Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Update on the effects of physical activity on insulin sensitivity in humans

Purpose and methods This review presents established knowledge on the effects of physical activity (PA) on whole-body insulin sensitivity (SI) and summarises the findings of recent (2013–2016) studies. Discussion and conclusions Recent studies provide further evidence to support the notion that regular PA reduces the risk of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, and SI improves when individuals comply with exercise and/or PA guidelines. Many studies indicate a dose response, with higher energy expenditures and higher exercise intensities, including high intensity interval training (HIIT), producing greater benefits on whole-body SI, although these findings are not unanimous. Aerobic exercise interventions can improve SI without an associated increase in cardiorespiratory fitness as measured by maximal or peak oxygen consumption. Both aerobic and resistance exercise can induce improvements in glycaemic regulation, with some suggestions that exercise regimens including both may be more efficacious than either exercise mode alone. Some studies report exercise-induced benefits to SI that are independent of habitual diet and weight loss, while others indicate an association with fat reduction, hence the debate over the relative importance of PA and weight loss continues. During exercise, muscle contraction stimulated improvements in SI are associated with increases in AMPK activity, which deactivates TCB1D1, promoting GLUT4 translocation to the cell membrane and thereby increasing glucose uptake. Postexercise, increases in Akt deactivate TCB1D4 and thereby increase GLUT4 translocation to the cell membrane. The reduction in intramuscular saturated fatty acids and concomitant reductions in ceramides, but not diacylglycerols, provide a potential link between intramuscular lipid content and SI. Increased skeletal muscle capillarisation provides another independent adaptation through which SI is improved, as does enhanced β cell activity. Recent studies are combining exercise interventions with dietary and feeding manipulations to investigate the potential for augmenting the exercise-induced improvements in SI and glycaemic control.
Cognitive Flexibility through Metastable Neural Dynamics Is Disrupted by Damage to the Structural Connectome

Current theory proposes that healthy neural dynamics operate in a metastable regime, where brain regions interact to simultaneously maximize integration and segregation. Metastability may confer important behavioral properties, such as cognitive flexibility. It is increasingly recognized that neural dynamics are constrained by the underlying structural connections between brain regions. An important challenge is, therefore, to relate structural connectivity, neural dynamics, and behavior. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a pre-eminent structural disconnection disorder whereby traumatic axonal injury damages large-scale connectivity, producing characteristic cognitive impairments, including slowed information processing speed and reduced cognitive flexibility, that may be a result of disrupted metastable dynamics. Therefore, TBI provides an experimental and theoretical model to examine how metastable dynamics relate to structural connectivity and cognition. Here, we use complementary empirical and computational approaches to investigate how metastability arises from the healthy structural connectome and relates to cognitive performance. We found reduced metastability in large-scale neural dynamics after TBI, measured with resting-state functional MRI. This reduction in metastability was associated with damage to the connectome, measured using diffusion MRI. Furthermore, decreased metastability was associated with reduced cognitive flexibility and information processing. A computational model, defined by empirically derived connectivity data, demonstrates how behaviorally relevant changes in neural dynamics result from structural disconnection. Our findings suggest how metastable dynamics are important for normal brain function and contingent on the structure of the human connectome.
Mechanical and tribological properties of ice-bonded abrasive polishing tools

This article covers the efforts on characterising ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool in terms of the mechanical and tribological properties such as hardness, coefficient of friction, and wear rate. These studies were attempted on the tools prepared at different temperatures ranging from −10 °C to 0 °C with a view to identify the condition suitable to prepare ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool for effective polishing of Ti–6Al–4V alloy specimen. It also presents the methods adopted to determine various properties of ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool. Hardness was estimated from the measured penetration depth of cone shape indenter into the tool, coefficient of friction was determined from the change in power drawn by the motor rotating the tool mould, and wear behaviour of tool was assessed from the melting rate of the tool determined from the change in height of ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool at different stages of polishing. From the results of this study, it is clear that ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool prepared at −4 °C has possessed sufficient hardness, coefficient of friction, and reasonable wear rate suitable for polishing of Ti–6Al–4V specimens. This article also covers the details of low-temperature coolant supply unit developed to prepare the ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool at any desired temperature between 0 °C and −40 °C and thus to maintain it for a long time. Polishing studies with such ice-bonded abrasive polishing tool showed 72% improvement in finish after 90 min of polishing of Ti–6Al–4V specimen with tool, prepared at −4 °C.
Angioimmunoblastic Lymphadenopathy‐type of T‐Cell Lymphoma with a High Content of Epithelioid Cells: Histopathology and Comparison with Lymphoepithelioid Cell Lymphoma

