Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic variability in melatonin concentrations in ewes originates in its synthesis , not in its catabolism

Zarazaga, Luis A. , Benoı̂t Malpaux, Daniel Guillaume, Loys Bodin, and Philippe Chemineau. Genetic variability in melatonin concentrations in ewes originates in its synthesis, not in its catabolism. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Endocrinol. Metab. 37): E1086–E1090, 1998. —We investigated whether the genetic difference in plasma melatonin concentration in ewes was due to differences in the synthesis pathway from the pineal gland or in the catabolism of the hormone. Two groups of ewes [9 low (L) and 10 high (H)] were selected according to the breeding value of their mean nighttime plasma melatonin concentrations estimated at winter and summer solstices. In response to an identical dose of melatonin administered intravenously at 9:00 AM, no differences between groups were observed for any of the kinetic parameters: clearance rate, steady-state volume of distribution, terminal half-lives, and mean residence times. In the second experiment, two series of frequent blood samples were performed, one in the middle of the dark phase with samples taken every 5 min, and the other over 24 h with hourly samples. Highly significant differences between groups in nocturnal melatonin production rate were observed (L: 25.7 6 2.8 vs. H: 63.1 6 8.9 μg·kg21 ·h21, P , 0.01). Thus the genetic differences in plasma melatonin concentrations in ewes originate in the synthesis pathway of the melatonin from the pineal gland rather than from differences in the catabolism of the hormone.
Apelin-13 Inhibits Large-Conductance Ca2+-Activated K+ Channels in Cerebral Artery Smooth Muscle Cells via a PI3-Kinase Dependent Mechanism

Apelin-13 causes vasoconstriction by acting directly on APJ receptors in vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells; however, the ionic mechanisms underlying this action at the cellular level remain unclear. Large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BKCa) channels in VSM cells are critical regulators of membrane potential and vascular tone. In the present study, we examined the effect of apelin-13 on BKCa channel activity in VSM cells, freshly isolated from rat middle cerebral arteries. In whole-cell patch clamp mode, apelin-13 (0.001-1 μM) caused concentration-dependent inhibition of BKCa in VSM cells. Apelin-13 (0.1 µM) significantly decreased BKCa current density from 71.25±8.14 pA/pF to 44.52±7.10 pA/pF (n=14 cells, P<0.05). This inhibitory effect of apelin-13 was confirmed by single channel recording in cell-attached patches, in which extracellular application of apelin-13 (0.1 µM) decreased the open-state probability (NPo) of BKCa channels in freshly isolated VSM cells. However, in inside-out patches, extracellular application of apelin-13 (0.1µM) did not alter the NPo of BKCa channels, suggesting that the inhibitory effect of apelin-13 on BKCa is not mediated by a direct action on BKCa. In whole cell patches, pretreatment of VSM cells with LY-294002, a PI3-kinase inhibitor, markedly attenuated the apelin-13-induced decrease in BKCa current density. In addition, treatment of arteries with apelin-13 (0.1 µM) significantly increased the ratio of phosphorylated-Akt/total Akt, indicating that apelin-13 significantly increases PI3-kinase activity. Taken together, the data suggest that apelin-13 inhibits BKCa channel via a PI3-kinase-dependent signaling pathway in cerebral artery VSM cells, which may contribute to its regulatory action in the control of vascular tone.
A kinetic model for an agent based market simulation

A kinetic model for a specific agent based simulation to generate the sales curves of successive generations of high-end computer chips is developed. The resulting continuum market model consists of transport equations in two variables, representing the availability of money and the desire to buy a new chip. In lieu of typical collision terms in the kinetic equations that discontinuously change the attributes of an agent, discontinuous changes are initiated via boundary conditions between sets of partial differential equations. A scaling analysis of the transport equations determines the different time scales that constitute the market forces, characterizing different sales scenarios. It is argued that the resulting model can be adjusted to generic markets of multi-generational technology products where the innovation time scale is an important driver of the market.
Internet Traffic Characterization Using Packet-Pair Probing

This paper presents an edge-based Internet traffic characterization approach. Our objective is to estimate the marginal distribution and the correlation structure of the packet arrival process at a queue, by sending probe packet pairs with a specific dispersion to sample the traffic. The aggregate work load process inferred from the output dispersions is a compound process of the packet arrival process and the packet size distribution. We show that the packet arrival marginal distribution and the packet size distribution can be decoupled by using the probability generating function; given one of the distributions, the other can then be estimated. We use the fact that the Internet packet size follows a known multi-modal distribution. Moreover, multiple series of packet pairs with different input dispersions can be used to estimate the packet arrival process at different time scales, and therefore to estimate the Hurst parameter, which characterizes the long-range dependence, by generating the variance-time plot. While the traffic characterization techniques are developed and validated in a single-queue context, we indicate how the techniques can be applied to a black box system for end-to-end quality of service provisioning along a multi-hop path.
Diminazene aceturate (Berenil) modulates LPS induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production by inhibiting phosphorylation of MAPKs and STAT proteins

