Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deciphering Membrane-Associated Molecular Processes in Target Tissue of Autoimmune Uveitis by Label-Free Quantitative Mass Spectrometry*

Autoimmune uveitis is a blinding disease presenting with autoantibodies against eye-specific proteins as well as autoagressive T cells invading and attacking the immune-privileged target tissue retina. The molecular events enabling T cells to invade and attack the tissue have remained elusive. Changes in membrane protein expression patterns between diseased and healthy stages are especially interesting because initiating events of disease will most likely occur at membranes. Since disease progression is accompanied with a break-down of the blood-retinal barrier, serum-derived proteins mask the potential target tissue-related changes. To overcome this limitation, we used membrane-enriched fractions derived from retinas of the only available spontaneous animal model for the disease equine recurrent uveitis, and compared expression levels by a label-free LC-MSMS-based strategy to healthy control samples. We could readily identify a total of 893 equine proteins with 57% attributed to the Gene Ontology project term “membrane. ” Of these, 179 proteins were found differentially expressed in equine recurrent uveitis tissue. Pathway enrichment analyses indicated an increase in proteins related to antigen processing and presentation, TNF receptor signaling, integrin cell surface interactions and focal adhesions. Additionally, loss of retina-specific proteins reflecting decrease of vision was observed as well as an increase in Müller glial cell-specific proteins indicating glial reactivity. Selected protein candidates (caveolin 1, integrin alpha 1 and focal adhesion kinase) were validated by immunohistochemistry and tissue staining pattern pointed to a significant increase of these proteins at the level of the outer limiting membrane which is part of the outer blood-retinal barrier. Taken together, the membrane enrichment in combination with LC-MSMS–based label-free quantification greatly increased the sensitivity of the comparative tissue profiling and resulted in detection of novel molecular pathways related to equine recurrent uveitis.
Estimating An Implied Cost of Capital for Australian Firms

I test the out-of-sample performance of cross-sectional models that forecast firm-level earnings in estimating an implied cost of capital (ICC) for Australian firms, relative to the performance of sell-side equity analyst earnings forecasts. I find that while the model-based earnings forecasts are less accurate than the analyst forecasts, and are not weighted as heavily by the market in terms of earnings response coefficients, they exhibit a lower optimistic bias and generate ICC estimates that are economically and statistically correlated with future realised returns in both portfolio- and regression-based tests. These results are robust to the application of the cross-sectional model coefficients to firms outside the analyst coverage universe, tests of association with common risk factors, and value-weighted least squares regressions. I also show evidence of a time-varying equity risk premium for the Australian market, with median equal-weighted model-based implied risk premium (IRP) estimates ranging from 6.1 to 7.3 percent for the sample period from 1997 to 2016.
A Low-ppm Digitally Controlled Crystal Oscillator Compensated by a New 0.19-mm2 Time-Domain Temperature Sensor

A low-ppm digitally controlled crystal oscillator (DCXO) in a Pierce readout topology with a new 0.19-mm2 CMOS time-domain temperature sensor (TDTS) circuit for temperature compensation is designed and fabricated in this paper. The Pierce readout circuit is designed to output a 16-MHz oscillating signal as an important base clock for mobile devices. To cope with inevitable imprecision caused by environmental temperature variation, the readout should be compensated based on crystal's frequency-temperature curve via a temperature sensor. To this end, a new low-power, small-sized, CMOS on-chip temperature sensor circuit is successfully synthesized by 20-stages of newly designed delay cells. Each delay cell is compensated by a CMOS-process-compatible varactor, enabling a TDTS consisting of only a low number of delay cells to generate long enough delay that is proportional to temperature and in required precisions. In addition to Pierce and TDTS circuits, the DCXO consists of the logics to compute capacitance correction, a switchedcapacitor array to adjust Pierce capacitances, and regulators for DCXO and TDTS. The proposed circuits are fabricated by TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS process, where the active area is 0.516 mm2 for the whole chip, while 0.19 mm2 for the TDTS. With temperature compensation enabled, the best measured frequency deviations of a calibrated TCXO is within ±0.2 ppm from -40 °C to 85 °C. The temperature resolution of the developed TDTS is successfully designed to reach 0.18 °C/LSB with an accuracy of ±1 °C validated by one of the tape-out chips.
Corporate social responsibility reports: topic analysis and big data approach

