Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coagulation-Mediated Hypoxia and Neutrophil-Dependent Hepatic Injury in Rats Given Lipopolysaccharide and Ranitidine

Idiosyncrasy-like liver injury occurs in rats cotreated with nonhepatotoxic doses of ranitidine (RAN) and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Hepatocellular oncotic necrosis is accompanied by neutrophil (PMN) accumulation and fibrin deposition in LPS/RAN-treated rats, but the contribution of PMNs to injury has not been shown. We tested the hypothesis that PMNs are critical mediators of LPS/RAN-induced liver injury and explored the potential for interaction between PMNs and hemostasis-induced hypoxia. Rats were given either LPS (44.4 × 106 endotoxin units/kg) or its vehicle and then RAN (30 mg/kg) or its vehicle 2 h later. They were killed 3 or 6 h after RAN treatment, and hepatocellular injury was estimated from serum alanine aminotransferase activity and liver histopathology. Plasma PMN chemokine concentration and the number of PMNs in liver increased after LPS treatment at 3 h and were not markedly altered by RAN cotreatment. Depletion of circulating PMNs attenuated hepatic PMN accumulation and liver injury and had no effect on coagulation system activation. Anticoagulation with heparin attenuated liver fibrin deposition and injury in LPS/RAN-treated rats; however, heparin had little effect on liver PMN accumulation or plasma chemokine concentration. Liver hypoxia occurred in LPS/RAN-cotreated rats and was significantly reduced by heparin. In vitro, hypoxia enhanced the killing of rat hepatocytes by PMN elastase and shortened its onset, indicating a synergistic interaction between PMNs and hypoxia. The results suggest that PMNs are involved in the hepatocellular injury caused by LPS/RAN-cotreatment and that hemostasis increases sensitivity to PMN-induced hepatocellular injury by causing liver hypoxia.
Biologic Pacemaker - Role of Gene and Cell Therapy in Cardiac Arrhythmias

In mammalian heart, the sino-atrial (SA) node is the pacemaker region, which contains a family of ionic currents that contributes to the pacemaker potential. Using SA nodal cells, experiments have shown that dysrhythmias are easily elicited under conditions involving calcium overload that occur during ischemia and cardiac failure. Clinically these SA nodal dysfunctions cause bradyarrhythmias in general and are associated with syncope but rarely with death. To initiate pacemaker function an inward current (If) carried by sodium through a family of channels that are hyperpolarization-activated and cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN channels) (Biel et al 2002). Recent advances in molecular and cellular biology, specifically in the areas of stem cell biology and tissue engineering have initiated the development of a new field in molecular biology, regenerative medicine, seeks to develop new biological solutions, using the mobilization of endogenous stem cells or delivery of exogenous cells to replace or modify the function of diseased, absent, or malfunctioning tissue. As far as adult cardiomyocytes have limited regenerative capacity it represents an attractive candidate for these emerging technologies. Therefore, dysfunction of the specialized electrical conduction system may result in inefficient rhythm initiation or impulse conduction leading to significant bradycardia that may require the implantation of a permanent electronic pacemaker. Replacement of the dysfunctional myocardium by implantation of external heart muscle cells is emerging as a novel paradigm for restoration of the myocardial electromechanical properties, but has been significantly limited by the paucity of cell sources for human heart cells and by the relatively limited evidence for functional integration between grafted and host cells. Human embryonic stem cell lines may provide a possible solution for the cell sourcing problem. Although electronic pacing is an excellent therapy, still have disadvantage like the need for monitoring and replacement, indwelling catheter-electrodes in the heart, possibility of infection, and lack of autonomic responsiveness, geometric limitations with respect to pediatric patients make it warrant a search for better alternatives (Rosen et al 2004). The biological pacemaker, a tissue that spontaneously or via engineering confers pacemaker properties to regions of the heart, is an exciting alternative. Several approaches have been
Personalization of the Microbiota of Donor Human Milk with Mother’s Own Milk

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that extremely preterm infants receive mother’s own milk (MOM) when available or pasteurized donor breast milk (DBM) when MOM is unavailable. The goal of this study was to determine whether DBM could be inoculated with MOM from mothers of preterm infants to restore the live microbiota (RM). Culture dependent and culture independent methods were used to analyze the fluctuations in the overall population and microbiome, respectively, of DBM, MOM, and RM samples over time. Using MOM at time = 0 (T0) as the target for the restoration process, this level was reached in the 10% (RM-10) and 30% (RM-30) mixtures after 4 h of incubation at 37°C, whereas, the larger dilutions of 1% (RM-1) and 5% (RM-5) after 8 h. The diversity indexes were similar between MOM and DBM samples, however, different genera were prevalent in each group. Interestingly, 40% of the bacterial families were able to expand in DBM after 4 h of incubation indicating that a large percentage of the bacterial load present in MOM can grow when transferred to DBM, however, no core microbiome was identified. In summary, the microbiome analyses indicated that each mother has a unique microbiota and that live microbial reestablishment of DBM may provide these microbes to individual mothers’ infants. The agreement between the results obtained from the viable bacterial counts and the microbiome analyses indicate that DBM incubated with 10–30% v/v of the MOM for 4 h is a reasonable restoration strategy.
Erratum to: Enhancing the Antitumor Activity of Berberine Hydrochloride by Solid Lipid Nanoparticle Encapsulation

