Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statins Enhance Migratory Capacity by Upregulation of the Telomere Repeat-Binding Factor TRF2 in Endothelial Progenitor Cells

Background—Cultivation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) leads to premature replicative senescence, limiting ex vivo expansion for potential clinical cell therapy. Recent studies have linked senescence to the dysfunction of telomeres, the “ends” of chromosomes, via the so-called mitotic clock or culture-induced stress. The purpose of this study was to elucidate a possible role of telomere biology in the functional augmentation of EPCs by statins. Methods and Results—Human EPCs were isolated from peripheral blood. Using flow cytometry after fluorescence in situ hybridization with a telomere-specific (C3TA2)3 peptide nucleic acid probe (Flow-FISH), we found mean telomere length in untreated EPCs from healthy subjects to range between 8.5±0.2 and 11.1±0.5 kb with no change over 6 days of culture, excluding telomere erosion as one cause for premature senescence. Although mean telomere length did not differ between statin-treated and untreated EPCs, atorvastatin (0.1 &mgr;mol/L) and mevastatin (1.0 &mgr;mol/L) both led to a more than 3-fold increase in the expression of the telomere capping protein TRF2 (telomere repeat-binding factor), as shown by immunoblotting, whereas quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction demonstrated no increase in TRF2 mRNA. Telomere dysfunction of EPCs was also paralleled by a 4-fold increase in the DNA damage checkpoint-kinase 2 (Chk2). Conversely, statin cotreatment or overexpression of TRF2 completely suppressed Chk2 induction. Finally, overexpression of a dominant negative mutant of the TRF2 protein abrogated statin-induced enhancement of migratory activity down to baseline values. Conclusions—Ex vivo culturing of EPCs leads to “uncapping” of telomeres, indicated by the loss of TRF2. Statin cotreatment of EPCs prevents impairment of their functional capacity by a TRF2-dependent, posttranscriptional mechanism. This is the first time a beneficial effect of statins on telomere biology has been described.
Difference of cell cycle arrests induced by lidamycin in human breast cancer cells

Lidamycin (LDM) is a member of the enediyne antibiotic family. It is undergoing phase I clinical trials in China as a potential chemotherapeutic agent. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism by which LDM induced cell cycle arrest in human breast cancer cells. The results showed that LDM induced G1 arrest in p53 wild-type MCF-7 cells at low concentrations, and caused both G1 and G2/M arrests at higher concentrations. In contrast, LDM induced only G2/M arrest in p53-mutant MCF-7/DOX cells. Western blotting analysis indicated that LDM-induced G1 and G2/M arrests in MCF-7 cells were associated with an increase of p53 and p21, and a decrease of phosphorylated retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein, cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk), Cdc2 and cyclin B1 protein levels. However, LDM-induced G2/M arrest in MCF-7/DOX cells was correlated with the reduction of cyclin B1 expression. Further study indicated that the downregulation of cyclin B1 by LDM in MCF-7 cells was associated with decreasing cyclin B1 mRNA levels and promoting protein degradation, whereas it was only due to inducing cyclin B1 protein degradation in MCF-7/DOX cells. In addition, activation of checkpoint kinases Chk1 or Chk2 maybe contributed to LDM-induced cell cycle arrest. Taken together, we provide the first evidence that LDM induces different cell cycle arrests in human breast cancer cells, which are dependent on drug concentration and p53 status. These findings are helpful in understanding the molecular anti-cancer mechanisms of LDM and support its clinical trials.
Safely and Efficiently Updating References During On-line Reorganization

With today’s demands for continuous availability of mission-critical databases, on-line reorganization is a necessity. In this paper we present a new on-Iine reorganization algorithm which defers secondary index updates and piggybacks them with user transactions. In addition to the significant reduction of the total I/O cost, the algorithm also assures that almost all the database is available all of the time and that the reorganization is interruptible and restartable. We believe that the technique presented in this paper could be used for improving normal database update performance as well.
Sentiment retrieval on web reviews using spontaneous natural speech

This paper addresses the problem of document retrieval based on sentiment polarity criteria. A query based on natural spontaneous speech, expressing an opinion about a certain topic, is used to search a repository of documents containing favorable or unfavorable opinions. The goal is to retrieve documents whose opinions more closely resemble the one in the query. A semantic system based on speech transcripts is augmented with information from full-length text articles. Posterior probabilities extracted from the articles are used to regularize their transcription counterparts. This paper makes three important contributions. First, we introduce a framework for polarity analysis of sentiments that can accommodate combinations of different modalities capable of dealing with the absence of any modality. Second, we show that it is possible to improve average precision on speech transcriptions' sentiment retrieval by means of regularization. Third, we demonstrate the robustness of our approach by training regularizers on one dataset, while performing sentiment retrieval experiments, with substantial gains, on another dataset.
Randomized clinical trial of postoperative hernia prophylaxis in open bariatric surgery

