Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of the Water Channel Protein Aquaporin-9 in Human Astrocytic Tumours: Correlation with Pathological Grade

This study investigated the expression of the water channel protein aquaporin-9 (AQP9) in 100 cases of human astrocytic tumour compared with normal brain tissue. AQP9 mRNA and protein were assessed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. The expression of both AQP9 mRNA and protein in astrocytic tumours was significantly greater than in normal brain tissue and was positively correlated with pathological grade. No significant correlations were found between the level of AQP9 mRNA or protein expression and gender, age, tumour size or tumour site. This study indicates that AQP9 may play an important role in the malignant progression of brain astrocytic tumours and may, therefore, be useful as a biomarker in its diagnosis and as a new target for gene therapy. The molecular mechanisms by which AQP9 affects the proliferation and apoptosis of astrocytic tumours need to be studied further.
Robust delay-dependent stabilization of uncertain time-delay systems by variable structure control

In this paper, the problem of robust sliding mode controller design for uncertain multivariable systems with several fixed state delays is addressed. A new combined sliding mode controller is considered and designed for the delay-dependent stabilization of perturbed sliding time-delay systems with matched parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. Delay-dependent stability and sliding mode existence conditions are derived by using modified Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and formulated in terms of LMI. The allowable upper bounds on the time-delay are determined from the LMI stability conditions. A numerical example is given to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed design method.
Factors controlling the evaporation of secondary organic aerosol from α‐pinene ozonolysis

Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) forms a major fraction of organic aerosols in the atmosphere. Knowledge of SOA properties that affect their dynamics in the atmosphere is needed for improving climate models. By combining experimental and modeling techniques, we investigated the factors controlling SOA evaporation under different humidity conditions. Our experiments support the conclusion of particle phase diffusivity limiting the evaporation under dry conditions. Viscosity of particles at dry conditions was estimated to increase several orders of magnitude during evaporation, up to 109 Pa s. However, at atmospherically relevant relative humidity and time scales, our results show that diffusion limitations may have a minor effect on evaporation of the studied α‐pinene SOA particles. Based on previous studies and our model simulations, we suggest that, in warm environments dominated by biogenic emissions, the major uncertainty in models describing the SOA particle evaporation is related to the volatility of SOA constituents.
Assessment of validity of self-reported smoking status.

BACKGROUND Cigarette smoking is associated with adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory illness, heart disease and stroke. National data on smoking prevalence often rely on self-reports. This study assesses the validity of self-reported cigarette smoking status among Canadians. DATA AND METHODS Data are from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 4,530 Canadians aged 12 to 79. The survey included self-reported smoking status and a measure of urinary cotinine, a biomarker of exposure to tobacco smoke. The prevalence of cigarette smoking was calculated based on self-reports and also on urinary cotinine concentrations. RESULTS Compared with estimates based on urinary cotinine concentration, smoking prevalence based on self-report was 0.3 percentage points lower. Sensitivity estimates (the percentage of respondents who reported being smokers among those classified as smokers based on cotinine concentrations) were similar for males and females (more than 90%). Although sensitivity tended to be lower for respondents aged 12 to 19 than for those aged 20 to 79, the difference did not attain statistical significance. INTERPRETATION Accurate estimates of the prevalence of cigarette smoking among Canadians can be derived from self-reported smoking status data.
Toll-Like Receptor 4 Modulates Small Intestine Neuromuscular Function through Nitrergic and Purinergic Pathways

Objective: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a pivotal role in the homeostatic microflora-host crosstalk. TLR4-mediated modulation of both motility and enteric neuronal survival has been reported mainly for colon with limited information on the role of TLR4 in tuning structural and functional integrity of enteric nervous system (ENS) and in controlling small bowel motility. Methods: Male TLR4 knockout (TLR4-/-, 9 ± 1 weeks old) and sex- and age-matched wild-type (WT) C57BL/6J mice were used for the experiments. Alterations in ENS morphology and neurochemical code were assessed by immunohistochemistry whereas neuromuscular function was evaluated by isometric mechanical activity of ileal preparations following receptor and non-receptor-mediated stimuli and by gastrointestinal transit. Results: The absence of TLR4 induced gliosis and reduced the total number of neurons, mainly nNOS+ neurons, in ileal myenteric plexus. Furthermore, a lower cholinergic excitatory response with an increased inhibitory neurotransmission was found together with a delayed gastrointestinal transit. These changes were dependent on increased ileal non-adrenergic non-cholinergic (NANC) relaxations mediated by a complex neuronal-glia signaling constituted by P2X7 and P2Y1 receptors, and NO produced by nNOS and iNOS. Conclusion: We provide novel evidence that TLR4 signaling is involved in the fine-tuning of P2 receptors controlling ileal contractility, ENS cell distribution, and inhibitory NANC neurotransmission via the combined action of NO and adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP). For the first time, this study implicates TLR4 at regulating the crosstalk between glia and neurons in small intestine and helps to define its role in gastrointestinal motor abnormalities during dysbiosis.
Shikonin Suppresses NLRP3 and AIM2 Inflammasomes by Direct Inhibition of Caspase-1

