Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CCAAT/enhancer binding protein activation by PD98059 contributes to the inhibition of AhR-mediated 3-methylcholanthrene induction of CYP1A1

2′-Amino-3′-methoxyflavone (PD98059), an MKK1 inhibitor, negatively regulates the induction of the CYP1A1 gene by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In view of the observations that PD98059 inhibits AhR-mediated CYP1A1 induction and has the capability to activate C/EBPβ, the study investigated whether the inhibition by PD98059 of 3-MC induction of CYP1A1 results from C/EBP activation. 3-MC induction of the CYP1A1 and the CYP1A1 promoter-luciferase gene were inhibited by treatment of H4IIE cells with PD98059. PD98059 treatment inhibited 3-MC-induced AhR binding to the XRE, but increased protein binding to the CYP1A1 C/EBP binding site. PD98059 inhibited 3-MC induction of CYP1A1 in cells stably transfected with a dominant negative mutant of MKK1, indicating that PD98059 represses CYP1A1 induction by 3-MC irrespective of its MKK1 inhibition. The role of C/EBP activation by PD98059 in repressing CYP1A1 induction was supported by the observation that a dominant-negative mutant C/EBP abolished the ability of PD98059 to suppress 3-MC induction of CYP1A1.
Integrated IP-Optical Networks. Demonstration of DWDM Router-to-Router IP Transport Over 574km SMF Fiber Link Using 11.1Gbit/s OTN Pluggable Interface with Integrated G.709 and FEC

We identify the key requirements for an open system approach to integrated IP over DWDM optical transport. Using, for the first time, DWDM XENPAK interfaces with integrated G.709 framing we demonstrate error-free connectivity of core IP routers across a 574 km amplified link with end-to-end G.709 FEC and OAM functions.
Impaired Mitochondrial Function in the Preimplantation Embryo Perturbs Fetal and Placental Development in the Mouse1

The preimplantation embryo is sensitive to its environment and, despite having some plasticity to adapt, environmental perturbations can impair embryo development, metabolic homeostasis, fetal and placental development, and offspring health. This study used an in vitro model of embryo culture with increasing mitochondrial inhibition to directly establish the effect of impaired mitochondrial function on embryonic, fetal, and placental development. Culture in the absence of the carbohydrate pyruvate significantly increased blastocyst glucose oxidation via glycolysis to maintain normal levels of ATP and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity. This culture resulted in a significant reduction in blastocyst development, trophectoderm cell number, and respiration rate but, importantly, did not impair implantation rates or fetal and placental development. In contrast, increasing concentrations of the mitochondrial inhibitor amino-oxyacetate (AOA) impaired glycolysis, TCA cycle activity, respiration rate, and ATP production; incrementally reduced blastocyst development; and decreased blastocyst inner cell mass and trophectoderm cell numbers. Importantly, AOA did not affect implantation rates; however, 5 μM AOA significantly reduced placental growth but not fetal growth, increasing the fetal:placental weight ratio. Furthermore, 50 μM AOA significantly reduced both placental and fetal growth but not the fetal:placental weight ratio. Hence, this study demonstrates that a threshold of mitochondrial function is required for normal development, and despite developmental plasticity of the embryo, impaired mitochondrial function in the embryo affects subsequent fetal and placental growth. These results highlight the importance of mitochondrial function in regulating pre- and postimplantation development; however, the effect on offspring health remains unknown.
Interactions of Neisseria meningitidis with cells of the human meninges

