Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Glycogen Metabolism in Primary and Transformed Astrocytes In Vitro

Abstract: Glycogen metabolism was studied in primary and Herpesvirus‐transformed cultures of neonatal rat brain astrocytes. A small fraction of the glucose consumed was coaserved in glycogen in both the primary and the transformed astrocytic cell cultures. After addition of culture medium containing 5.5 mM glucose, glycogen increased to maximal levels within 2.5 h, the approximate time at which half of the medium glucose was consumed, and rapidly declined thereafter in both the primary and transformed astrocytic cultures. Maximum levels of glycogen were apparently related to the cell density of the Herpesvirus‐transformed cultures, but primary cultures did not show this behavior. At any given cell density, maximal levels of glycogen were dependent on the concentration of extracellular glucose. Administration of glucose caused a transient activation of glycogen synthase a and a rapid inactivation of glycogen phosphorylase a.
The receptor for urokinase type plasminogen activator polarizes expression of the protease to the leading edge of migrating monocytes and promotes degradation of enzyme inhibitor complexes

Receptor-bound urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) remains associated to the surface of human monocytes for many hours. Monocytes induced to migrate in a chemotactic gradient of f-Met-Leu-Phe rapidly polarize their uPA receptors to the leading front of the cells. Receptor-bound enzyme can be inhibited by plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 (PAI-2), with a kinetics comparable to that determined for the free enzyme, and uPA/PAI-2 complexes can bind to the uPA receptor. In contrast to the active enzyme, the uPA/PAI-2 complex is rapidly cleared from the monocyte cell surface; this involves an initial cleavage of the complex at the cell surface, followed by endocytosis and degradation. These results indicate that the uPA receptor can function both to focus plasmin-mediated extracellular matrix degradation in front of migrating cells, and to target uPA/PAI-2 enzyme/inhibitor complexes for degradation; they suggest that this receptor is a key determinant in the control of uPA-catalyzed extracellular proteolysis.
An Fc engineering approach that modulates antibody-dependent cytokine release without altering cell-killing functions

Cytotoxic therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) often mediate target cell-killing by eliciting immune effector functions via Fc region interactions with cellular and humoral components of the immune system. Key functions include antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). However, there has been increased appreciation that along with cell-killing functions, the induction of antibody-dependent cytokine release (ADCR) can also influence disease microenvironments and therapeutic outcomes. Historically, most Fc engineering approaches have been aimed toward modulating ADCC, ADCP, or CDC. In the present study, we describe an Fc engineering approach that, while not resulting in impaired ADCC or ADCP, profoundly affects ADCR. As such, when peripheral blood mononuclear cells are used as effector cells against mAb-opsonized tumor cells, the described mAb variants elicit a similar profile and quantity of cytokines as IgG1. In contrast, although the variants elicit similar levels of tumor cell-killing as IgG1 with macrophage effector cells, the variants do not elicit macrophage-mediated ADCR against mAb-opsonized tumor cells. This study demonstrates that Fc engineering approaches can be employed to uncouple macrophage-mediated phagocytic and subsequent cell-killing functions from cytokine release.
Expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in primary human breast cancer: MMP-9 as a potential biomarker for cancer invasion and metastasis.

BACKGROUND/AIM Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer in Saudi women. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are endopeptidases with the ability to degrade extracellular matrix proteins. In healthy individual tissue disruption is prevented by precised regulation of MMPs; however, in cancer a number of MMPs are overexpressed causing tissue disruption and making tumor cells capable of invasion and metastasis. Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of BCs are classified into grade 1 (G1), grade 2 (G2) and grade 3 (G3) tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a transcriptomic profiling of 38 surgically-resected breast tumors (4 G1, 17 G2 and 17 G3) using Affymetrix Gene 1.0 ST microarrays. Differentially expressed genes for each grade were identified by the Partek Genomic Suite 6.4 and expression analysis results were validated by immunohistochemistry at the protein level. Pathway analyses and establishment of clinical significance of findings were performed using the appropriate software. RESULTS We identified 1,593 differentially expressed genes in BC grades in comparison to normal samples using a cut-off of p<0.05 and fold change >2. Out of these genes 429 were expressed throughout in all grades along with tumor progression while many others associated with specific grades (440 genes in G1, 203 in G2 and 394 in G3 only) were exclusively. Microarray results indicate that mRNA expression of MMP-1, -9,-11,-12, and -13 were up-regulated in higher BC grades when compared to normal breast tissues. MMP-9 was expressed in most IDC (97.5%) samples and was highly expressed in 55% of the tumors. Differential expression of MMP-9 significantly correlated with histological BC grades of (p=0.03) and strongly correlated with overall survival (p=0.08). CONCLUSION Gene expression signatures are unique for specific grades. Overexpression of MMPs in higher grades might be associated with BC tumor invasion and metastasis. Therefore, MMPs, and MMP-9 in particular, are reliable candidates for diagnostic biomarker and drug target and further functional analyses have to be performed in order to confirm their role in BC. Our results also suggest the incidence of MMP-9 expression is high in IDC, but it is of limited prognostic value.
Robust Data-Driven Dynamic Programming

