Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiomyopathy in Irx4-Deficient Mice Is Preceded by Abnormal Ventricular Gene Expression

ABSTRACT To define the role of Irx4, a member of the Iroquoisfamily of homeobox transcription factors in mammalian heart development and function, we disrupted the murine Irx4 gene. Cardiac morphology in Irx4-deficient mice (designatedIrx4Δex2/Δex2) was normal during embryogenesis and in early postnatal life. AdultIrx4 Δex2/Δex2 mice developed a cardiomyopathy characterized by cardiac hypertrophy and impaired contractile function. Prior to the development of cardiomyopathy,Irx4 Δex2/Δex2 hearts had abnormal ventricular gene expression: Irx4-deficient embryos exhibited reduced ventricular expression of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor eHand (Hand1), increasedIrx2 expression, and ventricular induction of an atrial chamber-specific transgene. In neonatal hearts, ventricular expression of atrial natriuretic factor and α-skeletal actin was markedly increased. Several weeks subsequent to these changes in embryonic and neonatal gene expression, increased expression of hypertrophic markers BNP and β-myosin heavy chain accompanied adult-onset cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiac expression of Irx1, Irx2, and Irx5 may partially compensate for loss of Irx4 function. We conclude that Irx4 is not sufficient for ventricular chamber formation but is required for the establishment of some components of a ventricle-specific gene expression program. In the absence of genes under the control of Irx4, ventricular function deteriorates and cardiomyopathy ensues.
A moving context-aware and location-based paratransit system

In recent years, paratransit services have been a crucial development for serving people with disabilities. However, the operators face difficulties in efficiently monitoring a paratransit vehicle and passengers are difficult to know the arrival status of the vehicle. This study proposes a moving context-aware and location-based paratransit system. With the support of WAVE/DSRC vehicular communication systems and internet access, our system can integrate the paratransit operator centre, paratransit vehicle and passenger to provide real-time services. Moving context analysis is performed to evaluate the impact of gender, device size and the ways to hold the device and the results are integrated into the development of our prototype system. Visual and audio notification services can be provided adaptively to a passenger based on the behaviour state of the passenger and the location of the paratransit.
Pharmacokinetic analysis of factors determining elimination pathways for sulfate and glucuronide metabolites of xenobiotics II: Studies with isolated perfused rat liver

1. To elucidate the determining factors for elimination pathways of sulfate and glucuronide metabolites of xenobiotics, a single-pass perfusion of 4-methylumbelliferone (4MU) or p-nitrophenol (pNP) was performed with an isolated rat liver preparation. 2. Without bovine serum albumin in the perfusion system, clearance calculated based on the unbound concentration in the liver clearly showed that the net efflux clearances (CLeff) of sulfates from the sinusoidal membrane were much higher than those of glucuronides and that the biliary excretion clearances (CLb) of glucuronides were approximately two times larger than those of sulfates. 3. The ratios of CLeff to CLb were much higher for sulfates than those for glucuronides. The bile-oriented elimination of glucuronides or sinusoidal efflux-oriented elimination of sulfates was observed even using the perfusate including 3% bovine serum albumin, but the sinusoidal efflux of sulfates was extensively enhanced by bovine serum albumin in the perfusate. The mechanisms behind this stimulatory effect remain to be elucidated. 4. For both compounds, CLb of glucuronide was comparable with CLb of sulfate, meaning that CLb is not responsible for the biliary excretion of glucuronides at extensively higher rate than sulfates. 5. Higher concentration of glucuronides in the liver, partly caused by much lower CLeff of glucuronides than that of sulfates, is likely responsible for the bile-oriented excretion of glucuronides. The extensive sinusoidal efflux of sulfates, leading to the urine-oriented excretion, is attributed to the substantially higher CLeff than CLb. 6. In conclusion, the sinusoidal efflux is an important factor for determining elimination pathways of both sulfates and glucuronides, although further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of the sinusoidal efflux.
Implications from and for food cultures for cardiovascular disease: longevity.

A healthy cardiovascular system, with minimal arteriosclerosis, good endothelial function and well-compensated ventricular function has been observed at advanced ages, and linked to a healthy lifestyle. This has consisted of a plant-based diet, low in salt and fat, with monounsaturates as the principal fat. Other healthy lifestyle factors include regular physical activity (farming and traditional dance) and minimal tobacco use. The associated negative risk factors are low homocysteine, healthy cholesterol profile (Total:HDL ratio less than 3.5) and reasonable blood pressures throughout the life cycle. Hormone-dependent cancers including breast, ovary, prostate and colon and osteoporotic complications, such as hip fracture rates, are also less frequent compared to the west. Protective factors may include high anti-oxidant consumption, mainly flavonoids and carotenoids, through a high vegetable (e.g., onions) and soy intake. Related biological observations include low lipid peroxide, high superoxide dismutase activity and high serum hydroxyproline, a marker of bone formation. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its hormonal byproducts testosterone and oestrogen appear to be high in Okinawan serum compared with age-matched Americans, possibly reflecting a slower age-associated decline in the sex hormone axis in Okinawans. This may be linked to better cardiovascular and overall health. Further study is needed to delineate the reasons behind the impressive cardiovascular and overall health of the Okinawans.
Cognitive Impact of Banner Ad Characteristics: An Experimental Study

