Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glucose Production Rate in Extremely Immature Neonates (<28 Weeks) Studied by Use of Deuterated Glucose

ABSTRACT: Neonatal hypoglycemia is a frequent complication in immature infants. This may be due to small substrate stores, a high brain:body weight ratio, and immature enzyme systems. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the rate of glucose production in newborn infants with gestational ages of less than 28 wk. The subjects were 10 newborn infants delivered after 25 to 26 gestational wk. Their mean birth weight was 772 g (range 588–1000 g), and their mean postnatal age at the time of the study was 15 h (range 4–24 h). An isotopic compound (d-6,6-2H2-glucose) was given as a constant-rate i.v. infusion. In addition to dideuteroglucose, eight of the infants also received an i.v. infusion of unlabeled glucose at a rate of 1.4–2.6 mg·kg−1·min−1. Blood samples for determination of the concentration and isotopic enrichment of plasma glucose were obtained every 15 min in a 2-h period. Isotopic enrichment, measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, was used for calculating the glucose production rate. The mean glucose production rate related to body weight (± SD) was 6.1 ± 1.5 mg·kg−1·min−1. The results show that infants born at <28 gestational wk have a capacity to produce glucose on their 1st d of life at rates close to or even exceeding those reported in term infants.
Limbal epithelial crypt: a model for corneal epithelial maintenance and novel limbal regional variations.

OBJECTIVE To determine the distribution of cell membrane proteins and extracellular matrix proteins around the limbal epithelial crypt (LEC) compared with adjacent limbus and corneal epithelium. METHODS Serial histological sections of human corneoscleral limbus rims were stained with antibodies of interest by standard immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Superficial cells of the limbus were desmoglein 3 positive, compared with the negative basal cells of the limbus that correspond to cells with more stemlike properties. The LEC had a much lower proportion of desmoglein 3 staining in comparison. Tenascin C staining demonstrated regional variations of the limbus depending on their association with the LEC. Limbus that was associated with or adjacent to the LEC had a greater tenascin C expression compared with normal limbus, whereas the LEC demonstrated the greatest tenascin C expression. CONCLUSIONS Based on these and similar results previously reported for connexin 43, we propose a novel model on the mechanism of corneal surface epithelium maintenance involving 3 different limbal regions: zone 1, limbus including the LEC; zone 2, limbus associated with the LEC; and zone 3, limbus distant to the LEC. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The noted limbal variations may influence the selection of the donor site for limbal grafts in the future.
Cocoa Flavanol Cardiovascular Effects Beyond Blood Pressure Reduction

