Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF HEPCIDIN IN PREDICTING THE THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY OF ERYTHROPOIESIS-STIMULATING AGENT TREATMENT IN PATIENTS OF CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE

Background: Chronic kidney disease is associated with increase serum hepcidin level which contributes to severity of anemia and to resistance of erythropoiesis stimulating agents and dysregulation of iron hemostasis. Serum hepcidin correlates positively with ferritin in patients on hemodialysis. Subjects and Methods: fifty patients of end stage renal disease(ESRD) on regular hemodialysis and on erythropoietin therapy, twenty seven males, twenty three females and twenty subjects as control. Group matched for age, gender were clinically assessed and laboratory investigations were done in the form of serum urea, creatinine, iron profile (serum iron, ferritin, total iron binding capacity), serum erythropoietin, serum hepcidin, and hemoglobin. Results: There is significant negative correlation between hepcidin and hemoglobin, iron, total iron binding capacity and erythropoietin (P<0.01) and positive significant correlation between serum hepcidin and serum ferritin (P<0.05) in both male and female groups. Hepcidin and serum ferritin are higher in patients groups than control but erythropoietin is lower in patients groups than control with statistical significance (P<0.01). Key words: Hepcidin, erythropoietin, chronic renal failure
Influence of Varietal Difference on Qualities of Osmosized Tomato in the South Western Nigeria

Mechanism of mass transfer phenomena of three major varieties available in the South-western Nigeria market are Roma-VF Koledowo and Ibadan-Local variety. Tomato varieties pre-treated in a binary (sugar and salt) osmotic solution of three solution concentration; three temperature; five osmotic time and fruit to solution ratio 1:10 was studied by developing a conceptual model to describe the Water Loss and Solid Gains. Initial moisture content was determined using the AOAC standards. Statistical analyses of the data within and across varieties were carried out. This study therefore investigated the effect of varietal difference on the qualities of osmosized tomato i.e. the highest water loss and least solid gain. Effect of pretreatment varies with variety with a mean water loss range value of 0.2615-0.3031. Water-loss and Solid gain were significant (p? 0.05) for all variables considered. Koledowo with the thickest skin had the least owing to its ability to allow moisture migration Keywords: Water loss, Solid gain, Osmotic time, Varietal difference, Pretreatment
On the extreme statistics of long‐crested deep water waves: Theory and experiments

[1] Quasi-resonant four-wave interactions may influence the statistical properties of deep water long-crested surface gravity waves. As a consequence, the wave height exceedance probability can substantially deviate from the expected distribution obtained by assuming that waves are linear. Here the occurrence probability of extreme events recently derived by N. Mori and P. Janssen (2006) is compared with wave tank data, where strong departures from Gaussian behavior are observed. Experimental wave height, maximum wave height distribution, and probability of occurrence of freak waves are compared with theoretical expectations. The theory well predicts extreme waves in nonlinear wavefields.
Bidirectional seiching in a rectangular, open channel, lateral cavity

The present work is dedicated to the free-surface oscillation of lateral cavities, i.e. horizontal cavities with free surface connected along one of their sides to a steady main flow. This oscillation phenomenon, named seiching, is studied experimentally, first for a square cavity and then for a rectangular one. Water surface oscillations are recorded and, for the square cavity, two standing waves of perpendicular axes appear to co-exist and are reconstructed individually using usual signal processing tools. Moreover, the corresponding oscillation frequencies appear to be well correlated with the peak frequencies of the velocity spectrum in the mixing layer. Finally, for the rectangular cavity, the standing wave of axis perpendicular to the mainstream axis disappears and an additional standing wave of streamwise axis appears.
Agrometeorological conditions of grassland vegetation in central Mongolia and their impact for leaf area growth

