Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical stimulation modulates osteoblast proliferation and bone protein production through heparin‐bioactivated conductive scaffolds

Electrical fields are known to interact with human cells. This principle has been explored to regulate cellular activities for bone tissue regeneration. In this work, Saos‐2 cells were cultured on conductive scaffolds made of biodegradable poly(L‐lactide) and the heparin‐containing, electrically conducting polypyrrole (PPy/HE) to study their reaction to electrical stimulation (ES) mediated through such scaffolds. Both the duration and intensity of ES enhanced cell proliferation, generating a unique electrical intensity and temporal “window” within which osteoblast proliferation was upmodulated in contrast to the downmodulation or ineffectiveness in other ES regions. The favourable ES intensity (200 mV/mm) was further investigated in terms of the gene activation and protein production of two important osteoblast markers characterised by extracellular matrix maturation and mineralisation, that is alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin (OC). Both genes were found activated and the relevant protein production increased significantly following ES. In contrast, ES in the down‐modulation region (400 mV/mm) suppressed the production of both ALP and OC. This work demonstrated that important osteoblast markers can be modulated with specific ES parameters mediated through conductive polymer substrates, providing a unique strategy for bone tissue engineering. Bioelectromagnetics 34:189–199, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An empirical study of the impact of medical skills description of doctors on Online Healthcare Inquiry users' trust

Online Healthcare Inquiry (OHI) is an increasingly popular area in medical activities. It is designed to provide convenience and information for users' medical decision-making. However, through our pre survey, we found that many users asserted that the effects of OHI were limited and they often consulted more than one doctors for a specific problem due to their low trust in the skills of doctors. In this work, according to the social recognized theory, we explored the impacts of antecedent variables of trust, different levels of doctors' medical skills description (Level of CTE medical skills description: hospital classification, title of doctors and healing efficacy) on users' trust The results supported our hypotheses that the more detailed information the OHI providers represented, the more trust OHI users will have. The findings not only presented interesting implications for OHI design but also offered an opportunity to increase the OHI's influence on users' medical decision-making.
Inclusion of RC compact models of packages into board level thermal simulation tools

The paper presents an algorithm and a methodology for the co-simulation of packages, given with the RC compact models, and the printed circuit boards. This enables correct detailed consideration of the heat transfers in the board, and in addition the calculation of the exact junction temperatures in the packages. The methodology offers the possibility of considering individual heat transfer coefficients for each package, or even to each side of the package, depending on the compact models, and on user requirements. The main advantage is that the methodology keeps the extreme speed and user friendliness of the board level solvers.
Tamoxifen resistance in MCF7 cells promotes EMT‐like behaviour and involves modulation of β‐catenin phosphorylation

We have previously demonstrated that, following acquisition of endocrine resistance, breast cancer cells display an altered growth rate together with increased aggressive behaviour in vitro. Since dysfunctional cell–cell adhesive interactions can promote an aggressive phenotype, we investigated the integrity of this protein complex in our breast cancer model of tamoxifen resistance. In culture, tamoxifen‐resistant MCF7 (TamR) cells grew as loosely packed colonies with loss of cell–cell junctions and demonstrated altered morphology characteristic of cells undergoing epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT). Neutralising E‐cadherin function promoted the invasion and inhibited the aggregation of endocrine‐sensitive MCF7 cells, whilst having little effect on the behaviour of TamR cells. Additionally, TamR cells had increased levels of tyrosine‐phosphorylated β‐catenin, whilst serine/threonine‐phosphorylated β‐catenin was decreased. These cells also displayed loss of association between β‐catenin and E‐cadherin, increased cytoplasmic and nuclear β‐catenin and elevated transcription of β‐catenin target genes known to be involved in tumour progression and EMT. Inhibition of EGFR kinase activity in TamR cells reduced β‐catenin tyrosine phosphorylation, increased β‐catenin–E‐cadherin association and promoted cell–cell adhesion. In such treated cells, the association of β‐catenin with Lef‐1 and the transcription of c‐myc, cyclin‐D1, CD44 and COX‐2 were also reduced. These results suggest that homotypic adhesion in tamoxifen‐resistant breast cancer cells is dysfunctional due to EGFR‐driven modulation of the phosphorylation status of β‐catenin and may contribute to an enhanced aggressive phenotype and transition towards a mesenchymal phenotype in vitro. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Sex as a response to oxidative stress: stress genes co-opted for sex

