Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ Down-regulates Follistatin in Intestinal Epithelial Cells through SP1*

Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) down-regulates the expression of follistatin mRNA in intestinal epithelial cells in vivo. The mechanism of PPARγ-mediated down-regulation of follistatin was investigated using non-transformed, rat intestinal epithelial cells (RIE-1). RIE cells expressed activin A, the activin receptors ActRI and ActRII, and the follistatin-315 mRNA. RIE-1 cells responded to endogenous activin A, and this response was antagonized by follistatin, as evidenced by changes in cell growth and regulation of an activin-responsive reporter. Using RIE-1 cells, we show that activation of PPARγ by rosiglitazone reduced follistatin mRNA levels in a dose- and concentration-dependent manner. Down-regulation of follistatin by rosiglitazone required the DNA binding domain of PPARγ and was dependent upon dimerization with the retinoid X receptor. Inhibition of follistatin expression by rosiglitazone was not associated with decreased follistatin mRNA stability, suggesting that regulation may be at the promoter level. Analysis of the follistatin promoter revealed consensus binding sites for AP-1, AP-2, and Sp1. Targeting the AP-1 pathway with SP600125, an inhibitor of JNK, and TAM67, a dominant negative c-Jun, had no effect on PPARγ-mediated down-regulation of follistatin. However, the follistatin promoter was dramatically regulated by Sp1, and this regulation was inhibited by PPARγ expression. Knockdown of Sp1 expression relieved repression of follistatin levels by rosiglitazone. Moreover, PPARγ was found to interact with Sp1 and repress its transcriptional activation function. Collectively, our data indicate that repression of Sp1 transcriptional activity by PPARγ is the underlying mechanism responsible for PPARγ-mediated regulation of follistatin expression.
Empowerment and role stress in the human interface between the firm and its markets

Frontline employees constitute one of the key interfaces that service organisations have with their markets. Many strategies to enhance the ability of these employees to satisfy the needs of customers have been proposed. Amongst these, empowering employees has been suggested to enhance the customer orientation of the firm and consequently its effectiveness in serving the market. However, the impact of empowerment in service organisations remains somewhat contentious. This paper examines the role of empowerment as an organisational service strategy and identifies its consequences for role stress, job satisfaction and the willingness of service employees to serve their customers.
Formation of the radio profile components of the Crab pulsar

The induced Compton scattering of radio emission off the particles of the ultrarelativistic electron–positron plasma in the open field line tube of a pulsar is considered. We examine the scattering of a bright narrow radio beam into the background over a wide solid angle and specifically study the scattering in the transverse regime, which holds in a moderately strong magnetic field and gives rise to the scattered component nearly antiparallel to the streaming velocity of the scattering particles. Making use of the angular distribution of the scattered intensity and taking into account the effect of rotational aberration in the scattering region, we simulate the profiles of the backscattered components as applied to the Crab pulsar. It is suggested that the interpulse (IP), the high-frequency interpulse (IP � ) and the pair of socalled high-frequency components (HFC1 and HFC2) result from the backward scattering of the main pulse (MP), precursor (PR) and low-frequency component (LFC), respectively. The
Is mossy fiber sprouting present at the time of the first spontaneous seizures in rat experimental temporal lobe epilepsy?

