Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic nitric oxide blockade modulates renal Na–K–2Cl cotransporters

Objective The Na–K–2Cl cotransporter (NKCC2 isoform) of the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop (TAL) plays an important role in renal sodium handling, and the vascular isoform (NKCC1) participates in the response to vasoconstrictors. Both isoforms appear to be regulated by nitric oxide. This study aimed to analyze the effect of chronic nitric oxide deficiency on tubular and vascular Na–K–2Cl cotransporters in kidney and their potential role in the development of N-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME) hypertension. Methods Wistar rats were given L-NAME (vehicle, 10, 35 and 80 mg/100 ml drinking water) for 4 weeks. Blood pressure was measured by the tail-cuff method. NKCC2 activity was estimated as the bumetanide-sensitive Rb+ influx in fresh isolated TAL tubules. NKCC1-contractile function was estimated as the bumetanide-sensitive vasocontractile response to phenylephrine in isolated perfused kidneys. Acute effects of L-NAME and endothelium removal were also evaluated. NKCC2 and NKCC1 protein expression were assessed by western blot analysis. Results Chronic L-NAME administration increased, in a dose-dependent manner, both blood pressure and NKCC2 activity, and these changes significantly correlated (r2 = 0.89, P < 0.01). NKCC1-contractile activity decreased with the highest dose of L-NAME (80 mg/100 ml drinking water group) but it was not affected by acute nitric oxide blockade or endothelium removal. This 80 mg group showed increased NKCC2 expression in the renal medulla and decreased NKCC1 expression in aorta. Conclusions Chronic nitric oxide deficiency stimulates tubular Na–K–2Cl cotransporter, suggesting that NKCC2 hyperactivity contributes to the inability to excrete sodium, and hence to the development of L-NAME hypertension. In contrast, L-NAME hypertension develops independently of vascular NKCC1-contractile activity.
Predicting the form and direction of work role performance from the Big 5 model of personality traits

This research examined the prediction of the form and direction of work role performance from the Big 5 model of personality traits. Nine dimensions of work role performance are created by cross-classifying the form of work role behavior (proficient, adaptive, and proactive) with the level at which that behavior contributes to effectiveness (individual, team, and organizational). The authors collected self-report measurements of personality from 1447 government employees and supervisor ratings of performance. Openness to experience and agreeableness had opposing effects on individual proactivity - openness was positively related, whereas agreeableness was negatively related to this dimension. Openness to experience also had opposing effects on the form of work role performance - it was positively related to individual and organizational proactivity but negatively related to team and organizational proficiency. Conscientiousness was a stronger predictor of individual task proficiency than the remaining eight dimensions, whereas the reverse was true for neuroticism. Extraversion was negatively related to individual proficiency. Using a broad taxonomy of performance that incorporates a theoretical framework for distinguishing between constructs shows promise for identifying which personality traits are important for which aspects of work role performance.
Advances in the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma

Advances in the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma Background. In most cases, metastatic colorectal cancer is incurable; however, the prognosis and survival of these patients have significantly improved in the last 6 years. A few years back, the only efficient drug for colorectal carcinoma, 5-fluoruracil, yielded the mean survival of 10 months, whereas today, the survival rates of 20 months or more may be obtained by using new cytostatics. In the last six years, five new drugs were registered for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. These are three cytostatics (capecitabine, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) and two target drugs (cetuximab and bevacizumab). Conclusions. A combined treatment assures a better quality of life, and longer remissions and overall survival. The combination of cytostatics and target drugs improves particularly the mean survival rate, which may be longer than 30 months. These combinations of drugs used together with surgical treatment of lung and liver metastases may result in complete remission. An important research achievement of this year is the determination of KRAS mutations. The KRAS gene is the first biomarker that predicts how well patients will respond to certain combination of treatment.
[Pseudolymphomatous aspects of mesenteric lymphadenopathies in Whipple's disease. Value of x-ray computed tomography monitoring].

