Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polydatin Protects Diabetic Heart against Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Notch1/Hes1-Mediated Activation of Pten/Akt Signaling

Diabetes exacerbates oxidative/nitrative stress during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R) injury. Recent studies highlighted the cardioprotective actions of polydatin. However, its effect on diabetic MI/R injury and the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. This work was undertaken to evaluate the effect of polydatin on diabetic MI/R injury with a focus on Notch1/Hes1 signaling and myocardial oxidative/nitrative stress. Streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetic rats were administered with polydatin (20 mg/kg/d) in the absence or presence of DAPT (a γ-secretase inhibitor) or LY294002 (a PI3K/Akt inhibitor) and then subjected to MI/R injury. Polydatin administration preserved cardiac function and reduced myocardial infarct size. Moreover, polydatin ameliorated myocardial oxidative/nitrative stress damage as evidenced by decreased myocardial superoxide generation, malondialdehyde, gp91phox expression, iNOS expression, NO metabolite level, and nitrotyrosine content and increased eNOS phosphorylation. However, these effects were blocked by DAPT administration. DAPT also inhibited the stimulatory effect of polydatin on the Notch1/Hes1-Pten/Akt signaling pathway in a diabetic myocardium. Additionally, LY294002 not only abolished polydatin's antiapoptotic effect but also reversed its inhibitory effect on myocardial oxidative/nitrative stress. Polydatin effectively reduced MI/R injury and improved left ventricular functional recovery under diabetic condition by ameliorating oxidative/nitrative stress damage. Importantly, Notch1/Hes1-mediated activation of Pten/Akt signaling played a crucial role in this process.
A Novel Price-Based Power Allocation Algorithm in Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Networks

A novel price-based power allocation algorithm is proposed based on the Stackelberg game for cellular downlink non-orthogonal multiple access networks. First, the closed-form solution is given for two users’ case, and shown that it is possible to allocate the transmit power to both users or only the user with the better channel condition. Then, an iterative algorithm is proposed for more than two users’ cases based on the algorithm proposed for the two users. Finally, simulation results show that the proposed price-based power allocation algorithm outperforms existing algorithm in terms of the revenue of the base station and the sum rate of the users.
Influence of laser surface treatment strategy on its efficiency

Przedstawiono wyniki badań eksperymentalnych procesu hartowania laserowego stali 45. Do badań wykorzystano laser Nd:YAG pracujący w trybie ciągłym. Przeprowadzono analizę wpływu strategii obróbki na jej efektywność. Energochłonność procesu analizowano na podstawie wielkości strefy zahartowaniej uzyskanej w wyniku zastosowania pojedynczego przejścia wiązki laserowej, skanowania powierzchni i obróbki z oscylacyjnym ruchem wiązki względem materiału. Stwierdzono znaczące zwiększenie efektywności procesu w warunkach nagrzewania oscylacyjnego.
Maternal Prenatal Urinary Phthalate Metabolite Concentrations and Child Mental, Psychomotor, and Behavioral Development at 3 Years of Age

Background: Research suggests that prenatal phthalate exposures affect child executive function and behavior. Objective: We evaluated associations between phthalate metabolite concentrations in maternal prenatal urine and mental, motor, and behavioral development in children at 3 years of age. Methods: Mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP), monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP), and four di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate metabolites were measured in a spot urine sample collected from 319 women during the third trimester. When children were 3 years of age, the Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) were measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II, and behavior problems were assessed by maternal report on the Child Behavior Checklist. Results: Child PDI scores decreased with increasing loge MnBP [estimated adjusted β-coefficient = –2.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): –4.63, –1.0] and loge MiBP (β = –2.28; 95% CI: –3.90, –0.67); odds of motor delay increased significantly [per loge MnBP: estimated adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.44; per loge MiBP: adjusted OR =1.82; 95% CI: 1.24, 2.66]. In girls, MDI scores decreased with increasing loge MnBP (β = –2.67; 95% CI: –4.70, –0.65); the child sex difference in odds of mental delay was significant (p = 0.037). The ORs for clinically withdrawn behavior were 2.23 (95% CI: 1.27, 3.92) and 1.57 (95% CI: 1.07, 2.31) per loge unit increase in MnBP and MBzP, respectively; for clinically internalizing behaviors, the OR was 1.43 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.90) per loge unit increase in MBzP. Significant child sex differences were seen in associations between MnBP and MBzP and behaviors in internalizing domains (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Certain prenatal phthalate exposures may decrease child mental and motor development and increase internalizing behaviors.
Whole exome sequencing analysis reveals TRPV3 as a risk factor for cardioembolic stroke/subtitle

