Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Channels for water flow in epithelia: characteristics and regulation.

Pos and Pd, osmotic and diffusive water permeability coefficients of isolated rabbit proximal tubule (PT) cells (expressed per cm2 of real cell membrane area, in microns/sec) are: Pos 396; Pd, 22; Pos/Pd, 18 (control), and after exposure to parachloromercuribenzenesulfonate (pCMBS): Pos, 32; Pd, 10; Pos/Pd, 3. The sulfhydryl reagent dithiothreitol (DTT) reverts pCMBS action. The activation energies (kcal/mol) are Pos, 3.2 (control); 9.2 (pCMBS); Pd, 5.2 (control) and 9.1 (pCMBS). Thus water channels pierce the control plasma membrane and are reversibly closed by pCMBS. High control PT permeabilities are comparable with those of amphibian urinary bladder and collecting tubules (CT) stimulated with antidiuretic hormone (ADH), and low PT (pCMBS) values with those of CT in the resting state, respectively. Transcellular permeability is regulated in PT by the state of sulfhydryl groups and in CT by ADH induced insertion (or, no ADH, suppression) of water channels. In PT (a) large extracellular markers are dragged by water flow indicating extracellular solute-water interaction, (b) transepithelial Pos is much higher than transcellular Pos. Therefore water also flows paracellularly, in addition to the transcellular flow. In PT paracellular permeability is increased if urea in lumen is higher than in blood. It is reduced in the reverse situation. In CT paracellular permeability is virtually zero (resting condition). It may be increased by high lumen urea. Thus, paracellular permeability (which is significant in control PT and zero in CT) can be regulated by changes in the transepithelial urea concentrations. Transcellular permeability depends on the number of channels/cm2 epithelium, their probability of being opened and their individual permeability. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Further Studies on the Hyperphosphorylated Form (p40) of the Rabies Virus Nominal Phosphoprotein (P)

We investigated possible mechanisms involved in production of a hyperphosphorylated form (p40) of rabies virus P protein, to which two dimensional (2‐D) gel electrophoresis was applied. The P gene products produced in Escherichia coli cells could be detected as a single spot of unphosphorylated 37‐kDa form (termed as p37–0) in a 2‐D gel. The 37‐kDa proteins in the virus‐infected cells are composed of some phosphorylated forms, including a major p37–1 and more phosphorylated minor forms (e.g., p37–2, p37–3, etc.), but little p37–0 is detected (Eriguchi et al., 2002). When the E. coli‐produced P protein analogues were incubated with BHK‐21 cell lysates, heparin‐sensitive phosphorylation occurred as described previously (Takamatsu et al., 1998), giving an additional 40‐kDa spot. However, such a p40‐like derivative displayed a little more basic pI value than that of the authentic p40 produced in the infected cells; hence, the former was termed p40–0 (pI=4.78), while the latter, p40–1 (pI=4.73). In contrast, p40 produced in the P cDNA‐transfected animal cell was detected at the p40–1 position. In addition, staurosporine did not affect the p40–1 production in virus‐infected nor the P cDNA‐transfected animal cells, while the agent reduced production of hyperphosphorylated forms of p37, resulting in accumulation of p37–1, but not of p37–0. These results suggest that, although p37–0 may become a substrate for the heparin‐sensitive protein kinase (PK) in vitro, only p37–1 is a substrate for p40 production catalyzed by heparin‐sensitive PK in animal cells, and staurosporine‐sensitive PK is involved in the production of more phosphorylated forms of p37, but not in p37–1 production from p37–0.
The Role of Diacylglycerol Lipase in Constitutive and Angiotensin AT1 Receptor-stimulated Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Activity*

The cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1R) is a G protein-coupled receptor, which couples to the Gi/o family of heterotrimeric G proteins. The receptor displays both basal and agonist-induced signaling and internalization. Although basal activity of CB1Rs is attributed to constitutive (agonist-independent) receptor activity, studies in neurons suggested a role of postsynaptic endocannabinoid (eCB) release in the persistent activity of presynaptic CB1Rs. To elucidate the role of eCBs in basal CB1R activity, we have investigated the role of diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL) in this process in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which are not targeted specifically with eCBs. Agonist-induced G protein activation was determined by detecting dissociation G protein subunits expressed in CHO cells with bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET), after labeling the α and β subunits with Renilla luciferase and enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP), respectively. Preincubation of the cells with tetrahydrolipstatin (THL), a known inhibitor of DAGLs, caused inhibition of the basal activity of CB1R. Moreover, preincubation of CHO and cultured hippocampal neurons with THL increased the number of CB1Rs on the cell membrane, which reflects its inhibitory action on CB1R internalization in non-simulated cells. In CHO cells co-expressing CB1R and angiotensin AT1 receptors, angiotensin II-induced Go protein activation that was blocked by both a CB1R antagonist and THL. These data indicate that cell-derived eCB mediators have a general role in the basal activity of CB1Rs in non-neural cells and neurons, and that this mechanism can be stimulated by AT1 receptor activation.
Empirical search and characterization of contemporaneity using breaks and regime switching

