Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glutamate Stimulates Local Protein Synthesis in the Axons of Rat Cortical Neurons by Activating α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid (AMPA) Receptors and Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors*

Background: Transient rise of extracellular glutamate occurs in the developing brain. Results: Glutamate stimulates axonal translation by binding to AMPA receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptors and activating Ca2+ and mTOR signaling. Conclusion: Exposure to glutamate rapidly up-regulates local translation in migrating axons. Significance: Glutamate-induced stimulation of local translation partakes in regulating axonal functions during development. Glutamate is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS. By analyzing the metabolic incorporation of azidohomoalanine, a methionine analogue, in newly synthesized proteins, we find that glutamate treatments up-regulate protein translation not only in intact rat cortical neurons in culture but also in the axons emitting from cortical neurons before making synapses with target cells. The process by which glutamate stimulates local translation in axons begins with the binding of glutamate to the ionotropic AMPA receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 and members of group 2 metabotropic glutamate receptors on the plasma membrane. Subsequently, the activated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and the rise in Ca2+, resulting from Ca2+ influxes through calcium-permeable AMPA receptors, voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, and transient receptor potential canonical channels, in axons stimulate the local translation machinery. For comparison, the enhancement effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the local protein synthesis in cortical axons were also studied. The results indicate that Ca2+ influxes via transient receptor potential canonical channels and activated the mTOR pathway in axons also mediate BDNF stimulation to local protein synthesis. However, glutamate- and BDNF-induced enhancements of translation in axons exhibit different kinetics. Moreover, Ca2+ and mTOR signaling appear to play roles carrying different weights, respectively, in transducing glutamate- and BDNF-induced enhancements of axonal translation. Thus, our results indicate that exposure to transient increases of glutamate and more lasting increases of BDNF would stimulate local protein synthesis in migrating axons en route to their targets in the developing brain.
High frequency ultrasonic transducer with KNN/BNT 0–3 composite active element

High frequency ultrasonic transducer with operating frequency over 200 MHz has been fabricated using a composite sol gel technique. Piezoelectric lead-free thick film was prepared by dispersing the crystalline fine KNN powder into BNT precursor solution to form composite slurry which was spin-coated on the platinum buffered Si substrate. The resultant KNN/BNT film with thickness of 8 μm exhibited good dielectric and ferroelectric properties. A single element focused transducer with an f-number of 3 based on this composite film was built by conventional transducer technology and silicon etching process. The measured center frequency and the bandwidth at −6dB were 225 MHz and 68 MHz, respectively. Wire phantom imaging acquired by the composite transducer was also presented and spatial resolutions were assessed.
Using TCBF technique to realize elephant flows identification

Identifying elephant flows is very important in developing effective and efficient traffic engineering schemes. In this paper, according to the characteristic of network flows, a new packet filtering technique is proposed to realize elephant flows identification. The algorithm is combined by Time-out Bloom filter and Counting Bloom Filter, where TBF filtrate small flows and CBF record large flows. This method can improve the performance of network measurement and the efficiency of the resource usage of measurement system by handling flows with different strategy according to its different feature. The theoretical analysis and the simulation result indicates that under the condition of existing some tolerable measurement error about the length of flows, TCBF algorithm can identify elephant flows accurately, which reduce the storage space and improve the processing speed efficiently.
Real-time adaptive background segmentation

Automatic analysis of digital video scenes often requires the segmentation of moving objects from the background. Historically, algorithms developed for this purpose have been restricted to small frame sizes, low frame rates or offline processing. The simplest approach involves subtracting the current frame from the known background. However, as the background is unknown, the key is how to learn and model it. The paper proposes a new algorithm that represents each pixel in the frame by a group of clusters. The clusters are ordered according the likelihood that they model the background and are adapted to deal with background and lighting variations. Incoming pixels are matched against the corresponding cluster group and are classified according to whether the matching cluster is considered part of the background. The algorithm has been subjectively evaluated against three other techniques. It demonstrates equal or better segmentation than the other techniques and proves capable of processing 320/spl times/240 video at 28 fps, excluding post-processing.
Missing men's messages: Does the reproductive health approach respond to men's sexual health needs?