Despite a great deal of interest, the evolutionary origins and roles of sex remain unclear. Recently, we showed that in the multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri, sex is a response to increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which could be indicative of the ancestral role of sex as an adaptive response to stress-induced ROS. To provide additional support for the suggestion that sex evolved as a response to oxidative stress, this study addresses the hypothesis that genes involved in sexual induction are evolutionarily related to genes associated with various stress responses. In particular, this study investigates the evolutionary history of genes specific to the sexual induction process in V. carteri—including those encoding the sexual inducer (SI) and several SI-induced extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Surprisingly, (i) a highly diversified multigene family with similarity to the V. carteri SI and SI-induced pherophorin family is present in its unicellular relative, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (which lacks both a SI and an ECM) and (ii) at least half of the 12 identified gene members are induced (as inferred from reported expressed sequence tags) under various stress conditions. These findings suggest an evolutionary connection between sex and stress at the gene level, via duplication and/or co-option.
Towards New Bounds for the 2-Edge Connected Spanning Subgraph Problem

Given a complete graph Kn = (V,E) with non-negative edge costs c ∈ R , the problem multi-2ECcost is that of finding a 2-edge connected spanning multi-subgraph of Kn with minimum cost. It is believed that there are no efficient ways to solve the problem exactly, as it is NP-hard. Methods such as approximation algorithms, which rely on lower bounds like the linear programming relaxation multi-2EC cost of multi-2ECcost, thus become vital to obtain solutions guaranteed to be close to the optimal in a fast manner. In this thesis, we focus on the integrality gap αmulti-2ECcost of multi-2EC LP cost, which is a measure of the quality of multi-2EC cost as a lower bound. Although we currently only know that 6 5 ≤ αmulti-2ECcost ≤ 3 2 , the integrality gap for multi-2ECcost has been conjectured to be 6 5 . We explore the idea of using the structure of solutions for αmulti-2ECcost and the concept of convex combination to obtain improved bounds for αmulti-2ECcost. We focus our efforts on a family J of half-integer solutions that appear to give the largest integrality gap for multi-2ECcost. We successfully show that the conjecture αmulti-2ECcost = 6 5 is true for any cost functions optimized by some x ∈ J . We also study the related problem 2ECsize, which consists of finding the minimum size 2-edge connected spanning subgraph of a 2-edge connected graph. The problem is NP-hard even at its simplest, when restricted to cubic 3-edge connected graphs. We study that case in the hope of finding a more general method, and we show that every 3-edge connected cubic graph G = (V , E ), with n = |V | allows a 2ECsize solution for G of size at most 7n 6 . This improves upon Boyd, Iwata and Takazawa’s guarantee of 6n 5 and extend Takazawa’s 7n 6 guarantee for bipartite cubic 3-edge connected graphs to all cubic 3-edge connected graphs. ii
Temperature, housing, deprivation and their relationship to excess winter mortality in Great Britain, 1986-1996.

