Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Airborne in‐situ OH and HO2 observations in the cloud‐free troposphere and lower stratosphere during SUCCESS

The hydroxyl (OH) and hydroperoxyl (HO2) radicals were measured for the first time throughout the troposphere and in the lower stratosphere with a new instrument aboard the NASA DC‐8 aircraft during the 1996 SUCCESS mission. Typically midday OH was 0.1‐0.5 pptv and HO2 was 3‐15 pptv. Comparisons with a steady‐state model yield the following conclusions. First, even in the lower stratosphere OH was sensitive to the albedo of low clouds and distant high clouds. Second, although sometimes in agreement with models, observed OH and HO2 were more than 4 times larger at other times. Evidence suggests that for the California upper troposphere on 10 May this discrepancy was due to unmeasured HOx sources from Asia. Third, observed HO2/OH had the expected inverse dependence with NO, but was inexplicably higher than modeled HO2/OH by an average of 30%. Finally, small‐scale, midday OH and HO2 features were strongly linked to NO variations.
Distinct Caspase Cascades Are Initiated in Receptor-mediated and Chemical-induced Apoptosis*

Release of cytochrome c is important in many forms of apoptosis. Recent studies of CD95 (Fas/APO-1)-induced apoptosis have implicated caspase-8 cleavage of Bid, a BH3 domain-containing proapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, in this release. We now demonstrate that both receptor-induced (CD95 and tumor necrosis factor) and chemical-induced apoptosis result in a similar time-dependent activation of caspases-3, -7, -8, and -9 in Jurkat T cells and human leukemic U937 cells. In receptor-mediated apoptosis, the caspase inhibitor, benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp fluoromethyl ketone (Z-VAD.FMK), inhibits apoptosis prior to commitment to cell death by inhibiting the upstream activator caspase-8, cleavage of Bid, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c, processing of effector caspases, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and externalization of phosphatidylserine. However, Z-VAD.FMK inhibits chemical-induced apoptosis at a stage after commitment to cell death by inhibiting the initiator caspase-9 and the resultant postmitochondrial activation of effector caspases. Cleavage of Bid but not release of cytochromec is blocked by Z-VAD.FMK demonstrating that in chemical-induced apoptosis cytochrome c release is caspase-independent and is not mediated by activation of Bid. We propose that caspases form an integral part of the cell death-inducing mechanism in receptor-mediated apoptosis, whereas in chemical-induced apoptosis they act solely as executioners of apoptosis.
Structure formation with decaying neutrinos.

We consider the effects of a massive, unstable neutrino on the evolution of large--scale structure and anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Comparison with large--scale structure data allows us to rule out a wide range of masses and lifetimes for such neutrinos. We also define a range of masses and lifetimes which delay matter--radiation equality and improve the agreement with the data of Cold Dark Matter models with critical density.
Time to refine N2 staging? cN2α and cN2β based on local regional involvement provide a more accurate prognosis in surgically treated IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer than N2 alone or the number of node stations involved.

OBJECTIVES The number of stations of N2 nodes involved has been considered to be one of the most important prognostic factors for lung cancer. However, most reports have dealt with the pathological nodal status rather than with the clinical nodal status. We investigated the relationship between the prognosis and the location of the primary tumour and nodes involved. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted in 1257 patients with primary lung cancer, which were resected between 1996 and 2009. Among them, 78 patients (6.2%) had cN2, c-stage IIIA, pN2 and non-small-cell lung cancer. We defined cN2α as only involvement of an upper mediastinal lymph node (UMLN) for a main tumour located in the upper lobe or as that of a lower mediastinal lymph node (LMLN) for a main tumour located in the lower lobe. cN2β was defined as involvement of an LMLN for a main tumour located in the upper lobe with or without metastatic UMLN or as that of a UMLN for a main tumour located in the lower lobe with or without metastatic LMLN. We analysed preoperative clinical factors, as well as overall and disease-free survival. RESULTS The overall 5-year survival rate was 30.6%, and the disease-free 5-year survival rate was 22.6%. The disease-free 5-year survival rate for a tumour located in an upper lobe was significantly better than that for a tumour located in a lower lobe (27.9 vs 11.1%, P = 0.007). A significant difference in survival was seen between cN2α and cN2β (29.6 vs 0%, P < 0.001), but not between cN2 single and multiple (23.4 vs 19.5%, P = 0.123). A multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model revealed that cN2α independently predicted good disease-free survival. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for pN2 single based on clinical CT findings were 72.7, 48.2 and 35.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Clinical mediastinal lymph node status based on the location of the primary tumour and the node involved was an important preoperative prognostic factor. Thus, this factor should be considered when planning and evaluating clinical trials. Another important finding was that clinical single-station N2 is not always pathological single-station N2 disease.
Lower Extremity Venous Pathology Mimicking Deep Vein Thrombosis: 2 Case Reports

