Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secretion and hormonal regulation of interleukin-6 production by mouse uterine stromal and polarized epithelial cells cultured in vitro.

Uterine stromal (USC) and uterine epithelial (UEC) cells were isolated from immature and mature mice to determine their ability to secrete interleukin-6 (IL-6) in response to ovarian steroids, IL-1 alpha, and soluble products produced by the heterologous cell type. In addition, the effect of IL-6 on embryo attachment and outgrowth in vitro was determined. UEC cultured on nitrocellulose filter inserts in a polarized manner secreted IL-6 with a 2.5- to 5-fold apical vs. basal preference, as determined by a B9 hybridoma cell proliferation assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The hormonal status of animals at the time uteri were removed did not influence subsequent secretion of IL-6, as UEC isolated from immature, diestrous, and estrous stage mice exhibited both a similar amount and had a similar apical preference for secretion of IL-6. The addition of 17 beta-estradiol (E) to UEC cultures markedly inhibited total IL-6 secretion, but did not affect vectorial secretion. The inhibitory effect of E on IL-6 secretion by UEC was consistent with an apparent decrease in IL-6 transcript observed by a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay. Other transcripts detected by this assay in UEC included IL-1 alpha, but not IL-1 beta or tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Secretion of IL-6 by UEC was not stimulated by IL-1 alpha, conditioned medium from USC, or coculture with USC. USC secreted IL-6, and while this also was inhibited by E, progesterone was more effective in this regard at physiological concentrations. In addition, there was a synergistic effect of E plus progesterone on inhibition of IL-6 secretion by USC. Secretion of IL-6 by USC was stimulated by IL-1 alpha, and coculture studies demonstrated the ability of UEC to stimulate a several-fold increase in IL-6 secretion by USC. The cytokine transcripts detected in USC cultures included IL-6 and IL-1 alpha, but not IL-1 beta. Transcripts for tumor necrosis factor-alpha were present in USC only after culture with IL-1 alpha. IL-6 added to blastocysts on laminin-coated tissue culture wells resulted in a transient inhibition of the rate of blastocyst attachment and, to a greater extent, an inhibition of the rate of embryo outgrowth. In addition, IL-6 inhibited the size of embryo outgrowths at 24 and 48 h of culture. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Lack of miR-133a Decreases Contractility of Diabetic Hearts: A Role for Novel Cross Talk Between Tyrosine Aminotransferase and Tyrosine Hydroxylase

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have a fundamental role in diabetic heart failure. The cardioprotective miRNA-133a (miR-133a) is downregulated, and contractility is decreased in diabetic hearts. Norepinephrine (NE) is a key catecholamine that stimulates contractility by activating β-adrenergic receptors (β-AR). NE is synthesized from tyrosine by the rate-limiting enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and tyrosine is catabolized by tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT). However, the cross talk/link between TAT and TH in the heart is unclear. To determine whether miR-133a plays a role in the cross talk between TH and TAT and regulates contractility by influencing NE biosynthesis and/or β-AR levels in diabetic hearts, Sprague-Dawley rats and miR-133a transgenic (miR-133aTg) mice were injected with streptozotocin to induce diabetes. The diabetic rats were then treated with miR-133a mimic or scrambled miRNA. Our results revealed that miR-133a mimic treatment improved the contractility of the diabetic rat’s heart concomitant with upregulation of TH, cardiac NE, β-AR, and downregulation of TAT and plasma levels of NE. In miR-133aTg mice, cardiac-specific miR-133a overexpression prevented upregulation of TAT and suppression of TH in the heart after streptozotocin was administered. Moreover, miR-133a overexpression in CATH.a neuronal cells suppressed TAT with concomitant upregulation of TH, whereas knockdown and overexpression of TAT demonstrated that TAT inhibited TH. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-133a targets TAT. In conclusion, miR-133a controls the contractility of diabetic hearts by targeting TAT, regulating NE biosynthesis, and consequently, β-AR and cardiac function.
Occupational Risks and Pregnancy and Infant Health Outcomes in Florida Farmworkers

