Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-fat meals rich in EPA plus DHA compared with DHA only have differential effects on postprandial lipemia and plasma 8-isoprostane F2α concentrations relative to a control high–oleic acid meal: a randomized controlled trial1234

Background: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation has beneficial cardiovascular effects, but postprandial influences of these individual fatty acids are unclear. Objectives: The primary objective was to determine the vascular effects of EPA + DHA compared with DHA only during postprandial lipemia relative to control high–oleic acid meals; the secondary objective was to characterize the effects of linoleic acid–enriched high-fat meals relative to the control meal. Design: We conducted a randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover trial of 4 high-fat (75-g) meals containing 1) high–oleic acid sunflower oil (HOS; control), 2) HOS + fish oil (FO; 5 g EPA and DHA), 3) HOS + algal oil (AO; 5 g DHA), and 4) high–linoleic acid sunflower oil (HLS) in 16 healthy men (aged 35–70 y) with higher than optimal fasting triacylglycerol concentrations (mean ± SD triacylglycerol, 1.9 ± 0.5 mmol/L). Results: Elevations in triacylglycerol concentration relative to baseline were slightly reduced after FO and HLS compared with the HOS control (P < 0.05). The characteristic decrease from baseline in plasma nonesterified fatty acids after a mixed meal was inhibited after AO (Δ 0–3 h, P < 0.05). HLS increased the augmentation index compared with the other test meals (P < 0.05), although the digital volume pulse–reflection index was not significantly different. Plasma 8-isoprostane F2α analysis revealed opposing effects of FO (increased) and AO (reduced) compared with the control (P < 0.05). No differences in nitric oxide metabolites were observed. Conclusions: These data show differential postprandial 8-isoprostane F2α responses to high-fat meals containing EPA + DHA–rich fish oil compared with DHA-rich AO, but these differences were not associated with consistent effects on postprandial vascular function or lipemia. More detailed analyses of polyunsaturated fatty acid–derived lipid mediators are required to determine possible divergent functional effects of single meals rich in either DHA or EPA. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01618071.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is expressed by neoplastic Hodgkin–Reed–Sternberg cells in Hodgkin's disease

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is involved in tumour angiogenesis, an important process for the growth and metastatic potential of solid tumours. Numerous studies have demonstrated up‐regulation of VEGF at both mRNA and protein level in various tumours and a correlation with advanced stage and prognosis has been demonstrated in some cases. Limited information exists about its role in lymphoid malignancies and in particular, Hodgkin's disease. The present study examined the immunohistochemical expression of VEGF using the monoclonal antibody VG1 in a series of 61 cases of Hodgkin's disease, including both classical Hodgkin's disease and the nodular lymphocyte predominance variant, and correlated these results with microvessel density, using an anti‐CD31 monoclonal antibody. In 41 cases (70.6%) of classical Hodgkin's disease and one of the three cases of nodular lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease, the neoplastic Reed–Sternberg and Hodgkin cells expressed VEGF. The staining observed was cytoplasmic, either diffuse or with a focal paranuclear distribution. Macrophages were always positive, while reactive lymphocytes showed occasional positivity. A variable amount of strong extracellular staining was also observed in the tissue stroma and intravascular plasma staining was prominent. There was no statistically significant relationship between VEGF expression and the subtype of Hodgkin's disease or microvessel density. In vitro studies using the Reed–Sternberg cell lines L428 and KM‐H2 were also performed in both normoxia and hypoxia and VEGF protein production was assessed by flow cytometry (FACS), immunoassay of cell culture supernatant, and RT‐PCR. Analysis by FACS demonstrated a subset of cells in both cell lines reacting with VG1 and analysis of secreted VEGF (pg/ml per 1×106 cells) in cell culture supernatant confirmed the normoxic production in both cell lines and significant hypoxic induction (p<0.005). Additionally, both cell lines expressed VEGF mRNA, as demonstrated using the RT‐PCR method. In conclusion, neoplastic cells express VEGF in Hodgkin's disease, as is the case in solid tumours, and this expression may be induced by hypoxia. The presence of VEGF in reactive macrophages and in the extracellular matrix might facilitate tumour progression. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluating Nuclei Concentration in Amyloid Fibrillation Reactions Using Back-Calculation Approach

