Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phosphorylation and Action of the Immunomodulator FTY720 Inhibits Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor-induced Vascular Permeability*

FTY720, a potent immunosuppressive agent, is phosphorylated in vivo into FTY720-P, a high affinity agonist for sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptors. The effects of FTY720 on vascular cells, a major target of S1P action, have not been addressed. We now report the metabolic activation of FTY720 by sphingosine kinase-2 and potent activation of vascular endothelial cell functions in vitro and in vivo by phosphorylated FTY720 (FTY720-P). Incubation of endothelial cells with FTY720 resulted in phosphorylation by sphingosine kinase activity and formation of FTY720-P. Sphingosine kinase-2 effectively phosphorylated FTY720 in the human embryonic kidney 293T heterologous expression system. FTY720-P treatment of endothelial cells stimulated extracellular signal-activated kinase and Akt phosphorylation and adherens junction assembly and promoted cell survival. The effects of FTY720-P were inhibited by pertussis toxin, suggesting the requirement for Gi-coupled S1P receptors. Indeed, transmonolayer permeability induced by vascular endothelial cell growth factor was potently reversed by FTY720-P. Furthermore, oral FTY720 administration in mice potently blocked VEGF-induced vascular permeability in vivo. These findings suggest that FTY720 or its analogs may find utility in the therapeutic regulation of vascular permeability, an important process in angiogenesis, inflammation, and pathological conditions such as sepsis, hypoxia, and solid tumor growth.
Antitumor effects and pharmacokinetics of aclacinomycin A carried by injectable emulsions composed of vitamin E, cholesterol, and PEG-lipid.

The aim of this study was to prepare injectable emulsions of aclacinomycin A (E-ACM) and evaluate its acute toxicity, antitumor effects, and pharmacokinetics. In E-ACM, the surfactants were polyethylene glycol-lipid and cholesterol, and the oil phase was a vitamin E solution of ACM. The particle size distribution and the zeta potential of E-ACM were measured by the laser light dynamic scattering method. The ACM-loading efficiency was measured by using Sephadex G50 column chromatography. The acute toxicity, antitumor effects, and pharmacokinetics of E-ACM were studied in C57BL/6 mice bearing mouse murine histiocytoma M5076 tumors. The average diameter, zeta potential, and ACM-loading efficiency of E-ACM were 123.0 +/- 1.2 nm, - 12.67 +/- 1.35 mv, and 96.3 +/- 0.3% (n = 3), respectively. When stored at 7 degrees C in the dark for 1 year, the average diameter and ACM-loading efficiency of E-ACM changed into 126.3 +/- 2.3 nm and 97.4 +/- 0.8%, respectively, whereas 6.5 +/- 0.2% ACM decomposition was observed (n = 3). The plasma areas under the biodistribution curves (AUC)(0.03-48h) of E-ACM was significantly greater than that of free ACM (F-ACM). The heart, lung, and kidney AUC(0.03-48h) of E-ACM were significantly smaller than those of F-ACM whereas the liver and spleen AUC(0.03-48h) of E-ACM were not significantly different from those of F-ACM. The tumor AUC(0.03-48h) of E-ACM was significantly greater than that of F-ACM. E-ACM had lower acute toxicity and greater potential antitumor effects than F-ACM in M5076 tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice. E-ACM is a useful tumor-targeting drug delivery system.
Invasive pneumococcal disease a decade after pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use in an American Indian population at high risk for disease.