Following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the world has seen a shift in paradigm away from focused family planning programmes towards reproductive and sexual health more generally. This paper considers how the traditional emphasis on women's health and family planning can result in men's sexual health needs being overlooked. A biomedical rationale to target men with health services evolved from the rising interest in control programmes for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). To plan appropriate health interventions more needs to be known about how men perceive their sexual health. Unique data from Orissa (India) and rural Bangladesh illustrate men's perceptions of their sexual health problems and demonstrate that men are willing to seek care. While public sector programmers and health planners may be focusing their attention on the control of STIs, men in both studies indicated that their major concerns relate more to matters of psychosexual disorders. The failure of public sector programmes to take cognisance of male sexual health problems may lead to men continuing to seek care for all their sexual health problems (including STIs) in the unregulated and possibly ineffective private sector. If programmes addressing the sexual health needs of men are to be effective, they will need to be comprehensive in their scope and coverage, just as they are now aiming to be for women.
GABA‐like immunoreactive cells containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the chick retina

The possibility that GABA‐like immunoreactive cells of the chick retina also contain neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors was investigated by means of immunohistochemical techniques. Double‐labeled cell bodies containing GABA‐like immunoreactivity and nicotinic receptor‐like immunoreactivity were seen in the inner third of the inner nuclear layer and were presumably amacrine cells. Approximately 29–36% of the GABA‐positive cells in the inner nuclear layer contained nicotinic receptor immunoreactivity. Their soma sizes ranged from 5–12 μm. Some double‐labeled cells ranging from 7–21 μm were observed in the ganglion cell layer as well. Between 9–37% of the GABA‐positive cells in this layer contained nicotinic receptor‐like immunoreactivity. Following injection of a retrograde tracer into the optic tectum, some of the retrogradely labeled cells were also double labeled with antibodies against GABA and nicotinic receptors. This indicates that at least some of the GABA‐positive cells containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the ganglion cell layer are indeed ganglion cells. The present data appear to represent the first demonstration of the presence of acetylcholine receptors in GABA‐containing cells in the retina, thus providing a basis for a possible influence of acetylcholine upon those presumptive GABAergic cells.
Perspectives on High Technologies for Low-Cost Healthcare

This article discusses some of the unique demographic and epidemiological changes that China faces. As China is still a developing country, most of its people cannot afford expensive healthcare solutions. Especially in the poor rural areas, healthcare service is a luxury for some people. Therefore, this article summarizes several key strategies to reduce medical expenditures at the national level and proposes to develop a new information system in the form of a personal, home, community, and hospital (PHCH) four-layered architecture. Using the management of blood pressure (BP) as an example, we have shown that innovative technologies in wearable medical devices and body area networks (BANs) can be developed to collect information for this new system to overcome geographic and financial constraints and to provide a low-cost and effective solution to manage chronic health problems.
Complex III Releases Superoxide to Both Sides of the Inner Mitochondrial Membrane*

Mechanisms of mitochondrial superoxide formation remain poorly understood despite considerable medical interest in oxidative stress. Superoxide is produced from both Complexes I and III of the electron transport chain, and once in its anionic form it is too strongly charged to readily cross the inner mitochondrial membrane. Thus, superoxide production exhibits a distinct membrane sidedness or “topology. ” In the present work, using measurements of hydrogen peroxide (Amplex red) as well as superoxide (modified Cypridina luciferin analog and aconitase), we demonstrate that Complex I-dependent superoxide is exclusively released into the matrix and that no detectable levels escape from intact mitochondria. This finding fits well with the proposed site of electron leak at Complex I, namely the iron-sulfur clusters of the (matrix-protruding) hydrophilic arm. Our data on Complex III show direct extramitochondrial release of superoxide, but measurements of hydrogen peroxide production revealed that this could only account for ∼50% of the total electron leak even in mitochondria lacking CuZn-superoxide dismutase. We posit that the remaining ∼50% of the electron leak must be due to superoxide released to the matrix. Measurements of (mitochondrial matrix) aconitase inhibition, performed in the presence of exogenous superoxide dismutase and catalase, confirmed this hypothesis. Our data indicate that Complex III can release superoxide to both sides of the inner mitochondrial membrane. The locus of superoxide production in Complex III, the ubiquinol oxidation site, is situated immediately next to the intermembrane space. This explains extramitochondrial release of superoxide but raises the question of how superoxide could reach the matrix. We discuss two models explaining this result.
Virus-Based Toolkit for the Directed Synthesis of Magnetic and Semiconducting Nanowires

