Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PGH Synthase and Lipoxygenase Generate Superoxide in the Presence of NADH or NADPH

Purified PGH synthase when acting on arachidonic acid in the presence of reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide or reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide 3'-phosphate generated superoxide in burst-like fashion. In eight experiments using different batches of enzyme, the mean ± SE rate of superoxide generation from 100 U of enzyme measured as the superoxide dismutase-inhibitable reduction of cytochrome c was 5.06 ± 0.19 nmol/min in the first minute and 0.35 ± 0.03 nmol/min subsequently. Optimum rates of superoxide were seen at concentrations of reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide in excess of 80 &mgr;M and reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide 3'-phosphate in excess of 100 &mgr;M. Using prostaglandin G2 or linoleic acid as substrate rather than arachidonate also resulted in superoxide generation. When prostaglandin H2 was used as substrate, no superoxide was generated. The rate of superoxide generation was markedly inhibited by cyclooxygenase inhibitors. Superoxide generation was also observed during the action of lipoxygenase on either linoleic or arachidonic acid in the presence of reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide or reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide 3'-phosphate but not in their absence. Indomethacin had no effect on superoxide generation from lipoxygenase. We conclude that PGH synthase and lipoxygenase produce superoxide via a side-chain reaction dependent on the presence of suitable reducing cosubstrate. This mechanism is analogous to that described for peroxidases in general.
Single-Row Superposition-Type Planar Compound-like Eye for Motion Recovery

How can the compound eye of insects capture the prey so accurately and quickly? This interesting issue is explored from the perspective of computer vision instead of from the viewpoint of biology. The focus is on performance evaluation of noise immunity for motion recovery using the single-row superposition-type planar compound-like eye (SPCE). The noise simulates possible ambiguity of image patterns caused by either environmental uncertainty or low resolution of the CCD device. Results of extensive simulations indicate that this special visual configuration provides excellent motion estimation performance regardless of the magnitude of the noise. It should be noted that any type of filters is not implemented in this study. The increase of the number of the CCD camera significantly reduces errors of motion recovery of the ego-translation. This discovery lays the basic foundation in terms of engineering approaches for the secret of the compound eye of insects.
Investor Sentiment in the Financial Market with Small World Networks

This paper argues the dynamic evolution issue of investor sentiment based on the small world network theory, by reviewing the micro-mechanism of financial network. On the stochastic multi-agent platform of Nagurney's financial market, it takes the relative wealth and habit formation utility functions as the motive mechanism of this network structure evolution. With the degree distributions, mean geodetic distance between vertex pairs, and clustering coefficient as the evolving criterion of this network structure, it describes the dynamic evolution attributes of investor sentiment. Results of simulation indicate that investor sentiment evolution process has significant robustness with the set motive mechanism.
Fabrication of Silver Nanostructures by Microwave-Assisted Method

With polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as stabilizer and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as reducer, silver nanostructures were synthesized by microwave-assisted method. The morphology, size and crystal structure of silver (Ag) nanostructures were investigated by SEM and XRD. The results showed that the Ag nanostructures could change from nanoparticles to nanowires by introducing Cl-. The growth speed of nanowires could be controlled by changing the reaction power, thus Ag nanorods and Ag nanowires with different length could be obtained.
The Influence of Supported and Restrained Elastic Coefficient on the Stability of Fluid Conveying Pipe

The dynamic stability of fluid conveying piping system under different supporting conditions, considering the fluid structures interaction, was investigated. The expression of vertical vibration mode-function of commonly supported piping system was derived from its boundary condition of the similar beam. Firstly, considering the effects of Kelvin-Voigt visco-elastic coefficient of pipe, fluid pressure and axially sectional force of pipe, the motion equation of the piping system was established. Secondly, the equation was discretized by Galerkin method according with its similar supporting conditions of beam. Thirdly, the expression of critically instable flow velocity was obtained. Lastly, the stability of the piping system was analyzed by using the dynamical simulation methods. The numerical results showed that the critically instable flow velocity is proportional conversely to supported linear spring coefficients, but is proportional to restrained torsion spring coefficients.
In Vivo Control of CpG and Non-CpG DNA Methylation by DNA Methyltransferases

