Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of glucose as a modulator of anabolic and catabolic gene expression in normal and osteoarthritic human chondrocytes

Cartilage matrix homeostasis involves a dynamic balance between numerous signals that modulate chondrocyte functions. This study aimed at elucidating the role of the extracellular glucose concentration in modulating anabolic and catabolic gene expression in normal and osteoarthritic (OA) human chondrocytes and its ability to modify the gene expression responses induced by pro‐anabolic stimuli, namely Transforming Growth Factor‐β (TGF). For this, we analyzed by real time RT‐PCR the expression of articular cartilage matrix‐specific and non‐specific genes, namely collagen types II and I, respectively. The expression of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)‐1 and ‐13, which plays a major role in cartilage degradation in arthritic conditions, and of their tissue inhibitors (TIMP) was also measured. The results showed that exposure to high glucose (30 mM) increased the mRNA levels of both MMPs in OA chondrocytes, whereas in normal ones only MMP‐1 increased. Collagen II mRNA was similarly increased in normal and OA chondrocytes, but the increase lasted longer in the later. Exposure to high glucose for 24 h prevented TGF‐induced downregulation of MMP‐13 gene expression in normal and OA chondrocytes, while the inhibitory effect of TGF on MMP‐1 expression was only partially reduced. Other responses were not significantly modified. In conclusion, exposure of human chondrocytes to high glucose, as occurs in vivo in diabetes mellitus patients and in vitro for the production of engineered cartilage, favors the chondrocyte catabolic program. This may promote articular cartilage degradation, facilitating OA development and/or progression, as well as compromise the quality and consequent in vivo efficacy of tissue engineered cartilage. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 2813–2824, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
African American female entrepreneurs: What motivates them to pursue entrepreneurism

African American women have the highest percentage of businesses owned by women in the United States. Social barriers and economic challenges unique to African American women make their success in persisting beyond the 5 year start-up average astounding. Yet, while these women have been successful in building their enterprises, despite social and economic encumbrances, there is limited research available about this group of entrepreneurs. Through phenomenological examples, this research explored the motivational factors that influence African American women to pursue entrepreneurism and how they use their motivation to cultivate and sustain their businesses. Semi-structured interviews explored 4 variables to provide a complex, detailed lens into the lived experiences of 6 African American women entrepreneurs. Through a cross-case thematic analysis 5 themes emerged from the data: A belief that education was beneficial to their success; they did not deliberately pursue entrepreneurship; once established, they felt passion and love doing what they always wanted to do; the role of race and gender and strong parental support. Conclusions of the study reveal varied reasons for success of African American women entrepreneurs. They do not define success by financial growth. Their career choice was made independently of family influence. The idea of returning to corporate America is inconceivable. African American women entrepreneurs’ support networks are linked to their community involvement. Their challenges of social barriers are viewed as character builders. Finally, age and social exposure significantly impact their approach to
The Influence of Prayer Coping on Mental Health among Cardiac Surgery Patients

To address the inconsistent findings and based on Hegel's dialectic contradictive principle, this study tested a parallel mediation model that may underlie the association of using prayer for coping with cardiac surgery outcomes. Three sequential interviews were conducted with 310 patients who underwent open-heart surgery. A structural equation model demonstrated that optimism mediated the favorable effect of prayer coping. Prayer coping was also related to preoperative stress symptoms, which had a counterbalance effect on outcomes. Age was associated with better preoperative mental health, but age-related chronic conditions were associated with poor outcomes; both of these were mediated through the same mediators.
The impact of personality traits and professional experience on police officers’ shooting performance under pressure