BACKGROUND Before 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) introduction, invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) rates among Navajo were several-fold those of the general US population. Only 50% of IPD cases in children involved PCV7 serotypes. METHODS We conducted active, population-based surveillance for IPD for the period 1995-2006. We documented case characteristics and serotyped the isolates. RESULTS Over 12-year period, we identified 1508 IPD cases, 447 of which occurred in children aged <5 years. Rates of IPD due to vaccine serotypes among children aged <1 year, 1 to <2 years, and 2 to <5 years decreased from 210, 263, and 51 cases per 100,000 population, respectively in 1995-1997 to 0 cases in 2004-2006 (P < .001). Among adults aged > or =65 years, rates of IPD due to vaccine serotypes decreased 81% (95% confidence interval, -98% to -9%; P = .02). Rates of nonvaccine serotype IPD were unchanged in all age strata except for persons aged 18 to <40 years, among whom the rate decreased by 35% from 27 to 18 cases per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval, -57% to -1%; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS Vaccine-serotype IPD has virtually been eliminated in the PCV7 era among Navajo of all ages. Overall rates of nonvaccine-serotype IPD have not increased, although increases have occurred for some individual types. Rates of all-serotype IPD among Navajo children remain 3-5-fold greater than in the general US population.
Film-Induced Tourism: The Role of Film as a Contributor to the Motivation to Travel to a Destination

Tourism and film are broadly recognised as linked through their power to create, alter and reinforce destination images (Beeton, 2005; Busby & Klug, 2001; Butler, 1990; Croy & Walker, 2004; Hudson & Ritchie, 2006; Olsberg, 2007; Riley & Van Doren, 1992; Tooke & Baker, 1996). Major motion picture films, in particular, provide the places, objects and subjects for the gaze of many people, and for some, films induce them to travel specifically to the locations where they were filmed (Riley, Baker & Van Doren, 1998). Yet, for others, visiting film sites may be incidental and simply add to more generally planned travel itineraries. Although motion picture films are not produced with the prime intent of inducing people to visit locations, this medium can enhance the awareness, appeal and profitability of destinations via images seen on the screen. It is these images that may influence consumer decision making processes in terms of motivating visitation to a film location. Understanding the relationship between tourism and popular media, such as film, is becoming more crucial as destinations strive to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.
Capturing Complex 3D Human Motions with Kernelized Low-Rank Representation from Monocular RGB Camera

Recovering 3D structures from the monocular image sequence is an inherently ambiguous problem that has attracted considerable attention from several research communities. To resolve the ambiguities, a variety of additional priors, such as low-rank shape basis, have been proposed. In this paper, we make two contributions. First, we introduce an assumption that 3D structures lie on the union of nonlinear subspaces. Based on this assumption, we propose a Non-Rigid Structure from Motion (NRSfM) method with kernelized low-rank representation. To be specific, we utilize the soft-inextensibility constraint to accurately recover 3D human motions. Second, we extend this NRSfM method to the marker-less 3D human pose estimation problem by combining with Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based 2D human joint detectors. To evaluate the performance of our methods, we apply our marker-based method on several sequences from Utrecht Multi-Person Motion (UMPM) benchmark and CMU MoCap datasets, and then apply the marker-less method on the Human3.6M datasets. The experiments demonstrate that the kernelized low-rank representation is more suitable for modeling the complex deformation and the method consequently yields more accurate reconstructions. Benefiting from the CNN-based detector, the marker-less approach can be applied to more real-life applications.
Genome‐wide association analysis accounting for environmental factors through propensity‐score matching: Application to stressful live events in major depressive disorder

