Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor Regulates Prosurvival and Angiogenic Properties of Cardiac Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

One of the largest challenges to the implementation of cardiac cell therapy is identifying selective reparative targets to enhance stem/progenitor cell therapeutic efficacy. In this work, we hypothesized that such a target could be an urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR)—a glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol-anchored membrane protein, interacting with urokinase. uPAR is able to form complexes with various transmembrane proteins such as integrins, activating intracellular signaling pathway and thus regulating multiple cell functions. We focused on studying the CD117+ population of cardiac mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs), expressing uPAR on their surface. It was found that the number of CD117+ MPCs in the heart of the uPAR−/− mice is lower, as well as their ability to proliferate in vitro compared with cells from wild-type animals. Knockdown of uPAR in CD117+ MPCs of wild-type animals was accompanied by a decrease in survival rate and Akt signaling pathway activity and by an increase in the level of caspase activity in these cells. That suggests the role of uPAR in supporting cell survival. After intramyocardial transplantation of uPAR(−) MPCs, reduced cell retention and angiogenesis stimulation were observed in mice with myocardial infarction model compared to uPAR(+) cells transplantation. Taken together, the present results appear to prove a novel mechanism of uPAR action in maintaining the survival and angiogenic properties of CD117+ MPCs. These results emphasize the importance of the uPAR as a potential pharmacological target for the regulation of reparative properties of myocardial mesenchymal progenitor cells.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Lidar Observation of the Cirrus Cloud in the Tropopause at Chung-Li (258N, 1218E)

The authors have detected a cirrus cloud near the tropopause by using a lidar system located at Chung-Li, Taiwan (258N, 1218E). The cloud usually appeared between the month of May and September. In 1993‐95, the cloud was observed almost 50% of the time that the lidar operated. The cloud was detected in the heights between 15 and 17 km; the region of the atmosphere had a temperature ranging between 2708 and 2838C. It was never detected above the tropopause. The cloud was characterized by its very thin structure. The geometrical and optical thicknesses are about 0.6 km and 0.008, respectively, which can be considered as a subvisual cloud. This paper reports more than 20 cloud events observed in the years between 1993 and 1995. Some properties of the clouds are listed and compared with other references.
Changing the Subject: Innovations in Science, Maths and Technology Education

Change in education is too often a process which enthusiasts, ranging from top policy makers to groups of teachers, plan and drive forward, but in which they all find unexpected pitfalls. Every innovation depends on the commitment of schools and teachers to make it work. But often that commitment is lacking, or is less than total, or it turns to fustration as events develop. This book is based on a set of stories from teachers and education professionals in thirteen OECD countries. Twenty-three case studies of educational innovation in science, mathematics and technology have involved school teachers, inspectors, academics (both subject specialists and educational researchers), policy makers and advisors. The case studies come from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. Drawing on this rich variety of material the authors concentrate on the origins and purposes of innovation within and across the science, mathematics and technology curricula. They consider the conceptions of the three subjects, along with issues of teaching, learning and assessment, and explore the involvement of both teachers and students. They reflect on the various strategies adopted to cope with or bring about change, and offer valuable insights to advisors, developers, policy makers and practitioners, both in schools and outside. The writing team includes Paul Black, King's College London; Mike Atkin, Stanford University; Raymond Duval, University of Lille; Edwyn James, Consultant, OECD; John Olson, Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario; Dieter Pevsner, Consultant, London; Senta Raizen, National Centre for Improving Science Education, Washington; Maria Saez, University of Valladolid, Spain; and Helen Simons, Southampton University. Published in association with the OECD
Ground Water Contamination by Leachate

Safe and reliable disposal of municipal solid wastes and residues is an important component of integrated waste management. Open dumps, commonly found in Asian countries, are land disposal sites at which solid wastes are disposed of in such a manner that does not protect the environment, susceptible to open burning, and exposed to disease vectors and scavengers. Leachate is a polluted liquid emanating from the base of the landfill, which contains innumerable organic and inorganic compounds generated due to which serious ground water contamination was observed in wells. Present paper is a case study of Uruli Devachi (Open dump site), near Pune (M.S.) where daily 1000–1200 tonnes of solid waste are disposed at Uruli-Devachi village, and the site was dealing with problems of frequent fires, smoke, flies, birds and bad odour. PMC was spraying the waste with water to prevent fires, resulting in even greater quantities of leachate generated due to which Serious ground water contamination was observed in wells
Optimized 3D Street Scene Reconstruction from Driving Recorder Images