OBJECTIVES To examine the associations between temperature, housing, deprivation and excess winter mortality using census variables as proxies for housing conditions. DESIGN Small area ecological study at electoral ward level. Setting Great Britain between 1986 and 1996. PARTICIPANTS Men and women aged 65 and over. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Deaths from all causes (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision [ICD-9] codes 0-999), coronary heart disease (ICD-9 410-414), stroke (ICD-9 430-438) and respiratory diseases (ICD-9 460-519). Odds of death occurring in winter period of the four months December to March compared to the rest of the year. RESULTS During the study period (excluding the influenza epidemic year of 1989/90), a total of 1,682,687 deaths occurred in winter and 2,825,223 deaths occurred during the rest of the year among people aged > or =65 (around 30,000 excess winter deaths per year). A trend of higher excess winter mortality with age was apparent across all disease categories (P < 0.01). There was a significant association between winter mortality and temperature with a 1.5% higher odds of dying in winter for every 1 degrees C reduction in 24-h mean winter temperature. The amount of rain, wind and hours of sunshine were inversely associated with excess winter mortality. Selected housing variables derived from the English House Condition Survey showed little agreement with census-derived variables at electoral ward level. For all-cause mortality there was little association between deprivation and excess winter mortality, although lack of central heating was associated with a higher risk of dying in winter (odds ratio [OR] = 1.016, 95% CI : 1.009-1.022). CONCLUSIONS Excess winter mortality continues to be an important public health problem in Great Britain. There was a strong inverse association with temperature. Lack of central heating was associated with higher excess winter mortality. Further work is needed to disentangle the complex relationships between different indicators of housing quality and other measures of socioeconomic deprivation and their relationship to the high number of excess winter deaths in Great Britain.
A Left Atrial Appendage Phantom Structure

A 71-year-old female patient was referred for shock cardioversion following diagnosis of lone atrial fibrillation. Transesopageal echocardiography was performed as routine workup. Interestingly a circular membrane like structure in the left atrial appendage (LAA) was observed (Fig. 1A, Supplementary movie 1). Using 2D X plane imaging echocardiography, where an orthogonal view can be acquired through the midline of a primary image and displayed as a secondary image, an extra thin LAA wall was evidenced showing sigmoid anatomy (Fig. 1B). Local pericardial effusion was questioned implicating that this specific structure accounted for the thin LAA wall. 3D echocardiography evidenced the entrance of LAA, surrounded by the pericardial wall at a distance, due to the presence of pericardial effusion (Fig. 1C and D, Supplementary movies 2 and 3). The patient underwent uneventful direct current shock cardioversion and remains in sinus rhythm at nine months follow up. Fig. 1 2D and 3D echocardiography imaging. A: Circular structure into the LAA. B: 2D X plane imaging of the structure. C and D: 3D echocardiography delineating LAA entrance surrounded by pericardial fluid. AO: aorta, LAA: left atrial appendage, LA: left atrium, . Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the diagnosis of local pericardial effusion in the LAA area. No structure, thrombi or membrane were documented into the LAA (Supplementary movie 4). Local pericardial effusion in the LAA area is an extremely rare finding.1),2) It is clinically important to be aware of this benign clinical finding that should be differentiated from LAA obstructive or non-obstructive membranes or thrombi, especially in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cardioversion or planned for specific transcatheter therapies such as implantation of LAA closure devices.3),4),5)
Fuzzy based foreground background discrimination for probabilistic color based object tracking

In the most of object tracking tasks dealing with partial occlusion is a challenging issue. Recently the use of color cue based on Monte Carlo tracking method and particle filtering is mostly considered to overcome the problem of partial occlusion and nonrigid motion. The proposed approach in this paper is based on using of sequential Monte Carlo and particle filtering for tracking. But in this method a special fuzzy based color model for object is employed. Then comparison of mean value of reference and candidate window in the proposed color space is utilized for tracking of objects. Some of the morphological operation is also used to provide a unit region for object location in the fuzzy based color space. Experimental results indicate that the algorithm is efficient in dealing with partial occlusion.
Comparative physiology of the kidney.

