Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the Capacity to Generate and Preserve Nitric Oxide Bioactivity in Highly Purified Earthworm Erythrocruorin

Background: Earthworm hemoglobin (LtHb) is a potential blood substitute. Results: LtHb can generate nitric oxide (NO) and preserve NO bioactivity. Conclusion: LtHb reactions with nitrite and NO are indicative of therapeutic possibilities. Significance: The results further highlight the potential role of hemoglobins in NO homeostasis. The giant extracellular hemoglobin (erythrocruorin) from the earth worm (Lumbricus terrestris) has shown promise as a potential hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC) in in vivo animal studies. An important beneficial characteristic of this hemoglobin (LtHb) is the large number of heme-based oxygen transport sites that helps overcome issues of osmotic stress when attempting to provide enough material for efficient oxygen delivery. A potentially important additional property is the capacity of the HBOC either to generate nitric oxide (NO) or to preserve NO bioactivity to compensate for decreased levels of NO in the circulation. The present study compares the NO-generating and NO bioactivity-preserving capability of LtHb with that of human adult hemoglobin (HbA) through several reactions including the nitrite reductase, reductive nitrosylation, and still controversial nitrite anhydrase reactions. An assignment of a heme-bound dinitrogen trioxide as the stable intermediate associated with the nitrite anhydrase reaction in both LtHb and HbA is supported based on functional and EPR spectroscopic studies. The role of the redox potential as a factor contributing to the NO-generating activity of these two proteins is evaluated. The results show that LtHb undergoes the same reactions as HbA and that the reduced efficacy for these reactions for LtHb relative to HbA is consistent with the much higher redox potential of LtHb. Evidence of functional heterogeneity in LtHb is explained in terms of the large difference in the redox potential of the isolated subunits.
C‐reactive protein impairs hepatic insulin sensitivity and insulin signaling in rats: Role of mitogen‐activated protein kinases

Plasma C‐reactive protein (CRP) concentration is increased in the metabolic syndrome, which consists of a cluster of cardiovascular disease risk factors, including insulin resistance. It is not known, however, whether CRP is merely a marker of accompanying inflammation or whether it contributes causally to insulin resistance. The objective of this study is to investigate the role that CRP may play in the development of insulin resistance. We examined the effect of single‐dose intravenous administration of purified human (h)CRP on insulin sensitivity in Sprague‐Dawley rats using the euglycemic, hyperinsulinemic clamp technique. hCRP was associated with impaired insulin suppression of endogenous glucose production with no reduction in peripheral tissue glucose uptake, suggesting that hCRP mediated insulin resistance in the liver but not extrahepatic tissues. We further assessed components of the insulin signaling pathway and mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in the liver. Liver tissues derived from hCRP‐treated rats showed reduced insulin‐stimulated insulin receptor substrate (IRS) tyrosine phosphorylation, IRS/phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) association, and Akt phosphorylation, consistent with hCRP‐induced impairment of hepatic insulin signaling. Furthermore, hCRP enhanced phosphorylation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and p38 MAPK as well as IRS‐1 Ser612. Finally, we observed in primary cultured rat hepatocytes that U0126 (a selective inhibitor of MAPK/ERK kinase1/2) corrected hCRP‐induced impairment of insulin signaling. Conclusions: hCRP plays an active role in inducing hepatic insulin resistance in the rat, at least in part by activating ERK1/2, with downstream impairment in the insulin signaling pathway. (HEPATOLOGY 2011)
Decentralized Resource Allocation in Dynamic Networks of Agents

We consider the problem of n agents that share m common resources. The objective is to derive an optimal allocation that maximizes a global objective expressed as a separable concave objective function. We propose a decentralized, asynchronous gradient-descent method that is suitable for implementation in the case where the communication between agents is described in terms of a dynamic network. This communication model accommodates situations such as mobile agents and communication failures. The method is shown to converge provided that the objective function has Lipschitz-continuous gradients. We further consider a randomized version of the same algorithm for the case where the objective function is nondifferentiable but has bounded subgradients. We show that both algorithms converge to near-optimal solutions and derive convergence rates in terms of the magnitude of the gradient of the objective function. We show how to accommodate nonnegativity constraints on the resources using the results derived. Ex.
Do children with autism acknowledge the influence of mood on behaviour?

We tested whether children with and without high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) differ in their understanding of the influence of mood states on behaviour. A total of 122 children with HFASD or typical development were asked to predict and explain the behaviour of story characters during hypothetical social interactions. HFASD and typically developing children predicted at equal rates that mood states likely result in similar valenced behaviour. `Explicit' descriptions were used to explain predictions more often by children with HFASD than by typically developing children. However, `implicit' and `irrelevant' descriptions elicited fewer mood references among HFASD children. Furthermore, they less often referred to the uncertainty of the influence of mood on behaviour, and less often used mood-related explanations, in particular when they had to rely on implicit information. This may indicate a rote- rather than self-generated understanding of emotions in children with HFASD.
Re: Lack of serologic evidence for prevalent simian virus 40 infection in humans.

