Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroprotective effect of dextromethorphan in the MPTP Parkinson's disease model: role of NADPH oxidase

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the striatum. Progress in the search for effective therapeutic strategies that can halt this degenerative process remains limited. Mechanistic studies using animal systems such as the 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) rodent PD model have revealed the involvement of the brain's immune cells and free radical‐generating processes. We recently reported that dextromethorphan (DM), a widely used anti‐tussive agent, attenuated endotoxin‐induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration in vitro. In the current study, we investigated the potential neuroprotective effect of DM and the underlying mechanism of action in the MPTP rodent PD model. Mice (C57BL/6J) that received daily MPTP injections (15 mg free base/kg body weight, s.c.) for 6 consecutive days exhibited significant degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway. However, the MPTP‐induced loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons was significantly attenuated in those mice receiving DM (10 mg/kg body weight, s.c.). In mesencephalic neuron‐glia cultures, DM significantly reduced the MPTP‐induced production of both extracellular superoxide free radicals and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Because NADPH oxidase is the primary source of extracellular superoxide and intracellular ROS, we investigated the involvement of NADPH oxidase in the neuroprotective effect of DM. Indeed, the neuroprotective effect of DM was only observed in the wild‐type but not in the NADPH oxidase‐deficient mice, indicating that NADPH oxidase is a critical mediator of the neuroprotective activity of DM. More importantly, due to its proven safety record of long‐term clinical use in humans, DM may be a promising agent for the treatment of degenerative neurological disorders such as PD.
SAW and optical signal processing

Even in this digital age, SAW and Optical devices remain indispensable analogue signal processing technologies whose operation and success derive from common wave propagation phenomena. In this review I hope to explain why this is so, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Historically, the development and exploitation of these technologies arose during the Cold War primarily from the military need for an unsurpassed signal processing capability, although both are now widely exploited in civil applications as well. Following the Introduction, this paper briefly reviews the construction, operation, attractions, and selected applications of the SAW devices developed since the invention of the Interdigital Transducer (IDT) in 1965. These devices include delay lines, bandpass filters, and the first SAW device used in anger, the dispersive delay line which was vital to the realisation of pulse compression radar. I shall also review the attractions of SAW oscillators, which I believe still enjoy an opportunity to contribute to the insatiable military need for improved overall stability. Following this I introduce some components and techniques devised by the optics community for signal and image processing since the invention of the laser in 1960, beginning with techniques for pattern recognition and the ingenious technique devised to realise real-time Synthetic Aperture Radar, (SAR) image formation. More recently, the invention and development of laser diodes and fibre optics by the telecommunications industry has led to the realisation of optical signal processing techniques whose functionality is in many respects complementary to that of SAW devices. In particular, optical techniques are now useful for the generation, delay, sampling, and distribution of signals at higher rf frequencies (and bandwidths) than SAW devices, ie at microwave and mm- wave frequencies and above, leading to the modern field of activity known as Microwave Photonics. Some current research topics in this field are described, including stable microwave generation, phased array antenna beamforming, and A/D conversion, each being relevant to future military and civil systems.
Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks: Principles, Protocols, and Applications (Sarkar, S. K. et al.; 2008) [Book Review]

Mobile wireless ad hoc networks (MANETs) are a rapidly evolving telecommunications technology. Their popularity is connected with their easy deployment and fast configuration. This book is targeted at a variety of readers with different levels of wireless network knowledge. Most of the presented material focuses on different layer protocols for ad hoc networks. It covers practical applications review and cross-layer design aspects, as well as quality of service (QoS), energy, and mobility issues. The book consists of ten chapters, and begins with a short introduction to wireless and ad hoc networks. Each chapter includes a short introduction in which the motivation can be found. At the end of each chapter, final conclusions are given that summarize the presented knowledge. In addition, extensive bibliography sections for deeper reading are attached to the end of each chapter. The book should be attractive to students and graduate students as well as lecturers and network engineers.
Synaptic structural plasticity: Role of synaptic shape

