Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mitochondrial regulation by c-Myc and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α controls sensitivity to econazole

Econazole is an azole antifungal with anticancer activity that blocks Ca2+ influx and stimulates endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ release through the generation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in sustained depletion of ER Ca2+ stores, protein synthesis inhibition, and cell death. c-Myc, a commonly activated oncogene, also promotes apoptosis in response to growth factor withdrawal and a variety of chemotherapeutic agents. We have investigated the role of c-myc in regulating sensitivity to econazole. Here, we show that c-myc-negative cells are profoundly resistant to econazole. c-Myc-negative rat fibroblasts failed to generate mitochondrial ROS in response to econazole and consequently failed to deplete the ER of Ca2+. HL60 cells knocked down for c-myc expression also displayed decreased ROS generation and decreased econazole sensitivity. Addition of H2O2 restored sensitivity to econazole in both c-myc-negative rat fibroblasts and c-myc knocked-down HL60 cells, supporting a role for ROS in cell death induction. c-Myc-negative cells and HL60 cells knocked down for c-myc have reduced mitochondrial content compared with c-myc-positive cells. The hypoxia sensor, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), interacts antagonistically with c-myc and also regulates mitochondrial biogenesis. Knockdown of HIF-1α in c-myc-negative cells increased mitochondrial content restored ROS generation in response to econazole and increased sensitivity to the drug. Taken together, these results show that c-myc and HIF-1α regulate sensitivity to econazole by modulating the ability of the drug to generate mitochondrial ROS. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(3):483–91]
Transcriptome Analysis of Male Drosophila melanogaster Exposed to Ethylparaben Using Digital Gene Expression Profiling

Abstract Ethylparaben (EP) has been shown to have estrogenic effects and can affect the normal development, longevity, and reproductive system of some animals. In this study, we investigated the effects of EP in male Drosophila melanogaster using transcriptome analysis or digital gene expression profiling. We then screened differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the two groups (EP-treated and control group) of Drosophila, and performed clustering analysis, gene ontology (GO) function annotation, kyoto encyclopedia of gene and genomes metabolic pathway analysis. We found that EP enriched GO in three processes: cellular component, molecular function, and biological process. Consequently, we detected 13,959 genes and among them, 18 genes were identified to be significantly expressed between the EP-treated and control samples. Of these, seven genes were down-regulated, and eleven genes were up-regulated in EP-treated samples. Furthermore, four DEGs including two down-regulated genes (CG9465, CG9468) and two up-regulated genes (TotA, Sqz) were verified by real-time quantitative PCR. This study revealed the impact of EP on gene expression in fruit fly and provided new insight into the mechanisms of this response, which is helpful for understanding EP toxicity to humans.
Turnover Intentions of Lecturers in Private Universities in Malaysia

This study examined the factors determining the turnover intention of lecturers in private universities in Malaysia. A total of 253 lecturers from private universities around the Klang Valley participated in the questionnaire survey. Six constructs job security, supervisor support, compensation satisfaction, job autonomy, key performance indicators (KPI) achievability, and job satisfaction were identified using social exchange, equity, expectancy and Herzberg’s two factor theories. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression methods were used in analysing data. Results revealed that only four factors: compensation satisfaction, job autonomy, KPI achievability, and job satisfaction explained turnover intention. By understanding the factors that lead to employee resignation, it is hoped that universities would reduce lecturers’ turnover intention by introducing relevant retention strategies.
Survey of local anesthetic use by Ontario dentists.

OBJECTIVE Local anesthetics are believed to be the most frequently used drugs in clinical dentistry, and although they are generally regarded as safe, some adverse reactions can be expected and do occur. The purpose of this study was to obtain, by means of a mail survey, information on the types and amounts of local anesthetics used by Ontario dentists during 2007. MATERIALS AND METHODS A survey requesting data on the annual use of injectable local anesthetics was mailed to all 8,058 dentists licensed by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario in 2007. RESULTS The effective response rate to the single mailing was 17.3% (1,395 respondents). By extrapolation, the estimated use of local anesthetics by all Ontario dentists during 2007 was determined to be about 13 million cartridges, which represents an average of 1,613 cartridges per dentist per year. Lidocaine with epinephrine 1:100,000 was the most commonly used formulation with 37.31% of total anesthetic use, followed by articaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine (27.04%) and articaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine (17.16%). Overall, local anesthetics combined with a vasoconstrictor accounted for more than 90% of total anesthetic use. A minority of survey respondents (15.68%) indicated that their pattern of anesthetic use had changed significantly in the past few years. Patterns of use were similar for early and late survey respondents. These data provide a current account of the use of local anesthetics by Ontario dentists.
Multiscale moments-based edge detection

