Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of Collagen Transplants Seeded with Human Autologous Chondrocytes at the Time of Transplantation

Objective: The treatment of cartilage defects with matrix-embedded autologous chondrocytes is a promising method to support the repair process. In this study we gathered quality parameters of collagen I matrices and embedded autologous chondrocytes at the time of transplantation We determined number, morphology, and distribution of matrix-embedded chondrocytes as well as their synthesis performance concerning sulphated glycosaminoglycans (sGAG) and collagen 1A1 and 2A1 mRNA levels. Results: Chondrocytes were equidistantly distributed in the collagen matrices, and cell numbers ranged from 6 to 34 × 104 cells/g wet weight. Significant amounts of sGAG were detected in all of the investigated transplants but did not correlate with the number of cells within the respective transplants. Moreover, collagen I mRNA levels exceeded that of collagen II up to 17-fold. Collagen I and II ratio and sGAG amounts indicated significant interindividual differences of chondrocytes. The variation of transplant-associated sGAG levels could be attributed to the differential biosynthesis performance of chondrocytes. Conclusions: These results confirm the vitality and the chondrocytic phenotype of matrix-embedded cells (CaRes®) with respect to sGAG synthesis. However, chondrocytes showed collagen I mRNA expression partially far exceeding that of collagen II, indicating a rather dedifferentiated cellular status. In addition, sGAG synthesis performance of different patients’ chondrocytes varied significantly. Nevertheless, a 2-year clinical study of chondrocyte-seeded collagen matrices as investigated in this work delivered promising results. However, future studies are planned to determine markers for the regenerative potential of donor chondrocytes.
Mucosal integrity and barrier function in the pathogenesis of early lesions in Crohn’s disease

Crohn’s disease aetiology is multifactorial and remains enigmatic. However, animal models show that disease heterogeneity is probable, in that more than one defective mucosal mechanism can produce the same clinical phenotype. For example, Crohn’s-like lesions are reported after compromise of mucosal integrity per se in the presence of an intact immune system, through altered expression of mucosal adhesion molecules, such as cadherins and tight junction proteins, highlighting the importance of the mucosal barrier in the disease process. Key to mucosal damage is the trigger of an inflammatory cascade after luminal antigen processing, a role classically ascribed to M cells in the surface follicle associated epithelium. Direct luminal antigen sampling has recently been proposed, however, by extension of dendritic cell (DC) processes through the intact gut epithelium, and it follows that early mucosal damage could result from de novo lymphoid recruitment. Cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), are known to drive inflammation, but emerging data suggest additional important roles for TNFα influencing mucosal barrier efficacy by altering adhesion molecule expression, influencing epithelial apoptosis, and affecting tight junction functionality.
Glucocorticoid exposure in late gestation in the rat permanently programs gender-specific differences in adult cardiovascular and metabolic physiology.

Glucocorticoid overexposure in utero may underlie the association between low birth weight and subsequent development of common cardiovascular and metabolic pathologies. Previously, we have shown that prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) exposure in rat reduces birth weight and programs the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and fasting and postprandial hyperglycemia in adult males and hypertension in adult males and females. This study aimed to determine 1) whether there were gender differences in prenatal DEX-programmed offspring, and 2) whether the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a role in the programming of hypertension. Rats exposed to DEX in utero (100 microg.kg(-1). day(-1) from embryonic days 14-21) were of lower birth weight (by 12%, P < 0.01) and displayed full catch-up growth within the first month of postnatal life. DEX-treated male offspring in adulthood selectively displayed elevated plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (by 221%) and corticosterone (by 188%, P < 0.05), postprandial insulin-glucose ratios (by 100%, P < 0.05), and hepatic expression of the gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (by 38%, P < 0.05). Conversely, DEX-programmed females were hypertensive (by 11%, P < 0.05), with elevated hepatic angiotensinogen mRNA expression (by 9%, P < 0.05), plasma angiotensinogen (by 61%, P < 0.05), and renin activity (by 88%, P < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that prenatal glucocorticoids program adulthood cardiovascular and metabolic physiology in a gender-specific pattern, and that an activated RAS may in part underlie the hypertension associated with prenatal DEX programming.
On the Speed of Economic Reform: Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare

We analyse how the choice of reform speed and economic growth affect one another. We estimate a system of three equations where economic growth, economic reform and FDI are jointly determined. New reforms affect economic growth negatively, whereas the level of past reform leads to higher growth and attracts FDI. This means that the immediate adjustment cost of new reforms is counterbalanced by a future increase in FDI inflows and higher future growth through a higher level of past reform. Reform reversals contribute to lower growth. We use the model to simulate the impact of big bang reform and gradualist reform on economic growth. This is only meaningful in the presence of reform reversals, which requires aggregate uncertainty about the appropriate reform path. Using the coefficients from the empirical model, we find that even relatively small ex ante reversal probabilities suffice to tilt the balance in favour of gradualism. The case for gradualism gains strength if policymakers are short-sighted, but weakens if voters are myopic.
Efficient vehicle identification using MPEG-7 Color Layout Descriptor