The agricultural industry has some of the highest incidence rates and numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States. Injuries and illnesses in agriculture result from accidents, falls, excessive heat, repetitive motion and adverse pesticide exposure. Women working in agriculture are exposed to the same hazards and risks as their male counterparts, but can face additional adverse impacts on their reproductive health. Yet, few occupational risk assessment studies have considered the reproductive health of female farmworkers. The objective of this community-based participatory research study was to conduct a retrospective, cross-sectional survey to collect information on workplace conditions and behaviors and maternal, pregnancy and infant health outcomes among a sample of female nursery and fernery farmworkers in Central Florida. Survey results showed that nursery workers were more likely to report health symptoms during their pregnancy than fernery workers. We also observed a self-reported increased risk of respiratory illness in the first year of life for infants whose mothers worked in ferneries. Our findings confirm that agricultural work presents potential reproductive hazards for women of childbearing age.
Endothelin induces vascular and mucosal lesions, enhances the injury by HCl/ethanol, and the antibody exerts gastroprotection

Vascular factors play an important role in the pathogenesis and prevention of acute gastric mucosal lesions, Endothelin‐3 (ET‐3), a potent vasoactive peptide, was infused intra‐arterially to induce gastric microvascular and hemorrhagic mucosal lesions, and to enhance the damaging effects of dilute HCl and ethanol. ET‐3 antibody was injected intravenously to decrease hemorrhagic mucosal lesions induced by ethanol. Locally infused ET (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 nmol·100 g–1·min–1 for up to 15 min) was followed in some cases by intragastric dilute ethanol or HCl, which alone caused no or only mild vascular and mucosal lesions. Monastral blue was used to visualize and quantify vascular injury. ET‐3 produced dose‐dependent vascular lesions that affected the walls of mucosal capillaries and venules and induced mucosal congestion and focal endothelial labeling in vessels of the gastric muscular layers. The highest dose of ET induced hemorrhagic gastric mucosal lesions, mortality, and periods of hyper‐ and hypotension in the rat. Medium and low doses of ET‐3 caused vascular injury, and dose‐dependently potentiated the vascular and hemorrhagic mucosal lesions caused by dilute HCl and ethanol. Indomethacin slightly enhanced damage induced by ET and 50% ethanol, suggesting a limited mediatory role of prostaglandins in the ET‐induced mucosal lesions. Anti‐ET‐3 serum dose‐dependently decreased but did not abolish the hemorrhagic gastric mucosal lesions induced by 75% ethanol. Thus, ET‐3 causes endothelial damage in capillaries and venules of rat stomach and predisposes to mucosal damage even after exposure to dilute ethanol or HCl. ET is more potent than leukotrienes and histamine and thus may play an important role in the mechanisms of acute gastric mucosal injury and protection where the vascular network appears to be a major target. —Morales, R. E. ; Johnson, B. R. ; Szabo, S. Endothelin induces vascular and mucosal lesions, enhances the injury by HCl/ethanol, and the antibody exerts gastroprotection. FASEB J. 6: 2354‐2360; 1992.
Mutants of Rhizobium meliloti defective in succinate metabolism

We characterized mutants of Rhizobium meliloti SU47 that were unable to grow on succinate as the carbon source. The mutants fell into five groups based on complementation of the succinate mutations by individual recombinant plasmids isolated from a R. meliloti clone bank. Enzyme analysis showed that mutants in the following groups lacked the indicated common enzyme activities: group II, enolase (Eno); group III, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pck); group IV, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Gap), and 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk). Mutants in groups I and V lacked C4-dicarboxylate transport (Dct-) activity. Wild-type cells grown on succinate as the carbon source had high Pck activity, whereas no Pck activity was detected in cells that were grown on glucose as the carbon source. It was found that in free-living cells, Pck is required for the synthesis of phosphoenolpyruvate during gluconeogenesis. In addition, the enzymes of the lower half of the Embden-Meyerhoff-Parnas pathway were absolutely required for gluconeogenesis. Eno, Gap, Pck, and one of the Dct loci (ntrA) mapped to different regions of the chromosome; the other Dct locus was tightly linked to a previously mapped thi locus, which was located on the megaplasmid pRmeSU47b.
Ocular Recognition Using Deep Features for Identity Authentication

