Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Involvement of NADPH Oxidase and iNOS in Rodent Pulmonary Cytokine Responses to Urban Air and Mineral Particles

We have investigated the potential of two complex mineral particles (feldspar and mylonite), quartz (Min-U-Sil), and suspended particulate matter (SRM-1648) (SPM) from urban air to induce inflammatory cytokine responses in primary rat alveolar type 2 cells and alveolar macrophages, and the involvement of cellular formation of free radicals in these responses. All particle types induced an increased release of interleukin (IL)-6 and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2 from type 2 cells. Diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI), a selective inhibitor of NADPH-oxidase, reduced the IL-6 and MIP-2 responses to quartz, SPM and mylonite. N-(3-[Aminomethyl] benzyl) acetamidine (1400W), a selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), significantly reduced the Il-6 response to SPM and feldspar in the type 2 cells. The macrophages displayed significantly increased TNF-α and MIP-2 release upon exposure to quartz or SPM. Here, DPI significantly reduced the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and MIP-2 responses to quartz, and the MIP-2 response to SPM. No significant effect of 1400 W was detected in the alveolar macrophages. The role of particle-induced cellular generation of free radicals in lung cytokine responses was further elucidated in mice that lacked either NADPH-oxidase or iNOS as well as in wild-type (wt) mice. All particles were able to elicit increased cytokine levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of the mice, although the levels depended on particle type. The NADPH-oxidase knockout (KO) mice demonstrated a significantly lower IL-6 and MIP-2 responses to SPM compared to their respective wt mice. The iNOS KO mice displayed significantly reduced IL-6, TNF-α, and MIP-2 responses to SPM. The overall results indicate the involvement of cellular free-radical formation in the pulmonary cytokine responses to particles of varying composition.
Robotic framework for affordance learning Research progress report 7

The report summarises the research progress since the last thesis group meeting held in April this year. As I have mentioned in my previous reports[5, 6] I intend to build a robotic framework, which will allow a robot to incrementally learn object affordances through active observation and interaction with the “toy-world”[5, 7]. The toy-world is an appropriately constrained environment [5], such that while it simplifies many issues related to e.g. vision or manipulation, it retains the real-world complexity relevant to my research topic. The report consists of four main sections shortly described below. Section one presents the embodiment module which is an extended version of perception module[7]. The interface to the embodiment module separates all robot’s effectors and sensors from a higher level cognitive part of architecture. In the section two I will introduce the cognitive module which is responsible for learning to predict the sensory signals given specified motor signals. The described module is the first step towards more flexible predictor and controller, which will relax several assumptions about sensory signals. Section three briefly describes the experimental setup, very similar to the one from the last report[6]. Finally, the last section four summarises the status of tasks scheduled in the last report[6] and presents a new revised timetable.
Exploration on Participation Status and Revitalization Plan of Elderly Leisure Activities

The aim of this study was to provide the way of activation plans of leisure activities for older people through the current status and problems in welfare center for the elderly in Korea. Various social phenomena and issues have been found to occur in rapidly social-structure changes and urban civilization. Especially, processing an aging society for no preparation is one of the broader question of our country. Developing the scientific and civilization lengthening our span of life is given more leisure time than past. Unfortunately, older people could not independently stand for in their leisure, if society does not support for them. It means that they might feel the enough time to monotone life, depression and a sense of alienation. The following ideas would be expressed to the way of activation plans of elderly leisure. First, the elderly leisure facilities for leisure and publicity activities should be supplemented or strengthened. Second simple entertainment-oriented programs in the physical and psychology learning to adapt for them should be obtained through leisure activities for older people. Third, more senior recreation specialists or therapists should be educated for leisure activities. Fourth, the concept of leisure in older people`s idea should be changed through the education. Fifth, people who work in the welfare center for the elderly should develop the leisure programs or activities for older people. Last the new culture of leisure concept should be constructed in our society between the two and three generation for sharing and participating the leisure.
Response Channel Activation and the Temporoparietal Junction

