Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Estrogen, Nitric Oxide, and Dopamine on Behavioral Locomotor Activities in the Embryonic Zebrafish: A Pharmacological Study

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to affect motor function. Specifically, NO has been shown to act through regulation of dopamine (DA) release, transporter function, and the elicitation of neuroprotection/neurodegeneration of neurons. Recently, zebrafish have been proposed to be a new model for the study of various types of motor dysfunctions, since neurotoxin damage to their nigrostriatal-like neurons exhibit motor anomalies similar to those of mammalian models and human patients. Results from this study demonstrate that when NO synthesis is inhibited in zebrafish, using a neuronal NO synthase inhibitor (nNOSI), a condition called ‘listless’ occurs, where the fish lack swimming abilities, are rigid, and have difficulty maintaining balance. Additionally, co-treatment with either NO or estrogen (E2), an upstream regulator of NO synthase, can rescue fish from the ‘listless’ phenotype caused by exposure to the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6 OHDA). In turn, NO deprived zebrafish were rescued from the ‘listless’ phenotype when co-treated with L-DOPA, a precursor to DA. Interestingly, the longer fish are exposed to a 6 OHDA + nNOSI co-treatment, the slower the recovery after washout, compared to a single treatment of each. Most significantly, NO involvement in the motor homeostasis of the embryonic zebrafish was shown to be expressed through the NO-cGMP-dependent pathway, and response to nNOSI treatments is developmentally regulated. In conclusion, these results indicate that there is a link between E2, NO, and DA systems that regulate motor functions in the embryonic zebrafish.
Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way’s Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits

We report new precision measurements of the properties of our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Based on astrometric (1995-2007) and radial velocity (RV; 2000-2007) measurements from the W. M. Keck 10 m telescopes, a fully unconstrained Keplerian orbit for the short-period star S0-2 provides values for the distance (R0) of 8.0 ± 0.6 kpc, the enclosed mass (Mbh) of 4.1 ± 0.6 × 106 M☉, and the black hole’s RV, which is consistent with zero with 30 km s−1 uncertainty. If the black hole is assumed to be at rest with respect to the Galaxy (e.g., has no massive companion to induce motion), we can further constrain the fit, obtaining R0 = 8.4 ± 0.4 kpc and Mbh = 4.5 ± 0.4 × 106 M☉. More complex models constrain the extended dark mass distribution to be less than 3-4 × 105 M☉ within 0.01 pc, ~100 times higher than predictions from stellar and stellar remnant models. For all models, we identify transient astrometric shifts from source confusion (up to 5 times the astrometric error) and the assumptions regarding the black hole’s radial motion as previously unrecognized limitations on orbital accuracy and the usefulness of fainter stars. Future astrometric and RV observations will remedy these effects. Our estimates of R0 and the Galaxy’s local rotation speed, which it is derived from combining R0 with the apparent proper motion of Sgr A*, (θ0 = 229 ± 18 km s−1), are compatible with measurements made using other methods. The increased black hole mass found in this study, compared to that determined using projected mass estimators, implies a longer period for the innermost stable orbit, longer resonant relaxation timescales for stars in the vicinity of the black hole and a better agreement with the Mbh-σ relation.
Hair-Loss Preventing Effect of Grateloupia elliptica

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Grateloupia elliptica, a seaweed native to Jeju Island, Korea, on the prevention of hair loss. When immortalized rat vibrissa dermal papilla cells were treated with extract of G. elliptica, the proliferation of dermal papilla cells significantly increased. In addition, the G. elliptica extract significantly inhibited the activity of 5α-reductase, which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a main cause of androgenetic alopecia. On the other hand, the G. elliptica extract promoted PGE2 production in HaCaT cells in a dose-dependent manner. The G. elliptica extract exhibited particularly high inhibitory effect on LPS-stimulated IL-12, IL-6, and TNF-α production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. The G. elliptica extract also showed inhibitory activity against Pityrosporum ovale, a main cause of dandruff. These results suggest that G. elliptica extract has the potential to treat alopecia via the proliferation of dermal papilla, 5α-reductase inhibition, increase of PGE2 production, decrease of LPS-stimulated pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibitory activity against Pityrosporum ovale.
Mechanical Ventilation Weaning in Inclusion Body Myositis: Feasibility of Isokinetic Inspiratory Muscle Training as an Adjunct Therapy

Inclusion body myositis is a rare myopathy associated with a high rate of respiratory complications. This condition usually requires prolonged mechanical ventilation and prolonged intensive care stay. The unsuccessful weaning is mainly related to respiratory muscle weakness that does not promptly respond to immunosuppressive therapy. We are reporting a case of a patient in whom the use of an inspiratory muscle-training program which started after a two-week period of mechanical ventilation was associated with a successful weaning in one week and hospital discharge after 2 subsequent weeks.
Comment on : “ Lévy walks evolve through interaction between movement and environmental complexity ”