Berberine hydrochloride (BH) is an isoquinolin alkaloid with promising anticancer efficacies. Nevertheless, further development and application of this compound had been hampered by its poor aqueous solubility, low gastrointestinal absorption, and rapid metabolism in the body. In this study, a solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN)-based system was developed for efficient incorporation and persistent release of BH. The drug-loading SLNs (BH-loaded SLNs) were stable, with a mean particle size of 81.42 ± 8.48 nm and zeta potential of −28.67 ± 0.71 mV. BH-loaded SLNs showed desirable drug entrapment efficiency and drug-loaded, and the release of BH from SLNs was significantly slower than free BH. Importantly, our in vitro study indicated that BH-loaded SLNs more significantly inhibited cell proliferation on MCF-7, HepG 2, and A549 cancer cells. Meanwhile, clone formation, cellular uptake, cell cycle arrest, and cell apoptosis studies also demonstrated that BH-loaded SLNs enhanced the antitumor efficacies of BH on MCF-7 cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggest that this SLN formulation may serve as a novel, simple, and efficient system for the delivery of BH.
The Evaluation of Modulus of Elasticity at an Early Stage of Growth in Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) Wood Using S2 Microfibril Angle of Latewood Tracheids as a Wood Quality Indicator

本研究では，実生スギ（Cryptomeria japonica）における，成長初期の晩材仮道管S2 層ミクロフィブリル傾角（MFA）を用いて成熟材部のヤング率（MOE）の早期評価の可能性を検討するため，平坦地に植栽された45年生実生スギの材質特性を調べた。 晩材仮道管長及びMFAの半径方向変動パターンを調べた結果，髄から21～24年輪目が未成熟材と成熟材の境界と考えられた。 また，MFAとMOE及び比MOE（MOE/気乾密度）との間において，それぞれ，相関係数r＝-0. 747及びr＝-0. 889の有意な相関関係が認められた。 さらに，3年輪目のMFAと成熟材部に相当する26～35年輪部位の平均MOE及び比MOEとの間に，それぞれ，相関係数r＝-0. 556及びr＝-0. 623の有意な相関関係が認められた。 このことから，実生スギにおいて，成長初期のMFAから成熟材部のMOEを早期に評価できることが示された。
Genetic Interactions between the Drosophila Tumor Suppressor Gene ept and the stat92E Transcription Factor

Background Tumor Susceptibility Gene-101 (TSG101) promotes the endocytic degradation of transmembrane proteins and is implicated as a mutational target in cancer, yet the effect of TSG101 loss on cell proliferation in vertebrates is uncertain. By contrast, Drosophila epithelial tissues lacking the TSG101 ortholog erupted (ept) develop as enlarged undifferentiated tumors, indicating that the gene can have anti-growth properties in a simple metazoan. A full understanding of pathways deregulated by loss of Drosophila ept will aid in understanding potential links between mammalian TSG101 and growth control. Principal Findings We have taken a genetic approach to the identification of pathways required for excess growth of Drosophila eye-antennal imaginal discs lacking ept. We find that this phenotype is very sensitive to the genetic dose of stat92E, the transcriptional effector of the Jak-Stat signaling pathway, and that this pathway undergoes strong activation in ept mutant cells. Genetic evidence indicates that stat92E contributes to cell cycle deregulation and excess cell size phenotypes that are observed among ept mutant cells. In addition, autonomous Stat92E hyper-activation is associated with altered tissue architecture in ept tumors and an effect on expression of the apical polarity determinant crumbs. Conclusions These findings identify ept as a cell-autonomous inhibitor of the Jak-Stat pathway and suggest that excess Jak-Stat signaling makes a significant contribution to proliferative and tissue architectural phenotypes that occur in ept mutant tissues.
Conservation genetics of Amorpha georgiana (Fabaceae), an endangered legume of the Southeastern United States