We cannot properly speak of physiology, and therefore we cannot speak of comparative physiology, until the time of Harvey. But it is worthy of emphasis that the discoverer of the circulation utilized the comparative method as extensively as any man since his time. It is something of a paradox that Harvey, in observations on the circulation of the blood, failed to challenge the Galenic view on how the blood got from the arteries to the veins but was content to believe that it seeped through the soft organs simply as water seeps through sand. CONTRIBUTIONS OF MALPIGHI The microscope, as improved by Galileo, was available in Harvey's time, but either because of lack of acquaintance with the instrument or lack of interest in the finer structure of the body, he failed to use it. It was Galileo's compatriot, Marcello Malpighi, who introduced this instrument into the study of the structure
Wideband Varactorless  $LC$ VCO Using a Tunable Negative-Inductance Cell

A wideband LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) design with a new varactorless frequency-tuning technique is presented. The wideband continuous frequency tuning is achieved using a tunable negative-inductance cell. Fabricated in a 0.35-μm SiGe BiCMOS process, the varactorless VCO achieves a continuous tuning range of 24.5%. An overall tuning range of 31% from 3.8 to 5.2 GHz is achieved when the continuous tuning is combined with a 2-bit switched capacitor array. The measured phase noise is - 109.8 and - 109.5 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from a 3.8- and a 5.2-GHz carrier frequency. The proposed VCO has demonstrated performance that is better than other wideband varactorless VCOs in the literature.
Molecular and biochemical characterization of the human trk proto-oncogene

Molecular analysis of the human trk oncogene, a transforming gene isolated from a colon carcinoma biopsy, revealed the existence of a novel member of the tyrosine kinase gene family. This locus, which we now designate the trk proto-oncogene, codes for a protein of 790 amino acid residues that has several features characteristic of cell surface receptors. They include (i) a 32-amino-acid-long putative signal peptide, (ii) an amino-terminal moiety (residues 33 to 407) rich in consensus sites for N-glycosylation, (iii) a transmembrane domain, (iv) a kinase catalytic region highly related to that of other tyrosine kinases, and (v) a very short (15 residue) carboxy-terminal tail. Residues 1 to 392 were absent in the trk oncogene, as they were replaced by tropomyosin sequences. However, no other differences were found between the transforming and nontransforming trk alleles (residues 392 to 790), suggesting that no additional mutations are required to activate the transforming potential of this gene. The human trk proto-oncogene codes for a 140,000-dalton glycoprotein, designated gp140proto-trk. However, its primary translational product is a 110,000-dalton glycoprotein which becomes immediately glycosylated, presumably during its translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum. This molecule, designated gp110proto-trk, is further glycosylated to yield the mature form, gp140proto-trk. Both gp110proto-trk and gp140proto-trk proteins possess in vitro kinase activity specific for tyrosine residues. Finally, iodination of intact NIH 3T3 cells expressing trk proto-oncogene products indicated that only the mature form, gp140proto-trk, cross the plasma membrane, becoming exposed to the outside of the cell. These results indicate that the product of the human trk locus is a novel tyrosine kinase cell surface receptor for an as yet unknown ligand.
A deuterohemin peptide extends lifespan and increases stress resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract This group has invented a novel deuterohemin containing peptide deuterohemin-AlaHisThrValGluLys (DhHP-6), which has various biological activities including protection of murine ischemia reperfusion injury, improving cell survival and preventing apoptosis. It was hypothesized that DhHP-6 is beneficial on the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and increases their resistance to heat and oxidative stress. C. elegans were treated with different concentrations of DhHP-6. Survival time and sensitivity to heat and paraquat were investigated. The data demonstrated that the mean survival time of C. elegans was significantly increased (p < 0.05) in the DhHP-6 treated group compared with the control group. The maximum lifespan was not affected by DhHP-6 treatment. DhHP-6 improved the survival rate of C. elegans in the acute heat stress (35°C) and rescued the C. elegans' sensitivity to paraquat in acute oxidative stress. Superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD-3) protein was up-regulated by DhHP-6 treatment. It was further demonstrated that stress resistance genes such as hsp-16.1, hsp-16.49 and sir-2.1 were regulated by DhHP-6. DAF-16 and SIR-2.1 genes are essential for the beneficial effect of DhHP-6. Therefore, the investigation into the beneficial effect of DhHP-6 on C. elegans' lifespan has the potential to develop novel drugs to prevent ageing.
Topic Factor Modelling: uncovering thematic structure in ﬁnancial data