The interaction of Neisseria meningitidis with the meninges that surround and protect the brain is a pivotal event in the progression of bacterial meningitis. Two models of the human meninges were established in vitro, using (i) sections of fresh human brain and (ii) cultures of viable cells grown from human meningiomas. Neisseria meningitidis showed a specific predilection for binding to the leptomeninges and meningeal blood vessels in human brain and not to the cerebral cortex. There was a close correlation between the adherence of different Neisseria species to leptomeninges and cultured cells. The major ligand that mediated adherence was the pilus, and pilin variation modulated the interactions. The presence of Opa protein increased the association of Cap+ meningococci that expressed low‐adhesive pili, but did not influence the association of high‐adhesive pili. In contrast, Opc did not influence the adherence of Cap+ meningococci, whereas loss of capsule was associated with a more intimate interaction between the bacteria and the meningioma cell that was not apparent with Cap+ meningococci. There was no evidence of internalization of meningococci by meningioma cells in vitro, an observation that is consistent with the barrier properties of the leptomeninges to N. meningitidis observed in vivo.
A haplotype of human angiotensinogen gene containing-217 A increases blood pressure in transgenic mice as compared to-217 G

The human angiotensinogen (hAGT) gene contains an A/G polymorphism at -217 and frequency of -217A allele is increased in African-American hypertensive patients. hAGT gene has seven polymorphic sites in 1.2Kb region of its promoter and variant -217A almost always occurs with -532T, -793A, and -1074T whereas variant -217G almost always occurs with -532C, -793G, and -1074G. Since allele -6A is the predominant allele in African-Americans, AGT gene can be subdivided into two main haplotypes -6A:-217A (AA) and -6A:-217G (AG). To understand the role of these haplotypes on hAGT gene expression and on blood pressure regulation in an in vivo situation, we have generated double transgenic mice containing human renin gene and either AA or AG haplotype of the hAGT gene using knock-in strategy at the HPRT locus. We show here that: (a) hAGT mRNA level is increased in the liver by 60% and in the kidney by 40%, (b) plasma AGT level is increased by about 40% and plasma angiotensin-II level is increased by about 50% in male double transgenic mice containing AA haplotype of the hAGT gene as compared to the AG haplotype. In addition systolic blood pressure is increased by 8 mmHg in transgenic mice containing AA haplotype as compared to the AG haplotype. This is the first report to show the effect of polymorphisms in the promoter of a human gene on its transcription in an in vivo situation that ultimately leads to an increase in blood pressure.
An area-efficient ternary full adder using hybrid SET-MOS technology

This paper presents a novel design of ternary full adder (TFA) using hybrid single-electron transistor (SET) and MOS technology. The proposed circuit is evaluated using the Cadence Spectre simulator with 180nm CMOS technology and SET macro models under various test conditions. Results show that the proposed TFA dramatically reduces the number of transistors required with little or no loss in energy efficiency.
Stepping up Open Science Training for European Research

Open science refers to all things open in research and scholarly communication: from publications and research data to code, models and methods as well as quality evaluation based on open peer review. However, getting started with implementing open science might not be as straightforward for all stakeholders. For example, what do research funders expect in terms of open access to publications and/or research data? Where and how to publish research data? How to ensure that research results are reproducible? These are all legitimate questions and, in particular, early career researchers may benefit from additional guidance and training. In this paper we review the activities of the European-funded FOSTER project which organized and supported a wide range of targeted trainings for open science, based on face-to-face events and on a growing suite of e-learning courses. This article reviews the approach and experiences gained from the first two years of the project.
Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography as Initial Work-Up for Unstable Angina Pectoris

Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography (CTCA) is a rapid, non-invasive diagnostic tool for coronary artery disease (CAD). Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinics (RACPC) were introduced in UK in 2000, in order to assess rapidly patients with chest pain. To evaluate the use of CTCA as initial work-up for unstable angina pectoris in a primary care-based RACPC. Eighty-eight (n=88) patients were examined by a consultant cardiologist and referred for CTCA if indicated. CTCA was performed with a 640 slices, 320-row CT scanner. Thirty-five (n=35) patients were discharged without further investigations; 50 (mean age 59.8 years; 24 male) were referred for CTCA and 3 were referred directly for an invasive angiography (IA). Following CTCA, 17 patients were discharged. Seventeen (n=17) patients with no history of CAD, but with positive CTCA findings and eleven (n=11) patients with known CAD but without new lesions on CTCA were discharged after optimisation of medical treatment. Five (n=5) of the 50 patients eventually underwent IA; 2 were referred for CABG; 3 continued with medical treatment. No major adverse cardiac events were recorded in a 6-months’ follow up period. The cost for each patient who underwent CTCA was £1,087; 94% of patients rated their experience as good or excellent. The time interval from RACPC visit-to-definitive diagnosis was <3 weeks in 50% of patients, <6 weeks in 90%. Use of CTCA as initial investigation in Primary Care, is both clinically and cost-effective. CTCA should be considered in the initial diagnostic work-up of unstable angina pectoris patients, with or without prior history of CAD.
Human La protein: a stabilizer of histone mRNA