The protective cardiovascular (CV) effect of cocoa flavanol has been a target of many recent clinical prospective and retrospective investigations. Epidemiological data in different patient cohorts revealed an association between higher intake of flavanol‐rich foods and decreased incidence of CV events, especially stroke and myocardial infarction. Cocoa flavanol has been shown to reduce systolic (2.8 mm Hg) and diastolic (2.2 mm Hg) office blood pressure (BP). Greater BP reduction has been found in hypertensive patients and people younger than 50 years. Cocoa flavanol intake exerts beneficial effects on pathophysiologic mechanisms of hypertension‐related organ damage, such as improved endothelial function, anti‐inflammatory potency, inhibition of platelet activation, and increased vasodilatory capacity. Recent clinical trials have focused on establishing a potential link between epidemiology and pathophysiology of flavanol and identified possible mechanisms for prevention of end‐organ damage in patients at CV risk. This review summarizes the available data on the antihypertensive effects of cocoa flavanol beyond BP‐BP lowering lowering effects, accentuates subgroup‐specific protective actions of cocoa according to patients' different CV risk profile, and outlines potential cocoa flavanol–associated clinical implications.
Effect of a Virtual Reality–Enhanced Exercise Protocol After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Background and Purpose. Virtual reality (VR) technology has gained importance in many areas of medicine. Knowledge concerning the application and the influence of VR-enhanced exercise programs is limited for patients receiving coronary artery bypass grafting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a virtual “country walk” on the number of sessions necessary to reach cardiac rehabilitation goals in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Subjects. Twenty subjects who were seen for cardiac rehabilitation between January and June 2004 comprised the study sample. Methods. The protocol for this study included an initial maximum graded exercise tolerance test, given to determine the subsequent training goals for the subject, followed by biweekly submaximal endurance training sessions. All subjects were assigned by lot to 1 of 2 submaximal endurance training programs, one (group 2) with and the other (group 1) without the added VR environment. In all other respects, the 2 programs were identical. Each training session lasted for 30 minutes and was carried out twice per week for about 3 months. The primary outcome measures were maximum load during the work sessions, target oxygen consumption, target heart rate (beats per minute), and number of training sessions required to reach rehabilitation goals. Results. By the end of 20 training sessions, only 4 of the 10 control subjects had reached the heart rate target goal of 85% their maximum heart rate. In contrast, 9 of the 10 subjects in the VR program had attained this goal by 9 or fewer training sessions. When target metabolic cost (75% peak oxygen consumption) was used as the training goal, all 10 subjects in the VR program had reached this target after 2 training sessions (or, in some cases, 1 training session), but not until training session 15 did a cumulative number of 9 control subjects reach this goal. Discussion and Conclusion. These study outcomes clearly support the notion that incorporating a VR environment into cardiac rehabilitation programs will accelerate maximum recovery of patients' cardiovascular function.
Loan price modelling for local governments using risk premium analysis

Previous studies have highlighted the question of government loan interest as one of great current importance. Government borrowing levels are high, and reducing interest payments would generate savings to meet other spending needs and/or to lower taxation, thus supporting the sustainability of public finances. However, no previous study has presented a method for a local government to calculate its own credit risk and thus be in a position to negotiate lower interest rates on its borrowing. This article defines a financial model that enables local governments to estimate the interest rate payable on a bank loan, based on their credit risk premium, in accordance with the Basel II rules and the findings of our empirical study of large local governments.
Mineral‐related proteins of sea urchin teeth: Lytechinus variegatus

Sea urchins have a set of five continuously growing teeth, each of which has a very complex structure. The mineral phase is calcite of varying Mg content, depending on the location within a tooth. The calcium carbonate is present in amorphous, plate‐like and rod‐like forms. It has been hypothesized that the mineral deposition is a matrix‐mediated process, similar to that in vertebrate bone and tooth, wherein certain macromolecules within the organic matrix of the mineralized tissue play an important role in nucleating and controlling the growth habit of the mineral crystals. It has also been hypothesized that the mineral‐related macromolecules involved in urchin teeth might bear a direct evolutionary relationship to those of the vertebrate tooth. These hypotheses are explored here by examining the pattern and nature of the mineral distribution, using microCT of intact teeth, and the nature of the mineral‐related matrix proteins. The mineral‐related proteins were extracted and fractionated by anion exchange chromatography. The relationship of certain fractions to vertebrate matrix proteins was established by immunoblots using antibodies to vertebrate tooth proteins. The antibodies were then used to localize the proteins within the teeth, by immunocytochemistry and histology with specific staining. The microCT data on mineral density has been correlated with the patterns of cellular migration and mineral deposition within the tooth as it grows. It appears that the mineralization within the different tooth compartments might take place under the influence of different matrix proteins. Further studies are in progress to more completely describe the vertebrate‐invertebrate immunologically cross‐reactive proteins of the urchin teeth. Microsc. Res. Tech. 59:342–351, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stability of the Osmoregulated Promoter-Derived proP mRNA Is Posttranscriptionally Regulated by RNase III in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT The enzymatic activity of Escherichia coli endo-RNase III determines the stability of a subgroup of mRNA species, including bdm, betT, and proU, whose protein products are associated with the cellular response to osmotic stress. Here, we report that the stability of proP mRNA, which encodes a transporter of osmoprotectants, is controlled by RNase III in response to osmotic stress. We observed that steady-state levels of proP mRNA and ProP protein are inversely correlated with cellular RNase III activity and, in turn, affect the proline uptake capacity of the cell. In vitro and in vivo analyses of proP mRNA revealed RNase III cleavage sites in a stem-loop within the 5′ untranslated region present only in proP mRNA species synthesized from the osmoregulated P1 promoter. Introduction of nucleotide substitutions in the cleavage site identified inhibited the ribonucleolytic activity of RNase III on proP mRNA, increasing the steady-state levels and half-life of the mRNA. In addition, decreased RNase III activity coincided with a significant increase in both the half-life and abundance of proP mRNA under hyperosmotic stress conditions. Analysis of the RNA bound to RNase III via in vivo cross-linking and immunoprecipitation indicated that this phenomenon is related to the decreased RNA binding capacity of RNase III. Our findings suggest the existence of an RNase III-mediated osmoregulatory network that rapidly balances the expression levels of factors associated with the cellular response to osmotic stress in E. coli. IMPORTANCE Our results demonstrate that RNase III activity on proP mRNA degradation is downregulated in Escherichia coli cells under osmotic stress. In addition, we show that the downregulation of RNase III activity is associated with decreased RNA binding capacity of RNase III under hyperosmotic conditions. In particular, our findings demonstrate a link between osmotic stress and RNase III activity, underscoring the growing importance of posttranscriptional regulation in modulating rapid physiological adjustment to environmental changes.
ERK Is Integral to the IFN-γ–Mediated Activation of STAT1, the Expression of Key Genes Implicated in Atherosclerosis, and the Uptake of Modified Lipoproteins by Human Macrophages

