Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Renal DJ-1 in the Pathogenesis of Hypertension Associated With Increased Reactive Oxygen Species Production

The D2 dopamine receptor (D2R) is important in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. We have already reported that systemic deletion of the D2R gene in mice results in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent hypertension, suggesting that the D2R has antioxidant effects. However, the mechanism of this effect is unknown. DJ-1 is a protein that has antioxidant properties. D2R and DJ-1 are expressed in the mouse kidney and colocalize and coimunoprecipitate in mouse renal proximal tubule cells. We hypothesized that D2Rs regulate renal ROS production in the kidney through regulation of DJ-1 expression or function. Heterozygous D2+/− mice have increased blood pressure, urinary 8-isoprostanes, and renal Nox 4 expression, but decreased renal DJ-1 expression. Silencing D2R expression in mouse renal proximal tubule cells increases ROS production and decreases the expression of DJ-1. Conversely, treatment of these cells with a D2R agonist increases DJ-1 expression and decreases Nox 4 expression and NADPH oxidase activity, effects that are partially blocked by a D2R antagonist. Silencing DJ-1 expression in mouse renal proximal tubule cells increases ROS production and Nox 4 expression. Selective renal DJ-1 silencing by the subcapsular infusion of DJ-1 siRNA in mice increases blood pressure, renal Nox4 expression, and NADPH oxidase activity. These results suggest that the inhibitory effects of D2R on renal ROS production are at least, in part, mediated by a positive regulation of DJ-1 expression/function and that DJ-1 may have a role in the prevention of hypertension associated with increased ROS production.
Asch's Social Psychology: Not as Social as You May Think

This article discusses 2 commonly held ideas about Solomon Asch's work in social psychology: (a) Asch was primarily interested in social phenomena in general and in group processes in particular, and (b) Asch was a forerunner of social cognition. Asch's studies on social influence were translations of strictly perceptual experiments. For him, social stimuli had no specificity relative to physical ones provided that the perceptual context presented similar structural properties. Moreover, and contrary to Kurt Lewin (e.g., 1948) Asch focused his attention at the individual level and may have slowed down interest in social interactions or group processes. Asch's studies on impression formation presaged the social cognition approach. In his work, he foresaw the importance of online processing of information, the existence of implicit theories of personality, as well as perception based on exemplars and prototypes. However, Asch's reliance on immediate perceptual experience, on isomorphism between the properties of the external object and the phenomenal experience of this object, and his holistic and dynamic perspective clash with the main stream of social cognition research.
Selective Transfer Between Learning Tasks Using Task-Based Boosting

The success of transfer learning on a target task is highly dependent on the selected source data. Instance transfer methods reuse data from the source tasks to augment the training data for the target task. If poorly chosen, this source data may inhibit learning, resulting in negative transfer. The current most widely used algorithm for instance transfer, TrAdaBoost, performs poorly when given irrelevant source data. We present a novel task-based boosting technique for instance transfer that selectively chooses the source knowledge to transfer to the target task. Our approach performs boosting at both the instance level and the task level, assigning higher weight to those source tasks that show positive transferability to the target task, and adjusting the weights of individual instances within each source task via AdaBoost. We show that this combination of task- and instance-level boosting significantly improves transfer performance over existing instance transfer algorithms when given a mix of relevant and irrelevant source data, especially for small amounts of data on the target task.
Influence of SPT Procedures in Soil Liquefaction Resistance Evaluations

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the meaning of the values of standard penetration resistance used in correlations of field observations of soil liquefaction with values of N1 measured in SPT tests. The field data are reinterpreted and plotted in terms of a newly recommended standard, (N1)60, determined in SPT tests where the driving energy in the drill rods is 60% of the theoretical free‐fall energy. Energies associated with different methods of performing SPT tests in different countries and with different equipment are summarized and can readily be used to convert any measured N‐value to the standard (N1)60 value. Liquefaction resistance curves for sands with different (N1)60 values and with different fines contents are proposed. It is believed that these curves are more reliable than previous curves expressed in terms of mean grain size. The results presented are in good accord with recommended practice in Japan and China and should, thus, provide a useful basis for liquefaction evaluations in .
Subglacial hydrological connectivity within the Byrd Glacier catchment, East Antarctica

