Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stress‐Induced Sensitization of Dopamine and Norepinephrine Efflux in Medial Prefrontal Cortex of the Rat

Abstract: We examined whether prior exposure to chronic cold (17–28 days, 5°C) alters basal or stress‐evoked (30‐min tail shock) catecholamine release in medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and striatum, using in vivo microdialysis. Basal norepinephrine (NE) concentrations in medial prefrontal cortex did not differ between chronically cold‐exposed rats and naive control rats (2.7 ± 0.3 vs. 2.5 ± 0.2 pg/20 µl, respectively). Basal dopamine (DA) efflux in any of the brain regions was not significantly different between chronically cold‐exposed rats and naive rats. However, a trend for lower basal DA efflux in the cold‐exposed relative to naive rats was observed in medial prefrontal cortex (1.5 ± 0.2 vs. 2.2 ± 0.3 pg/20 µl, respectively), nucleus accumbens (3.7 ± 0.8 vs. 5.4 ± 0.9 pg/20 µl, respectively), and striatum (4.4 ± 0.5 vs. 7.2 ± 1.5 pg/20 µl, respectively). In medial prefrontal cortex of rats previously exposed to cold, tail shock elicited a greater increase from baseline in both DA and NE efflux relative to that measured in naive rats (DA, 2.3 ± 0.3 vs. 1.2 ± 0.1 pg, respectively; NE, 3.8 ± 0.4 vs. 1.4 ± 0.2 pg, respectively). However, in nucleus accumbens or striatum of rats previously exposed to cold, the stress‐induced increase in DA efflux was not significantly different from that of naive rats (nucleus accumbens, 1.8 ± 0.7 vs. 1.5 ± 0.3 pg, respectively; striatum, 1.9 ± 0.4 vs. 2.6 ± 0.7 pg, respectively). Thus, both cortical NE projections and cortically projecting DA neurons sensitize after chronic exposure to cold. In contrast, subcortical DA projections do not sensitize under these conditions.
Day ahead hourly load forecast of PJM electricity market and iso new england market by using artificial neural network

Day ahead hourly load forecasting is an essential instrument in power system planning, operation, and control. Many operating decisions are based on load forecasts, such as dispatch scheduling of generating capacity, reliability analysis, and maintenance planning for the generators. This paper discusses significant role of artificial intelligence (AI) in short-term load forecasting (STLF), that is, the day-ahead hourly forecast of the power system load. A new artificial neural network (ANN) has been designed to compute the forecasted load. The data used in the modeling of ANN are hourly historical data of the temperature and electricity load. The ANN model is trained on hourly data from the ISO New England market and PJM Electricity Market from 2007 to 2011 and tested on out-of-sample data from 2012. Simulation results obtained have shown that day-ahead hourly forecasts of load using proposed ANN is very accurate with very less error in both the markets. However load forecast for ISO New England market is better than PJM market as temperature data has also been considered as input to ANN for this market.
Xenobiotic substances such as PCB mixtures (Aroclor 1254) and TBT can influence swimming behavior and biotransformation activity (GST) of carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Different groups of carp were treated with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) or tributyltin (TBT), and possible effects of the chemicals on the swimming behavior of the carp were examined using the BehavioQuant system. By evaluating quantitative behavioral parameters of the animals, it became evident that exposure to high concentrations of chemicals (organotin, 7 μg L−1, or polychlorinated biphenyl, 22 μg L−1) severely affected the carp, causing a significant change in their swimming speed. TBT stress led to a rapid decrease in mean swimming activity. A decrease in the preferred swimming depth was observed in TBT‐ and PCB‐exposed fish. Animals exposed to PCB reduced their mean daily activity and increased their mean swimming speed in the nighttime during the second week of exposure. Therefore, our findings imply that the fish were adapted to cope with the chemicals after the second week of exposure. Furthermore, our results showed that low concentrations (TBT, 0.3 and 2 μg L−1, or PCB, 14 μg L−1) did not significantly alter any quantified parameters of swimming behavior. In addition, the direct effects of chemicals on enzyme activity (GST) were determined. Measurement of soluble glutathione‐S‐transferase activity of fish liver or gills showed a significant elevation after exposure to PCB (0.1 or 22 μg L−1) or TBT (0.8 or 7 μg L−1). We had to conclude that the two different end points tested generally are useful as biomarkers of exposure and for investigations of energy resources in organisms under the influence of toxic stress. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 19: 460–470, 2004.
Targeting of cardiac muscle titin fragments to the Z-bands and dense bodies of living muscle and non-muscle cells.

