Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of Connexin 43 Gap Junctions Is an Independent Marker for Breast Tumors 1

Gap junctions are intercellular channels that are formed from members of a family of proteins, the connexins (Cxs). Gap junctions play an important role in vital functions, including the regulation of cell growth and cell differentiation. Here, we examined the expression of Cx43, a major Cx in breast tissue, in 32 surgical specimens obtained from breast cancer patients who underwent a primary surgical resection prior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments. The expression of Cx43 gap junctions was compared to the levels of estrogen, progesterone, and erbB2 tyrosine kinase receptors. In addition, a panel of breast cancer cell lines and a series of normal rat mammary tissues and rat mammary tumors induced in vivo by dimethylbenz(a)anthracene were studied. We demonstrated that the lack of Cx43 gap junctions is a common feature of human mammary cancer tissues compared to nonneoplastic breast tissues surrounding primary tumors. Cx43 gap junctions were not observed in ductal carcinomas in situ, infiltrating ductal carcinomas, and infiltrating lobular carcinomas, and they seem to be independent of estrogen, progesterone, and erbB2 receptor status. In breast cancer cell lines and rodent mammary carcinoma tissues, down-regulation of Cx43 occurs at the mRNA level, suggesting a transcriptional mechanism for the decrease of Cx43 protein in breast cancer. In summary, this study provides evidence of decreased expression of Cx43 gap junctions in breast cancer at various stages of progression as well as breast cancer cell lines and raises the possibility that Cx43 may be a useful marker for detecting early oncogenesis in the breast. Because Cx43 gap junctions are lacking in breast cancer and restoration of Cx43 has been shown to reverse the malignant phenotype in vitro, pharmacological up-regulation of Cx43 may prove beneficial in cancer therapeutics.
Presenilin-1–associated abnormalities in regional cerebral perfusion

Objective: To investigate the influence of the presenilin-1 gene (PS-1) mutation on regional cerebral perfusion, SPECT was evaluated in 57 individuals. The subjects were members of a large pedigree from Colombia, South America, many of whom carry a PS-1 mutation for early-onset AD. Methods: Members of this large kindred who were cognitively normal and did not carry the PS-1 mutation (n = 23) were compared with subjects who were carriers of the mutation but were asymptomatic (n = 18) and with individuals with the mutation and a clinical diagnosis of AD (n = 16). Cerebral perfusion was measured in each subject using hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime SPECT. The data were analyzed in two ways: 1) Mean cerebral perfusion in each of 4320 voxels in the brain was compared among the groups using t-tests (t-maps); and 2) each individual received a weighted score on 20 vectors (factors), based on a large normative sample (n = 200), using a method known as singular value decomposition (SVD). Results: Based on t-maps, subjects with the PS-1 mutation who were asymptomatic demonstrated reduced perfusion in comparison with the normal control subjects in the hippocampal complex, anterior and posterior cingulate, posterior parietal lobe, and anterior frontal lobe. The AD patients demonstrated decreased perfusion in the posterior parietal and superior frontal cortex in comparison with the normal control subjects. Discriminant function analysis of the vector scores derived from SVD (adjusted for age and gender) accurately discriminated 86% of the subjects in the three groups (p < 0.0005). Conclusion: Regional cerebral perfusion abnormalities based on SPECT are detectable before development of the clinical symptoms of AD in carriers of the PS-1 mutation.
The Plastic Human Brain Cortex

One of the central questions in neuroscience is how particular tasks, or computations, are implemented by neural networks to generate behavior. The prevailing view has been that information processing in neural networks results primarily from the properties of synapses and the connectivity of neurons within the network, with the intrinsic excitability of single neurons playing a lesser role. As a consequence, the contribution of single neurons to computation in the brain has long been underestimated. Here we review recent work showing that neuronal dendrites exhibit a range of linear and nonlinear mechanisms that allow them to implement elementary computations. We discuss why these dendritic properties may be essential for the computations performed by the neuron and the network and provide theoretical and experimental examples to support this view. 503 A nn u. R ev . N eu ro sc i. 20 05 . 2 8: 50 353 2. D ow nl oa de d fr om a rj ou rn al s. an nu al re vi ew s. or g by U ni ve rs ity o f C al if or ni a D av is o n 02 /0 7/ 07 . F or p er so na l u se o nl y. AR245-NE28-18 ARI 13 May 2005 14:15
Bone Regeneration Using a Mixture of Silicon-Substituted Coral HA and β-TCP in a Rat Calvarial Bone Defect Model

