Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age and Outcomes Associated with BP in Patients with Incident CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Hypertension is the most important treatable risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes. Many patients with CKD are elderly, but the ideal BP in these individuals is unknown. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS From among 339,887 patients with incident eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2), we examined associations of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) with all-cause mortality, incident coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic strokes, and ESRD from the time of developing CKD until the end of follow-up (July 26, 2013, for mortality, CHD, and stroke, and December 31, 2011, for ESRD) in multivariable-adjusted survival models categorized by patients' age. RESULTS Of the total cohort, 300,424 (88%) had complete data for multivariable analysis. Both SBP and DBP showed a U-shaped association with mortality. SBP displayed a linear association with CHD, stroke, and ESRD, whereas DBP showed no consistent association with either. SBP>140 mmHg was associated with higher incidence of all examined outcomes, but with an incremental attenuation of the observed risk in older compared with younger patients (P<0.05 for interaction) The adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals associated with SBP≥170 mmHg (compared with 130-139 mmHg) in patients <50, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and ≥80 years were 1.95 (1.34 to 2.84), 2.01 (1.75 to 2.30), 1.68 (1.49 to 1.89), 1.39 (1.25 to 1.54), and 1.30 (1.17 to 1.44), respectively. The risk of incident CHD, stroke, and ESRD was incrementally higher with higher SBP in patients aged <80 years but showed no consistent association in those aged ≥80 years (P<0.05 for interaction for all outcomes). CONCLUSIONS In veterans with incident CKD, SBP showed different associations in older versus younger patients. The association of higher SBP with adverse outcomes was present but markedly reduced in older individuals, especially in those aged ≥80 years. Elevated DBP showed no consistent association with vascular outcomes in patients with incident CKD.
Nitroxyl (HNO): A Novel Approach for the Acute Treatment of Heart Failure

Background—The nitroxyl (HNO) donor, Angeli’s salt, exerts positive inotropic, lusitropic, and vasodilator effects in vivo that are cAMP independent. Its clinical usefulness is limited by chemical instability and cogeneration of nitrite which itself has vascular effects. Here, we report on effects of a novel, stable, pure HNO donor (CXL-1020) in isolated myoctyes and intact hearts in experimental models and in patients with heart failure (HF). Methods and Results—CXL-1020 converts solely to HNO and inactive CXL-1051 with a t1/2 of 2 minutes. In adult mouse ventricular myocytes, it dose dependently increased sarcomere shortening by 75% to 210% (50–500 &mgr;mol/L), with a ≈30% rise in the peak Ca2+ transient only at higher doses. Neither inhibition of protein kinase A nor soluble guanylate cyclase altered this contractile response. Unlike isoproterenol, CXL-1020 was equally effective in myocytes from normal or failing hearts. In anesthetized dogs with coronary microembolization-induced HF, CXL-1020 reduced left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and myocardial oxygen consumption while increasing ejection fraction from 27% to 40% and maximal ventricular power index by 42% (both P<0.05). In conscious dogs with tachypacing-induced HF, CXL-1020 increased contractility assessed by end-systolic elastance and provided venoarterial dilation. Heart rate was minimally altered. In patients with systolic HF, CXL-1020 reduced both left and right heart filling pressures and systemic vascular resistance, while increasing cardiac and stroke volume index. Heart rate was unchanged, and arterial pressure declined modestly. Conclusions—These data show the functional efficacy of a novel pure HNO donor to enhance myocardial function and present first-in-man evidence for its potential usefulness in HF. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifiers: NCT01096043, NCT01092325.
Engineering the N‐terminal end of CelA results in improved performance and growth of Caldicellulosiruptor bescii on crystalline cellulose

CelA is the most abundant enzyme secreted by Caldicellulosiruptor bescii and has been shown to outperform mixtures of commercially available exo‐ and endoglucanases in vitro. CelA contains both a glycoside hydrolase family 9 endoglucanase and a glycoside hydrolase family 48 exoglucanase known to be synergistic in their activity, connected by three cellulose‐binding domains via linker peptides. Here, repeated aspartate residues were introduced into the N‐terminal ends of CelA GH9 and GH48 domains to improve secretion efficiency and/or catalytic efficiency of CelA. Among several constructs, the highest activity on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), 0.81 ± 0.03 mg/mL was observed for the C. bescii strain containing CelA with 5‐aspartate tag at the N‐terminal end of GH9 domain—an 82% increase over wild type CelA. In addition, expression of CelA with N‐terminal repeated aspartate residues in C. bescii results in a dramatic increase in its ability to grow on Avicel. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 945–950. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Production System Theory of Serial Memory