We used the following distributions to model mussel step length distribution: exponential, power law and truncated power law distributions as in [1] and hyperexponential functions, which are exponential mixtures (with 2, 3 or 4 exponential distributions). Since the power law and truncated power law distributions require specifying the lower truncation value (and since a data set is naturally lower truncated by the resolution of observations) we truncated all the models at the smallest value in the data set to make model comparison fair.
Correlation of brightening with cumulative enzyme activity related to lignin biodegradation during biobleaching of kraft pulp by white rot fungi in the solid-state fermentation system

Biobleaching of hardwood unbleached kraft pulp (UKP) by Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes versicolor was studied in the solid-state fermentation system with different culture media. In this fermentation system with low-nitrogen and high-carbon culture medium, pulp brightness increased by 15 and 30 points after 5 days of treatment with T. versicolor and P. chrysosporium, respectively, and the pulp kappa number decreased with increasing brightness. A comparison of manganese peroxidase (MnP), lignin peroxidase (LiP), and laccase activities assayed by using fungus-treated pulp and the filtrate after homogenizing the fungus-treated pulp in buffer solution indicated that enzymes secreted from fungi were adsorbed onto the UKP and that assays of these enzyme activities should be carried out with the treated pulp. Time course studies of brightness increase and MnP activity during treatment with P. chrysosporium suggested that it was difficult to correlate them on the basis of data obtained on a certain day of incubation, because the MnP activity fluctuated dramatically during the treatment time. When brightness increase and cumulative MnP, LiP, and laccase activities were determined, a linear relationship between brightness increase and cumulative MnP activity was found in the solid-state fermentation system with both P. chrysosporium and T. versicolor. This result suggests that MnP is involved in brightening of UKP by white rot fungi.
Optical and Radio Properties of Extragalactic Sources Observed by the FIRST Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We discuss the optical and radio properties of ∼30,000 FIRST (radio, 20 cm, sensitive to 1 mJy) sources positionally associated within 1. ″5 with a Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) (optical, sensitive to r* ∼ 22.2) source in 1230 deg2 of sky. The matched sample represents ∼30% of the 108,000 FIRST sources and 0.1% of the 2.5 × 107 SDSS sources in the studied region. SDSS spectra are available for 4300 galaxies and 1154 quasars from the matched sample and for a control sample of 140,000 galaxies and 20,000 quasars in 1030 deg2 of sky. Here we analyze only core sources, which dominate the sample; the fraction of SDSS-FIRST sources with complex radio morphology is determined to be less than 10%. This large and unbiased catalog of optical identifications provides much firmer statistical footing for existing results and allows several new findings. The majority (83%) of the FIRST sources identified with an SDSS source brighter than r* = 21 are optically resolved; the fraction of resolved objects among the matched sources is a function of the radio flux, increasing from ∼50% at the bright end to ∼90% at the FIRST faint limit. Nearly all optically unresolved radio sources have nonstellar colors indicative of quasars. We estimate an upper limit of ∼5% for the fraction of quasars with broadband optical colors indistinguishable from those of stars. The distribution of quasars in the radio flux–optical flux plane suggests the existence of the "quasar radio dichotomy"; 8% ± 1% of all quasars with i* < 18.5 are radio-loud, and this fraction seems independent of redshift and optical luminosity. The radio-loud quasars have a redder median color by 0.08 ± 0.02 mag, and show a 3 times larger fraction of objects with extremely red colors. FIRST galaxies represent 5% of all SDSS galaxies with r* < 17.5, and 1% for r* < 20, and are dominated by red (u*-r* > 2.22) galaxies, especially those with r* > 17.5. Magnitude- and redshift-limited samples show that radio galaxies have a different optical luminosity distribution than nonradio galaxies selected by the same criteria; when galaxies are further separated by their colors, this result remains valid for both blue and red galaxies. For a given optical luminosity and redshift, the observed optical colors of radio galaxies are indistinguishable from those of all SDSS galaxies selected by identical criteria. The distributions of radio-to-optical flux ratio are similar for blue and red galaxies in redshift-limited samples; this similarity implies that the difference in their luminosity functions and resulting selection effects are the dominant cause for the preponderance of red radio galaxies in flux-limited samples. The fraction of radio galaxies whose emission-line ratios indicate an AGN (30%), rather than starburst, origin is 6 times larger than the corresponding fraction for all SDSS galaxies (r* < 17.5). We confirm that the AGN-to-starburst galaxy number ratio increases with radio flux and find that radio emission from AGNs is more concentrated than radio emission from starburst galaxies.
Aquaculture and stress management: a review of probiotic intervention.

