Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statin Therapy Accelerates Reendothelialization: A Novel Effect Involving Mobilization and Incorporation of Bone Marrow-Derived Endothelial Progenitor Cells

Background—Primary and secondary prevention trials suggest that statins possess favorable effects independent of cholesterol reduction. We investigated whether statin therapy may also accelerate reendothelialization after carotid balloon injury. Methods and Results—Simvastatin treatment in 34 male Sprague-Dawley rats accelerated reendothelialization of the balloon-injured arterial segments (reendothelialized area at 2 weeks, 12.3±1.8 versus 5.4±1.1 mm2, P < 0.01) and resulted in a dose-dependent (0.2 or 1 mg/kg IP) significant reduction in neointimal thickening at 2, 3, and 4 weeks compared with saline-injected controls (n=18). To elucidate the mechanism, we investigated the contribution of bone marrow–derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) by bone marrow transplantation from Tie2/lacZ mice to background mice or nude rats. X-gal staining of mouse carotid artery specimens revealed a 2.9-fold increase in the number of &bgr;-gal–positive cells per square millimeter appearing on the carotid artery luminal surface at 2 weeks, and double-fluorescence immunohistochemistry disclosed a significant 5-fold increase in the number of double-positive cells (&bgr;-gal, isolectin B4) on the luminal surface in carotid arteries of statin-treated nude rats (20±3 versus 4±1 cells/mm surface length, P <0.005). Statins increased circulating rat EPCs (2.4-fold at 2 weeks and 2.5-fold at 4 weeks, P <0.001) and induced adhesiveness of cultured human EPCs by upregulation of the integrin subunits &agr;5, &bgr;1, &agr; v, and &bgr;5 of human EPCs as shown by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Conclusions—These findings establish additional mechanisms by which statins may specifically preempt disordered vascular wall pathology and constitute physiological evidence that EPC mobilization represents a functionally relevant consequence of statin therapy.
Use of basic salts of iron and zinc as plant amendments in soils

Abstract In a greenhouse experiment, the effects of adding zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) as either their basic salts or as commercial chelates were compared for the production of lettuce. The basic salts were found to be as effective as the chelates in providing Zn and Fe as well as being more environmentally safe.
Towards resolving the evolution of multi-supernova superbubbles

Abstract Interstellar superbubbles generated by multiple supernova explosions are common in star-forming galaxies. They are the most obvious manifestation of mechanical feedback, and are largely responsible for transferring both thermal and kinetic energy to the interstellar medium from the massive star population. However, the details of this energy transfer remain surprisingly murky when individual objects are studied. I will summarize what we currently know about candidate dominant processes on these scales.
CGP-37157 Inhibits the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ ATPase and Activates Ryanodine Receptor Channels in Striated Muscle

7-Chloro-5-(2-chlorophenyl)-1,5-dihydro-4,1-benzothiazepin-2(3H)-one [CGP-37157 (CGP)], a benzothiazepine derivative of clonazepam, is commonly used as a blocker of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. However, evidence suggests that CGP could also affect other targets, such as L-type Ca2+ channels and plasmalemma Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. Here, we tested the possibility of a direct modulation of ryanodine receptor channels (RyRs) and/or sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-stimulated ATPase (SERCA) by CGP. In the presence of ruthenium red (inhibitor of RyRs), CGP decreased SERCA-mediated Ca2+ uptake of cardiac and skeletal sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) microsomes (IC50 values of 6.6 and 9.9 μM, respectively). The CGP effects on SERCA activity correlated with a decreased Vmax of ATPase activity of SERCA-enriched skeletal SR fractions. CGP (≥5 μM) also increased RyR-mediated Ca2+ leak from skeletal SR microsomes. Planar bilayer studies confirmed that both cardiac and skeletal RyRs are directly activated by CGP (EC50 values of 9.4 and 12.0 μM, respectively). In summary, we found that CGP inhibits SERCA and activates RyR channels. Hence, the action of CGP on cellular Ca2+ homeostasis reported in the literature of cardiac, skeletal muscle, and other nonmuscle systems requires further analysis to take into account the contribution of all CGP-sensitive Ca2+ transporters.
Cut-off point for switching from non- -invasive ventilation to intubation in severe ARDS. Still a spectrum of greys and whites.