When we learn to make one motor response to one visual stimulus and a different motor response to another, representations of these stimulus-response associations must be maintained to efficiently transduce perception into action. When an irrelevant distractor is presented adjacent to a target stimulus, interference is observed when the two stimuli are associated with conflicting responses, presumably due to response channel activation by the incompatible information. We have explored the neural bases of these interference effects. In a previous study, patients with hemispatial neglect showed normal interference from contralesional flankers. In another study, patients with lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex were found not to show interference from distractors presented in the contralesional hemifield. The current study provided a more anatomically detailed investigation of the effects of posterior association cortex lesions on flanker interference. Patients with chronic, unilateral lesions involving the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), two of whom had hemispatial neglect, were compared with patients with lesions of the posterior association cortex not involving the TPJ. All patients performed a color discrimination task at fixation while a congruent or incongruent colored flanker was briefly presented (16.7 ms) in the adjacent contralesional or ipsilesional hemifield. Patients with TPJ lesions showed no interference effects from the contralesional flankers. These results suggest that the TPJ, in combination with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved in transducing perception into action.
Changing state–university relations: the experiences of Japan and lessons for Malaysia

This article investigates the changing state–university relations in Japan and Malaysia. Its main objective is to identify and examine possible lessons for Malaysia, based on the Japanese experience. Notably, since the late 1970s, Malaysia has been looking towards Japan as a model for socio‐economic development (the ‘look‐east’ Policy) and this article was written with the same underlying thrust. Of particular interest in this article is the Japanese experience with the Incorporation of National Universities in 2004. Malaysia has corporatised all state‐controlled universities since 1998 but has stopped short of implementing the kind of institutional autonomy, which resulted in precarious state–university relations in Japan. Based on the situation in Japan with regard to incorporation of national universities, what steps should Malaysia take in order to develop a higher education system and higher education institutions that are comparable to that of matured higher education systems?
Threshold Average Precision (TAP-k): a measure of retrieval designed for bioinformatics

Motivation: Since database retrieval is a fundamental operation, the measurement of retrieval efficacy is critical to progress in bioinformatics. This article points out some issues with current methods of measuring retrieval efficacy and suggests some improvements. In particular, many studies have used the pooled receiver operating characteristic for n irrelevant records (ROCn) score, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of a ‘pooled’ ROC curve, truncated at n irrelevant records. Unfortunately, the pooled ROCn score does not faithfully reflect actual usage of retrieval algorithms. Additionally, a pooled ROCn score can be very sensitive to retrieval results from as little as a single query. Methods: To replace the pooled ROCn score, we propose the Threshold Average Precision (TAP-k), a measure closely related to the well-known average precision in information retrieval, but reflecting the usage of E-values in bioinformatics. Furthermore, in addition to conditions previously given in the literature, we introduce three new criteria that an ideal measure of retrieval efficacy should satisfy. Results: PSI-BLAST, GLOBAL, HMMER and RPS-BLAST provided examples of using the TAP-k and pooled ROCn scores to evaluate sequence retrieval algorithms. In particular, compelling examples using real data highlight the drawbacks of the pooled ROCn score, showing that it can produce evaluations skewing far from intuitive expectations. In contrast, the TAP-k satisfies most of the criteria desired in an ideal measure of retrieval efficacy. Availability and Implementation: The TAP-k web server and downloadable Perl script are freely available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Spouge/html.ncbi/tap/ Contact: spouge@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Routing Schemes for the Augmented Data Manipulator Network in an MIMD System

There have been many multistage interconnection networks proposed in the literature for interconnecting the processors that comprise large parallel processing systems. In this paper, the use of the Augmented Data Manipulator and Inverse Augmented Data Manipulator multistage networks in the MIMD mode of operation is considered. A tag based routing scheme which allows distributed control of either network is proposed. Rerouting schemes that allow a message blocked by a busy or known faulty node in its present path to dynamically make use of a nonbusy node and continue, when possible, are described for both networks. Finally, a tag based broadcasting scheme for the networks is introduced that allows one processor to send messages to a subset of the other processors.
Maternal Serum Screening for Downs Syndrome, Open Neural Tube Defects and Trisomy 18

Abstract Maternal serum screening identifies women at an increased risk of a pregnancy with Down's syndrome or trisomy 18 or an open neural tube defect. The triple test, consisting of maternal serum α-fetoprotein, unconjugated estriol and human chorionic gonadotropin was carried out by a chemiluminescence immunoassay method in our laboratory. The study consisted of 373 pregnant women. The gestational range for the study group was 14–22 weeks. The mean maternal age for the study group was 28.53 ± 5.46 years (range 17.4 to 43.5 years); 9.1% of the women were considered at high risk for Down's syndrome based on the test results. In our study the detection rate for Down's syndrome by prenatal karyotyping was 66.6%. Maternal serum screening allows reduction of the number of women requiring amniocentesis without a significant decrease in the detection rate.
When mobile phones meet television ...: An FGI analysis of mobile broadcasting users in Korea