A 6.5-kb N-terminal region of embryonic chick cardiac titin, including the region previously reported as part of the protein zeugmatin, has been sequenced, further demonstrating that zeugmatin is part of the N-terminal region of titin, and not a separate Z-band protein. This Z-band region of cardiac titin, from both 7- and 19-day embryos as well as from adult animals, was found to contain six different small motifs, termed z-repeats [Gautel et al., 1996: J. Cell Sci. 109:2747-2754], of approximately 45 amino acids each sandwiched between flanking regions containing Ig domains. Fragments of Z-band titin, linked to GFP, were expressed in cultured cardiomyocytes to determine which regions were responsible for Z-band targeting. Transfections of primary cultures of embryonic chick cardiomyocytes demonstrated that the z-repeats play the major role in targeting titin fragments to the Z-band. Similar transfections of skeletal myotubes and non-muscle cells lead to the localization of these cardiac z-repeats in the Z-bands of the myofibrils and the dense bodies of the stress fibers. Over-expression of these z-repeat constructs in either muscle or non-muscle cells lead to the loss of the myofibrils or stress fibers, respectively. The transfection experiments also indicated that small domains of a protein, 40 to 50 amino acids, can be studied for their localization properties in living cells if a suitable linker is placed between these small domains and the much larger 28 kDa GFP protein.
The psychometric properties of the Swedish Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory MFI-20 in four different populations

The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) scale is widely used for measuring fatigue in cancer care. This questionnaire has been translated into Swedish and used in Swedish cancer populations, and the aim of this study was to test the validity and reliability of the Swedish version in four populations, with a total of 584 patients. The participants were classified into four groups: palliative cancer patients, cancer patients receiving radiation therapy, non-cancer outpatients, and a group of hospital staff. The MFI-20 consists of five subscales of fatigue: General Fatigue (GF), Physical Fatigue (PF), Reduced Motivation (RM), Reduced Activity (RA) and Mental Fatigue (MF). We have tested the convergent validity of the MFI-20 using the Category Ratio instrument (CR-10). The validity and the reliability of MFI-20 were acceptable. All subscales of the MFI-20 were correlated, and all were also correlated with the CR-10 score (p ≤0.001). General Fatigue was highly correlated with Physical Fatigue for the three patient groups, but this was not the fact for healthy staff. Deleting some items increased Cronbach's α of the subscale to which these items belonged (where α measures the reliability of the results). The level of non-response was low (less than 1.2%) and there was no pattern to the items omitted. We conclude that the MFI-20 is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring fatigue in patients and in healthy individuals. The results support, to some extent, earlier findings and one item can be removed from the Swedish version of the MFI-20.
Tobacco use and cardiovascular disease: a knowledge, attitude and practice study in rural Kerala.