Shikonin is a highly lipophilic naphtoquinone found in the roots of Lithospermum erythrorhizon used for its pleiotropic effects in traditional Chinese medicine. Based on its reported antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties, we investigated whether shikonin suppresses the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Inflammasomes are cytosolic protein complexes that serve as scaffolds for recruitment and activation of caspase-1, which, in turn, results in cleavage and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. NLRP3 inflammasome activation involves two steps: priming, i.e. the activation of NF-κB pathway, and inflammasome assembly. While shikonin has previously been reported to suppress the priming step, we demonstrated that shikonin also inhibits the second step of inflammasome activation induced by soluble and particulate NLRP3 instigators in primed immortalized murine bone marrow-derived macrophages. Shikonin decreased NLRP3 inflammasome activation in response to nigericin more potently than acetylshikonin. Our results showed that shikonin also inhibits AIM2 inflammasome activation by double stranded DNA. Shikonin inhibited ASC speck formation and caspase-1 activation in murine macrophages and suppressed the activity of isolated caspase-1, demonstrating that it directly targets caspase-1. Complexing shikonin with β-lactoglobulin reduced its toxicity while preserving the inhibitory effect on NLRP3 inflammasome activation, suggesting that shikonin with improved bioavailability might be interesting for therapeutic applications in inflammasome-mediated conditions.
Recommended minimal requirements and development guidelines for exposure setups of bio-experiments addressing the health risk concern of wireless communications.

The evidence currently available on the potential health effects from electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure has been largely judged as being too tentative and inadequate to meet criteria for assessing health risks. Some of the main reasons for these shortcomings lie in the incomplete description of the exposure and poorly characterized dosimetry. Well-defined exposure conditions are essential to obtain reproducible and scientifically valuable results. To facilitate the development of optimized setups for specific bio-experiments, this paper lists basic requirements and provides development guidelines for evaluation, optimization, construction, and verification of exposure. In addition, definitions of minimum performance requirements for setups addressing the health risk concern of wireless communications are suggested.
QUANTITATIVE GENETICS AND THE EVOLUTION OF REACTION NORMS

We extend methods of quantitative genetics to studies of the evolution of reaction norms defined over continuous environments. Our models consider both spatial variation (hard and soft selection) and temporal variation (within a generation and between generations). These different forms of environmental variation can produce different evolutionary trajectories even when they favor the same optimal reaction norm. When genetic constraints limit the types of evolutionary changes available to a reaction norm, different forms of environmental variation can also produce different evolutionary equilibria. The methods and models presented here provide a framework in which empiricists may determine whether a reaction norm is optimal and, if it is not, to evaluate hypotheses for why it is not.
Insomnia and obesity

Purpose of review Accumulating data suggest that short sleep plays a role in the development of obesity in general population. Insomnia disorder is characterized by short sleep and may persist for years. The question whether these patients have a higher risk of obesity is of socioeconomic as well as therapeutic interest. Recent findings Numerous recently published cross-sectional and longitudinal studies show positive as well as negative associations between short sleep and overweight. Critical reviews note several methodological limitations that weaken the assumption of short sleep duration as the potential cause for obesity. From a sleep medical perspective, a basic methodological problem is the lack of a biological cut-off for short sleep duration. Therefore, recent findings on the relation between emotional stress in short sleepers and incident of obesity opens a more promising perspective on sleep quality as a possible factor. A few studies on patients with insomnia disorder, however, do not show higher BMIs adding data to a research puzzle. Summary The relation of sleep duration and incident obesity so far has insufficient evidence base. Few data on patients with insomnia disorder do not confirm the association. Further research is necessary with focus on sleep quality instead of sleep duration.
Distance Constraints: The Limits of Foreign Lending in Poor Economies

How far does mobility of multinational banks solve problems of financial development? Using a panel of 80,000 loans over 7 years, I show that greater cultural and geographical distance between a foreign bank's headquarters and local branches leads it to further avoid lending to “informationally difficult” yet fundamentally sound firms requiring relational contracting. Greater distance also makes them less likely to bilaterally renegotiate, and less successful at recovering defaults. Differences in bank size, legal institutions, risk preferences, or unobserved borrower heterogeneity cannot explain these results. These distance constraints can be large enough to permanently exclude certain sectors of the economy from financing by foreign banks.
Semi-Supervised Convex Training for Dependency Parsing

