Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oligosaccharides from human milk induce growth arrest via G2/M by influencing growth-related cell cycle genes in intestinal epithelial cells

Oligosaccharides are present in human milk in large amounts and in a high variety. We have previously shown that these oligosaccharides are strong inhibitors of proliferation and inducers of differentiation in intestinal cell lines. To elucidate the molecular mechanism, we investigated the influence on cell cycle events via flow cytometry and expression levels by using quantitative real-time RT–PCR. Human intestinal cells, i.e. HT-29, HIEC and Caco-2 cells, were exposed to neutral or acidic human milk oligosaccharides. Both fractions induced a concentration-dependent G2/M arrest. Cell cycle analysis for HT-29 revealed 37 % of cells in G1 and 35 % in G2/M (neutral oligosaccharides) and incubation with acidic oligosaccharides led to 42 % cells in G1 and 40 % in G2/M. In control experiments without oligosaccharides we found 71 % of cells to be in G1 and 17 % in G2/M. This G2/M arrest was associated with changes in mRNA expression of cyclin A and B. A G2/M arrest with concomitant alterations of cell cycle gene expression could also be shown for HIEC and Caco-2 cells. Analysing the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p21cip1 and p27kip1 and the tumour suppressor p53 we observed that the expression of p21cip1 was p53-independent and necessary for arresting cells in the G2/M phase, while p27kip1 was associated with differentiation effects. Both neutral and acidic human milk oligosaccharides were able to induce epidermal growth factor receptor, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and p38 phosphorylation. These results suggest that oligosaccharides from human milk inhibited intestinal cell proliferation and altered cell cycle dynamics by affecting corresponding regulator genes and mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling.
Abrogation of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats by Berne date extract through ameliorating oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis

Our study aimed to investigate the possible protective effect of Berne date extract on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. A single dose of cisplatin (6 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally (i.p) to male rats produced significant elevation in serum urea, creatinine and TNF-α levels with significant reduction in serum albumin. It also increased kidney contents of lipid peroxides measured as malondialdehyde (MDA) and caspase-3 contents accompanied by a significant decrease in kidney contents of reduced glutathione (GSH) as well as enzymatic activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) compared to that of the control group. On the other hand, administrations of Berne date extract and vitamin E (a standard reference antioxidant drug) given per os (p.o) in doses of 300 mg/kg and 1g/kg, respectively for 14 days before cisplatin and 7 consecutive days after cisplatin injection ameliorated the cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity as indicated by the restoration of kidney function and oxidative stress parameters. Furthermore, they reduced the histopathological changes induced by cisplatin. In conclusion, Berne date extract showed protective effect against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity; effects that may be attributed to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic activities.
AIS Electronic

With the rapid expansion of cloud services and the development of online trading and social network sites, various recommender systems are becoming prevalent and have been accepted well by the clients. It is necessary to provide accurate and reliable recommendations for users so that they trust the system and accept the recommendations. The more utility data is available to the system, the more accurate recommendations can be generated. There exist such systems where the data are distributed into multiple organizations and to generate satisfactory recommendations, these data need to be integrated. However, data related to user preferences are usually confidential and it is unlikely that any organization will agree to share its own data with other entities. To provide advanced facilities for securing privacy of data in distributed recommender systems, we propose a new system called Privacy-preserving Weighted Slope One Predictor for Vertically Partitioned Data (PWSOP-VPD). It generates recommendations in a privacy-preserving manner by integrating users’ data distributed among several different organizations. In this protocol, private records are encrypted by means of homomorphic encryption and secure recommendations are provided based on the encrypted data. Our paper examines the PWSOP-VPD protocol for a real world dataset and shows that the proposed method is secure and outperforms previous solutions, which addressed more restricted special cases of this general scenario.
Sensorless vector control suitable for position-dependent load torque applications

An applicative sensorless vector control with an additional current loop has been developed. The proposed method is suitable for applications such as compressors and pumps that have position-dependent load torque properties because the basic concepts of the proposed method keep motor phase current constant. That is to say, the proposed controller reduces peak current and suppresses rotor speed fluctuation simultaneously by keeping the motor torque constant over one rotation. The additional current loop consists of a periodic component extraction function applying a simplified Fourier transform algorithm and controls the extracted fundamental component of a periodic load torque using the q-axis current controller. Simulation results show detailed behaviors of additional current loop and their effectiveness. Moreover, the effects of the proposed method were clarified by results of an experiment in which a refrigerator equipped with a reciprocating compressor was used as an actual verification application.
Partitioning of diving effort in foraging trips of northern gannets

