Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Altered Dye Diffusion and Upregulation of Connexin37 in Mouse Aortic Endothelium Deficient in Connexin40

Connexin40 (Cx40), connexin37 (Cx37) and connexin43 (Cx43) are subunit proteins of gap junction channels in the vascular wall which are presumably involved in the propagation of vasomotor signals. In this study we have investigated in Cx40-deficient versus wild-type aortic endothelium to which extent loss of Cx40 impairs intercellular communication. We show in Cx40-deficient mice that expression of both Cx37 and Cx43 protein was increased approximately 3- and 2-fold over the level in wild-type endothelium, respectively. Furthermore, Cx37 immunosignals were distributed more homogeneously on contacting plasma membranes in Cx40-deficient versus with wild-type endothelium. Cx43 was not detected in endothelium but only in smooth muscle cells of the vessel wall. Iontophoretic injection of Lucifer Yellow or neurobiotin into aortic endothelium of Cx40-deficient mice showed extensive intercellular transfer of neurobiotin but not of Lucifer Yellow. In contrast, intercellular spreading of Lucifer Yellow was observed in endothelium of wild-type aorta. As shown by electron microscopy, gap junctions in Cx40-deficient endothelium were morphologically different from those of wild-type vessels. These results demonstrate that dye diffusibility of endothelial gap junctions is different in Cx40-deficient and wild-type mice, although Cx40-deficient mice retain the capability of intercellular communication. Apparently, Cx40-deficient endothelial cells upregulate and redistribute Cx37 as a molecular adaptation to the lack of Cx40.
Hospital outbreak of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) illness in immunocompromised hospitalized children during summer

The human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is a community‐acquired virus that mainly causes acute respiratory tract infection in infants and children. HRSV is increasingly recognized as an important nosocomial pathogen causing morbidity in immunocompromised patients. Here, we are reporting a hospital outbreak of HRSV during summer in children receiving chemotherapy for haematological malignancies. Prompt detection and timely preventive measures could abort the devastating outbreak.
Making the case for applications of switched reluctance motor technology in automotive products

Switched reluctance machines (SRM) offer attractive attributes for automotive applications. These include robustness to harsh operational conditions, rugged structure, fault resilient performance, and a wide range of speed. The main debate over the adequacy of switched reluctance drives in automotive applications has often focused on efficiency and position sensorless control over the entire speed range, adaptation of control algorithms in the presence of parameter variations, and high levels of acoustic noise and vibration. The present paper demonstrates three key technologies developed over the past few years that have resulted in tangible improvements in the performance of SRM/generators (SRM/G) as related to the above areas of interest. This paper intends to illustrate the new possibilities and remaining challenges in applications of SRM in automotive industry. The proposed technologies have been validated by simulation and experimental results
A simple regression based heuristic for learning model trees

The term "model trees" is commonly used for regression trees that contain some non-trivial model in their leaves. Popular implementations of model tree learners build trees with linear regression models in their leaves. They use reduction of variance as a heuristic for selecting tests during the tree construction process. In this article, we show that systems employing this heuristic may exhibit pathological behaviour in some quite simple cases. This is not visible in the predictive accuracy of the tree, but it reduces its explanatory power. We propose an alternative heuristic that yields equally accurate but simpler trees with better explanatory power, and this at little or no additional computational cost. The resulting model tree induction algorithm is experimentally evaluated and compared with simpler and more complex approaches on a variety of synthetic and real world data sets.
Transitional progressive multiple sclerosis: a clinical and imaging study

OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence and the natural course of transitional progressive multiple sclerosis (TPMS). This clinical form is defined by a progressive course beginning many years after an isolated bout. METHODS 214 consecutive outpatients with definite or probable multiple sclerosis were studied. The prevalence of TPMS was established. Patients with TPMS were compared with patients with other progressive forms of multiple sclerosis according to the clinical course. A prospective one year follow up study was performed in a subgroup of patients to compare progression of the disease using clinical indices and MRI. RESULTS In this clinical population of 214 outpatients with multiple sclerosis, 55 had secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), 38 primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), and 12 TPMS. Retrospective analysis of the clinical data of these patients shows that TPMS is very similar to SPMS at the beginning of the disease (age at onset, time before progression, clinical symptoms at onset, progression index). In addition a cohort of patients was prospectively followed up clinically and by MRI for one year. CONCLUSIONS The results did not show any significant differences between the three forms during this follow up. However, all data showed a concordant trend suggesting that at this progressive stage, TPMS is closer to PPMS in terms of progression of disability and new MRI lesions.
The endothelial mineralocorticoid receptor regulates vasoconstrictor tone and blood pressure

Pathophysiological aldosterone (aldo)/ mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) signaling has significant effects on the cardiovascular system, resulting in hypertension and cardiovascular remodeling; however, the specific contribution of the vascular MR to blood pressure regulation remains to be established. To address this question, we generated a mouse model with conditional overexpression of the MR in endothelial cells (MR‐EC). In basal conditions, MR‐EC mice developed moderate hypertension that could be reversed by canrenoate, a pharmacological MR antagonist. MR‐EC mice presented increased contractile response of resistance arteries to vasoconstrictors (phenylephrine, thromboxane A2 analog, angiotensin II, and endothelin 1) in the absence of vascular morphological alterations. The acute blood pressure response to angiotensin II or endothelin 1 infusion was increased in MR‐EC mice compared with that in littermate controls. These observations demonstrate that enhanced MR activation in the endothelium generates an increase in blood pressure, independent of stimulation of renal tubular Na+ transport by aldo/MR or direct activation of smooth muscle MR and establish one mechanism by which endothelial MR activation per se may contribute to impaired vascular reactivity. —Nguyen Dinh Cat, A. , Griol‐Charhbili, V. , Loufrani, L. , Labat, C, Benjamin, L. , Farman, N. , Lacolley, P., Henrion, D. , and Jaisser, F. The endothelial mineralocorticoid receptor regulates vasoconstrictor tone and blood pressure. FASEB J. 24, 2454–2463 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Two salts of di-p-toluoyltartaric acid with aromatic amines.

The structures of bis[(R)-(+)-1-phenylethylammonium] (2R,3R)-(-)-2,3-di-p-toluoyloxybutanedioate methanol disolvate monohydrate, 2C8H12N(+). C20H16O8(2-). 2CH4O.H2O, (I), and bis(benzylammonium) (2R,3R)-(-)-2,3-di-p-toluoyloxybutanedioate dihydrate, 2C7H10N+. C20H16O8(2-). 2H2O, (II), exhibit extensive hydrogen bonding, with (N-)H.O and (O-)H.O distances in the ranges 2.716 (2)-2.929 (3) and 2.687 (2)-2.767 (2) angstroms, respectively, in (I), and 2.673 (2)-2.888 (2) and 2.785 (2)-2.931 (2) angstroms, respectively, in (II). The amine groups are protonated and the carboxylate groups of the tartrate anions are fully deprotonated. The conformation of the toluoyltartrate anion and its molecular parameters are similar in both structures.
Oscillation Resolution for Massive Cell Phone Traffic Data

Cellular towers capture logs of mobile subscribers whenever their devices connect to the network. When the logs show data traffic at a cell tower generated by a device, it reveals that this device is close to the tower. The logs can then be used to trace the locations of mobile subscribers for different applications, such as studying customer behaviour, improving location-based services, or helping urban planning. However, the logs often suffer from an oscillation phenomenon. Oscillations may happen when a device, even when not moving, does not only connect to the nearest cell tower, but is instead unpredictably switching between multiple cell towers because of random noise, load balancing, or simply dynamic changes in signal strength. Detecting and removing oscillations are a challenge when analyzing location data collected from the cellular network. In this paper, we propose an algorithm called SOL (Stable, Oscillation, Leap periods) aimed at discovering and reducing oscillations in the collected logs. We apply our algorithm on real datasets which contain about 18.9~TB of traffic logs generated by more than 3~million mobile subscribers covering about 21000 cell towers and collected during 27~days from both GSM and UMTS networks in northern China. Experimental results demonstrate the ability and effectiveness of SOL to reduce oscillations in cellular network logs.
Structural design of a five-level hybrid active NPC converter for high power density motor drives

