Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formulation and evaluation of novel glycyrrhizic acid micelles for transdermal delivery of podophyllotoxin

Abstract Context: As the first-line agent for genital warts, podophyllotoxin (POD) could induce extensively skin burning, itching, and erythema. Meanwhile, as a common anti-inflammatory agent, glycyrrhizic acid (GA), also has amphipathic and solubilizing properties, indicating that it might be a promising drug carrier. Objective: The objective of this study is to formulate and characterize the POD-loaded GA micelles preparation and to evaluate its drug release characteristics and anti-inflammatory properties. Materials and methods: The novel micelles preparation was prepared by ultrasonic dispersion method and characterized using different scanning calorimetries, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopies. Subsequently, its encapsulation efficiency (EE), drug-loading content (LC), in vitro skin permeation, in vivo drug retention, and distribution of POD were detected. The anti-inflammatory effect of the preparation was reflected by HE staining and immunohistochemistry in the rat skin. Results: The POD-loaded GA micelles formed spherical shapes (approximately 10 nm) with an EE of 78.53 ± 2.17% and a LC of 7.293 ± 0.42%. Meaningfully, unlike the extensive distribution of the POD tincture throughout the skin tissue, POD released from the POD-loaded GA micelles mainly located in the epidermis and could maintain steady skin retention for 12 h. Moreover, the POD-loaded GA micelles induced less leukocyte infiltration and inflammatory factors (IL-6 and TNF-α) expression when compared with the POD tincture. Discussion and conclusion: Our results suggested that the POD-loaded GA micelles could achieve a higher POD distribution in the epidermal layer as well as a lighter skin inflammation. This new POD delivery system might be a potential and promising candidate for genital warts and deserved further researches.
Screening for cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis using the Symbol Digit Modalities Test

Cognitive impairment is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), yet difficult to detect duringroutine neurologic examination. Therefore, briefscreening tests that identify patients who may benefit from a more thorough assessment or treatment are needed. We investigated the utility of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) as a screen for cognitive dysfunction because it can be administered and scored in about 5 minutes. One hundred MS patients and 50 healthy controls, matched on demographic variables, participated in the study. Examination procedures included the neuropsychological (NP) tests included in the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS (MACFIMS) battery. Patients were considered impaired if they performed one and a half standard deviations below controls on two or more MACFIMS variables, excluding theSDMT. Bayesian statistics showed that a total score of 55 or lower onthe SDMT accurately categorized 72% of patients, yielding sensitivityof 0.82, specificity of 0.60, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.71, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.73. These results suggest that the effectiveness of the SDMT as a screen for cognitive impairment in MS is roughly equal to that of other psychometric and questionnaire methods.
Differential expression of genes associated with phenolic compounds in galls of Quercus castanea induced by Amphibolips michoacaensis

ABSTRACT Secondary metabolites related to plant defense against natural enemies and enzymes involved in their biosynthesis vary during gall development. We assessed the differential gene expression related to defensive metabolites in cynipid wasp galls of Quercus castanea induced by Amphibolips michoacaensis throughout gall development. We assembled de nov o transcriptomes from galls in three phases of growth and compared the differential expression of phenolic-related genes. We found that (1) Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) enzyme genes were upregulated at the intermediate and late growth stages. (2) Phenylpropanoid genes were upregulated at the intermediate stage and downregulated at the late stage. (3) Lignin genes were upregulated at the late stage. The transcriptomic profile of wasp galls exposes the switches in secondary metabolism during development. Patterns of differential expression shown in wasp galls suggest phenotype manipulation by the wasp larvae and physiological constraints of the host plant for enzyme channeling in different biosynthetic branches of phenolic compounds.
Cell shape modulation alters glycosylation of a metastatic melanoma cell‐surface antigen

B16‐F1 melanoma cells cultivated in vitro as spheroids on a non‐adhesive substrate acquire in a reversible fashion an increase in lung colonization in vivo as compared to cells cultured as a monolayer. After neuraminidase treatment of protein blots, the spheroidal cells expressed an increased binding of 125I‐labelled peanut lectin (PNA) to a unique glycoprotein of Mr78,000 (gp78) which after desialylation migrated in SDS‐polyacrylamide gels as an Mr86,000 protein. Antibodies were generated against this glycoprotein purified on PNA‐Sepharose and its expression on the surface of viable B16‐F1 cells was demonstrated. Growth of B16‐F1 melanoma cells in suspension is associated with the altered glycosylation of gp78 which may be related to the increased metastatic ability of these cells. In vitro treatment of B16‐F1 cells with anti‐gp78 Fab fragments prior to their injection into the tail veins of syngeneic mice resulted in a 2‐fold increase in the appearance of tumor lung colonies.
Care for the infertile male

