Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zinc-finger protein 145, acting as an upstream regulator of SOX9, improves the differentiation potential of human mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage regeneration and repair.

OBJECTIVE Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) represent one of the most promising stem cell therapies for traumatic injury and age-related degenerative diseases involving cartilage. However, few genetic factors regulating chondrogenesis of MSCs have been identified. One study showed that zinc-finger protein 145 (ZNF145), a transcription factor, was up-regulated during 3-lineage differentiation of hMSCs. The present study was undertaken to validate whether this novel transcription factor is useful for the repair and regeneration of cartilage. METHODS Human MSCs were transfected with lentiviral short hairpin RNA (for small interfering RNA knockdown of ZNF145) and a lentiviral vector for overexpression of ZNF145, and the effects of ZNF145 on chondrogenesis were studied using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunostaining. Microarray and transient expression analyses were used to determine whether ZNF145 is a factor operating upstream of SOX9. Allogeneic transplantation of hMSCs into osteochondral defects in rats was performed to determine the effects of ZNF145 on repair of cartilage in vivo. RESULTS Small interfering RNA-mediated gene silencing of ZNF145 slowed down chondrogenesis, whereas overexpression of ZNF145 enhanced chondrogenesis. Global gene expression profiling showed up-regulated gene expression in ZNF145-overexpressing MSCs, and transient overexpression of ZNF145 enhanced the expression of SOX9, suggesting that ZNF145 acts as a factor upstream of SOX9, the master regulator of chondrogenesis. Moreover, allogeneic transplantation of hMSCs into osteochondral defects of rat knees showed that ZNF145-overexpressing MSCs repaired cartilage defects better and earlier than empty control MSCs. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that ZNF145 gene therapy may be a very useful strategy for improving the quality of cartilage regeneration and repair.
Ticking Away the Moments: Timing Regularity Helps to Better Predict Customer Activity

Accurate predictions of a customer’s activity status and future purchase propensities are crucial for managing customer relationships. This article extends the recency–frequency paradigm of customer-base analysis by integrating regularity in interpurchase timing in a modeling framework. By definition, regularity implies less variation in timing patterns and thus better predictability. Whereas most stochastic customer behavior models assume a Poisson process of “random” purchase occurrence, allowing for regularity in the purchase timings is beneficial in noncontractual settings because it improves inferences about customers’ latent activity status. This especially applies to those valuable customers who were previously very frequently active but have recently exhibited a longer purchase hiatus. A newly developed generalization of the well-known Pareto/NBD model accounts for varying degrees of regularity across customers by replacing the NBD component with a mixture of gamma distributions (labeled Pareto/GGG). The authors demonstrate the impact of incorporating regularity on forecasting accuracy using an extensive simulation study and a range of empirical applications. Even for mildly regular timing patterns, it is possible to improve customer-level predictions; the stronger the regularity, the greater the gain. Furthermore, the cost in terms of data requirements is marginal because only one additional summary statistic, in addition to recency and frequency, is needed that captures historical transaction timing.Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi. org/10.1287/mksc.2015. 0963 .
Postresuscitation left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Treatment with dobutamine.