The enzymatic control of the setting and maintenance of symmetric and non-symmetric DNA methylation patterns in a particular genome context is not well understood. Here, we describe a comprehensive analysis of DNA methylation patterns generated by high resolution sequencing of hairpin-bisulfite amplicons of selected single copy genes and repetitive elements (LINE1, B1, IAP-LTR-retrotransposons, and major satellites). The analysis unambiguously identifies a substantial amount of regional incomplete methylation maintenance, i.e. hemimethylated CpG positions, with variant degrees among cell types. Moreover, non-CpG cytosine methylation is confined to ESCs and exclusively catalysed by Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b. This sequence position–, cell type–, and region-dependent non-CpG methylation is strongly linked to neighboring CpG methylation and requires the presence of Dnmt3L. The generation of a comprehensive data set of 146,000 CpG dyads was used to apply and develop parameter estimated hidden Markov models (HMM) to calculate the relative contribution of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmts) for de novo and maintenance DNA methylation. The comparative modelling included wild-type ESCs and mutant ESCs deficient for Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, Dnmt3b, or Dnmt3a/3b, respectively. The HMM analysis identifies a considerable de novo methylation activity for Dnmt1 at certain repetitive elements and single copy sequences. Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b contribute de novo function. However, both enzymes are also essential to maintain symmetrical CpG methylation at distinct repetitive and single copy sequences in ESCs.
NADPH Oxidase-Dependent Regulation of T-Type Ca2+ Channels and Ryanodine Receptors Mediate the Augmented Exocytosis of Catecholamines from Intermittent Hypoxia-Treated Neonatal Rat Chromaffin Cells

Nearly 90% of premature infants experience the stress of intermittent hypoxia (IH) as a consequence of recurrent apneas (periodic cessation of breathing). In neonates, catecholamine secretion from the adrenal medulla is critical for maintaining homeostasis under hypoxic stress. We recently reported that IH treatment enhanced hypoxia-evoked catecholamine secretion and [Ca2+]i responses in neonatal rat adrenal chromaffin cells and involves reactive oxygen species (ROS). The purpose of the present study was to identify the source(s) of ROS generation and examine the mechanisms underlying the enhanced catecholamine secretion by IH. Neonatal rats of either sex (postal day 0–5) were exposed to either IH or normoxia. IH treatment increased NADPH oxidase (NOX) activity, upregulated NOX2 and NOX4 transcription in adrenal medullae, and a NOX inhibitor prevented the effects of IH on hypoxia-evoked chromaffin cell secretion. IH upregulated Cav3.1 and Cav3.2 T-type Ca2+ channel mRNAs via NOX/ROS signaling and augmented T-type Ca2+ current in IH-treated chromaffin cells. Mibefradil, a blocker of T-type Ca2+ channels attenuated the effects of hypoxia on [Ca2+]i and catecholamine secretion in IH-treated cells. In Ca2+-free medium, IH-treated cells exhibited higher basal [Ca2+]i levels and more pronounced [Ca2+]i responses to hypoxia compared with controls, and blockade of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) prevented these effects. RyR2 and RyR3 mRNAs were upregulated, RyR2 was S-glutathionylated in IH-treated adrenal medullae, and NOX/ROS inhibitors prevented these effects. These results demonstrate that neonatal IH treatment leads to NOX/ROS-dependent recruitment of T-type Ca2+ channels and RyRs, resulting in augmented [Ca2+]i mobilization and catecholamine secretion.
Fruits and Vegetables and Ovarian Cancer Risk in a Pooled Analysis of 12 Cohort Studies

