Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zileuton: A New Therapy for Asthma or Just the First of a New Class of Drugs?

ASTHMA is an inflammatory disease of the airways. The immunologic and subsequent inflammatory reactions in the airways produce contraction of smooth muscle (e.g., bronchospasm), swelling of the airway wall, mucus secretion, and structural changes. I These pathologic effects result in airflow limitation and increased airway responsiveness to a variety of stimuli which, in tum, cause the characteristic symptoms of asthma. The magnitude of the inflammatory reaction correlates with the severity of symptoms. Mast cells3 and eosinophils4 are the key effector cells of the inflammatory response while the TH2 subtype of T lymphocytes initiate and sustain the inflammatory cascade through release of cytokines.s Both mast cells and eosinophils, when activated, synthesize leukotriene C4 (LTC4) from arachidonic acid, which is subsequently converted to leukotriene 0 4 (LT04) and E4 (LTE4). 6 These three cysteinyl leukotrienes are mediators of inflammation and can produce many of the pathologic features of asthma. Leukotriene biosynthesis appears to be self-perpetuating in that LTE4, the end-product of cysteinylleukotriene metabolism, participates in the recruitment of eosinophils into the airways' which, after activation by cytokines, generate more of these inflammatory mediators.s Eosinophils also release proteins that damage the epithelial lining of the airways resulting in an increase in airway responsiveness.s As understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma dramatically increased, research pharmaceutical companies began
Spatial navigation deficits in amnestic mild cognitive impairment with neuropsychiatric co-morbidity

Aims: To find out whether neuropsychiatric comorbidity (comMCI) influences spatial navigation performance in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Methods: We recruited aMCI patients with (n=21) and without (n=21) neuropsychiatric comorbidity or alcohol abuse, matched for global cognitive impairment and cognitively healthy elderly participants (HE, n=22). They completed the Mini-Mental State Examination and a virtual Hidden Goal Task in egocentric, allocentric and delayed recall subtests. Results: In allocentric navigation, aMCI and comMCI performed significantly worse than HE and similarly to each other. Although aMCI performed significantly worse at egocentric navigation than HE, they performed significantly better than patients with comMCI. Conclusions: Despite the growing burden of dementia and the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the elderly population, comMCI remains under-studied. Since trials often assess “pure” aMCI, we may underestimate patients’ navigation and other deficits. This finding emphasizes the importance of taking account of the cognitive effects of psychiatric disorders in aMCI. The rank-based nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis H Test was performed to determine if there were statistically significant differences in egocentric, allocentric and delayed recall performance between comMCI participants with different comorbid clinical diagnoses. The significance level (alpha) throughout the analyses was set at . 05. All statistics analyses were run using SPSS Statistics 20 for Windows.
Genetic Determination of Osteoporosis: Lessons Learned from a Large Genome-Wide Linkage Study

ABSTRACT Osteoporosis is a common disease with strong genetic control. We performed an autosomal linkage scan in a large pedigree-based sample of 4,498 subjects for a composite osteoporosis phenotype that combines osteoporotic fracture (OF) and low bone mineral density (BMD). All of the subjects were U.S. Caucasians recruited in the Omaha area of Nebraska. Sex-specific linkage analyses and autosomal imprinting analyses were also conducted. For conventional linkage analyses in the total sample, we identified suggestive linkage on chromosomes 14q32 (LOD = 2.61), 7p14 (LOD = 2.42), and 11q25 (LOD = 2.09). In female subjects a significant linkage signal was detected on chromosome 14q22 (LOD = 3.53) and another two peaks were detected on chromosomes 7p14 (LOD = 3.07) and 9p21 (LOD = 2.29). Suggestive evidence of imprinted loci was found with paternally derived alleles on chromosomes 1q42 (LOD = 2.12) and 9q34 (LOD = 1.88). Some evidence of linkage to maternally derived alleles was found on chromosome 7q22 (LOD= 1.67). Our study provides new clues to osteoporosis genetic research and for the first time suggests that genomic imprinting effects may play a role in the etiology of osteoporosis.
Icariin, a Novel Blocker of Sodium and Calcium Channels, Eliminates Early and Delayed Afterdepolarizations, As Well As Triggered Activity, in Rabbit Cardiomyocytes