Lymphadenopathy is a very common finding during the course of Whipple's disease (W.D.). Abdominal (mesenteric and retroperitoneal) tumoral lymphnodes may mimick malignant neoplasm, specially a lymphoma. The authors report the case of a patient who had an abdominal computer-assisted tomography (C.T.) at the diagnosis and during an eleven month survey for W.D. General C.T. findings can help to differenciate mesenteric lymphadenopathy in W.D. from those found in malignant lymphomas: low density (10-20 Hounsfield Units) because of the high fatty charge of Whipple's lymphnodes, lymphadenopathy in the lower mediastinum, progressive but slow improvement with antibiotic therapy.
Lullabies and Simplicity: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Pairs of folk lullabies and comparison songs from different cultures were presented to adult listeners, who were required to choose the simpler song in each pair. Adults judged the lullaby excerpts as simpler whether presented with original field recordings, low-pass filtered versions that made the words unintelligible or excerpts synthesised with a uniform (piano) timbre. Structural analyses of the songs failed to reveal musical features that differentiated lullabies from other songs. Nevertheless, such analyses revealed melodic features that predicted adults' identification of lullabies.
Association between nodes to combat blackhole attack in DSR based MANET

Mobile adhoc network (MANET) has become an exciting and important technology in recent years because of the rapid proliferation of wireless devices. MANET's are highly vulnerable to attacks due to the open medium, dynamically changing network topology, cooperative algorithms, lack of centralized monitoring and management point, and lack of clear line defense. In this work we analyze the blackhole attack which is one of the possible and commonest attacks in adhoc networks. In this attack the malicious nodes advertise itself having the shortest path to the destination. In our approach we classify nodes in to 3 categories based on their behaviour. The extents of association between the nodes are used for the route selection. We have conducted extensive experiments using the network simulator-2 to validate our research.
AMPK-and SNF 1-Related Kinases : Roles in Lower Eukaryotes

AMP-activated protein kinase appears to have evolved in single-celled eukaryotes as an adenine nucleotide sensor that maintains energy homeostasis at the cellular level. However, during evolution of more complex multicellular organisms, the system has adapted to interact with hormones so that it also plays a key role in balancing energy intake and expenditure at the whole body level. D. Grahame Hardie, and Michael L. J. Ashford Division of Cell Signalling & Immunology, College of Life Sciences, and Division of Cardiovascular and Diabetes Medicine, College of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
Governing by numbers: the PISA ‘effect’ in Europe

This paper examines the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which has become a major and influential component of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) educational work. This measure of comparative performance of educational systems of member and other nations is based on tests commissioned by the OECD. The paper discusses the role of the OECD in establishing the ‘comparative’ turn and also describes PISA, its management and effects. It provides three examples of the impact of PISA in Finland, Germany and the UK before moving the focus to its impacts at the transnational level, through an examination of how key European policy actors see PISA and its effects. The paper concludes that PISA, through its direct impact on national education systems in Europe and beyond, has become an indirect, but nonetheless influential tool of the new political technology of governing the European education space by numbers.
Vascular Permeability and Drug Delivery in Cancers

The endothelial barrier strictly maintains vascular and tissue homeostasis, and therefore modulates many physiological processes such as angiogenesis, immune responses, and dynamic exchanges throughout organs. Consequently, alteration of this finely tuned function may have devastating consequences for the organism. This is particularly obvious in cancers, where a disorganized and leaky blood vessel network irrigates solid tumors. In this context, vascular permeability drives tumor-induced angiogenesis, blood flow disturbances, inflammatory cell infiltration, and tumor cell extravasation. This can directly restrain the efficacy of conventional therapies by limiting intravenous drug delivery. Indeed, for more effective anti-angiogenic therapies, it is now accepted that not only should excessive angiogenesis be alleviated, but also that the tumor vasculature needs to be normalized. Recovery of normal state vasculature requires diminishing hyperpermeability, increasing pericyte coverage, and restoring the basement membrane, to subsequently reduce hypoxia, and interstitial fluid pressure. In this review, we will introduce how vascular permeability accompanies tumor progression and, as a collateral damage, impacts on efficient drug delivery. The molecular mechanisms involved in tumor-driven vascular permeability will next be detailed, with a particular focus on the main factors produced by tumor cells, especially the emblematic vascular endothelial growth factor. Finally, new perspectives in cancer therapy will be presented, centered on the use of anti-permeability factors and normalization agents.
Evaluation of interactive user corrections for lecture transcription

In this work, we present and evaluate the usage of an interactive web interface for browsing and correcting lecture transcripts. An experiment performed with potential users without transcription experience provides us with a set of example corrections. On German lecture data, user corrections greatly improve the comprehensibility of the transcripts, yet only reduce the WER to 22%. The precision of user edits is relatively low at 77% and errors in inflection, case and compounds were rarely corrected. Nevertheless, characteristic lecture data errors, such as highly specific terms, were typically corrected, providing valuable additional information.
Effect and utilization of common source inductance in synchronous rectification