[1] The long-term observation of surface heat and water budget and hydrometeorological elements has been carried out over a grassland site at Arvaikheer (46.23� N, 102.82� E) in central Mongolia as the framework of the GEWEX Asian Monsoon Experiment-Asian Automatic Weather Station Network (GAME-AAN). The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between vegetation and climate using long-term data (1982–2000) of satellite-derived leaf area index (LAI) and climatic data observed at Arvaikheer. Furthermore, we aimed to reveal physical process by comparing soil moisture and heat and water budgets in 1999 and 2000 as a case study of good and poor vegetation growth. Significant positive correlations with 99% confidence levels were found for July precipitation (P) and the LAI in July (0.538), August (0.826), and September (0.564). Composite analysis for five highest (H5) and lowest (L5) LAI years showed the significant positive anomalies of P in July and LAI in July and August for H5. In June and July 1999, soil moisture and P values were higher than values in 2000; this pattern was reversed in August and September. The mean LAI during the 1999 growing season (1.0) was about twice that of 2000 (0.6). In 1999 the ratio of evapotranspiration (ET) to P (ET/P) and change of stored soil moisture (DW )t o P( DW/P) were 0.79 and 0.15, respectively. In 2000, ET/P and DW/P were 0.94 and 0.0, respectively. These results suggest that the P and DW before July had the most influent on grass growth in central Mongolia. INDEX TERMS: 1818 Hydrology: Evapotranspiration; 1866 Hydrology: Soil moisture; 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620); 3322 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Land/ atmosphere interactions; 3360 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Remote sensing; KEYWORDS: Mongolia, grassland, leaf area index, soil moisture, rainfall, evapotranspiration
The influence of nutrition on the morphology of the adult body and the eye of the blowfly, Calliphora vicina

Organisms can have relatively larger or smaller morphological structures depending on their total body size, and this variation is called allometry. By selecting blowflies Caliphora vicina that varied in size depending on the amount of food during larval stage, it was possible to generate adult males and females with a broad range of body sizes and use them to access the scaling relationships of several external and internal morphological structures. The external characters wing, leg, and genital length, head width, eye length and width and thorax mass all showed negative allometry, genitals having the lowest slope. Males showed a higher slope for wings compared with females and so this character may be sexually selected on males. To relate the scaling relationships to a specific behavioural task as the chasing behaviour of the males, several characters that influence the visual performance and consequently this behaviour were measured. The facets diameter showed negative allometry in all regions of the eye and no differences in slope between males and females. However, the intercept was higher for some regions of the males’ eye compared with the females’, and so males are investing more on these traits in an absolute way. The internal characters rhabdom diameter and length and focal length showed much less predictable variation. The results show that it is possible that the scaling relationships of the external characters might be compensated by a larger investment of the smaller flies on the internal characters, and it is not possible to conclude if the chasing behaviour is responsible for sexual selective pressures acting on these traits. The Resting Metabolic Rate of the adult flies was also measured but no differences were found between sexes and so the investment of males on visual system is not determinant to the overall RMR.
Effect of sieve size on chemical composition and functional properties of canola meal ( Brasscia napus ) protein fractions as fishmeal replacement

Canola meal (CM) use in animal nutrition is limited due to the inclusion of various antinutritional factors (ANF). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sieving on nutrient and ANF contents of CM. Five sieves with mesh size (diameter) of 16, 18, 20, 30 and 40 were used in this regard. With an increase in the mesh size, the recovery percentage significantly decreased (73.7 vs. 18.3), while crude protein content (370.7 vs. 378.1 g/kg), gross cost (0.47 vs. 1.91 US$/kg) and protein unit cost (1.27 vs. 1.66 US$/kg) were significantly increased (P < 0.05). In the next stage, only the sieved canola meal obtained through mesh size 16, 18 and 20 was selected for further investigation. The amounts of crude protein, crude fat and total NSP of the processed products were not significantly differed. However, the amounts of acid detergent fiber (218.2 g/kg vs. 206.7 g/kg) and neutral detergent fiber (330.8 g/kg vs. 319.1 g/Kg) significantly decreased by increasing mesh size. Glucosinolates (20.67 vs. 21.82 μmol/g DM) and phytate (40.6 g/kg vs. 62.0 g/kg) had significant increment (P < 0.05) on the other hand. Considering the weighted averages of different measured variables from PCA, the mesh size 16 was selected for use in the production of a canola protein concentrate.
Comparison of 20th century and pre-industrial climate over South America in regional model simulations

