Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Effect of scalp acupuncture on learning ability and hippocampal VEGF expression in chronic cerebral ischemia rats].

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of scalp cluster-needle intervention on cognitive ability and hippocampal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in cerebral ischemia (CI) rats. METHODS Forty Wistar rats were randomized into sham operation (sham), model, scalp-acupuncture and medication groups. Chronic CI model was established by occlusion of the bilateral common carotid arteries. Acupuncture needles were inserted into "Baihui" (GV 20) and its left and right points (2 mm beside GV 20) and manipulated leftward and rightward for 3 min at a frequency of about 200 times/min, retained for 30 min. The treatment was conducted once daily, for 4 weeks. For rats of the medication group, Nimodipine (1 mg/kg) was given to the animal by gavage, once a day, for 4 weeks. The rats' learning ability was measured by Morris water maze. Changes of hip-pocampal cellular morphology were observed by HE staining and light microscope, and hippocampal VEGF expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS In comparison with the sham group, the escape latency of rats in the model group was prolonged significantly (P < 0.05), suggesting a decrease of learning ability after CI. Compared with the model group, the escape latency of both acupuncture and medication groups were reduced markedly after the treatment (P < 0.05). In comparison with the sham group, the number of VEGF immunoreaction (IR) positive cells in the model group was up-regulated significantly (P < 0.05), while compared with the model group, the numbers of both acupuncture and medication groups were increased further (P < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the acupuncture and medication groups in escape latency and VEGF expression levels (P > 0.05). HE staining showed that in the model group the hippocampal pyramidal cells were reduced in number, became vaguer in layers and nucleole, and got deformed in structure with karyopycnosis and disappearance of endochylema, and cavitation. These situations were relatively lighter in both acupuncture and medication groups. CONCLUSION Scalp acupuncture intervention can significantly improve CI rats' congnitive ability and pathological changes, which may be related to its function in increasing the expression of VEGF in the hippocampus.
Phosphorylation/Cytoplasmic Localization of p21Cip1/WAF1 Is Associated with HER2/neu Overexpression and Provides a Novel Combination Predictor for Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer Patients

Purpose: The diversity of biological functions makes p21Cip1/WAF1 (p21) a controversial marker in predicting the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Recent laboratory studies revealed that the regulation of p21 function could be related to different subcellular localizations of p21 by Akt-induced phosphorylation at threonine 145 in HER2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer cells. The purpose of this study was to verify these findings in clinical settings. Experimental Design: The expression status of the key biological markers in the HER2/neu-Akt-p21 pathway in 130 breast cancer specimens was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining and correlated with patients’ clinical parameters and survival. In addition, an antibody against phospho-p21 at threonine 145 [phospho-p21 (T145)] was also used for better validation of these findings. Results: Cytoplasmic localization of p21 is highly correlated with overexpression of phospho-p21 (T145). Both cytoplasmic p21 and overexpression of phospho-p21 (T145) are associated with high expression of HER2/neu and phospho-Akt. Cytoplasmic localization of p21 and overexpression of phospho-p21 (T145), HER2/neu, and phospho-Akt are all associated with worse overall survival. Multivariate analysis of the Cox proportional hazard regression model revealed that cytoplasmic p21 and overexpression of HER2/neu are independently associated with increased risk of death. Combining these two factors stratified patients’ survival into four distinct groups, with a 5-year survival rate of 79% in low HER2/neu and negative/nuclear p21 patients, 60% in high HER2/neu and negative/nuclear p21 patients, 29% in low HER2/neu and cytoplasmic p21 patients, and 16% in high HER2/neu and cytoplasmic p21 patients. Conclusions: The present study, in addition to supporting the mechanisms of p21 regulation derived from laboratory investigation, demonstrates the prognostic importance of phospho-p21 (T145) for the first time and also provides a novel combination of p21 and HER2/neu for better stratification of patients’ survival than any single clinicopathological or biological marker that may play important diagnostic and therapeutic roles for breast cancer patients.
Cross-Validation of Experimental USAF Pilot Training Performance Models

Abstract : A series of studies have indicated that individual differences in hand-eye coordination, information processing ability, personality and attitudes are related to USAF pilot training performance. The current investigation was designed to cross-validate these results. Eight hundred eighty-five (885) USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) students were divided randomly into two groups. Pilot selection models that used a combination of Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) and Basic Attributes Test (BAT) battery scores were developed independently for each group and then cross-validated with the other group. In the model development phase, subjects with good hand-eye coordination who made quick decisions were more likely to complete UPT successfully in both groups. Although there was some reduction in the validity coefficients in the cross-validation phase, the selection models were related significantly to UPT final outcome in both groups. These results suggest that the AFOQT/BAT pilot selection models are sufficiently robust to be used as adjuncts to operational USAF pilot trainee selection procedures. Keywords: Aptitude testing, Basic attributes test, Pilot selection.
Holm's Sequential Bonferroni Procedure