In the paper the geometrical multiscale method of edge location based on custom-built moments has been presented. Custom-built moments were described in the literature as the new concept of moment function design. Unlike the other known moment functions, e.g. power, Zernike or Chebyshev functions, which are defined on circular support, the custom-built moments can be defined on any shape support like, for example, rectangular one. Unfortunately, the method of edge location based on custom-built moments proposed so far is monoscale, what causes that the result of edge detection is either real geometrical or accurate. So, in the method proposed in this paper the multiscalability has been introduced. This approach causes that the results of edge detection are both: compactly geometrical and very accurate. Additionally, the time complexity of the proposed method is O(N2 log2 N) what is far lower than that of many other state-of-the-art geometrical multiresolution methods, especially the one based on wedgelets.
Enhancer-bound LDB1 regulates a corticotrope promoter-pausing repression program

Significance The apparent importance of promoter:enhancer looping is well established; however, the molecular mechanisms of these interactions in gene activation vs. gene repression remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we report that LIM domain-binding protein 1 (LDB1) can function in transcriptional enhancer-mediated gene activation mainly at the level of transcription initiation by regulating promoter:enhancer looping, consequent to the recruitment to basic helix-loop-helix–bound enhancers in pituitary corticotrope cells. Intriguingly, LDB1 also mediates promoter:enhancer looping required for target gene repression, acting at the level of promoter pausing, by recruiting metastasis-associated 1 family, member 2 to these repressive enhancers. These findings shed light on a regulatory aspect of the molecular function of LDB1, providing a putative mechanism of enhancer-dependent transcriptional repression. Substantial evidence supports the hypothesis that enhancers are critical regulators of cell-type determination, orchestrating both positive and negative transcriptional programs; however, the basic mechanisms by which enhancers orchestrate interactions with cognate promoters during activation and repression events remain incompletely understood. Here we report the required actions of LIM domain-binding protein 1 (LDB1)/cofactor of LIM homeodomain protein 2/nuclear LIM interactor, interacting with the enhancer-binding protein achaete-scute complex homolog 1, to mediate looping to target gene promoters and target gene regulation in corticotrope cells. LDB1-mediated enhancer:promoter looping appears to be required for both activation and repression of these target genes. Although LDB1-dependent activated genes are regulated at the level of transcriptional initiation, the LDB1-dependent repressed transcription units appear to be regulated primarily at the level of promoter pausing, with LDB1 regulating recruitment of metastasis-associated 1 family, member 2, a component of the nucleosome remodeling deacetylase complex, on these negative enhancers, required for the repressive enhancer function. These results indicate that LDB1-dependent looping events can deliver repressive cargo to cognate promoters to mediate promoter pausing events in a pituitary cell type.
Model‐based reconstruction of undersampled diffusion tensor k‐space data

The practical utility of diffusion tensor imaging, especially for 3D high‐resolution spin warp experiments of ex vivo specimens, has been hampered by long acquisition times. To accelerate the acquisition, a compressed sensing framework that uses a model‐based formulation to reconstruct diffusion tensor fields from undersampled k‐space data was presented and evaluated. Accuracies in brain specimen white matter fiber orientation, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity mapping were compared with alternative methods achievable using the same scan time via reduced image resolution, fewer diffusion encoding directions, standard compressed sensing, or asymmetrical sampling reconstruction. The efficiency of the proposed approach was also compared with fully sampled cases across a range of the number of diffusion encoding directions. In general, the proposed approach was found to reduce the image blurring and noise and to provide more accurate fiber orientation, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity measurements compared with the alternative methods. Moreover, depending on the degree of undersampling used and the diffusion tensor imaging parameter examined, the measurement accuracy of the proposed scheme was equivalent to fully sampled diffusion tensor imaging datasets that consist of 33–67% more encoding directions and require proportionally longer scan times. The findings show model‐based compressed sensing to be promising for improving the resolution, accuracy, or scan time of diffusion tensor imaging. Magn Reson Med 70:429–440, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
No Evidence of Blood Parasites in Little Auks (Alle alle) Breeding on Svalbard

Absence of blood parasites in birds occurring in polar regions is believed to be a common phenomenon but only few surveys have been conducted on truly polar bird species. We examined blood parasites in a seabird with an exclusively high-Arctic breeding distribution, the Little Auk (Alle alle). Polymerase chain reaction was used to detect haemosporidians and traditional optical microscopy was used to detect a wider range of haematozoans in birds breeding on Svalbard (Norway). No blood parasites were found among 100 birds examined. This finding confirms scarcity of haematozoa in polar regions and provides baseline data for the Little Auk.
Development of an assay for the intermembrane transfer of cholesterol by Niemann-Pick C2 protein

