Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Connexin43 Associated with an N-cadherin-containing Multiprotein Complex Is Required for Gap Junction Formation in NIH3T3 Cells*

Previous studies have indicated an intimate linkage between gap junction and adherens junction formation. It was suggested this could reflect the close membrane-membrane apposition required for junction formation. In NIH3T3 cells, we observed the colocalization of connexin43 (Cx43α1) gap junction protein with N-cadherin, p120, and other N-cadherin-associated proteins at regions of cell-cell contact. We also found that Cx43α1, N-cadherin, and N-cadherin-associated proteins were coimmunoprecipitated by antibodies to either Cx43α1, N-cadherin, or various N-cadherin-associated proteins. These findings suggest that Cx43α1 and N-cadherin are coassembled in a multiprotein complex containing various N-cadherin-associated proteins. Studies using siRNA knockdown indicated that cell surface expression of Cx43α1 required N-cadherin, and conversely, N-cadherin cell surface expression required Cx43α1. Pulse-chase labeling and cell surface biotinylation experiments indicated that in the absence of N-cadherin, Cx43α1 cell surface trafficking is blocked. Surprisingly, siRNA knockdown of p120, an N-cadherin-associated protein known to modulate cell surface turnover of N-cadherin, reduced N-cadherin cell surface expression without altering Cx43α1 expression. These observations suggest that in contrast to the coregulated cell surface trafficking of Cx43α1 and N-cadherin, N-cadherin turnover at the cell surface may be regulated independently of Cx43α1. Functional studies showed gap junctional communication is reduced and cell motility inhibited with N-cadherin or Cx43α1 knockdown, consistent with the observed loss of both gap junction and cadherin contacts with either knockdown. Overall, these studies indicate that the intracellular coassembly of connexin and cadherin is required for gap junction and adherens junction formation, a process that likely underlies the intimate association between gap junction and adherens junction formation.
A transition‐based joint model for disease named entity recognition and normalization

Motivation: Disease named entities play a central role in many areas of biomedical research, and automatic recognition and normalization of such entities have received increasing attention in biomedical research communities. Existing methods typically used pipeline models with two independent phases: (i) a disease named entity recognition (DER) system is used to find the boundaries of mentions in text and (ii) a disease named entity normalization (DEN) system is used to connect the mentions recognized to concepts in a controlled vocabulary. The main problems of such models are: (i) there is error propagation from DER to DEN and (ii) DEN is useful for DER, but pipeline models cannot utilize this. Methods: We propose a transition‐based model to jointly perform disease named entity recognition and normalization, casting the output construction process into an incremental state transition process, learning sequences of transition actions globally, which correspond to joint structural outputs. Beam search and online structured learning are used, with learning being designed to guide search. Compared with the only existing method for joint DEN and DER, our method allows non‐local features to be used, which significantly improves the accuracies. Results: We evaluate our model on two corpora: the BioCreative V Chemical Disease Relation (CDR) corpus and the NCBI disease corpus. Experiments show that our joint framework achieves significantly higher performances compared to competitive pipeline baselines. Our method compares favourably to other state‐of‐the‐art approaches. Availability and Implementation: Data and code are available at https://github.com/louyinxia/jointRN Contact: dhji@whu.edu. cn
The Generation and Maintenance of Genetic Variation by Frequency-Dependent Selection: Constructing Polymorphisms Under the Pairwise Interaction Model

Frequency-dependent selection remains the most commonly invoked heuristic explanation for the maintenance of genetic variation. For polymorphism to exist, new alleles must be both generated and maintained in the population. Here we use a construction approach to model frequency-dependent selection with mutation under the pairwise interaction model. The pairwise interaction model is a general model of frequency-dependent selection at the genotypic level. We find that frequency-dependent selection is able to generate a large number of alleles at a single locus. The construction process generates multiallelic polymorphisms with a wide range of allele-frequency distributions and genotypic fitness relationships. Levels of polymorphism and mean fitness are uncoupled, so constructed polymorphisms remain permanently invasible to new mutants; thus the model never settles down to an equilibrium state. Analysis of constructed fitness sets reveals signatures of heterozygote advantage and positive frequency dependence.
Fracture detection and fluid identification based on anisotropic Gassmann equation and linear-slip model

