Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polyphenolic compounds from Cognac induce vasorelaxation in vitro and decrease post‐ischaemic cardiac infarction after an oral administration

The effects of Cognac polyphenolic compounds (CPC) on aorta and isolated heart, the consequences of oral administration on haemodynamic parameters, vascular reactivity and cardiac recovery after ischaemia were investigated. CPC induced an endothelium‐dependent vasorelaxation on rat‐isolated aorta. This effect was prevented by the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine‐methyl ester, but not by the cyclo‐oxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, suggesting the implication of NO pathway. On isolated rat hearts, CPC induced positive inotropic, chronotropic, and lusitropic effect at 10−4–10−2 g/L while at 10−1 g/L, it had negative lusitropic effect and other parameters returned to baseline values. Oral administration of 40 mg/kg of CPC for 2 weeks did not modify systolic blood pressure and heart rate of rats throughout the treatment. CPC treatment did not affect ex vivo response of isolated thoracic aorta either to the contractile agent noradrenaline or to the endothelial‐relaxant agent, acetylcholine. Isolated hearts from treated rats were submitted to 30‐min global ischaemia followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Post‐ischaemic recovery of functional cardiac parameters was not modified by treatment with CPC. Infarct size measured after the reperfusion in heart from CPC‐treated rats was significantly decreased in comparison with hearts from control group. We conclude that in vitro, CPC had NO‐dependent vasorelaxant effects and stimulated cardiac function. Oral treatment with CPC appeared to have no impact in vivo on blood pressure, heart rate of the rats or on cardiac contractility ex vivo; however, it could decrease the infarct size after an ischaemia–reperfusion.
The Smallest Pair of Noncrossing Paths in a Rectilinear Polygon

Smallest rectilinear paths are rectilinear paths with simultaneous minimum numbers of bends and minimum lengths. Given two pairs of terminals within a rectilinear polygon, the authors derive an algorithm to find a pair of noncrossing rectilinear paths within the polygon such that the total number of bends and the total length are both minimized. Although a smallest rectilinear path between two terminals in a rectilinear polygon always exists, they show that such a smallest pair may not exist for some problem instances. In that case, the algorithm presented will find, among all noncrossing paths with a minimum total number of bends, a pair whose total length is the shortest, or find, among all noncrossing paths with a minimum total length, a pair whose total number of bends is minimized. They provide a simple linear time and space algorithm based on the fact that there are only a limited number of configurations of such a solution pair.
Learning the structure of mixed initiative dialogues using a corpus of annotated conversations 1

This paper reports an ongoing effort to derive linear discourse structures from a corpus of telephone conversations. First, we would like to determine how reliably human annotators can tag discourse segments in dialogues. Second, we begin to investigate how to build machine models for performing this annotation task. To carry out our research, we use a corpus of transcribed and annotated human-human dialogues in a specific information retrieval domain (Movie theater schedules). We conducted an experiment in which 25 different dialogues have each been annotated by at least seven different people. We found that the average precision and recall among annotators in placing segment boundaries is 84.3%, and in assigning segment purpose labels is 80.1%. A simple discourse segment parser based on finite state machines is able to cover 56% of the same dialogues. When the finite state grammar is able to analyse a dialogue, it agrees with human annotators in placing segment boundaries with 59.4% precision and 66.4% recall, and it agrees in segment label accuracy at the 59% level.
Spontaneous Network Events Driven by Depolarizing GABA Action in Neonatal Hippocampal Slices are Not Attributable to Deficient Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism

In two recent papers (Rheims et al., 2009; Holmgren et al., 2010), Zilberter and coworkers argue that the well known depolarizing GABA actions that take place at the cellular and network level in the neonatal hippocampus and neocortex in vitro are pathophysiological phenomena, attributable to deficient mitochondrial energy metabolism. In their experiments, supplementing the glucose-containing solution with weak-acid substrates of mitochondrial energy metabolism (such as β-hydroxy-butyrate, lactate, or pyruvate) abolished the spontaneous network events (giant depolarizing potentials; GDPs) and the underlying depolarizing actions of GABA. In this study, we made electrophysiological recordings of GDPs and monitored the mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψm) and intracellular pH (pHi) in CA3 neurons in neonatal rat hippocampal slices. Supplementing the standard physiological solution with l-lactate did not produce a change in Ψm, whereas withdrawal of glucose, in the presence or absence of l-lactate, was followed by a pronounced depolarization of Ψm. Furthermore, d-lactate (a poor substrate of mitochondrial metabolism) caused a prompt inhibition in GDP frequency which was similar to the effect of l-lactate. The suppression of GDPs was strictly proportional to the fall in pHi caused by weak carboxylic acids (l-lactate, d-lactate, or propionate) or by an elevated CO2. The main conclusions of our work are that the inhibitory effect of l-lactate on GDPs is not mediated by mitochondrial energy metabolism, and that glucose at its standard 10 mm concentration is an adequate energy substrate for neonatal neurons in vitro. Notably, changes in pHi appear to have a very powerful modulatory effect on GDPs.
Is titin a ‘winding filament’? A new twist on muscle contraction