Summary Genetic studies suggest that hundreds of genes associated with stroke remain unidentified. Exome sequencing proves useful for finding new genes associated with stroke. We aimed to find new genetic risk factors for cardioembolic stroke by analysing exome sequence data using new strategies. For discovery, we analysed 42 cardioembolic stroke cases and controls with extreme phenotypes (cohort 1), and for replication, 32 cardioembolic stroke cases and controls (cohort 2) using the SeqCapExome capture kit. We then analysed the replicated genes in two new cohorts that comprised 834 cardioembolic strokes and controls (cohort 3) and 64,373 cardioembolic strokes and controls (cohort 4). Transcriptomic in-silico functional analyses were also performed. We found 26 coding regions with a higher frequency of mutations in cardioembolic strokes after correcting for the number of mutations found in the whole exome of every patient. The TRPV3 gene was associated with cardioembolic stroke after replication of exome sequencing analysis (p-value-discovery: 0.018, p-value-replication: 0.014). The analysis of the TRPV3 gene using polymorphisms in cohort 3 and 4 revealed two polymorphisms associated with cardioembolic stroke in both cohorts, the most significant polymorphism being rs151091899 (p-value: 3.1 × 10−05; odds ratio: 5.4) in cohort 3. The genotype of one polymorphism of TRPV3 was associated with a differential expression of genes linked to cardiac malformations. In conclusion, new strategies using exome sequence data have revealed TRPV3 as a new gene associated with cardioembolic stroke. This strategy among others might be useful in finding new genes associated with complex genetic diseases.
Diverse evolutionary patterns of pneumococcal antigens identified by pangenome-wide immunological screening

Significance The wealth of genomic data available for the respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae enabled the design of a pangenome-wide proteome microarray. Of over 2,000 pneumococcal proteins, 208 strongly bound antibodies in adult human sera. The vast majority could be classified as either variants of four diverse loci or more conserved proteins involved in adhesion, enzymatic degradation, solute binding, or cell wall synthesis. Detailed analyses of the genomic data revealed some variable antigens rapidly diversified through mechanisms including homologous recombination, mobile genetic element transmission, and phase variation. Other antigens were conserved across the population and may be better candidates for simple vaccine formulations. This raises the question of what evolutionary advantage bacteria derive from altering only a subset of their antigenic loci. Characterizing the immune response to pneumococcal proteins is critical in understanding this bacterium’s epidemiology and vaccinology. Probing a custom-designed proteome microarray with sera from 35 healthy US adults revealed a continuous distribution of IgG affinities for 2,190 potential antigens from the species-wide pangenome. Reproducibly elevated IgG binding was elicited by 208 “antibody binding targets” (ABTs), which included 109 variants of the diverse pneumococcal surface proteins A and C (PspA and PspC) and zinc metalloprotease A and B (ZmpA and ZmpB) proteins. Functional analysis found ABTs were enriched in motifs for secretion and cell surface association, with extensive representation of cell wall synthesis machinery, adhesins, transporter solute-binding proteins, and degradative enzymes. ABTs were associated with stronger evidence for evolving under positive selection, although this varied between functional categories, as did rates of diversification through recombination. Particularly rapid variation was observed at some immunogenic accessory loci, including a phage protein and a phase-variable glycosyltransferase ubiquitous among the diverse set of genomic islands encoding the serine-rich PsrP glycoprotein. Nevertheless, many antigens were conserved in the core genome, and strains’ antigenic profiles were generally stable. No strong evidence was found for any epistasis between antigens driving population dynamics, or redundancy between functionally similar accessory ABTs, or age stratification of antigen profiles. These results highlight the paradox of why substantial variation is observed in only a subset of epitopes. This result may indicate only some interactions between immunoglobulins and ABTs clear pneumococcal colonization or that acquired immunity to pneumococci is an accumulation of individually weak responses to ABTs evolving under different levels of functional constraint.
Building Top-k Consistent Results for Web Table Augmentation