Detection of fracture and fluid properties from subsurface azimuthal seismic data improves our abilities to characterize the saturated porous reservoirs with aligned fractures. Motivated by the fracture detection and fluid identification in a fractured porous medium, we have developed a feasible approach to perform a rock physics model-based amplitude variation with offset and azimuth (AVOAz) inversion for the fracture and fluid parameters in a horizontal transversely isotropic (HTI) medium using the PP-wave angle gathers along different azimuths. Based on the linear-slip model, we first use anisotropic Gassmann’s equation to derive the expressions of saturated stiffness components and their perturbations of first-order approximation in terms of elastic properties of an isotropic porous background and fracture compliances induced by a single set of rotationally invariant fractures. We then derive a linearized PP-wave reflection coefficient in terms of fluid modulus, dry-rock matrix term, porosity, density, and fracture compliances or quasi-compliances for an interface separating two weakly HTI media based on the Born scattering theory. Finally, we solve the AVOAz inverse problems iteratively constrained by the Cauchy-sparse regularization and the low-frequency regularization in a Bayesian framework. The results demonstrate that the fluid modulus and fracture quasi-compliances are reasonably estimated in the case of synthetic and real seismic data containing moderate noise in a gas-filled fractured porous reservoir.
Please Scroll down for Article International Journal of Control Distributed Linear Estimation over Sensor Networks Distributed Linear Estimation over Sensor Networks

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. We consider a network of sensors in which each node may collect noisy linear measurements of some unknown parameter. In this context, we study a distributed consensus diffusion scheme that relies only on bidirectional communication among neighbour nodes (nodes that can communicate and exchange data), and allows every node to compute an estimate of the unknown parameter that asymptotically converges to the true parameter. At each time iteration, a measurement update and a spatial diffusion phase are performed across the network, and a local least-squares estimate is computed at each node. The proposed scheme allows one to consider networks with dynamically changing communication topology, and it is robust to unreliable communication links and failures in measuring nodes. We show that under suitable hypotheses all the local estimates converge to the true parameter value. 1. Introduction Recent technological improvements have allowed the deployment of small, inexpensive and low-power devices that can perform local data processing and communicate with other sensors being part of a network. Although each individual sensor node has limited storage capacity and processing power, the network as a whole has the ability to perform complex tasks. These technological achievements have allowed the growth of various applications of sensor networks, mainly in commercial and industrial endeavours, to manage data that would be difficult or expensive to deal with using wired sensors. Typical applications include environmental monitoring, surveillance, object tracking collaborative information processing, traffic monitoring and mobile agents control; see, for instance In each of these application fields, estimation and fusion of data coming from sensors is one of the most challenging tasks. Various schemes for sensor data fusion exist, both centralised or distributed. In a centralised scheme, each sensor has to send data (directly …
A quantitative assessment of torque-transducer models for magnetoreception

Although ferrimagnetic material appears suitable as a basis of magnetic field perception in animals, it is not known by which mechanism magnetic particles may transduce the magnetic field into a nerve signal. Provided that magnetic particles have remanence or anisotropic magnetic susceptibility, an external magnetic field will exert a torque and may physically twist them. Several models of such biological magnetic-torque transducers on the basis of magnetite have been proposed in the literature. We analyse from first principles the conditions under which they are viable. Models based on biogenic single-domain magnetite prove both effective and efficient, irrespective of whether the magnetic structure is coupled to mechanosensitive ion channels or to an indirect transduction pathway that exploits the strayfield produced by the magnetic structure at different field orientations. On the other hand, torque-detector models that are based on magnetic multi-domain particles in the vestibular organs turn out to be ineffective. Also, we provide a generic classification scheme of torque transducers in terms of axial or polar output, within which we discuss the results from behavioural experiments conducted under altered field conditions or with pulsed fields. We find that the common assertion that a magnetoreceptor based on single-domain magnetite could not form the basis for an inclination compass does not always hold.
A model-driven graph-matching approach for design pattern detection

In this paper an approach to automatically detect Design Patterns (DPs) in Object Oriented systems is presented. It allows to link system's source code components to the roles they play in each pattern. DPs are modelled by high level structural properties (e.g. inheritance, dependency, invocation, delegation, type nesting and membership relationships) that are checked against the system structure and components. The proposed metamodel also allows to define DP variants, overriding the structural properties of existing DP models, to improve detection quality. The approach was validated on an open benchmark containing several open-source systems of increasing sizes. Moreover, for other two systems, the results have been compared with the ones from a similar approach existing in literature. The results obtained on the analyzed systems, the identified variants and the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach are thoroughly presented and discussed.
Silica Coating of Nonsilicate Nanoparticles for Resin-Based Composite Materials

