Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roles of oxidative stress and antioxidant therapy in chronic kidney disease and hypertension

Purpose of reviewOxidative stress is frequently associated with, and is partly involved in, the pathogenesis of chronic renal failure, hypertension and their complications. In the past few years, considerable progress has been made in deciphering the impact and the molecular mechanism of oxidative stress in these disorders. This article is intended to provide an overview of oxidative stress in hypertension and chronic renal failure. Recent findingsRecent studies have provided irrefutable evidence that oxidative stress can cause hypertension and hypertension can cause oxidative stress. The upregulation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (reduced form) oxidase and the tubulointerstitial accumulation of activated T cells, macrophages and superoxide-producing cells are partly responsible for oxidative stress in several models of hypertension. Antioxidant therapy alleviates hypertension, averts nuclear factor kappa B activation, and mitigates tubulointerstitial inflammation in hypertensive animals. Oxidative stress contributes to hypertension, endothelial dysfunction and brain disorders in chronic renal failure animals, and is partly caused by the upregulation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (reduced form) oxidase and the downregulation of superoxide dismutase. SummaryOxidative stress, hypertension and inflammation are closely interrelated and involve a spiralling vicious cycle that can lead to progressive deterioration of hypertension and target organ damage.
Chfr acts with the p38 stress kinases to block entry to mitosis in mammalian cells

Entry into mitosis in vertebrate cells is guarded by a checkpoint that can be activated by a variety of insults, including chromosomal damage and disrupting microtubules (Rieder, C.L., and R.W. Cole. 1998. J. Cell Biol. 142:1013–1022; Rieder, C.L., and R.W. Cole. 2000. Curr. Biol. 10:1067–1070). This checkpoint acts at the end of interphase to delay cells from entering mitosis, causing cells in prophase to decondense their chromosomes and return to G2 phase. Here, we show that in response to microtubule poisons this “antephase” checkpoint is primarily mediated by the p38 stress kinases and requires the Chfr protein that is absent or inactive in several transformed cell lines (Scolnick, D.M., and T.D. Halazonetis. 2000. Nature. 406:430–435) and lung tumors (Mizuno, K., H. Osada, H. Konishi, Y. Tatematsu, Y. Yatabe, T. Mitsudomi, Y. Fujii, and T. Takahashi. 2002. Oncogene. 21:2328–2333). Furthermore, in contrast to previous reports, we find that the checkpoint requires ubiquitylation but not proteasome activity, which is in agreement with the recent demonstration that Chfr conjugates ubiquitin through lysine 63 and not lysine 48 (Bothos, J., M.K. Summers, M. Venere, D.M. Scolnick, and T.D. Halazonetis. 2003. Oncogene. 22:7101–7107).
Tobacco smoke and respiratory disease

Although tobacco has been used in Western culture forw400 yrs, inhalative cigarette smoking is a relatively new development. It was during the 20th century that cigarette smoking became a mass phenomenon. Interestingly, the evolution of the prevalence of tobacco smoking in a given population strikingly resembles the evolution of an infective epidemic [1]. Introduced by "trend-setters" into society, the "smoking epidemic" reached its maximum in the 1950s in the male population, with considerable geographic variation in time trends since then. However, the overall prevalence of smoking is determined by such factors as sex, social status, and age [1]. Currently, the prevalence of smoking around the world is estimated to be 47% amongst males and 12% amongst females, in Europe y35% of males and 25% of females are active smokers [2, 3]. There are crosssectional and longitudinal studies demonstrating the deleterious effect of smoking on respiratory health [4–6], but tobacco smoke is also a risk factor for cancer of the digestive and urinary tract, coronary and vascular disease, as well as a number of nonfatal conditions. Consequently, tobacco smoking is a major cause of premature death in Europe. Moreover, throughout the European Union, 32% of deaths in males aged 35–69 yrs and 10% of deaths in females in the same age range are attributable to smoking [7]. The proportion of deaths from respiratory diseases attributable to tobacco smoking are even higher: 54% for males and 42% for females [7]. The economic impact of smoking has been consistently estimated to be approximately 200–300 per capita in the USA and Europe [8]. Furthermore, since the 1970s there is increasing evidence that not only active smoking is a risk factor for respiratory diseases, but also environmental tobacco smoke exposure in nonsmokers, especially in children [9]. Taken together, the available data clearly demonstrate that active and passive smoking place a significant burden on public health, especially with regard to respiratory diseases. Extrapolations of the present data suggest that the proportion of tobacco-associated diseases will increase in the coming decades with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer becoming the most prevalent causes of death in the year 2020 [10].
Ciclopirox 1% shampoo for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis

Seborrheic dermatitis is a chronic superficial fungal infection of the skin, particularly affecting sites rich in sebaceous glands. Although the precise etiology of seborrheic dermatitis is uncertain, yeasts of the genus Malassezia are known to play a causative role. Ciclopirox is a broad‐spectrum, hydroxypyridone‐derived, synthetic antifungal agent, which also has anti‐inflammatory properties. Ciclopirox is effective both in vitro and in vivo against Malassezia yeasts, making it a valuable option for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis. Varying frequencies and concentrations of ciclopirox shampoo have been shown to be effective and safe in the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp.
Usability assessment of keystroke dynamics systems

Keystroke dynamics systems are considered as a promising solution that would be used in several applications such as e-commerce and banking applications. Such systems suffer from several limitations that prevent their deployment in these applications. This paper aims to contribute to the use of keystroke dynamics solution as an authentication manner by presenting a usability assessment methodology. A comparison between physical and touchscreen keyboards is also covered in this paper. This comparison shows that the Press-Release (PR) feature collected from a physical keyboard differs from the one collected using a touchscreen keyboard.
Intracellular trafficking of hyaluronic acid-chitosan oligomer-based nanoparticles in cultured human ocular surface cells

Purpose Nanoparticles are a promising alternative for ocular drug delivery, and our group has proposed that they are especially suited for ocular mucosal disorders. The goal of the present study was to determine which internalization pathway is used by cornea-derived and conjunctiva-derived cell lines to take up hyaluronic acid (HA)-chitosan oligomer (CSO)-based nanoparticles (HA-CSO NPs). We also determined if plasmids loaded onto the NPs reached the cell nucleus. Methods HA-CSO NPs were made of fluoresceinamine labeled HA and CSO by ionotropic gelation and were conjugated with a model plasmid DNA for secreted alkaline phosphatase. Human epithelial cell lines derived from the conjunctiva and the cornea were exposed to HA-CSO NPs for 1 h and the uptake was investigated in living cells by fluorescence microscopy. The influence of temperature and metabolic inhibition, the effect of blocking hyaluronan receptors, and the inhibition of main endocytic pathways were studied by fluorometry. Additionally, the metabolic pathways implicated in the degradation of HA-CSO NPs were evaluated by lysosome identification. Results There was intracellular localization of plasmid-loaded HACSO NPs in both corneal and conjunctival cells. The intracellular presence of NPs diminished with time. HA-CSO NP uptake was significantly reduced by inhibition of active transport at 4 °C and by sodium azide. Uptake was also inhibited by blocking hyaluronan receptors with anti-CD44 Hermes-1 antibody, by excess HA, and by filipin, an inhibitor of caveolin-dependent endocytosis. HA-CSO NPs had no effect on cell viability. The transfection efficiency of the model plasmid was significantly higher in NP treated cells than in controls. Conclusions HA-CSO NPs were internalized by two different ocular surface cell lines by an active transport mechanism. The uptake was mediated by hyaluronan receptors through a caveolin-dependent endocytic pathway, yielding remarkable transfection efficiency. Most of HA-CSO NPs were metabolized within 48 h. This uptake did not compromise cell viability. These findings further support the potential use of HA-CSO NPs to deliver genetic material to the ocular surface.
Using a graph-based ontological user profile for personalizing search