We examine the task of ﬁnding thematic structure in a data corpus comprising text and time series, motivated by applications to ﬁnancial data such as improving correlation estimation. We introduce a topic factor model (TFM): a joint generative model for both text and time series data which resembles supervised latent Dirichlet allocation. Our TFM allows the decomposition of time series into factors which also reﬂect the thematic content of the text. The structure is found using mean ﬁeld variational inference, though this is complicated by the lack of a closed form update for some variables. The key modelling challenge is balancing the combination of continuous and discrete distributions. We use a corpus from the foreign exchange market to demonstrate improved likelihood of held out time series data. In
Capillary electrophoresis method for plasmatic determination of imatinib mesylate in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

Imatinib (IMAT) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Despite the efficacy of IMAT therapy, some cases of treatment resistance have been described in CML. Developing a plasma method is important since there are several studies that provided a higher correlation between IMAT plasma concentration and response to treatment. Therefore, in this investigation we validated a method by CE as an alternative, new, simple and fast electrophoretic method for IMAT determination in human plasma. The analysis was performed using a fused silica capillary (50 μm id×46.5 cm total length, 38.0 cm effective length); 50 mmol/L sodium phosphate buffer, pH 2.5, as BGE; hydrodynamic injection time of 20 s (50 mbar); voltage of 30 kV; capillary temperature of 35°C and detection at 200 nm. Plasma samples pre‐treatment involved liquid–liquid extraction with methyl‐tert‐butyl ether as the extracting solvent. The method was linear from 0.125 to 5.00 μg/mL. The LOQ was 0.125 μg/mL. Mean absolute recovery of IMAT was 67%. The method showed to be precise and accurate with RSD and relative error values lower than 15%. Furthermore, the application of the method was performed in the analysis of plasma samples from CML patients undergoing treatment with IMAT.
Mechanosensitive Ca2+ oscillations and STOC activation in endothelial cells

Activation of ion channels and the increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration [Ca2+] play a key role in endothelial responses to hemodynamic forces and subsequent vasoregulation. In bovine aortic endothelial cells subjected to shear stress in a parallel flow chamber, we demonstrate shear stress activation of hyperpolarizing K+ currents that occur simultaneously with oscillating increases of [Ca2+]i Oscillating K+ currents, also known as spontaneous transient outward currents (STOC), were regulated in frequency and amplitude by the rate of shear stress in a range from 5 to 18 dyn/cm2. Activation of STOC depended on Ca2+ influx; current depended on the extracellular Ca2+ concentration and was blocked by 50 μM Gd3+. Emptying of Ca2+ stores by BHQ abolished current responses to shear stress. STOC activation was significantly reduced by cell dialysis with ryanodine (20 μM), but not heparin (200 μg/ml). Shear stress‐induced STOC activation was also observed in the intact endothelium. The endothelial response to shear stress involves oscillating [Ca2+] increase and STOC activation, which depend on Ca2+ influx‐induced Ca2+ release from ryanodine‐sensitive stores, demonstrating a new signaling pathway in endothelial mechanotransduction. —Hoyer, J., Köhler, R. , Distler, A. Mechanosensitive Ca2+ oscillations and STOC activation in endothelial cells. FASEB J. 12, 359–366 (1998)
Application of Biologically Functionalized Chromatography to Simulate the Interaction Between MAO and Substrates

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) immobilized in the immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) was packed into a capillary to make a chromatography column to simulate the MAO function of catalyzing the oxidative deamination of amine in organism. MAO marked with quantum dots (QDs) was used as probe to demonstrated that MAO was immobilized in the IAM hydrophobic interface, and the enzymatic activity analysis proved that the immobilized MAO activity remained. The column packed with MAO immobilized in IAM mimic the MAO biological function to DA. These results were hopefully to lead to a new area for chromatography to develop in the study of biological function. A new concept of biofunctionalized chromatography was presented in this article, which has a prosperous future in the study of interaction between proteins and small molecules.