We read with interest the recent article by Carter et al. (1), in which human sera were screened for antibodies to simian virus 40 (SV40). Sera were screened for SV40 antibodies by an enzymelinked immunosorbent assay using SV40 VP1 virus-like particles (VLPs) as antigens. Although the fraction of SV40-positive human sera (6.6%) in the Carter et al. study (1) is in agreement with the results obtained in other investigations (2–6), Carter et al. report that SV40 reactivity in human sera disappeared after serum preadsorption with VLPs of BK virus (BKV) and JC virus
System-level performance study of interference alignment in cellular systems with base-station coordination

The performance of any transmission scheme is coupled with the receive strategy. Herein the behavior of transmissions based on interference alignment scheme is investigated under different receive strategies. Moreover, interference alignment is compared with different state-of-art transmission schemes under the assumption of intrabase station and inter-base station coordination. The performance of the above-mentioned techniques is assessed with a fully 3GPP compliant downlink LTE simulator, which gives a very realistic picture of the behavior in real systems. The results have shown that interference alignment is underperforming with respect to the baseline using base station coordination, when a realistic number of base stations is considered. Moreover, the gains of interference alignment are also highly dependent on the receiver type, whereas the baselines show relatively low differences with different receivers.
Comparative studies on species identification of Noctuoidea moths in two nature reserve conservation zones (Beijing, China) using DNA barcodes and thin‐film biosensor chips

Rapid and accurate identification of species is required for the biological control of pest Noctuoidea moths. DNA barcodes and thin‐film biosensor chips are two molecular approaches that have gained wide attention. Here, we compare these two methods for the identification of a limited number of Noctuoidea moth species. Based on the commonly used mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (the standard DNA barcode for animal species), 14 probes were designed and synthesized for 14 species shared by two national nature reserves in Beijing and Hebei, China. Probes ranged in length from 18 to 27 bp and were designed as mismatch probes to guarantee that there were at least three base differences between the probe and nontarget sequences. The results on the chip could be detected by the naked eye without needing special equipment. No cross‐hybridizations were detected although we tested all probes on the 14 target and 24 nontarget Noctuoidea species. The neighbour‐joining tree of the 38 species based on COI sequences gave 38 highly supported independent groups. Both DNA barcoding and thin‐film biosensor chips, based on the COI gene, are able to accurately identify and discriminate the 14 targeted moth species in this study. Because of its speed, high accuracy and low cost, the thin‐film biosensor chip is a very practical means of species identification. Now, a more comprehensive chip will be developed for the identification of additional Noctuoidea moths for pest control and ecological protection.
NFX 1123 Increases hTERT Expression and Telomerase Activity Posttranscriptionally in Human Papillomavirus Type 16 E 6 Keratinocytes

NFX1-123 Increases hTERT Expression and Telomerase Activity Posttranscriptionally in Human Papillomavirus Type 16 E6 Keratinocytes Rachel A. Katzenellenbogen,* Portia Vliet-Gregg, Mei Xu, and Denise A. Galloway Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, and Department of Pediatrics and Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification on Iranian Population

Background: University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is one of the most common smell identification tests to assess olfactory function. Objectives: The study was conducted to assess the accuracy of University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) in Iranian population. Materials and Methods: University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test was performed on 30 (50%) female and 30 (50%) male, who were healthy adult volunteers. The total mean score as well as mean scores according to the gender were assessed and compared to the UPSIT classification. Odors considered valid and accurate if its correct identification ability rate was more than 70% among study population. Results: The test score was 25.04 ± 4.92 in female and 23.29 ± 4.23 in male volunteers that all were considered as microsmia according to UPSIT. Sixteen odorants were correctly identified by about 70% of the volunteers and the remains 24 odorants were identified by less than 70%; 7, 5 and 12 odors was identified by60%-70%, 50%-60% and less than 50% of the volunteers, respectively. Conclusions: According to the results of the study, documented that even less than half of the odors (16 out of 40) were identified correctly by the volunteers, which indicating that the UPSIT is not a suitable test to evaluate olfactory function in Iranian population due to the high amount of unfamiliar smells that should be replaced with more familiar ones.
Mycobacterium bovis as a significant cause of tuberculosis in children residing along the United States-Mexico border in the Baja California region.