A peripheral T-cell lymphoma with a high content of epithelioid cells-an entity that reveals morphologic and clinical characteristics resembling those seen in angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy (AILD)-was separated from lymphoepithelioid cell lymphoma (Lennert's lymphoma, or LeL); it was considered a variant of the AILD type of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (AILD-PTCLep). A histologic evaluation of 135 lymph node biopsies from 98 patients with AILD-PTCLep showed that AILD-PTCLep and LeL share certain features, but there are also differences between the two. A finding common to both lymphomas was the mixture of neoplastic T-lymphocytes and a large number of epithelioid cells, which accumulated mostly in small, poorly defined clusters. Additionally, typical Sternberg-Reed and Hodgkin cells as well as giant cells resembling them were observed only rarely in either of these lymphomas. In contrast to LeL, AILD-PTCLep showed a great increase in follicular dendritic cells, which were sometimes identifiable in routine slides as so-called burned-out germinal centers. In AILD-PTCLep, the number of small vessels (predominantly epithelioid venules) and fibers is also usually greatly increased, whereas in LeL this is not the case, or the increase is only slight. Hypocellular and lymphocyte-depleted areas and PAS-positive intercellular material were seen in AILD-PTCLep (18% and 34%, respectively), but not in LeL. Large numbers of eosinophils, plasma cells and plasma cell precursors, and diffuse neoplastic infiltration of the capsule and extranodal tissue were observed much more commonly in AILD-PTCLep. Corresponding to these differences in the histologic pictures are differences in the clinical pictures. Hyperimmune phenomena (pruritus, skin rash, hemolytic anemia, allergy to antibiotics) and hypergammaglobulinemia were much more common in AILD-PTCLep than in LeL. Allergy to chemotherapeutic agents was observed only in AILD-PTCLep patients. Carcinomas were observed as a second neoplasm in 11% of the patients with AILD-PTCLep, but not at all in LeL. The similarities between the two lymphomas include the age and sex distribution (peak in the seventh decade and slight predominance of the male sex) and a similar median survival time. Another similarity is the possibility that the disease will develop into a large-cell malignant lymphoma. This was observed in 13% of the cases of AILD-PTCLep and 8% of the cases of LeL.
Novel TRAIL sensitizer Taraxacum officinale F.H. Wigg enhances TRAIL‐induced apoptosis in Huh7 cells

TRAIL (TNF‐related apoptosis inducing ligand) is a promising anti‐cancer drug target that selectively induces apoptosis in cancer cells. However, many cancer cells are resistant to TRAIL‐induced apoptosis. Therefore, reversing TRAIL resistance is an important step for the development of effective TRAIL‐based anti‐cancer therapies. We previously reported that knockdown of the TOR signaling pathway regulator‐like (TIPRL) protein caused TRAIL‐induced apoptosis by activation of the MKK7‐c‐Jun N‐terminal Kinase (JNK) pathway through disruption of the MKK7‐TIPRL interaction. Here, we identified Taraxacum officinale F.H. Wigg (TO) as a novel TRAIL sensitizer from a set of 500 natural products using an ELISA system and validated its activity by GST pull‐down analysis. Furthermore, combination treatment of Huh7 cells with TRAIL and TO resulted in TRAIL‐induced apoptosis mediated through inhibition of the MKK7‐TIPRL interaction and subsequent activation of MKK7‐JNK phosphorylation. Interestingly, HPLC analysis identified chicoric acid as a major component of the TO extract, and combination treatment with chicoric acid and TRAIL induced TRAIL‐induced cell apoptosis via JNK activation due to inhibition of the MKK7‐TIPRL interaction. Our results suggest that TO plays an important role in TRAIL‐induced apoptosis, and further functional studies are warranted to confirm the importance of TO as a novel TRAIL sensitizer for cancer therapy. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Opportunistic Forwarding with Partial Centrality