Vehicle identification is an intersection research topic of Intelligent Transportation and pattern recognition which has been attracted much attentions. However, the matching precision of vehicle image and computing cost are hard to balance. This paper proposes a vehicle identifying scheme which combines extracting vehicle object based on Frame Difference (DF) method and image matching based on MPEG-7 Color Layout Descriptor (CLD) aiming at pursuing a trade-off solution. Experiments on real dataset from surveillance videos of Shanghai bureau of transportation management show that the proposed algorithm could boost image matching speed greatly while obtain fairly good performance as classic CLD method.
Business Location and Success: The Case of Internet Café Business in Indonesia

This research aims to examine the relationship between business location decision and business success. The case is Internet cafe business in Indonesia. This research is addressed to answer these main questions: (1) what factors do underlie location decision for an Internet cafe business? ; and (2) does location decision determine success of Internet cafe business? A field research is conducted to answer these questions. Factor analysis applied to 17 location factors reveals five underlying dimensions of business location decision. They are centrality, business environment, business venue, cost, and labor. Based on responses from 93 Internet cafes in three locations (i.e. Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Lombok), the author finds that favorable location of business is positively related to business success. More specifically, a regression analysis reveals that availability of utilities, proximity to schools/universities and security affect business success in a positive direction, while proximity to highways, being in commercial center affect in a negative direction. The independent variables explain 23 percent of total variance.
A Neighborhood-Wide Association Study (NWAS): Example of prostate cancer aggressiveness

Purpose Cancer results from complex interactions of multiple variables at the biologic, individual, and social levels. Compared to other levels, social effects that occur geospatially in neighborhoods are not as well-studied, and empiric methods to assess these effects are limited. We propose a novel Neighborhood-Wide Association Study(NWAS), analogous to genome-wide association studies(GWAS), that utilizes high-dimensional computing approaches from biology to comprehensively and empirically identify neighborhood factors associated with disease. Methods Pennsylvania Cancer Registry data were linked to U.S. Census data. In a successively more stringent multiphase approach, we evaluated the association between neighborhood (n = 14,663 census variables) and prostate cancer aggressiveness(PCA) with n = 6,416 aggressive (Stage≥3/Gleason grade≥7 cases) vs. n = 70,670 non-aggressive (Stage<3/Gleason grade<7) cases in White men. Analyses accounted for age, year of diagnosis, spatial correlation, and multiple-testing. We used generalized estimating equations in Phase 1 and Bayesian mixed effects models in Phase 2 to calculate odds ratios(OR) and confidence/credible intervals(CI). In Phase 3, principal components analysis grouped correlated variables. Results We identified 17 new neighborhood variables associated with PCA. These variables represented income, housing, employment, immigration, access to care, and social support. The top hits or most significant variables related to transportation (OR = 1.05;CI = 1.001–1.09) and poverty (OR = 1.07;CI = 1.01–1.12). Conclusions This study introduces the application of high-dimensional, computational methods to large-scale, publically-available geospatial data. Although NWAS requires further testing, it is hypothesis-generating and addresses gaps in geospatial analysis related to empiric assessment. Further, NWAS could have broad implications for many diseases and future precision medicine studies focused on multilevel risk factors of disease.
In silico toxicology: computational methods for the prediction of chemical toxicity

Determining the toxicity of chemicals is necessary to identify their harmful effects on humans, animals, plants, or the environment. It is also one of the main steps in drug design. Animal models have been used for a long time for toxicity testing. However, in vivo animal tests are constrained by time, ethical considerations, and financial burden. Therefore, computational methods for estimating the toxicity of chemicals are considered useful. In silico toxicology is one type of toxicity assessment that uses computational methods to analyze, simulate, visualize, or predict the toxicity of chemicals. In silico toxicology aims to complement existing toxicity tests to predict toxicity, prioritize chemicals, guide toxicity tests, and minimize late‐stage failures in drugs design. There are various methods for generating models to predict toxicity endpoints. We provide a comprehensive overview, explain, and compare the strengths and weaknesses of the existing modeling methods and algorithms for toxicity prediction with a particular (but not exclusive) emphasis on computational tools that can implement these methods and refer to expert systems that deploy the prediction models. Finally, we briefly review a number of new research directions in in silico toxicology and provide recommendations for designing in silico models. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2016, 6:147–172. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1240
The Novel Melatonin Agonist Agomelatine (S20098) Is an Antagonist at 5-Hydroxytryptamine2C Receptors, Blockade of Which Enhances the Activity of Frontocortical Dopaminergic and Adrenergic Pathways

