Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cadmium selectively inhibits fibroblast procollagen production and proliferation.

Chronic inhalation of cadmium fumes has been associated with the development of emphysema, a disease characterized by extensive disruption of lung connective tissue. Cadmium is also an important contaminant of tobacco and may play a role in cigarette smoking-related emphysema. In this paper we investigated the effect of nontoxic doses of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) on fibroblast procollagen production and proliferation, key features of connective tissue repair following injury. CdCl2 inhibited fibroblast procollagen production in a dose-dependent manner in two different cell lines. For fetal rat fibroblasts, maximal effects were observed at 10 microM CdCl2, with values reduced by 82 +/- 6% (mean +/- SE, n = 6, P < 0.01) relative to control cells. In contrast, noncollagen protein synthesis by these cells was enhanced in the presence of CdCl2. In human fetal lung fibroblasts (HFL1), maximal inhibition of procollagen production (83 +/- 2%, P < 0.01) was observed at 40 microM CdCl2, whereas noncollagen protein synthesis was unaffected. In both cell lines the inhibition of procollagen production was shown to be due to decreased procollagen synthesis and an increase in the proportion of newly synthesized procollagen degraded. Cadmium also affected fibroblast proliferation in response to 2% serum, with values for fetal rat cells depressed by 17 +/- 4, 72 +/- 2, and 86 +/- 4% (all P < 0.01) compared with controls at 1, 5, and 10 microM CdCl2, respectively. These data show that cadmium selectively inhibits fibroblast procollagen production and also attenuates their mitogenic response to serum. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Novel Bacterial NAD+-Dependent DNA Ligase Inhibitors with Broad-Spectrum Activity and Antibacterial Efficacy In Vivo

ABSTRACT DNA ligases are indispensable enzymes playing a critical role in DNA replication, recombination, and repair in all living organisms. Bacterial NAD+-dependent DNA ligase (LigA) was evaluated for its potential as a broad-spectrum antibacterial target. A novel class of substituted adenosine analogs was discovered by target-based high-throughput screening (HTS), and these compounds were optimized to render them more effective and selective inhibitors of LigA. The adenosine analogs inhibited the LigA activities of Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus, with inhibitory activities in the nanomolar range. They were selective for bacterial NAD+-dependent DNA ligases, showing no inhibitory activity against ATP-dependent human DNA ligase 1 or bacteriophage T4 ligase. Enzyme kinetic measurements demonstrated that the compounds bind competitively with NAD+. X-ray crystallography demonstrated that the adenosine analogs bind in the AMP-binding pocket of the LigA adenylation domain. Antibacterial activity was observed against pathogenic Gram-positive and atypical bacteria, such as S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and M. pneumoniae, as well as against Gram-negative pathogens, such as H. influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis. The mode of action was verified using recombinant strains with altered LigA expression, an Okazaki fragment accumulation assay, and the isolation of resistant strains with ligA mutations. In vivo efficacy was demonstrated in a murine S. aureus thigh infection model and a murine S. pneumoniae lung infection model. Treatment with the adenosine analogs reduced the bacterial burden (expressed in CFU) in the corresponding infected organ tissue as much as 1,000-fold, thus validating LigA as a target for antibacterial therapy.
Collaborative localization in Wireless Sensor Networks based on dependable RSSI

Localization in WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) is an active research topic, and many localization algorithms in WSNs have been proposed in the literature. Among them, approaches based on RSS (Received Signal Strength) are popular and useful for distance estimation, since it is simple and needs no extra hardware. However, RSS is greatly affected by the environment and cannot be precisely measured. To tackle this problem, this study proposes a mechanism for distance estimation using dependable RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) values. The threshold for selecting dependable RSSI values is determined by practical experiments. In the proposed approach, each node periodically broadcasts packets to its one-hop neighboring nodes and the neighboring nodes measure the RSSI values of the received packets. The dependable RSSI value is then used to estimate the distance between two nodes. By using the shortest path algorithm, distances between the blind node and the reference nodes can be derived with high accuracy. Thus, for a blind node, with distance information to at least three reference nodes, its location can be computed by the Minimum Mean Square Error algorithm. The proposed localization scheme is implemented with TI CC2430/2431 chips. Practical experiment results show that, with the proposed scheme, the average location error of the blind node is 0.76 meter in an indoor environment under the condition of the dependable RSSI threshold being -59.26 dBm, and 5.91 meters in an outdoor environment under the condition of the dependable RSSI threshold being -79.77 dBm.
A new algorithm for essential proteins identification based on the integration of protein complex co-expression information and edge clustering coefficient

