Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activin A inhibits BMP-signaling by binding ACVR 2 A and ACVR 2 B

Background: Activins are members of the TGF-β family of ligands that have multiple biological functions in embryonic stem cells as well as in differentiated tissue. Serum levels of activin A were found to be elevated in pathological conditions such as cachexia, osteoporosis and cancer. Signaling by activin A through canonical ALK4-ACVR2 receptor complexes activates the transcription factors SMAD2 and SMAD3. Activin A has a strong affinity to type 2 receptors, a feature that they share with some of the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Activin A is also elevated in myeloma patients with advanced disease and is involved in myeloma bone disease. Results: In this study we investigated effects of activin A binding to receptors that are shared with BMPs using myeloma cell lines with well-characterized BMP-receptor expression and responses. Activin A antagonized BMP-6 and BMP-9, but not BMP-2 and BMP-4. Activin A was able to counteract BMPs that signal through the type 2 receptors ACVR2A and ACVR2B in combination with ALK2, but not BMPs that signal through BMPR2 in combination with ALK3 and ALK6. Conclusions: We propose that one important way that activin A regulates cell behavior is by antagonizing BMP-ACVR2A/ACVR2B/ALK2 signaling.
Human Gait Identification Based on Difference Image

Human gait recognition aims to identify people by their walking style. In this paper a difference image based human gait identification method is proposed. For each human gait images sequence, gauss model based background estimation is used to segment frames of the sequence to obtain the silhouette images with less noise. By comparing the difference of two adjacent silhouettes in the images sequence, we can get a difference images sequence. Every difference image in the difference sequence indicates the body moving feature during ones walking. By projecting every difference image to Y axis or X axis we can get two feature vectors. Project every difference images of the whole walking images in one walking cycle we can get two matrixes. These two matrixes indicate the style of ones walking. Then Two-Dimensional Principal Component Analysis(2DPCA) is used to transform the above matrixes to two vectors while at the same time keep the maximum separability. Finally the similarity of two human gait images is calculated by the Euclidean distance of the two vectors. Experimental results on a gait database of 124 people show that the rank 5 identification accuracy can achieve 92%.
Structural Elements and Cough Suppressing Activity of Polysaccharides from Zingiber officinale Rhizome

Zingiber officinale is used for the management of fever, bronchial asthma and cough for thousands of years. While the link to a particular indication has been established in human, the active principle of the formulation remains unknown. Herein, we have investigated a water extracted polysaccharides (WEP) containing fraction from its rhizome. Utilizing a traditional aqueous extraction protocol and using chemical, chromatographic and spectroscopic methods a fraction containing a branched glucan and polygalaturonan in a ratio of 59:1 was characterized. This glucan, which has a molecular mass of 36 kDa, is made up of terminal‐, (1,4)‐ and (1,4,6)‐linked α‐Glcp residues. Oral administration of WEP in doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg body weight significantly inhibited the number of citric acid‐induced cough efforts in guinea pigs. It does not alter the specific airway smooth muscle reactivity significantly. Thus, traditional aqueous extraction method provides molecular entities, which induces antitussive activity without addiction. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Statement on Lasers in Dentistry

