Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phyto-oestrogens, their mechanism of action: current evidence for a role in breast and prostate cancer

The incidence of hormone-dependent cancers, such as those of the breast and prostate, is much lower in Eastern countries such as China and Japan in comparison with the Western world. Diet is believed to have a major effect on disease risk and one group of compounds, the phyto-oestrogens, which are consumed in large amounts in Asian populations, have been implicated in cancer protection. This view follows the finding that plasma and urinary levels of phyto-oestrogens are much higher in areas where cancer incidence is low in comparison with areas of high cancer incidence. The phyto-oestrogens are comprised of two main groups; the isoflavones and lignans. Of the isoflavones, genistein and daidzein have been the most widely studied. These compounds have been shown to possess anticancer properties; however their precise mechanism of action remains to be elucidated. In comparison, few studies have investigated the effects of lignans in breast and prostate cancer. In vitro studies have shown that genistein exerts biphasic effects on cancer cell growth, stimulating growth at low concentrations (<10μM) and inhibiting growth at high concentrations (>10μM), which suggests that low phyto-oestrogen levels may stimulate cancer growth in vivo. Plasma phyto-oestrogen concentrations of >10μM cannot be achieved by dietary intake and therefore the timing of exposure to phyto-oestrogens may be of the utmost importance in determining their chemopreventive effects. The present paper reviews the effects of phyto-oestrogens on breast and prostate cancer in vivo and in vitro and discusses possible mechanisms of action via which these compounds may exert their effects.
The diameter game

A large class of Positional Games are defined on the complete graph on n vertices. The players, Maker and Breaker, take the edges of the graph in turns, and Maker wins iff his subgraph has a given — usually monotone — property. Here we introduce the d‐diameter game, which means that Maker wins iff the diameter of his subgraph is at most d. We investigate the biased version of the game; i.e., when the players may take more than one, and not necessarily the same number of edges, in a turn. Our main result is that we proved that the 2‐diameter game has the following surprising property: Breaker wins the game in which each player chooses one edge per turn, but Maker wins as long as he is permitted to choose 2 edges in each turn whereas Breaker can choose as many as (1/9)n1/8/(lnn)3/8. In addition, we investigate d‐diameter games for d ≥ 3. The diameter games are strongly related to the degree games. Thus, we also provide a generalization of the fair degree game for the biased case. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 2009
ATP-dependent transport of lipophilic cytotoxic drugs by membrane vesicles prepared from MRP-overexpressing HL60/ADR cells.

MRP is an ATP-binding cassette family transporter that confers cellular resistance to a variety of natural product cytotoxic agents. However, the biochemical mechanism by which MRP confers resistance has not been established. To gain insight into its mechanism of action, the in vitro substrate specificity of MRP was examined by analyzing drug uptake into membrane vesicles prepared from MRP-overexpressing HL60/ADR cells. Compared to control HL60 membrane vesicles, HL60/ADR membrane vesicles exhibited markedly enhanced ATP-dependent transport of daunorubicin, etoposide, and vincristine. In contrast, little or no increased uptake was observed for vinblastine and Taxol. This pattern of in vitro substrate specificity was consistent with the analysis of the HL60/ADR drug resistance phenotype, which revealed substantial levels of resistance to anthracyclines, etoposide, and vincristine, but only slightly increased resistance to vinblastine and Taxol. Drug transport into HL60/ADR membrane vesicles was osmotically.
G proteins in Ustilago maydis: transmission of multiple signals?

