Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circadian Variation of Plasma Calcitonin Gene‐Related Peptide in Man

Calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) is one of the most potent endogenous vasodilator peptides known so far. Almost all clinical studies using or measuring CGRP are conducted during the day, and hence this study was carried out to see any variations of CGRP levels in the circulation during this period. Three separate studies were conducted. In the first study, following an overnight fast, sequential samples of blood were taken from six healthy volunteers between 0900 and 2100 h and were assayed for CGRP using a highly sensitive and specific radioreceptor assay. A diurnal variation of CGRP in the circulation (P<0.0001) was demonstrated. No difference in the diurnal pattern of CGRP in plasma was seen between males and females. The range of plasma receptor‐active CGRP was 2.8 to 13.0 pmol/l (mean ±SEM, 7.03±0.28 pmol/l). Two peaks of CGRP were observed in the circulation (increases of ∼100% from the basal levels obtained at 0900 h), one around midday (P<0.0001) and the other in the late afternoon (P< 0.005). To assess the contribution of CGRP released from the gut following food, a second study was carried out in which the protocol of the first study was repeated in three volunteers but avoiding any food during the day. Although a similar diurnal variation of receptor‐recognized CGRP was seen in this study (P<0.01), the changes observed were significantly lower than those observed in the first study, suggesting that the effect of a meal exaggerates the response of diurnal variation of plasma CGRP. In a third study, circadian variation of receptor‐recognized CGRP was examined in three volunteers over a 24 h period. In addition to the diurnal pattern seen with the first study, the plasma CGRP levels continued to decrease up to early morning. The lowest levels of CGRP were detected between 0300 and 0600 h. After this time the levels gradually rose towards midday.
An Intelligent System on Water Bloom Remote Monitor and Predication

According to lagging state of water quality monitor and the problems of the difficult of water bloom prediction, water bloom remote monitor and prediction system based on BP neural network are proposed in this paper. This system can realize the automatic real-time monitor for the change of water quality and via the prediction by neural network for water bloom; it can provide a kind of efficient and practical system for water environment control.
Supervillin-mediated Suppression of p53 Protein Enhances Cell Survival*

Background: Supervillin is a membrane-associated actin- and myosin II-regulatory protein that promotes cell growth, adhesion, and invasion. Results: Supervillin inversely regulates p53 levels, binds the p53-stabilizing protein USP7, and regulates the USP7-p53 interaction. Conclusion: Supervillin regulation of p53 through USP7 contributes to cell survival. Significance: This study describes a new locus for cross-talk between cytoskeletal proteins and p53-regulated survival signaling. Integrin-based adhesions promote cell survival as well as cell motility and invasion. We show here that the adhesion regulatory protein supervillin increases cell survival by decreasing levels of the tumor suppressor protein p53 and downstream target genes. RNAi-mediated knockdown of a new splice form of supervillin (isoform 4) or both isoforms 1 and 4 increases the amount of p53 and cell death, whereas p53 levels decrease after overexpression of either supervillin isoform. Cellular responses to DNA damage induced by etoposide or doxorubicin include down-regulation of endogenous supervillin coincident with increases in p53. In DNA-damaged supervillin knockdown cells, p53 knockdown or inhibition partially rescues the loss of cell metabolic activity, a measure of cell proliferation. Knockdown of the p53 deubiquitinating enzyme USP7/HAUSP also reverses the supervillin phenotype, blocking the increase in p53 levels seen after supervillin knockdown and accentuating the decrease in p53 levels triggered by supervillin overexpression. Conversely, supervillin overexpression decreases the association of USP7 and p53 and attenuates USP7-mediated p53 deubiquitination. USP7 binds directly to the supervillin N terminus and can deubiquitinate and stabilize supervillin. Supervillin also is stabilized by derivatization with the ubiquitin-like protein SUMO1. These results show that supervillin regulates cell survival through control of p53 levels and suggest that supervillin and its interaction partners at sites of cell-substrate adhesion constitute a locus for cross-talk between survival signaling and cell motility pathways.
The Interrelationship of Maternal Stress, Endocrine Factors and Inflammation On Gestational Length

