Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Membrane-specific Regulation of Cl− Channels by Purinergic Receptors in Rat Submandibular Gland Acinar and Duct Cells*

Measurement of [Cl−] i and the Cl− current in the rat salivary submandibular gland (SMG) acinar and duct cells was used to evaluate the role of Cl− channels in the regulation of [Cl−] i during purinergic stimulation. Under resting conditions [Cl−] i averaged 56 ± 8 and 26 ± 7 mm in acinar and duct cells, respectively. In both cells, stimulation with 1 mm ATP resulted in Cl− efflux and subsequent influx. Inhibition of NaKCl2 cotransport had no effect on [Cl−] i changes in duct cells and inhibited only about 50% of Cl− uptake in acinar cells. Accordingly, low levels of expression of NaKCl2 cotransporter protein were found in duct cells. Acinar cells expressed high levels of the cotransporter. Measurement of Cl− current under selective conditions revealed that acinar and duct cells express at least five distinct Cl− channels; a ClCO-like, volume-sensitive, inward rectifying, Ca2+-activated and CFTR-like Cl− currents. ATP acting on both cell types activated at least two channels, the Ca2+-activated Cl−channel and a Ca2+-independent glibenclamide-sensitive Cl−-current, possibly cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR). Of the many nucleotides tested only 2′-3′-benzoylbenzoyl (Bz)-ATP and UTP activated Cl−channels in SMG cells. Despite their relative potency in increasing [Ca2+] i , BzATP in both SMG cell types largely activated the Ca2+-independent, glibenclamide-sensitive Cl− current, whereas UTP activated only the Ca2+-dependent Cl− current. We interpret this to suggest that BzATP and UTP largely activate Cl− channels residing in the membrane expressing the receptor for the active nucleotide. The present studies reveal a potentially new mechanism for transcellular Cl− transport in a CFTR-expressing tissue, the SMG. Coordinated action of the P2z (luminal) and P2u (basolateral) receptors can mediate part of the transcellular Cl− transport by acinar and duct cells to determine the final electrolyte composition of salivary fluid.
Cloning and Expression Levels of Genes Relating to the Ovulation Rate of the Yunling Black Goat1

Abstract This study investigated the nucleotide sequences and tissue expression levels of genes relating to the ovulation rate in Yunling black goats, a famous Yunnan province, China, local breed with low fecundity. Five genes, FSHB, FSHR, BMP15, BMPR1B, and ESR2, were investigated; the complete cDNA sequences of these genes were 390, 2088, 1185, 1509, and 1585 bp, respectively, and compared with Boer goats (a more fecund breed), the sequence identities were 99%, 99%, 99%, 100%, and 99%, respectively. There were two base differences in FSHB and BMP15, four in FSHR, and three in ESR2. There were fewer follicles and oocytes in Yunling black goats than in Boer goats. Expression levels of FSHB, FSHR, and BMP15 genes in Yunling black goats were lower, and expression levels of BMPR1B and ESR2 genes were higher. Serum FSH content was lower in Yunling black goats, but serum estrogen content was higher. Protein expression levels of FSHR, BMP15, BMPR1B, and ESR2 in ovary and pituitary correlated positively with gene mRNA expression levels. In Yunling black goats, the mRNA expression levels of FSHB, FSHR, and BMP15 positively correlated with litter size, but those of BMPR1B and ESR2 correlated negatively. Together, base changes and variations in mRNA and protein expression levels of genes relating to the ovulation rate result in low fecundity in the Yunling black goat. Reduced BMP15 and FSHR levels may be related to the observed fewer oocytes and, consequently, fewer follicles.
Predictive-State Decoders: Encoding the Future into Recurrent Networks

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are a vital modeling technique that rely on internal states learned indirectly by optimization of a supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement training loss. RNNs are used to model dynamic processes that are characterized by underlying latent states whose form is often unknown, precluding its analytic representation inside an RNN. In the Predictive-State Representation (PSR) literature, latent state processes are modeled by an internal state representation that directly models the distribution of future observations, and most recent work in this area has relied on explicitly representing and targeting sufficient statistics of this probability distribution. We seek to combine the advantages of RNNs and PSRs by augmenting existing state-of-the-art recurrent neural networks with Predictive-State Decoders (PSDs), which add supervision to the network's internal state representation to target predicting future observations. Predictive-State Decoders are simple to implement and easily incorporated into existing training pipelines via additional loss regularization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of PSDs with experimental results in three different domains: probabilistic filtering, Imitation Learning, and Reinforcement Learning. In each, our method improves statistical performance of state-of-the-art recurrent baselines and does so with fewer iterations and less data.
Surviving too long in Crohn's disease

