Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osthole alleviates inflammation by down-regulating NF-κB signaling pathway in traumatic brain injury

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common neurotrosis disorder of the central nervous system (CNS), which has dramatic consequences on the integrity of damaged tissue. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effect and anti-inflammatory actions of osthole, a natural coumarin derivative, in both in vivo and in vitro TBI models. We first prepared a mouse model of cortical stab wound brain injury, investigated the capacity for osthole to prevent secondary brain injury and further examined the underlying mechanism. We revealed that osthole significantly improved the neurological function, increased the number of neurons beside injured site. Additionally, osthole treatment reduced the expression of microglia and glial scar, lowered the level of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and blocked the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Furthermore, the protective effect of osthole was also examined in SH-SY5Y cells subjected to scratch injury. Treatment of osthole prominently suppressed cell apoptosis and inflammatory factors release by blocking injury-induced IκB-α phosphorylation and NF-κB translocation, and upregulated the IκB-α which functions in the NF-κB signaling pathway of SH-SY5Y cells. However, NF-κB signaling pathway was inhibited by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an NF-κB inhibitor, the anti-inflammatory effect of osthole was abolished. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that osthole attenuated inflammatory response by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway in TBI.
Are there bidirectional relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and depressive symptoms? A fixed effects analysis of Swedish national panel survey data

Objectives Psychosocial work characteristics have been prospectively associated with depressive symptoms. However, methodological limitations have raised questions regarding causality. It is also unclear to what extent depressive symptoms affect the experience of the psychosocial work environment. We examined contemporaneous (measured simultaneously) and lagged bidirectional relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and depressive symptoms, simultaneously controlling for time-stable individual characteristics. Methods We included 3947 subjects in the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), with self-reported job demands, control, social support, work efforts, rewards, procedural justice and depressive symptoms in four waves 2010–2016. We applied dynamic panel models with fixed effects, using structural equation modelling, adjusting for all time-stable individual characteristics such as personality and pre-employment factors. Results Higher levels of job demands, job demands in relation to control, work efforts and efforts in relation to rewards were contemporaneously associated with more depressive symptoms (standardised β: 0.18–0.25, p<0.001), while higher levels of workplace social support, rewards at work and procedural justice were associated with less depressive symptoms (β: −0.18, p<0.001,β: –0.16, p<0.001 and β: −0.09, p<0.01, respectively). In contrast, only work efforts predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms 2 years later (β: 0.05, p<0.05). No other lagged associations were found in any direction. Conclusions After controlling for all time-invariant confounding, our results suggest that psychosocial work characteristics predominantly affect depressive symptoms immediately or with only a short time lag. Furthermore, we found no evidence of reverse causation. This indicates short-term causal associations, although the temporal precedence of psychosocial work characteristics remains uncertain.
Assessing the potential impact of vector-borne disease transmission following heavy rainfall events: a mathematical framework

Predicting the impact of natural disasters such as hurricanes on the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases poses significant challenges. In this paper, we put forward a simple modelling framework to investigate the impact of heavy rainfall events (HREs) on mosquito-borne disease transmission in temperate areas of the world such as the southern coastal areas of the USA. In particular, we explore the impact of the timing of HREs relative to the transmission season via analyses that test the sensitivity of HRE-induced epidemics to variation in the effects of rainfall on the dynamics of mosquito breeding capacity, and the intensity and temporal profile of human population displacement patterns. The recent Hurricane Harvey in Texas motivates the simulations reported. Overall, we find that the impact of vector-borne disease transmission is likely to be greater the earlier the HREs occur in the transmission season. Simulations based on data for Hurricane Harvey suggest that the limited impact it had on vector-borne disease transmission was in part because of when it occurred (late August) relative to the local transmission season, and in part because of the mitigating effect of the displacement of people. We also highlight key data gaps related to models of vector-borne disease transmission in the context of natural disasters. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: approaches and important themes’. This issue is linked with the subsequent theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: epidemic forecasting and control’.
Dynamic Fault Tolerant Scheduling Mechanism for Real Time Tasks in cloud computing

Now-a-days cloud makes a success in various fields such as financial transaction, scientific computing and so on. Reliability and Availability are most important between cloud provider and user. Fault tolerance plays a major role for using cloud services for industry and scientific specific purposes. In the present work, we focus on fault tolerance and resource allocation policies for cloud environments. In the existing system, Primary Backup (PB) model is used, but it does not contain any dynamic resource allocating mechanism. We propose a dynamic resource allocating mechanism with fault tolerance to improve resource utilization. We incorporate a backup overlapping mechanism and efficient VM migration strategy for designing novel Dynamic Fault Tolerant Scheduling Mechanism for Real Time Tasks in cloud computing. Our proposed model aims at achieving both fault tolerance and high resource utilization in the cloud. The experiments are evaluated using random synthetic workload and Google cloud trace logs to test the efficiency of our proposed model.
Exploiting Conversation Features for Finding Topics in Emails

