Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methoxyacetic Acid Disregulation of Androgen Receptor and Androgen-Binding Protein Expression in Adult Rat Testis1

Abstract Chemical agents can disrupt the balance between survival and apoptosis during spermatogenesis and thus give rise to reduced counts of spermatozoa (oligospermia). One such agent that produces significant germ cell apoptosis at specific stages of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium is methoxy acetic acid (MAA), the active metabolite of a commonly used solvent, methoxyethanol. Although MAA gives rise to apoptosis of pachytene spermatocytes, it is not known whether MAA exerts a direct effect on germ cells or whether it also affects other testicular cell types such as the Sertoli cells. In the present investigation, we tested the hypothesis that MAA has direct effects on Sertoli cells in vivo. In MAA-treated rats, stage-specific expression of androgen receptor (AR) protein in Sertoli cells was significantly altered, as determined by AR immunohistochemistry. In MAA-treated animals, high AR expression was found in Sertoli cells coincident with the MAA-induced apoptosis of late-stage pachytene spermatocytes. The altered expression of AR in MAA-treated animals was also seen in seminiferous tubules harvested by laser capture microdissection. In addition to effects on AR expression, androgen-binding protein (ABP) mRNA levels were also altered in a stage-specific manner. Using a different system for mouse Sertoli cell lines TM4 and MSC-1, positive for either AR or ABP, respectively, we found a direct effect of MAA on ABP protein and mRNA expression in the MSC-1 cell but did not detect an effect on AR protein or mRNA expression in TM4 cells. Mouse fibroblasts that express endogenous AR were stably transfected with two AR promoter/reporter systems (MMTV-CAT and probasin-luciferase, respectively). We used these fibroblasts to examine the ability of MAA to potentiate dihydrotestosterone (DHT) activation of AR. Although MAA did not activate AR directly, it did potentiate DHT activation of the AR by 2- to 4-fold. MAA altered the expression level of AR and ABP in vivo and increased AR transcriptional activity in tissue culture cells. The abnormal spermatogenesis generated by MAA is at least partly due to direct effects on Sertoli cells. It is still unclear whether MAA elicits a proapoptotic signal from Sertoli cells or diminishes a prosurvival signal required by germ cells downstream to altering AR and ABP expression in a stage-specific fashion.
The adverse effects of low‐dose exposure to Di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate during adolescence on sperm function in adult rats

Di(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the most crucial phthalate derivative added to polyvinyl chloride as a plasticizer. This study examined the effects of low‐dose exposure to DEHP during adolescence on sperm function in adult rats. The male rats were daily gavaged with 30, 100, 300, and 1000 µg kg−1 of DEHP or corn oil from postnatal day (PND) 42 until PND 105. The selection of DEHP doses ranged from the mean daily intake by the normal‐population exposure levels to no‐observed‐adverse‐effect level of DEHP for the endpoints evaluated until adulthood. Significant increases in the percentage of sperm with tail abnormality, tendency for sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and percentage of sperm with DFI were found in those exposed to 100, 300, and 1000 µg kg−1 (P < 0.05). We observed a significant increase of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation in the sperm of the 1000 µg kg−1 group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The excessive production of sperm H2O2 coincided with an increase in sperm DFI. In this study, the lowest‐observed‐adverse‐effect level for sperm toxicity was considered to be 100 µg DEHP/kg/day in sperm morphology and chromatin DNA damage. Further research is necessary to clarify the mechanisms of DEHP‐related sperm ROS generation on sperm DNA damage. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 706–712, 2016.
Knockin Mice with Ethanol-Insensitive α1-Containing γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptors Display Selective Alterations in Behavioral Responses to Ethanol

