Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomarkers in Lung Diseases : from Pathogenesis to Prediction to New Therapies Suppression of endothelial PGC-1 is associated with hypoxia-induced endothelial dysfunction and provides a new therapeutic target in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Ye JX, Wang SS, Ge M, Wang DJ. Suppression of endothelial PGC-1 is associated with hypoxia-induced endothelial dysfunction and provides a new therapeutic target in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 310: L1233–L1242, 2016. First published April 15, 2016; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00356. 2015. — Endothelial dysfunction plays a principal role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which is a fatal disease with limited effective clinical treatments. Mitochondrial dysregulation and oxidative stress are involved in endothelial dysfunction. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorcoactivator-1 (PGC-1 ) is a key regulator of cellular energy metabolism and a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. However, the roles of PGC-1 in hypoxiainduced endothelial dysfunction are not completely understood. We hypothesized that hypoxia reduces PGC-1 expression and leads to endothelial dysfunction in hypoxia-induced PAH. We confirmed that hypoxia has a negative impact on endothelial PGC-1 in experimental PAH in vitro and in vivo. Hypoxia-induced PGC-1 inhibited the oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial function, whereas sustained PGC-1 decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, mitochondrial swelling, and NFB activation and increased ATP formation and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation. Furthermore, hypoxia-induced changes in the mean pulmonary arterial pressure and right heart hypertrophy were nearly normal after intervention. These results suggest that PGC-1 is associated with endothelial function in hypoxia-induced PAH and that improved endothelial function is associated with improved cellular mitochondrial respiration, reduced inflammation and oxygen stress, and increased PGC-1 expression. Taken together, these findings indicate that PGC-1 may be a new therapeutic target in PAH.
Functional Analysis of Maize Silk-Specific ZmbZIP25 Promoter

ZmbZIP25 (Zea mays bZIP (basic leucine zipper) transcription factor 25) is a function-unknown protein that belongs to the D group of the bZIP transcription factor family. RNA-seq data showed that the expression of ZmbZIP25 was tissue-specific in maize silks, and this specificity was confirmed by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction). In situ RNA hybridization showed that ZmbZIP25 was expressed exclusively in the xylem of maize silks. A 5′ RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) assay identified an adenine residue as the transcription start site of the ZmbZIP25 gene. To characterize this silk-specific promoter, we isolated and analyzed a 2450 bp (from −2083 to +367) and a 2600 bp sequence of ZmbZIP25 (from −2083 to +517, the transcription start site was denoted +1). Stable expression assays in Arabidopsis showed that the expression of the reporter gene GUS driven by the 2450 bp ZmbZIP25 5′-flanking fragment occurred exclusively in the papillae of Arabidopsis stigmas. Furthermore, transient expression assays in maize indicated that GUS and GFP expression driven by the 2450 bp ZmbZIP25 5′-flanking sequences occurred only in maize silks and not in other tissues. However, no GUS or GFP expression was driven by the 2600 bp ZmbZIP25 5′-flanking sequences in either stable or transient expression assays. A series of deletion analyses of the 2450 bp ZmbZIP25 5′-flanking sequence was performed in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, and probable elements prediction analysis revealed the possible presence of negative regulatory elements within the 161 bp region from −1117 to −957 that were responsible for the specificity of the ZmbZIP25 5′-flanking sequence.
Experimental research on effect of horizontal-vertical reinforcement configurations on foundations

According to model tests of pure sand foundation,horizontal reinforcement foundation and horizontal-vertical(H-V) reinforcements foundation,the influences of single layer H-V reinforced depth and number of H-V reinforced layers on foundations are studied.Through comparing the horizontal reinforcement foundations and combining the sliding surface of H-V reinforced soil,the reinforcement mechanism is analyzed.The test results show that the reinforced effect of H-V reinforcements is better than that of horizontal reinforcement at the same experiment condition;the bearing capacity decreases with the increase of the single layer H-V reinforced depth;effect of reinforcement on foundation bearing capacity is not obvious when the reinforced depth exceeding a certain range.For multilayer H-V reinforced foundation,bearing capacity increases and settlement decreases with the increase of number of reinforced layers.
Caffeine Promotes Conversion of Palmitic Acid to Palmitoleic Acid by Inducing Expression of fat-5 in Caenorhabditis elegans and scd1 in Mice

