Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis by stimulation of AMP‐activated protein kinase

AMP‐activated protein kinase is a multisubstrate protein kinase that, in liver, inactivates both acetyl‐CoA carboxylase, the rate‐limiting enzyme of fatty acid synthesis, and 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methyl‐glutaryl‐CoA reductase, the rate‐limiting enzyme of cholesterol synthesis. AICAR (5‐amino 4‐imidazolecarboxamide ribotide, ZMP) was found to stimulate up to 10‐fold rat liver AMP‐activated protein kinase, with a half‐maximal effect at approximately 5 mM. In accordance with previous observations, addition to suspensions of isolated rat hepatocytes of 50–500 μM AICAriboside, the nucleoside corresponding to ZMP, resulted in the accumulation of millimolar concentrations of the latter. This was accompanied by a dose‐dependent inactivation of both acetyl‐CoA carboxylase and 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐CoA reductase. Addition of 50–500 μM AICAriboside to hepatocyte suspensions incubated in the presence of various substrates, including glucose and lactate/pyruvate, caused a parallel inhibition of both fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis. With lactate/pyruvate (10/1 mM), half‐maximal inhibition was obtained at approximately 100 μM, and near‐complete inhibition at 500 μM AI‐CAriboside. These findings open new perspectives for the simultaneous control of triglyceride and cholesterol synthesis by pharmacological stimulators of AMP‐activated protein kinase. —Henin, N. , Vincent, M. ‐F. , Gruber, H. E. , Van den Berghe, G. Inhibition of fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis by stimulation of AMP‐activated protein kinase. FASEB J. 9, 541–546 (1995)
Correlation between tumor volume response to radiotherapy and expression of biological markers in patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE To determine the factors associated with tumor volume response to radiotherapy (RT) in cervical cancer patients, and the relationship between the tumor volume response and alteration of the expression of biological markers during RT. METHODS Twenty consecutive patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma who received definitive RT were enrolled. Tumor volumes were calculated by MRI examinations performed at the start of RT (pre-RT), at the fourth week of RT (mid-RT), and 1 month after RT completion (post-RT). Two serial punch biopsies were performed at pre- and mid-RT, and immunohistochemical staining was performed for cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). RESULTS For the pre-RT evaluation, fourteen (70%) and eleven (55%) patients showed positive immunoreactivity for COX-2 and EGFR, respectively. Among the seven patients whose median percentage residual tumor at mid-RT (V2R) was greater than 0.5, seven (100%, p=0.0515) and five (71.4%, p=0.3742) patients showed positive immunoreactivity for COX-2 and EGFR, respectively. The logistic regression analysis showed that positive immunoreactivity for both COX-2 and EGFR at pre-RT were associated with V2R (p=0.0782). For the mid-RT evaluation, eight cases showed an interval increase in the distribution of immunoreactivity for COX-2, and six out of the eight patients had a V2R greater than 0.5 (p=0.2222). CONCLUSION The poor mid-RT tumor response was associated with the coexpression of COX-2 and EGFR.
Nonlinear Theory of a Corrugated Coaxial- Gyrotron With Misaligned Inner Rod

The effects of a small misalignment of the inner rod in a corrugated coaxial-gyrotron on eigenvalue, resonant frequency, and electronic efficiency, and so forth, are presented. As a practical application, with the electronic velocity spread and cavity wall resistivity being taken into account, the beam-wave interaction of a 170 GHz megawatt corrugated coaxial-gyrotron operating with TE31,12 mode has been investigated. The results show that the eigenvalue increases slightly when the ratio of misalignment to outer radius D/R increases in the case of small ratio of outer to inner radius C= R/Rin, but is uniform in the case of large ratio of C . The electronic efficiency decrease slightly when D/R increases within the range of 0-0.01. If D/R increases to 0.02, the efficiency decreases seriously to only about 5%. For both cold cavity and hot cavity, the resonator frequency increases with D/R increasing.
Temperature-sensitive splicing defect of ts110 Moloney murine sarcoma virus is virus encoded