Introduction Applications for and research on lasers in dentistry continues to expand since their introduction to the dental profession. Dental laser systems are cleared for marketing in the United States via the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Premarket Notification [510(k)] process. The primary purpose of this Statement is to provide comments and a science-based perspective on several increasingly popular uses for dental lasers. These topics include: Sulcular Debridement (sometimes termed Laser Curettage), Laser-Assisted New Attachment Procedure (LANAP), Reduction of Bacteria Levels in periodontal pockets (sometimes termed Pocket Sterilization), Laser-facilitated Wound Healing, Laser Root Planing, Aid in the Diagnosis of Caries (Laser Fluorescence), and other Hard Tissue Applications including endodontics. The statement also provides a brief overview of the FDA’s 510(k) process and educational options for dental laser systems.
Hepatic Blood Flow and Function in Elderly Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has been widely accepted as an alternative to laparotomy and has many advantages, including short hospital stay and very limited surgical invasion. However, this procedure may impair hepatic function in elderly patients because high pressure is maintained in the peritoneal cavity for an extended period. We observed the effect of pneumoperitoneum on the middle hepatic venous blood flow (MHVBF) in elderly patients undergoing LC. LC patients were anesthesized with inhaled and epidural anesthesia, after which MHVBF was continuously measured by transesophageal echocardiography. MHVBF decreased significantly during a period of high intraperitoneal pressure, and recovery of MHVBF after deflation was significantly lower in elderly patients (65–75 yr), but not in younger patients (24–62 yr). In contrast, MHVBF remained almost constant in elderly patients during open cholecystectomy, and thus was significantly different from that in patients who underwent LC with pneumoperitoneum. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy may impair hepatic function in elderly patients because high pressure is maintained in the peritoneal cavity for an extended period. Implications We observed the effect of pneumoperitoneum on the middle hepatic venous blood flow by transesophageal echocardiography and liver function in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy may impair hepatic function in elderly patients because high pressure is maintained in the peritoneal cavity for an extended period.
Biosynthesis of the third and fifth complement components by isolated human lung cells.

Increasing research efforts have been directed at determining the contribution of locally synthesized (cell-derived) complement in host defense and inflammation. In the studies presented here, we determined the ability of a continuous cell line of type II pneumocytes (A549) and a cell line of human lung fibroblasts (WI-38) to produce complement components in vitro. Complement biosynthesis by A549 pneumocytes and WI-38 fibroblasts was demonstrated by incorporation of [35S]methionine into immunoprecipitable complement proteins. Using this technique, A549 pneumocytes were demonstrated to synthesize Clr, Cls, C4, C3, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, Factor B, Factor H, Factor I, and C1s inactivator. In comparison, WI-38 fibroblasts were shown to synthesize Cls, C4, C3, C5, C6, C8, and C9. Because previous work has demonstrated the central role of C3, C5, and their activation products in regulating lung inflammation and tissue injury, we further investigated the production of C3 and C5 by both lung pneumocytes and fibroblasts using enzyme-linked immunospecific assays. A549 cells cultured in the presence of 15% fetal bovine serum (FBS) produced antigenic C3 (135 ng C3/ml/24 h) at a greater rate than did identical cells maintained in serum-free culture conditions (70 ng C3/ml/24 h). Similarly, antigenic C5 production by A549 pneumocytes was greatest in the presence of FBS when compared with cells maintained in serum-free culture conditions (245 ng C5/ml/24 h versus 155 ng C5/ml/24 h). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Generation of a novel rtTA transgenic mouse to induce time‐controlled, tissue‐specific alterations in Pax2‐expressing cells

The paired‐box transcription factor Pax2 plays a major role in early development of the kidney and the central nervous system. It is expressed in the metanephric mesenchyme of the developing kidney, at the midbrain‐hindbrain boundary and the anlagen of the inner ear. The early expression of Pax2, especially in the developing kidney, prompted us to use this locus as a novel genetic tool to introduce temporally‐controlled expression of transgenes. We generated a transgenic Pax2‐rtTA mouse strain through genetic recombineering using a large BAC clone which drives expression of TetO‐controlled transgenes upon doxycycline treatment in natively Pax2‐expressing tissues. We show that expression of a TetO‐responsive lacZ gene is tightly regulated by addition of doxycycline and can be detected in all Pax2‐expressing tissues. Our transgenic Pax2‐rtTA mouse thus represents a suitable tool to study the cell fates and molecular pathways in Pax2‐positive tissues during development, such as the kidney. We further propose that the Pax2‐rtTA tool has great potential to induce time‐controlled, tissue‐specific alterations for tumorigenic transformation of Pax2‐expressing cells for generating in vivo tumor models, such as Wilms tumor. genesis 49:797–802, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HAL: Challenging Three Key Aspects of IBM-style Statistical Machine Translation

