Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF CURCUMIN AND CAPSAICIN AUGMENTED IN COMBINATION

Objective: Dietary curcumin and capsaicin are well known for their health beneficial potencies. The current study was done to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin, capsaicin and their combination by employing in vitro and in vivo models. Methods: We investigated the protective effect of curcumin, capsaicin and their combination using in vitro heat induced human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilisation, in vivo 3% agar induced leukocyte mobilisation and acetic acid induced vascular permeability assay. Results: Curcumin, capsaicin and their combination exhibited concentration dependent protective effect against heat-induced HRBC membrane destabilisation, while combined curcumin and capsaicin restored 87.0±0.64 % membrane stability and it is found to be better than curcumin, capsaicin and diclofenac sodium (75.0±0.25. 72±0.9 and 80.0±0.31 %) protective effect. In agar suspension induced leukocyte mobilization assay, the combined curcumin and capsaicin had shown 39.5±1.58 % of inhibition compared to individual curcumin and capsaicin, which showed moderate inhibition of 16.0±3.14 and 21.6±2.17 % respectively. Besides, the combined curcumin and capsaicin had shown highly significant inhibition of acetic acid-induced vascular permeability in rats (62.0±3.14 %), whereas individual curcumin and capsaicin showed moderate inhibition of vascular permeability with 36.0±2.41 and 43.0±1.92 % respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the significant anti-inflammatory property of combined curcumin and capsaicin at half of the individual concentration of curcumin and capsaicin.
Streptococcal Pharyngitis: Early Treatment and Management by Nurse Practitioners

Patients acutely ill with suspected streptococcal pharyngitis were treated with penicillin immediately in a general practice office. Patients so treated showed a response 24 hours sooner than those whose treatment was delayed for results of bacterial culture. This was true of both culture-positive and culture-negative cases, although to a lesser extent in the latter. The advantage of decreased morbidity for one day, together with the identification of patients with possible false-negative throat cultures, outweighs the theoretical disadvantage of penicillin reactions with early therapy. Because upper respiratory tract infection and acute pharyngitis are the most common acute illnesses seen in a primary practice, they represent an important population for management by nurse practitioners. Clinical and bacteriological diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis by nurse practitioners in this study were comparable in accuracy to that of a physician.
during muscle cell differentiation Quaking and PTB control overlapping splicing regulatory networks Material

Alternative splicing contributes to muscle development, but a complete set of muscle-splicing factors and their combinatorial interactions are unknown. Previous work identified ACUAA (“STAR” motif) as an enriched intron sequence near musclespecific alternative exons such as Capzb exon 9. Mass spectrometry of myoblast proteins selected by the Capzb exon 9 intron via RNA affinity chromatography identifies Quaking (QK), a protein known to regulate mRNA function through ACUAA motifs in 3′ UTRs. We find that QK promotes inclusion of Capzb exon 9 in opposition to repression by polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB). QK depletion alters inclusion of 406 cassette exons whose adjacent intron sequences are also enriched in ACUAA motifs. During differentiation of myoblasts to myotubes, QK levels increase twoto threefold, suggesting a mechanism for QK-responsive exon regulation. Combined analysis of the PTBand QK-splicing regulatory networks during myogenesis suggests that 39% of regulated exons are under the control of one or both of these splicing factors. This work provides the first evidence that QK is a global regulator of splicing during muscle development in vertebrates and shows how overlapping splicing regulatory networks contribute to gene expression programs during differentiation.
The rhodanese RhdA helps Azotobacter vinelandii in maintaining cellular redox balance