OBJECTIVE To determine the role of Mycobacterium bovis in active pediatric tuberculosis (TB) in a United States-Mexico border region. METHOD We reviewed all new cases of pediatric (<15 years old) TB presenting to San Diego hospitals and clinics from 1980 to 1997. Patients were categorized by age, ethnicity, country of origin, culture results, and disease manifestations. Case definitions were similar to those used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. M bovis was distinguished from Mycobacterium tuberculosis by standard biochemical tests. RESULTS The median age of the 563 identified patients was 4.1 years old. The yearly incidence began rising in 1989 and peaked in the mid-1990s. Hispanics constituted 78.9% of the patients, but they were less likely to be foreign-born (21.6%) than were black children and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Overall, M bovis caused 10.8% of all TB during this period. Of the 180 patients with positive culture results, however, M bovis accounted for 33.9% and M tuberculosis 66. 1%. This high percentage of M bovis infections was largely attributable to its contribution to extrapulmonary TB (55.2% of all culture-positive specimens). M bovis patients were also even more likely to be Hispanic (90.2%), to present with extrapulmonary disease (95.1%), and to be older than 12 months (96.8%). CONCLUSION These data demonstrate the dramatic impact of this underappreciated cause of zoonotic TB on US children at the Mexican border and underscore the need for cross-collaboration to enforce existing Mexican pasteurization laws.
BH4 (tetrahydrobiopterin)‐dependent activation, but not the expression, of inducible NOS (nitric oxide synthase)‐2 in proinflammatory cytokine‐stimulated, cultured normal human astrocytes is mediated by MEK–ERK kinases

Nitric oxide (NO) from astrocytes is one of the signalers used by the brain's extensive glial‐neuronal‐vascular network, but its excessive production by pro‐inflammatory cytokine‐stimulated glial cells can be cytodestructive. Here, we show how three pro‐inflammatory cytokines (IL‐1β, TNF‐α, and IFN‐γ) together stimulated the activation, but not the prior expression, of NOS‐2 protein via a mechanism involving MEK–ERKs protein kinases in astrocytes from adult human cerebral temporal cortex. The cytokines triggered a transient burst of p38 MAPK activity and the production of NOS‐2 mRNA which were followed by bursts of MEK–ERK activities, synthesis of the NOS‐2 co‐factor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), a build‐up of NOS‐2 protein and from it active NOS‐2 enzyme. Selectively inhibiting MEK1/MEK2, but not the earlier burst of p38 MAPK activity, with a brief exposure to U0126 between 24 and 24.5 h after adding the cytokine triad affected neither NOS‐2 expression nor NOS‐2 protein accumulation but stopped BH4 synthesis and the assembly of the NOS‐2 protein into active NOS‐2 enzyme. The complete blockage of active NOS‐2 production by the brief exposure to U0126 was bypassed by simply adding BH4 to the culture medium. Therefore, this cytokine triad triggered two completely separable, tandem operating mechanisms in normal human astrocytes, the first being NOS‐2 gene expression and accumulation of NOS‐2 protein and the second being the synthesis of the BH4 factor needed to dimerize the NOS‐2 protein into active, NO‐making NOS‐2 enzyme. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment And the Developing Social Brain

As human beings, we cherish our individuality yet we know that we live in constant relationship to others, and that other people play a significant part in regulating our emotional and social behavior. Although this interdependence is a reality of our existence, we are just beginning to understand that we have evolved as social creatures with interwoven brains and biologies. The human brain itself is a social organ and to truly understand being human, we must understand not only how we as whole people exist with others, but how our brains, themselves, exist in relationship to other brains. The first edition of this book tackled these important questions of interpersonal neurobiology-that the brain is a social organ built through experience-using poignant case examples from the author's years of clinical experience. Brain drawings and elegant explanations of social neuroscience wove together emerging findings from the research literature to bring neuroscience to the stories of our lives. Since the publication of the first edition in 2006, the field of social neuroscience has grown at a mind-numbing pace. Technical advances now provide more windows into our inner neural universe and terms like attachment, empathy, compassion, and mindfulness have begun to appear in the scientific literature. Overall, there has been a deepening appreciation for the essential interdependence of brain and mind. More and more parents, teachers, and therapists are asking how brains develop, grow, connect, learn, and heal. The new edition of this book organizes this cutting-edge, abundant research and presents its compelling insights, reflecting a host of significant developments in social neuroscience. Our understanding of mirror neurons and their significance to human relationships has continued to expand and deepen and is discussed here. Additionally, this edition reflects the gradual shift in focus from individual brain structures to functional neural systems-an important and necessary step forward. A great deal of neural overlap has been discovered in brain activation when we are thinking about others and ourselves. This raises many questions including how we come to know others and whether the notion of an "individual self" is anything more than an evolutionary strategy to support our interconnection. In short, we are just beginning to see the larger implications of all neurological processes-how the architecture of the brain can help us to better understand individuals and our relationships. This book gives readers a deeper appreciation of how and why relationships have the power to reshape our brains throughout our life.
A Review of Digital, Social, and Mobile Technologies in Health Professional Education