ts110 Moloney murine sarcoma virus (Mo-MuSV)-nonproductively infected cells (6m2) have a transformed phenotype at 28 to 33 degrees C and a normal phenotype at 39 degrees C. At temperatures permissive for transformation, 6m2 cells contain P58gag produced from the 4.0-kilobase (kb) viral RNA genome and P85gag-mos translated from a 3.5-kb spliced mRNA. At 39 degrees C, only the 4.0-kb RNA and its product P58gag are detected. Two temperature-sensitive defects have been observed in ts110-infected 6m2 cells: (i) the splicing of the 4.0-kb RNA to the 3.5-kb RNA; and (ii) the thermolability of P85gag-mos and its kinase activity relative to the wild-type revertant protein, termed P100gag-mos (R.B. Arlinghaus, J. Gen. Virol. 66:1845-1853, 1985). In the present study, we examined the mos gene products of two cell lines (204-2F6 and 204-2F8) obtained by infection of normal rat kidney cells with ts110 Mo-MuSV as a simian sarcoma-associated virus pseudotype to see whether the temperature-sensitive splicing defect could be transferred by viral infection. Southern blot analysis of these two cell lines showed that viral DNAs containing restriction fragments from cellular DNA are different from those in 6m2 cells, indicating that 204-2F6 and 204-2F8 cells have different ts110 provirus integration sites from those of 6m2 cells. Northern blots, S1 mapping analyses, and immunoprecipitation experiments showed unequivocally that the splicing defect of ts110 Mo-MuSV is virus encoded and is independent of host cell factors.
Cutaneous Osteoblastic Osteosarcoma: Report of 2 New Cases Integrated With SATB2 Immunohistochemistry and Review of the Literature

Abstract:We report 2 cases of primary dermal osteosarcoma. The patients were an 88-year-old man and a 72-year-old man complaining of masses occurring in the ear pavilion and the palm, deemed suspicious for basal cell carcinoma and metastatic colonic carcinoma, and were treated by resection. Microscopically, both featured a dermal lesion mostly composed of atypical spindle cells within a fibrous to hyaline matrix often showing mineralization. Osteoid material was rimmed by atypical tumor cells and was also associated with osteoclast-like giant cells. Tumor cells were positive for SATB2 and negative for markers of epithelial (low-molecular and high-molecular weight cytokeratins, epithelial membrane antigen, p63), melanocytic (S100 protein, HMB45, Melan A), and skeletal/smooth muscle differentiation (desmin, myogenin). No further therapy has been administered. Follow-up at 6 (case 1) and 8 months (case 2) was uneventful. A brief differential diagnosis discussing cutaneous tumors capable of showing osseous differentiation is summarized, along with a review of the pertinent literature. The specificity and sensitivity of SATB2 is also shortly addressed.
One-year Follow-up of Neuropsychology, MRI, rCBF and Glucose Metabolism (rMRGlu) in Cerebral Microangiopathy

Summary Background: MRI shows lacunar infarctions (LI), deep white matter lesions (DWML) and atrophy in cerebral microangiopathy, which is said to lead to vascular dementia. In a first trial series on 57 patients with confirmed pure cerebral microangiopathy (without concomitant macroangiopathy), neuropsychological impairment and (where present) brain atrophy correlated with decreased rCBF and rMRGlu. LI and DWML did not correlate with either neuropsychological impairment or decreased rCBF/rMRGIu. This study was done one year later to detect changes in any of the study parameters. Methods: 26 patients were re-examined for rCBF, rMRGlu, LI, DWML, atrophy and neuropsychological performance (7 cognitive, 3 mnestic, 4 attentiveness tests). Using a special head holder for exact repositioning, rCBF (SPECT) and rMRGlu (PET) were measured and imaged slice by slice. White matter/cortex were quantified using MRI-defined ROIs. Results: After one year the patients did not show significant decreases in rCBF or rMRGlu either in cortex or in white matter (p >0.05), nor did any patient show LI, DWML or atrophy changes on MRI. There were no significant neuropsychological decreases (p >0.05). Conclusions: Cerebral microangiopathy ought to show progressive neuropsychological, functional (rCBF, rMRGlu) and morphological deterioration over periods >1 year. It is unlikely that direct cortical damage (e.g., incomplete infarction) is responsible for neuropsychological impairment since one-year follow-up of our patients revealed no progression of brain atrophy or any other cortical damage.
Symbolic fault modeling for switched-capacitor circuits

