Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumor Necrosis Factor–Related Apoptosis‐Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) Promotes Angiogenesis and Ischemia‐Induced Neovascularization Via NADPH Oxidase 4 (NOX4) and Nitric Oxide–Dependent Mechanisms

Background Tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL) has the ability to inhibit angiogenesis by inducing endothelial cell death, as well as being able to promote pro‐angiogenic activity in vitro. These seemingly opposite effects make its role in ischemic disease unclear. Using Trail −/− and wildtype mice, we sought to determine the role of TRAIL in angiogenesis and neovascularization following hindlimb ischemia. Methods and Results Reduced vascularization assessed by real‐time 3‐dimensional Vevo ultrasound imaging and CD31 staining was evident in Trail −/− mice after ischemia, and associated with reduced capillary formation and increased apoptosis. Notably, adenoviral TRAIL administration significantly improved limb perfusion, capillary density, and vascular smooth‐muscle cell content in both Trail −/− and wildtype mice. Fibroblast growth factor‐2, a potent angiogenic factor, increased TRAIL expression in human microvascular endothelial cell‐1, with fibroblast growth factor‐2‐mediated proliferation, migration, and tubule formation inhibited with TRAIL siRNA. Both fibroblast growth factor‐2 and TRAIL significantly increased NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) expression. TRAIL‐inducible angiogenic activity in vitro was inhibited with siRNAs targeting NOX4, and consistent with this, NOX4 mRNA was reduced in 3‐day ischemic hindlimbs of Trail −/− mice. Furthermore, TRAIL‐induced proliferation, migration, and tubule formation was blocked by scavenging H2O2, or by inhibiting nitric oxide synthase activity. Importantly, TRAIL‐inducible endothelial nitric oxide synthase phosphorylation at Ser‐1177 and intracellular human microvascular endothelial cell‐1 cell nitric oxide levels were NOX4 dependent. Conclusions This is the first report demonstrating that TRAIL can promote angiogenesis following hindlimb ischemia in vivo. The angiogenic effect of TRAIL on human microvascular endothelial cell‐1 cells is downstream of fibroblast growth factor‐2, involving NOX4 and nitric oxide signaling. These data have significant therapeutic implications, such that TRAIL may improve the angiogenic response to ischemia and increase perfusion recovery in patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Gender Differences in Seeking Challenges: The Role of Institutions

We examine whether women and men of the same ability differ in their decisions to seek challenges. In the laboratory, we create an environment in which we can measure a participants performance level (high or low), where a high performance level participant has on average higher earnings from solving a hard rather than an easy task, and vice versa. After we identify each participant's performance level, they choose the difficulty level (easy or hard) for the next two tasks (only one of which will be chosen for payment). Although there are no gender differences in performance, or beliefs about relative performance, men choose the hard task about 50 percent more frequently than women, independent of performance level. Gender differences in preferences for characteristics of the tasks cannot account for this gender gap. When we allow for a flexible choice high performing women choose the hard task significantly more often, at a rate now similar to the decision of men. Such a flexible choice makes challenging choices easier when participants are either risk averse, or uncertain about their ability. Our results highlight the role of institution design in affecting choices of women and men, and the resulting gender differences in representation in challenging tasks.
Original Research Article The effect of bank credits on agricultural output in Nigeria: 1981– 2019