Introduction: Digital, social, and mobile technologies (DSMTs) can support a wide range of self-directed learning activities, providing learners with diverse resources, information, and ways to network that support their learning needs. DSMTs are increasingly used to facilitate learning across the continuum of health professional education (HPE). Given the diverse characteristics of DSMTs and the formal, informal, and nonformal nature of health professional learning, a review of the literature on DSMTs and HPE could inform more effective adoption and usage by regulatory organizations, educators, and learners. Methods: A scoping review of the literature was performed to explore the effectiveness and implications of adopting and using DSMTs across the educational continuum in HPE. A data extraction tool was used to review and analyze 125 peer-reviewed articles. Common themes were identified by thematic analysis. Results: Most articles (56.0%) related to undergraduate education; 31.2% to continuing professional development, and 52.8% to graduate/postgraduate education. The main DSMTs described include mobile phones, apps, tablets, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Approximately half of the articles (49.6%) reported evaluative outcomes at a satisfaction/reaction level; 45.6% were commentaries, reporting no evaluative outcomes. Most studies reporting evaluative outcomes suggest that learners across all levels are typically satisfied with the use of DSMTs in their learning. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes: use of DSMTs across the HPE continuum; key benefits and barriers; and best practices. Discussion: Despite the positive commentary on the potential benefits and opportunities for enhancing teaching and learning in HPE with DSMTs, there is limited evidence at this time that demonstrates effectiveness of DSMTs at higher evaluative outcome levels. Further exploration of the learning benefits and effectiveness of DSMTs for teaching and learning in HPE is warranted.
Minocycline upregulates cyclic AMP response element binding protein and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus of cerebral ischemia rats and improves behavioral deficits

Background and purpose The cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) plays an important role in the mechanism of cognitive impairment and is also pivotal in the switch from short-term to long-term memory. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) seems a promising avenue in the treatment of cerebral ischemia injury since this neurotrophin could stimulate structural plasticity and repair cognitive impairment. Several findings have displayed that the dysregulation of the CREB–BDNF cascade has been involved in cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cerebral ischemia on learning and memory as well as on the levels of CREB, phosphorylated CREB (pCREB), and BDNF, and to determine the effect of minocycline on CREB, pCREB, BDNF, and behavioral functional recovery after cerebral ischemia. Methods The animal model was established by permanent bilateral occlusion of both common carotid arteries. Behavior was evaluated 5 days before decapitation with Morris water maze and open-field task. Four days after permanent bilateral occlusion of both common carotid arteries, minocycline was administered by douche via the stomach for 4 weeks. CREB and pCREB were examined by Western blotting, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry. BDNF was measured by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Results The model rats after minocycline treatment swam shorter distances than control rats before finding the platform (P=0.0007). The number of times the platform position was crossed for sham-operation rats was more than that of the model groups in the corresponding platform location (P=0.0021). The number of times the platform position was crossed for minocycline treatment animals was significantly increased compared to the model groups in the corresponding platform position (P=0.0016). CREB, pCREB, and BDNF were downregulated after permanent bilateral occlusion of both common carotid arteries in the model group. Minocycline increased the expression of CREB, pCREB, and BDNF, and improved cognitive suffered from impairment of permanent bilateral occlusion of both common carotid arteries. Conclusion Minocycline improved cognitive impairment from cerebral ischemia via enhancing CREB, pCREB, and BDNF activity in the hippocampus.
Prevalence and polarization of dental caries among young, healthy adults: Cross-sectional epidemiological study

Abstract Objective. Oral health of young people has improved in the industrialized countries during past decades. However, stagnation of this progress has been reported recently. The main aim of this epidemiological study was to investigate the level of cariological treatment history and need (DMFT, DT) and polarization of dental caries among a healthy young male population born in the early 1990s. Materials and methods. Oral health of 13,564 men and 255 women born in 1990, 1991 or 1992 was screened based on the WHO criteria for epidemiological studies by 15 calibrated dentists in 20 garrisons (of a total 24) of the Finnish Defence Forces in January and July 2011. Mean DMFT and DT (SD) values and their distribution were calculated excluding wisdom teeth. Polarization was investigated using the Lorentz analysis. Results. Mean DMFT, DT and FT values were DMFT = 4.1 (SD = 4.2), DT = 1.4 (SD = 2.5) and FT = 2.7 (SD = 2.9). Almost half of the men (45.1%) and one third of the women (37.3%) had at least one tooth needing restorative treatment. About 30% of the conscripts had 90% of all caries lesions and ∼ 10% of the conscripts had half of all lesions. Conclusions. Oral health of young males has not improved since the previous study among conscripts 15 years ago. Polarization of dental caries still exists. About half of the young male population still has manifested dental caries. Oral health promotion must not be neglected, even in countries with low caries prevalence.