BACKGROUND Global left ventricular dysfunction after successful resuscitation is well documented and appears to be a major contributing factor in limiting long-term survival after initial recovery from out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death. Treatment of such postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction has not been examined previously. METHODS AND RESULTS Systolic and diastolic parameters of left ventricular function were measured in 27 swine before and after successful resuscitation from prolonged ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest. Dobutamine infusions (10 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 in 14 animals or 5 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 in 5 animals) begun 15 minutes after resuscitation were compared with controls receiving no treatment (8 animals). The marked deterioration in systolic and diastolic left ventricular function seen in the control group after resuscitation was ameliorated in the dobutamine-treated animals. Left ventricular ejection fraction fell from a prearrest 58 +/- 3% to 25 +/- 3% at 5 hours after resuscitation in the control group but remained unchanged in the dobutamine (10 micrograms.kg-1.min-1) group (52 +/- 1% prearrest and 55 +/- 3% at 5 hours after resuscitation). Measurement of the constant of isovolumic relaxation of the left ventricle (tau) demonstrated a similar benefit of the dobutamine infusion for overcoming postresuscitation diastolic dysfunction. The tau rose in the controls from 28 +/- 1 milliseconds (ms) prearrest to 41 +/- 3 ms at 5 hours after resuscitation whereas it remained constant in the dobutamine-treated animals (31 +/- 1 ms prearrest and 31 +/- 5 ms at 5 hours after resuscitation). CONCLUSIONS Dobutamine begun within 15 minutes of successful resuscitation can successfully overcome the global systolic and diastolic left ventricular dysfunction resulting from prolonged cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Koopman operator framework for constrained state estimation

This paper presents a novel Koopman operator theoretic approach for nonlinear constrained state estimation (CSE) with non-convex state constraints. Exploiting linear representation induced by Koopman operator, we show that under certain conditions the CSE problem can be transformed into a higher dimensional but convex problem. This could provide significant benefit in real time applications. We numerically demonstrate the efficacy of proposed approach and report superior performance compared to convexification based on successive linearization.
Associations of ApoAI and ApoB–Containing Lipoproteins With AngII–Induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Mice

Objective—Dyslipidemia is implicated in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) in humans and angiotensin (Ang) II–infused mice. This study determined effects of major lipoprotein classes on AngII-induced AAAs using multiple mouse strains with dietary and pharmacological manipulations. Approach and Results—Western diet had minor effects on plasma cholesterol concentrations and the low incidence of AngII-induced AAAs in C57BL/6J mice. Low incidence of AAAs in this strain was not attributed to protection from high-density lipoprotein, because apolipoprotein (apo) AI deficiency did not increase AngII-induced AAAs. ApoAI deletion also failed to alter AAA occurrence in hypercholesterolemic mice. Low-density lipoprotein receptor−/− mice fed normal diet had low incidence of AngII-induced AAAs. Western diet feeding of this strain provoked pronounced hypercholesterolemia because of increased apoB-containing lipoproteins with attendant increases of atherosclerosis in both sexes, but AAAs only in male mice. ApoE-deficient mice fed normal diet were modestly hypercholesterolemic, whereas this strain fed Western diet was severely hypercholesterolemic because of increased apoB-containing lipoprotein concentrations. The latter augmented atherosclerosis, but did not change the high incidence of AAAs in this strain. To determine whether reductions in apoB-containing lipoproteins influenced AngII-induced AAAs, ezetimibe was administered at a dose that partially reduced plasma cholesterol concentrations to ApoE-deficient mice fed Western diet. This decreased atherosclerosis, but not AAAs. This ezetimibe dose in ApoE-deficient mice fed normal diet significantly decreased plasma apoB-containing lipoprotein concentrations and reduced AngII-induced AAAs. Conclusions—ApoB-containing lipoproteins contribute to augmentation of AngII-induced AAA in male mice. However, unlike atherosclerosis, AAA occurrence was not correlated with increases in plasma apoB-containing lipoprotein concentrations.
N-contacts degradation analysis of white flip chip LEDs during reliability tests

Current and temperature aging have been conducted on flip chip high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) with Al-Ni-Ti-Au n-contacts. Electrical and optical characteristics have been monitored during aging and a forward voltage increase has been observed. In order to understand this behavior, cross sections have been made on representative aged samples. For LEDs with a forward voltage shift, in the n-contact area, Au-Al inter-diffusion leading to a possible formation of Au-Al intermetallic compounds has been observed. We propose here to analyze the failure modes; the related failure mechanism(s) and consequences on LED flip chip reliability.
Large-scale gene discovery in the oomycete Phytophthora infestans reveals likely components of phytopathogenicity shared with true fungi.

