Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uncoupling Protein 2 Inhibits Myointimal Hyperplasia in Preclinical Animal Models of Vascular Injury

Background Intracoronary stent restenosis, characterized by excessive smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and myointimal hyperplasia, remains a clinical challenge. Mitochondrial membrane potential has been linked to the proliferative rate of SMCs. This study aimed to screen a critical gene regulating mitochondrial potential and to confirm its effects on myointimal formation in preclinical animal models. Methods and Results We performed transcriptome screening for genes differentially expressed in ligated versus unligated mouse carotid arteries. We observed that uncoupling protein 2 gene (Ucp2) mRNA, encoding UCP2, was transiently upregulated during the first 3 days after ligation and then significantly downregulated from day 7 through day 21, during which time neointima formed remarkably. The UCP2 protein level also declined after day 7 of ligation. In ligated carotid arteries, Ucp2 −/− mice, compared with wild‐type littermates, exhibited accelerated myointimal formation, which was associated with increased superoxide production and can be attenuated by treatment with antioxidant 4‐hydroxy‐2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐piperidinoxyl (TEMPOL). Knockdown of UCP2 enhanced human aortic SMC migration and proliferation that can also be attenuated by TEMPOL, whereas UCP2 overexpression inhibited SMC migration and proliferation, along with decreased activity of nuclear factor‐κB. Moreover, nuclear factor‐κB inhibitor attenuated UCP2 knockdown‐enhanced SMC proliferation. Adenovirus‐mediated overexpression of UCP2 inhibited myointimal formation in balloon‐injured carotid arteries of rats and rabbits and in‐stent stenosis of porcine coronary arteries. Moreover, UCP2 overexpression also suppressed neointimal hyperplasia in cultured human saphenous vein ex vivo. Conclusions UCP2 inhibits myointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury, probably through suppressing nuclear factor‐κB–dependent SMC proliferation and migration, rendering UCP2 a potential therapeutic target against restenosis.
Fabrication of CaCl2 · 6H2O/Na2SiO3 · 9H2O composite phase change material for floor heating system

In this work, calcium chloride hexahydrate (CaCl2 · 6H2O) was adopted as phase change material (PCM), and the supercooling degree of CaCl2 · 6H2O can be reduced to 0.3 °C by adding 5 wt% sodium metasilicate nonahydrate (Na2SiO3 · 9H2O). Then the composite material of ‘CaCl2 · 6H2O/5 wt% Na2SiO3 · 9H2O’ was added into the floor heating system as the phase change layer to analyze and compare its controlling effect for the indoor temperature under summer and winter conditions. The results showed that the cooling rate of the floor heating system with the phase change layer is lower about 78.7% than that of floor heating system without the phase change layer; the heating rate of the floor heating system with the phase change layer is lower about 70.1% than that of floor heating system without the phase change layer. This result showed that the ‘CaCl2 · 6H2O/5 wt% Na2SiO3 · 9H2O’ composite PCM has a good application prospect in the field of building energy efficiency.
Ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block in children: A randomised comparison with wound infiltration

CONTEXT The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is a new regional anaesthesia technique applicable to infants and children. OBJECTIVE(S) The present study was designed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of ultrasound-guided TAP block with high volume local anaesthetic (0.5 ml kg−1) during the first 24 h after surgery in children undergoing inguinal hernia repair. DESIGN Randomised comparative study. SETTING Gaziantep University Hospital between December 2010 and May 2011. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Fifty-seven children between 2 and 8 years of age undergoing unilateral inguinal hernia repair were randomised to TAP block (group T, n = 29) or to wound infiltration (group C, n = 28). INTERVENTION(S) A TAP block using ultrasound guidance with 0.25% levobupivacaine 0.5 ml kg−1 or wound infiltration with 0.2 ml kg−1 0.25% levobupivacaine, was performed on the same side as the hernia under general anaesthesia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Time to first analgesic, cumulative number of doses of analgesic, pain scores and adverse effects were assessed over the course of 24 h. RESULTS The time to first analgesic (mean ± SD) was significantly longer in group T than in group C (17 ± 6.8 vs. 4.7 ± 1.6 h, respectively; P < 0.001). Thirteen (45%) patients in group T did not require any analgesic within the first 24 h. The cumulative number of doses of analgesic was significantly lower in group T than in group C (1.3 ± 1.2 vs. 3.6 ± 0.7, respectively, P < 0.001). Pain scores were significantly different between the groups at all time points except at 1, 20 and 24 h (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Ultrasound-guided TAP block with high volume (0.5 ml kg−1) 0.25% levobupivacaine provides prolonged postoperative analgesia and reduced analgesic use without any clinical side-effects after unilateral hernia repair in children. TRIAL REGISTRATION ACTRN12611000585921 (7/06/2011) from Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.
Pontomedullary transection attenuates central respiratory modulation of sympathetic discharge, heart rate and the baroreceptor reflex in the in situ rat preparation