Agomelatine (S20098) displayed pKi values of 6.4 and 6.2 at native (porcine) and cloned, human (h)5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)2C receptors, respectively. It also interacted with h5-HT2B receptors (6.6), whereas it showed low affinity at native (rat)/cloned, human 5-HT2A (<5.0/5.3) and 5-HT1A (<5.0/5.2) receptors, and negligible (<5.0) affinity for other 5-HT receptors. In antibody capture/scintillation proximity assays, agomelatine concentration dependently and competitively abolished h5-HT2C receptor-mediated activation of Gq/11 and Gi3 (pA2 values of 6.0 and 6.1). As measured by [3H]phosphatidylinositol depletion, agomelatine abolished activation of phospholipase C by h5-HT2C (pKB value of 6.1) and h5-HT2B (pKB value of 6.6) receptors. In vivo, it dose dependently blocked induction of penile erections by the 5-HT2C agonists (S)-2-(6-chloro-5-fluoroindol-1-yl)-1-methylethylamine (Ro60,0175) and 1-methyl-2-(5,8,8-trimethyl-8H-3-aza-cyclopenta[a]inden-3-yl) ethylamine (Ro60,0332). Furthermore, agomelatine dose dependently enhanced dialysis levels of dopamine in frontal cortex of freely moving rats, whereas they were unaffected in nucleus accumbens and striatum. Although the electrical activity of ventrotegmental dopaminergic neurons was unaffected agomelatine, it abolished their inhibition by Ro60,0175. Extracellular levels of noradrenaline in frontal cortex were also dose dependently enhanced by agomelatine in parallel with an acceleration in the firing rate of adrenergic cell bodies in the locus coeruleus. These increases in noradrenaline and dopamine levels were unaffected by the selective melatonin antagonist N-[2-(5-ethyl-benzo[b]thien-3-yl)ethyl] acetamide (S22153) and likely flect blockade of 5-HT2C receptors inhibitory to frontocortical dopaminergic and adrenergic pathways. Correspondingly, distinction to agomelatine, melatonin showed negligible activity 5-HT2C receptors and failed to modify the activity of adrenergic and dopaminergic pathways. In conclusion, in contrast to melatonin, agomelatine behaves as an antagonist at 5-HT2B and 5-HT2C receptors: blockade of the latter reinforces frontocortical adrenergic and dopaminergic transmission.
DETERMINANTS OF THE DEMAND FOR ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL FRESH MILK IN GERMANY– AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS

An increasing number of studies deals with consumer decisions regarding organic food, but only a few provide quantitative estimates of price and income elasticities. This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing own-price elasticity estimates as well as an analysis of the sociodemographic determinants of demand for organic milk. The analysis is based on the GfK Consumer Scan Scanner panel dataset on food purchases of German households covering a sample period of four years from 2004 to 2007. A two-step estimation procedure is applied. First, a probit regression examines which household characteristics affect the probability to buy organic milk. Second, a fixed-effects panel regression determines factors that have an impact on the quantity demanded. Finally, the study investigates whether the price elasticity of demand depends on income, age or household size and whether the price elasticity varies among different retail formats. The results show that the probability to buy organic milk increases with education and income level. Furthermore, the demand is on average higher in households with young children and with a female being mainly responsible for food purchases. However, the probability declines when there is more than one child per household. The results of the fixed-effects regression indicate that the demand for organic milk in Germany is highly price-inelastic. Low absolute price elasticities for organic milk indicate that price promotions at retail level will not lead to an increase in sales. As expected, for all types of milk price sensitivity is higher, but still inelastic, in discount shops than in other retail formats such as supermarkets or large-scale retail. Demand in organic food shops is the least responsive to price changes. Besides, households headed by a person younger than 25 or older than 45 years show a higher price responsiveness than middle-aged households.
Access Contested

A daily battle for rights and freedoms in cyberspace is being waged in Asia. At the epicenter of this contest is China--home to the world's largest Internet population and what is perhaps the world's most advanced Internet censorship and surveillance regime in cyberspace. Resistance to China's Internet controls comes from both grassroots activists and corporate giants such as Google. Meanwhile, similar struggles play out across the rest of the region, from India and Singapore to Thailand and Burma, although each national dynamic is unique. Access Contested, the third volume from the OpenNet Initiative (a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and the SecDev Group in Ottawa), examines the interplay of national security, social and ethnic identity, and resistance in Asian cyberspace, offering in-depth accounts of national struggles against Internet controls as well as updated country reports by ONI researchers. The contributors examine such topics as Internet censorship in Thailand, the Malaysian blogosphere, surveillance and censorship around gender and sexuality in Malaysia, Internet governance in China, corporate social responsibility and freedom of expression in South Korea and India, cyber attacks on independent Burmese media, and distributed-denial-of-service attacks and other digital control measures across Asia.
QCD phase transition at finite temperature in the dual Ginzburg-Landau theory.