Banner ads function as both image and direct response advertising. Industry wisdom assumes that banner ad characteristics affect the viewer's recall and clicks; however, most evidence is anecdotal. This study examines the viewer's cognitive response as a function of banner ad size and type in a lab experiment. The study finds that animated banner ads result in quicker response and better recall than non-animated banner ads and that large banner ads lead to better comprehension and more clicks than small banner ads. User mode—information-seeking or Web-surfing—was not found to affect the viewer's response to banner ads.
Reading from the left: A reply to Rabinowicz and Moscovitch and to Zaidel and Schweiger

Abstract The two sets of comments on our paper (Patterson and Besner: Is the right hemisphere literate? ) might be roughly characterised as follows: Rabinowicz and Moscovitch criticise the paper but do not really disagree with it, while Zaidel and Schweiger disagree with it but do not really criticise it. We shall summarise Rabinowicz and Moscovitch's main criticisms (as we understand them) and Zaidel and Schweiger's main sources of disagreement (likewise), each followed by a short response from us. We hope that the reader will understand (and indeed appreciate) that we restrict our reply to the major points: this is not because we cannot think of anything to say on the other more minor (though often intriguing) points, but rather that we cannot think that anyone would want to read everything we might say.
Principals' Influence on Academic Achievement: The Student Perspective

Research identifying relationships between principals' instructional leadership behavior and academic achievement is problematic because it fails to consider the perspectives of the “consumer” (i.e., students). Consequently, this study investigated what students perceive principals do to influence their academic achievement. Students identified direct and highly influential instructional leadership behaviors. Among these were principal approachability, interactive classroom observation and/or visitation, and instructional leadership behaviors that firmly establish administrators as the “principal teachers” in their respective schools.
Evidence that outwardly rectifying Cl- channels underlie volume-regulated Cl- currents in heart.

Swelling-induced Cl- current (ICl.swell) is present in most cardiac tissues, but the unitary channel underlying ICls.well is unknown. We used the cell-attached patch-clamp technique to assess the properties of single channels underlying ICls.well and the basally active Cl- current (ICl.b) in rabbit atrial myocytes. Under isotonic conditions, single outwardly rectifying Cl- channels (ORCCs) with a slope conductance of 28 +/- 1 pS at the reversal potential were observed in 21 (5.7%) of 367 patches. Unconditional kinetic analysis revealed at least three open and four closed-channel states. Hypotonic superfusion-induced swelling resulted in the appearance of active channels in 41 (15.5%) of 265 patches without channel activity under isotonic conditions and caused a second active channel to appear in 3 of 14 patches showing a single channel under isotonic conditions. Overall, channels were seen in 54 of 336 patches under hypotonic conditions (16.1%, P < .001 versus isotonic conditions). The current-voltage relations, reversal potential-[Cl-]o relations, open probability, and kinetics of swelling-induced channels were indistinguishable from those of ORCCs under isotonic conditions. Unitary ORCCs, ICl.b, and ICl.swell were strongly and similarly inhibited by tamoxifen. Swelling-induced increases in macroscopic Cl- current were attributable to an increase in the number of active ORCCs with no significant effects on single-channel amplitude or open probability. Estimated macroscopic currents based on cell surface area, patch dimensions, single-channel ORCC current amplitude, open probability, and density were consistent with measured values of ICl.b and ICl.swell. We conclude that ORCCs underlie volume-regulated basal and swelling-induced Cl- currents in isolated rabbit atrial myocytes.
Observational studies of student errors in a distance learning environment using a remote recording and replay tool

AESOP is An Electronic Student Observatory Project consisting of a set of tools written in Smalltalk allowing student's activities and progress through an on-line distance education course to be remotely recorded, replayed and analysed. The following paper outlines some initial findings from observations made on a cross-sectional group of 368 volunteers taking the course in 2000. Students observed using low resolution 640 x 480 screens were noted to take significantly longer to complete on-line course work (p=0.018). Differences between genders were also found with females reporting less comfort at using computers and males using a greater variety of central processing units. Some evidence indicates that female students were also more likely to be using lower specification machines than males although the differences noted were found to be just outside significance levels.
Circulating levels of cytokines and their site of production in patients with mild to severe chronic heart failure.