Abstract Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) repeat-track laser altimetry has identified 17 sites within the Byrd Glacier catchment, East Antarctica, where rapid ice-surface height changes have occurred, which have been interpreted as evidence for ‘active’ subglacial lakes. Here we present evidence from a new radio-echo sounding (RES) survey at 11 of these locations to understand the bed conditions associated with the proposed hydrological activity. At none of the sites examined did we find evidence in support of substantial pooled basal water. In the majority of cases, along-track RES bed reflection amplitudes either side of the locations of surface height change are indistinguishable from those within the features. These results indicate that, in most cases, hypothesized ‘active’ lakes are not discrete radar targets and are therefore much smaller than the areas of surface height change. In addition, we have identified three new relatively large subglacial lakes upstream of the region where most ‘active’ subglacial lakes are found, in an area where the hydraulic gradient is significantly lower. Our results suggest that substantial and long-lasting basal water storage in the Byrd Glacier catchment occurs only under low hydraulic gradients, while coast-proximal sites of hydraulic activity likely involve small or temporary accumulations of basal water.
Genesis of the Iceland melt anomaly by plate tectonic processes

Iceland is the best studied, large-volume, active volcanic region in the world. It features the largest subaerial exposure of any hotspot at a spreading ridge, and it is conventionally attributed to a thermal plume in the mantle. However, whereas the apparently large melt productivity and low-wavespeed mantle seismic anomaly are consistent with this attribution, at any more detailed level, the observations are poorly predicted by the plume hypothesis. There is no time-progressive volcanic track, the melt anomaly having been persistently centered on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Spatial variations in crustal structure are inconsistent with the southeastward migration that is required of a plume fixed with respect to other Indo-Atlantic hotspots. The mantle seismic anomaly weakens with depth and does not extend into the lower mantle. Estimates of excess temperature using a broad range of methods are inconsistent with a mantle potential temperature anomaly greater than a few tens of K. Much of the lava erupted in Iceland has geochemistry little different from normal mid-ocean ridge basalt, and the detailed spatial geochemical pattern bears little resemblance to what is predicted for a plume beneath central Iceland. We propose an alternative model in an attempt to explain the observations at Iceland with fewer difficulties. Our model involves only shallow plate tectonic processes and attributes the large melt volume to the remelting of subducted oceanic crust trapped in the Caledonian suture in the form of eclogite or mantle peridotite fertilized by resorbed eclogite. Delaminated continental mantle lithosphere may also be involved. Such a source can produce several times more melt than pure peridotite without the need for high temperatures. The longevity of anomalous volcanism at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the latitude of Iceland is attributed to its location on a Caledonian structure that runs transversely across the north Atlantic. Many aspects of the geochemistry of Icelandic lavas fit this model, which also provides an explanation for the high maximum helium isotope ratios observed there. The “depleted plume component” may be derived from abyssal olivine gabbro cumulates and the “enriched plume component” from recycled enriched material that forms part of the crustal section of subducted slabs. Such a model for the Iceland melting anomaly raises new questions concerning how much thermal energy can be generated by isentropic upwelling of eclogite at a ridge, the location of the homogenizing reservoirs required, and the mechanism by which fertile material is incorporated into the asthenosphere beneath new oceans. Most fundamentally, if validated, such a model can explain the generic observations associated with hotspots as shallow processes associated with plate tectonics, and thus raises the question of whether thermal plumes are required in general in the Earth.
Hopelessness and suicidal ideation among adolescents in two cultures.

