Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
4‐Methylcatechol inhibits cell growth and testosterone production in TM3 Leydig cells by reducing mitochondrial activity

4‐Methylcatechol (4‐MC) is a potential neuroprotective drug because it stimulates the synthesis of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) in neurons. The present study explored the effect of 4‐MC on cell growth and testosterone synthesis in the TM3 Leydig cells of mice. 4‐MC did not enhance expression of both BDNF and NGF in these cells. However, this compound significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased the number of apoptotic cells in a dose‐dependent manner. The expression profile of Bax/Bcl‐2 gene was altered considerably, and mitochondrial activity was significantly decreased in cells. 4‐Methylcatechol also inhibited testosterone synthesis in TM3 Leydig cells. The inhibitory roles of this compound in relation to growth and testosterone synthesis in TM3 Leydig cells maybe associated with increased Bax gene expression and decreased mitochondrial activity. As a result, caspase cascade is activated.
Research on transient reconfiguration and low voltage ride-through control for a doubly fed induction generator wind turbine with energy storage device

Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) is extremely sensitive to grid voltage dips, which has restricted it from connecting with the grid at large scale. This paper proposes a novel transient reconfiguration solution and control strategy, based on the principle of stator voltage compensation, to enhance the low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capabilities of a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) with an energy storage device (ESD). During a grid fault, the grid side converter (GSC) is reconfigured and is in series between the DFIG's stator and the grid through the series path. It is acted as a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) with the energy storage device through the series path together. Based on the transient configuration, the positive and negative sequence controllers are employed to compensate the stator voltage of DFIG during grid faults. ESD is controlled to maintain the DC-link voltage via the DC-DC converter. Thus, the DFIG can be against the effects of grid faults, and still output active and reactive power steadily as normal. Simulations on a 1.5 MW DFIG system with ESD under severe unsymmetrical grid faults have been carried out, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed transient configuration and control strategy in improving the LVRT capabilities, by comparing with the traditional control strategy.
Physical education and female participation: A case study of teachers' perspectives and strategies

We argue that gender issues in physical education (PE) remain in some schools, despite advances in PE research and curricula aimed at engaging females in PE. We interviewed five Australian PE teachers (1 male and 4 females) at a co-educational, regional high school about the factors affecting female participation in PE and the strategies they used to engage female students. The key strategies the teachers reported using, such as modified scoring in mixed gender activities, single gender classes, school policies and extra-curricular activities, were (a) shaped by their individual views on the factors affecting female participation, (b) primarily embedded in (and reproduced) stereotypes of gender and (c) generally not a reflection of what is being advocated in the literature. Therefore, our study highlights the need for policies and programs aimed at supporting PE teachers to implement gender-sensitive strategies in their daily practice.
Study of Corrugated Elliptical Waveguides for Slow-Wave Structures

The slow-wave characteristics taking account of space harmonics for confocal corrugated elliptical waveguides are presented. By using the field-matching method, the dispersion equation, and the mean interaction impedance for odd hybrid modes of this structure are derived. Based on our results, changing the waveguide eccentricity can improve the dispersion characteristics and the interaction impedance for oEH01 mode
TOLERANCE AND TOXICITY LEVELS OF BORON IN MUNG BEAN (VIGNA RADIATA (L.) WILCZEK) CULTIVARS AT EARLY GROWTH STAGES