Background In spite of our extensive knowledge of the more than 20 proteins associated with different amyloid diseases, we do not know how amyloid toxicity occurs or how to block its action. Recent contradictory reports suggest that the fibrils and/or the oligomer precursors cause toxicity. An estimate of their temporal concentration may broaden understanding of the amyloid aggregation process. Methodology/Principal Findings Assuming that conversion of folded protein to fibril is initiated by a nucleation event, we back-calculate the distribution of nuclei concentration. The temporal in vitro concentration of nuclei for the model hormone, recombinant human insulin, is estimated to be in the picomolar range. This is a conservative estimate since the back-calculation method is likely to overestimate the nuclei concentration because it does not take into consideration fibril fragmentation, which would lower the amount of nuclei Conclusions Because of their propensity to form aggregates (non-ordered) and fibrils (ordered), this very low concentration could explain the difficulty in isolating and blocking oligomers or nuclei toxicity and the long onset time for amyloid diseases.
Visual Measurement of the Racket Trajectory in Spinning Ball Striking for Table Tennis Player

A high-speed monocular vision system is established to track the racket trajectory for estimating the spinning ball initiated by a human. A new fast and robust method is proposed to extract the feature sequence of a racket's pose during the process of striking. Considering the complexity of the working environment and fast movement of the racket, a novel corner extraction algorithm with good robustness and high efficiency is presented, which mainly consists of two parts, i.e., target segmentation and line detection. Then PnP-based algorithm is adopted to get the rough pose of the racket, which is then optimized by orthogonal iteration algorithm to guarantee the orthogonality of the racket's orientation matrix. In order to classify the spinning mode of the ball with a higher accuracy, the racket's movement is represented by the sequence of normal vector of the racket's surface. Experiments are thoroughly conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Antimicrobial Actions of the Nadph Phagocyte Oxidase and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase in Experimental Salmonellosis. II. Effects on Microbial Proliferation and Host Survival in Vivo

The roles of the NADPH phagocyte oxidase (phox) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in host resistance to virulent Salmonella typhimurium were investigated in gp91phox −/−, iNOS −/−, and congenic wild-type mice. Although both gp91phox −/− and iNOS −/− mice demonstrated increased susceptibility to infection with S. typhimurium compared with wild-type mice, the kinetics of bacterial replication were dramatically different in the gp91phox −/− and iNOS −/− mouse strains. Greater bacterial numbers were present in the spleens and livers of gp91phox −/− mice compared with C57BL/6 controls as early as day 1 of infection, and all of the gp91phox −/− mice succumbed to infection within 5 d. In contrast, an increased bacterial burden was detected within reticuloendothelial organs of iNOS −/− mice only beyond the first week of infection. Influx of inflammatory CD11b+ cells, granuloma formation, and serum interferon γ levels were unimpaired in iNOS −/− mice, but the iNOS-deficient granulomas were unable to limit bacterial replication. The NADPH phagocye oxidase and iNOS are both required for host resistance to wild-type Salmonella, but appear to operate principally at different stages of infection.
Sleep Supports Selective Retention of Associative Memories Based on Relevance for Future Utilization

An outstanding question is whether memory consolidation occurs passively or involves active processes that selectively stabilize memories based on future utility. Here, we differentially modulated the expected future relevance of two sets of picture-location associations after learning. Participants first studied two sets of picture-location associations. After a baseline memory test, they were instructed that only one set of associations would be retested after a 14-hour delay. For half of the participants, this test-retest delay contained a night of sleep; for the other half the delay included a normal working day. At retest, participants were re-instructed and against their expectations tested on both sets of associations. Our results show that post-learning instruction about subsequent relevance selectively improves memory retention for specific associative memories. This effect was sleep-dependent; it was present only in the group of subjects for which the test-retest delay contained sleep. Moreover, time spent asleep for participants in this sleep group correlated with retention of relevant but not irrelevant associations; participants who slept longer forgot fewer associations from the relevant category. In contrast, participants that did not sleep forgot more relevant than irrelevant associations across the test-retest delay. In summary, our results indicate that it is possible to modulate the retention of selected memories after learning with simple verbal instructions on their future relevance. The finding that this effect depends on sleep demonstrates this state’s active role in memory consolidation and may have utility for educational settings.
Leader-following consensus for singular swarm systems

Admissible leader-following consensus problems for high-order linear singular swarm systems are investigated. Firstly, by decomposing the dynamic of each agent into two parts with model transformation, admissible leader-following consensus problems are converted into admissible problems of multiple singular subsystems, and a necessary and sufficient condition is obtained by solving the state response of the singular swarm system. Then, a sufficient condition for admissible leader-following consensualizability is given, and based on the algebraic Riccati equation, an approach to determine gain matrices in consensus protocol is presented. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of theoretical results.
Phenomenological Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Shape Memory Alloys: A Thermo-Plastic-Phase Transformation Coupled Model