The paper presents an automatic region detection based method to reconstruct street scenes from driving recorder images. The driving recorder in this paper is a dashboard camera that collects images while the motor vehicle is moving. An enormous number of moving vehicles are included in the collected data because the typical recorders are often mounted in the front of moving vehicles and face the forward direction, which can make matching points on vehicles and guardrails unreliable. Believing that utilizing these image data can reduce street scene reconstruction and updating costs because of their low price, wide use, and extensive shooting coverage, we therefore proposed a new method, which is called the Mask automatic detecting method, to improve the structure results from the motion reconstruction. Note that we define vehicle and guardrail regions as “mask” in this paper since the features on them should be masked out to avoid poor matches. After removing the feature points in our new method, the camera poses and sparse 3D points that are reconstructed with the remaining matches. Our contrast experiments with the typical pipeline of structure from motion (SfM) reconstruction methods, such as Photosynth and VisualSFM, demonstrated that the Mask decreased the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the pairwise matching results, which led to more accurate recovering results from the camera-relative poses. Removing features from the Mask also increased the accuracy of point clouds by nearly 30%–40% and corrected the problems of the typical methods on repeatedly reconstructing several buildings when there was only one target building.
Analysis of the vegetation and soils of glades on calico rock sandstone in northern Arkansas

JEFFRIES, D. L. (Dept. Botany and Microbiology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 112: 70-73. 1985-Twenty-five sandstone glade sites in the Arkansas Ozarks were surveyed for vegetation and soil characteristics. The soil factors were similar to those of other glade types reported in the literature with the exception that the Calico Rock glades had a wide range of soil pH. The mean soil depth was 4.2 cm; 86.4% of all soil measurements were less than 10 cm. Juniperus virginiana was the most common tree species, and the mean basal area for all trees was only 2.8 m2/ha. Coreopsis grandiflora and/or Crotonopsis elliptica were dominant or co-dominant on 76% of the sites, and grasses comprised 16% of the herbaceous species. Species richness was highest on neutral soils, but per cent occurrence of cryptogamic vegetation decreased with increasing pH.
Hepatitis A: Old and New

SUMMARY The hepatitis A virus (HAV), a picornavirus, is a common cause of hepatitis worldwide. Spread of infection is generally person to person or by oral intake after fecal contamination of skin or mucous membranes; less commonly, there is fecal contamination of food or water. Hepatitis A is endemic in developing countries, and most residents are exposed in childhood. In contrast, the adult population in developed countries demonstrates falling rates of exposure with improvements in hygiene and sanitation. The export of food that cannot be sterilized, from countries of high endemicity to areas with low rates of infection, is a potentially important source of infection. After ingestion and uptake from the gastrointestinal tract, the virus replicates in the liver and is excreted into the bile. Cellular immune responses to the virus lead to destruction of infected hepatocytes with consequent development of symptoms and signs of disease. Humoral immune responses are the basis for diagnostic serologic assays. Acute HAV infection is clinically indistinguishable from other causes of acute viral hepatitis. In young children the disease is often asymptomatic, whereas in older children and adults there may be a range of clinical manifestations from mild, anicteric infection to fulminant hepatic failure. Clinical variants include prolonged, relapsing, and cholestatic forms. Management of the acute illness is supportive, and complete recovery without sequelae is the usual outcome. Research efforts during World War II led to the development of passive immunoprophylaxis. Pooled immune serum globulin is efficacious in the prevention and attenuation of disease in exposed individuals. More recently, active immunoprophylaxis by vaccination has been accomplished. Future eradication of this disease can now be contemplated.
The Emergence of Homo sapiens in South Asia: The Central Narmada Valley as Witness

The emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia is hotly debated due to a great gap in fossil record. A solitary partial cranium from Hathnora dated around 250 Kya is debated and conveniently interpreted as “evolved” Homo erectus or “archaic” Homo sapiens or Homo heidelbergensis or even Homo indet. Cranial fossils of Pre-Toba or post- Toba anatomically modern Homo sapiens are unknown barring the very late 30 Kya modern human remains from Sri Lanka. The present paper reviews the scenario of human evolution in South Asia with special reference to the cranial and recent postcranial fossil findings by the author in association with the archaeological evidences from Central Narmada valley. It is concluded that the Narmada fossils and archaeological findings support the presence of three hominins- two ‘archaic’ and one ‘early modern’. The Mode 2 Acheulian hominin represented by the calvarium and the femur was a ‘large-bodied’ species akin to Homo heidelbergensis. It appeared first in the Central Narmada valley and was followed by a ‘smallbodied’ Mode 3 archaic type represented by two clavicles and the 9 th rib, provisionally named here as Homo narmadensis. It likely continued and attained anatomical and behavioural modernity in South Asia as attested by the humerus and bone artifacts, and diversified to various short-bodied indigenous populations of South Asia supports the genomic evidences.
MINERALOCORTICOID RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS ATTENUATE EXAGGERATED 1 EXERCISE PRESSOR REFLEX RESPONSES IN HYPERTENSIVE RATS 2 3

1 EXERCISE PRESSOR REFLEX RESPONSES IN HYPERTENSIVE RATS 2 3 Ryan M. Downey 1,2 , Masaki Mizuno 1,2 , Jere H. Mitchell 2 , Wanpen Vongpatanasin 2, 3 , 4 Scott A. Smith 1, 2 5 6 1 Departments of Health Care Sciences, 2 Internal Medicine, and 3 Hypertension Section, 7 Cardiology Division, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA 8 9 Running Title: Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists and EPR Function 10 Manuscript word count: 5,297 (3 Figures, 1 Table) 11 Abstract word count: 250 12 13 Correspondence: 14 Scott A. Smith, Ph.D. 15 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 16 School of Health Professions 17 Department of Health Care Sciences 18 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-8878 19 Email: scott.smith@utsouthwestern.edu 20 Phone: 214-648-4327; Fax: 214-648-1505 21 22 23 Articles in PresS. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol (July 21, 2017). doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00155. 2017
Impacts of Local Soil Moisture Anomalies on the Atmospheric Circulation

Impacts of Local Soil Moisture Anomalies on the Atmospheric Circulation 1 and on Remote Surface Meteorological Fields During Boreal Summer: 2 A Comprehensive Analysis over North America 3 4 Randal D. Koster, Yehui Chang, Hailan Wang, and Siegfried D. Schubert 5 6 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 7 Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research, Morgan State University, Baltimore, 8 Maryland 9 Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, Maryland 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Address correspondence to: 19 Randal Koster 20 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office 21 Code 610.1, NASA/GSFC 22 Greenbelt, MD 20771 23
This information is current as Infection Burkholderia mallei Pneumonic Critical Protective Role for MCP-1 in Bielefeldt-Ohmann and Steven Dow