Previous studies have indicated a major role for the pons in the genesis of the respiratory pattern. The respiratory rhythm is coupled to the cardiovascular system to ensure optimal matching of minute ventilation and cardiac output. Since much of this coupling results from cross‐talk between brainstem circuits, we have assessed the role of the pons in both the co‐ordination of respiratory and cardiovascular efferent activities and the baroreceptor reflex efficacy. Using the arterially perfused in situ rat preparation, we recorded neural activities from the left phrenic nerve, central end of the vagus nerve, thoracic sympathetic chain (T8–T10) and heart rate. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respiratory modulation of sympathetic nerve activity (and Traube–Hering waves in arterial pressure) and postinspiratory discharges recorded from vagal efferents were eliminated after pontine transection. We also found that although the sympathetic arterial baroreflex remained intact, respiratory gating of the baroreceptor reflex (i.e. both bradycardia and sympathoinhibition) was abolished after pontine removal. We propose that neural activity of the pons is essential for physiological coupling of centrally generated respiratory and cardiovascular efferent activities.
Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity of Crude Extracts of Rauvolfia caffra var. caffra (Apocynaceae) From Tanzania

As part of an effort to search for extracts and compounds with new antimicrobial efficacy to fight against bacterial resistance, the antibacterial activity of Rauvolfia caffra var. caffra (Sond.), a plant of family Apocynaceae used in Traditional Medicine in Tanzania, was investigated. Ethanol, methanol and water extracts from leaf, stem and root barks were tested against three species of bacteria namely Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) (Gram -ve), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) (Gram +ve) and Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 51299) (Gram +ve) using Agar-well diffusion assay method and minimum inhibitory concentration on Mueller-Hinton Agar plates. The extracting solvents were removed by vacuo evaporator to obtain gummy-like extracts. This was then dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (10% DMSO). The DMSO without plant extracts was used as a negative control whereas Gentamicin® as the standard antibiotic was used as a positive control. The Zone of Inhibition (ZOI) measured in mm and Relative Inhibitory Zone Diameter (RIZD) was calculated. Results showed that R. caffra exhibited antimicrobial inhibitory activity at a range of 1.25 to 5.0 mg/ml with activity most prominent with methanol extract (ZOI of 28.33± 0.33 mm and RIZD of 95% for S. aureus; and ZOI of 26.66 ± 0.33 mm for E.coli and 19.0 ± 0.57 mm for E. faecalis at P< 0.05). To characterize further, the alkaloid from the root bark was extracted according to the standard procedure. The antioxidant activity of the alkaloids and ethanolic extracts was determined using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and reducing capacity assays. The results indicated that alkaloid fraction of the root and 80% ethanolic extracts of stem bark exhibited high antioxidant activity. The phytochemical analysis indicated that R. caffra is rich in alkaloids, anthraquinones, anthocyanoides, flavonoids, saponins, tannis and reducing sugars. This study provides supportive evidence that methanol and ethanol extracts of R. caffra can be used as herbal medicine in control of E.coli, S. aureus and E. faecalis.
Innovations in graphene-based nanomaterials in the preconcentration of pharmaceuticals waste