In this study, we assess how the anthropogenically induced increase in greenhouse gas concentrations affects the climate of central and southern South America. We utilise two regional climate simulations for present day (PD) and pre-industrial (PI) times. These simulations are compared to historical reconstructions in order to investigate the driving processes responsible for climatic changes between the different periods. The regional climate model is validated against observations for both re-analysis data and GCM-driven regional simulations for the second half of the 20th century. Model biases are also taken into account for the interpretation of the model results. The added value of the regional simulation over global-scale modelling relates to a better representation of hydrological processes that are particularly evident in the proximity of the Andes Mountains. Climatic differences between the simulated PD minus PI period agree qualitatively well with proxy-based temperature reconstructions, albeit the regional model overestimates the amplitude of the temperature increase. For precipitation the most important changes between the PD and PI simulation relate to a dipole pattern along the Andes Mountains with increased precipitation over the southern parts and reduced precipitation over the central parts. Here only a few regions show robust similarity with studies based on empirical evidence. However, from a dynamical point-of-view, atmospheric circulation changes related to an increase in high-latitude zonal wind speed simulated by the regional climate model are consistent with numerical modelling studies addressing changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. Our results indicate that besides the direct effect of greenhouse gas changes, large-scale changes in atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperatures also exert an influence on temperature and precipitation changes in southern South America. These combined changes in turn affect the relationship between climate and atmospheric circulation between PD and PI times and should be considered for the statistical reconstruction of climate indices calibrated within present-day climate data.
The mass-loss return from evolved stars to the Large Magellanic Cloud - V. The GRAMS carbon-star model grid

The total dust return rate from AGB and RSG star outflows is an important constraint to galactic chemical evolution models. However, this requires detailed radiative transfer (RT) modeling of individual stars, which becomes impractical for large data sets. Another approach is to select the best-fit spectral energy distribution (SED) from a grid of dust shell models, allowing for a faster determination of the luminosities and mass-loss rates for entire samples. We have developed the Grid of RSG and AGB ModelS (GRAMS) to measure the mass-loss return from evolved stars. The models span the range of stellar, dust shell and grain properties relevant to evolved stars. In this paper we present the carbon-star grid and compare our results with data of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) carbon stars from the SAGE and SAGE-Spec programs. We generate spherically symmetric dust shell models using the 2Dust code, with hydrostatic models for the central stars. We explore five values of the inner radius R_in of the dust shell (1.5, 3, 4.5, 7 and 12 R_star). We use amorphous carbon dust mixed with 10% silicon carbide by mass. The grain sizes follows a KMH distribution. The models span 26 values of 11.3 um optical depth, ranging from 0.001 to 4. For each model, 2Dust calculates the output SED from 0.2 to 200 um. Over 12,000 models have dust temperatures below 1800 K. The GRAMS synthetic photometry is in good agreement with SAGE photometry for LMC carbon-rich and extreme AGB star candidates, as well as spectroscopically confirmed carbon stars from the SAGE-Spec study. Our models reproduce the IRAC colors of most of the extreme AGB star candidates, consistent with the expectation that a majority of these enshrouded stars have carbon-rich dust. Finally, we fit the SEDs of some well-studied carbon stars and compare the resulting luminosities and mass-loss rates with those from previous studies.
Assessment of PD-L1 expression across breast cancer molecular subtypes, in relation to mutation rate, BRCA1-like status, tumor-infiltrating immune cells and survival