nione, za wyjątkiem sytuacji, w której inne rozwiązania nie są dostępne. I tu podzielamy opinie autorów cytowanych przez Kolegę na temat małej skuteczności analgetycznej tych środków i ich nieznanym wpływie na rozwijający się mózg dziecka [9]. Podsumowując, zgadzamy się z częścią konkluzji Kolegi Chutkowskiego, że analgezja zewnątrzoponowa nadal pozostaje „złotym standardem” w analgezji porodu. Uważamy jednak, że remifentanyl PCA powinien być zaakceptowanym alternatywnym standardem podobnie jak ma to miejsce na świecie i co zgodnie podkreślają wszyscy zacytowani przez Kolegę autorzy. Warto, aby z tej polemiki wynikły trzy ważne wnioski: 1. PCA z użyciem remifentanylu może być wartościową alternatywą dla CZZO w przypadku, gdy jest ona trudna lub niemożliwa do zastosowania. 2. Zastosowanie remifentanylu PCA bezwzględnie wymaga zabezpieczenia opieki nad rodzącą z bezpośrednim ciągłym nadzorem 1:1 i możliwością okresowego zastosowania tlenu w razie potrzeby. 3. Zasady stosowania remifentanylu PCA powinny być opracowane w formie rekomendacji odpowiednich polskich towarzystw naukowych.
Comparing satellite rainfall estimates with rain gauge data: Optimal strategies suggested by a spectral model

[1] The statistical problem of comparing rain gauge measurements to satellite rain-rate estimates over an area surrounding the gauge(s) is examined using a model of rainfall variability developed for studies of sampling error in averages of satellite data. The model is able to capture a number of important aspects of the space-time spectrum of rain-rate variability, including the interdependence of time and space scales of variability. Four parameters must be specified in the model. Sets of parameters have been obtained that fit the statistics of radar-derived rain rates over the eastern tropical Atlantic (from GATE) and the western tropical Pacific (from TOGA COARE). The model predicts that there is an optimal averaging time for gauge data when gauge averages are compared to average satellite rain-rates for a specified area around the gauge. The optimal averaging time ranges from minutes to days as the diameter of the area around the gauge is extended from 2 km to 200 km. The optimal averaging time shrinks as more gauges are added to the area viewed by the satellite, but the model suggests that even over fairly dense gauge networks it is necessary to compare averages of several hundred satellite overflights in order to bring the comparison error down to the 10% level. The possibility that comparisons of gauge data with satellite averages might be improved by weighting the gauge data differently depending on how close the gauge data are in time to the satellite overflights is investigated, and it is found that in some cases the variance of the comparison error can be reduced by a factor of two by using optimal time-dependent weighting.
Positive small-scale effects of shrubs on diversity and flowering in pastures

