Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of TRAP-1-Like Protein (TLP) Gene on Collagen Synthesis Induced by TGF-β/Smad Signaling in Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Background Hypertrophic scars are pathologic proliferations of the dermal skin layer resulting from excessive collagen deposition during the healing process of cutaneous wounds. Current research suggests that the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway is closely associated with normal scar and hypertrophic scar formation. TRAP-1-like protein (TLP), a cytoplasmic protein, has been reported to efficiently regulate Smad2- and Smad3-dependent signal expression in the TGF-β pathway. The relationship between TLP and Type I/III collagen (Col I/III) synthesis explored in the present study provides an effective target for wound healing and gene therapy of hypertrophic scarring. Objective To investigate the effects of TLP on collagen synthesis in human dermal fibroblasts. Methods Lentiviral vectors encoding TLP was constructed to transfect fibroblasts derived from normal human skin. The expression of Col I/III and phosphorylation of Smad2 and Smad3 in fibroblasts were examined after TLP treatment. In addition, the comparison of TLP expression in normal skin tissues and in hypertrophic scar tissues was performed, and the effect of TLP on cell viability was analyzed by MTT assay. Results TLP expression in hypertrophic scar tissue was markedly higher than in normal skin tissue. The Real Time PCR and Western blot test results both revealed that the synthesis of Col I/III was positively correlated with the expression of TLP. TLP also facilitate Smad2 phosphorylation while, conversely, inhibiting Smad3 phosphorylation. TLP may play a cooperative role, along with the cytokine TGF-β1, in improving the overall cell viability of skin fibroblasts. Conclusions TLP likely acts as a molecular modulator capable of altering the balance of Smad3- and Smad2-dependent signaling through regulation of phosphorylation, thus facilitating collagen synthesis in fibroblasts. Based on genetic variation in TLP levels in different tissues, these results suggest that TLP plays a key role in the process of TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling that contributes to wound healing and genesis of pathologic scars.
Decoding of Individuated Finger Movements Using Surface Electromyography

Upper limb prostheses are increasingly resembling the limbs they seek to replace in both form and functionality, including the design and development of multifingered hands and wrists. Hence, it becomes necessary to control large numbers of degrees of freedom (DOFs), required for individuated finger movements, preferably using noninvasive signals. While existing control paradigms are typically used to drive a single-DOF hook-based configurations, dexterous tasks such as individual finger movements would require more elaborate control schemes. We show that it is possible to decode individual flexion and extension movements of each finger (ten movements) with greater than 90% accuracy in a transradial amputee using only noninvasive surface myoelectric signals. Further, comparison of decoding accuracy from a transradial amputee and able-bodied subjects shows no statistically significant difference ( p < 0.05) between these subjects. These results are encouraging for the development of real-time control strategies based on the surface myoelectric signal to control dexterous prosthetic hands.
EFFECTS OF AUDITORY ICONS AND EARCONS ON VISUAL CATEGORIZATION: THE BIGGER PICTURE

This paper presents an overview of work on the effects of earcons and auditory icons on picture categorization and the results of 2 new experiments. The general finding of the experiments is that earcons have an inhibitory effect on picture categorization whereas auditory icons, in general, have a facilitating effect. These findings will be discussed and related to the theoretical framework of perceptual versus conceptual categorization.
A Review of Comparison of Complications of Vaginal Hysterectomy with and without Concomitant Surgery for SUI: A 5 Years' Experience at a Tertiary Care Hospital of Pakistan

Objective. The study was performed to review the complications of surgery for POP with or without surgery for SUI. This included the need for second procedure two years after the primary surgery. Study Design. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional comparative study at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) was used to identify women who underwent vaginal hysterectomy with anterior/posterior repair alone and those with concomitant tension-free vaginal tape surgery for urodynamic stress incontinence. Results. The 28 cases of VH/repair combined with TVT were compared for complications with 430 cases of VH with repair alone. The basic characteristics like age, BMI, and degree of prolapse showed no statistical difference among two groups. The main comorbidities in both groups were hypertension, diabetes, and bronchial asthma. We observed no significant differences in intraoperative and postoperative complications except for cuff abscess, need for medical intervention, and readmission following discharge from hospital, which were higher in cases with vaginal hysterectomy with concomitant TVT. Conclusions. Vaginal hysterectomy is an efficient treatment for uterovaginal prolapse with a swift recovery, short length of hospital stay, and rare serious complications. The addition of surgery for USI does not appear to increase the morbidity.
Unoriented strings, loop equations, and N =1 superpotentials from matrix models