See article on page 73 Even if its incidence has decreased due to the influence of environmental and nutritional factors, gastric carcinoma remains a major concern because of its very poor prognosis. Screening for precancerous conditions, including intestinal metaplasia, is one method of improving the prognosis of gastric carcinoma. Nevertheless, the implications for the use of endoscopic surveillance in patients with intestinal metaplasia of the stomach are still unknown. As suggested by Grotzinger et al in this issue of Gut ,1 molecular changes (gain or loss of protein expression) are undoubtedly the first sign of metaplasia; the use of …
Predictions of survival up to 10 years after diagnosis for European women with breast cancer in 2000–2002

Few studies have addressed longer‐term survival for breast cancer in European women. We have made predictions of 10‐year survival for European women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000–2002. Data for 114,312 adult women (15–99 years) diagnosed with a first primary malignant cancer of the breast during 2000–2002 were collected in the EUROCARE‐4 study from 24 population‐based cancer registries in 14 European countries. We estimated relative survival at 1, 5, and 10 years after diagnosis for women who were alive at some point during 2000–2002, using the period approach. We also estimated 10‐year survival conditional on survival to 1 and 5 years after diagnosis. Ten‐year survival exceeded 70% in most regions, but was only 54% in Eastern Europe, with the highest value in Northern Europe (about 75%). Ten‐year survival conditional on survival for 1 year was 2–6% higher than 10‐year survival in all European regions, and geographic differences were smaller. Ten‐year survival for women who survived at least 5 years was 88% overall, with the lowest figure in Eastern Europe (79%) and the highest in the UK (91%). Women aged 50–69 years had higher overall survival than older and younger women (79%). Six cancer registries had adequate information on stage at diagnosis; in these jurisdictions, 10‐year survival was 89% for local, 62% for regional and 10% for metastatic disease. Data on stage are not collected routinely or consistently, yet these data are essential for meaningful comparison of population‐based survival, which provides vital information for improving breast cancer control.
Lysozyme Titres in Regional Enteritis, Miscellaneous Tissues, Microorganisms, and Excreta.∗

Summary The stools of 14 regional enteritis cases possessed a mean lysozyme content of 19.8 units per gram of stool (wet weight) and a mean daily output of 6,220 units. This is 7.34 times the mean lysozyme content of normal stools and 39.4 times the mean daily output in the stools of normal persons. These data, together with the experimental production by lysozyme of ulcerations in the canine alimentary tract,2 indicate that lysozyme is an etiologic agent in the pathogenesis of regional enteritis. A survey of various microorganisms, tissues, and excreta revealed generally high titres in fetal tissues and placenta, moderately high levels in endometrium with a suggestion of cyclic variation, and very large amounts in pus and in fluid from an enterocystoma. Low titres were found in the stools of two acute specific dysenteries and in canine gastric juice, with no measurable amounts in mass cultures from two chronic ulcerative colitis cases and one paratyphoid B culture. A case of acute infantile diarrhea exhibited a very high titre on the day of onset in the absence of organic pathology or specific infection, falling rapidly to normal with recovery. It is felt that the generally high titres of fetal tissue suggest the possibility of an important role for lysozyme in the chemistry of actively growing normal tissue. The absence of lysozyme in the colitis mass stool cultures substantiates the conclusion that intestinal lysozyme is not bacterial in origin; and the moderately low levels in the specific dysentery stools indicate that acute colitis is not necessarily accompanied by a high stool lysozyme titre.
Multiple Antibiotics Exert Delayed Effects against the Plasmodium falciparum Apicoplast

ABSTRACT Several classes of antibiotics exert antimalarial activity. The mechanisms of action of antibiotics against malaria parasites have been unclear, and prior studies have led to conflicting results, in part because they studied antibiotics at suprapharmacological concentrations. We examined the antimalarial effects of azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, doxycycline, and rifampin against chloroquine-resistant (W2) and chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) Plasmodium falciparum strains. At clinically relevant concentrations, rifampin killed parasites quickly, preventing them from initiating cell division. In contrast, pharmacological concentrations of azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, and doxycycline were relatively inactive against parasites initially but exerted a delayed death effect, in which the progeny of treated parasites failed to complete erythrocytic development. The drugs that caused delayed death did not alter the distribution of apicoplasts into developing progeny. However, the apicoplasts inherited by the progeny of treated parasites were abnormal. The loss of apicoplast function became apparent as the progeny of antibiotic-treated parasites initiated cell division, with the failure of schizonts to fully mature or for erythrocyte rupture to take place. These findings explain the slow antimalarial action of multiple antibiotics.
The long-term effect of oxandrolone on hepatic acute phase proteins in severely burned children.

