Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leptin Modulates the Inflammatory Response in Acute Pancreatitis

Background: Leptin is a pleiotropic hormone that is involved in the regulation of food intake and body weight. Recent findings demonstrated that leptin receptors are present in the pancreas but the involvement of leptin in pancreatitis remains unknown. The aim of the present study was: (1) to assess plasma leptin levels in rats with caerulein-induced pancreatitis (CIP) and humans with acute pancreatitis; and (2) to determine the effects of exogenous leptin on the course of acute CIP in rats Methods: CIP was produced in Wistar rats by s.c. infusion of 5 µg of caerulein for 5 h. Plasma leptin was measured by specific RIA and leptin expression in the pancreas was determined at the transcriptional and protein levels. In addition, the effects of exogenous leptin at the doses of 1 or 10 µg/kg i.p. on the course of CIP and the plasma levels and mRNA expression in pancreas of cytokines TNFα and IL-4 were studied. Furthermore, pancreatic cNOS and iNOS expression at mRNA level were measured in rats with CIP and pretreated with leptin. Parallel to these studies, the plasma levels of leptin were measured in 15 patients with acute edematous pancreatitis and in 30 healthy controls of comparable age and body mass index. Results: In rats, plasma leptin rose significantly from the median of 0.14 (0.03–0.3 ng/ml) in the control group to 0.56 (0.2–3.2 ng/ml) in rats with CIP. The CIP was associated with an upregulation of mRNA and protein for leptin in the pancreas. The administration of exogenous leptin significantly reduced the weight of pancreas, histological manifestations of pancreatitis, plasma TNFα and mRNA expression for iNOS in the pancreatic tissue. The assessment of leptin plasma level in humans demonstrated significantly higher median values of plasma leptin in patients with acute pancreatitis [7.5 (4.3–18.4 ng/ml)] than in healthy controls [2.1 (1.0–11.8 ng/ml)]. Conclusions: (1) Acute pancreatitis in rats and in humans is associated with a marked increase in the plasma level of leptin. (2) The transcriptional upregulation of leptin in the pancreas after induction of pancreatitis indicates that the inflammed pancreas could be the source of local production of leptin. (3) Exogenous leptin protects the pancreas against development of acute CIP in rats and one possible mechanism of action of leptin might be attributed to the activation of nitric oxide pathway.
Quantitative Computed Tomography Based Finite Element Modeling of Normal and Osteoarthritic Knees: In vivo Precision and Preliminary Comparisons

iii PREFACE . v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . vi TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii LIST OF FIGURES . x LIST OF TABLES . xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND TERMS . xvi
Detecting entanglement using a double-quantum-dot turnstile.

We propose a scheme based on using the singlet ground state of an electron spin pair in a double-quantum-dot nanostructure as a suitable setup for detecting entanglement between electron spins via the measurement of an optimal entanglement witness. Using time-dependent gate voltages and magnetic fields the entangled spins are separated and coherently rotated in the quantum dots and subsequently detected at spin-polarized quantum point contacts. We analyze the coherent time evolution of the entangled pair and show that by counting coincidences in the four exits an entanglement test can be done. This setup is close to present-day experimental possibilities and can be used to produce pairs of entangled electrons "on demand. "
ATM and the Catalytic Subunit of DNA-Dependent Protein Kinase Activate NF-κB through a Common MEK/Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase/p90rsk Signaling Pathway in Response to Distinct Forms of DNA Damage

ABSTRACT We have identified a novel pathway of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) signaling that results in nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation and chemoresistance in response to DNA damage. We show that the anthracycline doxorubicin (DOX) and its congener N-benzyladriamycin (AD 288) selectively activate ATM and DNA-PK, respectively. Both ATM and DNA-PK promote sequential activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/p90 rsk signaling cascade in a p53-independent fashion. In turn, p90 rsk interacts with the IκB kinase 2 (IKK-2) catalytic subunit of IKK, thereby inducing NF-κB activity and cell survival. Collectively, our findings suggest that distinct members of the phosphatidylinositol kinase family activate a common prosurvival MAPK/IKK/NF-κB pathway that opposes the apoptotic response following DNA damage.
Stimulus Contrast and Word Reading Speed in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract The oral word reading speed of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy young and older control participants was evaluated across a broad range of stimulus contrast levels in two experiments. The impact of stimulus repetition on reading speed also was examined. It was found that the older adult participants, and particularly the AD patients, were more sensitive to contrast reductions. Each subject group was able to read repeated words more rapidly than novel words but this repetition effect emerged only at lower stimulus contrast levels. It was concluded that AD patients have feature extraction speeds comparable to nondemented older adults but only when the stimuli are presented at a relatively high contrast. These findings suggest that the automatic encoding processes involved in word recognition remain intact in mildly demented AD patients given stimuli of sufficient strength.
An In Vivo Study Examining the Antiinflammatory Effects of Chamomile, Meadowsweet, and Willow Bark in a Novel Functional Beverage