A method is provided for producing a cylinder in a two-cycle engine. The cylinder bore is first machined as a preparation for the provision of a coating. The thereby resulting window edges that surround an inlet window are then at least partially chamfered. The cylinder bore is consequently provided with the coating, which at least partially overlaps the chamfered window edge. There thereby results in the region of the window edge a location of least spacing relative to the axis of the transfer channel. The piston liner or gliding surface is finally machined to a finished dimension such that in the region of the chamfered and coated window edge or corner there is formed a coating edge having a wall spacing relative to the location of least spacing, which such wall spacing having a maximum value of 0.7 mm.
On the Two Components of Pyridoxal 5′-Phosphate Synthase from Bacillus subtilis*

Vitamin B6 is an essential nutrient in the human diet. It can act as a co-enzyme for numerous metabolic enzymes and has recently been shown to be a potent antioxidant. Plants and microorganisms have the ability to make the compound. Yet, studies of vitamin B6 biosynthesis have been mainly restricted to Escherichia coli, where the vitamin is synthesized from 1-deoxy-d -xylulose 5-phosphate and 4-phosphohydroxy-l-threonine. Recently, a novel pathway for its synthesis has been discovered, involving two genes (PDX1 and PDX2) neither of which is homologous to any of those participating in the E. coli pathway. In Bacillus subtilis, YaaD and YaaE represent the PDX1 and PDX2 homolog, respectively. The two proteins form a complex that functions as a glutamine amidotransferase, with YaaE as the glutaminase domain and YaaD as the acceptor and pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) synthesis domain. In this report we corroborate a recent report on the identification of the substrates of YaaD and provide unequivocal proof of the identity of the reaction product. We show that both the glutaminase and synthase reactions are dependent on the respective protein partner. The synthase reaction can also utilize an external ammonium source but, in contrast to other glutamine amidotransferases, is dependent on YaaE under certain conditions. Furthermore, we report on the detailed characterization of the inhibition of the glutaminase domain, and thus PLP synthesis, by the glutamine analog acivicin. Employing pull-out assays and native-PAGE, we provide evidence for the dissociation of the bi-enzyme complex under these conditions. The results are discussed in light of the nature of the interaction of the two components of the enzyme complex.
Can a Good Offense be a Good Defense ? Vulnerability Testing of Anomaly Detectors Through an Artificial Arms Race

Intrusion detection systems, which aim to protect our IT infrastructure are not infallible. Attackers take advantage of detector vulnerabilities and weaknesses to evade detection, hence hindering the effectiveness of the detectors. To do so, attackers generate evasion attacks which can eliminate or minimize the detection while successfully achieving the attacker’s goals. This work proposes an artificial arms race between an automated ‘white-hat’ attacker and various anomaly detectors for the purpose of identifying detector weaknesses. The proposed arms rac aims to automate the vulnerability testing of the anomaly detectors so that the security experts can be more proactive in eliminating detector vulnerabilities.
Ethical Issues in Pharmacologic Research in Women Undergoing Pregnancy Termination: A Systemic Review and Survey of Researchers

Objective. To evaluate the ethics of performing research in the field of maternal-fetal medicine involving women undergoing pregnancy termination. Methods. We identified published pharmacological studies performed during elective pregnancy termination. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to investigate whether this research would be acceptable to professionals performing research in the field of maternal-fetal pharmacology. Results. The majority of participants believe that this form of research is necessary to furthering our understanding of drug use in pregnancy. Twenty studies were identified in women undergoing a pregnancy termination where exogenous drug was administered and drug measurement conducted during an abortion. The majority of studies were completed by international groups and not in North America or Western Europe. Conclusions. While a majority of respondents to the survey felt that, although research in women undergoing a pregnancy termination is ethically acceptable, 40% stated that it is not likely to be approved by institutional review boards of most North American medical institutions.
Robot basketball: A comparison of ball dribbling with visual and force/torque feedback