Synchronous rectification is widely used in low voltage high current applications to reduce conduction loss. Common source inductance is the inductance shared by gate driver loop and main power transfer path. Minimization of common source inductance has been accepted as a common design rule for power converters using power MOSFET. In this paper, the effects of commons source inductance for control and sync FETs are explored in detail. In contrary to traditional belief, common source inductance of sync FET could provide significant benefits. With sync FET common source inductance, minimal dead time, shoot through prevention and Cdv/dt immunity could be achieved, and significant switching loss reduction could be realized for all types of synchronous rectifications.
A 1-V MOSFET-only fully-differential dynamic comparator for use in low-voltage pipelined A/D converters

Low-voltage low-power comparators implemented in standard digital processes are of increasing importance in different integrated applications. In this paper a 1-V fully-differential low-power MOSFET-only comparator with rail-to-rail input swing is presented which can be suitably used in very low-voltage low-power pipelined A/D converters. This comparator utilizes a resistive divider configuration with a MOSFET-only clock booster to supply a higher voltage for the dynamic latch in the intervals that a comparison is to be made. HSPICE simulations of the proposed comparator in a 0.25-μm CMOS process, confirm the rail-to-rail input range of the fully-differential comparator with a supply voltage of 1 V with a decision time of less than 1 ns while driving a capacitive load of 0.2pF. The worst-case dynamic power consumption of the proposed comparator is less than 100μW with a clock frequency of 50MHz.
Please Scroll down for Article Critical Reviews in Toxicology the Nature of Chromosomal Aberrations Detected in Humans Exposed to Benzene

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Scientific User Behavior and Data-Sharing Trends in a Petascale File System

The Oak Rrdge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) runs the No. 4 supercomputer in the world, supported by a petascale file system, to facilitate scientific discovery. In this paper, using the daily file system metadata snapshots collected over 500 days, we have studied the behavioral trends of 1,362 active users and 380 projects across 35 science domains. In particular, we have analyzed both individual and collective behavior of users and projects, highlighting needs from individual communities and the overall requirements to operate the file system. We have analyzed the metadata across three dimensions, namely (i) the projects’ file generation and usage trends, using quantitative file system-centric metrics, (ii) scientific user behavior on the file system, and (iii) the data sharing trends of users and projects. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first of its kind to provide comprehensive insights on user behavior from multiple science domains through metadata analysis of a large-scale shared file system. We envision that this OLCF case study will provide valuable insights for the design, operation, and management of storage systems at scale, and also encourage other HPC centers to undertake similar such efforts.CCS CONCEPTS•Software and its engineering →File systems management; •Information systems →Distributed StOrage; •General and reference →Measurement;
Overexpression of Nodal induces a metastatic phenotype in pancreatic cancer cells via the Smad2/3 pathway

Metastasis is the major cause for the high mortality rate of pancreatic cancer. Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) associated genes frequently correlate with malignant disease progression. Recent studies have demonstrated that the embryonic protein Nodal, which plays a critical role during embryonic development, is re-expressed in several types of tumors and promotes cancers progression. However, little is known about the role of Nodal in pancreatic cancer. Here, we show that Nodal expression is upregulated in human pancreatic cancer tissues. Moreover, Nodal expression levels correlate well with the grade of pancreatic cancer differentiation. In addition, we present clear evidence that Nodal induces signal transduction through the Smad2/3-dependent pathway in vitro. Furthermore, we show that Nodal promotes pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion, induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and enhances the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) and CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4). Using an in vivo liver metastasis model of pancreatic cancer, we observed that blocking Nodal signaling activity with the small-molecule inhibitor SB431542 decreases the number and size of liver metastases. Taken together, our results suggest that Nodal overexpression induces a metastatic phenotype in pancreatic cancer cells, and that targeting Nodal signaling may be a promising therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer.
Laser Beam Operated Windows Operation