Abstract The tandem domain rhodanese-homology protein RhdA of Azotobacter vinelandii shows an active-site loop structure that confers structural peculiarity in the environment of its catalytic cysteine residue. The in vivo effects of the lack of RhdA were investigated using an A. vinelandii mutant strain (MV474) in which the rhdA gene was disrupted by deletion. Here, by combining analytical measurements and transcript profiles, we show that deletion of the rhdA gene generates an oxidative stress condition to which A. vinelandii responds by activating defensive mechanisms. In conditions of growth in the presence of the superoxide generator phenazine methosulfate, a stressor-dependent induction of rhdA gene expression was observed, thus highlighting that RhdA is important for A. vinelandii to sustain oxidative stress. The potential of RhdA to buffer general levels of oxidants in A. vinelandii cells via redox reactions involving its cysteine thiol is discussed.
Production planning and scheduling by means of artificial immune systems and particle swarm optimisation algorithms

The main task of the scheduling optimisation process in production systems is to minimise production cost, overall production time and to ensure optimal utilisation of the resources. Application of stochastic search techniques to find a feasible schedule that minimise cost and satisfy all constraints jointed with all products can bring a particular solution of the complexity problem. On the other hand, the cost and the time of an optimisation process have to reciprocate with the found schedule; otherwise the optimisation loses its meaning. The article presents two stochastic methods, based on biologically inspired techniques, applied on a scheduling optimisation process. The first one is based on the mechanism inspired by biological evolution and the one method applies the swarm intelligence. The application of methods is illustrated on a real world example of a production line.
Mutual regulation between Satb2 and Fezf2 promotes subcerebral projection neuron identity in the developing cerebral cortex

Significance Mutations in special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (Satb2) cause severe intellectual deficiency in humans. However, its function in brain development is not completely understood. Our study focuses on the function of Satb2 in specifying cortical projection neuron fates. We find that, although Satb2 activates the expression of some subcerebral neuronal genes, it also inhibits the expression of other genes that are expressed in subcerebral neurons. We report that Satb2 promotes Fezf2 and Sox5 expression in subcerebral neurons, and that Fezf2 in turn inhibits high-level Satb2 expression. We show that the mutual regulation between Satb2 and Fezf2 is essential for Satb2 to promote subcerebral neuron fate. Generation of distinct cortical projection neuron subtypes during development relies in part on repression of alternative neuron identities. It was reported that the special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (Satb2) is required for proper development of callosal neuron identity and represses expression of genes that are essential for subcerebral axon development. Surprisingly, Satb2 has recently been shown to be necessary for subcerebral axon development. Here, we unravel a previously unidentified mechanism underlying this paradox. We show that SATB2 directly activates transcription of forebrain embryonic zinc finger 2 (Fezf2) and SRY-box 5 (Sox5), genes essential for subcerebral neuron development. We find that the mutual regulation between Satb2 and Fezf2 enables Satb2 to promote subcerebral neuron identity in layer 5 neurons, and to repress subcerebral characters in callosal neurons. Thus, Satb2 promotes the development of callosal and subcerebral neurons in a cell context-dependent manner.
Diagnostic usefulness of fluorine-18-alpha-methyltyrosine positron emission tomography in combination with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in sarcoidosis patients.

OBJECTIVES L-[3-(18)F]-alpha-methyltyrosine ((18)F-FMT) is an amino-acid tracer for positron emission tomography (PET) and is used for tumor detection because malignant tumor cells accumulate (18)F-FMT based on the increased expression of an amino-acid transporter. This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of (18)F-FMT PET in combination with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) PET for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis in patients with suspected malignancy. SETTING Twenty-four sarcoidosis patients with suspected malignancy underwent (18)F-FDG and (18)F-FMT PET. The study included 17 patients with extrapulmonary manifestation mimicking malignant disease (13 patients with systemic lymphadenopathy, 3 of them with concomitant hepatosplenic processes; 3 patients with hepatosplenic processes without concomitant lymphadenopathy; and 1 patient with multiple bone lesions), 3 patients with occurrence of bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy in cancer patients, and 4 patients with multiple nodules mimicking pulmonary metastasis. RESULTS All patients showed increased uptake of (18)F-FDG and no increase in the accumulation of (18)F-FMT in their lymphadenopathy. Standardized uptake values (SUVs) of (18)F-FDG and (18)F-FMT were 5.01 +/- 2.15 and 0.77 +/- 0.24, respectively (mean +/- SD). All extranodal lesions such as liver, spleen, and bone were visually positive on (18)F-FDG PET and negative on (18)F-FMT PET. No neoplasm was confirmed in all patients. In a control group of patients with lung cancer, SUVs for (18)F-FDG and (18)F-FMT were 6.34 +/- 2.52 and 1.54 +/- 0.82, respectively. CONCLUSION The uptake of (18)F-FDG was positive in the sarcoid lesions, and therefore (18)F-FDG PET could not differentiate sarcoidosis from malignant disease. Use of (18)F-FMT PET in combination with (18)F-FDG PET may be the effective method to distinguish sarcoidosis from malignancy.
Compact and reconfigurable silicon nitride time-bin entanglement circuit