The IBM schemes use weighted cooccurrence counts to iteratively improve translation and alignment probability estimates. We argue that: 1) these cooccurrence counts should be combined differently to capture word correlation; 2) alignment probabilities adopt predictable distributions; and 3) consequently, no iteration is needed. This applies equally well to word-based and phrase-based approaches. The resulting scheme, dubbed HAL, outperforms the IBM scheme in experiments.
Immunocytochemical detection of basement membrane antigens in the histopathological evaluation of laryngeal dysplasia and neoplasia

Immunocytochemical detection of intrinsic components of the basement membrane (type IV collagen and laminin) was performed in biopsies of carcinoma in situ, dysplasia and hyperplasia of the laryngeal mucosa. We found a distinct and continuous basement membrane, containing both laminin and type IV collagen, at the border between epithelial cells and mesenchymal stroma in normal as well as in hyperplastic and dysplastic mucosa. In contrast, irregular discontinuities were found in some cases of carcinoma in situ and in invasive carcinoma. In addition, immunoreactivity for intracytoplasmic basement membrane components was noticed occasionally in neoplastic epithelial cells. In areas of inflammation, infiltration of leucocytes into the epithelium was occasionally accompanied by sharply defined small interruptions of the basement membrane. Our results indicate that immunohistochemical detection of basement membrane components can be of value for the demonstration of microinvasive growth in laryngeal cancer.
Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping of Macrophage Cholesterol Metabolism and CRISPR/Cas9 Editing Implicate an ACAT1 Truncation as a Causal Modifier Variant

Objective— Cholesterol metabolism is a dynamic process involving intracellular trafficking, cholesterol esterification, and cholesterol ester hydrolysis. Our objective was to identify genes that regulate macrophage cholesterol metabolism. Approaches and Results— We performed quantitative trait loci mapping of free and esterified cholesterol levels and the ratio of esterified to free cholesterol in acetylated low-density lipoprotein–loaded bone marrow–derived macrophages from an AKR×DBA/2 strain intercross. Ten distinct cholesterol modifier loci were identified, and bioinformatics was used to prioritize candidate genes. The strongest locus was located on distal chromosome 1, which we named Mcmm1 (macrophage cholesterol metabolism modifier 1). This locus harbors the Soat1 (sterol O-acyltransferase 1) gene, encoding Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase 1 (ACAT1), which esterifies free cholesterol. The parental AKR strain has an exon 2 deletion in Soat1, which leads to a 33 amino acid N-terminal truncation in ACAT1. CRISPR/Cas9 editing of DBA/2 embryonic stem cells was performed to replicate the AKR strain Soat1 exon 2 deletion, while leaving the remainder of the genome unaltered. DBA/2 stem cells and stem cells heterozygous and homozygous for the Soat1 exon 2 deletion were differentiated into macrophages and loaded with acetylated low-density lipoprotein. DBA/2 stem cell–derived macrophages accumulated less free cholesterol and more esterified cholesterol relative to cells heterozygous and homozygous for the Soat1 exon 2 deletion. Conclusions— A Soat1 deletion present in AKR mice, and resultant N-terminal ACAT1 truncation, was confirmed to be a significant modifier of macrophage cholesterol metabolism. Other Mcmm loci candidate genes were prioritized via bioinformatics.
An overview about hepatitis C: A devastating virus

Hepatitis C (HCV) is the disease that has affected around 200 million people globally. HCV is a life threatening human pathogen, not only because of its high prevalence and worldwide burden but also because of the potentially serious complications of persistent HCV infection. Chronicity of the disease leads to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and end-stage liver disease. HCV positive hepatocytes vary between less than 5% and up to 100%, indicating the high rate of replication of viral RNA. HCV has a very high mutational rate that enables it to escape the immune system. Viral diversity has two levels; the genotypes and Quasiaspecies. Major HCV genotypes constitute genotype 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 while more than 50 subtypes are known. All HCV genotypes have their particular patterns of geographical distribution and a slight drift in viral population has been observed in some parts of the globe.
On the interpretation of intuitionistic number theory

