Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha promotes the expression of osteoprotegerin in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts.

OBJECTIVE To clarify the regulation of osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts by investigating the effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and the mechanism of TNF-alpha-induced OPG expression. METHODS OPG expression was examined by Northern blot hybridization and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in synovial fibroblasts from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) and subjects with no inflammatory condition. Amounts of OPG in conditioned medium were determined by ELISA. The effect of OPG on TNF-alpha-induced osteoclastogenesis was investigated in primary cultures of RA synovial cells. RESULTS OPG was highly expressed in RA synovial fibroblasts compared to OA and noninflammatory synovial fibroblasts. Different levels of OPG expression were found among patients with RA. TNF-alpha induced OPG expression in all synovial fibroblasts, even OA and noninflammatory fibroblasts, and expression occurred to a remarkable degree in RA fibroblasts. The OPG expression was upregulated by TNF-alpha in a time- and dose-dependent manner. TNF-alpha-induced OPG expression was inhibited by hymenialdisine, a nuclear factor-kappaB inhibitor, in a dose-dependent manner, and expression was inhibited by soluble TNF receptor/Fc fusion protein I (TNFs-RI/Fc), not by TNFs-RII/Fc. In contrast, TNF-alpha-induced osteoclastogenesis in primary cultures of RA synovial cells was inhibited by the addition of OPG. CONCLUSION These results suggest that OPG is highly expressed and is upregulated by TNF-alpha in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts. TNF-alpha-induced OPG expression is mediated predominantly through TNF-RI. Although TNF-alpha is known to stimulate bone destruction, TNF-alpha-induced upregulation of OPG may contribute to self-protection from the bone destruction in RA.
Developmental and regional expression of basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA in the rat central nervous system

A cDNA clone encoding rat basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was used as a hybridization probe to determine the level of bFGF mRNA during rat brain development as well as in different adult rat brain regions. In the rat brain, a 3.7kb bFGF RUNA was detected together with lower levels of two minor bFGF mRNA species of 1.8kb and 1.5kb, respectively. The 3.7kb bFGF mRNA was detected in the rat brain already at embryonic day 16, the earliest time point tested. The embryonic brain contained 1.5 to 2 times higher levels of the 3.7kb bFGF mRNA than the adult brain. The amount of the 3.7kb bFGF mRNA in the adult rat brain was approximately 50 times higher than the level of β‐nerve growth factor mRNA in the rat brain. bFGF mRNA was found in all 12 brain regions tested in the adult rat brain with the highest level in colliculi, cerebral cortex, thalamus, and olfactory bulb. The lowest levels were found in pons and medulla oblongata. All three bFGF mRNA species showed the same regional distribution in the brain. In contrast to nerve growth factor mRNA, the level of bFGF mRNA in the neonatal hippocampus was slightly decreased 10 days after a cholinergic denervation by transection of the fimbria‐fornix.
Parathyroid hormone 1-84 alters circulating vascular endothelial growth factor levels in hypoparathyroidism.

CONTEXT We previously reported on four patients treated with PTH(1-84) who recovered from postoperative hypoparathyroidism many years after onset. Because vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown to be necessary for the induction of PTH-mediated angiogenesis, we postulated a possible role for VEGF in the recovery of parathyroid function in these subjects. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to measure VEGF levels in subjects with hypoparathyroidism who regained parathyroid gland function and matched controls. SETTING AND DESIGN Subjects with hypoparathyroidism who regained parathyroid gland function were each matched to two hypoparathyroid controls by postoperative etiology, age (within 5 y), menopausal status, and duration of hypoparathyroidism. We measured serum VEGF levels at baseline and through 48 months of PTH(1-84) therapy. RESULTS VEGF levels increased after the initiation of PTH(1-84) therapy for the entire cohort, from 309.7 ± 162 pg/ml at baseline to 380.2 ± 178 pg/ml at 12 months (P = .03). Levels trended downward thereafter. There were no significant differences in VEGF levels between the subjects with recovery of parathyroid function and the matched controls. CONCLUSIONS PTH(1-84) alters serum VEGF levels in subjects with hypoparathyroidism. Additional investigation is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which some subjects with postoperative hypoparathyroidism recover parathyroid gland function.
Chiral properties of domain wall quarks in quenched QCD.

