Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of alveolar macrophage and type II cell DNA synthesis : effects of ozone inhalation

Prokhorova, Svetlana, Naimish Patel, and Debra L. Laskin. Regulation of alveolar macrophage and type II cell DNA synthesis: effects of ozone inhalation. Am. J. Physiol. 275 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 19): L1200–L1207, 1998. —A characteristic reaction of the lung to inhaled ozone is an increase in the number of type II epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages (AMs). In the present study, we analyzed mechanisms regulating this response. Acute exposure of rats to ozone (2 parts/million, 3 h) induced expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, a marker of cellular proliferation, in both type II cells and AMs. This was maximum 48 h after ozone inhalation. Type II cells and AMs isolated from treated rats at this time also incorporated significantly more [3H]thymidine ([3H]TdR) than cells from control animals. When type II cells and AMs were cocultured, a synergistic increase in [3H]TdR uptake was observed. This appeared to be due to increased DNA synthesis by both cell types. Thus [3H]TdR incorporation by type II cells and AMs cocultured with mitomycin C-treated AMs and type II cells, respectively, was elevated compared with cells cultured alone. Type II cells and AMs plated onto tissue culture inserts, as well as culture supernatants from these cells, were found to stimulate DNA synthesis in AMs and type II cells, respectively. In addition, crude membrane preparations from these cells exhibited growth-promoting activity. Thus the mitogenic effects of both cell types appeared to be mediated by soluble factors and membrane-associated molecules. Ozone inhalation resulted in an increase in the mitogenic activity of AMs treated with mitomycin C and plated on tissue culture inserts toward type II cells and of type II cell culture supernatants toward AMs. These data suggest that type II cell and AM proliferation contributes to the regulation of the number of cells in the lung under normal homeostatic conditions and after ozoneinduced injury. Moreover, type II cells and AMs produce paracrine mediators that contribute to cellular proliferative responses.
Update on the efficacy and safety of Petadolex ® , a butterbur extract for migraine prophylaxis

: Migraine has a heavy socioeconomic impact in terms of lost productivity and burden on the health care system. The efficacy of current drug regimens in migraine prophylaxis is limited, and therapeutic alternatives are needed. These include a range of herbal medicines based on butterbur, feverfew, St John’s wort, and Ginkgo. Of these, Petadolex ® , an extract of the but-terbur root, is the most promising. Petadolex ® has been investigated in four studies, including one good quality clinical trial involving 202 patients, two randomized controlled trials with smaller cohorts including adults and children, and a large observational, open-label study. However, post-marketing surveillance only supports its safety at lower doses and over treatment durations shorter than those used in the clinical trials. Moreover, the long-term safety of the product has been called into question, leading to withdrawal in some European countries. This review draws an overall picture of this complex set of data. The safety and efficacy of Petadolex ® remains a matter of debate by a number of clinical, regulatory, and professional bodies.
Learning Deep Structured Multi-Scale Features using Attention-Gated CRFs for Contour Prediction

Recent works have shown that exploiting multi-scale representations deeply learned via convolutional neural networks (CNN) is of tremendous importance for accurate contour detection. This paper presents a novel approach for predicting contours which advances the state of the art in two fundamental aspects, i.e. multi-scale feature generation and fusion. Different from previous works directly consider- ing multi-scale feature maps obtained from the inner layers of a primary CNN architecture, we introduce a hierarchical deep model which produces more rich and complementary representations. Furthermore, to refine and robustly fuse the representations learned at different scales, the novel Attention-Gated Conditional Random Fields (AG-CRFs) are proposed. The experiments ran on two publicly available datasets (BSDS500 and NYUDv2) demonstrate the effectiveness of the latent AG-CRF model and of the overall hierarchical framework.
Visual performance with multifocal soft contact lenses in non-presbyopic myopic eyes during an adaptation period