ABSTRACT This paper performs topic modeling using all publicly available CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reports for all constituent firms of the major stock market indices of 15 industrialized countries included in MSCI Europe for the sample period from 1999 to 2016. Our text mining results and LDA analyses indicate that ‘employees safety’, ‘employees training support’, ‘carbon emission’, ‘human right’, ‘efficient power’, and ‘healthcare medicines’ are the common topics reported by publicly listed companies in Europe and the UK. There is a clear sector bias with industrial firms emphasizing ‘employee safety’, Utilities concentrating on ‘efficient power’ while consumer discretionary and consumer staples highlighting ‘food waste’ and ‘food packaging. ’ To produce these results, we used a battery of python code to organize the hundreds of reports downloaded from Bloomberg and the internet, the latest R-algorithm to estimate LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) model and the LDAvis interactive tool to visualize and refine the LDA model.
Aluminium-Induced Imbalance in Oxidant and Antioxidant Determinants in Brain Regions of Female Rats: Protection by Centrophenoxine

The present study was carried out to investigate the potential of centrophenoxine in modulating aluminium-induced neurotoxicity. Female Sprague Dawley rats were administered aluminium chloride orally (40 mg/kg b.w./day) for a period of 8 weeks. At the end of respective treatment, various markers of oxidative stress were determined in four different regions of brain: cerebrum cerebellum, medulla oblongata, and hypothalamus. Lipid peroxidation assay was also carried out using standard techniques. Simultaneously, the centrophenoxine group (100 mg/kg b.w./day) for 6 weeks was also run long to understand the role in ameliorating oxidative damage. A significant decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase was noticed in all the four regions, the most significant being in the hypothalamus (0.603 ± .06) and cerebrum (0.038 ± .01). Due to aluminium toxicity, peroxidation of lipids was also found to be elevated in cerebrum (0.424 ± .03), cerebellum (0.341 ± .03), hypothalamus (1.018 ± .007), and medulla oblongata (0.304 ± .05). However, posttreatment with centrophenoxine significantly elevated the superoxide and catalase activities in different regions. In addition, lipid peroxidation status of membranes was significantly reduced after centrophenoxine posttreatment to aluminium-exposed animals. Centrophenoxine has proved to be beneficial in combating the damage caused by aluminium toxicity. However, further research is needed to have a better understanding of the molecular basis of aluminium-induced oxidative damage. In addition, the different aspects of centrophenoxine need to be unmasked.
How does nitrous oxide reductase interact with its electron donors?—A docking study

Electron transfer reactions are crucial for respiration and denitrification. In this article, we analyze the interaction of nitrous oxide reductase with its electron donors cytochrome c550 and pseudoazurin. Our docking protocol comprises generation of candidate complexes followed by a selection step based on the distance of the donor and acceptor groups in each partner protein. Finally, the structures of the candidate complexes were optimized using a force field calculation, together with a second distance filtering step. The prediction power of this protocol was studied using the crystal structure of the cytochrome c2/photosynthetic reaction center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides as a reference. The results suggest that both cytochrome c550 and pseudoazurin bind at the same hydrophobic surface patch residing near the CuA center of nitrous oxide reductase. The central, well‐conserved interaction surface of the donors is hydrophobic, but it is surrounded by numerous lysine side‐chains, which interact electrostatically with analogously positioned side‐chain carboxylates of the acceptor. The prediction output is an ensemble of energetically similar structures that are rotationally related to each other. While such an ensemble may reflect incomplete prediction power of the docking protocol, it may also manifest a biological situation where there are multiple ways of forming a productive electron transfer complex. Analyses of the predicted structures and the conservation pattern of the amino acid residues suggest the existence of specific electron transfer pathways to and from the CuA center of nitrous oxide reductase. Proteins 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Monochromatic light-emitting diode (LED) source in layers hens during the second production cycle

A luz e importante fator ambiental para aves permitindo nao so a visao, mas tambem influenciando as respostas fisiologicas, como a atividade comportamental e reprodutiva. O objetivo deste experimento foi avaliar o impacto de diferentes cores de luz monocromatica (LED) na producao de galinhas durante o segundo ciclo de postura. O estudo foi realizado em um galpao de postura experimental, durante 70 dias. Um total de 300 galinhas poedeiras da genetica Isa Brown®, com idades de 95 semanas, no segundo ciclo de postura foi utilizado no estudo. As fontes de luz artificial utilizadas foram azul, amarelo, verde, vermelho e branco. O regime de luz era iluminacao continua de 17 h por dia (12 h natural: 5 h artificial), em regime de luz de 17L:7E (luz: escuridao). O delineamento estatistico adotado foi de quadrado latino, com cinco tratamentos (cinco cores), dividido em cinco periodos e cinco parcelas com seis repeticoes de dez aves em cada parcela. A producao e a qualidade dos ovos foram avaliadas. As diferentes cores de fonte de luz nao afetaram os parâmetros de producao nem a qualidade dos ovos (p > 0,05). A fonte monocromatica de luz LED pode ser considerada uma alternativa para a iluminacao artificial em galinhas poedeiras durante o segundo ciclo de producao.
Fatty liver and transaminase changes with adjuvant tamoxifen therapy