ABSTRACT To better understand the expression pattern of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in different breast cancer types, we characterized PD-L1 expression in tumor and tumor-infiltrating immune cells, in relation to mutation rate, BRCA1-like status and survival. We analyzed 410 primary treatment-naive breast tumors comprising 162 estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and HER2−, 101 HER2+ and 147 triple-negative (TN) cancers. Pathologists quantified tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and PD-L1 expression in tumor cells and TILs using whole slides and tissue microarray. Mutation rate was assessed by DNA sequencing, BRCA1-like status using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, and immune landscape by multiplex image analyses of CD4, CD68, CD8, FOXP3, cytokeratin, and PD-L1. Half of PD-L1 scores evaluated by tissue microarray were false negatives compared to whole slide evaluations. We observed at least 1% of PD-L1-positive (PD-L1+) cells in 53.1% of ER+HER2−, 73.3% of HER2+, and 84.4% of TN tumors. PD-L1 expression was higher in ductal compared to lobular carcinomas, also within ER+HER2− tumors (p = 0.04). High PD-L1+ TILs score (> 50%) was independently associated with better outcome in TN tumors (HR = 0.27; 95%CI = 0.10–0.69). Within TN tumors, PD-L1 and TIL scores showed a modest but significant positive association with the number of silent mutations, but no association with BRCA1-like status. Multiplex image analyses indicated that PD-L1 is expressed on multiple immune cells (CD68+ macrophages, CD4+, FOXP3+, and CD8+ T cells) in the breast tumor microenvironment, independent of the PD-L1 status of the tumor cells. We found no evidence that levels of PD-L1+ TILs in TN breast cancer are driven by high mutation rate or BRCA1-like status.
Arbutin Content and Tyrosinase Activity of Bergenia Extracts

The total arbutin content in the leaves of all the studied Bergenia plants (B. crassifolia, B. ciliata and B. x ornata) was determined. The highest values of the arbutin content have been established for B. crassifolia (58.9 ± 0.7 mg.g−1 DW) and B. x ornata (51.0 ± 1.21 mg.g−1 DW), and the lowest for B. ciliata (5.9 ± 0.6 mg.g−1 DW). Arbutin concentration in the Bergenia leaves was the lowest in spring, in the autumn, on the contrary it increased. All the tested aqueous extracts caused a dose-dependent increase in diphenolase activity of fungal tyrosinase in a similar way as arbutin. On the other hand, all the ethanol extracts inhibited the diphenolase activity of tyrosinase.
Autotaxin Derived From Lipoprotein(a) and Valve Interstitial Cells Promotes Inflammation and Mineralization of the Aortic Valve

Background— Mendelian randomization studies have highlighted that lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] was associated with calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). Lp(a) transports oxidized phospholipids with a high content in lysophosphatidylcholine. Autotaxin (ATX) transforms lysophosphatidylcholine into lysophosphatidic acid. We hypothesized that ATX-lysophosphatidic acid could promote inflammation/mineralization of the aortic valve. Methods and Results— We have documented the expression of ATX in control and mineralized aortic valves. By using different approaches, we have also investigated the role of ATX-lysophosphatidic acid in the mineralization of isolated valve interstitial cells and in a mouse model of CAVD. Enzyme-specific ATX activity was elevated by 60% in mineralized aortic valves in comparison with control valves. Immunohistochemistry studies showed a high level of ATX in mineralized aortic valves, which colocalized with oxidized phospholipids and apolipoprotein(a). We detected a high level of ATX activity in the Lp(a) fraction in circulation. Interaction between ATX and Lp(a) was confirmed by in situ proximity ligation assay. Moreover, we documented that valve interstitial cells also expressed ATX in CAVD. We showed that ATX-lysophosphatidic acid promotes the mineralization of the aortic valve through a nuclear factor &kgr;B/interleukin 6/bone morphogenetic protein pathway. In LDLR–/–/ApoB100/100/IGFII mice, ATX is overexpressed and lysophosphatidic acid promotes a strong deposition of hydroxyapatite of calcium in aortic valve leaflets and accelerates the development of CAVD. Conclusions— ATX is transported in the aortic valve by Lp(a) and is also secreted by valve interstitial cells. ATX-lysophosphatidic acid promotes inflammation and mineralization of the aortic valve and thus could represent a novel therapeutic target in CAVD.
Evaluation of dose-volume metrics for microbeam radiation therapy dose distributions in head phantoms of various sizes using Monte Carlo simulations