Abstract We explored the impact of professional experience and personality on police officers’ shooting performance under pressure. We recruited: (1) regular officers, (2) officers wanting to join a specialised arrest unit (AU) (expected to possess more stress-resistant traits; pre-AU) and (3) officers from this unit (expected to also possess more professional experience; AU) (all male). In Phase 1, we determined personality traits and experience. In Phase 2, state anxiety, shot accuracy, decision-making (shoot/don’t shoot), movement speed and gaze behaviour were measured while officers performed a shooting test under low and high pressure. Results indicate minimal differences in personality among groups and superior performance of AU officers. Regression analyses showed that state anxiety and shooting performance under high pressure were first predicted by AU experience and second by certain personality traits. Results suggest that although personality traits attenuate the impact of high pressure, it is relevant experience that secures effective performance under pressure. Practitioner Summary: To obtain information for police selection and training purposes, we let officers who differed in personality and experience execute a shooting test under low and high pressure. Outcomes indicate that experience affected anxiety and performance most strongly, while personality traits of thrill- and adventure-seeking and self-control also had an effect.
Block based histogram feature extraction method for bleeding detection in wireless capsule endoscopy

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a non-invasive video technology to detect small intestinal diseases, such as bleeding. It provides straight vision of patient's entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract, however examining large amount of images by physician takes longer time thus computer-aided scheme draws attention. In this paper, an effective features extraction scheme is proposed for automatic bleeding frame detection in WCE video. Instead of using red (R), green (G), and blue (B) plane separately a transform plane consisting of red to green pixel intensity ratio is used. Also rather than considering individual pixel, a surrounding neighborhood block of that individual pixel is considered which mitigates individual pixel randomness problem. A simple but consistent block statistic, namely maximum value of a block, is chosen as representative feature for each block. Histogram is found by utilizing all block maxima and frequency of histogram is considered as feature. For the purpose of classification, k-nearest neighbors (KNN) classifier is employed. Extensive experimentation is carried out upon several WCE videos, which are collected from a publicly available database and satisfactory performance result is obtained in comparison to some of the exiting methods.
SoC oriented real-time high-quality stereo vision system

Stereo matching is a crucial step to extract depth information from stereo images. However, it is still challenging to achieve good performance in both speed and accuracy for various stereo vision applications. In this paper, a hardware-compatible stereo matching algorithm is proposed and its associated hardware implementation is also presented. The proposed algorithm can produce high-quality disparity maps with the combined use of the mini-census transform, segmentation-based adaptive support weight and effective refinement. Moreover, the proposed architecture is optimized as a fully pipelined and scalable hardware system. Implemented on an Altera Stratix-IV FPGA board, it can achieve 65 frames per second (fps) for 1024 × 768 stereo images and a 64 pixel disparity range. The proposed architecture is evaluated based on the Middlebury benchmarks and the average error rate is 6.56%. The experimental results indicate that the accuracy is competitive with some state-of-the-art software implementations.
Effect of ethanol on folding of hen egg‐white lysozyme under acidic condition

The equilibrium and kinetics of folding of hen egg‐white lysozyme were studied by means of CD spectroscopy in the presence of varying concentrations of ethanol under acidic condition. The equilibrium transition curves of guanidine hydrochloride‐induced unfolding in 13 and 26% (v/v) ethanol have shown that the unfolding significantly deviates from a two‐state mechanism. The kinetics of denaturant‐induced refolding and unfolding of hen egg‐white lysozyme were investigated by stopped‐flow CD at three ethanol concentrations: 0, 13, and 26% (v/v). Immediately after dilution of the denaturant, the refolding curves showed a biphasic time course in the far‐UV region, with a burst phase with a significant secondary structure and a slower observable phase. However, when monitored by the near‐UV CD, the burst phase was not observed and all refolding kinetics were monophasic. To clarify the effect of nonnative secondary structure induced by the addition of ethanol on the folding/unfolding kinetics, the kinetic m values were estimated from the chevron plots obtained for the three ethanol concentrations. The data indicated that the folding/unfolding kinetics of hen lysozyme in the presence of varying concentrations of ethanol under acidic condition is explained by a model with both on‐pathway and off‐pathway intermediates of protein folding. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Self-protection Mechanism in d-Cycloserine-producing Streptomyces lavendulae