ABSTRACT Generally, pharmaceuticals (PhAs) have been extensively detected in various food and wastewater samples. In this regard, solid-phase extraction (SPE) is an excellent choice for their preconcentration, extraction, and fractionation. Typical, graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNMs) have been spaciously utilized as the efficient SPE adsorbents for the extraction of PhAs. Magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) is found to reduce the time and cost of the operation by skipping the centrifugation step. Of note, this review summarizes the current research on the preconcentration of PhAs by GBNMs and provides valuable information about their applications in the determination and analysis of PhAs in various samples of health and environmental importance. Finally, the different analytical techniques used for the preconcentration of PhAs as well as their adsorption mechanism, and different environmental factors affecting the adsorption, have been studied and discussed in details. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Coordinate suppression of B cell lymphoma by PTEN and SHIP phosphatases

Downstream of the B cell receptor, activation of PI3K results in the generation of phosphatidylinositol‐3,4,5‐trisphosphate (PIP3) and promotes survival and proliferation of B lymphocytes through the activation of proteins including PDK, Akt, TOR, cyclins D and E, and FOXO1. The actions of PI3K are antagonized by the inositol phosphatases, PTEN and SHIP. Whereas deletion of PTEN in T cells causes aggressive T cell lymphomas, loss of PTEN in B lymphocytes does not result in malignancy. Thus, we hypothesized that SHIP compensates for the lack of PTEN in B lymphocytes thereby preventing lymphoma development. To this end, we generated mice lacking both PTEN and SHIP specifically in B lymphocytes (bPTEN/SHIP−/−) and show that bPTEN/SHIP−/− mice develop lethal B‐Non‐Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B‐NHL). Mechanistically, PTEN/SHIP−/− B cells are hyperresponsive to mitogenic stimulation with increased proliferation and mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. Interestingly, PTEN/SHIP‐deficient B cells also display an atypical mitogenic response to the survival factor BAFF. Taken together, these studies reveal that PTEN and SHIP act cooperatively to suppress B‐NHL and provide the first direct evidence that SHIP can function as a tumor suppressor. This research is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute.
Magnifier: Online Detection of Performance Problems in Large-Scale Cloud Computing Systems

In large-scale cloud computing systems, even a simple user request may go through numerous of services that are deployed on different physical machines. As a result, it is a great challenge to online localize the prime causes of performance degradation in such systems. Existing end-to-end request tracing approaches are not suitable for online anomaly detection because their time complexity is exponential in the size of the trace logs. In this paper, we propose an approach, namely Magnifier, to rapidly diagnose the source of performance degradation in large-scale non-stop cloud systems. In Magnifier, the execution path graph of a user request is modeled by a hierarchical structure including component layer, module layer and function layer, and anomalies are detected from higher layer to lower layer separately. In each layer every node is assigned a newly created identifier in addition to the global identifier of the request, which significantly decreases the size of parsing trace logs and accelerates the anomaly detection process. We conduct extensive experiments over a real-world enterprise system (the Alibaba cloud computing platform) providing services for the public. The results show that Magnifier can locate the prime causes of performance degradation more accurately and efficiently.
A Toxin-Binding Alkaline Phosphatase Fragment Synergizes Bt Toxin Cry1Ac against Susceptible and Resistant Helicoverpa armigera

Evolution of resistance by insects threatens the continued success of pest control using insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in sprays and transgenic plants. In this study, laboratory selection with Cry1Ac yielded five strains of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, with resistance ratios at the median lethal concentration (LC50) of activated Cry1Ac ranging from 22 to 1700. Reduced activity and reduced transcription of an alkaline phosphatase protein that binds Cry1Ac was associated with resistance to Cry1Ac in the four most resistant strains. A Cry1Ac-binding fragment of alkaline phosphatase from H. armigera (HaALP1f) was not toxic by itself, but it increased mortality caused by Cry1Ac in a susceptible strain and in all five resistant strains. Although synergism of Bt toxins against susceptible insects by toxin-binding fragments of cadherin and aminopeptidase N has been reported previously, the results here provide the first evidence of synergism of a Bt toxin by a toxin-binding fragment of alkaline phosphatase. The results here also provide the first evidence of synergism of a Bt toxin by any toxin-binding peptide against resistant insects.
Evolutionary testing of classes