We investigate the chiral properties of quenched domain-wall QCD (DWQCD) at the lattice spacings ${a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\simeq}1$ and 2 GeV for both plaquette and renormalization-group (RG) improved gauge actions. In the case of the plaquette action we find that the quark mass defined through the axial Ward-Takahashi identity remains non-vanishing in the DWQCD chiral limit that the bare quark mass ${m}_{f}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ and the length of the fifth dimension ${N}_{s}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty},$ indicating that chiral symmetry is not realized with quenched DWQCD up to ${a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\simeq}2$ GeV. The behavior is much improved for the RG-improved gauge action: while a nonvanishing quark mass remains in the chiral limit at ${a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\simeq}1$ GeV, the result at ${a}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\simeq}2$ GeV is consistent with an exponentially vanishing quark mass in the DWQCD chiral limit, indicating the realization of exact chiral symmetry. An interpretation and implications are briefly discussed.
« L'entreprise de soi », un nouveau mode de gestion politique des classes populaires ?

A partir d’une etude croisee des politiques visant le « tous entrepreneurs » et le « tous proprietaires », cet article revient sur la transformation des modes de domination des classes populaires. L’analyse socio-historique de ces dispositifs revele leur extension progressive vers les fractions inferieures de l’espace social : la propriete occupante et l’auto-emploi s’imposent comme une assurance privee et une necessite morale face a la « crise ». L’injonction a l’autonomie deplace alors les lieux d’exercice de la domination economique vers la sphere privee, participant de son invisibilisation. Des lors, l’ethnographie des pratiques domestiques des nouveaux accedants a la propriete comme des auto-entrepreneurs revele l’emprise des logiques comptables au quotidien et l’importance du travail de patrimonialisation necessaire a la valorisation des titres juridiques de propriete. Elle souligne plus largement les formes de depossession tant materielles que symboliques de ces nouveaux proprietaires, transformes en « entrepreneurs d’eux-memes ».
Effects of Transmission Queue Size , Buffer and Scheduling Mechanisms on the IEEE 802 . 11 p Beaconing Performance

The IEEE 802.11p Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE) protocol is specified to be used in a Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network, or VANET. This paper provides an analysis of the 802.11p performance when used for the exchange of beacons. Beacons are used to enable vehicles to establish a cooperative awareness from which many vehicular applications can draw their inputs. In particular, this paper focuses on the impact of transmission queue size, transmission buffer and scheduling mechanisms on the IEEE 802.11p beaconing performance. Based on these investigations is concluded that a queue with a length of 5 beacon sizes is sufficient to be used for 802.11p beaconing. Moreover, the beaconing performance is not influenced by the type of the buffering and scheduling mechanism used. A new proposed buffering mechanism denoted as oldest packet drop, ensures that up to date information is disseminated without negatively impacting the beaconing performance.
Topography of pyramidal neuron intrinsic connections in macaque monkey prefrontal cortex (areas 9 and 46)

An understanding of the normal organization of prefrontal cortex is essential to the recognition of pathology underlying human behavioral disorders believed to depend on this region. We have therefore studied the pattern of intrinsic intra‐ and interlaminar pyramidal neuron connectivity in prefrontal areas 9 and 46 (of Walker) in macaque monkey cerebral cortex (anterior to the arcuate sulcus between the principal sulcus and midline). We made focal (200–400 μm) injections of biocytin and mapped the pattern of orthogradely transported label. Injections made into the superficial layers label wide‐ranging lateral projections within the same areas of prefrontal cortex. Projections local to such small injections form a narrow band of terminals in layers 1–3 (200–400 μm wide, 2–4 mm long) centered on the injection site. Collateral fibers spread orthogonal to this terminal band, making frequent bifurcations, to establish a series of parallel bands of terminals with uninnervated bands between, spaced regularly across the cortex (center to center 500–600 μm). The entire pattern of terminal label is stripelike, with occasional narrower interbands and crosslinks between the bands, and can extend over 7–8 mm across the cortex. These projections arise from pyramidal neurons in layers 2, 3, and 5 and terminate in layers 1–3. The stripelike pattern contrasts with patchlike patterns in other cortical regions (V1, V2, V4, motor, somatosensory) and is smaller in scale than stripelike zones of corticocortical afferent terminals to this region, reported to be 300–750 μm wide and spaced 1.0–1.5 mm center to center. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Google Art Project: A New Generation of Museums on the Web?