Recently, ocular biometrics has been gaining importance in Biometrics due to the poor performance obtained in some cases by biometric systems based on characteristics of the whole face. This paper presents a new method for person authentication based on ocular deep features, which are extracted from the ocular region of the face by using a very deep CNN (Convolutional Neural Network). Another interesting aspect of our method is that, instead of using directly the deep features as input for the authentication system, it uses the difference between the probe and gallery deep features. So, our method adopts a pairwise strategy. A binary support vector machine is trained to determine whether a given difference vector is genuine or impostor. The proposed new method based on such pairwise strategy was evaluated using the ocular left set of the UBIPr dataset and five pre-trained CNN architectures. When using the pre-trained VGG-Face the proposed method obtained a state-of-the-art result (3.18% of Equal Error Rate).
MRI changes in intracranial hypotension

We report seven patients with the syndrome of intracranial hypotension who were referred to Memorial Sloan-Kettering, primarily because of suspicion of meningeal tumor or infection raised by the finding of meningeal enhancement on MRI. In three patients, symptoms occurred after lumbar puncture; in four, there was no clear precipitating event. Lumbar puncture after MRI in six patients revealed low CSF pressure (six patients) and pleocytosis or high protein, or both (four patients). Three patients had subdural effusions. Six patients had measurable descent of the brain on midsagittal images. Postural headache resolved in all seven patients, six of whom had follow-up MRIs. Meningeal enhancement resolved or diminished in all six. Subdural effusions resolved spontaneously in two and were evacuated (but were not under pressure) in one. Downward brain displacement improved or resolved in all patients. The clinical syndrome and MRI abnormalities generally resolve on their own. An extensive workup is not helpful and may be misleading. Patients should be treated symptomatically.
From the search problem through query formulation to results on the web

Purpose – The purpose of the research was to create internet search instructions, to test their effectiveness and to track the search behavior of the first year MLS studentsDesign/methodology/approach – The students received two exercises with similar search tasks. No specific search guidelines were delivered to the students prior to the first exercise. Prior to the second exercise students received a lecture based on the internet search instructions developed by the authors. The results of the two searches were analyzed and compared.Findings – As a result of the lecture students significantly improved the search results. There were a certain number of problematic search behavior patterns and obstacles uncovered, which proved to have a critical impact on the search results, such as: difficulties in acquiring new or alternative vocabulary during the search process, perception of the task as the ultimate source of keywords, and perception of commercial sources as unavailable.Research limitations/implication.
Male and female rats express similar blood pressure responses to "push-pull" gravitational stress.

Brief exposure to -G(z) ("push") reduces eye-level blood pressure (elbp) during subsequent exposure to +G(z) ("pull"). This is called the "push-pull effect. " To evaluate the influence of gender and the axis of rotation (pitch vs. roll) on the push-pull effect, 10 isoflurane-anesthetized male and 10 female Sprague-Dawley rats were restrained supine on a heated tilt board. Rats were subjected to two G profiles: a control profile consisting of rotation from 0 G(z) to 90 degrees head-up tilt (+1 G(z)) for 10 s and a push-pull profile consisting of rotation from 0 G(z) to 90 degrees head-down tilt (-1 G(z)) for 2 s immediately preceding 10 s of +1 G(z) stress. A total of 16 tilts consisting of equal numbers of control and push-pull trials and equal numbers of pitch and roll rotations were imposed by using a counterbalanced design. Gender exerted a significant effect on baseline (0 G(z)) ELBP (pressure was approximately 4 mmHg higher in females). In males and females, ELBP rose to a similar extent ( approximately 8 mmHg) during push, fell to a similar extent (approximately 18 mmHg) during control +G(z) stress, and fell to a similar extent (approximately 22 mmHg) during push-pull +G(z) stress. Altering the axis of rotation between the x-axis (roll) and the y-axis (pitch) did not influence the results. Thus males and females exhibit a push-pull effect; however, gender and axis of rotation do not appear to influence the push-pull effect in anesthetized rats subjected to tilting.
Normative Data From the Cantab. I: Development of Executive Function Over the Lifespan