Purpose Multifocal soft contact lenses (MFCLs) have been proposed and used for controlling the rate of myopia progression; however, little is known on the performance and adaptation with MFCLs in non-presbyopes. This study aims to evaluate the visual performance of four commercially available MFCLs in non-presbyopic myopic eyes during an adaptation period. Methods Fifty-two experienced myopic contact lens wearers (67% female; mean age 21.4±2.0 years) were enrolled in this trial and 40 completed the trial. Twenty-six participants (Group 1) wore Lotrafilcon B single vision (SV, control), Omafilcon A MFCL center-distance (D) and center-near (N) and the other 26 participants (Group 2) wore Lotrafilcon B SV, Lotrafilcon B MFCL N, and Balafilcon A MFCL N. Lens order was randomized. Participants wore each allocated lens for a minimum of 8 days over four scheduled visits (dispensing and three follow-up visits) with a 1-week washout period between the lens types. At each visit, high-contrast visual acuity (HCVA) (in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution [logMAR]) and seven subjective performance variables (via questionnaire) were obtained. Power profiles of each lens type, pupil size, and contact lens centration, with lens placed on the eye, were measured. Results The SV control outperformed the MFCLs in all variables (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in HCVA over time, with the exception of monocular HCVA with Omafilcon A MFCL N, which at the end of the adaptation period had significantly (P<0.05) improved by 0.10 logMAR. No differences were found between visits for any subjective variables. Subjectively, Lotrafilcon B MFCL N performed best and was the only lens that did not decenter significantly compared to the SV control. Conversely, Omafilcon A MFCL N was the worst performing and most decentered lens (P<0.05, y=−0.39 mm), with the greatest plus area under the power profile. Conclusion MFCLs with greatest power variation across the optic zone, a greater plus area under the distance labeled power profile, and/or lenses that were significantly decentered resulted in the lowest subjective ratings. Over time, quality of vision with MFCLs did not change in non-presbyopic myopic participants, with the exception of Omafilcon A MFCL N, which showed some adaptation effects.
Lower activity of oxidative key enzymes and smaller fiber areas in skeletal muscle of postobese women.

Muscle fiber morphology and activities of four key enzymes, as well as energy metabolism, were determined in nine normal-weight postobese women and nine matched control subjects. No differences in fiber type composition, but a smaller mean fiber area and area of fiber types I and IIb, were found in postobese compared with control subjects ( P < 0.05). The activities of β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HADH) and citrate synthase (CS) were 20% lower in postobese than in control subjects ( P < 0.05). However, the activities of lactate dehydrogenase and lipoprotein lipase were not significantly different between postobese and control subjects. Basal metabolic rate and respiratory exchange ratio were also similar, but maximal oxygen uptake (V˙o 2 max) tended to be lower in postobese than in control subjects ( P = 0.06). When adjustments were made for differences inV˙o 2 max, HADH and CS were not different between postobese and control subjects. In conclusion, these data suggest that smaller fiber areas and lower enzyme activities, i.e., markers of aerobic capacity of skeletal muscle, but not fiber composition, may be factors predisposing to obesity.
Single-cell RNA-seq reveals hidden transcriptional variation in malaria parasites

Single-cell RNA-sequencing is revolutionising our understanding of seemingly homogeneous cell populations but has not yet been widely applied to single-celled organisms. Transcriptional variation in unicellular malaria parasites from the Plasmodium genus is associated with critical phenotypes including red blood cell invasion and immune evasion, yet transcriptional variation at an individual parasite level has not been examined in depth. Here, we describe the adaptation of a single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) protocol to deconvolute transcriptional variation for more than 500 individual parasites of both rodent and human malaria comprising asexual and sexual life-cycle stages. We uncover previously hidden discrete transcriptional signatures during the pathogenic part of the life cycle, suggesting that expression over development is not as continuous as commonly thought. In transmission stages, we find novel, sex-specific roles for differential expression of contingency gene families that are usually associated with immune evasion and pathogenesis.
Mutations in Homologous Recombination Genes and Outcomes in Ovarian Carcinoma Patients in GOG 218: An NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group Study