Histone mRNA is destabilized at the end of S phase and in cell-free mRNA decay reaction mixtures supplemented with histone proteins, indicating that histones might autoregulate the histone mRNA half-life. Histone mRNA destabilization in vitro requires three components: polysomes, histones, and postpolysomal supernatant (S130). Polysomes are the source of the mRNA and mRNA-degrading enzymes. To investigate the role of the S130 in autoregulation, crude S130 was fractionated by histone-agarose affinity chromatography. Two separate activities affecting the histone mRNA half-life were detected. The histone-agarose-bound fraction contained a histone mRNA destabilizer that was activated by histone proteins; the unbound fraction contained a histone mRNA stabilizer. Further chromatographic fractionation of unbound material revealed only a single protein stabilizer, which was purified to homogeneity, partially sequenced, and found to be La, a well-characterized RNA-binding protein. When purified La was added to reaction mixtures containing polysomes, a histone mRNA decay intermediate was stabilized. This intermediate corresponded to histone mRNA lacking 12 nucleotides from its 3' end and containing an intact coding region. Anti-La antibody blocked the stabilization effect. La had little or no effect on several other cell cycle-regulated mRNAs. We suggest that La prolongs the histone mRNA half-life during S phase and thereby increases histone protein production.
Matching Model for Planar Bulk Transistors With Halo Implantation

Threshold voltage matching of long-channel planar bulk transistors deteriorates strongly by halo implantations compared to the matching of nonhalo devices which follow a gate area dependence (Pelgrom's model). A new compact matching model explains the observations and extends Pelgrom's model to halo transistors using the Vt(L) behavior of the device. The new model is generally valid for halo and nonhalo transistors. It has been tested for several transistor types and technology nodes, showing a significantly increased accuracy. A measure for the halo impact on matching is given.
Parallelizing K-Anonymity Algorithm for Privacy Preserving Knowledge Discovery from Big Data

Disclosure control has become inevitable as privacy is given paramount importance while publishing data for mining. The data mining community enjoyed revival after Samarti and Sweeney proposed k-anonymization for privacy preserving data mining. The k-anonymity has gained high popularity in research circles. Though it has some drawbacks and other PPDM algorithms such as l-diversity, t-closeness and mprivacy came into existence, the anonymization techniques are widely used for preserving privacy. With the emergence of big data and big data analytics, it is the time to redefine PPDM algorithms to be compatible with MapReduce programming paradigm in cloud computing environment. The paradigm shift is required for two reasons. First, it is required to face the challenges of big data and its processing. Second, it is required as MapReduce can leverage the parallel processing power of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and the cloud infrastructure. In this paper we proposed an algorithm to parallelize k-anonymity. We made an empirical study and evaluated the algorithm using MapReduce programming with Hadoop as distributed programming framework. The results revealed that the proposed algorithm works fine with the new programming model.
Neural substrates in secondary somatosensory area for the perception of different tactile sensations

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the secondary somatosensory area (SII) in humans, especially regarding the presence of distinctive spatial arrangements of neural subunits responding to different types of tactile stimuli. Ten healthy volunteers received four different sensory stimuli on the palmar side of the right hand—vibrotactile, pressure, warmth, and coolness. Based on group‐level analysis of the fMRI data, all four of the somatosensory stimuli resulted in activations in the bilateral SII and insula as well as the SI contralateral to the stimulation. The spatial distribution of neural activations corresponding to each stimulus, as examined by cortical inflation technique, revealed significant overlaps, but also showed the differences in terms of its overall topology. The local maxima of the activation within the SII, corresponding to these stimuli, manifested distinctive spatial location. These results suggest that differential networks of the SII subregions are involved in the processing of the different nature of the tactile stimuli, while sharing common regions in the parietal operculum.
Origin of the Universal Correlation between the Flare Temperature and the Emission Measure for Solar and Stellar Flares