Preterm birth rates continue to rise in the United States despite the advent of tocolytic agents and the identification of risk factors for preterm birth, such as vaginal infection and a shortened cervix. Although improvement in gestational-age-related survival of preterm infants has occurred as a result of the use of antenatal corticosteroids, neonatal surfactant therapy, and regionalization of perinatal care, there has been no reduction in the incidence of preterm birth. Recently, investigators have appreciated that the etiology of preterm birth is heterogeneous, perhaps accounting for one reason for the failure of current interventions to improve pregnancy outcome. Both abnormal maternal hormonal homeostasis and intrauterine inflammatory responses appear to contribute to a significant proportion of the cases of preterm birth, and the interaction of the maternal endocrine and immunologic systems may contribute to the pathophysiology of this condition. An important modulator of endocrine and immune function is perceived emotional and social stress. Maternal stress has been strongly associated with preterm birth, but the links between maternal stress and resultant aberrations of maternal endocrine and immune function remain difficult to quantify and investigate. However, new insights into the role of perceived maternal stress on gestational length suggest that specific interventions to alleviate stress could contribute to an increase in gestational length and a decrease in the risk for preterm birth. This review addresses the role of maternal stress on the regulation of maternal hormone and inflammatory responses and how aberrations in these systems may lead to preterm birth. Target Audience: Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Family Physicians Learning Objectives: After completion of this article, the reader will be able to outline the objective tools used to quantify stress, to describe the relationship between stress and preterm birth, and to explain the relationship between preterm birth and endocrine as well as immune factors.
Mining the Proteome of Leishmania donovani for the Development of Novel MHC Class I Restricted Epitope for the Control of Visceral Leishmaniasis

Although, the precise host defence mechanism(s) is not completely understood, T cell‐mediated immune responses is believed to play a pivotal role in controlling parasite infection. Here we target the stage dependent over expressed gene. Here, the consensus based computational approach was adopted for the screening of potential major histocompatibility complex class I restricted epitopes. Based on the computational analysis and previously published report, a set 19 antigenic proteins derived from Leishmania donovani were screened for further characterization as vaccine candidates. A total of 49 epitopes were predicted, which revealed a comprehensive binding affinity to the 40 different MHC class I supertypes. Based on the population coverage and HLA cross presentation, nine highly promiscuous epitopes such as LTYDDVWTV (P1), FLFPQRTAL(P2), FLFSNGAVV (P3), YIYNFGIRV (P4), YMTAAFAAL (P5), KLLRPFAPL (P6), FMLGWIVTI (P7), SLFERNKRV (P8), and SVWNRIFTL (P9) which have either a high or an intermediate TAP binding affinity were selected for further analysis. Theoretical population coverage analysis of polytope vaccine (P1–P9) revealed more than 92% population. Stimulation with the cocktail of peptide revealed a proliferative CD8+ T cell response and increased IFN‐γ production. An upregulated NF‐κB activity is thought to be play a pivotal role in T cell proliferation against the selected peptide. The Th1‐type cytokine profile (presence of IFN‐γ and absence of IL‐10) suggests the potentiality of the cocktail of epitope as a subunit vaccine against leishmaniasis. However, the efficiency of these epitopes to trigger other Th1 cytokines and chemokines in a humanized mice model could explore its plausibility as a vaccine candidate. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 378–391, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Changes in cytoskeletal proteins and their mRNAs during maturation of human erythroid progenitor cells