Burkholderia mallei is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen of domestic equidae and humans that can cause severe, rapidly life-threatening pneumonic infections. Little is known regarding the role of chemokines and early cellular immune responses in protective immunity to pulmonary infection with B. mallei. Although the role of MCP-1 in Gram-positive bacterial infections has been previously investigated, the role of MCP-1 in immunity to acute pneumonia caused by Gram-negative bacteria, such as B. mallei, has not been assessed. In a mouse model of pneumonic B. mallei infection, we found that both MCP-1 2/2 mice and CCR2 2/2 mice were extremely susceptible to pulmonary infection with B. mallei, compared with wild-type (WT) C57Bl/6 mice. Bacterial burden and organ lesions were significantly increased in CCR2 2/2 mice, compared with WTanimals, following B. mallei challenge. Monocyte and dendritic cell recruitment into the lungs of CCR2 2/2 mice was significantly reduced in comparison with that in WT mice following B. mallei infection, whereas neutrophil recruitment was actually increased. Depletion of monocytes and macrophages prior to infection also greatly raised the susceptibility of WT mice to infection. Production of IL-12 and IFN-g in the lungs after B. mallei infection was significantly impaired in both MCP-1 2/2 and CCR2 2/2 mice, whereas treatment of CCR2 2/2 mice with rIFN-g restored protection against lethal challenge with B. mallei. Thus, we conclude that MCP-1 plays a key role in regulating cellular immunity and IFN-g production following pneumonic infection with B. mallei and therefore may also figure importantly in other Gram-negative pneumo-nias. B urkholderia mallei is an important Gram-negative bacterial pathogen that readily infects humans, generally following exposure to infected animals (1–3). Infection in humans can be contracted by inhalation or via infection of wounds or mucous membranes. Horses and donkeys are the primary animal hosts for B. mallei and can develop acute infection involving the lungs and lymph nodes (glanders) or chronic cutaneous infection (farcy) (1). Notably, B. mallei is highly infectious to humans and other animals when contracted by inhalation (2). Renewed attention has recently been focused on B. mallei and the closely related bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. B. pseudo-mallei is endemic in parts of southeast Asia and northern Australia, where many patients are infected annually (3–5). Although B. mallei has been eliminated from most developed countries, it, too, remains endemic in some parts of the world, including the Middle East, Asia, and South America. In addition, both organisms have …
This information is current as Infection Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Normal Splenic Architecture during Type 1 IFN Deficiency in the Absence of

T ype 1 IFNs, IFN-␣␤, are inhibitors of viral infection but also have immunoregulatory functions, including induction of dendritic cell (DC) 3 maturation and activation (1–3) and promotion of CD8 T cell responses (4 –7). These innate cytokines can be produced by a wide range of cell types and are induced to high levels in the spleens of mice infected with a variety of viruses including lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and murine CMV (MCMV) (8, 9). The spleen is important for defense against systemic infections, and the specialized organization of its marginal zone (MZ) facilitates filtering of blood-borne pathogens, as well as processing and presentation of Ag for initiation of adaptive immune responses (10). The MZ, situated between red and white pulp regions, is histologically defined by sinus lining mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 ϩ (MAdCAM-1 ϩ) reticular endothelial cells, metallophilic macro-phages (MM) that stain with the MOMA-1 Ab, and specific intra-cellular adhesion molecule-grabbing nonintegrin receptor 1 ϩ (SIGN-R1 ϩ) MZ macrophages (MZM). Although many cell types traffic through the area, MZ B cells and CD11b ϩ CD11c ϩ myeloid DCs are interspersed within the region (10 –12). Many viruses initiate early infection and replication within MZ cells, and type 1 IFN expression can be demonstrated in the MZ under these conditions (8, 9). The studies presented here were undertaken to further define the requirements for type 1 IFN production during LCMV infection. Surprisingly, mice lacking functional splenic architecture, as a result of genetic deficiencies in B cells, lymphotoxin ␣ (LT␣), or TNF signaling, exhibited profound reductions in type 1 IFN during LCMV infection. In contrast, responses against MCMV were normal. Treatments with clodronate-containing liposomes to deplete phagocytic cells from a normally developed spleen demonstrated that these populations were required for type 1 IFN production in response to LCMV but not MCMV. Repopulation experiments showed that restoration of the CD11c ϩ , MOMA-1 ϩ , and F4/80 ϩ populations was not sufficient to reconstitute the type 1 IFN response to LCMV, but that complete repopulation, with restoration of SIGN-R1 ϩ cells, was required. In contrast, control of LCMV replication correlated with the return of CD11c ϩ cells to the MZ. Taken together, these results further demonstrate the complexity and sophistication of the splenic MZ for sensing and responding to a variety of pathogens. The work has important implications for the involvement of splenic architecture in the production of type 1 …
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis-a severe complication of liver cirrhosis