BACKGROUND Acute phase protein production is a hallmark of severe burns. We wondered whether anabolic treatment with oxandrolone would affect these proteins. METHODS Thirty-five children with > or =40% total body surface area burns were randomized to receive either placebo or oxandrolone (0.1 mg/kg by mouth twice daily) from postoperative day 5 to 1 year postburn. Levels of constitutive proteins and acute phase proteins were measured at admission; at discharge; and at 6, 9, and 12 months after burn. Total albumin supplementation and hepatic transaminases were also assessed. RESULTS Constitutive proteins such as albumin, prealbumin, and retinol-binding protein levels increased (p < 0.05), and acute phase proteins such as alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, C3 complement, alpha 2-macroglobulin, and fibrinogen levels significantly decreased in the oxandrolone group compared with placebo (p < 0.05). Albumin supplementation during the acute hospitalization was reduced in the oxandrolone group. Hepatic transaminases remained within normal levels. CONCLUSION Treatment with oxandrolone in severe burns significantly increases constitutive protein and reduces acute phase protein levels.
Option Pricing in Some Non-Levy Jump Models

This paper considers pricing European options in a large class of one-dimensional Markovian jump processes known as subordinate diffusions, which are obtained by time changing a diffusion process with an independent Levy or additive random clock. These jump processes are non-Levy in general, and they can be viewed as a natural generalization of many popular Levy processes used in finance. Subordinate diffusions offer richer jump behavior than Levy processes and they have found a variety of applications in financial modeling. The pricing problem for these processes presents unique challenges, as existing numerical PIDE schemes fail to be efficient and the applicability of transform methods to many subordinate diffusions is unclear. We develop a novel method based on a finite difference approximation of spatial derivatives and matrix eigendecomposition, and it can deal with diffusions that exhibit various types of boundary behavior. Since financial payoffs are typically not smooth, we apply a smoothing tech.
Supporting victims through the legal process The role of sexual assault service providers

At present, most crime victims decline to get involved in the legal system, apparently preferring to suffer the injustice rather than compromise their family or community ties, their privacy, their safety, or their mental health . Among rape victims, for example, in spite of legal reforms designed to mitigate the most flagrant forms of institutional bias, still only a small minority choose to report the crime. (herman, 2003, p. 161)
Water level modeling for Kelantan River at Jeti Kastam Station using nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input structure

Generally, overflowing and unexpected amount of water level from normal conditions, especially in areas that are usually dry it is called flood. Kelantan River was synonym with flood especially during the months of November to February because of the northeast monsoon season. Nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) is well-known as one of the technique that has the ability to predict with efficient and good performance. River at Jeti Kastam Station was used in this study to predict water level using NARX model. The selection of Neural Network structure for water level and rainfalls modelling in Jeti Kastam Station was optimized and also the training and testing were analyzed. The performance of network was evaluated using Mean Square Error (MSE). It is shown that seven number of neurons in five number of delay afforded the lowest MSE validation, 1.43. The Regression, R for validation network is closed to 1 (0.9406), supports that the model is acceptable and able in predicting water level at Jeti Kastam station.
A simplified approach to perceptual quality adaptation of multi-dimensional scalable video

Content Aware Networking (CAN) can enhance the distribution of media through awareness in the network of the content it is carrying. In this way functions such as content adaptation, content routing and resource allocation can be improved. Our current research investigates `in-network' content adaptation of scalable video coded streams (SVC) via a media-aware network element or MANE. We propose a fuzzy logic adaptation approach based on the user perceived quality of the video stream as well as a policy management based MANE architecture. The paper describes work in progress to define the concept and approach-with particular focus on the approach to codifying QoE/QoS relationships. (7 pages)
Older person's preferences for home vs hospital care in the treatment of acute illness.

BACKGROUND Although the home is expanding as a potential site for acute illness treatment, little is known about patients' preferences for home vs the hospital. OBJECTIVE To determine older persons' preferences for home or hospital as a treatment site for acute illness and factors associated with preference. METHODS Two hundred forty-six community-dwelling persons aged 65 years or older hospitalized with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or pneumonia were identified in 2 urban teaching hospitals and received telephone interviews 2 months after hospitalization. They were asked their preference for home or hospital treatment, given the availability of equivalent therapies and outcomes at the 2 sites and a nursing visit and several hours of home health aide assistance daily in the home. They were also asked about changes in preference with changes in the description of the outcome or the availability of services. RESULTS If home and hospital offered equivalent outcomes, 46% of the sample preferred treatment at home. Preferences were heavily dependent on the outcome of the illness, physician opinion about the best site of care, and the provision of house calls. Higher education, white race, living with a spouse, being deeply religious, and having 2 or more dependencies in activities of daily living were associated with a preference for home treatment. CONCLUSIONS Under conditions of equivalent outcome, preferences for treatment site are almost equally divided between home and hospital. Explicit elucidation of preferences is necessary if patients' preferences are to play a meaningful role in decision making about site of care.
Principal components analysis applied to performance and carcass traits in the chicken