A symbolic construction method allowing for parameter limit operation is proposed. Switched-capacitor circuits can be analyzed with this method by creating a symbolic z-domain transfer function represented in the form of a Binary Decision Diagram (BDD). Manipulating the symbols in BDD can simulate a variety of circuit faults, such as switch faults, capacitor faults, and opamp gain faults. Implementation methods are presented and illustration examples are provided.
Vessel detection method for high resolution Cosmo-Skymed SAR imagery

Vessel detection becomes more and more important applications of remote sensing. In this paper, a vessel detection method based on gravity enhancement and multi-scale processing was applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. With the method, targets' pixels were enhanced by the interactions between themselves and their neighbors, while the speckle and background clutter were suppressed after enhancement as well as the contrasts between targets and clutter had been greatly increased. In high resolution SAR image, vessel includes more pixels and can show its structure in the image. Traditional Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) detector which is proper for low resolution SAR image may lead to more false alarms if it is applied to high resolution image. So before segmentation, multi-scale processing was applied to avoid this problem. Cosmo-Skymed image with 3 meter pixel spacing was adopted to test the algorithm. Results show good ability for vessel detection with the high resolution SAR image.
A retrospective analysis of expressed emotion (EE) and affective distress in a sample of relatives caring for traumatically brain-injured (TBI) family members.

OBJECTIVES To examine levels of expressed emotion (EE) and affective distress in relatives caring for severely brain-injured family members. DESIGN The study took the form of a retrospective, observational cross-sectional analysis. METHOD Data on 28 relatives were reviewed. Each participant completed one affective health-related questionnaire (Leeds Scales for the Self-Assessment of Anxiety and Depression; Snaith, Bridge & Hamilton, 1976) and their EE was rated using the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI; Brown, Birley & Wing, 1972; Vaughn & Leff, 1976, modified for head-injury relatives. Participants were rated as either high or low EE. Comparative statistical analysis examined differences in affective distress between the two groups. RESULTS Of the 28 participants, 12 were rated high EE and 16 were rated low EE. Levels of anxiety were significantly higher among the high EE group, but levels of depression were not significantly different between the high and low EE groups. A significant correlation was found between EE and carer status, i.e. sole carers or family carers, with sole carers displaying significantly higher levels of EE than family carers. Multiple regression also revealed that carer status was most predictive of EE. CONCLUSIONS Discussion considers EE as a coping strategy. Further research into the predictive capability of EE as an indicator of affective distress in head-injury families is suggested.
Cell adhesion regulates the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene expression in anchorage-dependent cells.

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is the primary inhibitor of both tissue- and urokinase-type plasminogen activators (t-PA, u-PA). PAI-1 also regulates the attachment of cells to the adhesive glycoprotein vitronectin (VN). PAI-1 gene expression has been observed in various cell types, and many regulatory factors have been identified to play a role in PAI-1 gene transcription. The complete picture of how the PAI-1 gene is expressed when cells adhere to a culture plate has not been fully elucidated. We found that in anchorage-dependent cells, PAI-1 gene was up-regulated when cells were beginning to attach to a culture dish and was down-regulated when cells had attached completely. The PAI-1 gene expression was induced only in adhered cells but not in non-adhered cells. The regulation of PAI-1 protein was also found in both culture medium and cell lysate when cells were attached to a culture dish. Our experiment indicates that vitronectin and fibronectin, as components of ECM, may be the factors involved in the regulation of PAI-1 gene expression. PAI-1, as an inhibitor of the interaction between vitronectin and integrin alphavbeta3, may also be a regulator of its own expression.
Platelet‐derived microparticles regulates thrombin generation via phophatidylserine in abdominal sepsis