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is defined as bacterial infection of an ascitic fluid without a detectable, surgically treatable source of infection. It is a frequent and severe complication of cirrhotic ascites, first described in the middle of the 60’s (8,9). In recent years, spontaneous infection of ascites has been divided into three subgroups: 1) Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in a narrower sense defined as a positive bacterial finding in ascites, together with increased revealing polymorphonuclear leukocytes in ascites over 250 cells/mm (17). Spontánní bakteriální peritonitida (SBP) je definována jako bakteriální infekce ascitické tekutiny bez zjistitelného, chirurgicky léčitelného zdroje infekce. Jde o častou a závažnou komplikaci cirhotických ascitů, která byla poprvé popsána v polovině šedesátých let (8,9). V minulých letech byla spontánní infekce ascitu dělena na tři podskupiny: 1. Spontánní bakteriální peritonitida v užším smyslu, která byla definována jako pozitivní bakteriální nález v ascitu, spolu se zvýšením granulocytů v ascitu nad 250 buněk/mm (17).
Speleothem Science: From Process to Past Environments

Speleothems (mineral deposits that formed in caves) are currently giving us some of the most exciting insights into environments and climates during the Pleistocene ice ages and the subsequent Holocene rise of civilizations. The book applies system science to Quaternary environments in a new and rigorous way and gives holistic explanations the relations between the properties of speleothems and the climatic and cave setting in which they are found. It is designed as the ideal companion to someone embarking on speleothem research and, since the underlying science is very broad, it will also be invaluable to a wide variety of others. Students and professional scientists interested in carbonate rocks, karst hydrogeology, climatology, aqueous geochemistry, carbonate geochemistry and the calibration of climatic proxies will find up-to-date reviews of these topics here. The book will also be valuable to Quaternary scientists who, up to now, have lacked a thorough overview of these important archives.
The influence of anthropogenic dust emissions on precipitation chemistry and lake biogeochemistry

Brahney, Janice Lynne (Ph.D., Geological Sciences) The influence of anthropogenic dust emissions on precipitation chemistry and lake biogeochemistry Thesis directed by Associate Professor Jason Neff Human activities have significantly altered the chemistry of the atmosphere, changing the global mobility of key macronutrients. The availability of nitrogen and phosphorus is of particular importance because they are often the most limiting nutrients in many terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems (Vitousek and Howarth 1991, Vitousek et al. 2010). Alpine lakes typically receive a large fraction of their nutrients from atmospheric deposition, thus shifts in deposition rates and composition have the potential to impart changes to aquatic biogeochemistry. Gaseous nitrogen is emitted from industrial and agricultural processes (Galloway et al. 2003), and particulate phosphorus is emitted associated with soil dust and biomass burning emissions (Mahowald et al. 2008). Mineral aerosols associated with dusts also have the potential to neutralize airborne acids and contribute alkalinity to depositional environments (Sequiera 1993). A combination of modern and historical environmental data is used in this thesis to 1) examine dust deposition histories across the western US and 2) examine the effects of the atmospheric deposition of nutrients on alpine lake chemistry and ecology. National scale data on precipitation chemistry revealed large increases in dust emissions over broad regions of the western US. Increased dust emissions were tied to significant increases in precipitation alkalinity and to elevated nutrients in downwind ecosystems. Spatially I found
Coupling of Soils and Vegetation in Peatland Succession

Evidence for coupling between vegetation and soils is examined along a successional sequence from forest to bog in southeast Alaska. Soil morphology and taxonomy were determined at 19 sites along an 8-km transect extending from the coast to treeline on Kruzof Island. Patterns in soil development appear to be closely related with successional status of the vegetation at each site. During the succession from forest to bog, soils exhibit increased acidification, podzolization, placic horizon formation, and histosol development. Soil chemistry data from Kruzof Island suggest that bryophytes, especially Sphagnum mosses, play a critical role in acidification and podzolization of soils. Feedback effects of these soil processes should favor the development and spread of bog vegetation. The findings support the hypothesis that, due to the coupling of iron-bearing soils and vegetation, changes in soil morphology and chemistry along vegetation succession in upland northern forests favor the establishment and spread of climax bog communities.