Although diminazene aceturate (Berenil) is widely used as a trypanolytic agent in livestock, its mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. We previously showed that Berenil treatment suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokine production by splenic and liver macrophages leading to a concomitant reduction in serum cytokine levels in mice infected with Trypanosoma congolense or challenged with LPS. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanisms through which Berenil alters pro-inflammatory cytokine production by macrophages. We show that pre-treatment of macrophages with Berenil dramatically suppressed IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-α production following LPS, CpG and Poly I:C stimulation without altering the expression of TLRs. Instead, it significantly down-regulated phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase and c-Jun N-terminal kinases), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins (STAT1 and STAT3) and NF-кB p65 activity both in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, Berenil treatment up-regulated the phosphorylation of STAT5 and the expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) and SOCS3, which are negative regulators of innate immune responses, including MAPKs and STATs. Collectively, these results show that Berenil down-regulates macrophage pro-inflammatory cytokine production by inhibiting key signaling pathways associated with cytokine production and suggest that this drug may be used to treat conditions caused by excessive production of inflammatory cytokines.
VLSI Implementation of Object-Detection Design using Adaptive Block Partition Decision Algorithm

In this paper, an adaptive block partition decision methodology is presented for VLSI implementation of objectdetection for real-time ultra-high-definition (4K2K) resolution video displaying. The proposed adaptive block partition decision (ABPD) algorithm includes a data controller, a gray-level generator, a sub-block difference module, and an edge detector. The edge detector is designed for discovering edges in images using an efficient edgecatching technique. An adaptive block partition decision technique was added to enhance the shapes of objects and to decrease the edge distortion effects. Furthermore, a threshold constraint is used to set parameters for different sizes of blocks. A statistic methodology of object detection is also used to determine whether it is necessary to trigger an alert signal or not. The VLSI architecture of the proposed design contains 6.99K gate counts. Its power consumption is 1.63 mW and its operating frequency is to 374.5 MHz by using a 90 nm CMOS technology. Compared with previous designs, the proposed design not only achieves reduction of more silicon area, but also increase the processing throughput, and accuracy of objetdetection for real-time
A new monoclinic polymorph of 1,1′-bis(diphenylthiophosphoryl)ferrocene

In 1,1′-bis(diphenylthiophosphoryl)ferrocene, the S atoms lie to the same side of the molecule. By contrast to this almost syn disposition, in a previous form, the Fe atom lies on a centre of inversion so that the S atoms are strictly anti.
Iterative strategies for solving linearized discrete mean field games systems

Mean fields games (MFG) describe the asymptotic behavior of stochastic differential games in which the number of players tends to $+\infty$. Under suitable assumptions, they lead to a new kind of system of two partial differential equations: a forward Bellman equation coupled with a backward Fokker-Planck equation. In earlier articles, finite difference schemes preserving the structure of the system have been proposed and studied. They lead to large systems of nonlinear equations in finite dimension. A possible way of numerically solving the latter is to use inexact Newton methods: a Newton step consists of solving a linearized discrete MFG system. The forward-backward character of the MFG system makes it impossible to use time marching methods. In the present work, we propose three families of iterative strategies for solving the linearized discrete MFG systems, most of which involve suitable multigrid solvers or preconditioners.
A fully integrated 1.9-GHz CMOS low-noise amplifier

A fully integrated 1.9 GHz CMOS low-noise amplifer (LNA) has been implemented in a 0.8 μm CMOS technology. For low-noise performance, the amplifier employs high-quality spiral inductors with a duality factor of 8.5-12.5, and device layout and bias condition of the active devices were optimized for low-noise conditions. This amplifier showed a noise figure of 2.8 dB with a forward gain of 15 dB at current consumption of 15 mA. To the authors' knowledge, this represents the lowest noise figure reported to date for a fully integrated CMOS LNA operating at 1.9 GHz.
SUPER STAR CLUSTERS IN SBS0335-052E