Abstract On February 1, 2011, Google launched its much-heralded Art Project in partnership with 17 museums from Europe and the U.S. Despite the limited content and a long wish-list of enhancements, the Google Art Project offers a glimpse of innovative new ways for museums to use and be used on the Web, collaboratively.
Understanding low social acceptance in adolescence: The roles of social behavior and representations of peers

Title of Thesis: UNDERSTANDING LOW SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE IN ADOLESCENCE: THE ROLES OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND REPRESENTATIONS OF PEERS Sarah Ruth Halcrow, Master of Science, 2007 Thesis directed by: Professor Jude Cassidy Department of Psychology The goal of this study was to examine whether social behavior and peer representations would be linked to the extent to which adolescents were socially accepted. Findings indicated that prosocial behavior was positively associated with acceptance whereas aggressive, disruptive, and shy behaviors were negatively associated with acceptance. Results also suggested gender moderated the link between shy behavior and acceptance, such that shy boys were significantly less accepted than shy girls. In contrast, gender did not moderate the links between prosocial, disruptive, and aggressive behavior and acceptance. Although peer representations were negatively linked to acceptance, gender did not significantly moderate these links. Additional findings suggested that prosocial, disruptive, and shy behaviors partially mediated the links between peer representations and acceptance. Contrary to expectations, peer representations partially mediated the links only between acceptance and shy behavior. Implications of findings related to the roles of adolescent social behavior, the moderating role of gender, quality of peer representations, and social acceptance are discussed. UNDERSTANDING LOW SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE IN ADOLESCENCE: THE ROLES OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND REPRESENTATIONS OF PEERS by Sarah Ruth Halcrow Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2007 Advisory Committee: Professor Jude Cassidy, Chair Professor Kenneth H. Rubin Professor Amanda W. Woodward ©Copyright by Sarah Ruth Halcrow 2007
Adaptive template-matching method for recognition of low-resolution license number

In this paper, we propose an adaptive template-matching method to recognize of low-resolution license number. The first step is to extract license plate from low-resolution image by manual. The license plate is divided into several blocks, and every block corresponds to a license character. Subsequently, we estimate the adaptive filter via pesudoinverse operation, and it is applied to template to generate filtered template which is similar to divided character. Eventually, the filtered template and the similarity measurement between the license character and the template are obtained. According to the similarity measurement, the proposed method can identify the license number. Moreover, our method outputs several possible resultants of license number recognition, it is helpful to police in image forensic. The advantage of our approach is that training process is unnecessary. The quantized rank histogram is measured to evaluate the recognition performance. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of coping with license number recognition in low-resolution images.
Comparative Shear-Bond Strength of Six Dental Self-Adhesive Resin Cements to Zirconia