We investigated the time it took to develop fatty liver and changes in serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels in patients with breast cancer treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. Liver sonography to detect fatty liver and measurement of serum aspartate and alanine aminotransferase levels were performed regularly for patients with early breast cancer. The results were compared in groups of patients with and without adjuvant tamoxifen as well as those on chemotherapy. Eighty-two of 156 patients treated with tamoxifen developed fatty liver, compared with eight of 62 patients not taking it. Fatty liver appeared as early as 3 months after beginning tamoxifen and was detected within 2 years in most cases. It persisted for 48 months after discontinuing tamoxifen in 17 of the 82 patients who developed it. The incidence of fatty liver in patients receiving both chemotherapy and tamoxifen was the same as that in patients receiving tamoxifen alone. While 115 patients had elevations of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase or both, the magnitude of the elevation was clinically significant in only 32 patients. Patients on both chemotherapy and tamoxifen had a higher incidence of elevated transaminases than those on tamoxifen alone. Adjuvant tamoxifen increases the incidence of fatty liver, but has only a minimal effect on aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. Fatty liver may appear as early as 3 months after beginning tamoxifen and may persist for more than 4 years after discontinuing it. Therefore, long-term follow-up is warranted. Chemotherapy is not clearly associated with fatty liver, but may cause a greater degree of hepatocellular damage than does tamoxifen.
Two-stage based ensemble optimization for large-scale global optimization

Large-scale global optimization (LSGO) is a very important and challenging task in optimization domain, which is embedded in many scientific and engineering applications. In this paper, a two-stage based ensemble optimization evolutionary algorithm (EOEA) is designed to handle LSGO problems. The performance of EOEA is evaluated on the test functions provided by the LSGO competition of IEEE Congress of Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2010). Compared with some previous LSGO algorithms, EOEA demonstrates better performance.
Stenting of Symptomatic Basilar and Vertebral Artery Stenosis in Patients Resistant to Optimal Medical Prevention: The Lyon Stroke Unit Experience

Intracranial angioplasty stenting may be an efficient therapy in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery stenosis unresponsive to optimal medical therapy. We present our experience in this setting. Results: The study included 12 cases (8 men, 4 women), with an age range of 43–78 years (mean 62.6 years). Intracranial stenosis that resulted in qualifying stroke or transient ischemic attack involved the vertebral artery (n = 4), lower basilar artery (n = 1) and mid basilar artery (n = 5). Tandem stenosis included the intracranial vertebral artery and basilar artery (n = 1) and both intracranial vertebral arteries (n = 1). The degree of stenosis ranged between 70 and 90% in the basilar and vertebral arteries. Angioplasty + stenting was performed in all lesions. A successful procedure resulting in 30% of residual stenosis was found in 14 vessels. A periprocedural adverse event occurred in 1 case and was related to a brain hemorrhage. The mean patient follow-up was 15 ± 3 months; 10 patients remained symptom free. All patients underwent a percutaneous endovascular balloon angioplasty and stent placement. Conclusions:This study supports the safety and the potential efficiency of stent-assisted angioplasty in patients resistant to optimal prevention. Randomized larger prospective trials are needed to confirm the benefit of this approach.
Joint symmetry in early and late rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis: comparison with a mathematical model.

OBJECTIVE To establish a mathematical model to predict the probability of symmetry of joint involvement as a function of the number of joints involved and to compare expected with actual probabilities in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in early and late disease. METHODS Random involvement of joints was assumed, and the binomial theorem was used to give the frequency distribution of involved joints as a function of each joint count. Ten joint pairs were included: shoulder, elbow, wrist, metacarpophalangeal joints, proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of the hands, hip, knee, ankle, metatarsophalangeal joints, and PIP joints of the feet. Observed probabilities were obtained from subjects with early (duration < or =12 months) and late PsA and RA. RESULTS The number of subjects in each of the disease subgroups was as follows: early PsA n = 33, late PsA n = 77, early RA n = 61, late RA n = 93. Observed probabilities of symmetry exceeded predicted probabilities for all disease subgroups. The median number of involved joints in each group was as follows: early PsA 4, late PsA 8, early RA 8, late RA 15 (chi2 = 95.3, 3 degrees of freedom, P = 0.0001, by Kruskal-Wallis test). After correcting for the discrepancy in the number of involved joints, no difference in joint symmetry was found between the groups (chi2 = 1.77, P = 0.62 by Friedman two-way analysis of variance). Similar results were obtained when individual hand and foot joints were analyzed separately. CONCLUSION The pattern of joint involvement is often used to distinguish between rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. This study confirms that symmetry is largely a function of the total number of joints involved and that, in terms of joint pattern, differences between these disorders are more quantitative than qualitative. Both disorders have high absolute values of symmetry, particularly in the joints of the wrist and hand.
The contextual effect of school attachment on young adolescents' alcohol use.