Understanding plant-plant interactions is essential in planning and implementing effective grassland management strategies. Positive and negative interactions generally co-occur in plant communities and the net effect of these interactions may depend on the disturbance regime, including grazing. Shrubs can act as biotic refuges by physically protecting neighbouring plants from herbivores. As a result, we would expect that in pastures the diversity and flowering success of plants is higher in the close vicinity of shrubs compared to the open vegetation. Nevertheless, we can also assume a competitive trade-off cost for plants that grow together with shrubs. In this study, we assessed the small-scale effects of dwarf shrubs (30–40 cm in diameter) on species density and flowering success. Specifically, we considered three types of microsites: (i) shrub interior, (ii) edge of shrub, and (iii) open pasture (more than 2 meters away from the shrub). We surveyed these three types of microsites using 10 × 10 cm sized plots both in grazed and ungrazed meadow steppe, in central Hungary. The highest species density was found at the edge of shrubs, both in grazed and ungrazed vegetation. Meanwhile, species density did not differ significantly between shrub interiors and the open pasture. However, in grazed vegetation, species flowering success was significantly higher in shrub interiors and edges than in the open pasture; no significant trend was observed for this measure in ungrazed vegetation. In contrast to previous studies, we did not detect a competitive effect of small-sized shrubs on plants in ungrazed vegetation. Our results indicate that small-sized shrubs protect other plants from herbivores and that the edge effect plays an important role for the maintenance of small-scale species diversity in pastures. Overall, our results underline the beneficial effect of biotic refuges in pastures and we suggest that retaining a sparse population of small-sized native shrubs is advantageous from a conservation point of view.
A database cache for high performance and fast restart in database systems

Performance in database systems is strongly influenced by buffer management and transaction recovery methods. This paper presents the principles of the database cache, which replaces the traditional buffer. In comparison to buffer management, cache management is more carefully coordinated with transaction management, and integrates transaction recovery. High throughput of small- and medium-sized transactions is achieved by fast commit processing and low database traffic. Very fast handling of transaction failures and short restart time after system failure are guaranteed in such an environment. Very long retrieval and update transactions are also supported.
A highly sensitive fluorescent indicator dye for calcium imaging of neural activity in vitro and in vivo

Calcium imaging of individual neurons is widely used for monitoring their activity in vitro and in vivo. Synthetic fluorescent calcium indicator dyes are commonly used, but the resulting calcium signals sometimes suffer from a low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, it is difficult to detect signals caused by single action potentials (APs) particularly from neurons in vivo. Here we showed that a recently developed calcium indicator dye, Cal‐520, is sufficiently sensitive to reliably detect single APs both in vitro and in vivo. In neocortical neurons, calcium signals were linearly correlated with the number of APs, and the SNR was > 6 for in vitro slice preparations and > 1.6 for in vivo anesthetised mice. In cerebellar Purkinje cells, dendritic calcium transients evoked by climbing fiber inputs were clearly observed in anesthetised mice with a high SNR and fast decay time. These characteristics of Cal‐520 are a great advantage over those of Oregon Green BAPTA‐1, the most commonly used calcium indicator dye, for monitoring the activity of individual neurons both in vitro and in vivo.
Expanding machine translation training data with an out-of-domain corpus using language modeling based vocabulary saturation

The training data size is of utmost importance for statistical machine translation (SMT), since it affects the training time, model size, decoding speed, as well as the system’s overall success. One of the challenges for developing SMT systems for languages with less resources is the limited sizes of the available training data. In this paper, we propose an approach for expanding the training data by including parallel texts from an out-of-domain corpus. Selecting the best out-of-domain sentences for inclusion in the training set is important for the overall performance of the system. Our method is based on first ranking the out-of-domain sentences using a language modeling approach, and then, including the sentences to the training set by using the vocabulary saturation filter technique. We evaluated our approach for the English-Turkish language pair and obtained promising results. Performance improvements of up to +0.8 BLEU points for the English-Turkish translation system are achieved. We compared our results with the translation model combination approaches as well and reported the improvements. Moreover, we implemented our system with dependency parse tree based language modeling in addition to the n-gram based language modeling and reported comparable results.
High resolution map of Caenorhabditis elegans gap junction proteins

The innexin family of gap junction proteins has 25 members in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we describe the first high‐resolution expression map of all members through analysis of live worms transformed with green fluorescent protein under the control of entire promoter regions. Our analyses show that innexins have dynamic expression patterns throughout development and are found in virtually all cell types and tissues. Complex tissues, such as the pharynx, intestine, gonad, as well as scaffolding tissues and guidepost cells express a variety of innexins in overlapping or complementary patterns, suggesting they may form heteromeric and heterotypic channels. Innexin expression occurs in several types of cells that are not known to form gap junctions as well as in a pair of migrating cells, suggesting they may have hemichannel function. Therefore, innexins likely play roles in almost all body functions, including embryonic development, cell fate determination, oogenesis, egg laying, pharyngeal pumping, excretion, and locomotion. Developmental Dynamics 238:1936–1950, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Morphogenesis of simple leaves: regulation of leaf size and shape