The interaction of computer with human is done mainly by mouse and keyboard. Before Windows operating system came we were forced to interact with computer through keyboard only. In the last one decade or so there was tremendous revolution in IT tools and peripheral devices. Mouse operation dramatically changed the style of computer interaction with human. To operate keyboard or mouse from a remote place sometimes we use wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. Wireless mouse helps us to operate the computer comfortably from a sufficient distance and no cable connection is required for that. But the problem is that the distance can not be more than 10-15 ft and there should not be any obstacle between computer and the remote mouse. There is another type of mouse which is called air mouse which can be used in air even if it is not pointed to the screen. The air mouse is definitely a modern version of mouse but it is too costly and the operation is also a bit complex than normal mouse operation. One of the applications of a remote mouse is to use it as a presentation pointer. An affordable handheld mouse pointer could replace the existing laser pointer. The extensive features on the current products, which are not needed for a presentation pointer, come at a high cost. So the challenge is to develop a new pointer that is affordable and easy-to-use, but has more functionality than the standard laser pointer. In the present paper the authors present a vision-based interaction system that pre-warps the image to be projected in such a way that the distortions induced by the projector-screen geometry precisely negate the warping. It is augmented with a natural interface that enables the user to interactively refine the suggested rectification. The camera is subsequently used to detect the position of the laser pointer dot on the screen, allowing the laser pointer to emulate the pointing actions of a mouse. The user can simulate any kind of mouse events using the laser pointer. The authors have proposed a method for controlling the complete mouse operations such as left click, right click, double click, drag and drop operation using laser beam and a camera and the image processing is done by Mat lab program developed by the authors.
Caught up in and by the Beautiful Game

Drawing upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this article illustrates how a group of young, predominantly working-class men come to possess a doxic knowledge of the value of the game of football and its stakes. Drawing on a survey of Scottish football players, the article concludes that young participants are guided from an early age toward sporting careers that, although offering the hope of transcending their objective conditions, invariably deceive them with optimism. In the perilous financial climate facing the Scottish professional game, players are being discarded bereft of the exchangeable, readily transferable skills necessary for a future in an alternative employment field. Overreliant upon a constantly depreciating bank of physical capital, these players face precarious futures once this asset reaches exhaustion and their working bodies are deemed surplus to requirements.
African American Health Initiative Planning Project: A Social Ecological Approach Utilizing Community-Based Participatory Research Methods

Much of the scientific literature in the area of health continues to ask the question, “How can we get African Americans involved in research and prevention activities? ” The African American Health Initiative represents an answer to this question and is in many ways a success story of a local Black population that willingly engaged in health planning through a community-based participatory research process. A mixed-method sequential exploratory design was utilized to implement the health planning process. A social ecological model was created with five levels of influence and was utilized as a guide for engagement. A total of 1,078 individuals (95% Black) participated. A comprehensive plan was created with nine recommendations for the improvement of the health of the local and neighboring Black populations.
Volunteering: A Serious Leisure Perspective

A handful of observers have suggested that volunteering can be defined and described as a leisure activity. Extending this reasoning, it is argued that many kinds of volunteering, because they foster the acquisition and expression of a combination of special skills, knowledge, and experience, can be looked on as serious leisure. The serious leisure perspective not only defines and explains volunteers and volunteering as self-interested leisure but also opens the way to a more comprehensive theoretical statement of leisure volunteering than was heretofore available. In this artick, the author explores the leisure components of all volunteering to learn where the serious leisure model applies. Distinctions are drawn between types of volunteering: career and casual, formal and informal, and occupational and nonoccupational. The perspective fails to fit each type equally well. It fits best the types of volunteering classifiable as formal and nonoccupational, types in which wlunteers normally find substantial leisure careers.
Improving the delivery room setting in developing countries: the opinion of local health caregivers

Objective: Neonatal mortality has remained steady or increased in many developing countries. A pragmatic approach to the organization of the delivery room setting, where a large part of neonatal deaths occurs, could detect the priorities for potential ameliorative interventions. We evaluated the local health caregivers' opinions regarding the priority areas for improving the hospital delivery room setting in developing countries.
DEBATING COLOURED IDENTITY IN THE WESTERN CAPE

Extracted from text . The nature and form of coloured identity in the Western Cape has been vociferously debated. Coloured identity became a particular concern after the 1994 general elections when the coloured vote returned the National Party to the Western Cape provincial government. More recently, a spate of incidents in the Western Cape have propelled the group into the national spotlight. Many coloureds have indicated that they feel marginalised in the post-apartheid dispensation, and are especially resentful at what they perceive to be a preferential allocation of resources to Africans in the Western Cape, when their needs are just as great. These tensions .