This study compared shear bond strength (SBS) of six self-adhesive resin cements (SARC) and one resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC) to zirconia before and after thermocycling. The cylinder shape (Φ 2.35 mm × 3 mm) of six SARCs (G-CEM LinkAce (GLA), Maxcem Elite (MAX), Clearfil SA Luting (CSL), PermaCem 2.0 (PM2), Rely-X U200 (RXU), Smartcem 2 (SC2)) were bonded to the top surface of the zirconia specimens with light-curing. RMGIC (Fujicem (FJC)) was bonded to the specimens with self-curing. The shear bond strength of all cemented specimens was measured with universal testing machine. Half of the specimens were thermocycled 5000 times before shear bonding strength testing. Fractured surfaces were examined with a field-emission SEM (10,000×) and analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray analysis. MAX, PM2, SC2 group without thermocycling and GLA, MAX, PM2 group with thermocycling showed adhesive failure, but GLA, CSL, RXU, FJC group without thermocycling and SLC, RXU, SC2, FJC group with thermocycling indicated cohesive failure. Within the limitation of this study, All of SARCs except MAX demonstrated higher bond strength than that of RMGIC regardless of thermocycling. Also, SARC containing MDP monomers (CSL) retained better bonds than other cements.
A Novel Perspective on Interference Control and Distraction in ADHD

The view that Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with a diminished ability to control interference is controversial and based exclusively on results of (verbal)-visual interference tasks, primarily the Stroop Color Word task. The present study compares medication-naïve children with ADHD (n = 35 and n = 51 in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively) with normal controls (n = 26 and n = 32, respectively) on two interference tasks to assess interference control in both the auditory and the visual modality: an Auditory Stroop task and a Simon task. Both groups showed reliable but equal degrees of interference on both tasks, suggesting that children with ADHD do not differ from normal controls in their ability to control interference in either modality. 3
Release of nitric oxide in the central nervous system mediates tonic and phasic contraction of the cat lower oesophageal sphincter

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) in the brainstem is implicated in the control of swallowing and oesophageal peristalsis. This study examines the role of brainstem NO in the maintenance of lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) tone, relaxation and contraction. In urethane‐anaesthetized cats, oesophageal peristalsis and sphincter pressures were continuously monitored. Drugs were administered into the fourth ventricle. Oesophageal peristalsis and sphincter relaxation and contraction were induced by superior laryngeal nerve stimulation or intra‐oesophageal balloon distention. Basal sphincter pressure was significantly reduced after the i.c. v. administration of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, l‐Ng‐monomethyl arginine. The inhibitor's d‐isomer had no significant effect on basal sphincter pressure, while l‐arginine partially reversed the effect. The NOS inhibitor had no effect on sphincter relaxation, whereas the contraction of the sphincter following relaxation was significantly inhibited. Central nitric oxide synthase inhibition reduces basal LOS tone and contraction amplitude but has no effect on swallow or balloon distention induced sphincter relaxation. Therefore, central release of NO acts in the pathway to stimulate dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus neurones projecting to excitatory neurones in the sphincter. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase in the CNS does not prevent relaxation of the LOS, suggesting that other pathways that do not utilize NO are important in the induction of LOS relaxation.
The Autism Act 2009: developing specialist skills in autism practice)

This booklet is produced for the Department of Health and advises how practitioners can enable greater access to health and social care by people on the autism spectrum.The article was produced to respond to new legislation 'The Autism Act, 2009' which requires statutory training in autism to be undertaken by health and social care services. Autism is defined as a sensory perceptual impairment which presents challenges to the specialist practitioner to use 'reasonable adjustments' under the Equality Act 2010. The article explores creating a sensory/communication support package through the use of the Sensory Behaviour Scale (Harrison and Hare, 2004) and the development of a communication profile. The exploration of how to understand the communication function of behaviour is explored with a discussion of the use of the Motivational Assessment Scale (Durand, 1986)
Calls and Couples: Communication, Connections, Joint-Consumption and Transfer Prices

The article explores joint consumption equilibrium environments. It illustrates network formation through one-to-one directional synapses. Family (couple) arrangements, spontaneously generated under a decentralized general equilibrium price system are suggested - involving link and direction-specific transfer prices along with standard resource one. The research also inspects preference characteristics able to generate monogamous choices and assortative matching and mating. Assortative mating (and income pooling) is clarified, related to exclusivity or taste-for unicity at the utility level with respect to shared good, with optimal assignment connected to equalization of the marginal benefit of the match - adequately defined - across individuals in the economy. Contrast with a multiple external effect good - one-to-many communication; (or) shared by a fixed number of, more than two, individuals; common property - and with a pure public good is also provided. If paired consumption with end-point specificity generates (or may generate), under reasonable assumptions, a unique decentralized equilibrium solution, supporting an efficient allocation, multiple agent sharing among more than two individuals and individual types requires, along with excludability, perfect differentiation of a larger number of consumption - partnership - roles.
The Comprehensive AOCMF Classification System: Mandible Fractures-Level 3 Tutorial