The thermomechanical behavior of shape memory alloys (SMAs) may be modeled either by microscopic or macroscopic point of view. Shape memory, pseudoelasticity and thermal expansion are phenomena related to the SMA behavior. Constitutive models consider phenomenological aspects of these phenomena. The present contribution considers a one-dimensional constitutive model with internal constraint to describe SMA behavior including the effect of plastic strains. The proposed theory contemplates four phases: three variants of martensite and an austenitic phase. Different material parameters for austenitic and martensitic phases are considered. Thermal expansion phenomenon and plastic effects are also contemplated. Hardening effect is represented by a combination of kinematic and isotropic behaviors. A plastic-phase transformation coupling is incorporated into the model. A numerical procedure is developed and numerical results show that the proposed model is capable to capture the general thermomechanical behavior of shape memory alloys.
Composite Constant Propagation: Application to Android Inter-Component Communication Analysis

Many program analyses require statically inferring the possible values of composite types. However, current approaches either do not account for correlations between object fields or do so in an ad hoc manner. In this paper, we introduce the problem of composite constant propagation. We develop the first generic solver that infers all possible values of complex objects in an interprocedural, flow and context-sensitive manner, taking field correlations into account. Composite constant propagation problems are specified using COAL, a declarative language. We apply our COAL solver to the problem of inferring Android Inter-Component Communication (ICC) values, which is required to understand how the components of Android applications interact. Using COAL, we model ICC objects in Android more thoroughly than the state-of-the-art. We compute ICC values for 460 applications from the Play store. The ICC values we infer are substantially more precise than previous work. The analysis is efficient, taking slightly over two minutes per application on average. While this work can be used as the basis for many whole-program analyses of Android applications, the COAL solver can also be used to infer the values of composite objects in many other contexts.
Scanning tunnelling microscopy studies of the graphitic superconductor CaC6

Graphitic systems have an electronic structure that can be readily manipulated through electrostatic or chemical doping, resulting in a rich variety of electronic ground states. One such class of materials are graphite intercalation compounds, a signi cant number of which exhibit superconductivity at low temperatures. The optimal superconductor in this class is CaC6, which superconducts at 11.5 K. This thesis presents the rst atomic-resolution surface studies of CaC6 revealing not only the surface structure but also, via detailed spectroscopic imaging and Fourier transform techniques, a stripe phase. This stripe phase corresponds to a charge density wave with a period three times that of the Ca superlattice. The work presented in this thesis is the rst such reporting and detailed characterization of a charge density wave in a graphitic material. Of further interest is the fact that the stripe phase is found to modulate the Ca lattice but no distortion of the graphene lattice is found indicating the graphene sheets may host the ideal, purely electronic, charge density wave. The implications for the understanding of superconductivity in CaC6, graphene and the apparent ubiquity of CDWs with superconductivity in anisotropic layered materials are discussed.
Effect of Anxiolytics on Cognitive Flexibility in Problem Solving

Objective:Our purpose is to examine the effect of different classes of anxiolytics on cognitive flexibility. Background:Situational stressors and anxiety impede performance on “creativity” tests requiring cognitive flexibility. Noradrenergic agents have been shown to modulate cognitive flexibility as assessed by performance on anagrams. To determine whether these findings on noradrenergic modulation of cognitive flexibility are specific to the noradrenergic system or are a nonspecific anxiety effect, we compared the effects of propranolol, lorazepam, and placebo on the anagram task. Methods:Subjects attended 3 test sessions. Prior to each session, subjects were given 1 of the 3 drugs. As in previous research, the natural log of the solution latency of each test item was summed for each test session and compared across drug conditions. Results:For subjects able to solve the anagrams, solution times after propranolol, but not lorazepam, were significantly lower than after placebo. Conclusions:Therefore, this suggests that the phenomenon of noradrenergic modulation of cognitive flexibility does not result from a nonspecific anxiolytic effect, but rather is specific to the noradrenergic system.
Real-Time Single Frequency Precise Point Positioning Using SBAS Corrections

Real-time single frequency precise point positioning (PPP) is a promising technique for high-precision navigation with sub-meter or even centimeter-level accuracy because of its convenience and low cost. The navigation performance of single frequency PPP heavily depends on the real-time availability and quality of correction products for satellite orbits and satellite clocks. Satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) provides the correction products in real-time, but they are intended to be used for wide area differential positioning at 1 meter level precision. By imposing the constraints for ionosphere error, we have developed a real-time single frequency PPP method by sufficiently utilizing SBAS correction products. The proposed PPP method are tested with static and kinematic data, respectively. The static experimental results show that the position accuracy of the proposed PPP method can reach decimeter level, and achieve an improvement of at least 30% when compared with the traditional SBAS method. The positioning convergence of the proposed PPP method can be achieved in 636 epochs at most in static mode. In the kinematic experiment, the position accuracy of the proposed PPP method can be improved by at least 20 cm relative to the SBAS method. Furthermore, it has revealed that the proposed PPP method can achieve decimeter level convergence within 500 s in the kinematic mode.
Design and 3D-FEM analysis of a rotary - linear Switched Reluctance Motor