Boron (B) toxicity has been recognized as a serious problem in arid and semi arid regions of the world. This study was aimed to determine critical levels of B by studying phenotypic variation for B-tolerance/ toxicity at the germination and seedling stage in three mung bean (Vigna radiata) cultivars; M-6, M-8 & 96009. Boron levels ranging from 0-20 ppm were applied using Boric acid. Germination, growth and photosynthetic attributes were significantly (p<0.001) influenced by varying B levels. However, the cultivars were significantly invariable for germination, seedling height and leaf number. B levels (5-10 ppm) appeared to be nutritionally critical whereas, 15-20 ppm induced B toxicity. The toxicity was expressed in terms of reduction in plant’s growth as well as by visible symptoms which included chlorosis and necrosis of the foliage. The present study also demonstrated variation in B tolerance at the seedling stage in these cultivars. Among the tested cultivars, M-6 and M-8 exhibited better growth responses as compared with 96009. Fresh biomass and shoot: root ratio appeared to serve as selection criteria for B tolerance. The study further suggested screening of cultivars/ accessions on a large scale to explore more diversity of traits as well as the use of biochemical markers for mechanistic understanding of B tolerance.
High level of messenger RNA for BRMS1 in primary breast carcinomas is associated with poor prognosis

BRMS1 is regarded as a metastasis suppressor gene for its ability to reduce metastatic potential of human and murine breast cancer cells as well as human melanoma cells. However, BRMS1 association to human tumor progression is not clearly understood. In the present study we analyzed BRMS1 mRNA expression in tumor progression and its potential prognostic value for breast carcinoma. BRMS1 mRNA expression level was quantified by real‐time PCR in 47 tumoral, in 14 peritumoral and in 15 metastatic microdissected cellular populations from 47 breast cancer patients with 10‐year follow up. We found BRMS1 expression to be higher in carcinoma cells than in matching normal epithelial cell populations in 10 out of 14 cases (p = 0.0005), while lymph‐nodal carcinoma cells showed lower BRMS1 expression in 9 out of 15 cases (p = 0.001). Using both in vivo (human mammary breast carcinomas) and in vitro systems (breast cancer cell lines) we were able to demonstrate that BRMS1 overexpression was not a bias effect induced by cell proliferation rate. BRMS1 expression levels did not correlate with standard breast cancer prognostic factors but BRMS1 higher expression was associated with patient shorter disease‐free and overall survival. Our findings are apparently inconsistent with the concept of BRMS1 as a metastasis suppressor gene. One possible explanation is that epithelial cells increase their BRMS1 expression as a compensatory response to tumor formation or metastasis progression, which is elevated in proportion to tumor aggressiveness, whereas those cells of the primary tumor that cannot upregulate BRMS1 escape to form metastasis. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ENZYME-LABELED ANTIBODIES: PREPARATION AND APPLICATION FOR THE LOCALIZATION OF ANTIGENS

primiciples of immummiohiistochemist ry to electron niicroscopy have niet with very limited sumccess (Pierce et at., mt. Rev. Exp. Path. 3: 1. 1964). Ins ami effort to obviate somuie of these himnitatiomus, tissumes have beemt staimied with emszymes conujumgated to antibody. Ins the imuitil experintemits, acid phosphsatase was comijugated to antibody (Ram et al., Fed. Proc. 25: 732. 1966). Although these preliminary experiments deniomustrated the feasibility of thie approachu, the resumlts of the couijugatiomss were so variable that search was made for a better enzyme. Imu the presemut stumdy horseradish peroxidase was employed becaumse the enzynte is commercially available ims relatively pure form; the cytochemical amid histochemical methods have been well established, and successfully adapted to electron microscopy (Graham amid Karnovsky, J. Histochem. (Jytochem. 14: 291. 1966). The peroxidase was conjugated to antibody by a method similar to one developed for the comijugations of ferritimi to auitibody (Ram et at., J. Cell Biol. 17: 673. 1963), amid acid phosphiatase to amitibody (Ram et at., Fed. Proc. 25: 732. 1966; Nakane et at., J. Histochein. Cytochem. 7th Anmuumal Meetimig, Abstract, 1966), which employed the bifummictional reagent, p,p’difiumoro-m-m’-diuiitrodiphenyl sulfomie (FNPS). Other bifummuctiomual reagemuts sucht as 1-ethiyl-3-(3dimethylanuino propyl) carbodiimide have also beemi employed, bunt the best amid most consistent resumlts were obtained when FNPS was umsed. For routimie stumdies the conjumgates were pre-
NONPARAMETRIC IDENTIFICATION OF THE MINIMUM EFFECTIVE DOSE FOR RANDOMIZED BLOCK DESIGNS

