Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Myosin Isoenzymes in Normal and Hypertrophied Human Ventricular Myocardium

We tested the hypothesis that hypertrophy of the human heart is associated with the redistribution of ventricular isomyosins. Human cardiac myosin was isolated from autopsy samples of left ventricular free wall of patients with cardiac hypertrophy and of fetal, young, and adult subjects without heart disease. The following parameters were studied: elecrrophoreric migration in denaturing and non-denaturing conditions; immunological cross-reactivities with three different types of antibodies; and early phosphate burst size and steady state ATPase activities stimulated by K+-EDTA, Ca++, μg++, and actin. The antibodies were chosen for their ability to recognize selectively the rat VI and V3 cardiac isomyosins. The first type was a monoclonal antibody, CCM-52, prepared against embryonic chick cardiac myosin, the second was an anti-beef atrial myosin, and the third was an anti-rat VI myosin. CCM-52 reacted with a greater affinity with rat V3 than with rat VI, and was thus a probe of mammalian V3. Anti-beef atrial myosin and anti-rat VI myosin both recognized specifically beef atrial and rat VI myosins, and were thus considered as probes of mammalian VI. Under non-denaturing conditions, human myosins migrated as rat V3 isomyosin; under denaturing conditions, no difference was observed in any of the elecrrophoreric parameters between all samples tested, except for the fetal hearts which contained a fetal type of light chain. The immunological studies indicated that human myosins were composed mostly of a V3 type (HV3), but contained also some VI isomyosin. A technique was developed to quantify the amount of human VI isomyosin which was found to range from almost 0 to 15% of total myosin, and to vary from one heart to the other, regardless of the origin of the heart. Enzymatic studies showed no significant difference between normal, hypertrophied, and fetal hearts in any of the activities tested. However, there was a significant correlation between Ca++-stimulated ATPase activities and HV1 amount (at 0.05 M KG, n = 18, r2 = 0.49, P < 0.01; at 0.5 M KC1, n = 18, r2 = 0.5, P < 0.01). These data demonstrate the heterogeneity of human ventricular myosin, which appears to be composed, as in other mammalian species, of VI and V3 isoforms of different ATPase activities (VI > V3). However it seems that VI to V3 shifts do not appear to be of physiological significance in the adaptation of human heart to chronic mechanical overloads.
Why invest in rural America and how? : a critical public policy question for the 21st century

Significant portions of rural America are in trouble. For some parts of rural America, the slow slide to no longer being economically, socially, or politically viable is within sight. At the same time, without intending it, rural America appears headed for a land of the rich and the poor—a rural America of resorts and pockets of persistent poverty. > Yet current rural policies are designed for the past, not the future. In terms of public dollars committed, today’s rural policy focuses primarily on two areas—agriculture and manufacturing. Neither focus can meet the future needs of rural people and their communities. > In his paper presented at this year’s conference sponsored by the Center for the Study of Rural America, Exploring Policy Options for a New Rural America, Dr. Stauber discusses how a successful rural policy must be crafted with three key societal benefits in mind—the survival of the rural middle class, reducing concentrated rural poverty, and sustaining and improving the quality of the natural environment.
Contributions to visualization algorithm enabling GPU-accelerated image displaying for dual panel high dynamic range LCD display

High dynamic range displays based on dual panel LCD are a viable option for building a low-cost solution for providing high bit depth visualization systems. One of the factors limiting the usability of this type of displays are the computation requirements of the algorithm necessary for correct visualization using the two stacked panels. In this work we present the methodology and the results of mapping this algorithm on a CPU+GPU platform using the OpenCL 1.1 API. Visualization of a 2048×2048 image when executed on a CPU+GPU (AMD Radeon V7800) platform is performed up to 7.6 times faster then when only the CPU is used. The first results are promising and encourage the use of GPUs (or APUs) for acceleration of this kind of processing.
Policies for dynamic stack composition