We report two cases of lower extremity venous pathology mimicking deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The first case was a 20-year-old male with swelling in the left leg. Colour Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) demonstrated a continuous flow pattern, and computed tomography (CT) revealed compression of the dilated left common iliac vein by the right common iliac artery (May-Thurner syndrome). This dilatation of the vein was caused by overload due to the drainage of the gluteal arteriovenous malformations into this vein. The second case was a 55-year-old female with swelling and pain of the left leg persisting for a year following an operation of a herniated lumbar disk. She was diagnosed as DVT and treated accordingly. Control CDUS performed in our department demonstrated a left iliac arteriovenous fistula and a pulsatile flow pattern in the left femoral vein. CT also confirmed this arteriovenous fistula. We suggest that if not all criteria for the diagnosis of DVT are fullfilled by CDUS, another imaging modality such as multidetector CT should be used.
Isometric Tubular Epithelial Vacuolization in Renal Allograft Biopsy Specimens of Patients Receiving Low-Dose Intravenous Immunoglobulin for a Positive Crossmatch

Background. Perioperative treatment with plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), combined with a tacrolimus-based immunosuppressive regimen, has been used successfully to allow renal transplantations in crossmatch-positive recipients. A common finding in biopsy specimens of these allografts is isometric vacuolization of proximal tubular epithelium. This finding presents a diagnostic dilemma because it may occur secondary to IVIG treatment or tacrolimus nephrotoxicity. Methods. We compared the frequency and severity of isometric tubular vacuolization in renal allograft biopsy specimens obtained during the first 10 days after transplantation in 24 patients who received one or more postoperative treatments with IVIG (100 mg/kg; as part of a desensitization protocol also involving plasmapheresis) with specimens obtained in 91 patients who did not receive IVIG. All patients received tacrolimus. Isometric vacuolization was graded on a 0 to 4 scale based on the fraction of proximal tubules involved: 0, none; 1, less than 10%; 2, 10% to 25%; 3, 26% to 50%; 4, more than 50%. Results. There was a higher frequency of isometric tubular vacuolization (71% vs. 31%) and more widespread involvement in patients who received IVIG and tacrolimus versus tacrolimus alone, although mean tacrolimus levels were not significantly different between these groups. In control, but not IVIG, biopsy specimens, there was a significant association between vacuolization score and blood tacrolimus level on the day of biopsy. Conclusions. Isometric tubular vacuolization is a common finding in renal transplant biopsy specimens of patients who receive low-dose IVIG and in many cases is likely to be related, at least in part, to IVIG. In these patients, this finding should not necessarily be interpreted as indicative of tacrolimus (or cyclosporine) nephrotoxicity.
A study on microarray image gridding techniques for DNA analysis

Microarray is one of the most promising tools available for researchers in the life sciences to study gene expression profiles. Through microarray analysis, gene expression levels can be obtained, and the biological information of a disease can be identified. The gene expression information embedded in the microarray is extracted using image-processing techniques. Gridding is one of the important processes used to extract features in DNA microarray, by assigning each spot in the microarray with individual coordinates for further data interpretation. This paper evaluates popular techniques of DNA microarray image gridding in the literature with an emphasis on gridding accuracy, speed, and the ability to remove noise. Based on our evaluation, the Otsu method can provide a better performance in terms of processing speed, accuracy, and ability to remove noise compared to other methods discussed in this paper.
Association between vitamin D levels and blood pressure in a group of Puerto Ricans.

OBJECTIVE Hypertension is a global public health problem. The apparent association between vitamin D (VitD) and blood pressure (BP) has been studied in several populations but not in a Puerto Rican population. Therefore, we determined the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and BP in a convenience sample in Puerto Rico. METHODS A cross-sectional study of patients attending a local laboratory with an order for serum 25(OH)D levels was performed. Participants completed a questionnaire that solicited the following information: age, sex, weight, height, VitD intake, and history of both sun exposure and hypertension. BP was measured by a phlebotomist on-site and classified according to the Joint National Committee; serum 25(OH)D levels were taken from the record, and VitD status was classified as either optimal (25(OH)D > or = 30 ng/dl) or non-optimal (< 30 ng/dl). Mean, standard deviation, and percentiles were used for descriptive analysis. VitD status and BP were compared by gender, age, and body mass index (BMI) using ANOVA or chi-square. The association between VitD status and blood pressure was assessed by polytomous logistic regression adjusting for several variables. RESULTS Two hundred nineteen individuals were included in the analysis; most were females aged 21 to 50 years who were overweight/obese; 53% of the total population was pre-hypertensive or hypertensive; 60% had non-optimal VitD status; and the sun exposure index was 19.6. No significant associations were found between VitD status and blood pressure after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, total VitD intake, and solar exposure index. CONCLUSION VitD status was not found to be associated with blood pressure in this sample population; more studies with a larger sample population are needed to determine whether such an association does in fact exist.
Evaluation of a newly developed immunochromatographic method for detection of norovirus.