Because fruits and vegetables are rich in bioactive compounds with potential cancer-preventive actions, increased consumption may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Evidence on the association between fruit and vegetable intake and ovarian cancer risk has not been consistent. We analyzed and pooled the primary data from 12 prospective studies in North America and Europe. Fruit and vegetable intake was measured at baseline in each study using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. To summarize the association between fruit and vegetable intake and ovarian cancer, study-specific relative risks (RR) were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model, and then combined using a random-effects model. Among 560,441 women, 2,130 cases of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer occurred during a maximum follow-up of 7 to 22 years across studies. Total fruit intake was not associated with ovarian cancer risk—the pooled multivariate RR for the highest versus the lowest quartile of intake was 1.06 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.92-1.21; P value, test for trend = 0.73; P value, test for between-studies heterogeneity = 0.74]. Similarly, results for total vegetable intake indicated no significant association (pooled multivariate RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.78-1.04, for the highest versus the lowest quartile; P value, test for trend = 0.06; P value, test for between-studies heterogeneity = 0.31). Intakes of botanically defined fruit and vegetable groups and individual fruits and vegetables were also not associated with ovarian cancer risk. Associations for total fruits and vegetables were similar for different histologic types. These results suggest that fruit and vegetable consumption in adulthood has no important association with the risk of ovarian cancer.
Static Fatigue of Hydrated Cement Concrete

THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HUMIDITY ON STATIC LOAD FAILURE OF CONCRETE IS INVESTIGATED. CEMENT-SAND BEAMS WERE STATICALLY LOADED TO ABOUT 90 TO 95 PERCENT OF THEIR AVERAGE EXPECTED FAILURE STRENGTH. RELATIVE HUMIDITY OF THE TEST ENVIRONMENT WAS CONTROLLED AT SEVERAL LEVELS FROM 0 TO 90 PERCENT. TIMES TO FAILURE UNDER STATIC LOAD WERE FOUND TO INCREASE WITH DECREASING RELATIVE HUMIDITY. BEAMS TESTED AT 0 PERCENT HUMIDITY DID NOT FAIL EVEN WHEN LENGTH OF TESTS FAR EXCEEDED THE MEAN FAILURE TIMES FOR TEST AT NONZERO HUMIDITY LEVELS. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDIES FAILED TO SHOW EVIDENCE OF A STRESS CORROSION MECHANISM AT THE 100 ANGSTROM SCALE. /AUTHOR/
The GADD45 Inhibition of Cdc2 Kinase Correlates with GADD45-mediated Growth Suppression*

Cell cycle growth arrest is an important cellular response to genotoxic stress. Gadd45, a p53-regulated stress protein, plays an important role in the cell cycle G2-M checkpoint following exposure to certain types of DNA-damaging agents such as UV radiation and methylmethane sulfonate. Recent findings indicate that Gadd45 interacts with Cdc2 protein and inhibits Cdc2 kinase activity. In the present study, a series of Myc-tagged Gadd45 deletion mutants and a Gadd45 overlapping peptide library were used to define the Gadd45 domains that are involved in the interaction of Gadd45 with Cdc2. Both in vitro and in vivostudies indicate that the interaction of Gadd45 with Cdc2 involves a central region of the Gadd45 protein (amino acids 65–84). The Cdc2-binding domain of Gadd45 is also required for Gadd45 inhibition of Cdc2 kinase activity. Sequence analysis of the central Gadd45 region reveals no homology to inhibitory motifs of known cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, indicating that the Cdc2-binding and -inhibitory domains on Gadd45 are a novel motif. The peptide containing the Cdc2-binding domain (amino acids 65–84) disrupted the Cdc2-cyclin B1 protein complex, suggesting that dissociation of this complex results from a direct interaction between the Gadd45 and Cdc2 proteins. GADD45-induced cell cycle G2-M arrest was abolished when its Cdc2 binding motif was disrupted. Importantly, a short term survival assay demonstrated thatGADD45-induced cell cycle G2-M arrest correlates with GADD45-mediated growth suppression. These findings indicate that the cell cycle G2-M growth arrest mediated by GADD45 is one of the major mechanisms by whichGADD45 suppresses cell growth.
Risk factors for death in patients with severe asthma*