Currently, protocol stacks operate in various contexts and it is therefore not possible to know the required properties of a stack (both functional and non-functional) in advance. The stack has to be dynamically built up from components, based on the requirements and the momentary situation. The first step in building the stack is to determine the component types to be used and the stack architecture that has to define the way building blocks are connected. In this document we report on how to describe protocol building blocks, external requirements and how to build a stack from these descriptions. We give a detailed description of our composition algorithm. This research was supported by the Flemish Institute for the advancement of scientific-technological research in industry (IWT) # 990219(Pepita) Policies for dynamic stack composition Sam Michiels Frank Matthijs Report CW 313, February 2001
CARDIOPULMONARY SUPPORT AND PHYSIOLOGY DELAYED MYOCARDIAL PRECONDITIONING BY α 1-ADRENOCEPTORS INVOLVES INHIBITION OF APOPTOSIS

mented as an important therapeutic goal in limiting left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and arrhythmia, 11,12 the mechanism of this cardioprotective response is not well understood. Data from several in vivo and in vitro models of IR injury suggest that free radicals and disruption of metabolic homeostasis are important contributory factors in myocardial cell death. Thus cytoprotection is thought to involve increased expression of proteins that either suppress free radical accumulation such as super-oxide dismutase and catalase 6,13,14 or maintain metabolic homeostasis. 1,5,7,10,15 However, several agents can induce delayed ischemic tolerance in intact myocardi-um 6,16,17 without increasing the expression of antioxi-dants and stress-response proteins. 5,16,17 Whether these diverse agents activate a common protective mechanism P revious work suggests that pharmacologic interventions 1-8 and short periods of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) 9,10 can limit myocardial infarction 24 hours later. Although restriction of the infarcted area is well docu-Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated that α1-adrenoceptor activation increases myocardial resistance to ischemic injury 24 hours later. Here we tested the hypothesis that delayed protection is associated with limited infarction and involves altered expression of pro-apoptotic and/or anti-apoptotic proteins. Methods: Rabbits were treated with phenylephrine or an equivalent volume of vehicle (n = 6 per group). Twenty-four hours after pretreatment, isolated hearts were perfused with a bovine ery-throcyte suspension in modified Krebs solution, subjected to 45 minutes of global ischemia (37°C), and reperfused for 120 minutes. Infarct size was determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Apoptosis was quantified by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end labeling. Left ventricular tissue from separate groups of animals (n = 5 per group), 24 hours after pretreatment with phenyl-ephrine or vehicle but without ischemia and reperfusion, was analyzed by Western blotting for content of the anti-apoptotic protein, bcl x , and pro-apoptotic protein, bax. Results: Isolated hearts after phenylephrine pretreatment had increased end-reperfusion developed pressures (56.8 ± 4. and reduced the number of apoptotic nuclei (24 ± 4.8 vs 51 ± 4.6 for vehicle, P = .038). Analysis by Western blotting showed that the ratio of bcl x to bax protein increased in phenylephrine-pretreated hearts (2.65 ± 0.5 vs 1.0 ± 0.1 for vehicle, P = .008). Conclusion: Delayed myocardial protection to infarction mediated by α1-adrenoceptor activation involves an increased bcl x /bax ratio, thereby limiting apoptotic cell death.
Generating and testing the components of a block cipher

Today, block algorithms represent one of the most used tools to provide security in IT systems. As defined by Shannon in [5], one of the fundamental principles of algorithms block security is confusion. This principle is about creating very complex relationships between the key and the encrypted text. A mechanism for elementary confusion is the S-box, generally the only nonlinear part of the algorithm. The purpose of this paper is to present a method to create a library of S-boxes with strong cryptographic properties.
Transactions on Human-computer Interaction Thci Human-computer Interaction Effects of Web Atmospheric Cues on Users' Emotional Responses in E-commerce Sheng and Joginapelly Effects of Web Atmospheric Cues on Users' Emotional Responses