An antibiotic, d-cycloserine (DCS), inhibits the catalytic activities of alanine racemase (ALR) and d-alanyl-d-alanine ligase (DDL), which are necessary for the biosynthesis of the bacterial cell wall. In this study, we cloned both genes encoding ALR and DDL, designated alrS and ddlS, respectively, from DCS-producing Streptomyces lavendulae ATCC25233. Each gene product was purified to homogeneity and characterized. Escherichia coli, transformed with a pET vector carrying alrS or ddlS, displays higher resistance to DCS than the same host carrying the E. coli ALR- or DDL-encoded gene inserted into the pET vector. Although the S. lavendulae DDL was competitively inhibited by DCS, the Ki value (920 μm) was obviously higher (40∼100-fold) than those for E. coli DdlA (9 μm) or DdlB (27 μm). The high Ki value of the S. lavendulae DDL suggests that the enzyme may be a self-resistance determinant in the DCS-producing microorganism. Kinetic studies for the S. lavendulae ALR suggest that the time-dependent inactivation rate of the enzyme by DCS is absolutely slower than that of the E. coli ALR. We conclude that ALR from DCS-producing S. lavendulae is also one of the self-resistance determinants.
Medication adherence and its associated factors among hypertensive patients attending the Debre Tabor General Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

Background Medication adherence is an important predictor of optimal blood pressure control; hence, it significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated deaths. However, studies on medication adherence and its associated factors are scarce. Thus, this study aimed to assess adherence to antihypertensive medications and identify associated factors at Debre Tabor General Hospital, northwest Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 346 participants. A structured questionnaire adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach was used to collect data. Medication adherence was measured by the four-item Morisky–Green–Levine Scale, with a score ≥3 defined as “good adherence”. Data were entered using Epi Info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive and summary statistics were used. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were also carried out. Results A total of 337 hypertensive patients participated in the study. Three-quarters (75.1%) of the participants were found to be adherent to their medication therapy. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that urban residence (adjusted odd ratio [AOR]=2.10, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15, 3.85), taking less than two drugs per day (AOR=3.04, 95% CI: 1.53, 6.06), and having knowledge about hypertension (HTN) and its treatment (AOR=8.86, 95% CI: 4.67, 16.82) were positively and significantly associated with medication adherence, while age >60 years (AOR=0.33, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.98) was negatively and significantly associated with good medication adherence. Conclusion A significant proportion of hypertensive patients poorly adhere to antihypertensive medications. Age, residence, pill burden, and knowledge about HTN and its treatment are important predictors of medication adherence. Attention should be given to increase the knowledge of patients about their disease and its treatment, and due emphasis should also be given to older and rural patients.
Successful simple limbal epithelial transplantation (SLET) in lime injury-induced limbal stem cell deficiency with ocular surface granuloma

A 9-year-old boy presented with unilateral, total limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) complicated by the presence of a large fibro-vascular ocular surface mass lesion secondary to accidental lime injury. The pathological tissue covering the cornea was excised and simple limbal epithelial transplantation (SLET) was performed using autologous limbal tissue from the fellow eye. Histopathology of the excised ocular surface tissue revealed exuberant granulation tissue interspersed with retained calcium particles. At 6 weeks postoperatively, a focal recurrence of LSCD with symblepharon and forniceal shortening was noted superiorly. This was successfully managed by performing conjunctival autografting along with supplemental SLET. The unaided vision had improved from light perception at presentation to 20/40 at 6 months postoperatively. The fornices were deep and the corneal surface was avascular, epithelised and stable. This case demonstrates the efficacy of SLET in a child with severe ocular burns, highlighting the role of supplementary procedures customised to treat focal recurrences of LSCD.
New Constraints on Biogenic Emissions using Satellite-Based Estimates of
Carbon Monoxide Fluxes

