Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of endogenous endothelin in the development of graft arteriosclerosis in rat cardiac allografts: antiproliferative effects of bosentan, a nonselective endothelin receptor antagonist.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether endothelin-1 (ET-1) contributes to the development of graft arteriosclerosis and whether the orally active nonpeptide endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan, which blocks both ETA and ETB receptors, can protect against this pathologic damage. METHODS AND RESULTS Recipient male Lewis rats were divided into three groups; group 1 received heterotopic heart transplantations from Lewis donors and groups 2 and 3 received transplantations from Brown-Norway donors; group 3 recipients also received bosentan orally at the dose of 20 mg/kg per day for 120 days. All recipients were given cyclosporine and were euthanized at examination 120 days after transplantation. Plasma ET-1 levels were significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1 (6.99+/-0.91 and 4.15+/-.83 pg/mL, respectively). Strong ET-1 immunoreactivity was seen in both the thickened neointima and the media of the coronary arteries in group 2 but not in group 1. The mean ratio of the coronary luminal area to the total vascular area in group 2 (19.0+/-11.7%) was significantly lower than that in group 1 (34.2+/-9.9%) and was significantly increased in group 3 (33.2+/-9.2%). CONCLUSIONS These results show that local upregulation of ET-1, mainly in the thickened neointima and the media of the coronary arteries, may play an important role in the pathogenesis of graft arteriosclerosis by stimulating ETA receptors, ETB receptors, or both. Orally active bosentan might be a useful agent for the clinical prevention of graft arteriosclerosis.
The concept of inhibition in cognition.

Everyone knows what inhibition is-and that creates a very real problem. The idea is so ingrained that it is difficult to discuss it as a scientific concept without contamination from existing world knowledge. Yet discussing it is exactly what cognitive scientists have been attempting to do with renewed vigor in the recent past, owing to at least three factors: the growth of cognitive neuroscience, developments in cognitive modeling, and newly described cognitive phenomena. Beginning with the phenomenon of negative priming (for reviews, see Fox, 1995; May, Kane, & Hasher, 1995; Tipper, 2001) and spurred by two influential books that appeared in quick succession just over a decade ago (Dagenbach & Carr, 1994; Dempster & Brainerd, 1995), interest in cognitive inhibition grew. Of course, the desire to mesh cognition with neuroscience also has provided a powerful impetus for understanding the place of inhibition in the current conceptualization of mind and brain. This interest is well illustrated by the inclusion of inhibition as one of only 16 core concepts in a recent effort to grapple with concepts-free of empirical research findings-that are fundamental to memory (Roediger, Dudai, & Fitzpatrick, in press). This chapter is intended as a broad introduction to the concept of inhibition in cognition and consequently to this book as a whole. For this reason, I take no strong stand on the value of the concept (although I have expressed a skeptical point of view elsewhere; see MacLeod, in press; MacLeod, Dodd, Sheard, Wilson, & Bibi, 2003). In this chapter, the goal is to set out the issues involved in the empirical study and theoretical understanding of the concept of inhibition as it applies to the operation of cognition. So I begin with what this chapter is and is not about. This chapter is not about the neural concept of inhibition: It is accepted that neurons certainly can inhibit each other. This chapter also is not about the physical-response concept of inhibition: It is
Regional Differences in Susceptibiity of Bronchial Epithelium to Mesenchymal Transition and Inhibition by the Macrolide Antibiotic Azithromycin

Objective Dysregulated repair following epithelial injury is a key forerunner of disease in many organs, and the acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype by the injured epithelial cells (epithelial to mesenchymal transition, EMT) may serve as a source of fibrosis. The macrolide antibiotic azithromycin and the DNA synthesis inhibitor mycophenolate are in clinical use but their mechanism of action remains unknown in post-transplant bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). Here we determined if regional variation in the EMT response to TGFβ1 underlies the bronchiolocentric fibrosis leading to BOS and whether EMT could be inhibited by azithromycin or mycophenolate. Methods/Results We found that small and large airway epithelial cells from stable lung transplant patients underwent EMT when stimulated with TGFβ1, however mesenchymal protein expression was higher and loss of epithelial protein expression more complete in small airway epithelial cells. This regional difference was not mediated by changes in expression of the TGFβRII or Smad3 activation. Azithromycin potentially inhibited EMT in both small and large airway epithelial cells by inhibiting Smad3 expression, but not activation. Conclusion Collectively, these observations provide a biologic basis for a previously unexplained but widely observed clinical phenomena, and a platform for the development of new approaches to fibrotic diseases.
A Novel Data Dissemination Method for Vehicular Networks with Rateless Codes