We report a virus-based scaffold for the synthesis of single-crystal ZnS, CdS, and freestanding chemically ordered CoPt and FePt nanowires, with the means of modifying substrate specificity through standard biological methods. Peptides (selected through an evolutionary screening process) that exhibit control of composition, size, and phase during nanoparticle nucleation have been expressed on the highly ordered filamentous capsid of the M13 bacteriophage. The incorporation of specific, nucleating peptides into the generic scaffold of the M13 coat structure provides a viable template for the directed synthesis of semiconducting and magnetic materials. Removal of the viral template by means of annealing promoted oriented aggregation-based crystal growth, forming individual crystalline nanowires. The unique ability to interchange substrate-specific peptides into the linear self-assembled filamentous construct of the M13 virus introduces a material tunability that has not been seen in previous synthetic routes. Therefore, this system provides a genetic toolkit for growing and organizing nanowires from semiconducting and magnetic materials.
Purification and In Vitro Characterization of the Serratia marcescens NucC Protein, a Zinc-Binding Transcription Factor Homologous to P2 Ogr

ABSTRACT NucC is structurally and functionally homologous to a family of prokaryotic zinc finger transcription factors required for late gene expression in P2- and P4-related bacteriophages. Characterization of these proteins in vitro has been hampered by their relative insolubility and tendency to aggregate. We report here the successful purification of soluble, active, wild-type NucC protein. Purified NucC exhibits site-specific binding to a conserved DNA sequence that is located upstream of NucC-dependent Serratia marcescens promoters and the late promoters of P2-related phages. This sequence is sufficient for binding of NucC in vitro. NucC binding to the S. marcescens nuclease promoter PnucA and to the sequence upstream of the P2 late promoter PF is accompanied by DNA bending. NucC protects about 25 nucleotides of the PF upstream region from DNase I digestion, and RNA polymerase protects the promoter region only in the presence of NucC. Template DNA, RNA polymerase holoenzyme, and purified NucC are the only macromolecular components required for transcription from PF in vitro.
Nonparametric Estimation of Marketing-Mix Effects Using a Regression Discontinuity Design

We discuss how regression discontinuity designs arise naturally in settings where firms target marketing activity at consumers, and discuss how this aspect may be exploited for econometric inference of causal effects of marketing effort. Our main insight is to use commonly observed discreteness and kinks in the heuristics by which firms target such marketing activity to consumers for nonparametric identification. Such kinks, along with continuity restrictions that are typically satisfied in marketing and industrial organization applications, are sufficient for identification of local treatment effects. We review the theory of regression discontinuity estimation in the context of targeting, and explore its applicability to several marketing settings. We discuss identifiability of causal marketing effects using the design, and illustrate theoretically the conditions under which the RD estimator may be valid. Specifically, we argue that consideration of an underlying model of strategic consumer behavior reveals how identification hinges on model features such as the specification and value of structural parameters as well as belief structures. We present two empirical applications: the first, to measuring the effect of casino e-mail promotions targeted to customers based on ranges of their expected profitability; and the second, to measuring the effect of direct mail targeted by a B2C company to zip-codes based on thresholds of expected response. In both cases, we illustrate that exploiting the regression discontinuity design reveals negative effects of the marketing campaigns that would not have been uncovered using other approaches. Our results are nonparameteric, easy to compute, and fully control for the endogeneity induced by the targeting rule.
Mob4 plays a role in spindle focusing in Drosophila S2 cells

The characteristic bipolar shape of the mitotic spindle is produced by the focusing of the minus ends of microtubules at the spindle poles. The focus is maintained by the centrosome, a microtubule-nucleating organelle, as well as by proteins that are capable of focusing kinetochore fibers (K fibers) even in the absence of a centrosome. Here, we have performed a small-scale RNA interference (RNAi) screen of known or suspected pole-related proteins in Drosophila S2 cells. An unexpected outcome of this screen was the finding that one of the four Drosophila Mob proteins (a family of kinase regulators) plays a role in spindle pole organization. Time-lapse microscopy of mitotic cells depleted of Drosophila Mob4 by RNAi revealed that the K fibers splay apart and do not maintain their focus either in the presence or absence of functional centrosomes. The Mob4 RNAi phenotype most closely resembles that observed after depletion of the protein encoded by abnormal spindle (Asp), although Asp localization is not substantially affected by Mob4 RNAi. Expression of a Drosophila Mob4-GFP fusion protein revealed its localization to the nucleus in interphase and to spindle poles and kinetochores during mitosis. We propose that Mob4 in Drosophila controls a mitotic kinase that in turn regulates downstream target proteins involved in K fiber focusing at the poles.
Instructions for use Title An analytic solution of steady Stokes flow on a rotating polar cap Author ( s )