Recent studies have demonstrated a role for the elastic protein titin in active muscle, but the mechanisms by which titin plays this role remain to be elucidated. In active muscle, Ca2+-binding has been shown to increase titin stiffness, but the observed increase is too small to explain the increased stiffness of parallel elastic elements upon muscle activation. We propose a ‘winding filament’ mechanism for titin's role in active muscle. First, we hypothesize that Ca2+-dependent binding of titin's N2A region to thin filaments increases titin stiffness by preventing low-force straightening of proximal immunoglobulin domains that occurs during passive stretch. This mechanism explains the difference in length dependence of force between skeletal myofibrils and cardiac myocytes. Second, we hypothesize that cross-bridges serve not only as motors that pull thin filaments towards the M-line, but also as rotors that wind titin on the thin filaments, storing elastic potential energy in PEVK during force development and active stretch. Energy stored during force development can be recovered during active shortening. The winding filament hypothesis accounts for force enhancement during stretch and force depression during shortening, and provides testable predictions that will encourage new directions for research on mechanisms of muscle contraction.
Complement component C5 modulates the systemic tumor necrosis factor response in murine endotoxic shock

Patients with disseminated Neisseria meningitidis infections (meningococcemia) suffer from a fulminant shock syndrome that is accompanied by extraordinarily high concentrations in serum of tumor necrosis factor (TNF). People with homozygous deficiencies of late complement components (C5, C6, C7, and C8) experience a high incidence of disseminated neisserial infections yet suffer from an attenuated form of the disease. The mechanisms that account for this disparity in host response are unclear, but they may in part be related to differences in the systemic TNF response that are modulated by terminal complement components (C5 to C9). The role of C5 in the modulation of the systemic endotoxin-induced TNF response was studied with matched strains of C5-deficient (B10 D2/Osn) and complement-sufficient (B10 D2/Nsn) mice. Following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration, complement-sufficient mice exhibited more rapid increases in pulmonary and hepatic vascular permeabilities than did C5-deficient controls. Complement-sufficient mice developed acute passive hepatic congestion, they appeared more ill than C5-deficient mice, and they exhibited a twofold greater rise in serum TNF activity compared with that by C5-deficient mice. C5-deficient mice reconstituted with normal serum before an LPS injection exhibited pulmonary and hepatic vascular permeability increases and serum TNF levels approaching those observed in complement-sufficient mice. Alveolar and peritoneal macrophages isolated from complement-sufficient and C5-deficient mice and incubated in heat-inactivated serum did not exhibit differences in TNF mRNA expression or secreted TNF activity following stimulation with LPS. However, incubation of macrophages in complement-sufficient mouse serum (before LPS stimulation) resulted in increased TNF mRNA expression and TNF activity compared with those in cells incubated in C5-deficient serum. In vitro studies employing human complement components and peripheral blood monocytes revealed that recombinant C5a, in the presence or absence of LPS, can induce increased concentrations of TNF and that C5b to C9 had no additional modulatory effect on the TNF response. These data suggest that C5 modulates the endotoxin-triggered TNF response. The role of complement components distal to C5 (i.e., C5b to C9) in the endotoxin-triggered TNF response remains unclear.
Folded FFT architecture for real-valued signals based on Radix-23 algorithm

