Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of activin receptor-like kinase 5 induces matrix metallopeptidase 9 expression and aggravates lipopolysaccharide-induced pulmonary injury in mice.

BACKGROUND TGF-β (Transforming Growth Factor-β) mediates its biological effects through members of activin receptor-like kinase (ALK) family and TGF-β/Smad3 signaling link inflammation to pulmonary fibrosis. AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of SB431542 as a specific inhibitor of Activin receptor-Like Kinase 5 (ALK5) in pneumonic injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS Anesthetized and endo-tracheally intubated C57BL/6 mice were randomized to three groups: the control group with intra-tracheal instillation of 1.5 mg/kg normal saline (NS); LPS stimulation group with intra-tracheal instillation of 3 mg/kg LPS (lipopolysaccharide); and LPS+SB431542 group with intra-peritoneal (i.p.) injection of 4.2 mg/kg SB431542 1 h before intra-tracheal instillation of 3 mg/kg LPS. The lung tissue was obtained 6 h after injury, and the degree of pulmonary injury was evaluated by pathologic scoring. The lung wet/dry weight ratio was measured. TNF-α, IL-1β, and MMP-9 (matrix metallopeptidase-9) mRNA expression levels were assayed by real time PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The content of MMP-9 total protein was measured by Western blotting. The content of active MMP-9 was detected by gelatin zymography. Location of MMP-9 in mouse lung tissue was monitored by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The results showed that (1) pathologic changes including interstitial pulmonary edema, neutrophil infiltration, alveolar edema and hemorrhage were observed 6 h after LPS instillation. The lung wet/dry weight rate and pathologic scores confirmed that SB431542 administration aggravated LPS injury to the mouse lung; (2) the amount of TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA expression in LPS groups was significantly higher than that in the control group, and the highest in LPS+SB431542 group; (3) the amount of MMP-9 mRNA and MMP-9 protein expression and active MMP-9 in the lung tissue of LPS groups was significantly higher than that in the control group 6 h after injury, and the highest in LPS+SB431542 group; and (4) MMP-9 expression was mainly observed in the airway epithelial cells, vascular smooth muscle cells and cytoplasm of inflammatory cells as shown by immunohistochemistry, and brownish yellow uniformed stained areas were also seen in the exudate from part of the alveoli. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that blocking the activity of TGF-β/Smad pathway by specific inhibitor SB431542 of ALK5 promoted the releaser of large amounts of TNF-α, IL-1β and other pro-inflammatory cytokines from the lung tissue of mice sustaining acute lung injury (ALI). At the same time, the amount and activity of MMP-9 expression in the lung were increased, and MMP-9 expression was mainly located in the airway epithelial cells, vascular smooth muscle cells and inflammatory cells, causing increased permeability of the pulmonary blood vessels, degradation of the extracellular matrix and destruction of the normal lung tissue structures, which directly or indirectly promotes the progression of pulmonary inflammatory responses and aggravates ALI.
How the probability of presentation to a primary care clinician correlates with cancer survival rates: a European survey using vignettes

Abstract Objective: European cancer survival rates vary widely. System factors, including whether or not primary care physicians (PCPs) are gatekeepers, may account for some of these differences. This study explores where patients who may have cancer are likely to present for medical care in different European countries, and how probability of presentation to a primary care clinician correlates with cancer survival rates. Design: Seventy-eight PCPs in a range of European countries assessed four vignettes representing patients who might have cancer, and consensus groups agreed how likely those patients were to present to different clinicians in their own countries. These data were compared with national cancer survival rates. Setting: A total of 14 countries. Subjects: Consensus groups of PCPs. Main outcome measures: Probability of initial presentation to a PCP for four clinical vignettes. Results: There was no significant correlation between overall national 1-year relative cancer survival rates and the probability of initial presentation to a PCP (r = −0.16, 95% CI −0.39 to 0.08). Within that there was large variation depending on the type of cancer, with a significantly poorer lung cancer survival in countries where patients were more likely to initially consult a PCP (lung r = −0.57, 95% CI −0.83 to −0.12; ovary: r = −0.13, 95% CI −0.57 to 0.38; breast r = 0.14, 95% CI −0.36 to 0.58; bowel: r = 0.20, 95% CI −0.31 to 0.62). Conclusions: There were wide variations in the degree of gatekeeping between countries, with no simple binary model as to whether or not a country has a “PCP-as-gatekeeper” system. While there was case-by-case variation, there was no overall evidence of a link between a higher probability of initial consultation with a PCP and poorer cancer survival. KEY POINTS European cancer survival rates vary widely, and health system factors may account for some of these differences. The data from 14 European countries show a wide variation in the probability of initial presentation to a PCP. The degree to which PCPs act as gatekeepers varies considerably from country to country. There is no overall evidence of a link between a higher probability of initial presentation to a PCP and poorer cancer survival.
MSN: statistical understanding of broadcasted baseball video using multi-level semantic network