Web table augmentation enables users to augment attributes based on key column and other known information. For table augmentation, most of systems return a single result which could not meet the users' needs of selection and validation. Furthermore, previous works only consider the entity-attribute binary tables with the first column corresponding to the entity name and the second to an attribute to be extended. When a table has multiple columns to be extended, the result table consolidated by binary tables will suffer from entity inconsistency. In this paper, we present a framework called TAT to build Top-k consistent results for web table augmentation. While ensuring the consistency of entities, TAT provides as diverse results as possible. We design two algorithms, exclusive and iterative algorithm, for web table augmentation that return Top-k results based on different requirements from users. The experiments show that TAT could return Top-k consistent results without loss of precision or coverage.
A REVIEW OF CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COCONUT SHELL IN ASPHALT MIXTURE

Coconut shell is an agricultural waste which is abundant to the environment and also rise the risk to health as well as environment. Currently, most of the researchers are investigate the use of waste material which can reduce the costof construction and increase the strength. Some of thewaste materials are used in construction for instance palm oil fuel ash, rice husk, fly ash slag, sludge, coconut shell and etc. Hence, coconut shellwas selected for this study. Generally, the chemical and physical properties of coconut shell in road construction was highlighted in this paper and compared with others raw materials. In addition, the chemical and physical characteristics of coconut shell was presented according to X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM),Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Analysis and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). A review of using coconut shell in asphalt mixture has better potential than others raw materials to constribute in construction field.
CADET : A Collaborative and Distributed Entropy Transfer Protocol

The generation of random numbers has traditionally been a task confined to the bounds of a single piece of hardware. However, with the rapid growth and proliferation of resource-constrained devices in the Internet of Things (IoT), standard methods of generating randomness encounter barriers that can limit their effectiveness. In this work, we explore the design, implementation, and efficacy of a Collaborative and Distributed Entropy Transfer protocol (CADET), which aims to move random number generation from an individual task to a collaborative one. Through the sharing of excess random data, devices that are unable to meet their own needs can be aided by contributions from other devices. We implement and evaluate a proof-of-concept version of CADET on a testbed of 49 Raspberry Pi 3B single-board computers, which have been underclocked to emulate the resource constraints of IoT devices. Through this, we evaluate and demonstrate the efficacy and baseline performance of remote entropy protocols of this type, as well as highlight remaining research questions and challenges in this area.
Preparation and characterization of ternary blend polymer solar cells using solvent and thermal annealing treatment