Object oriented programming promotes reuse of classes in multiple contexts. Thus, a class is designed and implemented with several usage scenarios in mind, some of which possibly open and generic. Correspondingly, the unit testing of classes cannot make too strict assumptions on the actual method invocation sequences, since these vary from application to application.In this paper, a genetic algorithm is exploited to automatically produce test cases for the unit testing of classes in a generic usage scenario. Test cases are described by chromosomes, which include information on which objects to create, which methods to invoke and which values to use as inputs. The proposed algorithm mutates them with the aim of maximizing a given coverage measure. The implementation of the algorithm and its application to classes from the Java standard library are described.
Cortical Gene Expression in Spinal Cord Injury and Repair: Insight into the Functional Complexity of the Neural Regeneration Program

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) results in the formation of a fibrous scar acting as a growth barrier for regenerating axons at the lesion site. We have previously shown (Klapka et al., 2005) that transient suppression of the inhibitory lesion scar in rat spinal cord leads to long distance axon regeneration, retrograde rescue of axotomized cortical motoneurons, and improvement of locomotor function. Here we applied a systemic approach to investigate for the first time specific and dynamic alterations in the cortical gene expression profile following both thoracic SCI and regeneration-promoting anti-scarring treatment (AST). In order to monitor cortical gene expression we carried out microarray analyses using total RNA isolated from layer V/VI of rat sensorimotor cortex at 1–60 days post-operation (dpo). We demonstrate that cortical neurons respond to injury by massive changes in gene expression, starting as early as 1 dpo. AST, in turn, results in profound modifications of the lesion-induced expression profile. The treatment attenuates SCI-triggered transcriptional changes of genes related to inhibition of axon growth and impairment of cell survival, while upregulating the expression of genes associated with axon outgrowth, cell protection, and neural development. Thus, AST not only modifies the local environment impeding spinal cord regeneration by reduction of fibrous scarring in the injured spinal cord, but, in addition, strikingly changes the intrinsic capacity of cortical pyramidal neurons toward enhanced cell maintenance and axonal regeneration.
Assessment of spectral bands of interest in airflow signal to assist in sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome diagnosis

In this work, we analyze power spectral density (PSD) from single-channel airflow (AF) in the context of sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) diagnosis. PSDs from SAHS-positive and SAHS-negative subjects were compared through Mann-Whitney test to find bands of interest. Thereby, we characterized three spectral bands (BW1-BW3) by their relative power (PR1-PR3) and established relationships with apneas and hypopneas. Then, the single and joint diagnostic ability of PR1-PR3 was assessed by means of K-nearest neighbours (KNN), Fisher's linear discriminant (FLD), and logistic regression (LR) classifiers. The KNN and LR models, obtained from PR1-PR3, showed the best diagnostic ability after a leave-one-out cross-validation procedure. 87.7%-84.2% accuracy and 0.799-0.853 area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AROC) were achieved, respectively. Our results suggest that the bands of interest we defined are related to apneas and hypopneas and, therefore, can be useful in SAHS diagnosis.
Learning to interpret pointing gestures with a time-of-flight camera

Pointing gestures are a common and intuitive way to draw somebody's attention to a certain object. While humans can easily interpret robot gestures, the perception of human behavior using robot sensors is more difficult. In this work, we propose a method for perceiving pointing gestures using a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera. To determine the intended pointing target, frequently the line between a person's eyes and hand is assumed to be the pointing direction. However, since people tend to keep the line-of-sight free while they are pointing, this simple approximation is inadequate. Moreover, depending on the distance and angle to the pointing target, the line between shoulder and hand or elbow and hand may yield better interpretations of the pointing direction. In order to achieve a better estimate, we extract a set of body features from depth and amplitude images of a ToF camera and train a model of pointing directions using Gaussian Process Regression. We evaluate the accuracy of the estimated pointing direction in a quantitative study. The results show that our learned model achieves far better accuracy than simple criteria like head-hand, shoulder-hand, or elbow-hand line.
Srem: a Novel Multicast Routing Algorithm -comprehensive Cost Analysis