BACKGROUND Tobacco consumption, either in smokeless form or as smoking, is reported to be responsible for major non-communicable diseases, namely, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cancers. Whatsoever control strategy is being used, the community participation is of utmost importance, which will depend largely on the level of the knowledge in the community. AIM To assess the knowledge and attitude of a rural community towards the harmful effects of tobacco use. SETTING AND DESIGN Venganoor Gram Panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala; cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS Interview schedule was used to collect the information on pre-designed and pre-tested proforma. The information recorded, included the demographic characteristics and socio-economic characteristics. The awareness regarding tobacco use and the attitude towards its non-usage was done, by putting forward, open and closed-ended questions. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Percentages and proportions; t-test; chi-square test. RESULTS The present study included 302 (64.7%) females and 165 (35.3%) males. Among the males, 44 (38.5%) were ever smokers. Though 451 (96.6%) of the subjects knew that tobacco use is harmful for health, only 101 (22.5%) of the subjects knew that it causes cardiovascular diseases. Electronic and print media were the common source of such knowledge being reported by 265 (58.7%) and 202 (44.7%) subjects, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The subjects were aware about the harmful effects of tobacco use. However, more efforts are needed to make them aware about the role of tobacco smoking and chewing, in causing cardiac problems.
Biosynthesis of proteoglycans by proliferating and differentiating normal human keratinocytes cultured in serum‐free medium

Normal human keratinocytes (NHK) were cultured in serum‐free medium, containing low (0.1 mM) or high (2 mM) calcium, to obtain proliferating and differentiating cultures, respectively. Proteoglycan (PG) synthesis of proliferating and differentiating NHK was investigated. Cultures were labeled with 35S‐sulfate, and the PGs were extracted from medium and cell layer. The newly synthesized PGs were isolated by ion‐exchange chromatography on a column of DEAE‐Sephacel. The molecular properties of the PGs and the size and composition of glycosami‐noglycans (GAGs) were determined. In general, the PGs are of relatively small size (Mr 70,000‐120,000). The PGs of proliferating cultures are larger in molecular size than the PGs of differentiating cultures, and this is due to the degradation of the GAG chains. The molecular weight of the GAG chains of proliferating NHK ranged from 4,800 to 22,000, and the range for GAGs from differentiating cultures varied from 2,800 to 9,600. By compositional analysis, these PGs proved to contain heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and dermatan sulfate as determined by nitrous acid degradation, and chondroitinase ACII and ABC digestion. No significant differences were found in the overall GAG composition of the medium secreted PGs of proliferating and differentiating cultures. In contrast, cell‐associated PGs of differentiating cells had higher levels of heparan sulfate than those of proliferating cells.
Mutational analysis of hydrophobic domain interactions in γB‐crystallin from bovine eye lens

γB‐crystallin is a monomeric member of the βγ‐superfamily of vertebrate eye lens proteins. It consists of two similar domains with all‐β Greek key topology associating about an approximate two‐fold axis. At pH 2, with urea as the denaturant, the domains show independent equilibrium unfolding transitions, suggesting different intrinsic stabilities. Denaturation experiments using recombinant one‐ or two‐domain proteins showed that the N‐terminal domain on its own exhibits unaltered intrinsic stability but contributes significantly to the stability of its C‐terminal partner.
Regulation of the very late antigen‐4‐mediated adhesive activity of normal and nonreleaser basophils: roles for Src, Syk, and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase

Normal human basophils express the integrin, VLA‐4, and cross‐linking their high‐affinity IgE receptor, FcɛRI, increases their VLA‐4‐dependent adhesion to VCAM‐1‐transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Here we show that the FcɛRI‐mediated up‐regulation of normal basophil VLA‐4 adhesion is abolished by the Src inhibitor, PP1, the Syk inhibitor, ER‐27319, and the phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase inhibitor, wortmannin. PP1, but not ER‐27319 or wortmannin, also reduces basal adhesion and adhesion stimulated by chemotactic peptide, by Ca++ ionophores, and by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Nonreleaser basophils (the consistently Syk‐deficient, variably Lyn‐deficient, severely degranulation‐impaired cells found in about 10% of donors) share the PP1 phenotype of lowered basal adhesion, no FcɛRI‐mediated adhesion up‐regulation, and reduced adhesive responses to chemoattractant ionophores and PMA. These results implicate Src kinases in the control of basal VLA‐4 activity and place Syk and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase in the pathway linking FcɛRI cross‐linking to VLA‐4 up‐regulation. Both Src and Syk‐regulated components of adhesion may be impaired in nonreleaser basophils.
Passive radiometric imaging systems in millimeter wavelength range