Icariin, a flavonoid monomer from Herba Epimedii, has confirmed pharmacological and biological effects. However, its effects on arrhythmias and cardiac electrophysiology remain unclear. Here we investigate the effects of icariin on ion currents and action potentials (APs) in the rabbit myocardium. Furthermore, the effects of icariin on aconitine-induced arrhythmias were assessed in whole rabbits. Ion currents and APs were recorded in voltage-clamp and current-clamp mode in rabbit left ventricular myocytes (LVMs) and left atrial myocytes (LAMs), respectively. Icariin significantly shortened action potential durations (APDs) at 50 and 90% repolarization (APD50 and APD90) and reduced AP amplitude (APA) and the maximum upstroke velocity (Vmax) of APs in LAMs and LVMs; however, icariin had no effect on resting membrane potential (RMP) in these cells. Icariin decreased the rate-dependence of the APD and completely abolished anemonia toxin II (ATX-II)-induced early afterdepolarizations (EADs). Moreover, icariin significantly suppressed delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) and triggered activities (TAs) elicited by isoproterenol (ISO, 1 μM) and high extracellular calcium concentrations ([Ca2+]o, 3.6 mM) in LVMs. Icariin also decreased INaT in a concentration-dependent manner in LAMs and LVMs, with IC50 values of 12.28 ± 0.29 μM (n = 8 cells/4 rabbits) and 11.83 ± 0.92 μM (n = 10 cells/6 rabbits; p > 0.05 vs. LAMs), respectively, and reversed ATX-II-induced INaL in a concentration-dependent manner in LVMs. Furthermore, icariin attenuated ICaL in a dose-dependent manner in LVMs. The corresponding IC50 value was 4.78 ± 0.89 μM (n = 8 cells/4 rabbits), indicating that the aforementioned current in LVMs was 2.8-fold more sensitive to icariin than ICaL in LAMs (13.43 ± 2.73 μM; n = 9 cells/5 rabbits). Icariin induced leftward shifts in the steady-state inactivation curves of INaT and ICaL in LAMs and LVMs but did not have a significant effect on their activation processes. Moreover, icariin had no effects on IK1 and IKr in LVMs or Ito and IKur in LAMs. These results revealed for the first time that icariin is a multichannel blocker that affects INaT, INaL and ICaL in the myocardium and that the drug had significant inhibitory effects on aconitine-induced arrhythmias in whole rabbits. Therefore, icariin has potential as a class I and IV antiarrhythmic drug.
Experimental and theoretical characterization of a 40-Gb/s long-haul single-channel transmission system

We present a comparison between experiment and simulation of a 40-Gb/s periodically stationary dispersion-managed soliton (DMS) system in a recirculating loop. We find that we can propagate an error-free signal over 6400 km at 40 Gb/s and over 12 000 km if we lower the data rate to 10 Gb/s, keeping all other parameters constant. A careful analysis of the limiting factors shows the strong influence of nonlinear optical pulse-to-pulse interactions, causing a large increase in timing jitter. At a transmission distance of 6400 km, a large fraction of the jitter is due to pulse-to-pulse interactions. Moreover, we find that the system performance is very sensitive to parameter variations. We conclude that periodically stationary DMS systems suffer from numerous problems when increasing the data rate, suggesting that it may be impractical for wavelength-division multiplex transmission at 40 Gb/s.
High‐risk Sexual Behavior in the General Population: Results from a National Survey, 1988–1990

