Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peroxisome Proliferators Activate Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinases in Immortalized Mouse Liver Cells*

Peroxisome proliferators (PPs) are a class of nongenotoxic carcinogens in the rodent liver. The induction of immediate-early gene expression in immortalized mouse liver cells by the PPs Wy-14,643, monoethylhexyl phthalate, ciprofibrate ethyl ester, and clofibrate suggested that they may be activating growth-regulatory signal transduction pathways. We report that incubation of quiescent ML457 cells with Wy-14,643 resulted in the appearance of two tyrosine-phosphorylated bands of approximately 44 and 42 kDa with maximal phosphorylation at 20 min. These two proteins were identified as extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) ERK1 and ERK2 (also known as mitogen-activated protein kinases, or MAPKs). Stimulation of quiescent ML457 cells with monoethylhexyl phthalate, ciprofibrate ethyl ester, and clofibrate also resulted in tyrosine phosphorylation of ERK1 and ERK2; however, the steroid PP dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, which does not induce immediate-early gene expression, did not induce phosphorylation of ERK1 and ERK2. Kinase activity of ERK1 and ERK2 was stimulated by the PPs, consistent with their phosphorylation. The PPs also induced phosphorylation of the upstream regulator MAPK/ERK kinase (MEK). Preincubation of quiescent cells with MEK inhibitor PD98059 blocked activation of ERK1 and ERK2 by the PPs, implicating MEK activation as a requirement for PP-induced ERK activation. In addition, pretreatment with PD98059 greatly reduced the PP-induced expression of immediate-early genes c-fos, egr-1, and to a lesser extent junB. Induction of ERK phosphorylation andjunB expression by Wy-14,643 was also seen in rat hepatocytes. These results attribute many of the effects of PPs on immediate-early gene expression to the activation of the MEK/ERK signal transduction pathway and add the PPs to the growing number of tumor promoters that modulate signaling proteins.
Design and analysis of a cassegrain antenna with an annular sub-reflector

Cassegrain antenna operating at millimeter-wave band is an attractive and low-cost choice for communication in moving and mono-pulse tracking system. In this paper, the design method of Cassegrain antenna, geometrical optics, is introduced. To miniaturize the axial dimension of the Cassegrain antenna, a disk which is low cost and easily produced, is proposed to replace the sub-reflector with the shape of hyperboloid, and a short distance between feed and sub-reflector is achieved. However, impendence matching is influenced because of short distance. A sub-reflector with a ring shape is employed to optimize the performance of the proposed antenna. The model is constructed and simulated by CST, operating band is from 32GHz to 38GHz, the gain of the proposed antenna can achieve 30dBi, and the return loss is less than -10dB.
A novel sepic based dual output DC-DC converter for solar applications

This paper presents a sepic based dual output DC-DC converter, which is suitable for solar applications where two output voltages are needed at the same time. The proposed converter topology is the combination of sepic converter and high gain multilevel boost converter. Only one input source and switch is required to obtain two output voltages at the same time. One output voltage is obtained through high gain multilevel boost converter and other output voltage is obtained through sepic converter. Sepic converter operates in two modes, step-up or step-down depending on the duty cycle. The output voltage levels of high gain multilevel boost converter can be increases by adding diodes and capacitors without disturbing main circuit. The converter has been designed for 12V input supply with rated output parameters 180W, 230V and 50W, 36V. Switching frequency of applied gate pulse is 50 KHz with 75% duty cycle. Simulation is carried out using MATLAB/SIMULINK.
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Patients with Bronchial Asthma Show Impaired Innate Immune Responses to Rhinovirus in vitro