Overcoming problems associated with network dynamicity and unreliable channels has been a challenge for data dissemination protocols in vehicular networks. In this paper, we present an overview on the most interesting solutions that have been proposed to perform data dissemination in this environment. Starting from this analysis, we present a novel approach that can efficiently address a reliable communication even in high dynamic networks. The new approach is based on the exploitation of a peculiar characteristic of rateless codes. In particular, the proposed method uses the orthogonality of the encoded sets of symbols generated by different random seeds. In this way, portions of the information can be disseminated even if this has not been decoded yet. In fact, an easy management of the communication of these sets among nodes enhances the reliability of the communication as well as the speed of the information dissemination. In this work, we present the idea of this innovative approach and we provide results that show the advantages of using it over other solutions
Polynomial-time solutions to image segmentation

Separating an object in an image from its background is a central problem (called segmentation) in pattern recognition and computer vision. In this paper, we study the complexity of the segmentation problem, assuming that the object forms a connected region in an intensity image. We show that the optimization problem of separating a connected region in an n-pixel grid is NP-hard under the interclass variance, a criterion that is used in discriminant analysis. More importantly, we consider the basic case in which the object is separated by two x-monotone curves (i.e., the object itself is x-monotone), and present polynomial-time algorithms for computing exact and approximate optimal segmentation. Our main algorithm for exact optimal segmentation by two x-monotone curves runs in O(n{sup 2}) time; this algorithm is based on several techniques such as a parametric optimization formulation, a hand-probing algorithm for the convex hull of an unknown point set, and dynamic programming using fast matrix searching. Our efficient approximation scheme obtains an {epsilon}-approximate solution in O({epsilon}{sup -1} n log L) time, where {epsilon} is any fixed constant with 1 > {epsilon} > 0, and L is the total sum of the absolute values of brightness levels of the image.
A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for chronic insomnia.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic insomnia. DESIGN Three-arm, single-site, randomized controlled trial. SETTING Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS Fifty-four adults with chronic insomnia. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomized to either mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI), or an eight-week self-monitoring (SM) condition. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Patient-reported outcome measures were total wake time (TWT) from sleep diaries, the pre-sleep arousal scale (PSAS), measuring a prominent waking correlate of insomnia, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) to determine remission and response as clinical endpoints. Objective sleep measures were derived from laboratory polysomnography and wrist actigraphy. Linear mixed models showed that those receiving a meditation-based intervention (MBSR or MBTI) had significantly greater reductions on TWT minutes (43.75 vs 1.09), PSAS (7.13 vs 0.16), and ISI (4.56 vs 0.06) from baseline-to-post compared to SM. Post hoc analyses revealed that each intervention was superior to SM on each of the patient-reported measures, but no significant differences were found when comparing MBSR to MBTI from baseline-to-post. From baseline to 6-month follow-up, MBTI had greater reductions in ISI scores than MBSR (P < 0.05), with the largest difference occurring at the 3-month follow-up. Remission and response rates in MBTI and MBSR were sustained from post-treatment through follow-up, with MBTI showing the highest rates of treatment remission (50%) and response (78.6%) at the 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Mindfulness meditation appears to be a viable treatment option for adults with chronic insomnia and could provide an alternative to traditional treatments for insomnia. TRIAL REGISTRATION Mindfulness-Based Approaches to Insomnia: clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT00768781.
OWL/DL formalization of the MULTEXT-East morphosyntactic specifications

This paper describes the modeling of the morphosyntactic annotations of the MULTEXT-East corpora and lexicons as an OWL/DL ontology. Formalizing annotation schemes in OWL/DL has the advantages of enabling formally specifying interrelationships between the various features and making logical inferences based on the relationships between them. We show that this approach provides us with a top-down perspective on a large set of morphosyntactic specifications for multiple languages, and that this perspective helps to identify and to resolve conceptual problems in the original specifications. Furthermore, the ontological modeling allows us to link the MULTEXT-East specifications with repositories of annotation terminology such as the General Ontology of Linguistics Descriptions or the ISO TC37/SC4 Data Category Registry.
Effect of Thermal Aging on High Speed Ball Shear and Pull Tests of SnAgCu Lead-free Solder Balls

Solder joint reliability concerns are increasing exponentially with the continuous push for device miniaturization, and the expanded use in portable electronic products. In order to predict the solder joint reliability under drop conditions, it is important to increase the testing speed of package level test methods, such as high-speed solder ball shear and pull. Traditional ball shear and pull tests are not considered suitable for evaluation of joint reliability under drop loading, since the applied test speeds, usually lower than 5 mm/s, are well below the impact velocity applied to the solder joint in a drop test. Recently, high-speed shear and pull test equipment (Dage 4000HS) with testing speeds beyond 1,000 mm/s has become available. The present study continues the efforts reported recently and investigates the effect of thermal aging on the attachment strength and fracture energy of SnAgCu lead-free solder balls during high speed ball shear/pull tests. The ball shear test speeds ranged from 100 mm/s to 1,000 mm/s, while the ball pull test speeds ranged from 5 mm/s to 100 mm/s. The test specimens were aged at 125degC or 150degC for durations of 100, 300 and 500 hrs, with some additional samples exposed up to 1,000 hrs. Correlations were established between solder joint fracture force/energy and IMC thickness, and between fracture energy and failure mode.
Variable interactions and exploring parameter space in an expensive optimisation problem: Optimising Short Term Conflict Alert

Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA) systems provide warnings to air traffic controllers if aircraft are in danger of becoming too close. They are complex software programs, with many inter-dependent parameters that must be adjusted to achieve the best trade-off between wanted and nuisance alerts. We describe a multi-archive evolutionary algorithm for optimising regional parameter subsets in parallel, reducing the number of evaluations required to generate an estimated Pareto optimal Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC), showing that it provides superior results to traditional single-archived algorithms. A method of ‘aggressive’ optimisation, designed to explore unknown parameter ranges in a ‘safe’ manner, is shown to yield more extensive and better converged estimated Pareto fronts.
The Scientific Significance of "Evolution"

Ever since Darwin put forward the "Theory of Evolution",the concept of "evolution" has become a common word in everyday usage.Although it can be applied in social sciences and cultural study,the scientific significance of the theory can not be expressed in everyday or "quasi academic" speech,which,on the contrary, will lead to a specious misunderstanding of it.This article analyzes this kind of misunderstanding and shows the differences between scientific language and everyday language.
Role for transcription factor TFII‐I in the suppression of SSeCKS/Gravin/Akap12 transcription by Src

The SSeCKS/Gravin/AKAP12 gene, encoding a kinase scaffolding protein with metastasis‐suppressing activity, is transcriptionally downregulated in Src‐transformed cells through the recruitment of HDAC1 to a Src‐responsive proximal promoter site charged with Sp1, Sp3 and USF1. However, the ectopic expression of these proteins formed a suppressive complex in Src‐transformed but not in parental NIH3T3 cells, suggesting the involvement of additional repressor factors. Transcription factor II‐I (TFII‐I) [general transcription factor 2i (Gtf2i)] was identified by mass spectrometry as being associated with the SSeCKS promoter complex in NIH3T3/Src cells, and moreover, the Src‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation of TFII‐I significantly increased its binding to the SSeCKS proximal promoter. siRNA‐mediated knockdown of TFII‐I or the expression of TFII‐IY248/249F caused the derepression of SSeCKS in NIH3T3/Src cells. Taken with previous data showing that the tyrosine phosphorylation of TFII‐I facilitates its nuclear translocation, these data suggest that Src‐family kinase‐mediated phosphorylation converts a portion of TFII‐I into a transcriptional repressor.
Synthesis and Application of Hybrid Polymer Composites Based on Silver Nanoparticles as Corrosion Protection for Line Pipe Steel

A facile method was developed to synthesize in high yield dispersed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with small particle sizes of less than 10 nm. Silver nitrate was reduced to silver nanoparticles by p-chloroaniline in the presence of polyoxyethylene maleate 4-nonyl-2-propylene-phenol (NMA) as a stabilizer. The produced AgNPs were used to prepare hybrid polymer based on N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm), 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS), N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) and potassium persulfate (KPS) using a semi-batch solution polymerization method. The prepared AgNPs and hybrid polymer were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The corrosion inhibition activity of the AgNPs and hybrid polymer towards steel corrosion in the presence of hydrochloric acid has been investigated by polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. Polarization measurements indicate that the AgNPs and hybrid polymer acts as a mixed type-inhibitor and the inhibition efficiency increases with inhibitor concentration. The results of potentiodynamic polarization and EIS measurements clearly showed that the inhibition mechanism involves blocking of the steel surface by inhibitor molecules via adsorption.
Rings and ideals parameterized by binary n‐ic forms

The association of algebraic objects to forms has had many important applications in number theory. Gauss, over two centuries ago, studied composition of binary quadratic forms, which we now understand via Dedekind's association of ideal classes of quadratic rings to integral binary quadratic forms. Delone and Faddeev, in 1940, showed that cubic rings are parameterized by equivalence classes of integral binary cubic forms. Birch, Merriman, Nakagawa, del Corso, Dvornicich, and Simon have all studied rings associated to binary forms of degree n for any n, but it has not previously been known which rings, and with what additional structure, are associated to binary forms. In this paper, we show exactly what algebraic structures are parameterized by binary n‐ic forms, for all n. The algebraic data associated to an integral binary n‐ic form includes a ring isomorphic to ℤn as a ℤ‐module, an ideal class for that ring, and a condition on the ring and ideal class that comes naturally from geometry. In fact, we prove these parameterizations when any base scheme replaces the integers, and show that the correspondences between forms and the algebraic data are functorial in the base scheme. We give geometric constructions of the rings and ideals from the forms that parameterize them and a simple construction of the form from an appropriate ring and ideal.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction Causes Oxidative Stress and Tapetal Apoptosis in Chemical Hybridization Reagent-Induced Male Sterility in Wheat