Recent research has indicated that synaptic curvature is an important and potentially critical plastic feature of the synapse. Alterations in synaptic shape are related to synaptic function, being found both during maturation and in adulthood following neuronal activation. In this paper we review the evidence supporting synaptic shape as a plastic feature of synaptic structure. We also propose several mechanisms which might underlie these changes in shape. Finally, we suggest the possible functional role of alterations in synaptic curvature, including its potential in altering synaptic transmission efficacy.
Interhelical contacts are required for the helix bundle fold of apolipophorin III and its ability to interact with lipoproteins

Apolipophorin‐III (apoLp‐III) from the insect, Manduca sexta, is a 166‐residue exchangeable apolipoprotein that plays a critical role in the dynamics of plasma lipoprotein interconversions. Our previous work indicated that a 36‐residue C‐terminal peptide fragment, generated by cyanogen bromide digestion of apoLp‐III, was unable to bind to lipid surfaces (Narayanaswami V, Kay CM, Oikawa K, Ryan RO, 1994, Biochemistry 33:13312‐13320), and showed no secondary structure in aqueous solution. In this paper, we have performed structural studies of this peptide (E131‐Q166) complexed with SDS detergent micelles, or in the presence of the helix‐inducing solvent trifluoroethanol (TFE), by two‐dimensional 1H NMR spectroscopy. The peptide adopts an α‐helical structure in the presence of both SDS and 50% TFE. The lipid‐bound structure of the peptide, generated from the NMR NOE data, showed an elongated, slightly curved α‐helix. Despite its high α‐helix forming propensity, the peptide requires a helix‐promoting environment to adopt an α‐helical structure. This indicates the importance of the surrounding chemical environment and implies that, in the absence of lipid, tertiary contacts in the folded protein play a role in maintaining its structural integrity. Furthermore, the data suggest that the amphipathic helix bundle organization serves as a prerequisite structural motif for the reversible lipoprotein‐binding activity of M. sexta apoLp‐III.
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis and Hypothalamic–Neurohypophyseal Responsiveness in Water-Deprived Rats

The differential effects of osmotic stimulation on magnocellular and parvocellular hypothalamic neurons were studied by analysis of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and vasopressin (VP) expression in controls and 48-h water-deprived rats subjected to either restraint for 1 h or a single lipopolysaccharide injection (250 microg/100 g). Water deprivation reduced basal CRH mRNA levels but the increments following 4 h of restraint or 6 h lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection were similar to those in controls. In contrast, water deprivation had no effect on basal VP heteronuclear RNA (hnRNA) and mRNA levels in parvocellular neurons, but responses to restraint or LPS injection were reduced. VP expression in magnocellular paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei, and plasma sodium and vasopressin were higher in water-deprived rats, changes which were unaffected by restraint. LPS injection reduced VP mRNA but not hnRNA levels in magnocellular neurons and increased plasma vasopressin levels only in water-deprived rats independently of changes in plasma sodium. This was accompanied by an increase in vasopressin mRNA content in the posterior pituitary. The data show that the blunted ACTH responses to acute stress during chronic osmotic stimulation are correlated with the inability of parvocellular neurons to increase VP rather than CRH expression. In addition, LPS-induced endotoxemia causes disturbances of the magnocellular vasopressinergic system with an unexpected potentiation of osmotic simulated VP secretion. The lack of increase in VP transcription after LPS and changes in VP mRNA distribution suggest that endotoxemia affect the secretory process at the levels of the neurohypophyseal axon terminal.
Bootstrapping a Semantic Lexicon on Verb Similarities