Background: Asthmatic patients have a higher susceptibility to rhinovirus (RV) infection, and impaired IFN-β and IFN-λ production has been demonstrated in bronchial epithelial cells from asthmatic adults upon exposure to RV. However, the mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility of asthmatic patients to RV infection remain poorly understood. The present study aimed to elucidate the characteristics of the immune responses of asthmatic patients’ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to RV exposure. Methods: PBMCs obtained from 3 different age groups (2–6 years: young-children group; 7–19 years: youth group; ≧20 years: adult group) of asthmatic patients and nonasthmatic control subjects were stimulated with RV-14 for 72 h. Healthy adults with a history of childhood asthma were also enrolled. The concentrations of IFN-α, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) in the culture supernatants were measured by ELISA. Results: When compared with age-matched control subjects, IFN-α production was significantly lower in the asthmatic youth group. IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, and sFasL productions were significantly lower in both the asthmatic youth group and the adult group. Such impaired responses were not found in healthy adults with a history of childhood asthma. No significantly different responses were found between the asthmatics and controls in the young-children group, whereas young asthmatic children with persistent wheeze during a 2-year follow-up showed significantly lower IL-10 production than those without wheeze. Conclusions: These results imply the involvement of impaired production of both IFN-α and inflammatory cytokines seen in asthmatic patients’ PBMCs upon exposure to RV in the higher susceptibility of those patients to RV infection.
FPGA implementation of an ultra-high speed ADC interface

Nowadays the need for dealing with ultra-high speed Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) is becoming more and more common, from Telecommunications to Precise Instrumentation, every application is increasing the analog to digital interface data rate. The ultra-high sampling rate of the ADCs demands the use of advanced acquisition techniques as well as the latest technology available. The utilization of dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is an expensive solution to deal with the very high throughput from the ADC and its lack of flexibility is a huge drawback. On the other hand, the technology, the architecture and the state-of-the art of the current Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) make them especially suitable to act as interface between an ultra-high speed ADC and a data processing unit. Another extra advantage is the reconfigurability of the FPGAs, they can be quickly adapted to different ADCs or different data processing units. The purpose of this paper is to present a practical approach to interface an ultra-high speed 8-bit ADC, MAX104, from Maxim Integrated Circuit, which performs digitalization of the input signal with a sampling rate of 1Gsps and a commercial and popular FPGA, the Virtex2 Pro, from Xilinx Corporation. Once the ADC digital data have been acquired, then they can be processed by either the dedicated FPGA Digital Signal Processing (DSP) blocks, or the FPGA embedded processors or just send the data out to a PC for later processing. Hence, the proposed method of implementation can be used as front-end of a wide range of applications.
Rare Variants in the ABCG2 Promoter Modulate In Vivo Activity

ABCG2 encodes the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), an efflux membrane transporter important in the detoxification of xenobiotics. In the present study, the basal activity of the ABCG2 promoter in liver, kidney, intestine, and breast cell lines was examined using luciferase reporter assays. The promoter activities of reference and variant ABCG2 sequences were compared in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell (HepG2), human embryonic kidney cell (HEK293T), human colorectal carcinoma cell (HCT116), and human breast adenocarcinoma cell (MCF-7) lines. The ABCG2 promoter activity was strongest in the kidney and intestine cell lines. Four variants in the basal ABCG2 promoter (rs76656413, rs66664036, rs139256004, and rs59370292) decreased the promoter activity by 25%–50% in at least three of the four cell lines. The activity of these four variants was also examined in vivo using the hydrodynamic tail vein assay, and two single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs76656413 and rs59370292) significantly decreased in vivo liver promoter activity by 50%–80%. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays confirmed a reduction in nuclear protein binding to the rs59370292 variant probe, whereas the rs76656413 probe had a shift in transcription factor binding specificity. Although both rs59370292 and rs76656413 are rare variants in all populations, they could contribute to patient-level variation in ABCG2 expression in the kidney, liver, and intestine.
Opportunities for unlocking the potential of genomics for African trees.

