Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating Young's modulus of zona pellucida by micropipette aspiration in combination with theoretical models of ovum

The zona pellucida (ZP) is the spherical layer that surrounds the mammalian oocyte. The physical hardness of this layer plays a crucial role in fertilization and is largely unknown because of the lack of appropriate measuring and modelling methods. The aim of this study is to measure the biomechanical properties of the ZP of human/mouse ovum and to test the hypothesis that Young's modulus of the ZP varies with fertilization. Young's moduli of ZP are determined before and after fertilization by using the micropipette aspiration technique, coupled with theoretical models of the oocyte as an elastic incompressible half-space (half-space model), an elastic compressible bilayer (layered model) or an elastic compressible shell (shell model). Comparison of the models shows that incorporation of the layered geometry of the ovum and the compressibility of the ZP in the layered and shell models may provide a means of more accurately characterizing ZP elasticity. Evaluation of results shows that although the results of the models are different, all confirm that the hardening of ZP will increase following fertilization. As can be seen, different choices of models and experimental parameters can affect the interpretation of experimental data and lead to differing mechanical properties.
Load sharing in heterogeneous distributed systems

Load sharing is key to the efficient operation of distributed systems. The paper investigates load sharing policies in a heterogeneous distributed system, where half of the total processors have double the speed of the others. Processor performance is examined and compared under a variety of workloads. Two job classes are considered. Programs of the first class are dedicated to fast processors, while second class programs are generic in the sense that they can be allocated to any processor. The objective is to find a policy that results in good overall performance while maintaining the fairness of individual job classes. Simulation results indicate that the performance of the best method depends on system load.
Effects of Irrigation with Treated Wastewater on Root and Fruit Mineral Elements of Chemlali Olive Cultivar

Twenty-year-old “Chemlali” olive trees trained to vase and rainfed were investigated in either “on” (2004) or “off” (2003) year. A randomized block design with three blocks and three treatments was used and each experimental plot consisted of nine olive trees. Three treatments were applied: (1) rainfed conditions (RF, used as control treatment); (2) irrigation with well water (WW); and (3) irrigation with treated wastewater (TWW). Irrigation with TWW led to a significant increase of root N, P, Ca, Zn, Mn, Na, and Cl concentrations, in particular in the on-year. Data showed significant differences, between the two years, for the concentration of the mineral elements in the roots, with general lower values in the on-year, probably as a consequence of nutrients movement upward in the tree. Fruit N, P, K, Zn, Mn, and Cl contents were significantly higher in TWW irrigated trees with respect to both RF and WW trees, whereas similar values for Ca, Mg, Na, and Cl contents were measured for WW and TWW irrigated trees. The irrigation with TWW allowed to reuse problematic waters and to save nutrients inputs in the olive orchard thus moving towards a more sustainable management of olive orchards in countries where water is the major limiting factor for agriculture.
Graph Transduction as a Noncooperative Game

Graph transduction is a popular class of semisupervised learning techniques that aims to estimate a classification function defined over a graph of labeled and unlabeled data points. The general idea is to propagate the provided label information to unlabeled nodes in a consistent way. In contrast to the traditional view, in which the process of label propagation is defined as a graph Laplacian regularization, this article proposes a radically different perspective, based on game-theoretic notions. Within the proposed framework, the transduction problem is formulated in terms of a noncooperative multiplayer game whereby equilibria correspond to consistent labelings of the data. An attractive feature of this formulation is that it is inherently a multiclass approach and imposes no constraint whatsoever on the structure of the pairwise similarity matrix, being able to naturally deal with asymmetric and negative similarities alike. Experiments on a number of real-world problems demonstrate that the proposed approach performs well compared with state-of-the-art algorithms, and it can deal effectively with various types of similarity relations.
TIM-3 expression in human osteosarcoma: Correlation with the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-specific biomarkers

Signals from the T cell Ig- and mucin-domain-containing molecules (TIMs) have been demonstrated to be actively involved in regulating the progression of carcinomas. However, the expression and distribution of these molecules in osteosarcoma, the most common primary bone malignancy with poor prognosis, have not been investigated. In this study, the expression of TIMs was examined in nine invasive human osteosarcomas using immunohistochemistry, and the phenotypes were detected by dual immunofluorescence staining. Using immunohistochemistry, it was observed that only TIM-3, rather than TIM-1 or TIM-4, was expressed in these tumor specimens, where it was localized in the cytoplasm and plasma membrane of tumor cells. Dual immunofluorescence staining revealed that the expression of TIM-3 was observed in all cell types investigated, including CD68+ macrophages, CD31+ endothelial cells, CK-18+ epithelial cells and PCNA+ tumor cells. Notably, in sarcoma cells, TIM-3 was co-expressed with certain biomarkers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), including vimentin, Slug, Snail and Smad. These combined results suggest that TIM-3 triggers tumor cells to acquire features of aggressive EMT and may be involved in the pathogenesis of this malignancy.
Revision of the Middle American clade of the ant genus Stenamma Westwood (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae)