The contribution of mossy fiber sprouting to the generation of spontaneous seizures in the epileptic brain is under dispute. The present study addressed this question by examining whether sprouting of mossy fibers is present at the time of appearance of the first spontaneous seizures in rats, and whether all animals with increased sprouting have spontaneous seizures. Epileptogenesis was induced in 16 rats by electrically stimulating the lateral nucleus of the amygdala for 20–30 min until the rats developed self‐sustained status epilepticus (SSSE). During and after SSSE, rats were monitored in long‐term by continuous video‐electroencephalography until they developed a second spontaneous seizure (8–54 days). Thereafter, monitoring was continued for 11 days to follow seizure frequency. The density of mossy fiber sprouting was analyzed from Timm‐stained preparations. The density of hilar neurons was assessed from thionin‐stained sections. Of 16 rats, 14 developed epilepsy. In epileptic rats, the density of mossy fiber sprouting did not correlate with the severity or duration (115–620 min) of SSSE, delay from SSSE to occurrence of first (8–51 days) or second (8–54 days) spontaneous seizure, or time from SSSE to perfusion (20–63 days). In the temporal end of the hippocampus, the sprouting correlated with the severity of neuronal damage (ipsilateral: r = −0.852, P < 0.01 contralateral: r = −0.748, P < 0.01). The two animals without spontaneous seizures also had sprouting. Increased density of sprouting in animals without seizures, and its association with the severity of neuronal loss was confirmed in another series of 30 stimulated rats that were followed‐up with video‐EEG monitoring for 60 d. Our data indicate that although mossy fiber sprouting is present in all animals with spontaneous seizures, its presence is not necessarily associated with the occurrence of spontaneous seizures. Hippocampus 2001;11:299–310. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
British HIV Association guidelines for the routine investigation and monitoring of adult HIV‐1‐infected individuals 2011

1. Levels of evidence 1.1 Reference 2. Introduction 3. Auditable targets 4. Table summaries 4.1 Initial diagnosis 4.2 Assessment of ART‐naïve individuals 4.3 ART initiation 4.4 Initial assessment following commencement of ART 4.5 Routine monitoring on ART 4.6 References 5. Newly diagnosed and transferring HIV‐positive individuals 5.1 Initial HIV‐1 diagnosis 5.2 Tests to determine whether acquisition of HIV infection is recent 5.3 Individuals transferring care from a different HIV healthcare setting 5.4 Communication with general practitioners and shared care 5.5 Recommendations 5.6 References 6. Patient history 6.1 Initial HIV‐1 diagnosis 6.2 Monitoring of ART‐naïve patients 6.3 Pre‐ART initiation assessment 6.4 Monitoring individuals established on ART 6.5 Assessment of adherence 6.6 Recommendations 6.7 References 7. Examination 7.1 Recommendations 8. Identifying the need for psychological support 8.1 References 9. Assessment of immune status 9.1 CD4 T cell counts 9.2 CD4 T cell percentage 9.3 References 10. HIV viral load 10.1 Initial diagnosis/ART naïve 10.2 Post ART initiation 10.3 Individuals established on ART 10.4 Recommendations 10.5 References 11. Technical aspects of viral load testing 11.1 References 12. Viral load kinetics during ART and viral load ‘blips’ 12.1 References 13. Proviral DNA load 13.1 References 14. Resistance testing 14.1 Initial HIV‐1 diagnosis 14.2 ART‐naïve 14.3 Post treatment initiation 14.4 ART‐experienced 14.5 References 15. Subtype determination 15.1 Disease progression 15.2 Transmission 15.3 Performance of molecular diagnostic assays 15.4 Response to therapy 15.5 Development of drug resistance 15.6 References 16. Other tests to guide use of specific antiretroviral agents 16.1 Tropism testing 16.2 HLA B*5701 testing 16.3 References 17. Therapeutic drug monitoring 17.1 Recommendations 17.2 References 18. Biochemistry testing 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Liver function 18.3 Renal function 18.4 Dyslipidaemia in HIV‐infected individuals 18.5 Other biomarkers 18.6 Bone disease in HIV‐infected patients 18.7 References 19. Haematology 19.1 Haematological assessment and monitoring 19.2 Recommendations 19.3 References 20. Serology 20.1 Overview 20.2 Hepatitis viruses 20.3 Herpes viruses 20.4 Measles and rubella 20.5 Cytomegalovirus (CMV) 20.6 References 21. Other microbiological screening 21.1 Tuberculosis screening 21.2 Toxoplasma serology 21.3 Tropical screening 21.4 References 22. Sexual health screening including anal and cervical cytology 22.1 Sexual history taking, counselling and sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening 22.2 Cervical and anal cytology 22.3 Recommendations 22.4 References 23. Routine monitoring recommended for specific patient groups 23.1 Women 23.2 Older age 23.3 Injecting drug users 23.4 Individuals coinfected with HBV and HCV 23.5 Late presenters 23.6 References Appendix
Linear prediction approach for efficient frequency estimation of multiple real sinusoids: algorithms and analyses