We study the pure-gauge QCD phase transition at finite temperatures in the dual Ginzburg-Landau theory, an effective theory of QCD based on the dual Higgs mechanism. We formulate the effective potential at various temperatures by introducing the quadratic source term, which is a new useful method to obtain the effective potential in the negative-curvature region. Thermal effects reduce the QCD-monopole condensate and bring a first-order deconfinement phase transition. We find a large reduction of the self-interaction among QCD monopoles and the glueball masses near the critical temperature by considering the temperature dependence of the self-interaction. We also calculate the string tension at finite temperatures.
Is Free Banking More Prone to Bank Failures Than Regulated Banking

Bankers, economists, and regulators generally accept that banks are special and that bank runs or failures are costly to the economy; banking stability is therefore afforded the utmost importance. This paper investigates empirically the relative stability of three different banking regimes—a free bankingsystem, aregulated bankingsystem, and a regulated one with the presence of a flat-premium deposit insurance scheme—for the period 1935—64. Those regimes are respectively represented bythe Hong Kong, Canadian, and U.S.banking systems. A remarkable fact is that there were no bank failures in Hong Kong or Canada during the period under study. ’ The paper beginswith asummaryofthe majorviews onthe relations between banking regulations, deposit insurance, and bank failures. A brief description of the institutional and economic backgrounds of the three banking systems during the period under study follows. Finally, the empirical results comparing the relative stability of the alternative banking regimes are presented.
Proportional multiple-integral observer based sliding mode control for linear systems with mismatched disturbance

The purpose of this paper is to control linear systems with mismatched disturbances using proportional multiple-integral observer(PMI-observer) and sliding mode control(SMC). Based on the system output, PMI-observer estimates unknown states and disturbance. SMC reduces the mismatched disturbances and make the system stable. Stability is proved by Lyapunov theorem and simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in second-order linear system.
3-layered capacitive structure design for MEMS inertial sensing

In this paper a two-terminal capacitive structure is presented in which a novel architecture with a double interleaved (interdigitated) scheme is introduced. This structure was originally conceived as a mechanism to achieve a greater capacitance between the plates (terminals) of an integrated capacitor using a relatively smaller design area in the standard 0. 5μm, two polysilicon and three metal layers (2P3M) CMOS technology. This work presents the design and theoretical analysis of a three-metal interleaved structure used as a varactor tied down to the proof mass of an integrated CMOS-MEMS accelerometer where the active devices are floating-gate transistors (FGMOS) with a variable capacitive coupling coefficient. Nevertheless, the three-layered geometrical scheme may have a wide range of applications across the MEMS technology.
Impact of infarct transmurality on layer-specific impairment of myocardial function: a myocardial deformation imaging study.

AIMS To evaluate deformation parameters of an endocardial, mid-myocardial, and epicardial myocardial layer in different transmurality of myocardial infarction and assess whether layer-specific deformation analysis allows definition of infarct transmurality. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty-six patients (mean age 55 +/- 9 years, 38 men) with chronic ischaemic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction underwent two-dimensional echocardiography and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ceMRI). The extent of myocardial infarction was determined as relative amount of hyperenhancement by ceMRI in a 16-segment LV model (0%, no infarction; 1-50%, non-transmural infarction; 51-100%, transmural infarction). On the basis of two-dimensional echocardiographic parasternal short-axis views peak systolic circumferential strain was determined for the total wall thickness and for each of three myocardial layers (endocardial, mid-myocardial, and epicardial) using an automatic frame-by-frame tracking system of acoustic echocardiographic markers (EchoPAC, GE Ultrasound). In non-transmural infarction impairment of circumferential strain was greater in the endocardial than the epicardial layer, relative reduction compared with control segments, 45% vs. 28% (P < 0.001), respectively. In transmural infarction additional impairment of circumferential strain was greater in the epicardial than the endocardial layer, relative reduction compared with non-transmural infarction 29% vs. 7% (P < 0.001), respectively. Endocardial layer circumferential strain allowed distinction of non-transmural vs. no infarction with higher accuracy than total wall thickness strain [area under the curve (AUC) 0.842 vs. 0.774, respectively, P = 0.001]. Epicardial layer circumferential strain allowed distinction of transmural from non-transmural infarction with higher accuracy than total wall thickness strain (AUC 0.819 vs. 0.762, respectively, P = 0.005). CONCLUSION Non-transmural infarction results in greater functional impairment of the endocardial than of the epicardial myocardial layer. In transmural infarction both layers are affected similarly compared with controls. A layer-specific analysis of myocardial deformation allows accurate discrimination between different transmurality categories of myocardial infarction.