We present a theory to explain the observed universal correlation between flare temperature T and emission measure EM = n2V for solar and stellar flares (including solar microflares observed by Yohkoh as well as protostellar flares observed by ASCA), where n is the electron density and V is the volume. The theory is based on a magnetic reconnection model with heat conduction and chromospheric evaporation, assuming that the gas pressure of a flare loop is comparable to the magnetic pressure. This theory predicts the relation EM ∝ B-5T17/2, which explains well the observed correlation between EM and T in the range of 6 × 106 K < T < 108 K and 1044 < EM < 1055 cm-3 from solar microflares to protostellar flares, if the magnetic field strength B of a flare loop is nearly constant for solar and stellar flares.
Nonlinear Observer Design and Sliding Mode Control of Four Rotors Helicopter

Abstract—In this paper; we are interested in dynamic modelling of quadrotor while taking into account the high-order nonholonomic constraints as well as the various physical phenomena, which can influence the dynamics of a flying structure. These permit us to introduce a new state-space representation and new control scheme. We present after the development and the synthesis of a stabilizing control laws design based on sliding mode in order to perform best tracking results. It ensures locally asymptotic stability and desired tracking trajectories. Nonlinear observer is then synthesized in order to estimate the unmeasured states and the effects of the external disturbances such as wind and noise. Finally simulation results are also provided in order to illustrate the performances of the proposed controllers.
Diagnostic accuracy of 123I-FP-CIT SPECT in possible dementia with Lewy bodies

Background 123I-FP-CIT SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) can help in the differential diagnosis of probable dementia with Lewy bodies (Lewy body dementia) and Alzheimer's disease. Aims Our aim was to determine the accuracy of 123I-FP-CIT SPECT in diagnosing people with possible dementia with Lewy bodies. Method We undertook a 12-month follow-up of 325 individuals with probable or possible Lewy body or non-Lewy body dementia who had previously undergone 123I-FP-CIT SPECT. A consensus panel masked to SPECT findings, established diagnosis at 12 months in 264 people. Results Of 44 people with possible dementia with Lewy bodies at baseline, at follow-up the diagnosis for 19 people was probable dementia with Lewy bodies (43%), in 7 people non-Lewy body dementia (16%) and for 18 individuals it remained possible dementia with Lewy bodies (41%). Of the 19 who at follow-up were diagnosed with probable dementia with Lewy bodies, 12 had abnormal scans at baseline (sensitivity 63%); all 7 individuals with a possible diagnosis who were diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease at follow-up had normal scans (specificity 100%). Conclusions Our findings confirm the diagnostic accuracy of 123I-FP-CIT SPECT in distinguishing Lewy body from non-Lewy body dementia and also suggest a clinically useful role in diagnostically uncertain cases, as an abnormal scan in a person with possible dementia with Lewy bodies is strongly suggestive of dementia with Lewy bodies.
Cancer gene therapy: Prospects of using human sodium iodide symporter gene in non-thyroidal cancer

Gene therapy is one of the promising therapeutic strategies evolved rapidly in the frontier of translational biology in cancer. To overcome the off target effect of conventional cancer therapies it is the most flourishing approach in present epoch. Various researches in this context are ongoing to eradicate devastating cancer cells with minimal or no side effects. Of the various gene therapy protocols developed, a set of genes called suicide genes, are being actively pursued as potential strategy. Briefly, this strategy involves tumor targeted delivery of a therapy/reporter gene to convert a systematically administered pro-drug into a cytotoxic drug which in turn induces tumor cell death. Additionally, advancement in small animal imaging modalities facilitates real-time monitoring of the delivered transgene by using appropriate imaging probe developed against the transgene. Non-invasive monitoring helps to realize precise transgene delivery and also aid to understand therapy response. In this background, we have reviewed potential suicide genes frequently explored for cancer treatment, which supports both diagnostic and therapeutic applications with special emphasis on sodium iodide symporter (NIS). Apart from its natural expression in thyroid, NIS protein expression has raised the possibility of using radioiodide therapy and diagnosis in few non-thyroidal cancers as well. In this review, we also covered various challenges to get NIS gene therapeutics from bench to bedside in various non-thyroidal cancers.
Effectiveness and safety assessment of lamotrigine monotherapy for treatment of epilepsy.