We apply the proposal of Dijkgraaf and Vafa to analyze N=1 gauge theory with SO(N) and Sp(N) gauge groups with arbitrary tree-level superpotentials using matrix model techniques. We derive the planar and leading non-planar contributions to the large M SO(M) and Sp(M) matrix model free energy by applying the technology of higher-genus loop equations and by straightforward diagrammatics. The loop equations suggest that the RP^2 free energy is given as a derivative of the sphere contribution, a relation which we verify diagrammatically. With a refinement of the proposal of Dijkgraaf and Vafa for the effective superpotential, we find agreement with field theory expectations.
The Arabidopsis Rop2 GTPase Is a Positive Regulator of Both Root Hair Initiation and Tip Growth Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010359.

Root hairs provide a model system for the study of cell polarity. We examined the possibility that one or more members of the distinct plant subfamily of RHO monomeric GTPases, termed Rop, may function as molecular switches regulating root hair growth. Specific Rops are known to control polar growth in pollen tubes. Overexpressing Rop2 (Rop2 OX) resulted in a strong root hair phenotype, whereas overexpressing Rop7 appeared to inhibit root hair tip growth. Overexpressing Rops from other phylogenetic subgroups of Rop did not give a root hair phenotype. We confirmed that Rop2 was expressed throughout hair development. Rop2 OX and constitutively active GTP-bound rop2 (CA-rop2) led to additional and misplaced hairs on the cell surface as well as longer hairs. Furthermore, CA-rop2 depolarized root hair tip growth, whereas Rop2 OX resulted in hairs with multiple tips. Dominant negative GDP-bound Rop2 reduced the number of hair-forming sites and led to shorter and wavy hairs. Green fluorescent protein–Rop2 localized to the future site of hair formation well before swelling formation and to the tip throughout hair development. We conclude that the Arabidopsis Rop2 GTPase acts as a positive regulatory switch in the earliest visible stage in hair development, swelling formation, and in tip growth.
Topographic organization of neurons in the acoustic thalamus that project to the amygdala

Projections from the posterior thalamus to the amygdala have been implicated in the processing of the emotional significance of acoustic stimuli. The aim of the present studies was to determine which areas of the amygdala receive afferents from posterior thalamic structures that, in turn, receive afferents (presumably acoustic afferents) from the inferior colliculus. Projections from the posterior thalamus to the amygdala and striatum were examined in rats using anterograde and retrograde axonal transport techniques. Following injections of WGA-HRP into the posterior thalamic areas [including the medial division of the medial geniculate body, the posterior intralaminar nucleus (PIN) and the medial posterior complex (POM)], anterograde transport was seen in the lateral (AL), central (ACE), medial (AM), and basomedial (ABM) nuclei of the amygdala and in the amygdalostriatal transition area (AST) and posterior caudate putamen (CPU). Injection of WGA-HRP into each anterogradely labeled area produced retrograde transport to the posterior thalamus, but the pattern of transport varied with the site of the injection. Injections in AL and AST produced retrograde transport to neurons in the medial division of the medial geniculate body (MGM), PIN, suprageniculate nucleus (SG) and, to a lesser extent, the lateral posterior nucleus (LP). Injections of the ACE, AM, and ABM, in contrast, only labeled cells in POM. While the MGM, PIN, and SG each receive afferents from the inferior colliculus, POM does not. AL and AST, therefore, receive inputs from thalamic areas that, in turn, receive inputs from the inferior colliculus.
Synthesis of Zeolites Na-P1 from South African Coal Fly Ash: Effect of Impeller Design and Agitation