A theory is described that provides a detailed model of how people recall serial lists of items. This theory is based on the Adaptive Character of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) production system (J. R. Anderson, 1993). It assumes that serial lists are represented as hierarchical structures consisting of groups and items within groups. Declarative knowledge units encode the position of items and of groups within larger groups. Production rules use this positional information to organize the serial recall of a list of items. In ACT-R, memory access depends on a limited-capacity activation process, and errors can occur in the contents of recall because of a partial matching process. These limitations conspire in a number of ways to produce the limitations in immediate memory span: As the span increases, activation must be divided among more elements, activation decays more with longer recall times, and there are more opportunities for positional and acoustic confusions. The theory is shown to be capable of predicting both latency and error patterns in serial recall. It addresses effects of serial position, list length, delay, word length, positional confusion, acoustic confusion, and articulatory suppression.
Send Orders of Reprints at Reprints@benthamscience.net Diabetic Retinopathy and Vegf

Diabetic retinopathy remains the leading vascular-associated cause of blindness throughout the world. Its treatment requires a multidisciplinary interventional approach at both systemic and local levels. Current management includes laser photocoagulation, intravitreal steroids, and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment along with systemic blood sugar control. Anti-VEGF therapies, which are less destructive and safer than laser treatments, are being explored as primary therapy for the management of vision-threatening complications of diabetic retinopathy such as diabetic macular edema (DME). This review provides comprehensive information related to VEGF and describes its role in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, and in addition, examines the mechanisms of action for different anti-angiogenic agents in relation to the management of this disease. Medline (Pubmed) searches were carried out with keywords " VEGF " , " diabetic retinopathy " , and " diabetes " without any year limitation to review relevant manuscripts used for this article.
Sequence Stratigraphy of Some Middle to Late Miocene Sediments , Coastal Swamp Depobelts , Western Offshore Niger Delta

An integrated interpretation of well logs and biostratigraphic data of three selected oil wells (Exxit 73, 75 and 78) of OML 99 within the western offshore Niger Delta was carried out for the sequence stratigraphic analysis of sediments penetrated by the wells. This enabled the subdivision of the stratigraphic column within the wells into depositional sequences and sedimentary cycles. Three depositional sequences were identified and they are characterized as highstand systems tract, transgressive systems tract and lowstand systems tract. Three maximum flooding surfaces and three sequence boundaries were also recognized. The depositional environment of the study area is inferred to be of deltaic shelfal-transitional type. These depositional sequences have potential to serve as excellent source rock and seals. Sand percentage calculation showed that the maximum flooding surfaces correspond to the major shale break i.e. high shale content. Further studies also identified the major fault planes and a hydrocarbon potential, speculated probably at 11800ft. Utilizing the Palynological Zonation of Exxit 73, 75 and 78, the ages of the sediments penetrated in the wells were inferred to range from Middle Late Miocene.
The effects of sports drinks containing caffeine and carbohydrate on soccer-specific skill performance during match-induced fatigue

Supervisory Committee Dr. Catherine Gaul (School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education) Supervisor Dr. Lynneth Stuart-Hill (School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education) Department Member A ninety minute competitive soccer match consists of many intermittent sprints resulting in fatigue, and consequently, a reduction in skill performance. The combination of caffeine and carbohydrate (CHO) has been shown to have ergogenic effects which help maintain skill measures during fatiguing states, however, there has been little research investigating this combination on soccer performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of three sports drinks, including a placebo (PLA), a 6% CHO drink, and CHO + caffeine (CCAF; 5 mg/Kg body mass (BM)) on soccer-specific skills, throughout a fatigueinducing soccer match. Twelve male soccer players completed three ninety minute intersquad matches played outdoors on a grass field in a randomized crossover design. Players consumed 5 ml/kg BM 45 minutes prior to kickoff and 3 ml/kg BM every 15 minutes during match play. Soccer passing skill was measured using the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT), shot speed, and 20m sprint performance were measured pre-match, immediately at halftime and immediately post-match. Countermovement jump (CMJ) was measured prematch and post-match. Heart rate (HR) was measured continuously. Blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and perceived fatigue were assessed
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CORROSION INHIBITOR TO PREVENT BLACK POWDER FORMATION USING QUARTZ CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE TECHNIQUE

Black powder formation is an oxidative corrosion process that over time can cause operational problems as the solids collect within the system. There is a net weight gain within the system as molecular oxygen becomes incorporated as part of the solid materials. A novel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) test apparatus has been developed to determine the effectiveness of various corrosion inhibitors to prevent black powder formation in sales gas pipelines. The QCM measures minute changes in frequency of a quartz crystal with weight gain/loss. For our test apparatus, the QCM crystal was coated with iron where small increases in mass due to oxidation of the iron layer are recorded as a drop in frequency. Using the Sauerbrey equation, the drop in frequency observed during corrosion testing can be converted to a corrosion rate. Several inhibitor chemistries were tested using the QCM apparatus. In this study it was found that a new oil-soluble corrosion inhibitor is the most effective for preventing black powder formation under the sales gas conditions.
Texture defect detection using subband domain co-occurrence matrices