The synthesis and metabolism of fatty acids in an organism is related to many biological processes and is involved in several diseases. The effects of caffeine on fatty acid synthesis and fat storage in Caenorhabditis elegans and mice were studied. After 6 h of food deprivation, adult C. elegans were treated with 0.1 mg/mL caffeine for 24 h. Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that, among all the genes involved in fat accumulation, the mRNA expression of fat-5 in caffeine-treated C. elegans was significantly higher than that of controls, whereas fat-6 and fat-7 displayed no significant difference. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to verify the fatty acid composition of C. elegans. Results showed that the ratio of palmitoleic acid (16:1) to that of palmitic acid (16:0) was higher in the caffeine-treated group. Several mutant strains, including those involved in the insulin-like growth factor-1, dopamine, and serotonin pathways, and nuclear hormone receptors (nhrs), were used to assess their necessity to the effects of caffeine. We found that mdt-15 was essential for the effects of caffeine, which was independent of nhr-49 and nhr-80. Caffeine may increase fat-5 expression by acting on mdt-15. In high fat diet (HFD), but not in normal diet (ND) mice, caffeine induced expression of scd1 in both subcutaneous and epididymal white adipose tissue, which was consistent with the palmitoleic/palmitic ratio results by gas chromatograph analysis. In mature adipocytes, caffeine treatment induced both mRNA and protein expression of scd1 and pgc-1α. Overall, our results provided a possible mechanism on how caffeine modulates metabolism homeostasis in vivo.
Illness perception and adherence to healthy behaviour in Jordanian coronary heart disease patients

Background: Patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease are strongly recommended to adopt healthier behaviours and adhere to prescribed medication. Previous research on patients with a wide range of health conditions has explored the role of patients’ illness perceptions in explaining coping and health outcomes. However, among coronary heart disease patients, this has not been well examined. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore coronary heart disease patients’ illness perception beliefs and investigate whether these beliefs could predict adherence to healthy behaviours. Methods: A multi-centre cross-sectional study was conducted at four tertiary hospitals in Jordan. A convenience sample of 254 patients (73% response rate), who visited the cardiac clinic for routine review, participated in the study. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire, which included the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Godin Leisure Time Activity questionnaire and the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Results: Patients reported high levels of disease understanding (coherence) and they were convinced that they were able to control their condition by themselves and/or with appropriate treatment. Male patients perceived lower consequences (p<0.05) and had a better understanding of their illness than female patients (p<0.001). There were significant associations between increasing age and each of timeline (r=0.326, p<0.001), (r=0.146, p<0.024) and coherence (r=−0.166, p<0.010). Adjusted regression analysis showed that exercise adherence was predicted by both a strong perception in personal control (β 2.66, 95% confidence interval 1.28–4.04), timeline (β –1.85, 95% confidence interval 0. 8–2.88) and illness coherence (β 2.12, 95% confidence interval 0.35–3.90). Medication adherence was predicted by perception of personal control and treatment control. Adherence to a low-fat diet regimen was predicted by perception of illness coherence only (odds ratio 12, 95% confidence interval 1.04–1.33). Finally, the majority of patients thought that the cause of their heart problem was related to coronary heart disease risk factors such as obesity and high-fat meals. Conclusion: Patients’ illness beliefs are candidates for a psycho-educational intervention that should be targeted at improved disease management practices and better adherence to recommended healthy behaviours.
Fertility Preservation in Patients With Cancer: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Update.