The demand of bone graft materials has been increasing. Among various origins of bone graft materials, natural coral composed of up to 99% calcium carbonate was chosen and converted into hydroxyapatite (HA); silicon was then substituted into the HA. Then, the Si-HA was mixed with β-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) in the ratios 100:0 (S100T0), 70:30 (S70T30), 60:40 (S60T40), and 50:50 (S50T50). The materials were implanted for four and eight weeks in a rat calvarial bone defect model (8 mm). The MBCPTM (HA:β-TCP = 60:40, Biomatalante, Vigneux de Bretagne, France) was used as a control. After euthanasia, the bone tissue was analyzed by making histological slides. From the results, S60T40 showed the fastest bone regeneration in four weeks (p < 0.05). In addition, S60T40, S50T50, and MBCPTM showed significant new bone formation in eight weeks (p < 0.05). In conclusion, Si-HA/TCP showed potential as a bone graft material.
Therapy persistence and adherence in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: multiple versus single long-acting maintenance inhalers

Abstract Objective: To compare persistence and adherence among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treated with either multiple- or single- long-acting maintenance inhalers. Methods: Patients with ≥2 COPD medical claims and ≥2 prescriptions for a long-acting inhaler within 1 year were classified as single- or multiple-inhaler users based on their treatment regimen (MarketScan database; 2004–2008) and matched on demographics and statistically significant baseline characteristics. Persistence, analyzed via time to treatment discontinuation, and treatment adherence, measured by proportion of days covered (PDC), were compared between the two groups over a 12-month period. Sensitivity analyses were conducted in patients with poorly and well-controlled disease. Results: A total of 23,494 patients were grouped into 11,747 matched pairs. After adjusting for confounding factors, multiple-inhaler users had a significantly higher discontinuation rate [Hazard ratio = 1.40, p < 0.0001] compared with single-inhaler users. Multiple-inhaler users were less likely to be adherent than single-inhaler users with an average PDC of 0.51 (SD = 0.272) vs. 0.55 (SD = 0.279), respectively (p < 0.0001). These results were consistent for the poorly- and well-controlled disease groups. Conclusions: Multiple long-acting inhaler users demonstrated lower treatment persistence and adherence rates than single long-acting inhaler users. Limitations of the study are related to the retrospective, observational design and use of claims data.
Voice synthesis usingthe generalized pressure-Controlled valve

Vowel production in human speech depends both on the vocal tract shape, primarily establishing formant frequencies in the speech spectrum, and the vibration of vocal folds in the larynx, which function as a pressure-controlled valve regulating airflow into the the vocal tract. This research explores the application of the generalized dynamic pressure-control valve model to the synthesis of voiced sounds in human speech. Where many vocal models employ a source filter paradigm, the dynamic model allows for feedback from the vocal tract to the glottal source, allowing for stronger influence of the vocal tract on the vibrations of the vocal folds.
Chronic bilateral suppurative otitis media caused by Aspergillus terreus

Summary. A case of bilateral suppurative otitis media is described in a patient with the presenting symptoms of otorrhoea, itching, mild deafness, heaviness in the ear and otalgia. The patient had perforation in the tympanic membrane. Histological sections revealed aggregated fungal masses of Aspergillus terreus. The infection responded well to topical ketoconazole therapy. Incidentally, this is the second case from India of chronic suppurative otitis media caused by fungi.
Feedforward control of high-speed solid-rotor synchronous reluctance machines with rotor dynamics model

An open-loop current regulator for a high-speed synchronous reluctance machine with a solid conducting rotor is presented. A rotor dynamic model is developed which is similar to an induction machine model yet includes a magnetic saliency of the rotor. The model is then used to calculate command voltages for a desired current in an open-loop current regulator. Techniques for parameter extraction and discrete-time models for digital implementation are discussed. Experimental results, including a 120 kW discharge of a flywheel energy storage system, validate the performance of the controller.
Within-person variability in kidney measures.