We present a bootstrapping algorithm to create a semantic lexicon from a list of seed words and a corpus that was mined from the web. We exploit extraction patterns to bootstrap the lexicon and use collocation statistics to dynamically score new lexicon entries. Extraction patterns are subsequently scored by calculating the conditional probability in relation to a non-related text corpus. We find that verbs that are highly domain related achieved the highest accuracy and collocation statistics affect the accuracy positively and negatively during the bootstrapping runs.
Harmonic Mode-Locking of 10-GHz Directly Modulated Weak-Resonant-Cavity Fabry–Perot Laser Diode in Self-Feedback Fiber Ring

Harmonic mode-locking of a directly modulated weak-resonant-cavity Fabry-Perot laser diode (WRC-FPLD) at 10 GHz via the self-feedback of a fiber ring is demonstrated. The WRC-FPLD directly modulated at 10 GHz simultaneously functions as the gain medium and the active mode-locker in the self-feedback ring. The competition between the gain-switched lasing mechanism inside the WRC-FPLD and the harmonic mode-locking mechanism of the incorporated self-feedback fiber ring is monitored. The enhanced mode-locking force can be achieved at self-feedback ratio of 90% and modulation power of 28 dBm. The evolution of pulsating dynamics is dependent with modulation frequency, which enhances the mode-locking and shortens the pulsewidth at the longitudinal mode spacing. A mode-locking theory is used to simulate the coupled-cavity self-injected WRC-FPLD fiber ring. When the lasing mechanism transfers from intracavity gain-switching to intercavity harmonic mode-locking, the longitudinal mode of the WRC-FPLD is broadened with the mode extinction reduced from maximum to minimum. Due to the transformation from the gain-switching to harmonic mode-locking, the coupled-cavity self-feedback WRC-FPLD fiber ring delivers a pulsewidth of 22 ps, a timing jitter of 153 fs, a pulse extinction ratio of 13.65 dB, and a spectral linewidth of 7.6 nm, by setting the WRC-FPLD bias at three times above threshold (~60 mA) and the intracavity feedback ratio of 90%.
GLITCH FREE NAND BASED DCDL IN PHASE LOCKED LOOP APPLICATION

This paper presents a glitch free NAND based digitally controlled delay lines for the avoidance of glitches by using different driving circuits. In glitch free NAND based DCDL, driving circuits are used to generate the control bits which consumes considerable amount of power and delay time. Driving techniques suggested here are dual edge triggered sense amplifier based flip-flop and NIKOLIC sense amplifier based flip-flop, which comparatively have reduced power consumption and delay time. The proposed NAND based DCDL have been designed in 90nm CMOS technology and various performances of these techniques are compared by the simulation parameters like power, area and delay. In addition, the proposed DCDL is adopted in phase locked loop.
Umbilical cord blood transplants

With the establishment of cord blood banks, the number of related and unrelated umbilical cord blood transplants is increasing worldwide. Close links have been established with the cord blood banks. Available data showed that umbilical cord blood transplants offer overall results comparable to those obtained with related or unrelated bone marrow transplants. Several differences were found: engraftment with cord blood was delayed, resulting in an increased incidence of early transplant complications, and the incidence of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease was significantly reduced with cord blood grafts, even in HLA-mismatched transplants and in adults. In patients with leukemia, the rate of relapse appeared to be similar to that documented in bone marrow transplant recipients. These data confirm the potential benefit of using umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic transplants.
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes After Laser Therapy for Twin–Twin Transfusion Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of the literature regarding the occurrence of neurologic morbidity, neurologic impairment, or neurologic morbidity and impairment of patients treated with laser therapy for twin–twin transfusion syndrome. DATA SOURCES: The PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE databases and reference lists were searched up to December 2010 for studies describing outcomes in laser-treated twin–twin transfusion syndrome pregnancies. METHODS FOR STUDY SELECTION: Inclusion criteria were twin–twin transfusion syndrome diagnosed with standard criteria and treated by laser therapy and neurologic morbidity and neurologic impairment collected at birth or 28 days after birth. Exclusion criteria were omission of at least one criterion; data in graphs or percentage; and non-English publications, letters, personal communications. TABULATION, INTEGRATION AND RESULTS: Data recorded were rates and length of successful follow-up, age at diagnosis and type of neurologic morbidity, affected donors and recipients, prevalence of neurologic morbidity, and neurologic impairment for twin sets. From 15 articles, the incidence of neurologic morbidity at birth was 55 out of 895 (6.1%), without differences between donors and recipients (19/249, 7.6% compared with 16/273, 5.8%; odds ratio [OR] 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68–2.70). At follow-up, the incidence of neurologic impairment was 140 out of 1,255 (11.1%), with cerebral palsy the most frequent (60/151, 39.7%). Neurologic impairment was identified equally between donors and recipients (48/330, 14.5% compared with 54/364, 14.8%; OR 1.02; 95% CI 0.66–1.57), and between one survivor and two survivors for twin sets (24/139, 17.3% compared with 88/489, 18.0%; OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.18–2.49). CONCLUSION: A small number (11.1%) of cases of twin–twin transfusion syndrome treated with laser therapy are affected with neurologic impairment that manifests during infancy. A strict follow-up of apparently healthy neonates is warranted.
An Ontology Based Requirement Rule Consistency Checking Framework