In this poster, we describe a personalized search approach, which involves a graph based user profile issued from ontology and a session boundary recognition mechanism. The user profile refers to the short term user interest and is used for re-ranking the search results of queries in the same search session. The session boundary recognition is based on tracking changes in the dominant concepts held by the query and the user profile. Experimental evaluation was carried out using the HARD 2003 TREC collection and shows that our approach is effective.
Impact of Rotavirus Vaccination on Diarrhea-related Hospitalizations Among Children <5 Years of Age in Mexico

Background: Single-strain rotavirus vaccine was added to the national immunization program in Mexico in May 2007. We assessed the impact of vaccination on the number of diarrhea-related hospitalizations in Mexican children in 2008 and 2009. Methods: We obtained data on all-cause diarrhea-related hospitalizations from January 2003 to June 2009 in Mexican children <5 years of age. We compared diarrhea-related hospitalizations during the 2008 and 2009 rotavirus seasons with the median number of diarrhea-related hospitalizations at baseline (2003–2006), before rotavirus vaccine introduction, at 306 Ministry of Health hospitals. We estimated vaccine coverage using administrative data. Results: A median number of 10,993 diarrhea-related hospitalizations (range: 9877–11958) occurred each prevaccine rotavirus season from 2003 to 2006 among children <5 years of age. Diarrhea-related hospitalizations decreased by 11% (N = 9836) in 2008 and by 40% (N = 6597) in 2009. The greatest declines occurred in infants <12 months of age during 2008 (25%) and 2009 (52%), with 1-dose rotavirus vaccination coverage of 74% and 89% during these years, respectively. A 43% decline was also noted among children 12 to 23 months of age during the 2009 season. No declines were noted during either 2008 or 2009 among unvaccinated children >24 months of age during the study period. Conclusions: Marked declines in diarrhea-related hospitalizations among vaccine-eligible Mexican children <24 months of age have occurred during the first 2 complete rotavirus seasons following rotavirus vaccination. Rotavirus-specific surveillance and epidemiologic studies are necessary for a better understanding of the changes in disease epidemiology and public health impact from rotavirus vaccination.
A 3D shape sensing system using multiple fringe projections from different partial views to form an entire shape

A 3D sensing method to describe an entire shape from many segmented measurements performed by projected fringe profilomety is presented. Unlike conventional algorithms, image registration is not required in this setup. Among all other integration schemes, this method is superior since it offers many major advantages, including: (1) very low computation cost for the data fusion, (2) reduced computational time, and (3) very high integration accuracy.
To Regulate or Not to Regulate? Views on Electronic Cigarette Regulations and Beliefs about the Reasons for and against Regulation

Background Policies designed to restrict marketing, access to, and public use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are increasingly under debate in various jurisdictions in the US. Little is known about public perceptions of these policies and factors that predict their support or opposition. Methods Using a sample of US adults from Amazon Mechanical Turk in May 2015, this paper identifies beliefs about the benefits and costs of regulating e-cigarettes and identifies which of these beliefs predict support for e-cigarette restricting policies. Results A higher proportion of respondents agreed with 8 different reasons to regulate e-cigarettes (48.5% to 83.3% agreement) versus 7 reasons not to regulate e-cigarettes (11.5% to 18.9%). The majority of participants agreed with 7 out of 8 reasons for regulation. When all reasons to regulate or not were included in a final multivariable model, beliefs about protecting people from secondhand vapor and protecting youth from trying e-cigarettes significantly predicted stronger support for e-cigarette restricting policies, whereas concern about government intrusion into individual choices was associated with reduced support. Discussion This research identifies key beliefs that may underlie public support or opposition to policies designed to regulate the marketing and use of e-cigarettes. Advocates on both sides of the issue may find this research valuable in developing strategic campaigns related to the issue. Implications Specific beliefs of potential benefits and costs of e-cigarette regulation (protecting youth, preventing exposure to secondhand vapor, and government intrusion into individual choices) may be effectively deployed by policy makers or health advocates in communicating with the public.
An Extended Shared Logarithmic Unit for Nonlinear Function Kernel Acceleration in a 65-nm CMOS Multicore Cluster