ABSTRACT One primary purpose in a dose–response study for drug development is to identify the minimum effective dose (MED), which is the lowest dose level producing an effect over that of the zero-dose control. Proposed herein is a nonparametric step-down closed testing procedure for identifying the MED in a randomized block design with one or more observations per cell. The associated p-value of the identified MED is then obtained. Numerical examples further demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed testing procedure. Finally, the comparative results of a Monte Carlo investigation of the relative error rate and power performances are presented and discussed.
Changes in fatty acid branching and unsaturation of Streptomyces griseus and Brevibacterium fermentans as a response to growth temperature

Streptomyces griseus showed three different modes of changing fatty acids in response to temperature change. In Brevibacterium fermentans, two such responses were found. The responses involved changes in fatty acid branching, unsaturation, or chain length, depending on growth temperature range. Changes in unsaturation of branched-chain acids were characteristic at low growth temperatures.
Development of a cost-effective shock wave hydrophone

The design of a new wideband, quantitative shock wave hydrophone is presented. The sensor not only has a wideband (>50 MHz) and linear (up to 100 MPa) response, but it also operates in a measurement environment in which the hydrophone element's sensitivity changes as a function of shock wave exposure. Thin films of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) were used in a disposable hydrophone configuration. A self-monitoring feature, based on the change in hydrophone electrode resistance as the electrode materials are removed by shock wave action, indicates that the hydrophone element needs to be replaced. Development efforts include: 1) reducing the manufacturing costs; 2) determining the relationship between electrode resistance and hydrophone sensitivity; 3) developing a resistance monitoring approach; and 4) rapidly making reliable electrical connection to the disposable hydrophone elements. Acoustical characterization data indicate that the hydrophones fulfill the requirements for accurate, wideband measurement of lithotripter fields; the disposable feature makes the system cost effective for research, quality assurance and regulatory submissions
A Leisurely Look at the Bootstrap, the Jackknife, and

An apparatus for the in-situ detection of ions in a beam of an ion implanter device includes a mass spectrometer device having inner and outer walls and, a system for generating and directing an ion implant beam through the mass spectrometer device. The mass spectrometer device generates a magnetic field for directing ions of the ion implant beam of a desirable type through an aperture for implanting into a semiconductor wafer, and causing ions of undesirable type to collide with the inner or outer wall. For in-situ detection, a detector device is disposed on the inner and outer walls of the mass spectrometer for detecting the undesirable type of ions deflected. In one embodiment, the detector device comprises electronic sensor devices for detecting a concentration of the undesirable type ions which comprise undesirable elements and compounds. In another embodiment, the detector device comprises Faraday cup devices for detecting a concentration of ions of the undesirable type, or, may comprise a moving Faraday device positioned along tracks disposed respectively along the inner and outer wall, the Faraday being driven for reciprocal movement along a respective track. Data is collected from the sensors corresponding to the positions of undesirable ion detection and is processed, in real-time, during wafer processing. In this manner potential contaminants in the ion implant beam may be determined and corrective action may be taken in response.
Distributed adaptive consensus protocol design for heterogeneous multi-agent systems with switching communication topologies

This paper considers the consensus problem of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with switching communication topology. By introducing adaptive coupling gains for each edge, a novel edge-based adaptive consensus protocol is designed. A significant feature of the proposed protocol is that it contains an integral action to eliminate the steady state error, which play a crucial role in achieving consensus. The protocol designed in this paper depends only on relative states of neighboring agents, and thus can be implemented by each agent in a fully distributed fashion.
Adhesion molecule expression in human synovial tissue.