The proinflammatory cytokine IFN-γ is a master regulator of atherosclerosis and mediates its cellular actions mainly through STAT1. Unfortunately, the impact of other IFN-γ inducible pathways on STAT1 activation and the regulation of downstream responses associated with atherosclerosis in human macrophages are poorly understood and were therefore investigated. In this study, we demonstrate that the IFN-γ–mediated phosphorylation of STAT1 on Ser727, crucial for its maximal activity, was attenuated in human macrophages by pharmacological inhibition of ERK. In these cells, IFN-γ induced changes in the expression of several key genes implicated in atherosclerosis, such as MCP-1, through an ERK-dependent mechanism. Additionally, the IFN-γ–induced activity of STAT1-responsive promoters was attenuated by transfection of dominant-negative forms of ERK and other key components of this pathway. Furthermore, the IFN-γ–induced uptake of acetylated and oxidized low-density lipoprotein by human macrophages was attenuated by pharmacological inhibition or RNA interference–mediated knockdown of ERK. These studies suggest a critical role for ERK signaling in the IFN-γ–mediated changes in macrophage cholesterol homeostasis and gene expression during atherosclerosis.
Bacteria mediated silver nanoparticles: comparison as potent antibiofilm agents

Introduction: Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have good antimicrobial properties comparable to chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles. Further, they have good potential as antibiofilm agents. Methods: AgNPs were synthesized from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Acinetobacter baumannii (confirmed clinical isolate) and physically characterized by several techniques. The antibiofilm activity of the AgNPs against biofilms of P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and C. albicans was studied using crystal violet assay. Biofilms were formed in 96-well polystyrene plates and treated with biosynthesized AgNPs for 24 and 48 h. Results: AgNPs synthesized by all bacteria except S. aureus mediated AgNPs displayed 50% biofilm inhibition at AgNP concentrations between 1.98 - 0.225 mg/ml. S. aureus mediated AgNPs showed 50% biofilm inhibition only against S. aureus biofilm. Scanning Electron microscopic images indicated that biosynthesized AgNPs were able to decrease surface coverage of biofilms and to reduce the extracellular matrix causing morphological changes in biofilms noticeably. Conclusion: This study reports the antibiofilm activity of bacteria mediated AgNPs. This is the first report on antibiofilm activity of AgNPs synthesized by Acinetobacter baumannii and also as a comparison of antibiofilm activity of several bacteria mediated AgNPs. According to the results, low dosages of green AgNPs can be applied in treating drug-resistant microbial infections in a cost effective manner. In conclusion, the bacterial synthesized AgNPs have antibiofilm activity and good stability suggesting its usefulness as economic and environmental friendly antibiofilm agents.
Exploiting Local Channel State Information for Random Access in Cooperative Networks

