Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcriptional activation of transforming growth factor-beta1 in mesangial cell culture by high glucose concentration.

BACKGROUND Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is an important hypertrophic and prosclerotic cytokine in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. The mechanisms of regulation of the TGF-beta system by high ambient glucose in kidney cells are incompletely defined. This study examined the mechanisms of regulation of TGF-beta1 expression by high glucose in murine mesangial cells (MMCs) in culture. METHODS MMCs were cultured in either normal (100 mg/dl) or high (450 mg/dl) D-glucose concentration. Total TGF-beta1 protein secretion and bioactivity, mRNA expression and stability, and gene transcription rate were measured; promoter-reporter chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) were performed to investigate the presence of putative glucose-response elements. RESULTS Raising the ambient D-glucose concentration for 72 hours increased TGF-beta1 bioactivity in cell culture medium by 47% and total TGF-beta1 secretion by approximately 90%. Northern analysis demonstrated that the steady-state TGF-beta1 mRNA level was increased nearly twofold after 48 hours of growth in high glucose. This increase was not due to increased stability, as the half-life of the message was approximately five hours in both normal and high glucose conditions. Transcriptional activity of the TGF-beta1 gene (nuclear run-on assay) was increased by 73% in cells grown in high glucose for 24 hours. Transiently transfected MMCs with CAT constructs containing varying lengths of the murine TGF-beta1 promoter demonstrated that high glucose selectively increased the expression of only one of the constructs, pA835. Sequence inspection revealed the presence of a putative glucose responsive element, CACGTG, within this construct. High glucose in MMC culture for 24 hours increased nuclear protein binding to a probe containing this element when analyzed using EMSA. CONCLUSIONS High glucose stimulates total TGF-beta1 protein production and bioactivity as well as the steady-state level of TGF-beta1 mRNA. The latter effect is due primarily to stimulation of gene transcription rate rather than message stability. Transcriptional activation by high glucose may involve a region in the TGF-beta1 promoter containing a putative glucose-response element.
Diacetyl Emissions and Airborne Dust from Butter Flavorings Used in Microwave Popcorn Production

In microwave popcorn workers, exposure to butter flavorings has been associated with fixed obstructive lung disease resembling bronchiolitis obliterans. Inhalation toxicology studies have shown severe respiratory effects in rats exposed to vapors from a paste butter flavoring, and to diacetyl, a diketone found in most butter flavorings. To gain a better understanding of worker exposures, we assessed diacetyl emissions and airborne dust levels from butter flavorings used by several microwave popcorn manufacturing companies. We heated bulk samples of 40 different butter flavorings (liquids, pastes, and powders) to approximately 50°C and used gas chromatography, with a mass selective detector, to measure the relative abundance of volatile organic compounds emitted. Air sampling was conducted for diacetyl and for total and respirable dust during the mixing of powder, liquid, or paste flavorings with heated soybean oil at a microwave popcorn plant. To further examine the potential for respiratory exposures to powders, we measured dust generated during different simulated methods of manual handling of several powder butter flavorings. Powder flavorings were found to give off much lower diacetyl emissions than pastes or liquids. The mean diacetyl emissions from liquids and pastes were 64 and 26 times larger, respectively, than the mean of diacetyl emissions from powders. The median diacetyl emissions from liquids and pastes were 364 and 72 times larger, respectively, than the median of diacetyl emissions from powders. Fourteen of 16 powders had diacetyl emissions that were lower than the diacetyl emissions from any liquid flavoring and from most paste flavorings. However, simulated handling of powder flavorings showed that a substantial amount of the airborne dust generated was of respirable size and could thus pose its own respiratory hazard. Companies that use butter flavorings should consider substituting flavorings with lower diacetyl emissions and the use of ventilation and enclosure engineering controls to minimize exposures. Until controls are fully implemented, companies should institute mandatory respiratory protection for all exposed workers.
Improvement of fingerprint orientation estimation by a Modification of fingerprint orientation model based on 2D Fourier expansion (M-FOMFE)

As fingerprint verification depends strongly on the quality of fingerprint ridge orientation estimation, so the more accurate fingerprint ridge orientations estimate, the better verification will result in. In this paper, we have proposed a new technique for improving the coarse fingerprint orientation estimation smoothing using fingerprint orientation model based on 2D Fourier expansion with a special Modification on it (M-FOMFE). The modification we have used in this paper is taking into account the information of Coherence Matrix for fingerprint ridge orientation estimation. This matrix is used to retrieve the uncertainty of each ridge orientation block and improves the accuracy of old FOMFE coarse ridge orientation smoothing method. For evaluating the proposed method we use a fingerprint continuous classification system and also an exclusive one based on Poincare-Index algorithm for singular point detection. Compared to competing method, the experimental results show that the proposed method has better orientation estimation and classification results.
An overview of automated glaucoma detection