Postoperative hernia following bariatric procedures is more common than in other groups of surgical patients, and remains a serious problem. Gastric bypass is the most often performed bariatric procedure and, despite the increasing popularity of a laparoscopic approach, many morbidly obese patients are still offered open procedures. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of prophylactic polypropylene mesh in morbidly obese patients undergoing gastric by‐pass surgery.
Trafficability analysis for lunar/planetary exploration rover using Thrust-Cornering Characteristic Diagram

In this paper, a trafficability analysis for the exploration rover is described. A rover traveling on loose terrain often experiences its slippages (wheel slips or vehicle sideslip), and in particular, these slips become larger when the rover traverses on sandy slopes. The authors have investigated traction mechanics of a rigid wheel of the rover on loose terrain with paying attention to slipping behaviors of the wheel. In this paper, based on our previous works regarding the wheel-terrain mechanics, we propose a Thrust-Cornering Characteristic Diagram for trafficability analyses of the rover. The thrust-cornering characteristic diagram consists of various characteristics curves of wheel forces, namely thrust and cornering forces, with various wheel slippage conditions. This diagram provides quantitative criteria for slope traversing capability of the rover on arbitrary angles of slope. The usefulness of the proposed diagram for the trafficability analysis is confirmed through slope traversal experiments using a four-wheel test bed. Further, a steering maneuver control for slope traversing situation is discussed based on the diagram.
A Polynomial Invariant and Duality for Triangulations

The Tutte polynomial is a classical invariant, important in combinatorics and statistical mechanics. An essential feature of the Tutte polynomial is the duality for planar graphs G, $T_G(X,Y)\; =\; {T}_{G^*}(Y,X)$ where $G^*$ denotes the dual graph. We examine this property from the perspective of manifold topology, formulating polynomial invariants for higher-dimensional simplicial complexes. Polynomial duality for triangulations of a sphere follows as a consequence of Alexander duality. The main goal of this paper is to introduce and begin the study of a more general 4-variable polynomial for triangulations and handle decompositions of orientable manifolds. Polynomial duality in this case is a consequence of Poincare duality on manifolds. In dimension 2 these invariants specialize to the well-known polynomial invariants of ribbon graphs defined by B. Bollobas and O. Riordan. Examples and specific evaluations of the polynomials are discussed.
Investigation of submarine groundwater discharge

Coastal hydrogeologists and oceanographers now recognize the potentially significant contribution that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) could make to the coastal ocean. SGD may be both volumetrically and chemically important to coastal water and chemical budgets. A worldwide compilation of observed SGD shows that groundwater seepage from the land to the ocean occurs in many environments along the world's continental margins. Further, SGD has a significant influence on the environmental condition of many nearshore marine environments and provides a strong motivation for improved assessments. Our review reveals a critical lack of data from coastal zones of almost all parts of the world, especially in South America, Africa and parts of Asia, making a comprehensive compilation incomplete. SGD should be paid more attention with regard to water and dissolved material budgets at the local and global scales. SGD intercomparison experiments and coastal typologies (classification) may enable evaluation of the accuracy of the SGD estimates and up‐scaling of SGD to a global scale. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Occupational health outcomes for workers in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector: implications for immigrant workers in the southeastern US.

BACKGROUND Workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (AgFF) sector experience exposures directly related to the work itself, as well as the physical environment in which the work occurs. Health outcomes vary from immediate to delayed, and from acute to chronic. METHODS We reviewed existing literature on the health outcomes of work in the AgFF sector and identified areas where further research is needed to understand the impact of these exposures on immigrant Latino workers in the southeastern US. RESULTS Outcomes related to specific body systems (e.g., musculoskeletal, respiratory) as well as particular exposure sources (e.g., pesticides, noise) were reviewed. The most extensive evidence exists for agriculture, with a particular focus on chemical exposures. Little research in the southeastern US has examined health outcomes of exposures of immigrant workers in forestry or fisheries. CONCLUSION As the AgFF labor force includes a growing number of Latino immigrants, more research is needed to characterize a broad range of exposures and health outcomes experienced by this population, particularly in forestry and fisheries.
Design and implementation of frequency-responsive thermostat control

A power system's AC frequency is a system-wide indicator of the immediate power balance in the system. This is used by selected generators to adjust the generation to level out imbalances continuously, as well as in the case of disturbances in the system. However, previous theoretical and empirical studies indicate that this service might as well be provided by demand-side control.
The global burden of typhoid fever.