Energy-efficient computing and ultralow-power computing are strong requirements for various application areas, such as internet of things and wearables. While for some applications integer and fixed-point arithmetic suffice, others require a larger dynamic range, typically obtained using floating-point (FP) numbers. Logarithmic number systems (LNSs) have been proposed as energy-efficient alternative, since several complex FP operations translate into simple integer operations. However, additions and subtractions become nonlinear operations, which have to be approximated via interpolation. Even efficient LNS units (LNUs) are still larger than standard FP units (FPUs), rendering them impractical for most general-purpose processors. We show that, when shared among several cores, LNUs become a very attractive solution. A series of compact LNUs is developed, which provide significantly more functionality (such as transcendental functions) than other state-of-the-art designs. This allows, for example, to evaluate the atan2 function with three instructions for only 183.2 pJ/op at 0.8 V. We present the first shared-LNU architecture where these LNUs have been integrated into a multicore system with four 32-b-OpenRISC cores and show measurement results demonstrating that the shared-LNU design can be up to 4.1× more energy-efficient in common nonlinear processing kernels, compared with a similar area design with four private FPUs.
Depth and Motion Cues with Phosphene Patterns for Prosthetic Vision

Recent research demonstrates that visual prostheses are able to provide visual perception to people with some kind of blindness. In visual prostheses, image information from the scene is transformed to a phosphene pattern to be sent to the implant. This is a complex problem where the main challenge is the very limited spatial and intensity resolution. Moreover, depth perception, which is relevant to perform agile navigation, is lost and codifying the semantic information to phosphene patterns remains an open problem. In this work, we consider the framework of perception for navigation where aspects such as obstacle avoidance are critical. We propose using a head-mounted RGB-D camera to detect free-space, obstacles and scene direction in front of the user. The main contribution is a new approach to represent depth information and provide motion cues by using particular phosphene patterns. The effectiveness of this approach is tested in simulation with real data from indoor environments.
Delay in sexual maturation in perinatally HIV-infected youths is mediated by poor growth

Objective: To evaluate the association between HIV infection and sexual maturation, and mediation of this association by HIV effects on growth. Design: Pooled data were analyzed from two longitudinal cohort studies, the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials P219/219C Study (1993–2007) and the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study Adolescent Master Protocol (2007–2015), including perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) and HIV-exposed uninfected (PHEU) youths. Methods: We evaluated age at sexual maturity among 2539 PHIV and PHEU adolescents based on annual physician-assessed pubertal staging measures. Interval-censored regression models were used to evaluate associations of HIV infection with age at maturity. Mediation analyses accounting for height and BMI Z-scores at specific ages were used to estimate direct and indirect effects of HIV infection on age at sexual maturity. Results: Mean ages at sexual maturity for PHIV girls (n = 1032) were 15.5 years for both female breast and pubic hair and 15.9 and 15.8 years for PHIV boys (n = 1054) for genitalia and pubic hair, respectively. PHIV youths matured approximately 6 months later on average than PHEU (n = 221 girls and 232 boys), and this difference persisted after adjustment for race/ethnicity and birth cohort. BMI and height Z-scores mediated the association between HIV infection and later maturation in girls, accounting for up to 74% of the total HIV effect. Only height Z-scores mediated the effect of HIV on male age at maturity, accounting for up to 98% of the HIV effect. Conclusion: PHIV youths attain sexual maturity later on average than PHEU youths. Much of this difference may be attributable to deficient growth, suggesting directions for future interventions.
Tor Directly Controls the Atg1 Kinase Complex To Regulate Autophagy