In the phytopathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis, cell fusion is governed by a pheromone signalling system. The pheromone receptors belong to the seven transmembrane class that are coupled to heterotrimeric G proteins. We have isolated four genes (gpa1 to gpa4) encoding α subunits of G proteins. Gpa1, Gpa2 and Gpa3 have homologues in other fungal species, while Gpa4 is novel. Null mutants in individual genes were viable and only disruption of gpa3 caused a discernible phenotype. gpa3 mutant strains were unable to respond to pheromone and thus were mating‐deficient. A constitutively active allele of gpa3 (gpa3Q206L) was generated by site‐directed mutagenesis. Haploid strains harbouring gpa3Q206L were able to mate without pheromone stimulation, indicating that Gpa3 plays an active role in transmission of the pheromone signal. Surprisingly, Gpa3 is also required for pathogenic development, although pheromone signalling is not essential for this process.
Effects of begging on growth rates of nestling chicks

We investigated whether an increase in begging levels delays growth of chicks. In experiment 1, we hand-reared nine pairs of ring dove squabs, divided into a control and a begging group. All squabs received similar amounts of food, but those in the begging group had to beg for a prolonged period in order to be fed, while squabs in the control group received food without begging. Squabs stopped responding to the treatment after 10 days and, at that time, there was no effect of induced begging on their body mass. In experiment 2, we hand-reared 27 pairs of magpie chicks for 3 days. The design of experiment 2 was similar to that of experiment 1. Daily food intake and begging affected growth rates. On average, chicks in the begging group grew 0.8 g/day less than control chicks, which represents a decrease of 8.15% in growth rate. Because growth is usually positively associated with expected fitness, this demonstrates that begging is a costly behavior, an assumption routinely made in models of begging behavior. Key words: cost of signaling, handicap principle, magpies, Pica pica, ring doves, signaling of need, Streptopelia risoria. [Behav Ecol 12:269–274 (2001)]
Comments on "Bifurcations in DC-DC Switching Converters: Review of Methods and Applications"

In a review paper [1] (El Aroudi, et al., 2005), two stability conditions for DC-DC converters are presented. However, these two conditions were published years earlier at least in a journal paper [2] (Fang and Abed, 2001). In this note, the similar texts of [1] and [2] are compared.
Phytohaemagglutinin as a modulator of DNA repair measured by chromosome aberration analysis in micronucleus assay in ionizing radiation biodosimetry

Background. There are some correlations between cell’s ability to remove DNA damage and proliferative activity. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) on DNA repair capacity in isolated human lymphocytes exposed to ionizing radiation. Methods. Lymphocytes were isolated from the whole blood using a Ficoll centrifugation. As the source of γ-rays 60Co source Alcon, CGR-MeV was used. To achieve the absorbed dose of 2 Gy a total exposure to radiation lasted for 1.24 minutes at room temperature. Possible differences in DNA repair efficiency were monitored by chromosomal aberration analysis and micronucleus assay, 48 and 72 h after the PHA stimulation, respectively. Results. The number of dicentric chromosomes and acentric fragments were significantly increased in lymphocytes stimulated by phytohaemagglutinin immediately after the irradiation compared to the cultures where the activator was added after 1, 2 and 4 h. The micronucleus assay did not show any significant differences in the number and distribution of micronuclei regardless of the time when the mitogen activator was added. Conclusions. The observed non-significant decreases in the total number of chromosomal aberration and micronuclei suggest that phytohaemagglutinin does not significantly contribute to the DNA repair.
Minimizing Bandwidth Wastage for Delay-Bounded Message Transfer in an MMS Environment

The Multimedia Messaging Service Environment (MMSE) integrates already existing messaging systems in mobile networks and Internet, where the MMS server is responsible for handling of incoming and outgoing messages. We note that when the load offered to the MMS server is increased beyond the capacity limit, especially when hot-spot traffic caused by the movement of users suddenly appears, the latency to process the message submission request becomes excessive, consequently resulting in the expiration of the message delivery and, hence, the discarding of the submitted message contents. Some bandwidth provided by mobile networks is thus wasted to transmit these useless contents. In order to minimize bandwidth wastage, this paper proposes a delay-bounded admission control (DBAC) mechanism to prevent an MMS server from becoming overloaded and to ensure that all accepted submission requests will be serviced within the desired time of expiry for the message delivery.
Optical frequency comb generator for coherent WDM system in Tb/s applications