Despite the pervasiveness of alcohol (ethanol) use, it is unclear how the multiple molecular targets for ethanol contribute to its many behavioral effects. The function of GABA type A receptors (GABAA-Rs) is altered by ethanol, but there are multiple subtypes of these receptors, and thus far, individual subunits have not been definitively linked with specific behavioral actions. The α1 subunit of the GABAA-R is the most abundant α subunit in the brain, and the goal of this study was to determine the role of receptors containing this subunit in alcohol action. We designed an α1 subunit with serine 270 to histidine and leucine 277 to alanine mutations that was insensitive to potentiation by ethanol yet retained normal GABA sensitivity and constructed knockin mice containing this mutant subunit. Hippocampal slice recordings from these mice indicated that the mutant receptors were less sensitive to ethanol's potentiating effects. Behaviorally, we observed that mutant mice recovered more quickly from the motor-impairing effects of ethanol and etomidate, but not pentobarbital, and showed increased anxiolytic effects of ethanol. No differences were observed in ethanol-induced hypnosis, locomotor stimulation, cognitive impairment, or in ethanol preference and consumption. Overall, these studies demonstrate that the postsynaptic effects of ethanol at GABAergic synapses containing the α1 subunit are important for specific ethanol-induced behavioral effects.
Unrecorded alcohol use: a global modelling study based on nominal group assessments and survey data

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Alcohol use is among the most important risk factors for burden of disease globally. An estimated quarter of the total alcohol consumed globally is unrecorded. However, due partly to the challenges associated with its assessment, evidence concerning the magnitude of unrecorded alcohol use is sparse. This study estimated country-specific proportions of unrecorded alcohol used in 2015. DESIGN A statistical model was developed for data prediction using data on the country-specific proportion of unrecorded alcohol use from nominal group expert assessments and secondary, nationally representative survey data and country-level covariates. SETTING Estimates were calculated for the country level, for four income groups and globally. PARTICIPANTS A total of 129 participants from 49 countries were included in the nominal group expert assessments. The survey data comprised 66 538 participants from 16 countries. MEASUREMENTS Experts completed a standardized questionnaire assessing the country-specific proportion of unrecorded alcohol. In the national surveys, the number of standard drinks of total and unrecorded alcohol use was assessed for the past 7 days. FINDINGS Based on predictions for 167 countries, a population-weighted average of 27.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 10.4-44.9%] of the total alcohol consumed in 2015 was unrecorded. The proportion of unrecorded alcohol was lower in high (9.4%, 95% CI = 2.4-16.4%) and upper middle-income countries (18.3%, 95% CI = 9.0-27.6%) and higher in low (43.1%, 95% CI = 26.5-59.7%) and lower middle-income countries (54.4%, 95% CI = 38.1-70.8%). This corresponded to 0.9 (high-income), 1.2 (upper middle-income), 3.2 (lower middle-income) and 1.8 (low-income) litres of unrecorded alcohol per capita. CONCLUSIONS A new method for modelling the country-level proportion of unrecorded alcohol use globally showed strong variation among geographical regions and income groups. Lower-income countries were associated with a higher proportion of unrecorded alcohol than higher-income countries.
Detail‐preserving construction of neonatal brain atlases in space‐frequency domain

Brain atlases are commonly utilized in neuroimaging studies. However, most brain atlases are fuzzy and lack structural details, especially in the cortical regions. This is mainly caused by the image averaging process involved in atlas construction, which often smoothes out high‐frequency contents that capture fine anatomical details. Brain atlas construction for neonatal images is even more challenging due to insufficient spatial resolution and low tissue contrast. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for detail‐preserving construction of population‐representative atlases. Our approach combines spatial and frequency information to better preserve image details. This is achieved by performing atlas construction in the space‐frequency domain given by wavelet transform. In particular, sparse patch‐based atlas construction is performed in all frequency subbands, and the results are combined to give a final atlas. For enhancing anatomical details, tissue probability maps are also used to guide atlas construction. Experimental results show that our approach can produce atlases with greater structural details than existing atlases. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2133–2150, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Power assist method for HAL-3 using EMG-based feedback controller