The responses of 2,896 adults who completed the General Social Survey (1988-1990), a nationally representative household probability sample of the United States adult population, were analyzed. Three outcome variables were examined: engaging in sexual intercourse with two or more partners, with five or more partners, or with a stranger in the past year. Age, marital status, gender, pattern of alcohol consumption, and race have the strongest and most consistent relationship with having multiple sexual partners or sex with a stranger. Marriage reduces the odds of having 5 or more sexual partners by a factor of 90% (odds ratio, OR, = 0.10). For each single year increase in age, the odds of having multiple partners or sex with a stranger also decrease (OR = 0.95). Alcohol consumption, on the other hand, increases the odds of sexual risk behavior by a factor of 2 to 3 in the three models. Men are more likely to have 5 or more sexual partners (OR = 7.17) and sex with a stranger (OR = 5.62) than women; and blacks are more likely to have multiple partners (OR = 2.82) than members of other racial or ethnic groups. In the United States last year, an estimated 3 to 6 million adults had sex with 5 or more partners and an estimated 5 to 8 million had sex with a stranger.
On the connections between PCTL and dynamic programming

Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL) is a well-known modal logic which has become a standard for expressing temporal properties of finite-state Markov chains in the context of automated model checking. In this paper, we consider PCTL for noncountable-space Markov chains, and we show that there is a substantial affinity between certain of its operators and problems of Dynamic Programming. We prove some basic properties of the solutions to the latter. We also provide two examples and demonstrate how recovery strategies in practical applications, which are naturally stated as reach-avoid problems, can be viewed as particular cases of PCTL formulas.
Takeover Time in Highly Automated Vehicles: Noncritical Transitions to and From Manual Control

Objective: The aim of this study was to review existing research into driver control transitions and to determine the time it takes drivers to resume control from a highly automated vehicle in noncritical scenarios. Background: Contemporary research has moved from an inclusive design approach to adhering only to mean/median values when designing control transitions in automated driving. Research into control transitions in highly automated driving has focused on urgent scenarios where drivers are given a relatively short time span to respond to a request to resume manual control. We found a paucity in research into more frequent scenarios for control transitions, such as planned exits from highway systems. Method: Twenty-six drivers drove two scenarios with an automated driving feature activated. Drivers were asked to read a newspaper, or to monitor the system, and to relinquish, or resume, control from the automation when prompted by vehicle systems. Results: Significantly longer control transition times were found between driving with and without secondary tasks. Control transition times were substantially longer than those reported in the peer-reviewed literature. Conclusion: We found that drivers take longer to resume control when under no time pressure compared with that reported in the literature. Moreover, we found that drivers occupied by a secondary task exhibit larger variance and slower responses to requests to resume control. Workload scores implied optimal workload. Application: Intra- and interindividual differences need to be accommodated by vehicle manufacturers and policy makers alike to ensure inclusive design of contemporary systems and safety during control transitions.
Analysis of Robustness of Vibration Control System for a Magnetically Supported Shaft

Analysis of robustness of active magnetic bearing system is carried out in the paper. All of the most important acceptable levels of robustness are established. Rigid body model of a rotor is used for controller design, stability and analysis of robustness. Advanced tools for robust control are applied. The μ-synthesis is used to design a μ robust controller to stabilize the shaft that is supported magnetically. The influence of robust control on the sensitivity of plant with an uncertainty dynamics is shown. The influence of dynamic uncertainty on the robustness level of closed-loop system is considered. Small gain theorem and robustness theorem for an active magnetic bearing are investigated. Finally, the experimental results confirm the analytical investigations of the robust control of vibrations.
Computer-based Testing and Validity: a look back into the future

Abstract Test developers and organisations that rely on test scores to make important decisions about students and schools are aggressively embracing computer-based testing. As one example, during the past two years, 16 US states have begun to develop computer-based tests that will be administered to students across their state. Without question computer-based testing promises to improve the efficiency of testing and reduce the costs associated with printing and delivering paper-based tests. Computer-based testing may also assist in providing accommodations to students with special needs. However, differences in prior computer experience and the degree to which items from different content areas can be presented and performed on computer ranges widely. In turn, these factors will have different impacts on the validity of test scores. In this paper, we examine the potential benefits and costs associated with moving current paper-based tests to computer, with a specific eye on how validity might be impacted.
Parameters extraction on HfOX based RRAM