The study of executive function within a developmental framework has proven integral to the advancement of knowledge concerning the acquisition and decline of higher skill processes. Still in its early stages, there exists a discontinuity in the literature between the exploration of executive capacity in young children and the elderly. Research of age-related differences utilising a lifespan approach has been restricted by the lack of assessment tools for the measurement of executive skills that are applicable across all age levels. This paper addresses these issues using the computer-based Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to identify periods of development in executive capacities using a normative sample of 194 participants ranging in age from 8 to 64 years. Findings of executive function in children as young as 8 years of age were extended, with functional gains found in the efficiency of working memory capacity, planning and problem-solving abilities, between the ages of 15 and 19 years and again at 20–29 years of age. Cognitive flexibility was assessed at adult-levels in even the youngest children. Declines in performance on all tasks were revealed for the 50–64 year old sample, providing support for the vulnerability of executive skills to normal aging.
Transplantation of Purified Islet Cells in Diabetic Rats: III. Immunosuppressive Effect of Cyclosporin

This study examined the effect of cyclosporin on the survival of islet β-cell allografts in streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. At a daily oral dose of 5 mg/kg, the agent prevented the rejection of isolated islets, provided they were little contaminated by other pancreatic tissue. The immunosuppressive effect rapidly disappeared after discontinuation of the drug, except when the donor tissue had been pretreated to reduce its nonendocrine content. All recipients of cultured and selected islets maintained a normalized state for >15 wk beyond the 5-wk drug course; this was not the case for shorter periods of treatment. A long-term beneficial effect was also observed in all recipients of purified islet β-cell grafts, which reversed without treatment in half of the cases. Cyclosporin markedly reduced the mononuclear cell infiltration in each type of islet β-cell allograft; aggregates of mixed endocrine islet cells were kept virtually infiltration free. Conditions with minimal initial infiltration were associated with long-term graft survival without the need for continuous pharmacological immunosuppression. We conclude that a short-term cyclosporin treatment can induce long-term survival of allografted islet β-cells, provided the grafts are only slightly contaminated by nonendocrine elements. In rodents, sufficient immunosuppression was achieved by circulating cyclosporin levels of 100–400 ng/ml. Higher concentrations were cytotoxic for cultured islet β-cells and islet non–²-cells. A 5-wk treatment with the immunomodulator ciamexone also resulted in long-term survival of purified β-cell allografts but not of cultured islets. These findings indicate that the success of immunosuppressive treatment in islet cell transplantation can be considerably improved by preparing purified cell grafts of well-defined cellular composition.
Risk of Breast Cancer Among French‐Canadian Women, Noncarriers of More Frequent BRCA1/2 Mutations and Consumption of Total Energy, Coffee, and Alcohol

Abstract: Although the connection between diet, lifestyle and hormones suggests that nutritional and lifestyle factors may exert an influence in the etiology of breast cancer, it is not clear whether these factors operate in the same way in women without BRCA gene mutations. A nested case–control study was conducted in a cohort of French‐Canadian women, with 560 members involving 280 nongene carriers of mutated BRCA gene affected by breast cancer and 280 nonaffected and nongene carriers of mutated BRCA gene. A validated semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to ascertain dietary intake, and a core questionnaire, to gather information on lifestyle risk factors. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in logistic regression models. It was found that energy intake >2,057 Kcal/day was significantly and positively related to breast cancer risk (OR = 2.54; 95% CI: 1.67–3.84; p = 0.01). Women who drank more than eight cups of coffee per day had an increased risk of breast cancer: OR = 1.40 (95% CI: 1.09–2.24; p = 0.03). Subjects who drank >9 g of alcohol (ethanol) per day had an increased risk of breast cancer: OR = 1.55 (95% CI: 1.02–2.37; p = 0.04). In addition, a positive and significant association was noted between the consumption of beer, wine and spirits, and breast cancer risk. The ORs were 1.34 (95% CI: 1.28–2.11; p = 0.04) for more than two bottles of beer per week, OR = 1.16 (95% CI: 1.08–2.58; p = 0.05) for >10 oz of wine per week and OR = 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02–2.08; p = 0.05) for >6 oz of spirit per week, respectively. Intakes of other nutrients and dietary components were not significantly associated with nongene carrier breast cancer risk. This study provides evidence that total energy intake, coffee, and alcohol consumption may play a role in breast cancer risk.
Native and Recombinant Polycomb Group Complexes Establish a Selective Block to Template Accessibility To Repress Transcription In Vitro