Stressful life events are an established trigger for depression and may contribute to the heterogeneity within genome‐wide association analyses. With depression cases showing an excess of exposure to stressful events compared to controls, there is difficulty in distinguishing between “true” cases and a “normal” response to a stressful environment. This potential contamination of cases, and that from genetically at risk controls that have not yet experienced environmental triggers for onset, may reduce the power of studies to detect causal variants. In the RADIANT sample of 3,690 European individuals, we used propensity score matching to pair cases and controls on exposure to stressful life events. In 805 case–control pairs matched on stressful life event, we tested the influence of 457,670 common genetic variants on the propensity to depression under comparable level of adversity with a sign test. While this analysis produced no significant findings after genome‐wide correction for multiple testing, we outline a novel methodology and perspective for providing environmental context in genetic studies. We recommend contextualizing depression by incorporating environmental exposure into genome‐wide analyses as a complementary approach to testing gene‐environment interactions. Possible explanations for negative findings include a lack of statistical power due to small sample size and conditional effects, resulting from the low rate of adequate matching. Our findings underscore the importance of collecting information on environmental risk factors in studies of depression and other complex phenotypes, so that sufficient sample sizes are available to investigate their effect in genome‐wide association analysis. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Segregation of eosinophil proteins in alveolar macrophage compartments in chronic eosinophilic pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: The objective was to characterise the process and consequences of eosinophil activation and lysis in patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia and to compare them with those in patients with eosinophil pulmonary infiltrates from other causes. METHODS: Cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of four patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia and four patients with eosinophilic infiltrates associated with Sjögren's syndrome, drug hypersensitivity pneumonia, postradiotherapy fibrosis, and pulmonary disease associated with graft versus host disease were studied ultrastructurally and with immunogold labelled antibodies directed against eosinophil proteins: major basic protein, eosinophil cationic protein, and Charcot-Leyden crystal protein. The concentration of eosinophil cationic protein was also measured in bronchoalveolar fluid. RESULTS: In the four patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, ultrastructural studies demonstrated numerous lysed eosinophils. Further, three released eosinophil proteins were detected in distinct cytoplasmic structures in alveolar macrophages. These features were not found in the four patients with eosinophilic pulmonary infiltrates from other causes. CONCLUSION: Eosinophils in chronic eosinophilic pneumonia show signs of activation with release of eosinophil proteins. The appearance of three of these eosinophil proteins in different macrophage compartments suggests that macrophage uptake, with or without intracellular transport of released eosinophil proteins, involves separate mechanisms. This interaction does not lead to macrophage lysis, however, and one or more of these eosinophil proteins might directly affect macrophage function.
Three‐dimensional prepolarized magnetic resonance imaging using rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement

Prepolarized MRI (PMRI) with pulsed electromagnets has the potential to produce diagnostic quality 0.5‐ to 1.0‐T images with significantly reduced cost, susceptibility artifacts, specific absorption rate, and gradient noise. In PMRI, the main magnetic field cycles between a high field (Bp) to polarize the sample and a homogeneous, low field (B0) for data acquisition. This architecture combines the higher SNR of the polarizing field with the imaging benefits of the lower field. However, PMRI can only achieve high SNR efficiency for volumetric imaging with 3D rapid imaging techniques, such as rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) (FSE, TSE), because slice‐interleaved acquisition and longitudinal magnetization storage are both inefficient in PMRI. This paper demonstrates the use of three techniques necessary to achieve efficient, artifact‐free RARE in PMRI: quadratic nulling of concomitant gradient fields, electromotive force cancelation during field ramping, and phase compensation of CPMG echo trains. This paper also demonstrates the use of 3D RARE in PMRI to achieve standard T1 and fat‐suppressed T2 contrast in phantoms and in vivo wrists. These images show strong potential for future clinical application of PMRI to extremity musculoskeletal imaging and peripheral angiography. Magn Reason Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss.Inc.
Detection of F508del mutation in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene mutation among Malays.