We have used highly purified human early erythroid progenitors to study changes in cytoskeletal proteins during their maturation and terminal differentiation. When erythroid progenitors at the burst‐forming unit‐erythroid (BFU‐E) stage of development are grown in the presence of erythropoietin, the cells mature and terminally differentiate into reticulocytes during a 14–15‐day culture period. We have shown by immunofluorescence that spectrin is present in day 3 BFU‐E, at which time proteins band 3, ankyrin, and band 4.1 cannot be detected. Ankyrin and band 4.1 were detected in the majority of the cells by day 7 of culture, at the colony‐forming unit (CFU)‐E stage, whereas only 15% of the cells were positive for band 3 protein on day 7 of culture. The mRNA level for spectrin was already at its maximum on day 8 whereas the mRNAs for band 3, ankyrin, and band 4.1 were just beginning to accumulate. After enucleation, spectrin, band 3, ankyrin, and band 4.1 fluorescence were all associated with the reticulocytes. Actin was localized at the constriction between the extruding nucleus and the incipient reticulocyte in enucleating erythroblasts suggesting a key role for actin in the enucleation of human erythroblasts. Our investigations have also shown that purified human erythroid progenitors cultured in serum‐free suspension media are capable of enucleating without the requirement of an extracellular matrix. These results demonstrate that the synthesis and expression of major cytoskeletal proteins in the human erythrocyte membrane occur in an asynchronous manner and that the remodeling of the membrane skeleton begins at a very early stage during erythrocyte development. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Removal of signal-dependent noise for a digital camera

In a digital camera, several factors cause signal-dependency of additive noise. Many denoising methods have been proposed, but unfortunately most of them do not work well for the actual signal-dependent noise. To solve the problem of removing the signal-dependent noise of a digital camera, we present a denoising approach via the nonlinear imagedecomposition. In the nonlinear decomposition-and-denoising approach, at the first nonlinear image-decomposition stage, multiplicative image-decomposition is performed, and a noisy image is represented as a product of its two components so that its structural component corresponding to a cartoon approximation of the noisy image may not be corrupted by the noise and its texture component may collect almost all the noise. At the successive nonlinear denoising stage, intensity of the separated structural component is utilized instead of the unknown true signal value, to adapt the soft-thresholding-type denoising manipulation of the texture component to the signal dependency of the noise. At the final image-synthesis stage, the separated structure component is combined with the denoised texture component, and thus a sharpness-improved denoised image is reproduced. The nonlinear decomposition-and-denoising approach can selectively remove the signal-dependent noise of a digital camera without not only blurring sharp edges but also destroying visually important textures.
Developmental regulation of a novel repetitive protein of Trypanosoma brucei

Trypanosoma brucei undergoes many morphological and biochemical changes during transformation from the bloodstream trypomastigote to the insect procyclic trypomastigote form. We cloned and determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a developmentally regulated cDNA. The corresponding mRNA was abundant in in vitro-cultivated procyclics but absent in bloodstream forms. The trypanosome genome contains eight genes homologous to this cDNA, arranged as four unlinked pairs of tandem repeats. The longest open reading frame of the cDNA predicts a protein of 15 kilodaltons, the central portion of which consists of 29 tandem glutamate-proline dipeptides. The repetitive region is preceded by an amino-terminal signal sequence and followed by a hydrophobic domain that could serve as a membrane anchor; the mRNA was found on membrane-bound polyribosomes. These results suggest that the protein is membrane associated.
The Validity and Reliability of a Spanish Version of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire

Background: Translation of data collection instruments, paying careful attention to equivalency between the source and the target language, is important to obtain valid data collection instruments. Objective: To translate the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) questionnaire (English) into Spanish and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Spanish version. Methods: Translation and back-translation were used to develop the Spanish version of the SDSCA. The Spanish version of the SDSCA was reviewed by an expert panel for conceptual and content equivalence to the English version. Psychometric properties were assessed further by combining data from three studies that used the Spanish version as a data collection instrument. Results: Correlation of each item of the Spanish and English version of the SDSCA instrument ranged from . 78 to 1.00, with no variability in the responses of 2 of the 12 items. Test-retest correlations for the SDSCA ranged from . 51 to 1.00. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the Spanish version was . 68. Items loaded on three factors, with the factors accounting for 61% of the variance in SDSCA. Discussion: The findings for the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the SDSCA questionnaire suggest that it has conceptual and content equivalency with the original English version and is valid and reliable. However, further testing with larger samples is required.
Logistic Regression at TREC4: Probabilistic Retrieval from Full Text Document Collections