Abstract Stenamma is a cryptic “leaf-litter” ant genus that occurs in mesic forest habitats throughout the Holarctic region, Central America, and part of northwestern South America (Colombia and Ecuador). The genus was thought to be restricted primarily to the temperate zone, but recent collecting efforts have uncovered a large radiation of Neotropical forms, which rival the Holarctic species in terms of morphological and behavioral diversity. By inferring a broad-scale molecular phylogeny of Stenamma, Branstetter (2012) showed that all Neotropical species belong to a diverse Middle American clade (MAC), and that this clade is sister to an almost completely geographically separated Holarctic clade (HOC). Here, the Middle American clade of Stenamma is revised to recognize 40 species, of which 33 are described as new. Included in the revision are a key to species based on the worker caste, and for each species where possible, descriptions and images of workers and queens, images of males, information on geographic distribution, descriptions of intraspecific variation, and notes on natural history. Several species groups are defined, but the majority of species remain unassigned due to a lack of diagnostic morphological character states for most molecular clades. The following species are redescribed: Stenamma alas Longino, Stenamma diversum Mann, Stenamma expolitum Smith, Stenamma felixi Mann, Stenamma huachucanum Smith, Stenamma manni Wheeler, and Stenamma schmidti Menozzi. The following are described as new: Stenamma andersoni sp. n. , Stenamma atribellum sp. n. , Stenamma brujita sp. n. , Stenamma callipygium sp. n. , Stenamma catracho sp. n. , Stenamma connectum sp. n. , Stenamma crypticum sp. n. , Stenamma cusuco sp. n. , Stenamma excisum sp. n. , Stenamma expolitico sp. n. , Stenamma hojarasca sp. n. , Stenamma ignotum sp. n. , Stenamma lagunum sp. n. , Stenamma llama sp. n. , Stenamma leptospinum sp. n. , Stenamma lobinodus sp. n. , Stenamma longinoi sp. n. , Stenamma maximon sp. n. , Stenamma megamanni sp. n. , Stenamma monstrosum sp. n. , Stenamma muralla sp. n. , Stenamma nanozoi sp. n. , Stenamma nonotch sp. n. , Stenamma ochrocnemis sp. n. , Stenamma pelophilum sp. n. , Stenamma picopicucha sp. n. , Stenamma saenzae sp. n. , Stenamma sandinista sp. n. , Stenamma stictosomum sp. n. , Stenamma tiburon sp. n. , Stenamma tico sp. n. , Stenamma vexator sp. n. , and Stenamma zelum sp. n. Although many of the newly defined species consist of challenging species complexes, this study establishes a robust baseline that will guide future work on the systematics of MAC Stenamma. The total global diversity of Stenamma now includes 84 extant species.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor , p 27 ( KIP 1 ) , and Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma : Their Clinical Significance

Hepatocarcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer, with more than one million fatalities occurring annually worldwide. Multiple risk factors are associated with HCC disease etiology, the highest incidence being in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus, although other factors such as genetic makeup and environmental exposure are involved. Multiple genetic alterations including the activation of oncogenes and inactivation of tumor suppressor genes are required for malignancy in human cancers and are correlated with increased stages of carcinogenesis and further tumor progression. In this study of 21 HCC patients, we analyzed pRb2/p130, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), p27, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen as potential HCC molecular biomarkers. In our sample set, we found that p27 was absent. Univariate survival analysis showed that proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression (diffuse staining >50% of positive cells in tumor) was confirmed as a significant HCC prognostic biomarker for determining patient survival agreeing with previous studies (P 0.0126, log-rank test). Lower pRb2/p130 expression was associated to a borderline P value of inverse correlation with tumor malignancy and to a positive correlation with respect to the time from HCC diagnosis (Spearman coefficient 0.568; P < 0.05). Conversely, higher VEGF expression was associated with a poor survival (P 0.0257, log-rank test). We demonstrate for the first time that pRb2/p130 is inversely correlated with VEGF expression and tumor aggressiveness (P < 0.05) in p27-negative HCC patients. pRb2/p130 and VEGF expression are independent from tumor staging, suggesting their possible role as independent prognostic molecular biomarkers in HCC. Furthermore, we have evidence that VEGF together with pRb2/p130 may act as new HCC biomarkers in a p27independent manner. Additional studies with larger numbers of patient data would allow the use of multivariable techniques and would be able to further identify patients with poorer survival.
Causal interaction following the alteration of target region activation during motor imagery training using real-time fMRI