BACKGROUND Epilepsy is a recurrent chronic nervous system disease. A correct choice of antiepileptic drug is the key to control seizures and improve patient's life quality. AIM To study the effectiveness and safety of lamotrigine monotherapy for treatment of epilepsy, systemic evaluation was carried out on published comparative trials between lamotrigine and carbamazepine. METHODS The retrieval method referred to the search strategy developed by Cochrane Epilepsy Group and software Rev.Man 5 was used for META analysis and forest plots. The Odds ratio (OR) was selected as the effect size and funnel plot was used to analyze the publication bias. RESULTS A total of 9 studies and 2269 cases of patients were included in the analysis. There was no significant difference between lamotrigine and carbamazepine for treatment of epilepsy as the OR was 1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.88, 1.54]. However, lamotrigine had advantages in the overall withdrawal rate and withdrawal rate due to side effects as the ORs were 0.57, 95% CI [0.47, 0.69] and 0.41, 95% CI [0.32, 0.52]. CONCLUSIONS Lamotrigine has certain advantages over carbamazepine for treatment of epilepsy as it has less side effects and higher tolerability. In addition, the quality of such clinical trials should be further improved to have a more comprehensive understanding.
Nonrandom Packaging of Host RNAs in Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus

ABSTRACT Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) particles contain both viral genomic RNA and an assortment of host cell RNAs. Packaging of virus-encoded RNA is selective, with virions virtually devoid of spliced env mRNA and highly enriched for unspliced genome. Except for primer tRNA, it is unclear whether packaged host RNAs are randomly sampled from the cell or specifically encapsidated. To address possible biases in host RNA sampling, the relative abundances of several host RNAs in MLV particles and in producer cells were compared. Using 7SL RNA as a standard, some cellular RNAs, such as those of the Ro RNP, were found to be enriched in MLV particles in that their ratios relative to 7SL differed little, if at all, from their ratios in cells. Some RNAs were underrepresented, with ratios relative to 7SL several orders of magnitude lower in virions than in cells, while others displayed intermediate values. At least some enriched RNAs were encapsidated by genome-defective nucleocapsid mutants. Virion RNAs were not a random sample of the cytosol as a whole, since some cytoplasmic RNAs like tRNAMet were vastly underrepresented, while U6 spliceosomal RNA, which functions in the nucleus, was enriched. Real-time PCR demonstrated that env mRNA, although several orders of magnitude less abundant than unspliced viral RNA, was slightly enriched relative to actin mRNA in virions. These data demonstrate that certain host RNAs are nearly as enriched in virions as genomic RNA and suggest that Ψ− mRNAs and some other host RNAs may be specifically excluded from assembly sites.
A system for “ human-augmented mapping ” using multi-modal representations

The paper presents an HRI architecture for human-augmented mapping. Through interaction with a human, the robot can augment its autonomously learnt metric map with qualitative information about locations and objects in the environment. The system implements various interaction strategies observed in independently performed Wizard-of-Oz studies. The paper discusses an ontology-based approach to representing and inferring a 2.5-dimensional spatial organization, and to how knowledge of spatial organization can be acquired autonomously or through spoken dialogue interaction. Dialogue processing provides rich semantic representations of the meaning expressed by an utterance, making it possible to combine the conveyed description with inferences over ontologies modeling commonsense knowledge about indoor environments. The resulting conceptual descriptions are then used to represent qualitative knowledge about locations in the environment.