Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymmetric dimethylarginine in angiotensin II-induced hypertension.

Recent studies have shown that asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, is increased in hypertension and chronic kidney disease. However, little is known about the effects of hypertension per se on ADMA metabolism. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that ANG II-induced hypertension, in the absence of renal injury, is associated with increased oxidative stress and plasma and renal cortex ADMA levels in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with ANG II at 200 ng.kg(-1). min(-1) sc (by minipump) for 1 or 3 wk or at 400 ng.kg(-1). min(-1) for 6 wk. Mean arterial pressure was increased after 3 and 6 wk of ANG II; however, renal injury (proteinuria, glomerular sclerosis, and interstitial fibrosis) was only evident after 6 wk of treatment. Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances concentration and renal cortex p22(phox) protein abundance were increased early (1 and 3 wk), but urinary excretion of isoprostane and H(2)O(2) was only increased after 6 wk of ANG II. An increased in plasma ADMA after 6 wk of ANG II was associated with increased lung protein arginine methyltransferase-1 abundance and decreased renal cortex dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase activity. No changes in renal cortex ADMA were observed. ANG II hypertension in the absence of renal injury is not associated with increased ADMA; however, when the severity and duration of the treatment were increased, plasma ADMA increased. These data suggest that elevated blood pressure alone, for up to 3 wk, in the absence of renal injury does not play an important role in the regulation of ADMA. However, the presence of renal injury and sustained hypertension for 6 wk increases ADMA levels and contributes to nitric oxide deficiency and cardiovascular disease.
Functional p38 MAPK Identified by Biomarker Profiling of Pancreatic Cancer Restrains Growth through JNK Inhibition and Correlates with Improved Survival

Purpose: Numerous biomarkers for pancreatic cancer have been reported. We determined the extent to which such biomarkers are expressed throughout metastatic progression, including those that effectively predict biologic behavior. Experimental Design: Biomarker profiling was performed for 35 oncoproteins in matched primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer tissues from 36 rapid autopsy patients. Proteins of significance were validated by immunolabeling in an independent sample set, and functional studies were performed in vitro and in vivo. Results: Most biomarkers were similarly expressed or lost in expression in most samples analyzed, and the matched primary and metastases from a specific patient were most similar to each other than to other patients. However, a subset of proteins showed extensive interpatient heterogeneity, one of which was p38 MAPK. Strong positive pp38 MAPK immunolabeling was significantly correlated with improved postresection survival by multivariate analysis (median overall survival 27.9 months, P = 0.041). In pancreatic cancer cells, inhibition of functional p38 by SB202190 increased cell proliferation in vitro in both low-serum and low-oxygen conditions. High functional p38 activity in vitro corresponded to lower levels of pJNK protein expression, and p38 inhibition resulted in increased pJNK and pMKK7 by Western blot analysis. Moreover, JNK inhibition by SP600125 or MKK7 siRNA knockdown antagonized the effects of p38 inhibition by SB202190. In vivo, SP600125 significantly decreased growth rates of xenografts with high p38 activity compared with those without p38 expression. Conclusions: Functional p38 MAPK activity contributes to overall survival through JNK signaling, thus providing a rationale for JNK inhibition in pancreatic cancer management. Clin Cancer Res; 20(23); 6200–11. ©2014 AACR.
Implementation of a Formal Standard for Interoperability in M & S / Systems of Systems Integration with DEVS / SOA

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is finding increasing application in development and testing of command and control systems comprised of information-intensive component systems. Achieving interoperability is one of the chief System of Systems (SoS) engineering objectives in the development of command and control (C2) capabilities for joint and coalition warfare. In this paper, we apply an SoS perspective on the integration of M&S with such systems. We employ recently developed interoperability concepts based on linguistic categories along with the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) formalism to implement a standard for interoperability. We will show how the developed standard is implemented in DEVS/SOA net-centric modeling and simulation framework that uses XML-based Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). We will discuss the simulator interfaces and the design issues in their implementation in DEVS/SOA. We will illustrate the application of DEVS/SOA in a multi-agent test instrumentation system that is deployable as a SOA. 2 The International C2 Journal | Vol 3, No 1
How do users handle inconsistent information?: the effect of search expertise