ABSTRACT Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are responsible for stable repression of homeotic gene expression during Drosophila melanogaster development. They are thought to stabilize chromatin structure to prevent transcription, though how they do this is unknown. We have established an in vitro system in which the PcG complex PRC1 and a recombinant PRC1 core complex (PCC) containing only PcG proteins are able to repress transcription by both RNA polymerase II and by T7 RNA polymerase. We find that assembly of the template into nucleosomes enhances repression by PRC1 and PCC. The subunit Psc is able to inhibit transcription on its own. PRC1- and PCC-repressed templates remain accessible to Gal4-VP16 binding, and incubation of the template with HeLa nuclear extract before the addition of PCC eliminates PCC repression. These results suggest that PcG proteins do not merely prohibit all transcription machinery from binding the template but instead likely inhibit specific steps in the transcription reaction.
Serum Fluoride Concentration and Urine Osmolality After Enflurane and Sevoflurane Anesthesia in Male Volunteers

The purpose of this study was to measure the serum fluoride concentration after enflurane or sevoflurane anesthesia and to compare the effects of prolonged anesthesia with these drugs on renal concentrating function in male volunteers.The study was subdivided into three stages; an ascending dose study of 3.0 and 6.0 minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration (MAC) hours of sevoflurane alone, a 6.0-MAC-hour comparison of enflurane and sevoflurane, and a 9.0-MAC-hour comparison of enflurane and sevoflurane. Renal concentrating function was assessed by an 18-h period of fluid deprivation and the serum fluoride concentration was measured at intervals until 60 h postanesthesia. The maximum serum fluoride concentration was greater in the volunteers exposed to sevoflurane and reached a peak in the 9-MAC-hour sevoflurane group of 36.6 micro Meter (SD 4.3) compared with 27.5 micro Meter (SD 2.6) in the 9-MAC-hour enflurane group. However, the rapid decrease in the serum fluoride concentration after sevoflurane was such that there was no difference between the areas under the fluoride concentration-time curves. There were no significant differences between the median maximum urine osmolalities after enflurane or sevoflurane anesthesia. Prolonged anesthesia with enflurane or sevoflurane is not associated with impaired renal concentrating function despite an increase in the serum fluoride concentration. (Anesth Analg 1995;81:353-9)
Cell cycle-dependent degradation of the methyltransferase SETD3 attenuates cell proliferation and liver tumorigenesis

Histone modifications, including lysine methylation, are epigenetic marks that influence many biological pathways. Accordingly, many methyltransferases have critical roles in various biological processes, and their dysregulation is often associated with cancer. However, the biological functions and regulation of many methyltransferases are unclear. Here, we report that a human homolog of the methyltransferase SET (SU(var), enhancer of zeste, and trithorax) domain containing 3 (SETD3) is cell cycle-regulated; SETD3 protein levels peaked in S phase and were lowest in M phase. We found that the β-isoform of the tumor suppressor F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7 (FBXW7β) specifically mediates SETD3 degradation. Aligning the SETD3 sequence with those of well known FBXW7 substrates, we identified six potential non-canonical Cdc4 phosphodegrons (CPDs), and one of them, CPD1, is primarily phosphorylated by the kinase glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3β), which is required for FBXW7β-mediated recognition and degradation. Moreover, depletion or inhibition of GSK3β or FBXW7β resulted in elevated SETD3 levels. Mutations of the phosphorylated residues in CPD1 of SETD3 abolished the interaction between FBXW7β and SETD3 and prevented SETD3 degradation. Our data further indicated that SETD3 levels positively correlated with cell proliferation of liver cancer cells and liver tumorigenesis in a xenograft mouse model, and that overexpression of FBXW7β counteracts the SETD3's tumorigenic role. We also show that SETD3 levels correlate with cancer malignancy, indicated by SETD3 levels that the 54 liver tumors are 2-fold higher than those in the relevant adjacent tissues. Collectively, these data elucidated that a GSK3β-FBXW7β-dependent mechanism controls SETD3 protein levels during the cell cycle and attenuates its oncogenic role in liver tumorigenesis.