Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Mesterolone on Satellite Cell Distribution and Fiber Morphology within Maturing Chicken Pectoralis Muscle

Mesterolone is a synthetic oral anabolic androgenic steroid used to treat hypogonadism. There are frequent reports of mesterolone abuse in human and equine sports to increase muscle mass and strength. However, limited information is available about how this drug exerts its effects on skeletal muscle. Satellite cells (SCs) are mononuclear myogenic stem cells that contribute to postnatal muscle growth and repair. As SC activation and subsequent differentiation to new myonuclei is a major event during muscle hypertrophy, this study investigated the influence of mesterolone on SC distribution within the pectoralis muscle of chickens. Specifically, this study tested the hypotheses that mesterolone induces avian skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and that mesterolone increases the number of SCs in avian skeletal muscle. Robust immunocytochemical techniques and morphometric analyses were used to calculate the numbers of SCs and myonuclei. Also, DNA concentration and Pax7 protein levels were measured to confirm immunocytochemical findings. Mesterolone significantly increased pectoralis mass and fiber size. All SC indices and number of myonuclei increased significantly by mesterolone administration. In addition, greater DNA concentration and Pax7 protein expression were found in mesterolone‐treated birds. This study indicates that mesterolone can induce avian skeletal muscle hypertrophy and that this is correlated with increased number of SCs. We suggest that SCs are key cellular intermediaries for mesterolone‐induced muscle hypertrophy. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Recurrent Candida albicans Ventriculitis Treated with Intraventricular Liposomal Amphotericin B

Central nervous system (CNS) infection with Candida is rare but significant because of its high morbidity and mortality. When present, it is commonly seen among immunocompromised and hospitalized patients. Herein, we describe a case of a four-year-old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who experienced recurrent Candida albicans meningitis. The patient was treated successfully with intravenous liposomal amphotericin B at first attack, but 25 days after discharge he was readmitted to hospital with symptoms of meningitis. Candida albicans was grown in CFS culture again and cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed ventriculitis. We administered liposomal amphotericin B both intravenously and intraventricularly and favorable result was achieved without any adverse effects. Intraventricular amphotericin B may be considered for the treatment of recurrent CNS Candida infections in addition to intravenous administration.
Pattern-based Classification and Survival Analysis of Chronic Kidney Disease

This study integrates the principles of pattern-based classification and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis to identify genes and clinical features associated with the rapid progression of chronic kidney disease. The methodology successfully determines the gene-gene survival interactions in the African-American Study of Chronic Kidney Disease with Hypertension (AASK) genomic dataset. The results obtained from this study serves as a basis for the future studies on comparison of the disease progression in white patients with that in African-American patients, both those with and those without apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) high-risk variants.
The role of ultrasonography and automatic‐needle biopsy in outpatient percutaneous liver biopsy

The risk of complications from percutaneous liver biopsy is low, but discomfort is common and complications require hospitalization in approximately 4% of patients. The optimal method of performing these biopsies is unknown. The goal of our study was to determine whether the use of ultrasonography in the biopsy room immediately prior to or during the procedure would lessen the risk of complications and to compare the safety and efficacy in obtaining tissue by use of a Trucut needle versus an automatic biopsy needle. Between 1992 and 1994, 836 patients were entered into a randomized study (489 in Rochester, MN; 347 in Barcelona, Spain). Patients were randomized immediately prior to liver biopsy into four groups: Trucut needle, or automatic biopsy needle, and with or without ultrasonography. Fisher's Exact Test and a logistic regression model were also used to assess the effect of needle and ultrasonography on the odds for complications. The four biopsy groups were well‐matched at entry with respect to age, sex, underlying liver disease, hemoglobin, prothrombin time, and platelet count. The use of ultrasound was associated with a decreased rate of hospitalization for pain, hypotension, or bleeding (2 vs. 9, P < .05). No difference in safety was found between the two types of needles. The number of passes needed to obtain specimens was similar for all four groups. The average length of the specimen was slightly greater with ultrasonographic‐guided biopsies (1.7 mm vs. 1.6 mm, P < .05) and with biopsies obtained using the automatic biopsy needle when compared with the Trucut needle (1.7 mm vs. 1.5 mm, P < .05), but this did not seem to be clinically important. The addition of ultrasonography reduces complications in patients undergoing percutaneous liver biopsy. The type of needle appears to offer little difference in safety or yield of diagnostic tissue. The use of ultrasonography for guidance of percutaneous liver biopsy will lead to a lower rate of complications. The value of this benefit must be weighed against the added cost of ultrasonographic guidance.
Induction of Hyaluronic Acid Synthase 2 (HAS2) in Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Vasodilatory Prostaglandins