Abstract Niemann-Pick type C disease is an inherited fatal disorder characterized by the accumulation of unesterified cholesterol and other lipids in the endosomal/lysosomal compartment. Two independent genes responsible for this neurodegenerative disorder have been identified, but the precise functions of the encoded Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) and C2 (NPC2) proteins are not yet known. We developed a cell-free assay for measuring intermembrane lipid transport and examined the ability of bovine NPC2 (bNPC2) for intermembrane cholesterol transfer. NPC2 specifically extracts cholesterol from phospholipid bilayers and catalyzes intermembrane transfer to acceptor vesicles in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This transfer activity is dependent on temperature, pH, ionic strength, lipid composition of the model membranes, and the ratio of donor to acceptor vesicles. In model membranes, the presence of the lysosomal anionic phospholipids bis(monooleoylglycero)phosphate and phosphatidyl inositol significantly stimulated cholesterol transfer by NPC2, whereas bis(monomyristoylglycero)phosphate, phosphatidyl serine, and phosphatidic acid had no effect. Moreover, ceramide stimulated cholesterol transfer slightly, whereas sphingomyelin reduced cholesterol transfer rates. With our assay system we identified for the first time the ability of other lysosomal proteins, most notably the GM2-activator protein, to mediate intermembrane cholesterol transfer. This assay system promises to be a valuable tool for further quantitative and mechanistic studies of protein-mediated lipid transfer.
Indonesia Green City Development Program : an Urban Reform

However, such fast urban transformation has not been simple to manage. In one hand, cities have long been considered as a leading catalyst of economic growth and symbol of civilization advancement. Cities are the ideal places for innovations, where rich ideas are not only flourishing, but also competing one to another in search of higher efficiency in urban life. Cities are also places where spatial conflicts occur, demanding more urban services for the sake of economic growth, but often at the expense of environmental degradation. The challenges for Indonesian cities will even be more serious due to climate change and finite resources.
Burnout and occupational participation among dentists with teaching responsibilities in universities

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of burnout and explore the relationships between burnout and occupational participation among dentists with teaching responsibilities. Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to evaluate occupational participation with questions on demographic information among 155 dentists with teaching responsibilities. Age, gender, years of experience, academic position were the factors affecting level of burnout and occupational participation. Occupational performance score was negatively correlated with emotional exhausment (r = –.731) and depersonalization (r = –.693) while positively correlated with personal accomplishment (r = .611). Occupational satisfaction scores were negatively correlated with emotional exhausment (r = –.631) and depersonalization (r = –.625) while positively correlated with personal accomplishment (r = .614). Occupational participation level can effect burnout among dentists with teaching responsibilities. Further studies with a larger sample are needed to investigate these preliminary results deeply.
Cancer‐associated fibroblasts might sustain the stemness of scirrhous gastric cancer cells via transforming growth factor‐β signaling

Cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have recently been implicated in tumor growth and metastasis in gastric cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been proposed to have an important role in cancer progression. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of CAFs on CSCs characteristics in gastric carcinoma. Scirrhous gastric cancer cell lines, OCUM‐12 and OCUM‐2MD3, and non‐scirrhous gastric cancer cell lines, MKN‐45 and MKN‐74, were used. OCUM‐12/side population (SP) cells and OCUM‐2MD3/SP cells were sorted by flow cytometry as CSC‐rich cells from the parent cells. CaF‐37 was established from the tumoral gastric specimens as CAFs. Flow cytometric analysis of SP fraction, spheroid colony assay, and RT‐PCR analysis of CSC markers were performed to identify CSCs properties. Effect of CAFs on the tumorigenicity by OCUM‐12/SP cells was examined using nude mice. CAF CM significantly increased the percentages of the SP fraction of OCUM‐12/SP and OCUM‐2MD3/SP cells, but not that of MKN‐45/SP and MKN‐74/SP cells. Taken together, CM from CaF‐37 significantly increased the number of spheroid colonies and the expression level of CSC markers of OCUM‐12/SP and OCUM‐2MD3/SP cells. These stimulating‐activities by CM were significantly decreased by TGFβ inhibitors, but not FGFR and cMet inhibitor. Tumorigenicity by subcutaneous coinoculation of OCUM‐12/SP cells with CAFs was significantly high in comparison with that by OCUM‐12/SP cells alone. Phospho‐Smad2 expression level was significantly increased by co‐inoculation with CAFs. These findings suggested that CAFs might regulate the stemness of CSCs in scirrhous gastric cancer by TGFβ signaling.
Sparse representation for image classification by using feature dictionary

A novel image classification method is proposed based on the sparse representation. The initial dictionary consists of the feature patches obtained through the feature extraction. The K-SVD algorithm is adopted to update the dictionary. Each dictionary is learned from the images of each category, and the images of this category can be represented sparsely over this dictionary. The classification can be achieved in terms of the projection error. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the comparable performance.
Active Power Sharing and Frequency Control of Multiple Distributed Generators in A Microgrid Mr