Essential proteins provide valuable information for the development of biology and medical research from the system level. The accuracy of topological centrality only based methods is deeply affected by noise in the network. Therefore, exploring efficient methods for identifying essential proteins would be of great value. Using biological features to identify essential proteins is efficient in reducing the noise in PPI network. In this paper, based on the consideration that essential proteins evolve slowly and play a central role within a network, a new algorithm, named CED, is proposed. CED mainly employs gene expression level, protein complex information and edge clustering coefficient to predict essential proteins. The performance of CED is validated based on the yeast Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network obtained from DIP database and BioGRID database. The prediction accuracy of CED outperforms other seven algorithms when applied to the two databases.
Outcome measures of antidepressive therapy

A variety of outcome measures assessing antidepressive therapy are available. However, in randomized clinical trials, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM‐D) is often the primary outcome measure. Results from factor analysis and Rasch item analysis indicate that the HAM‐D is heterogeneous and that the sum of items scores may not be an adequate measure of the severity of depression. A Melancholia Scale of 11 items has been suggested as a more valid measure of the core symptoms of affective syndrome. Other global outcome measures, focusing on health‐related quality of life issues and on social functioning as well as macro‐economic analyses are also used in depression. Applying stringent and well‐documented outcome measures in randomized clinical trials of antidepressants may give the clinician a better indication of the most appropriate drug for treatment of the individual patient.
Design of absorptive bandstop waveguide filter without lumped-element

This letter presents one absorptive bandstop waveguide filter utilizing two couplers. The proposed absorptive bandstop filer (ABSF) with four ports is achieved by combing two quadrature couplers with two conventional waveguide bandstop filters, unwanted energy within the stopband will be absorbed by absorptive port instead of reflecting to incident port. The theory is analyzed and a waveguide bandstop filter with a center frequency of 12.85GHz is demonstrated and measured, the maximal stopband rejection is 70 dB with an input return loss of 19 dB, which implies that most of input power is dissipated by the proposed ABSF.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection Induces Cyclooxygenase 2: A Potential Target for RSV Therapy1

Cyclooxygenases (COXs) are rate-limiting enzymes that initiate the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostanoids. COX-2 is the inducible isoform that is up-regulated by proinflammatory agents, initiating many prostanoid-mediated pathological aspects of inflammation. The roles of cyclooxygenases and their products, PGs, have not been evaluated during respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. In this study we demonstrate that COX-2 is induced by RSV infection of human lung alveolar epithelial cells with the concomitant production of PGs. COX-2 induction was dependent on the dose of virus and the time postinfection. PG production was inhibited preferentially by NS-398, a COX-2-specific inhibitor, and indomethacin, a pan-COX inhibitor, but not by SC-560, a COX-1-specific inhibitor. In vivo, COX-2 mRNA expression and protein production were strongly induced in the lungs and cells derived from bronchioalveolar lavage of cotton rats infected with RSV. The pattern of COX-2 expression in vivo in lungs is cyclical, with a final peak on day 5 that correlates with maximal histopathology. Treatment of cotton rats with indomethacin significantly mitigated lung histopathology produced by RSV. The studies described in this study provide the first evidence that COX-2 is a potential therapeutic target in RSV-induced disease.
Design and phase noise analysis of a multiphase 6 to 11 GHz PLL