BACKGROUND This study examines the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among cognitive variables, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in Hong Kong Chinese and Caucasian American adolescents. METHODS Community adolescents (n = 2,044) ages 14-18 years from Hong Kong and the United States provided information regarding their suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, and cognitions (self-efficacy, cognitive errors and hopelessness), at two surveys, six months apart. RESULTS Self-efficacy was a weak unique predictor of suicidal ideation in both cultures. Hopelessness was the strongest of cognitive variables in concurrent associations with suicidal ideation in bivariate and multivariate models, in both cultures, and in both boys and girls. Hopelessness continued to offer unique prediction when depressive symptoms were controlled, both concurrently and prospectively. CONCLUSIONS Our results support hopelessness theories of suicidal ideation and behavior in Hong Kong, and extend the cognitive theory of suicidality to a modernized Asian culture.
The vitamin D receptor in the proximal renal tubule is a key regulator of serum 1 (cid:2) ,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3

The vitamin D receptor in the proximal renal tubule is a key regulator of serum 1 (cid:2) ,25-dihydroxyvita-min D 3 . Am J Physiol Metab 308: E201–E205, 2015. is well established that the mitochondria of proximal convoluted tubule cells of the kidney are the site of production of circulating 1 (cid:2) ,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 [1,25(OH) 2 D 3 ]. The production of 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 at this site is tightly regulated. Parathyroid hormone markedly stimulates 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 production, whereas 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 itself suppresses production. The mechanism of suppression by 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 has not yet been elucidated. We have now found that in the absence of vitamin D (vitamin D deﬁciency), the vitamin D receptor (VDR) is found in the interior of the apical brush border of the proximal tubule cells. This is unique for the proximal tubule cells, since this has not been observed in the distal tubule cells or in other epithelial cells, such as intestinal mucosa. Administration of 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 to vitamin D-deﬁcient rats results in the movement of VDR from the brush border to the cytoplasm and nucleus presumably bound to reabsorbed 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 . The VDR bound to 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 suppresses expression of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 1 (cid:2) - hydroxylase and stimulates the 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 24-hydroxylase. Thus, VDR in the apical brush border of the proximal convoluted tubule cells serves to “sense” the level of circulating 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 and modulates the activity of the 1 (cid:2) -hydroxylase and the 24-hydroxylase accordingly. Statistical analysis. For analysis of data presented in Figs. 1 and 4, analysis of variance tests were performed to evaluate whether serum calcium, 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 , or gene transcription differed signiﬁcantly within the vitamin D-sufﬁcient and -deﬁcient animals treated with 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 or vehicle; in cases where P (cid:4) 0.05, further cross- comparisons were evaluated for signiﬁcance using the Tukey’s mul-tiple comparison test. The P value indicated in Fig. 1 B was calculated using two-sample, two-tailed Student’s t -tests. 1 (cid:2) -hydroxylase and induces 24-hydroxylase, resulting in a reduc- tion of the circulating 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 . We postulate that the VDR at the apical membrane of the PT serves to sense the circulating level of 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 and mediates suppression of CYP27B1 and stimulation of CYP24A1.
Neural patterns between Chinese and Germans for EEG-based emotion recognition

This paper aims to explore the neural patterns between Chinese and Germans for electroencephalogram (EEG)-based emotion recognition. Both Chinese and German subjects, wearing electrode caps, watched video stimuli that triggered positive, neutral, and negative emotions. Two emotion classifiers are trained on Chinese EEG data and German EEG data, respectively. The experiment results indicate that: a) German neural patterns are basically in accordance with Chinese ones; b) the main difference lies in the upper temporal region in Delta band which activates more when a German is in positive mood; and c) the Chinese positive emotion achieves the best accuracy while German emotions share the approximate accuracy. Moreover, Gamma band serves as the critical band for both German and Chinese emotion recognition.
Entrada Sandstone: an example of a wet aeolian system

