Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Water-Soluble Vitamin E Derivative, 2-(&agr;-d-Glucopyranosyl)Methyl-2,5,7,8-Tetramethylchroman-6-OL, Protects Against Acute Lung Injury and Mortality in Endotoxemic Rats

Satisfactory therapy for acute lung injury related to endotoxemia remains to be established. However, in vivo antioxidant treatment with N-acetylcysteine reportedly suppresses acute lung injury and proinflammatory cytokine production induced by endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS). In addition, intrinsic vitamin E is protective against LPS-induced insults. We determined the effects of a novel water-soluble vitamin E derivative, 2-(&agr;-d-glucopyranosyl) methyl-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-6-ol (TMG), on acute lung injury and mortality induced by LPS in rats. Intravenous injection of TMG (4 or 40 mg/kg) effectively decreased mortality and prevented the increased alveolar permeability and pulmonary edema that were caused by intravenous injection of LPS (20 mg/kg). Treatment with TMG decreased the enhanced lung expression of TNF-&agr; caused by LPS. TMG also suppressed the sequestration of neutrophils in the lung induced by LPS. These results indicate that TMG is a possible therapeutic agent for acute lung injury and mortality, especially that caused by gram-negative bacteria. The therapeutic effects could be mediated at least partly through suppression of the increased expression of TNF-&agr; and neutrophil sequestration in the lung that are caused by LPS.
A Randomized Prospective Study of Single Coil Versus Dual Coil Defibrillation in Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias Undergoing Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Therapy

ICD implantation is standard therapy for malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The advantage of dual and single coil defibrillator leads in the successful conversion of arrhythmias is unclear. This study compared the effectiveness of dual versus single coil defibrillation leads. The study was a prospective, multicenter, randomized study comparing a dual with a single coil defibrillation system as part of an ICD using an active pectoral electrode. Seventy‐six patients (64 men, 12 women; age 61 ± 11 years ) were implanted with a dual (group 1, n = 38) or single coil lead system (group 2, n = 38 ). The patients represented a typical ICD cohort: 60% presented with ischemic cardiomyopathy as their primary cardiac disease, the mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 0.406 ± 0.158 . The primary tachyarrhythmia was monomorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmia in 52.6% patients and ventricular fibrillation in 38.4%. There was no significant difference in terms of P and R wave amplitudes, pacing thresholds, and lead impedance at implantation and follow‐up in the two groups. There was similarly no difference in terms of defibrillation thresholds (DFT) at implantation. Patients in group 1 had an average DFT of 10.2 ± 5.2 J compared to 10.3 ± 4.1 J in Group 2, P = NS. This study demonstrates no significant advantage of a dual coil lead system over a single coil system in terms of lead values and defibrillation thresholds. This may have important bearing on the choice of lead systems when implanting ICDs. (PACE 2003; 26:1684–1690)
Maize Metabolic Network Construction and Transcriptome Analysis

A framework for understanding the synthesis and catalysis of metabolites and other biochemicals by proteins is crucial for unraveling the physiology of cells. To create such a framework for Zea mays L. subsp. mays (maize), we developed MaizeCyc, a metabolic network of enzyme catalysts, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, secondary plant products, and other metabolites by annotating the genes identified in the maize reference genome sequenced from the B73 variety. MaizeCyc version 2.0. 2 is a collection of 391 maize pathways involving 8889 enzyme mapped to 2110 reactions and 1468 metabolites. We used MaizeCyc to describe the development and function of maize organs including leaf, root, anther, embryo, and endosperm by exploring the recently published microarray‐based maize gene expression atlas. We found that 1062 differentially expressed metabolic genes mapped to 524 unique enzymatic reactions associated with 310 pathways. The MaizeCyc pathway database was created by running a library of evidences collected from the maize genome annotation, gene‐based phylogeny trees, and comparison to known genes and pathways from rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. against the PathoLogic module of Pathway Tools. The network and the database that were also developed as a community resource are freely accessible online at http://maizecyc.maizegdb. org to facilitate analysis and promote studies on metabolic genes in maize.
Changes in the complex permittivity during spreading depression in rat cortex