Due to increase in demand of electricity as use of devices that consume electricity increases. The major problem is to meet this demand of electricity. However, the electricity supply has become saturated due some factors such as social, environmental and geographical. To fulfill these problems and to meet the electricity demand there are two ways such as via micro grids and distributed generation (DGs). Microgrid works with two operating modes of operation such as grid integrated mode and islanded mode of operation. In case of grid connected operation, micro grid is connected to main grid having large system inertia which helps to maintain micro grid frequency almost to nominal value. But in case of islanded mode operation micro grid must supply its own demand and maintain its frequency which is mainly done by DG units. There are various methods or control techniques for distributed generation to control active power sharing as well as frequency in islanded micro grids. Generally, most commonly used method of control is droop control. In that active power – frequency is used for DG controller and frequency deviation is recovered by DG itself by self-frequency recovery control without using any secondary frequency control. But the electrical distance i.e. impendence between each DG and loads are different which may cause frequency deviation among the DG units. This difference is fed into the integrators of self –frequency recovery control which may cause the error in operation of active power sharing. So, to solve this problem new technique or control method is developed which share active power more accurately, this method is compensation control method. In that active power sharing is done by considering droop coefficients of each of DG units.
A computational cognitive neuroscience perspective on word meaning in context

In this section, we consider the nature of human word knowledge and the relationship between such knowledge and the concept of a word embedding. We formulate our conception of human word knowledge in terms of two challenges: inference and integration. By inference we mean the process of determining the contextually appropriate meaning of the word, and by integration, we mean the process of combining the results of this inference process with prior knowledge for subsequent use. We frame our proposed approaches to these challenges within an interactive, distributed processing framework for inference and a complementary learning systems framework for integration. We relate these ideas to the traditional concept of a word embeddings (Embeddings 1.0) and to our proposed updated conception of word embeddings (Embeddings 2.0). There are two key points:
SixthSense: a wearable gestural interface

This prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror, and a camera. The hardware components are contained in a pendant-like wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user's pocket. The projector projects visual information on walls and other physical objects, which become interfaces, while the camera recognizes and tracks the user's hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision techniques.
An action spectrum for ultraviolet radiation‐induced immunosuppression in humans

Background The immune‐suppressive effects of sunlight play a central role in skin carcinogenesis. Ultraviolet (UV) B radiation is highly immunosuppressive even at suberythemal doses, and longwave UVA is now also recognized to cause immunosuppression in humans. The relative contributions of UVA and UVB to immunosuppression by incidental daily sun exposure are, however, unclear.
Low rather than high Ki-67 protein expression is an adverse prognostic factor in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

The prognostic role of overexpression of Ki-67 protein in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is still unclear. Furthermore, immunohistochemical studies have suggested a correlation between markers of proliferation, B-cell differentiation and apoptosis, but the prognostic relevance of these findings has not been clarified. To investigate the prognostic impact of Ki-67, in the context of this correlation, a retrospective immunohistochemical study was performed on 199 DLBCL patients treated with curative intent. Patients with low Ki-67 expression (<49%) had significantly worse progression-free (PFS) and overall (OS) survival, independent of clinical risk factors. In addition, low Ki-67 correlated to bcl-2 expression but not to non-germinal centre B-cell-like (non-GCB) phenotype. Each of these factors had negative impact on PFS and OS, but low Ki-67 expression also remained as an adverse prognostic factor independent of non-GCB phenotype and bcl-2 expression. Together, these results suggest that low rather than high Ki-67 protein expression is of prognostic importance in DLBCL.
The Temporal Dynamics of Ozone-Induced FEV1 Changes in Humans: An Exposure-Response Model

Although ozone is known to induce reversible decrements in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), no exposure-response model has been identified that accurately describes the dynamics of response to the changing concentrations and activity patterns of normal ambient human exposure. The purpose of the current analysis was to identify and evaluate a dynamic model of FEV1 response using a large existing data set (541 volunteers, 864 exposures, 3485 FEV1 measures) with a wide range of exposure conditions (ozone = 0.0 to 0.4 ppm, activity level = rest to heavy exercise, duration = 1 to 7.6 h), including recovery in clean air. A previously described model containing a differential equation and a logistic function was modified to include a new between-subjects variance structure and was fitted to the data. The model described well the mean observed response data across the range of exposure conditions, including the periods of recovery in clean air. Predicted values of individual responses were distributed lognormally and appeared to accurately describe the distribution of observed responses. We observed that responsiveness to ozone decreased with age, that response was weakly related to body size, and that response was marginally more sensitive to changes in ozone concentration than to changes in minute ventilation. In summary, we have identified a dynamic ozone exposure-response model that accurately describes the temporal pattern of FEV1 response to a wide range of changing exposure conditions and that may have utility for predicting population responses to ambient exposures.