The sub-terahertz passive radiometric imaging systems based on the single channel design are developed for disclosure of dangerous objects concealed under persons' clothing in short distances and for passive visualization of remote targets. Antenna systems, such as based on aspheric lens and on parabolic reflector, were adopted and refined for passive imaging application. Low-noise, compact receiver (noise factor 4.5dB for 90–100GHz) involving four stages was developed. The radiometric imaging peculiarities of the different reflecting and absorbing targets were investigated against the brightness temperature of sky. The system was demonstrated to successfully detect and recognize the metallic weapon hidden under outer clothing in the distance about 10 m. The scanning process (80×80 pixels in an area about 32×32 cm) approximately takes 40 seconds.
Magnetic Actuator Capable of Inspection in a Complex Pipe by Phase Control of Multiple Electromagnetic Vibration Components

In this paper, we propose a new type of magnetic actuator that is capable of inspecting complex pipes having inner diameters ranging from 33 to 40 mm using phase control with multiple electromagnetic vibration components. Using the three vibration components loaded in the magnetic actuator, the movement properties in a complex pipe were improved. An experiment to determine the motion principles of the magnetic actuator was performed, and the validity of the obtained results was verified. Movement speeds in the horizontal and vertical directions in a pipe with a T junction were measured for an input current of 0.28 A to vibration component. The experimental results demonstrate that the magnetic actuator was able to stably inspect the complex pipe under all conditions.
Redox control of thermopower and figure of merit in phase-coherent molecular wires

We demonstrate how redox control of intra-molecular quantum interference in phase-coherent molecular wires can be used to enhance the thermopower (Seebeck coefficient) S and thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of single molecules attached to nanogap electrodes. Using first principles theory, we study the thermoelectric properties of a family of nine molecules, which consist of dithiol-terminated oligo (phenylene-ethynylenes) (OPEs) containing various central units. Uniquely, one molecule of this family possesses a conjugated acene-based central backbone attached via triple bonds to terminal sulfur atoms bound to gold electrodes and incorporates a fully conjugated hydroquinonecentral unit. We demonstrate that both S and the electronic contribution Z el T to the figure of merit ZT can be dramatically enhanced by oxidizing the hydroquinone to yield a second molecule, which possesses a cross-conjugated anthraquinone central unit. This enhancement originates from the conversion of the pi-conjugation in the former to cross-conjugation in the latter, which promotes the appearance of a sharp anti-resonance at the Fermi energy. Comparison with thermoelectric properties of the remaining seven conjugated molecules demonstrates that such large values of S and Z el T are unprecedented. We also evaluate the phonon contribution to the thermal conductance, which allows us to compute the full figure of merit ZT = Z el T/(1 + κ p/κ el), where κ p is the phonon contribution to the thermal conductance and κ el is the electronic contribution. For unstructured gold electrodes, κ p/κ el ≫⃒ 1 and therefore strategies to reduce κ p are needed to realize the highest possible figure of merit.
Selection of genes repressed by cAMP that are induced by nutritional limitation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DNA–lacZ fusion libraries of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were used to select genes coordinately regulated by the Ras–cAMP–cAPK signalling pathway. Sixteen new genes (AGP1, APE2, APE3, FPS1, GUT2, MDH2, PLB2, PYK2, RNR3, SUR1, UGA1, YHR033w, YBR006w, YHR143w, YMR086w and YOR173w) were found to be repressed by cAMP. Most of these genes encode for metabolic enzymes and are induced by nutritional limitations. These common properties suggest a role of this pathway in the metabolic adjustment of the cell to nutritional variations. The induction of 10 of these genes is reduced in the msn2,msn4 double mutant, which emphasizes the role of the Msn2/4p transcriptional activators in mediating the Ras–cAMP–cAPK signalling pathway. The Msn2p/Msn4p‐independent expression of the six other genes suggests the existence of other regulatory systems under the control of this pathway. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PARASITE VIRULENCE AND HOST IMMUNE DEFENSE: HOST IMMUNE RESPONSE IS RELATED TO NEST REUSE IN BIRDS