The agriculture sector of the Nigerian economy has suffered a severe setback, particularly after the advent of oil in mass production. The government shifted attention completely to the oil sector at the detriment of the agriculture sector, resulting in a practice of mono-economy. However, in recent times, the government has seen the need to diversify the economy to reduce over-dependent on the oil sector. Thus, both the bank and the government have been channeling resources to the sector to boast its productive capacity. Thus, this study seeks to investigate the impact of bank credit on the agriculture sector from 1981 to 2019. The data was subjected to a preliminary test—unit root test—to ascertain the order of integration and subsequently the method of estimation. The unit root outcome shows a mixed order, which informed the adoption of the dynamic ARDL method. The finding from the estimation proved that the impact of bank credit on agriculture productivity in the long run is positive but weak. This suggests that bank credit to agriculture could not explain the variation in the performance of sectoral output. In contrast, the impact of government expenditure on the agriculture sector is strong and positive. This validates the significant contribution of government involvement in the revival of the sector. Thus, a recommendation is made of the need for banks to increase their credit and loan advances to the agriculture sector by lowering the interest charged on loans to the sector. Secondly, banks should give close monitoring to the funds loaned out to the agriculture sector to ensure the funds are truly channeled to the sector and not diverted. Moreso, the government can still do more for the sector to fully revive. More productivity-enhancing strategies, such as subsidizing modern farm equipment, seeds, and so on, can still be put in place by the government to assist the sector regain its lost glory.
Incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in southern Italy: a population based study

Background: While the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is similar across the world (range, 1.0 to 2.5/100 000), a latitude gradient from north to south has been observed. Objective: To determine the incidence of ALS in Puglia, a region of south eastern Italy, and to test the latitude gradient hypothesis comparing the present study with findings in studies conducted with the same design in a northern latitude. Methods: Puglia (4 086 613 residents in 2001) is the site of a multicentre-multisource prospective population based registry established in 1997. All incident ALS cases during the period 1998–99 were enrolled and followed up. Cases were classified using the first and the revised El Escorial criteria. Results: During the study period 130 cases were enrolled. The annual crude incidence for ALS in Puglia for the two year period 1998–99 was 1.6/100 000 (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 1.9). The incidence was higher for men (incidence rate (IR) = 2.1 (1.7 to 2.7) than for women (IR = 1.2 (0.9 to 1.5)) in all age groups, with a male to female ratio of 1.6. For both men and women, the incidence increased through age 75 and declined rapidly afterwards. The mean annual incidence adjusted by age and sex to the 2001 Italian population was 1.7/100 000 (1.4 to 2.0). Conclusions: ALS incidence is within a narrow range across countries, with a peak between 65 and 75 years and a higher incidence in men. A north to south latitude gradient of ALS incidence is not supported by the results of cohort studies.
Using Probabilistic Knowledge and Simulation to Play Poker

Until recently, artificial intelligence researchers who use games as their experimental testbed have concentrated on games of perfect information. Many of these games have been amenable to brute-force search techniques. In contrast, games of imperfect information, such as bridge and poker, contain hidden information making similar search techniques impractical. This paper describes recent progress in developing a high-performance pokerplaying program. The advances come in two forms. First, we introduce a new betting strategy that returns a probabilistic betting decision, a probability triple, that gives the likelihood of a fold, call or raise occurring in a given situation. This component unifies all the expert knowledge used in the program, does a better job of representing the type of decision making needed to play strong poker, and improves the way information is propagated throughout the program. Second, real-time simulations are used to compute the expected values of betting decisions. The program generates an instance of the missing data, subject to any constraints that have been learned, and then simulates the rest of the game to determine a numerical result. By repeating this a sufficient number of times, a statistically meaningful sample is used in the program's decision-making process. Experimental results show that these enhancements each represent major advances in the strength of computer poker programs.
Potential Applications of Untethered Microdevices in the Blood Vessels within the Constraints of an MRI System

This paper presents potential medical applications that an untethered microdevice in the cardiovascular system could perform within an MRI system. Recent developments and continuing evolution in micro/nano fabrication and design techniques will enable the development of functional microdevices able to explore the cardiovascular system. The magnetic resonance submarine (MR-Sub) project is a first step towards this goal. Magnetic force generated by the gradient coils of an MRI system provides a propulsion mechanism that simplifies miniaturization and bypasses energetic challenges. Untethered microdevices may play an important complementary role in the next generation of minimally invasive tools. A better efficiency and targetability of the treatments will be achieved when microsystems such as the MR-Sub will allow a more extensive access to smaller blood vessels
Quadratic BSDEs with Random Terminal Time and Elliptic PDEs in Infinite Dimension