El presente trabajo describe una nueva tecnica para determinar la contemporaneidad de dos eventos economicos. Luego de ello es posible determinar algunas caracteristicas de la contemporaneidad, siendo esta metodologia un analisis descriptivo previo a considerar causalidad y estimar un modelo. Como ilustracion, analizamos un caso de contemporaneidad entre noticias y volatilidad en mercados financieros. El principal resultado es una curva de Laffer para representar la relacion entre corrupcion y volatilidad dadas las noticias.
The Economics of Low-Rent Housing

A chemist who either discussed his subject, or worked in his laboratory, on the assumption that all elements were equal, or that matter was composed of single homogeneous units called “molecules,” would not remain long in his profession. Force of ridicule, or of some even more drastic happening, would remove him. But the economics of many practical and pressing problems is continually bedevilled by discussions, and even on occasion policies, which involve a sort of stubborn simplification quite unworried by the facts. It is certainly understandable that, in the field of housing, this complaint has arisen frequently from those who have tried to deal with the subject from a social rather than a particularist viewpoint, and in its full dimensions rather than within the limits of some familiar phase. In the effort to get low-rent housing into its proper perspective, there are two obstacles which are particularly troublesome. One is the assumption that all housing “units” are the same, the kind of view which leads to the belief that “one thousand houses built” is the same contribution to national need, no matter what kind of houses they may be. The other is the argument or belief which really involves the assumption that peoples' incomes are broadly equal, and all comfortably above the average. The most frequent version is that most people, or at least a majority, can afford to own their own home, or should be encouraged to do so. A more valid but troublesome one in its “all-or-nothing” form is that cheapening the cost of construction is the “real” problem; and there are other variants. Another version, less frequently heard in these days of pressure, is that people live in slums because they like it.
General Energy Filters for Power Smoothing, Tracking and Processing Using Energy Storage

In the signal processing, active signal filters are commonly used to filter out the zero-average high-frequency components of a signal. In the power system, the power filters are used to filter and control the harmonics in voltages and current waveforms in the concept of power quality. In this paper, we introduce energy filters to filter and control the undesirable frequency components of power flow waveforms in the concept of energy quality. In contrast to the power filters, a family of general energy filters (GEFs) using energy storage is proposed, which virtually work as low-pass filters of power flow and can smooth, track, and process the power flow, as the power filters do with the current and voltage waveforms. In order to illustrate the GEF, the mainstream electrical energy storage (EES) systems are briefly reviewed and classified, and a general model of the EES is developed accordingly. Then, the series, parallel, and series–parallel GEF in the first and second order are proposed, and the focuses are laid on their topologies and controls. Time-domain demonstrations of the GEF based on different implementations are presented on RTDS. Bode plots of the proposed GEF are also obtained through simulations. Finally, key factors in designing GEF for practical applications are briefly discussed.
Decision-making competence in younger and older adults: which cognitive abilities contribute to the application of decision rules?

ABSTRACT Older adults perform worse than younger adults when applying decision rules to choose between options that vary along multiple attributes. Although previous studies have shown that general fluid cognitive abilities contribute to the accurate application of decision rules, relatively little is known about which specific cognitive abilities play the most important role. We examined the independent roles of working memory, verbal fluency, semantic knowledge, and components of executive functioning. We found that age-related decline in applying decision rules was statistically mediated by age-related decline in working memory and verbal fluency. Our results have implications for theories of aging and decision-making.
Identification and Characterization of a New Series of Ghrelin O-Acyl Transferase Inhibitors

Ghrelin O-acyl transferase (GOAT; MBOAT4) catalyzes O-acylation at serine-3 of des-acyl ghrelin. Acyl ghrelin is secreted by stomach X/A-like cells and plays a role in appetite and metabolism. Therefore, GOAT has been expected to be a novel antiobesity target because it is responsible for acyl ghrelin production. Here, we report homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods utilizing human GOAT-expressing microsomes as a novel high-throughput assay system for the discovery of hit compounds and optimization of lead compounds. Hit compounds exemplified by compound A (2-[(2,4-dichlorobenzyl)sulfanyl]-1,3-benzoxazole-5-carboxylic acid) were identified by high-throughput screening using the HTRF assay and confirmed to have GOAT inhibitory activity using the ELISA. Based on the hit compound information, the novel lead compound (compound B, (4-chloro-6-{[2-methyl-6-(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-3-yl]methoxy}-1-benzothiophen-3-yl)acetic acid) was synthesized and exhibited potent GOAT inhibition with oral bioavailability. Both the hit compound and lead compound showed octanoyl-CoA competitive inhibitory activity. Moreover, these two compounds decreased acyl ghrelin production in the stomach of mice after their oral administration. These novel findings demonstrate that GOAT is a druggable target, and its inhibitors are promising antiobesity drugs.
Formyltetrahydrofolate hydrolase, a regulatory enzyme that functions to balance pools of tetrahydrofolate and one-carbon tetrahydrofolate adducts in Escherichia coli

