Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Membrane permeability changes during stimulation of isolated salivary glands of Calliphora by 5‐hydroxytryptamine.

1. The membrane resistance of isolated salivary glands was found to decrease in response to 5‐HT. The change in resistance was calcium‐dependent. 2. The resistance change of the apical membrane was found to be much greater than the change in resistance of the basal membrane. 3. Potential responses under current‐clamped conditions showed that one part of the biphasic response to 5‐HT (attributed to an increase in chloride permeability) could be reversed and the other part (attributed to an increase in a potassium pump) could not. 4. These observations have been incorporated into a model which, on evaluation, predicts all of the observed potential changes during the action of 5‐HT. It suggests that the potential responses reflect changes in the internal chloride concentration produced by the calcium‐dependent increases in chloride permeability.
The Knowledge Integration Environment: a preface

Science education research all too often suffers from a series of major difficulties. Lack of resources can mean that only limited facets of complicated problems are addressed, producing less than comprehensive insights, often because the work is conducted over too short a timeframe. The topics chosen for enquiry are too often rooted in the history of science educational practices, rather than in anticipation of how those practices will evolve in the future. A failure to co-ordinate enquiry and developmental activities can mean that, even where problems are thoroughly unravelled, practical solutions to them are not produced. The Knowledge Integration Environment work, directed by Professor Marcia Linn of the University of California at Berkeley, has avoided all these difficulties. The five papers which form the core of this Special Issue are the current culmination of a programme of work which has been going on for over a decade. The use of the internet in the learning and teaching of science, surely a theme of great importance for the immediate future of science education, has been subjected to a series of co-ordinated enquiries, which are reported here by the team which carried out the work. Research has been conducted within a framework of developmental work, ensuring that problems and their solutions are juxtaposed. The core papers were, as usual, subjected to refereeing and amendment before acceptance. What is perhaps unusual is that the complete set were then sent to each of the three independent commentators: Richard White, Doris Jorde and BatSheva Eylon, whose observations on the conduct and significance of the work form the last three papers in the set.
Boys live dangerously in the womb

The growth of every human fetus is constrained by the limited capacity of the mother and placenta to deliver nutrients to it. At birth, boys tend to be longer than girls at any placental weight. Boy's placentas may therefore be more efficient than girls, but may have less reserve capacity. In the womb boys grow faster than girls and are therefore at greater risk of becoming undernourished. Fetal undernutrition leads to small size at birth and cardiovascular disorders, including hypertension, in later life. We studied 2003 men and women aged around 62 years who were born in Helsinki, Finland, of whom 644 had hypertension: we examined their body and placental size at birth. In both sexes, hypertension was associated with low birth weight. In men, hypertension was also associated with a long minor diameter of the placental surface. The dangerous growth strategy of boys may be compounded by the costs of compensatory placental enlargement in late gestation. In women, hypertension was associated with a small placental area, which may reduce nutrient delivery to the fetus. In men, hypertension was linked to the mothers' socioeconomic status, an indicator of their diets: in women it was linked to the mothers' heights, an indicator of their protein metabolism. Boys' greater dependence on their mothers' diets may enable them to capitalize on an improving food supply, but it makes them vulnerable to food shortages. The ultimate manifestation of their dangerous strategies may be that men have higher blood pressures and shorter lives than women. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interpreting social cues to generate credible affective reactions of virtual job interviewers

In this paper we describe a mechanism of generating credible affective reactions in a virtual recruiter during an interaction with a user. This is done using communicative performance computation based on the behaviours of the user as detected by a recognition module. The proposed software pipeline is part of the TARDIS system which aims to aid young job seekers in acquiring job interview related social skills. In this context, our system enables the virtual recruiter to realistically adapt and react to the user in real-time.
Vitamin E reduces the uptake of oxidized LDL by inhibiting CD36 scavenger receptor expression in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells.