Purpose: We hypothesized that mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes beyond BRCA1 and BRCA2 improve outcomes for ovarian carcinoma patients treated with platinum therapy and would impact the relative benefit of adding prolonged bevacizumab. Experimental Design: We sequenced DNA from blood and/or neoplasm from 1,195 women enrolled in GOG-0218, a randomized phase III trial in advanced ovarian carcinoma of bevacizumab added to carboplatin and paclitaxel. Defects in HRR were defined as damaging mutations in 16 genes. Proportional hazards models were used to estimate relative hazards for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: Of 1,195 women with ovarian carcinoma, HRR mutations were identified in 307 (25.7%). Adjusted hazards for progression and death compared with those without mutations were lower for women with non-BRCA HRR mutations [HR = 0.73; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.57–0.94; P = 0.01 for PFS; HR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.50–0.90; P = 0.007 for OS] and BRCA1 mutations (HR = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66–0.97; P = 0.02 for PFS; HR = 0.74; 95% CI, 0.59–0.94; P = 0.01 for OS) and were lowest for BRCA2 mutations (HR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.40–0.67; P < 0.0001 for PFS; HR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.25–0.53; P < 0.0001 for OS). A test of interaction showed no difference in the effect of bevacizumab on PFS between cases with and without mutations. Conclusions: HRR mutations, including non-BRCA genes, significantly prolong PFS and OS in ovarian carcinoma and should be stratified for in clinical trials. The benefit of adding bevacizumab was not significantly modified by mutation status. Clin Cancer Res; 24(4); 777–83. ©2017 AACR.
Lower dietary n-6:n-3 ratio and high-dose vitamin E supplementation improve sperm morphology and oxidative stress in boars.

A 2 × 2 factorial experiment (10 boars per treatment) was conducted for 16 weeks to evaluate the effects of the dietary n-6 : n-3 ratio (14 : 1 vs 6 : 1) and vitamin E (200 vs 400 mg kg-1) on boar sperm morphology and oxidative stress. Sperm mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA damage (8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine; 8-OHdG), seminal lipoperoxidation (malondialdehyde; MDA) and antioxidant capacity in the serum, spermatozoa and seminal plasma were assessed as indicators of oxidative stress. Sperm production was similar among groups but increased (P < 0.05) throughout the 16 weeks of the study. Although sperm α-tocopherol content, ROS and seminal MDA did not differ between the two dietary n-6 : n-3 ratio treatments, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity and MMP, but decreased 8-OHdG, were found in spermatozoa from boars consuming the 6 : 1 diet. The diet with the 6 : 1 ratio positively affected sperm morphology at Weeks 12 and 16 (P < 0.05). The α-tocopherol content and antioxidant capacity increased in boars with increasing levels of vitamin E supplementation. Compared with low-dose vitamin E, high-dose vitamin E supplementation improved sperm morphology. Overall, the results indicate that an n-6 : n-3 ratio of 6 : 1 and 400 mg/kg vitamin E have beneficial effects on sperm morphology by improving antioxidative stress.
New Heuristic Methods for Joint Species Delimitation and Species Tree Inference

Abstract Species delimitation and species tree inference are difficult problems in cases of recent divergence, especially when different loci have different histories. This paper quantifies the difficulty of jointly finding the division of samples to species and estimating a species tree without constraining the possible assignments a priori. It introduces a parametric and a nonparametric method, including new heuristic search strategies, to do this delimitation and tree inference using individual gene trees as input. The new methods were evaluated using thousands of simulations and 4 empirical data sets. These analyses suggest that the new methods, especially the nonparametric one, may provide useful insights for systematists working at the species level with molecular data. However, they still often return incorrect results.
Tonic drive to sympathetic premotor neurons of rostral ventrolateral medulla from caudal pressor area neurons.