In opportunistic networks, the use of social metrics (e.g., degree, closeness and betweenness centrality) of human mobility network, has recently been shown to be an effective solution to improve the performance of opportunistic forwarding algorithms. Most of the current social-based forwarding schemes exploit some globally defined node centrality, resulting in a bias towards the most popular nodes. However, these nodes may not be appropriate relay candidates for some target nodes, because they may have low importance relative to these subsets of target nodes. In this paper, to improve the opportunistic forwarding efficiency, we exploit the relative importance (called partial centrality) of a node with respect to a group of nodes. We design a new opportunistic forwarding scheme, opportunistic forwarding with partial centrality (OFPC), and theoretically quantify the influence of the partial centrality on the data forwarding performance using graph spectrum. By applying our scheme on three real opportunistic networking scenarios, our extensive evaluations show that our scheme achieves significantly better mean delivery delay and cost compared to the state-of-the-art works, while achieving delivery ratios sufficiently close to those by Epidemic under different TTL requirements.
Identification of the human beta-actin enhancer and its binding factor

An enhancer of the human beta-actin gene and a factor that specifically interacts with it were detected. A mobility shift assay showed that the factor bound to the 25-base-pair sequence (between +759 and +783 downstream from the cap site) with high specificity. This finding correlated with those of DNase I protection and exonuclease III digestion assays. This binding region of the beta-actin enhancer contained a hyphenated dyad symmetry and an enhancer core-like sequence. In vitro competition experiments indicated that the factor did not bind to the simian virus 40 enhancer core region.
Aneurysm Development in Patients With a Bicuspid Aortic Valve Is Not Associated With Transforming Growth Factor-&bgr; Activation

Objective— Patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) have an increased risk of developing ascending aortic aneurysms. Transforming growth factor-&bgr; (TGF&bgr;) is a crucial factor of vascular remodeling, the impaired signaling of which can alter the structure and composition of the extracellular matrix. In this study, we analyzed the activity of TGF&bgr; in aneurysmal and nonaneurysmal ascending aorta from BAV patients, using tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) patients as a reference group. Approach and Results— The response to exogenous TGF&bgr; was analyzed with regard to gene expression in primary aortic smooth muscle cells that were isolated from 7 BAV and 5 TAV patients and in valve fibroblasts from 7 BAV and 8 TAV patients. The set of genes that were significantly changed by TGF&bgr; (217 genes) was compared with gene expression profiles of the ascending aorta from BAV and TAV patients (139 arrays). By principle component analysis, based on the 217 genes, gene expression differed significantly in the intima/media region between aneurysmal BAV and TAV aortas, driven by the response in TAV patients. During aneurysm development the levels of phosphorylated SMADs and the availability of free TGF&bgr; were lower in BAV patients compared with TAV. Confocal microscopy analysis showed a higher colocalization of latency associated peptide and latent TGF&bgr; binding protein 3 in BAV aortas. Conclusions— Our findings suggest that TGF&bgr; activation during aneurysm formation is muted in patients with BAV, possibly as a result of an increased TGF&bgr; sequestration in the extracellular space.
Keratocytes Pull with Similar Forces on Their Dorsal and Ventral Surfaces