The main objective of this study is to fabricate ternary blend polymer solar cells (PSC) with an optimized morphology of an active layer using solvent annealing with subsequent thermal annealing treatment. Three phases of experimental works have been designed in order to achieve the above objective. In phase I, the influences of spray coating time on the optical and morphological properties of the thin films were investigated. It was found that 10s to be the most suitable deposition time to produce thin films with an acceptable roughness, root means square (RMS):17.5nm, together with good absorption properties and crystallinity. In order to improve the performance of the PSC, ternary blends of the active layer which consists of poly (2, 5-dihexyloxy-1, 4-phenylenevinylene) (PDHeOPV), poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) were prepared in phase II. The effects of PDHeOPV weight ratio on the optical and morphological properties of the thin films were investigated by varying the weight ratio from 0.5 to 2. The addition of PDHeOPV at higher weight ratio has further disrupted the chain packing of P3HT and thus reduced the crystallinity of P3HT. Nevertheless, the addition of PDHeOPV improved the light harvesting property of the ternary blend as there was an increment in absorbance area. In phase III, the effects of different post treatments on the performance of spray coated P3HT: PDHeOPV: PCBM for an active layer in PSC were studied. The annealing temperatures were varied from 130°C to 150°C while the annealing time was fixed at 10 min. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) results revealed that the samples that underwent solvent and thermal annealing treatment had higher crystallinity of P3HT or phase separation in these samples was mostly favored. The peak absorption for P3HT: PDHeOPV: PCBM thin film was higher compared to P3HT: PCBM thin film. The x-ray diffractometer (XRD) spectra showed that the structure of the samples would evolve at high thermal annealing temperature (150°C) due to weak intermolecular force in P3HT molecules. This contributed to the low crystallinity of the films which consequently affects the absorption properties of the films. The PSC devices were prepared in inverted structure using 1:0.5:1 (P3HT: PDHeOPV: PCBM) active layers in order to observe the performance of the PSC. It was found that, thermal annealing at 130°C lead to an improvement in short circuit current (Isc= 4.08±0.061 mA/cm2) and slightly increased open circuit voltage (Voc= 0.49±0.03V) compared to the ambient PSC. Interestingly, the thermal annealed (150oC) ternary blends PSC demonstrated a significant performance enhancement under continuous illumination (120 min) without any sign of degradation. Thus, it is concluded that the P3HT: PDHeOPV: PCBM coupled with thermal annealing has a great potential for the fabrication of PSC with improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability at simplicity and shorter manufacturing time compared to a tandem structure
Privacy-preserving attribute-based friend search in geosocial networks with untrusted servers

Location-based Services (LBSs) enable mobile users to request and obtain certain services based on their current locations, such as finding nearby gas station, looking for coffee shops, and using online GPS navigation, etc. As a major branch of LBSs, geosocial networking services, such as Foursquare, become popular due to the explosive growth of smartphone users. Geosocial networking services allow people to use their location information to find potential friends who have similar interests within close proximity and initiate communications with each other. However, most existing geosocial networking services ask for mobile users' current location information and store it on an untrusted server with less privacy concerns. To some extent, mobile users need to reveal their interests and physical location information to a service provider in order to realize the functionality of geosocial networking, which apparently deteriorates users' privacy on the aspects of their profiles and locations. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving friend search scheme in geosocial networks without relying on a trusted centralized server. Our scheme lets localization infrastructures, such as base stations, create encrypted searchable tables on an untrusted server and allow mobile users to search for their possible friends using their profiles without exposing their location information. Extensive trace-driven simulation results and analysis show both the efficiency and privacy preservation of our proposed scheme.
Sista: Saving Optimized Code in Snapshots for Fast Start-Up

Modern virtual machines for object-oriented languages such as Java HotSpot, Javascript V8 or Python PyPy reach high performance through just-in-time compilation techniques, involving on-the-fly optimization and deoptimization of the executed code. These techniques require a warm-up time for the virtual machine to collect information about the code it executes to be able to generate highly optimized code. This warm-up time required before reaching peak performance can be considerable and problematic. In this paper, we propose an approach, Sista (Speculative Inlining SmallTalk Architecture) to persist optimized code in a platform-independent representation as part of a snapshot. After explaining the overall approach, we show on a large set of benchmarks that the Sista virtual machine can reach peak performance almost immediately after start-up when using a snapshot where optimized code was persisted.
Ossifying Spondylitis