Purpose To provide current recommendations about fertility preservation for adults and children with cancer. Methods A systematic review of the literature published from January 2013 to March 2017 was completed using PubMed and the Cochrane Library. An Update Panel reviewed the identified publications. Results There were 61 publications identified and reviewed. None of these publications prompted a significant change in the 2013 recommendations. Recommendations Health care providers should initiate the discussion on the possibility of infertility with patients with cancer treated during their reproductive years or with parents/guardians of children as early as possible. Providers should be prepared to discuss fertility preservation options and/or to refer all potential patients to appropriate reproductive specialists. Although patients may be focused initially on their cancer diagnosis, providers should advise patients regarding potential threats to fertility as early as possible in the treatment process so as to allow for the widest array of options for fertility preservation. The discussion should be documented. Sperm, oocyte, and embryo cryopreservation are considered standard practice and are widely available. There is conflicting evidence to recommend gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa) and other means of ovarian suppression for fertility preservation. The Panel recognizes that, when proven fertility preservation methods are not feasible, and in the setting of young women with breast cancer, GnRHa may be offered to patients in the hope of reducing the likelihood of chemotherapy-induced ovarian insufficiency. GnRHa should not be used in place of proven fertility preservation methods. The panel notes that the field of ovarian tissue cryopreservation is advancing quickly and may evolve to become standard therapy in the future. Additional information is available at www.asco. org/survivorship-guidelines .
Foraging Responses of Black-Legged Kittiwakes to Prolonged Food-Shortages around Colonies on the Bering Sea Shelf

We hypothesized that changes in southeastern Bering Sea foraging conditions for black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) have caused shifts in habitat use with direct implications for population trends. To test this, we compared at-sea distribution, breeding performance, and nutritional stress of kittiwakes in three years (2008–2010) at two sites in the Pribilof Islands, where the population has either declined (St. Paul) or remained stable (St. George). Foraging conditions were assessed from changes in (1) bird diets, (2) the biomass and distribution of juvenile pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) in 2008 and 2009, and (3) eddy kinetic energy (EKE; considered to be a proxy for oceanic prey availability). In years when biomass of juvenile pollock was low and patchily distributed in shelf regions, kittiwake diets included little or no neritic prey and a much higher occurrence of oceanic prey (e.g. myctophids). Birds from both islands foraged on the nearby shelves, or made substantially longer-distance trips overnight to the basin. Here, feeding was more nocturnal and crepuscular than on the shelf, and often occurred near anticyclonic, or inside cyclonic eddies. As expected from colony location, birds from St. Paul used neritic waters more frequently, whereas birds from St. George typically foraged in oceanic waters. Despite these distinctive foraging patterns, there were no significant differences between colonies in chick feeding rates or fledging success. High EKE in 2010 coincided with a 63% increase in use of the basin by birds from St. Paul compared with 2008 when EKE was low. Nonetheless, adult nutritional stress, which was relatively high across years at both colonies, peaked in birds from St. Paul in 2010. Diminishing food resources in nearby shelf habitats may have contributed to kittiwake population declines at St Paul, possibly driven by increased adult mortality or breeding desertion due to high foraging effort and nutritional stress.
New Regression Models for Predicting the Hamstring Muscle Strength using Support Vector Machines

The purpose of this study is to build new prediction models for estimating the hamstring muscle strength of college-aged athletes using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The dataset is made up of 70 athletes ranging in age from 19 to 38 years who were selected from the College of Physical Education and Sport at Gazi University. The results show that the prediction model including the predictor variables gender, age, height and weight provides a valid and convenient method for estimating hamstring muscle strength within limits of acceptable accuracy. For comparison purposes, prediction models based on Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Single Decision Tree (SDT) have also been created, and it is seen that SVM-based models outperforms the MLP-based and SDT-based models for prediction of hamstring muscle strength.
Blocking oestradiol synthesis pathways with potent and selective coumarin derivatives