As cells move forward, they pull rearward against extracellular matrices (ECMs), exerting traction forces. However, no rearward forces have been seen in the fish keratocyte. To address this discrepancy, we have measured the propulsive forces generated by the keratocyte lamella on both the ventral and the dorsal surfaces. On the ventral surface, a micromachined device revealed that traction forces were small and rearward directed under the lamella, changed direction in front of the nucleus, and became larger under the cell body. On the dorsal surface of the lamella, an optical gradient trap measured rearward forces generated against fibronectin-coated beads. The retrograde force exerted by the cell on the bead increased in the thickened region of the lamella where myosin condensation has been observed (Svitkina, T.M., A.B. Verkhovsky, K.M. McQuade, and G.G. Borisy. 1997. J. Cell Biol. 139:397–415). Similar forces were generated on both the ventral (0.2 nN/μm2) and the dorsal (0.4 nN/μm2) surfaces of the lamella, suggesting that dorsal matrix contacts are as effectively linked to the force-generating cytoskeleton as ventral contacts. The correlation between the level of traction force and the density of myosin suggests a model for keratocyte movement in which myosin condensation in the perinuclear region generates rearward forces in the lamella and forward forces in the cell rear.
1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 promotes osteogenic activity and downregulates proinflammatory cytokine expression in human periodontal ligament cells.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the impact of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3) on osteogenic and inflammatory properties of human periodontal ligament (PDL) cells and investigate underlying mechanisms. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human PDL cells, obtained from four subjects, were stimulated with vitamin D3 for 4-48 h. The bone markers osteopontin and osteocalcin and proinflammatory cytokine/chemokine expression was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cytokine and chemokine expression was determined after stimulation with the inflammation promoter lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the presence or absence of vitamin D3. Alkaline phosphatase activity was assessed using p-nitrophenylphosphate substrate. RESULTS Treatment with 30 ng/mL of vitamin D3, corresponding to an optimal plasma concentration of vitamin D, for 24 h had no effect on PDL cell number and morphology but increased PDL cell osteopontin and osteocalcin mRNA expression by about 70 and 40%, respectively, and, moreover, treatment with vitamin D3 for 48 h enhanced PDL cell alkaline phosphatase activity by about two times showing that vitamin D3 exerts pro-osteogenic effects in human PDL cells. Stimulation with LPS (1 μg/mL) for 4 h increased PDL cell interleukin (IL)-6 cytokine and chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1) chemokine mRNA expression several fold. The LPS-induced increase in IL-6 and CXCL1 transcripts was attenuated by vitamin D3 (30 ng/mL). Treatment with vitamin D3 (3-300 ng/mL) for 24 h reduced the LPS-evoked increase in PDL cell IL-6 protein by about 50%. Vitamin D3 (30 ng/mL) had no effect on LPS-induced IL-1β and MCP-1 mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D3 promotes osteogenic differentiation but also downregulates inflammation promoter-induced IL-6 cytokine and CXCL1 chemokine expression in human PDL cells, suggesting that vitamin D3 both stimulates bone regeneration and antagonizes inflammation in human periodontal tissue.
High-Level Expression, Functional Reconstitution, and Quaternary Structure of a Prokaryotic Clc-Type Chloride Channel

ClC-type anion-selective channels are widespread throughout eukaryotic organisms. BLAST homology searches reveal that many microbial genomes also contain members of the ClC family. An Escherichia coli–derived ClC Cl− channel homologue, “EriC,” the product of the yadQ gene, was overexpressed in E. coli and purified in milligram quantities in a single-step procedure. Reconstitution of purified EriC into liposomes confers on these membranes permeability to anions with selectivity similar to that observed electrophysiologically in mammalian ClC channels. Cross-linking studies argue that EriC is a homodimer in both detergent micelles and reconstituted liposomes, a conclusion corroborated by gel filtration and analytical sedimentation experiments.
Extensible Authentication Protocol Tunneled Transport Layer Security Authenticated Protocol Version 0 (EAP-TTLSv0)