To overview the gene content of the important pathogen Phytophthora infestans, large-scale cDNA and genomic sequencing was performed. A set of 75,757 high-quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from P. infestans was obtained from 20 cDNA libraries representing a broad range of growth conditions, stress responses, and developmental stages. These included libraries from P. infestans-potato and -tomato interactions, from which 963 pathogen ESTs were identified. To complement the ESTs, onefold coveragethe P. infestans genome was obtained and regions of coding potential identified. A unigene set of 18,256 sequences was derived from the EST and genomic data and characterized for potential functions, stage-specific patterns of expression, and codon bias. Cluster analysis of ESTs revealed major differences between the expressed gene content of mycelial and spore-related stages, and affinities between some growth conditions. Comparisons with databases of fungal pathogenicity genes revealed conserved elements of pa.
Twin-stack decoding of recursive systematic convolutional codes

We present a method for soft-in/soft-out sequential decoding of recursive systematic convolutional codes. The proposed decoder, the twin-stack decoder, is an extension of the well-known ZJ stack decoder, and it uses two stacks. The use of the two stacks lends itself to the generation of soft outputs, and the decoder is easily incorporated into the iterative "turbo" configuration. Under thresholded decoding, it is observed that the decoder is capable of achieving near-maximum a posteriori bit-error rate performance at moderate to high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Also, in the iterative (turbo) configuration, at moderate SNRs (above 2.0 dB), the performance of the proposed decoder is within 1.5 dB of the BCJR algorithm for a 16-state, R=1/3, recursive code, but this difference narrows progressively at higher SNRs. The complexity of the decoder asymptotically decreases (with SNR) as 1/(number of states), providing a good tradeoff between computational burden and performance. The proposed decoder is also within 1.0 dB of other well-known suboptimal soft-out decoding techniques.
Is Sperm Hyaluronidase Indispensable in Mammalian Fertilization

Fertilization involves several precisely coordinated steps, including sperm dispersal of the oocyte cumulus mass, adhesion and binding to the zona pellucida, penetration through the zona pellucida, and fusion with the oocyte. Hyaluronidase, which is present in the sperm head, is known to be essential for the decomposition of the oocyte cumulus mass. Interestingly, two types of hyaluronidase—SPAM1 and —Hyal5 have been discovered in rodents, while only SPAM1 has been reported in other mammals such as pigs and humans. SPAM1 localizes to the plasma membrane of the sperm, while Hyal5 is present on the plasma and the outer acrosomal membranes. Male mice lacking either one of these two hyaluronidases can fertilize normally, suggesting that neither SPAM1 nor Hyal5 is essential for fertilization in mice. Although it has been 30 years since the discovery of hyaluronidase, its role in fertilization remains unclear. This review focuses on whether hyaluronidase is essential for fertilization in mammals.
PET with 18F-DOPA in the imaging of parathyroid adenoma in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Summary: Preoperative localization of parathyroid adenomas (PA) can shorten operation time and improve curative rate; it becomes especially important in minimally invasive surgical techniques. Aim of this study was to investigate whether positron emission tomography (PET) with 3-,4-dihydroxy- 6-18F-fluorophenylalanine (18F-DOPA), which showed very promising results in other neuroendocrine tumours, also helps to localize PA. Patients, methods: Eight patients with proven primary hyperparathyroidism were studied preoperatively with PET. Seven also underwent scintigraphy with 99mTc-MIBI and ultrasonography of the neck. All patients were operated and the histological finding was used as a gold standard. Results: All eight patients had a histologically proven PA. None of the PA showed any detectable uptake of 18F-DOPA. However, ultrasonography detected 5/7 PA, scintigraphy detected 3/7 PA. Conclusion: These results suggest that PET with 18F-DOPA is not useful in the detection of PA in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.
Distribution of bulbil- and seed-producing plants of Poa alpina (Poaceae) and their growth and reproduction in common gardens suggest adaptation to different elevations.