This paper presents the design, the phase noise analysis and measurement results of a fourth-order phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit. The PLL is composed of a four-stage inductorless ring oscillator, a 1/16-divider, phase-frequency detector (PFD), charge pump and loop filter, which all are fully differential circuits. A tuning range of 6 to 11 GHz is achieved using delay interpolation elements in the ring oscillator. For jitter minimization, we analyze the noise contribution of each building block, identify the largest noise contributors, and evaluate the total PLL phase noise in s- and z-domain. The measured RMS jitter of 18 mUI agrees well with the predicted value of 15 mUI from our noise analysis. The PLL is fabricated in 90-nm bulk CMOS, consumes a current of 45mA at 1.1V and occupies an area of 0.1 mm2.
Differential evolution based optimal clustering for retinal blood vessel extraction

Design of a computer-aided automatic system is very important for identification of different ocular diseases. A vital concern within this framework is the accurate retinal blood vessel extraction. This paper extracts vessels using curvelet transform, morphological operation, matched filtering and Differential Evolution based optimal clustering. Curvelet transform is implemented to enhance vessel edges. To remove the optic disc, the edge enhanced image is opened by a disk shaped structuring element which is then subtracted from the inverted histogram equalized image. Matched filtering intensifies the blood vessels response. The classification of the maximum matched filter responses into vessel and non-vessel classes is considered as a multi-objective clustering problem that minimizes the intracluster distances and maximizes the inter-cluster distance which is solved by Differential Evolution. Superiority of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing it with the existing methods.
Application of optical coherence tomography in non‐invasive characterization of skin vascular lesions

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new non‐invasive approach for real‐time in vivo tissue characterization. A promising use of OCT can be the assessment of the architecture of lesions with some degree of inhomogeneities, such as vascular lesions. Knowledge of the size and depth of the vascular structures can be useful for the diagnosis and for choosing the best treatment.
Reflections on the American Lyceum: The Legacy of Josiah Holbrook and the Transcendental Sessions

Josiah Holbrook formed The American Lyceum Movement and it would become a pivotal foundation for adult education in the nineteenth-century United States. The movement functioned outside the traditional university system in order to address expanding needs of adult learners through non-formal, community-based structures. Holbrook’s legacy evokes the organization of complex social environments conducive to the transmission of applied sciences and egalitarian adult education, as well as the transcendental ethos of the time. Holbrook’s actions instilled across the U.S. character a sense of liberal expressionism; he outfitted the young nation with an andragogical venue capable of articulating practical and progressive philosophies. The advancement represented in the Lyceum manifested the social and educational aims of both layman and philosopher. Herein I describe the roots, formation, and development of Holbrook’s movement, discuss the imperative educational and social repercussions of the Lyceum, and shed light on the relevance of some of the brilliant lectures presented in Salem’s Lyceum during the 1848–1849 season. Ultimately I establish the first scholarly connection between the American Lyceum Movement and the Morrill Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890, for Justin Smith Morrill’s direct involvement in the American Lyceum Movement led him to pen his watershed higher education legislation. Finally, my analysis reveals the Lyceum’s inheritance as salient today.
Four Level Diode-Clamped Back-To-Back Converter with active DC link voltage control

This article presents the design and control of 4L-DC back-to-back converter. To solve the DC link voltage balancing problem in four-level converter a new three-level double chopper topology based on PO-PWM modulation was designed and successfully tested. Also, the paper describes two phase space vector pulse width modulation 2P-SVPWM based on the shape function of finite elements. The control structure with modified Dead-Beat controller was also considered.
Wide-Range ZVS Phase-Shift Full-Bridge Converter With Reduced Conduction Loss Caused by Circulating Current

A conventional phase-shift full-bridge (PSFB) converter with two clamp diodes and an additional resonant inductor is widely used for front-end dc/dc stage in the distributed power system. However, the hold-up-time requirement limits its operating duty ratio at normal operation. It results in conduction loss caused by circulating current. Therefore, a wide-range zero-voltage switching (ZVS) PSFB converter with reduced conduction loss caused by circulating current is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter adopts the large resonant inductance and replaces clamp diodes in the conventional PSFB converter with MOSFET switches. With these modifications, the proposed converter can achieve the ZVS operation over wide load range as well as can reduce the conduction loss caused by the circulating current. These advantages result in the improvement of whole load efficiency. The operational principle and analysis of the proposed converter are presented and verified by the 1.2-kW prototype.
N-{4-[(E)-(4-Methylphenyl)iminomethyl]phenyl}acetamide