In stochastic optimal control the distribution of the exogenous noise is typically unknown and must be inferred from limited data before dynamic programming (DP)-based solution schemes can be applied. If the conditional expectations in the DP recursions are estimated via kernel regression, however, the historical sample paths enter the solution procedure directly as they determine the evaluation points of the cost-to-go functions. The resulting data-driven DP scheme is asymptotically consistent and admits an efficient computational solution when combined with parametric value function approximations. If training data is sparse, however, the estimated cost-to-go functions display a high variability and an optimistic bias, while the corresponding control policies perform poorly in out-of-sample tests. To mitigate these small sample effects, we propose a robust data-driven DP scheme, which replaces the expectations in the DP recursions with worst-case expectations over a set of distributions close to the best estimate. We show that the arising min-max problems in the DP recursions reduce to tractable conic programs. We also demonstrate that the proposed robust DP algorithm dominates various non-robust schemes in out-of-sample tests across several application domains.
Expansion and Equality in Access to Chinese Higher Education: A Cultural Perspective

This study is a sequential multi-methods research effort which examines the issue of equality in Chinese higher education after the recent expansion, and explores how educational equality has been shaped by policies which reflected the shifting value orientations of the government since 1949. Quantitative methods were used to discover the current patterns of educational equality. The dataset is derived from a survey carried out under a project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Logistic regressions were conducted to discover the relations between students‘ social background characteristics and their likelihood of studying in different part of the differentiated higher education system. The findings show that while overall access has increased greatly, advantaged groups have maintained their advantage in gaining entry to higher status universities and attractive disciplines. The study went deeper to explore the changing patterns of educational equality through historical analysis of policy using the lens of culture, since social phenomena are context-based and culture is a deep yet decisive force which has previously been given inadequate attention in relation to this issue. Applying a multidisciplinary approach, an indigenous analytical framework was developed which identified six dimensions of culture relating to educational equality, and Chinese cultural values were then organized along these dimensions. This framework was used to explain the results of the quantitative analysis at a deeper level. It was also used to construct ideal types of elitism and populism as a means of analyzing the historical process of policy change. The study found that policies regarding educational equality swung between these
Survey on parsing three dependency representations for English

In this paper we focus on practical issues of data representation for dependency parsing. We carry out an experimental comparison of (a) three syntactic dependency schemes; (b) three data-driven dependency parsers; and (c) the influence of two different approaches to lexical category disambiguation (aka tagging) prior to parsing. Comparing parsing accuracies in various setups, we study the interactions of these three aspects and analyze which configurations are easier to learn for a dependency parser.
Exposure of a corneal epithelial cell line (hTCEpi) to Demodex-associated Bacillus proteins results in an inflammatory response.

PURPOSE A role for a bacterium, Bacillus oleronius, originally isolated from a Demodex mite, in the induction of ocular rosacea has been proposed. The aim of this work was to characterize the response of a corneal epithelial cell line to Bacillus proteins, as this might give an insight into how such proteins contribute to the symptoms of ocular rosacea in vivo. METHODS The effect of exposing Bacillus protein preparation on human telomerase-immortalized corneal epithelial cells (hTCEpi) was measured by monitoring changes in cell proliferation and the expression of a number of genes associated with inflammation. The production of inflammatory cytokines was measured and the expression and activity of MMP-9 was quantified. RESULTS Exposure of hTCEpi cells to 2 or 6 μg/mL Bacillus protein resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in cell proliferation. Exposure of cells to 6 μg/mL Bacillus protein did not induce apoptosis, but there was an increase in the expression of genes coding for IL-6 (13.8-fold), IL-1β (4.0-fold), IL-8 (11.1-fold), and TNF-α (4.1-fold). Increased expression of genes coding for the defensins, CCL20 (4.5-fold) and S100A7 (6.8-fold) also was observed. Elevated production of IL-6 and IL-8 was evident from cells exposed to 2 and 6 μg/mL Bacillus protein. The hTCEpi cells demonstrated increased MMP-9 expression (3.2-fold, P = 0.003) and activity (2.2-fold, P = 0.0186) after 48 hours of exposure to 6 μg/mL Bacillus protein preparation. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that interaction of Demodex-associated Bacillus proteins with the corneal surface could lead to tissue degradation and inflammation, possibly leading to corneal scarring.
Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and colorectal adenoma: a systemic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered to be a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. The association between NAFLD and colorectal adenoma has been investigated in multiples studies but the results have been conflicting. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate this in asymptomatic patients who underwent screening colonoscopy. METHODS We searched the literatures of all languages from PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane library from January 1, 1980 through July 15, 2014. Combined and subgroup analyses stratified by study designs, study locations, characteristics of adenoma (location, size, number, and advanced adenoma) were performed. RESULTS Four cross-sectional and one cohort studies with a total of 6,263 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. NAFLD was significantly associated with colorectal adenoma [pooled odds ratio (OR) 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.53-1.97]. The association was more significant in Asian population (pooled OR =1.77, 95% CI: 1.52-2.05, n=3 studies), compared to European/North American population (pooled OR =1.42, 95% CI: 0.75-2.67, n=2 studies). NAFLD was significantly associated with the number of colorectal adenoma (pooled OR =1.78, 95% CI: 1.10-2.86, n=2 studies), but not the location, size, or presence of advanced adenoma. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest NAFLD is significantly associated with the presence of colorectal adenoma in asymptomatic patients undergoing screening colonoscopy. This finding provides additional risk stratifications for applying colorectal cancer (CRC) screening strategies. However, more studies of western population are needed to further investigate the ethnic disparity.
Analysis of circulating tumor DNA to monitor metastatic breast cancer.