BACKGROUND Our objective was to quantify short-term total within-person variability in standard and nontraditional kidney measures using national data. STUDY DESIGN Repeated examination study of serum and urine kidney measures. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Participants 18 years or older in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) who had repeated blood and urine samples collected during visits occurring approximately 18 days apart. MEASUREMENTS Standardized serum creatinine, standardized cystatin C, β-trace protein (BTP), β(2)-microglobulin (B2M), and urine albumin and creatinine. We calculated the within-person coefficient of variation (CV(w)), which includes both biological and analytical variability. We also evaluated the impact of variability on estimates of the prevalence of reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate and albuminuria. RESULTS Serum cystatin C level demonstrated the lowest short-term within-person variability (CV(w) = 6.8%). Serum creatinine and B2M levels (CV(w) = 7.6% and 8.4%, respectively) also had low variability. BTP level had the most variability of the serum markers (CV(w) = 11.6%). As expected, urine albumin and urine creatinine measurements showed high variability (CV(w) >30% for both); however, albumin-creatinine ratio performed much better than either measure alone, with CV(w) of 11.3%. The effect of short-term variability on the prevalence of reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate was moderate, with an ~20% lower prevalence when defined based on single measurements compared to repeated application of the same test approximately 18 days apart. Repeated testing for albuminuria had a larger effect, showing a 33% lower prevalence of albuminuria when repeated testing was applied. LIMITATIONS Only 2 measurements available. General population with low prevalence of kidney disease. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that creatinine, cystatin C, and B2M levels have similarly low short-term variability. BTP level was more variable compared with the other serum filtration markers. Urine albumin and creatinine levels were highly variable and may benefit from repeated assessments to reduce the misclassification of albuminuria.
Exploring and Exploiting Disease Interactions from Multi-Relational Gene and Phenotype Networks

The availability of electronic health care records is unlocking the potential for novel studies on understanding and modeling disease co-morbidities based on both phenotypic and genetic data. Moreover, the insurgence of increasingly reliable phenotypic data can aid further studies on investigating the potential genetic links among diseases. The goal is to create a feedback loop where computational tools guide and facilitate research, leading to improved biological knowledge and clinical standards, which in turn should generate better data. We build and analyze disease interaction networks based on data collected from previous genetic association studies and patient medical histories, spanning over 12 years, acquired from a regional hospital. By exploring both individual and combined interactions among these two levels of disease data, we provide novel insight into the interplay between genetics and clinical realities. Our results show a marked difference between the well defined structure of genetic relationships and the chaotic co-morbidity network, but also highlight clear interdependencies. We demonstrate the power of these dependencies by proposing a novel multi-relational link prediction method, showing that disease co-morbidity can enhance our currently limited knowledge of genetic association. Furthermore, our methods for integrated networks of diverse data are widely applicable and can provide novel advances for many problems in systems biology and personalized medicine.
ARVEE : AUTOMATIC ROAD GEOMETRY EXTRACTION SYSTEM FOR MOBILE MAPPING

Land-based mobile mapping systems have yielded an enormous time saving in road networks and their surrounding utilities survey. However, the manual extraction of the road information from the mobile mapping data is still a time-consuming task. This paper presents ARVEE (Automated Road Geometry Vectors Extraction Engine)), a robust automatic road geometry extraction system developed at the University of Calgary. The extracted road information includes the 3D lane lines, road edges as well as lane lines attributes. There are three innovations in this work. First, all the visible lane lines in the georeferenced image sequences are extracted, instead of only extracting the central lane line or the nearby lane line pair. Second, the lane line types are recognized, so the output is a functional description of the road geometry. Third, the output is the absolute-georeferenced model of lane lines in mapping coordinates, and is compatible to the GIS databases. Four steps are included: First, extract the linear features in each image. Second, the linear features are filtered and grouped into lane line segments (LLS). Geometric and radiometric characteristics are extracted for each LLS. Third, a Multiple-Hypothesis Analysis (MHA) method is used to link the LLSs into long lane lines 3D model. Finally, each lane line is classified into a lane line type based on the synthetic analysis of the included LLSs’ features. The system has been tested on large number of VISATTM mobile mapping data. The experiments on massive real MMS data sets demonstrate that ARVEE can deliver accurate and robust 3D continuous functional road geometry model. Full automatic processing result from ARVEE can replace most of the human efforts in road geometry modelling. * Corresponding author.
Data-driven lexical modeling of pronunciation variations for ASR