In this study, the principal components methodology was used to analyze performance and carcass traits measured in a 3747 F2 experimental population of Gallus gallus. This technique allows us to reduce the number of variables considered in the evaluation of the animals, which may facilitate genetic programs. Performance traits were body weight at 35 and 42 days of age, and weight gain from 35 to 42 days of age; carcass traits were the following: weights of liver, heart, gizzard, wings, thighs, breast and lung. The five first principal components explained about 93.3% of the total variation, and the first component explained 66%. The first component was called 'General Weight', because the largest eigenvectors were associated with body weight at 35 and 42 days of age and liver, breast, wing and thigh weights. Heritability of the first principal component was 0.23 ± 0.05. The genetic gain of a selection index with the first two principal components was similar to the selection index gain with 10 original traits. The principal components methodology was efficient to evaluate the total variance in this group of correlated traits, allowing a drastic reduction in the number of traits to be included in the selection index for breeding purposes.
A Low-Power K-Band Frequency Quintupler With Current-Reused and Harmonic-Enhanced Technique

This letter presents a low-power frequency quintupler fabricated through a TSMC 90 nm CMOS process. By forming a sub-harmonic mixer and a cross-coupled pair in a cascoded topology, the proposed circuit provided the five-time output frequency and consumed less dc power than a conventional circuit. The cross-coupled pair also enhanced the power level of the 4 × harmonics so that the quintupler obtained good conversion gain. The measured results revealed that the quintupler had a 3 db frequency range of 23.6 to 25.5 GHz and a maximum conversion gain of 2.2 dB at a low input power of -1 dBm. The dc power consumption in the quintupler core and the output buffer are 1.3 and 34 mW, respectively.
Time reversal applied to large MISO-OFDM systems

In this paper we study the Time Reversal (TR) technique in a large MISO-OFDM system. This technique has been proven to provide good beamforming gains at a price of a channel estimation availability at the transmitter side. Moreover, the greater the number of transmit antennas, the better the spatial and temporal focusing gains, which makes TR a good candidate for large MISO systems while keeping a low complexity. The capacity of the system and the bit error rate (BER) performances are first derived and simulated and compared with systems applying the maximum ratio transmission technique. The time focusing gain of the TR technique is then exploited to show that the equivalent channel is shortened when the number of antennas increases, allowing a reduction of the guard interval and an increase of the spectral efficiency of the system. Finally, the robustness of the system to channel estimation errors is evaluated by adding simple channel estimation techniques in the system and evaluating the BER performance.
Substrate specificity of the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP79A1 and CYP71E1 involved in the biosynthesis of the cyanogenic glucoside dhurrin in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.

The two multifunctional cytochrome P450 enzymes, CYP79A1 and CYP71E1, involved in the biosynthesis of the cyanogenic glucoside dhurrin in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench have been characterized with respect to substrate specificity and cofactor requirements using reconstituted, recombinant enzymes and sorghum microsomes. CYP79A1 has a very high substrate specificity, tyrosine being the only substrate found. CYP71E1 has less stringent substrate requirements and metabolizes aromatic oximes efficiently, whereas aliphatic oximes are slowly metabolized. Neither CYP79A1 nor CYP71E1 catalyze the metabolism of a range of different herbicides. The reported resistance of sorghum to bentazon is therefore not linked to the presence of CYP79A1 or CYP71E1. NADPH is a much better cofactor than NADH although NADH does support the entire catalytic cycle of both P450 enzymes. Km and Vmax values for NADPH when supporting CYP71E1 activity are 0.013 mM and 111 nmol/mg protein/s. For NADH, the corresponding values are 0. 3 mM and 42 nmol/mg protein/s. CYP79A1 is a fairly stable enzyme. In contrast, CYP71E1 is labile and prone to rapid denaturation at room temperature. CYP71E1 is isolated in the low spin form. CYP71E1 catalyzes an unusual dehydration reaction of an oxime to the corresponding nitrile which subsequently is C-hydroxylated. The oxime forms a peculiar reverse Type I spectrum, whereas the nitrile forms a Type I spectrum. Several compounds which do not serve as substrates formed Type I substrate binding spectra with the two P450 enzymes.
Amyloidosis cutis dyschromica

Amyloidosis cutis dyschromica is a very rare form of primary cutaneous amyloidosis characterized by prepubertal onset of hyper and hypopigmented spots and amyloid deposits in the papillary dermis. We report a case of a 26 year old female with amyloidosis cutis dyschromica who presented with dyschromic skin since birth.