Trees (or their absence) represent one of the most defining features of landscapes on the African continent. However, they face major threats including habitat loss and degradation, invasive alien species, disturbance from frequent fire, over-harvesting, pollution, changes in pollinators or dispersers populations, and climate change (Balmford et al., 2001; Davies et al., 2011). Understanding how trees respond to these impacts would require an integrative approach of which genomic science has a potentially major role to play (Plomion et al., 2016). Since the advent of genomic science, its investigative power has been exploited for trees in temperate regions, particularly involving members ofPinus,Picea,Pseudotsuga,Populus,Eucalyptus,Quercus, Castanea, Malus, Prunus, and Fraxinus (Neale & Kremer, 2011; Neale et al., 2013). These species serve as models for exploring various processes in molecular genetics, functional biology, evolutionary biology, phenotypic and genotypic adaptation, physiology and organismal development (Tuskan et al., 2006; Plomion et al., 2016). Although the tropics have exceptionally high tree diversity –with Africa alone having c. 50 timesmore native tree species than temperate Europe (Slik et al., 2015) – tree genomic research in this region lags behind that of temperate ones. Limited funding and the lack of reference genomes for tropical trees have limited the progress of genomic science on the African continent. With over 6000 tree species on the African continent (Slik et al., 2015), there is a need to establish reference genomes for the major tree families. First, we discuss ways to exploit next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies including genotyping by sequencing (GBS), de novo transcriptome assembly and whole genome sequencing to generate genomic resources for nonmodel tree species on the African continent. Second, we discuss landscape genomics, an emerging field in genomic science and discuss research areas in which the genomic resources of trees inAfrica can be used to inform research on landscape genomics and to improve food production.
Identification of serum biomarkers for canine B-cell lymphoma by use of surface-enhanced laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

OBJECTIVE To identify biomarker proteins for B-cell lymphoma in canine serum by use of surface-enhanced laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and build classification trees with multiple biomarkers that have high sensitivity and specificity for that tumor type. SAMPLE POPULATION Sera from 29 dogs with B-cell lymphoma and 87 control dogs (approx equal numbers of healthy dogs, dogs with malignant cancers other than B-cell lymphoma, and dogs with various nonneoplastic diseases or conditions). PROCEDURES Serum samples were fractionated chromatographically and analyzed via SELDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Peak amplitudes of the spectra from the 2 sample groups were compared to identify potential biomarker peaks, and classification trees were built by use of computer software to detect patterns formed by multiple biomarkers among SELDI data sets. RESULTS Several biomarker protein peaks in canine serum were identified, and a classification tree was built on the basis of 3 biomarker protein peaks. With 10-fold cross-validation of the sample set, the best individual serum biomarker peak had 75% sensitivity and 86% specificity and the classification tree had 97% sensitivity and 91% specificity for the classification of B-cell lymphoma. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE On the basis of biomarker proteins identified in canine serum, classification trees were constructed, which may be useful for the development of a diagnostic test for B-cell lymphoma in dogs. Further investigation is needed to determine whether these biomarkers are useful for screening susceptible dog populations or for monitoring disease status during treatment and remission of B-cell lymphoma in dogs.
Typeability of DNA in Touch Traces Deposited on Paper and Optical Data Discs.

BACKGROUND Nucleated epithelial cells that are transferred by casual touching and handling of objects are the primary source of biological evidence that is found in high-volume crimes. Cellular material associated with touch traces usually contains low levels of DNA template making it challenging to acquire an informative profile. OBJECTIVES The main purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of DNA typing in fingerprints deposited on optical data discs and the office paper. MATERIAL AND METHODS Latent fingerprints were made by 60 subjects of both sexes (30 males and 30 females). A highly effective DNA extraction method with QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen) and an increased sensitivity PCR by AmpFlSTR® NGM™ Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems) carried out at standard 30 cycles and at increased 34 cycles were used. RESULTS The mean value of total DNA recovery was 0.4 ng from CDs/DVDs and 0.3 ng from the office paper. Amplification of Low Template DNA (LT-DNA) resulted in improved analytical success by increasing the number of PCR cycles from standard 30 to 34. On the other hand, the increased PCR cycles resulted in allele drop-ins showing additional peaks, the majority of which were outside the stutter positions. CONCLUSIONS Rigorous procedures and interpretation guidelines are required during LT-DNA for producing reliable and reproducible DNA profiles for forensic purposes.
Room-temperature cavity polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity.