OBJECTIVE: To identify risk factors for death among patients with severe asthma. METHODS: This was a nested case-control study. Among the patients with severe asthma treated between December of 2002 and December of 2010 at the Central Referral Outpatient Clinic of the Bahia State Asthma Control Program, in the city of Salvador, Brazil, we selected all those who died, as well as selecting other patients with severe asthma to be used as controls (at a ratio of 1:4). Data were collected from the medical charts of the patients, home visit reports, and death certificates. RESULTS: We selected 58 cases of deaths and 232 control cases. Most of the deaths were attributed to respiratory causes and occurred within a health care facility. Advanced age, unemployment, rhinitis, symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, long-standing asthma, and persistent airflow obstruction were common features in both groups. Multivariate analysis showed that male gender, FEV1 pre-bronchodilator < 60% of predicted, and the lack of control of asthma symptoms were significantly and independently associated with mortality in this sample of patients with severe asthma. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort of outpatients with severe asthma, the deaths occurred predominantly due to respiratory causes and within a health care facility. Lack of asthma control and male gender were risk factors for mortality.
California's Greenhouse Gas Policies: Local Solutions to a Global Problem?

emissions. This paper summarizes the initiatives likely to impact the electricity generating sector. We present calculations showing that there is a substantial risk that two of the most prominent policies could simply result in a reshuffling, on paper, of the electricity generating resources within the West that are dedicated to serving California. This reshuffling is different from the conventional leakage problem as it involves no physical changes to the way electricity is generated across regulated and unregulated regions, but is instead driven by a contractual reshuffling of who buys power from whom. The problem is similar to an ineffective consumer boycott. The problem is still present but less severe if more Western states adopt carbon limitations. We also show that some of the least market-based initiatives, the renewable portfolio standards (RPS), are likely to have the biggest near-term impact on the carbon-intensity of electricity generation in the West. Thus the scale of RPS programs may be limiting the potential role of non-renewable options in reducing carbon emissions from the electricity sector.
An overview of the OASIS speech recognition project

This paper presents an overview of the “OASIS” segment-based speech recognition system developed at the Research Group on Artificial Intelligence of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. We present the preprocessing method, the features extracted from its output, and how segmentation of the input signal is done based on those features. We also describe the two types of evaluation functions we applied for phoneme recognition, namely a C4.5 and an instance-based learning technique. In our system, the recognition of words from a vocabulary means a special search in a hypothesis space; we present how this search space is handled and the search is performed. Our results demonstrate that for small vocabularies we obtained acceptable recognition rates of about 90% even with the very few features and small training database used. It is now a matter of further investigation to see how much these methods could be extended to be applicable to large vocabulary speech recognition.
Origin and diffusion of mtDNA haplogroup X.

A maximum parsimony tree of 21 complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences belonging to haplogroup X and the survey of the haplogroup-associated polymorphisms in 13,589 mtDNAs from Eurasia and Africa revealed that haplogroup X is subdivided into two major branches, here defined as "X1" and "X2. " The first is restricted to the populations of North and East Africa and the Near East, whereas X2 encompasses all X mtDNAs from Europe, western and Central Asia, Siberia, and the great majority of the Near East, as well as some North African samples. Subhaplogroup X1 diversity indicates an early coalescence time, whereas X2 has apparently undergone a more recent population expansion in Eurasia, most likely around or after the last glacial maximum. It is notable that X2 includes the two complete Native American X sequences that constitute the distinctive X2a clade, a clade that lacks close relatives in the entire Old World, including Siberia. The position of X2a in the phylogenetic tree suggests an early split from the other X2 clades, likely at the very beginning of their expansion and spread from the Near East.
University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Three Approaches to Generating Texts in Different Styles Conference Item

Natural Language Generation (nlg) systems generate texts in English and other human languages from non-linguistic input data. Usually there are a large number of possible texts that can communicate the input data, and nlg systems must choose one of these. We argue that style can be used by nlg systems to choose between possible texts, and explore how this can be done by (1) explicit stylistic parameters, (2) imitating a genre style, and (3) imitating an individual’s style.
I've Seen "Enough": Incrementally Improving Visualizations to Support Rapid Decision Making