Abstract— Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a prominent constituent of the extracellular matrix of atherosclerotic vascular lesions in humans known to modulate vascular smooth muscle phenotype. The regulation of HA synthesis by vasodilatory prostaglandins was analyzed in human arterial smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The prostacyclin analogue, iloprost (100 nmol/L), markedly increased pericellular formation of HA coats and HA secretion into the cell culture medium in human arterial SMCs (8.7±1.6-fold). Expression of HA synthase 2 (HAS2) was determined by semiquantitative RT-PCR and found to be strongly upregulated at concentrations of iloprost between 1 and 100 nmol/L after 3 hours. Furthermore, endogenous cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) activity was required for basal expression of HAS2 mRNA in SMCs in vitro. Total HA secretion in response to iloprost was markedly decreased by RNA interference (RNAi), specific for HAS2. In addition, siRNA targeting HAS2 strongly increased the spreading of human SMCs compared with mock-transfected cells. HAS2 mRNA levels were also stimulated by a selective prostacyclin receptor (IP) agonist, cicaprost (10 nmol/L), prostaglandin E2 (10 nmol/L), and the EP2 receptor agonist, butaprost (1 &mgr;mol/L). Induction of HAS2 mRNA and HA synthesis by prostaglandins was mimicked by stable cAMP analogues and forskolin. In human atherectomy specimens from the internal carotid artery, HA deposits and COX2 expression colocalized frequently. In addition, strong EP2 receptor expression was detected in SMCs in HA-rich areas. Therefore, upregulation of HAS2 expression via EP2 and IP receptors might contribute to the accumulation of HA during human atherosclerosis, thereby mediating proatherosclerotic functions of COX2.
Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Abstract This study analyses and reviews the literature on public leadership with a novel combination of bibliometric methods. We detect four generic approaches to public leadership (i.e. a functionalist, a behavioural, a biographical and a reformist approach) which differ with regard to their philosophy of science (i.e. objective vs subjective) and level of analysis (i.e. micro-level vs multi-level). From our findings, we derive four directions for future research which involve shifting the focus from the aspect of ‘leadership’ to the element of ‘public’, from simplicity to complexity, from universalism to cultural relativism and from public leadership to public followership.
Interpreting ambiguous ‘trace’ results in Schistosoma mansoni CCA Tests: Estimating sensitivity and specificity of ambiguous results with no gold standard

Background The development of new diagnostics is an important tool in the fight against disease. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is used to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of tests in the absence of a gold standard. The main field diagnostic for Schistosoma mansoni infection, Kato-Katz (KK), is not very sensitive at low infection intensities. A point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) test has been shown to be more sensitive than KK. However, CCA can return an ambiguous ‘trace’ result between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and much debate has focused on interpretation of traces results. Methodology/Principle findings We show how LCA can be extended to include ambiguous trace results and analyse S. mansoni studies from both Côte d’Ivoire (CdI) and Uganda. We compare the diagnostic performance of KK and CCA and the observed results by each test to the estimated infection prevalence in the population. Prevalence by KK was higher in CdI (13.4%) than in Uganda (6.1%), but prevalence by CCA was similar between countries, both when trace was assumed to be negative (CCAtn: 11.7% in CdI and 9.7% in Uganda) and positive (CCAtp: 20.1% in CdI and 22.5% in Uganda). The estimated sensitivity of CCA was more consistent between countries than the estimated sensitivity of KK, and estimated infection prevalence did not significantly differ between CdI (20.5%) and Uganda (19.1%). The prevalence by CCA with trace as positive did not differ significantly from estimates of infection prevalence in either country, whereas both KK and CCA with trace as negative significantly underestimated infection prevalence in both countries. Conclusions Incorporation of ambiguous results into an LCA enables the effect of different treatment thresholds to be directly assessed and is applicable in many fields. Our results showed that CCA with trace as positive most accurately estimated infection prevalence.
Plastid-Localized Glutathione Reductase2–Regulated Glutathione Redox Status Is Essential for Arabidopsis Root Apical Meristem Maintenance[C][W]

Plastid-localized glutathione reductase2 regulates root growth and root meristem maintenance through modulation of its GSH redox status, resulting in regulation of downstream effectors of the auxin/PLETHORA pathway, as well as of some auxin/ PLETHORA-independent pathways. This function differs from that of glutathione reductase1, which is not essential for plant development. Glutathione is involved in thiol redox signaling and acts as a major redox buffer against reactive oxygen species, helping to maintain a reducing environment in vivo. Glutathione reductase (GR) catalyzes the reduction of glutathione disulfide (GSSG) into reduced glutathione (GSH). The Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes two GRs: GR1 and GR2. Whereas the cytosolic/peroxisomal GR1 is not crucial for plant development, we show here that the plastid-localized GR2 is essential for root growth and root apical meristem (RAM) maintenance. We identify a GR2 mutant, miao, that displays strong inhibition of root growth and severe defects in the RAM, with GR activity being reduced to ∼50%. miao accumulates high levels of GSSG and exhibits increased glutathione oxidation. The exogenous application of GSH or the thiol-reducing agent DTT can rescue the root phenotype of miao, demonstrating that the RAM defects in miao are triggered by glutathione oxidation. Our in silico analysis of public microarray data shows that auxin and glutathione redox signaling generally act independently at the transcriptional level. We propose that glutathione redox status is essential for RAM maintenance through both auxin/PLETHORA (PLT)-dependent and auxin/PLT-independent redox signaling pathways.
Sentiment Uncertainty and Spam in Twitter Streams and its Implications for General Purpose Realtime Sentiment Analysis