BACKGROUND Vitamin E is well known as an antioxidant, and numerous studies suggest that it has a preventive role in atherosclerosis, although the mechanism of action still remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS The original aim of this study was to establish whether alpha-tocopherol (the most active form of vitamin E) acts at the earliest events on the cascade of atherosclerosis progression, that of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) uptake and foam-cell formation. We show here that the CD36 scavenger receptor (a specific receptor for oxLDL) is expressed in cultured human aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Treatment of SMCs and HL-60 macrophages with alpha-tocopherol (50 micromol/L, a physiological concentration) downregulates CD36 expression by reducing its promoter activity. Furthermore, we find that alpha-tocopherol treatment of SMCs leads to a reduction of oxLDL uptake. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that CD36 is expressed in cultured human SMCs. In these cells, CD36 transports oxLDL into the cytosol. alpha-Tocopherol inhibits oxLDL uptake by a mechanism involving downregulation of CD36 mRNA and protein expression. Therefore, the beneficial effect of alpha-tocopherol against atherosclerosis can be explained, at least in part, by its effect of lowering the uptake of oxidized lipoproteins, with consequent reduction of foam cell formation.
Identiﬁcation and characterization of pleckstrin-homology-domain-dependent and isoenzyme-speciﬁc Akt inhibitors

We developed a high-throughput HTRF (homogeneous time-resolved ﬂuorescence) assay for Akt kinase activity and screened approx. 270000 compounds for their ability to inhibit the three isoforms of Akt. Two Akt inhibitors were identiﬁed that exhibited isoenzyme speciﬁcity. The ﬁrst compound (Akt-I-1) inhibited only Akt1 (IC 50 4.6 µ M) while the second compound (Akt-I-1,2) inhibited both Akt1 and Akt2 with IC 50 values of 2.7 and 21 µ M respectively. Neither compound inhibited Akt3 nor mutants lacking the PH (pleckstrin homology) domain at concentrations up to 250 µ M. These compounds were reversible inhibitors, and exhibited a linear mixed-type inhibition against ATP and peptide substrate. In addition to inhibiting kinase activity of individual Akt isoforms, both inhibitors blocked the phosphorylation and activation of the corresponding Akt isoforms by PDK1 (phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1). A model is proposed in which these inhibitors bind to a site formed only in the presence of the PH domain. Binding of the inhibitor is postulated to promote the formation of an inactive conformation. In support of this model, antibodies to the Akt PH domain or hinge region blocked the inhibition of Akt by Akt-I-1 and Akt-I-1,2. These inhibitors were found to be cell-active and to block phosphorylation of Akt at Thr 308 and Ser 473 , reduce the levels of active Akt in cells, block the phosphorylation of known Akt substrates and promote TRAIL (tumour-necrosis-factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand)-induced apoptosis in LNCap prostate cancer cells.
Adaptive Halftone Watermarking Algorithm Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

Digital watermarking has been widely used in copyright protection for digital images, but most of the watermarking algorithm can't resist print-and-scan process. Print-and-scan attack is a challenging problem for most of digital watermarks. A watermarking algorithm against print-and-scan attack based on PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) is proposed in this paper. The watermark information is embedded in a halftone process for image screening with phase modulation method. The watermark is extracted by a template, which is optimized using the PSO algorithm. Both mean filtering and median filtering are used to remove noise from the recovered watermark image. The experimental results show the halftone watermarking algorithm optimized using PSO has better performance, it is robust under smearing attack and cropping attack, and has good resistance to print-and-scan process. It can be applied in the field of anti-counterfeit printing.
The Presenters of Anger Management Programmes : Their Experiences of Working in the Context of Prisons

The study was an exploration of the experiences of eight presenters of anger management programmes in relation to their work in prisons. It was conducted within an interpretive paradigm using a phenomenological framework From the data analysis, four principal themes emerged. One centred on the impact of the prison environment; another on the work culture of prisons; a third on experiential group processes; and a fourth on personal concerns of the participants. The results suggest the environment and culture of the prison had a strong impact on the presenters personally and had a dominant influence on the way they could work there. Prisons are very restrictive environments where the potential for violence is always present. Therefore it is both challenging and stressful for those who work there. Non-custodial workers need to learn to understand the culture and to adapt to the prison environment to work there effectively. They need training and support to operate within that context, and to have strategies implemented to ensure their personal safety. The study has implications for the selection, training and support of non-custodial prison workers, particularly contract workers. This research is a first step in a possible major research area.
Regulation of growth by the trehalose pathway