In this paper, a new defect detection algorithm for textured images is presented. The algorithm is based on the subband decomposition of gray level images through wavelet filters and extraction of the co-occurrence features from the subband images. Detection of defects within the inspected texture is performed by partitioning the textured image into non-overlapping subwindows and classifying each subwindow as defective or nondefective with a mahalanobis distance classifier being trained on defect free samples a priori. The experimental results demonstrating the use of this algorithm for the visual inspection of textile products obtained from the real factory environment are also presented.
Fine specificity of regulatory T cells. II. Suppressor and helper T cells are induced by different regions of hen egg-white lysozyme in a genetically nonresponder mouse strain

We have examined the ability of two purified peptide fragments derived from hen (chicken) egg-white lysozyme (HEL); N-terminal, Co-terminal peptide (a.a. 1--17:cys 6--cys 127:120--129) and mixed disulfide LII peptide (LII) (a.a. 13--105) to induce antigen-specific suppression or help in B10 (H-2b) nonresponder and B10.A (H-2a) responder mice. An anti-HEL primary in vitro antibody response can be obtained in either strain by stimulation with HEL coupled to erythrocytes (RBC). Preimmunization with HEL-complete Freund's adjuvant-(CFA) or N-C-CFA- induced suppression of the anti-HEL PFC response to HEL-RBC in spleen cell cultures from B10 mice, whereas helper activity was demonstrated in cultures from B10.A mice similarly immunized. LII-CFA priming elicited helper cells in both C57BL/10 Sn (B10) and B10.A/SgSn (B10.A) mice. The genetic nonresponsiveness of B10 mice to HEL can therefore be attributed to the activation of suppressor T cells by a limited portion of the molecule (e.g., N-C) which prevent the potential response directed against other epitopes on the same molecule (e.g., LII). One manifestation of major histocompatibility complex gene activity appears to be the intramolecular selection of different antigenic determinants leading to activation of functionally different T-cell subpopulations.
Interactions among three species of cereal aphids simultaneously infesting wheat

Abstract Interactions among greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), and bird cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) were examined on wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L., cultivar TAM 107). Nymphs were released on the plants as conspecific and heterospecific pairs of either first or fourth instars and evaluated for survival, developmental time, fecundity, intra-plant movement, and affinity to plant tissues. Survival from first instar to onset of reproduction averaged 90–100% across all pair combinations. Diuraphis noxia developed faster as conspecifics than in any heterospecific combination, and faster as conspecifics feeding on the same plant tissue than on different tissues. Fecundity of S. graminum was higher for conspecifics that developed on the same plant tissue than for those feeding separately. There was evidence of amensalism (one species was harmed while the other was unaffected) in that D. noxia experienced delayed development feeding in tandem with S. graminum, and reduced fecundity with both S. graminum and R. padi. Furthermore, S. graminum nymphs had reduced survival when their mothers matured on a same plant with R. padi. Both D. noxia and R. padi changed position on the plant more often when developing with S. graminum. Survival of second generation S. graminum nymphs was reduced when this species developed and reproduced in tandem with R. padi. Preferred feeding locations were S. graminum - primary leaf, D. noxia - tertiary leaf and R. padi - stem and these were not altered in any heterospecific combinations. Heterospecific aphids had no impact on fecundity or progeny survival in any species combination when fourth instars matured and reproduced on plants not previously exposed to aphid feeding, supporting the inference that systemic, aphid-induced changes in plant physiology mediated the effects observed when first instars developed and reproduced on the same plants.
What's the Best Sound?

The neurons of the brain that first receive input from the senses detect elementary features--such as lines or movement--and then relay that information to the next higher stage of sensory processing, where more complex features are assembled. This principle was established based on work in the visual pathway, and now a report in this issue ([ deCharms et al. ][1]) describes a method to determine the elementary features for the auditory system. As Young explains in his commentary, a neuron exposed to a broad array of chords can pick out the relevant ones and respond only to them, defining for the researcher its own optimal stimulus. [1]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/short/280/5368/1439
SUMOylation negatively modulates target gene occupancy of the KDM5B, a histone lysine demethylase