The responses of sympathetic premotor neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) to activation or inactivation of neurons in the caudal pressor area (CPA) were studied in urethan-anesthetized rats. Extracellular recordings were made from 32 barosensitive single units in the RVLM, of which 26 were antidromically activated from the cervical cord. Unilateral microinjections ofl-glutamate (0.5-5 nmol) into the CPA increased firing in 13 of 14 premotor neurons by 90 ± 30% while raising blood pressure. Both ipsilateral and contralateral injections were effective. Unilateral or bilateral inhibition of CPA neuron activity by microinjecting glycine (5-200 nmol/side) lowered blood pressure, while it reduced firing in 9 of 10 and 16 of 17 premotor neurons, respectively, by 45 ± 9 and 39 ± 6%. A significant proportion of tonic activity in RVLM sympathetic premotor neurons is thus driven, directly or indirectly, by neurons in the CPA.
Toward Noncooperative Iris Recognition: A Classification Approach Using Multiple Signatures

This paper focuses on noncooperative iris recognition, i.e., the capture of iris images at large distances, under less controlled lighting conditions, and without active participation of the subjects. This increases the probability of capturing very heterogeneous images (regarding focus, contrast, or brightness) and with several noise factors (iris obstructions and reflections). Current iris recognition systems are unable to deal with noisy data and substantially increase their error rates, especially the false rejections, in these conditions. We propose an iris classification method that divides the segmented and normalized iris image into six regions, makes an independent feature extraction and comparison for each region, and combines each of the dissimilarity values through a classification rule. Experiments show a substantial decrease, higher than 40 percent, of the false rejection rates in the recognition of noisy iris images
Peripheral Oxytocin Predicts Higher-Level Social Cognition in Men Regardless of Empathy Quotient

Abstract Introduction Pharmaceutical oxytocin (OT) administration is being tested as a novel treatment for social deficits in various psychiatric populations. However, little is known about how naturally occurring variation in peripheral OT relates to differences in social cognition. This study investigates whether healthy individuals with very high or very low levels of empathy differ in endogenous OT and whether OT plasma levels can predict performance in a mentalizing task. Methods 40 healthy men were included based upon their score above the 85th or below the 15th percentile of the empathy quotient inventory 1. Participants’ abilities to interpret social information was assessed via the Social Detection Task 2. Plasma OT levels were analyzed using enzyme immunoassay. Results OT plasma levels predicted mentalizing performance for more ambiguous social scenes (i. e., difficult items) for all participants. We found no group differences in OT plasma levels between subjects with high and low empathy. Discussion These findings confirm a link between peripheral OT and the ability to read subtle nonverbal social cues in healthy individuals, which is independent of self-reported empathy.
Hydrology of the North Klondike River: carbon export, water balance and inter-annual climate influences within a sub-alpine permafrost catchment

ABSTRACT Arctic and sub-arctic watersheds are undergoing significant changes due to recent climate warming and degrading permafrost, engendering enhanced monitoring of arctic rivers. Smaller catchments provide understanding of discharge, solute flux and groundwater recharge at the process level that contributes to an understanding of how larger arctic watersheds are responding to climate change. The North Klondike River, located in west central Yukon, is a sub-alpine permafrost catchment, which maintains an active hydrological monitoring station with a record of >40 years. In addition to being able to monitor intra-annual variability, this data set allows for more complex analysis of streamflow records. Streamflow data, geochemistry and stable isotope data for 2014 show a groundwater-dominated system, predominantly recharged during periods of snowmelt. Radiocarbon is shown to be a valuable tracer of soil zone recharge processes and carbon sources. Winter groundwater baseflow contributes 20 % of total annual discharge, and accounts for up to 50 % of total river discharge during the spring and summer months. Although total stream discharge remains unchanged, mean annual groundwater baseflow has increased over the 40-year monitoring period. Wavelet analysis reveals a catchment that responds to El Niño and longer solar cycles, as well as climatic shifts such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Dedicated to Professor Peter Fritz on the occasion of his 80th birthday
Public perception of dermatologic surgery in Saudi Arabia: an online survey.