OBJECTIVE We have previously shown that E-selectin is expressed on endothelium in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissues, and hence may be important in recruitment of leukocytes into the inflamed joint. In the present study, we determined whether other cellular adhesion molecules, including selectins and members of the integrin and immunoglobulin supergene families, are expressed in frozen synovium. METHODS We employed immunohistochemical staining to determine the distribution of CD31 (PECAM), CD44 (hyaluronate receptor), CD62 (P-selectin), Leu-8 (L-selectin), and the integrin subunits alpha 5 (VLA-5), alpha 6 (VLA-6), beta 1 (VLA 1-6), and beta 3 (vitro-nectin receptor), in synovial tissue from 9 RA and 9 osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and from 3 normal (NL) subjects. RESULTS P-selectin was expressed on vascular endothelium in all synovial tissues examined. L-selectin and alpha 5-integrin, while expressed on a variety of cell types, were not differentially expressed on RA synovial tissues. Integrin subunits alpha 6 and beta 1 were down-regulated on some RA synovial tissue components. In contrast, CD31 was expressed to a greater extent on RA than on OA lining cells and macrophages (P < 0.05). CD44 was expressed to a greater extent on RA or OA macrophages, lining cells, and fibroblasts compared with NL (P < 0.05). Integrin subunit beta 3 was strongly expressed on RA synovial blood vessels compared with NL (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of integrins VLA 1-6, and selectins P and L is not up-regulated in RA synovial tissues. CD31 and CD44 are up-regulated on RA macrophages and lining cells, CD44 on RA fibroblasts, and beta 3-integrin on RA blood vessels. The up-regulation of CD31, CD44, and beta 3-integrin in RA synovial tissues may help tip the balance of adhesive interactions toward passage and retention of leukocytes in the inflamed joint.
Screening for substance abuse in individuals with traumatic brain injury

Primary objective: To determine the utility of the CAGE, the Brief Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (BMAST) and the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3) with individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), two studies were conducted examining the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of these instruments. Research design: Data from self-report instruments were compared to a clinical interview, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), to determine the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. Methods and procedures: Two studies were conducted. In study I, 100 individuals with TBI were screened for alcohol abuse using the CAGE and the resulting classifications were compared with those derived from the SCID. In study II, 223 individuals were screened for alcohol abuse and drug abuse using the BMAST and SASSI-3 and the results of these screenings were compared with diagnoses obtained by the SCID. Main outcomes and results: The specificity of the self-report instruments was moderately high, ranging between 81–83%. The specificity of the CAGE for alcohol abuse both pre- and post-TBI was high, 96% and 86%, respectively. The sensitivity of the self-report instruments was most variable, ranging from 32–95%, with the SASSI face valid drug scale and the CAGE alcohol post-TBI indicating the most sensitivity, 95 and 91%, respectively. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the CAGE may be useful in screening for alcohol abuse and the face valid drug sub-scale of the SASSI-3 may be useful in screening for drug abuse in individuals with TBI.
Colonization of the Intestinal Tract of Conventional Mice with Candida albicans and Treatment with Antifungal Agents

Conventional mice inoculated with Candida albicans per os were unable to maintain this organism in the intestinal tract as judged by decreasing numbers of yeast recoverable from feces. After inoculation with 107 cells/mouse, fecal counts ranged from 105 cells per g of feces to 5 × 103 cells per g of feces during a 12-day experimental period. Addition of various antibiotics to the drinking water did not result in any improvement in maintenance or stability of the gut population. A combination of X irradiation and administration of tobramycin or gentamicin, however, resulted in a stable population of C. albicans in the intestinal tract, with cell counts in the feces remaining constant at a level of about 106/g of feces for a period of 10 to 15 days. The usefulness of this model in assessing the effect of experimental drugs on C. albicans infections of the gut was demonstrated by the fact that treatment with a new antifungal antibiotic (A9145), amphotericin B, 5-fluorocytosine, or nystatin resulted in a reduction in the fecal counts of C. albicans from experimentally infected animals.
The Gains from Input Trade with Heterogeneous Importers