Hardly any other disease or disorder of body functions has such a fundamental impact on a man’s self-appreciation as infertility. Although taboos are slowly diminishing, it is still very difficult for a man to admit that his reproductive capacities may be impaired. Men have the additional difficulty that it may not be quite clear to them whom they should consult. While women go straight to the gynaecologist, andrology is not a recognized speciality and therefore 25% of infertile men first consult with their general practitioners or internists who usually are not too familiar with reproductive medicine (Bruckert, 1991). Thus, men meander around and become irritated by the lack of competence which further aggravates their problem. Nevertheless, although those men finally arriving at a specialized doctor or centre may be frustrated, they do not present with a special psychopathological profile (Bents, 1985; Golombok, 1992). If compared to an appropriate control group of age-matched ‘expecting’ fathers, no differences in personality profiles and coping strategies can be discovered (Deipenwisch & Hilse, 1992). Infertile men require thorough investigation and repeated counselling by personnel experienced in infertility treatment and who are not reluctant to explain reproductive processes and their long duration as well as willing to discuss sexuality and sexual practices. Only a small minority of patients in whom thorough investigation cannot reveal any somatic abnormalities will require psychotherapy which then eventually may result in pregnancy for these couples (Bents, 1987). Some patients may also benefit from psychological assistance if, despite all therapeutic attempts, no pregnancy occurs. Unfortunately, very few psychologists are available to deal competently with these disorders. This makes it all the more important for the andrologist and his personnel to reassure the patient of his sound psychological constitution to help overcome the humiliation caused by impaired
A fast, reliable, automatic shimming procedure using 1H chemical-shift-imaging spectroscopy.

The importance and the difficulty of achieving good B0 homogeneity over the volume of interest in in vivo NMR spectroscopy are well known. A fast, reliable, versatile, and fully automatic shimming procedure has been developed, using 3D chemical-shift imaging to measure the field distribution using only the water peak in the sample of interest. The procedure minimizes the mean-square error in the field distribution with respect to a constant field where the signal exists (e.g., the head). This produces a set of linear equations that can be solved by standard matrix methods. The procedure has been applied on a commercial imager producing water linewidths from the entire head as low as 8 Hz at 1.5 T. The mean linewidth and standard deviation from 94 head studies were 11.7 +/- 1.9 Hz.
Preparation of flexible microwave interactive fabric for 8.2 to 18.0 GHz frequency: Functional evaluation and validation

In this study, for the first time, coating formulation based on milled carbon fibre has been applied on textile substrate to prepare flexible covering material for microwave protection. Cotton fabric with its inherent high dielectric property and finite length with close network of carbon milled fibre has synergised to generate highly conducting surface (σ = 96.22 S/m). The samples are prepared by coating of milled carbon fibre in various concentrations with polyurethane as binder on cotton fabric. Polyurethane contains hydroxyl and hexamethylene diisocynate groups which are polar under external electric field (dielectric constant 3.2–6.5) and also contribute high dielectric properties in coated fabric. Samples were evaluated for surface resistivity and microwave properties, i.e. permittivity, scattering parameters, reflection, transmission, absorption and reflection loss. Permittivity of high level (ɛ′: 21–31, ɛ″: 60–84) and attenuation of high order (α = 1971–2354 Np/m) are achieved. The sample coated with milled carbon fibre and polyurethane in ratio of 1: 1.67 on weight basis has shown 67–70% reflection, 28–30% absorption, 0.1–0.5% transmission, and EMI shielding of 28–30 dB in X (8.2–12.4 GHz) and Ku (12.4–8 GHz) frequency band. The results were further analysed theoretically and correlated with the scattering parameters and other microwave properties.
A novel fully-integrated dropless voltage CMOS rectifier for wirelessly powered devices

We present in this paper a new topology of a full-wave passive rectifier. It uses MOS transistors as low-loss switches to achieve significant increase in its overall power efficiency and negligible voltage drop across them. The highest voltages available in the circuit are used to drive the gate of a transistor in order to reduce the leakages and to lower the channel resistance while having high transconductance. It is implemented using standard TSMC 0.18 um CMOS process and is characterized by SpectreS simulator under the Cadence environment. The proposed full-wave rectifier is targeted for wirelessly powered applications such as neural stimulators. In the nominal source amplitude it allows improving the power efficiency by 10% and average output voltage by 16% comparing with other published results.
Procedure for non-photorealistic rendering in pointillist style

This paper presents a novel, five layers procedure for non-photorealistic rendering in pointillist style. The first two layers used for production of the final output image constitute background layer which is completed after image segmentation and placement of fixed-size dots. The third layer includes placement of additional dots but this time with variable size and orientation. After enhancement of the edges and introduction of complementary colored dots in layers four and five, output image is produced. Results of the procedure are presented and compared to other approaches.
Characterization of a spontaneously polarizing HT-29 cell line, HT-29/cl.f8