We have developed the exoskeletal robotics suite HAL (Hybrid Assistive Leg) which is integrated with human and assists suitable power for lower limb of people with gait disorder. This study proposes the method of assist motion and assist torque to realize a power assist corresponding to the operator's intention. In the method of assist motion, we adopted Phase Sequence control which generates a series of assist motions by transiting some simple basic motions called Phase. We used the feedback controller to adjust the assist torque to maintain myoelectricity signals which were generated while performing the power assist walking. The experiment results showed the effective power assist according to operator's intention by using these control, methods.
Traffic scene segmentation based on boosting over multimodal low, intermediate and high order multi-range channel features

In this paper we introduce a novel multimodal boosting based solution for semantic segmentation of traffic scenarios. Local structure and context are captured from both monocular color and depth modalities in the form of image channels. We define multiple channel types at three different levels: low, intermediate and high order channels. The low order channels are computed using a multimodal multiresolution filtering scheme and capture structure and color information from lower receptive fields. For the intermediate order channels, we employ deep convolutional channels that are able to capture more complex structures, having a larger receptive field. The high order channels are scale invariant channels that consist of spatial, geometric and semantic channels. These channels are enhanced by additional pyramidal context channels, capturing context at multiple levels. The semantic segmentation is achieved by a boosting based classification scheme over superpixels using multi-range channel features and pyramidal context features. A pre-segmentation is used to generate semantic channels as input for more powerful final segmentation. The final segmentation is refined using a superpixel-level dense conditional random field. The proposed solution is evaluated on the Cityscapes segmentation benchmark and achieves competitive results at low computational costs. It is the first boosting based solution that is able to keep up with the performance of deep learning based approaches.
Information Retention and Overload in First-Time Hearing Aid Users: An Interactive Multimedia Educational Solution.

PURPOSE An educational intervention to improve knowledge of hearing aids and communication in first-time hearing aid users was assessed. This intervention was based on the concept of reusable learning objects (RLOs). METHOD A randomized controlled trial was conducted. One group received the educational intervention, and the other acted as a control group. RLOs were delivered online and through DVD for television and personal computer. Knowledge of both practical and psychosocial aspects of hearing aids and communication was assessed using a free-recall method 6 weeks postfitting. RESULTS Knowledge of both practical and psychosocial issues was significantly higher in the group that received the RLOs than in the control group. Moderate to large effect sizes indicated that these differences were clinically significant. CONCLUSION An educational intervention that supplements clinical practice results in improved knowledge in first-time hearing aid users.
Interactions induites par l'association du lupin avec une céréale, effets sur les adventices et conséquences sur la productivité

Les proteagineux pourraient contribuer a reduire le deficit en proteines de l’Europe mais ils sont peu cultives. L’association a une cereale permettrait de contourner leur variabilite de rendement et leur faible competitivite vis-a-vis des adventices. Cette strategie serait particulierement pertinente pour le lupin blanc d’hiver, qui presente un fort potentiel de production de proteines mais un fort risque d’enherbement. Ce travail de these etudie en dynamique les interactions entre lupin, cereale et adventices afin de mettre en evidence les traits des especes permettant d’accroitre leur complementarite et la competitivite vis-a-vis des adventices tout en securisant la productivite. L’etude d’un reseau de parcelles demontre que l’ajout de triticale permet d’augmenter la competitivite vis-a-vis des adventices par rapport au lupin pur, d’obtenir un rendement superieur et plus stable et de maintenir la production de proteines. Un essai en micro parcelles demontre le role majeur de la capture precoce d’azote (N) de la cereale pour accroitre la competitivite vis-a-vis des adventices. Nous montrons que les rapports de competition varient au cours du cycle et en fonction des especes ou varietes ainsi que des conditions climatiques et influencent ainsi l’elaboration du rendement. De forts contrastes entre lupin et cereale pour des traits lies a l’acquisition precoce d’N sont decrits ainsi que leurs consequences sur la mise en place de la complementarite. Ce travail met en evidence que le choix d’especes et de varietes aux traits complementaires permet d’orienter les interactions entre lupin, cereale et adventices et ouvre des perspectives pour l’optimisation des performances.
Evidence for pH-Dependent Protease Activity in the Adeno-Associated Virus Capsid