Plants produce new organs throughout their life span. Leaves first initiate as rod‐like structures protruding from the shoot apical meristem, while they need to pass through different developmental stages to become the flat organ specialized in photosynthesis. Leaf morphogenesis is an active process regulated by many genes and pathways that can generate organs with a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Important differences in leaf architecture can be seen among different species, but also in single individuals. A key aspect of leaf morphogenesis is the precise control of cell proliferation. Modification or manipulation of this process may lead to leaves with different sizes and shapes, and changes in the organ margins and curvature. Many genes required for leaf development have been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana, and the mechanisms underlying leaf morphogenesis are starting to be unraveled at the molecular level. WIREs Dev Biol 2014, 3:41–57. doi: 10.1002/wdev.115
Net endogenous acid production and mortality in NHANES III

Low serum bicarbonate is a strong mortality risk factor in people with low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). It may also raise mortality risk in people with normal eGFR. This study investigated whether higher net endogenous acid production (NEAP), an estimate of net dietary acid intake and a risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression, associates with higher mortality in people with and without low eGFR.
Hindi handwritten word recognition using HMM and symbol tree

The proposed approach performs recognition of online handwritten isolated Hindi words using a combination of HMMs trained on Devanagari symbols and a tree formed by the multiple, possible sequences of recognized symbols. In general, words in Indic languages are composed of a number of aksharas or syllables, which in turn are formed by groups of consonants and vowel modifiers. Segmentation of aksharas is critical to accurate recognition of both recognition primitives as well as the complete word. Also, recognition in itself is an intricate job. This holistic task of akshara segmentation, symbol identification and subsequent word recognition is targeted in our work. It is handled in an integrated segmentation-recognition framework. By making use of online stroke information for postulating symbol candidates and deriving HOG feature set from their image counterparts, the recognition becomes independent of stroke order and stroke shape variations. Thus, the system is well suited to unconstrained handwriting. Data for this work is collected from different parts of India where Hindi language is predominantly in use. Symbols extracted from 60,000 words are used to train and test 140 symbol-HMM models. The system is designed to output one or more candidate words to the user, by tracing multiple tree paths (up to leaf nodes) under the condition that the symbol likelihood (confidence score) at every node is above threshold. Tests performed on 10,000 words yield an accuracy of 89%.
Using a Search Engine-Based Mutually Reinforcing Approach to Assess the Semantic Relatedness of Biomedical Terms

Background Determining the semantic relatedness of two biomedical terms is an important task for many text-mining applications in the biomedical field. Previous studies, such as those using ontology-based and corpus-based approaches, measured semantic relatedness by using information from the structure of biomedical literature, but these methods are limited by the small size of training resources. To increase the size of training datasets, the outputs of search engines have been used extensively to analyze the lexical patterns of biomedical terms. Methodology/Principal Findings In this work, we propose the Mutually Reinforcing Lexical Pattern Ranking (ReLPR) algorithm for learning and exploring the lexical patterns of synonym pairs in biomedical text. ReLPR employs lexical patterns and their pattern containers to assess the semantic relatedness of biomedical terms. By combining sentence structures and the linking activities between containers and lexical patterns, our algorithm can explore the correlation between two biomedical terms. Conclusions/Significance The average correlation coefficient of the ReLPR algorithm was 0.82 for various datasets. The results of the ReLPR algorithm were significantly superior to those of previous methods.
Reverse Engineering - Roadmap to Effective software Design