SummaryA cloned cell line that spontaneously polarizes in standard glucose-containing media was derived from a single cell of the adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29. The cloned line, designated HT-29/cl.f8, has remained stable over 2 yr in culture, maintained high transepithelial resistance (300 ohm cm2 or higher), and correctly sorted influenza virus and vesicular stomatitis virus to apical or basolateral domains, respectively. The newly cloned cells also displayed apical microvilli, tight junctions, and desmosomes, the morphological characteristics of mature epithelia. The cloned HT-29/cl.f8 cells function as epithelial enterocytes as shown by the apical expression of intestinal alkaline phosphatase, the expression of vimentin and cytokeratin, and lack of expression of mucin. We propose that the newly cloned HT-29/cl.f8 cells offer a viable alternative for studies of enterocyte function that will readily yield interpretable data not complicated by cell alterations due to the presence of drugs or chemicals that induce differentiation.
(μ-Dihydrogen pyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylato-κ6 O 2,N 1,O 6;O 3,N 4,O 5)bis(diaqualithium) monohydrate

The structure of the title compound, [Li2(C8H2N2O8)(H2O)4]·H2O, is composed of dinuclear molecules in which the ligand bridges two symmetry-related LiI ions, each coordinated also by two water O atoms, in an O,N,O′-manner. The Li and N atoms occupy special positions on twofold rotation axes, whereas a crystal water molecule is located at the intersection of three twofold rotation axes. The LiI cation shows a distorted trigonal–bipyramidal coordination. Two carboxylate groups remain protonated and form short interligand hydrogen bonds. The molecules are held together by a network of hydrogen bonds in which the coordinating and solvation water molecules act as donors and carboxylate O atoms as acceptors, forming a three-dimensional architecture.
Event-related potential responses to metric violations: rules versus meaning

In stress-timed languages, the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables (or ‘meter’) is an important formal and temporal cue to guide speech processing. Previous electroencephalography studies have shown that metric violations result in an early negative event-related potential. It is unclear whether this ‘metric’ negativity is an N400 elicited by misplaced stress or whether it responds to error detection. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of the ‘metric’ negativity as a function of rule-based, predictive sequencing. Our results show that the negativity occurs independent of the lexical-semantic content. We therefore suggest that the metric negativity reflects a rule-based sequencing mechanism.
Tuning of L-C meta-material structure for antenna applications

The tunable meta-materials have special periodic properties which enable them to produce different outcomes when they are used in antenna application. Mechanisms like electronically tunable and mechanically tunable are the usable ones when dealing with these structures. In general the length of the pin via and gap between the patches of these periodic structures are changed to change the impedance of the structure which in turn changes the antenna the way it works and produces various outputs each time they are subjected to tuning. This time the meta-material is designed for various dimensions and the effects it will cause on antenna are illustrated through the simulated results.
Fat body expressed yolk protein genes in Hyphantria cunea are related to the YP4 follicular epithelium yolk protein subunit gene of pyralid moths

cDNA clones for two of the yolk proteins, YP1 and YP2, produced by the fat body of the moth, Hyphantria cunea, were sequenced and found to be homologous to the follicular epithelium yolk proteins of pyralid moths. Both cDNA clones coded for polypeptides of 290 residues and the deduced amino acid sequence identity between YP1 and YP2 was very high (79.0%). Analysis of the secondary structure of the predicted polypeptides suggests that YP1 and YP2 do not form heteromeric proteins because of differences in secondary structure due to the lack of alpha helices in YP1. Northern blot analysis showed that the transcripts for YP1 (1.2 kb) and YP2 (1.1 kb) were present primarily in the female fat body with only trace levels detectable in the ovary of the adult female. In a developmental study, the YP1 and YP2 transcripts were first detectable in 10‐day‐old pupae and increased into the adult stage. These results suggest that the YP1 and YP2 genes in H. cunea have been recruited to replace the vitellogenin gene as the primary source of yolk proteins. During this process they have acquired a modified pattern of expression that is different from homologous genes reported in pyralid moths. The assessment of the evolution of proteinaceous yolk in these moths should serve as an excellent model for the evolution of gene recruitment.
Generalized analysis of integrated magnetic component based low voltage interleaved DC-DC buck converter for efficiency improvement

The multi channel interleaving buck converter with small inductance has proved to be suitable for voltage regulator modules requiring low output voltages, high output currents and fast transient response. Integrated magnetic components are used to reduce the size of the converter and improve efficiency. However, no analysis leading to a simple equivalent circuit of the coupled system with arbitrary number of phases has been presented so far. This paper proposes a circuit based analysis method for such converters, which leads to precise performance prediction and design equations. It is shown that, with the proper design, coupling of inductors can improve both the steady state and dynamic performance of voltage regulator modules with an increase in efficiency. A four phase coupled inductor synchronous buck converter has been designed and simulated using PSPICE. Simulation results were found to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions.
Recent Insights into Carotid Baroreflex Function in Humans Using the Variable Pressure Neck Chamber