This paper presents a theoretical analysis and an experimental demonstration of an optical comb generator. Based on the recirculating frequency shifting technique, it targets high capacity applications that require high spectral efficiency and dispersion resilient transmission, such as optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The generator relies on the use of coherent and orthogonal multi-carrier (Coherent WDM) that makes use of a single laser source (seed). As far as we know, the theoretical model described here is presented for the first time. We experimentally demonstrate the generation of 26 comb lines with optical signal to noise ratio from 25 to 35 dB, in a spectral window of ~ 4 nm. The theoretical analysis prediction has shown excellent agreement with the experimental results.
Radiocarbon in the Maritime Air and Sea Surface Water of the South China Sea

ABSTRACT Radiocarbon (14C) generated by the thermonuclear tests in the late 1950s to early 1960s has been used as a tracer to study atmospheric and oceanic circulations, carbon exchange between different reservoirs, and fossil fuel emissions. Here we report the first measurements of 14C in atmospheric CO2 of maritime air collected over the South China Sea (SCS) during July 2014. We also present 14C of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the sea surface water in the same region. Most of the Δ14C values of the atmospheric CO2 vary in the range of 15.6±1.6‰– 22.0±1.6‰, indicating that the central SCS maritime air is well-mixed and consistent with the clean background air in the Northern Hemisphere. The 14C values of the DIC (DI14C) in the surface seawater vary between 28.3±2.5‰ and 40.6±2.7‰, mainly due to the lateral mixing between the SCS and western Pacific. The average surface seawater DI14C is 15.4 ± 5.1‰ higher than that of the maritime air 14CO2. The reversal of the sea–air Δ14C gradient occurred at ∼2000, marking the start of the upper ocean transferring bomb 14C back to the atmosphere in the SCS.
A Service Selection Workflow for Composition Using Correlation and Route Optimization

Web services have been widely accepted as a server-side technology and are the key component to cloud computing. How to effectively compose a service from a number of services is a still an issue. The current solutions are either too specialized or too complex. In this paper we present a workflow that models service composition as a service graph where each node is an individual service. Then the problem of service composition becomes the problem of path optimization. In our approach the services are first evaluated and ranked according to their quality of services. The highly ranked services are selected to construct a service graph determined by the correlation values among them. Finally, several service selection strategies are developed according to different correlation and path optimization policies. These mechanisms are further evaluated and validated by simulations. The experiments show the proposed methods are feasible and not complex.
Multi-detector computed tomographic evaluation of tibial plateau fractures with review of Schatzker's classification of tibial plateau fractures

Objective: The main objective of the study was to assess the role of multi-detector computed tomographic (MDCT) evaluation of the tibial plateau fractures. Materials and Methods: Fifty-one patients with tibial plateau fractures were subjected to MDCT. The images were reconstructed via three-dimensional algorithms and maximum intensity projection and volume rendered technique reconstructions using syngo.via software (Siemens Healthcare, Germany). The fractures were classified according to Schatzker's Classification. Results: The most common type of tibial plateau fracture in the current study was found to be type I followed by type II and the least common being type V. Conclusion: MDCT helps in accurate classification of the tibial plateau fractures, which helps in selecting the best treatment modality for a particular class of tibial plateau fracture.
Immunogold labeling of oncogenic and tumor related proteins

Immunogold labeling electron microscopy technique has been used to study the ultrastructural localization of oncogenic proteins: Mos, Met, Ski, and the tumor‐associated protein, Muc1, as well as their relationship with other tumor‐related proteins. By pre‐ and postembedding immunogold labeling electron microscopy techniques, we showed that the Mos protein pp39mos colocalized with microtubule bundles, suggesting that microtubulin or microtubule‐associated protein(s) may be the substrate of Mos. Met protein was labeled at the microvilli of the lumen that are formed in cultured T47D cells, implying its potential involvement in lumen formation. Ski localization experiments revealed a unique globular structure “Ski body” that is present inside the nucleus of interphase chicken embryo fibroblast infected with Ski cDNA FB29 and FB2–29. Ski bodies were also found scattered in the cytoplasm of metaphase FB29 and FB2–29 Ski expressing chicken embryo fibroblasts. In T47D cells, tumor‐associated protein Muc1 was associated with both the plasma membrane and the membranes of secretory vesicles in the cytoplasm. In MUC1 infected NIH3T3 cells, however, labeling showed that in addition to the plasma membrane and the membranes of secretory vesicles, some Muc1 gold spheres were seen inside the secretory vesicles, suggesting that the subcellular localization of the protein may vary in different cell types. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Multiparty videoconferencing at virtual social distance: MAJIC design