OBJECTIVE To use new data to make a revised estimate of the global burden of typhoid fever, an accurate understanding of which is necessary to guide public health decisions for disease control and prevention efforts. METHODS Population-based studies using confirmation by blood culture of typhoid fever cases were sought by computer search of the multilingual scientific literature. Where there were no eligible studies, data were extrapolated from neighbouring countries and regions. Age-incidence curves were used to model rates measured among narrow age cohorts to the general population. One-way sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the sensitivity of the estimate to the assumptions. The burden of paratyphoid fever was derived by a proportional method. FINDINGS A total of 22 eligible studies were identified. Regions with high incidence of typhoid fever (>100/100,000 cases/year) include south-central Asia and south-eastAsia. Regions of medium incidence (10-100/100,000 cases/year) include the rest of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania, except for Australia and New Zealand. Europe, North America, and the rest of the developed world have low incidence of typhoid fever (<10/100,000 cases/year). We estimate that typhoid fever caused 21,650,974 illnesses and 216,510 deaths during 2000 and that paratyphoid fever caused 5,412,744 illnesses. CONCLUSION New data and improved understanding of typhoid fever epidemiology enabled us to refine the global typhoid burden estimate, which remains considerable. More detailed incidence studies in selected countries and regions, particularly Africa, are needed to further improve the estimate.
Gender Differences In Work Family Conflict Among Managers In Turkey: A Non - Western Perspective

The present study tries to clarify gender and domain differences in work family conflict among women and men managers in Turkey. The final sample used in the study consists of 110 men and 137 women. Both the work family conflict and role commitment or salience is measured by two different 12 item scales produced by using the conflict scale and modified for Turkish people. The findings indicated that there were significant differences between the sexes in the experience of work family conflict; butno significant differences for family work conflict.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa-mediated cytotoxicity and invasion correlate with distinct genotypes at the loci encoding exoenzyme S

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen, is capable of establishing both chronic and acute infections in compromised hosts. Previous studies indicated that P. aeruginosa displays either a cytotoxic or an invasive phenotype in corneal epithelial cells. In this study, we used polarized MDCK cells for in vitro infection studies and confirmed that P. aeruginosa isolates can be broadly differentiated into two groups, expressing either a cytotoxic or an invasive phenotype. In vivo infection studies were performed to determine if cytotoxic and invasive strains displayed differential pathology. Invasion was assayed in vivo by in situ infection of mouse tracheal tissue followed by electron microscopy. Both cytotoxic and invasive strains entered mouse tracheal cells in situ; however, more necrosis was associated with the cytotoxic strain. In an acute lung infection model in rats, cytotoxic strains were found to damage lung epithelium more than invasive strains during the short infection period of this assay. The expression of cytotoxicity requires a functional exsA allele. In the strains tested, the ability to invade epithelial cells in vitro appears to be independent of exsA expression. Since ExsA is a transcriptional regulator of the exoenzyme S regulon, chromosomal preparations from invasive and cytotoxic strains were screened for their complement of exoenzyme S structural genes, exoS, encoding the 49-kDa ADP-ribosyltransferase (ExoS), and exoT, encoding the 53-kDa form of the enzyme (Exo53). Invasive strains possess both exoS and exoT, while cytotoxic strains appear to have lost exoS and retained exoT. These data indicate that the expression of cytotoxicity may be linked to the expression of Exo53, deletion of exoS and perhaps other linked loci, or expression of other ExsA-dependent virulence determinants. In the absence of a functional cytotoxicity pathway (exsA::omega strains), invasion of eukaryotic cells is detectable.
R-Opus: A Composite Framework for Application Performability and QoS in Shared Resource Pools

We consider shared resource pool management taking into account per-application quality of service (QoS) requirements and server failures. Application QoS requirements are defined by complementary specifications for acceptable and time-limited degraded performance. Furthermore, a requirement specification is provided for both the normal case and for the case where an application server fails in the pool. Independently, the resource pool operator provides a resource access QoS commitment for two classes of service (CoS). These govern statistical multiplexing within the pool. A QoS translation automatically maps application demands onto the resource pool's CoS to best enable sharing. A workload placement service consolidates applications to a small number of servers while satisfying application QoS requirements. The service reports whether a spare server is needed or how applications affected by a single failure can operate according to failure QoS constraints using remaining servers until the failure can be repaired. A case study demonstrates the approach
Accounting for the performance of Standard MLon the DEC

The performance of several Standard ML (SML) programs on the DEC Alpha 3000/600 is accounted for using the built-in hardware performance counters. The counters provide detailed information of the processor state during execution such as: total instructions, multiple-issue, stalls, cache behavior, and classiication of instructions executed. The purpose of this paper is to determine how well the current Standard ML of New Jersey (SML/NJ) compiler utlilizes the DEC Alpha processor. Surprisingly, the processor is stalled for 60-70% of the total cycles executed for most benchmarks | resource connicts and data cache misses accounting for a large fraction of these. The paper also provides the experimental data needed for an informed choice of which future optimizations to implement.
Acute localized administration of tetrahydrobiopterin and chronic systemic atorvastatin treatment restore cutaneous microvascular function in hypercholesterolaemic humans