Our ongoing research addresses the task of ﬁnding topics at the sentence level in email conversations. We ﬁrst describe how the existing topic models can be applied to this problem. Then we demonstrate why the existing methods are inadequate for this task and what more we need to consider. With an experiment we further show that conversation structure in the form of fragment quotation graph can be helpful for ﬁnding topics. To this end, we propose a novel graph-theoretic framework to solve the problem. Crucial to our proposed approach is that it captures the rich conversation features and integrates the strengths of the supervised approach with the unsupervised technique
Between the Lines: A Qualitative Phenomenological Analysis of the Therapeutic Alliance in Pediatric Physical Therapy

Abstract Aim: To explore perceptions and preferences of children, parents, and physical therapists regarding the therapeutic alliance in pediatric physical therapy in a rehabilitation setting. Methods: Qualitative phenomenological analysis of interviews with children (n = 10), their parents (n = 10), and physical therapists (n = 10). Results: Three themes were identified: importance of trust in the physical therapist, transparency in sharing information, and negotiation concerning goals and tasks of treatment. Parents considered trust in the therapist’s relational skills of greater importance to the therapeutic alliance than the therapist’s technical skills. Although the physical therapists showed a strong willingness to meet the needs of children and parents, they seemed unaware of the emotional impact of positional inequality and the differences in roles and tasks of children, parents, and therapists during the treatment. Conclusion: All participants emphasized the importance of the quality of the therapeutic alliance. Nevertheless, positional inequality and differences in roles and tasks appeared to influence negotiation about goals and tasks of treatment. Children and parents are in a dependent relationship with the physical therapist. Physical therapists are challenged to find the right balance between their professional position and input on the one hand, and the emotional needs of child and parents on the other hand.
MiR-124 sensitizes cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity against CD133+ hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting SIRT1/ROS/JNK pathway

Drug resistance is still a major obstacle for efficient treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during the cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Recent studies have demonstrated that CD133 positive population of cancer cells are responsible for multiple drug resistance. We are supposed to take strategies to sensitize CD133+ HCC cells to cisplatin treatment. In the present study, CD133+ HCC cells showed significant cisplatin-resistance compared to the CD133- HCC cells. Downregulation of miR-124 was observed in CD133+ HCC cells. However, enforced expression of miR-124 can increase the sensitivity of CD133+ HCC cells to cisplatin treatment in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, overexpression of miR-124 was found to inhibit the expression of SIRT1 and thus promoted the generation of ROS and phosphorylation of JNK. As the results, overexpression of miR-124 expanded the apoptosis in cisplatin-treated CD133+ HCC cells. We then demonstrated that overexpression of miR-124 sensitized cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity against CD133+ hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting SIRT1/ROS/JNK pathway.
Large-Range Polymer Optical-Fiber Strain-Gauge Sensor for Elastic Tendons in Wearable Assistive Robots

This paper presents the development and validation of a polymer optical-fiber strain-gauge sensor based on the light-coupling principle to measure axial deformation of elastic tendons incorporated in soft actuators for wearable assistive robots. An analytical model was proposed and further validated with experiment tests, showing correlation with a coefficient of R = 0.998 between experiment and theoretical data, and reaching a maximum axial displacement range of 15 mm and no significant hysteresis. Furthermore, experiment tests were carried out attaching the validated sensor to the elastic tendon. Results of three experiment tests show the sensor’s capability to measure the tendon’s response under tensile axial stress, finding 20.45% of hysteresis in the material’s response between the stretching and recovery phase. Based on these results, there is evidence of the potential that the fiber-optical strain sensor presents for future applications in the characterization of such tendons and identification of dynamic models that allow the understanding of the material’s response to the development of more efficient interaction-control strategies.
The Physical Layer of the IEEE 802.11p WAVE Communication Standard: The Specifications and Challenges

In the recent years, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) emerged with great interest due to their impact in reducing traffic jams and increasing safety as well as alternative emergency communication system in case of natural disasters, when there is lack of ordinary communication systems. IEEE 802.11p standard known as Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) is specially developed to adapt VANETs requirements and support intelligent transport systems (ITS). The performance of WAVE physical layer is one of the important factors that play a great role in the communication process. This paper presented an overview of the physical layer (PHY) of the IEEE 802.11p standard. The specifications, components, performance and challenges of the PHY layer are discussed and analyzed. Index Terms—VANET, WAVE, IEEE 802.11p, PHY, IEEE 802.11 frequency band, OFDM, preamble
Future Generation Computer Systems