The Berkeley experiments for TREC-4 extend those of TREC-3 in three ways : for ad-hoc retrieval we retain the manual reformulation of the topic and experiment with limited query expansion based upon the assumption that top documents are relevant (this experiment was an interesting failure) ; for routing retrieval we introduce a logistic regression wich assumes relevance weights to be only one clue among several in predicting probability of relevance. Finally, for Spanish retrieval we obtain the basic logistic regression equation to apply to the statistical distributions Spanish words. In addition we apply two approaches to spanish stemming, one which attemps to resolve verb into a standardized form, the other of which eschews stemming in favor of a massive stop word list of variants of common words
Simian virus 40 tumor antigen: isolation of the origin-specific DNA-binding domain

To localize the origin-specific DNA-binding domain on the simian virus 40 tumor (T) antigen molecule, we used limited proteolysis with trypsin to generate fractional peptides for analysis. A 17,000-Mr peptide was found to be capable of binding not only to calf thymus DNA, but also specifically to the simian virus 40 origin of DNA replication. This approximately 130-amino-acid peptide was derived from the extreme N-terminus of the T antigen and represented less than one-fifth of the entire molecule. The coding sequence for this tryptic peptide was located approximately between 0.51 and 0.67 map units (excluding the intron, which maps between 0.54 and 0.59). Since the first 82 amino acids are shared between large T and small t antigens, and since the latter does not bind DNA, it can be concluded that the sequence between isoleucine 83 and approximately arginine 130 is necessary for origin-specific binding by the T antigen. We also observed that in vivo phosphorylation of the T antigen within this region completely abolished the ability of the 17,000-Mr peptide to bind DNA. This observation is consistent with the idea that DNA binding by the T antigen is regulated by posttranslational modifications.
A high-linearity receiver RF front-end with a high-performance 25%-duty-cycle LO generator for WCDMA/GSM applications

A fully integrated receiver RF front-end that meets the WCDMA/GSM system requirements is presented. It supports SAW-less operation for WCDMA. To improve the linearity in terms of both IP3 and IP2, the RF front-end is comprised of multiple-gated LNAs with capacitive desensitization, current-mode passive mixers with the proposed IP2 calibration circuit, and reconfigurable Tow-Thomas-like biquad TIAs. A new power-saving multi-mode LO generator with low phase noise is proposed to provide the 4-phase 25%-duty-cycle clocks. This RF front-end is integrated in a receiver with an on-chip frequency synthesizer in 0. 13μm CMOS. The measurement results show that, the receiver achieves −6dBm IIP3 and at least +60dBm IIP2 for all modes and bands.
The measurement of radioactive microspheres in biological samples.

The radioactive microsphere technique has been used in several previous investigations of regional coronary blood flow. Plastic microspheres are injected into the blood stream and blood flow to the organ is calculated from the number of microspheres in it and in a blood sample. The different sizes and shapes of organs and samples present problems in counting. In the method described. The samples have been retained in their original forms and correction factors derived to interrelate the various counting geometries thus encountered. This allows the use of an ordinary cylindrical sodium iodide detector and places less restriction on the size of sample that can be counted.
Validation of tomographic measurement of cerebral blood volume with C-11-labeled carboxyhemoglobin.