Strong exciton-photon coupling can be achieved in a semiconductor microcavity. In this regime, the Fabry-P\'erot photon mode of the cavity and the exciton electronic mode are no longer the eigenstates of the system. Both states are strongly coupled and cavity polaritons occur. The splitting of the cavity polariton is also known as vacuum-field Rabi splitting in atomic physics. We observe this regime up to room temperature. This may have important implications from a device application point of view because perturbative approaches of the light-matter interaction such as Fermi's golden rule are no longer valid. The magnitude of the splitting depends on the exciton oscillator strength and provides an accurate measurement of it.
The Podocyte: A Major Player in the Development of Diabetic Nephropathy?

Although abnormalities in the glomerular epithelial cell, the podocyte, have been appreciated for some time, it is only recently that their significance and the underlying mechanisms for the changes have begun to be explored. There is a decrease in podocyte number early in diabetes, with further decreases as albuminuria increases. The number of podocytes is inversely related to the degree of albuminuria in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Foot process width is increased in proteinuria, the width correlating with albuminuria. Loss of nephrin - both mRNA and protein - occurs some time after the onset of diabetes and is also inversely related to proteinuria. The amount of the alpha3beta1 integrin on the basement-membrane surface of the foot process of the podocyte is also reduced in diabetes. Loss of nephrin and alpha3beta1 integrin is induced by both hyperglycaemia and mechanical stretch. Agents that inhibit the renin-angiotensin system, but not other agents that reduce proteinuria, restore nephrin expression and prevent the structural changes seen in the podocyte in diabetes. Thus, changes in the podocyte contribute to the proteinuria of diabetic nephropathy and can be ameliorated by inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system.
Circuit modeling of the electrical impedance: II. Normal subjects and system reproducibility

Part I of this series showed that the five-element circuit model accurately mimics impedances measured using multi-frequency electrical impedance myography (MFEIM), focusing on changes brought on by disease. This paper addresses two requirements which must be met if the method is to qualify for clinical use. First, the extracted parameters must be reproducible over long time periods such as those involved in the treatment of muscular disease, and second, differences amongst normal subjects should be attributable to known differences in the properties of healthy muscle. It applies the method to five muscle groups in 62 healthy subjects, closely following the procedure used earlier for the diseased subjects. Test–retest comparisons show that parameters are reproducible at levels from 6 to 16% (depending on the parameter) over time spans of up to 267 days, levels far below the changes occurring in serious disease. Also, variations with age, gender and muscle location are found to be consistent with established expectations for healthy muscle tissue. We conclude that the combination of MFEIM measurements and five-element circuit analysis genuinely reflects properties of muscle and is reliable enough to recommend its use in following neuromuscular disease.
Design and analysis of dual-frequency unequal-split Bagley power dividers

This paper presents a design methodology for unequal-split Bagley power divider (BPD). Closed-form design equations for 3-way and 5-way BPDs are derived based on simple circuit theory and transmission line theory. The proposed power dividers are capable of providing different output power ratios by an appropriate choice of the characteristic impedances of the interconnecting transmission lines. Moreover, dual-frequency unequal-split BPDs are designed and analyzed. Simulation results obtained using Ansoft Designer software prove the validity of the design procedure.
Psychometric testing of the brief screening version of Multidimensional Pain Inventory (Swedish version).

