Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role and mechanism of action of LRIG1 in ovarian cancer cell line and VP16 drug-resistant cell line

We investigated the role of leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains (LRIG)-1 in ovarian cancer cell line and VP16 drug-resistant cell line to explore the possible mechanism of action. Human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 and the VP16 drug-resistant cell line SKOV3/VP16 were used to investigate whether LRIG1 affects the sensitivity of SKOV3 to drugs. RT-qPCR was used to detect the difference in LRIG1 expression between drug-resistant and wild-type cell lines. siRNA LRIG1 was designed and transfected to silence LRIG1 to investigate the mechanism by which LRIG1 affects the sensitivity of SKOV3 to drugs. Wild-type cells were transfected with SKOV3. The cells were divided into 3 groups (VP16, NC + VP16 and siRNA LRIG1 + VP16 treatment group). VP16 (IC50 value) was added 24 h after transfection. The CCK-8 method was used to detect the proliferation of each group at multiple time points (0, 24, 48 and 72 h). A colony-forming assay was used to detect cell proliferation and flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis. The expression of LRIG1 was lower in the drug resistant cell line than that of the wild-type cell line. The expression of LRIG1 significantly decreased with the increase of VP16 concentration (P<0.05). The apoptotic rate was decreased but there was an increase on cell clones in the siLRIG1 + VP16-treated group as compared to VP16- and NC+ VP16-treated groups (P<0.05). The LRIG1 gene affects the sensitivity of SKOV3 cells to drug in a dose-related manner, indicating that the reduced expression of LRIG1 can inhibit cell apoptosis.
Potentiation of `late' responses evoked in muscles during effort

A study has been made of the effect of voluntary contraction on the `late' responses which can be recorded in muscles after indirect stimulation. Two late responses have been described of which the first was shown to consist mainly of a potentiated H-reflex. The potentiation of this wave was greatest in the abductor pollicis brevis muscle and depended largely on `direct' descending pathways to motoneurones. In addition, a later evoked muscle response appeared during effort; the nature of this wave was uncertain. Simple formulae have been devised to express the excitability of motoneurones to inputs from muscle nerves during effort.
EXPLORING THE FEASIBILITY OF MOBILE MULTILINGUAL ELECTRONIC MEETINGS

Previous research has shown that groups can exchange opinions in cellular meetings using smart devices, but no studies have compared these meetings with more traditional, face-to-face electronic meetings. Further, cellular meetings have not yet been conducted using multiple languages. In this paper, we compare groups exchanging Spanish and German comments using Web-based software with and without PDA emulators. Results show that multilingual meetings with smart devices are feasible, but desktop PC electronic meetings are still considered more useful, the software is easier to use, and translations are more comprehensible. However, this difference is not significant.
A scheme to combine molecular dynamics and dislocation dynamics

Many engineering challenges occur on multiple interacting length scales, e.g. during fracture atoms separate on the atomic scale while plasticity develops on the micrometer scale. To investigate the details of these events, a concurrent multiscale model is required which studies the problem at appropriate length- and time-scales: the atomistic scale and the dislocation dynamics scale. The AtoDis multiscale model is introduced, which combines atomistics and dislocation dynamicsinto a fully dynamic model that is able to simulate deformation mechanisms at finite temperature. The model uses point forces to ensure mechanical equilibrium and kinematic continuity at the interface. By resolving each interface atom analytically, and not numerically, the framework uses a coarse FEM mesh and intrinsically filters out atomistic vibrations. This multiscale model allows bi-directional dislocation transition at the interface of both models with no remnant atomic disorder. Thereby, the model is able to simulate a larger plastic zone than conventional molecular dynamics while reducing the need for constitutive dislocation dynamics equations. This contribution studies dislocation nucleation at finite temperature and investigates the absorption of dislocations into the crack wake.
Computer vision cracks the leaf code

Significance The botanical value of angiosperm leaf shape and venation (“leaf architecture”) is well known, but the astounding complexity and variation of leaves have thwarted efforts to access this underused resource. This challenge is central for paleobotany because most angiosperm fossils are isolated, unidentified leaves. We here demonstrate that a computer vision algorithm trained on several thousand images of diverse cleared leaves successfully learns leaf-architectural features, then categorizes novel specimens into natural botanical groups above the species level. The system also produces heat maps to display the locations of numerous novel, informative leaf characters in a visually intuitive way. With assistance from computer vision, the systematic and paleobotanical value of leaves is ready to increase significantly. Understanding the extremely variable, complex shape and venation characters of angiosperm leaves is one of the most challenging problems in botany. Machine learning offers opportunities to analyze large numbers of specimens, to discover novel leaf features of angiosperm clades that may have phylogenetic significance, and to use those characters to classify unknowns. Previous computer vision approaches have primarily focused on leaf identification at the species level. It remains an open question whether learning and classification are possible among major evolutionary groups such as families and orders, which usually contain hundreds to thousands of species each and exhibit many times the foliar variation of individual species. Here, we tested whether a computer vision algorithm could use a database of 7,597 leaf images from 2,001 genera to learn features of botanical families and orders, then classify novel images. The images are of cleared leaves, specimens that are chemically bleached, then stained to reveal venation. Machine learning was used to learn a codebook of visual elements representing leaf shape and venation patterns. The resulting automated system learned to classify images into families and orders with a success rate many times greater than chance. Of direct botanical interest, the responses of diagnostic features can be visualized on leaf images as heat maps, which are likely to prompt recognition and evolutionary interpretation of a wealth of novel morphological characters. With assistance from computer vision, leaves are poised to make numerous new contributions to systematic and paleobotanical studies.
BDL-A Nondeterministic Data Flow Programming Language with Backtracking