INTRODUCTION Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the common genetic disorders in the western world. It has been reported to be very rare in Asian populations. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Genetic Analysis Consortium, more than 1,000 mutations of the CF gene have been identified. The CF gene, named the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), is located on chromosome 7 and composed of 27 exons. This study aims to detect possible CFTR gene mutations in Malays. METHODS We analysed 50 blood samples from healthy Malays with no symptoms of CF. DNA was extracted from blood using commercially available extraction kits (Eppendorf, Germany). Identification of CFTR gene mutation was performed using the CF OLA (Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay) kit (Applied Biosystems, USA). The PCR-ligation products were electrophoresed on eight percent sequagel using an ABI PRISM 377 genetic analyser (Applied Biosystems, USA). Electrophoresis data was analysed using the Genotyper software and a report of the CF genotype for all loci tested was created using the CF Genotyper Template software. Out of 50, one sample (two percent) was detected to have the F508del mutation (3bp deletion at exon 10), which is one of the most common CFTR gene mutations in Caucasians. RESULTS The F508del mutation allele was detected in one subject. This indicates that she was a CF carrier. CONCLUSION We report the finding of a carrier of the F508del mutation of the CFTR gene in the Malay population. Our finding revealed that CF could also affect the Malay population. Larger studies are necessary to determine the exact gene frequency of this population.
Extracting Shipping Route Patterns by Trajectory Clustering Model Based on Automatic Identification System Data

Shipping route analysis is essential for vessel traffic management and relies on professional technical facilities for collecting and recording specific information about vessel behaviors. The recent Automatic Identification System (AIS) onboard has been made available to provide ship-related information for the research. However, the complexity and large quantity of AIS data overload traditional surveillance operations and increase the difficulty of vessel traffic analysis. An unsupervised approach is urgently desired to effectively convert the raw AIS data to regular shipping route patterns. In this paper, we proposed a trajectory clustering model based on AIS data to analyze the shipping routes. The whole model consists of four parts: Data preprocessing, structure similarity measurement, clustering, and representative trajectory extraction. Our model comprehensively considered the geospatial information and contextual features of ship trajectory. The revised density-based clustering algorithm could automatically classify different shipping routes with trajectory features without prior knowledge. The experimental evaluation showed the effectiveness of the proposed model by real AIS data from Port of Tianjin. The results contribute to the further understanding of shipping route patterns and assists maritime authorities and the officers in stable and sustainable vessel traffic management.
Simultaneous determination of aflatoxin B1 and M1 in milk, fresh milk and milk powder by LC-MS/MS utilising online turbulent flow chromatography

A novel, fully automated method based on dual-column switching using online turbulent flow chromatography followed by LC-MS/MS was developed for the determination of aflatoxin B1 and M1 in milk, fresh milk and milk powder samples. After ultrasound-assisted extraction, samples were directly injected into the chromatographic system and the analytes were concentrated on the clean-up loading column. Through purge switch, analytes were transferred to the analytical column for subsequent detection by mass spectrometry. Different types of TurboFlowTM columns, transfer flow rates and transfer times were optimised. Method limits of detection obtained for AFB1 and AFM1 were 0.05 μg kg–1, and limits of quantification were 0.1 μg kg–1. Recoveries of aflatoxin B1 and M1 were in range of 81.1–102.1% for all samples. Matrix effects of aflatoxin B1 and M1 were in range of 63.1–94.3%. The developed method was successfully used for the analysis of aflatoxin B1 and M1 in real samples. Graphical Abstract
The Economics of Marriage and Divorce in Iran

This dissertation consists of four chapters on the economics of marriage and divorce in Iran. The first chapter outlines major forces driving the recent transitions in Iran‘s marriage market. Age structure of the population, the rise of women‘s education, marriage and divorce laws, and fertility decline are the four main forces influencing marriage transitions, that is, the age of marriage, couple‘s age and education gaps, quality of marriage (stability, education status of children), and women‘s power within marriage. Chapter two looks at the change in age structure that influences the sex ratio. I consider the influence of the sex ratio on couples‘ age and education gaps using data from multiple national surveys from 1984-2007. The findings of this chapter show that a lower sex ratio, i.e. a greater supply of marriage-age women, increases the bargaining power of men at the time of marriage and thereby increases their ability to marry younger and more educated women. In chapter three, I evaluate the effects of demographic change, the sex ratio, and policy change, particularly the provision of family planning programs through health clinics on delayed marriage in rural Iran. I use data from Iran‘s 2000 Demographic and Health Survey to estimate a hazard model of timing of marriage. The results show that a lower sex ratio decreases the chances of a woman finding a man five years older, and easier access to family planning decreases her probability of marriage. In chapter four, I provide a legal history of Iran‘s marriage and divorce laws and then discuss how changes in the legal structure of marriage and divorce alter the terms of marital bargaining and force women to circumvent inequitable Iranian laws to improve their position. Then, I present a model of how Mahrieh could improve a woman‘s position within the household in light of the unequal divorce rights favoring men. As women cannot exit their marriage, they request a conditional and legally enforceable bond known as Mahrieh from their husbands to secure themselves against the risks of divorce or maltreatment within marriage.
A  $10 \times 10$ -Gb/s DFB-LD Array Integrated With PLC-Based AWG for 100-Gb/s Transmission