South African fly ash has been shown to be a useful feedstock for the synthesis of some zeolites. The present study focuses on the effect of impeller design and agitation rates on the synthesis of zeolite Na-P1 which are critical to the commercialization of this product. The effects of three impeller designs (4-flat blade, Anchor and Archimedes screw impellers) and three agitation speeds (150, 200 and 300 rpm) were investigated using a modified previously reported synthesis conditions; 48 hours of ageing at 47 °C and static hydrothermal treatment at 140 °C for 48 hours. The experimental results demonstrated that the phase purity of zeolite Na-P1 was strongly affected by the agitation rate and the type of impeller used during the ageing step of the synthesis process. Although zeolite Na-P1 was synthesized with a space time yield (STY) of 15 ± 0.4 kg d−1m−3 and a product yield of 0.98±0.05 g zeolites/g fly ash for each impeller at different agitation speeds, zeolite formation was assessed to be fairly unsuccessful in some cases due the occurrence of undissolved mullite and/or the formation of impurities such as hydroxysodalite with the zeolitic product. This study also showed that a high crystalline zeolite Na-P1 can be synthesized from South African coal fly ash using a 4-flat blade impeller at an agitation rate of 200 rpm during the ageing step at 47 °C for 48 hours followed by static hydrothermal treatment at 140 °C for 48 hours.
Inhibition of the Host Proteasome Facilitates Papaya Ringspot Virus Accumulation and Proteosomal Catalytic Activity Is Modulated by Viral Factor HcPro

The ubiquitin/26S proteasome system plays an essential role not only in maintaining protein turnover, but also in regulating many other plant responses, including plant–pathogen interactions. Previous studies highlighted different roles of the 20S proteasome in plant defense during virus infection, either indirectly through viral suppressor-mediated degradation of Argonaute proteins, affecting the RNA interference pathway, or directly through modulation of the proteolytic and RNase activity of the 20S proteasome, a component of the 20S proteasome, by viral proteins, affecting the levels of viral proteins and RNAs. Here we show that MG132, a cell permeable proteasomal inhibitor, caused an increase in papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) accumulation in its natural host papaya (Carica papaya). We also show that the PRSV HcPro interacts with the papaya homologue of the Arabidopsis PAA (α1 subunit of the 20S proteasome), but not with the papaya homologue of Arabidopsis PAE (α5 subunit of the 20S proteasome), associated with the RNase activity, although the two 20S proteasome subunits interacted with each other. Mutated forms of PRSV HcPro showed that the conserved KITC54 motif in the N-terminal domain of HcPro was necessary for its binding to PAA. Co-agroinfiltration assays demonstrated that HcPro expression mimicked the action of MG132, and facilitated the accumulation of bothtotal ubiquitinated proteins and viral/non-viral exogenous RNA in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. These effects were not observed by using an HcPro mutant (KITS54), which impaired the HcPro – PAA interaction. Thus, the PRSV HcPro interacts with a proteasomal subunit, inhibiting the action of the 20S proteasome, suggesting that HcPro might be crucial for modulating its catalytic activities in support of virus accumulation.
Differential Gene Expression in GPR40-Overexpressing Pancreatic β-cells Treated with Linoleic Acid

"G protein-coupled receptor 40" (GPR40), a receptor for long-chain fatty acids, mediates the stimulation of glucose-induced insulin secretion. We examined the profiles of differential gene expression in GPR40-activated cells treated with linoleic acid, and finally predicted the integral pathways of the cellular mechanism of GPR40-mediated insulinotropic effects. After constructing a GPR40-overexpressing stable cell line (RIN-40) from the rat pancreatic β-cell line RIN-5f, we determined the gene expression profiles of RIN-5f and RIN-40. In total, 1004 genes, the expression of which was altered at least twofold, were selected in RIN-5f versus RIN-40. Moreover, the differential genetic profiles were investigated in RIN-40 cells treated with 30 µM linoleic acid, which resulted in selection of 93 genes in RIN-40 versus RIN-40 treated with linoleic acid. Based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway (KEGG, http://www.genome.jp/kegg/), sets of genes induced differentially by treatment with linoleic acid in RIN-40 cells were found to be related to mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase- and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathways. A gene ontology (GO) study revealed that more than 30% of the genes were associated with signal transduction and cell proliferation. Thus, this study elucidated a gene expression pattern relevant to the signal pathways that are regulated by GPR40 activation during the acute period. Together, these findings increase our mechanistic understanding of endogenous molecules associated with GPR40 function, and provide information useful for identification of a target for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Magnetic heterostructures : advances and perspectives in spinstructures and spintransport