— The process of duplicating an existing component, subassembly, or product, without the aid of drawings, documentation, or computer model is known as reverse engineering. So reverse engineering is the process of learning the design of an object by studying its implementation. It is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. The role of reverse engineering in software evolution is important. It provides the means for recapturing lost information, restructuring complex systems or transforming old systems to a new, more maintainable and better architecture. Reverse engineering software helps researchers to examine the strength of systems and identify their weaknesses in terms of performance, security, and interoperability. The goal of reverse engineering itself is the improved documentation of how the original product works by uncovering the underlying design. In this paper various reverse engineering tools are discussed which help in developing software design better by the use of existing source code.
Using VRML as an interface to the 3D data warehouse

In its current state, VRML does not provide support for interaction and on-line access to databases, even though these are two fundamental issues for business applications. We have created GOOVI-3D, a prototype system that provides access and interaction with a 3-D spatial database over the WWW. GOOVI3D is implemented in Java and VRML using CORBA for accessing the data warehouse. In an urban planning application, GOOVI-3D is used to interact with 3-D models of the city of Frankfurt. Based on the experience with GOOVI-3D, we propose two lightweight extensions of VRML that can make the development of business applications much easier: An integrated name dictionary management and a SQL node. CR
Localization of Buried Spherical Shells Based on Wideband Signals

This study deals with detection and localization of buried objects. We developed a novel method, that extends the subspace method, to estimate the bearing and the range of buried objects with known shapes such as spheres or cylinders. The idea is to use the spatial complexities of the scattered field to form an acoustic model that we used instead of the plane wave model used in the subspace method. The received signals are wideband and correlated, thus we apply a frequential smoothing in order to decorrelate them. We applied this method first, on cylindrical shells and we obtained a satisfying result (Z. Saidi and S. Bourennane, 2005) and here we extend it to spherical shells. Performances of the proposed method are investigated on experimental data recorded during underwater acoustic experiments
A Randomized Trial on Root Caries Prevention in Elders

Root caries is common in institutionalized elders, and effective prevention methods are needed. This clinical trial compared the effectiveness of four methods in preventing new root caries. From 21 residential homes, 306 generally healthy elders having at least 5 teeth with exposed sound root surfaces were randomly allocated into one of four groups: (1) individualized oral hygiene instruction (OHI); (2) OHI and applications of 1% chlorhexidine varnish every 3 months; (3) OHI and applications of 5% sodium fluoride varnish every 3 months; and (4) OHI and annual applications of 38% silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution. Two-thirds (203/306) of the elders were followed for 3 years. Mean numbers of new root caries surfaces in the four groups were 2.5, 1.1, 0.9, and 0.7, respectively (ANOVA, p < 0.001). SDF solution, sodium fluoride varnish, and chlorhexidine varnish were more effective in preventing new root caries than giving OHI alone.
Satellite Image Mapping of Tree Mortality in the Sierra Nevada Region of California from 2013 to 2016

Extreme drought from 2013 to 2015 has been linked to extensive tree dieback in the Sierra-Nevada region of California. Landsat satellite imagery was analysed for the region from Lake Tahoe to the southern Sequoia National Forest with the objective of understanding the patterns of tree mortality in the years of 2013 to 2015 and into the near-normal precipitation year of 2016. The main mapping results for Landsat moisture index differences from year-to-year showed that the highest coverage of tree dieback was located in the Sierra and Sequoia National Forests, at four to five times greater area each year than within any other National Park or National Forest unit. Since 2013, over 50% of the Sierra Nevada forest dieback area was detected in the mid elevation zone of 1000-2000 m. The total area of tree mortality in the lower elevation zone of 500-1000 m did not grow notably from 2015 to 2016. Within the largest California river drainages in the Sierra region, new tree mortality in 2015 was detected mainly below 1200 m elevation,whereas new tree mortality in 2016 was detected mainly at higher elevations, up to about 2200 m. In three out of the four years studied, results showed that about 60% of all new tree mortality areas were located on north-facing hill slopes.