BACKGROUND The brief screening version of the Multidimensional Pain inventory (MPI) is a shorter version of the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory that measures pain in a multidimensional way and is theoretically linked to a cognitive-behavioural perspective on chronic pain. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the 'brief screening version' of the Multidimensional Pain inventory Swedish version (MPI-S). METHODS An age-stratified cross-sectional study, comprising 384 people aged 18-102 years, was carried out in southern Sweden in 2005. Factor analyses were performed to investigate the factor structure of the instrument and inter-correlation between the sub-scales as well as external measures were used to assess convergent and discriminant validity. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). RESULTS Mean scores and standard deviations are presented for the total sample as well as for each stratum. The inter-correlations revealed that discriminant validity was not satisfactory in the total sample, although the correlation analysis in each stratum showed acceptable discriminant validity in most age groups. The factor structure was the same as in the MPI-S in all age groups, except for those aged >or=90 years. Reliability tests (Cronbach's alpha) showed alpha values ranging between 0.68 and 0.93. CONCLUSION The result showed that the instrument had acceptable validity and reliability in all age groups except for those aged >or=90 years. Thus, the instrument can be seen as a useful (multidimensional) form of screening for chronic pain.
Force-velocity and force-power properties of single muscle fibers from elite master runners and sedentary men.

Gastrocnemius muscle fiber bundles were obtained by needle biopsy from five middle-aged sedentary men (SED group) and six age-matched endurance-trained master runners (RUN group). A single chemically permeabilized fiber segment was mounted between a force transducer and a position motor, subjected to a series of isotonic contractions at maximal Ca2+ activation (15 degrees C), and subsequently run on a 5% polyacrylamide gel to determine myosin heavy chain composition. The Hill equation was fit to the data obtained for each individual fiber (r2 > or = 0.98). For the SED group, fiber force-velocity parameters varied (P < 0.05) with fiber myosin heavy chain expression as follows: peak force, no differences: peak tension (force/fiber cross-sectional area), type IIx > type IIa > type I; maximal shortening velocity (Vmax, defined as y-intercept of force-velocity relationship), type IIx = type IIa > type I; a/Pzero (where a is a constant with dimensions of force and Pzero is peak isometric force), type IIx > type IIa > type I. Consequently, type IIx fibers produced twice as much peak power as type IIa fibers, whereas type IIa fibers produced about five times more peak power than type I fibers. RUN type I and IIa fibers were smaller in diameter and produced less peak force than SED type I and IIa fibers. The absolute peak power output of RUN type I and IIa fibers was 13 and 27% less, respectively, than peak power of similarly typed SED fibers. However, type I and IIa Vmax and a/Pzero were not different between the SED and RUN groups, and RUN type I and IIa power deficits disappeared after power was normalized for differences in fiber diameter. Thus the reduced absolute peak power output of the type I and IIa fibers from the master runners was a result of the smaller diameter of these fibers and a corresponding reduction in their peak isometric force production. This impairment in absolute peak power production at the single fiber level may be in part responsible for the reduced in vivo power output previously observed for endurance-trained athletes.
Orbito-frontal lesions cause impairment during late but not early emotional prosodic processing

Abstract The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is functionally linked to a variety of cognitive and emotional functions. In particular, lesions of the human OFC lead to large-scale changes in social and emotional behavior. For example, patients with OFC lesions are reported to suffer from deficits in affective decision-making, including impaired emotional face and voice expression recognition (e.g., Hornak et al., 1996, 2003). However, previous studies have failed to acknowledge that emotional processing is a multistage process. Thus, different stages of emotional processing (e.g., early vs. late) in the same patient group could be affected in a qualitatively different manner. The present study investigated this possibility and tested implicit emotional speech processing in an ERP experiment followed by an explicit behavioral emotional recognition task. OFC patients listened to vocal emotional expressions of anger, fear, disgust, and happiness compared to a neutral baseline spoken either with or without lexical content. In line with previous evidence (Paulmann & Kotz, 2008b), both patients and healthy controls differentiate emotional and neutral prosody within 200 ms (P200). However, the recognition of emotional vocal expressions is impaired in OFC patients as compared to healthy controls. The current data serve as first evidence that emotional prosody processing is impaired only at a late, and not at an early processing stage in OFC patients.