We present a novel semi-supervised training algorithm for learning dependency parsers. By combining a supervised large margin loss with an unsupervised least squares loss, a discriminative, convex, semi-supervised learning algorithm can be obtained that is applicable to large-scale problems. To demonstrate the benefits of this approach, we apply the technique to learning dependency parsers from combined labeled and unlabeled corpora. Using a stochastic gradient descent algorithm, a parsing model can be efficiently learned from semi-supervised data that significantly outperforms corresponding supervised methods.
Effects of incubation and polyphenol oxidase enrichment on colour, fermentation index, procyanidins and astringency of unfermented and partly fermented cocoa beans

Summary Incubation of unfermented and partly fermented cocoa beans in acetate buffer, pH 5.5, at 45 °C increased yellowness, total colour differences and fermentation index value of the cocoa bean powders and decreased cocoa procyanidins (monomers to pentamers), and their astringency. Fermentation index and (–)-epicatechin content, equivalent to those of fully fermented beans, were reached by unfermented beans after 4–8-h incubation, but not by partly fermented beans even after 16 h. During incubation of partly fermented cocoa beans enriched with polyphenol oxidase, yellowness and fermentation index value were increased, whilst (–)-epicatechin was decreased. Tyrosinase had a less significant effect in yellow colour formation, but showed a significant reduction of (–)-epicatechin and increase in fermentation index compared with crude cocoa polyphenol oxidase. However, both enzymes have similar effects on procyanidin degradation and astringent taste reduction. Incubation of cocoa beans for 16 h increased the cut test score of unfermented and partly fermented beans by 50 and 30%, respectively.
Head-Directional Tuning and Theta Modulation of Anatomically Identified Neurons in the Presubiculum

The presubiculum provides a major input to the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and contains cells that encode for the animal's head direction (HD), as well as other cells likely to be important for navigation and memory, including grid cells. To understand the mechanisms underlying HD cell firing and its effects on other parts of the circuit, it is important to determine the anatomical identity of these functionally defined cells. Therefore, we juxtacellularly recorded single cells in the presubiculum in freely moving rats, finding two classes of cells based on firing patterns and juxtacellular labeling (of a subset). Regular-firing cells had the anatomical characteristics of pyramidal cells and included most recorded HD cells. Therefore, HD cells are likely to be excitatory pyramidal cells. For one HD cell, we could follow an axon projecting directly to the MEC. Fast-spiking (FS) cells had the anatomical characteristics of interneurons and displayed weak HD tuning. Furthermore, FS cells displayed a surprising lack of theta-rhythmic firing, in strong contrast to the FS cells that we recorded in the MEC. Overall, we show that HD cells in the presubiculum are pyramidal cells, with FS interneurons only showing weak HD tuning; therefore, MEC may receive an excitatory HD input, as previously assumed by many models. The lack of theta rhythmicity in FS interneurons suggests that different mechanisms may underlie theta in different parts of the hippocampal formation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In freely moving rats, we recorded and labeled single neurons in the presubiculum, an area providing one of the major inputs to the medial entorhinal cortex and part of a network involved in spatial navigation and memory. Post hoc identification of labeled cells showed that (fast-spiking, FS) interneurons and pyramidal cells in the presubiculum can be distinguished based on physiological criteria. We found that both moderately and strongly tuned head-direction (HD) cells are pyramidal cells and therefore likely to provide an excitatory HD input to the entorhinal cortex. FS interneurons were weakly head directional and, surprisingly, showed no theta-rhythmic firing. Therefore, the presubiculum appears to encode HD information via excitatory pyramidal cells, possibly also involving FS interneurons, without using a theta-rhythmic temporal code.
Understanding Why Children Commit Scale Errors: Scale Error and Its Relation to Action Planning and Inhibitory Control, and the Concept of Size

Scale error is a phenomenon where young children attempt to perform inappropriate actions on miniature object without considering the actual size of the object. The present study examined two hypotheses on what factors contribute to the occurrence of scale errors, focusing on the following possible factors: action planning and inhibitory control, and concept of size. Thus, we hypothesize that scale errors derived from either immaturity of their action planning and inhibitory control abilities or understanding of size concepts. The results revealed that the concept of size was significantly negatively associated with the occurrence of scale errors. However, action planning and inhibitory control were not significantly associated with the occurrence of scale errors. These results suggest that scale errors may arise from a misunderstanding of size concepts.
Insole with pressure control and tissue neoformation induction systems for diabetic foot

This article presents the development of a prototype insole derived from natural rubber from Hevea brasiliensis, equipped with pressure control and capable of neoformation of tissue for people who have diabetic foot. The active element of this insole is the electronic circuit that monitors the plantar pressure. In addition, on the present stage of the research, a signal irradiating cell is used based on the principle of tissue regeneration using laser. This project proposes a “smart” insole prototype with a pressure monitoring system and an electronic system for tissue regeneration, which will open a new approach in an attempt to solve the problem of diabetic foot.
Leukocyte transmigration requires kinesin-mediated microtubule-dependent membrane trafficking from the lateral border recycling compartment