To meet the ever-increasing demand for animal protein, aquaculture continuously requires new techniques to increase the production yield. However, with every step towards intensification of aquaculture practices, there is an increase in stress level on the animal as well as on the environment. Feeding practices in aqua farming usually plays an important role, and the addition of various additives to a balanced feed formula to achieve better growth is a common practice among the fish and shrimp culturists. Probiotics, also known as 'bio-friendly agents', such as LAB (Lactobacillus), yeasts and Bacillus sp. , can be introduced into the culture environment to control and compete with pathogenic bacteria as well as to promote the growth of the cultured organisms. In addition, probiotics are non-pathogenic and non-toxic micro-organisms, having no undesirable side effects when administered to aquatic organisms. Probiotics are also known to play an important role in developing innate immunity among the fishes, and hence help them to fight against any pathogenic bacterias as well as against environmental stressors. The present review is a brief but informative compilation of the different essential and desirable traits of probiotics, their mode of action and their useful effects on fishes. The review also highlights the role of probiotics in helping the fishes to combat against the different physical, chemical and biological stress.
Wildcards - Signals from a Future Near You

Nestled snugly into the high backed leather chair, you are only marginally aware of the thousands of people around you, their faces oddly lit by the light shining from the screen. The sounds echoing from the Dolby THX surround sound system only helps to draw you deeper, ever deeper into the flickering images playing out before your eyes. You are aware of your own heartbeat increasing its tempo, "tha-thump" "tha-thump" "tha-thump" "thathump" "tha-thump" and your field of vision shrinks to notice only the film playing in front of you. On the screen, from within a large fluffy grey cloud, two massive hands appear, shuffling a deck of strange, unfamiliar speckled-backed cards. As the light catches each speckled flash your pulse kicks up a notch and now you are mesmerised, unable to focus on anything but the screen and those cards. Suddenly without warning, the hands toss the pack into the air and you snatch a breath. Your focus now is so intent that the film appears to move in double-slow time. As you watch the floating, tumbling, spinning deck in "slo-mo", your attention is drawn to one of the cards as it drifts in space – back, face, back, face, back, face, incomplete glimpses, it tumbles falling ever surely to the ground. Unconsciously you already know what will be on the face of that card, your own Wildcard, and a jolt of adrenalin surges through your body activating your 'fight or flight' instinct. Somewhere in the distance you hear a alarm ringing as your sub-conscious begins to grapple with something that was inconceivable only moments before. But the question is, do you wake up before the alarm or do you try to snooze through it?
Targeted Biomarker Profiling of Matched Primary and Metastatic Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancers

Patients with newly diagnosed, early stage estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer often show disease free survival in excess of five years following surgery and systemic adjuvant therapy. An important question is whether diagnostic tumor tissue from the primary lesion offers an accurate molecular portrait of the cancer post recurrence and thus may be used for predictive diagnostic purposes for patients with relapsed, metastatic disease. As the class I phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (PI3K) pathway is frequently activated in ER+ breast cancer and has been linked to acquired resistance to hormonal therapy, we hypothesized pathway status could evolve over time and treatment. Biomarker analyses were conducted on matched, asynchronous primary and metastatic tumors from 77 patients with ER+ breast cancer. We examined whether PIK3CA and AKT1 alterations or PTEN and Ki67 levels showed differences between primary and metastatic samples. We also sought to look more broadly at gene expression markers reflective of proliferation, molecular subtype, and key receptors and signaling pathways using an mRNA analysis platform developed on the Fluidigm BioMark™ microfluidics system to measure the relative expression of 90 breast cancer related genes in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. Application of this panel of biomarker assays to matched tumor pairs showed a high concordance between primary and metastatic tissue, with generally few changes in mutation status, proliferative markers, or gene expression between matched samples. The collection of assays described here has been optimized for FFPE tissue and may have utility in exploratory analyses to identify patient subsets responsive to targeted therapies.
The relationship between central bank transparency and the quality of inflation forecasts: is it U-shaped?