BACKGROUND The management of metastatic breast cancer requires monitoring of the tumor burden to determine the response to treatment, and improved biomarkers are needed. Biomarkers such as cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) and circulating tumor cells have been widely studied. However, circulating cell-free DNA carrying tumor-specific alterations (circulating tumor DNA) has not been extensively investigated or compared with other circulating biomarkers in breast cancer. METHODS We compared the radiographic imaging of tumors with the assay of circulating tumor DNA, CA 15-3, and circulating tumor cells in 30 women with metastatic breast cancer who were receiving systemic therapy. We used targeted or whole-genome sequencing to identify somatic genomic alterations and designed personalized assays to quantify circulating tumor DNA in serially collected plasma specimens. CA 15-3 levels and numbers of circulating tumor cells were measured at identical time points. RESULTS Circulating tumor DNA was successfully detected in 29 of the 30 women (97%) in whom somatic genomic alterations were identified; CA 15-3 and circulating tumor cells were detected in 21 of 27 women (78%) and 26 of 30 women (87%), respectively. Circulating tumor DNA levels showed a greater dynamic range, and greater correlation with changes in tumor burden, than did CA 15-3 or circulating tumor cells. Among the measures tested, circulating tumor DNA provided the earliest measure of treatment response in 10 of 19 women (53%). CONCLUSIONS This proof-of-concept analysis showed that circulating tumor DNA is an informative, inherently specific, and highly sensitive biomarker of metastatic breast cancer. (Funded by Cancer Research UK and others.).
An exploratory study of Tourist-patient satisfaction and behavioral intentions in medical tourism: Post-hoc segmentation

This study is an exploration of international tourist-patients’ satisfaction and their behavioral intentions toward a medical destination. The main objective here was to determine whether the perception of price fairness and the positive perception of doctor quality play a positive role in the post-purchase behavior. The proposed model was tested with a PLSPM that is adapted to non-normal data and the small sample size. The results of global model (whole sample) showed that there is heterogeneity in responses obtained. Therefore, a REBUS-PLS analysis was conducted to detect latent segments. The result sets of this research bring a new light on the post-consumption behavior of the tourist-patient. They are discussed at the end of this paper with their theoretical and managerial implications.
Private Set Intersection via Public Key Encryption with Multiple Keywords Search

We introduce the technique of searchable encryption into the problem of secure two-party computation, and obtain a novel approach to accomplish Private Set Intersection (PSI), which uses the Public Key Encryption with Multiple Keywords Search (MPEKS) as the basic tool. We aim to achieve PSI in computationally asymmetric settings which can be instantiated by Cloud Computing. Our protocol satisfies the privacy with respect to semi-honest behaviors and the client only needs to compute m multiplications, m MapToPoint operations and one modular exponentiation to obtain the intersection, where m denotes the cardinality of the client's set.
Quantum gravity with a positive cosmological constant