As one of the lowest metallicity star-forming galaxies, with a nucleus of several super star clusters (SSCs), SBS0335-052E is the subject of substantial current study. We present new insights on this galaxy based on new and archival high spatial resolution NICMOS and attitude control system images. We provide new measurements and limits on the size of several of the SSCs. The images have sufficient resolution to divide the star formation into compact regions and newly discovered extended regions, indicating a bimodal form of star formation. The star formation regions are dated via the equivalent width of the Paα emission and we find that two of the extended regions of star formation are less than 10 million years old. Our previous finding that stellar winds confine the photo-ionizing flux to small regions around individual stars is consistent with the new observations. This may allow planet formation in what would traditionally be considered a harsh environment and has implications for the number of planets around globular cluster stars. In addition, the images pinpoint the regions of H2 emission as located in, but not at the center of, the two star-forming super star clusters, S1 and S2.
Association between Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis of 39 Studies

Background The associations between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk were comprehensively investigated to clarify issues that remain controversial. Methodology/Principal Findings An electronic search was conducted of several databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane library, Web of Science, EMBASE, CBM and CNKI, for papers that describe the association between Fok1, poly-A repeat, Bsm1, Taq1 or Apa1 polymorphisms of the VDR gene and breast cancer risk. Summary odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated based on a fixed-effect model (FEM) or random-effect model (REM), depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. A total of 39 studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of high-quality studies showed that the Fok1 polymorphism of the VDR gene was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer (ff vs. Ff+FF, OR: 1.09, 95%CI: 1.02 to 1.16, p = 0.007). No significant associations were observed between the other polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. No positive results were detected by pooling the results of all relevant studies. Conclusion A meta-analysis of high-quality studies demonstrated that the Fok1 polymorphism of the VDR gene was closely associated with breast cancer risk.
A Real-Time Pinch-to-Zoom Motion Detection by Means of a Surface EMG-Based Human-Computer Interface

In this paper, we propose a system for inferring the pinch-to-zoom gesture using surface EMG (Electromyography) signals in real time. Pinch-to-zoom, which is a common gesture in smart devices such as an iPhone or an Android phone, is used to control the size of images or web pages according to the distance between the thumb and index finger. To infer the finger motion, we recorded EMG signals obtained from the first dorsal interosseous muscle, which is highly related to the pinch-to-zoom gesture, and used a support vector machine for classification between four finger motion distances. The powers which are estimated by Welch's method were used as feature vectors. In order to solve the multiclass classification problem, we applied a one-versus-one strategy, since a support vector machine is basically a binary classifier. As a result, our system yields 93.38% classification accuracy averaged over six subjects. The classification accuracy was estimated using 10-fold cross validation. Through our system, we expect to not only develop practical prosthetic devices but to also construct a novel user experience (UX) for smart devices.
Application of XFASTER power spectrum and likelihood estimator to Planck

We develop the XFASTER cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectrum and likelihood technique for the Planck CMB satellite mission. We give an overview of this estimator and its current implementation, and present the results of applying this algorithm to simulated Planck data. We show that it can accurately extract the power spectrum of Planck data for the high-l multipoles range. We compare the XFASTER approximation for the likelihood to other high-l likelihood approximations such as Gaussian and Offset Lognormal and a low-l pixel-based likelihood. We showthat theXFASTER likelihood is not only accurate at high l, but also performs well at moderately low multipoles. We also present results for cosmological parameter Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation with the XFASTER likelihood. As long as the low-l polarization and temperature power are properly accounted for, e.g. by adding an adequate low-l likelihood ingredient, the input parameters are recovered to a high level of accuracy.
Link-Based Anomaly Detection in Communication Networks

Communication networks, such as networks formed by phone calls and email communications, can be modeled as dynamic graphs with vertices representing agents and edges representing communications. Anomaly detection is to identify abnormal behaviour occurring in these networks. This is crucial for anti-terrorism, resource allocation and network management. The contents of the communications are often unavailable or protected by regulations or encryption, which makes linkage information the only type of data we can rely on in order to identify anomalies. In this paper, we propose a link-based anomaly detection method that considers deviations from individual patterns by taking into account the behaviour pattern of the cluster to which the individual belongs. Clusters can be formed by a standard clustering procedure or based on a specific attribute depending on the dataset. Experiments show that this method performs well on both network traffic and email communication data.
High Stability, Low Leakage Nanocrystalline Silicon Bottom Gate Thin Film Transistors for AMOLED Displays

We report performance characteristics of nanocrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated at 280 degC by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The TFTs exhibit field-effect mobility of 0.8 cm2V-1s-1, threshold voltage of 4 V, on/off current ratio about 108 with an off-current of 10-13 A, and subthreshold slope of 0.8 V/dec. Bias stress measurements show that the TFT is 3-5 times more stable than the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) counterpart, with a shift in threshold voltage that is less than 5 % at a gate voltage of 15 V
Serum Lipid Profile, Prevalence of Dyslipidaemia, and Associated Risk Factors Among Northern Mexican Adolescents