The purpose of this article is to introduce the notion of “recursive realizability. ” Let P be some property of natural numbers. Consider the existential statement, “There exists a number n having the property P.” To explain the meaning which this has for a constructivist or intuitionist, it has been described as a partial judgement, or incomplete communication of a more specific statement which says that a certain given number n, or the number n obtainable by a certain given method, has the property P. The meaning of the existential statement thus resides in a reference to certain information, which it implies could be stated in detail, though the trouble is not taken to do so. Perhaps the detail is suppressed in order to convey a general view of some fact. The information to which reference is made should be thought of as possibly comprising other items besides the value of n or method for obtaining it, namely such items as may be necessary to complete the communication that that n has the property P.
Automatic renal segmentation applied in pediatric MR Urography

In the field of pediatric MR Urography research, renal segmentation is an important task which is tedious and error prone when performed manually. An automatic renal segmentation method is proposed in this paper which is aimed at providing researcher with a useful tool for MR Urography. The method accomplishes the segmentation with set of clustering and inferring modules. In the first module, the features in the temporal dimension are described by 5 principal components and their spatial relationships are modeled by the Markov random field. On the assumption of the finite mixture model, the whole 4D data are grouped into clusters by an expectation maximization algorithm. In the second module, using a priori anatomical and functional knowledge, a two-stage recognition is performed to label each cluster first into kidney and background, then into the different compartments including cortex, medulla and collection system. The automatic results are tested using actual clinical data sets and validated by comparison with the manual results. The comparisons demonstrate good agreements in both the anatomical and functional analysis.
The primary target cells of the high-risk cottontail rabbit papillomavirus colocalize with hair follicle stem cells

Papillomaviruses are small DNA tumor viruses with a life cycle inseparably linked to the differentiation of the pluristratified epithelium. The infection of epithelial layers of the skin may remain latent or may result in the development of benign tumors. A certain number of distinct papillomavirus types, however, cause lesions which have a high risk of progression into carcinomas, and extensive efforts have been made to understand this process. comparatively little is known about the initial events during the establishment of a persistent infection and papilloma development. Although it is generally accepted that the growth of a papilloma requires the infection of cells in the basal layer of the epithelium, it remains unknown which cells perform this task. We have analyzed by in situ hybridization biopsy samples taken at various time points after infection of domestic rabbits with cottontail rabbit papillomavirus. The positive cells detected at a low frequency in biopsy samples taken after 11 days predominantly expressed high levels of E6 and E7 mRNA and were localized in the outer epithelial root sheath and in the bulbs of hair follicles. A clonal analysis of keratinocytes isolated from different subfragments of individual rabbit hair follicles demonstrated a clear colocalization of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus mRNA-positive cells with clonogenic cells in hair follicles. These data suggest that the cells competent to establish papillomatous growth represent a subpopulation of keratinocytes in hair follicles with properties expected of epithelial stem cells.
Purification and preliminary crystallographic studies on the sporulation response regulatory phosphotransferase protein, spo0B, from Bacillus subtilis

The phosphotransferase protein Spo0B, a component of the sporulation signal transduction system in Bacillus subtilis was expressed from the Escherichia coli strain BL21DE3. It was purified, crystallized, and 2.25 Å data measured using the synchrotron source at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The search for heavy atom derivatives is in progress. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.
The comparison of different chemical reaction routes for CBD-ZnS applied on Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cells

The most high efficiency cadmium-free CIGS solar cell is zinc sulfide fabricated by chemical bath deposition. However, on account of the presence of Zn(OH)2 phase during chemical reaction, it leads to poor cell performance attributed in low fill factor and shows distorted I-V curve. The cell performance can be enhanced by continuous illumination, which has been found by many groups called light-soaking effect. In this paper, we compared two different chemical processes with and without ammonia hydroxide etching. The well-known ammonia etching effect for removing Zn(OH)2 phase has also been observed in this work. By comparing the different chemical processes with ammonia etching, we noticed the difference of compositions due to chemical reaction routes. Based on the research for chemical routes, we further to optimize CBD-ZnS process deposited on CIGS substrates. Owing to the decrease of Zn(OH)2 concentration by optimized CBD-ZnS, the cell efficiency can be improved in Voc and FF. Moreover, the time for lightsoaking treatment can be shortened to less than 20 minutes.
A modified CPW-fed slot dipole antenna with wideband harmonic suppression