In a data center, virtual machine consolidation has been proposed to improve the resource utilization and energy efficiency. An effective and efficient virtual machine consolidation method should achieve an appropriate balance among multiple goals, including guaranteeing service quality, reducing energy consumption and maximizing resource utilization. This problem is a multi-objective optimization problem with multiple resource constraints. To solve this problem
Positions of His‐64 and a bound water in human carbonic anhydrase II upon binding three structurally related inhibitors

The 3‐dimensional structure of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII; EC 4.2.1.1) complexed with 3 structurally related inhibitors, la, lb, and lc, has been determined by X‐ray crystallographic methods. The 3 inhibitors (la = C8H12N2O4S3) vary only in the length of the substituent on the 4‐amino group: la, proton; lb, methyl; and lc, ethyl. The binding constants (Ki's) for la, Ib, and lc to HCAII are 1.52, 1.88, and 0.37 nM, respectively. These structures were solved to learn if any structural cause could be found for the difference in binding. In the complex with inhibitors la and lb, electron density can be observed for His‐64 and a bound water molecule in the native positions. When inhibitor lc is bound, the side chain attached to the 4‐amino group is positioned so that His‐64 can only occupy the alternate position and the bound water is absent. While a variety of factors contribute to the observed binding constants, the major reason lc binds tighter to HCAII than does la or lb appears to be entropy: the increase in entropy when the bound water molecule is released contributes to the increase in binding and overcomes the small penalty for putting the His‐64 side chain in a higher energy state.
CbADH1 improves plant cold tolerance

ABSTRACT ADH1 (alcohol dehydrogenase 1) was involved in plant growth and development and responded to various stresses. We published a cold-induced alcohol dehydrogenase 1 gene from C. bungeana, CbADH1, which exists 43 unique amino acids. Here, we confirmed that overexpression of CbADH1 in Arabidopsis and tobacco significantly improved cold shock tolerance through electrolyte leakage, semi-lethal temperature, phenotypic and survival analysis. These results indicate that CbADH1 is the candidate gene to improve the ability of plant freezing resistance, and it has great application value.
Research of a novel miniature tactile sensor for five-finger dexterous robot hand

This paper presents a novel miniature tactile sensor of DLR/HIT II dexterous robot hand and outlines the calibration experiments performed. The sensor is based on a piezoresistive mechanism with a highly integrated and miniaturized design. The operating principle of the proposed sensor is explained. The elastic architecture of the proposed sensor is also described. Multiple electrodes are mounted on the the sensor, with rows-column scanning for the acquisition sensor data. The sensor has a large resistance range from 16kΩ to 920kΩ. The experimental results have demonstrated a measurement range of up to approximately 600kPa. The calibration results indicate clear linearity within the measured range.
Prognostic Value of a Four-miRNA Signature in Patients With Lymph Node Positive Locoregional Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Undergoing Complete Surgical Resection

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Objective: This study was intended to identify prognostic biomarkers for lymph node (LN)-positive locoregional esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. Summary of Background Data: Surgery is a major treatment for LN-positive locoregional ESCC patients in China. However, patient outcomes are poor and heterogeneous. Methods: ESCC-associated miRNAs were identified by microarray and validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses in ESCC and normal esophageal epithelial samples. A multi-miRNA based classifier was established using a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator model in a training set of 145 LN-positive locoregional ESCCs, and further assessed in internal testing and independent validation sets of 145 and 243 patients, respectively. Results: Twenty ESCC-associated miRNAs were identified and validated. A 4-miRNA based classifier (miR-135b-5p, miR-139-5p, miR-29c-5p, and miR-338-3p) was generated to classify LN-positive locoregional ESCC patients into high and low-risk groups. Patients with high-risk scores in the training set had a lower 5-year overall survival rate [8.7%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0–20.3] than those with low-risk scores (50.3%, 95% CI: 40.0–60.7; P < 0.0001). The prognostic accuracy of the classifier was validated in the internal testing (P < 0.0001) and independent validation sets (P = 0.00073). Multivariate survival analyses showed that the 4-miRNA based classifier was an independent prognostic factor, and the combination of the 4-miRNA based classifier and clinicopathological prognostic factors significantly improved the prognostic accuracy of clinicopathological prognostic factors alone. Conclusion: Our 4-miRNA based classifier is a reliable prognostic prediction tool for overall survival in LN-positive locoregional ESCC patients and might offer a novel probability of ESCC treatment individualization.
Association Between Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction, Wall Motion Abnormality, and Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source