In multiuser wireless systems, the variation in channel quality among different users can be explored to enhance system throughput and reliability. In particular, multiuser diversity can be exploited by scheduling the user with the best channel to transmit in each time slot, whereas cooperative diversity can be exploited by having users relay messages for each other. In the past, these advantages have been mostly separately addressed in the literature. In this paper, both multiuser diversity and cooperative diversity are jointly considered in the design of distributed channel-aware transmission control (CATC) and partner selection policies for random access cooperative networks. In the cooperative system under consideration, each user is allowed to select adaptively one of the other users in the system (i.e., a partner) to help forward a packet that has failed to reach the access point (AP) in the current time slot. The proposed policies allow each user to determine its transmission probability and partner selection based only on its local uplink and interuser channel state information (CSI), i.e., the channel between itself and the other users in the system. By maximizing the weighted sum throughput, the optimal policies are first derived for a two-user system, where each user only needs to determine whether or not to transmit and whether or not to utilize relaying by the other user. The policies are later generalized to systems with an arbitrary number of users. When there are more than two users, a selective relaying scheme is employed where each user requests assistance from only one other user in each time slot. The optimal partner selection policy is obtained by maximizing the local effective channel equality at each user, whereas the optimal transmission control function takes on the form of a threshold function, which allows a user to transmit only when its local effective channel is sufficiently reliable. The proposed distributed channel-aware transmission policies are also extended to the cases with only imperfect CSI at the users.
Reliable template protection technique for biometric authentication

This paper proposes a biometric template protection technique using Dynamic Quantization Transformation to convert biometrics into template of bitstring. The proposed method enables the authentication to take place in the transformed domain rather than original biometric feature space. We outline four requirements for a reliable template protection in the realm of fingerprint system. Several security and experimental analysis have been conducted to show the technique is feasible in practice.
The effects of decreasing low-molecular weight hemoglobin components of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers in swine with hemorrhagic shock.

BACKGROUND Some hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) improve outcome in animal models of hemorrhagic shock (HS) in comparison with standard asanguinous resuscitation fluids. Nevertheless, concern about intrinsic vasoactivity, linked in part to low-molecular weight (MW) hemoglobin (Hb), has slowed HBOC development. We assessed the impact of decreasing the low-MW Hb component of bovine HBOC on vasoactivity in severe HS. METHODS Anesthetized invasively monitored swine were hemorrhaged 55% blood volume and resuscitated with bovine HBOC containing 31% (31 TD [HBOC-301]), 2% (2 TD [HBOC-201]), or 0.4% (0.4 TD) low-MW Hb. Pigs received four 10 mL/kg infusions over 60 minutes, hospital arrival was simulated at 75 minutes, organ blood flow (BF) was evaluated by microsphere injection, and monitoring was continued for 4 hours followed by complete necrotic evaluation. RESULTS There were few differences between 2 TD and 0.4 TD. Thirty-one TD pigs had higher systemic and pulmonary blood pressure (BP), systemic vascular resistance index, and pulmonary artery wedge pressure, compared with 2 TD or 0.4 TD (p < 0.01); however, pigs in all groups had at least mildly elevated BP. Transcutaneous tissue oxygenation, base excess, and mixed venous oxygen saturation were similar across groups; lactate and methemoglobin were highest with 0.4 TD (p < 0.03). There were no group differences in BF. Over time, myocardial BF increased and hepatic BF decreased in all groups (for 31 TD, p < 0.05); renal BF was unchanged in all groups. There were no group differences in heart, lung, or liver histopathology, and survival. CONCLUSIONS Although purification from 31% to 2% low-MW Hb content significantly decreased vasoactive responses, further purification to 0.4% had no additional clinically measurable effects in severe HS. If further diminution in HBOC vasoactivity is desired for use in HS, additional technical approaches may be required.
Reconfigurable Doppler radar using software defined radio platform for through-wall applications