Glaucoma is a neurotic condition of optic nerve impairment and second foremost cause of vision loss worldwide. This study is meta-analysis of 37 existing automated glaucoma detection systems proposed in last 10 years. The aim of the study was to compare existing system on the base of ophthalmic imaging technology, functional and structural features of eye, Machine Learning techniques, accuracy and data set used for evaluation. Results showed that glaucoma detection has been mostly done using Fundus images and structural feature Cup to Disc ratio at final stage. There is no known cure of glaucoma at final stage. There is a need to develop automated glaucoma detection systems that are able to detect glaucoma at an early stage where it can be treated. Glaucoma detection can be effectively achieved using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) at an early stage where it could be treated. We found evidence that automated glaucoma detection at the last stage is at a mature level using Fundus images however there is a great margin of improvement in automated glaucoma detection using OCT. It was proposed to use a hybrid feature set consisting of both structural and texture features of retinal image for more accurate glaucoma detection.
Pairwise correlation and performance analysis of MIMO systems in indoor scenarios

In this paper, we have analyzed the spatial correlation statistics of different antenna polarization setups for uniform linear and circular antenna arrays. We have compared correlation statistics of different MIMO orders. We are motivated to understand pair-by-pair correlation behavior of MIMO channel as it plays a vital role in defining the channel spectral efficiency. We have further evaluated the impact of antenna polarizations on the channel capacity for different MIMO orders. This study may help to select the appropriate MIMO transmission scheme. One of our key results shows that when number of transmit antennas is large as compared to receive antennas the polarization diversity gain reduces significantly. In later part, the performance comparison of WINNER and Rayleigh independent identical distribution (i.i.d) MIMO channels is done. We have observed that Rayleigh i.i. d underestimates or overestimates MIMO channel capacity in certain scenarios. In this contribution, all the testing is performed by using full 3D (both azimuth and elevation) WINNER channel model with default parameters for the indoor scenarios at the carrier frequency of 2.53 GHz.
A Novel Mutation in ALK-1 Causes Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Type 2

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal-dominant bleeding disorder and has two variants, HHT1 and HHT2, associated with mutations in the ENG and ALK-1 genes, respectively. We identified one Chinese HHT2 family to investigate the pathogenic gene and its possible mechanism of action by mutation screening and functional study. One substitution mutation (1717C>T) in exon 10 of the ALK-1 was found by sequencing of all exons of ENG and ALK-1 and caused a R479X mutation in the ALK-1 protein. ALK-1 mRNA and plasma thrombomodulin were measured by real-time quantitative PCR and ELISA, respectively. There was no significant difference in the expression levels of ALK-1 mRNA between patients and healthy individuals. A significantly higher level of thrombomodulin was found in HHT patients. These findings indicate that the mutation causes truncation of the ALK-1 protein at the post-transcriptional level; the plasma thrombomodulin may provide an easy diagnostic indicator in HHT patients.
Identifying Condition-Specific Modules by Clustering Multiple Networks

Condition-specific modules in multiple networks must be determined to reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms of diseases. Current algorithms exhibit limitations such as low accuracy and high sensitivity to the number of networks because these algorithms discover condition-specific modules in multiple networks by separating specificity and modularity of modules. To overcome these limitations, we characterize condition-specific module as a group of genes whose connectivity is strong in the corresponding network and weak in other networks; this strategy can accurately depict the topological structure of condition-specific modules. We then transform the condition-specific module discovery problem into a clustering problem in multiple networks. We develop an efficient heuristic algorithm for the Specific Modules in Multiple N etworks (SMMN), which discovers the condition-specific modules by considering multiple networks. By using the artificial networks, we demonstrate that SMMN outperforms state-of-the-art methods. In breast cancer networks, stage-specific modules discovered by SMMN are more discriminative in predicting cancer stages than those obtained by other techniques. In pan-cancer networks, cancer-specific modules are more likely to associate with survival time of patients, which is critical for cancer therapy.
The Ftr 1 p iron permease in the yeast plasma membrane : orientation , topology and structure – function relationships