State of the art benchmarks for Twitter Sentiment Analysis do not consider the fact that for more than half of the tweets from the public stream a distinct sentiment cannot be chosen. This paper provides a new perspective on Twitter Sentiment Analysis by highlighting the necessity of explicitly incorporating uncertainty. Moreover, a dataset of high quality to evaluate solutions for this new problem is introduced and made publicly available.
Algebraic Bethe ansatz method for the exact calculation of energy spectra and form factors: applications to models of Bose–Einstein condensates and metallic nanograins

In this review we demonstrate how the algebraic Bethe ansatz is used for the calculation of the-energy spectra and form factors (operator matrix elements in the basis of Hamiltonian eigenstates) in exactly solvable quantum systems. As examples we apply the theory to several models of current interest in the study of Bose-Einstein condensates, which have been successfully created using ultracold dilute atomic gases. The first model we introduce describes Josephson tunnelling between two coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. It can be used not only for the study of tunnelling between condensates of atomic gases, but for solid state Josephson junctions and coupled Cooper pair boxes. The theory is also applicable to models of atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates, with two examples given and analysed. Additionally, these same two models are relevant to studies in quantum optics; Finally, we discuss the model of Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer in this framework, which is appropriate for systems of ultracold fermionic atomic gases, as well as being applicable for the description of superconducting correlations in metallic grains with nanoscale dimensions. ; In applying all the above models to. physical situations, the need for an exact analysis of small-scale systems is established due to large quantum fluctuations which render mean-field approaches inaccurate.
Advances in targeting the vacuolar proton-translocating ATPase (V-ATPase) for anti-fungal therapy

Vacuolar proton-translocating ATPase (V-ATPase) is a membrane-bound, multi-subunit enzyme that uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to pump protons across membranes. V-ATPase activity is critical for pH homeostasis and organelle acidification as well as for generation of the membrane potential that drives secondary transporters and cellular metabolism. V-ATPase is highly conserved across species and is best characterized in the model fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, recent studies in mammals have identified significant alterations from fungi, particularly in the isoform composition of the 14 subunits and in the regulation of complex disassembly. These differences could be exploited for selectivity between fungi and humans and highlight the potential for V-ATPase as an anti-fungal drug target. Candida albicans is a major human fungal pathogen and causes fatality in 35% of systemic infections, even with anti-fungal treatment. The pathogenicity of C. albicans correlates with environmental, vacuolar, and cytoplasmic pH regulation, and V-ATPase appears to play a fundamental role in each of these processes. Genetic loss of V-ATPase in pathogenic fungi leads to defective virulence, and a comprehensive picture of the mechanisms involved is emerging. Recent studies have explored the practical utility of V-ATPase as an anti-fungal drug target in C. albicans, including pharmacological inhibition, azole therapy, and targeting of downstream pathways. This overview will discuss these studies as well as hypothetical ways to target V-ATPase and novel high-throughput methods for use in future drug discovery screens.
Beyond Low Rank + Sparse : A Multi-scale Low Rank Decomposition

We present a multi-scale version of low rank matrix decomposition. Our motivation comes from imaging applications, in which image sequences are correlated locally on several scales in space and time rather than globally. We model our data matrix as a sum of matrices, where each matrix has increasing scales of locally low-rank matrices. Using this multi-scale modeling, we can capture different scales of correlation in our data matrix and provide a more compact representation than conventional low rank methods. We solve the proposed decomposition via a convex formulation. INTRODUCTION In many image processing applications, the data matrix of interest exhibits low rank structures [1]. Often, we know in addition that entries in a neighborhood are more likely to be correlated. If the size of the locality is not known, these locally low rank structures cannot be exploited using traditional low rank methods and the matrix itself may even be considered as full rank. Inspired by low rank + sparse modeling [? ], [2], [3], we present a way of representing these matrices compactly by decomposing the matrix into low rank blocks across multiple scales. Using this multi-scale modeling, we can capture different scales of correlation in our data matrix and provide a more compact representation than conventional low rank methods. Our motivation comes from Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE) Imaging in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In DCE imaging, different tissue contrasts evolve differently over time. When stacking each image frame as a column of the matrix, the resulting matrix is low rank with various block sizes [1], [3]. A small block size captures blood vessel dynamics better while a large block size captures background tissues better. Hence, a multi-scale low rank approach is desired to exploit all scales of correlations. SIGNAL MODEL AND PROBLEM FORMULATION We model our M ×N data matrix Y as a sum of matrices Y = ∑L−1 i=0 Xi, where each Xi has an increasing scale of locality. That is, each Xi is block low-rank with a different block size, with the smallest one being a sparse matrix and the largest one being a low rank matrix. Fig. 1 provides an illustration of the modeling. Low Rank Low Rank Low Rank Low Rank Low Rank Low Rank Low Rank
Existence of stability in hedonic coalition formation games