Sepsis is associated with dysfunctional coagulation. Recent data suggest that platelets play a role in sepsis by promoting neutrophil accumulation. Herein, we show that cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) triggered systemic inflammation, which is characterized by formation of IL‐6 and CXC chemokines as well as neutrophil accumulation in the lung. Platelet depletion decreased neutrophil accumulation, IL‐6, and CXC chemokines formation in septic lungs. Depletion of platelets increased peak thrombin formation and total thrombin generation (TG) in plasma from septic animals. CLP elevated circulating levels of platelet‐derived microparticles (PMPs). In vitro generated PMPs were a potent inducer of TG. Interestingly, in vitro wild‐type recombinant annexin V abolished PMP‐induced thrombin formation whereas a mutant annexin V protein, which does not bind to phosphatidylserine (PS), had no effect. Administration of wild‐type, but not mutant annexin V, significantly inhibited thrombin formation in septic animals. Moreover, CLP‐induced formation of thrombin‐antithrombin complexes were reduced in platelet‐depleted mice and in animals pretreated with annexin V. PMP‐induced TG attenuated in FXII‐ and FVII‐deficient plasma. These findings suggest that sepsis‐induced TG is dependent on platelets. Moreover, PMPs formed in sepsis are a potent inducer of TG via PS exposure, and activation of both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathway of coagulation. In conclusion, these observations suggest that PMPs and PS play an important role in dysfunctional coagulation in abdominal sepsis.
In Vitro Fertilization Alters Growth and Expression of Igf2/H19 and Their Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Liver and Skeletal Muscle of Newborn and Elder Mice1

ABSTRACT Epidemiological studies have reported a higher incidence of growth disorders among newborns conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF), suggesting that IVF may be disruptive to the process of embryonic and fetal growth. However, the long-term effects of IVF on the growth and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the body weight of IVF mice from birth to the age of 1.5 yr. In addition, we analyzed gene expression of insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2), H19, Igf2 receptor (Igf2r), and miR-483 and their DNA methylation status using real-time quantitative PCR, Western blot, and pyrosequencing. The results showed that when compared with the in vivo group, the body weight of IVF mice was significantly higher at birth, but lower at 3 wk; in addition, gene expression of Igf2 was significantly up-regulated, with down-regulated expression of H19 and miR-483 in both liver and skeletal muscle. At the same time, there were significant differences in the DNA methylation rates of Igf2/H19 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and the IGF2 protein expression between the two groups. In the IVF treatment group, the differences in growth and expression disappeared at 10 wk. However, at 1.5 yr of age, aberrant expressions of Igf2/H19, Igf2r, and miR-483 and changes in DNA methylation rates in the liver or skeletal muscle were again observed in IVF mice. Our results indicate that IVF causes alterations in mouse growth during the postnatal periods that may be associated with alterations in Igf2/H19 expression and likely involve the regulation of miR-483 and the methylation status of Igf2/H19 DMRs.
Adaptive new top-hat transform and multi-scale sequential toggle operator based infrared image enhancement

The contrast enhancement, brightness preserving and natural look of the output image plays an important role in an infrared (IR) image enhancement process. There are several IR image enhancement algorithms that have been developed, but they may produce artificial looking images, and the images derived from these methods are not suitable for applications such as surveillance, environmental monitoring and so on. In this paper, an algorithm using new top-hat transform and multi-scale sequential toggle operator has been proposed. Firstly, a new white top-hat transform and new black top-hat transform is generated to extract the light and dark regions of the image. Then, the multi-scale sequential toggle operator is used on the extracted light and dark regions to get a sequence of regions. Ultimately, the final image is extracted from a sequence of images. To test the proposed method, the experiment is carried out on the OSU thermal bench mark database images. The enhanced image results have been compared with the popular existing methods such as Histogram Equalization (HE) and Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE), max-median (3 × 3) using various evaluation measures. From the results, it is observed that the proposed method works better than the existing methods.
PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS ON GENERA OF CORALLOBOTHRIINAE (CESTODA: PROTEOCEPHALIDEA) FROM NORTH AMERICAN ICTALURID FISHES, USING PARTIAL SEQUENCES OF THE 28S RIBOSOMAL GENE