Both visual data flow and logic based programming languages have their merits as declarative languages for certain application domains. Combining their concepts to program with data flows and backtracking seems to be a promising idea, which lead to the development of BDL. BDL is a visual data flow programming language with constructs for nondeterministic programming and constraint checking. Its nondeterminism is resolved by using depth first search and backtracking a la Prolog.
On the Universal Scaling Behavior of the Distance Decay of Plasmon Coupling in Metal Nanoparticle Pairs: A Plasmon Ruler Equation

Localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in lithographically fabricated gold (Au) nanodisc pairs are investigated using microabsorption spectroscopy and electrodynamic simulations. In agreement with previous work, we find that the fractional plasmon wavelength shift for polarization along the interparticle axis decays nearly exponentially with the interparticle gap. In addition, we find that the decay length is roughly about 0.2 in units of the particle size for different nanoparticle size, shape, metal type, or medium dielectric constant. The near-exponential distance decay and the interesting “universal” scaling behavior of interparticle plasmon coupling can be qualitatively explained on the basis of a dipolar-coupling model as being due to the interplay of two factors: the direct dependence of the single-particle polarizability on the cubic power of the particle dimension and the decay of the plasmonic near-field as the cubic power of the inverse distance. Using this universal scaling behavior, we .
Intracellular Calcium Handling in Isolated Ventricular Myocytes From Patients With Terminal Heart Failure

BackgroundExperiments were performed in human ventricular myocytes to investigate properties of excitation-contraction coupling in patients with terminal heart failure. Myocytes were isolated from left ventricular myocardium of patients with cardiac failure caused by dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy undergoing transplantation. These results were compared with those obtained from cells of healthy donor hearts that for technical reasons were not suitable for transplantation. Methods and Results[Ca2+]i, transients and Ca2+ currents were recorded from isolated cells under voltage clamp perfused internally with the Ca2+ indicator fura 2. In cells that were stimulated externally, the cell-permeant form of the indicator, fura 2-AM, was used. When action potentials were to be recorded, cells were stimulated in current clamp mode. Unstimulated Ca2+ current densities were not significantly different in myopathic and control cells. In diseased myocytes, resting [Ca2+]i levels were 165±61 nmol/l, compared with 95±47 nmol/l in normal cells. With 5 mmol/l Na+ in the pipette, peak [Ca2+]i transients were 367±109 and 746±249 nmol/l, respectively. The decline of [Ca2+]i during diastole was significantly slower in myopathic cells than in control cells. This was a result of a prolongation of the action potential and of a reduced Ca2+ sequestration by the sarcoplasmic reticulum. ConclusionsThese results may partly explain the alterations of contractility in vivo in patients with heart failure.
Vascularity in asthmatic airways: relation to inhaled steroid dose

The physiological consequences of altered airways structure on the function of asthmatic airways has been of interest to clinicians and physiologists since the classic study of Huber and Koessler in 1922.1 These authors provided the first measurements of airway wall thickness in relation to their size and reported that the airway wall of patients who died of asthma was thicker than that of controls. Many have subsequently commented on this finding,2-7 and Freedman provided an excellent review of its functional significance in 1972.8 A systematic analysis of the effect of wall thickening on airway function by Moreno and colleagues showed that a …
Hypoxia-altered signaling pathways of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in human corneal epithelial cells

