). Conclusions: Analysis of carotid waveforms using intrinsic frequency methods can be used to document left ventricular ejection fraction with accuracy comparable with that of MRI. The measurements require no training to perform or interpret, no calibration, and can be repeated at the bedside to generate almost continuous analysis of left ventricular ejection fraction without arterial cannulation.