A recent theoretical literature highlighted the potential dangers of further increasing information disclosure by central banks. This paper gives a continuous empirical investigation of the existence of an optimal degree of transparency in the lines of van der Cruijsen et al. We test a quadratic relationship between central bank transparency and the inflation persistence by introducing some technical and economic modifications. Particularly, we used three new measures of transparency. An appropriate U shape test that was made through a Stata routine, recently developed by Lind and Mehlum, indicates a robust optimal intermediate degree of transparency, but its level is not. These results were obtained using a panel of 11 OECD central banks under the period 1999-2009. The estimations were run using a bias corrected LSDVC, a newly recent technique developed by Bruno for short dynamic panels with fixed effects, extended to accommodate unbalanced data.
Tabu Search Heuristic for a Two-Echelon Location-Routing Problem

In this paper we tackle a two-echelon location-routing problem (2E-LRP) by a tabu search metaheuristic. The aim is to define the location and number of two kinds of capacitated facilities, the size of two different vehicle fleets and the related routes on each echelon. The proposed Tabu Search (TS) for the 2E-LRP is based on the decomposition of the problem in two location-routing sub-problems, one for each echelon. Then each subproblem is decomposed into a capacitated facility location problem (CFLP) and a multidepot vehicle routing problem (MDVRP). The heuristic uses an iterative-nested approach to combine the solutions of the four subproblems. TS has been experienced on a wide set of small, medium and large instances and the obtained results have been compared with the ones of 2E-LRP models on small size instances and with upper bounds, obtained with a simple sequential approach, on medium and large size instances. Experimental results prove that proposed TS is effective in terms of quality of solutions and computation times in most of the solved instances.
BIT and MSRA at TREC KBA CCR Track 2013

Our strategy for TREC KBA CCR track is to rst retrieve as many vital or documents as possible and then apply more sophisticated classication and ranking methods to dierentiate vital from useful documents. We submitted 10 runs generated by 3 approaches: question expansion, classication and learning to rank. Query expansion is an unsupervised baseline, in which we combine entities’ names and their related entities’ names as phrase queries to retrieve relevant documents. This baseline outperforms the overall median and mean submissions. The system performance is further improved by supervised classication and learning to
A Non-PRE Double-peaked Burst from 4U 1636–536: Evidence of Burning Front Propagation

We analyze Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) Proportional Counter Array (PCA) data of a double-peaked burst from the low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1636-536 that shows no evidence of photospheric radius expansion (PRE). We find that the X-ray-emitting area on the star increases with time as the burst progresses, even though the photosphere does not expand. We argue that this is a strong indication of thermonuclear flame spreading on the stellar surface during such bursts. We propose a model for such double-peaked bursts, based on thermonuclear flame spreading, that can qualitatively explain their essential features as well as the rarity of these bursts.
Expression of Tandem P Domain K+ Channel, TREK-1, in the Rat Carotid Body

TREK-1 is one of the important potassium channels for regulating membrane excitability. To examine the distribution of TREK-1 in the rat carotid body, we performed RT-PCR for mRNA expression and in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for tissue distribution of TREK-1. RT-PCR detected mRNA expression of TREK-1 in the carotid body. Furthermore, in situ hybridization revealed the localization of TREK-1 mRNA in the glomus cells. TREK-1 immunoreactivity was mainly distributed in the glomus cells and nerve fibers in the carotid body. TREK-1 may modulate potassium current of glomus cells and/or afferent nerve endings in the rat carotid body.
Bureaucracy in a Democratic State: A Governance Perspective

Here, Kenneth J. Meier and Laurence J. O'Toole Jr. present a timely analysis of working democracy, arguing that bureaucracy—often considered antithetical to fundamental democratic principles—can actually promote democracy. Drawing from both the empirical work of political scientists and the qualitative work of public administration scholars, the authors employ a "governance approach" that considers broad, institutionally complex systems of governance as well as the nitty-gritty details of bureaucracy management. They examine the results of bureaucratic and political interactions in specific government settings, locally and nationally, to determine whether bureaucratic systems strengthen or weaken the connections between public preferences and actual policies. They find that bureaucracies are part of complex intergovernmental and interorganizational networks that limit a single bureaucracy's institutional control over the implementation of public policy. Further, they conclude that top-down political control of bureaucracy has only modest impact on the activities of bureaucracy in the U.S. and that shared values and commitments to democratic norms, along with political control, produce a bureaucracy that is responsive to the American people.
The Asymmetry of the Price Impact of Block Trades and the Bid-Ask Spread. Evidence from the London Stock Exchange

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the price impact of block trades for FTSE 100 firms. Design/methodology/approach - Using event studies a sample of 1.6 million block purchases and 1.2 million block sales over the time period 1998-2005 is analysed. Findings - Once block price effects are estimated using quote returns to eliminate bid-ask bias, the asymmetry in buyer and seller initiated trades is eliminated. Research limitations/implications - A possible avenue for future research may be to look at the impact of inflation on the asymmetry between block purchases and sales. This may be an interesting extension to the current study given that inflation appears to be an important determinant of the equity premium in international stock markets. Practical implications - The empirical results suggest that market liquidity is one of the factors that is driving the asymmetry between block purchases and sales on the London Stock Exchange. The paper is of interest to academics and practitioners who study and invest in block trades. Originality/value - This is the first study of the UK stock market to encapsulate bid-ask biases in block trades.