A modified coplanar waveguide-fed slot dipole antenna with wideband harmonic suppression is proposed. The antenna consists of a capacitively excited coplanar waveguide-fed slot dipole and twelve slot stubs, of which half of them are added in each arm of the slot dipole. The proposed antenna shows a wideband harmonic suppression characteristic up to at least nine times of the operating frequency. Design details are presented and simulation and measurement results are also presented and discussed.
Imatinib mesylate minimally affects bcr‐abl+ and normal monocyte‐derived dendritic cells but strongly inhibits T cell expansion despite reciprocal dendritic cell‐T cell activation

In chronic myeloid leukemia, bcr‐abl+ monocytes provide a unique opportunity to generate dendritic cells (DC) expressing a broad spectrum of leukemic antigens, and bcr‐abl+ DC vaccines may allow immunological eradication of leukemic cells persisting under treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib. However, the efficiency of bcr‐abl+ DC vaccines will critically depend on the absence of deleterious effects of bcr‐abl and of imatinib on DC functions. We show that bcr‐abl+ monocytes, devoid of contamination of CD14low granulocytic precursors, differentiate into DC with typical immunophenotypical and functional features, and bcr‐abl transcription decreases simultaneously. During differentiation, imatinib induces a slight increase of DC apoptosis and prevents CD1a up‐regulation in a dose‐dependent manner in bcr‐abl+ and normal monocyte‐derived DC, but at most, 25% of DC fail to acquire CD1a. When DC maturation is induced in the presence of imatinib, bcr‐abl+ and normal monocyte‐derived DC up‐regulate major histocompatibility complex and costimulatory molecules, CC chemokine receptor 7 and CD83. However, secretion of interleukin‐12p70 is decreased in a dose‐dependent manner. Imatinib exposure of bcr‐abl+ and normal monocyte‐derived DC during differentiation and maturation is not detrimental to T cell immunostimulatory functions of DC. In sharp contrast, imatinib, when added to DC‐T cell cultures, profoundly suppresses DC‐mediated T cell proliferation, despite reciprocal DC‐T cell activation attested by up‐regulation of CD25 on T cells and of CD86 on DC. Our findings demonstrate that T cells, not normal or bcr‐abl+ monocyte‐derived DC, are major targets for imatinib immunomodulatory effects. It can be envisioned already that imatinib‐free windows will be required to enable vaccination‐induced, leukemia‐specific T cell expansion.
Non-canonical IKKs, IKKϵ and TBK1, as novel therapeutic targets in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

It is well known that non-canonical IκB kinases (IKK), IKKϵ and Tank-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), play a key role in anti-viral responses. Interestingly, they have recently emerged as novel survival kinases in several human cancers including lung cancer, given their roles in maintaining cancer cell survival and promoting oncogenic transformation. However, the molecular mechanisms by which IKKϵ/TBK1 are activated and IKKϵ/TBK1 mediate survival signal in cancer cells are still controversial. This article will briefly describe signaling pathways mediated by these non-canonical IKKs, especially focusing in lung cancer, and discuss their potential as molecular targets for lung cancer treatment.
Ultrafast Phase Dynamics in Bulk Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Accounting for spectral hole burning (SHB), carrier heating (CH), carrier density modulation and longitudinal nonuniformity, ultrafast phase dynamics in bulk semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is numerically studied for different pump and probe wavelengths. We find that the contributions of SHB and CH to ultrafast phase dynamics are different in strength and change direction for different bands. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the phase dynamic range, phase recovery overshoot and phase partial recovery time depend on the probe and pump spectral positions.