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic heart failure have elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines; however, the mechanism for their increased expression and the site of their production are unknown. METHODS Twenty-two patients with heart failure, New York Heart Association functional class II to IV, underwent hemodynamic evaluation and echocardiographic study. Blood samples for cytokine evaluation were performed in the ascending aorta, coronary sinus, inferior vena cava, and hepatic vein. Levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), its soluble receptors sTNF-RI and sTNF-RII, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-6 soluble receptor, soluble gp130, interleukin-2 soluble receptor, and soluble Fas were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. RESULTS IL-6 concentrations were higher in class IV patients than in class III patients, which in turn were higher than those in class II. TNF-alpha, sTNF-RI, and sTNF-RII were higher in class IV patients than in class III and II patients. Significant correlations were found between IL-6 concentrations and left ventricular end-systolic volume (r = 0.64; P <.001), pulmonary wedge pressure (r = 0.56; P <.01), and left ventricular ejection fraction (r = -0.56; P <.01). No correlation was found between TNF-alpha and its soluble receptors and left ventricular volumes or hemodynamic measures. Finally, no difference in cytokine concentrations was found among the different sample sites. CONCLUSIONS Among inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 concentrations better reflect the hemodynamic derangement in patients with heart failure. No cardiac or gut production of cytokines occurs in patients with mild to severe heart failure.
Pedestrian Detection and Tracking Algorithm Design in Transportation Video Monitoring System

Recently, the video-based technologies play an important role in monitoring fields, including the detection, identification and tracking of moving object. This paper designs an effective pedestrian detection and tracking algorithm in the traffic environment. Firstly, extract the moving prospect from the background in the video images, using conventional frame difference algorithm. The moving targets extracted include pedestrians, vehicles, the shadow of vehicles and the shaking tree at the side of roads. Then we analyze the geometry features of moving targets. According to the prior knowledge of pedestrian shape, the pedestrians are separated from the moving targets. Finally, on the basis of pedestrian detection and identification, we propose a tracking algorithm based on a combination of Particle Filter and Mean Shift. Test results showed that the algorithm have better real- time ability and robustness.
Caricature generation with different styles

In this paper, we present a caricature generation technique with different styles, which consists of shape exaggeration, relationship exaggeration and style transfer algorithm of caricature. Rather than transferring texture from one image to another globally, we introduce an interactive tool for local texture transfer. A brush is used to draw strokes on the source and target images to indicate corresponding regions in that the segmentation algorithm method is considered to be not ideal in this case. Multiple local texture transfer method is presented to transfer the texture from the source region to the destination region through patch-based texture synthesis. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is easy and effective in generating different artistic effects in caricature.
Measurement of Human Values: an Appraisal of the Work of Milton Rokeach

Summary It is argued that methods currently available for studying values within a socio‐psychological framework are inadequate and that, if, for example, the interrelationships between values and education are to be systematically explored, then it is essential that approaches be devised which reflect more accurately the nature of human valuing. Some of the problems associated with present methods are illustrated by examining in detail one of the latest and, in some ways, most impressive to become available‐‐the Rokeach Survey of Values. It is suggested that, in spite of its simplicity and ready appeal, it suffers from important weaknesses (notably its inadequate conception of human values) which are liable to seriously distort the information which it appears to give. Some of the requirements for an adequate questionnaire method of studying values are outlined, but the importance of obtaining corroborative evidence from idiographic and field approaches is also stressed. The paper illustrates the kind of.
To Glimpse Beauty and Awaken Meaning: Scholarly Learning as Aesthetic Experience

1. John Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York: Free Press, 1997), 174. 2. Quoted in Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Primacy of Perception, ed. James M. Edie (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1964), 169. 3. Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life, trans. Arnold J. Pomerans (New York: Henry Holt, 1996), 202. 4. Dewey, Democracy and Education, 126; also see 351-52. 5. For an illustrative example of the importance of perception in research, see David Tyack, “Ways of Seeing,” in Complementary Methods for Research in Education, 2d ed., ed. Richard M. Jaeger (Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association, 1997). 6. For a fuller treatment of this idea as it bears on the practice of teaching, see David T. Hansen, “A Poetics of Teaching,” Educational Theory 54, no. 2 (2004): 119-42. 7. William Wordsworth, “The Prelude,” 1805 version, Book III, lines 124-129, in The Prelude 1799, 1805, 1850, ed. J. Wordsworth, M.H. Abrams, and S. Gill (New York: W.W. Norton, 1979), 98. 8. This essay derives from presentations at The Ways of Knowing Conference, Teachers College, Columbia University, 5 March 2004, and at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 12 April 2004.
Ageing and exposure to oxidative stress in vivo differentially affect cellular levels of PrPc in mouse cerebral microvessels and brain parenchyma