Abstract Wet aeolian systems are those in which the water table is shallow and the floors of the interdune flats are within the capillary fringe. Accumulation within a wet aeolian system occurs because of a relative rise in the water table, and these accumulations are characterized by the presence of both dune and interdune-flat deposits. The Jurassic Entrada Sandstone, studied along a 2.7 km traverse in NE Utah, is interpreted as having been formed in a wet aeolian system because of a preponderance of features indicating a shallow water table throughout accumulation of the unit, and regional correlation to marine-sabkha units that vertically stack, then onlap the aeolian-dominated strata. Features indicating a shallow water table and/or evaporites include subaqueous ripple deposits, contorted strata, breccias, collapse features, wavy bedding, foundered sets, loaded set bases, corrugated surfaces, polygonal fractures, ball-and-pillow structures, and trains of small dunes ‘frozen’ in place. Along the traverse, oriented roughly parallel to the predicted palaeoflow from the NNE, sets of cross-strata, bounding surfaces and ‘flat’-bedded strata climb to the SW, while other surfaces and ‘flat’-bedded strata are horizontal. Climb is interpreted to result from the migration of dunes and interdune areas during periods of a rising water table, whereas horizontal surfaces represent super-bounding surfaces formed during periods of static or falling water table, and horizontal ‘flat’ strata represent vertical sabkha accretion. The cross-stratified units consist of compound sets with two scales of cyclicity. The larger, most prominent cyclicity is formed of scalloped bounding surfaces systematically truncating foresets to the SW, and results from superimposed dunes migrating NW and SE along-slope larger bedforms that migrated toward the SW. The smaller scale of cyclicity consists of packages of wind-ripple laminae and grainflow strata truncated by bounding surfaces, and these cycles are thought to represent annual variations in wind direction. Some cross-stratified units are co-sets in which the foresets of the main set can be traced downward into bottomsets consisting of small sets separated by corrugated surfaces. The basal sets are thought to represent small satellite dunes moving along the base of the larger bedforms and across damp interdune floors. The recognition of super surfaces within the Entrada allow the identification of four genetic packages that comprise the formation. Within genetic packages the available sand supply can be estimated, and is considered as a function of the rates of sediment supply and water table fluctuations. These relative rates, coupled with close proximity of the study area to the Jurassic palaeoshoreline and the regional stratigraphic relationships, suggest that fluctuation in relative sea-level controlled the facies architecture seen in the Entrada Sandstone of NE Utah.
The Shapes of Phylogenetic Trees of Clades, Faunas, and Local Assemblages: Exploring Spatial Pattern in Differential Diversification

Life on Earth is characterized by strong diversity skewness: related lineages typically show pronounced variation in diversification success, and clades contain hyperdiverse and depauperate subclades. Previous studies have documented diversity skewness only for entire (global) clades. We demonstrate methods for measurement and significance testing of diversity skewness of local assemblages and regional biotas; we illustrate this with an analysis of geographic structure in diversity skewness of primate assemblages. For primates, continental faunas differ in diversity skewness from expectations based on the global phylogeny: South American faunas have significantly low skewness and African faunas have significantly high skewness. However, no local assemblage has diversity skewness different from that expected based on sampling the continental fauna. We also document a latitudinal gradient in diversity skewness for the African assemblages and test for (but do not find) associations of skewness with longitude, local species richness, and net primary productivity. Our data suggest that continental‐scale biogeographic events rather than local‐scale processes have shaped diversity skewness in modern primate faunas.
Reutericyclin producing Lactobacillus reuteri modulates development of fecal microbiota in weanling pigs

Lactobacillus reuteri is used as probiotic culture in food and feed applications; however, strain specific properties of L. reuteri that mediate probiotic activity remain unknown. This study aimed to determine effects of feed fermentation with exopolysaccharide and reutericyclin producing L. reuteri on the transition of the gut microbiome of piglets after weaning. The reutericyclin and reuteran producing L. reuteri TMW1.656 was compared to the reutericyclin negative and levan producing L. reuteri LTH5794 and unfermented controls. Both strains were fermented at conditions supporting exopolysaccharide formation, or at conditions not supporting exopolysaccharide formation. Fecal microbiota were characterized by partial sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, and by quantitative PCR targeting clostridial toxins. The transition to solid food resulted in a transient increase of Proteobacteria to 12% of total bacteria, and increased bacterial diversity by increasing the abundance of anaerobic fiber fermenting Firmicutes. Three weeks after weaning, Prevotella and Lactobacillus were among the dominant bacterial genera. Feed fermentation with L. reuteri affected the abundance of few bacterial taxa and particularly reduced the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (P < 0.05) when compared to unfermented controls. Reutericyclin producing L. reuteri increased the abundance of Dialister spp. and Mitsuokella spp. (P < 0.05) but did not influence the abundance of clostridial toxins in the feces. In conclusion, data on the contribution of specific metabolic activities of L. reuteri to probiotic activity will facilitate the strain selection for probiotic applications in food and feed.
β-Catenin Is Required for Endothelial Cyp1b1 Regulation Influencing Metabolic Barrier Function

The canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is crucial for blood–brain barrier (BBB) formation in brain endothelial cells. Although glucose transporter 1, claudin-3, and plasmalemma vesicular-associated protein have been identified as Wnt/β-catenin targets in brain endothelial cells, further downstream targets relevant to BBB formation and function are incompletely explored. By Affymetrix expression analysis, we show that the cytochrome P450 enzyme Cyp1b1 was significantly decreased in β-catenin-deficient mouse endothelial cells, whereas its close homolog Cyp1a1 was upregulated in an aryl hydrocarbon receptor-dependent manner, hence indicating that β-catenin is indispensable for Cyp1b1 but not for Cyp1a1 expression. Functionally, Cyp1b1 could generate retinoic acid from retinol leading to cell-autonomous induction of the barrier-related ATP-binding cassette transporter P-glycoprotein. Cyp1b1 could also generate 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid from arachidonic acid, decreasing endothelial barrier function in vitro. In mice in vivo pharmacological inhibition of Cyp1b1 increased BBB permeability for small molecular tracers, and Cyp1b1 was downregulated in glioma vessels in which BBB function is lost. Hence, we propose Cyp1b1 as a target of β-catenin indirectly influencing BBB properties via its metabolic activity, and as a potential target for modulating barrier function in endothelial cells. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Wnt/β-catenin signaling is crucial for blood–brain barrier (BBB) development and maintenance; however, its role in regulating metabolic characteristics of endothelial cells is unclear. We provide evidence that β-catenin influences endothelial metabolism by transcriptionally regulating the cytochrome P450 enzyme Cyp1b1. Furthermore, expression of its close homolog Cyp1a1 was inhibited by β-catenin. Functionally, Cyp1b1 generated retinoic acid as well as 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid that regulated P-glycoprotein and junction proteins, respectively, thereby modulating BBB properties. Inhibition of Cyp1b1 in vivo increased BBB permeability being in line with its downregulation in glioma endothelia, potentially implicating Cyp1b1 in other brain pathologies. In conclusion, Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates endothelial metabolic barrier function through Cyp1b1 transcription.
Ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase/CD73 enhances endothelial barrier function and sprouting in blood but not lymphatic vasculature

CD73/ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase is a key enzyme in the regulation of purinergic signaling and inflammatory reactions. It hydrolyzes extracellular AMP into adenosine, which dampens immune cell activation, and reduces leukocyte trafficking. By comparing CD73 expression and function in mononuclear and endothelial cells (ECs) of blood and lymph, we show that extracellular purines and CD73 activity have differential effects in these two vascular systems. We found that CD8‐positive T lymphocytes and CD19‐positive B lymphocytes in human lymph expressed high levels of CD73 and other purinergic enzymes and adenosine receptors. Soluble CD73 was less abundant in human lymph than in serum, whereas CD73 activity was higher in afferent lymphatic ECs than in blood ECs. Adenosine signaling improved barrier function and induced sprouting of human blood, but not lymphatic, ECs in vitro. Similarly, using CD73‐deficient mice we found that CD73 controls only blood vascular permeability at selected lymphoid organs under physiological conditions. Thus, both vascular and lymphatic arms of the immune system synthesize the components of purinergic signaling system, but surprisingly they use CD73 differentially to control endothelial permeability and sprouting.