Non‐Technical Summary A high concentration of cholesterol in the blood, known as hypercholesterolaemia, in the absence of overt atherosclerotic disease induces changes throughout the circulation including an inability to fully respond to vasodilatory stimuli. Here we examined the underlying factors that contribute to reduced skin blood flow responses to local warming in hypercholesterolaemic men and women before and after a common cholesterol‐lowering intervention (atorvastatin). We found that skin blood flow responses are reduced in hypercholesterolaemic men and women and that localized administration of the essential enzymatic cofactor, called tetrahydrobiopterin, increases the skin blood flow response to local heating. After 3 months of a cholesterol‐lowering intervention (atorvastatin) blood cholesterol was reduced and the skin blood flow responses to local warming were corrected such that there was no longer a difference between the hypercholesterolaemics and the normocholesterolaemic control group. Our data suggest that reduced availability of tetrahydrobiopterin induced by high cholesterol in part contributes to reduced vasodilatory responses in the skin microcirculation which is corrected with a common cholesterol‐lowering statin therapy.
Cutaneous aspergillosis in a lung transplant recipient

Abstract: Organ transplant recipients are at increased risk for Aspergillus infections. Cutaneous aspergillosis (CA) occurs less frequently and is poorly characterized. The case of a lung transplant recipient with CA is presented. Six months after transplantation, 3 painful skin nodules appeared, with 1 each in the right calf, left arm, and upper back. Exudate from the leg nodule yielded Aspergillus fumigatus. Computed tomography of the chest showed bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy, but <1 cm in size. The case could be the result of Aspergillus dissemination from a hypothetical asymptomatic pulmonary infection. The lack of lung radiological signs could be related to prophylactic treatment with inhaled liposomal amphotericin B, which could have prevented clinically evident Aspergillus lung infection. The patient was treated with voriconazole, which was maintained for 3 months. The patient recovered completely.
Partially TAP-Independent Protection Against Listeria monocytogenes by H2-M3-Restricted CD8+ T Cells

Effective protection against Listeria monocytogenes requires Ag-specific CD8+ T cells. A substantial proportion of CD8+ T cells activated during L. monocytogenes infection of C57BL/6 mice are restricted by the MHC class Ib molecule H2-M3. In this study, an H2-M3-restricted CD8+ T cell clone specific for a known H2-M3 epitope (fMIGWII) was generated from L. monocytogenes-infected mice. The clone was cytotoxic, produced IFN-γ, and could mediate strong protection against L. monocytogenes when transferred to infected mice. Macrophages pulsed with heat-killed Listeriae presented Ag to the clone in a TAP-independent manner. Both TAP-independent and -dependent processing occurred in vivo, as TAP-deficient mice infected with L. monocytogenes were partially protected by adoptive transfer of the clone. This is the first example of CD8+ T cell-mediated, TAP-independent protection against a pathogen in vivo, confirming the importance of alternative MHC class I processing pathways in the antibacterial immunity.
SHORT REPORT Spatial estimation: a non-Bayesian alternative

A large collection of estimation phenomena (e.g. biases arising when adults or children estimate remembered locations of objects in bounded spaces; Huttenlocher, Newcombe & Sandberg, 1994) are commonly explained in terms of complex Bayesian models. We provide evidence that some of these phenomena may be modeled instead by a simpler non-Bayesian alternative. Undergraduates and 9- to 10-year-olds completed a speeded linear position estimation task. Bias in both groups’ estimates could be explained in terms of a simple psychophysical model of proportion estimation. Moreover, some individual data were not compatible with the requirements of the more complex Bayesian model. Research highlights • Much previous research finds systematic bias in people’s estimates, commonly explained in terms of complex Bayesian models. • Children (aged 9‐10) and adults produced biased estimates in a spatial position task. • Responses were accounted for by a simple psychophysical model of proportion estimation. • Some individual data were not compatible with the requirements of the more complex Bayesian model.
Sendero: An Extended, Agent-Based Implementation of Kauffman's NKCS Model

The idea of agents exploring a fitness landscape in which they seek to move from 'fitness valleys' to higher 'fitness peaks' has been presented by Kauffman in the NK and NKCS models. The NK model addresses single species while the NKCS extension illustrates coevolving species on coupled fitness landscapes. We describe an agent-based simulation (Sendero), built in Repast, of the NK and NKCS models. The results from Sendero are validated against Kauffman's findings for the NK and NKCS models. We also describe extensions to the basic model, including population dynamics and communication networks for NK, and directed graphs and variable change rates for NKCS. The Sendero software is available as open source under the BSD licence and is thus available for download and extension by the research community.