This study was designed to develop and characterize a silica-coating method for crystalline nonsilicate ceramic nanoparticles (Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2). The hypothesis was that the coated nonsilicate nanoparticles would stably reinforce a polymeric matrix due to effective silanation. Silica coating was applied via a sol-gel method, with tetraethyl orthosilicate as a silica precursor, followed by heat treatment. The chemical and microstructural characteristics of the nanopowders were evaluated before and after silica coating through x-ray diffraction, BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy analyses. Coated and noncoated nanoparticles were silanated before preparation of hybrid composites, which contained glass microparticles in addition to the nanoparticles. The composites were mechanically tested in 4-point bending mode after aging (10,000 thermal cycles). Results of all chemical and microstructural analyses confirmed the successful obtaining of silica-coated nanoparticles. Two distinct aspects were observed depending on the type of nanoparticle tested: 1) formation of a silica shell on the surface of the particles and 2) nanoparticle clusters embedded into a silica matrix. The aged hybrid composites formulated with the coated nanoparticles showed improved flexural strength (10% to 30% higher) and work of fracture (35% to 40% higher) as compared with composites formulated with noncoated nanoparticles. The tested hypothesis was confirmed: silanated silica-coated nonsilicate nanoparticles yielded stable reinforcement of dimethacrylate polymeric matrix due to effective silanation. The silica-coating method presented here is a versatile and promising novel strategy for the use of crystalline nonsilicate ceramics as a reinforcing phase of polymeric composite biomaterials.
Left Ventricular Wall Stress–Mass–Heart Rate Product and Cardiovascular Events in Treated Hypertensive Patients: LIFE Study

In the Losartan Intervention for End Point Reduction in Hypertension (LIFE) study, 4.8 years’ losartan- versus atenolol-based antihypertensive treatment reduced left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiovascular end points, including cardiovascular death and stroke. However, there was no difference in myocardial infarction (MI), possibly related to greater reduction in myocardial oxygen demand by atenolol-based treatment. Myocardial oxygen demand was assessed indirectly by the left ventricular mass×wall stress×heart rate (triple product) in 905 LIFE participants. The triple product was included as time-varying covariate in Cox models assessing predictors of the LIFE primary composite end point (cardiovascular death, MI, or stroke), its individual components, and all-cause mortality. At baseline, the triple product in both treatment groups was, compared with normal adults, elevated in 70% of patients. During randomized treatment, the triple product was reduced more by atenolol, with prevalences of elevated triple product of 39% versus 51% on losartan (both P⩽0.001). In Cox regression analyses adjusting for age, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and prior stroke, MI, and heart failure, 1 SD lower triple product was associated with 23% (95% confidence interval 13%–32%) fewer composite end points, 31% (18%–41%) less cardiovascular mortality, 30% (15%–41%) lower MI, and 22% (11%–33%) lower all-cause mortality (all P⩽0.001), without association with stroke (P=0.34). Although losartan-based therapy reduced ventricular mass more, greater heart rate reduction with atenolol resulted in larger reduction of the triple product. Lower triple product during antihypertensive treatment was strongly, independently associated with lower rates of the LIFE primary composite end point, cardiovascular death, and MI, but not stroke.
Colocalization of the (Pro)renin Receptor/Atp6ap2 with H+-ATPases in Mouse Kidney but Prorenin Does Not Acutely Regulate Intercalated Cell H+-ATPase Activity

The (Pro)renin receptor (P)RR/Atp6ap2 is a cell surface protein capable of binding and non-proteolytically activate prorenin. Additionally, (P)RR is associated with H+-ATPases and alternative functions in H+-ATPase regulation as well as in Wnt signalling have been reported. Kidneys express very high levels of H+-ATPases which are involved in multiple functions such as endocytosis, membrane protein recycling as well as urinary acidification, bicarbonate reabsorption, and salt absorption. Here, we wanted to localize the (P)RR/Atp6ap2 along the murine nephron, exmaine whether the (P)RR/Atp6ap2 is coregulated with other H+-ATPase subunits, and whether acute stimulation of the (P)RR/Atp6ap2 with prorenin regulates H+-ATPase activity in intercalated cells in freshly isolated collecting ducts. We localized (P)PR/Atp6ap2 along the murine nephron by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. (P)RR/Atp6ap2 mRNA was detected in all nephron segments with highest levels in the collecting system coinciding with H+-ATPases. Further experiments demonstrated expression at the brush border membrane of proximal tubules and in all types of intercalated cells colocalizing with H+-ATPases. In mice treated with NH4Cl, NaHCO3, KHCO3, NaCl, or the mineralocorticoid DOCA for 7 days, (P)RR/Atp6ap2 and H+-ATPase subunits were regulated but not co-regulated at protein and mRNA levels. Immunolocalization in kidneys from control, NH4Cl or NaHCO3 treated mice demonstrated always colocalization of PRR/Atp6ap2 with H+-ATPase subunits at the brush border membrane of proximal tubules, the apical pole of type A intercalated cells, and at basolateral and/or apical membranes of non-type A intercalated cells. Microperfusion of isolated cortical collecting ducts and luminal application of prorenin did not acutely stimulate H+-ATPase activity. However, incubation of isolated collecting ducts with prorenin non-significantly increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Our results suggest that the PRR/Atp6ap2 may form a complex with H+-ATPases in proximal tubule and intercalated cells but that prorenin has no acute effect on H+-ATPase activity in intercalated cells.
Comparison of Light and Electron Microscopic Determinations of the Number of Bacteria and Algae in Lake Water