Many species of seabirds are known to undertake foraging trips that vary in duration, lasting from a few hours up to several days. However, the important question of how individuals allocate their time during foraging trips of different durations has received relatively little attention until recently. Using activity loggers, we examined the foraging behavior of chick-rearing northern gannets, Morus bassanus (L., 1758), during trips of different durations, and tested predictions concerning how foraging activity varies across trips. There was no evidence of a relationship between dive frequency during the first 3 h of a trip and trip duration, suggesting that the decision to continue on a longer trip was not affected by an adult's initial rate of encounter with prey. Flight constituted approximately 50% of total trip time, and the dive rate of birds per daylight hour was apparently unaffected by trip duration. Birds dived at similar rates on the outward and return sections of their foraging trips, which su.
Combination sequential chemotherapy in advanced reticulum cell sarcoma

Based on studies of the chemotherapy of human leukemia and late stage animal neoplasms which may be kinetically analogous to disseminated reticulum cell sarcoma, a therapy program was devised using sequential cyclophosphamide‐vincristine followed by weekly methotrexate‐cytosine arabinoside. Each cycle of therapy consisted of cyclophosphamide 1.5 g/m2 on day 0 and vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15; subsequently, 8 weekly doses of IV cytosine arabinoside 300 mg/m2 and oral methotrexate 120 mg/m2 over 24 hours were given followed by “Leucovorin rescue. ” Fifteen patients received 3 such cycles with intervening 2‐week recovery periods. Nine patients achieved complete remission, and 6 had a partial response. Median remission duration was 10 months. Median survival from onset of disease was 15+ months and from beginning of therapy was 14+ months. Five of 7 patients who have relapsed are dead. Toxic manifestations included neutropenia below 1000/mm3 in 10 patients; of these, there were recurrent episodes of sepsis in one. Alopecia occurred in 10, and reversible neurotoxicity in 8 patients.
The effect of linagliptin on glycaemic control and tolerability in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Aim: Linagliptin is a new dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor recently approved for use in the USA. The objective of this systematic review and meta‐analysis was to assess effect of linagliptin on glycaemic control, biomarkers and incidence of adverse events (AEs) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Protein stability and enzyme activity at extreme biological temperatures

Psychrophilic microorganisms thrive in permanently cold environments, even at subzero temperatures. To maintain metabolic rates compatible with sustained life, they have improved the dynamics of their protein structures, thereby enabling appropriate molecular motions required for biological activity at low temperatures. As a consequence of this structural flexibility, psychrophilic proteins are unstable and heat-labile. In the upper range of biological temperatures, thermophiles and hyperthermophiles grow at temperatures > 100 °C and synthesize ultra-stable proteins. However, thermophilic enzymes are nearly inactive at room temperature as a result of their compactness and rigidity. At the molecular level, both types of extremophilic proteins have adapted the same structural factors, but in opposite directions, to address either activity at low temperatures or stability in hot environments. A model based on folding funnels is proposed accounting for the stability–activity relationships in extremophilic proteins.
The Genetic Switch Regulating Activity of Early Promoters of the Temperate Lactococcal Bacteriophage TP901-1

ABSTRACT A functional analysis of open reading frame 4 (ORF4) and ORF5 from the temperate lactococcal phage TP901-1 was performed by mutant and deletion analysis combined with transcriptional studies of the early phage promoters pR andpL. ORF4 (180 amino acids) was identified as a phage repressor necessary for repression of both promoters. Furthermore, the presence of ORF4 confers immunity of the host strain to TP901-1. ORF5 (72 amino acids) was found to be able to inhibit repression of the lytic promoter pL by ORF4. Upon transformation with a plasmid containing both ORF4 and ORF5 and their cognate promoters, clonal variation is observed: in each transformant, either pL is open andpR is closed or vice versa. The repression is still dependent on ORF4, and the presence of ORF5 is needed for the clonal variation. Induction of a repressed pLfusion containing orf4 and orf5 was obtained by addition of mitomycin C, and the induction was also shown to be dependent on the presence of the RecA protein, even though ORF4 does not contain a recognizable autocleavage site. Our results suggest that the relative amounts of the two proteins ORF4 and ORF5 determine the decision between lytic or lysogenic life cycle after phage infection and that a protein complex consisting of ORF4 and ORF5 may constitute a new type of genetic switch in bacteriophages.
Error patterns on the continuous performance test in non-medicated and medicated samples of children with and without ADHD: a meta-analytic review.