With recent developments in current density imaging (CDI), it is feasible to utilize this new technique in brain imaging applications. Since CDI's ability to measure changes in current density depends on a concomitant activity-dependent change in the conductivity of the brain tissue, the authors have examined the changes in complex conductivity during spreading depression (SD) in rodent neocortex using a coaxial probe. SD was chosen because it is often referred to as an animal model of cerebral ischemia and migraine with aura. The conductivity measurements revealed a change with short latency (30-60 s) followed by a change with a longer latency (200-300 s). This change in conductivity with short latency has not been reported before, and the authors conjecture that it may be the priming or triggering mechanism prior to the main SD episode. A 20% change in conductivity during SD is sufficiently large to be measured by CDI. Therefore, the ability to measure changes in the conductivity, as opposed to metabolic changes, makes CDI a viable approach to the study of ischemia and migraine with aura.
On the Sparse Signal Recovery with Parallel Orthogonal Matching Pursuit

In this letter, parallel orthogonal matching pursuit (POMP) is proposed to supplement orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) which has been widely used as a greedy algorithm for sparse signal recovery. Empirical simulations show that POMP outperforms the existing sparse signal recovery algorithms including OMP, compressive sampling matching pursuit (CoSaMP), and linear programming (LP) in terms of the exact recovery ratio (ERR) for the sparse pattern and the mean-squared error (MSE) between the estimated signal and the original signal. key words: compressed sensing, orthogonal matching pursuit, mean squared error, multiple candidates
Robust Ultra-Low Power Non-Volatile Logic-in-Memory Circuits in FD-SOI Technology

In the upcoming internet of things (IoT) era, spin transfer torque magnetic tunnel junction (STT-MTJ) based non-volatile (NV) memory and circuits for IoT nodes and normally-off electronics will need to meet constraints in speed, energy and robustness. This study focuses on NV logic-in-memory (LIM) architecture. Supply voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{dd}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) scaling in MTJ based NV-LIM is evaluated on FD-SOI 28 nm node. In order to overcome <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{dd}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> scaling bottleneck, an efficient framework for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{dd}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> scaling in NV circuits is proposed with design strategies, e.g., back-bias (BB), poly biasing (PB), and approximate computing. The design vector (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{dd}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>,<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{BB}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>,PB) generated power-delay curves can provide user-defined LIM circuit aiming for dynamic/leakage power saving, power/speed efficiency and process variation resilient. The design space is explored in near-threshold regime around 0.5 V supply. Simulations of NV-logic, full adder (NV-FA) and flip-flop (NV-FF) are performed, along with insights for circuit design and practical implementation of NV-LIM circuits with FD-SOI technology.
Maximum efficiency control method in 7-phase BLDC motor by changing the number of the excited phase windings

This paper proposes a maximum efficiency control method in 7-phase brushless DC motors (7-phase BLDCMs) used for the ship propulsion system. In the same load condition, the system loss of the 7-phase BLDCM is dependent on the number of the excited windings and the instantaneous phase currents. Thus, it is necessary to determine the excitation number of the phase windings according to the load condition. The 2- and 4-phase excitation methods are proposed for the maximum efficiency operation. The phase excitation method of the minimum system loss according to the load condition can be obtained from the loss analysis. In addition, by using the loss analysis, the optimal speed which is the changing point of the phase excitation to select the optimal excitation methods (2-, 4- and 6-phase excitation) can be calculated and derived. The proposed method can be easily implemented by controlling the conductive angle of the phase current at the suitable phase windings. The maximum efficiency operation can be achieved by using the proposed excitation method and 6-phase excitation method. The usefulness of the proposed control algorithm is verified through simulation results.
Effect of sphingosine kinase 1 inhibition on blood pressure