A new FFT architecture for real-valued signal is proposed using Radix-23 algorithm. It is based on modifying flow graph of the FFT algorithm such that it has both real and complex datapaths. A redundant operation in flow graph is replaced by imaginary part. Using folding technique RFFT architecture with any level of parallelism can be achieved. This RFFT architecture will lead to low hardware complexity as compare to radix-2 and radix 22 algorithm in terms of adder, multiplier and delay. N-point 2 parallel radix-23 architecture requires (log8N-) complex multiplier, 2log2N adders, 3N/2-2 delays. RFFT which is used for real time applications and in portable devices for which low power consumption is main requirement, so accordingly carry propagate adder which has least power consumption and CSD multiplier is selected for our proposed architecture.
Boolean classes

We extend the notion of class so that any Boolean combinations of classes is also a class. Boolean classes allow greater precision and conciseness in naming the class of objects governed a particular method. A class can be viewed as a predicate which is either true or false of any given object. Unlike predicates however classes have an inheritance hierarchy which is known at compile time. Boolean classes extend the notion of class, making classes more like predicates, while preserving the compile time computable inheritance hierarchy.
Selective use of vandetanib in the treatment of thyroid cancer

Vandetanib is a once-daily orally available tyrosine kinase inhibitor that works by blocking RET (REarranged during Transfection), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3), and epidermal growth factor receptor and to a lesser extent VEGFR-1, which are important targets in thyroid cancer (TC). It is emerging as a potentially effective option in the treatment of advanced medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and in dedifferentiated papillary thyroid cancer not responsive to radioiodine. The most important effect of vandetanib in aggressive MTC is a prolongation of progression-free survival and a stabilization of the disease. Significant side effects have been observed with the vandetanib therapy (as fatigue, hypertension, QTc prolongation, cutaneous rash, hand-and-foot syndrome, diarrhea, etc), and severe side effects can require the suspension of the drug. Several studies are currently under way to evaluate the long-term efficacy and tolerability of vandetanib in MTC and in dedifferentiated papillary TC. The efficacy of vandetanib in patients with MTC in long-term treatments could be overcome by the resistance to the drug. However, the effectiveness of the treatment could be ameliorated by the molecular characterization of the tumor and by the possibility to test the sensitivity of primary TC cells from each subject to different tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Association studies are evaluating the effect of the association of vandetanib with other antineoplastic agents (such as irinotecan, bortezomib, etc). Further research is needed to determine the ideal therapy to obtain the best response in terms of survival and quality of life.
26.3 An 800MS/S 10b/13b receiver for 10GBASE-T Ethernet in 28nm CMOS

The IEEE 802.3an standard describes full-duplex 10Gb/s Ethernet transmission over four pairs of up to 100m UTP cable. The performance required from the analog front end (AFE) of a 10GBASE-T Ethernet transceiver strongly depends on the length of the cable connected to it. Maximum-length cables require the highest performance, and hence, determine the worst-case power dissipation of the transceiver. In practice, however, the vast majority of cable lengths used are below 30m. For these shorter cables, the standard specifies the transmitted power level to be lowered, inherently leading to a reduction in power consumption of the transmitter (TX). In most designs, the power consumption of the receiver (RX), unfortunately, does not benefit from the shorter cable lengths [1,2]. This paper presents a power-efficient 13b RX, implemented in 28nm CMOS. By switching to a 10b mode for short cables, 143mW is saved in the AFE for one complete Ethernet port, comprising four receivers. In addition, to further reduce power, the RX heavily relies on calibrations.
Class prediction and discovery using gene microarray and proteomics mass spectroscopy data: curses, caveats, cautions

MOTIVATION Two practical realities constrain the analysis of microarray data, mass spectra from proteomics, and biomedical infrared or magnetic resonance spectra. One is the 'curse of dimensionality': the number of features characterizing these data is in the thousands or tens of thousands. The other is the 'curse of dataset sparsity': the number of samples is limited. The consequences of these two curses are far-reaching when such data are used to classify the presence or absence of disease. RESULTS Using very simple classifiers, we show for several publicly available microarray and proteomics datasets how these curses influence classification outcomes. In particular, even if the sample per feature ratio is increased to the recommended 5-10 by feature extraction/reduction methods, dataset sparsity can render any classification result statistically suspect. In addition, several 'optimal' feature sets are typically identifiable for sparse datasets, all producing perfect classification results, both for the training and independent validation sets. This non-uniqueness leads to interpretational difficulties and casts doubt on the biological relevance of any of these 'optimal' feature sets. We suggest an approach to assess the relative quality of apparently equally good classifiers.
Energy Efficient Implementation for Arithmetic Application in CMOS Full Adders