Purpose Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a member of the TLR family, is an important pattern recognition molecule that plays a role in the host’s innate immune responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of gram-negative bacteria. Contact lens wear is one of the risk factors for bacterial keratitis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether hypoxia or contact lens wear alters the TLR4 signaling pathways in human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs). Method A simian virus 40-immortalized human corneal epithelial cell (SV40-HCEC) line was cultured under 20% O2 or 2% O2 and exposed to LPS. The expression of TLR4, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-8 was determined using a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunoblotting. Immunoblotting was also used to determine whether the nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) was activated in the SV40-HCEs. HCECs were obtained from 17 healthy volunteers and 18 hydrogel soft contact lens (SCL) wearers using impression cytology (IC), and the expression of the mRNA of TLR4 was determined using real-time RT-PCR. Results A reduction in the expression of the mRNA and protein of TLR4 was detected in SV40-HCECs cultured under hypoxic conditions. Hypoxia also attenuated both the LPS-induced expression of IL-6 and IL-8, and the activation of NFκB in SV40-HCECs. The expression of the mRNA of TLR4 was down-regulated in the HCECs of soft contact lens wearers. Conclusions These results indicate that hypoxia attenuates the TLR4 signaling pathway in HCECs, suggesting that the increase in the susceptibility to bacterial infections under hypoxic conditions may be related to the TLR4 signaling pathways.
Course notes for Financial Econometrics

This course intends to provide an overview of various areas of financial econometrics. It does not aim to be in any way comprehensive; instead a selection of topics is treated with a fair amount of detail, together with a sketch of related issues. As such, it intends to teach students the basics of a variety of technical econometric techniques and ideas that are important in quantitative research in finance. Nevertheless, I have tried to keep the focus on finance rather than pure statistics. In that sense, this course differs in flavour from the basic econometrics course in the MSc curriculum. The material is divided into three parts. The first part (Chapter 1) discusses return predictability, or more loosely stated, looks at the old question " do there exist easy money making schemes " ? The second concerns " descriptive modelling " of asset-prices. It deals with the issue of how to model statistically a time-series of prices one typically observes in financial markets. The discussion on predictability introduces a number of important definitions and concepts in a financially relevant context. These concepts are essential for understanding the next two chapters, on ARCH and Stochastic Volatility models respectively. The models in Part II are predominantly statistical in nature; they take a price-series as given and aim to capture its essential features in a mathematical formulation. Part III, in contrast, deals with issues that are more strongly connected to economic theory. I discuss tests of the CAPM, the equity premium puzzle, and performance of option pricing models. The latter chapter is closely related to Part II since most option pricing methods take a description of the behaviour of the underlying asset (such as the ones developed in Part II) as an input. In the whole of part III, issues regarding inference will take second place to the finance/economic ideas involved. An integral part of the course, and in particular Part II, are the programming exercises. These have by far the most relevant practical training content for students hoping to start a career in quantitative finance. They are intended as an aid to understand the (rather advanced) theoretical material on a more than just superficial level, but their main aim is to offer the student a chance to develop the basics of highly-valued technical skills in professional finance. Learning how to program on your own without an actual aim can be extremely tedious …
Suicide Behavior among Junior High School Students in Philippines and Indonesia Associated with the Social Factors

Background: Suicide has become a major public health issue among adolescents. In Asian countries such as Indonesia and Philippines shares the same social norm which sees suicide as taboo. Objective: This study aimed to understand the prevalence of suicide ideation among junior high school students in Indonesia and Philippines and the social factors influencing it. Methodology: The Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 2007 in Indonesia and Philippines were used in conducting this study. This study used two-stage cluster sampling design with a total of 5,369 junior high school students participate in a self-report questionnaire. 2 questions related to suicide ideation served as dependent variable, and 14 questions as the independent variable classified into socio-demographic, socio-environmental and psychosocial were fitted to model the binary logistic regression analysis. Results and Conclusion: Female students are more likely to have suicide behavior (AOR=1.914; 95%CI=1.432-2.557). Philippines students are more likely to have suicide ideation than Indonesian students (AOR=4.760; 95%CI=3.256-6.960). However, Indonesian students with suicidal ideation were more likely to express their ideation by making a suicide plan (53.5%) compare to the counterparts (40.6%). Psychosocial factors, gender and school grade are important factors in students’ suicide behavior. Policy strengthening in counseling in the junior high schools is needed to prevent suicide.
Introduction of solids to the infant diet

Commentary on the paper by Balfour-Lynn et al In a retrospective review published in this issue,1 Balfour-Lynn and colleagues describe 16 children with cystic fibrosis (CF) who appeared to show clinical improvement following regular infusions of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). They have not described any criteria for the commencement of treatment, but the majority of children had previously been diagnosed with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). An analysis of efficacy compared lung function and other concomitant treatments before starting therapy and after courses of therapy, the number of which varied considerably between patients. This treatment was associated with a reduction in the doses of oral and inhaled steroids. There was some improvement in forced vital capacity, but no difference in forced expiratory volume in one second. Clinical practice has been likened to an experiment, where a patient presents with a problem, treatment is initiated, and the results of treatment are later assessed and conclusions drawn about whether or not the treatment is effective. There are a number of factors which may act to bias these conclusions.2 Firstly the patient may have improved anyway. Secondly, new treatments are more likely to be initiated at a time when, as part of the normal fluctuation in the …
Food web effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in an outdoor freshwater mesocosm experiment