Photonic-chip-based time-bin entanglement has attracted significant attention because of its potential for quantum communication and computation. Useful time-bin entanglement systems must be able to generate, manipulate, and analyze entangled photons on a photonic chip for stable, scalable, and reconfigurable operation. Here we report the first time-bin entanglement photonic chip that integrates pump time-bin preparation, wavelength demultiplexing, and entanglement analysis. A two-photon interference fringe with 88.4% visibility is measured (without subtracting any noise), indicating the high performance of the chip. Our approach, based on a silicon nitride photonic circuit, which combines low loss and tight integration features, paves the way for scalable real-world quantum information processors.
Analysis of multiprocessor memory reference behavior

The performance of shared-memory, cache-coherent multiprocessors is a strong function of the reference behavior within multiprocessor applications. This research characterizes the memory reference behavior in a wide variety of scalar and vector multiprocessor traces, to estimate and improve the performance of cache-consistency protocols. We find wide differences between the sharing behavior observed in vector and scalar applications. Compared to scalar programs, vector programs reference shared data more frequently and contain larger amounts of processor locality. Write sharing by different processors over short time intervals are infrequent in one workload but frequent in another. The latter result implies that sequentially-consistent programming models will remain necessary unless applications are recoded to avoid such reference patterns. <<ETX>>
A tale of two soles: sociomechanical and biomechanical considerations in diabetic limb salvage and amputation decision-making in the worst of times

Foot ulcerations complicated by infection are the major cause of limb loss in people with diabetes. This is especially true in those patients with severe sepsis. Determining whether to amputate or attempt to salvage a limb often requires in depth evaluation of each individual patient's physical, mental, and socioeconomic status. The current report presents and juxtaposes two similar patients, admitted to the same service at the same time with severe diabetic foot infections complicated by sepsis. We describe in detail the similarities and differences in the clinical presentation, extent of infection, etiology, and socioeconomic concerns that ultimately led to divergent clinical decisions regarding the choices of attempting diabetic limb salvage versus primary amputation and prompt rehabilitation.
Mental Health Carve-Outs: Effects and Implications

To control the rise in expenditures and to increase access to mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) services, a growing number of employers and states are implementing a “carve-out. ” Under this arrangement, the sponsor separates insurance benefits by disease or condition, service category, or population and contracts separately for the management of care and/or associated risks. A carve-out allows a unique set of managed care techniques to be applied to a subset of particularly costly or complex benefits. This article describes various carve-out models, discusses the potential advantages and disadvantages of a full carve-out, and summarizes recent public and private sector research regarding the strategy’s effects on access and use, cost savings and shifting, and quality of care. It concludes by discussing approaches to the assessment and monitoring of the processes and outcomes associated with a MH/SA carve-out.
Pharmacokinetics, brain distribution and pharmaco-electrocorticographic profile of zolpidem, a new hypnotic, in the rat.