Susan Wiedenbeck was the accepting Senior Editor. The internet has become part of everyday life and revolutionized the shopping experience. Consumers' emotional responses play an important role in predicting and measuring behavioral intentions and satisfaction; therefore, it is imperative to study e-commerce from an affective perspective. This research adopted the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SO -R) model to examine the effects of web atmospheric cues, mainly vividness and interactivity, on users' emotional responses in e-commerce, and the influence of users' emotional responses on their purchasing intentions. This research involved three stages: a pretest, an experimental study, and an online survey. First, recruited experts in human-computer interaction (HCI) evaluated 25 different e-commerce websites on interactivity and vividness. These ratings informed the selection of three websites to represent various levels of atmospheric cues: high interactivity and vividness, medium interactivity and vividness, and low interactivity and vividness. In the second stage, an experiment was conducted to collect the physiological responses of 20 participants, including galvanic skin response, heart rate variability, and pupil dilation, as they viewed each of the three e-commerce websites; participants' self-reported emotional responses were also recorded. Finally, an online survey collected data on the emotional responses and purchase intentions of 53 participants after viewing the three e-commerce websites. The results of the experimental study indicate that web atmospheric cues such as vividness and interactivity had significant positive effects on users' valence and arousal rates. Furthermore, users experiencing higher arousal and more positive valence rates reported higher intentions to purchase from the e-commerce website. Analysis of the physiological data showed that users' heart rate variability exhibited a trend similar to that of their self-reported valance rate, but no such trend was observed for self-reported arousal rates, galvanic skin response, or pupil dilation values. This paper not only extends the SO -R paradigm in the e-commerce context and provides empirical evidence for the model, but also applies Russel's (1980) emotional model to understand the users' emotional responses to e-commerce websites. The physiological measures employed in this study are examples of new usability evaluation tools for determining complex affective measures in HCI.
Fuzzy Logic Aided Dynamic Source Routing in Cross-Layer Operation Assisted Ad Hoc Networks

1The classic Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol opts for the route requiring the lowest number of hops for transmitting data from the source to the destination. However, owing to node mobility in dynamic self-organizing ad hoc networks, the route containing a low number of potentially long-range hops does not always perform well. Furthermore, the currently used route may break owing to node-mobility and the routing information gathered during route discovery may become invalid. In order to circumvent the potentially inaccurate nature of the routing information, a fuzzy logic aided technique is incorporated into the routing algorithm for mitigating the influence of imprecise routing information. As a further benefit, fuzzy logic aided techniques are capable of processing multiple inputs, hence we use both the expected route lifetime and the number of hops as its input parameters, which allows us to integrate the physical layer and network layer into a jointly designed routing protocol. The route life-time is typically reduced with the increased mobility of the nodes. The specific route having the highest route 'stability' is finally selected for data transmission, and based on the route life-time the route-cache expiration time is adjusted adaptively. We will demonstrate that the proposed fuzzy logic based DSR outperforms the conventional DSR in terms of the attainable network throughput, despite having a lower network control load. Finally, we quantify the impact of the physical layer on the achievable performance of the network layer for different physical layer schemes by using the OMNeT++ simulator.
Production and perception of ‘paralinguistic² information

Phonetic manifestation of paralinguistic information (PI) like speaker’s attitude and intention is a unique property of speech communication. Production and perception of six PI types were examined using Japanese. In speech production, acoustic and articulatory analyses revealed that speech signal and the underlying articulatory gesture differed systematically and considerably under the specification of PI. Further it was shown that the planning of PI could be classified into two different processes; one that makes reference to phonological structure of utterance, and the other that does not. As for perception, identification experiments followed by MDS analysis revealed that native subjects could identify the PI types correctly in three dimensional perceptual space, and, regression analysis revealed high correlation between the acoustic measures and the perceptual space. Lastly, cross-linguistic perception experiments followed by MDS analyses revealed partly language-dependent nature of PI perception. This finding was in congruence with the finding that production of PI makes partial reference to the phonological structure of utterance.
A Role for Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I in the Regulation of Schwann Cell Survival