Amorpha georgiana (Fabaceae) is an endangered legume species found in longleaf pine savannas in the Southeastern United States. Approximately 900 individuals and 14 populations remain, most of which are concentrated in North Carolina. Eleven microsatellite loci were used to explore genetic diversity, population structure and recent population bottlenecks using genotypic data from 132 individuals collected at ten different localities. Although A. georgiana is quite rare, it exhibited high levels of genetic diversity (17.7 alleles/locus; Ho = 0.65, HE = 0.75). Most of the genetic variation was found within rather than between populations of this species. The single remaining Georgia population was well differentiated from populations of the Carolinas (FST > 0.1), which had weaker structure among them (FST < 0.1). Only a geographically disjunct population showed strong evidence of a recent population bottleneck, perhaps due to a recent founder event. Hybridization with A. herbacea was also detected. For conservation management plans, A. georgiana populations in each geographic region (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) plus a disjunct population in North Carolina (Holly Shelter) should be treated as separate management units for which in situ conservation, including habitat restoration and use of prescribed burns, should ensure persistence of this species and preservation of its evolutionary potential.
Molecular Dynamics of a Thermostable Multicopper Oxidase from Thermus thermophilus HB27: Structural Differences between the Apo and Holo Forms

Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations have been performed on Tth-MCO, a hyperthermophilic multicopper oxidase from thermus thermophilus HB27, in the apo as well as the holo form, with the aim of exploring the structural dynamic properties common to the two conformational states. According to structural comparison between this enzyme and other MCOs, the substrate in process to electron transfer in an outer-sphere event seems to transiently occupy a shallow and overall hydrophobic cavity near the Cu type 1 (T1Cu). The linker connecting the β-strands 21 and 24 of the second domain (loop (β21–β24)D2) has the same conformation in both states, forming a flexible lid at the entrance of the electron-transfer cavity. Loop (β21–β24)D2 has been tentatively assigned a role occluding the access to the electron-transfer site. The dynamic of the loop (β21–β24)D2 has been investigated by MD simulation, and results show that the structures of both species have the same secondary and tertiary structure during almost all the MD simulations. In the simulation, loop (β21–β24)D2 of the holo form undergoes a higher mobility than in the apo form. In fact, loop (β21–β24)D2 of the holo form experiences a conformational change which enables exposure to the electron-transfer site (open conformation), while in the apo form the opposite effect takes place (closed conformation). To confirm the hypothesis that the open conformation might facilitate the transient electron-donor molecule occupation of the site, the simulation was extended another 40 ns with the electron-donor molecule docked into the protein cavity. Upon electron-donor molecule stabilization, loops near the cavity reduce their mobility. These findings show that coordination between the copper and the protein might play an important role in the general mobility of the enzyme, and that the open conformation seems to be required for the electron transfer process to T1Cu.
An adaptation strategy of using LDA classifier for EMG pattern recognition

The time-varying character of myoelectric signal usually causes a low classification accuracy in traditional supervised pattern recognition method. In this work, an unsupervised adaptation strategy of linear discriminant analysis (ALDA) based on probability weighting and cycle substitution was suggested in order to improve the performance of electromyography (EMG)-based motion classification in multifunctional myoelectric prostheses control in changing environment. The adaptation procedure was firstly introduced, and then the proposed ALDA classifier was trained and tested with surface EMG recordings related to multiple motion patterns. The accuracies of the ALDA classifier and traditional LDA classifier were compared when the EMG recordings were added with different degrees of noise. The experimental results showed that compared to the LDA method, the suggested ALDA method had a better performance in improving the classification accuracy of sEMG pattern recognition, in both stable situation and noise added situation.
Modelling the Performance of a Cross-Layer TCP NewReno-HARQ System

This paper presents an analytical model of a cross-layer communication system to enable improvement in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) over mixed wired and wireless Internet. The focus is on the quantitative performance evaluation of the interactions between TCP NewReno and a hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest protocol (HARQ) in the link layer (LL) with a finite buffer size. The significant improvement in TCP NewReno throughput when HARQ adaptively selects its optimal settings according to explicit cross-layer information is shown. Through ns-2 simulations, it is demonstrated that this proposed analytical model accurately predicts the TCP-HARQ system performance.
Corpus Annotation as a Scientific Task

Annotation studies in CL are generally unscientific: they are mostly not reproducible, make use of too few (and often non-independent) annotators and use guidelines that are often something of a moving target. Additionally, the notion of expert annotators' invariably means only that the annotators have linguistic training. While this can be acceptable in some special contexts, it is often far from ideal. This is particularly the case when subtle judgements are required or when, as increasingly, one is making use of corpora originating from technical texts that have been produced by, and intended to be consumed by, an audience of technical experts in the field. We outline a more rigorous approach to collecting human annotations, using as our example a study designed to capture judgements on the meaning of hedge words in medical records.
Tuberculosis in East Sussex: III. Comparison of post-mortem and clinical methods for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in badgers