There are two symmetry-independent molecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C16H16N2O, that differ in conformation. The dihedral angles between the benzene rings in the two molecules are 44.35 (19) and 48.14 (17)°, but the rings twist in opposite directions. The acetamide groups make nearly equal dihedral angles of 25.4 (3) and 25.7 (3)° with the parent benzene rings. An S(6) ring motif is formed in each molecule by intramolecular C—H⋯O close contacts. In the crystal, strong N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between acetamide groups generate a C(4) chain motif arranging the molecules into two symmetry-independent polymeric structures extending along [010].
Cross-Layer Energy Optimization for IoT Environments: Technical Advances and Opportunities

Energy efficiency is a significant characteristic of battery-run devices such as sensors, RFID and mobile phones. In the present scenario, this is the most prominent requirement that must be served while introducing a communication protocol for an IoT environment. IoT network success and performance enhancement depend heavily on optimization of energy consumption that enhance the lifetime of IoT nodes and the network. In this context, this paper presents a comprehensive review on energy efficiency techniques used in IoT environments. The techniques proposed by researchers have been categorized based on five different layers of the energy architecture of IoT. These five layers are named as sensing, local processing and storage, network/communication, cloud processing and storage, and application. Specifically, the significance of energy efficiency in IoT environments is highlighted. A taxonomy is presented for the classification of related literature on energy efficient techniques in IoT environments. Following the taxonomy, a critical review of literature is performed focusing on major functional models, strengths and weaknesses. Open research challenges related to energy efficiency in IoT are identified as future research directions in the area. The survey should benefit IoT industry practitioners and researchers, in terms of augmenting the understanding of energy efficiency and its IoT-related trends and issues.
Nutritive evaluation of some browse tree legume foliages native to semi-arid areas in western Tanzania

Browse tree legume leaves from Acacia spp (A. nilotica, A. tortilis, A. polyacantha), Dichrostachys sp, Flagea villosa, Piliostigma thonningii, Harrisonia sp were evaluated for nutritive potential (chemical compositions and degradability characteristics) compared to Gliricidia sepium. Effect of tannins anti-nutritive activity on digestibility was also assessed by polyethylene glycol (PEG) tannin bioassay. Crude protein (CP), ash, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) differed (p A. nilotica>P. thonningi>F. villosa>Dichrostachys sp>A. tortilis>A. polyacantha. Addition of PEG resulted to (p<0.05) improvement in in vitro OM digestibility (IVD). Increase in IVD was mainly due to binding action of PEG on tannins; and represents potential nutritive values previously depressed by tannins anti-nutritive activity. Browse fodder has potential as sources of ruminal nitrogen especially for ruminants consuming low quality roughages due to high protein, lower fiber compositions and high potential digestibility. However, utilization of browse supplements in ruminants is hampered by high phenolic and tannin contents. Deactivation of tannin anti-nutritive activity, possibly by feeding tanniniferous browse with other readily available nitrogen sources to dilute tannin anti-nutritive activity could improve utilization of browse fodder supplements. Further studies are needed to assess browse fodder palatability and intake, and their effect on growth performance in ruminants. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2003. Vol 16, No. 10 : 1429-1437)
Detection of renal lesion enhancement with dual-energy multidetector CT.