BACKGROUND The school is a primary context for social interaction, cultivation of interpersonal skills, formation of peer groups, self-expression, and development of self. Several studies have demonstrated that the social context of the school has important implications for determining the likelihood that an adolescent will follow a prosocial path through adolescence as opposed to becoming involved in delinquent behavior. METHODS Using a data set of 4,216 youth in 32 middle schools and junior high schools across the United States, this paper examines the effect of a student's own level of school attachment as well as the contextual level of school attachment (the normative level of school attachment in a school) on 5 alcohol-related measures: recent use of alcohol, intention to use alcohol, normative beliefs about peer use of alcohol, attitudes toward alcohol use, and aspirations consistent with alcohol use. RESULTS This study demonstrates that regardless of a student's own level of school attachment, students who attend schools where the pupils overall tend to be well attached to school are less likely to use alcohol. In addition, they also have lower intentions to use alcohol, perceive that fewer of their peers at school use alcohol, and more strongly hold aspirations that are inconsistent with alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS Our findings, along with the findings of related studies, provide support for the hypothesis that improvement of school climate may result in less substance use among students.
Parallel increases in phosphocreatine and total creatine in human vastus lateralis muscle during creatine supplementation.

Short-term creatine supplementation is reported to result in a decreased ratio of phosphocreatine (PCr) to total creatine (TCr) in human skeletal muscle at rest. Assuming equilibrium of the creatine kinase reaction, this decrease in PCr:TCr implies increased cytoplasmic ADP and decreased Gibbs free energy of ATP hydrolysis in muscle, which seems contrary to the reported ergogenic benefits of creatine supplementation. This study measured changes in PCr and TCr in vastus lateralis muscle of adult men (N = 6, 21-35 y old) during and 1 day after 5 d of creatine monohydrate supplementation (0.43 g.kg body weight(-1). d(-1)) using noninvasive 31P and 1H magnetic-resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Plasma and red-blood-cell creatine increased by 10-fold and 2-fold, respectively, by the third day of supplementation. MRS-measured skeletal muscle PCr and TCr increased linearly and in parallel throughout the 5 d, and there was no significant difference in the percentage increase in muscle PCr (11.7% +/- 2.3% after 5 d) vs. TCr (14.9% +/- 4.1%) at any time point. The results indicate that creatine supplementation does not alter the PCr:TCr ratio, and hence the cytoplasmic Gibbs free energy of ATP hydrolysis, in human skeletal muscle at rest.
Patterns of intracellular potentials in salamander mitral/tufted cells in response to odor stimulation.

1. Changes in membrane potential and temporal patterns of spikes were analyzed in 30 output cells in the salamander olfactory bulb in response to stimulation with 1-s pulses of the odorants isoamyl acetate, cineole, and camphor. The odor responses were more complex than responses to electrical stimulation of the olfactory nerve or olfactory tracts, with which they were compared. Most began with hyperpolarization and contained prolonged hyperpolarizing and depolarizing potentials that appeared to be compound postsynaptic potentials. These potentials were related to periods of spike inhibition and excitation. The temporal patterns of the responses resembled S-type (for suppression) and E-type (for excitation) patterns described previously in extracellular-unit studies. 2. In single cells, graded but nonmonotonic changes in the responses were observed with increases in the odor concentration from 10(-3) to 10(-1) vapor-phase saturation. Abrupt changes from one category of temporal response pattern to another were generally not observed in response to different concentrations of a single odorant but were frequently observed when the stimulus was changed from one odorant to another. 3. In S-type patterns, the first event was always membrane hyperpolarization and spike inhibition, regardless of the odor concentration. At all concentrations, simple S-type responses were observed in which a single period of hyperpolarization and inhibition lasted several seconds. At moderate to high concentrations, complex S-type responses were observed in which a period of excitation followed an initial period of hyperpolarization and inhibition. In these responses, spikes were often elicited near the termination of the odor pulse, occasionally as early as 300-400 ms after pulse onset. A prolonged period of inhibition followed the period of excitation. 4. In E-type patterns, the first event depended on the odor concentration. At all concentrations, complex responses were observed in which a period of excitation occurred with short latency, followed by a period of inhibition. At low to moderate concentrations, a brief initial period of hyperpolarization preceded the excitation. This initial period of hyperpolarization was always shorter than those in complex S-type responses to equivalent concentrations. However, the range of spike latencies overlapped that of S-type responses to high concentrations. With increasing odor concentration, spike latencies in the E-type responses decreased relative to the onset and peak of the initial hyperpolarization. At high concentrations. spikes were frequently elicited preceding a single period of hyperpolarization and inhibition. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)