SUMMARY Following epidemiological and ecological studies of a defined badger population in an area of East Sussex, removal of all badgers by cage trapping was attempted. Trapping was incomplete due to the activities of protesters. Forty-seven badgers were caught from the eight social groups. All badgers were examined clinically and samples of faeces, urine and tracheal aspirate were taken, together with swabs from any bite wounds, for bacteriological examinations. Forty-five animals were skin tested using whole killed cells of Mycobacterium bovis strain AN5, bovine PPD Weybridge and new human tuberculin. Skin test results were recorded after 24 and 72 h. All badgers were killed and subjected to a post-mortem and bacteriological examination. M. bovis was detected in 10 (21·3%) badgers at post-mortem and in 2 badgers from clinical samples. Four social groups were infected. Positive skin test results were recorded at 72 h with bovine PPD (2 μg and 20 μg/ml), strain AN 5 (1 mg/ml) and human tuberculin (2 μg/ml), but not with human tuberculin at 20 μg/ml. Histological sections of the skin test reactions showed the cellular types typical of delayed-type hypersensitivity. The skin test reactions observed were neither sensitive nor specific enough to be of practical value.
Investigating parent delivery of the Lidcombe Program

The Lidcombe Program is an early childhood stuttering treatment delivered by parents in the child's everyday environment, under the guidance of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Given the parents' central role in the treatment delivery, the way it is implemented away from the clinic and away from the SLP's input is very important. And yet, to date there has been very little investigation into this process. This study investigated to what extent parents deliver contingencies for stuttering and stutter-free speech, in structured and unstructured conversations, as directed in the treatment manual. Participants were three mothers and their children who were receiving the Lidcombe Program. They recorded two treatment sessions each week and completed a daily treatment diary. The recordings were analysed for the use of parent verbal contingencies (PVCs). This method detected differences in PVC delivery by the mothers both across and within cases over time. The results show that valuable information can be gained from analysing home treatment sessions in this way and with a few modifications this methodology would be useful in larger scale studies. The strengths and limitations of this methodology are discussed with future larger studies of this type recommended.
Large sized SiC based wear, corrosion and thermal shock resistant ceramics produced by thixotropic casting technology

Manufacturing large sized structural ceramics is quite challenging, especially for wear, corrosion and thermal shock resistance applications, when monolithic complex shapes, such as cyclones, pipes, cones, elbows and other components with sufficient wall thickness (up to 50–75 mm), are required. Shaping from thixotropic slurries containing particles of various sizes allows processing complex large sized (up to 1 m diameter and height) components for structural applications. This versatile technology that does not require expensive and complicated equipment was successfully applied for manufacturing silicon carbide based large size ceramic components. Heterogeneous SiC based ceramics with additives, such as Al2O3, Si3N4, mullite and some others, have been developed and commercially manufactured using thixotropic casting. The developed composition and processing are based on the oxide bonding mechanism. The structure and some physical properties of SiC based ceramics, e.g. wear resistance, are described. The manufactured components are successfully used for the mentioned applications in mineral, mining, oil and gas processes, power generation, metallurgy and some other areas. This paper summarises the principles of formation of oxide bonded SiC based ceramic large size components using thixotropic casting, which is the result of the development and processing of obtained ceramics in industrial conditions conducted during a number of years and their industrial applications.
High-fidelity teleportation of independent qubits

Abstract Quantum teleportation is one of the essential primitives of quantum communication. We suggest that any quantum teleportation scheme can be characterized by its efficiency, i.e. how often it succeeds to teleport, its fidelity, i.e. how well the input state is reproduced at the output, and by its insensitivity to cross talk, i.e. how well it rejects an input state that is not intended to teleport. We discuss these criteria for the two teleportation experiments of independent qubits which have been performed thus far. In the first experiment (1997, Nature, 390, 575) where the qubit states were various different polarization states of photons, the fidelity of teleportation was as high as 0.80 ± 0.05 thus clearly surpassing the limit of 2/3 which can, in principle, be obtained by a direct measurement on the qubit and classical communication. This high fidelity is confirmed in our second experiment (1998, Phys. Rev. Lett., 80, 3891), demonstrating entanglement swapping, that is, realizing the teleportation of a qubit which itself is still entangled to another one. This experiment is the only one to date that demonstrates the teleportation of a genuine unknown quantum state.
Biophysical parameter estimation with adaptive Gaussian Processes

We evaluate Gaussian Processes (GPs) for the estimation of biophysical parameters from acquired multispectral data. The standard GP formulation is used, and all hyperparameters (kernel parameters and noise variance) are optimized by maximizing the marginal likelihood. This gives rise to a fully-adaptive GP to data characteristics, both in terms of signal and noise properties. The good numerical results in the estimation of oceanic chlorophyll concentration and leaf membrane state confirm GPs as adequate, alternative non-parametric methods for biophysical parameter estimation. GPs are also analyzed by scrutinizing the predictive variance, the estimated noise variance, and the relevance of each feature after optimization.