An analytic solution of two-dimensional, steady, linear, viscous flow on a polar cap—polar region of a sphere which lies above (or below) a given plane normal to the rotation axis—rotating about its center is obtained. Inflow and outflow on the boundary of the polar cap drive the fluid motion. The solution of stream function is expressed as the Fourier series in longitudes and the associated Legendre functions of complex degrees in cosines of colatitudes. The fluid particles move almost along lines of constant latitudes, some circulate cyclonically and the others anticyclonically, in the geostrophic balance everywhere except near the north pole where the flow is relatively slow and the viscous force dominates over the Coriolis force. Our results support the approximation analysis and laboratory experiment studied by Imawaki and Takano (Deep-Sea Res. 21, 69–77, 1974).
What keeps hepatocytes on the straight and narrow? Maintaining differentiated function in the liver

The liver in general and hepatocytes in particular maintain an awesome array of function—synthesis, catabolism, intermediary metabolism, and detoxification. Recent work has enlarged our knowledge of the factors that permit this range of function to be expressed, and in particular the complex inter-relations of cellular and non-cellular elements in the liver that contribute to this. The functions expressed by the liver obviously vary over time. For example, growth and regeneration are associated with a functional repertoire that differs from that of mature adult liver, as in most tissues proliferation is associated with reduced expression of normal differentiated function and expression, generally short-lived, of cell cycle and other replication associated genes.1 Disease alters function, although there is some support for the “intact hepatocyte” hypothesis suggesting that in chronic disease the surviving hepatocytes continue to express a relatively normal functional array.2In acute disease, however, there are many changes in function such as the upregulation of acute phase protein production as well as the initiation of replication to regenerate liver mass. Understanding the conditions necessary for a normal hepatocyte to express its full functional repertoire is important as science strives to recreate normality in a diseased liver. That understanding is also fundamental to attempts to establish fully functional cultures of liver cells, whether for experimental studies or with the aim of creating a bio-artificial liver. This article highlights three main areas relevant to maintaining expression of normal differentiated hepatic function: the multiplicity of cell types present, the relation between cells and non-cellular elements, particularly extracellular matrix (ECM), and intracellular events that modulate specific gene expression. Hepatocytes comprise the main metabolically active cells of the liver, the majority of hepatic mass, and about 80% of the cell number. The hepatocyte cords are separated from the portal blood by the sinusoidal lining …
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Regulate the Expression of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-Binding Protein-3, -4, and -5 in Large Vessel Endothelial Cells.

We investigated the effect of diabetes-associated growth factors on the expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) in cultured endothelial cells from bovine aorta. Gene expression was measured by solution hybridization, and proteins were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, RIA, or Western blot. The cells expressed messenger RNA (mRNA) for IGFBP-2 through -6 and IGFBP-2 through -5 proteins were detected in conditioned medium. Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibited IGFBP-3 mRNA (P < 0.01) and protein expression and increased IGFBP-5 mRNA (P < 0.001) and protein. Transforming growth factor-β1 inhibited IGFBP-3 (P < 0.01), IGFBP-4 (P < 0.01), and IGF-I mRNA expression, whereas at the protein level only IGFBP-3 was significantly decreased. IGF-I, insulin, or angiotensin II did not affect IGF-I or IGFBP mRNA expression. At the protein level, IGF-I clearly increased IGFBP-5 levels in conditioned medium. In conclusion, vascular endothelial growth factor a.
Quality of life and the patient with cancer. Individual and policy implications

This article reviews the developments during the past decade that have led to a better definition and conceptualization of the term “quality of life. ” There is growing consensus regarding the dimensions of quality of life, along with an expansion of the number of tools appropriate for measuring quality of life in patients with cancer. Quality of life increasingly is being used as an outcome in research, especially clinical trials. However, there remain some areas of controversy, including the application of economic analyses (utility and cost‐effectiveness studies) and the potential conflict between the needs of the individual versus society. In the future, we can expect development of a theoretical framework for quality of life research. Clinicians may begin to routinely evaluate quality of life in their patients and use these evaluations as part of the clinical decision making process in individual patients. Ultimately, policy decisions also may incorporate some form of quality of life assessment.
Normalised grid/motif based patterns-Islamic geometric patterns

The studies of Islamic geometric patterns (IGP) show that the methods of generation are based on a set of classical gridding systems. They are hierarchical and primarily based on the sacred geometrical primitives (triangle, square and circle). With such patterns, symmetries are as visible as the forms themselves. They signify an obvious secondary meaning that is so often referred to, in the sacred and religious texts, as a higher order of significance. Based on the classical grid system, normalised grid-based patterns propose a new language of design with the further aid of symmetry that hold these forms so robustly. It takes away their hierarchy by replacing it with less tangible forms that are bounded by shear balance of symmetries. An underlined question for the reader is "are we disturbing the semantics of these patterns, the meanings that have been portrayed by the architect, the designers and visualists for a long time through their visual forms? ".