Accumulating evidence suggests that sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) plays a key role in carcinogenesis by regulating cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) expression. Recent clinical studies have revealed that COX‐2 inhibitors cause adverse cardiovascular side effects, likely due to inhibition of prostacyclin (PGI2). In this work, we investigated the roles of SphK1 inhibition on blood pressure (BP). The results show that lack of SphK1 expression did not exacerbate angiotensin II (Ang II)‐induced acute hypertension, whereas celecoxib, a COX‐2 inhibitor, augmented and sustained higher BP in mice. Interestingly, SphK1‐knockout mice inhibited prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) but not PGI2 production in response to Ang II, whereas celecoxib blocked both PGE2 and PGI2 production. Mechanistically, SphK1 down‐regulation by siRNA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells decreased cytokine‐induced PGE2 production primarily through inhibition of microsomal PGE synthase‐1 (mPGES‐1), not COX‐2. SphK1 down‐regulation also decreased MKK6 expression, which phosphorylates and activates P38 MAPK, which, in turn, regulates early growth response‐1 (Egr‐1), a transcription factor of mPGES‐1. Together, these data indicate that SphK1 regulates PGE2 production by mPGES‐1 expression via the p38 MAPK pathway, independent of COX‐2 signaling, in endothelial cells, suggesting that SphK1 inhibition may be a promising strategy for cancer chemoprevention with lack of the adverse cardiovascular side effects associated with coxibs. —Furuya, H. , Wada, M. , Shimizu, Y. , Yamada, P. M. , Hannun, Y. A. , Obeid, L. M. , Kawamori, T. Effect of sphingosine kinase 1 inhibition on blood pressure. FASEB J. 27, 656–664 (2013). www.fasebj. org
The Effect of Histidine Residue Modification on Tyrosinase Activity and Conformation: Inhibition Kinetics and Computational Prediction

Abstract We found that the histidine chemical modification of tyrosinase conspicuously inactivated enzyme activity. The substrate reactions with diethylpyridinecarbamate showed slow-binding inhibition kinetics (K I = 0.24 ± 0.03 mM). Bromoacetate, as another histidine modifier, was also applied in order to study inhibition kinetics. The bromoacetate directly induced the exposures of hydrophobic surfaces following by complete inactivation via ligand binding. For further insights, we predicted the 3D structure of tyrosinase and simulated the docking between tyrosinase and diethylpyridinecarbamate. The docking simulation was shown to the significant binding energy scores (-3.77 kcal/mol by AutoDock4 and −25.26 kcal/mol by Dock6). The computational prediction was informative to elucidate the role of free histidine residues at the active site, which are related to substrate accessibility during tyrosinase catalysis.
Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei as bioterrorism agents: national aspects of emergency preparedness.

• Vol 9 • July 2007 B. mallei and B. pseudomallei as Bioterrorism Agents Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei are the causative organisms of glanders and melioidosis, respectively. Although now rare in western countries, both organisms have recently gained much interest because of their unique potential as bio­ terrorism agents [1]. Despite being unique organisms, B. mallei and B. pseudomallei share many similarities and may be considered together in the context of a deliberate­release event. These pathogens are less familiar to medical and labora­ tory personnel than other select bioterrorism bacterial agents such as Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis and, therefore, a review of glanders and melioidosis is crucial in order to guide emergency preparedness and response to a deliberate­release event. The aim of this paper is to review the unique characteristics of these organisms in the context of bioterrorism, with special emphasis on national aspects of preparedness in Israel.
Evaluation of the ASCAT surface soil moisture product for agricultural drought monitoring in USA