Norovirus(NV)is one of the major causative agents of nonbacterial gastroenteritis . Other viruses causing gastroenteritis include rotavirus (RV), astrovirus(AstV), and adenovirus(Ad). NV can be genetically divided into two groups, genogroup I(GI)and genogroup II(GII). Each genogroup can be further divided into nine GI genotypes and ten GII genotypes at present. Electron microscopy(EM)and reverse transcription-PCR(RT-PCR)are used to detect NV, however these methods require skillful techniques and are time consuming . Immunochromatography(IC)is a rapid, easy, and economical assay for NV screening. RV-IC and Ad-IC have been successfully developed, whereas an IC method for NV has not yet been reported. In this study, we developed an IC for NV(NV-IC)and evaluated it using patient samples.
Activated K‐RAS increases polyamine uptake in human colon cancer cells through modulation of caveolar endocytosis

Endocytic pathways have been implicated in polyamine transport in mammalian cells, but specific mechanisms have not been described. We have shown that expression of a dominant negative (DN) form of the GTPase Dynamin, but not Eps15, diminished polyamine uptake in colon cancer cells indicating a caveolar and nonclathrin uptake mode. Polyamines co‐sediment with lipid raft/caveolin‐1 rich fractions, of the plasma membrane in a sucrose density gradient. Knock down of caveolin‐1 significantly increased polyamine uptake. Conversely, ectopic expression of this protein resulted in diminished polyamine uptake. We also found that presence of an activated K‐RAS oncogene significantly increased polyamine uptake by colon cancer cells. This effect is through an increase in caveolin‐1 phosphorylation at tyrosine residue 14. Caveolin‐1 is a negative regulator of caveolar endocytosis and phosphorylation in a K‐RAS dependent manner leads to an increase in caveolar endocytosis. In cells expressing wild type K‐RAS, addition of exogenous uPA was sufficient to stimulate caveolar endocytosis of polyamines. This effect was abrogated by the addition of a SRC kinase inhibitor. These data indicate that polyamine transport follows a dynamin‐dependent and clathrin‐independent endocytic uptake route, and this route is positively regulated by the oncogenic expression of K‐RAS in a caveolin‐1 dependent manner. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
USING WIZARD OF OZ TO COLLECT INTERACTION DATA FOR VOICE CONTROLLED HOME CARE AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES

This research aims at providing Voice controlled As- sistive (vAssist) Care and Communication Services for the Home to seniors suffering from fine-motor problems and/or chronic diseases. The constantly growing life expectancy of the European population increasingly asks for techno- logical products that help seniors to manage their activities of daily living. In particular, we require solutions which offer interaction paradigms that fit the cognitive abilities of elderly users. Natural language-based access can be seen as one way of increasing the usability of these services. Yet, the construction of robust language technologies such as Automatic Speech Recognition and Natural Language Understanding does require sufficient domain specific in- teraction data. In this paper we describe how we plan to obtain the relevant corpus data for a set of different applica- tion scenarios, using the Wizard of Oz (WOZ) prototyping method. Using a publicly available WOZ tool we discuss how the integration of existing language technologies with a human wizard may help in designing a natural user inter- face for seniors and how such has the potential to underpin an iterative user-centred development process for language- based applications.
Increased anaerobic metabolism is a distinctive signature in a colorectal cancer cellular model of resistance to antiepidermal growth factor receptor antibody

Cetuximab is a chimeric antibody approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer that selectively targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. Treatment efficacy with this drug is often impaired by acquired resistance and poor information has been accumulated on the mechanisms underlying such a phenomenon. By taking advantage of a syngenic cellular system of sensitivity and acquired resistance to anti‐EGFR therapy in the colorectal carcinoma GEO cell line, we profiled protein expression differences between Cetuximab‐sensitive and ‐resistant cells. Combined 2D DIGE and MS analyses revealed a main proteomic signature resulting from selective deregulation of various metabolic enzymes, including glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase, transketolase, lactate dehydrogenase B, and pyruvate dehydrogenase E1, which was also confirmed by Western blotting experiments. Lactate dehydrogenase B downregulation has been already related to an increased anaerobic utilization of glucose by tumor cells; accordingly, we verified that Cetuximab‐resistant cells have a significantly higher production of lactate. Resistant cells also showed decreased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) levels. Observed protein deregulations were not related to functional alterations of the hypoxia‐inducible factor 1‐associated pathways. Our data demonstrate that increased anaerobic metabolism is a prominent feature observed in the GEO syngenic model of acquired resistance to anti‐EGFR therapy in colorectal cancer.
Influence of Electrolytes and High Viscosity on Liquid-Liquid Separation