% RALPH STOCKMAN, M.D., LL.D. , Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, University of Glasgow. * Ossifying spondylitis, although not a common disease, is far fr? rn being a clinical rarity, and I have now had the opportunity ? f investigating the history and etiology in a considerable number of cases. These have led me to the conclusion that it be? ins as a fibrositis, which, like fibrositis elsewhere, owes its ? rigin to various different infections. Very exceptionally the fibrositis may be confined to the ligamentous structures of the spinal column, but its incidence is very seldom so limited, and a^m? st invariably the fibrous tissues of the joints and muscles ^lsewhere throughout the body are also found to be more or less involved. Fibrositis is, however, extremely common, while Ossification of the inflamed tissue is in comparison very rare the difficulty lies in explaining why in a relatively smal number of patients the fibrous tissue should take to forming *levv bone, and what is the influence that determines this. In ,he Present state of our knowledge these questions have to be Unanswered, but it may be recalled that bone is sometimes ? rmed in operation cicatrices, in the scar tissue left by hea e erculous lesions and by infarcts, in the wall of the aorta,, an n rnuscles (myositis ossificans), presumably by fibrous tissue Ce Is which have taken on the function of osteoblasts. ence ? Ssifying spondylitis is only one aspect of a more genera 2Ues? n. As a rule the ossification is of slow and gradual ^evelopment, it begins only after the patient has suffered from m? re or less generalised fibrositis for a consi era e 1 ">any years often-and it may affect only one region of the P'ne, or may ultimately involve the whole co umn a"
Medical treatment of hypercalcaemia

Hypercalcaemia results from the failure of renal calcium excretion to compensate increased influx of calcium into the circulation from the intestine, the kidneys and the skeleton. Hypercalcaemia is a common metabolic abnormality of varying severity that can be adequately diagnosed and treated. Primary hyperparathyroidism and malignant neoplasms are responsible for >90% of all cases. The management of hypercalcaemia depends on the underlying cause and involves approaches aiming at reducing serum calcium concentrations and correcting associated metabolic disturbances. A number of pharmacological interventions are currently available for the treatment of hypercalcaemia related to malignancy as well as other forms of hypercalcaemia. Knowledge of the pathophysiology of hypercalcaemia and of the properties of these interventions is essential for the successful management of affected individuals. We herein review available therapeutic interventions for hypercalcaemia of varying aetiology.
New class of transcription factors controls flagellar assembly by recruiting RNA polymerase II in Chlamydomonas

Significance Transcriptional regulation of flagellar genes controls an initial step in flagellar assembly. In this study, we show that XAP5, a conserved protein of unknown function, defines a class of transcription factor for transcriptional regulation of genes involved in flagellar assembly. Phosphorylation of X chromosome-associated protein 5 (XAP5) during flagellar regeneration tracks flagellar length. Remarkably, recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) machinery for transcriptional activation depends on the activities of XAP5. Our data demonstrate that XAP5 functions as a transcription factor for transcriptional regulation of flagellar genes through recruitment of RNA Pol II. Our results enhance our understanding of the biochemical function of the XAP5 family and the transcriptional regulation of flagellar assembly. Cells have developed regulatory mechanisms that underlie flagellar assembly and maintenance, including the transcriptional regulation of flagellar genes, an initial step for making flagella. Although transcriptional regulation of flagellar gene expression is required for flagellar assembly in Chlamydomonas, no transcription factor that regulates the transcription of flagellar genes has been identified. We report that X chromosome-associated protein 5 (XAP5) acts as a transcription factor to regulate flagellar assembly in Chlamydomonas. While XAP5 proteins are evolutionarily conserved across diverse organisms and play vital roles in diverse biological processes, nothing is known about the biochemical function of any member of this important protein family. Our data show that loss of XAP5 leads to defects in flagellar assembly. Posttranslational modifications of XAP5 track flagellar length during flagellar assembly, suggesting that cells possess a feedback system that modulates modifications to XAP5. Notably, XAP5 regulates flagellar gene expression via directly binding to a motif containing a CTGGGGTG-core. Furthermore, recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) machinery for transcriptional activation depends on the activities of XAP5. Our data demonstrate that, through recruitment of Pol II, XAP5 defines a class of transcription factors for transcriptional regulation of ciliary genes. This work provides insights into the biochemical function of the XAP5 family and the fundamental biology of the flagellar assembly, which enhance our understanding of the signaling and functions of flagella.