In this paper, we investigate how ontologies developed for use in Semantic Web technology could be used in automated consistency checking of application requirements. Ontology Driven Architecture allows developers would discover shareable domain models and knowledge bases from a variety of interrelated repositories and then wire them together with the remaining objectoriented components for user interface and control. Domain knowledge base(domain Ontology) captures domain concepts, relationships and rules. Requirements rules should note violate these rules or contradict the usual business behaviour. This paper suggests a rule editing and validation framework RECC (REquirement-rule Consistency Checking)that guides an analyst to enter (application specific) requirement rules. It rests on Semantic Web technologies together with reasoning engines, which operate with semantic representations.A practical validation of the approach by instantiating this framework with OWL and reasoning engines is presented here. When requirement rules are authored with RECC the acquired requirements would comply with both business needs and domain knowledge.
Study on Short-Term Load Forecasting Method Based on the PSO and SVM Model

The short-term load forecasting is an important method for security dispatching and economical operation in electric power system, and its prediction accuracy directly affects the operating reliability of the electric system. So the global optimization ability of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and classification prediction ability of support vector machine (SVM) are combined in order to realize the mutual supplement with each other's advantages in this paper. Firstly, the PSO algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of the SVM in order to obtain the optimal parameters of the SVM. Then a short-term load forecasting method based on combining the PSO and SVM according to the characteristics and influencing factors of short-term load forecasting is proposed. An actual power system in one region is applied to test and verify the short-term load forecasting method. The results show that the short-term load forecasting method takes on the good convergence and higher prediction precision.
Insulin-S.O (sodium oleate) complex-loaded PLGA nanoparticles: Formulation, characterization and in vivo evaluation

S.O (sodium oleate) is an anionic surfactant, which is able to forman ionic complex with positively charged insulin at suitable pH. In a previous study, the insulin-S.O (Ins-S.O) complex was prepared by a hydrophobic ion pairing (HIP) method to improve the apparent liposolubility of insulin. The formation of the complex was further confirmed by Zeta potential and X-ray method. Based on the preliminary study, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles harbouring Ins-S.O complex was prepared via an emulsion solvent diffusion method. The effects of key parameters such as concentration of PVA, concentration of PLGA and initial-loaded drug on the properties of the nanoparticles were investigated. The insulin encapsulation efficiency (EE(%)) reached up to 91.2% and mean diameter of the nanoparticles was sized ∼160 nm under optimal conditions. The pharmacological effects of the nanoparticles made of PLGA (75/25, Av Mw 15 000) were further evaluated to confirm their potential suitability for oral delivery. In order to evaluate hyperglycaemic effect of the nanoparticles for oral administration, Ins-S.O complex-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (20 IU/Kg) were administered orally by force-feeding to diabetic rats. In the case of the nanoparticles, the plasma glucose level reduced to 23.85% from the initial one 12 h post-administration and this continued for 24 h. The results showed that the use of Ins-S.O complex-loaded PLGA nanoparticles is an effective method of reducing plasma glucose levels. The insulin nanoparticles also improved the glycaemic response to an oral glucose challenge.
Testing Homogeneity of Two Zero‐inflated Poisson Populations