In this paper a method for the automatic construction of a lexicon with multiple entries per word is described. The basic idea is to transform a reference word transcription by means of stochastic pronunciation rules that can be learned automatically. This approach already proved its potential (Cremelie & Martens, 1999), and is now brought to a much higher level of performance. Relative reductions of the word error rate (WER) of 20 % (open vocabulary) to 45 % (closed vocabulary) are now within reach.
User Experience in Human-Robot Interactions

This paper describes our experiments concerning human-robot interaction and its evaluation in order to measure the user’s communication experience with the robot. We assume that the user’s evaluation of the interaction reflects their participation in the interaction as a participant, and correlates with their own multimodal signaling as well as with their perception of the robot’s communicative capability. The work contributes to evaluation methodology of intelligent situated agents, as we explore the role and effect of the user’s own activity in successful communication experience, and ultimately in their evaluation of interactive systems, instead of focusing solely on task completion. This also adds to our understanding of how the interlocutors perceive interaction, and of the important cognitive processes that underlie communication experience in general.
McDonough feline sarcoma virus: characterization of the molecularly cloned provirus and its feline oncogene (v-fms)

The genetic structure of the McDonough strain of feline sarcoma virus (SM-FeSV) was deduced by analysis of molecularly cloned, transforming proviral DNA. The 8.2-kilobase pair SM-FeSV provirus is longer than those of other feline sarcoma viruses and contains a transforming gene (v-fms) flanked by sequences derived from feline leukemia virus. The order of genes with respect to viral RNA is 5'-gag-fms-env-3', in which the entire feline leukemia virus env gene and an almost complete gag sequence are represented. Transfection of NIH/3T3 cells with cloned SM-FeSV proviral DNA induced foci of morphologically transformed cells which expressed SM-FeSV gene products and contained rescuable sarcoma viral genomes. Cells transformed by viral infection or after transfection with cloned proviral DNA expressed the polyprotein (P170gag-fms) characteristic of the SM-FeSV strain. Two proteolytic cleavage products (P120fms and pp55gag) were also found in immunoprecipitates from metabolically labeled, transformed cells. An additional polypeptide, detected at comparatively low levels in SM-FeSV transformants, was indistinguishable in size and antigenicity from the envelope precursor (gPr85env) of feline leukemia virus. The complexity of the v-fms gene (3.1 +/- 0.3 kilobase pairs) is approximately twofold greater than the viral oncogene sequences (v-fes) of Snyder-Theilen and Gardner-Arnstein FeSV. By heteroduplex, restriction enzyme, and nucleic acid hybridization analyses, v-fms and v-fes sequences showed no detectable homology to one another. Radiolabeled DNA fragments representing portions of the two viral oncogenes hybridized to different EcoRI and HindIII fragments of normal cat cellular DNA. Cellular sequences related to v-fms (designated c-fms) were much more complex than c-fes and were distributed segmentally over more than 40 kilobase pairs in cat DNA. Comparative structural studies of the molecularly cloned proviruses of Synder-Theilen, Gardner-Arnstein, and SM-FeSV showed that a region of the feline-leukemia virus genome derived from the pol-env junction is represented adjacent to v-onc sequences in each FeSV strain and may have provided sequences preferred for recombination with cellular genes.
Conjugate Vaccine Immunotherapy for Substance Use Disorder