PURPOSE To determine whether dual-energy multidetector CT enables detection of renal lesion enhancement by using calculated nonenhanced images with spectral-based extraction in a non-body weight-restricted patient population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 2008 and December 2009, 139 patients were enrolled in this prospective HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board-approved study. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients. After single-energy nonenhanced 120-kVp CT images were acquired, contrast material-enhanced dual-energy multidetector CT images were acquired at 80 and 140 kVp. Calculated nonenhanced images were generated by using spectral-based iodine extraction. Lesion attenuation was measured on the acquired nonenhanced, calculated nonenhanced, and 140-kVp contrast-enhanced nephrographic images. Enhancement, defined as a 15-HU or greater increase in attenuation on the nephrographic images, was assessed by using the baseline attenuation on the acquired and calculated nonenhanced images. Acquired nonenhanced versus calculated nonenhanced image attenuation, as well as enhancement values, were compared by using paired Student t tests and Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS Hypoattenuating (n = 66) and hyperattenuating (n = 28) cysts, angiomyolipomas (n = 18), and solid enhancing lesions (n = 27) were detected. Mean attenuation values for hypoattenuating cysts on the acquired and calculated nonenhanced CT images were 6.5 HU ± 5.8 (standard deviation) and 8.1 HU ± 3.1 (P = .13), respectively, with corresponding enhancement values of 1.1 HU ± 5.2 and -0.5 HU ± 6.2 (P = .12), respectively. Mean values for hyperattenuating cysts were 29.4 HU ± 5.6 on acquired images and 31.7 HU ± 5.1 on calculated images (P = .39) (corresponding enhancement, 4.7 HU ± 3.3 and 2.3 HU ± 4.1, respectively; P = .09). Mean values for fat-containing enhancing lesions were -90.6 HU ± 24.7 on acquired images and -85.9 HU ± 23.7 on calculated images (P = .57) (corresponding enhancement, 18.2 HU ± 10.1 and 13.6 HU ± 10.7, respectively; P = .19). Mean attenuation values for solid enhancing lesions were 26.0 HU ± 15.0 on acquired images and 27.7 HU ± 14.9 on calculated images (P = .45) (corresponding enhancement, 60.3 HU ± 13.1 and 58.3 HU ± 15.5, respectively; P = .38). CONCLUSION Dual-energy CT acquisitions with spectral-based postprocessing enabled accurate detection of renal lesion enhancement across the attenuation spectrum of frequently encountered renal lesions in a non-body habitus-restricted patient population.
Development and Electrical Properties of (Ca0.7Sr0.3) (Zr0.8Ti0.2)O3 Thin Film Applied to Embedded Decoupling Capacitors

A formed device embedded-type 0402 sized (Ca<sub>0.7</sub>Sr<sub>0.3</sub>) (Zr<sub>0.8</sub>Ti<sub>0.2</sub>)O<sub>3</sub> (CSZT) embedded capacitor was fabricated for use in embedded printed circuit board. The capacitance and dielectric loss of the CSZT embedded capacitor were 406.1 pF and 0.015, respectively, at 1 MHz. The CSZT embedded capacitor exhibits stable capacitance with varying applied voltage and C Zero G (-55 °C-125 °C, delta C/C = ±30 ppm/°C) properties. The measured values of equivalent series resistance and equivalent series inductance were 6.1 Ω and 62.39 μH, respectively. The leakage current density was 0.78 μA/cm<sup>2</sup> at 3 V of applied voltage. These electrical properties indicate that the CSZT embedded capacitor holds promise for use as an embedded passive capacitor.
Multiscan Multitarget Tracking in Clutter with Integrated Track Splitting Filter

A fully automatic tracking algorithm must be able to deal with an unknown number of targets, unknown target initiation and termination times, false measurements and possibly time-varying target trajectory behaviour. The approach presented in this paper follows the previously published integrated track splitting (ITS) framework which integrates a recursive calculation of the probability of target existence with multiscan trajectory estimation. This paper combines this framework with two multitarget tracking techniques. The first technique, joint multitarget tracking, enumerates and evaluates all feasible global measurement to track assignments resulting in a conditionally optimal but potentially computationally expensive technique. The second technique, linear multitarget (LM), achieves multitarget functionality by modulating clutter measurement density. LM is a suboptimal, but computationally very efficient technique. A simulation study is presented to show the effectiveness of this approach in the presence of nonuniform clutter when tracking targets in an environment where the targets perform violent manoeuvres.