Two different power circuit structures have been proposed for a five-level hybrid active neutral-point-clamped (5L HANPC) converters. In order to reduce the size/weight of the converter system, PCB-mounted film capacitors were selected as DC-link banks. The two arrangement of the existing power semiconductor modules are compared in this paper. The comparison includes dimension, weight, parasitic parameters, etc. Finite element models integrating multi-layer PCB and laminated copper bus-bar have been developed to evaluate the current ripple absorption and current sharing in the parallel-connected film capacitors. Simulation results demonstrate that the second power circuit structure are more suitable for high density applications in industry.
Effects of altered sialic acid biosynthesis on N-linked glycan branching and cell surface interactions

GNE (UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase/ManNAc kinase) myopathy is a rare muscle disorder associated with aging and is related to sporadic inclusion body myositis, the most common acquired muscle disease of aging. Although the cause of sporadic inclusion body myositis is unknown, GNE myopathy is associated with mutations in GNE. GNE harbors two enzymatic activities required for biosynthesis of sialic acid in mammalian cells. Mutations to both GNE domains are linked to GNE myopathy. However, correlation between mutation-associated reductions in sialic acid production and disease severity is imperfect. To investigate other potential effects of GNE mutations, we compared sialic acid production in cell lines expressing wild type or mutant forms of GNE. Although we did not detect any differences attributable to disease-associated mutations, lectin binding and mass spectrometry analysis revealed that GNE deficiency is associated with unanticipated effects on the structure of cell-surface glycans. In addition to exhibiting low levels of sialylation, GNE-deficient cells produced distinct N-linked glycan structures with increased branching and extended poly-N-acetyllactosamine. GNE deficiency may affect levels of UDP-GlcNAc, a key metabolite in the nutrient-sensing hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, but this modest effect did not fully account for the change in N-linked glycan structure. Furthermore, GNE deficiency and glucose supplementation acted independently and additively to increase N-linked glycan branching. Notably, N-linked glycans produced by GNE-deficient cells displayed enhanced binding to galectin-1, indicating that changes in GNE activity can alter affinity of cell-surface glycoproteins for the galectin lattice. These findings suggest an unanticipated mechanism by which GNE activity might affect signaling through cell-surface receptors.
Differential effects of melatonin on amyloid‐β peptide 25–35‐induced mitochondrial dysfunction in hippocampal neurons at different stages of culture

Abstract: β‐Amyloid (Aβ) is strongly involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and mitochondria play an important role in neurodegenerative disorders. To determine whether any different effect of melatonin on cultured neurons treated with Aβ in vitro and which may be produced through its different action on mitochondria at different stages of culture, we investigated the damage of cultured rat hippocampal neurons mitochondrial function induced by Aβ in young neurons [days in vitro 10 (DIV 10)] and senescent neurons (DIV 25) and the protective effect of melatonin. Rat hippocampal neurons were incubated with amyloid‐β peptide 25–35 (Aβ25‐35) alone or pretreatment with melatonin. Cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm), ATP and the activity of the respiratory chain complexes were measured. Data showed that Aβ25‐35 caused a reduction in Δψm, inhibited the activity of the respiratory chain complexes and led to ATP depletion, melatonin attenuated Aβ25‐35‐induced mitochondrial impairment in young neurons, whereas melatonin had no effect on Aβ25‐35‐induced mitochondrial damage in senescent neurons. These results demonstrate that melatonin has differential effect on Aβ25‐35‐induced mitochondrial dysfunction at different stages of culture and suggest that melatonin is useful for the prevention of AD, rather than treatment.
The Correlation between Ultrasonography and Histopathology in the Management of Gall Bladder Polyps