Background It is uncertain whether there is an association between left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (LVEF) or LV wall motion abnormality and embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). Methods and Results We performed a retrospective, cross‐sectional study of patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the CAESAR (Cornell Acute Stroke Academic Registry) from 2011 to 2016. We restricted this study to patients with ESUS and, as controls, those with small‐ and large‐artery ischemic strokes. LVEF had to be above 35% to be considered ESUS. In a secondary analysis, we excluded patients with ESUS who had any evidence of ipsilateral carotid atherosclerosis. Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate whether LVEF or LV wall motion abnormality was associated with ESUS. We performed a confirmatory study at another tertiary‐care center. We identified 885 patients with ESUS (n=503) or small‐ or large‐artery strokes (n=382). Among the entire cohort, LVEF was not associated with ESUS (odds ratio per 5% decrement in LVEF, 1.0; 95% CI, 1.0–1.1) and LV wall motion abnormality was not associated with ESUS (odds ratio, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.5–1.6). The results were identical in our confirmatory study. In our secondary analysis excluding ESUS patients with any evidence of ipsilateral carotid atherosclerosis, there was an association between LVEF and ESUS (odds ratio per 5% decrement in LVEF, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.0–1.5; P=0.04). Conclusions Among the entire cohort, no association existed between LVEF or LV wall motion abnormality and ESUS; however, after excluding ESUS patients with any evidence of ipsilateral carotid atherosclerosis, lower LVEF appeared to be associated with ESUS.
Levels of tin and organotin compounds in human urine samples from Iowa, United States

Abstract Exposure to tin in the general US population is near ubiquitous, as determined using urinary tin levels measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Urinary tin levels are associated with chronic health outcomes, such as diabetes; however, it is unclear if these associations are due to the presence of inorganic and organic forms of tin in urine. To address this knowledge gap, levels of total tin and several organotin compounds (OTCs) were measured in convenience urine samples from pregnant women and adults from Iowa, United States. Total tin and OTC levels in urine samples were quantified using ICP-MS and gas chromatography with pulsed flame photometric detection (GC-PFPD), respectively. ICP-MS detected tin in almost all urine samples from both study populations. Low levels of dibutyltin were detected in two out of fifty human urine samples. Importantly, storage of urine samples in plastic containers, but not HNO3-pretreated glass vials drastically reduced the recoveries of OTCs, in particular, tributyltin. Although their detection frequency is low, exposures to OTC should be considered when studying associations between human exposures to tin compounds and adverse health outcomes; however, urinary OTC levels measured in banked urine samples may not be suitable as biomarkers of OTC exposure.
The IBM 3090 System: An Overview

The first part of this paper places the IBM 3090 system in historical perspective with respect to its predecessors. Treated briefly are the technology and the design process, both of which were critical to the development of the 3090. Presented in detail is the 3090 system itself, with emphasis on its features that differ from those of prior systems.
Clinical significance of miRNA-1 and its potential target gene network in lung squamous cell carcinoma

Previous studies demonstrated that miRNA-1 (miR-1) is downregulated in certain human cancer and serves a crucial role in the progression of cancer. However, there are only a few previous studies examining the association between miR-1 and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and the regulatory mechanism of miR-1 in LUSC remains unclear. Therefore, the present study investigated the clinical significance and determined the potential molecular mechanism of miR-1 in LUSC. The expression of miR-1 and its clinical significance in LUSC was examined by conducting a meta-analysis of 12 studies using Stata 14, MetaDiSc1.4 and SPSS version 23. In addition, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses were performed using the potential target genes of miR-1 gathered from Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress. Meta-analysis demonstrated that miR-1 was significantly downregulated in LUSC [standardized mean difference: −1.44; 95% confidence interval (CI): −2.08, −0.81], and the area under the curve was 0.9096 (Q*=0.8416) with sensitivity of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.76) and specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.86, 0.90). The pooled positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 4.93 (95% CI: 2.54, 9.55) and 0.24 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.54), respectively. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that miR-1 may be involved in the progression of LUSC via the ‘cell cycle’, ‘p53 signaling pathway’, ‘Fanconi anemia pathway’, ‘homologous recombination’, ‘glycine, serine and threonine metabolism’ and ‘oocyte meiosis’. In summary, miR-1 was significantly downregulated in LUSC, suggesting a novel and promising non-invasive biomarker for diagnosing LUSC, and miR-1 was involved in LUSC progression via a number of significant pathways.