Abstract A comprehensive set of 3-phenylcoumarin analogues with polar substituents was synthesised for blocking oestradiol synthesis by 17-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (HSD1) in the latter part of the sulphatase pathway. Five analogues produced ≥62% HSD1 inhibition at 5 µM and, furthermore, three of them produced ≥68% inhibition at 1 µM. A docking-based structure-activity relationship analysis was done to determine the molecular basis of the inhibition and the cross-reactivity of the analogues was tested against oestrogen receptor, aromatase, cytochrome P450 1A2, and monoamine oxidases. Most of the analogues are only modestly active with 17-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 – a requirement for lowering effective oestradiol levels in vivo. Moreover, the analysis led to the synthesis and discovery of 3-imidazolecoumarin as a potent aromatase inhibitor. In short, coumarin core can be tailored with specific ring and polar moiety substitutions to block either the sulphatase pathway or the aromatase pathway for treating breast cancer and endometriosis.
Induced radioactivity of a GSO scintillator by secondary fragments in carbon ion therapy and its effects on in-beam OpenPET imaging

The accumulation of induced radioactivity within in-beam PET scanner scintillators is of concern for its long-term clinical usage in particle therapy. To estimate the effects on OpenPET which we are developing for in-beam PET based on GSOZ (Zi doped Gd2SiO5), we measured the induced radioactivity of GSO activated by secondary fragments in a water phantom irradiation by a 12C beam with an energy of 290 MeV u−1. Radioisotopes of Na, Ce, Eu, Gd, Nd, Pm and Tb including positron emitters were observed in the gamma ray spectra of the activated GSO with a high purity Ge detector and their absolute radioactivities were calculated. We used the Monte Carlo simulation platform, Geant4 in which the observed radioactivity was assigned to the scintillators of a precisely reproduced OpenPET and the single and coincidence rates immediately after one treatment and after one-year usage were estimated for the most severe conditions. Comparing the highest coincidence rate originating from the activated scintillators (background) and the expected coincidence rate from an imaging object (signal), we determined the expected signal-to-noise ratio to be more than 7 within 3 min and more than 10 within 1 min from the scan start time. We concluded the effects of scintillator activation and their accumulation on the OpenPET imaging were small and clinical long-term usage of the OpenPET was feasible.
Gas permeability of concrete in service

Based on gas permeability test of the concrete,the permeability of the high performance concrete in service is studied.The influence of nondestructive vibration and axial compression on the coefficient of gas permeability of concrete is investigated,the impervious characters of ordinary and steel fiber reinforced concrete and its intrinsic mechanism at the different stress stage in service are analyzed by comparison.The study results show that the permeability of concrete in service is obviously different from that not in service,the test data of permeability of concrete in service is more credible,and the aspect of the durability of steel fiber reinforced concrete should be considered.
Content Analysis and the Algorithmic Coder

To deal with ever-larger datasets, media scholars are increasingly using computational analytic methods. This article focuses on how the traditional (manual) approach to conducting a content analysis—a primary method in the study of media messages—is being reconfigured, assesses what is gained and lost in turning to computational solutions, and builds on a “hybrid” approach to content analysis. We argue that computational methods are most fruitful when variables are readily identifiable in texts and when source material is easily parsed. Manual methods, though, are most appropriate for complex variables and when source material is not well digitized. These modes can be effectively combined throughout the process of content analysis to facilitate expansive and powerful analyses that are reliable and meaningful.
The Influence of Weather and Lemmings on Spatiotemporal Variation in the Abundance of Multiple Avian Guilds in the Arctic