While search engines sometimes return different documents containing contradictory answers, little is known about how users handle inconsistent information. This paper investigates the effect of search expertise (defined as specialized knowledge on the internal workings of search engines) on search behavior and satisfaction criteria of users. We selected four tasks comprising factoid questions with inconsistent answers, extracted answers that 30 study participants had found in these tasks, and analyzed their answer-finding behavior in terms of the presence or absence of search expertise. Our main findings are as follows: (1) finding inconsistent answers causes users with search expertise (search experts) to feel dissatisfied, while effort in searching for answers is the dominant factor in task satisfaction for those without search expertise (search non-experts); (2) search experts tend to spend longer completing tasks than search non-experts even after finding possible answers; and (3) search experts narrow down the scope of searches to promising answers as time passes as opposed to search non-experts, who search for any answers even in the closing stage of task sessions. These findings suggest that search non-experts tend to be less concerned about the consistency in their found answers, on the basis of which we discuss the design implications for making search non-experts aware of the existence of inconsistent answers and helping them to search for supporting evidence for answers.
Altered Metabolism of Growth Hormone Receptor Mutant Mice: A Combined NMR Metabonomics and Microarray Study

Background Growth hormone is an important regulator of post-natal growth and metabolism. We have investigated the metabolic consequences of altered growth hormone signalling in mutant mice that have truncations at position 569 and 391 of the intracellular domain of the growth hormone receptor, and thus exhibit either low (around 30% maximum) or no growth hormone-dependent STAT5 signalling respectively. These mutations result in altered liver metabolism, obesity and insulin resistance. Methodology/Principal Findings The analysis of metabolic changes was performed using microarray analysis of liver tissue and NMR metabonomics of urine and liver tissue. Data were analyzed using multivariate statistics and Gene Ontology tools. The metabolic profiles characteristic for each of the two mutant groups and wild-type mice were identified with NMR metabonomics. We found decreased urinary levels of taurine, citrate and 2-oxoglutarate, and increased levels of trimethylamine, creatine and creatinine when compared to wild-type mice. These results indicate significant changes in lipid and choline metabolism, and were coupled with increased fat deposition, leading to obesity. The microarray analysis identified changes in expression of metabolic enzymes correlating with alterations in metabolite concentration both in urine and liver. Similarity of mutant 569 to the wild-type was seen in young mice, but the pattern of metabolites shifted to that of the 391 mutant as the 569 mice became obese after six months age. Conclusions/Significance The metabonomic observations were consistent with the parallel analysis of gene expression and pathway mapping using microarray data, identifying metabolites and gene transcripts involved in hepatic metabolism, especially for taurine, choline and creatinine metabolism. The systems biology approach applied in this study provides a coherent picture of metabolic changes resulting from impaired STAT5 signalling by the growth hormone receptor, and supports a potentially important role for taurine in enhancing β-oxidation.
Enhanced Detection of Power-Quality Events Using Intra and Interscale Dependencies of Wavelet Coefficients

Noise in power-quality (PQ) signals has been the biggest hurdle in wavelet-based detection and time localization of PQ events. The well-known threshold-based denoising techniques, used in the signal-processing area, do not perform well with practical PQ waveform data. This paper proposes a simple yet effective denoising technique using inter and intrascale dependencies of wavelet coefficients to denoise PQ waveform data for enhanced detection and time localization of PQ disturbances. Utilizing the fact that the wavelet coefficients are not only correlated with its local neighborhood within the subband but also across the subband, the proposed method exploits the local structure of wavelet coefficients as well as high correlation of adjacent wavelet scales. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested and demonstrated with both simulated and measured power-line disturbance data, and the results show that the proposed scheme significantly outperforms existing methods used to denoise PQ data.
Chemical and statistical interpretation of sized aerosol particles collected at an urban site in Thessaloniki, Greece

The size distribution of aerosol particles (PM0.015-PM18) in relation to their soluble inorganic species and total water soluble organic compounds (WSOC) was investigated at an urban site of Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. The sampling period was from February to July 2007. The determined compounds were compared with mass concentrations of the PM fractions for nano (N: 0.015 < Dp < 0.06), ultrafine (UFP: 0.015 < Dp < 0.125), fine (FP: 0.015 < Dp < 2.0) and coarse particles (CP: 2.0 < Dp < 8.0) in order to perform mass closure of the water soluble content for the respective fractions. Electrolytes were the dominant species in all fractions (24–27%), followed by WSOC (16–23%). The water soluble inorganic and organic content was found to account for 53% of the nanoparticle, 48% of the ultrafine particle, 45% of the fine particle and 44% of the coarse particle mass. Correlations between the analyzed species were performed and the effect of local and long-range transported emissions was examined by wind direction and backward air mass trajectories. Multivariate statistical analysis (cluster analysis and principal components analysis) of the collected data was performed in order to reveal the specific data structure. Possible sources of air pollution were identified and an attempt is made to find patterns of similarity between the different sized aerosols and the seasons of monitoring. It was proven that several major latent factors are responsible for the data structure despite the size of the aerosols – mineral (soil) dust, sea sprays, secondary emissions, combustion sources and industrial impact. The seasonal separation proved to be not very specific.
Remission of renal disease: recounting the challenge, acquiring the goal.