The information processing of sports video yields valuable semantics for content delivery over narrowband networks. Traditional image/video processing is formulated in terms of low-level features describing image/video structure and intensity, while the high-level knowledge such as common sense and human perceptual knowledge are encoded in abstract and nongeometric representations. The management of semantic information in video becomes more and more difficult because of the large difference in representations, levels of knowledge, and abstract episodes. This paper proposes a semantic highlight detection scheme using a Multi-level Semantic Network (MSN) for baseball video interpretation. The probabilistic structure can be applied for highlight detection and shot classification. Satisfactory results will be shown to illustrate better performance compared with the traditional ones.
A combined toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics approach to assess the effect of porewater composition on cadmium bioavailability to Folsomia candida

The aim of the present study was to improve our understanding of cadmium bioavailability by linking toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. The springtail Folsomia candida was exposed to different cadmium concentrations in solutions embedded in inert quartz sand. Survival and cadmium uptake in the animals were followed for 21 d. After 10 d, some animals were transferred to clean medium to assess cadmium elimination. Using a first‐order one‐compartment model, an overall uptake rate constant (k1) of 0.18 L kganimal–1 d−1 and an elimination rate constant (k2‐TK) of 0.02 d−1 were calculated. Survival decreased with time, resulting in an estimated final median lethal concentration (LC50) of 0.51 mM. A lethal body concentration (LBC) of 4.6 µmol Cd g−1 dry body weight was estimated by multiplying the final LC50 by the bioconcentration factor (k1/k2‐TK). The LC50animal values based on internal cadmium concentrations were between 3.56 µmol Cd g−1 and 9.91 µmol Cd g−1 dry body weight, with an overall value of 7.9 µmol Cd g−1 dry body weight (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.8–12.0 µmol Cd g−1 dry body wt). Because the 95% CI of the LC50animal included the LBC, there was good agreement of cadmium toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1570–1577. © 2014 SETAC
Stereo Driving and Position Estimation for Autonomous Planetary Rovers

In this paper we present two new approaches to planetary rover perception. One approach concerns stereo driving without 3-D reconstruction. This approach begins with weakly calibrated stereo images, and evaluates the traversability of terrain using shape indicators such as relative slope and relative elevation. The approach then evaluates candidate paths based on the traversability analysis and generates the best path. The second approach involves estimating vehicle position by observing the Sun. At a given time, a measurement of the Sun's altitude constrains the observer to lie on a circle on the terrestrial surface called the circle of equal altitude. We determine the position of the observer by intersecting circles of equal altitude identified at different times. We are validating experimentally both approaches in unstructured, outdoor environments with several wheeled rovers, Future efforts will transfer the developed technology into Lunar Rover demonstration and flight programs.
SETS: search enhanced by topic segmentation

We present SETS, an architecture for efficient search in peer-to-peer networks, building upon ideas drawn from machine learning and social network theory. The key idea is to arrange participating sites in a topic-segmented overlay topology in which most connections are short-distance, connecting pairs of sites with similar content. Topically focused sets of sites are then joined together into a single network by long-distance links. Queries are matched and routed to only the topically closest regions. We discuss a variety of design issues and tradeoffs that an implementor of SETS would face. We show that SETS is efficient in network traffic and query processing load.
Clique-Based Clustering for Improving Named Entity Recognition Systems

We propose a system which builds, in a semi-supervised manner, a resource that aims at helping a NER system to annotate corpus-specific named entities. This system is based on a distributional approach which uses syntactic dependencies for measuring similarities between named entities. The specificity of the presented method however, is to combine a clique-based approach and a clustering technique that amounts to a soft clustering method. Our experiments show that the resource constructed by using this clique-based clustering system allows to improve different NER systems.
Konstrukcja osiowo-symetrycznych wytworów polimerowych o kształtach złożonych

Polymer products of axial-symmetric constructions, obtained in extrusion processes, were characterized on the basis of literature review (mainly patents). An idea of such products' applications was presented. The new functional features widening the applications of the products in various technical fields were mentioned. Manufacturing methods were described and analyses of complex constructions as well as the classification of the products, according to the adopted constructional criterion (Fig. 5), were done on the examples of extrudates applied in optotelecommunication protective cables (Fig. 1, 2). Special attention has been paid to constructional solutions with additional functional ducts (Fig. 3, 4), external and internal form elements (Fig. 6) or additional elastic joints (Fig. 7-9). The advantages and disadvantages of such products were characterized and possibilities of functional features' improvement, dependently on use requirements (Table 1), were noticed.
Quantifying Spatial–Temporal Pattern of Urban Heat Island in Beijing: An Improved Assessment Using Land Surface Temperature (LST) Time Series Observations From LANDSAT, MODIS, and Chinese New Satellite GaoFen-1