Climate change is occurring more rapidly in the Arctic than other places in the world, which is likely to alter the distribution and abundance of migratory birds breeding there. A warming climate can provide benefits to birds by decreasing spring snow cover, but increases in the frequency of summer rainstorms, another product of climate change, may reduce foraging opportunities for insectivorous birds. Cyclic lemming populations in the Arctic also influence bird abundance because Arctic foxes begin consuming bird eggs when lemmings decline. The complex interaction between summer temperature, precipitation, and the lemming cycle hinder our ability to predict how Arctic-breeding birds will respond to climate change. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between annual variation in weather, spring snow cover, lemming abundance and spatiotemporal variation in the abundance of multiple avian guilds in a tundra ecosystem in central Nunavut, Canada: songbirds, shorebirds, gulls, loons, and geese. We spatially stratified our study area based on vegetation productivity, terrain ruggedness, and freshwater abundance, and conducted distance sampling to estimate strata-specific densities of each guild during the summers of 2010–2012. We also monitored temperature, rainfall, spring snow cover, and lemming abundance each year. Spatial variation in bird abundance matched what was expected based on previous ecological knowledge, but weather and lemming abundance also significantly influenced the abundance of some guilds. In particular, songbirds were less abundant during the cool, wet summer with moderate snow cover, and shorebirds and gulls declined with lemming abundance. The abundance of geese did not vary over time, possibly because benefits created by moderate spring snow cover were offset by increased fox predation when lemmings were scarce. Our study provides an example of a simple way to monitor the correlation between weather, spring snow cover, lemming abundance, and spatiotemporal variations in Arctic-breeding birds.
Detection of OXA-1 β-Lactamase Gene of Klebsiella pneumoniae from Blood Stream Infections (BSI) by Conventional PCR and In-Silico Analysis to Understand the Mechanism of OXA Mediated Resistance

Klebsiella pneumoniae strains producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) exhibit resistance to antibiotic classes. The production of ESBLs (TEM-1, TEM-2, SHV-1, OXA-1) results in resistance to ampicillin, ticarcillin, piperacillin and cephalosporins. High levels of β-lactamases leads to development of resistance to β-lactamase inhibitors. The present study deals with characterizing antimicrobial resistance pattern among septicemia causing K. pneumoniae and the prevalence of inhibitor resistant OXA-1 β-lactamase genes among them. Of 151 study isolates, 59 were resistant to piperacillin/tazobactam and these isolates were further selected for blaOXA-1 screening. Amplification of β-lactamases genes by conventional PCR showed the presence of blaOXA-1 genes among 12 K. pneumoniae (20.3%) isolates. OXA-1 β-lactamase producing strains were found to be resistant to piperacillin/tazobactam(100%), levofloxacin (91.6%), amikacin (75%), cefoxitin (50%), ertapenem (25%), imipenem (16.6%) and meropenem (16.6%); all were susceptible to tigecycline. 3D models of OXA-1 β-lactamase were generated and docking was performed with various β-lactam antibiotics. Molecular docking (MD) revealed the molecular basis of drug sensitivity. MD simulation results clearly confirmed the notable loss in stability for tigecycline-blaOXA-1 complex. Findings of the present study will provide useful insights for understanding the mechanism of resistance and help with strategies for the development of new antibiotics. The conventional PCR assay designed in this study can be routinely used in clinical microbiology laboratories to determine the blaOXA-1genes.
XPBD: position-based simulation of compliant constrained dynamics

We address the long-standing problem of iteration count and time step dependent constraint stiffness in position-based dynamics (PBD). We introduce a simple extension to PBD that allows it to accurately and efficiently simulate arbitrary elastic and dissipative energy potentials in an implicit manner. In addition, our method provides constraint force estimates, making it applicable to a wider range of applications, such those requiring haptic user-feedback. We compare our algorithm to more expensive non-linear solvers and find it produces visually similar results while maintaining the simplicity and robustness of the PBD method.
CONET: a content centric inter-networking architecture

CONET is a content-centric inter-network that provides users with a network access to remote named-resources, rather than to remote hosts. Named-resources can be either data (named-data) or service-access-points (named-sap), identified by a network-identifier (a name). CONET interconnects CONET Sub Systems, which can be layer-2 networks, layer-3 networks or couples of nodes connected by a point-to-point link. CONET supports the already proposed "clean-slate" and "overlay" deployment approaches. In addition, CONET supports a novel "integration" approach, which extends the IP layer with a new header option that makes IP itself content-aware. CONET limits the size of name-based routing tables by including only a subset of all named-resources; missing entries are looked up in a name-system and then cached. CONET does not maintain states in network nodes, to deliver contents.