ABSTRACT The antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties of polyphenols are well documented in vitro but there are few human studies. A herbal beverage composed of chamomile, meadowsweet, and willow bark (CMW) was developed and tested for its antiinflammatory effect in a cohort of healthy adults (n = 20) during a 4-week intervention. Subjects were randomised to either the treatment (TG) or placebo group (PG). The three herbs under study, which have been used in traditional and alternative medicine, were delivered in a berry extract matrix. This berry extract was used as a control in the experiment. The objective was to assess the herbs’ effects on systemic inflammation and joint function by examining circulating cytokines and mechanical joint flexibility. Blood serum was analyzed for cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα. There was an average decrease of 21.7% IL-1β in the treatment group, whereas the decrease seen in the placebo group was 3% but these were not statistically significant. Quartile analysis based on baseline production of TNFα demonstrated a decrease in the treatment group's IL-6 levels. This group showed improvements in mechanical joint function and pain upon movement of joints specific to the knee and lower back. Overall, no significant antiinflammatory effects were seen. The evidence is therefore inconclusive and further investigations are required using a larger cohort with some degree of elevated inflammatory activity.
Design and Electro-Thermo-Mechanical Behavior Analysis of Au/Si3N4 Bimorph Microcantilevers for Static Mode Sensing

This paper presents a design optimization method based on theoretical analysis and numerical calculations, using a commercial multi-physics solver (e.g., ANSYS and ESI CFD-ACE+), for a 3D continuous model, to analyze the bending characteristics of an electrically heated bimorph microcantilever. The results from the theoretical calculation and numerical analysis are compared with those measured using a CCD camera and magnification lenses for a chip level microcantilever array fabricated in this study. The bimorph microcantilevers are thermally actuated by joule heating generated by a 0.4 μm thin-film Au heater deposited on 0.6 μm Si3N4 microcantilevers. The initial deflections caused by residual stress resulting from the thermal bonding of two metallic layers with different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) are additionally considered, to find the exact deflected position. The numerically calculated total deflections caused by electrical actuation show differences of 10%, on average, with experimental measurements in the operating current region (i.e., ~25 mA) to prevent deterioration by overheating. Bimorph microcantilevers are promising components for use in various MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) sensing applications, and their deflection characteristics in static mode sensing are essential for detecting changes in thermal stress on the surface of microcantilevers.
Variability in Expression of CYP 3 A 5 in Human Fetal Liver

Members of the cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) subfamily of drug metabolizing enzymes exhibit developmental changes in expression in human liver characterized by a transition between CYP3A7 and CYP3A4 over the first few years of life. In contrast, the developmental expression of CYP3A5 is less well understood due to polymorphic expression of the enzyme in human tissues as a result of the prevalence of the CYP3A5*3 allele, which leads to alternative splicing. We further explored the expression of CYP3A5 and the impact of alternative splicing on the variability of CYP3A5 functional activity in a large bank of human prenatal liver samples (7 to 32 weeks of age postconception). The expression of normally spliced CYP3A5 mRNA in all human fetal liver samples varied 235-fold whereas CYP3A5 SV1 mRNA was only detected in fetal liver samples with at least one CYP3A5*3 allele. Formation of 1ʹ-OH midazolam (MDZ) varied 79-fold, and the ratio of 1ʹ-OH MDZ to 4OH MDZ varied 8-fold and depended on the presence or absence of the CYP3A5*3 allele. Formation of 4-OH MDZ was significantly associated with 1ʹ-OH MDZ (r = 0.76, P < 0.0001) but varied (36-fold) independently of CYP3A5 genotype or expression. The substantial interindividual variability that remains even after stratification for CYP3A5 genotype suggests that factors such as environmental exposure and epigenetic alterations act in addition to genetic variation to contribute to the variability of CYP3A5 expression in human prenatal liver.
Quantified Modal Logic and the Ontology of Physical Objects