The variable pressure neck chamber has provided an invaluable research tool for the non‐invasive assessment of carotid baroreflex (CBR) function in human investigations. The ability to construct complete stimulus‐response curves and define specific parameters of the reflex function curve permits statistical comparisons of baroreflex function between different experimental conditions, such as rest and exercise. Results have convincingly indicated that the CBR stimulus‐response curve is reset during exercise in an intensity‐dependent manner to functionally operate around the prevailing pressure elicited by the exercise workload. Furthermore, both at rest and during exercise, alterations in stroke volume do not contribute importantly to the maintenance of arterial blood pressure by the carotid baroreceptors, and therefore, any reflex‐induced changes in cardiac output (Q) are the result of CBR‐mediated changes in heart rate. However, more importantly, the CBR‐induced changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) are primarily mediated by alterations in vascular conductance with only minimal contributions from Q to the initial reflex MAP response. Thus, the capacity of the CBR to regulate blood pressure depends critically on its ability to alter vascular tone both at rest and during exercise. This review will emphasize the utility of the variable pressure neck chamber to assess CBR function in human experimental investigations and the mechanisms by which the CBR responds to alterations in arterial blood pressure both at rest and during exercise.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and proliferation of retinal pigment epithelial cells initiated upon loss of cell-cell contact.

PURPOSE Molecular mechanisms that initiate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) involved in ocular fibrotic complications remain elusive. Studies were conducted to examine the role of cell-cell contact in regulating EMT and proliferation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. METHODS Porcine RPE cells were isolated as sheets and cultured in vitro on lens capsules. Cell morphology was examined by microscopy. Western blot analysis and immunostaining were used to follow protein expression. Cell proliferation and RPE function were assessed by BrdU incorporation and phagocytosis assay, respectively. RESULTS RPE cells in the center of each sheet maintained cell-cell contacts and retained a differentiated phenotype. Disruption of cadherin function in these cells resulted in the loss of cell-cell contact and the concomitant induction of mesenchymal marker protein expression and cell proliferation. RPE cells at the edge of the sheet migrated away from the sheet, underwent EMT, and initiated proliferation, which was accompanied by a switch in cadherin expression from P-cadherin to N-cadherin. Although TGF-beta is thought to be a classic inducer of EMT, it was unable to initiate EMT in RPE cells maintaining cell-cell contact. However, change to alpha-SMA-positive myofibroblasts was induced by TGF-beta in cells that had already undergone EMT. CONCLUSIONS EMT and the onset of proliferation in RPE cells is initiated by loss of cell-cell contact. TGF-beta cannot initiate EMT or the proliferation of RPE cells maintaining cell-cell contact but appears to play an important secondary role downstream of EMT in inducing transition to a myofibroblast phenotype-a phenotype linked to the development of fibrotic complications.
A method based on weighted F-score and SVM for feature selection

A novel feature selection method based on weighted F-score and SVM is proposed for the problems which inter-class overlapping and consistency of the features are ignored in traditional F-score feature selection method. Firstly, overlapping weight and consistency weight are introduced. Secondly, F-score value of every feature is calculated. Thirdly, F-score values of the features are ordered from high to low. Finally, the feature set of optimal recognition performance is selected by SVM. Simulation results for UCI machine learning database and experimental results for froth floatation plant data demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve better performance than traditional methods and has a good ability for generalization.
Benefits and required capabilities of BI-tools in the private healthcare

Increasing amount of data in the healthcare sector requires specific tools that enable to process data in the rapidly changing environment. Especially in the private healthcare sector there is a clear need for appropriate tools to support decision-making process and thus, enhance profit making. Based on an empirical investigation of eight private healthcare sector organizations, we gain understanding on use of BI-tools in the private healthcare sector and utilization of them in decision-making. We analyse the capability factors and features of the BI-tools in the private healthcare industry sector, using the information systems (IS) success model by DeLone and McLean [1] as our theoretical lenses for identifying the gained benefits and the success of BI-tool utilization.
Accelerated SLID Bonding for Fine-Pitch Interconnects with Porous Microstructure

Solid-liquid interdiffusion (SLID) interconnectsbased on Cu and Sn-solder are excellent candidates forstacking of Si chips in 3D integration. If the high-temperaturestable intermetallic compound (IMC) Cu3Sn is desired, themanufacturing of the interconnect can be very time consuming(long annealing time for growth of Cu3Sn). In this paper wepropose a method for the accelerated formation of Cu-Cu3Sn-Cu interconnects by selective dissolution of Sn from Cu6Sn5. This leads to a porous network of Cu3Sn. The influence oftemperature, flux and atmosphere onto the pore formation willbe addressed in detail.