The biological function of cellular prion protein PrPc has not been established, despite in vitro studies suggesting antioxidant activity or link to signal transduction pathways. In this study, mice were exposed to hyperoxia to establish whether oxidative stress affected prion expression in vivo. C57Bl/6J mice aged 6, 18, and 24 months, maintained under normoxic conditions, exhibited age‐related increases in PrPc in both cerebral microvessels and in microvessel‐depleted brain homogenate. We demonstrate that PrPc is differentially affected by exposure to hyperoxia in vivo for 1 (24 h) or 2 (48 h) days, or for 1 day hyperoxia, followed by 1 day normoxia. Brain parenchymal cells from 6‐month‐old mice exposed to 1 day hyperoxia showed elevation of a glycosylated ∼36 kDa form, whereas in 24‐month‐old mice cellular prion level was substantially reduced. Extending hyperoxia from 1 to 2 days resulted in significantly reduced PrPc level, regardless of age. Parenchymal PrPc is substantially elevated in 6‐month‐old mice, but declines in 18‐ and 24‐month‐old animals following 1 day hyperoxia. By contrast, PrPc content in cerebral microvessels from 6‐month‐old mice declined after a 2 day exposure to hyperoxia, while microvessels from 24‐month‐old brains showed elevated prion levels 24 h after hyperoxia. Moreover, unglycosylated 25–30 kDa PrPc, and a previously undescribed 50–64 kDa band containing at least some glycosylated protein, predominated in microvessels with lesser content of the glycosylated ∼36 kDa form. Cellular content of these unglycosylated forms was correlated with age, while the response to hyperoxia was evident in both unglycosylated and glycosylated forms of the protein following 1 and 2 day exposures. The observed elevation of the 25–30 and 50–64 kDa bands of microvessel PrPc is not sustainable following 1 day hyperoxia, but returns to near normoxic levels within 24 h after hyperoxia. We also show in a knockout mouse for methionine sulfoxide reductase (MsrA), the enzyme responsible for reducing methionine sulfoxide back to methionine, and a regulator of cellular antioxidant defence, that following hyperoxia brain PrPc in the null mutant is elevated relative to PrPc content in the parent strain. Our results show up‐regulated PrPc expression or reduced turnover in response to age‐related, and hyperoxia‐induced oxidative stress.
Integron Involvement in Environmental Spread of Antibiotic Resistance

The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing problem and a public health issue. In recent decades, various genetic mechanisms involved in the spread of resistance genes among bacteria have been identified. Integrons – genetic elements that acquire, exchange, and express genes embedded within gene cassettes (GC) – are one of these mechanisms. Integrons are widely distributed, especially in Gram-negative bacteria; they are carried by mobile genetic elements, plasmids, and transposons, which promote their spread within bacterial communities. Initially studied mainly in the clinical setting for their involvement in antibiotic resistance, their role in the environment is now an increasing focus of attention. The aim of this review is to provide an in-depth analysis of recent studies of antibiotic-resistance integrons in the environment, highlighting their potential involvement in antibiotic-resistance outside the clinical context. We will focus particularly on the impact of human activities (agriculture, industries, wastewater treatment, etc.).
Retrieving descriptive phrases from large amounts of free text

This paper presents a system that retrieves descriptive phrases of proper nouns from free text. Sentences holding the specified noun are ranked using a technique based on pattern matching, word counting, and sentence location. No domain specific knowledge is used. Experiments show the system able to rank highly those sentences that contain phrases describing or defining the query noun. In contrast to existing methods, this system does not use parsing techniques but still achieves high levels of accuracy. From the results of a large-scale experiment, it is speculated that the success of this simpler method is due to the high quantities of free text being searched. Parallels between this work and recent findings in the very large corpus track of TREC are drawn.
Signal processing correcting coupling between antennas in a 2x2 MIMO context

The aim of this paper is to study a 2 x 2 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with Alamouti technique and antenna's coupling phenomena at the transmitters and at the receivers. The motivation of this study is to show and to explain the impact of two different symbols estimation models over the coupling effect on the performances of the studied system. Some mathematical equations will demonstrate the behavior of the system and some curves will prove the results by simulations.
Contrasting effects of token and type syllable frequency in lexical decision

In psycholinguistic research, there is still considerable debate about whether the type or token count of the frequency of a particular unit of language better predicts word recognition performance. The present study extends this distinction of type and token measures to the investigation of possible causes underlying syllable frequency effects. In two lexical decision experiments, we found a dissociation suggesting that the token measure of syllable frequency adequately predicts the inhibitory effect of initial syllable frequency, whereas the type measure led to facilitation, especially when the number of higher frequency syllabic neighbours was controlled for. This specific pattern of results, suggesting the involvement of two different processes in effects of syllable frequency, provides a strong constraint for current and future models of visual word recognition.