ABSTRACT Incubation of highly purified adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids in vitro at pH 5.5 induced significant autocleavage of capsid proteins at several amino acid positions. No autocleavage was seen at pH 7.5. Examination of other AAV serotypes showed at least two different pH-induced cleavage patterns, suggesting that different serotypes have evolved alternative protease cleavage sites. In contrast, incubation of AAV serotypes with an external protease substrate showed that purified AAV capsid preparations have robust protease activity at neutral pH but not at pH 5.5, opposite to what is seen with capsid protein autocleavage. Several lines of evidence suggested that protease activity is inherent in AAV capsids and is not due to contaminating proteins. Control virus preparations showed no protease activity on external substrates, and filtrates of AAV virus preparations also showed no protease activity contaminating the capsids. Further, N-terminal Edman sequencing identified unique autocleavage sites in AAV1 and AAV9, and mutagenesis of amino acids adjacent to these sites eliminated cleavage. Finally, mutation of an amino acid in AAV2 (E563A) that is in a conserved pH-sensitive structural region eliminated protease activity on an external substrate but did not seem to affect autocleavage. Taken together, our data suggested that AAV capsids have one or more protease active sites that are sensitive to pH induction. Further, it appears that acidic pHs comparable to those seen in late endosomes induce a structural change in the capsid that induces autolytic protease activity. The pH-dependent protease activity may have a role in viral infection.
Backward-compatible robust error protection of JPEG XR compressed video

The new JPEG XR image encoding standard offers a great compression rate while maintaining a good visual quality. Nonetheless, it has low error robustness, making it unusable in case of unreliable transmission over error prone channels, e.g., wireless channels. An improvement to the standard was developed, which can correct transmission errors, both bit or packet losses, and which is fully compatible with legacy decoders. Data interleaving and channel coding can offer a good protection against transmission errors; different levels of protection can be adopted, in order to trade-off between error protection capabilities and decompressed image quality.
Granulated metrial gland cells in the murine uterus: Localization, kinetics, and the functional role in angiogenesis during pregnancy

Granulated metrial gland (GMG) cells are a major immune cell population in the murine pregnant uterus, and contribute to the maintenance of pregnancy by functioning as uterus‐specific natural killer (NK) cells. In order to reveal their kinetics, activation, and functional roles in pregnancy, we conducted quantitative and immunohistochemical analyses in normal and immuno‐modulator‐treated mice. Under a light microscope, GMG cells were identified by red cytoplasmic granules in periodic‐acid‐Schiff (PAS)‐stained sections. They progressively increased in number and size with the peak at day 12–14 of pregnancy in the decidua and metrial gland. New vessel formation was most prominent around day 8, and the total vascular area reached the peak at day 13. GMG cells were often located near the blood vessels, and expressed vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), suggesting their possible inducing role in angiogenesis during the development of decidua/metrial gland. While blood vessels in the non‐pregnant uterus were negative for vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)‐1, those in the pregnant one were positive. Treatment with neutralizing antibody against VCAM‐1, however, did not decrease the number of GMG cells. On the other hand, mitosis of GMG cells was frequently observed. These data suggest that the increment of GMG cells during pregnancy may largely result from local proliferation in the uterus rather than an increased influx of precursor cells. Although we attempted to induce in vivo activation of GMG cells by administration of interleukin‐12 (IL‐12) or alpha‐galactosylceramide, a potent activator for natural killer‐T (NK‐T) cells, the number of GMG cells did not appreciably increase. The present study has demonstrated that GMG cells locally proliferate in the pregnant uterus, not being related to VCAM‐1 expression by the uterine vasculature or systemic activation of NK cells and NK‐T cells, and seem to be involved in angiogenesis in the pregnant uterus through VEGF production. Microsc. Res. Tech. 60:420–429, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Usefulness of lumen area parameters determined by intravascular ultrasound to predict functional significance of intermediate coronary artery stenosis