Male sterility in plants has been strongly linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. Chemical hybridization agent (CHA)-induced male sterility is an important tool in crop heterosis. Therefore, it is important to better understand the relationship between mitochondria and CHA-induced male sterility in wheat. This study reports on the impairment of mitochondrial function duo to CHA-SQ-1, which occurs by decreasing cytochrome oxidase and adenosine triphosphate synthase protein levels and theirs activities, respiratory rate, and in turn results in the inhibition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC), excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disruption of the alternative oxidase pathway. Subsequently, excessive ROS combined with MnSOD defects results in damage to the mitochondrial membrane, followed by ROS release into the cytoplasm. The microspores underwent severe oxidative stress during pollen development. Furthermore, chronic oxidative stress, together with the overexpression of type II metacaspase, triggered premature tapetal apoptosis, which resulted in pollen abortion. Accordingly, we propose a metabolic pathway for mitochondrial-mediated male sterility in wheat, which provides information on the molecular events underlying CHA-SQ-1-induced abortion of anthers and may serve as an additional guide to the practical application of hybrid breeding.
Androgen receptors mediate masculinization of astrocytes in the rat posterodorsal medial amygdala during puberty

Astrocytes in the posterodorsal portion of the medial amygdala (MePD) are sexually dimorphic in adult rats: males have more astrocytes in the right MePD and more elaborate processes in the left MePD than do females. Functional androgen receptors (ARs) are required for masculinization of MePD astrocytes, as these measures are demasculinized in adult males carrying the testicular feminization mutation (Tfm) of the AR gene, which renders AR dysfunctional. We now report that the number of astrocytes is already sexually dimorphic in the right MePD of juvenile 25‐day‐old (P25) rats. Because Tfm males have as many astrocytes as wild‐type males at this age, this prepubertal sexual dimorphism is independent of ARs. After P25, astrocyte number increases in the MePD of all groups, but activation of ARs augments this increase in the right MePD, where more astrocytes are added in males than in Tfm males. Consequently, by adulthood, females and Tfm males have equivalent numbers of astrocytes in the right MePD. Sexual dimorphism in astrocyte arbor complexity in the left MePD arises after P25, and is entirely AR‐dependent. Thus, masculinization of MePD astrocytes is a result of both AR‐independent processes before the juvenile period and AR‐dependent processes afterward. J. Comp. Neurol. 521:2298–2309, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Support Interleukin-3- and Interleukin-5-Induced Eosinophil Differentiation from Cord Blood CD34+ Cells

Background: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) are an important source of hematopoietic cytokines, and interleukin-3 (IL-3)- and IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation from CD34+ cells has been observed. To show the supportive effects of endothelial cells on eosinophil differentiation, we examined the effects of cocultured HUVEC on IL-3 and IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation from human umbilical cord blood CD34+ cells. Methods: CD34+ cells were obtained from the heparinized umbilical vein blood of 10 volunteers using a CD34-conjugated magnetic bead positive direct selection procedure. With HUVEC in Transwell, CD34+ cells were then cultured for 14–28 days. In neutralizing experiments on HUVEC-derived cytokines, antibodies to both stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were added to the cell cultures. Results: Cocultured HUVEC upregulated IL-3 and IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation from CD34+ cells on day 28 of culture by 75.0%. The eosinophilopoietic effect of HUVEC was significantly only when the cells were present in the culture from day 15 to day 28. Addition of anti-SCF antibody or anti-GM-CSF monoclonal antibody to the culture significantly suppressed HUVEC-combined IL-3- and IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation on day 28 of culture by 49.2 and 55.0%, respectively. Conclusions: These results indicate that several cytokines including GM-CSF and SCF from HUVEC promote IL-3- and IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation from CD34+ cells.
Functional analysis of histones H2A and H2B in transcriptional repression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The presence of H2A-H2B dimers in nucleosomes can inhibit the binding of transcription factors to chromatin templates. To study the roles of histones H2A and H2B in transcriptional repression in vivo, mutant forms of these histones were analyzed in two different assay systems. Two repression domains were identified in H2A. One domain includes residues that fall in the beginning of the H2A-H2B dimerization region, and the second is in the H2A N terminus, a region of potential interactions with nonhistone proteins. The function of H2A and H2B in one repression assay was found to be dependent on three SPT (suppressor of Ty) genes whose products are important for chromatin-mediated repression. These results suggest that repressive chromatin structure may be established through the interactions of the Spt proteins with these histones. In contrast, other proteins, the products of the HIR (histone regulation) genes, may function to direct H2A and H2B to specific promoters.