The enzyme encoded by Escherichia coli purU has been overproduced, purified, and characterized. The enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate (formyl-FH4) to FH4 and formate. Formyl-FH4 hydrolase thus generates the formate that is used by purT-encoded 5'-phosphoribosylglycinamide transformylase for step three of de novo purine nucleotide synthesis. Formyl-FH4 hydrolase, a hexamer with 32-kDa subunits, is activated by methionine and inhibited by glycine. Heterotropic cooperativity is observed for activation by methionine in the presence of glycine and for inhibition by glycine in the presence of methionine. These results, along with previous mutant analyses, lead to the conclusion formyl-FH4 hydrolase is a regulatory enzyme whose main function is to balance the pools of FH4 and C1-FH4 in response to changing growth conditions. The enzyme uses methionine and glycine to sense the pools of C1-FH4 and FH4, respectively.
The effects of two different types of bandage contact lenses on the healthy canine eye

OBJECTIVE To compare two types of bandage contact lenses on the healthy canine eye. ANIMALS STUDIED Six healthy Beagles. PROCEDURES Two different types of bandage contact lenses (single sized human silicone contact lens 'PureVision 2' (Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Rochester, NY, USA) and specially designed veterinary hydrogel contact lens 'AcriVet Pat D' (Bausch & Lomb Incorporated) were placed in 12 eyes of healthy Beagle dogs. Retention times and the effects of the lenses regarding irritation of the eye, changes in tear production, impact of contact lenses on tonometric readings, and cytologic and microbiological alterations of the canine eye were investigated. RESULTS Mean retention times for veterinary hydrogel lenses with special dimensions were significantly shorter (2 days) than for one size human silicon lenses (8.8 days). Irritation scores were overall low for both types of lenses apart from one human lens causing severe irritation and keratoconjunctivitis as a sequel to folding and displacement. Tear production remained stable in human contact lenses. Intraocular pressure readings with a contact lens in place were only slightly altered; the most accurate readings were obtained through a human lens with an applanation tonometer. Cytology revealed a slight, nonsignificant increase in neutrophilic granulocytes with both types of lenses; the microflora did not change significantly. DISCUSSION Human silicone lenses have significantly longer retention times and are less expensive than veterinary hydrogel lenses. In regard to irritation, bacterial growth and inflammation, both types of lenses can be recommended for use in canine eyes.
Covariance-based DOA estimation for wideband signals using joint sparse Bayesian learning

The DOA estimation problem for wideband signals has attracted much attention in the past years, and how to utilize and derive the common DOA information among frequency bins is the essential question. We address the wideband DOA estimation problem in this paper, and to solve this problem we propose a joint sparse Bayesian learning algorithm based on the sparse signal representation (SSR) of the covariance vectors at each frequency bins. As the SSR of the covariance vectors are used, the proposed algorithm does not need the prior knowledge of the number of sources, and it is immune to the possible coherence between sources. Furthermore, the joint sparse Bayesian model can efficiently exploit the common DOA information among frequency bins. We employ the expectation-maximization (EM) idea in solving this problem. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can directly give the DOA estimation without the prior knowledge of the number of sources, even when all the sources are coherent.
Implementation of the Peak Stress Method for the automated FEA-assisted design of aluminium welded joints subjected to constant amplitude multiaxial fatigue loads

The Peak Stress Method (PSM) is a FE-oriented local approach to the fatigue strength assessment of welded structures subjected to fatigue loading. Starting from the peak stresses calculated at the V-notch tip nodes defining weld toes or the weld roots, the PSM defines an equivalent peak stress which allows to estimate the fatigue failure location and fatigue lifetime of welded structures, in compliance with appropriate fatigue design curves. An Ansys® Mechanical extension has been developed to achieve full automated implementation of the tasks and calculations necessary to apply the PSM to welded structures. The tool allows to identify and analyse all the V-notch tip edges of the structure and perform fatigue life estimation on each analysed node. As an output, fatigue life results can be visualized through dedicated tabular data, graphs and contour results generated over the edges of the model. In this work, common-to-complex 3D geometries taken from the literature and related to aluminium alloys welded joints subjected to uniaxial as well as multiaxial fatigue loads have been analysed by comparing two design approaches: (i) manual application of the PSM, (ii) automated implementation of the PSM. The tool developed in Ansys® Mechanical allows to significantly contain the time and effort required to analyse welded structures according to the PSM.
Evaluation of a new system for ventilatory administration of nitric oxide