Partial sequences of the 28S rDNA (ribosomal gene) were obtained from a total of 11 populations of 5 species (in 3 genera) of North American corallobothriine proteocephalideans. These included Corallobothrium fimbriatum (3 populations), Corallobothrium parafimbriatum (1 population), Corallotaenia minutia (1 population), Megathylacoides giganteum (2 populations), and Megathylacoides lamothei (4 populations). These sequences were used in a phylogenetic analysis to test the monophyly of Corallobothriinae and to investigate the interrelationships of the North American species. The results indicate that Corallobothriinae, as conventionally understood, is not monophyletic and that only the North American corallobothriines, parasites of ictalurid catfishes, form a monophyletic group. Corallobothrium parafimbriatum is sister taxon to a clade that includes Corallotaenia intermedia and C. minutia and not to its congener C. fimbriatum. Also, M. giganteum from Mexico appears to be more closely related to M. lamothei than to its conspecific in Canada. This and the amount of sequence divergence indicate possible cryptic speciation in its endemic host, the Lerma catfish, Ictalurus dugesi.
A 16 Gb/s adaptive bandwidth on-chip bus based on hybrid current/voltage mode signaling

This paper describes an adaptive bandwidth bus (ABB) architecture based on hybrid current/voltage mode repeaters for long global RC interconnect static busses that achieves high-data rates while minimizing the static power dissipation associated with current-mode signaling. Attaining a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 16 Gb/s (i.e., 1 Gb/s per line) across lossy on-chip interconnects spanning 1.75 cm in length, the bus core fabricated in 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS technology dissipates approximately 93 mW with a supply of 2.5 V and signal activity of 0.5, equivalent to 5.71 pJ/bit. Experimental results using a 16-bit reference bus design that can be externally programmed to operate in voltage, current or adaptive modes indicate a 50% reduction in power dissipation over current-mode (CM) sensing, and an improvement in interconnection delay and signaling bandwidth of 35%-70% and 66% over voltage-mode (VM) sensing, respectively.
Bioengineering Lactic Acid Bacteria to Secrete the HIV-1 Virucide Cyanovirin

An urgent need exists to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV-1. With prevalence rates exceeding 35% in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, increasing attention has been placed on developing and testing microbicidal agents capable of preventing virus transmission at mucosal sites. HIV-1 microbicides must meet several requirements before their widespread use. The drugs must be able to neutralize a diversity of HIV-1 strains, not induce mucosal inflammation, be associated with minimal side effects, and be effective for a prolonged period after a single application. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of recombinant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as agents of mucosal drug delivery. Here, we describe the bioengineering of strains of LAB to secrete the prototypic virucidal compound cyanovirin (CV-N) and demonstrate the anti-HIV-1 activity of secreted CV-N. Our results suggest that recombinant LAB may serve as effective microbicidal compounds and deserve in vivo testing in simian immunodeficiency virus models of mucosal virus transmission.
Perfluorinated chemicals, PFOS and PFOA, enhance the estrogenic effects of 17β‐estradiol in T47D human breast cancer cells

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are the two most popular surfactants among perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), with a wide range of uses. Growing evidence suggests that PFCs have the potential to interfere with estrogen homeostasis, posing a risk of endocrine‐disrupting effects. This in vitro study aimed to investigate the estrogenic effect of these compounds on T47D hormone‐dependent breast cancer cells. PFOS and PFOA (10−12 to 10−4 M) were not able to induce estrogen response element (ERE) activation in the ERE luciferase reporter assay. The ERE activation was induced when the cells were co‐incubated with PFOS (10−10 to 10−7 M) or PFOA (10−9 to 10−7 M) and 1 nM of 17β‐estradiol (E2). PFOS and PFOA did not modulate the expression of estrogen‐responsive genes, including progesterone (PR) and trefoil factor (pS2), but these compounds enhanced the effect of E2‐induced pS2 gene expression. Neither PFOS nor PFOA affected T47D cell viability at any of the tested concentrations. In contrast, co‐exposure with PFOS or PFOA and E2 resulted in an increase of E2‐induced cell viability, but no effect was found with 10 ng ml−1 EGF co‐exposure. Both compounds also intensified E2‐dependent growth in the proliferation assay. ERK1/2 phosphorylation was increased by co‐exposure with PFOS or PFOA and E2, but not with EGF. Collectively, this study shows that PFOS and PFOA did not possess estrogenic activity, but they enhanced the effects of E2 on estrogen‐responsive gene expression, ERK1/2 activation and the growth of the hormone‐deprived T47D cells. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.