Based on the linear prediction property of sinusoidal signals, two constrained weighted least squares frequency estimators for multiple real sinusoids embedded in white noise are proposed. In order to achieve accurate frequency estimation, the first algorithm uses a generalized unit-norm constraint, while the second method employs a monic constraint. The weighting matrices in both methods are a function of the frequency parameters and are obtained in an iterative manner. For the case of a single real tone with sufficiently large data samples, both estimators provide nearly identical frequency estimates and their performance approaches Crame/spl acute/r-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for white Gaussian noise before the threshold effect occurs. Algorithms for closed-form single-tone frequency estimation are also devised. Computer simulations are included to corroborate the theoretical development and to contrast the estimator performance with the CRLB for different frequencies, observation lengths and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions.
Spirometric function in children of Mexico City compared to Mexican‐American children

We set out to describe the pattern of lung function growth in Mexican students from 8–20 years of age, using internationally accepted equipment and methodology, and to compare it to values reported for Mexican‐American children. Out of a total of 6,803 students from primary school to high school studied cross‐sectionally in the Mexico City metropolitan area, we selected 4,009 asymptomatic, nonobese, nonsmoker subjects to generate spirometric prediction equations. We describe regression equations for the main spirometric variables (log transformed) based on age, height, and weight, and separated for males and females. Spirometric function in the population studied was above that predicted for European (Quanjer et al. [1987] Pediatr Pulmonol 19:135–142) or Mexican‐American children, for the same age, height, and gender. On average, forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) in Mexican children was 9.5% above that of Europeans (Quanjer et al. [1987] Pediatr Pulmonol 19:135–142), 14% and 5% above Hispanics reported by (Coultas et al. [1988] Am Rev Respir Dis 138:1386–1392) and (Hsu et al. [1979] J Pediatr 95:14–23), respectively, and 5% above Mexican‐Americans from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey study. Similarly, FVC was 8%, 14%, 8%, and 5.6% above the figures predicted by the same authors. The largest errors of prediction of foreign equations occurred in extremely tall or short subjects, and therefore a single proportional adjustment is unfeasible. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003; 35:177–183. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Siamese Networks for Chromosome Classification

Karyotying is the process of pairing and ordering 23 pairs of human chromosomes from cell images on the basis of size, centromere position, and banding pattern. Karyotyping during metaphase is often used by clinical cytogeneticists to analyze human chromosomes for diagnostic purposes. It requires experience, domain expertise and considerable manual effort to efficiently perform karyotyping and diagnosis of various disorders. Therefore, automation or even partial automation is highly desirable to assist technicians and reduce the cognitive load necessary for karyotyping. With these motivations, in this paper, we attempt to develop methods for chromosome classification by borrowing the latest ideas from deep learning. More specifically, we perform straightening on chromosomes and feed them into Siamese Networks to push the embeddings of samples coming from similar labels closer. Further, we propose to perform balanced sampling from the pairwise dataset while selecting dissimilar training pairs for Siamese Networks, and an MLP based prediction on top of the embeddings obtained from the trained Siamese Networks. We perform our experiments on a real world dataset of healthy patients collected from a hospital and exhaustively compare the effect of different straightening techniques, by applying them to chromosome images prior to classification. Results demonstrate that the proposed methods speed up both training and prediction by 83 and 3 folds, respectively; while surpassing the performance of a very competitive baseline created utilizing deep convolutional neural networks.
The Proteins Elafin, Filaggrin, Keratin Intermediate Filaments, Loricrin, and Small Proline-rich Proteins 1 and 2 Are Isodipeptide Cross-linked Components of the Human Epidermal Cornified Cell Envelope (*)