A reconfigurable Doppler radar is implemented on a software defined radio platform for detecting humans behind walls. Two types of configurations are tested - a continuous wave radar and an orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) radar. Both the configurations yield micro-Doppler signatures while the OFDM radar gives additional range information. Measurement results of single and two humans are presented in through wall scenario.
Learning Visual Attention to Identify People with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This paper presents a novel method for quantitative and objective diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using eye tracking and deep neural networks. ASD is prevalent, with 1.5% of people in the US. The lack of clinical resources for early diagnoses has been a long-lasting issue. This work differentiates itself with three unique features: first, the proposed approach is data-driven and free of assumptions, important for new discoveries in understanding ASD as well as other neurodevelopmental disorders. Second, we concentrate our analyses on the differences in eye movement patterns between healthy people and those with ASD. An image selection method based on Fisher scores allows feature learning with the most discriminative contents, leading to efficient and accurate diagnoses. Third, we leverage the recent advances in deep neural networks for both prediction and visualization. Experimental results show the superior performance of our method in terms of multiple evaluation metrics used in diagnostic tests.
Density matrix model applied to GaN-based two-well THz-QCLs

Density matrix model is developed for GaN-based two-well THz-QCLs. The optimized GaN/AlGaN two-well THz-QCL structure with a fixed aluminum composition is provided for a desired lasing frequency by calculations of all combinations of four layer thicknesses. The downhill simplex method is introduced when more parameters need to be optimized.
Human Cytomegalovirus Specifically Controls the Levels of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP/GRP78, Which Is Required for Virion Assembly

ABSTRACT The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone BiP/GRP78 regulates ER function and the unfolded protein response (UPR). Human cytomegalovirus infection of human fibroblasts induces the UPR but modifies it to benefit viral replication. BiP/GRP78 protein levels are tightly regulated during infection, rising after 36 h postinfection (hpi), peaking at 60 hpi, and decreasing thereafter. To determine the effects of this regulation on viral replication, BiP/GRP78 was depleted using the SubAB subtilase cytotoxin, which rapidly and specifically cleaves BiP/GRP78. Toxin treatment of infected cells for 12-h periods beginning at 36, 48, 60, and 84 hpi caused complete loss of BiP but had little effect on viral protein synthesis. However, progeny virion formation was significantly inhibited, suggesting that BiP/GRP78 is important for virion formation. Electron microscopic analysis showed that infected cells were resistant to the toxin and showed none of the cytotoxic effects seen in uninfected cells. However, all viral activity in the cytoplasm ceased, with nucleocapsids remaining in the nucleus or concentrated in the cytoplasmic space just outside of the outer nuclear membrane. These data suggest that one effect of the controlled expression of BiP/GRP78 in infected cells is to aid in cytoplasmic virion assembly and egress.
Evaluation of labelling layout method for image-driven view management in augmented reality

View management techniques are commonly used for the optimization of labelling layout of objects in augmented reality systems, in which penalty function is an effective method to get the optimal positions of labels. In this paper, an image-driven view management method to superimpose 2D labels to the objects under indoor environments such as sculpture and toy by minimizing penalty function is studied. A new penalty function is proposed to change the orientation of each leader line in the penalty elements and a modified search space method is integrated to improve the quality of labelling layout. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the labelling layout optimized by different penalty functions under different experiment conditions and the comparison of experimental results between different penalty functions shows that the proposed method represents the best results in terms of avoiding occlusion and efficiency to get the optimal layout.