A new structure for a rotary - linear Switched Reluctance Motor (RL-SRM) is presented in this paper. It has been mainly designed to engage and disengage a rotating gear. The motor is comprised of a three-phase 6/4 rotary SRM and a two-phase transverse flux linear SRM. The linear phases are placed at the sides of the rotary section to create forward-backward motion. The motor design is performed based on the required specifications and according to the obtained parameters the motor 3-dimentional model utilized for finite element analysis (FEA). Design verification is performed by 3-D FEA and a prototype is constructed. The independent structure of the rotary and linear sections decouples the control of two sections. The fabricated motor is tested utilizing a sensorless drive. Comparing the experimental results with the calculated and analysis results verifies the performance and applicability of the constructed motor.
Simultaneous Multi- Residue Determination of Mycotoxins in Foods Using LC-MS/MS

This paper describes a method for simultaneous determination of eleven mycotoxins in chilli powder, dried fish, peanuts and rice using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The method is based upon a single extraction step followed by analysis of the diluted crude extract. The proposed method was applied for the simultaneous quantification of multi-residue mycotoxins in 80 samples. The results showed that four chilli powder and twelve peanut samples of a total 80 analyzed samples were contaminated with levels greater than the EC regulatory limit for AFB1.
Characterization of a catalytically efficient acidic RNA-cleaving deoxyribozyme

We previously demonstrated—through the isolation of RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes by in vitro selection that are catalytically active in highly acidic solutions—that DNA, despite its chemical simplicity, could perform catalysis under challenging chemical conditions [Liu,Z. , Mei,S.H. , Brennan,J.D. and Li,Y. (2003) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125, 7539–7545]. One remarkable DNA molecule therefrom is pH4DZ1, a self-cleaving deoxyribozyme that exhibits a kobs of ∼1 min−1 at pH 3.8. In this study, we carried out a series of experiments to examine the sequence and catalytic properties of this acidic deoxyribozyme. Extensive nucleotide truncation experiments indicated that pH4DZ1 was a considerably large deoxyribozyme, requiring ∼80 out of the original 123 nt for the optimal catalytic activity. A reselection experiment identified ten absolutely conserved nucleotides that are distributed in three catalytically crucial sequence elements. In addition, a trans deoxyribozyme was successfully designed. Comparison of the observed rate constant of pH4DZ1 with experimentally determined rate constant for the uncatalyzed reaction revealed that pH4DZ1 achieved a rate enhancement of ∼106-fold. This study provides valuable information about this low-pH-functional deoxyribozyme and paves way for further structural and mechanistic characterization of this unique catalytic DNA.
Small Saccades and Image Complexity during Free Viewing of Natural Images in Schizophrenia

In schizophrenia, patients display dysfunctions during the execution of simple visual tasks such as antisaccade or smooth pursuit. In more ecological scenarios, such as free viewing of natural images, patients appear to make fewer and longer visual fixations and display shorter scanpaths. It is not clear whether these measurements reflect alterations in their proficiency to perform basic eye movements, such as saccades and fixations, or are related to high-level mechanisms, such as exploration or attention. We utilized free exploration of natural images of different complexities as a model of an ecological context where normally operative mechanisms of visual control can be accurately measured. We quantified visual exploration as Euclidean distance, scanpaths, saccades, and visual fixation, using the standard SR-Research eye tracker algorithm (SR). We then compared this result with a computation that includes microsaccades (EM). We evaluated eight schizophrenia patients and corresponding healthy controls (HC). Next, we tested whether the decrement in the number of saccades and fixations, as well as their increment in duration reported previously in schizophrenia patients, resulted from the increasing occurrence of undetected microsaccades. We found that when utilizing the standard SR algorithm, patients displayed shorter scanpaths as well as fewer and shorter saccades and fixations. When we employed the EM algorithm, the differences in these parameters between patients and HC were no longer significant. On the other hand, we found that image complexity plays an important role in exploratory behaviors, demonstrating that this factor explains most of differences between eye-movement behaviors in schizophrenia patients. These results help elucidate the mechanisms of visual motor control that are affected in schizophrenia and contribute to the finding of adequate markers for diagnosis and treatment for this condition.