This paper describes the design and implementation of MAJIC, a multi-party videoconferencing system that projects life-size video images of participants onto a large curved screen as if users in various locations are attending a meeting together and sitting around a table. MAJIC also supports multiple eye contact among the participants and awareness of the direction of the participants' gaze. Hence, users can carry on a discussion in a manner comparable to face-to-face meetings. We made video-tape recordings of about twenty visitors who used the prototype of MAJIC at the Nikkei Collaboration Fair in Tokyo. Our initial observations based on this experiment are also reported in this paper.
Functional Heterogeneity of Breast Fibroblasts Is Defined by a Prostaglandin Secretory Phenotype that Promotes Expansion of Cancer-Stem Like Cells

Fibroblasts are important in orchestrating various functions necessary for maintaining normal tissue homeostasis as well as promoting malignant tumor growth. Significant evidence indicates that fibroblasts are functionally heterogeneous with respect to their ability to promote tumor growth, but markers that can be used to distinguish growth promoting from growth suppressing fibroblasts remain ill-defined. Here we show that human breast fibroblasts are functionally heterogeneous with respect to tumor-promoting activity regardless of whether they were isolated from normal or cancerous breast tissues. Rather than significant differences in fibroblast marker expression, we show that fibroblasts secreting abundant levels of prostaglandin (PGE2), when isolated from either reduction mammoplasty or carcinoma tissues, were both capable of enhancing tumor growth in vivo and could increase the number of cancer stem-like cells. PGE2 further enhanced the tumor promoting properties of fibroblasts by increasing secretion of IL-6, which was necessary, but not sufficient, for expansion of breast cancer stem-like cells. These findings identify a population of fibroblasts which both produce and respond to PGE2, and that are functionally distinct from other fibroblasts. Identifying markers of these cells could allow for the targeted ablation of tumor-promoting and inflammatory fibroblasts in human breast cancers.
Hysteretic optimization for the capacitated vehicle routing problem

Hysteretic optimization (HO) is a recently proposed heuristic physical optimization algorithm based on the well-known demagnetization process of magnetic materials in magnetism. The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is an important variant of the vehicle routing problem which is one of the most important and intensively studied combinatorial optimization problems. In this study, we apply HO to the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), by generalizing the external field and endowing the configuration space with a proper distance. The experimental results with benchmark problems show the proposed method is competitive with other popular algorithms, such as particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithms.
Metabolism and toxicity of trichothecenes