Background Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in China. Percutaneous coronary intervention is a recent milestone technology for treatment coronary artery disease. However, clinical decision making for patients with intermediate coronary stenosis is still controversial. We designed this study to assess the optimal intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) criteria for predicting functional significance of intermediate coronary lesions. Methods We enrolled 141 patients with 165 intermediate coronary lesions located in vessels with a diameter ≥ 2.50 mm. IVUS of intermediate coronary lesions were performed before intervention. Pressure‐derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) was measured at maximal hyperemia induced by adenosine infusion. An FFR <0.80 was considered as abnormal functional significance. Results For the overall 165 lesions, the mean FFR value was 0.84±0.09. The diameter of the stenosis by visual estimation on angiogram was (59.63±11.29)%. Minimum lumen diameter (MLD), minimum lumen area (MLA) and plaque burden (PB) were (2.00±0.36) mm, (3.88±1.34) mm2, (67.28±9.89)% respectively by IVUS measurements. An FFR <0.80 was seen in 43 lesions (30.5%). There was a moderate correlation between IVUS parameters and FFR, including MLD (r=0.372, P <0.001), MLA (r=0.442, P <0.001) and PB (r=‐0.172, P <0.05). MLA was a predictor for FFR as a continuous variable independent of possible confounding variables (P <0.05), and MLA and PB, were predictors for FFR <0.80 as binary variables (P <0.05). The best cutoff value of MLA to predict FFR <0.80 was <3.15 mm2, with a 73.6% diagnostic accuracy; sensitivity 71.4%, specificity 67.0%, AUC=0.709, and P <0.001. The cutoff value of the PB to predict FFR <0.80 was 65.45%; sensitivity 82.6%, specificity 41.2%, AUC=0.644, and P <0.01. If both MLA and PB were taken into account, the negative predictive value and the positive predictive value were 88.7% and 64.8% respectively. Conclusions Anatomic measurements of intermediate coronary lesions obtained by IVUS showed a moderate correlation to FFR values. IVUS‐derived MLA ≥3.15 mm2 may be useful to exclude FFR <0.80, but poor specificity limits its applicability for physiological assessment of lesions <3.15 mm2. MLA was one of many factors affecting coronary flow hemodynamics. Both MLA and PB should be taken into account when determining functional ischemia.
Reestablishment of Ovarian Periodicity After Transplantation to the Syrian Hamster Cheek Pouch.∗

Homologous and autologous ovarian transplantation has been successfully accomplished in a variety of mammalian species. Sites have varied from orthotopic to general abdominal, to tail, ear, leg, and anterior chamber of the eye(l). Homologous orthotopic transplantation reestablished limited fertility in mice(2), and apparently normal cyclic ovarian periodicity in several other species for short durations. Newly established ovarian grafts respond characteristically to gonadotropins, may resume normal steroid synthesis for a short time, but soon begin to secrete excessive quantities of androgen after location in these peripheral sites. Under these conditions cyclic activity comes to a halt and investigation is limited to short-term experiments. In each of the grafting sites mentioned there also appears a limitation either of restricting the size which the graft may attain or difficulty in making direct observation of the transplant. The cheek pouch of the Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) provides excellent opportunity for both tissue growth and visual inspection of the graft throughout extended investigation. Results of our experience in transplanting ovaries to this site are reported herein. The pouch was first used in 1951 for transplantation of neoplastic tissue (3) but more recently normal pancreas(4), oviduct(5), and uterus(6) have been accepted by this highly vascular area. Homologous grafts may persist indefinitely, and tissues from rat and rabbit continue to be supported for weeks. Even human tissue transplants have been maintained in the cheek-pouch for at least 45 days. As a partial explanation for the unique suitability of the pouch for transplantation studies, Shepro(y) has pointed to its alym-phatic nature and has suggested that outward diffusion of graft antigens may be slowed by the large quantity of dense connective tissue that makes up a major portion of the pouch's inter-membranous space.