During postnatal development in the peripheral nerve, differentiating Schwann cells are susceptible to apoptotic death. Schwann cell apoptosis is regulated by axons and serves as one mechanism through which axon and Schwann cell numbers are correctly matched. This regulation is mediated in part by the provision of limiting axon-derived trophic molecules, although neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) is the only trophic factor shown to date to support Schwann cell survival. In this report, we identify insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) as an additional trophin that can promote Schwann cell survivalin vitro. We find that IGF-I, like NRG-1, can prevent the apoptotic death of postnatal rat Schwann cells cultured under conditions of serum withdrawal. Moreover, we show that differentiating Schwann cells in the rat sciatic nerve express both the IGF-I receptor (IGF-I R) and IGF-I throughout postnatal development. These results indicate that IGF-I is likely to control Schwann cell viability in the developing peripheral nerve and, together with other findings, raise the interesting possibility that such survival regulation may switch during postnatal development from an axon-dependent mechanism to an autocrine and/or paracrine one.
Regulation of NHE 3 by lysophosphatidic acid is mediated by phosphorylation of NHE 3 by RSK 2

No YR, He P, Yoo BK, Yun CC. Regulation of NHE3 by lysophosphatidic acid is mediated by phosphorylation of NHE3 by RSK2. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 309: C14–C21, 2015. First published April 8, 2015; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00067. 2015. —Na /H exchange by Na /H exchanger 3 (NHE3) is a major route of sodium absorption in the intestine and kidney. We have shown previously that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a small phospholipid produced ubiquitously by all types of cells, stimulates NHE3 via LPA5 receptor. Stimulation of NHE3 activity by LPA involves LPA5 transactivating EGF receptor (EGFR) in the apical membrane. EGFR activates proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) and ERK, both of which are necessary for NHE3 regulation. However, Pyk2 and ERK are regulated by EGFR via independent pathways and appear to converge on an unidentified intermediate that ultimately targets NHE3. The p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK) family of Ser/Thr protein kinases is a known effector of EGFR and ERK. Hence, we hypothesized that RSK may be the convergent effector of Pyk2 and ERK although it is not known whether Pyk2 regulates RSK. In this study, we show that Pyk2 is necessary for the maintenance of phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) autophosphorylation, and knockdown of Pyk2 or PDK1 mitigated LPA-induced phosphorylation of RSK and stimulation of NHE3 activity. Additionally, we show that RSK2, but not RSK1, is responsible for NHE3 regulation. RSK2 interacts with NHE3 at the apical membrane domain, where it phosphorylates NHE3. Alteration of S663 of NHE3 ablated LPA-induced phosphorylation of NHE3 and stimulation of the transport activity. Our study identifies RSK2 as a new kinase that regulates NHE3 activity by direct phosphorylation.
An Approach for Minimizing the Time Taken by Video Processing for Translating Sign Language to Simple Sentence in English