Data visualization is an effective mechanism for identifying trends, insights, and anomalies in data. On large datasets, however, generating visualizations can take a long time, delaying the extraction of insights, hampering decision making, and reducing exploration time. One solution is to use online sampling-based schemes to generate visualizations faster while improving the displayed estimates incrementally, eventually converging to the exact visualization computed on the entire data. However, the intermediate visualizations are approximate, and often fluctuate drastically, leading to potentially incorrect decisions. We propose sampling-based incremental visualization algorithms that reveal the "salient" features of the visualization quickly---with a 46× speedup relative to baselines---while minimizing error, thus enabling rapid and error-free decision making. We demonstrate that these algorithms are optimal in terms of sample complexity, in that given the level of interactivity, they generate approximations that take as few samples as possible. We have developed the algorithms in the context of an incremental visualization tool, titled IncVisage, for trendline and heatmap visualizations. We evaluate the usability of IncVisage via user studies and demonstrate that users are able to make effective decisions with incrementally improving visualizations, especially compared to vanilla online-sampling based schemes.
An Access Control Scheme for Protecting Personal Data

We present a personal data access control (PDAC) scheme inspired by protection schemes used in communities for sharing valuable commodities. We assume PDAC users are members of an online social network such as facebook.com. PDAC computes a ldquotrusted distancerdquo measure between users that is composed of the hop distance on the social network and an affine distance derived from experiential data. The trusted distance classifies users into three zones: acceptance, attestation, and rejection. User requests falling in the acceptance zone are accepted immediately while the requests in the rejection zone are rejected outright. Requests in the attestation zone need additional authorization to gain access. PDAC also tracks reposts to minimize the spread of data beyond the limits set by the data originator. PDAC was implemented on a social network emulator to demonstrate its viability. The performance of certain PDAC functions were examined using simulations driven by portions of social graphs obtained from myspace.com.
Interference of gadolinium on the measurement of selenium in human serum by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry

Selenium is an important clinical biomarker of nutritional status; however, the occurrence of gadolinium in a patient's serum as a result of the contrast agents used during magnetic resonance imaging investigations, results in a significant positive bias in its measurement by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry.
Cardiovascular Responses to Chemical Stimulation of the Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus in the Rat: Role of the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus

The mechanism of cardiovascular responses to chemical stimulation of the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARCN) was studied in urethane-anesthetized adult male Wistar rats. At the baseline mean arterial pressure (BLMAP) close to normal, ARCN stimulation elicited decreases in MAP and sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). The decreases in MAP elicited by ARCN stimulation were attenuated by either gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), neuropeptide Y (NPY), or beta-endorphin receptor blockade in the ipsilateral hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Combined blockade of GABA-A, NPY1 and opioid receptors in the ipsilateral PVN converted the decreases in MAP and SNA to increases in these variables. Conversion of inhibitory effects on the MAP and SNA to excitatory effects following ARCN stimulation was also observed when the BLMAP was decreased to below normal levels by an infusion of sodium nitroprusside. The pressor and tachycardic responses to ARCN stimulation at below normal BLMAP were attenuated by blockade of melanocortin 3/4 (MC3/4) receptors in the ipsilateral PVN. Unilateral blockade of GABA-A receptors in the ARCN increased the BLMAP and heart rate (HR) revealing tonic inhibition of the excitatory neurons in the ARCN. ARCN stimulation elicited tachycardia regardless of the level of BLMAP. ARCN neurons projecting to the PVN were immunoreactive for glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD67), NPY, and beta-endorphin. These results indicated that: 1) at normal BLMAP, decreases in MAP and SNA induced by ARCN stimulation were mediated via GABA-A, NPY1 and opioid receptors in the PVN, 2) lowering of BLMAP converted decreases in MAP following ARCN stimulation to increases in MAP, and 3) at below normal BLMAP, increases in MAP and HR induced by ARCN stimulation were mediated via MC3/4 receptors in the PVN. These results provide a base for future studies to explore the role of ARCN in cardiovascular diseases.