The cornified cell envelope (CE) is a 15-nm thick layer of insoluble protein deposited on the intracellular side of the cell membrane of terminally differentiated stratified squamous epithelia. The CE is thought to consist of a complex amalgam of proteins cross-linked by isodipeptide bonds formed by the action of transglutaminases, but little is known about how or in which order the several putative proteins are cross-linked together. In this paper, CEs purified from human foreskin epidermis were digested in two steps by proteinase K, which released as soluble peptides about 30% and then another 35% of CE protein mass, corresponding to approximately the outer third (cytoplasmic surface) and middle third, respectively. Following fractionation, 145 unique peptides containing two or more sequences cross-linked by isodipeptide bond(s) were sequenced. Based on these data, most (94% molar mass) of the outer third of CE structure consists of intra- and interchain cross-linked loricrin, admixed with SPR1 and SPR2 proteins as bridging cross-links between loricrin. Likewise, the middle third of CE structure consists largely of cross-linked loricrin and SPR proteins, but is mixed with the novel protein elafin which also forms cross-bridges between loricrin. In addition, cross-links involving loricrin and keratins 1, 2e, and 10 or filaggrin were recovered in both levels. The data establish for the first time that these several proteins are indeed cross-linked protein components of the CE structure. In addition, the data support a model for the intermediate to final stages of CE assembly: the proteins elafin, SPR1 and SPR2, and loricrin begin to be deposited on a preformed scaffold; later, elafin deposition decreases as loricrin and SPR accumulation continues to effect final assembly. The recovery of cross-links involving keratins further suggests that the subjacent cytoplasmic keratin intermediate filament-filaggrin network is anchored to the developing CE during these events.
Selection and Monitoring of Actions and their Consequences

Even the simplest human behavior is likely governed by the complex integration of cognitive, sensory, affective and motor factors. Yet, researchers have typically studied these factors in isolation with limited attention to the link between them. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate this link through a mixture of behavioral and neural measures. The focus was on the selection and planning of actions, as well as the subsequent monitoring and evaluation of the outcome and the consequences of the actions. These planning and evaluation processes are perhaps where the link between cognitive, sensory, affective and motor systems is most evident. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the topic. Chapter 2 reviews studies that emphasize multiple levels of constraints in motor control, specifically in bimanual coordination, suggesting a link between two systems (i.e., motor and cognitive) that have been generally studied separately by researchers. Chapter 3 describes two experiments on action selection showing that decision-making, which has traditionally been seen as a purely cognitive task, is directly influenced by, and in fact emerges from, the activation of the motor system. Chapter 4 provides experimental evidence that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) acts to signal the need of increased resources to other brain centers and establish action-outcome contingencies that can be used to regulate future behavior. This finding, along with the anatomical connections of the MPFC, suggests that the MPFC is in a unique position to interface cognition and action and to translate intentions into behavior by modulating effort and arousal levels. Chapter 5 focuses on action observation and the role of empathy in the function of the mirror neuron system and the MPFC performance monitoring system during the observation of actions. The findings of Chapter 5 suggest that empathy plays a role in the function of the MPFC performance monitoring system but not in the activation of the mirror neuron system during action observation. These findings provide insight into how cognitive, sensory, motor and affective systems might interact to regulate behavior. Taken together the chapters of this dissertation highlight the strong link between cognitive, affective and motor systems in producing behavior. Through this work, we provide new insight into how humans plan and regulate movements and suggest that the study of the integration between cognitive, sensory, affective and motor systems is critical for our understanding of human cognition and behavior.
HIV Incidence and Risk Factors in Chinese Young Men Who Have Sex with Men—A Prospective Cohort Study

Objectives To assess HIV incidence and its associated risk factors among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in urban areas, China. Design The study used a prospective cohort study design and standard diagnostic tests. Methods A twelve-month prospective cohort study was conducted among YMSM (18–25 years old) in 8 large cities in China. The participants were recruited via snowball sampling. A total of 1102 HIV-negative YMSM completed baseline assessment, 878 YMSM participants completed 6-month follow-up, and 902 completed 12-month follow-up. HIV was screened by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and confirmed with Western Blot. Syphilis was screened via rapid plasma reagent and confirmed by treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay. Results 78 HIV seroconversions were identified within 1168.4 person-year observations yielding an incidence rate of 6.7 per 100 person-years. HIV seroconversion was associated with non-student status (RR = 2.61, 90% CI = 1.3–5.26), low HIV transmission knowledge (RR = 8.87, 90% CI = 2.16–36.43), and syphilis infection (RR = 5.04, 90% CI = 2.57–9.90). Conclusions Incidence of HIV among YMSM is high in urban areas of China. Interventions measures are required to contain the HIV epidemic within this population.
The use of capecitabine in daily practice: a study on adherence and patients’ experiences