Motor imagery training is an effective approach for motor skill learning and motor function rehabilitation. As a novel method of motor imagery training, real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) enables individuals to acquire self-control of localized brain activation, achieving desired changes in behavior. The regulation of target region activation by rtfMRI often alters the activation of related brain regions. However, the interaction between the target region and these related regions is unclear. The Granger causality model (GCM) is a data-driven method that can explore the causal interaction between brain regions. In this study, we employed rtfMRI to train subjects to regulate the activation of the ipsilateral dorsal premotor area (dPMA) during motor imagery training, and we calculated the causal interaction of the dPMA with other motor-related regions based on the GCM. The results demonstrated that as the activity of the dPMA changed during rtfMRI training, the interaction of the target region with other related regions became significantly altered, and behavioral performance was improved after training. The altered interaction primarily exhibited as an increased unidirectional interaction from the dPMA to the other regions. These findings support the dominant role of the dPMA in motor skill learning via rtfMRI training and may indicate how activation of the target region interacts with the activation of other related regions.
Expression of urokinase receptor in various stromal‐cell populations in human colon cancer: Immunoelectron microscopical analysis

The host reaction is an important factor in the biological behavior of cancers. In human colon adenocarcinoma, stromal cells and some cancer cells express the urokinase receptor (uPAR), a molecule involved in the regulation of extracellular proteolysis. The present study reveals the identity of uPAR‐ expressing cell types and the subcellular localization of this molecule by immunoelectron microscopy in colon cancer. uPAR‐positive cells were most abundant at the invasive margin of colon cancer and were identified as macrophages, fibroblasts, neutrophilic and eosinophilic granulocytes, endothelial cells and cancer cells. Of these, the most numerous were macrophages with uPAR detected along the plasma membrane, in accordance with its function in plasminogen activation on the cell surface. Fibroblasts were labeled in the lumen of rough endoplas‐ mic reticulum, indicating its intracellular synthesis. Some granulocytes and endothelial cells expressed immunoreactivity along the plasma membranes. uPAR‐positive cancer cells were stained along the plasma membrane and in rough endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggested that a variety of non‐malignant host cells play an important role in the plasmin‐mediated breakdown of the extracellular matrix at the invasive margin. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Pharmacotherapy of hyperglycemia

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic, progressive disorder that affects more than 230 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 366 million by 2030. Both the prevalence of T2DM and the cost of its long term complications has driven the focus and emphasis on treatments aimed at reducing hyperglycemia and controlling hypertension and dyslipidemia. In the last 5 years new glucose lowering drugs acting on novel pathways have been developed, licensed and launched. These drugs include the glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonists, exenatide, and dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP-IV) inhibitors such as sitagliptin and saxagliptin. This review describes current approaches to T2DM treatment, focusing on newer agents which tend to be associated with less hypoglycemia and possible weight loss, and addresses the potential roles of novel oral pharmacologic agents in the late-stages of development that might provide new options for the management of this disease.
Bad luck comes in three's: a narrative investigation of the impact of multiple traumatic events

Although the understanding of trauma has evolved significantly over time, contemporary approaches to trauma focus on the traumatic event as central to the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This directs attention away from the unique characteristics the person contributes to the expression of post-trauma symptoms. In this thesis trauma is examined within a framework which incorporates the characteristics of the person along with the event, with specific focus on the impact of multiple traumatic events. The empirical research for the thesis was conducted as three interrelated studies. The same sample of 100 respondents (20 men & 80 women) participated in each study by completing self-report and narrative measures along with measures of trauma experiences and responses. Each person had experienced three or more events that they defined as traumatic. Three levels of investigation were conducted according to McAdams’ (1995, 1996) tripartite model of personality. Level I, Dispositional Traits, addressed the more global and stable aspects of personality that explain consistency in people’s behaviours. Levels II (Characteristic Adaptations) and III (Life Stories) of personality distinguish this model from traditional trait theories by enabling the nuances of human individuality to be examined in conjunction with more stable characteristics. The greater malleability of Levels II and III meant dimensions such as well-being and general symptom expression could be examined to understand the impact of a series of traumatic events across the lifespan. Study 1 looked at the role of Dispositional Traits (Level I) and Characteristic Adaptations (Level II) as predictors of the post-trauma response both in general and in terms of the PTSD symptom clusters. Core features of the expression of post-trauma reactions were identified as dispositional Anxiety and Depression; well-being factors of Environmental Mastery and Positive Relationships with Others; and the general symptom of Hostility. As expected, idiosyncratic patterns of prediction were evident for each of the
Outcome, observer reliability, and patient preferences if CTA, MRA, or Doppler ultrasound were used, individually or together, instead of digital subtraction angiography before carotid endarterectomy