Determinations of the number of microorganisms in lake water samples with the bright-field light microscope were performed using conventional counting chambers. Determinations with the fluorescence microscope were carried out after staining the organisms with acridine orange and filtering them onto Nuclepore filters. For transmission electron microscopy, a water sample was concentrated by centrifugation. The pellet was solidifed in agar, fixed, dehydrated, embedded in Epon, and cut into thin sections. The number and area of organism profiles per unit area of the sections were determined. The number of organisms per unit volume of the pellet was then calculated using stereological formulae. The corresponding number in the lake water was obtained from the ratio of volume of solidified pellet/volume of water sample. Control experiments with pure cultures of bacteria and algae showed good agreement between light and electron microscopic counts. This was also true for most lake water samples, but the electron microscopic preparations from some samples contained small vibrio-like bodies and ill-defined structures that made a precise comparison more difficult. Bacteria and small blue-green and green algae could not always be differentiated with the light microscope, but this was easily done by electron microscopy. Our results show that transmission electron microscopy can be used for checking light microscopic counts of microorganisms in lake water.
Implementation of Competency-Based Pharmacy Education (CBPE)

Implementation of competency-based pharmacy education (CBPE) is a time-consuming, complicated process, which requires agreement on the tasks of a pharmacist, commitment, institutional stability, and a goal-directed developmental perspective of all stakeholders involved. In this article the main steps in the development of a fully-developed competency-based pharmacy curriculum (bachelor, master) are described and tips are given for a successful implementation. After the choice for entering into CBPE is made and a competency framework is adopted (step 1), intended learning outcomes are defined (step 2), followed by analyzing the required developmental trajectory (step 3) and the selection of appropriate assessment methods (step 4). Designing the teaching-learning environment involves the selection of learning activities, student experiences, and instructional methods (step 5). Finally, an iterative process of evaluation and adjustment of individual courses, and the curriculum as a whole, is entered (step 6). Successful implementation of CBPE requires a system of effective quality management and continuous professional development as a teacher. In this article suggestions for the organization of CBPE and references to more detailed literature are given, hoping to facilitate the implementation of CBPE.
Effect of Helicobacter pylori Eradication According to the IL-8-251 Polymorphism in Koreans

Previous studies suggested that polymorphisms of proinflammatory cytokine genes are important host genetic factors in Helicobacter pylori infection. The present study evaluated whether IL-8-251 polymorphism affected H. pylori eradication rate and to investigate the effect of H. pylori eradication on angiogenesis and the inflammatory process according to the IL-8-251 polymorphism. A total of 250 H. pylori-positive patients treated by endoscopic resection of the gastric neoplasm were classified into 3 groups (134 H. pylori-eradicated group, 19 H. pylori-eradication failure group, and 97 H. pylori-infected group). H. pylori status, histology, and angiogenic factor levels were evaluated at baseline, 6 months, and 18 months. H. pylori eradication rate was 92.9% in AA genotype, 85.7% in AT genotype and 88.4% in TT genotype (P value = 0.731). Elevated IL-8 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 concentrations in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa were reversible by successful eradication of H. pylori, independent of the IL-8-251 polymorphism. It is suggested that elevated IL-8 and MMP-9 concentrations in H. pylori-infected gastric mucosa are altered significantly after successful eradication and these conditions continue for 18 months. However, IL-8-251 polymorphism does not affect H. pylori eradication rate and the sequential changes of related angiogenic factors after H. pylori eradication in Koreans.
Prick testing for allergens standardized by using a precision needle

A new standardized precision needle which virtually removes operator variation from skin prick testing with allegens is described. The instrument is simple and robust, and the results of its use are demonstrated. The most important finding was that the use of strong pollen extracts produced very inconsistent and irregular weals, but when suitably diluted, or used on mildly sensitive skins, reproducibility of the response was excellent and it is therefore ideal for titration of skin sensitivity and biological assessment of the potency of allergens. The standard needle was also compared with two other methods of skin prick testing. Results were similar but the standard needle showed the least variation.
"Any Girls Want to Chat Press 911": Partner Selection in Monitored and Unmonitored Teen Chat Rooms

We examined the search for partners by participants in two teen chat services having different ecologies. Over 12,000 utterances from monitored and unmonitored chat rooms were analyzed to assess online partner selection attempts and to see how such attempts may be influenced by the presence of an adult monitor. We found that the search for partners is ubiquitous in adolescents' online haunts, just as it is in their offline lives, and approximately two requests for a partner occur each minute. Although partner selection appears to be an important activity in online teen chat rooms, there are differences in frequency and format (e.g., the use of numerals, sexualized requests) as a function of participants' age and gender, and chat room ecology (monitored vs. unmonitored).