We systematically reviewed the patterns of Continuous Performance Test (CPT) errors of omission and commission exhibited by normal children and children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) under no drug, placebo and methylphenidate drug conditions. Findings from 26 studies were submitted to a meta-analytic procedure. In contrast to the contradictory findings of individual reports, our results revealed that children with ADHD made significantly more errors of omission and commission than normal children. As well, in children with ADHD and treated with methylphenidate, statistically significant reductions in the rate of both error types were noted. The effects of methylphenidate on the percentage of hits (i.e. 1 - omissions) were greater in experiments using shorter stimulus duration, smaller number of trials and higher probability of a target. Using Signal Detection Theory (SDT) parameters, we found that children with ADHD were less sensitive to the difference between targets and non-targets than their normal counterparts, while showing a comparable response bias. Similarly, the effects of methylphenidate were restricted to improving the sensitivity, while not affecting response bias, in both normal children and those with ADHD.
An experiment in automatic content generation for platform games

Computer platform games are an innovative measure to improve the strategic abilities of the player. However due to the repetitive nature of game levels, the players lack interest. Procedural Content Generation (PCG) is a technique to overcome such issues. PCG generates endless and adaptive levels but most of the PCG techniques have catastrophic failures that make the game unplayable. The focus of our work is to produce reliable levels for platform games. For this purpose, a well known game Mario was selected. In our previous effort, we identified some catastrophic failures in offline level generation for Mario and now we present a novel technique that is catastrophic failure free and generates adaptive and reliable levels. This content generation process will insure dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) in games as players start with different skill levels and games become unexcitingly easy for some players and disturbingly difficult for others.
Mechanisms of Renal Calcium Transport

The kidneys play a key role in the integrated regulation of calcium homeostasis. Calcium absorption takes place throughout the nephron. Proximal tubules, thick ascending limbs of Henle’s loop, and distal tubules are the major sites of calcium absorption. The mechanisms of absorption vary significantly from one segment to another, as does the extent of hormonal regulation. At one extreme is the considerable reabsorption by proximal tubules that proceeds primarily, if not entirely, by a paracellular pathway that is not regulated by hormones or drugs. In thick ascending limbs, calcium absorption occurs through a combination of transcellular and paracellular routes. The active, transcellular component is regulated by parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin, whereas the passive, paracellular route is governed by the extent of concomitant sodium absorption. At the other extreme is the distal tubule, where calcium absorption is entirely transcellular and is regulated by PTH, 1,25(OH)2vitamin D3, calcitonin, and by calcium-sparing drugs such as thiazide-type diuretics. The present review focuses on recent insights into the mechanisms of transcellular calcium movement and highlights the discovery of an epithelial calcium channel, ECaC, that may mediate calcium entry in distal tubules.
Chronic Mesenteric Ischemia: Endovascular versus Open Revascularization

Purpose: To review 20 years of literature on chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI), examining its complex clinical presentation and comparing open and endovascular treatment options. Methods: The PubMed and EBSCOHost electronic databases were queried to identify English-language articles published over the last 20 years. Scrutiny of the retrieved articles identified 1939 patients (mean age 65 years). Of these, 1163 patients underwent open surgery: 714 between 2000 and 2009 and 449 between 1990 and 1999. Of the 776 patients undergoing endovascular repairs, the majority (684) were performed between 2000 and 2009; 92 patients were treated between 1990 and 1999. Data were entered in an electronic database and were pooled for categorical analysis. Results: No major differences were seen among open surgeries or among endovascular surgeries performed when comparing the 2 time periods. On comparing open and endovascular surgeries performed between 2000 and 2009, symptom improvement was 2.4 times more likely after open compared to endovascular surgery (95% CI 1.5 to 3.6, p<0.001). Five-year primary patency and 5-year assisted primary patency were 3.8 (95% CI 2.4 to 5.8, p<0.001) and 6.4 (95% CI 1.3 to 30.1, p=0.02) times greater in the open group. Freedom from symptoms at 5 years was 4.4 times greater for open versus endovascular (95% CI 2.8 to 7.0, p<0.001). The complication rate for open versus endovascular surgery was 3.2 times greater (95% CI 2.5 to 4.2, p<0.001). The difference in mortality was not statistically significant (p=0.75). Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that open revascularization surpasses endovascular procedures in long-term vessel patency and control of symptoms. Patients undergoing open procedures do, however, develop increased complications perioperatively. The preferred revascularization approach used in treating this condition should be tailored to the anatomy and physiology of each patient.
Power driven chaining of flip-flops in scan architectures