In the present paper I aim at introducing a formal framework to deal with persistence and change of material objects in time. I first consider three main ontological theories: perdurantism ([6], [7], [16]), endurantism ([18]) and sequentialism ([2]); then develop a formal account for these theories, by making use of semantics for quantified modal logics: Kripke semantics ([3], [10]), the substantial interpretation ([5]) and counterpart semantics ([1]) respectively. I show that each interpretation soundly formalizes the corresponding ontological account, by referring to three features of these semantics: (i) the nature of individuals appearing in the domains of these structures, (ii) the principles on identity sound with respect to each account, (iii) the representation and solution of ontological problems within the logical frameworks. I conclude that Kripke semantics, the substantial interpretation and counterpart semantics are a sound formalization for perdurantism, endurantism and sequentialism respectively. Finally I outline some applications of these formalisms, in order to cope with the problem of comparing and reducing ontologies. By means of results in [4] and [9], I single out the necessary and sufficient conditions according to which an endurantist, a perdurantist and a sequentialist can meaningfully talk to each other. In the end I stress the role that logics in particular quantified modal logic can play in analysing ontological issues as persistence and change for material objects, thus improving our comprehension of the logical consequences of our ontological theses, and of the relationships among the various accounts. In the present paper I aim at introducing a formal framework to deal with the ontological issues of persistence and change for individuals in time. In the last years there has been a renewal of the debate on persistence conditions for physical objects; several proposals are available in the literature, which can be roughly divided into three main accounts. • Perdurantism (see Hawley [6], Heller [7], Sider [16]), according to which physical objects are extended in time as well as in space, with temporal parts formally analogous to spatial parts. • Endurantism (see Wiggins [18]), which maintains the alleged traditional account
Extending first principles modeling with crystal chemistry: a bond‐valence based classical potential

We demonstrate how a phenomenological model which reproduces first‐principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations can be constructed to study complex ferroelectric oxides. This model is derived from a well‐known crystal chemistry approach, in which Brown’s Rules of Valence[1, 2] are used to determine the configurational energy of the system. Our previous work has shown that this model can be used to explain the atomic interactions in the Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 (PZT) solid solution. We extend this model by parameterizing to a distorted DFT structure as well as a structural minimum. Finally, we shall comment on the applicability of this model for finite‐temperature and composition‐dependent studies.We demonstrate how a phenomenological model which reproduces first‐principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations can be constructed to study complex ferroelectric oxides. This model is derived from a well‐known crystal chemistry approach, in which Brown’s Rules of Valence[1, 2] are used to determine the configurational energy of the system. Our previous work has shown that this model can be used to explain the atomic interactions in the Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 (PZT) solid solution. We extend this model by parameterizing to a distorted DFT structure as well as a structural minimum. Finally, we shall comment on the applicability of this model for finite‐temperature and composition‐dependent studies.
CREB regulates the expression of neuronal glucose transporter 3: a possible mechanism related to impaired brain glucose uptake in Alzheimer’s disease

Impaired brain glucose uptake and metabolism precede the appearance of clinical symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD). Neuronal glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) is decreased in AD brain and correlates with tau pathology. However, what leads to the decreased GLUT3 is yet unknown. In this study, we found that the promoter of human GLUT3 contains three potential cAMP response element (CRE)-like elements, CRE1, CRE2 and CRE3. Overexpression of CRE-binding protein (CREB) or activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase significantly increased GLUT3 expression. CREB bound to the CREs and promoted luciferase expression driven by human GLUT3-promoter. Among the CREs, CRE2 and CRE3 were required for the promotion of GLUT3 expression. Full-length CREB was decreased and truncation of CREB was increased in AD brain. This truncation was correlated with calpain I activation in human brain. Further study demonstrated that calpain I proteolysed CREB at Gln28–Ala29 and generated a 41-kDa truncated CREB, which had less activity to promote GLUT3 expression. Importantly, human brain GLUT3 was correlated with full-length CREB positively and with activation of calpain I negatively. These findings suggest that overactivation of calpain I caused by calcium overload proteolyses CREB, resulting in a reduction of GLUT3 expression and consequently impairing glucose uptake and metabolism in AD brain.
Resveratrol Ameliorates Muscular Pathology in the Dystrophic mdx Mouse, a Model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophies are inherited myogenic disorders accompanied by progressive skeletal muscle weakness and degeneration. We previously showed that resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene), an antioxidant and activator of the NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase SIRT1, delays the progression of heart failure and prolongs the lifespan of δ-sarcoglycan-deficient hamsters. Because a defect of dystroglycan complex causes muscular dystrophies, and δ-sarcoglycan is a component of this complex, we hypothesized that resveratrol might be a new therapeutic tool for muscular dystrophies. Here, we examined resveratrol's effect in mdx mice, an animal model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. mdx mice that received resveratrol in the diet for 32 weeks (4 g/kg diet) showed significantly less muscle mass loss and nonmuscle interstitial tissue in the biceps femoris compared with mdx mice fed a control diet. In the muscles of these mice, resveratrol significantly decreased oxidative damage shown by the immunostaining of nitrotyrosine and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine and suppressed the up-regulation of NADPH oxidase subunits Nox4, Duox1, and p47phox. Resveratrol also reduced the number of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)+ myofibroblast cells and endomysial fibrosis in the biceps femoris, although the infiltration of CD45+ inflammatory cells and increase in transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) were still observed. In C2C12 myoblast cells, resveratrol pretreatment suppressed the TGF-β1-induced increase in reactive oxygen species, fibronectin production, and expression of α-SMA, and SIRT1 knockdown blocked these inhibitory effects. SIRT1 small interfering RNA also increased the expression of Nox4, p47phox, and α-SMA in C2C12 cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that SIRT1 activation may be a useful strategy for treating muscular dystrophies.
End-to-end learning of image based lane-change decision