Liquid-liquid extraction is a process using two immiscible liquids to extract compounds from one phase without high temperature requirement. Mostly, the technical implementation of this process is carried out in mixer-settlers or extraction columns. In real chemical processes, chemicals may have high viscosity and contain impurities. These impurities may change the settling behavior of the process without measurably changing the physical properties of the phases. In the current study, the settling behavior and the affected parameters in a high-viscosity system were observed. Batchsettling experiments were performed to experimentally quantify the settling behavior and the mixer-settler model of Henschke [1] was used to evaluate the behavior of the toluene + water system. The viscosity of the system was increased by adding polyethylene glycol 4000 to the aqueous phase. NaCl and Na2SO4 were used to study the influence of electrolytes. The results from this study show that increasing the viscosity of water has a higher influence on the settling behavior in comparison to the effects of the electrolytes. It can be seen from the experiments that at high salt concentrations, there was no effect on the settling behavior. Keywords—Coalescence; electrolytes; liquid-liquid separation; high viscosity; mixersettler.
ranscript Level Responses of Plasmodium alciparum to Antimycin A arah

he mitochondrial electron transport chain is essential to Plasmodium and is the target of the antimalaral drug atovaquone. The mitochondrial genomes of Plasmodium sp. are the most reduced known, and he majority of mitochondrial proteins are encoded in the nucleus and imported into the mitochonrion post-translationally. Many organisms have signalling pathways between the mitochondria and he nucleus to regulate the expression of nuclear-encoded mitochondrially-targeted proteins, for examle in response to mitochondrial dysfunction. We have studied the transcript profiles of synchronous lasmodium falciparum treated with an LD50 concentration of the complex III inhibitor antimycin A, to nvestigate whether such pathways exist in the parasite. There was a broad perturbation of gene expresion. The differentially expressed genes were enriched for transcripts encoding proteins involved in nvasion, stress response, nucleotide biosynthesis and respiration. Some effects were attributable to delay in the gene expression phase of drug-treated parasites. However, our data indicated regulation f mitochondrial stress response genes and genes involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis, implying the xistence of a signalling pathway from the mitochondrion to the nucleus. 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
The Antiplatelet Effects of a New Nitroderivative of Acetylsalicylic Acid - An In Vitro Study of Inhibition on the Early Phase of Platelet Activation and on TXA2 Production

Summary We studied in vitro the antiplatelet activity of a new nitroderivative chemically related to acetylsalicylic acid: 2 acetoxybenzoate 2-[l-nitroxy-methyl]-phenyl ester (NCX 4016), in order to identify any effects due to the release of nitric oxide and the blockade of cyclooxygenase The effects of scalar doses of NCX 4016 on the early phase of platelet activation, platelet aggregation and thromboxane A2 production were investigated. We observed inhibitory effects of NCX 4016 on platelet adhesion (IC50 = 7.3 × 10−5 M), platelet cytosolic calcium concentration, assayed by fluorescent probe Fura 2, and the expression of glycoprotein IMIIa (CD41 / αIIbβ3) (IC50 = 3.4 × 10−5 M) and P-selec-tin (CD62 / GMP-140) (IC50 = 4.9 × 10−5 M) measured by flow cytometry. NCX 4016 also prevented thrombin-induced platelet aggregation (IC50 = 3.9 × 10−5 M). None of these parameters were affected by acetylsalicylic acid. These inhibitory activities of NCX 4016 were abolished by oxyhaemoglobin and methylene blue. Intracellular cyclic GMP observed during thrombin-induced aggregation was increased by incubation with NCX 4016. These results appear to be attributable to the release of nitric oxide, which activates soluble platelet guanylyl-cyclase and promotes intracellular cyclic GMP increase. NCX 4016 almost completely inhibited platelet thromboxane A2 production and arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation. This also occurred in the presence of oxyhaemoglobin and methylene blue, indicating that its antiplatelet activity can be attributed not only to nitric oxide release but also to cyclo-oxygenase inhibition.
Strategies for Hiring IT Professionals: An Empirical Analysis of Employer and Job Seeker Behavior on the IT Labor Market

Are IT professionals different from other occupational groups concerning their values and goals and ultimately the ways they search for jobs and select employers? And do IT firms vary in their recruiting practices from other industries? In this paper, we empirically reveal that there are differences in employer and job seeker behavior distinguishing the IT and the non-IT world. The analysis explains particularities in job seekers’ and firms’ preferences and recruiting practices. Based on this, we derive recommendations for HR managers on how to effectively recruit qualified IT professionals and on how IT can assist in creating and maintaining a flexible workforce.