In this paper we study one dimensional backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) with random terminal time not necessarily bounded or finite when the generator $F(t,Y,Z)$ has a quadratic growth in $Z$. We provide existence and uniqueness of a bounded solution of such BSDEs and, in the case of infinite horizon, regular dependence on parameters. The obtained results are then applied to prove existence and uniqueness of a mild solution to elliptic partial differential equations in Hilbert spaces. Finally we show an application to a control problem.
Metabolic syndrome and incidence of asthma in adults: the HUNT study

Obesity is a risk factor for incident asthma in adults, and obesity is a major component of metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to explore the associations of metabolic syndrome and its components with the cumulative incidence of asthma in adults. We conducted a prospective cohort study of participants who were asthma-free at baseline (n = 23 191) in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study from 1995 to 2008. Baseline metabolic syndrome was categorised using the definition of the Joint Interim Statement from several international organisations. Incident asthma was self-reported at follow-up, which averaged 11 years. Metabolic syndrome was a risk factor for incident asthma (adjusted OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.31–1.87). This association was consistent in sensitivity analyses using a stricter asthma definition (adjusted OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.13–1.79). Among the components of metabolic syndrome, two remained associated with incident asthma after mutual adjustment for the other metabolic components: high waist circumference (adjusted OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.36–1.94) and elevated glucose or diabetes (adjusted OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.01–2.04). Metabolic syndrome and two of its components (high waist circumference and elevated glucose or diabetes) were associated with an increased risk of incident asthma in adults. Metabolic syndrome and two of its components were associated with an increased risk of incident asthma in adults http://ow.ly//p2RNy
Forms of Melanoplus bowditchi (Orthoptera: Acrididae) collected from different host plants are indistinguishable genetically and in aedeagal morphology

The sagebrush grasshopper, Melanoplus bowditchi Scudder (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a phytophilous species that is widely distributed in the western United States on sagebrush species. The geographical distribution of M. bowditchi is very similar to the range of its host plants and its feeding association varies in relation to sagebrush distribution. Melanoplus bowditchi bowditchi Scudder and M. bowditchi canus Hebard were described based on their feeding association with different sagebrush species, sand sagebrush and silver sagebrush, respectively. Recently, M. bowditchi have been observed feeding on other plant species in western Nebraska. We collected adult M. bowditchi feeding on four plant species, sand sagebrush, Artemisia filifolia, big sagebrush, A. tridentata, fringed sagebrush, A. frigidus, and winterfat, Krascheninnikovia lanata. We compared the specimens collected from the four plant species for their morphological and genetic differences. We observed no consistent differences among the aedeagal parameres or basal rings among the grasshoppers collected from different host plants. Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism markers were used to test the genetic relationships among the grasshoppers. Analysis of Molecular Variance and distance-based Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean dendrogram failed to reveal significant differences. Although the forms showed behavioral and minor color and size differences, the genetic data suggest all forms under study likely interbreed, which indicates they are a single species instead of four species or subspecies. These results indicate that host plant use may influence melanopline phenotype and suggest the need of further genetic analysis of subspecies recognized based on morphology, distribution, and ecology.
Characterization of cytopathic factors through genome-wide analysis of the Zika viral proteins in fission yeast