Ever-increasing attention has been drawn to source specific multicast in the Internet society. In this paper, a novel multicast scheme, called Scalable Recursive Explicit Multicast (SREM) is proposed. To address the scalability problem, SREM uses a pair of branching node messages (BNMs) to construct a multicast tree, which is built up gradually and dynamically as of multicast group members join/leave. BNMs always traverse between a pair of branching node routers (BNRs) and the process of join/leave of member of a multicast session is carried out locally. Delivering multicast packets is carried out recursively between BNRs by unicast. In SREM, only BNs keep the multicast state about their next BNRs. By the cost analysis and simulation, it is shown SREM has many positive features such as fixed size control messages, being scalable and low join/leave latency.
Fundamental Diagram Estimation Through Passing Rate Measurements in Congestion

Classically, fundamental diagrams are estimated from aggregated data at a specific location. Such a measurement method may lead to inconsistency, which mainly explains the current controversy about their shape. This paper proposes a new estimation method based on passing rate measurements along moving observer paths. Under specific assumptions, it can be proved that in congestion, the passing rate is independent of the traffic flow states. This property allows 1) proof that a linear fundamental diagram is suitable to represent traffic flow behavior involved in the next generation simulation (NGSim) data set and 2) fitting of its two parameters, i.e., the congested wave speed and the jam density.
Highly accurate data value prediction using hybrid predictors

Data dependences (data flow constraints) present a major hurdle to the amount of instruction-level parallelism that can be exploited from a program. Recent work has suggested that the limits imposed by data dependences can be overcome to some extent with the use of data value prediction. That is, when an instruction is fetched, its result can be predicted so that subsequent instructions that depend on the result can use this predicted value. When the correct result becomes available, all instructions that are data dependent on that prediction can be validated. This paper investigates a variety of techniques to carry out highly accurate data value predictions. The first technique investigates the potential of monitoring the strides by which the results produced by different instances of an instruction change. The second technique investigates the potential of pattern-based two-level prediction schemes. Simulation results of these two schemes show improvements over the existing method of predicting the last outcome. In particular, some benchmarks show improvement with the stride-based predictor and others show improvement with the pattern-based predictor. To do uniformly well across benchmarks, we combine these two predictors to form a hybrid predictor. Simulation analysis of the hybrid predictor shows its overall prediction accuracy to be better than that of the component predictors across all benchmarks.
Study on listmode OSEM reconstruction including image-space resolution recovery techniques for Compton camera

Although Compton camera may has a great potential as next generation imaging modality comparing to SPECT and PET, its fully three-dimensional image reconstruction requires the considerable computational burden and the spatial resolution is suffered from the various physical phenomena arising during detection process. In this study, we investigated the accelerated statistical image reconstruction in which system matrix included a resolution recovery (RR) technique. We considered 3D Gaussian resolution model for the integrated angular and geometric uncertainties. The angular uncertainty is closely related to the limited energy resolution of the Compton camera and Doppler broadening and the geometric uncertainty is due to the segmented detectors. For RR, the 3D Gaussian resolution model is incorporated into listmode OSEM (LMOSEM) using image-space convolution operation. We investigated two different RR approaches: one (denoted by LMOSEM-RRF) is when the convolution is only performed in forward projection step, and the other (denoted by LMOSEM-RRFB) is when it is performed in both forward and backward projection steps. The simulation results showed that both RR approaches gave an improvement on spatial resolution for the resolution-degraded data due to both angular and geometric uncertainties. Although LMOSEM-RRF provided better resolution than LMOSEM-RRFB, LMOSEM-RRFB could still useful for low counting statistics in measurement.