Ball dribbling is a central element of basketball and a main challenge for creating basketball robots is to achieve stability of the periodic dribbling task. In this paper two control designs for ball dribbling with an industrial robot are compared. For the two strategies, the ball position is determined either through force/torque or visual sensor feedback and the ball trajectory is predicted with a recursive least squares algorithm. The end effector trajectory for each dribbling cycle is generated based on the predicted ball position/velocity at the dribbling height and the estimated coefficient of restitution. For both tracking approaches, dribbling for multiple cycles is achieved. The vision-based approach performs better as compared to the force/torque-based approach, in particular for imprecise estimates of the coefficient of restitution.
Temporal Cortex Neurons Encode Articulated Actions as Slow Sequences of Integrated Poses

Form and motion processing pathways of the primate visual system are known to be interconnected, but there has been surprisingly little investigation of how they interact at the cellular level. Here we explore this issue with a series of three electrophysiology experiments designed to reveal the sources of action selectivity in monkey temporal cortex neurons. Monkeys discriminated between actions performed by complex, richly textured, rendered bipedal figures and hands. The firing patterns of neurons contained enough information to discriminate the identity of the character, the action performed, and the particular conjunction of action and character. This suggests convergence of motion and form information within single cells. Form and motion information in isolation were both sufficient to drive action discrimination within these neurons, but removing form information caused a greater disruption to the original response. Finally, we investigated the temporal window across which visual information is integrated into a single pose (or, equivalently, the timing with which poses are differentiated). Temporal cortex neurons under normal conditions represent actions as sequences of poses integrated over ∼120 ms. They receive both motion and form information, however, and can use either if the other is absent.
Basic Mechanisms of Epilepsy: Targets for Therapeutic Intervention

Summary: Although a wide variety of drugs are available for treatment of epilepsy, many patients with epilepsy still experience uncontrolled seizures. In addition, there is a need for new drugs that can halt epileptogenesis after brain injury. Mechanisms that underlie seizure processes constitute potential target areas for the development of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). An understanding of the underlying mechanisms of interictal spike discharge and seizure spread is critical for the development of AEDs for treatment of partial seizures. Suppression of specific forms of voltage‐dependent calcium currents and inhibition of GABAB receptor‐mediated inhibition are two key target areas for new AEDs to treat primary generalized seizures. As researchers gain more understanding of the cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms underlying seizure propagation, we should be better able to develop therapeutic agents designed to suppress seizure‐provoking mechanisms and to enhance the brain's natural protective mechanisms.
In Vivo Visualization of Notch1 Proteolysis Reveals the Heterogeneity of Notch1 Signaling Activity in the Mouse Cochlea

Mechanosensory hair cells (HCs) and surrounding supporting cells (SCs) in the mouse cochlea are important for hearing and are derived from the same prosensory progenitors. Notch1 signaling plays dual but contrasting and age-dependent roles in mouse cochlear development: early lateral induction and subsequent lateral inhibition. However, it has been difficult to directly visualize mouse cochlear cells experiencing various levels of Notch1 activity at single cell resolution. Here, we characterized two knock-in mouse lines, Notch1Cre (Low)/+ and Notch1Cre (High)/+, with different Cre recombinase activities, that can detect Notch1 receptor proteolysis or Notch1 activity at high and low thresholds, respectively. Using both lines together with a highly sensitive Cre reporter line, we showed that Notch1 activity is nearly undetectable during lateral induction but increases to medium and high levels during lateral inhibition. Furthermore, we found that within the neonatal organ of Corti, the vast majority of cells that experience Notch1 activity were SCs not HCs, suggesting that HCs kept undetectable Notch1 activity during the entire lineage development. Furthermore, among SC subtypes, ∼85–99% of Deiters’ and outer pillar cells but only ∼19–38% of inner pillar cells experience medium and high levels of Notch1 activity. Our results demonstrate that Notch1 activity is highly heterogeneous: 1) between lateral induction and inhibition; 2) between HC and SC lineages; 3) among different SC subtypes; 4) among different cells within each SC subtype. Such heterogeneity should elucidate how the development of the cochclear sensory epithelium is precisely controlled and how HC regeneration can be best achieved in postnatal cochleae.
A comparison of knowledge resource designs : supporting term-level text annotation

What makes a knowledge resource, like a domain model, thesaurus, or ontology, effective for term-level text annotation in the Biology domain? In this work we compare several approaches to ontology design with examples from well-known resources such as OBO, MeSH, and Genia. Based on these comparisons we establish goals for a knowledge resource that supports term-level text annotation and text mining: such a resource should represent terms and relations that are expressed in contiguous spans of text, and its terms should bear meaningful correspondences with other knowledge resources. Finally, we trace how these two goals have affected the re-design of the Genia Ontology over several iterations. The result is a new term hierarchy and a new design process, both specifically tailored to term-level text annotation. This research explores practical influences on the design of knowledge resources for Bio-NLP systems.
What&#146;s in a Name? A Study of Identifiers