Abstract Over the course of 78 days, nine outdoor mesocosms, each with 1350 L capacity, were situated on a pontoon platform in the middle of a lake and exposed to 0 μg L−1 TiO2, 25 μg L−1 TiO2 or 250 μg L−1 TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of E171 TiO2 human food additive five times a week. Mesocosms were inoculated with sediment, phytoplankton, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and fish before exposure, ensuring a complete food web. Physicochemical parameters of the water, nutrient concentrations, and biomass of the taxa were monitored. Concentrations of 25 μg L−1 TiO2 and 250 μg L−1 TiO2 caused a reduction in available soluble reactive phosphorus in the mesocosms by 15 and 23%, respectively, but not in the amount of total phosphorus. The biomass of Rotifera was significantly reduced by 32 and 57% in the TiO2 25 μg L−1 and TiO2 250 μg L−1 treatments, respectively, when compared to the control; however, the biomass of the other monitored groups—Cladocera, Copepoda, phytoplankton, macrophytes, chironomids and fish—remained unaffected. In conclusion, environmentally relevant concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles may negatively affect certain parameters and taxa of the freshwater lentic aquatic ecosystem. However, these negative effects are not significant enough to affect the overall function of the ecosystem, as there were no cascade effects leading to a major change in its trophic state or primary production.
Certication d'un porte-monnaie electronique?

L'article d ecrit l' etat d'avancement d'un projet commun a Gemplus et a l'ONERA. Gemplus a d evelopp e un porte-monnaie electronique s'ex ecutant sur des cartes a puces supportant Java. Le but du projet est de v eri er des propri et es de s ecurit e qui doivent être satisfaites par les applets participant a l'application. Une politique de s ecurit e a et e d e nie qui associe des niveaux aux attributs et aux m ethodes et qui d e nit les ux d'information autoris es entre les niveaux. Nous proposons une technique bas ee sur le model checking pour v eri er que les ux d'information entre applets sont autoris es. 1 Contexte et cas d' etude 1.1 Cartes a puces multi-applicatives Une nouvelle g en eration de cartes a puces arrive sur le march e : les cartes a puces multi-applicatives. Les principales caract eristiques de ces cartes sont que des applications peuvent être charg ees apr es la d elivrance de la carte et que plusieurs applications di erentes peuvent s'ex ecuter sur une même carte. Des syst emes d'exploitation ont et e propos es pour les cartes multi-applicatives : Java Card , Multos 2 et plus r ecemment Smart Cards for Windows. Dans ce papier, nous nous int eresserons a Java Card. Suivant cette norme, les applications pour les cartes multi-applicatives sont programm ees sous forme d'applets Java. Le projet Pacap est partiellement nanc e par le MENRT d ecision d'aide 98.B. 0251 http://java.sun.com/products/javacard http://www.multos. com http://www.microsoft. com/smartcard
Role of Dopaminergic Receptors in Glaucomatous Disease Modulation

Both studies on animals and humans suggest the presence of dopamine (DA) receptors in the anterior segment of the eye. Their role in the dynamics of intraocular pressure (IOP) is not yet clear. DA2 and DA3 receptors are mainly located on postganglionic sympathetic nerve endings. Their stimulation reduces the release of norepinephrine and suppresses the production of aqueous humor. DA1 receptors seem to be more expressed by the ciliary body and the outflow pathway of aqueous humor. The administration of DA1-selective agonists stimulates the production of aqueous humor, increasing IOP, whereas DA2- and DA3-selective agonists could reduce IOP and, therefore, the risk to develop a glaucoma (GL). GL is a broad spectrum of eye diseases which have in common the damage to the optic nerve and the progressive loss of the visual field. Further studies are desirable to clarify the role of the dopaminergic system and the usefulness of DA2 and DA3 agonists in reducing IOP.
Performance Upper Bound of Adaptive QAM in Slow Rayleigh-Fading Environments

The performance of adaptive modulation schemes that employ either no transmission, BPSK, QPSK, 16 Square QAM and 64 Square QAM is characterised for transmissions over Rayleigh channels. The optimum value for the switching levels between the Axed modulation schemes is found. This is achieved by ,optimising the BER and throughput for wireless computer data and speech systems. Using the optimised switching thresholds, the system performance is also evaluated over Rician channels.
On classifier domains of competence

We study the domain of dominant competence of six popular classifiers in a space of data complexity measurements. We observe that the simplest classifiers, nearest neighbor and linear classifier, have extreme behavior of being the best for the easiest and the most difficult problems respectively, while the sophisticated ensemble classifiers tend to be robust for wider types of problems and are largely equivalent in performance. We characterize such behavior in detail using the data complexity metrics, and discuss how such a study can be matured for providing practical guidelines in classifier selection.