Power consumption during scan testing is becoming a primary concern. In this paper, we present a novel approach for scan cell ordering which significantly reduces the power consumed during scan testing. The proposed approach is based on the use of a two-step heuristic procedure that can be exploited by any chip layout program during scan flip-flops placement and routing. The proposed approach works for any conventional scan design and offers numerous advantages compared with existing low power scan techniques. Reductions of average and peak power consumption during scan testing are up to 58% and 24% respectively for experimented ISCAS benchmark circuits.
Modal relationships as stylistic features: Examples from Seljuk and Celtic patterns

Styles in creative works cannot adequately be represented by categories based on formal features. Instead, styles could be studied in terms of modal relationships between the features to provide a basis for definitions of structure in generative models. Modal relationships are more flexible and robust under the dynamic conditions of the artist's creative process. This article illustrates through the examples of Seljuk and Celtic patterns how these modal relationships emerge, why they are essential to detailed descriptions of style, and how they might be identified.
Olfactory Receptor-Related Duplicons Mediate a Microdeletion at 11q13.2q13.4 Associated with a Syndromic Phenotype

By array-CGH, we identified a cryptic deletion of about 3.4 Mb involving the chromosomal region 11q13.2q13.4 in a child with speech and developmental delay. Highly homologous segmental duplications related to the well-known olfactory receptor (OR)-containing clusters at 8p and 4p are located at the breakpoints of the imbalance and may be involved in its occurrence. Although these structural features are known to promote recurrent chromosomal rearrangements and previous studies had included the 11q13.2q13.4 deletion region among those considered potentially more unstable, neither deletions nor duplications of this region had been reported until now. Among the deleted genes, SHANK2 might play a role in the phenotype of the patient since it encodes a postsynaptic scaffolding protein similar to SHANK3, whose haploinsufficiency is a well-known cause of severe speech delay and autistic-like behavior, and recently deletions and mutations of SHANK2 have been described in patients with an autistic spectrum disorder or mental retardation.
Discrete Wavelet Transform Based Classification of Human Emotions Using Electroencephalogram Signals

Problem statement: The aim of this study was to report the human emotion assessment using Electroencephalogram (EEG). Approach: An audio-visual induction based protocol was designed for inducing five different emotions (happy, surprise, fear, disgust and neutral) on 20 subjects in the age group of 19~39 years. EEG signals are recorded from 64 channels placed over entire scalp according to International 10-10 system. We firstly applied Spatial Filtering technique to remove the noises and artifacts from the EEG signals. Three wavelet functions (“db8”, “sym8” and “coif5”) were used to decompose the EEG signal into five different frequency bands namely: delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma. A set of new statistical features related to energy were extracted from the EEG frequency bands to construct the feature vector for classifying the emotions. Two simple linear classifiers (K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)) were used for mapping the feature vector into corresponding emotions. Furthermore, we compared the efficacy of emotion classification with a reduced set of channels (24 channels) for evaluating the reliability of the emotion recognition system. Results: In this study, 62 channels outperform 24 channels by giving the maximum average classification accuracy of 79.65% using KNN and 78.52% using LDA. Conclusion: In this study we presented an approach to discrete emotion recognition based on the processing of EEG signals. The preliminary results resented in this study address the classifiability of human emotions using original and reduced set of EEG channels. The results presented in this study indicated that, statistical features extracted from time-frequency analysis (wavelet transform) works well in the context of discrete emotion classification.
Abnormal Event Detection Based on Saliency Information

Abnormal event detection is a challenging task in video analysis. In this paper, we propose a new abnormal event detection algorithm for surveillance videos. It is well accepted that human eyes are extremely sensitive to abnormal events and they can quickly pay attention to the locations of these abnormal events in visual scenes. Thus, the characteristics of the Human Visual System (HVS) can be used for abnormal event detection. By exploiting the characteristics of the HVS, we propose an abnormal event detection algorithm based on saliency information. Firstly, the saliency information is extracted from video frames based on the feature contrast. The motion information of video frames is calculated by the multiscale histogram optical flow (MHOF). Based on the features of saliency information and MHOF, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to train and predict the abnormal events in visual scenes. Experimental results show that the proposed abnormal event detection method can obtain much better performance than the existing ones over the public video database.