Modern Growth Problems and Growth Techniques. - Magnetic Anisotropy of Heterostructures. - Exchange Bias Effect of Ferro-/Antiferromagnetic Heterostructures. - Exchange Coupling in Magnetic Multilayers. - Proximity Effects in Ferromagnet/Superconductor Heterostructures. - Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. - Ferromagnet/Semiconductor Heterostructures and Spininjection.
A CMOS smart temperature sensor with a batch-calibrated inaccuracy of ±0.25°C (3σ) from −70°C to 130°C

A major contributor to the total cost of precision CMOS temperature sensors is the cost of trimming and calibration. Significant cost savings can be obtained by batch calibration, but this is usually at the expense of an equally significant loss of accuracy [1]. This paper presents a CMOS temperature sensor with a batch-calibrated inaccuracy of ±0.25°C (3σ) from −70°C to 130°C, which represents a 2× improvement over the state of the art [2]. As in [2], individual trimming reduces the sensor's inaccuracy to ±0.1°C (3σ) over the military range: −55°C to 125°C. The sensor draws 25µA from a 2.5V to 5.5V supply, which is significantly less than commercial products with comparable accuracy [3,4], and 3× less than the sensor reported in [2].
Performance-driven exploration using Task-based Parallel Programming Frameworks

Computer architecture technology is moving towards more heteroge-neous solutions, which will contain a number of processing units with different capabilities that may increase the performance of the system as a whole. How-ever, with increased performance comes increased complexity; complexity that is now barely handled in homogeneous multiprocessing systems. The present study tries to solve a small piece of the heterogeneous puzzle; how can we exploit all system resources in a performance-effective and user-friendly way? Our proposed solution includes a run-time system capable of using a variety of different heterogeneous components while providing the user with the already familiar task-centric programming model interface. Furthermore, when dealing with non-uniform workloads, we show that traditional approaches based on centralized or work-stealing queue algorithms do not work well and propose a scheduling algorithm based on trend analysis to distribute work in a performance-effective way across resources.
Quantitative comparison of Hardware Transactional Memory for Blue Gene/Q, zEnterprise EC12, Intel Core, and POWER8

Transactional Memory (TM) is a new programming paradigm for both simple concurrent programming and high concurrent performance. Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) is hardware support for TM-based programming. It has lower overhead than software transactional memory (STM), which is a software-based implementation of TM. There are now four commercial systems, IBM Blue Gene/Q, IBM zEnterprise EC12, Intel Core, and IBM POWER8, offering HTM. Our work is the first to compare the performance of these four HTM systems. We measured the STAMP benchmarks, the most widely used TM benchmarks. We also evaluated the specific features of each HTM system. Our experimental results show that: (1) there is no single HTM system that is more scalable than the others in all of the benchmarks, (2) there are measurable performance differences among the HTM systems in some benchmarks, and (3) each HTM system has its own implementation characteristics that limit its scalability.
Timing of intrathecal baclofen therapy in persons with acquired brain injury: Influence on outcome

Abstract Objective: Evaluation of the effects of intrathecal baclofen therapy (ITB) delivered by a pump implanted at a very early stage in acquired brain injury (ABI). Study design: This investigation was a longitudinal prospective observational study, including a series of 13 ABI implanted within 6 months of the acute events. Main outcome measure: The Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Spasms Frequency Score (SFS) have been used as a primary outcome measure. The Disability Rating Scale (DRS) and Level of Cognitive Functioning (LCF) scores have been computed in order to verify possible interferences of baclofen therapy at an early stage on a global outcome. An intrathecal bolus test was not performed. Drug tolerability was tested by oral administration of baclofen 100 mg. Results: Reduction of spasticity and spasms frequency were measured 3 months after patients received the implant and at the 1-year follow-up. There was no difference found for global outcome measure between the group of patients who received the implant earlier (within 3 months) compared to the group who received it later (between 3–6 months). Conclusion: ITB therapy in ABI should be considered as early as possible. The implants are safe and effective in reducing spasticity. An intrathecal bolus test was not compulsory in ABI.
DIVERGENCE AND GENETIC STRUCTURE IN ADJACENT GRASS POPULATIONS. I. QUANTITATIVE GENETICS