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively quantify the spatial-temporal patterns of surface urban heat island (SUHI) by investigating the relationship between Land surface temperature (LST) and the land-cover types and associated landscape components in the case of Beijing, China. The spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (STARFM) developed by Gao et al. was employed to create the high spatial resolution LST time series, using LST data from the MODIS/Terra and LANDSAT 8 over the period from May to November in 2013. This paper also investigated the application of the Chinese new high spatial resolution satellite GaoFen-1 in urban thermal environments studies which were insufficiently studied previously. The impacts of four landscape metrics (LSMs) on urban LST were investigated on the basis of two scenes of GaoFen images acquired in 2013 summer (June 19 and August 10). Results showed that SUHI effect was prevalent in Beijing from May to October. The intensity of SUHI magnitude was found accentuated mainly in the summer months (July and August), indicating that the trend of surface UHI effect is inconsistent with that of canopy-layer UHI effect. No obvious linear relationships were observed between subplot LST and impervious surfaces LSMs. However, four impervious surfaces LSMs were correlated well with the temporal dynamics of LST. We also found the configurational patterns of green space could put substantial influences as strong as corresponding compositional patterns and the lower vegetation coverage in downtown could better account for the urban LST.
Analysis of suspended solids in river water to assess their role in metal transport

The contamination by metals present in surface water causes problems to human health. The ultimate aim of this work is to determine the role of fine suspended sediment to the transport of metals in rivers. During the work, the ability of fine suspended sediment to carry a range of metals in the river water in different seasons was measured in different samples. Suspended sediment carries a substantial proportion of the metals in river water. The distribution of suspended particles is an important factor in controlling the availability of metals in the river water. Dissolved form, and adsorbed to the surface coating of suspended particulate matter are two ways to transport metals in rivers. Firstly, the work was carried out in the laboratory, using suspended sediment components, to assess metal uptake by different components, while later studies utilized natural suspended sediment to study metal transport in real situations. The water samples were taken for this research from tributaries of the River Kelvin; Craigton Burn, Allander Water, Craigmaddie, Glazert Water, Bothlin Burn, Luggie Burn, and Cameron Burn. The research tries to evaluate the concentrations of Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and Zn in suspended particles in these tributaries. The technique used two filters 1.2 µm and 0.2 µm to collect the suspended sediment from water samples. Some representative samples of kaolinite, bentonite, humic acid and iron oxides were used in the laboratory based studies to improve understanding the distribution of the heavy metals Cu, Pb and Zn between metals sorbed on the solid phase and metal `in the solution phase. The adsorption of the heavy metals Cu, Pb and Zn shows different response between these materials. In addition, the experiments were carried out to measure the distribution of copper, lead, and zinc between an aqueous phase and solid phase of mixed materials (composite) sediment. The results demonstrate that the fluvial system is one of the major modes of dispersing and transporting metals from soil and parent rocks. The overall results indicated that the large and fine particle sizes carry significant metals concentrations in the river system. The investigation of the suspended sediment phases offers additional information and understanding of the movement and behavior of metals within river water. The concentration of the particles > 1.2 µm is higher than that in the fine particles 1.2 and 0.2 µm diameter.
Differences in partitioning of meal fatty acids into blood lipid fractions: a comparison of linoleate, oleate, and palmitate

There has been much interest in the health effects of dietary fat, but few studies have comprehensively compared the acute metabolic fate of specific fatty acids in vivo. We hypothesized that different classes of fatty acids would be variably partitioned in metabolic pathways and that this would become evident over 24 h. We traced the fate of fatty acids using equal amounts of [U-13C]linoleate, [U-13C]oleate, and [U-13C]palmitate given in a test breakfast meal in 12 healthy subjects. There was a tendency for differences in the concentrations of the tracers in plasma chylomicron-triacylglycerol (TG) (oleate > palmitate > linoleate). This pattern remained in plasma nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-TG (P ≤ 0.01 and P ≤ 0.02 for [U-13C]oleate vs. both [U-13C]palmitate and [U-13C]linoleate for NEFA and VLDL-TG, respectively). There was significantly more [U-13C]linoleate than the other two tracers in plasma cholesteryl ester and phospholipid (PL). Using the values for isotopic enrichment in the different lipid fractions compared with the test meal, we calculated the contribution of meal fatty acids to the respective fractions. At 24 h, 10% of plasma PL-linoleate originated from the breakfast test meal. This was significantly greater than for oleate and palmitate (both 3 ± 0.3%; P < 0.05). This pattern was also true for erythrocyte PL fatty acids. The marked rapid incorporation of linoleate from a single meal into blood PL fractions may have functional consequences such as maintenance of membrane fluidity and may explain why linoleate is a useful biomarker of dietary intake.
Energy Efficient Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Nodes in a mobile ad hoc network have limited battery power. If a node is used frequently for transmission or overhearing of data packets, more energy is consumed by that node and after certain amount of time the energy level may not be sufficient for data transmission resulting in link failure. In this paper, we have considered two routing protocols-Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) & Minimum Maximum Battery cost Routing (MMBCR) and studied their performances in terms of network lifetime for the same network scenario. Simulations are carried out using NS2. Finally from the simulation results we have concluded that MMBCR gives more network lifetime by selecting route with maximum battery capacity thereby outperforming DSR. General Terms Energy efficiency, MANETS, Routing Protocols.
Atomic oxygen sensing using a quartz crystal microbalance with a polymer thin film prepared by RF sputtering