Abstract. Biogenic non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) emitted from vegetation are a primary source for the chemical production of carbon monoxide (CO) in the atmosphere and these biogenic emissions account for about 18 % of the global CO burden. Partitioning CO fluxes to different source types in top-down inversion methods is challenging and typically a simple scaling of the posterior flux to prior flux values for fossil fuel, biogenic and biomass burning sources is used. Here we show top-down estimates of biogenic CO fluxes using a Bayesian inference approach, which explicitly accounts for both posterior and a priori CO flux uncertainties. This approach re-partitions CO fluxes following inversion of Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) CO observations with the GEOS-Chem model, a global chemical transport model driven by assimilated meteorology from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS). We compare these results to the prior information for CO used to represent biogenic NMVOCs from GEOS-Chem, which uses the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) for biogenic emissions. We evaluate the a posteriori biogenic CO fluxes against top-down estimates of isoprene fluxes using Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) formaldehyde observations. We find similar seasonality and spatial consistency in the posterior CO and top-down isoprene estimates globally. For the African savanna region, both top-down CO and isoprene seasonality vary significantly from the MEGAN apriori inventory. This method for estimating biogenic sources of CO will provide an independent constraint on modelled biogenic emissions and has the potential for diagnosing decadal-scale changes in emissions due to land-use change and climate variability.
Nutrient utilization by cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and weeds as influenced by different weed-control methods

A field study was conducted during the winter season of 2003–04 and 2004–05 at Mandor, Jodhpur with 15 weed-management treatments, to study the nutrient uptake by cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) and depletion by associated weeds. Amongst the weed-management treatments, oxyfluorfen and oxadiargyl at 50 g/ha applied 20 days after sowing (DAS) along with 1 hand-weeding 35 DAS caused maximum reduction in weed biomass production and nutrient depletion by weeds 90 DAS and resulted in higher weed-control efficiency. These treatments also enhanced cumin yield, essential oil content in the seed and uptake of N, P and K by the crop and net monetary returns. Weeds in check plots cornered 93.5 kg N, 14.5 kg P and 142.6 kg K/ha recorded 90 DAS, which was significantly higher than in other treatments. Paraquat and glyphosate applied 7 DAS failed to check depletion of nutrients by weeds significantly. Application of oxadiargyl @ 50 g/ha applied 20 DAS was found better than its application 7 DAS. Early post-emergence application of oxyfluorfen and oxadiargyl 50 g/ha followed by 1 hand-weeding computed considerably higher net returns (Rs 25,595 and 24,823/ha respectively) and benefit: cost ratio (2.92 and 2.80), and lower nutrient uptake compared to other integrated weed-control treatments.
Description and validation of high‐throughput simultaneous genotyping and mutation scanning by high‐resolution melting curve analysis

Mutation scanning using high‐resolution melting curve analysis (HR‐melt) is an effective and sensitive method to detect sequence variations. However, the presence of a common SNP within a mutation scanning amplicon may considerably complicate the interpretation of results and increase the number of samples flagged for sequencing by interfering with the clustering of samples according to melting profiles. A protocol describing simultaneous high‐resolution gene scanning and genotyping has been reported. Here, we show that it can improve the sensitivity and the efficiency of large‐scale case–control mutation screening. Two exons of ATM, both containing an SNP interfering with standard mutation scanning, were selected for screening of 1,356 subjects from an international breast cancer genetics study. Asymmetric PCR was performed in the presence of an SNP‐specific unlabeled probe. Stratification of the samples according to their probe‐target melting was aided by customized HR‐melt software. This approach improved identification of rare known and unknown variants, while dramatically reducing the sequencing effort. It even allowed genotyping of tandem SNPs using a single probe. Hence, HR‐melt is a rapid, efficient, and cost‐effective tool that can be used for high‐throughput mutation screening for research, as well as for molecular diagnostic and clinical purposes.Hum Mutat 30:1–7, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tunable whispering-gallery-mode resonance sensor for the detection of dielectric loss of small volume liquid samples