Firms differ substantially in their participation in foreign input markets. We develop a methodology to measure the aggregate effects of input trade that takes such heterogeneity into account. We provide a theoretical result that holds in a variety of settings: the firm-level data on value added and domestic expenditure shares in material spending is sufficient to compute the change in consumer prices due to a shock to the import environment. We characterize the bias of approaches that rely on aggregate statistics. In an application to French data, input trade reduces the prices of manufacturing products by 27 percent. (JEL D24, E31, F12, F14, L11, L25, L60)
BRCA1 Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Epidemiology in the Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer (WEB) Study

Results of studies for the association of BRCA1 genotypes and haplotypes with sporadic breast cancer have been inconsistent. Therefore, a candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach was used in a breast cancer case‐control study to explore genotypes and haplotypes that have the potential to affect protein functions or levels. In a breast cancer case‐control study, genotyping of BRCA1 polymorphisms Q356R, D693N, and E1038G was performed on 1,005 cases and 1,765 controls. Unconditional, polytomous logistic regression and χ2‐tests were used to examine the associations of breast cancer with genotypes and haplotypes. In addition, interactions between genotype and smoking, benign breast disease, family history of breast cancer, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, and hormonal risk factors, hormone receptor status, and breast cancer pathology were calculated also using logistic regression and χ2. Although sporadic breast cancer was not associated with BRCA1 genotypes or haplotypes overall or by menopausal status, there was evidence of an interaction between the E1038G BRCA1 genotype, smoking, and BMI among premenopausal women (P for interaction = 0.01 and 0.045, respectively) and between E1038G and D693N BRCA1 genotypes and hormone therapy use among postmenopausal women (P for interaction = 0.01 and 0.02, respectively). There were no other associations found between BRCA1 genotypes and stage, histological grade, or nuclear grade. However, the D693N SNP was associated with the risk of triple negative breast cancer (odds ratio = 2.31 95% confidence interval 1.08–4.93). The BRCA1 variants studied may play a role in the etiology of triple negative breast cancer and may interact with environmental factors such as hormone therapy or smoking and increase sporadic breast cancer risk.
Shape from Texture: An Aggregation Transform that Maps a Class of Textures into Surface Orientation

A new approach to obtaining shape information from textural information in static monocular Images la outlined. Also presented is a new aggregation transform which determines (under certain condition) vanishing points and lines. A theorem is proved which relates this Hough-l0ike transform to the gradient space, showing that the transform also directly indicates local surface orientation. Additionally, the transform is shown to have many properties that make it an appealling substitute for some other current image transforms. An example is given of its application to a synthetic textured Image.
Estimating Indirect Benefits: Fracking, Coal and Air Pollution

This paper estimates indirect benefits of improved air quality induced by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". The recent increase in natural gas supply led to displacement of coal-fired electricity by cleaner natural gas-fired generation. Using detailed spatial panel data comprising the near universe of US power plants, we find that coal generation decreased by 28%. Further, fracking decreased local air pollution by an average of 4%. We show that benefits vary geographically; air pollution levels decreased by 35% in the most affected region. Back of the envelope calculations imply accumulated health benefits of roughly $17 billion annually.
Effects of training community staff in interventions for substance misuse in dual diagnosis patients with psychosis (COMO study)

Summary A cluster randomised controlled trial was used to investigate the effectiveness of training staff in 13 London community mental health teams (CMHTs) to deliver substance misuse interventions to patients with psychosis and comorbid substance misuse (‘dual diagnosis’). The primary hypotheses, which were that experimental group patients would spend fewer days in hospital over 18 months of follow-up and show reduced alcohol and drug consumption, were not confirmed, although confidence intervals were wide for some outcomes. Current UK policy guidance advocates training CMHT professionals to deliver dual diagnosis interventions, but the effectiveness of this strategy has not so far been demonstrated.