A quantum theory of gravity is described in the case of a positive cosmological constant in 3 + 1 dimensions. Both old and new results are described, which support the case that loop quantum gravity provides a satisfactory quantum theory of gravity. These include the existence of a ground state, discoverd by Kodama, which both is an exact solution to the constraints of quantum gravity and has a semiclassical limit which is deSitter spacetime. The long wavelength excitations of this state are studied and are shown to reproduce both gravitons and, when matter is included, quantum eld theory o n deSitter spacetime. Furthermore, one may derive directly from the Wheeler-deWitt equation corrections to the energy-momentum relations for matter elds of the form E 2 = p 2 +m 2 +l PlE 3 +::: where is a computable dimensionless constant. This may lead in the next few years to experimental tests of the theory. To study the excitations of the Kodama state exactly requires the use of the spin network representation, which is quantum deformed due to the cosmological constant. The theory may be developed within a single horizon, and the boundary states described exactly in terms of a boundary Chern-Simons theory. The Bekenstein bound is recovered and the N bound of Banks is given a background independent explanation. The paper is written as an introduction to loop quantum gravity, requiring no prior knowledge of the subject. The deep relationship between quantum gravity and topological eld theory is stressed throughout.
Divided and Focused Attention in Patients with Lesion of the Prefrontal Cortex

Despite the common claim of attention disorders in patients with frontal lobe lesion, attention has been poorly investigated and its contribution to behavioral changes has not been studied. The aim of this study was to assess divided (Experiment I) and focused attention (Experiment II) in patients with prefrontal damage. The study used simple detection tests measuring reaction times (RT) to successive stimuli of one modality and of randomly varying modalities (divided attention) and Go No-Go tests (focused attention). Experiment I showed that RT difference between patients and controls increased when stimuli modality was uncertain, a result we attributed to a deficit of divided attention. Experiment II showed that patients remained sensitive to irrelevant stimuli, demonstrating their inability to focus attention. The prominent behavioral change in patients consisted of increased distractibility which was correlated with divided and focused attention deficits. Finally, the presence on magnetic resonance imaging of a left lesion in the superior part of the prefrontal cortex and in the head of the caudate nucleus was the best predictor of attention disorders. In conclusion, this study shows that patients with a prefrontal lesion suffer from divided and focused attention deficits that correspond to behavioral changes.
Optimizing wireless charger placement for directional charging

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology has witnessed huge development because of its convenience and reliability. This paper concerns the fundamental issue of wireless charger PLacement with Optimized charging uTility (PLOT), that is, given a fixed number of chargers and a set of points on the plane, determining the positions and orientations of chargers such that the overall expected charging utility for all points is maximized. To address PLOT, we propose a 1 − 1/e − ε approximation algorithm. First, we present techniques to approximate the nonlinear charging power and the expected charging utility to make the problem almost linear. Second, we develop a Dominating Coverage Set extraction method to reduce the continuous search space of PLOT to a limited and discrete one without performance loss. Third, we prove that the reformulated problem is essentially maximizing a monotone submodular function subject to a matroid constraint, and propose a greedy algorithm to address this problem. We conduct both simulation and field experiments to validate our theoretical results, and the results show that our algorithm can outperform comparison algorithms by at least 46.3%.
Microbial Keratitis After Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty

Background: To report two cases of corneal infection after Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Methods: Two eyes of two patients demonstrated varying clinical presentations of microbial keratitis after DSAEK. At the initial presentation, the keratitis involved the host cornea alone in case 1, whereas in case 2, the posterior lamellar disk alone was involved. A pair of microvitrectomy scissors was used in case 2 from the side port to obtain a 2-mm sample of the posterior lamellar disk for microbiologic evaluation. The keratitis did not respond to medical therapy, and therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty was performed to resolve the infection in both the eyes. The main outcome measures were resolution of infection, absence of recurrence of keratitis, graft clarity, and visual outcome. Results: There was complete resolution of infection after full thickness therapeutic grafts with best-corrected visual acuities of 20/60 and 20/40, respectively. Conclusions: Initial presentation of microbial keratitis after DSAEK may involve either the host or the posterior lamellar disk alone. A microvitrectomy scissors through the side port may be used for biopsy of posterior lamellar disk in recalcitrant infection.
Dicer-like Proteins Regulate the Growth, Conidiation, and Pathogenicity of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides from Hevea brasiliensis

Colletotrichum gloeosporioides from Hevea brasiliensis is the hemibiotrophic fungi which could cause anthracnose in rubber trees. Dicer like proteins (DCL) were the core enzymes for generation of small RNAs. In the present study, the knocking-out mutants of two dicer like proteins encoding genes of C. gloeosporioides were constructed; and functions of two proteins were investigated. The results showed that DCL play important roles in regulating the growth, conidiation and pathogenicity of C. gloeosporioides; and there is a functional redundancy between DCL1 and DCL2. Microscopy analysis and DAB staining revealed that loss of penetration ability into the host cells, instead of the decreased growth rate, was the main cause for the impaired pathogenicity of the ΔDcl1ΔDcl2 double mutant. Proteomics analysis suggested that DCL proteins affected the expression of functional proteins to regulating multiple biological processes of C. gloeosporioides. These data lead to a better understanding of the functions of DCL proteins in regulating the development and pathogenesis of C. gloeosporioides.