This tutorial outlines the details of the AOCMF image-based classification system for fractures of the mandibular arch (i.e. the non-condylar mandible) at the precision level 3. It is the logical expansion of the fracture allocation to topographic mandibular sites outlined in level 2, and is based on three-dimensional (3D) imaging techniques/computed tomography (CT)/cone beam CT). Level 3 allows an anatomical description of the individual conditions of the mandibular arch such as the preinjury dental state and the degree of alveolar atrophy. Trauma sequelae are then addressed: (1) tooth injuries and periodontal trauma, (2) fracture involvement of the alveolar process, (3) the degree of fracture fragmentation in three categories (none, minor, and major), and (4) the presence of bone loss. The grading of fragmentation needs a 3D evaluation of the fracture area, allowing visualization of the outer and inner mandibular cortices. To document these fracture features beyond topography the alphanumeric codes are supplied with distinctive appendices. This level 3 tutorial is accompanied by a brief survey of the peculiarities of the edentulous atrophic mandible. Illustrations and a few case examples serve as instruction and reference to improve the understanding and application of the presented features.
Total Phenol Content, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Capability of Traditional Medicinal Plants of Mizoram, Eastern Himalayas, Northeast India

Mizoram inhabits a wide variety of medicinal plants which are traditionally used by the local tribes for the treatment of a range of ailments. The present study was initiated to screen the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Albizzia chinensis, Callicarpa arborea, Mussaenda macrophylla and Stereospermum tetragonum. Among the selected plants, A. chinensis possessed highest total Phenolic content, superoxide dismutase (SOD) (9.235 units/mg protein), catalyse (93.212 μM H 2 O 2 Decomposed/min/ mg protein), ascorbic acid oxidase (1.66 units/mg protein) and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC-96) and Escherichia coli (MTCC 739). Methanol extract of S. tetragonum showed highest antioxidant activity (41.53 mg GAE/g DW). A positive correlation was seen between total Phenolic content and total antioxidant activity of all four plants with having correlation coefficient (R 2 ) ranges from 0.969-0.995. Further studies on isolation and structural elucidation of biologically active compounds present in the plants will be helpful for pharmaceutical and industrial applications.
Secure network coding against intra/inter-generation pollution attacks

By allowing routers to combine the received packets before forwarding them, network coding-based applications are susceptible to possible malicious pollution attacks. Existing solutions for counteracting this issue either incur inter-generation pollution attacks (among multiple generations) or suffer high computation/bandwidth overhead. Using a dynamic public key technique, we propose a novel homomorphic signature scheme for network coding for each generation authentication without updating the initial secret key used. As per this idea, the secret key is scrambled for each generation by using the generation identifier, and each packet can be fast signed using the scrambled secret key for the generation to which the packet belongs. The scheme not only can resist intra-generation pollution attacks effectively but also can efficiently prevent inter-generation pollution attacks. Further, the communication overhead of the scheme is small and independent of the size of the transmitting files.
A low-power mixing DAC IR-UWB-receiver

This paper introduces a novel receiver architecture for low-power IR-UWB receivers in the 3.75-4.25 GHz band. The receiver correlates the incoming pulse with an approximated pulse template in the analog domain. The template is learnt digitally and transferred to the analog domain via a low resolution DAC. The paper presents the design of the mixing DAC that implements the downconverter, DAC and correlator which consumes only 875 uW in 90 nm CMOS technology. The DAC receiver topology requires 4 dB less energy per incoming bit in comparison with current state-of-the-art IR-UWB receivers.