Background Adherence to pharmacological therapy is a complex and multifactorial issue that can substantially alter the outcome of treatment. Especially when using long-term medication, cancer patients have adherence rates similar to those of patients with other diseases. The consequences of poor adherence are poor health outcomes and increased health care costs. Only few studies have focused on the use of oral anticancer agents in daily practice. Information about the reasons for nonadherence is essential for the development of interventions that may improve adherence. This report presents the CAPER-capecitabine protocol, which is designed to study the adherence to capecitabine and the influence of patient attitudes towards medication and self-reported side effects. Furthermore, the relationships between patient characteristics, disease characteristics, side effects, quality of life, patient beliefs and attitudes towards disease and medication, dose adjustments, reasons for discontinuation, and plasma concentration of three of the main metabolites, including the active compound 5-fluorouracil, will be explored. Methods In this multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study, 90 patients aged 18 years or older starting treatment with capecitabine will be included and followed for a period up to five cycles. The main study parameters are adherence, patient attitudes towards medication, and the number and grade of patient-reported side effects. At baseline and during week 2 of cycles 1, 3 and 5, patients will be asked to donate blood and fill out a questionnaire. Blood samples will be analyzed for plasma concentration of the metabolites, 5′-deoxy-5-fluorouridine, 5-fluorouracil, and α-fluoro-β-alanine. The CAPER-capecitabine trial is closely related to the CAPER-erlotinib trial. Discussion The aim of the present study is to get more insight into patient experiences with the use of capecitabine in daily practice and the various aspects that govern adherence. We hypothesize that patient attitudes towards medication and the side effects experienced play an important role in the way patients use capecitabine. We expect that our findings will be useful for health care professionals in developing interventions to support patients in improving adherence and persistence with the use of capecitabine.
Layered Point Clouds

We recently introduced an efficient multiresolution structure for distributing and rendering very large point sampled models on consumer graphics platforms [1]. The structure is based on a hierarchy of precomputed object-space point clouds, that are combined coarse-to-fine at rendering time to locally adapt sample densities according to the projected size in the image. The progressive block based refinement nature of the rendering traversal exploits on-board caching and object based rendering APIs, hides out-of-core data access latency through speculative prefetching, and lends itself well to incorporate backface, view frustum, and occlusion culling, as well as compression and view-dependent progressive transmission. The resulting system allows rendering of complex out-of-core models at high frame rates (over 60M rendered points/second), supports network streaming, and is fundamentally simple to implement. We demonstrate the efficiency of the approach on a number of very large models, stored on local disks or accessed through a consumer level broadband network, including a massive 234M samples isosurface generated by a compressible turbulence simulation and a 167M samples model of Michelangelo's St. Matthew. Many of the details of our framework were presented in a previous study. We here provide a more thorough exposition, but also significant new material, including the presentation of a higher quality bottom-up construction method and additional qualitative and quantitative results.
A Computational Study on the Kinetic Stability of Cyclic Boryl Anions~!2007-12-13~!2008-05-13~!2008-06-11~!

In this study, we perform an MPW1K investigation on the kinetic stability of a cyclic boryl anion. According to our calculation, the bulkier the R and R' groups are, the more kinetically stable a five-membered boryl anion may be. Ni- trogen should be a more efficientdonor to increase the kinetic stability of a cyclic boryl anion than P, As, O, S and Se. Although, one nitrogen atom is enough to stabilize a cyclic boryl anion from the kinetic aspect, the stability of a cyclic boryl anion increases as the number of nitrogen in the ring increases. The six-membered boryl anion is calculated to be more stable kinetically than the five-membered one that has been synthesized successfully.