Abstract Introduction : The diagnosis of gall bladder polyps has increased greatly due to widespread implementation of abdominal ultrasound. Patients and methods : Between February 2005 and February 2010 a total of 39 laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed for suspected gall bladder polyps. We retrospectively analysed these patients pre-operative ultrasound and histopathology report. Results : The study comprised 10 male and 29 female symptomatic patients with a mean age of 51.4 years. Histo-pathology demonstrated seven true polyps and 23 pseudopolyps. There were no cases of malignant specimens and nine cases of chronic cholecystitis. The positive predictive value (PPV) of ultrasonography for gall bladder polyps was 0.77 and the PPV for true polyps 0.18. Conclusion : PPV for the identification of true gallbladder polyps using ultrasound remains very low at 0.18. We suggest that more advanced imaging modalities are required to improve this figure and enhance patient management.
Implementation of intrusion detection system in CUDA for real-time multi-node streaming

A common surveillance activity is to track important people, or people exhibiting suspicious behavior, as they move from one camera surveillance area to another. The reduction in video hardware cost has made it more feasible for large scale camera deployment. However, the increased scale of camera deployment creates difficulties for humans to track people through the monitored space and to recognize important events as they happen in timely manner without human intervention. In this paper we share the implementation of the multi node video analytics specifically focusing on intrusion detection. The system uses general purpose graphical processing unit (GPGPU) to offload the video analytics processing. The architecture of the GPGPU requires the algorithm to be coded in Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) which involves algorithm parallelization adopting both micro and macro parallelization to ensure the performance gain in processing speed on per frame basis by 7 times. In addition, we have managed to deploy 35 camera streams on single GPU card running at 20 frames per second which results in scalability factor of 1.75 times vs. a server class PC. Indeed, we have also managed to maintain the video analytics accuracy at 100% for given test dataset, in this implementation of the system.
The Failure of Neuronal Protective Agents Versus the Success of Thrombolysis in the Treatment of Ischemic Stroke

Abstract: Agents claimed to be neuroprotective in animal stroke models have all failed in human trials. Thrombolysis has been reported as beneficial in animal and human stroke. We explore the reasons for this disparity, using a review of published results of agents tested both in animal stroke models and in human stroke trials. In animals the effect of neuroprotective agents and of thrombolytic agents on infarct size is time‐dependent: early initiation of treatment works best; and benefit is progressively—and eventually totally—lost with increasing delay of time of first treatment. The animal data also show that, overall, the beneficial effects of the neuroprotective agents are weaker, and are totally lost sooner, than those of thrombolytics. The human data show that the failed trials of the neuroprotective agents had entry windows that went far beyond the windows of (any) success seen in tests of these agents in animals. By contrast, human thrombolysis trials uniformly restricted time of entry to windows in which these agents have shown beneficial effect in animals. In clinical stroke trials, neuroprotective agents failed to produce benefit because their effects at best are too weak, and they were used at times predictable from the animal models as too late. Thrombolytic therapy, which has a stronger effect than neuroprotective agents in animal models, was used clinically during the early window of optimal effectiveness, and produced beneficial results. “Too little/too late” is the recipe for failure in the treatment of ischemic stroke.
Metabolic engineering of a non‐allosteric citrate synthase in an Escherichia coli citrate synthase mutant

This study examined the organization of the Krebs tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle by metabolic engineering and high‐resolution 13C NMR. The oxidation of [1,2,3‐13C]propionate to glutamate via the TCA cycle was measured in wild‐type (WT) and a citrate synthase mutant (CS−) strain of Escherichia coli transformed with allosteric E. coli citrate synthase (ECCS) or non‐allosteric pig citrate synthase (PCS). The 13C fractional enrichment in glutamate C‐2, C‐3, and C‐4 in ECCS and PCS were similar; although quantitative differences in total citrate synthase activity and total C‐4 labeling of glutamate were observed in ECCS and PCS. Allosteric ECCS cells contained 10‐fold less total enzyme activity than PCS but only 50% less total labeling in glutamate C‐4 and equivalent doubling times. The observed spectra were mathematically fitted using an iterative procedure(TCACALC) and yielded an acetate/succinyl‐CoA flux ratio of 10 for both ECCS and PCS, a result that is in agreement with the isotopomer analyses of the 13C spectra of cells presented with [3‐13C] propionate or [2‐13C]propionate. The results are consistent with the presence of an allosteric citrate synthase in ECCS and a non‐allosteric citrate synthase in PCS. The former maintains TCA cycle flux via alternative propionate pathways activated by positive allosteric mechanisms and the latter via elevated enzyme levels.
The role of NMDA channels in rabbit retinal directional selectivity