Background: The increase in overweight and obese children and adolescents may be linked to increased rates of dyslipidaemia. The aim was to assess the serum lipid profile, the prevalence of dyslipidaemia, and associated risk factors among the North Mexican adolescent population. Methods: Two hundred and ninety-three subjects (47.8% girls) ages 11 to 16 years took part in the Nuevo León State Survey of Nutrition and Health 2011–2012. According to the 2011 Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents, dyslipidaemia was defined as a presence of ≥1 of the following levels (mg/dL): Total cholesterol ≥200, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥130, non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol <40, and triglyceride ≥130. Results: The overall frequency of dyslipidaemia was 48.8% with no differences between sexes. Adolescents with high body mass index were more likely to have at least 1 abnormal lipid level (overweight: odds ratio [OR]: 2.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–3.77, P < 0.05; obesity: OR: 2.21, 95% CI: 1.11–4.41, P < 0.05) than those with normal weight. Abdominally subjects with obesity were also more likely to have at least 1 abnormal lipid level (OR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.35–3.91, P < 0.01) than their leaner counterparts. Conclusions: Half of Mexican adolescents living in the State of Nuevo León have at least 1 abnormal lipid concentration. Low HDL-chol level was the most common dyslipidaemia. Body mass index and abdominal obesity were associated with the prevalence of at least 1 abnormal lipid level.
Lethal Accumulation of Guanylic Nucleotides in Saccharomyces cerevisiae HPT1-Deregulated Mutants

Guanylic nucleotide biosynthesis is a conserved and highly regulated process. Drugs reducing GMP synthesis affect the immunological response and mutations enabling guanylic-derivative recycling lead to severe mental retardation. While the effects of decreased GMP synthesis have been well documented, the consequences of GMP overproduction in eukaryotes are poorly understood. In this work, we selected and characterized several mutations making yeast hypoxanthine–guanine phosphoribosyltransferase insensitive to feedback inhibition by GMP. In these mutants, accumulation of guanylic nucleotides can be triggered by addition of extracellular guanine. We show that such an accumulation is highly toxic for yeast cells and results in arrest of proliferation and massive cell death. This growth defect could be partially suppressed by overexpression of Rfx1p, a transcriptional repressor of the DNA damage response pathway. Importantly, neither guanylic nucleotide toxicity nor its suppression by Rfx1p was associated with an alteration of forward mutation frequency.
A Review of SOAP Performance Optimization Techniques to Improve Communication in Web Services in Loosely Coupled

Web services (WS) implements Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). WS extends World Wide Web (WWW) infrastructure. This provides a means of integrating software applications in loosely coupled distributed systems. WS communication is facilitated by Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). SOAP offers a simple and lightweight mechanism for exchanging structured and typed information among peers in a decentralized, distributed computing environment. However, SOAP’s transmitted data is represented in XML. XML documents are huge in size and verbose (highly redundant), and processing of XML information and its conversion to and fro memory data types are some of the major hindrance in performance for high performance applications. This survey paper gives an insight of previous researchers’ contributions on techniques used in optimizing SOAP in communication in WS in terms of bandwidth utilization and throughput. To optimize SOAP, several techniques covered include: client side caching, differential serialization, SOAP binding, compression, server side caching, and differential deserialization.
Assessment of anthropometric indexes of children and adolescents with Down syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To compare the agreement in the classification of the weight-for-age (W/A) and height-for-age (HA) indexes for children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) according to selected international reference distributions. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out in children (2 to 9.9 years old) and adolescents (10 to 17.9 years old) with DS from cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2005. The W/A and H/A indexes were classified according to the percentiles of two curves developed for individuals with DS and one distribution developed for healthy subjects. The cut-off limits applied for categorization were: below the 5th percentile (< P5) and above the 95th percentile (> 95). The weighted Kappa index was estimated to assess agreement between the classifications (p < 0.05). RESULTS Information was obtained on 98 children and 40 adolescents. From 1.0 to 18.4% of the children were < P5 for W/A, and the agreement for this index was considered weak (Kappa = 0.16; 95%CI -0.03-0.34; p < 0.01); no agreement was observed between the H/A classifications. For adolescents, W/A < P5 varied from 2.5 to 5.0%; once more there was no agreement for this classification (Kappa = 0.16; 95%CI -0.15-0.48; p > 0.05). There was good agreement for the H/A index (Kappa = 1.00; 95%CI 0.23-1.00; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION There was weak agreement between classifications of anthropometric indexes according to three different distributions. The data indicated that the construction of specific curves for individuals with DS would facilitate the identification of overweight, which is often observed among these patients.