The histone lysine demethylase KDM5B plays key roles in gene repression by demethylating trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me3), a modification commonly found at the promoter region of actively transcribed genes. KDM5B is known to regulate the expression of genes involved in cell cycle progression; however, little is known about the post-translational modifications that regulate KDM5B. Herein, we report that KDM5B is SUMOylated at lysine residues 242 and 278 and that the ectopic expression of the hPC2 SUMO E3 ligase enhances this SUMOylation. Interestingly, the levels of KDM5B and its SUMOylated forms are regulated during the cell cycle. KDM5B is modulated by RNF4, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets SUMO-modified proteins to proteasomal degradation. Digital gene expression analyses showed that cells expressing the SUMOylation-deficient KDM5B harbor repressed mRNA expression profiles of cell cycle and DNA repair genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitations confirmed some of these genes as KDM5B targets, as they displayed reduced H3K4me3 levels in cells ectopically expressing KDM5B. We propose that SUMOylation by hPC2 regulates the activity of KDM5B.
Cast insertion strategies for gradually-typed objects

Gradual typing enables a smooth and progressive integration of static and dynamic typing. The semantics of a gradually-typed program is given by translation to an intermediate language with casts: runtime type checks that control the boundaries between statically- and dynamically-typed portions of a program. This paper studies the performance of different cast insertion strategies in the context of Gradualtalk, a gradually-typed Smalltalk. We first implement the strategy specified by Siek and Taha, which inserts casts at call sites. We then study the dual approach, which consists in performing casts in callees. Based on the observation that both strategies perform well in different scenarios, we design a hybrid strategy that combines the best of each approach. We evaluate these three strategies using both micro- and macro-benchmarks. We also discuss the impact of these strategies on memory, modularity, and inheritance. The hybrid strategy constitutes a promising cast insertion strategy for adding gradual types to existing dynamically-typed languages.
Variance Optimal Cap Pricing Models

We propose new closed-form pricing formulas for interest rate options which guarantee perfect compatibility with volatility smiles. These cap pricing formulas are computed under variance optimal measures in the framework of the market model or the Gaussian model and achieve an exact calibration of observed market prices. They are presented in a general setting allowing to study model and numeraire choice effects on the computed prices. Numeraire dependence is particularly emphasized. A numerical example and an empirical application on market data are given to illustrate the practical use of the calibration procedure.
Parallel computing application into the particle swarm optimization algorithm used to solve the Job-Shop scheduling problem

Currently, on optimization processes requirements focusing on several parameters are emphasized. Algorithms allowing to find an optimal (near-optimal) solution, are in most cases moving in the large area of possible solutions. Their running requires strong computational support and hunger solution programs to run on multi-core workstation, clusters, grid and clouds. In this article serial and parallel computing of the Job-Shop scheduling problem by using MATLAB distributed computing server is compared.
An Incremental Threshold Method for Continuous Text Search Queries

A text filtering system monitors a stream of incoming documents, to identify those that match the interest profiles of its users. The user interests are registered at a server as continuous text search queries. The server constantly maintains for each query a ranked result list, comprising the recent documents (drawn from a sliding window) with the highest similarity to the query. Such a system underlies many text monitoring applications that need to cope with heavy document traffic, such as news and email monitoring. In this paper, we propose the first solution for processing continuous text queries efficiently. Our objective is to support a large number of user queries while sustaining high document arrival rates. Our solution indexes the streamed documents with a structure based on the principles of the inverted file, and processes document arrival and expiration events with an incremental threshold-based method. Using a stream of real documents, we experimentally verify the efficiency of our approach, which is at least an order of magnitude faster than a competitor constructed from existing techniques.
Neuregulin Signaling Regulates Neural Precursor Growth and the Generation of Oligodendrocytes In Vitro

Neuregulin 1 (Nrg-1) isoforms have been shown to influence the emergence and growth of oligodendrocytes, the CNS myelin-forming cells. We have investigated how Nrg-1 signaling of ErbB receptors specifically controls the early stages of oligodendrocyte generation from multipotential neural precursors (NPs). We show here that embryonic striatal NPs express multiple Nrg-1 transcripts and proteins as well as their specific receptors, ErbB2 and ErbB4, but not ErbB3. The major isoform synthesized by striatal NPs is a transmembrane type III isoform called cysteine-rich domain Nrg-1. To examine the biological effect of Nrg-1, we added soluble ErbB3 (sErbB3) to growing neurospheres. This inhibitor of Nrg-1 bioactivity decreased mitosis of NPs and increased their apoptosis, resulting in a significant reduction in neurosphere size and number. When NPs were induced to migrate and differentiate by adhesion of neurospheres to the substratum, the level of type III isoforms detected by RT-PCR and Western blot decreased in parallel with a reduction in Nrg-1 fluorescence intensity in differentiating astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes. Pretreatment of growing neurospheres with sErbB3 induced a threefold increase in the proportion of oligodendrocytes generated from NPs migrating out of the neurosphere. This effect was not observed with an unrelated soluble receptor. Addition of sErbB3 during NP growth and differentiation enhanced oligodendrocyte maturation as shown by expression of galactocerebroside and myelin basic protein. We propose that both type III Nrg-1 signaling and soluble ErbB receptors modulate oligodendrocyte development from NPs.