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of routinely available non-invasive tests (spiral computed tomographic angiography (CTA), time of flight magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and colour Doppler ultrasound (DUS)), individually and together, compared with intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients with symptomatic tight carotid stenosis; and to assess the effect of substituting non-invasive tests for DSA on outcome, interobserver variability, and patient preference. Methods: Patients referred from a neurovascular clinic were subjected prospectively to DUS imaging. The operator was blind to symptoms. Patients with a tight carotid stenosis on the symptomatic side were admitted for DSA. CTA and MRA were performed during the admission. The CTA, MRA, and DSA films were each read independently by two of six experienced radiologists, blind to all other data. Results: 67 patients were included (34 had all four imaging procedures). DUS, CTA, and MRA all agreed with DSA in the diagnosis of operable v non-operable disease in about 80% of patients. CTA tended to underestimate (sensitivity 0.65, specificity 1.0), MRA to overestimate (sensitivity 1.0, specificity 0.57), and DUS to agree most closely with (sensitivity 0.85, specificity 0.71) the degree of stenosis as shown by DSA. When using any two of the three non-invasive tests in combination, adding the third if the first two disagreed would result in very few misdiagnoses (about 6%). MRA had similar interobserver variability to CTA (both worse than DSA). Patients preferred CTA over MRA and DSA. Conclusions: DUS, CTA, and MRA all show similar accuracy in the diagnosis of symptomatic carotid stenosis. No technique on its own is accurate enough to replace DSA. Two non-invasive techniques in combination, and adding a third if the first two disagree, appears more accurate, but may still result in diagnostic errors.
Metagenomic signatures of the Peru Margin subseafloor biosphere show a genetically distinct environment

The subseafloor marine biosphere may be one of the largest reservoirs of microbial biomass on Earth and has recently been the subject of debate in terms of the composition of its microbial inhabitants, particularly on sediments from the Peru Margin. A metagenomic analysis was made by using whole-genome amplification and pyrosequencing of sediments from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1229 on the Peru Margin to further explore the microbial diversity and overall community composition within this environment. A total of 61.9 Mb of genetic material was sequenced from sediments at horizons 1, 16, 32, and 50 m below the seafloor. These depths include sediments from both primarily sulfate-reducing methane-generating regions of the sediment column. Many genes of the annotated genes, including those encoding ribosomal proteins, corresponded to those from the Chloroflexi and Euryarchaeota. However, analysis of the 16S small-subunit ribosomal genes suggests that Crenarchaeota are the abundant microbial member. Quantitative PCR confirms that uncultivated Crenarchaeota are indeed a major microbial group in these subsurface samples. These findings show that the marine subsurface is a distinct microbial habitat and is different from environments studied by metagenomics, especially because of the predominance of uncultivated archaeal groups.
Antiapoptotic efficacy of folic acid and vitamin B12 against arsenic‐induced toxicity

Earlier, we proposed that the ability of folic acid and vitamin B12 to preserve systemic and mitochondrial function after short‐term exposure to arsenic may prevent further progression to more permanent injury and pathological changes leading to cell death. To elucidate its mechanism, the present study examined the antiapoptotic efficacy of folic acid and vitamin B12 against short‐term arsenic exposure‐induced hepatic mitochondria oxidative stress and dysfunction. Sixteen to eighteen weeks old male albino rats weighing 140–150 × g were divided into five groups: Control (A), Arsenic‐treated (B), Arsenic + folic acid (C), Arsenic +vitamin B12 (D), and Arsenic + folic acid + vitamin B12 (E). Data generated indicated that folic acid and vitamin B12 separately or in combination can give significant protection against alterations in oxidative stress and apoptotic marker parameters and downstream changes in mitochondria, namely pro‐oxidative (NO, TBARS, OH−) and antioxidative defense (SOD, CAT, GSH) markers, iNOS protein expression, mitochondrial swelling, cytochrome c oxidase and Ca2+‐ATPase activity, Ca2+ content, caspase‐3 activity. Additionally, results of hepatic cell DNA fragmentation, arsenic load of blood, hepatic tissue and urine, and histological observations, all strongly support that both these supplements have efficacy in preventing apoptotic changes and cellular damage. As the mechanisms of actions of both of these supplements are methylation related, a combined application was more effective. Results further reveal new molecular targets through which folic acid and vitamin B12 separately or in combination work to alleviate one critical component of arsenic‐induced liver injury: mitochondria dysfunction. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2012.