We describe a hybrid integration module of a 10 × 10-Gb/s distributed feedback laser diode array (DFB-LDA) and a planar light-wave circuit-based arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). For fabrication of the DFB-LDA, we adopted a selective area growth technique to tailor the channel gain properly, and E-beam lithography to accurately control the channel lasing wavelength and grating phase. For implementation of the AWG, we introduced a 2%-Δ structure to reduce the coupling loss between the AWG and DFB-LDA, and designed the tapered and parabolic waveguides at the junctions of the free propagation regions to widen the spectral passband width (i.e., a -1-dB spectral width of 3 nm). The developed module shows a side-mode suppression ratio of >45 dB, a clear eye opening with a dynamic extinction ratio of >4.4 dB at 10 Gb/s, and a power penalty of <;1.5 dB after a 2-km transmission for all channels.
On the κ-μ/gamma composite distribution: A generalized multipath/shadowing fading model

This work is devoted to the formulation and derivation of the κ-μ/gamma distribution which corresponds to A physical fading model. This distribution is composite and is based on the well known κ-μ generalized multipath model and the gamma shadowing model. A special case of the derived model constitutes the κ-μ Extreme/gamma model which accounts for severe multipath and shadowing effects. These models provide accurate characterisation of the simultaneous occurrence of multipath fading and shadowing effects. This is achieved thanks to the remarkable flexibility of their named parameters which render them capable of providing good fittings to experimental data associated with realistic communication scenarios. This is additionally justified by the fact that they include as special cases the widely known composite fading models such as Rice/gamma, Nakagami-m/gamma and Rayleigh/gamma. Novel analytic expressions are derived for the envelope and power probability density function of these distributions which are expressed in a relatively simple algebraic form which is convenient to handle both analytically and numerically. As a result, they can be meaningfully utilized in the derivation of numerous vital measures in investigations related to the analytic performance evaluation of digital communications over composite multipath/shadowing fading channels.
Multi-exponential water proton spin-lattice relaxation in biological tissues and its implications for quantitative NMR imaging.

This in vitro study was undertaken to examine whether water proton spin-lattice relaxation in biological tissues is adequately described by a single time constant T1, to define under what circumstances a multi-exponential approach is indicated, and to study the implications of multi- exponentiality for quantitative NMR imaging. Water proton relaxation curves were measured with the 180-tau-90 method at 60 MHz. Uni- and bi-exponential curves were fitted to the empirical curves using chi 2 as a criterion for the goodness of fit. An F-test was applied to test the validity of each exponential term as it was added to the fitting function. Taking into account experimental accuracy, the uni-exponential model appeared to be an adequate description of the relaxation data for necrotic tissue. Eyelens and fat showed distinct bi- exponentiality , while liver, spleen, salivary gland, tumour, and muscle presented intermediate cases. The bi-exponential analysis generally yields a minor component with a fast relaxation time, T11 less than 20 ms, and a slow relaxation major component with T12 greater than 300 ms. A simplified bi-exponential model is proposed for implementation in quantitative NMR imaging. The results seem to be consistent with current views about water proton spin-lattice relaxation in biological tissues.