EAP-TTLS is an EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) method that encapsulates a TLS (Transport Layer Security) session, consisting of a handshake phase and a data phase. During the handshake phase, the server is authenticated to the client (or client and server are mutually authenticated) using standard TLS procedures, and keying material is generated in order to create a cryptographically secure tunnel for information exchange in the subsequent data phase. During the data phase, the client is authenticated to the server (or client and server are mutually authenticated) using an arbitrary authentication mechanism encapsulated within the secure tunnel. The encapsulated authentication mechanism may itself be EAP, or it may be another authentication protocol such as PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP, or MS- CHAP-V2. Thus, EAP-TTLS allows legacy password-based authentication protocols to be used against existing authentication databases, while protecting the security of these legacy protocols against eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle, and other attacks. The data phase may also be used for additional, arbitrary data exchange. This memo provides information for the Internet community.
Particulate Recording Media

Magnetic recording is a very useful and versatile technology, and one that is continuously evolving to serve the increasing demand for information storage and to meet the challenge of competitors such as optical recording. The basic principles of magnetic recording are described in detail elsewhere and briefly below. The elements of a magnetic recording system are a magnetizable surface layer carried on a flexible tape or on a rotating disk, and a transducer that can both write information to and read information from this surface. The tape or disk, often called a recording medium, and the transducer, called a head, move with respect to each other. The information to be stored is originally contained in an electrical signal, either by direct analog representation or via frequency, phase, amplitude, or pulse-code modulation. In response to this signal, the head in the writing mode generates an intense, localized magnetic field that is capable of changing the direction and degree of the magnetization in the surface material. Each time the input signal changes sign, the writing field changes direction and a transition between regions of opposite magnetization is created. As the head moves along the surface, a series of these transitions is created along a track. The resulting magnetization pattern of the tape or disk becomes itself the source of a spatially varying magnetic field.
Visualizing User Editing Behavior in Collaborative Ontology-engineering Projects

Over the last decade, ontologies have become the mainstay in the biomedical domain. Their size and complexity, as well as, the required expert domain knowledge to create these ontologies have increased significantly. In addition, many projects resort to collaborative approaches for building these ontologies, using the Internet as a cooperation platform. While online collaborative projects have become common, the processes that drive these collaborations are still not well understood. In this paper, we are investigating novel approaches and visualizations using Markov chains to improve our understanding of how users build large, real-world ontologies. Using our novel methods, we analyze, visualize and compare the editing behavior of users in two collaborative ontologyengineering projects from the biomedical domain. The contributions of our work are two-fold. First, we visually explore the editing behavior and dynamics of users in collaborative ontology-engineering projects; and second, we quantify the differences between the editing behaviors in these two projects. We also discuss the implications and potential applications of our findings, which, we believe, may be used to create adaptive user interfaces that better support the editing behaviors of the users.
A prospective study of permanent hair dye use and hematopoietic cancer.

BACKGROUND Use of permanent hair dye has been suggested as a risk factor for several types of cancer, although epidemiologic data have not generally supported this hypothesis. Retrospective studies have reported a possible association between hair dyes and hematopoietic cancers. PURPOSE Our purpose was to investigate if permanent hair dye was associated with risks of incident lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma in the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 99,067 women aged 30-55 years in 1976. METHODS Questionnaires regarding medical history and other health-related variables were sent to Nurses' Health Study participants every 2 years from 1976 to 1990. The follow-up for mortality in this cohort exceeds 98%. We identified 244 newly diagnosed cases of hematopoietic cancers, confirmed by pathology reports. Permanent hair dye use was ascertained over four cycles of questionnaires from 1976-1982; status of hair dye use established in 1982 was then used for the remainder of the follow-up time (through 1990). Age-specific incidence rates were calculated and used to compute relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS We found no evidence of a positive association between ever use of permanent hair dye and all hematopoietic cancers (age-adjusted RR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.7-1.2) or specific types (Hodgkin's lymphoma [RR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.4-2.1], non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [RR = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.8-1.6], multiple myeloma [RR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.2-0.9], chronic lymphocytic leukemia [RR = 0.6; 95% CI = 0.3-1.5], and other leukemias [RR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.3-1.9]). Further examination of age at first use, duration, frequency, and time since first use and risk of all hematopoietic cancers or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (the largest diagnostic group), indicated no material associations. CONCLUSION In this prospective cohort study, permanent hair dye use is not adversely related to risks of hematopoietic cancers.