Renal excretory function begins at the glomerular capillaries with the formation of a nearly ideal ultrafiltrate of plasma. The volume and composition of the ultrafiltrate undergo sequential change along the nephron, ultimately regulated to preserve near-constancy of mineral, electrolyte, and fluid balance. Modest derangement of these processes often escapes clinical or laboratory detection, because the myriad of unimpaired nephrons compensate more or less completely. Beyond a certain level of injury, however, compensatory adaptations no longer keep pace with nephron loss. As a result, glomerular filtration rate declines and organic nitrogenous wastes (e.g., creatinine, urea) accumulate in plasma and other body fluids. In acute renal failure, injury is usually transient, so that deterioration of function is short-lived and reversible. Not so, however, with the many forms of irreversible nephron damage, which typically progress over time, often eventuating in complete loss of renal function, systemic toxicity (uremia), and death unless the lost function is replaced by chronic dialysis and/or successful renal transplantation. Much of the effort in nephrology since the 1970s has been concerned with improving the effectiveness of these renal-replacement therapies. In the late 1960s, we fortuitously gained access to a unique strain of rats with many glomeruli that are situated on the renal cortical surface. For the first time, mammalian glomeruli were therefore accessible to direct study by new microtechniques developed in our laboratory. We therefore addressed the following questions: (a) What are the precise hemodynamic forces and biophysical properties that govern glomerular capillary function in health? (b) How are these elements modified during renal injury? (c) Do these modifications contribute to the relentless progression of renal disease? (d) If so, can they be reversed, so as to retard further deterioration of renal function and prevent end-stage renal disease (ESRD)?
Effect of nozzle size on texturing performance: comparison between air-jet and steam-jet texturing

The objectives of this research work were to investigate the use of steam in order to replace air in the production of spun-like textured yarn and to investigate the optimum nozzle size for steam-jet textured yarn for the application of sewing thread. An existing air-jet texturing machine was modified to supply either air or steam to the texturing nozzle. Using four texturing nozzles, both air-jet and steam-jet textured yarns were manufactured. The effect of nozzle size on process and yarn parameters has been studied and compared with air-jet textured yarns. The results show that spun-like textured yarn manufactured using steam has lower loop instability and higher tensile properties than air at comparable fluid pressures. SEM image analysis shows that the entangled structure of the steam-jet textured yarns is similar to air-jet textured yarns. Further, sewability results show that steam-jet textured yarns are suitable to manufacture sewing threads.
Increased paediatric admissions with asthma in Western Australia — a problem of diagnosis?

A study of hospital admissions of paediatric cases with asthma over a 17‐year period (1971–1987) in Western Australia was performed retrospectively. Hospital admission rates for asthma increased in all paediatric age‐groups with the most dramatic increase occurring in the youngest (zero‐ to four‐years') age‐group. This increase in hospital admissions for asthma has been accompanied by a rapid decline in admissions for other paediatric respiratory conditions that share a potential diagnostic overlap with asthma. Hospital admission rates for asthma have reached a plateau at the major paediatric teaching hospital in the State from 1977 and Statewide from 1983. Diagnostic transfer has contributed significantly to the reported increase in hospital admissions for asthma over the past two decades.
Withdrawal: a review of the literature and an agenda for research.

A review to evaluate available literature about withdrawal (coitus interruptus) reveals a dearth of research on the current prevalence, acceptability, use-effectiveness, service-delivery issues, and safety of this ancient and widely used temporary contraceptive method. Population and family planning professionals are shown to have neglected withdrawal in favor of modern, female-controlled methods. This neglect is founded largely upon the popular belief that fertile levels of viable sperm are present in pre-ejaculatory fluid, despite data to the contrary. The validity of existing data on the prevalence of withdrawal is questioned because of the methodological bias inherent in most studies. The use-effectiveness of the practice and its relationship to sexually transmitted diseases have not been adequately investigated. A detailed research agenda on numerous topics concerning withdrawal is proposed.
Getting Your Peaks in Line: A Review of Alignment Methods for NMR Spectral Data

One of the most significant challenges in the comparative analysis of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) metabolome profiles is the occurrence of shifts between peaks across different spectra, for example caused by fluctuations in pH, temperature, instrument factors and ion content. Proper alignment of spectral peaks is therefore often a crucial preprocessing step prior to downstream quantitative analysis. Various alignment methods have been developed specifically for this purpose. Other methods were originally developed to align other data types (GC, LC, SELDI-MS, etc.), but can also be applied to NMR data. This review discusses the available methods, as well as related problems such as reference determination or the evaluation of alignment quality. We present a generic alignment framework that allows for comparison and classification of different alignment approaches according to their algorithmic principles, and we discuss their performance.
Critical contribution of liver natural killer T cells to a murine model of hepatitis.