Early adopters’ use of a new medium projects how it will evolve over time. Considering that Korea’s mobile broadcasting service is the first of its kind in the world, audience reaction will have meaningful implications for numerous other convergent services to come. Not only are the industry and policy sides of the new medium important, but user feedback is also essential for formulating strategies and programming mobile broadcasting service providers. This study, therefore, explores the use and adoption of satellite DMB users based on focus group interviews.
Hardware implementation and evaluation of the Flexible router architecture for NoCs

The core of the Network on Chips is the router; therefore it is needed to design routers that meet the requirements of performance, area and power. In order to improve its performance, some techniques tend to increase the number of buffers, but it is responsible for a large portion of the router area and power. In the Flexible router architecture, the performance of the router increased in terms of increasing the saturation rate while having the same number of buffers as the Base router. Moreover, it was found that at high injection rates, the Flexible router outperforms the base router by near 14.3% in throughput, 27.6% of Latency and 15% increase in saturation point for uniform random traffic. This Paper focuses on hardware implementation and evaluation of the Flexible Router to verify its functionality and evaluate its performance compared to the base router. We use a cycle-accurate NoC simulation system implemented in Verilog HDL under uniform, neighbor, and hotspot traffic patterns.
Grape-Seed Proanthocyanidin Extract as Suppressors of Bone Destruction in Inflammatory Autoimmune Arthritis

Chronic autoimmune inflammation, which is commonly observed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), disrupts the delicate balance between bone resorption and formation causing thedestruction of the bone and joints. We undertook this study to verify the effects of natural grape-seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE), an antioxidant, on chronic inflammation and bone destruction. GSPE administration ameliorated the arthritic symptoms of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), which are representative of cartilage and bone destruction. GSPE treatment reduced the formation of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive multinucleated cells and osteoclast activity and increased differentiation of mature osteoblasts. Receptor activator of NFκB ligand expression in fibroblasts from RA patients was abrogated with GSPE treatment. GSPE blocked human peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived osteoclastogenesis and acted as an antioxidant. GSPE improved the arthritic manifestations of CIA mice by simultaneously suppressing osteoclast differentiation and promoting osteoblast differentiation. Our results suggest that GSPE may be beneficial for the treatment of inflammation-associated bone destruction.
Quantifying Aerosol Delivery in Simulated Spontaneously Breathing Patients With Tracheostomy Using Different Humidification Systems With or Without Exhaled Humidity

BACKGROUND: Aerosol and humidification therapy are used in long-term airway management of critically ill patients with a tracheostomy. The purpose of this study was to determine delivery efficiency of jet and mesh nebulizers combined with different humidification systems in a model of a spontaneously breathing tracheotomized adult with or without exhaled heated humidity. METHODS: An in vitro model was constructed to simulate a spontaneously breathing adult (tidal volume, 400 mL; breathing frequency, 20 breaths/min; inspiratory-expiratory ratio, 1:2) with a tracheostomy using a teaching manikin attached to a test lung through a collecting filter (Vital Signs Respirgard II). Exhaled heat and humidity were simulated using a cascade humidifier set to deliver 37°C and >95% relative humidity. Albuterol sulfate (2.5 mg/3 mL) was administered with a jet nebulizer (AirLife Misty Max) operated at 10 L/min and a mesh nebulizer (Aeroneb Solo) using a heated pass-over humidifier, unheated large volume humidifier both at 40 L/min output and heat-and-moisture exchanger. Inhaled drug eluted from the filter was analyzed via spectrophotometry (276 nm). RESULTS: Delivery efficiency of the jet nebulizer was less than that of the mesh nebulizer under all conditions (P < .05). Aerosol delivery with each nebulizer was greatest on room air and lowest when heated humidifiers with higher flows were used. Exhaled humidity decreased drug delivery up to 44%. CONCLUSIONS: The jet nebulizer was less efficient than the mesh nebulizer in all conditions tested in this study. Aerosol deposition with each nebulizer was lowest with the heated humidifier with high flow. Exhaled humidity reduced inhaled dose of drug compared with a standard model with nonheated/nonhumidified exhalation. Further clinical research is warranted to understand the impact of exhaled humidity on aerosol drug delivery in spontaneously breathing patients with tracheostomy using different types of humidifiers.
EFFECT OF GUIDED IMAGERY ON CHILDREN'S SOCIAL PERFORMANCE