In this work, a novel methodology including the extraction strategy and characterization procedure is developed to extract the physical parameters which dominate the switching characteristics of HfOX based RRAM devices. With the extracted parameters, the retention behaviors of HfOX based RRAM devices are simulated by the atom-level simulation tool and compared with the measurement. The agreement between the simulation and measurement verifies the validity of the developed methodology.
Digestibility of gluten proteins is reduced by baking and enhanced by starch digestion

Scope Resistance of proteins to gastrointestinal digestion may play a role in determining immune‐mediated adverse reactions to foods. However, digestion studies have largely been restricted to purified proteins and the impact of food processing and food matrices on protein digestibility is poorly understood. Methods and results Digestibility of a total gliadin fraction (TGF), flour (cv Hereward), and bread was assessed using in vitro batch digestion with simulated oral, gastric, and duodenal phases. Protein digestion was monitored by SDS‐PAGE and immunoblotting using monoclonal antibodies specific for celiac‐toxic sequences (QQSF, QPFP) and starch digestion by measuring undigested starch. Whereas the TGF was rapidly digested during the gastric phase the gluten proteins in bread were virtually undigested and digested rapidly during the duodenal phase only if amylase was included. Duodenal starch digestion was also slower in the absence of duodenal proteases. Conclusion The baking process reduces the digestibility of wheat gluten proteins, including those containing sequences active in celiac disease. Starch digestion affects the extent of protein digestion, probably because of gluten‐starch complex formation during baking. Digestion studies using purified protein fractions alone are therefore not predictive of digestion in complex food matrices.
Amphiphysin I Is Associated with Coated Endocytic Intermediates and Undergoes Stimulation-dependent Dephosphorylation in Nerve Terminals*

Amphiphysin I is an abundant presynaptic protein that interacts via its COOH-terminal src homology 3 (SH3) domain with the GTPase dynamin I and the inositol-5-phosphatase synaptojanin. Both dynamin I and synaptojanin I have a putative role in synaptic vesicle recycling and undergo rapid dephosphorylation in rat brain synaptosomes stimulated to secrete by a depolarizing stimulus. We show here that amphiphysin I also undergoes constitutive phosphorylation and stimulationdependent dephosphorylation. Dephosphorylation of amphiphysin I requires extracellular Ca2+ and is unaffected by pretreatment of synaptosomes with tetanus toxin. Thus, Ca2+ influx, but not synaptic vesicle exocytosis, is required for dephosphorylation. Dephosphorylation of amphiphysin I, like dephosphorylation of dynamin I and synaptojanin I, is inhibited by cyclosporin A and FK-506 (0.5 μm), two drugs that specifically block the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase 2B calcineurin, but not by okadaic acid (1 μm), which blocks protein phosphatases 1 and 2B. We also show by immunogold electron microscopy immunocytochemistry that amphiphysin I is localized in the nerve terminal cytomatrix and is partially associated with endocytic intermediates. These include the clathrin-coated buds and dynamin-coated tubules, which accumulate in nerve terminal membranes incubated in the presence of guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate. These data support the hypothesis that amphiphysin I, dynamin I, and synaptojanin I are physiological partners in some step(s) of synaptic vesicle endocytosis. We hypothesize that the parallel Ca2+-dependent calcineurin-dependent dephosphorylation of amphiphysin I and of its two major binding proteins is part of a process that primes the nerve terminal for endocytosis in response to a burst of exocytosis.
A Methodological Approach for Assessing Amplified Reflection Distributed Denial of Service on the Internet of Things