Substance use disorder, especially in relation to opioids such as heroin and fentanyl, is a significant public health issue and has intensified in recent years. As a result, substantial interest exists in developing therapeutics to counteract the effects of abused drugs. A promising universal strategy for antagonizing the pharmacology of virtually any drug involves the development of a conjugate vaccine, wherein a hapten structurally similar to the target drug is conjugated to an immunogenic carrier protein. When formulated with adjuvants and immunized, the immunoconjugate should elicit serum IgG antibodies with the ability to sequester the target drug to prevent its entry to the brain, thereby acting as an immunoantagonist. Despite the failures of first-generation conjugate vaccines against cocaine and nicotine in clinical trials, second-generation vaccines have shown dramatically improved performance in preclinical models, thus renewing the potential clinical utility of conjugate vaccines in curbing substance use disorder. This review explores the critical design elements of drug conjugate vaccines such as hapten structure, adjuvant formulation, bioconjugate chemistry, and carrier protein selection. Methods for evaluating these vaccines are discussed, and recent progress in vaccine development for each drug is summarized.
Invariant characteristics of a pointing movement in man

Simple arm movements involving forward projection of the hand toward a target were studied by measuring simultaneous wrist position in three- dimensional space and changes in elbow angle. An attempt was made to identify those features of the movement which exhibit invariant characteristics under the hypothesis that such invariances may reflect the operations by which central processes participate in the organization of the movement. The first such invariance to be identified was that the trajectory in space is independent of movement speed. Secondly, the movement can be viewed as consisting of two phases, an acceleratory phase and a deceleratory one, with the movement during the acceleratory phase being so organized as to maintain the ratio of elbow angular velocity to shoulder angular velocity invariant with respect to target location in the deceleratory phase. It is suggested that proprioceptive information is used to control the movement and that the latter invariance may result from a negative feedback of force involving tendon organ afferents.
Systemic molecular and cellular changes induced in rats upon inhalation of JP-8 petroleum fuel vapor

Limited information is available regarding systemic changes in mammals associated with exposures to petroleum/hydrocarbon fuels. In this study, systemic toxicity of JP-8 jet fuel was observed in a rat inhalation model at different JP-8 fuel vapor concentrations (250, 500, or 1000 mg/m3, for 91 days). Gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry sequencing identified the α-2 microglobulin protein to be elevated in rat kidney in a JP-8 dose-dependent manner. Western blot analysis of kidney and lung tissue extracts revealed JP-8 dependent elevation of inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). Tissue changes were observed histologically (hematoxylin and eosin staining) in liver, kidney, lung, bone marrow, and heart, and more prevalently at medium or high JP-8 vapor phase exposures (500–1000 mg/m3) than at low vapor phase exposure (250 mg/m3) or non-JP-8 controls. JP-8 fuel-induced liver alterations included dilated sinusoids, cytoplasmic clumping, and fat cell deposition. Changes to the kidneys included reduced numbers of nuclei, and cytoplasmic dumping in the lumen of proximal convoluted tubules. JP-8 dependent lung alterations were edema and dilated alveolar capillaries, which allowed clumping of red blood cells (RBCs). Changes in the bone marrow in response to JP-8 included reduction of fat cells and fat globules, and cellular proliferation (RBCs, white blood cells-WBCs, and megakaryocytes). Heart tissue from JP-8 exposed animals contained increased numbers of inflammatory and fibroblast cells, as well as myofibril scarring. cDNA array analysis of heart tissue revealed a JP-8 dependent increase in atrial natriuretic peptide precursor mRNA and a decrease in voltage-gated potassium (K+) ion channel mRNA.
From Communicating Machines to Graphical Choreographies

Graphical choreographies, or global graphs, are general multiparty session specifications featuring expressive constructs such as forking, merging, and joining for representing application-level protocols. Global graphs can be directly translated into modelling notations such as BPMN and UML. This paper presents an algorithm whereby a global graph can be constructed from asynchronous interactions represented by communicating finite-state machines (CFSMs). Our results include: a sound and complete characterisation of a subset of safe CFSMs from which global graphs can be constructed; an algorithm to translate CFSMs to global graphs; a time complexity analysis; and an implementation of our theory, as well as an experimental evaluation.