Soil moisture is a good indicator of agricultural drought. The Advanced Scatterometer Surface Soil Moisture (ASCAT SSM) product provides daily estimates of surface soil moisture and shows high potential for drought monitoring at global scale. However, its regional application still needs further investigation. In this paper, the effectiveness of ASCAT SSM product for drought monitoring in 3 major winter wheat producing states of the US (Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska) was evaluated using intensive in situ measurements from North America Soil Moisture Database (NASMD). The results indicate ASCAT SSM product is generally effective for characterizing drought conditions across different stations, with better representation of soil moisture at 5cm than 10cm depth. ASCAT SSM product shows varying capability for drought monitoring across the entire year, with a better capability observed around March-July and October-November. Also, better drought monitoring capability is found for the ASCAT descending SSM than for the ascending SSM.
Usefulness of whole blood aggregometry and its comparison with thromboxane generation assay in monitoring acetylsalicylic acid effectiveness – a multiparametric study in rats

Abstract Background: There is a need for consensus concerning universal methodological criteria for detection of suboptimal response to acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) therapy. Therefore, animal models to test for ASA effectiveness remain of interest. Our objective was to verify the usefulness of multiparametric whole-blood impedance aggregometry and thromboxane A2 generation, which are the most popular techniques used for monitoring of ASA treatment effectiveness. Methods: Using multiparametric analysis of whole-blood impedance aggregometry, we examined which parameters of platelet aggregation or disaggregation allow for the best discrimination between ASA-treated (4 or 40mg/kg for 60days) and non-treated male rats. The effectiveness of ASA-mediated inhibition of platelet cyclooxygenase-1 was verified by determination of plasma thromboxane B2 and urine 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2, accepted as reference assays for monitoring of ASA-mediated platelet cyclooxygenase-1 inhibition. Results: Two of the platelet agonists used, collagen (1mg/L) and arachidonic acid (0.5mmol/L), allowed discrimination of control and ASA-treated animals, whereas adenosine diphosphate (5μmol/L) was not effective. It is noteworthy that only ASA-mediated changes in duration of the rising phase for platelet aggregation and the area under the curve for collagen-induced aggregation allowed significant discrimination between low and high ASA dose and remained correlated with the reference parameter, plasma thromboxane B2. Conclusions: Analysis of aggregation curves, routinely based only on the amplitude and rate of platelet aggregation, may not be enough discriminative to distinguish between varying ASA doses and treatment schedules. Clin Chem Lab Med 2006;44:853–62.
Conception d’antennes réseaux aux performances optimisées par la prise en compte des couplages inter-éléments : application à la formation de faisceau et à la polarisation circulaire

Les travaux contenus dans ce manuscrit s’interessent a la synthese de fonctions de rayonnement par l’association de plusieurs elements rayonnants. Cette demande de synthese tient compte des couplages entre les elements rayonnants et du diagramme de chacun d’entre eux pour aboutir a une conception conjointe des antennes et de leur circuit de distribution. Le but est de maintenir simultanement un gain optimum, des objectifs de polarisation, ainsi que de satisfaire aux gabarits de diagramme vises. Deux applications sont developpees. Une premiere antenne, destinee a etre embarquee sur le toit d’un train est contrainte par son integration. Une seconde antenne qui servira a etablir une liaison depuis un satellite, doit realiser un diagramme de polarisation circulaire.
Enabling the Use of Real World Objects to Improve Learning

In the MACE project we aim to support architecture students while searching for the right learning materials by connecting several repositories containing architectural learning objects and by linking these objects beyond repository boundaries. We use real world object representations which serve as connection between learning materials to allow the students the exploration of new and more complete learning paths. In this paper we outline the generation and usage of real world object representations within the MACE system and evaluate our approach.
Empirical Study on Green and Sustainable Software Engineering

Green software engineering is a main software engineering process in the 21st century. In the previous era, software engineers concerned mainly with development of hardware or software without giving more importance to sustainability. There is no effort towards the technical, economical, environmental, social and individual aspects of the sustainability of the environment. In developed countries researches are mainly focused on green and sustainable software engineering. But in developing countries like India and china there is no more research on this, so more research works are to be carried on Green software engineering. The developing countries are developing more software applications and ICT products alone for the developed countries, but Green sustainable software engineering process is a major issue that is to be solved to make efficient software models. The developed software models should focus mainly on environment and on earth which are common for all the countries. This paper analyses about the Green and the sustainability of software engineering approach in the life cycle models for software development process. This work surveys the existing software models and their impact on environments.
A Highly Specific Genome-Wide Association Study Integrated with Transcriptome Data Reveals the Contribution of Copy Number Variations to Specialized Metabolites in Arabidopsis thaliana Accessions