Diapedesis of leukocytes across endothelial cells is a crucial step in both the innate and adaptive immune responses. Surface molecules on leukocytes and endothelial cells critical for diapedesis have been identified, but the mechanisms underlying this process are not understood. Homophilic interaction between platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM) on leukocytes and PECAM at the endothelial border triggers targeted recycling of membrane from a reticulum localized close to the endothelial cell lateral border. This membrane surrounds the transmigrating leukocyte (Mamdouh, Z., X. Chen, L.M. Pierini, F.R. Maxfield, and W.A. Muller. 2003. Nature. 421:748–753). How this process occurs and whether it is required for diapedesis independent of PECAM are not known. We now report that targeted recycling from this lateral border recycling compartment (LBRC) is required for diapedesis, is mediated by kinesin family molecular motors, and requires normally functioning endothelial microtubules. Selective disruption of microtubules or inhibition of kinesin motor domain blocked targeted recycling and diapedesis of monocytes. Furthermore, targeted recycling of membrane from the LBRC was required for transmigration of lymphocytes, which migrate independently of PECAM. Thus, trafficking of membrane from the LBRC to surround leukocytes may be a general requirement for migration of leukocytes across the endothelial cell border. Furthermore, these data provide the first demonstration of a role for endothelial microtubules and kinesins in promoting diapedesis, and a mechanism to explain targeted recycling.
Effect of changes in blood gas tensions and carotid sinus pressure on tracheal volume and total lung resistance to airflow

Asphyxia, hypercapnia and hypoxaemia constrict the trachea (Loofbourrow, Wood & Baird, 1957) and bronchi (Roy & Brown, 1885), and also change the mechanical properties of the lungs in a manner attributed to bronchoconstriction (Einthoven, 1892; Dixon & Brodie, 1903). These effects are largely dependent on the integrity of vagal conduction. In analysing the responsible mechanisms Daly & Schweitzer (1951) concluded that stimulation of carotid body chemoreceptors in dogs causes reflex bronchodilatation, and Daly, Lambertsen & Schweitzer (1953) decided that hypoxaemia and hypercapnia of the central nervous system produce nervously mediated bronchoconstriction. The experiments cited above usually involved assessment ofthe relationship between inflation pressure and tidal volume during cyclical changes in volume. This relationship is, by analogy to electrical theory, closely related to the 'impedance' of the respiratory system. The term impedance will be used to describe these measurements in this paper. At the usual frequencies of ventilation, impedance measurements are very insensitive to changes in airway resistance and greatly influenced by alterations in compliance. Therefore, results based on impedance measurements cannot be unequivocally attributed to changes in airway resistance, and give no quantitative information about airway diameter. This paper describes the actions of hypoxaemia, hypercapnia, and changes in carotid sinus pressure on the volume of a tracheal segment and on the total lung resistance to airflow in dogs. We have also studied the nervous mechanisms mediating these changes and have controlled the rate and depth of ventilation and attempted to eliminate the effects of changes in lung compliance and transpulmonary pressure. An abstract of some of the results has been published (Nadel & Widdicombe, 1961).
Employability skills for an entry-level engineer as seen by Malaysian employers

In an earlier publication, the authors have proposed a model on practical framework of engineering employability skills, i.e. the Malaysian Engineering Employability Skills (MEES). The framework discusses on the possible employability skills as required for an entry level engineer in Malaysia based on many other earlier studies. A set of questionnaires was later developed to gauge this model from the perspective of Malaysian employers from engineering sectors. Based on the results obtained, this paper will discuss, among others, the preferred entry-level employability skills as valued by employers when hiring fresh engineering graduates. The data was collected from September to December 2009 through face-to-face and telephone interviews with employers from Kelang Valley area, the main industrial area in Malaysia. Five hundreds employers were approached, and of this, three hundreds were successfully interviewed. The interviews were only carried out with high ranking officers, in this case; Head of Division or higher to assure accurate results. The questionnaires comprise ten (10) main employability skills as described in MEES. A “multi-attribute value technique” and statistical methods were used for data analysis. The findings suggested that the employers perceived employability skills as “required” with an average rating score of 4.06 out of 5.00. The most required skill is “communication skills” while the least required is “engineering system approach”. However, there are differences in the priorities of employability skills by the four different categories of industries considered in this study. The framework and the findings presented perhaps can be used as guidance for the employers in their recruitment exercise. The findings could also be helpful in guiding the education providers, trainers, career advisors and the likes in increasing the employability skills of engineering fresh graduates.