ABSTRACT Autophagy is a bulk proteolytic process that is indispensable for cell survival during starvation. Autophagy is induced by nutrient deprivation via inactivation of the rapamycin-sensitive Tor complex1 (TORC1), a protein kinase complex regulating cell growth in response to nutrient conditions. However, the mechanism by which TORC1 controls autophagy and the direct target of TORC1 activity remain unclear. Atg13 is an essential regulatory component of autophagy upstream of the Atg1 kinase complex, and here we show that yeast TORC1 directly phosphorylates Atg13 at multiple Ser residues. Additionally, expression of an unphosphorylatable Atg13 mutant bypasses the TORC1 pathway to induce autophagy through activation of Atg1 in cells growing under nutrient-rich conditions. Our findings suggest that the direct control of the Atg1 complex by TORC1 induces autophagy.
Regenerative therapy for hippocampal degenerative diseases: lessons from preclinical studies

Increase in life expectancy has put neurodegenerative diseases on the rise. Amongst these, degenerative diseases involving hippocampus like Alzheimer's disease (AD) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are ranked higher as it is vulnerable to excitotoxicity induced neuronal dysfunction and death resulting in cognitive impairment. Modern medicines have not succeeded in halting the progression of these diseases rendering them incurable and often fatal. Under such scenario, regenerative studies employing stem cells or their by‐products in animal models of AD and TLE have yielded encourageing results. This review focuses on the distinct cell types, such as hippocampal cell lines, neural precursor cells, embryonic stem cells derived neural precursor cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, induced neurons and mesenchymal stem cells, which can be employed to rescue hippocampal functions in neurodegenerative diseases like AD and TLE. Besides, the divergent mechanisms through which cell based therapy confer neuroprotection, current impediments and possible improvements in stem cell transplantation strategies are discussed. Authors are aware of the voluminous literature available on this issue and have made a sincere attempt to put forth the current status of research in the field of cell based therapy concurrently discussing the promise it holds for combating neurodegenerative diseases like AD and TLE in the near future. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A model for generation of ash clouds by pyroclastic flows, with application to the 1980 eruptions at Mount St. Helens, Washington

Pyroclastic flows are defined as consisting of a dense basal avalanche underlying a turbulent ash cloud. The generation of ash clouds by the basal avalanche is commonly assumed to be closely related either to fluidization mechanisms within the avalanche or to airflow/flow front interactions. These mechanisms carry ash upward from the basal avalanche into the ash cloud in currents of gas or air, but so far no mechanisms have been proposed to keep the ash in turbulent suspension in the ash cloud. Here I consider the ash cloud turbulence that is generated in two ways: by temperature differences between the basal avalanche and overriding air, and by the motions of the blocks, lapilli, and ash on the outer surface of the basal avalanche. This turbulence would carry ash from saltation into turbulent suspension at the base of the ash cloud, and this transition would simultaneously occur from the upper surface and front of the basal avalanche. This approach quantifies one type of airflow/flow front interaction. The analysis incorporates studies of heat and mass transfer from rough surfaces during high Reynolds number flow. Equations for conservation of mass, momentum, heat energy, and ash particle concentration are formulated and presented in integral form. Model results show that for typical avalanche velocities and temperatues, temperature differences between the basal avalanche and the surrounding air are insignificant in generating the initial turbulence within the ash cloud. Instead, the initial distribution of particle sizes in the ash cloud is controlled by the turbulence generated by the saltating/cascading particles in the basal avalanche. Study of the morphology of observed ash clouds suggests that thermally driven convection often becomes significant hundreds of meters or more behind the flow front, and this may result from deposition of significant quantities of ash from the ash cloud onto the basal avalanche. The variations in ash cloud heights, morphologies, and particle sizes that are predicted by this model are consistent with published observations of small pyroclastic flows at Mount St. Helens in 1980.
The Influence of Island Area on Ecosystem Properties

Island area is frequently a major determinant of the species composition of biological communities; community structure, in turn, often has important effects on ecosystem-level properties. Fifty islands of varying area were selected in an archipelago in the northern Swedish boreal forest zone, in which larger islands burn more frequently than smaller ones through wildfire arising from lightning strike, thus inducing a significant relationship between island area and plant species composition. This relationship was found to be a major factor in determining several ecosystem-level properties of these islands, including standing biomass, plant litter decomposition, nitrogen mineralization, terrestrial carbon partitioning, humus accumulation, and plant nitrogen acquisition.