Readers of programs have two main sources of domain information: identifier names and comments. When functions are uncommented, as many are, comprehension is almost exclusively dependent on the identifier names. Assuming that writers of programs want to create quality identifiers (e.g., include relevant domain knowledge) how should they go about it? For example, do the initials of a concept name provide enough information to represent the concept? If not, and a longer identifier is needed, is an abbreviation satisfactory or does the concept need to be captured in an identifier that includes full words? Results from a study designed to investigate these questions are reported. The study involved over 100 programmers who were asked to describe twelve different functions. The functions used three different "levels" of identifiers: single letters, abbreviations, and full words. Responses allow the level of comprehension associated with the different levels to be studied. The functions include standard algorithms studied in computer science courses as well as functions extracted from production code. The results show that full word identifiers lead to the best comprehension; however, in many cases, there is no statistical difference between full words and abbreviations
The Permanent Importance of the Subjective Reality of Teachers During Educational Innovation: A Concerns-Based Approach

In the present contribution, the question of the conditions under which innovations appear to succeed stands central. Such objective conditions as organizational structure, technological possibilities, and budgets are clearly important for innovations to succeed. Of particular interest here, however, are, the concerns of teachers and the role that these concerns play in the innovation process. A plea is made for increased attention to the individual questions, needs, and opinions that arise among teachers in response to innovations. Concerns are presented as indicators of the subjective realities of teachers and, at times, the expression of ambivalence with regard to the innovation in question. After sketching the relevant theory, we show that increased attention is needed to the involvement of teachers and, thereby, their concerns with regard to even such recent innovations as adaptive teaching. This need is illustrated on the basis of the research material we have collected over the past few years. The data show, among other things, that teachers at different stages in the innovation process express different types of concerns. Clear attunement of innovation policy to those (possibly subjective) factors influencing the implementation process is thus seen as a necessity. Among these factors are the framework of phases in the innovation, the scale of the innovation, the individual orientations of the teachers involved in the innovation, and the match between the orientations of the teachers and the concerns elicited by the innovation.
Testing the Transition Preparation Training Program: Well-being of relationships outcomes.

PURPOSE To determine the impact of the availability of everyday relationships and types of social support among adolescents with spina bifida on overall satisfaction/well-being of relationships and whether these adolescents differ in their ratings of relationships, social support and overall satisfaction, as measured by the My Family and Friends Scale: Teenage Version, social support scale after their participation in a health care transition intervention program, entitled the Transition Preparation Training Program. METHODS A mixed design ANOVA was conducted. There were 31 eligible adolescents randomly assigned to the treatment group and 34 were assigned to the control group for a total sample size of 65 adolescents (investigator-blinded randomization). RESULTS There were significant main effects for support type, relationship type, and for group. The mean overall satisfaction social support ratings for 31 adolescents in the treatment group slightly increased, pre (M = 38.63), post (M = 39.04), while the mean satisfaction social support ratings for those in the control group (34) did not change, pre (M = 39.95), post (M = 39.95). CONCLUSIONS Relationship type and social support are important factors in overall satisfaction/well-being of relationships among adolescents with spina bifida. Discussing social networks, when preparing these adolescents for transition, may help promote evaluation of the types of support needed.
MEK2 Is Sufficient but Not Necessary for Proliferation and Anchorage-Independent Growth of SK-MEL-28 Melanoma Cells

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MKK or MEK) 1 and 2 are usually treated as redundant kinases. However, in assessing their relative contribution towards ERK-mediated biologic response investigators have relied on tests of necessity, not sufficiency. In response we developed a novel experimental model using lethal toxin (LeTx), an anthrax toxin-derived pan-MKK protease, and genetically engineered protease resistant MKK mutants (MKKcr) to test the sufficiency of MEK signaling in melanoma SK-MEL-28 cells. Surprisingly, ERK activity persisted in LeTx-treated cells expressing MEK2cr but not MEK1cr. Microarray analysis revealed non-overlapping downstream transcriptional targets of MEK1 and MEK2, and indicated a substantial rescue effect of MEK2cr on proliferation pathways. Furthermore, LeTx efficiently inhibited the cell proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of SK-MEL-28 cells expressing MKK1cr but not MEK2cr. These results indicate in SK-MEL-28 cells MEK1 and MEK2 signaling pathways are not redundant and interchangeable for cell proliferation. We conclude that in the absence of other MKK, MEK2 is sufficient for SK-MEL-28 cell proliferation. MEK1 conditionally compensates for loss of MEK2 only in the presence of other MKK.