Significance The Zika virus (ZIKV) causes various neurologic defects including microcephaly and the Guillain-Barré syndrome. However, little is known about how ZIKV causes those diseases or which viral protein(s) is responsible for the observed cytopathic effects involved in restricted neuronal cellular growth, dysregulation of the cell cycle, and induction of cell hypertrophy or cell death. A genome-wide analysis of ZIKV proteins and peptides was conducted using fission yeast as a surrogate host. Seven ZIKV proteins conferred various cytopathic effects in which NS4A-induced cellular hypertrophy and growth restriction were mediated through the target of rapamycin (TOR) cellular stress-response pathway. These findings provide a foundation for identifying viral pathogenicity factors associated with the ZIKV diseases. The Zika virus (ZIKV) causes microcephaly and the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Little is known about how ZIKV causes these conditions or which ZIKV viral protein(s) is responsible for the associated ZIKV-induced cytopathic effects, including cell hypertrophy, growth restriction, cell-cycle dysregulation, and cell death. We used fission yeast for the rapid, global functional analysis of the ZIKV genome. All 14 proteins or small peptides were produced under an inducible promoter, and we measured the intracellular localization and the specific effects on ZIKV-associated cytopathic activities of each protein. The subcellular localization of each ZIKV protein was in overall agreement with its predicted protein structure. Five structural and two nonstructural ZIKV proteins showed various levels of cytopathic effects. The expression of these ZIKV proteins restricted cell proliferation, induced hypertrophy, or triggered cellular oxidative stress leading to cell death. The expression of premembrane protein (prM) resulted in cell-cycle G1 accumulation, whereas membrane-anchored capsid (anaC), membrane protein (M), envelope protein (E), and nonstructural protein 4A (NS4A) caused cell-cycle G2/M accumulation. A mechanistic study revealed that NS4A-induced cellular hypertrophy and growth restriction were mediated specifically through the target of rapamycin (TOR) cellular stress pathway involving Tor1 and type 2A phosphatase activator Tip41. These findings should provide a reference for future research on the prevention and treatment of ZIKV diseases.
The analysis and optimization of collective communications on a Beowulf cluster

This paper gives a performance analysis of the all-gather, all-reduce and reduce-scatter collective communication operations on a Beowulf cluster. This cluster has a contention-free switch-based network with multiple network interface cards per node, permitting overlapping of message transmission under certain circumstances. As well as considering traditional algorithms developed previously for parallel computers with vendor-specific networks, we also examine simpler algorithms made up of repeated sub-operations, such as broadcasts. We find that for the kind of network on the Beowulf cluster, a somewhat different performance modelling of the algorithms is required, and that some simple simulation tools had to be developed in order to fully understand some of the algorithms' performance. Our results indicate that the LAM MPI implementations for these operations may be significantly improved, and the algorithms with data exchange and potential contention perform well on the cluster. Furthermore, they indicate that algorithms permitting message overlap are slightly favoured, with a new and simple algorithm which modestly out-performs the best traditional algorithms in the case of Reduce-Scatter. With the exception that the degree of overlapping proved difficult to estimate, our performance models fitted closely with the results, and together with the simulation tools, permit a detailed understanding of the cluster's communication pattern performance.
Type-specific radioimmunoassays for the gp70s of mink cell focus-inducing murine leukemia viruses: expression of a cross-reacting antigen in cells infected with the friend strain of the spleen focus-forming virus

We have isolated the gp70 of a helper-independent strain of a Friend mink cell focus-inducing (MCF) virus, Fr-MCF-1. This recombinant virus, like the previously described AKR-MCF viruses, has been shown by both biological and biochemical means to be an envelope gene recombinant between Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV) and a mouse xenotropic virus. Utilizing (125)I- labeled Fr-MCF-1 gp70 and antiserum prepared against an MCF strain of Moloney type-C virus (Mol-MCF(83)), we have developed a radioimmunoassay which detects immunological determinant (s)contained in the gp70s of MCF viruses derived from F-MuLV, Mol-MuLV, and AKR-MuLV. This MCF determinant(s) is not detected in the ecotropic parents of each of these MCF viruses, nor in helper-independent murine xenotropic viruses derived from Swiss or BALB/c mice. A protein partially cross-reactive with the MCF gp70 determinant(s) is detected in a replicating xenotropic virus derived from NZB mice. Utilizing this MCF gp70 specific immunoassay, we can detect a cross-reacting gene product coded for by the Friend strain of the spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) in rat fibroblasts nonproductively infected with SFFV. The results support earlier molecular hybridization studies which indicated that the genome of SFFV contains genetic information derived from both F-MuLV and xenotropic virus, and that the xenotropic-related sequences in SFFV are highly related to those found in MCF murine type-C viruses.
Generation of Interleukin-2 Receptor Gamma Gene Knockout Pigs from Somatic Cells Genetically Modified by Zinc Finger Nuclease-Encoding mRNA

Zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) is a powerful tool for genome editing. ZFN-encoding plasmid DNA expression systems have been recently employed for the generation of gene knockout (KO) pigs, although one major limitation of this technology is the use of potentially harmful genome-integrating plasmid DNAs. Here we describe a simple, non-integrating strategy for generating KO pigs using ZFN-encoding mRNA. The interleukin-2 receptor gamma (IL2RG) gene was knocked out in porcine fetal fibroblasts using ZFN-encoding mRNAs, and IL2RG KO pigs were subsequently generated using these KO cells through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The resulting IL2RG KO pigs completely lacked a thymus and were deficient in T and NK cells, similar to human X-linked SCID patients. Our findings demonstrate that the combination of ZFN-encoding mRNAs and SCNT provides a simple robust method for producing KO pigs without genomic integration.
Extending a theorem of Herstein

Just infinite algebras have been considered from various perspectives; a common thread in these treatments is that the notion of just infinite is an extension of the notion of simple. We reinforce this generalization by considering some well-known results of Herstein regarding simple rings and their Lie and Jordan structures and extend these results to their just infinite analogues. In particular, we prove that if A is a just infinite associative algebra, of characteristic not 2,3, or 5, then the Lie algebra $[A,A]/(Z\cap[A,A])$ is also just infinite (where Z denotes the center of A).
Embryonic ventral mesencephalic grafts to the substantia nigra of MPTP‐treated monkeys: Feasibility relevant to multiple‐target grafting as a therapy for Parkinson's disease

Transplantation of embryonic dopamine (DA) neurons is being studied as an experimental replacement therapy for the DA‐deficiency characteristic of Parkinson's disease. Some studies suggest that one of the limitations of this approach is that intrastriatal placement of implants fails to consistently restore completely normal movement. One potential cause of this suboptimal therapeutic outcome is that changes in the neural activity of several structures in the basal ganglia circuitry resulting from striatal DA depletion is not adequately normalized by graft‐derived DA replacement in striatum alone. In the present study, we assessed the feasibility of grafting embryonic DA neurons into the substantia nigra (SN) of adult parkinsonian monkeys as an approach to restoration of the DA modulation of striatal‐nigral afferents that is lost after degeneration of SN neurons. Sixteen St. Kitts African green monkeys treated with 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) received implants of embryonic monkey ventral mesencephalon (VM), or sham implants, aimed at the rostral SN. At 6 months after grafting, staining for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) indicated that grafted DA neurons survived at this site, albeit often in reduced numbers compared with VM grafts to striatum. Grafted neurons extended neurites into the parenchyma of the SN, but there was no evidence of lengthy extension of graft‐derived neurites rostrally along the trajectory of the mesostriatal fiber system. A region‐specific, modest increase in DA levels and TH‐positive fiber density in the ventral‐medial putamen was detected, accompanied by modest but significant decreases in parkinsonian behaviors at 5–6 months after grafting. Our findings support the view that grafting embryonic tissue to the SN is a feasible procedure in nonhuman primates that provides a modest but detectable benefit of its own. These results encourage the further development of multiple‐target grafting strategies as a means of restoring modulation of anatomically widespread basal ganglia structures relevant to treatment of Parkinson's disease. J. Comp. Neurol. 442:320–330, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.