Natural killer T (NKT) cells constitute a distinct subpopulation of T cells with a unique antigen specificity, prompt effector functions, and an unusual tissue distribution. NKT cells are especially abundant in the liver, but their physiological function in this organ remains unclear. In the present study, we examined the possible contribution of NKT cells to a murine model of hepatitis induced by i.v. injection of Con A. CD1-deficient mice lacking NKT cells were highly resistant to Con A-induced hepatitis. Adoptive transfer of hepatic NKT cells isolated from wild-type mice, but not from FasL-deficient gld mice, sensitized CD1-deficient mice to Con A-induced hepatitis. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of hepatic mononuclear cells from wild-type mice, but not from CD1-deficient mice, sensitized gld mice to Con A-induced hepatitis. Upon Con A administration, hepatic NKT cells rapidly up-regulated cell surface FasL expression and FasL-mediated cytotoxicity. At the same time, NKT cells underwent apoptosis leading to their rapid disappearance in the liver. These results implicated FasL expression on liver NKT cells in the pathogenesis of Con A-induced hepatitis, suggesting a similar pathogenic role in human liver diseases such as autoimmune hepatitis.
Cancer Screening Awareness and Practice in a Middle Income Country; A Systematic Review from Iran

Objective: Ageing population and noticeable changes in lifestyle in developing countries like Iran caused an increase in cancer incidence. This requires organized cancer prevention and screening programs in population level, but most importantly community should be aware of these programs and willing to use them. This study explored existing evidence on public awareness and practice, as well as, adherence to cancer screening in Iranian population. Methods: Major English databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and domestic Persian databases i.e., SID, Magiran, and Barakat search engines were searched. All publications with focus on Iranian public awareness about cancer prevention, screening, and early detection programs which were published until August 2015, were explored in this systematic review. For this purpose, we used sensitive Persian phrases/key terms and English keywords which were extracted from medical subject headings (MeSH). Taking PRISMA guidelines into considerations eligible documents, were evaluated and abstracted by two separate reviewers. Results: We found 72 articles relevant to this topic. Screening tests were known to, or being utilized by only a limited number of Iranians. Most Iranian women relied on physical examination particularly self-examination, instead of taking mammogram, as the most standard test to find breast tumors. Less than half of the average-risk adult populations were familiar with colorectal cancer risk factors and its screening tests, and only very limited number of studies reported taking at least one time colonoscopy or FOBT, at most 5.0% and 15.0%, respectively. Around half of women were familiar with cervical cancer and Pap-smear test with less than 45% having completed at least one lifetime test. The lack of health insurance coverage was a barrier to participate in screening tests. Furthermore some people would not select to be screened only because they do not know how or where they can receive these services. Conclusion: Low awareness and suboptimal use of screening tests in Iran calls for effective programs to enhance intention and compliance to screening, improving the patient-physician communication, identifying barriers for screening and providing tailored public awareness and screening programs.
AKAP12 Mediates Barrier Functions of Fibrotic Scars during CNS Repair

The repair process after CNS injury shows a well-organized cascade of three distinct stages: inflammation, new tissue formation, and remodeling. In the new tissue formation stage, various cells migrate and form the fibrotic scar surrounding the lesion site. The fibrotic scar is known as an obstacle for axonal regeneration in the remodeling stage. However, the role of the fibrotic scar in the new tissue formation stage remains largely unknown. We found that the number of A-kinase anchoring protein 12 (AKAP12)-positive cells in the fibrotic scar was increased over time, and the cells formed a structure which traps various immune cells. Furthermore, the AKAP12-positive cells strongly express junction proteins which enable the structure to function as a physical barrier. In in vivo validation, AKAP12 knock-out (KO) mice showed leakage from a lesion, resulting from an impaired structure with the loss of the junction complex. Consistently, focal brain injury in the AKAP12 KO mice led to extended inflammation and more severe tissue damage compared to the wild type (WT) mice. Accordingly, our results suggest that AKAP12-positive cells in the fibrotic scar may restrict excessive inflammation, demonstrating certain mechanisms that could underlie the beneficial actions of the fibrotic scar in the new tissue formation stage during the CNS repair process.