In this paper, a tunable sensor with a decent dynamic range and a superior sensitivity for the detection of dielectric loss of liquid sample droplets in the millimeter-wave frequencies is proposed. The sensor works based on the whispering gallery mode resonances of a dielectric resonator which is coupled to a dielectric waveguide from the bottom. To extract the maximum dynamic range and sensitivity of the sensor, the coupling mechanism between the resonator and the dielectric waveguide has been designed to be controllable by using an adjustable screw. The border of the resonator is the most sensitive area of the sensor because of high interaction between the sample and the resonant fields of the resonator. Theoretical analysis and experimental verification for the proposed sensor are discussed.
TCR Signaling via ZAP-70 Induced by CD3 Stimulation is More ActiveUnder Acidic Conditions

Although the pH values of blood and tissues are usually maintained in a narrow range around 7.4, some diseased areas, such as cancer nests, inflammatory loci, and infarction areas, are acidified. In the present study, the effect of extracellular acidic pH on TCR signaling was examined with human acute leukemia T cell line Jurkat cells because T cell infiltration is often observed in acidic diseased areas. The phosphorylation levels of CD3-ξ ZAP-70, and PLC-γ1 induced by OKT-3, anti-CD3 antibody, were higher at pH 6.3 than those at pH 7.6. The activation of PLC-γ1 induced by OKT-3 was further increased by the co-stimulation with CD28.6, anti- CD28 antibody, at pH 7.6, but not at pH 6.3. The level of cytosolic free calcium ions was increased to a higher level by the addition of OKT-3 at pH 6.3, compared with that by the addition of OKT-3 plus CD28.6 at pH 7.6. Further addition of CD28.6 decreased the level of cytosolic free calcium ions induced by OKT-3 at pH 6.3. The Ca2+ mobilization was strongly inhibited by BTP2, a potent inhibitor of Ca2+ channels in the plasma membrane, at pH 7.6, while the inhibition was weak at pH 6.3. The Ca2+ mobilization at pH 6.3 was dependent on ZAP-70 and LAT, but not SLP-76. The activation of ERK and p38 increased as pH decreased. No activation of ERK2 in the presence of OKT-3 was observed in the Jurkat mutant deficient in ZAP-70 at pH 6.3, while ERK1 was activated by the addition of OKT-3 in this mutant. The expression of IL-2 was not induced by OKT-3 or OKT-3 plus CD28.6 at pH 6.3. These results suggest that the TCR signaling initiated by CD3 stimulation is more active at acidic pH in Jurkat cells and its pathway is different in parts under different pH conditions.
Fungitoxicity of lyophilized and spray-dried garlic extracts

Among the compounds discussed for anti-microbial and anti-fungal use allicin (allylthiosulfinate, diallyl disulfide-S-monoxide), an active ingredient of garlic, has attracted considerable attention. The objective of this study is to determine the antifungal activity of a local garlic ecotype (Voghiera) extracts against different pathogens. Primary screening was carried out by the agar plates technique using ethanol garlic extract at four final concentrations against the following organisms: Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus spp. , Colletotrichum acutatum, Didymella bryoniae, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium avenaceum, Fusarium gramineareum, Gliocladium roseum 47, Pythium splendens, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, Stemphylium vesicarium, Trichoderma longibranchiatum, and Botrytis cinerea. Secondary screening was carried out using a lyophilized and a spray-dried preparation at different concentrations against the organisms selected for the high inhibition garlic effect in the primary screening and compared with the commercial fungicides mancozeb and iprodione. The best results were observed for the spray-dried garlic compound that showed a good fungicidal activity at the concentration of 1.5 g/10 mL while lyophilized garlic at the same concentration exhibithed less inhibition activity against the four fungi analyzed in the second screening.