Red blood cells, tagged with C-11 administration of /sup 11/CO gas, have been used to portray the distribution of blood in the brain. To date, however, the accuracy of this approach has not been validated. We have performed in vitro measurements of regional cerebral blood volume (CBV) with red blood cells labeled with C-11 and Cr-51 in four dogs and two rhesus monkeys. These studies yielded a ratio of CBV/sub C-1/ to CBV/sub Cr-11/ of 1.02 +- 0.03 (s.d.) from 92 samples. A least-squares fit to these data showed CBV/sub C-11/ = 1.01 CBV/sub Cr-51/ + 0.037; P much < 0.001. The ratio of CBV in gray matter to that in white matter was 2.8 +- 0.4 (n = 12) and 3.1 +- 0.6 (n = 8). In vivo studies with emission computed tomography (ECT) and /sup 11/CO-RBC gave coefficients of variation of +- 2.8% and +- 4.8% for cross-sectional CBV and regional (approx.4 cm/sup 2/) CBV over an 80-min period. The average human CBV was found to be 4.2 +- 0.4 cc blood per 100 g tissue. Clear tomographic delineation of the distribution of CBV in human subjects is achieved with ECT, which provides a ''live'' measurement of thismore » parameter of cerebral hemodynamics. These data demonstrate that /sup 11/CO administered by single-breath inhalation is a reliable and accurate blood tracer for measurement of CBV with ECT. « less
(18)F-FDG PET/CT in tuberculosis: an early non-invasive marker of therapeutic response.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the potential of (18)F-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) for early therapeutic intervention in patients with probable or confirmed tuberculosis (TB). METHODS Twenty-one consecutive human immunodeficiency virus negative patients were prospectively included. All patients underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT before and after 1 month of anti-tuberculosis treatment. The maximum standardised uptake value (SUV(max)) of the most (18)F-FDG avid lesions was recorded. RESULTS The median age of patients was 36 years (range 18-84); 33.3% were male, 80.9% were born in endemic countries, and 23.8% had a past history of TB. TB was confirmed on culture in 8, on histology in 9 and on the basis of clinical symptoms in 4 patients. (18)F-FDG PET/CT detected active pulmonary TB (n = 1), extra-pulmonary (n = 10) or both (n = 10). The second (18)F-FDG PET/CT showed reduced radiotracer uptake intensity in 19 of 21 patients, with a median percentage decrease of SUV(max) of 31% (range 2-84). Two patients showed no improvement. TB was ruled out in one patient during follow-up; the final diagnosis was a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The other patient was smear-positive for 3 months. CONCLUSION (18)F-FDG PET/CT allows an easy evaluation of early therapeutic response in patients with TB, particularly extra-pulmonary TB.
Recursive *-tree parallel data-structure

The authors introduce a fundamentally novel parallel data structure, called recursive *-tree (star tree). For its definition, they use a generalization of this * functional and apply it to functions other than log. Using recursion in the spirit of the inverse-Akermann function, they derive recursive *-trees. The recursive *-tree data structure leads to a new design paradigm for parallel algorithms. The paradigm allows for unusually fast parallel computations that need only constant time, using an optimal number of processors under the assumption that a very small number of processors can write simultaneously, each into different bits of the same word. <<ETX>>
Adrenomedullin protects neurons against oxygen glucose deprivation stress in an autocrine and paracrine manner

The understanding of mechanisms involved in ischaemic brain tolerance may provide new therapeutical targets for stroke. In vivo genomic studies revealed an up‐regulation of adrenomedullin expression by hypoxic pre‐conditioning. Furthermore, adrenomedullin reduced ischaemia‐induced brain damage in rodents. However, whether adrenomedullin is involved in hypoxic pre‐conditioning‐induced tolerance and whether adrenomedullin protects directly neurons against ischaemia remain unknown. Using a neuronal model of hypoxic pre‐conditioning and oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD), we showed that 0.1% or 0.5% of O2 pre‐conditioning reduced the OGD‐induced neuronal death, whereas 1% or 2% of O2 pre‐treatment did not induce neuroprotection. Adrenomedullin expression increased following the hypoxic period, and following OGD only in pre‐conditioned (0.1% or 0.5% of O2) neurons. Adrenomedullin pre‐treatment and post‐treatment reduced the OGD‐induced neuronal death, partly through PI3kinase‐dependent pathway. However, adrenomedullin antagonism during hypoxic pre‐conditioning failed to inhibit the neuroprotection whereas adrenomedullin antagonism following OGD abolished the hypoxic pre‐conditioning‐induced neuroprotection. Finally, we showed that adrenomedullin is involved in neuroprotection induced by endothelial cells and microglia. In contrast, neuroprotection induced by astrocytes occurred through adrenomedullin‐independent mechanisms. Altogether, our results suggest that adrenomedullin is an effector of the hypoxic pre‐conditioning‐induced neuronal tolerance and a potent autocrine and paracrine neuroprotective factor during cerebral ischaemia.