Additive genetic variances and covariances were estimated for life history and morphological traits in two adjacent populations of the grass, Holcus lanatus L. Significant phenotypic differentiation was found between the two populations for four of the 15 morphological attributes measured. Significant differences in genetic architecture were found between the two populations for 11 of the 13 traits for which genetic variance components could be calculated. Estimates of genetic correlations also showed considerable divergence between the populations. The genetic divergence was much larger than would have been anticipated from simple measures of phenotypic differentiation. These results show that, even in plant species with relatively large population sizes, differences in genetic variance‐covariance patterns can occur between adjacent populations.
A Study of the Availability of Multicultural Children's Literature in Treasure Valley Schools: Quality, Access and Inclusion

The purpose of this study is to conduct an analysis of the availability of quality multicultural children’s literature in Treasure Valley elementary schools in Idaho. Current research suggests multicultural literature supports the psychosocial well-being of students in all classrooms. Exposure to a variety of cultures increases awareness and acceptance among students. In addition, reading multicultural literature encourages children to reaffirm the values of their own culture and come to appreciate those of others. Furthermore, multicultural literature, defined as literature that accurately portrays views and cultures of underrepresented populations, has a significant impact on students’ developing identities. For these reasons this study investigates and analyzes the quality and availability of, or lack of, multicultural literature in elementary school libraries in four different school districts in the Treasure Valley. The measure used to analyze the literature is composed of distinguished books that have received multicultural literature awards such as the Pura Belpre and the Coretta Scott King Awards. This study also takes into account the need for multicultural literature in the particular schools by comparing the demographic population of the schools and the relationship to the library’s inclusion or lack of inclusion of multicultural literature. This study may be of particular interest to teachers, administrators, librarians, and parents, especially when making decisions in regards to literature purchases and donations for school libraries.
Regularized, fast, and robust analytical Q‐ball imaging

We propose a regularized, fast, and robust analytical solution for the Q‐ball imaging (QBI) reconstruction of the orientation distribution function (ODF) together with its detailed validation and a discussion on its benefits over the state‐of‐the‐art. Our analytical solution is achieved by modeling the raw high angular resolution diffusion imaging signal with a spherical harmonic basis that incorporates a regularization term based on the Laplace–Beltrami operator defined on the unit sphere. This leads to an elegant mathematical simplification of the Funk–Radon transform which approximates the ODF. We prove a new corollary of the Funk–Hecke theorem to obtain this simplification. Then, we show that the Laplace–Beltrami regularization is theoretically and practically better than Tikhonov regularization. At the cost of slightly reducing angular resolution, the Laplace–Beltrami regularization reduces ODF estimation errors and improves fiber detection while reducing angular error in the ODF maxima detected. Finally, a careful quantitative validation is performed against ground truth from synthetic data and against real data from a biological phantom and a human brain dataset. We show that our technique is also able to recover known fiber crossings in the human brain and provides the practical advantage of being up to 15 times faster than original numerical QBI method. Magn Reson Med 58:497–510, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Neurons to Transient Inputs Phase-Response Curves Give the Responses of

[PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , March 15, 2006; 90 (6): 1925-1938. Biophys. J. K. Morita, K. Tsumoto and K. Aihara Bidirectional Modulation of Neuronal Responses by Depolarizing GABAergic Inputs [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , November 1, 2006; 18 (11): 2617-2650. Neural Comput. Whittington and N. J. Kopell D. D. Pervouchine, T. I. Netoff, H. G. Rotstein, J. A. White, M. O. Cunningham, M. A. Low-Dimensional Maps Encoding Dynamics in Entorhinal Cortex and Hippocampus