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY The European Alps harbor a spatially heterogeneous environment. Plants can be adapted genetically to this heterogeneity but may also respond to it by phenotypic plasticity. We expected the important fodder grass Poa alpina to be adapted to elevation either genetically or plastically. • METHODS We investigated in three elevational common gardens whether growth and reproductive allocation of plants reproducing either by seeds or bulbils suggest adaptation to their elevation of origin and to what extent they can respond plastically to different elevations. Additionally, we analyzed genetic diversity using microsatellites and tested whether seeds are of sexual origin. • KEY RESULTS In the field, bulbil-producing plants occurred more often at higher elevations, whereas seed-producing plants occurred more often at lower elevations, but bulbil-producing plants were generally less vigorous in the common gardens. The response of plants to elevational transplantation was highly plastic, and vigor was always best at the highest location. The small genetic differences were not clinally related to elevation of origin, underlining the importance of phenotypic plasticity. Reproductive allocation was, however, independent of elevational treatments. Seed-producing plants had higher genetic diversity than the bulbil-producing plants even though we found that seed-producing plants were facultative apomicts mostly reproducing asexually. • CONCLUSIONS Bulbil-producing P. alpina, showing a fitness cost at lower elevations compared with seed-producing plants, seem better adapted to higher elevations. By means of its two reproductive modes and the capacity to adjust plastically, P. alpina is able to occupy a broad ecological niche across a large elevational range.
Specific cellular and humoral immune responses in patients with different long-term courses of alveolar echinococcosis (infection with Echinococcus multilocularis).

Alveolar echinococcosis is a serious and often fatal disease of humans that in most cases can be efficiently cured only by complete surgical resection of the Echinococcus multilocularis lesion. In a few patients, however, a spontaneous cure of the disease has been observed by demonstrating the presence of lesions with dead metacestodes. The present study shows a comparative analysis of the cellular (lymphoproliferative assay) and humoral (antibody activity in an Em2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and immunoblotting) immune response in 1) patients who were cured by a radical surgical resection of the E. multilocularis parasite lesion, 2) patients who had a partial surgical resection of the parasite lesion, 3) patients who had a non-resectable alveolar echinococcosis, and 4) patients who were shown to be spontaneously cured and had lesions with dead parasites. The in vitro lymphoproliferative response to E. multilocularis antigen stimulation was very high in cured patients who had radical surgery or in patients with lesions containing dead parasites, but it was significantly lower in patients who had partial surgical or no resection. Antibody concentrations in the Em2-ELISA were high in patients who had incomplete or no surgery, and low or negative in cured patients who had radical surgery or in patients with lesions containing dead parasites. Immunoblot analysis of patient sera revealed a consistent antibody banding pattern among cured patients with radical surgery and patients with incomplete or no surgery, whereas cured patients with lesions containing dead parasites showed a very faint antibody pattern. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Upregulation of mortalin/mthsp70/Grp75 contributes to human carcinogenesis

Mortalin, also known as mthsp70/GRP75/PBP74, interacts with the tumor suppressor protein p53 and inactivates its transcriptional activation and apoptotic functions. Here, we examined the level of mortalin expression in a large variety of tumor tissues, tumor‐derived and in vitro immortalized human cells. It was elevated in many human tumors, and in all of the tumor‐derived and in vitro immortalized cells. In human embryonic fibroblasts immortalized with an expression plasmid for hTERT, the telomerase catalytic subunit, with or without human papillomavirus E6 and E7 genes, we found that subclones with spontaneously increased mortalin expression levels became anchorage‐independent and acquired the ability to form tumors in nude mice. Furthermore, overexpression of mortalin was sufficient to increase the malignancy of breast carcinoma cells. The study demonstrates that upregulation of mortalin contributes significantly to tumorigenesis, and thus is a good candidate target for cancer therapy. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
On Hierarchical Threshold Access Structures