Polymer thin fi lms, sputtered using a polyimide target on a quartz crystal, were investigated to determine their suitability for application in active oxygen sensors. Active oxygen generated under an inductively coupled plasma (ICP), particularly atomic oxygen radicals with a fl ux of 6.93×1013 atoms/cm2/s, was successfully detected from the frequency shift using a polymer-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). To investigate the reaction mechanism between the polymer surface and atomic oxygen, chemical bonding was evaluated by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and surface morphology by atomic force microscopy (AFM). We also compared sputtercoated polymers with spin-coated polymers in terms of their sensing characteristics. We found that a sputter-coated polymer QCM has a great potential for atomic oxygen sensing.
Is the Motion of a Child Perceivably Different from the Motion of an Adult?

Artists and animators have observed that children’s movements are quite different from adults performing the same action. Previous computer graphics research on human motion has primarily focused on adult motion. There are open questions as to how different child motion actually is, and whether the differences will actually impact animation and interaction. We report the first explicit study of the perception of child motion (ages 5 to 9 years old), compared to analogous adult motion. We used markerless motion capture to collect an exploratory corpus of child and adult motion, and conducted a perceptual study with point light displays to discover whether naive viewers could identify a motion as belonging to a child or an adult. We find that people are generally successful at this task. This work has implications for creating more engaging and realistic avatars for games, online social media, and animated videos and movies.
HIV Protective Efficacy and Correlates of Tenofovir Blood Concentrations in a Clinical Trial of PrEP for HIV Prevention

Background:Antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a novel HIV prevention strategy for which adherence is a known determinant of efficacy. Blood concentrations of PrEP medications are one objective marker of adherence. Methods:In a placebo-controlled PrEP efficacy trial of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and TDF with emtricitabine (FTC/TDF) among 4747 African women and men with an HIV-infected partner, we measured plasma tenofovir concentrations from participants in the active PrEP arms: 29 HIV seroconverters (cases) and 196 randomly selected controls who remained uninfected. Results:Among controls, 71% of visits had tenofovir concentrations >40 ng/mL, consistent with steady-state daily dosing, compared with 21% of cases at the visit HIV was first detected. Pill count data indicated that 96% of controls and 66% of cases had >80% adherence for these same visits. The estimated protective effect of PrEP against HIV, based on concentrations >40 ng/mL, was 88% (95% confidence interval: 60 to 96, P < 0.001) for individuals receiving TDF and 91% (95% confidence interval: 47 to 98, P = 0.008) for individuals receiving FTC/TDF. Controls had consistent patterns of PrEP concentrations during follow-up; among the 81% with concentrations >40 ng/mL at month 1, 75% maintained this concentration at month 12. Only 5 of 29 seroconverters seemed to be consistently adherent to PrEP. Tenofovir concentrations >40 ng/mL were associated with older age and shorter time on study; concentrations ⩽40 ng/mL occurred more commonly when participants reported no sex with their HIV-infected partner. Conclusions:Plasma concentrations of tenofovir consistent with daily dosing were highly predictive of protection from HIV acquisition. Most of those who took PrEP seemed to have high and consistent adherence.
A Flexible Weight Based Clustering Algorithm in Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Clustering has been proven to be a promising approach for mimicking the operation of the fixed infrastructure and managing the resources in multi-hop networks. In order to achieve good performance, the formation and maintenance procedure of clusters should operate with minimum overhead, allowing mobile nodes to join and leave without perturbing the membership of the cluster and preserving current cluster structure as much as possible. In this paper, we propose a Flexible Weight Based Clustering Algorithm (FWCA) in Mobile Ad hoc Networks. The goals are yielding low number of clusters, maintaining stable clusters, minimizing the number of invocations for the algorithm and maximizing lifetime of mobile nodes in the system. Through simulations we have compared the performance of our algorithm with that of WCA in terms of the number of clusters formed, number of re-affiliations, number of states transitions on each clusterhead and number of clusterheads changes. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.