BACKGROUND Dermatologic surgery is a well established subspecialty in dermatology, but observations suggest that the public may not be aware of this field. OBJECTIVE To explore the public perception of the nature and scope of dermatologic surgery Methods: A cross-sectional online-based survey consisting of two parts was used. The first part recorded demographic data. The second part presented a series of clinical scenarios in common surgical and cosmetic procedures performed by dermatologic surgeons to determine respondents' choice among three specialties: general surgery, plastic surgery, and dermatologic surgery. RESULTS A total of 1,248 responses were recorded. Seventy-four percent of respondents were female, with 80.29% between the ages of 18 and 34 years. Forty-nine percent considered dermatologic surgeons to be specialized skin surgeons and 71.63% said they would consult dermatologic surgeons for skin tumor excisions. However, plastic surgeons emerged more favorably for cosmetic procedures. For office-based procedures, 80.85% and 87.18% of respondents chose plastic surgeons for fillers and Botox® injections, respectively, compared to 15.79% and 12.02% of respondents who chose dermatologic surgeons. CONCLUSIONS Although the majority of participants showed no doubt about the surgical skills of dermatologic surgeons, the responses demonstrate that the public is not aware of the full scope and practice of dermatologic surgery, especially as it pertains to cosmetic procedures. Therefore, we must educate the public about the field and branches of dermatologic surgery.
Impingement Cooling In Gas Turbines:Design, Applications, And Limitations

The use of impingement cooling to maintain acceptable material temperatures in cooled gas turbine components is one of the handful of very robust and widely employed cooling methods throughout propulsion and power-generating engines. Impingement cooling utilizes an available pressure differential and one or many appropriate nozzle confi gurations to generate high-speed jets that are directed at component interior surfaces for the purpose of cooling the walls. The potential design space for impingement cooling in these components is immense, yet the actual design space in use tends to be well characterized by a relatively few established correlations. Impingement cooling is used in virtually all of the hot gas path components of the engine, including the combustor, turbine vanes, blades, and shrouds, and even the rotating disks. The applications span jet Reynolds numbers from 10,000 to 500,000. The complexity of impingement cooling comes with the vast numbers of specifi c jet and surface geometry combinations that are involved with the actual components. Impingement cooling is a very fl exible method, and for this very reason must be made to conform to applications that are dictated by other design requirements, such as those from aerodynamics, mechanical structure, vibrations, low cycle fatigue, and creep rupture limits. This chapter presents the basics of gas turbine impingement cooling design, the various applications within the engine, and the typical limitations imposed upon its use. Generic use and application examples for single impingement jets, in-line rows of jets, and arrays of jets are described for the hot gas fl ow path components of gas turbines, including the combustor system and high-pressure turbine. Specifi c applications to airfoil aerodynamic leading and trailing edge regions, combustor liners, and rotating disks are provided, as well as emerging applications within confi ned channels, blade tips, and fi lm cooling. Signifi cant effects infl uencing impingement cooling www.witpress. com, ISSN 1755-8336 (on-line) WIT Transactions on State of the Art in Science and Engineering, Vol 76, © 2014 WIT Press doi:10.2495/978-1-84564-907-4/001 2 IMPINGEMENT JET COOLING IN GAS TURBINES are discussed including surface roughness, rotation, and accumulated cooling cross-fl ow degradation. The chapter wraps up with a discussion of the main limitations placed on impingement cooling due to available pressure, manufacturing, turbine operation, and system thermal management.
Testing different cohesive law shapes to predict damage growth in bonded joints loaded in pure tension

ABSTRACT Adhesive bonding is a widely used joining method because of specific advantages compared to the traditional fastening methods. Cohesive zone modelling (CZM) is currently the most widely used technique for strength prediction. CZM supposes the characterization of the CZM laws in tension and shear. This work evaluated the tensile fracture toughness (GIC) and CZM laws of bonded joints with three adhesives by the double-cantilever beam (DCB) test. The experimental work consisted of the adhesives’ tensile fracture characterization by the J-integral technique. As the main novelty of this work, the precise shape of the cohesive law of adhesives ranging from brittle to highly ductile was defined by the direct method, using a digital image correlation method to evaluate the tensile relative displacement (δn) of the adhesive layer at the crack tip and adherends’ rotation at the crack tip (ϴo). Moreover, finite element (FE) simulations permitted assessing the accuracy of triangular, trapezoidal and linear-exponential CZM laws in predicting the experimental behaviour of the DCB bonded joints with markedly distinct behaviours. As output of this work, fracture data and information regarding the applicability of these CZM laws to each type of adhesive is provided, allowing the subsequent strength prediction of bonded joints.