Concerns about security on Internet of Things (IoT) cover data privacy and integrity, access control, and availability. IoT abuse in distributed denial of service attacks is a major issue, as typical IoT devices’ limited computing, communications, and power resources are prioritized in implementing functionality rather than security features. Incidents involving attacks have been reported, but without clear characterization and evaluation of threats and impacts. The main purpose of this work is to methodically assess the possible impacts of a specific class–amplified reflection distributed denial of service attacks (AR-DDoS)–against IoT. The novel approach used to empirically examine the threat represented by running the attack over a controlled environment, with IoT devices, considered the perspective of an attacker. The methodology used in tests includes that perspective, and actively prospects vulnerabilities in computer systems. This methodology defines standardized procedures for tool-independent vulnerability assessment based on strategy, and the decision flows during execution of penetration tests (pentests). After validation in different scenarios, the methodology was applied in amplified reflection distributed denial of service (AR-DDoS) attack threat assessment. Results show that, according to attack intensity, AR-DDoS saturates reflector infrastructure. Therefore, concerns about AR-DDoS are founded, but expected impact on abused IoT infrastructure and devices will be possibly as hard as on final victims.
Bacterial Community Composition Associated with Chironomid Egg Masses

Abstract Chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae) are the most widely distributed and often the most abundant insect in freshwater. They undergo a complete metamorphosis of four life stages, of which the egg, larva, and pupae are aquatic and the adult is terrestrial. Chironomid egg masses were found to be natural reservoirs of Vibrio cholerae and Aeromonas species. To expand the knowledge of the endogenous bacterial community associated with chironomid egg masses, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and clone analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries were used in this study. Bacterial community composition associated with chironomid egg masses was found to be stable among different sampling periods. Cloned libraries of egg masses revealed that about 40% of the clones were related to bacteria known to degrade various toxicants. These findings were further supported when bacterial species that showed resistance to different toxic metals were isolated from egg masses and larval samples. Chironomids are found under a wide range of water conditions and are able to survive pollutants. However, little is known about their protective mechanisms under these conditions. Chironomid egg masses are inhabited by a stable endogenous bacterial community, which may potentially play a role in protecting chironomids from toxicants in polluted environments. Further study is needed to support this hypothesis.
Sensitivity Analysis of Acceleration-based Energy Damage Detection Strategy to Load Excitations and Sensor Placement

Structural damage detection technique is very attractive for long-span bridges. Some dynamic damage detection methods are proposed to identify damages in structures. Energy-based dynamic damage detection strategy is a novel topic in this field. In this paper, a damage detection strategy based on acceleration response energy is proposed, based on the relationship between the frequency response function of acceleration responses and mode shapes. Numerical analysis on a long-span cable-stayed bridge is performed by using the proposed strategy. Energy difference and energy curvature difference are adopted as the dynamic indices. The sensitivity and effectiveness of the strategy are studied by adopting different load excitations according different environment noise. A discussion of the proposed strategy is also carried out when the number of sensors (i.e., accelerometers) are reduced. Numerical results show that the acceleration response energy-based damage detection strategy has high damage location and excellent anti-noise pollution abilities under the same excitations for undamaged and damaged structures, while its damage location ability degrades under the different excitations for the undamaged and damaged structures. When less accelerometers are installed in the mid-span, 1/2 span, 1/4 span, and 1/8 span of the bridge, damages will be omitted or mis-estimated.
TICCLops: Text-Induced Corpus Clean-up as online processing system

We present the ‘online processing system’ version of Text-Induced Corpus Clean-up, a web service and application open for use to researchers. The system has over the past years been developed to provide mainly OCR error post-correction, but can just as fruitfully be employed to automatically correct texts for spelling errors, or to transcribe texts in an older spelling into the modern variant of the language. It has recently been re-implemented as a distributable and scalable software system in C++, designed to be easily adaptable for use with a broad range of languages and diachronical language varieties. Its new code base is now fit for production work and to be released as open source.