Carbon signaling can override carbon supply in the regulation of growth. At least some of this regulation is imparted by the sugar signal trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) through the protein kinase, SnRK1. This signaling pathway regulates biosynthetic processes involved in growth under optimal growing conditions. Recently, using a seedling system we showed that under sub-optimal conditions, such as cold, carbon signaling by T6P/ SnRK1 enables recovery of growth following relief of the stress. The T6P/ SnRK1 mechanism thus could be selected as a means of improving low temperature tolerance. High-throughput automated Fv/Fm measurements provide a potential means to screen for T6P/ SnRK1, and here we confirm through measurements of Fv/Fm in rosettes that T6P promotes low temperature tolerance and recovery during cold to warm transfer. Further, to better understand the coordination between sugars, trehalose pathway, and temperature-dependent growth, we examine the interrelationship between sugars, trehalose phosphate synthase (TPS), and trehalose phosphate phosphatase (TPP) gene expression and T6P content in seedlings. Sucrose, particularly when fed exogenously, correlated well with TPS1 and TPPB gene expression, suggesting that these enzymes are involved in maintaining carbon flux through the pathway in relation to sucrose supply. However, when sucrose accumulated to higher levels under low temperature and low N, TPS1 and TPPB expression were less directly related to sucrose; other factors may also contribute to regulation of TPS1 and TPPB expression under these conditions. TPPA expression was not related to sucrose content and all genes were not well correlated with endogenous glucose. Our work has implications for understanding acclimation to sink-limited growth conditions such as low temperature and for screening cold-tolerant genotypes with altered T6P/ SnRK1 signaling.
TNF-alpha and TNF-alpha receptor type 1 upregulation in glia and neurons after peripheral nerve injury: studies in murine DRG and spinal cord.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the current study was to evaluate changes in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha ) and TNF-alpha receptor 1 (p55 receptor) using double fluorescent immunohistochemistry in glial and neural cells in the dorsal root ganglion and spinal cord after sciatic nerve injury in mice. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA. : TNF-alpha is a primary mediator of the inflammatory response and is primarily synthesized and released in the nervous system by macrophages and Schwann cells following peripheral nerve injury. TNF-alpha is also released from astrocytes and microglia in the central nervous system, where it plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of injury. METHODS Sixteen female mice were used. Under anesthesia, the left sciatic nerve was crushed. At 3, 5, and 14 days after surgery, the spinal cord at the level of L5 and the left L5 DRG were removed and processed for immunohistochemistry. Tissue sections were double stained with antibodies to either glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP; marker for astrocytes or satellite cells) or NeuN (marker for neurons), and TNF or p55 receptor. RESULTS. : In the dorsal root ganglion, GFAP-immunoreactive (IR) satellite cells became evident after injury and were also immunoreactive for both TNF-alpha and p55 receptor. Dorsal root ganglion neurons expressed p55 receptor after injury. TNF-alpha and GFAP-IR satellite cells surrounded p55-IR neurons. Furthermore, the number of GFAP-IR astrocytes dramatically increased in the spinal cord after nerve injury, and some astrocytes were also TNF-alpha -IR and p55 receptor-IR. TNF-alpha -1R astrocytes were seen around p55 receptor-IR neurons. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that upregulation of glial TNF-alpha is associated with the expression of the p55 receptor on adjacent neurons. This association may have induced the expression of several cytokines and immediate early genes in dorsal root ganglion and spinal cord neurons via the TNF signaling pathway. These findings may be related to the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain.
Tobacco smoke is a source of toxic reactive glycation products.

Smokers have a significantly higher risk for developing coronary and cerebrovascular disease than nonsmokers. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are reactive, cross-linking moieties that form from the reaction of reducing sugars and the amino groups of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. AGEs circulate in high concentrations in the plasma of patients with diabetes or renal insufficiency and have been linked to the accelerated vasculopathy seen in patients with these diseases. Because the curing of tobacco takes place under conditions that could lead to the formation of glycation products, we examined whether tobacco and tobacco smoke could generate these reactive species that would increase AGE formation in vivo. Our findings show that reactive glycation products are present in aqueous extracts of tobacco and in tobacco smoke in a form that can rapidly react with proteins to form AGEs. This reaction can be inhibited by aminoguanidine, a known inhibitor of AGE formation. We have named these glycation products "glycotoxins. " Like other known reducing sugars and reactive glycation products, glycotoxins form smoke, react with protein, exhibit a specific fluorescence when cross-linked to proteins, and are mutagenic. Glycotoxins are transferred to the serum proteins of human smokers. AGE-apolipoprotein B and serum AGE levels in cigarette smokers were significantly higher than those in nonsmokers. These results suggest that increased glycotoxin exposure may contribute to the increased incidence of atherosclerosis and high prevalence of cancer in smokers.
A framework for named entity recognition in the open domain