Zolpidem [N,N-6-trimethyl-2-(4-methylphenyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3- acetamide] administered as the hemitartrate salt has proven to be an effective hypnotic agent in animals and humans. This study describes the pharmacokinetic behavior of zolpidem in plasma and brain of rat after i.v. and p.o. administration of 2.63 mg.kg-1 of [14C]zolpidem (dose expressed as the base). Autoradiography was used to examine the regional distribution of the compound and the metabolic profile of zolpidem in the plasma and brain was also investigated. The pharmacokinetic data were related to electrocorticogram power spectral analysis. After i.v. administration, the disappearance of zolpidem from plasma fitted a biexponential model with a rapid phase of 0.2 to 0.3 hr and a slower phase of 1.3 to 1.5 hr. After p.o. dosing, peak plasma concentrations where already attained at 15 min (first sampling time). Independent of the route of administration, the concentrations of zolpidem in the brain at shorter times were 30 to 50% those of the plasma values. Furthermore, up to 1 hr, zolpidem accounted for 80 to 90% of brain radioactivity. The rate of disappearance from brain paralleled that from plasma. Autoradiographic studies confirmed the rapid absorption and elimination of zolpidem as well as the relatively homogenous distribution throughout the brain. Electrocorticogram analysis in immobilized rats after i.v. administration of zolpidem showed a rapid onset and a short-acting sedative effect compatible with the kinetic profile of the parent compound. Metabolites of zolpidem displayed a poor penetration into the brain and no significant hypnotic activity. At the dose of zolpidem used, no alteration of the sleep pattern was observed.
Staining of mitochondrial membranes with 10-nonyl acridine orange, MitoFluor Green, and MitoTracker Green is affected by mitochondrial membrane potential altering drugs.

BACKGROUND We set out to develop an assay for the simultaneous analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential and mass using the probes 10-nonyl acridine orange (NAO), MitoFluor Green (MFG), and MitoTracker Green (MTG) in HL60 cells. However, in experiments in which NAO and MFG were combined with orange emitting mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)) probes, we found clear responses to DeltaPsi(m) altering drugs for both probes. METHODS The three probes were titrated to determine whether saturation played a role in the response to drugs. The effects of a variety of DeltaPsi(m) altering drugs were tested for MFG and MTG at probe concentrations of 20 nM and 200 nM and for NAO at 0.1 microM and 5 microM, using rhodamine 123 at 0.1 microM as a reference probe. RESULTS Incubation of GM130, HL60, and U937 cells with 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM), nigericin, carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), carbonyl cyanide p-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP), 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), gramicidin, ouabain, and valinomycin resulted in increases of the fluorescence intensity for MFG or MTG with only a few exceptions. The fluorescence intensity of cells stained with 0.1 microM NAO increased following incubation with BDM, nigericin, and decreased for FCCP, CCCP, DNP, gramicidin, and valinomycin. The results with 5 microM NAO were similar. CONCLUSIONS MFG, MTG, and NAO appeared poor choices for the membrane potential independent analysis of mitochondrial membrane mass. Considering the molecular structure of these probes that favor accumulation in the mitochondrial membrane because of a positive charge, our results are not surprising. Cytometry 39:203-210, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Different localizations and functions of L-type and N-type calcium channels during development of hippocampal neurons.

Using immunocytochemical assays and patch-clamp and calcium-imaging recordings, we demonstrate that L-type and N-type calcium channels have distinct patterns of expression and distribution and play different functional roles during hippocampal neuron differentiation. L-type channels, which support the depolarization-induced calcium influx in neurons from the very early developmental stages, are functionally restricted to the somatodendritic compartment throughout neuronal development and play a crucial role in supporting neurite outgrowth at early developmental stages. N-type channels, which start contributing at later neuronal differentiation stages (3-4 DIV), are also functionally expressed in the axons of immature neurons. At this developmental stage preceding synaptogenesis, N-type (but not L-type) channels are involved in controlling synaptic vesicle recycling. It is only at later developmental stages (10-12 DIV), when the neurons have established a clear axodendritic polarity and form synaptic contacts, that N-type channels are progressively excluded from the axon. Electrophysiological recordings of single neurons growing in microislands revealed that synaptic maturation coincides with a progressive increase in N-type channels in the somatodendritic region and a progressive decrease in the N-type channels supporting glutamate release from the presynaptic terminal. These results indicate that L-type and N-type calcium channels undergo dynamic, developmentally regulated rearrangements in regional distribution and function and also suggest that different mechanisms may be involved in the sorting and/or stabilization of these two types of channels in different plasma membrane domains during neuronal differentiation.
Impact of Photon Lifetime on High-Speed VCSEL Performance