Trichothecenes are mycotoxins commonly found in cereals. The toxins are mainly produced by Fusarium fungi, which infect cereals in the field. Trichothecenes have been associated with outbreaks of diseases both in humans and in farm animals. Trichothecenes are closely related toxins based on a C-15 skeleton with an epoxide ring. The microbiological transformation of trichothecenes to the less toxic de-epoxide in the gut has been studied in this thesis. It was found that the micro-organisms in faeces from pigs in the Uppsala area had the ability to transform the trichothecenes nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) to their corresponding de-epoxy metabolites. The pig intestinal micro-organisms did not acquire the de-epoxidation ability during a seven week long exposure to low levels of DON in the feed, but the ability was transferred between animals by spreading faeces from pigs with an intestinal de-epoxidation ability in the pens of pigs lacking this ability. The faecal micro-organisms in humans were not able to transform trichothecenes to their de-epoxy metabolite. The de-epoxides of NIV and DON were shown to be 51 and 24 times less cytotoxic than the corresponding toxin with an intact epoxide ring, verifying that the de-epoxidation is a detoxification of trichothecenes. The absorption, metabolism and excretion of 3-acetylDON in pigs with a known intestinal de-epoxidation ability were also studied. The toxin was rapidly deacetylated and absorbed into the blood. DON was detected in plasma from 20 minutes after feeding. A maximum plasma concentration of 51.9 ± 6.8 ng/ml was reached three hours after feeding. The toxin was rapidly excreted and the DON concentration in plasma declined rapidly after reaching the peak concentration. No accumulation occurred in plasma during the three days exposure period. No de-epoxy DON was present in plasma or urine, indicating that the de-epoxidation of trichothecenes occurs in the distal parts of the gastrointestinal tract where the absorption is low. DON and conjugated DON were the only metabolites detected in plasma and urine, while de-epoxy DON and DON were detected in faeces. Studies where the trichothecenes DON, NIV and T-2- toxin were given to farm animals via their feed have been reviewed. It was concluded that pigs are more sensitive to trichothecenes in feed than other farm animals. Guideline limits of 0.3 mg DON and 0.2 mg T-2/HT-2 toxins/kg feed are proposed to ensure that no negative effects will occur in pigs. Similarly, guideline values of 0.5 mg T2/HT-2 toxins and 2.5 mg DON/kg feed are proposed in chicken feed. Ruminants are more resistant to trichothecenes and no guideline value is proposed for feed for ruminants.
Interpolated Allpass Fractional-Delay Filters Using Root Displacement

Fractional-delay filter is the general name given to filters modelling non-integer delays. Such filters have a flat phase delay for a wide frequency band, with the value of the phase delay approximating the fractional delay. A maximally-flat delay IIR fractional-delay filter can be obtained by the Thiran approximation. A simple and efficient method for obtaining filters modelling intermediate fractional delays from two Thiran fractional-delay filters is proposed. The proposed method allows continuously modifying the fractional delay. Computational complexity of the proposed method is discussed. A practical application of the method in model-based sound synthesis is given as an example
Human and Machine Haptics

The work in the Touch Lab (formal name: Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics) is guided by a broad vision of haptics which includes all aspects of information acquisition and object manipulation through touch by humans, machines, or a combination of the two; and the environments can be real or virtual. We conduct research in multiple disciplines such as skin biomechanics, tactile neuroscience, human haptic perception, robot design and control, mathematical modeling and simulation, and software engineering for real-time human-computer interactions. These scientific and technological research areas converge in the context of specific application areas such as the development of virtual reality based simulators for training surgeons, haptic aids for people who are blind, real-time haptic interactions between people across the Internet, and direct control of machines from neural signals in the brain.
Closed-loop control of propofol anaesthesia using bispectral index: performance assessment in patients receiving computer-controlled propofol and manually controlled remifentanil infusions for minor surgery.

BACKGROUND In a previous study we used the bispectral index (BIS) for automatic control of propofol anaesthesia, using a proportional-integral-differential control algorithm. As control was less than optimal in some patients, we revised the constants of the control algorithm. The aim of the current study was to measure the performance of the revised system in patients undergoing minor surgery under propofol and remifentanil anaesthesia. METHODS Twenty adult patients scheduled for body surface surgery were enrolled. Anaesthesia was manually induced with target-controlled infusions (TCI) of propofol and remifentanil. After the start of surgery, when anaesthesia was clinically adequate, automatic control of the propofol TCI was commenced using the revised closed-loop system. For patients 11-20, effect-site steering was also incorporated into the closed-loop control algorithm. Adequacy of anaesthesia during closed-loop control was assessed clinically, and by calculating the median performance error (MDPE), the median absolute performance error (MDAPE) and the mean offset of the control variable. RESULTS The system provided adequate operating conditions and stable cardiovascular values in all patients during closed-loop control. The mean MDPE and MDAPE were -0.42% and 5.63%, respectively. Mean offset of the BIS from setpoint was -0.2. No patients reported awareness or recall of intraoperative events. CONCLUSIONS The system was able to provide clinically adequate anaesthesia in all patients, with better accuracy of control than in the previous study. There was a tendency for more accurate control in those patients in whom the control algorithm incorporated effect-site steering.