A new system for delivery of nitric oxide (NO) to inspiratory gas consisting of two mass flow regulators and a soda–lime absorber for scavenging of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is described. The system was evaluated using three different techniques for NO analysis (infrared, chemi–luminescence and electro–chemical fuel cell technique). The electro–chemical fuel cell was less sensitive to humidity in the sample and is suitable for clinical routine use. The infrared analyser was very sensitive to humidity and the gas sample must be dried by silica gel, which absorbs NO2 and will cause falsely low NO2 values. NO2 was analysed with ultra–violet methodology. NO2 is highly toxic and the highest recommended occupational health and safety level for inhalation is 5 ppm. The highest values of NO2 in our system were detected before the absorber in the inspiratory limb of the breathing system, being 5 ppm at 100% oxygen and 100 ppm NO using “infant” respiratory settings (3 1/min in ventilation, frequency of 30/min). The corresponding value for “adult” respiratory settings (10 1/min in ventilation, frequency of 15/min) was 3.2 ppm. The absorber reduced these levels to well below 1 ppm. When clinically relevant levels of NO were used (20 ppm), no NO2 could be detected after the absorber, irrespective of oxygen concentration in the breathing gas. It was observed that gas cylinders with NO mixed in nitrogen may initially have a high NO2 concentration (around 12 ppm) and should be flushed thoroughly before use.
Multi-view Feature Learning with Discriminative Regularization

More and more multi-view data which can capture rich information from heterogeneous features are widely used in real world applications. How to integrate different types of features, and how to learn low dimensional and discriminative information from high dimensional data are two main challenges. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel multi-view feature learning framework, which is regularized by discriminative information and obtains a feature learning model which contains multiple discriminative feature weighting matrices for different views, and then yields multiple low dimensional features used for subsequent multi-view clustering. To optimize the formulable objective function, we transform the proposed framework into a trace optimization problem which obtains the global solution in a closed form. Experimental evaluations on four widely used datasets and comparisons with a number of state-of-the-art multi-view clustering algorithms demonstrate the superiority of the proposed work.
Unsupervised video orchestration based on aesthetic features

In this work, the problem of dynamic video scene creation obtained by combining information extracted from multiple video sequences is considered. The main novelty of the proposed approach relies on the use of aesthetic features for automatically aggregating the inputs from different cameras in a unique video. While prior methodologies have separately addressed the issues of aesthetic feature extraction from videos and video orchestration, in this work we exploit selected features of a scene for automatically selecting the shots being characterized by the best aesthetic score. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a subjective experiment has been carried out with experts from the audiovisual field. The achieved results are encouraging and show that there is space for improving the performances.
Semantic network discussion representation: applicability and some potential benefits

Collaborative tools typically employ linear threading for representing and organizing the contributions of the discussants. We argue that linear representations provide little support for the conceptualization, contextualization, and visualization of the discussion. To address these drawbacks, we propose the usage of semantic networks for representing discussions. In this paper, we demonstrate the applicability of semantic network representation to discussions through the development of a prototype named CollectiveThought. We also test some of the potential benefits of semantic network discussion representation with an empirical study. More specifically, we compare these two modes of discussion representation (i.e., linear versus semantic network) in terms of effects on the communication process as measured by perceived contextualization and on the communication outcome as measured by mutual understanding, using both subjective and objective indicators. The results show that semantic network discussion representation leads to a higher level of perceived contextualization and better mutual understanding.
Performance analysis of coexisting IEEE 802.15.4-based health monitoring WBANs

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) for health monitoring systems are required to meet stringent performance demands regarding the tradeoff between reliability, latency, and power efficiency. WBANs feature limited range and bandwidth and they are prone to interference. Considering the life-critical nature of some WBAN systems, we present an in-depth investigation of the situations where the dynamic coexistence of multiple WBANs may severely affect their performances. In this paper, we analytically study the effect of coexistence on the operation of WBANs. We present a mathematical analysis to precisely obtain the probabilities of successful communication and validate this analysis through simulation. Our simulation analysis indicates that in the default mode of operation, coexistence of three WBANs can lead to the loss of 20-85% of data transmissions for typical sensor configurations.