The evolution of parasite virulence has been hypothesized to be related to the mode of parasite transmission; horizontally transmitted parasites can afford to damage their hosts more than vertically transmitted parasites because increased virulence does not reduce the probability of transmission to new hosts. This relationship between mode of transmission and virulence would particularly select for improved immune defense in hosts that are subject to horizontally transmitted parasites. Among avian hosts, hole nesters and colonial nesters frequently reuse nest sites because of nest‐site limitation, and this results in an increased frequency of horizontal transmission. Comparison of the size of two organs involved in the immune defense between pairs of bird species being either hole or open nesters, or colonially or solitarily nesting birds, respectively, revealed that the size of the bursa of Fabricius and the spleen were consistently larger in hole nesters than in open nesters, and similarly in colonially breeding bird species than in solitarily breeding species. These results support the hypothesis that mode of parasite transmission affects the evolution of immune defence in hosts.
Are Structural Changes in Polish Rural Areas Fostering Leisure-Time Physical Activity?

Background: In this study, we analyze the determinants of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) of farmers and non-farmers living in rural areas. Methods: We use statistical analysis to describe urban and rural populations, as well as econometric techniques (Heckman regressions and propensity score matching) to assess the role of rural lifestyle in physical activity. Results: World Health Organization (WHO) pro-health PA (physical activity) recommendations are not met by 66% of farmers and 49% of other dwellers in rural areas. Approximately two thirds of them are completely inactive. Farmers enjoy vigorous PA (VPA), cycling and recreational walking less than their non-farming counterparts and are 46% less likely to be active than them; however the difference disappears when they take up an activity. The amount of PA is negatively correlated with age, but tends to increase for older people compared to those in middle age. Women are 6%–7% less active than men, yet the odds of being active at all are higher for women than for men. Household size is negatively correlated with LTPA. Conclusion: Considering the structural changes, rural area dwellers, especially farmers, require public intervention aimed at increasing their awareness of the advantages of LTPA.
Simultaneous regularization method for the determination of radius distributions from experimental multiangle correlation functions.

Dynamic light scattering experiments have become a powerful tool in order to investigate the dynamical properties of complex fluids. In many applications in both soft matter research and industry so-called "real world" systems are subject of great interest. Here, the dilution of the investigated system often cannot be changed without getting measurement artifacts, so that one often has to deal with highly concentrated and turbid media. The investigation of such systems requires techniques that suppress the influence of multiple scattering, e.g., cross correlation techniques. However, measurements at turbid as well as highly diluted media lead to data with low signal-to-noise ratio, which complicates data analysis and leads to unreliable results. In this article a multiangle regularization method is discussed, which copes with the difficulties arising from such samples and enhances enormously the quality of the estimated solution. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of this multiangle regularization method we applied it to cross correlation functions measured at highly turbid samples.
Dense Non-rigid Structure-from-Motion and Shading with Unknown Albedos

Significant progress has been recently made in Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM). However, existing methods do not handle poorly-textured surfaces that deform non-smoothly. These are nonetheless common occurrence in real-world applications. An important unanswered question is whether shading can be used to robustly handle these cases. Shading is complementary to motion because it constrains reconstruction densely at textureless regions, and has been used in several other reconstruction problems. The challenge we face is to simultaneously and densely estimate non-smooth, non-rigid shape from each image together with non-smooth, spatially-varying surface albedo (which is required to use shading). We tackle this using an energy-based formulation that combines a physical, discontinuity-preserving deformation prior with motion, shading and contour information. This is a large-scale, highly non-convex optimization problem, and we propose a cascaded optimization that converges well without an initial estimate. Our approach works on both unorganized and organized small-sized image sets, and has been empirically validated on four real-world datasets for which all state-of-the-art approaches fail.