Abstract : One of the recent generalizations of (t, n) secret sharing for hierarchical threshold access structures is given by Tassa, where he answers the natural question of sharing a secret among a set of participants, say military officers, so that the secret can be constructed by a group of participants, some of whom are hierarchically superior to others. Both recent schemes proposed by Tassa for addressing this problem require some significant amount of theoretical background. We give a conceptually simpler alternative for the understanding of the realization of hierarchical threshold access structures and we consider perfectness of our scheme with the help of computer experiments. Our simple scheme employs a slightly different approach than previous works, as it involves a certain distribution of polynomials, where members of higher compartments are given a summation of evaluations of higher number of polynomials, resulting in a hierarchical effect. We further consider some alternative hierarchical access structures having potential to be applied in military. The access structures that we consider are realized herein with a simple employment of the well known building blocks such as Lagrange interpolation and access structure product and can be realized with an information rate at worst 1/m.
Shared neuroendocrine patterns of post‐traumatic stress disorder and alexithymia.

&NA; High norepinephrine/cortisol ratios have been shown to be useful indicators of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alexithymia can result from overwhelming stress; thus, we hypothesized that sympathetic‐adrenal medullary/hypothalamic‐pituitary adrenal ratios would be positively associated with alexithymia severity. In the present study, we correlated 3‐methoxy‐4‐hydroxyphenylethylene glycol (MHPG)/adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and MHPG/cortisol ratios with self‐report Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) scores in a group (n = 17) of nondepressed, formerly alcohol‐dependent men. The correlations between the respective ratios and TAS scores were 0.515 (p = 0.034) and 0.561 (p = 0.019). We suggest that increasing degrees of alexithymia are accompanied by an increasing separation of these two endocrine systems and then speculate that this dissociation has an anatomical basis in the lateralization of emotions.
Low complexity FEC Systems for Satellite Communication

In order to address low power, low processing delay requirement of emerging satellite communication systems, there is a need for low complexity small block length forward error correction (FEC) codes. Furthermore the new trends towards the convergence of wireless and satellite terminals would also mean co-existence of support for very short and the long blocks of data in the same device. In this context a novel next generation high performance 4K low density parity check (LDPC) code is introduced in the paper. The error performance results for the proposed code are presented showing significant improvement of performance/complexity metrics over existing FEC systems.
User-Centric Android Flexible Permissions

Privacy in mobile apps is a fundamental aspect to be considered, particularly with regard to meeting end user expectations. Due to the rigidities of the Android permission model, desirable trade-offs are not allowed. End users are confined into a secondary role, having the only option of choosing between either privacy or functionalities. This work proposes a user-centric approach to the flexible management of Android permissions that empowers end users to specify the desired level of permissions on a per-feature basis.
Underwater Atomic Force Microscope: Instrumentation, operation, and measurements

We developed and tested an Underwater Atomic Force Microscope (UAFM) system and conducted in situ measurements in a deep sea environment. The developed UAFM is compact, mobile, and mountable on underwater vehicles or submersible seafloor platforms. It is intended for in situ observation of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) and microparticles (e.g., mineral components) with a nanometer-scale spatial resolution in various ocean environments and particularly near hydrothermal features in the deep sea. We developed two unique instrumental mechanisms that allow the UAFM system to be remotely operated from a research vessel. The first is a self-sensitive cantilever, obviating the manual alignment of optics that is needed when using an optically based deflection sensor. To allow the self-sensitive cantilever to be used in electrolytic solutions such as deep sea water, the surface of the cantilever was coated with a thin layer of Parylene. The second innovation is that the observation specimens are remotely introduced into the main UAFM unit and fixed on the sample stage using a filter-integrated sample scanner. The UAFM is operated by a control system on a single-board computer, running over a specially written program. This system can be used to collect information on oceanic ecosystems and material circulation patterns by monitoring the spatial distribution of the micrometer-scale particles and analyzing their interactions with other physical and chemical parameters.