We propose an image based end-to-end learning framework that helps lane-change decisions for human drivers and autonomous vehicles. The proposed system, Safe Lane-Change Aid Network (SLCAN), trains a deep convolutional neural network to classify the status of adjacent lanes from rear view images acquired by cameras mounted on both sides of the vehicle. Rather than depending on any explicit object detection or tracking scheme, SLCAN reads the whole input image and directly decides whether initiation of the lane-change at the moment is safe or not. We collected and annotated 77,273 rear side view images to train and test SLCAN. Experimental results show that the proposed framework achieves 96.98% classification accuracy although the test images are from unseen roadways. We also visualize the saliency map to understand which part of image SLCAN looks at for correct decisions.
UFRGS: Identifying Categories and Targets in Customer Reviews

This paper reports on our participation in SemEval-2015 Task 12, which was devoted to Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis. Participants were required to identify the category (entity and attribute), the opinion target, and the polarity of customer reviews. The system we built relies on classification algorithms to identify aspect categories and on a set of rules to identify the opinion target. We propose a two-phase classification approach for category identification and use a simple method for polarity detection. Our results outperform the baseline in many cases, which means our system could be used as an alternative for aspect classification.
Plastic Deformation of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy under Various Temperature Conditions

The deformation mechanism of the extruded cylinder of AZ31 magunesium alloy depending on a condition of temperature and loading path was studied by a multi-loading test under various temperature conditions and an observation of its microscopic structure after the plastic deformation. From the experimental results, AZ31 magnesium alloy is plastically deformed at room temperature by a twin deformation mechanism. AZ31 magnesium alloy is hard to be plastically deformed at room temperature because the critical shear stress of the twin deformation is much larger than that of a trans-granular slip. Thus, due to the twin deformation mechanism, the yield surface of AZ31 magnesium alloy at room temperature does not coincide with the surface estimated by von Mises criterion, and then the yield stresses of a compressive test and torsion test are lower than the yield stress of a tensile test. From the shape of the yield surface and the existence of the twin in microscopic structure, the deformation mechanism at 423K is similar to the mechanism at room temperature. The superplastic deformation driven by a grain boundary sliding and the grain refinement occurs at 673K. Then, concerning the yield surface, the yield stress of a compressive test is equal to that of a tensile test, and the shear yield stress shows 80% of the tensile yield stress. Such as a shape of the yield surface appears at the temperature of 473K, 498K and 523K and the grain refinement is observed in the specimen deformed at 523K. Therefore, at these temperature conditions, the influence of the grain boundary sliding mechanism appears on the plastic deformation. Because the grain boundary sliding mechanism and the grain refinement leading to the superplastic deformation reveal at a temperature more than 473K, it is supposed that the plastic work-ability of AZ31 magnesium alloy can be facilitated at a comparatively lower temperature.
Resting extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 expression following a continuum of chronic resistance exercise training paradigms

ABSTRACT Extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) moderates skeletal muscle growth; however, chronic responses of this protein to unique resistance exercise (RE) paradigms are yet to be explored. The purpose of this investigation was to describe the long-term response of ERK1/2 following circuit weight training (CWT), recreationally weight training (WT), powerlifting (PL) and weightlifting (WL). Independent t-tests were used to determine differences in trained groups compared to sedentary controls. Total ERK1/2 content was lower in PL and WL compared to their controls (p ≤ 0.05). Specific trained groups displayed large (WL: pERK/total-ERK; d = 1.25) and moderate (CWT: total ERK1/2; d = 0.54) effect sizes for altered kinase expression compared to controls. The results indicate ERK1/2 expression is down-regulated after chronic RE in well-trained weightlifters and powerlifters. Lower expression of this protein may be a method in which anabolism is tightly regulated after many years of high-intensity RE.
Impact of Code Compression on Estimated Worst-Case Execution Times

Code compression techniques might be useful to meet code size constraints in embedded systems. In the average case, the impact of code compression on the performance is double-edged: on one side, the number of accesses to memory hierarchy is reduced because several instructions are coded in a single word, and this is likely to reduce the execution time; on the other side, the decompression penalty increases the processing time of compressed instructions. Nevertheless, experimental results show that the execution time might be lowered by code compression. In this paper, our goal is to analyze the impact of code compression on the estimated Worst-Case Execution Time of critical tasks that must meet at the same time code size constraints and timing deadlines. Changes in the access patterns to the instruction cache are indeed likely to alter the accuracy of the cache analysis within the process of determining the WCET. Experimental results show that, besides reducing the code size, our code compression scheme also improves the WCET estimates in most of the cases.