This work evaluates four dose-volume metrics applied to microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) using simulated dosimetric data as input. We seek to improve upon the most frequently used MRT metric, the peak-to-valley dose ratio (PVDR), by analyzing MRT dose distributions from a more volumetric perspective. Monte Carlo simulations were used to calculate dose distributions in three cubic head phantoms: a 2 cm mouse head, an 8 cm cat head and a 16 cm dog head. The dose distribution was calculated for a 4 × 4 mm2 microbeam array in each phantom, as well as a 16 × 16 mm2 array in the 8 cm cat head, and a 32 × 32 mm2 array in the 16 cm dog head. Microbeam widths of 25, 50 and 75 µm and center-to-center spacings of 100, 200 and 400 µm were considered. The metrics calculated for each simulation were the conventional PVDR, the peak-to-mean valley dose ratio (PMVDR), the mean dose and the percentage volume below a threshold dose. The PVDR ranged between 3 and 230 for the 2 cm mouse phantom, and between 2 and 186 for the 16 cm dog phantom depending on geometry. The corresponding ranges for the PMVDR were much smaller, being 2–49 (mouse) and 2–46 (dog), and showed a slightly weaker dependence on phantom size and array size. The ratio of the PMVDR to the PVDR varied from 0.21 to 0.79 for the different collimation configurations, indicating a difference between the geometric dependence on outcome that would be predicted by these two metrics. For unidirectional irradiation, the mean lesion dose was 102%, 79% and 42% of the mean skin dose for the 2 cm mouse, 8 cm cat and 16 cm dog head phantoms, respectively. However, the mean lesion dose recovered to 83% of the mean skin dose in the 16 cm dog phantom in intersecting cross-firing regions. The percentage volume below a 10% dose threshold was highly dependent on geometry, with ranges for the different collimation configurations of 2–87% and 33–96% for the 2 cm mouse and 16 cm dog heads, respectively. The results of this study illustrate that different dose-volume metrics exhibit different functional dependences on MRT geometry parameters, and suggest that reliance on the PVDR as a predictor of therapeutic outcome may be insufficient.
Long‐term follow‐up of the DeKAF cross‐sectional cohort study

The DeKAF study was developed to better understand the causes of late allograft loss. Preliminary findings from the DeKAF cross‐sectional cohort (with follow‐up < 20 months) have been published. Herein, we present long‐term outcomes in those recipients (mean follow‐up ± SD, 6.6 ± 0.7 years). Eligibility included being transplanted prior to October 1, 2005; serum creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL on January 1, 2006; and subsequently developing new‐onset graft dysfunction leading to a biopsy. Mean time from transplant to biopsy was 7.5 ± 6.1 years. Histologic findings and DSA were studied in relation to postbiopsy outcomes. Long‐term follow‐up confirms and expands the preliminary results of each of 3 studies: (1) increasing inflammation in area of atrophy (irrespective of inflammation in nonscarred areas [Banff i]) was associated with increasingly worse postbiopsy death‐censored graft survival; (2) hierarchical analysis based on Banff scores defined clusters (entities) that differed in long‐term death‐censored graft survival; and (3) C4d−/DSA− recipients had significantly better (and C4d+/DSA+ worse) death‐censored graft survival than other groups. C4d+/DSA‐ and C4d−/DSA+ had similar intermediate death‐censored graft survival. Clinical and histologic findings at the time of new‐onset graft dysfunction define high‐ vs low‐risk groups for long‐term death‐censored graft survival, even years posttransplant. These findings can help differentiate groups for potential intervention studies.
Amylin, a peptide expressed by nociceptors, modulates chronic neuropathic pain

Amylin is a calcitonin gene‐related peptide family member expressed by nociceptors. Amylin's expression is down‐regulated following nerve damage, and studies suggested it affects nociception. We aimed at clarifying amylin's effects on chronic neuropathic pain and investigating its site of action.