The study examined the effect of guided imagery on overt social behavior of children during free play. Forty withdrawn and rejected first-graders (6 to 8 years of age) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions. Four of them were guided imagery conditions: mastery plus peer acceptance, mastery with no social contingency, coping, and gradual rehearsal. A fifth control condition involved no intervention. It was predicted that the four imagery conditions would increase and maintain positive socialization, but the coping condition would be the most effective. Children under the coping condition, which involved guided imagery of failure to get peer acceptance, but progressively mastering the social interaction and finally being accepted by peers, consistently increased positive socialization behaviors from baseline to post-treatment and follow-up, as compared to gradual rehearsal and control. Both mastery conditions increased socialization at post-treatment, but reverted to baseline levels during follow-up.
Believing one's own press: the causes and consequences of CEO celebrity

This theoretical article introduces the construct of CEO celebrity in order to explain how the tendency of journalists to attribute a firm's actions and outcomes to the volition of its CEO affects such firm. In the model developed here, journalists celebrate a CEO whose firm takes strategic actions that are distinctive and consistent by attributing such actions and performance to the firm's CEO. In so doing, journalists over-attribute a firm's actions and outcomes to the disposition of its CEO rather than to broader situational factors. A CEO who internalizes such celebrity will also tend to believe this over-attribution and become overconfident about the efficacy of her past actions and future abilities. Hubris arises when CEO overconfidence results in problematic firm decisions, including undue persistence with actions that produce celebrity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gradient-driven fluctuations in microgravity

Equilibrium fluctuations of thermodynamic variables, such as density or concentration, are known to be small and typically occur at a molecular length scale. In contrast, theory predicts that non-equilibrium fluctuations grow very large both in amplitude and spatial size. On earth, the presence of gravity and buoyancy forces severely limits the development of the fluctuations. We will present the results of a 14-year long international collaboration on an experiment on non-equilibrium fluctuations in a single liquid and in a polymer solution under microgravity conditions. Non-equilibrium conditions are generated by applying a temperature gradient across millimetre-size liquid slabs. Phase modulations introduced by fluctuations are measured using a quantitative shadowgraph method, with the optical axis parallel to the temperature gradient. Thousands of images are analysed and their two-dimensional power spectra yield the fluctuation structure function S(q), once data are reduced accounting for the instrumental transfer function T(q). The mean-squared amplitude of the fluctuations exhibits an impressive power-law dependence at larger q and a crossover at low q showing that the fluctuation size is limited by the sample thickness. The shape of the structure function, its increase due to removing gravity, and its dependence on applied gradient are in reasonable agreement with available theoretical predictions.
Direct Expression of Antimicrobial Peptides in an Intact Form by a Translationally Coupled Two-Cistron Expression System

ABSTRACT We describe a novel prokaryotic expression system for the production of cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The method relies on a translationally coupled two-cistron system, in which the termination codon for the first cistron (which encodes the anionic polypeptide mIFc2, a derivative of human gamma interferon) overlaps with the initiation codon for the second cistron (which encodes a cationic AMP) in the sequence of 5′-TAATG-3′. By forming an insoluble complex with the AMP upon translation, the mIFc2 protein efficiently neutralized the toxicity of the coexpressed cationic AMP and minimized the sensitivity of AMP to proteolytic degradation in a host. The AMPs were retrieved from the insoluble inclusion bodies without any chemical or enzymatic cleavage step by simple cation-exchange chromatography. With our system, ∼100 mg of various AMPs (buforin IIb, parasin I, and pexiganan) were obtained from 1 liter of Escherichia coli culture. Our expression system may represent a universal cost-effective solution for the mass production of intact AMPs in their natural forms.
Biomimetism, biomimetic matrices and the induction of bone formation

• Introduction: the induction of bone formation, the emergence of the skeleton, of the vertebrates and of Homo species • Different strategies for the induction of bone formation • Biological significance of redundancy and synergistic induction of bone formation • Biomimetism and biomimetic matrices self‐assembling the induction of bone formation The concavity: the shape of life and the induction of bone formation • Influence of geometry on the expression of the osteogenic phenotype • Conclusion and therapeutic perspectives on porous biomimetic matrices with intrinsic osteoinductivity