Ftr1p is the permease component of the Fet3p–Ftr1p high affinity iron-uptake complex, in the plasma membrane of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, that transports the Fe3+ produced by the Fet3p ferroxidase into the cell. In this study we show that Ftr1p probably has seven transmembrane domains with an orientation of N-terminal outside, and C-terminal inside the cell. Within the context of this topology of the Fet3p–Ftr1p complex, we have identified several sequence elements in Ftr1p that are required for wild-type uptake function. First to be identified were two REXLE (ArgGlu-Xaa-Leu-Glu) motifs in transmembrane domains 1 and 4. Alanine substitutions at any one of these combined six arginine or glutamic acid residues inactivated Ftr1p in iron uptake, indicating that both motifs were essential to iron permeation. R → K and E → D substitutions in these two motifs led to a variable loss of activity, suggesting that while all six residues were essential, their contributions to uptake were quantitatively and/or mechanistically distinct. The terminal glutamate in an EDLWE element, associated with transmembrane domain 3, and a DASE motif, located in extracellular loop 6, were also required. The double substitution to AASA in the latter, inactivated Ftr1p in iron uptake while the Ftr1p(E89A) mutant had only 20 % of wild-type activity. The two REXLE and the EDLWE and DASE motifs are strongly conserved among fungal Ftr1p homologues, suggesting that these motifs are essential to iron permeation. Finally another important residue, Ile, was identified in the Ftr1p cytoplasmic C-terminal domain. Deletion or substitution of this residue led to a 70 % loss of iron-uptake activity. Ile was the only residue identified in this domain that made such a major contribution to iron uptake by the Fet3p–Ftr1p complex.
An alpha-Amylase Biosensor with 1,1-Dimethyl-3-(2-Amino-1-Hydroxyethyl) Ferrocene as an Electron Transfer Mediator

A new disposable &#945;-amylase biosensor has been developed based on the encapsulation of both the glucose oxidase (GOD) and the &#945;-glucosidase in the composite film of the sol-gel/Nafion.1,1-dimethyl-3-(2-amino-1-hydroxyethyl) ferrocene (DMAHFc) as an electron transferring mediator was immobilized on the screen-printed electrode surface by Nafion. Under optimal conditions this biosensor was able to detect &#945;-amylase activity in the linear range of 15-980 IU L-1 (R2 = 0.9523), which was wider than some of other &#945;-amylase biosensors using the flow-injection-type assay and some of other biosensors using the gelatin membrane. Three components DMAHFc, sol-gel and Nafion not only enhanced the electron transfer, but also improved the sensitivity and long-term stability of the biosensor. The limit of detection of 1.2 IU L-1 was obtained, in comparison to detection limits of 50 IU L-1 obtained by some of other &#945;-amylase biosensors using the flow-injection-type assay and 17 IU L-1 obtained by some of other biosensors using the gelatin membrane. The activity of salivary &#945;-amylase can be detected by the biosensor with a fast response, high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and long-term stability. So, it is possible to construct a new method to identifies people's mental stress conditions conveniently.
The Role of the PDZ Protein GIPC in Regulating NMDA Receptor Trafficking

The NMDA receptor is an important component of excitatory synapses in the CNS. In addition to its synaptic localization, the NMDA receptor is also present at extrasynaptic sites where it may have functions distinct from those at the synapse. Little is known about how the number, composition, and localization of extrasynaptic receptors are regulated. We identified a novel NMDA receptor-interacting protein, GIPC (GAIP-interacting protein, C terminus), that associates with surface as well as internalized NMDA receptors when expressed in heterologous cells. In neurons, GIPC colocalizes with a population of NMDA receptors on the cell surface, and changes in GIPC expression alter the number of surface receptors. GIPC is mainly excluded from the synapse, and changes in GIPC expression do not change the total number of synaptic receptors. Our results suggest that GIPC may be preferentially associated with extrasynaptic NMDA receptors and may play a role in the organization and trafficking of this population of receptors.
Random lasing and reversible photodegradation in disperse orange 11 dye-doped PMMA with dispersed ZrO2 nanoparticles

We report the observation of intensity feedback random lasing at 645 nm in disperse orange 11 dye-doped PMMA (DO11/PMMA) with dispersed ZrO2 nanoparticles (NPs). The lasing threshold is found to increase with concentration, with the lasing threshold for 0.1 wt% being 75.8 ± 9.4 MW cm−2 and the lasing threshold for 0.5 wt% being 121.1 ± 2.1 MW cm−2, with the linewidth for both concentrations found to be ≈10 nm. We also consider the material’s photostability and find that it displays fully reversible photodegradation with the photostability and recovery rate being greater than previously observed for DO11/PMMA without NPs. This enhancement in photostability and recovery rate is found to be explicable by the modified correlated chromophore domain model, with the NPs resulting in the domain free energy advantage increasing from 0.29 eV to 0.41 eV. Additionally, the molecular decay and recovery rates are found to be in agreement with previous measurements of DO11/PMMA (Ramini et al 2013 Polym. Chem. 4 4938). These results present new avenues for the development of robust photodegradation-resistant organic dye-based optical devices.
Deep Learning Based Real-time Object Recognition System with Image Web Crawler

Recently, deep learning algorithm becomes a great solution for various field. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), a kind of neural network, is known as suitable method for image processing. This paper proposes a realtime object recognition system with CNN. Since many images are needed for deep learning, this system contains image web crawler that collects images automatically. This paper will show high accuracy in object recognition.
Lost in Translation ? – Psychotherapie unter Einsatz von Dolmetschern Lost in Translation ? – Psychotherapy Using Interpreters