Sign Language is the language of deaf. There are different types of sign languages spread all over the world. American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the sign languages. ASL is used by deaf Americans. We had created a system that translates sign language videos to simple sentence in English. This system is taking a lot of time for mapping the sign language videos to its corresponding sign writing images. This paper discusses an approach for minimizing the processing time taken for mapping the sign language videos to its corresponding sign writing images.
Abnormal renal and hepatic glucose metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Release of glucose by liver and kidney are both increased in diabetic animals. Although the overall release of glucose into the circulation is increased in humans with diabetes, excessive release of glucose by either their liver or kidney has not as yet been demonstrated. The present experiments were therefore undertaken to assess the relative contributions of hepatic and renal glucose release to the excessive glucose release found in type 2 diabetes. Using a combination of isotopic and balance techniques to determine total systemic glucose release and renal glucose release in postabsorptive type 2 diabetic subjects and age-weight-matched nondiabetic volunteers, their hepatic glucose release was then calculated as the difference between total systemic glucose release and renal glucose release. Renal glucose release was increased nearly 300% in diabetic subjects (321+/-36 vs. 125+/-15 micromol/min, P < 0.001). Hepatic glucose release was increased approximately 30% (P = 0.03), but increments in hepatic and renal glucose release were comparable (2.60+/-0.70 vs. 2.21+/-0.32, micromol.kg-1.min-1, respectively, P = 0.26). Renal glucose uptake was markedly increased in diabetic subjects (353+/-48 vs. 103+/-10 micromol/min, P < 0.001), resulting in net renal glucose uptake in the diabetic subjects (92+/-50 micromol/ min) versus a net output in the nondiabetic subjects (21+/-14 micromol/min, P = 0.043). Renal glucose uptake was inversely correlated with renal FFA uptake (r = -0.51, P < 0.01), which was reduced by approximately 60% in diabetic subjects (10. 9+/-2.7 vs. 27.0+/-3.3 micromol/min, P < 0.002). We conclude that in type 2 diabetes, both liver and kidney contribute to glucose overproduction and that renal glucose uptake is markedly increased. The latter may suppress renal FFA uptake via a glucose-fatty acid cycle and explain the accumulation of glycogen commonly found in the diabetic kidney.
Building local metrical and global topological maps using efficient scan matching approaches

This paper describes a new solution of the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. Instead of building one global consistent map, aimed by the most common SLAM techniques, we compute a set of local metrical maps and fuse them to a graph-like structure resulting in a topological map. Thus, our approach does not require a global metrical map consistency. The main contribution of this paper is an algorithm for closing spatial loops. Loop closing means, that a subset of the edges of the graph representing the topological map forms a cycle. To this end we describe a very efficient enhancement of the well-known RANSAC technique for actively recognizing regions explored by the robot previously. This improvement exploits the theory of the birthday attack whose mathematical background is known from cryptography. A fast sample-based scan matcher is employed to compute the local maps. We derive the covariance of the current robot pose from the sample distribution in order to perform a recognition only when loop closing is very likely. Our approach has been implemented and experimental results show its excellent performance.
Functional Regression for State Prediction Using Linear PDE Models and Observations

Partial differential equations (PDEs) are commonly used to model a wide variety of physical phenomena. A PDE model of a physical problem is typically described by conservation laws, constitutive laws, material properties, boundary conditions, boundary data, and geometry. In most practical applications, however, the PDE model is only an approximation to the real physical problem due to both (i) the deliberate mathematical simplification of the model to keep it tractable and (ii) the inherent uncertainty of the physical parameters. In such cases, the PDE model may not produce a good prediction of the true state of the underlying physical problem. In this paper, we introduce a functional regression method that incorporates observations into a deterministic linear PDE model to improve its prediction of the true state. Our method is devised as follows. First, we augment the PDE model with a random Gaussian functional which serves to represent various sources of uncertainty in the model. We next derive a linear.
Functional organization of autonomic neural pathways

There is now abundant functional and anatomical evidence that autonomic motor pathways represent a highly organized output of the central nervous system. Simplistic notions of antagonistic all-or-none activation of sympathetic or parasympathetic pathways are clearly wrong. Sympathetic or parasympathetic pathways to specific target tissues generally can be activated tonically or phasically, depending on current physiological requirements. For example, at rest, many sympathetic pathways are tonically active, such as those limiting blood flow to the skin, inhibiting gastrointestinal tract motility and secretion, or allowing continence in the urinary bladder. Phasic parasympathetic activity can be seen in lacrimation, salivation or urination. Activity in autonomic motor pathways can be modulated by diverse sensory inputs, including the visual, auditory and vestibular systems, in addition to various functional populations of visceral afferents. Identifying the central pathways responsible for coordinated autonomic activity has made considerable progress, but much more needs to be done.