In this paper, a system for Named Entity Recognition in the Open domain (NERO) is described. It is concerned with recognition of various types of entity, types that will be appropriate for Information Extraction in any scenario context. The recognition task is performed by identifying normally capitalised phrases in a document and then submitting queries to a search engine to find potential hypernyms of the capitalised sequences. These hypernyms are then clustered to derive a typology of named entities for the document. The hypernyms of the normally capitalised phrases are used to classify them with respect to this typology. The method is tested on a small corpus and its classifications are evaluated. Finally, conclusions are drawn and future work considered.
Stem Cell Properties of Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells

In this study, we characterized the self-renewal capability, multi-lineage differentiation capacity, and clonogenic efficiency of human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). DPSCs were capable of forming ectopic dentin and associated pulp tissue in vivo. Stromal-like cells were reestablished in culture from primary DPSC transplants and re-transplanted into immunocompromised mice to generate a dentin-pulp-like tissue, demonstrating their self-renewal capability. DPSCs were also found to be capable of differentiating into adipocytes and neural-like cells. The odontogenic potential of 12 individual single-colony-derived DPSC strains was determined. Two-thirds of the single-colony-derived DPSC strains generated abundant ectopic dentin in vivo, while only a limited amount of dentin was detected in the remaining one-third. These results indicate that single-colony-derived DPSC strains differ from each other with respect to their rate of odontogenesis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that DPSCs possess stem-cell-like qualities, including self-renewal capability and multi-lineage differentiation.
Research on Probabilistic Production Simulation of Grid Connected Renewable Energy Generation with Flexibility Evaluation

For the probabilistic production simulation of the grid-connected renewable energy generation, the quantification of time-series and stochastic characteristic of renewable generation output are modeled. And then the flexibility of power system is described from two aspects: regulation capacity and regulation rate. Based these, a complete algorithm and analysis flow for probabilistic production simulation of grid connected renewable energy generation with flexibility evaluation and the corresponding case study are provided. The results show that this is a useful method, which can be used in the optimal plan and operation of renewable generation.
Population-Level Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution during Active Travel: Planning for Low-Exposure, Health-Promoting Cities

Background: Providing infrastructure and land uses to encourage active travel (i.e., bicycling and walking) are promising strategies for designing health-promoting cities. Population-level exposure to air pollution during active travel is understudied. Objectives: Our goals were a) to investigate population-level patterns in exposure during active travel, based on spatial estimates of bicycle traffic, pedestrian traffic, and particulate concentrations; and b) to assess how those exposure patterns are associated with the built environment. Methods: We employed facility–demand models (active travel) and land use regression models (particulate concentrations) to estimate block-level (n = 13,604) exposure during rush-hour (1600–1800 hours) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We used the model-derived estimates to identify land use patterns and characteristics of the street network that are health promoting. We also assessed how exposure is correlated with indicators of health disparities (e.g., household income, proportion of nonwhite residents). Our work uses population-level rates of active travel (i.e., traffic flows) rather than the probability of walking or biking (i.e., “walkability” or “bikeability”) to assess exposure. Results: Active travel often occurs on high-traffic streets or near activity centers where particulate concentrations are highest (i.e., 20–42% of active travel occurs on blocks with high population-level exposure). Only 2–3% of blocks (3–8% of total active travel) are “sweet spots” (i.e., high active travel, low particulate concentrations); sweet spots are located a) near but slightly removed from the city-center or b) on off-street trails. We identified 1,721 blocks (~ 20% of local roads) where shifting active travel from high-traffic roads to adjacent low-traffic roads would reduce exposure by ~ 15%. Active travel is correlated with population density, land use mix, open space, and retail area; particulate concentrations were mostly unchanged with land use. Conclusions: Public health officials and urban planners may use our findings to promote healthy transportation choices. When designing health-promoting cities, benefits (physical activity) as well as hazards (air pollution) should be evaluated. Citation: Hankey S, Lindsey G, Marshall JD. 2017. Population-level exposure to particulate air pollution during active travel: planning for low-exposure, health-promoting cities. Environ Health Perspect 125:–534; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/EHP442
The impact of half-duplex relaying on the effective capacity of two-hop communication systems

This paper investigates the two-hop communication between a source and a destination with the aid of an intermediate half-duplex relay node. There is no direct link between the source and the destination. Both the source and intermediate relay node are assumed to operate under statistical quality of service (QoS) constraints imposed as limitations on the buffer overflow probabilities. It is further assumed that the nodes send the information at fixed power levels and have perfect channel side information. In this scenario, the maximum constant arrival rates that can be supported by this two-hop link are characterized by finding the effective capacity. Through this analysis, the impact upon the throughput of using half-duplex relays and having buffer constraints at the source and relay nodes is identified.