In this paper, we examine hedonic coalition formation games in which each player's preferences over partitions of players depend only on the members of his coalition. We present three main results in which restrictions on the preferences of the players guarantee the existence of stable partitions for various notions of stability. The preference restrictions pertain to top responsiveness and bottom responsiveness which model optimistic and pessimistic behavior of players respectively. The existence results apply to natural subclasses of additively separable hedonic games and hedonic games with B-preferences. It is also shown that our existence results cannot be strengthened to the case of stronger known stability concepts.
Early Human Atherosclerosis: Accumulation of Lipid and Proteoglycans in Intimal Thickenings Followed by Macrophage Infiltration

Objective—The present study was designed to clarify the morphological features of early human atherosclerosis and to determine whether specific extracellular matrix proteoglycans play a role in early atherogenesis. Methods and Results—Step and serial sections were obtained from right coronary arteries with no or early atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis was classified into 4 grades according to the amount of lipid deposition. Coronary arteries with Grade 0 showed diffuse intimal thickening (DIT) with no lipid deposits. The extracellular matrix proteoglycans, biglycan and decorin, were localized in the outer layer of DIT. Most cases of Grade 1 and Grade 2 exhibited fatty streaks with extracellular lipids colocalizing with biglycan and decorin in the outer layer of the intima. As lipid grades increased, macrophages increased in number and were present in the deeper layers. Most cases of Grade 3 exhibited pathologic intimal thickening (PIT) with extracellular lipids underneath a layer of foam cell macrophages. Conclusions—In early human coronary atherosclerosis, fatty streaks develop via extracellular deposition of lipids associated with specific types of proteoglycans in the outer layer of preexisting DIT. As the amount of the lipid increases in fatty streaks, macrophages infiltrate toward the deposited lipid to form PIT with foam cells.
Application of Finite Strain Technique for Deformed Lithologies in Al Amar Suture, Eastern Arabian Shield

Finite strain technique was applied for Abt schist, sheared granitoids and volcanosedimentary rocks exposed at Al Amar area, eastern Arabian Shield, in an attempt to decipher the relationship of these lithologies to nappe contacts and to clarify the nature of subhorizontal foliation pervasively recorded in the area. The R f /φ and Fry methods were utilized on quartz and feldspar porphyroclasts, as well as on mafic crystals, such as hornblende and biotite, in eighteen samples. The X/Z axial ratios ranged from 1.12 to 4.99 for R f /φ method and from 1.65 to 4.00 for Fry method. The direction of finite strain for the long axes displayed clustering along the WNW trend (occasionally N) with slight plunging. The Z axes were subvertical and associated with a subhorizontal foliation. The data revealed oblate strain symmetry (flattening) and the strain magnitudes showed no considerable increase towards the tectonic contacts. The obtained finite-strain data demonstrated that the sheared granitoids are mildly to moderately deformed. It is suggested that the accumulation of finite strain was not associated with any significant volume change. The penetrative subhorizontal foliation was concurrent with thrusting and showed nearly the same attitudes of tectonic contacts with the overlying nappes. Field relations and observations, together with finite stain data, are inconsistent with the proposed idea that nappes in orogens resulted from simple-shear deformation.
HDR imaging for feature tracking in challenging visibility scenes

Purpose – In visual-based applications, lighting conditions have a considerable impact on quality of the acquired images. Extremely low or high illuminated environments are a real issue for a majority of cameras due to limitations in their dynamic range. Indeed, over or under exposure might result in loss of essential information because of pixel saturation or noise. This can be critical in computer vision applications. High dynamic range (HDR) imaging technology is known to improve image rendering in such conditions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of performance that can be achieved for feature detection and tracking operations in images acquired with a HDR image sensor. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, four different feature detection techniques are selected and tracking algorithm is based on the pyramidal implementation of Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) feature tracker. Tracking algorithm is run over image sequences acquired with a HDR image sensor and with a high resoluti.