The overall view of this paper is to attain high speed, low power full adder cells with alternative logic cells that lead to have reduced power delay product. Two high-speed and lowpower full adder cells designed with an alternative internal logic structure and pass-transistor logic styles that lead to have a reduced power-delay product (PDP). We carried out a comparison against other full-adders reported as having a low PDP, in terms of speed, power consumption and area. All the full-adders were designed with a 0.18m CMOS technology, and were tested using a comprehensive test bench that allowed to measure the current taken from the full adder inputs, besides the current provided from the power supply. Post-layout simulations show that the proposed full adders outperform its counterparts exhibiting an average PDP advantage of 80%, with only 40% of relative area. Adder module is the core of many arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with an alternative internal logic structure based on the multiplexing of the Boolean function. To determine the lowest power supply voltage of full adders can tolerate by its correct functionality. Delay in full adder relates the amount of energy spent during the realization of the determined task. The design of the full adder circuit in Micro wind tool that allow measuring the Delay, Area, Power Consumption and Speed. General Terms Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, Device under Test, Differential Cascade Voltage Switch, Swing Restored, Power Delay Product
Sports and Spirits: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Student Sportspeople's Drinking.

By theoretically framing sportspeople’s drinking within a social identity perspective, this thesis aims to elucidate the social psychological processes underpinning the link between sport group membership and alcohol use. It is argued that focusing on these group-level processes provides theoretically grounded foundations for applied practice. The thesis utilised both quantitative and qualitative methods. Secondary data analyses in Study 1 indicate that athletic identification plays a significant role in shaping alcohol consumption in different sporting contexts. Study 2 examined longitudinally personal and group-based social identities. Results indicated that alcohol consumption increased sports group identification over time, and this identification positively related to wellbeing. In contrast, a personal athletic identity was weakly associated with alcohol behaviours, indicating that there may be utility in harnessing these dual identities when addressing health in sport. Qualitative explorations in Study 3 exposed sport-related drinking as strategic and functional practices that served to provide a positive sport experience at the group-level. To achieve this, the sports group exhibited self-monitoring and regulating influences, whereby members’ alcohol behaviours could both be encouraged or deterred by the wider group. Experimental manipulations in Study 4 sought to examine effects of alcohol consumption and social identity processes between sporting and non-sporting participants. Findings indicate that intoxication exaggerates in-group biases for those highly identified with their group, pointing to a hitherto unexamined interplay between the psychopharmacological effects of alcohol and intergroup behaviour. Overall, the thesis highlights the central role of sport-related identities in defining alcohol behaviours. Its contributions outline how a number of social identity processes (identification, wellbeing, self- and social control) may be drawn upon to address risky drinking among student sportspeople.
Identification of a novel nicotinic acetylcholine receptor structural subunit expressed in goldfish retina

A new non-alpha (n alpha) member of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) gene family designated GFn alpha-2 has been identified in goldfish retina by cDNA cloning. This cDNA clone encodes a protein with structural features common to all nAChR subunits sequenced to date; however, unlike all known alpha-subunits of the receptor, it lacks the cysteine residues believed to be involved in acetylcholine binding. Northern blot analysis shows multiple transcripts hybridizing to the GFn alpha-2 cDNA in goldfish retina but undetectable levels of hybridizable RNA in brain, muscle, or liver. S1 nuclease protection experiments indicate that multiple mRNAs are expressed in retina with regions identical or very similar to the GFn alpha-2 sequence. In situ hybridization shows that the gene encoding GFn alpha-2 is expressed predominantly in the ganglion cell layer of the retina.
Retinal Diseases Associated with Oxidative Stress and the Effects of a Free Radical Scavenger (Edaravone)

Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in developing and accelerating retinal diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), and retinal vein occlusion (RVO). An excess amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can lead to functional and morphological impairments in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), endothelial cells, and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Here we demonstrate that edaravone, a free radical scavenger, decreased apoptotic cell death, oxidative damage to DNA and lipids, and angiogenesis through inhibiting JNK and p38 MAPK pathways in AMD, glaucoma, DR, and RVO animal models. These data suggest that the therapeutic strategy for targeting oxidative stress may be important for the treatment of these ocular diseases, and edaravone may be useful for treating retinal diseases associated with oxidative stress.
American Economic Association

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