Language is the most essential tool in psychotherapies. Treatment is not possible if there is no common language between therapist and patient. To enable communication between therapists and patients not speaking a common language, the use of professional trained interpreters is inevitable. With the presence of a third person – the interpreter – a triad is established, which bears difficulties, but also chances. In the present paper, these problems and chances are discussed. Recommendations to optimize the work of interpreters in the psychotherapeutic setting are presented. Interpreters should familiarize themselves with the principles of psychotherapeutic methods and clear role concepts for therapists and interpreters should be defined. MORINA, Naser, MAIER, Thomas, SCHMID MAST, Marianne. Lost in Translation? – Psychotherapie unter Einsatz von Dolmetschern. Psychotherapie Psychosomatik Medizinische Psychologie, 2010, vol. 60, no. 3/4, p. 104-110 DOI : 10.1055/s-0029-1202271
Crystal structure of zebrafish complement 1qA globular domain

C1q contains three globular domains (C1qgD) that are the key functional component of the classical complement system. C1qgD can interact with important immune molecules, including IgG and C‐reactive protein (CRP) to form defense systems to protect animals. Here, the first non‐mammalian structure, zebrafish C1qA globular domain (Dare‐C1qAgD) was solved. Although the overall architecture of Dare‐C1qAgD is similar to human C1qA, residues involved in C1qBgD, C1qCgD, and CRP binding are somewhat different while residues involved in IgG binding are not present in zebrafish. The structure gives insight into how human and fish C1qA evolved from an ancestral protein.
Compositional Evolution - The Impact of Sex, Symbiosis, and Modularity on the Gradualist Framework of Evolution

No biological concept has had greater impact on the way we view ourselves and the world around us than the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin's masterful contribution was to provide an algorithmic model (a formal step-by-step procedure) of how adaptation may take place in biological systems. However, the simple process of linear incremental improvement that he described is only one algorithmic possibility, and certain biological phenomena provide the possibility of implementing alternative processes. In Compositional Evolution, Richard Watson uses the tools of computer science and computational biology to show that certain mechanisms of genetic variation (such as sex, gene transfer, and symbiosis) allowing the combination of preadapted genetic material enable an evolutionary process, compositional evolution, that is algorithmically distinct from the Darwinian gradualist framework. After reviewing the gradualist framework of evolution and outlining the analogous principles at work in evolutionary computation, Watson describes the compositional mechanisms of evolutionary biology and provides computational models that illustrate his argument. He uses models such as the genetic algorithm as well as novel models to explore different evolutionary scenarios, comparing evolution based on spontaneous point mutation, sexual recombination, and symbiotic encapsulation. He shows that the models of sex and symbiosis are algorithmically distinct from simpler stochastic optimization methods based on gradual processes. Finally, Watson discusses the impact of compositional evolution on our understanding of natural evolution and, similarly, the utility of evolutionary computation methods for problem solving and design.
Regular article HIV risk behaviors during pharmacologic treatment for opioid dependence: A comparison of levomethadyl acetate, buprenorphine, and methadone

The efficacies of three opioid substitution medications for reducing HIV risk behaviors in opioid-dependent patients were assessed in a randomized double-blind clinical trial comparing levomethadyl acetate (LAAM), buprenorphine (BUP), and methadone (METH). Individually optimized flexible dosing was used for each group, with weekly possible doses of 255–391 mg of LAAM, 56–112 mg of BUP, and 420–700 mg of METH. An interview regarding specific HIV risk behaviors, including injecting, equipment sharing, and sexual activity, yielded data for pretreatment and four in-study time points for 137 subjects. Declines in risk behaviors during treatment were evident in all groups for most measures of injecting and equipment sharing. Only the METH group showed consistent declines in measures of sexual behaviors. These results demonstrate that all three medications can be highly effective in decreasing HIV risk behaviors when the dose is optimized. Reductions in sexual behaviors for the METH group are consistent with known METH side effects. D 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Simplified 2-State Detectors for SOQPSK

We study simple trellis-based detectors for SOQPSK that have a minimal level of complexity. In particular, we show that the state complexity can be cut in half relative to previous approaches¿from 4 states down to 2¿with asymptotically optimum performance. We give two possible means of achieving this: the pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) technique and the pulse truncation (PT) technique; both of these techniques make use of recent advances in SOQPSK technology based on a continuous phase modulation (CPM) interpretation of SOQPSK. The proposed simplifications are significant since trellis-based SOQPSK detectors are 1-2 dB superior to widely-deployed symbol-by-symbol detectors. These performance gains come at the expense of complexity, and the proposed 2-state detectors minimize this expense. Thus, these simple detection schemes are applicable in settings where high-performance and low complexity are needed to meet restrictions on power consumption and cost.