Lineage-specific gene duplications contribute to a large variation in specialized metabolites among different plant species. There is also considerable variability in the specialized metabolites within a single plant species. However, it is unclear whether copy number variations (CNVs) derived from gene duplication events contribute to the diversity of specialized metabolites within species. We identified metabolome quantitative trait genes (mQTGs) associated with quantitative metabolite variations and examined the relationship between mQTGs and CNVs. We obtained 1,335 specialized metabolite signals from 53 worldwide A. thaliana accessions using liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. In this study, genes associated with specialized metabolites were inferred by either a generally authorized genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach or a novel analysis of the association between gene expression and metabolite accumulation. Genes qualified by both analyses are defined to be mQTGs. The integrated method enabled us to detect mQTGs with a low false positive rate (=5.71 × 10-4). We also identified 5,654 genes associated with 1,335 specialized metabolites. Of these genes, 4.4% were affected by CNVs, which was more than expected (χ2 test: P < 0.01). This result suggests that CNVs contribute to variations in specialized metabolites within a species. To assess the contribution of CNVs to adaptive evolution in A. thaliana, we examined the selective sweeps around the mQTGs. We observed that the mQTGs with CNVs tended to undergo selective sweeps. These observations imply that variations in specialized metabolites caused by CNVs contribute to the adaptive evolution of A. thaliana.
F-specific RNA bacteriophages are adequate model organisms for enteric viruses in fresh water

Culturable enteroviruses were detected by applying concentration techniques and by inoculating the concentrates on the BGM cell line. Samples were obtained from a wide variety of environments, including raw sewage, secondary effluent, coagulated effluent, chlorinated and UV-irradiated effluents, river water, coagulated river water, and lake water. The virus concentrations varied widely between 0.001 and 570/liter. The same cell line also supported growth of reoviruses, which were abundant in winter (up to 95% of the viruses detected) and scarce in summer (less than 15%). The concentrations of three groups of model organisms in relation to virus concentrations were also studied. The concentrations of bacteria (thermotolerant coliforms and fecal streptococci) were significantly correlated with virus concentrations in river water and coagulated secondary effluent, but were relatively low in disinfected effluents and relatively high in surface water open to nonhuman fecal pollution. The concentrations of F-specific RNA bacteriophages (FRNA phages) were highly correlated with virus concentrations in all environments studied except raw and biologically treated sewage. Numerical relationships were consistent over the whole range of environments; the regression equations for FRNA phages on viruses in river water and lake water were statistically equivalent. These relationships support the possibility that enteric virus concentrations can be predicted from FRNA phage data.
Iron Transformations Induced by an Acid-Tolerant Desulfosporosinus Species

ABSTRACT The mineralogical transformations of Fe phases induced by an acid-tolerant, Fe(III)- and sulfate-reducing bacterium, Desulfosporosinus sp. strain GBSRB4.2 were evaluated under geochemical conditions associated with acid mine drainage-impacted systems (i.e., low pH and high Fe concentrations). X-ray powder diffractometry coupled with magnetic analysis by first-order reversal curve diagrams were used to evaluate mineral phases produced by GBSRB4.2 in media containing different ratios of Fe(II) and Fe(III). In medium containing Fe predominately in the +II oxidation state, ferrimagnetic, single-domain greigite (Fe3S4) was formed, but the addition of Fe(III) inhibited greigite formation. In media that contained abundant Fe(III) [as schwertmannite; Fe8O8(OH)6SO4 · nH2O], the activities of strain GBSRB4.2 enhanced the transformation of schwertmannite to goethite (α-FeOOH), due to the increased pH and Fe(II) concentrations that resulted from the activities of GBSRB4.2.