We investigate the impact of reduced photon lifetime on the static and dynamic performance of high-speed, oxide-confined 850-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The photon lifetime is reduced by a shallow-surface etch that lowers the reflectivity of the top mirror. From an analysis of the dependence of slope efficiency on mirror loss (etch depth) and temperature, we deduce values for the internal quantum efficiency and the internal optical loss and their dependencies on temperature. From an analysis of the dependence of the small-signal-modulation response on photon lifetime (etch depth) and temperature, we deduce values for differential gain and gain compression, and their dependencies on photon lifetime and temperature. We find a tradeoff between high resonance frequency and low damping for speed enhancement, leading to an optimum photon lifetime close to 3 ps for this particular VCSEL design that enables a modulation bandwidth of 23 GHz and error-free transmission at 40 Gb/s.
Regulation of mammary epithelial cell growth in mice and rats.

I. Introduction THE mammary gland is a unique feature of mammals. Its chief biological function is to synthesizeand secrete milk, which is essential for the nourishment of mammalian young. The parenchymal portion of the mammary gland is derived embryologically from ectoderm, while the surrounding stroma comes from mesoderm. Mammary gland growth takes place during both fetal and postnatal life; the gland is the site of milk production and secretion, and in several species (including humans) it is also a site of occurrence of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions. Thus the mammary gland is an important organ of study by biologists from various disciplines, including endocrinologists, tumor biologists, and developmental biologists. During the last 30 yr, the primary interest of our laboratory has been the understanding of the neoplastic transformation process in mammary epithelial cells. One fundamental characteristic of tumor cells vis a vis their normal counterparts is deregulation of growth. Since cell pro.
Thermal modeling accuracy of hourly averaged data for large free Field Cadmium telluride PV arrays

Evaluating the accuracy of the PVsyst thermal model for large scale free-field thin film photovoltaic installations (> 1MW) using measured module temperatures from 4 PV systems reveals that the default thermal parameters within PVsyst over-estimate the cell temperature of the First Solar Cadmium Telluride thin film modules by 3–5 degrees Celsius. This results in a slight conservatism in the energy predicted for First Solar's utility scale projects. A more accurate representation of module temperature can be achieved by using a thermal loss coefficient of Uc = 30.7 rather than the PVsyst default of Uc = 29.0 which results in an increase in predicted DC energy of 0.22% to 0.32% on an annual basis.
Designing Medical Interactive Systems Via Assessment of Human Mental Workload

In clinical settings, Human-computer systems need to be designed in a way that medical errors are reduced and patient care is enhanced. Inspection methods are usually employed in HCI to assess usability of interactive systems. However, they do not consider the state of the operator while executing a task, the surrounding environment and the task demands. It is argued that assessing performance of operators is fundamental for designing optimal systems with which healthcare can be effectively delivered. The aim of our solution is to assess performance of operators employing the notion of Mental Workload (MWL) this being a construct believed to strongly correlate with performance. The proposal is to develop a model for MWL assessment using supervised machine learning. This model will be evaluated via user studies involving clinicians and operators interacting with a set of medical systems. Assessments of MWL will be compared and validated with objective indexes of performance such as error rate and task execution time.
Multi-platform, script-based user interface

The problem of developing several user interface modules for an application is overviewed. The main problems and advantages of using the different technologies in this aspect are discussed. The paper describes an implementation of an extended user interface, based on scripts, its internal structure and organisation. The goals and the approach are discussed. An approach for intelligent, CLIPS-based control of the user interactions is suggested. An implementation of such a software system is presented.