The problem of testing treatment difference in the occurrence of a safety parameter in a randomized parallel‐group comparative clinical trial under the assumption that the number of occurrence follows a zero‐inflated Poisson (ZIP) distribution is considered. Likelihood ratio tests (LRT) for homogeneity of two ZIP populations are derived under the hypotheses that (i) there is no difference in inflation parameters, (ii) there is no difference in non‐zero means; and (iii) there is no difference in both inflation parameters and non‐zero means. Approximate formulas for sample size calculation are also obtained for achieving a desired power for detecting a clinically meaningful difference under the corresponding alternative hypotheses. An example concerning the assessment of the gastrointestinal (GI) safety in terms of the number of erosion counts of a newly developed compound for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis is given for illustration purpose (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Plate-Laminated Waveguide Monopulse Slot Array Antenna with Full-Corporate-Feed in the E-Band

This paper presents the design and characterization of an E-band 16 × 16-slot monopulse array antenna with full-corporate-feed fabricated by the commercially available batch process of diffusion bonding of laminated copper plates. The antenna is multi-layered, and consists of vertically-interconnected radiating elements, a corporate-feed circuit and a comparator. It has four input ports for different excitations. Sum and difference beams in different cut-planes for monopulse operation can be generated. The antenna has a quasi-planar profile, and a total size of 13.31 λ0 × 13.31λ0 × 1. 52λ0 (λ0 is the wavelength at the design frequency of 78.5 GHz). The antenna demonstrates a wide operation bandwidth of 17.2 (70–87.2) GHz for VSWR < 2. At 78.5 GHz: 1) for the sum beam, there is a 32.6-dBi realized gain (83% antenna efficiency) and a 33.3-dBi directivity (95% aperture efficiency); 2) for the difference beams in the E-, H-, 45◦-, and 135◦-planes, the null depths are −53.0, −58.0, −57.8, and −65.6 dB, respectively. Across the full operation band where the sum main-beam and difference null are able to consistently point at the boresight, the antenna also demonstrates excellent performance in terms of high gain, high efficiency, high isolation, low cross-polarization, and distinguished monopulse capability. key words: E-band, waveguide slot antenna, millimeter-wave antenna, monopulse array antenna, comparator, diffusion bonding
Effect of peptide AS-48 on Enterococcus faecalis subsp. liquefaciens S-47

The enterococcal peptide AS-48 exerts a concentration-dependent bactericidal effect on Enterococcus faecalis subsp. liquefaciens S-47; cell rescue by cardiolipin and trypsin can be effected only in the first few minutes after antibiotic addition. Gramicidin-exposed cells are protected from killing by AS-48. Long-term and pulse incorporation of radiolabeled substrates into trichloroacetic acid-precipitable material, O2 consumption, and the ability to maintain intracellular potassium levels are impaired shortly after addition of AS-48.
List LRAD based on Semi-Definite Relaxaion for MIMO Systems

We already know that the Maximum Likelihood (ML) detection in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels has optimal performance. However its complexity is very serious problem to make it in capable of real time implementation. To simplify the complexity of MLD, many linear and nonlinear techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we propose the list Lattice Reduction Aided detector (LRAD) based on semi-definite relaxation(SDR) for MIMO systems. Simulation results in MIMO system, the proposed scheme has 2dB better performance than the LR-MMSE (H) for a BER of 10-4. Although the complexity of the proposed scheme is slightly higher than conventional LRAD, its performance is closed to MLD in high SNR region.