It has been previously demonstrated that the majority of the glutamatergic input to directionally selective (DS) ganglion cells in the rabbit retina is mediated by NMDA receptors. To examine whether NMDA channels have any role in directional selectivity, we eliminated magnesium from the superfusion medium to prevent the magnesium block of the channels at hyperpolarized membrane potentials. During superfusion in magnesium-free media, the response to null-direction motion increased to the level of the response to preferred-direction motion. This effect was specifically mediated by NMDA channels because subsequent blocking of the NMDA channels with AP7 restored directional selectivity. We also tested whether the increase in the null-direction response in magnesium-free medium was due to an increased release of acetylcholine from the cholinergic amacrine cells, rather than an effect on the DS ganglion cells themselves, by blocking acetylcholine transmission with d-tubocurarine during superfusion with the magnesium-free medium. During zero-magnesium superfusion, d-tubocurarine reduced both the preferred- and null-direction responses of DS ganglion cells but did not restore directional selectivity. These findings suggest that null-direction motion normally causes portions of the dendritic membrane of the directionally selective ganglion cell to be maintained at a sufficiently negative potential that the NMDA channels are blocked by magnesium ions. This result is discussed in terms of several models for the mechanisms of directional selectivity.
The Michigan alcoholism screening test: the quest for a new diagnostic instrument.

The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), devised to provide a consistent, quantifiable, structured interview instrument to detect alcoholism, consists of 25 questions that can be rapidly administered. Five groups were given the MAST: hospitalized alcoholics, a control group, persons convicted of drunk driving, persons convicted of drunk and disorderly behavior, and drivers whose licenses were under review. The validity of the MAST was assessed by searching the records of legal, social, and medical agencies and reviewing the subjects' driving and criminal records. The MAST responses of 15 subjects who were found to be alcoholic in the record search were analyzed to determine where the screening failures had occurred. Recommendations are made for reducing the number of such "falsė negatives. "
Motivations and destination selection of mature international thalassotherapy tourists

Because of population ageing worldwide, awareness of the motives of mature tourists is more important than ever. Previous studies show that, among others, income level, distance and education influence the decisions of tourists when choosing a travel destination. However, studies on health tourism suggest that these general conclusions may mask differences across different age groups. For instance, older people place greater reliance on their savings than their current income for tourism expenditure. We take this line of research and examine destination selection of mature international thalassotherapy tourists in conjunction with their motivations (as a subdivision of thermal tourism) across two age groups: 54 years and under and 55 years and over. We conduct a panel data analysis on 78 countries from which tourists in Turkey received thalassotherapy from 2012 to 2014. We find that the 55 years and over age group is less sensitive to income levels but more sensitive to distance and education than the other age group.
A balanced 1.5 GHz voltage controlled oscillator with an integrated LC resonator

A monolithic voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented for low-power digital radio handsets. This circuit is fabricated in a production 0.8/spl mu/m 11GHz f/sub T/ BiCMOS process. The VCO is based on the common-collector Colpitts circuit in a balanced configuration to provide differential output for direct compatibility with prescaler and double-balanced mixer inputs. The circuit utilizes an integrated LC resonator comprised of coplanar inductors, polysilicon capacitors, and on-chip varactors. The fully-integrated inductors have an unloaded Q of approximately 5 at 2GHz.